Haven't checked back in for a couple of months, so time to stop and reflect again on what's going on in the world.
What IS going on:
Firstly, Wastelander Panda came out on ABC iView and online. I was really pumped to be a part of the writing team for this, had a lot of fun writing something so high concept. I was mostly involved in early stages, and the shooting scripts were done by director Vic Cocks, but across the process I contributed to those stories, and really enjoyed my time with the team. In fact, it's technically my first broadcast work, so huzzah! I'm gonna join the AWG as a full member, zing!
I finished off a new draft of the short film I'm making with SAFC and my homies at Closer. Feel really good about it, I think it's come a long way, and at this point I'm holding off further drafting until I get the film cast. I think it'll be important to write with them in mind. But I really hit my straps in those last few weeks of September, and that was really satisfying. The Crows didn't make the finals, so had stopped playing by that point - coincidence?
I also shot a new music video for my bros in Sincerely, Grizzly, whom I love sincerely. The song is killer, and their album is killer, and out soon. Clip should be up in a couple of weeks. Josh from the band actually sent me the record a few months ago in advance of the release, and I found it really inspirational - to hear the culmination of my friend's creative process like that, replete with really earnest, honest lyrical artistry and fucking sick amounts of distortion, was a bit of a watershed moment for me. I didn't get to my own work though, like I should have - I just made a video clip for one of his songs. Because it is SICK. Did I mention how sick it is?
Rock and roll is more important than anything else in life.
My last entry in August flagged a couple of things that didn't pan out as hoped:
1) I did finish a step outline of a new feature comedy called 'H1, Anyone?' which I'm still really excited about. I decided to start writing a first draft really quickly, before that step outline was really fleshed out, because I hoped it would push me forward. And the first 10 days or so was great - pretty soon I had 20 pages and a complete first act. But I hit a wall. I realised that the second act was missing an entire character arc, which requires me going back to the outline and working that out. But then I made a music video (sick) and so I didn't get back to it. Frustrating, but a revealing moment. I needed to try to force myself forward by just ripping off the band-aid, pulling the trigger, jumping the inflatable shark (nope) and so I did that, to limited success. Writing films is hard, and that early work is really important. But it's given the film a voice, writing those 20 pages, and I'm still hopeful of getting that draft out before the end of the year so I can send it to my Closer friends for torturous, brutal, hilarious feedback. Stay tuned...
2) I read my last journal entry and it was all "oh, man, I'm gonna get up every morning and write for an hour" which was really cool in theory but I did not do that. Which is not to say that it was a bad plan, I think it's a great plan. But I failed. TRY AGAIN MATT. To be fair, the last 3 weeks I have been getting up an hour early, but that's to walk my parents insane dog (I love you, Ted).
I read back my scholarship application which outlined my plans for this year, and with the exception of this website, it has not rolled out as planned. This is for a few reasons, most notably that after writing that application, I got my permanent position at Closer, which is my favourite thing ever, and has meant I've been working around .6 each week more than expected. I would never trade that, but I need to refocus my writing efforts in light of that and work out how to keep that rolling forward. Something to consider before the end of the year.
The last two months did see me try something more ambitious with the Catharsis project - Inside / Out, which was a five part horror sci-fi abstraction that I'm really stoked with. So despite my afore-mentioned frustrations, I was still writing, every single week. And I think getting a bit better at it every time. And that was the point of Catharsis. Success.
Haters gonna hate, that new Foo Fighters song fucking rocks.
MV