2010

This year:

I wrote and starred in an internet video: The Stickler

My screenplay The Happenstances at the Yellow County Community Swim and Racquet Club The Summer Before Last was a finalist in the 2010 Beverly Hills Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

I transcribed for 2 Reality TV shows.

I started a Tumblr. and a Twitter.

I got a Manager.

I moved from Van Nuys to Encino.

I got a promotion at Intervention from a Freelance Transcriber to, an officially on the payroll, Night Logger with my name in the credits.

Summer turned One.

Ash and I turned Twenty Four, we celebrated one year of marriage and Ashlea got pregnant (that link is to the Baby Harmon Tumblr. FYI).

I wrote 2 sitcom pilots.

I wrote and sold 2 feature screenplays to Black Christian Movies/ Nu-Lite Entertainment.

I got a new cell phone with a California number.

I wrote a spec sketch/ stand up variety show script.

I played on a team in a Men's Basketball League, we played in the Championship game but lost by one and ended in second place.

I am a member of the crew that produces the web series The End. In 2010 we shot 12 Episodes and released 9 of them. Out of the 12 I wrote 4, directed 7, and co-starred in 1.

I put together an E-Query which I should update soon.

I guest blogged about writing Direct to DVD movies on a more popular blog than mine.

I wrote several drafts of Happenstances, co-wrote two feature screenplays with writing partners, two spec commercials, two un-produced shorts, one spec feature screenplay, and a few treatments/ pitches.

In total I wrote 3 features and co-wrote 2.

Now to do more in 2011.

It looks like both of my next direct to DVD movies will be released on February 8, 2011. You can pre-order them both from Amazon now:


I don't know how I feel about pre-ordering, especially because there isn't even cover art up for them yet. I would say hold off until I know more, BUT, when/if you buy Nora's Hair Salon 3 and/ or Walk By Faith: After the Honeymoon please order it through my blog so I earn a little bit (and by a little bit I think it's just a few cents per copy through Amazon Associates) on the back-end that, because I'm currently non-union, the production company didn't offer me.

We had another shoot day for The End. today. It went really well, I wrote three of the episodes, directed two of them, and co-starred in one! Because The End. is a Screen Actors Guild approved low budget new media project I will be SAG eligible once the paperwork goes through. I had to exhibit a special skill or attribute as to why I had to be cast, no spoilers as to what that was... (Hint, it wasn't my incredible beard growing ability, but that is definitely on display). Keep watching every Sunday.

Decem-beard

The End. can now be seen on SciFinal.



Episode 7 will be released on Sunday.  We have another shoot day coming up this Sunday, I wrote 3 out of the 4 we're shooting and I feel good about the fourth.  I will also be acting in one of the episodes, and you know how it goes down when I act.



I leave it all on the screen, that's raw emotion right there.  I had to be built back up from a broken shell after that scene.

But anyway, I'm almost done with the projects that I want to be done with before vacation.  Only a couple more writing days and the first draft will be complete, tomorrow will not be one of those writing days though because I'm going to a taping of Conan!  I think/ hope that Jimmy Pardo is still the opening act.

My basketball league's playoffs start Thursday, my team is in second place, exciting stuff.  Speaking of exciting stuff, my wife is getting more and more pregnant as the days progress.  Our unborn child has a tumblr.
 
Also, I'm going to continue this for a few more days:

My blog's birthday is on December 17th, it will be three years old.  For my blog's birthday I'm going to send a lucky someone a copy of Pastor Jones: Preachin' to the Choir aka Pastor Jones: Heavenly Voices.  All you have to do is comment here as to why you deserve it the most. 

Also, do some of these things:

Post Thanksgiving Post

I had a relaxing time over the holiday and I wasn't productive at all.  Right before I left though I did a new draft of Happenstances, I love it.

I leave LA again for the holidays in three weeks, there's a lot to do before then.

My blog's birthday is on December 17th, it will be three years old.  I started it twenty two days before I left Maryland to move to Los Angeles for my semester long film program at the LAFSC.  For my blog's birthday I'm going to send a lucky someone a copy of Pastor Jones: Preachin' to the Choir aka Pastor Jones: Heavenly Voices.  All you have to do is comment here as to why you deserve it the most.  I expect a raging competition.

If you want I can also write you a note on it or you can ask me to keep it in the condition that it's in when I buy it used off of Amazon, ha!

You might be wondering, Pete, you wrote a Christmas movie, Johnson Family Christmas Dinner, and it's Christmas time, why not give away a copy of that too?  1) Don't be so greedy, 2) There is an improvised joke that was not in the script I wrote that irks me so much that I don't really talk about that movie too much anymore, I explain the situation in an old blog post here.  So Pastor Jones it is.

Also, a new episode of The End. is up, find it on the sidebar to the right or catch up on every episode here.

Thanksgiving

This is the Thanksgiving Episode of The End. I wrote and directed this episode.  This is the first one that I wrote entirely, I've directed all of them that have been released so far.




Just for fun, here is the script!  This site Scribd hosts documents and I've wanted to use it for a while and this seems like a fun one to share since it's produced and the formula for The End. is no secret (and now that we've established that formula we're going to start playing with it in future episodes).
The End. of Giving Thanks



Ash and I are heading down to San Diego for Thanksgiving.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I have some important meetings, a lot of writing, and another shoot day for The End., all of which I'm thankful for.

You can catch up on all the episodes of The End. here and follow The End.'s blog here.

Guest Blogging, The End. Of Contacts - Episode 3, etc...

I recently guest blogged on a cool, more popular blog than mine here at Amanda the Aspiring Writer's blog.  I wrote about my journey so far, in general, and more specifically writing Direct-to-DVD movies. Check it out and follow that blog, it's interesting and she gets a lot of insights from different people in different aspects of screenwriting as well as her personal journey.



This is a great episode of The End.  I'm really looking forward to our Thanksgiving episode though.  We had a great shoot day for The End. over the weekend.  Remember to check for a new episode every Sunday.

The End.'s Producer and Star, Bryan Mayer, answered some questions for the Slebisodes Web Series Guide's Actor's Corner.

All this Web Series excitement has got me thinking of my own premise, I'm outlining it now in between other projects and my day (aka night) job.

The End. Of Marshmallows - Episode 2 and more!

We have another shoot day of The End. coming up soon. We plan on doing about 20 episodes and seeing where we're at by the end of them, if we've found an audience, if there's more we want to do with it, etc. So far it's been a good experience and it's both ignited and rekindled some connections.

I directed four out of four episodes so far, in the next shoot other crew members are going to take turns directing with me.  I've written some upcoming episodes that are going to be great.

Writing quick, short episodes of The End. is a great break from feature writing.  They're only a few pages long, they have easy structure, and they can be really weird without effecting the story/ mythology.  I should write shorts to take a break from features way more often.  I have a bunch of short story premises banging around too.

I'm in the middle of the first draft of the second script I've attempted to write with a writing partner.  Both partnerships have been very different.

The first script I wrote with a partner was the baseball script with Phil. In that partnership we would meet often, we talked, he would give me ideas to add to the story we we creating (the original story was based on his idea), then I would do the writing, give him a hard copy (Phil doesn't do computers), he would give notes, then I would make corrections using the notes I agreed with and debate with him on the points I did not agree with. Another tough thing about that partnership, besides Phil's aversion to technology, was that his memory isn't the best so I would have to debate him on the same point several times. A cool thing about the whole ordeal was, because Phil's hearing wasn't great and he didn't want to meet at the usual coffee shop (he doesn't drink the stuff), we met at a baseball field, which was cool because of the content of the script, but also after a couple meetings Phil told me to look up at the name on the backstop and it turns out we were meeting at Pote Field, Phil's last name is Pote, we met at the baseball field named after the guy I was meeting with.

And it's not like he did it to show off or anything, he's a really humble guy and was kind of embarrassed almost to tell me, he just loved to meet there and it was convenient for both of us.  Plus it was quiet so he could hear me and the weather was always nice.

My current writing partner is a guy I'm working on The End. with, a roommate of mine from the LAFSC.  In this case we both write new pages, he's probably written more fresh pages than I have so far, and we send them back and forth then I tweak and polish them just because I have more experience.  He wrote the outline that we're working off of but we've talked about everything every step of the way.

They've both been really positive experiences, I also would like to work with a partner who has more writing experience than me.  It would be like training with a better athlete, it would elevate my game more than me having the final say like I have had in these past two partnerships.

Happenstances is looking very promising.  I'm not going to get my hopes up but in a perfect world where everything works out ideally it would be shot in 2011.  I don't expect that but I am really optimistic.

My goal (it's important to me to set goals and deadlines) is to finish up these two projects I'm currently writing, at least a first draft of the one and a possibly final draft of the other (no draft is a final draft until the movie is locked in editing, but a "final" draft that my Producer can attach to the business plan).  I would love to write a new spec starting at the beginning of the year so I would have a bunch of things in my pocket to just give to my manager, enter in contests, etc, etc when my baby is born so I don't have to necessarily be thinking of new ideas and writing, just promoting all the things I've already written.

So, watch The End., go to the blog.  Thanks.