#highly recommend reading the script holy fuck how did they write this

[firelise]

I've seen thousands of Evelyns, but never a Evelyn like you. You have so many goals you never finished. Dreams you never followed. You are living your worst you. I can't be the worst… what about the hot dog one? No. Everyone here agrees. This one's worse.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022)

[loveoaths]

writing log: 2021 + 2022

a recent conversation with a good friend made me realize: holy shit, i struggle to acknowledge my accomplishments, especially the creative ones. so i decided to start doing a yearly writing recap to log what work i've done, contextualize the environment i did that work in, and take a moment to just sit back and appreciate how i spent my year. this is the first time i'm doing this, so i'll be combining 2021 and 2022.

in 2021, i...

...got headfucked by illness, but kept writing.

this is not one of those "inspirational disability" things. long covid is the worst thing that's ever happened to me, physically and mentally, and that's saying something. i spent a solid two months not being able to walk, let alone think, and it took three more months for me to be able to read for longer than a few minutes at a time. at one point, my sixty-something year old mother had to hold me up so i could walk a lap around the block that i had been running months prior, and it was a super dark time. i am proud of myself for fighting for my health, advocating for humane treatment, and re-learning how to find solace and comfort and reprieve in reading and writing. i was recuperating in bed most of 2021 (when i wasn't struggling to keep my job lol) so i had a lot of time to come up with project ideas but zero stamina to finish them. i'm still not recovered, and have new chronic illnesses out the wazoo now, but i'm in a much better place these days.

...worked on 21 scripts.

includes new and old projects. my brain was scattered, but i tried.

...developed 12 new project premises.

some are good, others are dogshit. but who cares!

...finished 5 scripts.

three half-hour scripts, and two elevens. combined, that's almost two episodes of prestige television. i'm coming for your ass, tony gilroy!!!

...read 25 books.

comic books, ya novels, non-fiction, autobiographies, picture books; you name it, i read it. most of what i read went in one ear and out the other because of the covid brain damage, but i remember how soothing the act of reading a book while curled up with hot tea under a warm blanket was to my aching brain and body, and i'm glad i tried my best to read even if i knew i could barely understand. a third of this list is picture books and/or middle grade books and graphic novels because that's all i could handle at the beginning of the year. and you know what i found? a lot of those kids books are great, and heart-warming, and delightfully more nuanced than i had ever dreamed. the kids are gonna be alright.

...took 6 writing classes.

i'm glad i did this, but looking back on it this was kind of stupid. my brain was burdened by illness and my response was to... burden it more? for fun??? insane behavior. i highly recommend every course i took (chris amick's pilot development, multiple classes at writing pad, rad sechrist's project tv writing class, patricia villanuvella's 11-minute episode format class, and more) but i do not recommend taking them while your head is fucked. if anyone is interested in learning more about these courses, let me know!

...took on my first pitch project.

i was hired to help write and pitch a kids show, and learned a lot about the pitching process. mostly i learned that an upbeat attitude and a corny joke or two will go a long way. also, that the tv industry is an ouroboric cesspool constantly feeding on its own shit, but i digress.

...developed my first original show pitch.

it's uglier than sin but i love it. developing the pitch actually made me realize the concept is better as a novel series than a show, but i appreciate how much that process taught me about exploring format, structure, and the art of pitching.

...landed my first staff writing gig.

this was my proudest moment. in between numerous ER visits, doctor's appointments, health scares, housing issues, and more, i broke into the industry i love.

in 2022, i...

...was still pretty fucking sick, but doing better.

title says it all. despite losing my emotional support animal to leukemia, i hung in there. feels good.

...took on three writing mentees.

this is still the most shocking thing i did last year. i became a mentor to three fellow brown folks and i love them all dearly. i don't know if i'm a stellar mentor or anything, but i would do just about anything to help them reach their writing goals. i always thought i hated teaching, but it turns out i really enjoy working one-on-one with people as a guide rather than an instructor. my goal is to help all of my mentees break into their respective industries in the next two years.

...took three writing classes.

at this point i'm mostly taking these to meet people and learn new tips and tricks, but i still found them highly rewarding. plus, i realized i work best when i know someone expects to read what i've written the following week. nothing makes you keep a writing deadline like the pain of disappointing a peer! :D

...wrote 63,207 words for work.

i worked two staff writer gigs and seven freelance or contract gigs, and wrote more in a year than i ever have, ever. i know this number isn't high to prose writers, but a 25 page script is around 4,800 to 5,000 words. that's a lot of pages.

in total, i wrote around 22 scripts for work last year.

...wrote 50,018 words for original projects.

i only finished three scripts, and most definitely did not hit my goal of finishing my feature script, but i still finished. all three projects were complex, adult-oriented, and of personal significance to me, and it felt really good to finally finish them. i don't love all of them, honestly, but one of them got me my current manager and generated some buzz around my name that kept me employed, so i'm incredibly appreciative of the work i put into them, and the work they've given me in return.

...read 50 books.

this is my crowning achievement of 2022! i used to be an avid reader and then stopped out of nowhere for several years, but last year i fell back in love with reading, big time. i am proud to say that after a year of re-cultivating my reading comprehension and attention span, i can once again knock out a 300 page book in a day (with some assistance from my good ol' friend, hyperfixation). coaxing myself to just read five pages a day really helped me with some of the executive function issues of not wanting to pick up a book. if you're struggling with reading habits, i really recommend lowering your bar to entry. read for a minute, or read one page, or even just one paragraph. eventually the habit will reform and you'll be back to reading longer.

...wrote 51 loglines.

i struggled to come up with new, creative ideas in 2021, so this jump from 12 to 51 was startling, but highly satisfying. once i stopped worrying about whether the ideas were good, i was able to do more with the freeness that comes with happily being shit at something. and you know what? once i got the shit ideas out, i found a couple of really good ones at the bottom of the barrel.

...had a pretty alright year.

shit still went sideways, i was overworked and exhausted, and my personal life imploded, but looking back on it, i had a lot to be grateful for, and a lot of love and support in my corner, and i'm going to try to be mindful and thankful for the aforementioned as i push myself a teensy bit further in 2023.

...have a few goals for 2023.

they are:

work less, read more

write more indulgent stuff (gay porn, fic, all the nasty dark shit i like)

eat more veggies

do some fucking wrist exercises and get a desk pedaler because holy shit my joints are aging like MILK

thanks for reading.

[alexnooah]

Rant About Riverdale

This is not for people who love Riverdale and want to fight about the points I’m making, I’m willing to listen to other peoples opinions about the show and hear from people who like the show. There will be spoilers although I have only watched up to episode 7 because I could not continue to watch. I have also not read the comics but I have been informed and know based on my limited knowledge of the comics that the characters and storylines are not similar at all. 

I do not like Riverdale and these are the reasons why:

Kevin

Is literally only gay

Like he doesn’t have a storyline at all and is really only relevant because his dad is the sheriff

In the comics Veronica has a crush on him before realizing he’s gay but in the show Veronica immediately knows he’s gay.

Actually isn’t even a main character on the show, he’s just a reoccurring character which means there are no LGBTQ+ mains on the show at all in season one considering he was promoted to a main for season 2.

Not good representation at all considering he’s very stereotypical, not that there’s anything wrong with being stereotypical but considering he is the only LGBTQ+ regular on the show and has no depth as a character this is not acceptable.

Speaking of other LGBTQ+ representation....

Moose

Where did he go??

He is literally gone after episode 4

Also Kevin literally forgets about him after episode 4 even though it seems like they have been together since before the show even started and Moose offered to be his lab partner in episode 2 I think? which could’ve suggested that he was moving towards coming out.

This relationship could’ve been done a lot better and having one of the characters in the closet and the other not is quite common, especially in highschool. Other examples of relationships with this dynamic that have been successful include: Philip and Lukas (Eyewitness), Riley and Zane (Degrassi: Next Generation), Teddy and Ian (90210), Zoe and Rasha (Degrassi: Next Class). 

Their relationship could’ve been done better but was instead thrown away for Kevin’s relationship with Joaquin who, from what I’ve watched has not appeared since episode 4 but I know that he does come back sometime near the end of the show.

And lastly..

Jughead

Why would they erase his sexuality when asexuals are severely underrepresented?

I understand he isn’t canonically asexual in all the comics but in the newest version, which is more targeted at teenagers and takes place now, he is.

Also in all the other comics he shows no romantic interest in anyone and is more interested in food but by episode 6 or 7 of the show is in a relationship with Betty.

Also he’s supposed to be Archie’s best friend but they literally fight in the first episode and are never really friendly towards each other.

Archie

Is actually Troy Bolton

Like seriously I can’t be the only one who realized this. He literally has to choose between sports and music which screams High School Musical.

Also what was up with Ms. Grundy? First of all the age gap is very creepy and Archie literally forgets about her after she leaves.

Did they ever say if she had a thing with Jason?? I know it was hinted at the end of episode 4 but did they ever follow up with that? because by the time I stopped watching they hadn’t mentioned it.

If not did she just go after her students and try to pursue them romantically because that’s super fucking creepy.

Also Archie moved on like two weeks after they broke up.

And his dad wasn’t really concerned about him being in a relationship with Ms. Grundy, from what I remember he didn’t even really talk to Archie about it.

Wore his letterman jacket to Jason’s funeral which is very inconsiderate considering he got Jason’s spot on the football team and I know he got them to retire Jason’s jersey and whatever but it’s still a reminder and to quote my dad “a douchebag move.”

Betty

Does she have a mental illness??

Like her mom gave her medication in the first episode and that was never followed up by anything.

Also that part where she drugged and tried to drown that football player while claiming she was her sister was pretty messed up.

Like Veronica literally watched it happen and didn’t say anything about it ever again even though if literally anyone else saw her do this they would be very worried about her mental state.

Is emotionally abused by her mother and that isn’t really addressed either.

Why was none of this addressed??

Veronica

Has some of the worst lines in the show

"You wanna know what happens to a snake when a Louis Vuitton heel steps on it? Shut the hell up, or you'll find out." literally what is this? Who wrote this? Who thinks actual people talk like this. 

Also I will touch on this later but she agreed with Jughead when he said Archie’s music makes people want to slit their wrists in a good way.

How can her mom afford that apartment when they’re supposed to be broke??

Told Betty she wouldn’t make a move on Archie and then later makes out with Archie in a closet.

Says she doesn’t want to be a mean ice queen rich bitch or whatever but continues to be a mean ice queen rich bitch.

Made out with Betty even though they are not going to be together which isn’t really fair considering there are no queer female characters on the show as of this point. 

Cheryl

She was dating Jason right??

Like no one casually calls their twin brother their soulmate. 

Also she’s really just an overall stereotypical mean girl which has been done before. 

Her only character development is really after she finds out that Polly is having Jason’s baby.

Also has terrible lines

"I've shed my tears for the Blossom men." What is this and what does this mean. 

Her parents are also abusive and that is also not addressed.

Could’ve been a better character if they expanded and gave her more depth.

Josie

Honestly deserved so much better

I didn’t even know she was a main character until episode 6 focused mostly on her.

Feels like an after thought and overall doesn’t really impact the story

Her music is great and she deserved a better storyline.

The Parents

Hermione is literally cheating on her husband. I don’t care if he’s in jail she can go visit him or send him a letter or whatever and tell him she wants to divorce.

Also all of the parents are either divorced or otherwise seperated and the ones that are together are abusive towards their children, for example the Coopers who sent Polly away and refused to let Betty see her while also trying to control her life and the Blossoms who actually killed their son.

Where is Kevin’s mom? Why didn’t Jughead’s mom take him as well as his sister? When is Veronica’s dad getting out of jail? Were any of these questions answered this season?

Why didn’t the Blossoms or the Coopers tell Polly or Jason that they are related because like what the fuck? seriously what the fuck, that is disgusting for both of the parents to know and not say anything like holy shit. What is wrong with the parents in this show?

Who is this show for??

You would assume teenagers but like I’m in their supposed target demographic and I don’t understand half the references they make

Also what teenager wants to watch parents make out with eachother.

Some general problems I have with the show

Continuity

Does it exist?

Literally went from an episode focused on how Jughead is homeless and how his dad is in a gang to Jason’s funeral which was never mentioned prior to that episode and then straight to an episode about Josie who until that point I didn’t even know was a main character.

Again, Betty’s medication.

Ms. Grudy who? Does no one care about her after episode 4. Like seriously Archie moves on fast.

Also Moose and Joaquin, where are they?

Also the producer or creator or whoever said they wanted to add supernatural elements to the second season. Can someone please explain to me how that fits in to the show at all??

The Writing

Why do the writers think people talk like this? Literally most of the lines are so stupid and poorly written making me question who wrote the scripts and if any of the writers have actually talked to real people.

The line “(when referring to Archie’s music) It makes you want to slit you wrists... In a good way.” “In an amazing way.” delivered by Jughead and Veronica. I had to stop watching the show after this because I am completely disgusted by this. I have struggled a lot with self harm and have thought about suicide and the fact that this was made in to a sort of joke is really disgusting. Maybe I’m being too sensitive but considering self harm is a big problem for teenagers it really isn’t funny to make jokes about this.

Also the show is not thrilling in the slightest. Take episode one for example. It is revealed that Jason is shot at the end of the episode but the viewer already knows this because of an earlier scene where Archie and Ms. Grundy are on the riverside and they hear a gun shot go off which ruins the cliff hanger. If this scene was moved to the second episode it would have been much more thrilling because the cliffhanger wouldn’t have been ruined

How it could’ve been better 

The show could’ve been better if the original characters were utilized and their comic book personas were used as sort of masks they hide behind to cover up whats really going on in their lives which could be explored throughout the season. I think this would’ve been a great idea and more interesting than the Riverdale airing now

I got a lot of information from a youtube video I watched Linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3qAnETjFIU&t=1120s

Also if anyone is interested in other tv shows to watch besides Riverdale I highly recommend Degrassi, Eyewitness, Skam, The Fosters,and  Shadowhunters all of these shows cover a broad spectrum of topics and Degrassi actually just had one of the main characters come out as non binary.

I’m sorry this is so long and if you actually read this whole thing then thank you so much and I hope this opened your eyes or made you think about Riverdale

[goblin-gardens]

I've been meaning to tell you I found a really great new article about Krem. It's called: how trans consultants saved dragon age inquisition by Laura Kate Buzz. It's really interesting and shows some of the stuff they got to change to avoid harmful stereotypes and in my opinion really saved his relationship with Bull and aspects of Bulls character. (Apparently in the original script Bull outed Krem as part of a joke but the consultants got that changed. ) I think you'd really like the article

Oh crap!! I forgot to mention there’s mention of rape in the Krem article. It’s in the part explaining what they took out of his backstory but I realized I should have still sent a heads up.

1. here’s a link to the article, which i highly recommend reading

2. the title is not an exaggeration at all, holy shit. those consultants saved Krem’s character (and Bull’s, and like….. the whole game)

tbh the article uses really kind language to describe how Krem’s early draft hit basically every button you can think of for “tragic trans backstory written by and for cis people.” i hadn’t realized how awful it had been. and it’s so frustrating (more like infuriating) that he’s so explicitly written for cis consumption, even after massive overhauls in story and dialogue that make him a wonderful character

”we got Krem to a point where that sexual assault was not the defining point of Krem’s existence.”

good fucking job guys that must have been real tough. big difficult change to the story there. cookies for everyone

oh wait. no cookies. not even sarcastic cookies. 

“A major focus of the consultant’s revisions was to take Krem from a character who was not out about their transition and got outed against his will, to a character who was willing to talk about his trans status, but only with people he trusted.” 

“The idea that our trans character shouldn’t be outed by anyone but that trans person was something that I was completely blind to”.

reading this article and learning what Krem’s presence in the game could have looked like was like hiking up a mountain in the dark, and then you go back down during the day and realize you were right next to a fucking cliff the whole time

but anyways here’s another gem: 

“great lengths were taken in order to ensure accuracy in Krem’s answers to those invasive questions that would be informative and beneficial to non-trans players.”

like wow that’s super neato for you bud, but is that what you were doing with any of the other characters? making them “informative”? “beneficial”??? wtf

they did succeed in that at least. i’ve seen some very sweet posts about cis dudes loving Krem and using that to help them be better friends/allies to real trans people. but they could have done so much more. maybe if they didn’t write their trans characters explicitly for the education and consumption of cis people. (maybe if trans writers were on the writing team at the earliest levels and not only brought in as consultants later on?)

maybe one of the lessons they could have included in their Teachable Moment is “don’t ask people you don’t know very well about their genitals” or perhaps “we expect trans people to play our game. here’s a dialogue option that shows that”

but yes this is an excellent article and i love Krem and i’m so so grateful to the consultants who saved him

[maggiejulienne]

2017 Midway Check-point and Writer Feelings

Hello, the internet!

2017 has undoubtedly been the best year of my entire life. It’s amazing what getting out of an emotionally abusive relationship can do for the mind, body, soul, and career! I highly, highly recommend it. I hear it’s a lovely time of year not to have been in one in the first place, but if that isn’t an option, telling him “boy, bye” is a excellent back-up plan.

So let’s re-re-re-re-re-rewind!

January

February- Asked to do a treatment for Someone Else’s Musical So I Can’t Tell You More which definitely went under the category of “labor of capitalism” rather than “labor of love,” but it was 

March - Demo recorded for Musical Chairs. 

April - Begin work on Monster Prom, an exciting new computer game, with one of my dearest school friends who I’ve known for more than a dozen years. 

May- Ahhhhh! PRINCESS TEN TEN AND THE DARK SKIES workshop in my homeland of Southern California!!! This trip was a dreamdreamdream.

June - Back in New York! Hard at work on Invincible, Monster Prom, and did a lyric brush up for Someone Else’s Musical Screenplay So I Can’t Tell You More But It Was Fairytale-Themed And Therefore Awesome.

July - The toughest month so far - one of my best friends went through a lot of really hard stuff back-to-back and since she doesn’t have a great family support system I really heavily took that on emotionally trying to be there for her and help her in whatever way she needs - she 0% put any obligation on me, but that’s where my soul lies so it’s always gonna be what it is. That being said, she’s doing MUCH better now and we’re both so much happier for it. I finished the last piece of Invincible materials needed for the author to start pitching to producers, and am now good to set that aside until the next step, when- and what-ever that may be. I saw a whole slew of friends, Natasha, Ashleigh, Hannah, Katherine, Hallie, Zach, their friends, all multiple times within a very brief time-span, and that was great.

So to recap, that’s one short film with my lyrics (Smile), two pieces for a collection of one acts (Alcestis: A Tragiquilt), three musicals based on pre-existing material (Invincible, Musical Chairs, Princess Ten Ten and the Dark Skies), one movie adaptation of a preexisting work of mine, two brush-ups on other people’s scripts (shh! you’ll never know), one computer game (Monster Prom) and a partridge in a pear tree.

That’s NINE projects for other people in six months. 

Holy kjahkjhkajehkehrh oh my goodness SO #blessed, so thrilled to be making my living as a writer, so happy to feel the validation that comes from having the same people hire you again and again because they like your work and they like who you are as a person and have them recommend you to others and you make new connections etc. It’s wonderful, truly, and it’s an amazing feeling and an amazing life.

Now. You will notice that conspicuously absent from the above are such phrases as “my original musical” “my screenplay” “my T.V. show”or “my novel.” And yet I have m-u-l-t-i-p-l-e of all of the above either finished or in-progress. Just in the past month or so when things were getting kind of “eh” in my personal life because of how much my friends were hurting and how deeply that affects me when it’s people I love, I really started missing my own work. Getting paid to write has been a double-edged sword in a way - it makes me feel more like a “real” writer in a very external, tangible way, it does that capitalism thing where I can feed and house myself, and it gives me hard deadlines and people to report to who believe in my work enough to have chosen me over everyone else. On the other hand, it gives me hard deadlines and people to report to who believe in my work enough to have chosen me over everyone else.

I haven’t stopped working on my own pieces during this time, and actually wrote my first-ever short film(s, two of them) since I’m starting to get anxious about getting my feature done and want to start making some kinda movie and it seems like all my friends have produced shorts at this point and YOLO. But I LOVE my feature so so so so much and it’s gotten almost exclusively positive feedback from everyone who’s read it, but hasn’t quite stuck the landing by finding the right person/place/thing with the right resources and the right opportunity at the right time. I may now have a production company for it but we still need to finding funding, and although it’s low-budget as far as feature films go ($500k-$1mil), it’s not exactly crowdfunding material. Mostly, with all these projects, especially the ones on strict timelines, I’ve started carving out time to make sure I’m continuing work on my Most Favorite Novel I’ve Started Since I Was An Adult, here after referred to as MFN.

Tonight, around 10:45/50ish, I got into bed to finish up some Monster Prom/Alcestis work before going to sleep (breaking my recently-instated rule of working on the couch in the living room and sleeping in bed, like a human, but hey). I was casually scrolling through Facebook when I saw an advertisement, inadvertently screamed, threw my phone across the room, curled up in a fetal position with my fists so tightly they hurt and yet I couldn’t unclench them, and sobbed myself to sleep.

WTF?! you ask (no, you don’t, I presume NO ONE will read this whole thing, but this is my e-journal, so I’mma post whatever I want)

I saw an advertisement for a book, the cover of which could easily be for MFN, and the title of which is one I have actually used at one point. I finally had returned to it and started actively scheduling ways to make sure I stayed on top of it, and someone had beaten me to the punch with a shocking level of specificity. There are a lot of things that make me feel strong feelings and my life is an emotional rollercoaster and I just don’t blog quite often enough to write about every single mood shift.

But I have literally never experienced a feeling quite like that in my 26+ years of being alive, and I didn’t know there were entirely new feelings left to feeling.

I’ve never been literally “paralyzed with emotion,” but that’s how it felt. As I said, I literally felt as if I could not loosen my fingers, could not move my knees from my chest, could not open my eyes. I just folded in on myself and fell asleep within minutes, something I haven’t done in weeks, because my body literally needed to shut off rather than deal with the emotional pain I felt of, in one picture and twenty-five words, feeling like a piece I have spent the past eight years working on had been rendered useless and defunct and - I’ve sat here struggling to think of a word to describe exactly what it was but the best I can come up with is - dead. And dead. It felt like MFN,this thing I love, was dead, had been killed by the unfairness of the universe that gave two creative souls the same thought and let one beat the other to the finish line.

What should make this less surprising to me is the fact that the darling young newlywed playwright assigned the Alcestis scene immediately after mine came up with - independently of me, having never met, never discussed the piece - almost the EXACT SAME premise and themes for his interpretation of the text.

(And this author’s book was published by the same publishing house that published my friend’s book that I was explaining to this gal I’m just starting to be friends with led to a kind of complicated dynamic with this other person da da da because of fucking COURSE it was)

Anyway it’s 6:51AM right now and I need to go to sleep so I can wake up and do the writing I’m being paid and/or asked to do rather than just writing about the writing I’m being paid and/or asked to do, so I’ll hafta fill in a few of the beats tomorrow but these are the bulk of my feelings and there’s just a lot of them lol. Mostly I hope that my current trajectory continues and maybe if my writing reaches a broader audience people can see these records of how I got there since we usually only see the sort of “overnight success” moments and miss all the work to get there.

So let the record show that for the first five years I lived in New York, I got a total of about four or five writing jobs, and now have had nine in the last seven months. I did a whole buncha acting in that time, but will soon be acting for the first time in a year and a half. So it took a long time of writing before people started asking me to write things on a (too???) regular basis, and now we’ll see how long it takes until people start asking me to write my own things and they’ll pay for them and let other people see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO

gossiprat