mid year creative review 2012

i like to make lists and track my progress with things.

so far:

• i participated in a mock writers room class at nickelodeon, where as a group, we wrote an episode of the nick show, big time rush.
• revised my parks and rec spec and my pilot.
• applied to cbs, wb, disney, nbc. i also submitted to the austin film festival competition for the first time.

here were my top 3 goals for 2012:

1. be a working writer, and get staffed on a show.
2. write at least 2 new scripts, either 2 pilots, or a pilot and a spec.
3. make a short film or web series.

1. be a working writer, and get staffed on a show.

ha ha. that would be a big no. it’s been 9 months since the nick fellowship ended, and i’m no closer to getting representation or to working as a writer now than i was before i was accepted into the nick writing fellowship. i applied to the fellowships again this year, so we’ll see what happens.

2. write a pilot script

i started my pilot, and i started writers groups to specifically focus on pilots (previous post here). i was hoping i’d have a rough first draft by now, but i’m a bit behind schedule because of the short film i shot (see below). based on some of the early feedback from the group, i ended up changing the structure of my pilot which probably saved me months of rewriting. i’m really glad i started the writers groups! i was able to find some really talented people so the level of feedback has been fantastic, and now i have a bunch of wonderful writer friends that i didn’t have a couple months ago.

3. make a short film or web series.

yes! well, i’m not technically done yet because i’m still i’m editing, but for all intents and purposes, i’m done. i thought i’d be exhausted after all the work that went into making the short, but i was actually energized afterwards and it made me want to shoot something else immediately.

i went to several panels at comic con on writing and pitching, and they all said the same thing – that you need to be making content and putting it online. having a finished product and showing you can execute gives you a huge advantage, not to mention showing you can build an audience.

next

first, i have to finish my pilot and finish editing my short.

i want to come up with ideas for animated shows to pitch.  i know development execs at all nickelodeon, cartoon network, and disney, i have a degree in illustration, i was at nick for a year, so i’m looking forward to working on this.

the next thing i shoot will be a web series. i have 2 ideas, one is based on my first pilot that’s already written, and the other is a different take on the superhero genre.

i want to start thinking of ideas for a low budget feature that i can write and direct. the great thing about making a feature is i don’t need permission from anyone to do it. i don’t have to get accepted into any program, or wait till i have an agent. i can write it, raise the money, shoot it, and edit it. this is something i’ll be doing within the next few years.

anyone else want to share what they’ve done so far this year, and what they want to do with the remaining 6 months?