A few years back, I started a screenplay involving a guy and a girl where opening scene detailed the events that would lead up to them, well, dissolving their “friend” status, and consummating a much more volatile relationship…the “get down”, if you will. While I enjoyed the banter between the two characters, I never really ventured too far beyond that scene for 2 reasons: (insert Chuck Klosterman homage here)

1) I’m not a very good writer

and

2) I’m not a very good writer

Some time has passed and I’d like to think I’ve grown since then and acquired some skill with the writing craft. And as many times as I revisited that script, I never got inspired to move further. Last August, during Bindlestiff’s Stories High Writing Workshop, it hit me. I should just stick to writing short scenes and compiling these small vignettes into an anthology which involved the same subject matter. Thus, The Pillow Talk Anthology was born. Named after the short script I wrote for last year’s production, I began to think about writing several short scenes/vignettes/skits/snippets that involved the moments just before, during, and immediately after a sexual encounter between two people. It was an idea I liked, but never really started to truly develop.

My previous post described a Valentine’s Show at Bindlestiff, which, if it’s not obvious enough, will be love-themed. i revisited a writing exercise I did during a long flight back from NYC. I rocked it old-school, with a paper and pencil, since a G4 Powerbook (which is in cahoots with my finances) has done an excellent job eluding me. I opened up Final Draft and started transcribing. I remember liking the exercise and how frustrated I was that the pencil could not keep up with the dialogue that was running in my head. It was like my characters were talking in slow motion in my head because I couldn’t write the words down fast enough. I never wanted to be at my keyboard more.

So anyway, the fire was lit once again. Before I knew it, the Final Draft document read 9 pages and I was just getting to the good part. I sent it off to Chuck and Tess for their initial thoughts. Tess hasn’t read it yet, or so she says. I think she did read it, didn’t like it, and is just waiting for the proper time to tell me it blows. Chuck, on the other hand, who is my partner in crime in terms of writing lovey-dovey, sensitive-sissy crap, kinda dug it. Sometimes, that’s all you need to keep going. So I’m ready to proceed – well, maybe not that ready, since I’m writing this instead.

I think I want to try and go for a Wong Kar-Wai In the Mood for Love-type feel, and infuse it with some Kevin Smith-type banter. I like the way Wong Kar-Wai creates such good character chemistry between two people who are absolutely miserable. And I like they way Kevin Smith is just funny. You know, I really wish I didn’t say that. Now people are going to read it and be like, “What? Wong Kar-What-the-fuck-does-he-think-he’s-talking-about?!” I dunno, good goals to shoot for, right?

Stay tuned for more updates.

I graciously accepted an offer to direct a short play for a Valentine’s day production at Bindlestiff. Chuck had been sending over some potential scripts…there were some good ones, but nothing that particularly screamed out. So then I get this over my IM:

(17:30:25) donth8dplrh8dagm: hey
(17:30:35) antonisrad: yo
(17:30:37) donth8dplrh8dagm: so sam is writing a piece fo you
(17:30:55) antonisrad: for me?
(17:31:06) donth8dplrh8dagm: if you are interested
(17:31:10) antonisrad: to direct?
(17:32:18) donth8dplrh8dagm: sure
(17:33:50) donth8dplrh8dagm: I said I need a piece for you
(17:33:56) antonisrad: oh sweet!
(17:34:02) donth8dplrh8dagm: and she said she just needs till Monday
(17:34:08) donth8dplrh8dagm: she’s like a machine
(17:34:18) donth8dplrh8dagm: she just wrote dialogue on IM
(17:34:23) antonisrad: hahaha…which is why she’s my APIdol
(17:34:24) donth8dplrh8dagm: on the fly

See, Samantha Chanse is money. She cowrote a play called Pipe Dreams and Paper Trails and another one called Sleeper…both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. For Stories High last year, Sam directed the piece I wrote, Pillow Talk. I can’t say how excited I am to have the opportunity to direct a Samantha Chanse script.

A few days ago, I received the script, titled Screeching - Good title, good characters, good dialogue. I’ve reread it several times now, and even though it’s still the first draft, I’m already breaking it down. Really strong piece, will require a strong cast, too. Conveying the emotion is key here, so I think it would really benefit from minimalist set and lighting design. Of course these are my initial thoughts, and I haven’t even spoken with Sam yet.

I’m confident that the skills I have acquired during the Tatarin process will help in guiding the actors to bring Samatha Chanse’s words to life, the way they were intended.

I had the pleasure of watching a fellow creative artist headline her first comedy show at the Dark Room in the Mission last night. I first met Ali at a screenwriting workshop back in March. She’s a fireball of an Asian chick, rockin’ her Chun-Li buns steez. I noticed she’d always be jotting down notes in a journal or notebook of some sort. Little did I know she was stockpiling material for her stand-up routine. She’s a dope writer…came up with a tight, funny short screenplay, and then followed it up with a dope musical which was chosen for this year’s installment of Stories High at Bindlestiff Studio. Her sharp wit and sense of humor shines in her writing, but it’s nothing compared to seeing her perform…like when she rocked the lead role for Jedi Master Samantha Chanse’s play, Sleeper.

A Jill of all trades, Ali is. In three short months, a focused Ali has made her presence known in the local stand-up scene (or so I hear). A She oozes energy and the confidence she flexes doing her thing leaves no doubt in my mind that she will make some waves, like a Vietnamese refugee doing the Butterfly stroke (you’ll have to see her act)

So…Ali…keep doin’ your thing. Don’t forget us little people when you make the big time.

…but it’s not quite there yet, but a quick welcome to you all. The site is currently under construction, but you will be able to track the site’s progress (slow as it may be) through various rants of expressed frustration as I fumble through html and css.