Here’s a fun little Hollywood-type story. Back in August, I rented the rights to the novel, Admissions, from my friend Eric, in the hopes of getting someone interested in making a limited series, a la Big Little Lies. I was excited because I could see what the show could be, but because the book had … Read more
February 15, 2018 On Tuesday I had got up for an early meeting with lots of energy. The meeting –for a non-industry job — was really interesting, and set my mind to spinning –thinking of some interesting things I could write about… But as the day wore on, my energy dwindled. I began to feel … Read more
The day before New Year’s Eve I suffered a case of food-poisoning, with all the fun that entails. Appropriately, I ended 2018 feeling a little beaten up and drained! But the first day of 2019 is the sigh after the storm. The sun came out this morning, and — for today at least — nothing … Read more
November 11, 2018 My Dad was a fan of items — ornaments, decorations and tchotchkes– that he described as having “character”. If I brought home art from school, the highest compliment would be when he looked at something and determined it had character. Out in the world, he would have a certain amused and … Read more
November 10, 2018 This is the view from our kitchen window at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. If you are searching for the sun, direct your eye to that speck of muted brightness behind the palm tree. It’s easy to look right at it because the smoky air acts as a filter. The city smells … Read more
I was lucky this summer to get to go home for almost two whole weeks. I’ve always been grateful to be able to go back home in a way that few of my friends can. My mother still lives in my childhood home, and when I arrive, I carry my suitcase up the stairs and … Read more
I first heard about CINESTORY several years back when I went to a screening of an indie film called Cake. The writer talked about taking the script to the Cinestory Retreat and finding support for it there. I went to their website and thought the experience sounded amazing — spending time in an idyllic setting working with … Read more
You know how on the podcast Scriptnotes, at the end of the main conversation, the hosts each share One Cool Thing? An app, a game, a book that is striking their fancy. I currently have One Cool Thing X 2 — in other words, two cool things. One is the book Lost at Sea by Jon Ronson. … Read more
I just watched a minute-long video about how to embed a photo from Instagram, and here is my photo. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bip3hjEgG9E/?taken-by=barrington_ss The beach is a pretty common Instagram-type photo subject, though probably slightly less common than cute animals and food. I’m not a very industrious or creative Instagrammer. I went to the beach to breathe … Read more
This cold has been going around, and I caught it. Lots of coughing and congestion, the miserable usual. Without getting too graphic, I’ll say that we got a multipack of tissue boxes at Costco not so long ago, and by day ten of this cold, I’d single-handedly used all but one box. My nose and … Read more