October 27, 2004

Right of Passage

Yesterday marked another right of passage in my screenwriting career; it was the first time I've ever sent a screenplay directly to an actor with a Hollywood address.

Over the last nine months I've written a screenplay for James Karen based upon the character he so lovingly brought to life in our short film Flickering Blue. We first spoke of expanding upon the short's basic theme and its protagonist, Al Bullinger, over lunch in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in November of 2003.

At one point during that lunch Jimmy leaned over to me and said, with his wry wit, "Write fast. I'm eighty years old, you know?"

The success of the short film on the festival circuit in the intervening months has only added to the momentum of the project.

Writing the feature, (tentatively entitled Slim Bullinger, for reasons I won't divulge here), has been a fantastic experience. I've been exchanging ideas with director Harper Philbin from the outset, even while I was gallivanting around India for three months, and he has reviewed and consulted on each subsequent draft. Having worked in abject isolation before, let me tell you, having good collaborators onboard from the outset is a boon to the creative process. And imagining Jimmy Karen's delivery has made the dialogue writing an absolute joy.

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