On Being Accepted to the Latino Writers Lab
So yesterday I get a phonecall from Kathryn Galán, the Executive Director of NALIP (the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, of which I've been a member for about a year), to let me know that I've been accepted to the Latino Writers Lab, which will take place in New York from Wednesday, May 4 through Sunday, May 8 at the Roger Smith Hotel.
(That Sunday is Mother's Day, but Tita doesn't mind because her Mother's Day gift this year is to spend that day, as well as the preceding nine, in West Palm Beach visiting our daughter Tara.)
Along with my application, I'd submitted my contemporary noir crime screenplay Sins of the Heart for consideration and Kathryn wanted to know whether, since it was evident to her I'd already invested a good deal of time in developing that particular story, I might not be more interested in working on a new project at the Lab, one on which I could get the kind of feedback that could help me more effectively shape it from scratch.
After talking things over, we agreed that I would bring a new project, one I have until this moment had on the back burner as the screenplay/novel I intended to write after completing the third draft of my Sins of the Heart novel (currently up to page 116), but that since they had already read it, the instructors would also give me their notes on the Sins screenplay.
The new project's working title is Traps and focuses on the different ways life traps people and what they will or won't do to escape.
All I have at the moment is:
1) an as-yet-unpublished short story of the same title which, even though it isn't science fiction or fantasy, I used for a successful reading at the World Science Fiction Convention last year and which I realized before that could function as the first chapter of the novel;
2) some research I've done on the subculture of cockfighting in Puerto Rico, which is the background I anticipate the bulk of the novel will be set against;
3) a couple of pages of preliminary notes about possible characters and situations; and
4) some ideas bouncing around in my head about what might constitute some of the basic plot elements.
I committed to sending the Lab a copy of the short story and a treatment for the screenplay by the week of April 25th, so I have to get cracking on that starting today.
I expect to return from the Lab ready to write the screenplay and highly motivated to get the first draft completed within the following three months, since if I want to get accepted to the second stage of the workshop, which takes place in Santa Monica from September 22 through 25, I have to submit said first draft for review by August 28.
At the same time, I will use the notes received on Sins to revise and resubmit it, as well.
So I'm happy because:
1) I got accepted to the Lab, which is held only once a year and acceptance to which is highly competitive,
2) I get what should be valuable feedback on Sins from such instructors as Ted Braun, Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at USC’s School of Cinema-Television; Harrison Reiner, Instructor in Screenwriting, UCLA School of Film and Television; Chip Diggins, producer/former Paramount Pictures Vice President; Marilyn Atlas, (producer of Real Women Have Curves), owner/manager of M.A. Management; and Edward Pomerantz (author of the novel and screenplay Caught), Columbia Professor of Screenwriting,
3) I get their equally valuable assistance in developing the characters and story for Traps, along with an incentive to get its first draft done this year, instead of next, and
4) an opportunity to network with people who, assuming they like it, could help get my work seen by people in the industry.
So, I guess, my theme song for the next few months will be:
Double your pleasure
Double your fun
Volunteer to work two scripts
Instead of just one.
(That Sunday is Mother's Day, but Tita doesn't mind because her Mother's Day gift this year is to spend that day, as well as the preceding nine, in West Palm Beach visiting our daughter Tara.)
Along with my application, I'd submitted my contemporary noir crime screenplay Sins of the Heart for consideration and Kathryn wanted to know whether, since it was evident to her I'd already invested a good deal of time in developing that particular story, I might not be more interested in working on a new project at the Lab, one on which I could get the kind of feedback that could help me more effectively shape it from scratch.
After talking things over, we agreed that I would bring a new project, one I have until this moment had on the back burner as the screenplay/novel I intended to write after completing the third draft of my Sins of the Heart novel (currently up to page 116), but that since they had already read it, the instructors would also give me their notes on the Sins screenplay.
The new project's working title is Traps and focuses on the different ways life traps people and what they will or won't do to escape.
All I have at the moment is:
1) an as-yet-unpublished short story of the same title which, even though it isn't science fiction or fantasy, I used for a successful reading at the World Science Fiction Convention last year and which I realized before that could function as the first chapter of the novel;
2) some research I've done on the subculture of cockfighting in Puerto Rico, which is the background I anticipate the bulk of the novel will be set against;
3) a couple of pages of preliminary notes about possible characters and situations; and
4) some ideas bouncing around in my head about what might constitute some of the basic plot elements.
I committed to sending the Lab a copy of the short story and a treatment for the screenplay by the week of April 25th, so I have to get cracking on that starting today.
I expect to return from the Lab ready to write the screenplay and highly motivated to get the first draft completed within the following three months, since if I want to get accepted to the second stage of the workshop, which takes place in Santa Monica from September 22 through 25, I have to submit said first draft for review by August 28.
At the same time, I will use the notes received on Sins to revise and resubmit it, as well.
So I'm happy because:
1) I got accepted to the Lab, which is held only once a year and acceptance to which is highly competitive,
2) I get what should be valuable feedback on Sins from such instructors as Ted Braun, Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at USC’s School of Cinema-Television; Harrison Reiner, Instructor in Screenwriting, UCLA School of Film and Television; Chip Diggins, producer/former Paramount Pictures Vice President; Marilyn Atlas, (producer of Real Women Have Curves), owner/manager of M.A. Management; and Edward Pomerantz (author of the novel and screenplay Caught), Columbia Professor of Screenwriting,
3) I get their equally valuable assistance in developing the characters and story for Traps, along with an incentive to get its first draft done this year, instead of next, and
4) an opportunity to network with people who, assuming they like it, could help get my work seen by people in the industry.
So, I guess, my theme song for the next few months will be:
Double your pleasure
Double your fun
Volunteer to work two scripts
Instead of just one.