Marrying George Clooney

i love the academy awards. i do. i have always planned “my year” around that evening.
in the past i would actually get dressed, put on make-up and only get up to pee during musical numbers.
and like most folks, i am hopeful that there will be one or two surprises during the evening.
the big surprise for me this year was not that the writer of PRECIOUS won — HOW FABULOUS WAS THAT — but the fact that speeches were cut to a minimum – that that was where the producers decided to cut. the thank you’s were cut to a nano second. literally. cut to what, 45 seconds. i can’t do anything in 45 seconds, let alone string a sentence together. and it pisses me off beyond words.
and the reason is simple. i am a writer. i am a person who writes.
as a writer, as a person who has in fact written a couple of (yes, produced) screenplays, as a woman who values the written word… it shocks me that we – writers – are constantly written off and written out. cut out. that words are the first to go.
you wanna cut something, cut the frickin’ fluff. cut the bullshit.
give folks an opportunity to say thank you, to speak. to use their voice for a cause they’re touting, or a person that needs to hear they’re loved.
i’m not supporting the rambling 3 minutes. i’m supporting a strong well written, THANK YOU SPEECH that lasts 90 seconds. a minute and half. i am not supporting a rambling off the cuff wild ride of thanks.
it takes years and years to make films, movies. and yeah, sometimes decades.

it all begins with a few words on a blank page, a person – or a few people, or a writing team – staring at their computer screen, or their tablet, or their notebook… or an old typewriter. it begins there.

words deserve better.

and a good “thank you” is something i don’t think we ever get enough of.

ok. my two cents.