Nora Ephron

 Sometimes I get sad that there won't be anymore movies made my Nora Ephron.  And there won't be anything else written by her.  Nothing. 

I think about this more often than not, and now that I have her book, The Most of Nora Ephron, I think about it practically every day.  She was my favorite.  She was the best.

The first time I saw When Harry Met Sally was when I was in middle school.  It was amazing.  There I was at 12 years old watching and immediately re-watching this film.  The next day I watched it again.  Then I watched the commentary.  Did I realize who Nora Ephron was at the age of 12?  No.  Did I soon find out?  Yes.

I realized that I had seen a bunch of her movies.  I realized that I loved them all!  You've Got Mail is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE movie.  Yes, You've Got Mail.  I can quote it from beginning to end.  And I am proud of it! 

By the time I was in high school, I had immersed myself in Ephron's movies.  By college I was reading her essays and buying her books for my mom (so I could read them when she was done).  I felt the need to share her with others, talk about her, show them her movies...her talent...her lists!  God, I loved her lists!  I'm a list person.

There is so much left to say that I'm not saying in this post.  So many people have memorialized her, which I enjoy and read every now and then, still, after almost two years, I'll still pull up a web article written by someone who knew her and loved her.

I miss Nora Ephron and it makes me sad.  

Syd Field

Syd Field died on Sunday, November 17 of hemolytic anemia.  He was 77.

If you don't know the name Syd Field, let me acquaint you.  Syd Field was known as "the guru of screenwriting."  He was one of the best, if not the best, screenwriting teachers the world (yes, the WORLD) had to offer.

I was lucky enough to attend the Screenwriter's Summit in Los Angeles in December 2010 where Syd Field was speaking - Christopher Vogler, John Truby, and Michael Hauge also provided their unmatched depth of screenwriting.

It was an amazing experience to be listening and taking notes from renown theorists and writing instructors.  I wanted to learn more about writing, how screenwriting worked on and off the page, and how to develop a well-written story.  I was provided much more than that.  I experienced it.  I sat among other hopeful screenwriters and it felt right.

Even when I'm not writing, I'm developing the story of my screenplay in my head.  Every single day I think about the story.  With Syd Field passing, I am dedicating my extra time at home to writing. 

It's been a busy few months.  Heck, it's been a busy year!  But that's no excuse.  I need to get this story on the page and that is what I am going to do.

RIP in Syd Field.  You will be missed. 

THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON

I have this theory.  Hear me out.

If the CAPS LOCK BUTTON disappeared, then maybe all the anger in the world would disappear.

My reasoning:
People communicate via text, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and other media outlets.  If there was no CAPS LOCK, people would be less inclined to YELL at their comrades.

Mind blown...I know.  ;)

And also...

Ya know when your pinky accidentally hits the CAPS LOCK button and then you press SHIFT to actually capitalize a letter, but then it goes into lowercase?

iSN'T THAT ANNOYING?????  

SERIOUSLY!  THE STUPID CAPS LOCK BUTTON SERVES NO PURPOSE!  I hate being frustrated while I type.  If it wasn't for the little light on the CAPS LOCK button, I would be pushing it over and over, along with the SHIFT button while trying to figure out what letter is being capped.

IT'S ANNOYING!

Ugh, stupid CAPS LOCK button.  Why do you have to exist?

Do you ever?

Do you ever have an idea in your head that makes complete and perfect sense but then when you put the pen to paper fingers to laptop, the idea disappears?  It suddenly melts away...it hides behind Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, IMDB movie trailers (Movie 43 looks hilarious, btw!), Pinterest, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, THE LIST GOES ON!

I have this great idea for a movie.  It's beyond wonderful.  It will, of course, be a box-office hit!  It has to be!  It plays out perfectly in my head, from beginning to...well...almost end.

And there it is.  That's the stopping point.  There is the distraction.  It's not the social media websites that take my eyes away from my screenwriting.  It's the fact that I don't have a stupid ending for this movie.  I know how I want it to end - happy.  I just don't know how to fill in all that extra stuff...you know...dialogue, character development, plot twists, etc.

It will come to me.  It almost always does.  I've only been sitting on this idea for five months.  That's not long at all.  Seriously, it never seems long when a story like mine brews in my head.

It's quite lovely, actually.

Playwright = Me

I'm officially a playwright. I guess I was officially a playwright when I won the competition, but last night I actually felt it when I watched my play, "A Little Bit," on stage. It was a nerve-wracking experience up until last night, but wonderful none-the-less.

Yesterday, I spent my day doubting myself and my play: Would people laugh? Would they enjoy it? I hope they don't walk away from it saying it was a waste of money.

I am my own worst critic. My stomach was in knots...literal knots. I was so nervous that I barely had an appetite. And I always have an appetite.

Anyway, to make a long story short, my play did a fine job. My three actors really played well off of each other and the audience laughed appropriately. I was very touched to have about 25 close friends and family come to the performance just to see my play. That was my favorite part of the whole night.

Wanna hear something sad?

It's not boo-hoo-hoo sad. It's pathetic sad. My favorite kind of sad.

Yesterday, our local NBC station was out because their tower was down. Instead, we received NBC out of the cities. Bummer.


Anyway, the sad part is, at 11am, I switched over to our local NBC channel to watch Kathie Lee and Hoda on Today. What I found instead was Kare 11 news. Boy, was I disappointed. Kathie Lee and Hoda are my guilty morning pleasures. I find them utterly entertaining. They drink early in the morning, interview B-List actors, and interrupt each other constantly. They're a hoot! But I didn't get to see them. My whole morning was thrown off. What was I going to watch from 11-noon?

Today is different though. My local NBC channel has been up and running since yesterday at noon. Too bad it wasn't fixed at 11. Sigh.


**I have more good news!**
I got offered a job! I'm so excited about it, and I can't wait to start. Everything is coming together for me, and I am so thankful. Plus, with this job I'll get to use my writing expertise!

Wonderful News!

Last Wednesday I received some great news in the mail. A ten-minute play of mine is getting produced at a local theater!

I found that the theater was holding a New Playwright's Competition, so I entered. Two plays were accepted in each age category: Middle School, High School, and Adult. I was one of the winners in the adult category.

My play, along with the other 5 plays, will be shown on April 19th. Also, I get to act as assistant director to my play and help make decisions on costumes and music.

I'm overjoyed with the thought of it all. Even now when I think about it I can't help but smile!!!

The title of my play is A Little Bit. It's a glimpse into the lives of two friends while they sit in a hospital waiting room. And it's funny :)

Gwyneth Paltrow and Kinsey

I never told the blogging world about my trip to Los Angeles in December for the Screenwriter's Summit. Well, it was amazing. I learned a lot about screenwriting and I'm so happy that I went, because it sparked a lot of ideas for my scripts. I have already seen my writing improve.

While we were there, we saw some famous people. Gwyneth Paltrow got her star on the walk of fame, so we saw her, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Matthew Morrison (from Glee), Ross Matthews, Amy Adams, and Rob Corddry. Pretty amazing, huh? And we saw all those people within an hour of each other.

Paltrow, McGraw, Hill, Morrison, and Matthews were there for her star ceremony. Amy Adams and Rob Corddry were filming a scene for the upcoming Muppets movie.

The best part was that Ross Matthews saw me and waved excitedly to me. He heard me say his name when I was talking to my parents, then he turned and looked at me, I waved, he smiled and waved...magic, haha! If you don't know who Ross Matthews is he's known as Ross the Intern on Jay Leno, and he's frequently on Chelsea Lately as part of the roundtable discussion.

After we returned from L.A. I browsed some pictures of Gwyneth Paltrow getting her star and in the background was ME!!! Too bad none of the photos that I was in made the magazines, but it's on the internet :) Close enough for me.

Resolution: To Make Resolutions

Talk about late New Year resolution making. Sheesh, it's almost February. Better late than never, is what I like to say. Or as others say: excuses...excuses.

I was a little hungover to start my resolution on the 1st of January anyway. Now that I'm over that 25 days of post-party"ness" I would like to start my 2011 year with a whirring noise of the elliptical machine in my basement instead of a bang. We need to oil it...it shouldn't be making a noise. That will be part of my first resolution. Let's call it number 1.25.

My other resolution...yeah, I have TWO, this is going to be a good year...is to finish all my scripts that I've started. And that number would be, wait while I check, twelve. Holy crap, twelve! I didn't know I had that many. Sonofamother! That's a lot. Okay, new second resolution: Finish only the good scripts that I've started. In that case, my number goes down. Plus, I've finished three of them already. So this new number *cough* five *cough* is more manageable.

To sum up this really short blog post, only for the sake of writing "To sum up," my resolutions are:

1) Work-out at least three days a week
1.25) Oil that elliptical machine
2) Finish the good scripts

That doesn't sound too hard. On the other hand, it took me 25 days to get this resolution thing sorted out...26 actually, since I'm starting tomorrow.

The New Adventures of Old Kinsey

:)

Who doesn't love Julia Louis-Dreyfuss? She was hilarious as Elaine, and she's just as good (some say better) as Christine on The New Adventures of Old Christine. Too bad the show got canceled. Boo CBS! Shame on you!

Good thing Lifetime shows reruns during the week.

So now it's time for new adventures with ME!!!! It's October 1st and I'm ready. I have a clear outlook on my future and I'm totally ready to grab life my the horns.

Ew, I hate how cliche I just sounded, but I need to get my point across. Watch out people, Kinsey is grabbing the horns of life, seizing the day, shooting for the moon, because there is light at the end of the tunnel, I'm upping the ante, because time is money, and I'm ready to hit it out of the ballpark.

First things first, I'm getting tired of my blog theme - so I'll work on that tonight and hopefully set it up this weekend.

Secondly, I'm super excited to say that I'm going to attend a Screenwriter's Summit this December for two days!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! I'm so excited that I could burst. I'm happy as a clam or a lark or a pig in the mud. Let's just say I'm a happy camper :)

My new adventures are beginning.