 I know it's going to be different, it's going to feel a little different, strange, it's going to start on time. But we're going to start on time, and we're going to change it to 20 and 25, so 20 minutes worth of time. It's all about nature. This is a little when I was a writer class, it's a free writing class. It's also a play which we're going to make together by doing the actions I write together today for 20 minutes. And then we're going to do the dialogue by doing the Q&A and by doing the questions and your creative process. So if you don't have any questions, but you're going to do the process, you're worth it. Remind me of me. Glenn. Glenn. I'm here. Good to see you too. So you're new today. I'm here. We're a new world. It's new to me. What's your name? My name is Kirsten. Kirsten? Kirsten. Hi. Hi. So we're here today. We have some new idols. I said hi to you guys over there. Dan. Jack. Let him know you're a new girl. There's new person in comfort. And we're still waiting for Joey. I know. Maybe around the holidays. Yeah. Yeah. You sit down and wait for the table. You lie down. You lie down. Do you prefer comfort and you lie down? Stop. I know. I'm seeing it. I'm prepared. I'm kidding. No, no, no. It's easy. Safe. Safe. Oh, right. I just want to say that song. It's easy. I'm tired. I'm going to come up for it. I'm going to join you. No, no. I'm going to join you. One minute. These are cute people. Can you turn them on the volume? Make them cute? We already have之前. Make them cute. No problem. I'm going to go and try standing up. Yeah. It works. I want to add this up. Make it cute. I'm going toices. That's one reflector for me. св pewn briefing. No, thank you. here to help us stay on point. If we want to, the people out in the interlabs want you to tweet their questions to us on sandwich here. Okay, so go to Twitter and follow at watchuworkslp, watchuworkslp, hashtag newplay. So the hashtag newplay. We must be in the desert. Okay, so we're going to I know you just said it. Take it, take it. We're going to work for 20 minutes. Is that what you said? 20 and then we're going to talk for 25. I'm just going to read it. I'm going to be lazy, just please. What's somebody else wrote? I might get that too. Right now. Okay, I don't know. 20, do you think we'll take 20? Yes. Okay, here we go. Great, okay. So we're back. Now we're doing the conventional one that it's spoken of. It's a question as to like a little bit of dialogue that we're earlier in. We're kind of old school about that. We're just going to talk. We've got a little bit of work done. I hope we get a lot of work done. And if anybody has any questions about your work or your creative process. Time to ask. Hi. Hi. So I've been working on this play. And I've been doing a good job actually. I have like 45 out of 60 pages, I think. So it's been a lot of progress. So I'm excited about that. Right now I'm dealing with sort of like act to trouble, I guess. And that, oh, what do I need to elaborate on? So I have three characters who are in different, each of them are in different worlds. And I'm going to overlap them later. But right now I'm sort of trying to find out what their journey is through that. And I'm writing scenes, I guess, as I go for each character. And I've found that I'm overwriting one character. And I'm not sure what scenes to show and what scenes to... Yeah, I don't know what needs to be on stage. What action needs to be on stage, I guess. And I keep on concerning myself because I'll write tons of scenes that I like, but that just stretch on... It makes the whole stretch on too long. So like, do you have any ways that you use to keep on track of like what's the story I'm telling? Yes. Yeah. Yes, yes. What's great is that you figure it's going to be about 60 pages long. Yeah. Yes, okay. And you're on the rap page 45. Right. Right? Okay. So I would suggest... I mean, it's... I love things that, you know, I've got this problem. It's, you know, this character. I mean, it's great. It's great because basically it's just great to page 60 and write the ending. Yeah. And then see. You know what I mean? All those problems... Because your problem could be saying, oh man, you know, your mother is going to hate you if you write this play. Oh man, you know, your uncle, this is totally going to expose him as being like a do-gooder or an established artist. He can't have that because he's, oh man, my friends are going to hate me. Oh man, I don't like the setting. I set it in Texas and I should have set it in California. I hate it. Oh man, I can't care what his name is. Rosette. She's going to call her Jane. It's all the same. You see what I'm saying? It's the beauty. I've never seen, you know, an Indian, a sculptural Indian god. Many faces. Uh-huh. Or that... What's accessible as well. Jim Henders cover. I think that's what it is. Many faces of God. Okay. The many faces of our anxiety. Right. The way through it is just go on through right to the end. Then look back and you'll be able to see it more clearly. Right. I guess the difficulty is that I have like half, I know how to write the first half of the third act. But I don't know how to write the second half and I won't know until I get through the second act and I'm trying to be time efficient. But I keep on writing more than I need to in the second act and it's not getting to the heart of what I'm addressing. When you know what the heart of what you're just is. Yeah. Then get to it. Well, like when you're writing, you know, you're writing scenes and you're writing, I don't know, like I don't... I'm not as good at keeping on track with like the... Okay, so if there was sidewalk and you're walking down here, and you guys say, Dan, walk down the sidewalk and you're like, oh, I think I'm gonna walk on the street. I'm like, Dan, walk on the sidewalk. I don't know. Dan, do you know what the sidewalk is? Yeah, it's right there. Okay, then you walk on the sidewalk. Just walk on the sidewalk. I guess I understand what the sidewalk is. You know what the heart of the matter is that you're trying to... Yeah, but I don't know which scene is gonna crack the code. Crack the code. I love these terms for you. In all the days, long before I was a writer, people used to say, break the back. I'm trying to break the back of my life. I'm like, God, how do you crack the code? You're gonna crack it. You're gonna break it. You're gonna manage it. You're gonna make it to our will. Yeah. If you know what the heart of the play is or the matter is, just make an index card. Put it on your desk. And just write, you know, if you know where the target is, just aim for it. Stop shooting over here. Don't do that. Right. Shoot this way. Okay. You know, get your bow and arrow out. Okay. Go that way. You'll have a better chance at getting your target than at your point in this direction. Right, right. Because you know your target. Yeah. I should. I guess there's supposed to be a lot of obstacles between me and my target. And I'm trying to find out how to... Just realize, just the face of your anxiety, it is absolutely nothing other than your anxious. It's nerve-fucking racking. And it just... Okay. Just keep going toward that goal. Let's do it. You're listening to those voices saying, wait, we don't know. Like, you better know what you're doing. Okay. Okay. Let's do it. Let's do it. Keep on, keep on. Ain't nobody going to turn you around. Oh. Straight on to the morning. Whatever it is. Engage. Whatever the work time is. Engage to the dawn. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But in the time, man. Uh-huh. And you have some... You have like a... How much time do you put in? Uh, how much time do I put in today? On a regular basis. On average. On average? Yeah. I'm more chunky than regular. I'll do like three or four hours and like I'll go a day without. I need to get more regular, but my schedule is just so nice right now. Try to do some regular times. Okay. Because also that, you know, when you're doing regular, it just gives more time for those voices of caution or negativity. Right. Right. Okay. Well, I like this regular time. Anybody else? As a writer, writing in your play, you have a fairly good understanding of the story that's outlined of what you're trying to squash it out and why they're here and what their goal is. At what point is a good point to invite an outside perspective to come in and ask, okay, I don't really get that. Like, why is that person there doing that? Because in your head, you understand it because you're writing it. But, obviously, for most people, whose heads aren't like yours, them reading it, it's going to be different. It's a good time to allow other people to say, can you read this? Can you use, like, what questions do you have? Because I find myself, I said, I finished my desk when we were the first asking the play that I'm working on. And I sent this to someone for feedback. And they sent me, like, a lot of questions and suggestions, which kind of scares me because I feel like, through his suggestions, they're hindering my creative process. Because now that, as I go back to, like, work on rewrites or clearing up the story, I feel like I'm taking what he said because, oh, as an audience, maybe that's an audience who's like, yeah. So, one thing you could tell yourself in the future, which again, was right now, is that you don't share a word until we're done. That's a good, you know, because, I mean, I'm saying, because you shared your work at the end of Act 1, and you feel like it isn't as helpful as it could have been. And so maybe one of your things that you can tell yourself next time around is I'm going to keep my work close to myself until I'm done. And as I mean, we've been done. I would say we'll get to the end. If you meet a deadline, you have a commission, maybe, and a group is saying, you know, we need that ride in August between vets, then you're done. And you need it over. But yeah, I would agree with your experience that showing somebody your work from here at the end of Act 1, you're not done yet. You're still in the anxiety. See, this is, I got to show someone my work because I know it's the same that I want to say. It's the same version of I don't want to write it. It's just another phase of anxiety. And it's just the same as I know my mother's going to hit me six years in a row. But what will my kids say when they read this play about 10 years from now? It's all the same issue. I'm nervous. I'm scared. But wait a minute. I'm just manifesting myself in a way that can get to you. You know, maybe you're not worried about what your kids are going to think, but someone else might. Maybe you have an interest in saying this to yourself. So you hand it off to a trusted friend. I'm assuming a trusted friend. Okay, you're probably great from the beginning. Right. But it is perhaps less than helpful because it's kind of crowding your creative process. Okay. So in the future, don't do that. No. And for now, for now, put your notes aside and just one audience and we're out of a million and one audience member who never has all the answers. Okay. So put your notes aside and their notes don't matter at all. You know, you know. Okay. Put your notes aside. It's really hard to give notes. It's really, giving notes is an art form. Is an art form itself. It's really, really, really hard to give notes to someone about their work. It is an art form and there are a lot of people who are great at it and those who are great at it. I know some of them who are great at it and I still don't give it my work until it's done. Okay. It's like, it's like I use the notes for like, you know, you have it in there. Now, what are you going to do? Pull it out and check what you think. Oh, whoa, whoa. Put that in. I mean, right? You got to do it. Not three months. I mean, three months. Is that going to be a good question? You got to be present. Same way with life. Okay. So put the notes aside. You don't care. It doesn't mean you don't care about your audience or whatever. No. You're right. Someone asked me yesterday, I was in, I was pitching your most energy. You have to tell if you're an outlaw and you're a good person, you know, with someone who wasn't taking the questions. I said, tell me about it. Tell me about it. I'm like, no, I'll tell you about it. Oh, yes. I'll tell you when I'm done. Yeah. I think that maybe one less friend. But as a songwriter, one last bell to answer. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? To your five, just put your notes away. Put it in an envelope, seal it, tape, duct tape, put it in, you know, whatever you call it. Yeah. It's that thing, the fallout shelter. What? Does it have that? It's a long one. It's a long one. It's a long one. Well, with a long one, it's a long one. Oh, that. You don't have one rose? All right. You're building my life. Get out of your life. Put it in your storage. Put it in your mother's storage. Put it in your brother's closet. Put it in your magazine. You guys just have a question? Yes. Crystal and I. Hi. I'm like a praise report. So, she has a lot more to say than I would have thought. Really? She's gonna be in my place. Yeah. You're talking about your character. I'm not. I'm not today. I'm your child. And not yesterday. And so, that was really weird and cool. And, you know, unlike anything I've experienced and kind of made me realize that maybe some of the writing that I've done has been more pushed upon for myself rather than giving ear to what they might have to say at least early. So, I'm kind of just trying to be open, trying to just listen and just, you know, and write. I mean, literally, it goes from, I said, you know, Susan said you have to speak. Right. So, and eventually it went from questions from you to I. And she literally took the pages. So, now that I'm at this point where I'm like, okay, let's hear. I'm not thinking about my other character. Right. But I'm kind of like, where does this fit with what I started already or am I to start over? Or am I to think about the theme or what's supposed to be said and play? I kind of, you know, this is such a new unexpected experience from all of the things that I've written. And I kind of been like, what happens now? What am I supposed to do now? Well, congratulations. And so what happens now? Because Crystal had a character. She had a two-person play, wasn't it? That fit. Yeah, and then it felt like there was one character that she really wanted to just speak and be part of the play and be able to figure out how to access that character. So now, ask the character. How do you fit in here? Ask the other character. Is that how she fit in? Who is she? I don't know. Have a conversation. You know what I mean? And again, don't let not knowing stop you from listening. Because that's again, that's a form of your anxiety. I don't know where she fits. Oh no, that's a form of Crystal's anxiety. So that will shut her down. It's just the same question that I've been having. I don't know what to do right now, so I'm going to shut down. So ask her. Ask the other characters. Or make something up, make up 10 stupid ways that you can fit in the play. Stupid, endless stupid. That will free you up to write something and create a stupid way. Stupid things. That's all. We don't know what's going to happen next in the play or not or whatever. Just write 10, a list of 10 stupid things. And write really stupid ones. And then you can write one of them. I kind of like that one. That's not stupid. I like it. Oh wow. Cool. It'll just relax your mind a little bit. Good job. His hands and face go home. You're going to sign him. Don't quit. We set you free on your birthday. I know. It's been a whole ride. I know. Wow. You're good. Nice smile. Anybody else? That's magic. That's having a question or answer. Somebody? And then Kirsten, right? Kirsten's new. So yeah. Why did you ask Kirsten? I don't know. Because I'm alone. No, it's okay. It's okay. I'm coloring outside the line a little bit. You're coloring outside the line? I am. I'm not writing a play. That's okay. We're not either. I wasn't just now. Okay. I'm actually writing for grants. I'm working on a film, a documentary, but it's on a topic that you covered in one of your plays. So I'm channeling your good energy. And we're very good about being good grants. It's about the rise of the ass in pop culture. It's a nod to Zaharjee Markman, the hot and typed voice. ASS. It's a nod to the hot and typed Venus. And grant writing is particularly tricky for me because where I'm very clear about the story I want to tell, how to tell the story in a way that engages people with money. It's a little trickier. I know why this, I don't know, it's been tricky for me because I come from a TV land. So I'm used to executing when someone has a budget, not writing a letter to get a budget. So it's a different process. Yeah, but how do you know that the way you want to tell it is historically the way you get money from people? I think that the way that I've mapped it out to explain it to my team in terms of how we're executing doesn't maybe address some of the questions that I'm being asked in grant writing. So it's a bit of a tricky process. And I'm just going through the work of actually just writing everything I get and having people look at it which is sometimes a tricky process. But for me, I feel it's weird because it's open with the creative writing process of how I saw making it. But now I'm totally open. Like how do I set this? How do I get the money? I'm totally open to suggestions and it's actually even in some ways shaped pushing the story, which I don't think that's a good thing or a bad thing. That's what it is. How's it going? Great. My question is in writing grant, did you take on your own grant work and in terms of translating your story into something that made sense to money? What was it, I guess maybe about Sargi Bartman that you found resonating with? Grant. Grant. Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I just want to say, you know, I wrote a previous step play in 1996. Right. So my recollection was like how I wrote it. Yeah. I mean, how I got the money this year in Martin City most years. But just, just, just foundational. I have so far always, including my district, I just came back home from, have I always wrote in LA, always just tell the story as I think it should be told. I don't really try to second guess what the money people are going to say. Have you done it yet? Okay. I just tell it like I think it should be told. And if they want to buy it, pay for it, whatever, whatever, whatever they do, they will break. And if they don't then, okay, I'll just do something else with my time off. So I would suggest you tell the story and present the material and just think it should be presented passionately from your heart, from your guts, from your balls, from your go, you know. And the money people are going to fall in line. The money people are, there are millions of money people, they all have different tastes. And some people might go, hey, not for us, we want to be more intellectual. Some people might go, that's our problem, that's our kind of thing. You don't want to be second guessing money people. So, it's like, there are lots and lots of studios. Right? So, the project might not end here, but it might end over there. You've heard millions of stories about a script or an actor who's trying to get a game to take money. You know, we found them and we knew that money. The script found itself. So, I'm just going to say right now you really feel at least the need and the money will come as it should be. And you'll find it. That's my suggestion. Or you could say yes, but we know you don't think so. Two minutes. Or you say peace, James. James says two minutes. Two minutes. Yes? Do you have a question? I don't have a question. I don't have a question. I don't have a question. I just start writing, whatever comes out. Okay? And then I look at it and see what it is. How do you outward it? So, do you enjoy that method? It sounds like you want another method. Or a way to, an alternate way. Your method sounds like you write, see what comes out, and then work on it. Which is a cool method. Right? A method wrong with that. If you want to try the outlining quote-unquote method. Yeah. Right? Seeing as if most people do it that way. Think of, yeah. So, don't think of it wrong anymore. Not as a bullet point or index cards. First thing I see is this happening. Then the next thing I see is this happening. Then the next thing I see is this happening. Then this person talks about this, then this happens. You're seeing blocks of action. Okay? Not dialogue. Not elaborate. This is what the set's going to look like. These are the characters she's wearing green shoes. You know, that kind of thing. Big blocks of action. That's an outline. Oh, that's a way to outline. Okay? So you don't dress it or fill it in the outline. An outline is just, boom, boom, boom. Or maybe there's a piece of dialogue that you just want to capture, you know? It's using index cards three by five. Yes. Act in that after I've written something, then I put it in the text. Okay? That's cool. So try it before. Because you can write drafts. Several drafts of a script without ever writing a line of dialogue. You just write it, you're sketching it like Van Gogh. He sketched a lot. Before he took out the paint because probably because it was poor and had to save money. But, you know, it's really affected lots of painters, lots of visual arts people. Thank you for listening. My power doesn't mean to challenge you. You're part of the people. Just not now. I think you will see next week.