Shilling for the Home Team

One of the privilages of being a red shirt is watching the game from the bench while the big boys do their thing. That's what the internet and my limited industry contacts do for me -- give me the opportunity to watch the game up close and train while observing the varsity team. Some weeks go by and I don't think I've learned much. Other weeks, I get eye strain from reading gold mines of input.

Josh Friedman was missing for a few weeks while he slayed a dragon. That same dragon goes after all of us randomly with disregard to demographics. Josh concluded his hiatus by sharing some of his cancer ordeal in that brutally frank way that makes us chuckle despite the gravity of the message. Thankfully, Josh is back and again using that brutal frankness to expose the dirty, holey, underwear of Hollywood. If you haven't read his last two posts, leave this lousy imitation blog and go straight to the real thing.

The History of Debate Parts One and Two between Craig Mazin and Josh Olson were still raking up comments from the heavy hitters as of an hour ago at 257 remarks on part two. Screenwriters, this is a must read. Really, it's like watching a somewhat polite boxing match. Alex Epstein has a remark or two about "film by" credit on his blog, too.

Speaking of Josh Friedman, pop over to this Wordplayer thread called Why War of the Worlds Ending Sucked -and How to Fix It. Andy Wardlaw has some comments about time tested family values that gave me pause. However, if you have no problem with the "oh by the way, they all died of disease, good night, everyone!" ending to War of the Worlds, don't waste your time on this one.

The Thinking Writer has a post about enrolling champions. While some will likely disagree with the opinion that the key to enrolling champions is to be normal, intelligent, professional, and friendly, it's a good read and reminds me of something Terry Rossio once wrote -- trouble is, I can't recall whether it was in a column, a thread, or an email. Oh well.

Make sure you read John August's blog today about the Hollywood Reporter entitled "If a Trade Paper has a Blog, Is it Still a Trade?"

Finally, and as always, it's fun to catch up with the latest Monk news from Lee Goldberg, just back from Hawaii. I only wish he would let me answer his fan mail. I'd write, "Dear XYZ, Bite me. Regards, Lee."