Fiscal Year King - Part One

I sit in the quiet cool of the air-conditioned board room, waiting for the axe to fall. Around me, the others, awkward in their suits and ties. It could be any of us. It will be only one of us.

The Chairman sits in silence, looking at the papers in front of him, once in a while glancing up at us. He looks bored. The bastard.

Beside him, the man we call The Executioner when he's not in earshot. The right hand. That's how it goes: The Chairman picks a head, the Executioner swings the axe. My tie's too tight. I fight the urge to tear at it.

Johnson's on one side of me, stinking of the sweat that's rolling off him. He got screwed on the Barcelona deal, and everyone knows it.

Torres on my other side, slouching in his plush leather chair, wearing a half-smile and looking like he doesn't give two shits. Like the Chairman. He's got the look down pat. But it takes more than that to be the best of the best, you sack of crap.

Jamming

As I said, I signed what amounts to a confidentiality agreement regarding the material I was working on last week, so I can't get specific. This I can say:

I was working to develop and hone ideas created by someone else - taking some general notes and making them specific, so that potential buyers can see a sample of how the idea could actually work. Any real payment or further participation is pending support from buyers. Spec work, basically.

So, Karol asks (see her comment on my previous post) specifics aside, how did it feel?

Awesome.

I love collaborative work. I have a knack for it, maybe because good ideas get me charged up, no matter whose good ideas they are.

I love trying to find the heart of something so I can help to improve it. I love taking something that's roughly hewn, finding the good in it, and smoothing away the extraneous.

It's an amazing rush.

I love my own projects (I'll be going back to the screenplay now that I've got my material in to the creators), and working alone has unique joys that collaboration doesn't fill.

But wow, did it feel good to jam on something again. I'd forgotten how much I liked it. I'd forgotten how good I was at it.

I'd forgotten how much I missed it.

Of course, I may find out tomorrow that the original creators hated every single idea I came up with, threw out my contributions and now spit when they hear my name. It was still fun.

I'll keep you posted.

I Could Tell You, But Then I'd Have To... Oh, You Know The Schtick

So, things have been on the quiet side here, lately.

The past couple of months, that's been because I haven't written any writing to write about.

Well, that's no longer the case. For the past week, I've been doing some interesting work on a very interesting project.

But I can't talk about it - signed a confidentiality agreement and everything.

At this stage, it's a lot of fun, and draws on a lot of my strengths as a writer - but it's way to early for anyone, including me, to get excited about it. Like many projects in their early stages that involve confidentiality agreements, this one could turn out to be nothing, or it could turn out to be big, or I might not be in it for the long haul. Could go a bunch of different way.

But I am writing. Just wanted you to know.