Writing blocks and Writer's Block

Today I’m struglling with writers block. I stared at the screen for almost and hour and....nothing. Zip, nada. Now it wasn’t just a blank screen but page 17 of the current feature screenplay that I already have an outline for. Yes, outlining usually breaks this monotony but not today. Not the coffee or the breakfast got me into a mindset of throwing words into the mouths of my characters.

Sure I know where they’re going. What needs to be said in order for them to move from point M to point N. I even have point Z on the page. It’s just the case that nothing fun, original, or slightly contrived was spewing off my finger-tips.

I have a few writing aides, rum, cookies, porn, you know, the usual. But they just didn’t seem to be the right ingredient to get things moving this afternoon.

I even went to a decent site that deals with Writer’s Block. It talks about hacking the block. Very 2001!

So, I’m going to grab some groceries and see if that throws me back into the fray. I have a deadline and I’m going to meet it!

MTB

Flashpoint - recognition 19 times over

Yesterday, the nominations for the annual Gemini Awards were announced. The awards recognize the best in Canadian Television.

Flashpoint, the series that follows an elite tactical police unit, garnered 19 nominations for its first season. Hugh Dillon and Enrico Colantoni were both nominated in the same category as male lead in a dramatic series.

Between these two, it might come to ‘Rico talking Hugh down or Hugh going rogue and taking his own shot.

Having been a part of the first season. I knew the show had star-talent and the episode ‘Haunting the Barn’ or as the crew called it “The Bottle Episode” was stellar. The Academy agreed. Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern nominated for the script and Ron Lea does a stellar performance as a retired SRU officer who just can’t let go of a case.

Not only is this show great Canadian television but great television period.

If you haven’t seen the show or this nominated episode go to ctv.ca, cbs.com, or iTunes.

Chess - 15 Years Later

Tonight, I’m going to see the latest presentation from the Hamilton, Ontario theater that started my course into entertainment. The program at Theatre Aquarius, headed by theatre choreographer and director, Lou Zamprogna, was and still is the most rigorous training ground for anyone passionate about the arts and learning what focus and sacrifice it take to mount a production under industry standards.

The direction of the program is broken into two phases. The first phase, a multi-dicipline training in scene study, monologue, dance, movement, and choral singing. All these exercises hit a crecendo with an in-house audition for parts in the yearly musical production.

The second phase, a 13-day intensive mounting a full-fledge broadway musical production. Day 1 get the script, day 12, technical rehersals. This puts the students in a professionals mind-set and accumen of how things work in the real world where time and money are the pressures that don’t give much time to find the truth in the scenes.

In 1994, the first production of Chess, a rock-musical written by Tim Rice and music by ABBA members Börjn Yulves and Benny Anderson, tells of the fictional chess match between American chess prodigy Freddy Trumper (inspired by Bobby Fischer) and Russian Grandmaster, Anatoly Sergivesky. As the players manuver the pieces during the matches the CIA and KGB play with the chess-masters emotional weaknesses.

In 2009, a Lincoln Center benefit concert of Chess was helmed by Josh Groban as Anatoly and Adam Pascal as Freddy. To grab a hold of this awesome album check it out, http://www.chessinconcert.com/.

Medre to all those in tonights performance.