I must look as wan as I feel, 'cos the nice man in Pret gave me a free
coffee.
All I have to do now is get through to 6pm, survive a train journey then
collapse in bed with that bottle of wine I put in the fridge on Saturday.
I have two unwatched episodes of Doctor Who waiting for me (that's how
long this has been going on - almost 3 weeks without a break - but they
may have to sit patiently for another 24 hours before I can guarantee
full attention.
PS - Hi Mum!
It's 2.50 - I have to stop and go back to work, with the last 3 - and
most difficult - passages left undone, and all the proof reading to go.
It's not fatal.
Seriously - we always had 16 hours grace built into the schedule, which
I will now have to use.
I'll just have to forgo the pleasure of going to bed at 6pm, pay the
premium rate for the courier, and hope that their are no delays between
here and Ireland tomorrow.
I am going to have a drink. And chocolate. And not look at this for at
least another 3 hours.
All the other 15 docs (150 pages in all) have been approved and printed,
and await final collation.
The budget was revised 2 hours ago, and sucked up a lot of time.
All that is missing is the 10 page treatment.
It's 1.50 - and I still have a page to revise - and 10 to proofread...
I also have to pick up cash to pay the courier...
Fingers crossed.
1 hour 10 minutes of free time left to finish this baby....
I have one page left to write today (as soon as I am awake enough to
drive a keyboard), and a mammoth proofreading/edit job to complete,
before I deliver the final package to the courier at 2pm this afternoon.
And I can't even get a coffee right now.
Oh - I could sleep for a month. I really could. And I can't, because
this is, in the sane world, the start of a normal working week.
I am too old for the 90+ hour week.
Excuse me while I gibber in a corner for the next few minutes.
Three more days of this, and the application is handed to the courier at
midday on Monday, with a huge sigh of relieve.
It's sort of gratifying to know that I can still pull the equivalent of
a student all-nighter to get a job done.
Although, in truth, the only genuine all-nighters I have ever pulled
have all involved books – 'Consider Phlebas' by Iain Banks had me
turning pages until the birds were up, likewise CS Forester's
'Lieutenant Hornblower' (in the bath of an Italian hotel), and, once, LA
Confidential.
Otherwise, I was always the one sleeping in the corner – at theatre
get-ins, in night clubs on theatre tours (that's what comes of relying
on the tour bus to get you to bed), at all night Oscar parties.
Actually – the secret to staying awake at Oscar parties? Deserts –
hundreds of them. I made it through Oscars 2004 with the help of 7 puds,
distributed at intervals, including "Green Gollum Jelly" (with jelly
worms embedded in it) and a "Cold Mountain" of vanilla ice-cream (with
little angelica pine trees on it). I saw the show out on a monumental
sugar buzz …
Anyway, here's the work list, with some 10 hours of writing time left:
55 Long Treatment
10 page short Treatment
1/2 Synopsis with log-line
Writers CV
Evidence of ownership of rights
Writers Notes
Producers CV
Producers Notes
Application Form
Declaration of Compliance
Evidence of Ownership of rights
Development Budget
Finish 10 page treatment (5 pages down, plus proof read)
Write new 350 word synopsis, switching main character viewpoint
Write 600 word "Writer's Notes" on the origins of the story, and my plans to
develop it.
Revise own CV
Format Producer's CV
Format Producer's Notes (as previous noted, her default spelling and formating
style is "speshul")
Complete declaration of ownership of rights
Proofread above
Proofread again
Print and collate 3 copies of above, (plus application form & declaration of
compliance)
Arrange signatures
Book courier
Perhaps she should listen a little more closely to her "good friend" the
Dalai Lama, who could certainly put her right.
Not a bit of it - it washes beautifully, doesn't irritate my skin, and
is still half full - so has already worked out cheaper than the usual
own-brand.
Green, cost-effective, efficient - and helps to fund Oxfam as well.
Here's how the worklist is going:
Meet with Screen WM - call scheduled for the afternoon of May 27
Revise own CV - done despite managing to delete it at least once.
Revise producer's CV - done
Complete application form(s) - delegated
Logline (25 words) - done
1/2 page Synopsis - done (but looking a bit thin...)
10 page Outline (the current version is 40 pages!) - about 1/3 done
(this is a bugger to finish!)
Revised 55 page Outline - I think this is done, hard to tell...
(I sent it to 5 people for feedback over six weeks ago, and not one of
them has yet got back to me. I just hope it's not utterly embarrassing)
Writer's Notes on future development - barely started
Buy mother's birthday present - no idea what to get ma this year!
I may well be standing for the next 3 hours, just one of many, many
travelers trapped on a hot under ventilated peak-hour holiday train with
no available reservations or seats. And no wifi.
I was startled by human voice outside, where no human voice should be*,
and hit the wrong key while saving.
I don't think I can do this - I've been working for days, and I have
managed to destroy as much as I have created.
Crap, crap, craptascular crap.
*It was walkers, peering in through the windows. I think they got a
bigger shock than I did - until I spotted the blank screen.
The radio reports severe weather in the South East - but here it is
warm, still and golden, with an irresistibly spicy smell of new grass
and leaves.
This is the first time in over a year that I have enjoyed fine dry
weather at the cottage, and it is a revelation.
But the 6.15 from Kings Cross was the only train Northward with tickets
I could afford. And it has free WIFI, so here I am, (not resurrecting
my CV).
The upside is - I had forgotten that the last cheap ticket was a First
Advance. It was a lovely surprise to find the wide seat and table laid
with real china ready for morning coffee service. Almost like the
mythical days of real train travel. What I lovely retro-train-month I
am having.
Ooooooh. Real egg in the Egg n'Cress Sarnie!
I need a drink and an early night.
