BodySwappers Inc First Draft Review

Last night the NYC Screenwriters Meetup group reviewed the first draft of my first feature-length screenplay, BodySwappers Inc., the scifi story of a lonely loser that swaps bodies with people for a living and essentially "makes a deal with the devil" to get the glamorous life he always imagined. I came up with the idea for BodySwappers in 2004 and completed a novella version in 2007. Several people who read it said that they thought it would make a great movie and this was one of the factors which led me to start my screenwriting education. So now, five years after first imagining this story I have a whole new set of ideas to contemplate.

I have been attending the NYC Screenwriters meetup for about seven months or so and I continually contend that it is one of the great, lesser-known resources for creative screenwriters in NYC. The organizer, David Negrin serves a s a skilled, patient and wise sherpa, guiding the group through a script every other week and making sure the author and the reviewers all get something out of the process. I get a tremendous amount out of the meetings and really enjoy reading and thinking about the other writers' works.

Last night's session was the first time the group reviewed one of my pieces and in the days leading up to it I was both excited and nervous. Once we got into the room and people started talking about the work, reading through their notes and discussing the merits and missteps of the manuscript, I lost all butterflies and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I got pages and pages of written notes from the group and have some very core aspects of the story and my main characters to consider. I'm looking forward to all of this feedback to settle in and am really looking forward to digging in to my second draft.

Thanks so much to David for keeping the group going and providing such a service, thanks to the group at large for the rich and valuable discussion; to Marc, Phil, Hector, Mario, Nancy, Lewis, Jesse, and Zoe for your written notes; to Kris, Galit and Swati for the notes before the review; and to Randy, George, Reese and all those who read the drafts of the BodySwapers, Inc. novella in its various incarnations. I hope to continue work on the script shortly and end up with something that you can all be proud to say you helped create.

Be a Superhero

I have been loving the comic book series (and eventual motion picture) KICK-ASS - but The World Superhero Registry website documents the real life people out there dressing up and... well... kicking ass.

Is this something that is actually going to catch on and become a phenomenon or will these folks be an isolated few.

Don't worry I have zero desire to parade around out in the world in tights. However I have been thinking about ways to do good in the world. For a bit of a more pragmatic approach I have been liking these sites:

Charity Navigator

A great site that lets you check up on the charities you are thinking about working with with report cards that shed some light on financial responsibility and the history of the organization.

Changing the Present

Very useful and well designed site that allows for coordination and tracking charitable donations as gifts. When used in conjunction with Charity Navigator you can find the perfect groups to work with.

City Harvest

One of my personal favorite ideas - take the leftover food from restaurants all over the city and distribute it to the more than half a million folks that go hungry every night. I hate to see food go to waste and would love to see this group do more.

The online toold these sites offer make charitable giving as easy as ordering a book on Amazon or queing up a movie on Netflix. No tights required.

Moving Parts - Web Series Reading

Please join us for a very special evening at the For Your Imagination studio...

Moving Parts - Web Series Live Reading
A secial preview of a new ghost story.
Host: Alec Pollak
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm (ET)
Location: For Your Imagination
Street: 22 W27th Street 6th Floor
City/Town: New York, NY 10001
Email: alec at foryourimagination dot com

The writing team of Alec Pollak and George Eliou have been hard at work on a new web series called MOVING PARTS and they want to share it with you at a live reading!

MOVING PARTS follows JASON, a young New Yorker running around the city, chasing SUNNY, his girlfriend's ghost. We're assembling a top notch team to present a live, staged reading of the first ten episodes of the series during the first hour of the evening, followed by a discussion of the work.

Forward this message and bring along anyone with an interest in good stories! We'll have pizza, beer and wine to keep everyone happy and full during the show.

AND we'll be webcasting the reading! All Powered by MOGULUS! Watch live on Nov. 21st at 7pm (ET) at http://www.liveatfyi.com

PLEASE RSVP by emailing us or signing up on the Facebook Event.

Look forward to seeing you all this Friday for the show!

Update on December 5, 2008 by Alec Pollak

The ON-DEMAND stream of the reading and the follow-up discussion is available on the LIVE@FYI web site thanks to Mogulus.

Visit http://www.liveatfyi.com/episodes/2008/11/22/moving-parts.html to watch and be sure to let us know what you think by leaving comments on the site. Thanks!

Also check out photos from the event here.

The Daily Show's Obama Bio-Vid

This Daily Show video is simply brilliant and hilarious. I like that Jon and the crew are making an effort to call Obama on his hype even though they obviously don't want an extension of the current administration's policies in a McCain/Palin White House. Don't get me started on Palin - but do take a peek at what The Huffington Post is saying - some good bits there.

AdAge Talks Kyle Piccolo

Nice article by Daisy Whitney about Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist. Whitney interviewed me and my fellow Kyle Piccolo creator Neil Turitz to get the full scoop on the show's origin story. Check it out here...