The *hor* d'ouvre's...

Sorry for the tardiness of these posts... I have been up, down and all around L.A. with good days, bad days and walking around in a hell of a daze.

Last year I learnt a lesson that you don't walk in los angeles and you don't catch cabs. Being the dumb tourist that I am, that is exactly what I am doing this year. Fortunately I have sensible friends like Jai that rented a car and are too nice to tell me to bugger off when I need a lift somewhere.

The only way I'll be able to recap the last week (which is a bit of a blur) is by segregating it into tasty morsels. I'll set it up like a cheap menu at Denny's, where to start? Where to start? Let me think... It feels like I've been selling myself around town on every street corner... so what would the menu section be?? Ah! That's it - let's start with... the 'whore d'oeuvres'.

O.k. this week has all been about meetings, the small, fast, digestible snacks that are the most important meal of the day. The tasters of what may come, the threat of an empty stomach? My agents have done an incredible job. response to my script has been good... how it works here is that you either get a) and instant sale (VERY rare), b) a 'pass' and a meeting (hard to get) or c) a 'pass' and no meeting (not good)... it's like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking into a black void and being told to jump - without knowing if you are going to land in a field of poppies or poopies (lame I know but I couldn't think of anything else).

Anyway - I've been getting option b) which is great - lots of meetings with the kind of people that I only ever get to see at the end of the credits to many of my favourite films... my aim is to see them for longer than the usual 30 second scroll as they pass me by and less important credits greet me.

Every meeting feels important, every meeting has it's own pressure... do you turn up looking like a writer? (i.e. flip flops, creased jeans and 2 day growth) or like a professional (shirt, shoes and portfolio) - either way I am either panicking that I look like a hobo or an undergrad looking for his first job. I opt to hit the middle and hope they figure me for a homeless professional... it seems to be working although I've yet to get any loose change in my hat.

Every meeting is daunting - walking into lobbies where the posters on the wall are The Departed, The Grudge or Three Kings... a far cry from home - most lobbies I walk into have the very same posters - only it's at Blockbuster Video.

I can't divulge too much info in a blog but suffice to say I am 'swinging with the big dicks' - I say that with trepidation as, once again, I am staying in BoyTown.

I'm halfway through my trip and I am either going to leave 'on the verge' or literally 'on a verge' - one will be a highway filled with fun and drama - the other filled with semi-trailers and roadkill... watch this space.