Cosmo-Nots

My friend Amanda and I went to a late afternoon matinee of SEX AND THE CITY yesterday. The place was PACKED, almost wholly with groups of girlfriends, many in SatC t-shirts -- where in the hell did they even get those? -- taking pictures of themselves like they were at Disneyland or a birthday party. I overheard one woman say, "This is like the female STAR WARS."

Now, I take issue with that -- I know plenty of cool chicks for whom STAR WARS is the female STAR WARS -- which pretty much sets the stage for what followed.

While we've both seen and enjoyed SatC episodes from time to time, Amanda and I are not uberfans. Imagine sardonic, gothy Emily the Strange all grown up and her redheaded, bespectacled twin, and you've got a more or less accurate picture. We are not, shall we say, the target audience.

The movie was an acceptable enough diversion, a fairy tale in pretty much every way, complete with a 5-minute montage of couture wedding gown p0rn. I'm a big sentimental romantic at heart, so the movie pushed those buttons -- yes, I teared up a few times. Shut up . -- but I wanted it to be funnier. More emotionally authentic. Smarter. Basically, more like the choice moments from the series.

There's a horny little dog, who gets three separate shots of it humping something inappropriate. Jokes are funnier in threes! Lame jokes are more tiresome in threes!

(And really? A humping dog? Hackneyed and unfunny. What is this, a Rob Schneider movie? All I could imagine is that was put in there for the occasional straight guy, boyfriend, or husband who found themselves watching the movie.)

So we chuckled a few times, and I got my romantic's happy ending, but the rest of the audience was ECSTATIC. Applauding when each major character appeared. Squealing along with the characters when something momentous happened. Gasping when the bombshells fell. When we left, the theater's bar (yes, it's one of those LA movie theaters with a bar) was teeming with ladies downing cosmos. We went for sushi afterwards and found more of them making the best of it with some kind of pink sake concotions.

As I muttered to Amanda, amazed, as we waited in the line at the women's restroom (not a problem after IRON MAN), "What planet did we land on?"

SatC is going to do gonzo business, which I'm genuinely happy about. Sure, it's part of a hugely popular and lucrative franchise, but it shows that women can open a movie, and that women can drive serious bank at the box office. Maybe more movies in that voice and that speak to that audience will get greenlit.

Now that would be Big.

Con Brio

This past weekend here in Los Angeles was MoonlightCon. A fan-organized event, the three days of panels, presentations, tours, and events drew over 200 attendees from all over the country and the world, including Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands.

And did I mention the fans put the whole thing on?

I came by the Friday evening meet-n-greet, along with EP Harry Werksman, who shared the sizzle reel from the season 2 pitch and dropped some tantalizing hints about what the plans for season 2 were.

Yes, I'm afraid "were," not "are" -- I've heard nothing about a pickup for MOONLIGHT, and we're quickly approaching the no-go point in terms of actor and writer availability, with the sets already struck. A miracle could prove me wrong, of course, and I'd be happy to be so proved, but we are in miracle country on this. Harry did say that the DVD set is being planned, with probably a fall release. Yay!

Saturday I was joined for the writers' panel by Ethan Erwin, who co-wrote the finale with me, and Jill Blotevogel, who wrote many of the season's best-loved episodes. We arrived early, in time to catch the end of a very interesting and well-researched presentation on character archetypes embodied by MOONLIGHT characters, illustrated with video examples: Beth as the Gorgon vs. Amazon, Mick as the Gladiator vs. Messiah. Props to Cinemama on a great preso, which as I told her, made us writers sound smarter than we are. :)

The panel was fun, if a little daunting initially in the formality -- I'm much better talking to people one-on-one, not from some crazy raised dais like declaiming from the mount. We talked about our respective backgrounds and the episodes we wrote, and then turned to audience Q and A, with many insightful and articulate questions from the floor.

Thanks to everyone involved for making us all feel so welcome. As writers, we don't get out much and get a warm reception like that even less! We should be so lucky that all the projects we work on spark such passion and community.

It was an amazing event. Huge congratulations to Lisa "Leeser" Gerry of Moonlightline and all the organizers.

MOONLIGHT Tonight, 9p.m. on CBS!

A shameless plug for MOONLIGHT (alas, probably my last) -- the episode I co-wrote is on tonight at 9p.m. on CBS. That means right now, Eastern and Central time, so please do tune in!

The episode was written as a finale for the season, not the series, and you'll see where and how the difference matters. But I think the episode ends in a good enough place for those seeking closure.

More tidbits about the episode to follow!

Still Alive

Two months since the last post? Really? Blort. And no, I've not been off playing GTA4 this whole time (but it may be the last nudge I need to finally break down and get a next-gen system...).

Anyway, I just wanted to surface and check in. A lot's been going on:

1. I co-wrote my first MOONLIGHT episode
   
2. Went through production on same
   
3. Took an amazing trip to Japan with The Boyfriend
   
4. Returned home in time for MOONLIGHT to get cancelled

All the above are worth several posts, which I'll most likely get to sooner than I got to this one since I'll have some free time courtesy of #4. And while unemployment is actually a pretty good cure for jet lag, I can't say I recommend it.

Writing, production, and post on my episode was an incredible experience, but I'll wait until after the episode airs -- tomorrow, Friday, May 16 at 9p.m. on CBS! -- to get into details, for the spoiler-sensitive.

As a quick tease, here's a production snapshot, from behind the camera crane. The smear in the paramedic's uniform on the left is Claudia Black!