Friday, February 24, 2012

Remember that time I cowrote a script with David Goyer?

Screenplay
Screenplay (Photo credit: Matt-Richards)
Seriously, in 1998 I cowrote a movie script with David Goyer (and seven other people). Back in the day, TNT had a pretty fun website called Roughcut.com, whence I drew inspiration for my movie rating system. In late summer of '98, Goyer participated in a sort of exquisite corpse crowdsourced screenwriting contest at Roughcut, and I was one of the lucky few to earn a spot in the script rotation.

After my recent trip to Boskone to see -- among others -- Bruce Schneier and talk about data that survives the death of people and websites, I was reminded that Archive.org probably has some saves of Roughcut from 14 years ago.

Guess what I found?

The script is rather painfully '90s, but I still find it a lark to read, even after all these years. My contribution is part seven.

Ironically, I almost didn't know I'd won a spot in the contest, as my selection was announced as I went off to my senior year of college, and a snafu with my school's IT department had me locked off the web for about two weeks. Once I got back online, I had a string of desperate emails from the contest producer asking where to send my prize money.

I still have the $100 money order, uncashed, as a keepsake. It was the first occasion where I was "paid" for my creative writing, and the first inkling I had that I wasn't just better than most of the kids at my school in the fiction skills, I might actually have a shot at making a living stringing words together.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

The best geek TV and movies of 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Image via Wikipedia
The SF Signal Podcast (Episode 103): Panel Round up of Our Favorite SF&F Movies and TV Shows of 2011 includes:
Included in the discussion: Cowboys and Aliens, Captain America, Thor, X-Men First Class, The Adjustment Bureau, Battle L.A., The Rite, Black Death, Super 8, Falling Skies, Eureka, Alphas, Fringe, Grimm, Chuck, Warehouse 13, SGU, Once Upon a Time, The Big Bang Theory, Midnight in Paris, Source Code, Attack the Block, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Sherlock, Community, Warhammer 40K Movie, Bridesmaids, Battleship Yamato, Black Mirror, Dinosaur Revolution, Planet Dinosaur, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice, Iron Man: Anime, Batman: Brave and the Bold, Doctor Who, Adventures of Sarah Jane, Game Of Thrones and Walking Dead.

If that seems rather a lot (or far too little), it is, and you can berate us (me) for it by voicemail at 720-277-9082 via email at voicemail@sfsignal.com.

If you like this episode, you'll love the commensurate one about Our Favorite SF&F Books of 2011, mostly because I'm not in that one.

As always my record of past SF Signal podcast audiocrimes is available here.