Goodfellas Day
The work I'd done on my Casualty ep last week was paying off. The guest stories were clearer, the serial was coherent, the pace was good, the exec producer was happy.
I glanced at the clock; my lunch date would be around in 20 minutes - a girlfriend I hadn't caught up with in ages.
My editor was still on the phone so I tentatively mentioned my lunch date - he cautioned that the script had to be published that afternoon around 4pm and there were still a few amends - I imagined tweaking a few lines between desert and coffee.
'We need to cut around 10 pages..' my editor was explaining as the doorbell rang.
Sods law.
You wait and wait by the phone, putting off going out, putting off mixing a bucket of wallpaper paste just in case. And nothing happens. Just when I thought the coast was clear I get to wipe 10 minutes off my overlong script. Couldn't the Ö÷²¥´óÐã simply schedule a one off 60 minute casualty episode instead?
We did it though, my editor had some suggestions for cuts which helped. Nothing too painful, excess dialogue and scenes that although worked well, could feasibly go and not hinder the telling of the tale. I noted all this down then dashed for the Caribbean lunch and jazz with my patient friend.
Cycled to school to pick up my daughter at 3pm, threw her in front of the telly with a snack, threw the (previously prepared that morning) Jamie Oliver number into the oven, fired up the Mac and got to work. Cut, snip and trim and by 4.30pm I was hitting the send button. Done.
I sauntered back indoors to dish up dinner when the phone rang .. my editor hadn't received my script, could I re-send it? There then followed 90 minutes of my nipping out to my writing space to resend the darn thing to various different email address around the Ö÷²¥´óÐã building - and still my script refused to land in anyone's in tray.
I fed the family, supervised homework, put on some glad rags and was ready to go out for 'Academy Drinks' when I sent the script one last time for luck.
By 6pm the Ö÷²¥´óÐã email system had finished its strop and my poor editor had my episode on his screen.
I was talking with other Academy Writers last night at our yearly get together, we were pondering on the ability to Multi-task - is it predominantly a female skill? Discuss.
It was great to meet up with old faces - not all 3 years worth of Academy Writers could make it to the get together of course, there have been babies, weddings, successful TV pitches, continuation of Continuing Drama commissions, heartbreak, knock backs, new horizons.
I think the new Academy lot start next week - it'll be a fantastic time for them.
I couldn't have coped with the intense 3 month 'classroom work' at Elstree without the support of my man back at the homestead whose Multi-tasking skills are equal to mine.
'Another Goodfellas day,' he'd tell me wearily as I'd come home from Elstree.
Ah, what fond memories we have of those scenes with Ray Liotta a nervous wreck co-ordinating his complicated Mafia career, dope sellers, sleazy customers, useless babysitters all whilst cooking a meal for his family..
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