The watering hose
The strike has ended! The WGA has spoken! So what does that mean for everyone, for me, and especially, this film? Wouldn't you like to know? Read on.
It’s been a good little while since I last posted. 148 days of striking; it’s like the water turned off at the pipe and the last little dribbles of water coming out of the hose were not real flow.
I’ll be honest. It felt a bit disingenuous to post about progress (or lack thereof) on Lucid during a strike where no one else was making any progress.
Also, boredom and nothing happening is not only expected, it’s the norm. Making a movie is 90% preparing and trying to make a movie. One percent is production and post. The rest is marketing. In that 90% there’s a whole lot of waiting and spinning of wheels and generally nothing noteworthy happening. So the dripping continues; the water that was left after the valve was closed dribbles out and it’s got that vaguely rubbery smell you get from a water hose—you know that smell.
I don’t and didn’t want to give you leftover hose water on this newsletter, is what I’m trying to say. Which is why I haven’t posted lately.
But hey, there’s light on the horizon! The strike has worked, according to the latest release from the WGA.
The Writers Strike Is Over: WGA Votes to Lift Strike Order After 148 Days
© Provided by Variety
The ratification vote will be held from Oct. 2-Oct. 9. The WGA will hold member meetings on both coasts this week in person and on zoom to discuss the details of the contract. Given the enthusiastic endorsement of the WGA negotiating committtee, it is expected to be easily ratified by strike-weary members.
The vote to lift the strike order followed unanimous votes by the WGA's negotiating committee, the WGA West board and WGA East council to send the contract to members for ratification.
In other words will be getting pretty much all of what they wanted from the studios. The powers of negotiating just shy of Yom Kippur, yippee!
It’s a weird time. A strike is kind of a writer’s job when a strike is on. But when the strike ends, reality hits and writers have to go back to work, which probably means looking for jobs. No more delaying, no more daily exercise. It’s back to the grind.
For non-WGA writers like me, not much changes; I’ve been writing throughout the strike, and I’ve been working on a number of projects that I hope will continue to gain momentum now that maybe the business is picking back up again. But there’s a certain amount of anxiety. Will there be jobs for all the writers who want to write for a living? What will the pipeline look like for new writers when you have a flood of already-pro writers back in the workforce?
I return to one of the reasons I started writing this newsletter: the best way to make a case for why you should be an insider is by making the company’s product as an outsider. I use this metaphor loosely. What I mean is, “breaking in” and convincing someone else to make a movie out of a script you wrote is really, really, really, really, really hard.
Like, virtually impossible.
Oh, it does happen. Obviously, people win the lottery, too, just… not you or me. (Okay, so we don’t play the lottery, that’s part of the problem, but I digress.)
So what’s a girl to do?
The DIY movement is something I’ve subscribed to for a while—well, basically my whole life. I always hated asking for help, and that’s a pride thing and I’m working on it, thank you—but for better or worse, I’ve been more motivated by the desire to “just get it done” and not inconveniencing someone else. I would rather spend two hours researching something and then doing it myself, than asking someone who I know is able to do that same work in thirty minutes.
A character flaw, to be sure. Hopefully not fatal.
I’m learning lessons. I know I can’t make movies by myself. I need help. I need experts who know their shit and know it well. I need talented people to come in clutch. I need the support of my family. I need external validation, too. I’m a human. So I’m not taking DIY to its literal heart.
But instead of trusting to contests and cold querying, I’ve chosen to do this movie myself, and not outsourcing it. And if it turns out the way I hope and dream—I’m absolutely convinced it will be a banger of a career changing moment for me and my fellow producers. Of that I have no doubt.
Delusion? Probably. Maybe. But I don’t think so. (That’s the problem with delusion, the sufferer doesn’t know or think they’re deluded.)
But the strike is over. The water has been turned back on. It takes a couple seconds for the water to traverse the length of the hose, so we still have a couple weeks at least before things officially start back up. But make no mistake: barring some 11th hour lawyering, we’re all back, baby.
Time again to DIY.
Short Updates
Two new shorts are on the way, one is in post already, the other is in pre-production (shooting this weekend). I’ve been working on (and nearly finished) a new feature; I’ve also been making little revisions to the Lucid script. I’ve got several other projects cooking, some with producers, others are smaller jobs. My summer screenwriting Lab was a smashing time. Basically, I’ve kept busy. I hope that as we wind back into normality that the gear cogs will click into place with one or more of these projects.
If or when they do, I’ll keep you apprised.
Until next time—pax.