The Poetry Fix News
| VOL. II, ISSUE 13 | March 28, 2004 |
Project Greenlight, Part 2
Ohmygawd!
Translation: My screenplay made it into the second round of Project Greenlight!
My friend (and housemate) Carmen -woke me up at 5:00am Saturday morning to inform me that out of 4,212 entries, my script, The Deadliest of the Species, had made into round two of the contest (there are four rounds). To say I was speechless is the understatement of the year! When I did start speaking it pretty much consisted of “ohmygawd! -what the hell! – can you believe this?!”
I called my best friend (the one responsible for the 11th and a half hour review - which sent me into a tail spin and probably a better script), who was generous in her praise at the ungodly hour of 5:15 am . I have no shame in letting y’all know that I've gone back to the site more than five times to double check. The last time I looked, my name and screenplay title (blackindigogirl/The deadliest of the species) was still there. For the folks saying, “is she really geeked about being in the company of 1000 scripts?” I say, “Hell yes!” For long periods of time, writers are often left in the dark as it applies to what folks think about our work.” For me, an emerging writer, this is just a little bit of affirmation that I am not spinning my wheels and that this is just not a cute hobby. For those not familiar with Project Greenlight (PGL) - a quick cheat sheet. It is a national contest set up (by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) to pick a screenwriter and a director and give them a million dollars to make a movie. All while The Bravo Channel films your every move.
The winners get tons of exposure and hopefully a movie making career.
The next round of the contest is the selection of the top 100 scripts. They’ll make the announcement at the end of April. So all those sage burners, rosary folks, and altar builders send out a special chant for Michelle - if you would. My own prayer goes something like this: "Dear God – if you’re not too busy (I know you’re working on world peace and getting Bush out of office) could you push my script into the next round. Love Michelle”
Just so I won't obsess about the outcome of the next round I am busying myself with the production of a poetry CD. I am working with the super talented and equally patient musician/producer – Jscales. We had our first recording session late last week and it was really eye opening. Just ‘cause you wrote the poetry and you can recite it in your sleep doesn’t mean you’re going to have a flawless recording session. I walked in with six poems to record that night and only got two down. Besides stumbling over my words, then cursing like a sailor when I messed up - I hated how my recorded voice sounded. Actually, by the time we made it through the first hour I was really frustrated and seriously considering scrapping the whole project. But J shared her own knowledge of how tedious and detail specific recording can be and I should release the expectation of finishing in one sitting. It must the over-achiever in me. If you want to hear about the travails of another poet, who decided to venture into the studio, check out Jahipster. Her story is filled with truth and humor and she is an amazing poet to boot.
ODDS and ENDS
I received an interesting email this week. A gentleman from NYC was concerned that the site seemed really woman, black, with "hints of gay" (his words not mine) focused. He wanted to know if there was room for folks who did not fit into any of those categories. My answer: If you got info to share - I got space for you to flaunt it. Trust me - if this site was all about me, I would have us sittin' up in Sisterspace, listening to Doria Roberts and eating sunflower seeds.
This site is for EVERYONE. There is an archive link for those new to the site or those who might have missed an issue or two. The lie I'm telling is that I will be expanding the archive over the next few weeks. That's of course right after I clean my basement, finish this grant I am working on, show up and be magnificent at my day job and finish this play I'm suppose to be writing. Basically, I'll let y'all know when I've mustered the discipline and focus to add to the archive:)
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ThePoetryFix is a free service to the community. If you have an ad or event you want me to post just send it my way. I continue to add "out of town" events. We got stuff for folks in Detroit, Cali, and NYC in this edition.
Now go on and dive in to all the possibilities for the week!
Michelle
She asks me why I only write of sad things.
I tell her I only write the truth.
And when joy enters my life
then I'll write about that.
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