James, Where You Been, Dude?

My blog has fallen by the wayside in favor of other writing.  It’s hard to keep up on so many different places.  I’ll give you a little rundown of two of the projects I’ve been working on and my March Blog Project.

Because I can’t do anything halfway, I have to make it a project, I’m going to update my blog every day in March to kick off my return to steady bloggery.

And since I’m awful at updating my family on what’s going on, I should probably put it somewhere.  But let me introduce you to a couple things I’ve been working on.  I'll tell you about my job another time.

PROJECTS

HOMEBOUND

Some of you know I’ve been working on a television pilot.  It was an idea from a list of ideas I pitched to my agent and manager almost a year ago.  It’s gone through a lot of changes.  It went from sitcom pilot to hour dramedy.  It’s gained characters, lost characters, switched main characters, ditched hundreds of jokes, and gone through twenty solid drafts. 

This latest draft had me rewrite the whole thing from scratch. (Val’s brilliant yet painful idea. But ultimately for the best.)  There’s not a lot left from earlier drafts. Characters and basic plot are the same.  Here’s a small excerpt from the wake Alice has turned into a party.

An Old Lady walks up to Alice and grabs her hands tenderly.

OLD LADY

(starts off sweetly)

I heard you’re responsible for this service.

(pause)

I just want you to know it’s a travesty.

ALICE

Thank you. I heard that already. Get a new word, old people.

OLD LADY

Your family is a travesty.

ALICE

Hey, do you know what the Greatest Generation is greatest at? Interrupting.

LOSING IT

This is a web series that I’m working on with some old friends.  It stars Christian Busath as the main character, Hal, a guy who has a weight related heart attack and checks into a weight loss camp.  At the camp he meets a lot of different characters and has to figure out what he believes in and how he’s going to change his life.  It has some serious themes underneath some outrageous banter.  It starts filming in March.  Here’s an excerpt from when Hal first meets Dominic, his roommate.

HAL

Yeah. I actually left my body and then I was heading down a tunnel towards a for real bright light.

DOMINIC

Whoa, cliche. What was the light? Was it heaven?

HAL

I don’t know. I was too fat for the tunnel.

DOMINIC

That story is a lady melter! We are going rule this camp. Get dressed. First weigh-in’s in 15 minutes.

HAL

I can’t just be your fun buddy. I don’t want to die again. Or have my heart started again by a Wendy’s manager fainting onto my chest.