Where Has Mark Been? Chapter 2:

July 24, 2009: Script Outline #3 Approved

To see Chapter 1: either click on "Client: The Writing Project" or http://mgauerbach.blogspot.com/2009/06/where-has-mark-been.html

All of us Yankees know that 2009 has not been the summer for natural tan-enhancement, as my somewhat pale body attests. (Take my word for it, don't investigate. The Michael Phelps' swimmer's body of years ago has morphed into more Shelley Winters as Belle Rosen look). So, being indoors working on this writing project has not been too difficult. No pool distractions. No lazy summer days beckoning through the windows. From so much rain, my patio looks like "Grey Gardens". Weeds and grasses are growing fast and furiously from the sand spaces between the bricks. I'm torn between letting nature take its course and modern technology: Green vs. Round-Up! I imagine myself garbed as Little Edie, repeating the words "honestly" and "staunch" while furiously spraying every weed and grass blade within view. Another personality takes over as Big Edie, the matronly environmental activist pleading "Stop, Edie. Stop!" I put the Round-Up down (cussing "Honestly, Mother darling" under my breath) and remove the weeds the old-fashioned way, bending over and uprooting them one weed at a time. Ah, the somewhat idle brain is the devil's playground here on the condo flood plains in River City.

When I last did a project update on June 29, the research had been about 75% completed, and I had drafted Outline #1. Outline #1 was critiqued by multiple parties and revised into Outline #2 , which was again critiqued by the same multiple parties and revised into Outline #3, which was submitted on July 17. There are more revisions to come. I know it.

Some of the scenes outlined play over and over in my head. I'm personally attached to some of them. It won't be difficult to lay them out on the page when it comes time to write the actual script, but I don't know how I'll react if my favorites are rejected or revised to the point that they're completely different than they are at present.

The waiting game has been tough. Thank god for simple distractions.

Distraction #1: Johnny Depp announced that he'd like to play Carol Channing in his next movie. I imagine my writing project transformed. In my project, one setting is New Orleans. Now, I imagine Johnny Depp sitting there as a club patron. A sudden shower hits the French Quarter and Carol Channing darts in to dodge the rain. The rest is history. He sings "I'm Just a Little Girl from Little Rock" from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". She swoons. She responds with a medley from "Sweeney Todd". They encore together with something from "Hello, Dolly!". He now wants to play Patti LuPone and rushes to find a script to "Evita". Curtain.

Distraction #2: The Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher, provided headlines as she announced her two-performance only run at The Mardi Gras, my hometown's famous strip club (now turned "cultural center" for one night). Now, I imagine her starring in my project, which is now set on Long Island (change at Jamaica). She does her pole dance to the music of "The Five-Fifteen" from "Grey Gardens" (the only showtune to mention the Long Island Railroad's Montauk Line). My project now plays strip clubs from Times Square to the Tenderloin to the Chicken Ranch. Amy, who doesn't do matinees, relinquishes the role to Varla Jean Merman (one of my favorite impressionists), who forges a new career as a plus-size pole dancer. Curtain.

Distraction #3: When I'm not being script-writer, I'm still PR dude. There is client work to be done. My clients need the same attention and dedication that the script is getting. The curtain doesn't fall.

I fast learn that the art of making art is not a solo gig. Besides the producers to answer to, there is the subject of the theatre piece, who will also perform it. The subject has final approval. We get along well, so there have been little difficulties in communicating. Soon, there will be a director and a designer (s), musicians, perhaps a choreographer, and management, publicists, etc. etc. I like the collaboration and the feedback.

Nonetheless, this part of the writing is the lonely part. I'm not at liberty as yet to discuss the initimate details of the project, so I have to be careful as to what I divulge--and to whom.

I share my project challenges with my first professional mentor, an international arts administrator who has worked globally with some of the finest performing and visual arts festivals. I was a young marketing guy at Wolf Trap, when he discovered my abilities and forced me to exceed other people's expectations. He, as he always does, provides encouragement, unconditional support, and sound advice.

I share some details with the "boys", (two colleagues from my WFCR days, one of them's partner, and a mutual friend of the group). Over regular lunches they keep me laughing and grounded. I won't be able to get too carried away with them around--on the other hand, smash hit or infamous flop, they'll be there for me. One, a theatre dude, will be my sounding board. He used to work directly with me, so he knows how to phrase his criticisms and commentaries so I react positively. (He also knows how to push my buttons, which he might do for the amusement of the other boys). Another, who's a PR and marketing guy, will take on some of my client work, when I need an extra hand.

And, there's my pool buddy of many years, a neighbor, with whom I'm close. Theatre is quite the unknown to him. He's been to live theatre once--an outdoor Shakespeare performance which left him preferring a root canal without anesthetic to another theatre trip. (In fairness, he's a Red Sox junkie, and I can hardly sit through a game). He checks in with me constantly to make sure I'm OK. I couldn't ask for more from someone who will likely only attend my opening night under extreme duress (provided that the performance doesn't conflict with a regular Red Sox game, playoff, World Series, spring training game, or someone's DVD of Red Sox highlights).

Then, there are the unknowns: 1) an unknown 12 year old kid, who taught me how to text message on a layover in the Atlanta airport. I wish I'd known his name; and 2) an unknown kid of the same vintage, who taught me some computer skills at the local library when some research put the filters into use. He showed me how to over-ride the filters. Thanks, guys.

Fast forward: Friday afternoon, July 24--we're on !!! I get the encouraging e-mail from the lead producer. The third outline has been approved by both producers and the subject of the musical! No more outline revisions!!! The next step is 1) producers pulling together a funding prospectus and a production budget -- thankfully, not my job and 2) the script coming together in time for a rehearsal and backer's audition to be held on October 1--my job under extreme pressure.

Friday night, the lead producer (the guy who got me into the project) calls. He updates me on the meeting the two producers had with the subject of the project. Producer #2 will give me guidelines on the next part of the process. I also hear from the subject; we'll be chatting on Tuesday.

The next chapter begins....

Where Has Mark Been ?

My Linked-In profile hasn't been updated in a while.

My Facebook Status Updates have been somewhat misleading. 96% of them make reference to caffeine (Starbucks hot or iced, home-brewed hot or iced); the number of days until the condo pool officially opened, and subsequently, and the amount of time spent tanning (3 days worth since Memorial Day because of the never-ending rains). There are even occasional references to writing and work. (Yes, I still do both).

In reality, I've embarked on a theatrical literary adventure. A former client and current friend (of two plus decades, but as eternally youthful as I) invited me to collaborate with him on a project (details being blogged and stored for release here when the time is right). He and his business partner want me to take one of their client's programs and turn it into a performance piece.

The Backstory

I majored in theatre in undergraduate school, and I studied theatre administration in graduate school. I've worked for arts organizations and media groups that cover them. I've covered theatre as a print and radio journalist. I've done my share of shows and I've seen hundreds of other people's shows. So, it seemed like a golden opportunity to jump back into the world on the other side of the footlights and to plunge back into a little showbiz.

I've scripted events, benefits and radio specials. But, in all of this, I'd never written a play. In fact, I'd taken but one playwrighting class for which the assignment was to write a 15 minute, one-scene, one-set, two-character non-musical, which would be staged, performed and designed by fellow students. We were told "write of what you know".

Well, some classmates wrote of love, anger, anguish angst, etc. etc. I, having procrastinated on the assignment until the weekend before it was due, returned to school on the train, seated behind two middle-aged suburban Jewish women who bragged about their successful children and their fabulous grandchildren, while dissing their husbands and their childrens' spouses. It was shortly after the moon walk.

OK. Fifteen minutes. How about the first two Jewish women to land on the moon ? (Never mind that I couldn't figure out how they got there...OK, one's son worked for NASA and they went on a tour and got lost). OK. They could diss the silver mylar costumes, the view from space ("I can't see Larchmont"), and so forth. I couldn't quite find the right ending, so I ended it with NASA son rescuing them and bringing them back to earth with moon rocks as souvenirs for the grandchildren. "Moon Yentas" is born, played out, and dead in one afternoon.

I was chastised after the playlet was staged. The audience laughed. The professor said I had taken situation comedy to a new low. I was advised to "channel my creative writing in other directions".

Anyway, the current project is daunting--it taps my theatre experience, my imagination, my journalist's skills, and my writing expertise. There are perameters to be observed, producers and others to answer to, and all kinds of rules and regulations that answer less to art and more to the bottom line.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'm taking the work very seriously. I've had to discipline myself to write carefully and quickly. (unlike the copy for brochures, press releases, advertisements, proposals and grants, and the other wordsmith activities which I can polish off with distractions and interruptions galore). Phone calls, emails, instant messages, and the web itself provide easy distractions, where I lose my concentration completely. I used to be able to work with radio news or showtunes in the background. On this project, news distracts me and showtunes send me into a Broadway fantasy world which is alluring but somewhat dangerous to flirt with until this project is farther along.

On the fantasy high end, I imagine that I win a Tony Award (which is presented before the awards show begins on TV, so I don't have to buy a new tuxedo). I pose for photos with Marian Seldes and Cheyenne Jackson. The show is picked up for film and TV and my retirement is enhanced by royalty checks. People refer to me as "the writer" instead of as "the PR dude". I become a philanthropist.

On the nightmare low end, it could all be in vain. Ben Brantley's #3 pinch-hitter pulls out WebMD's list of symptoms to describe the audience's response. (I think it was in the play "Butterflies Are Free" when someone describes a piece of writing as having "feverish passages and fluid movements" while the other character drolly replies "so does diarrhea, but I wouldn't call it entertainment". I'm invited to be guest speaker at the Longmeadow Senior Center and no one shows up.

But, if I don't pursue this, I'll always have regrets.

The Process Begins...

I'm finding it easiest to write in the early morning, fueled by coffee and morning chill. But, as the official 9-to-5 "work day" begins, I've found a quiet escape place to write, and use the high-speed internet at the town library.

Now that the initial project research is underway, and drafts #1 and draft #2 (complete revision of draft #1) of the project's outline have been submitted, I can begin to merge this project better with other work and play. I've emerged from the world of inaccessibility and unavailability.

In planning for this experience, I had to revamp and retool Mark G Auerbach Public Relations in the short term. I've added a couple of clients and new projects this year. I've said farewell to a longtime client, in order to fine tune the kind of work I'd like to do (and should be doing). I am also looking for new projects in marketing, public relations, media buying and occasional special events production that will compliment and enhance my experiences and my client roster.

I'll be visible more often.

Now, back to work...I thank my colleagues, clients, and friends for their understanding and flexibility.