Viva Las Vegas!

So it's been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted here.

1. I finished my HOUSE spec. I put about 2 hours each evening and a marathon weekend. Funny, as I got closer to the end, it got easier and easier--the opposite experience of the spec features I've written. I have to give a lot of the credit to a strong outline and my SAVE THE CAT! software, which has a neat board feature. This last is the equivalent of a cork board in which you post index cards for each scene, only these were all virtual. One side effect: I didn't have that massive feeling of accomplishment I previously got when writing a feature; just the satisfaction that it feels like a well-told story that's consistently gotten feedback from my teacher and classmates as strongly capturing the voices of the characters and feeling like a good HOUSE story. Of course, now comes the editing.

2. I've been crazy busy at work. Our business is up tremendously and the downside is that we have over two dozen active projects my group is juggling. Just 7 more working days until Christmas, so I expect it will get even crazier before we get to breathe.

3. I went to Las Vegas for the NCDM conference. The conference was a mixed bag. Some presenters were insightful, generous with information and sparked some good ideas for how to take our programs to the next level. Others were full of hackery and obvious insights (if you personalize email messages, you'll get a higher response!). ugh. More on Vegas another day. For now, just know that I ate an amazing meal at Bobby Flay's MESA (Caesar's Palace) and got to see "little Britney Spears" in LITTLE LEGENDS--a show that mixes comedy, magic and talented dwarves singing and dancing.

4. I'm now working on a DEXTER spec and will use the holidays to revise my HOUSE spec and get some traction on DEXTER.

5. There's a great post on UNITEDHOLLYWOOD.COM about more that we, the viewers, can do to support the working writers and others in the film community in their fight against the AMPTP for a fair residual for internet use of their materials. Check it out here.