I read the rest of SAVE THE CAT last night over two glasses of Malbec at Don Pistos and I totally loved it.  (This was after watching the finale of “It’s A Brad, Brad World” with Susan and Belle which was somehow intensely moving and silly all at once –– although I had tremendous Déjà vu ...

The Universe can sometimes be too funny. Yesterday was a very intense workday, capped by a delightful dinner at Plant with Susan and Val and Belle. Perhaps the funniest moment of the day, however, was this Cosmic Wink. I got a copy of AS A MAN THINKETH by James Allen, written in 1903, from the Library beca...

My friend Julie –– who is brilliant and wise and a terrific editor –– after reading my blog about condensing the script yesterday, very enthusiastically recommended I read SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder, which is one of the few screenwriting books that seems to have eluded me (althou...

Yesterday morning, I treated myself to finally visiting Taniya and Michael’s beautiful baby, Tara, prompted by Marie Carter, one of Belle’s very best friends arriving in San Francisco to do the same. Tara is a GREAT baby –– falling asleep in my arms and letting me hold her for over ...

Saturday, I think I spoke to a few people on the phone and texted others, but I mostly cut 35 pages from the script. As Dan points out, if it were now filmed at 224 pages, it would only be a 3 hour and 44 minute film, only 8 minutes longer than Lawrence of Arabia. Obviously, totally not acceptable yet. Alt...

It seems that the meanest person in the world is editing my screenplay. And for better or worse, that person is me. We’re at 260 pages (ha — my typo was “pounds”;  I really am on a juice-cleanse mindset) and we want to be at 120 by Monday, so we’re talking about reducing ...

I loved the moment when Elaine Stritch on 30 Rocks says to Jack’s wife Avery who’s expecting:  “Remember, when you’re pregnant, it’s only one bottle of wine a day, AND THAT’S IT!” Yesterday, I began my juice cleanse –– if you read my Unauthorized Bio on this site y...

Obviously, Shakespeare had parting and not cupcakes in mind (probably) when he wrote that line, and it was indeed very sad to drive Adrian to the airport last night after our awesome week together in San Francisco. Anyone who knows me at all, knows I love a good cupcake, and just before we left we found th...

After a lovely day –– coffee at Acre, planning meeting, lunch at the super-zen, super-gorgeous, Japanese Tea Garden, and teaching a private client  ––Adrian and I had an early dinner at Don Pistos. It’s true that on my very first visit, I went with Susan at 7pm, but that was before I registered with ...