So here I am at CineStory again.  This time I’m here as a writer, and I gotta tell you, it’s a whole lot less stressful.  The only person whose heart I’m going to break this time is mine.

There are some new mentors here this time, including writer Glenn Gers (Mad Money, Fracture) and producer Gloria Fan (Mosaic Media Group — The Dark Knight, The International).  And the usual suspects like Barri Evins, Amy Salko Robertson, Phil Eisner and Regina Lee.

In fact, I’m sitting in Barri’s famous hat-trick informal as we speak.  And since I’ve blogged at length on Barri’s methods for picking your next idea, I don’t feel too guilty listening with one ear and simultaneously blogging.  Isn’t multi-tasking what it’s all about?

I’m here as a writer this time because I have a new script this year, and people are actually going to see it–soon.

To give you some exposition, I recently changed agents.  (Former agent–whom I met at a CineStory retreat–quit the business.  New agent is also someone I met through CineStory.  Just as a side note.)  I have a new project that’s got some heat even before it’s gone out, and it’s about to go out.  It’s a kids’ movie.  But until now, nothing in my portfolio was a kids’ movie.  So I’ve spent the last six months cranking out another kids’ story.  Because when you get into the room with the people who are interested in your Pinocchio movie and they say to you (which they always do), “So what else have you got?”–you can’t then pitch them The Opposite of Sex.  You have to have something else in your portfolio that they will be interested in.  There’s no point in pitching a sensitive family drama to Jerry Bruckheimer.

So I’ve got this first draft kids’ screenplay that will have to follow my big project, which has been honed and polished.

Am I nervous?  You bet.  But where else am I going to get the notes that I know I need to turn the rough first draft into the honed, polished script that will be going out all too soon?

This is the beauty of CineStory.  I had my two one-on-one meetings today–with producer Nana Greenwald (North Country) and with Glenn Gers.  I got–yes–producer level notes and notes from a very well-employed, high-priced writer.  And they were good.

* * *

Had to take a break there for two minutes to do the hat trick.  (To refresh your memory–Barri passes out a section of the newspaper to each writer, gives us two minutes to find something–anything–that we can turn into a story and a quick pitch.  Just to show you that stories are all around you, everywhere, and you should be constantly collecting these quick, unedited ideas in your idea file.)  I got the sports section–with the inspiring ad headlined, “I love my high performance man!”  (“Great Sex Forever–all for only $199.00 total.”)  Off the top of my head, I pitch a story about a woman who’s a high-level cube dweller, never meets anyone new, is very lonely, and sends away for an android lover.  She educates him, he develops a consciousness, and he leaves her to go and liberate androids the world wide.  So you see–possible ideas are everywhere.

* * *

But back to my narcissistic musings.  The notes I got were extremely encouraging.  For a first draft–which I had shown to almost no one thus far–it’s in pretty good shape.  And I now know exactly what I need to do to bring it up to the level where it can be sent out.  And all in the space of two days!

As a non-CineStory writer, how long would it take me to figure out these notes by myself?  Or who would I get to give them to me?  It could have taken me six more months to do the re-write that I’ll now be able to do THIS WEEK.  It’s a beautiful thing.

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