Good Article

Check it. From trackingb.com:

SPECS & THE CITY

By Jack Traven

‘THE ART OF THE GENERAL’

You sell a spec script. You are, essentially, a screenwriting celebrity. Your face gets plastered across Variety (If you have a headshot. If you don’t have a headshot, you send Variety some unfortunate picture you were saving for Facebook). Variety is great because they actually love to mention how much of a novice you are. It’s a good hook for the article. Example:

‘Awesome Action Movie Spec was written by Jack Traven who used to drink expired milk deliberately until this afternoon, and is somehow managed by Insanely Hot Management Company and, despite all odds, repped by A Recognizable Agency. Traven – amazingly – sold this thing. No joke. He sold this freakin’ script. It’s about some crap. This kid mixes vodka with Gatorade because that’s what’s left in his malfunctioning fridge. Seriously’.

Now, the actual Variety article is usually a little more discreet (and polite) than that, but you get the gist. The fact is, spec writers are hot for a week. A week. New blood. It’s the Cinderella story. Everyone wants the writer. It’s like the hot chick transfer student in high school. She’s gorgeous because she’s new. But she’s only new for a little while. Soon, she just becomes another girl who’s kinda attractive – but has to compete with the previously attractive girls we already were aware of.

Ah, Renae from Australia. I remember you fondly.

The adventure is: There’s a studio-validated hot spec floating around and the spoils are going to be the fun generals.

Generals.

I didn’t know the meaning of the word outside of the Civil War before I sold my first spec. I was a kid back then. All I knew was Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting Blah-blah-blah and the fact that a logline shouldn’t be more than two sentences:

‘It’s Speed meets Good Will Hunting. Also, some vampires are involved’.

Well, you sell that movie and then you go on GENERALS.

The heck is that? It’s such a…general…term.

Well, turns out it’s the lifeblood of the working writer. It’s also the justification of most paychecks of certain creative execs. The manager or agent will set them up. Usually, the manager will hook up the general, and then the agent will e-mail you a week later to see how it went.

‘How’d that meeting go with Platinum Dunes?’

‘They thought I was the janitor. I had to clean out the bathroom’.

‘So…they liked you?’

Generals are very much like a blind date where both parties have a vague idea of what the other person is into. Usually, if I’m sent on a general I do my research on the production company in question. What do they have in development? What have they made? What do they like? I tailor my pitches and (sometimes) even finished specs to fit – what I perceive – are their needs. If I have a completed script that’s like ‘Fast & Furious’ meets ‘Total Recall’ but that production company doesn’t do action. I will somehow spin it to make it seem like it’s closer to ‘The Hangover’:

‘So, like, the Schwarzenegger character…gets drunk…and forgets what he did…then drives a hot car…and makes 200 million domestic on a 40 mil budget. And somehow makes charisma-less Bradley Cooper a star’.

Okay, Bradley Cooper is a nice guy. I take it back.

The point is – they’ll end up reading the script (the first 20 pages anyway) and if they dig – who knows? Maybe that director-led production company wants to take a risk on a script that goes against their typical development slate?! More effective though, is doing the homework and coming up with 1-3 solid ideas on the car ride over the hill. It’s a general. It doesn’t have to be a pitch. Pitch later. Interest now. I can’t tell you how many times I just made up stuff in my Ford Focus with no air conditioning on the way to some hastily-scheduled production company general.

Oddly though, a lot of my loglines had to do with me sweating.

Again, it’s blind date philosophy. Entice. Then, pitch. You’re not pitching a movie in a general, you’re pitching YOU.

I feel somehow like a traitor. I feel like I’m giving away the ‘super secret secrets of screenwriters’ in this column. Especially since this is an open-air environment of both writers, producers, execs, and assistants. But that’s not the case. Because I feel that anyone on the OTHER side of the desk would agree with me. Make generals fun. Make them quick. Make them work. Even the ‘suits’ would concur. No one wants to sit in a room with a new writer who does something like:

‘It begins in Vienna. 1800’s. A political calamity is afoot. We push in on our lead – a 50 year old woman. She has no neck. For the entire film, she’s gnawing on an ear of corn. Cut to – an elderly man. Our lead. We don’t know this yet, but he’s a space alien’.

In a sense, this is a four-quad column – meant for the execs as well, who have to endure the gibbering nonsense that is screenwriters clutching a half-drunk bottle of Crystal Geyser describing their latest opus.

‘It’s Lord of the Rings meets Bio-Dome. Also, some vampires are in it’.

Okay. I guess it’s more of a two-quad column. But who says ‘two-quad’? Is that even a thing? By the way, the ‘vampires’ joke isn’t an exaggeration. I actually had a friend-exec consistently ‘fix’ my various pitches with one loaded sentence:

‘Sounds good. Put vampires in it’.

Didn’t matter that it was a romantic comedy. Didn’t matter it was a political actioner. Didn’t matter it was a period adventure.

‘Put vampires in it’.

Wow. That was seriously his creative input. How do people navigate these treacherous waters? Well, Constant Reader, here is Jack Traven’s Ultra Improved Super Secret Five Tips For Surviving The General Meeting. The ‘Art of the General’, if you will:

1 – Dress like you’re going to Denny’s. You’re the talent. Dress nice? Forget it. They work in an office, you type stories on your MacBook on the toilet. No one needs to dress up. Surprised that they do.

2 – Be cool. And I mean: ‘Be Cool’. Be ready to make fun small talk for events of the past week. Lakers. UFC. That thing that happened at Les Deux with that one chick. Be prepared. If you just wrote a romantic comedy - bitch about your relationship. If you wrote a bad-ass action movie – bitch about getting into a fight. Wrote a dope horror spec? Talk about the scary thing that inspired it. Write it, live it. Or fake it. But don’t roll into a general off an action spec looking like McLovin.

3 – Be humble. You wrote a spec that sold? Nice. Congrats. Welcome to the unforgiving world of professional screenwriting. But you’re not special. There’s about a hundred writers that will get a gig before you. Assignments are tough, but they’re not unattainable. Oddly, studios favor the more expensive writers. You cost a 100 grand. Chris Morgan costs a mil. They’ll hire Chris before you. Still, you need to not have an ego. Prove to the ProdCo that you’re the inexpensive writer for the job. Chris Morgan turns down gigs. You don’t.

4 – Concept, concept, concept. Simple, fun ideas go a long way. You know the movie Face/Off? Even the TITLE of that flick is awesome! Generals are very…well…general. The exec wants to hear something immediate and killer. Sell it in the title. Sell it in a sentence. I know that’s Screenwriting 101, but I think the art gets lost when writers are face to face with ‘decision makers’. Example: ‘Con Air’. That’s a movie that Sir Scott Rosenberg (Yeah, he was knighted – by ME) could have pitched in the room and then just walked away. Simple ideas. Simple genres. Slick titles.

5 – Expect the worst. For the most part, no one’s going to like anything you pitch. Oh, for sure, they’ll say:

‘Sounds really, really cool’.

Or

‘That’s really unique’.

Or

‘Wow. Really well thought-out’.

This is a business where everyone’s afraid to say ‘No’. Even the term ‘PASS’ is very neutral. It’s a PASS. In a sense, they’re just giving the next buyer an opportunity to buy, right? It’s not a ‘NO’. It’s a pass.

Generals are an important part of the development process because they proof ideas. They siphon concepts. Some exec checking his/her texts in the middle of your pitch? Not good. Some exec yelling at his/her assistant for interrupting during your pitch? Good. Go with that. It’s captivating.

If you take a general and that exec is whistlin’ Dixie during the meeting? It’s not worth pursuing. Is it a bad idea? Not necessarily. But it’s not marketable. Stow it. Write it and direct it when you become David Koepp or Brian Helgeland.

Is there a specific pattern for going to a general? Probably not. Is it a morphic field? Totally. There’s no established structure – much like screenwriting itself. Joe Eszterhas has a great quote about general meetings. It goes something like this:

‘Christ. F**k this s**t’.

The general is an unwieldy, fearsome creature. But if you’re in one – you’ve done something right.

Until I rewrite Shane Black…

J-T

PAGE Awards

Hey, just got an email telling me I made the first cut with my action script:

Dear David,

2009 marks the sixth anniversary of The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards contest, and it has been a record-breaking event! We received 4,394 scripts this year, submitted by writers from all across the United States and around the world.

Today, we're officially kicking off The 2009 PAGE Awards announcement season and we have some very good news for you…

The First Round of competition has now been completed, and the Judges have selected the top 25% of all entries. Based on your First Round scores, we're very happy to inform you that your work was selected to compete in the Second Round:

Congratulations!! Given the level of competition you faced, this is a real achievement.

The Second Round is new this year. The number of PAGE Awards submissions has quadrupled since 2004, and in order to evaluate your screenplays as thoroughly and fairly as possible, we realized we had to add an additional round of competition for 2009. So the top 25% of all entries are now being given an additional round of judging. (Because some scripts were entered and evaluated in more than one category, a total of 1,400 scripts have advanced to the Second Round.)

Our Second Round Judges are now in the process of reading their final stack of screenplays, and in just a few days we will be tallying the totals. We will use the combined scores of the First and Second Round Judges to determine the top 10% of all entries -- our 2009 Quarter-Finalists. So mark your calendar and make sure to check our website on Wednesday, July 1st, when we’ll post our Quarter-Finalist list.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Once again, someone is about to make a lot of money, as they did last year, doing the exact thing I've been trying to get my company to do for years.

*thrashes about*

*says bad words*

*calms self*

Okay. I'm okay.


Back to work.

The Future of Indie Film? (And a Question...)

This looks like an amazing new model, similar to one some associates and I have discussed trying to put together. Of course, this model comes with amazing heavy hitters to back it up.

Check it:

http://www.dfindiestudios.com/site/

Also...

I want to tweak the action scenes in my action movie to read better and more actiony. I've been reading the Bourne scripts to see how Gilroy does it. Has anyone read any scripts that have particularly well-written action scenes? And does anyone know how to get ahold of a PDF of the Taken script?

Writers Groups?

Advice, mm?

How do I start a writers group that isn’t annoying?

If I can figure out a way to carve out some regular meeting time among all the madness, I’d really like to have a good sense of community – and I mean face-to-face, not just on the Internets. I’d like to read other people’s stuff more. I’d like to hear about their processes. I’d like the pressure of having to deliver pages regularly. I’d like to give and get feedback.

I wouldn’t like to have to listen to people who refer to themselves as Artists. I don’t want to hang out with people who think they’re genius writers with nothing to learn. The last thing I want is to be in a group with someone who sees the group as a captive audience for their groundbreaking 600-page script tracing the history of Planet Zythoryx.

Okay, maybe I’m a misanthrope.

But I was in a writers group once in grad school that was great. Everyone was pretty good – we all delivered stuff that was imperfect but interesting. We all understood we had a long way to go. No egos, good humor, no extremists. Laid back but helpful.

And then I remember writing workshops in college that just made me what to eviscerate myself to have an excuse to leave. And sometimes when reading the blogosphere or discussion groups of spec writers, I get so woozy from the self-worship and whining I pass out.

So, those of you (is anyone there?) who have started or joined successful groups, how did you do it?

I know two guys around here I’d like to invite. Start there and see what happens? Put an ad on craigslist that lists the rules? Hey, is that it, create rules?

Advice anyone?

Go Clara, It's Your Birthday

As of last night I’m eight pages into this next script and already the characters are starting to say things that surprise me.

I love that shit. You start with an idea of a character but sometimes they literally take over and start to become a little different.

Maybe it ends up being a bad thing and in revision you have to bring them back to the character you first envisioned. But in my experience, usually it turns out nicely and you get some stuff that, coming from some unquantifiable place in an imagination on the fly and not from the intellectual act of outlining and character sketching in advance, is richer, more interesting and usually more real.

In this script the lead, currently named Mindy, is pretty much what I expected, but the second, now called Clara, has really surprised me.

So have at it Clara. Go girl go.

Back In The Whatever

Fell off the wagon there for a while. Or the horse. Or whatever trite metaphor I’m supposed to use.

Anyway, I finished the action script and have started to query agents and managers with it and send out it to my limited contacts and contacts to contacts. One management company has responded positively so far, asking to read the script.

Doing so has renewed my energy to try to get my drama out there, so I’ve made a fresh push with it as well. Got a nice rejection letter from Tyler Perry’s place. Very polite and kind.


The action script was the first one I did the infamous Index Cards with. It was a little annoying to do but I have to say it turned out to be fairly helpful in big-picture perspective and being able to visualize individual characters’ arcs. I recommend it.

And since my own version of kinda-outlining (which essentially means bullet notes on Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet but intentionally leaving space for winging it in process) worked with that script, that’s how I chose the next script to work on:

I started these kinda-outlines on four ideas I had. As I proceeded, I got more excited about one over the others and that kinda-outline went fairly quickly, so that’s where I’m heading now.

Started writing in earnest last night. THREE WHOLE PAGES down so far.

Feels good to be back in the saddle. Wagon driver's seat? USSR?

Who Are These People?

I work for an independent television production company. We mainly do factual entertainment programs for cable nets like Discovery, Nat Geo, History, TLC -- that sort of thing.

We've talked internally about adding independent films to our slate but it's in the long term plan at best -- just doesn't fit our current set-up.

But that doesn't stop people from sending me scripts and query letters all the time, asking us to produce their film.

Most are terrible, some are intriguing, but we just aren't in that business, and frankly, these people should do enough research to know that.

Got a query email today that I just loved. Copied below, with incriminating info redacted:

I am the creator of TITLE, a script that is an absolute passion project for me and on which, in the past weeks, I've had several discussions with William Morris about the directions for the project, suitable companies, casting, directing, etc. The agent has noted that "LEAD CHARACTER is actually quite a sexy character, everything a female heroine should be", and called the script 'gripping and touching,' and best of all, 'studio-ready.' The agent has also said that “TITLE is a 'high-concept action/thriller,' and that it can be pitched as, STUDIO HIT meets STUDIO FRANCHISE HIT with a twist.”

Because WMA is circling around me and the script, I started looking at production companies, and more intimate agencies, in hopes of finding just the right one for this project before I sign with them, since I believe that the agency might be too big and even getting representation may still lead to the TITLE script getting lost in the shuffle.

I came across your company while doing a search on ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY WEBSITE, and would like the opportunity to submit TITLE for your review and discuss if your company may be the right place for this project.

Looking forward to your feedback,

NAME

My feedback?

Well, I hate to disparage any writer. Writing's hard, so hats off to anyone who does it.

But, well, my feedback is that... are you effing kidding me?

An agent at William Morris is "circling around you," talking directors and talent, and you query a small factual TV prodco?

Just doesn't make any sense. I checked and NAME doesn’t have any credits listed anywhere. So, if it's true that WMA wants to rep you, an unproduced first-time spec scriptwriter, IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, GO WITH THEM – THEY’RE THE SHIT.

And if it's not true, why such a lame lie?

This Guy Is Awesome

Check it:

Question For Cinephiles

Have you seen and enjoyed any movies during which you’re rooting for the underdog hero for the whole film, and then at the end you learn the hero is actually the bad guy?

Trying to figure out the difference between wowing the audience with a cool twist of an ending and pissing off the audience by pulling the rug out from under them…

Haruki & Me

I’m reading the memoir of novelist Haruki Murakami – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I’ve only read one of his novels, but I liked it a lot (his writing, in After Dark anyway, is the type that appears very simple but is actually, or maybe also, very complex – I love that), and I’m really digging this memoir. My wife got it for me at the library – not knowing I’d read his stuff, just thinking that, because of the title, I’d be interested. She’s good, that one.

It’s been really interesting how similar our thinking, and even experience, is in some ways – despite enormous differences. I mean, it’s easy to substitute screenplay for novel, and cycling for running, so those differences aren’t too tough to get beyond. And then there’s the fact that he’s a wildly successful writer with a dozen novels translated into 42 languages… and he’s Japanese.

But a lot of what he’s writing in his memoir feels like it could have been lifted from my own journal, blogs and annoying self-indulgent conversations with family and friends.

Here’s one bit I read today at lunch that felt spot-on. He wrote his first couple of novels while running a bar he owned in Tokyo. Of that, he writes:

With the first two, I basically enjoyed the process of writing, but there were parts I wasn’t too pleased with. With these first two novels I was only able to write in spurts, snatching bits of time here and there – a half hour here, an hour there – and because I was always tired and felt like I was competing against the clock as I wrote, I was never able to concentrate. With this kind of scattered approach I was able to write some interesting, fresh things, but… a natural desire sprang up to take it as far as I could… and after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to close the business for a while and concentrate solely on writing.

Hmmm. If only I had a bar to sell…

End In Sight. Kinda.

Cracked 100 pages on the hitman script. A few more scenes and I’m at the end of the story.

But it’s too early to celebrate.



This has been a new process for me.

The two main differences are that, unlike other scripts, for this one I: 1) sketched out the main plot points start to finish to create a rough outline before I got deep into writing and 2) tried really hard not to self-edit as I’ve written.

The rough outline was really helpful. I kept it loose because I knew that some of my best writing kind of comes out of nowhere, so I wanted to allow some space for that. But I also found it helpful to have a good idea of the next big beat I wanted to get to by a certain point – then wing it getting there.

A little yin, a little yang.

And it’s been dadburn plum liberating not to edit as I go. Normally, before I proceed, I need to make sure everything is clicking. This means a lot of stopping, reviewing, rewriting, stopping, reviewing. This makes it so that, by the time I get through my first draft, it’s usually pretty solid – it might not be good, but at least it will make sense. To most people. But it’s very time consuming, and I think it really interrupts the flow.

So this time, I stopped myself from doing that. If I wrote something that wasn’t consistent with a character as developed so far, I kept it. If it wasn’t motivated yet, I kept it. If it contradicted the plot heretofore, I kept it. I tried to be good about leaving notes for myself – like “Plant the seed for this in act one so it makes sense here” or “Where the fuck did this come from? Justify it or lose it” – but sometimes I just plowed on.

I thought this was important for this script, because it’s an action script, more reliant on plot than others I’ve written, and it’s me writing it. It’s a big, twisty, lots of movement movie, for me anyway, and I knew my character-driven, mildly OCD self would get bogged down in plot specifics if I stopped to worry about which day it was, and how they got to this location, if that dialogue was unique to that character’s voice, who they got the gun from, how they traced that car...

For the first draft, I just wanted to get all the fun things in my head out. So that’s what I’m almost finished with. It's been great, and I think it's working, and I like what this script will be.

Incidentally, I have this friend, whom I hate. He writes these amazing, complex movies that are so fun and so goddamn stylish – and he just wings it. He’s so natural at story and so freakishly smart, he just writes scene one, then two, then three, then four – and without outlining or anything, he has this awesome thing that totally works. And he hardly ever revises.

Did I mention I hate him?

So anyway, I’m nearing the end of the story. Which means of course that, like I told Ryan, once I bang out the last scene and type FADE OUT, the real work begins – because then I have to go back and make it all make sense, have relevance, mean something, be entertaining. I have to make it work.

And that’s a lot of work. But I'm up for it.

Screenwriter Math

22 query letters regarding last script, The D Line
+
2 weeks waiting
+
0 takers
=
86 pages into next script

Thanks Bro

You know when sometimes you read a sentence and it just makes you smile and you're glad there are people out there writing, because their doing so sustains you and makes you feel connected to them and everyone else and happy to be alive?

Just read this one, from one of my brother's novels (Melvin is the bass player in a jazz band):

"Next, Melvin. Black hat down over his eyes, lowdown like a sunset, all you could see was the smoke rising from a glow somewhere down in his dark horizon."

The Stars Are Aligning

As evidenced by:

· Bruce and Barack on the same stage.

· My kids couldn’t be sweeter.

· Went on a ride Saturday with cyclists who were way stronger than me, got my ass whipped and had a blast. Thought, as I was riding, that doing such is much like writing – so much better to challenge yourself than to do what you already know you can do. Which leads me to…

· Hitting 70 pages in the hitman script – definitely made the right choice to go back and start from scratch on the second half. It’s going infinitely smoother now. Getting into some dark areas I hadn’t really considered before, but it’s feeling really good. I can see where it’s going and know how to get there. And I’m really enjoying writing it. Might take a couple days off, actually, to put in some sustained time.

Please, Rewind, Be Kind

I’d gotten to 61 pages in my action script, and it just wasn’t feeling right.

Writing was difficult. Ideas weren’t coming smoothly. The whole thing felt awkward.

I was thinking, writer’s block? Creative juices low? Just a glitch?

Then I realized the problem was that I wasn’t letting it happen naturally.

I’m not a hippie. But for me to write well, my heart has to be in it.

See, through an associate, if I can use that vague term, I’d heard about some producer/financiers who had liked what this associate and I had done in the past. They said they were interested in working together, and laid out an enticing plan to finance a feature, if the script contained certain elements.

Now, I wrote The D Line because it was a story I really needed to write. It was in my heart. It’s not easily marketable. But I can very much see it on screen. It’s good, and I like it, and it seems a lot of other people do, too. Slowly making its way out into the world. Remains to be seen if someone likes it enough to make it, of course…

But this script I’ve been writing with an eye toward easier marketability. I still want it to be good, something I can be proud of, but I want people to be able to read it and immediately think ticket sales. As everyone says, this is show business.

So I understand the need to make something you can sell. The good news is, I can get my heart into those types of stories, too.

But what I realized is that you have to draw the line. It’s show business, yes, but at least for me, it also has to be something you want to write. I want to write. So I can put my heart into it. Which is when my writing gets good.

So what I did with the action script is go back to where I started putting in the elements these financiers had asked for. That was page 48.

Then I deleted pages 49-61.

And now I’m starting over from there.

It’s going much more smoothly now.

I’m feeling more inspired, the direction of the script makes more sense. It’s working.

It’s still a sellable script, just maybe not to those specific financiers.

Of course, when I’m finished, I’ll send it to them anyway, see what they think.

And of course, I admit it – I’m no hardliner. If they read it and say they’ll buy it if I put in these certain elements, you know I’ll dive back in and rewind again.

Has It Been A Month?

I’d apologize for being away for so long, but I’m sure I haven’t hurt anyone’s feelings…

So the Script PIMP trip to LA was cool. The days got away from me, though, and I missed meeting up with some friends and Chris over at Deep Structure. Was looking forward to it – next time, eh?

It was good to meet and talk to the other finalists at the PIMP party. Always helpful to swap process stories and hear how other people do it. The guys who run the competition were very cool and helpful – they’d read the screenplay carefully and were able to talk about specific strengths and challenges. So that felt nice – that they were fully engaged.

They set up a phone conference with a manager in LA – had a good chat with him. He’d read The D Line and liked my writing but was honest that a black historical drama wasn’t his thing. He does want me to send him the hit man script I’m working on now when I’m finished though…

Part of the prize is a “recommended” posting on InkTip. I uploaded yesterday, and I’ve had seven producers/agents/managers/exec types read the synopsis so far. No three-picture deals being thrown my way of course, but I’m happy to know people are starting to check it out.

I had been stuck on the hit man script for a while – but recently got some helpful feedback on it from thoughtful readers and it’s encouraged me to dive back into it. Not really blasting away at it – still so hard to find energized time to devote to it – but in the last week I’ve added seven more pages anyway…

Off To The Other Coast

So, I’m heading to LA tomorrow for a few days vacation and to attend the Script PIMP awards ceremony in Santa Monica on Friday.

I’m wicked psyched – looking forward to meeting some new industry contacts and 19 fellow spec writers. Always good to expand the circle. Ready to shake some hands, share some stories, make some plans.

It’ll also give me a chance to reconnect with some friends out there that I haven’t seen in a while. But the dance card’s not full so if anyone’s gonna be in town and wants to grab a beer, I’m game.

Unless you’re a lunatic.

You’re not a lunatic, are you?

Hometown Crime

I grew up in Montpelier, VT -- an awesome place to live for reasons that will soon become clear.

My little brother still lives there and just sent me a link to the city's police log, which is regularly published in the local paper. Take a look, and you'll see why it's such a great place to live. Whoever writes these must be having so much fun.


Montpelier police log
August 22, 2008


These are some of the major calls Montpelier police responded to from Aug. 6-13.

Aug. 6

One Cummings Street resident wasn't very happy with a stinky visitor. Police received a call about a skunk that had made numerous visits to the property.

Police received a call around 9 p.m. about three kids in dark clothing on the path behind the high school. When police arrived they found no one at the scene.


Aug. 7

One College Street resident learned that a newly adopted dog named Tank was afraid of thunder. Police were called around 12:45 p.m. by the new owners about the dog's escape during an afternoon thunderstorm. A neighbor found Tank and he was returned to his owners.

A black purse was found in a Main Street doorway with no one around. The purse was turned in to police.


Aug. 8

Vermont State Police contacted Montpelier police to let them know a woman had called on her cell phone to report protesters on River Street. When state police received the call the protesters were in front of Tractor Supply. Around 11:45 a.m. Montpelier officers found a group of about 20 people protesting Vermont Yankee and the use of nuclear energy walking on Barre Street.

A woman called police to report witnessing a vehicle cutting off another, causing the second to drive off the road into the parking lot of Walker Motors. The same vehicle had cut off another at the intersection of Barre and Granite streets. The driver of the vehicle was identified as a 73-year-old woman when she called police. She reported a woman had approached her in the parking lot of the Dollar Store and yelled at her for forcing other vehicles off the road. The driver told police she did not recall forcing anyone off the road while behind the wheel. Police did not hear from the affected motorists.

Around 11:30 p.m. police received a call about an alleged theft of a left-handed banjo from a dorm room on College Street.


Aug. 9

A woman called police to report her daughter's apartment may have been broken into because the deadbolt was unlocked. There were no disturbed items in the apartment.


Aug. 10

A woman called police after a neighbor came by around 10 a.m. on Aug. 9 and found a pot of coffee made. The caller had not been up before the neighbor's arrival and suspected that someone had entered the residence and brewed a pot of coffee. Later that day police retrieved the pot of coffee to test it for fingerprints.

Police received a call from a New York man who wanted a case on stolen art be opened and offered police the name of the alleged thief. The accused party later called police and reported being harassed by the first caller.


Aug. 11

Karl Hammer was issued a citation for a charge of violating a city ordinance around 8:15 a.m. Hammer's neighbors called police to report that his chickens were loose on their property. Hammer is set to appear in court on Sept. 25 to answer to the charge.

A sick-looking pigeon on Main Street was reported to police. Upon investigation, police discovered a bird that appeared to be sleeping out of the rain.

A caller reported loud people throwing balls around in the street that had hit parked cars. The caller was concerned the people may be drunk. Police found kids having fun at the reported location and asked that the activity be moved to Hubbard Park or be done more carefully.

Aug. 12

A man called police to report another man was waiting for him outside to beat him up. The man waiting was accusing the caller of stealing from another friend.

Police received a call from a woman who said she had paid to ride the bus, handed over her ticket and then was told the bus was full as it drove away. With police assistance, the ticket purchase was confirmed and the woman was allowed to ride the next bus.


Aug. 13

Police received a call from a person reporting their vehicle registered in Mass. was stolen. When police arrived the caller reported the car had not been stolen, but it was a rental and the caller forgot what color it was.

A man called police to report that he'd been hit by an SUV while crossing Main Street. The vehicle struck him, knocking him to the ground. The driver stopped and asked the man, "You cool?" to which the man replied, "Yeah, I'm fine," according to what police reported. The man refused to be transported to the hospital and was treated at the fire department for minor injuries.

BlueCat Hates Me

So I didn't make the BlueCat semifinal cut. Poor me.

But I will be heading to LA at the end of the month for the Script Pimp awards ceremony, to press some flesh. Hoping to catch up with some friends in the area, too. Should be fun.

The 48 Hour Film Project was a blast. Tiring, but fun. Hopefully our post guys will create an uploadable file and I can post it here. Winners are announced on Wednesday.

Each team had to include the required character of Harold Ralston, lifeguard, the required prop of a tray and the required line, "That's not the way I see it." Each team drew a different genre -- ours was Holiday Film.

We did a little twist on a Valentine's Day movie. Turned out pretty well, for 48 hours of work. Hopefully you can judge for yourself soon...