Well, to be fair I’ve been back at school for over a month now. Things have been busy, but I’ve also been wallowing in a nice comfy pit of sheer laziness. Remember when I was talking about getting motivated? Well, it hasn’t happened yet. Still working on that!

This term has been a pretty fun one, though. In addition to our standard script studies, I am also taking courses in writing for video games and writing for graphic novels. I’m also developing an original TV series bible and pilot (which is my favourite project of the term) and a new feature film. If anybody knows of anyone interested in developing a Canadian feature-length comedy about competitive cooking (and stoners), point them in my direction!

The other main thing that happened this month is that most of us shot our portfolio shorts. These were 4-page scripts we wrote and workshopped in the beginning of summer. We were teamed up with local filmmakers, some of who are involved with the school, and filmed in a very short 3-hour shoot. We got to experience the process of meeting with the directors, rewriting where applicable, sitting in on casting sessions, and otherwise being around (and, of course, being useless) during the filmmaking process. Since it was a lot more professional and mature than the collaborations we did with other students, I found it very edifying. I also really, really loved my actors. Auditions were open to anybody in the Vancouver talent pool, and we found ourselves with a wide selection of really talented and experienced actors.

The whole thing has, of course, reminded me that I do want to do this for a living – at least as part of my living – so I really have to jump back on the productivity train. I have paid a bit more attention to myself lately and realized that my daily word count is pitifully low. So my goal for the rest of the year is to get it up to a respectable number – in fact, any number is fine as long as it’s every day! I really hope that, by 2010, I will be doing 5000 words a day, and perhaps blogging daily about the experience here? To all my, I don’t know, two readers?

But anyways, I am getting excited again about the projects I have going. Here’s a brief rundown of what I want to keep working on in the coming months:

• Next month: send my Venture Bros. spec script to Scriptapalooza.
• Post regularly on this blog, and not just movie reviews either!
• Sometime before I graduate, finish this piece about volunteering in Tanzania last year to submit to some magazines (and post here if nothing else comes of it)
• January: polish up my uber-Canadian cooking comedy to send to the Page Awards
• Also January: send along my polished up original science-fiction TV pilot to the Page Awards
• February: start looking for somebody who might be interested in making a queer science-fiction short film.
• March/April: finish another draft of my sci-fi children’s novel and start looking for an agent for it.

It’s nice to have goals! What are some of yours?