"Why?"

Occasionally the cacophonous riot of voices in my head will for whatever reason all take a breath at the same moment and leave one of those odd semi-awkward quiet moments hanging in my interior monolog, giving one or two of the normally obscured whimpering voices a rare opportunity to be heard (if not heeded).

It happened again this morning (8:47am CST for those scoring along in the home edition) when a lull hit town and I heard this Cindy Lou Who voice in my head ask "Why, Brett, why? Why do you want to make movies?"

And then iTunes randomly provided me the answer, as a certain music cue cranked and reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movie sequences, one of those that allowed me to just smile and point and say "There. That's why. Just once I want to be able to say that I helped make something like that happen on a screen."



I dunno if I'll ever get there. But dammit, at least there's a goal of sorts.

Onwards.
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pimpin ain't easy

Lisa Gold, a friend of mine I met back in the '07 Nicholl fiasco, is helping put on a cool discussion panel/party as a fundraiser for her short film project, "The Death Of Toys."

If you're in LA, looking for something cool to do on Thursday and interested in hearing and talking to some pretty damned smart and interesting screenwriters (it's called "networking," you weasels-- crawl out of your damned burrows and meet some actual people in the flesh...)

Tales From The Trenches: A Film Panel to support "The Death Of Toys" (Lisa Gold's short film project)

Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: CineSpace
Street: 6356 Hollywood Blvd - street parking or valet
City/Town: Los Angeles, CA

View Map

Please come out and support director Lisa Gold's AFI DWW project, THE DEATH OF TOYS (produced by Molly Kasch and Brenda Blair).

Write Brothers Inc. is sponsoring this great event which features a Blockbuster Panel and a Raffle for screenwriting software.

Panel includes:

-- Terry Rossio, screenwriter (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Shrek)

-- Mark Fergus, screenwriter (Children of Men, Iron Man)

-- John Turman, screenwriter (Hulk, Fantastic Four II: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

-- Karen McCullah Lutz, screenwriter (10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde)

-- Allison Rayne, Head of Development 2S, Hilary Swank's production company

Tickets in advance $25
Tickets at the door $30
To purchase tickets, go to:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91709


== BIOS on PANELISTS ==

Academy Award© nominated for co-writing SHREK, the first ever Oscar© winner for Best Animated Film, TERRY ROSSIO co-wrote the three PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films, two of which currently rank among the Top 10 all time highest grossing films worldwide. Other credits include ALADDIN (1992’s highest grossing film); THE MASK OF ZORRO; DEJA VU; NATIONAL TREASURE BOOK OF SECRETS; G-FORCE (as an Associate Producer); and SHREK 2 (as a Creative Consultant), currently the highest grossing animated film ever.

MARK FERGUS received an Academy Award© nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for CHILDREN OF MEN; he also co-wrote IRON MAN. He is currently working on the screenplay for COWBOYS AND ALIENS (teaming again with Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau), and is co-writing the intensely anticipated live-action re-make of Katsuhiro Otomo’s AKIRA.

JOHN TURMAN is a writer for film and television (HULK, FANTASTIC FOUR II: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER). He has created half-hour comedy and one-hour drama pilots and writes and consults on one-hour series television. He wrote “BEN 10: ALIEN SWARM,” which premiered on Cartoon Network last month, and he will soon begin production on an original feature, TICKING CLOCK.

ALLISON RAYNE heads development at 2S, a production company managed by partners Molly Smith (producer, P.S. I LOVE YOU, THE BLIND SIDE) and Academy Award© winning actress and producer Hilary Swank (BOYS DON’T CRY, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, P.S. I LOVE YOU and AMELIA). Previously, Allison worked in marketing and publicity for Miramax Films, then transitioned into feature development and production, working for Stratus Film Company (producers Mark Gordon, Bob Yari and Mark Gill). Later, Allison worked for Warner Independent Pictures for over three years where she played a part in the company’s day-to-day operations.

Moderator JOE FORTE writes original content for both film and TV. Having worked with nearly every major studio, Joe has written scripts for Academy Award© winner Jodie Foster, producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura (Transformers), and Harrison Ford, who starred in Joe's 2006 thriller, FIREWALL. Most recently, Joe adapted the award-winning Japanese novel OUT by Natsuo Kirino for New Line, and is currently under contract with 20th Century Fox where he is developing a one-hour drama for network TV.

Cool event. Good cause. Great networking opp. Stop listening to your punk rock records and talkin' bad about your country and come out of your hole for something useful for a change.
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