Good script, bad football

Eden's Bluff, our screenplay about the "clothing optional resort," is coming along nicely. It has turned out to be much funnier and much easier to write than I had anticipated. When we got the whole batch of producer's notes, I really didn't know how we could manage it all. The protagonist seemed like a character that I couldn't relate to at all, and thus I thought she'd be really hard to write for. But the time in L.A. with Johnny was huge--we came up with a great outline and we've been working faithfully off of that. I don't think that this script would be in nearly the shape that it is if I hadn't made the trip out there. We're turning in the first draft next week and I'm very curious about what kind of feedback we'll get from our producer. The big plan has simply been to make it so funny and so good that he has to shoot it. But with two subsequent drafts in our contract, that would be quite a ways away, if it happens at all.

Last weekend we went up to Fayetteville for the Arkansas-South Carolina game. Let me tell you, it's a strange experience to be at a sporting event with no emotional investment in the game whatsoever. I was even planning to place a bet on Arkansas, just so that I'd have a real reason to root for the Hogs...until I saw that they were favored. I didn't want to be an ass and go the other way, so instead I just went to the game and it was pretty brutal to watch, even from a neutral observer's point of view. Their quarterback situation is a mess but they have a couple of decent young running backs, which translates into the most vanilla, predictable play calling you've ever seen. To sum up: in the 4th quarter, facing a 4th and 1 with the game and, essentially, their season on the line, Arkansas called time out. They came out with a formation that they had used all day, one that I immediately recognized indicated that they would probably run it off tackle. Now, throwing a nice play action pass or a little bootleg out of that set would have been great--it would have been almost guaranteed to pick up a first, if not score. Instead, they ran off right tackle...which they had done about 30 times already. Obviously, they got stuffed, and ended up losing. Their coach needs to go.

On the way back, we stopped on a scenic road called The Pig Trail to scatter some of Jim Bob's ashes. It was a beautiful spot, up in the mountains, surrounded by trees full of autumn foliage. The moment itself passed pretty quickly, but at least it was done nicely.

Other than that, not too much happening on the home front. I can't believe that it's the second week of November already. I find myself saying this every year, but every year it really seems like the holiday season arrives earlier and earlier. Thanksgiving is just over two weeks away! Crazy. The script will keep me busy for a little while but I'm curious to see where things take me after that.