Rewrites: A Love Story

May 8th, 2010Blog0 comments

I’m convinced that in New York City, time moves faster. I think that the way we experience time is affected by the people around us; if everyone around us is in a psychological hurry, we sync up with them.

And there are so many things to do in this city — so many things that we can do and things that need to be done that it feels like everything eats up time at incredible rates.

This phenomenon makes you really appreciate time and its passage. I will explain how this is, but first I want to describe a regular day for me now:

I wake up at 7 AM and go over the rewrites that I did the night before, smoothing them out. Then I send them out over email, shower, change, get on the 2/3 to get into Manhattan. I get off at Times Square, get a quick breakfast in the city (I’m eating too many omelets, gotta stop doing that), then get to the rehearsal studio early so I can read the news and make sure that the rewrites got in to our awesome stage manager. Everyone cruises in and we work for the day. Then I come back to Brooklyn on the Q to the R, run along the Brooklyn Promenade and back and forth on the Brooklyn Bridge, eat dinner (Too much diner food, gotta stop doing that) and do more rewrites.

Time moves quickly. Too quickly.

The night of the writing of this post is the first night that I haven’t had to do rewrites. Things are solidifying; I can relax and eat and lie there and watch Doctor Who. This is such a glorious and welcome thing.

The funny thing is that you can’t slow time down here. Outside there’s constant noise, movement, invitations to do things. This city really emphasizes how impossible it is to stop time.

I think another crucial difference between LA and New York is that in LA, you operate on your own time. In NYC, you operate on the city’s time. Trains make you late or never show up at all; cabs, other peoples’ timing, showtimes, dinner times — because you’re not in your own car, you must operate according to the whims of the machinery of the city. This has its plusses and minuses.

Rewrites: You have to learn to love them. It seems that writing isn’t so much about coming up with good ideas but with executing and fixing things until something becomes good.

Usually your first instinct in fixing something is correct, so the quicker you can execute that fix the better; then you can show it to others and gain perspective into whether the fix worked or if you need to try something else. Speed is very important. A good rule of thumb is to execute the change quickly and then fix it/smooth it out/make it artful later on.

The early act of creation is a lonely marathon; rewriting is a contact sport. You need to be in contact with others, getting their notes, etc.., in order to accomplish the task of rewriting.

Things are coming together. It helps that there’s a Five Guys on my block. The guy in the bodega downstairs from the rehearsal room now calls me “Diet Coke” because I buy so many Diet Cokes from him: “Hey, wassup Diet Coke!”

Yeah man, I sometimes think I could live here. But then I remember that I like driving, and I like my time to go as slowly as it possibly can. So I can savor it. I want to see it drift by.

Beast Coast

May 2nd, 2010Blog0 comments

So I’m back and forth rehearsing a show at Second Stage and simultaneously handling business in LA. My place in Los Angeles has been entrusted to the care of a good friend, and so meanwhile I’ve picked up a nice sublet in Brooklyn Heights.

The sublet is on a lively street: A tree-lined neighborhood with a Starbucks and a church; a 24 hour diner is located nearby and a large yellow bird has been known to hang out and recite the alphabet to children. There’s a train station and a Duane Reade on the block as well. It’s pretty perfect for my writing purposes — got a lot of work to do this month, so I need a monastic sorta setup.

Being back on the east coast has its plusses. I don’t feel like a tourist anymore — I’m pretty acclimatized to the whole culture. I know the whos/whys/and what-fors. I’m pretty good at getting places, and I coursed out a run from my place across the Brooklyn Bridge and back again — 45 minutes total, a pretty good workout. My eventual goal is to do the Brooklyn Bridge/Manhattan Bridge circuit.

Some objects that I absolutely need when I’m in NYC:

- Noise Canceling Headphones — I have Sony cans but I’ve heard good things about the Bose ones as well. These are great for navigating the subway and also for making you feel like a motherfuckin bad ass when you’re marching through the city. They are extremely useful devices that make the environment more livable. Always carry spare batteries.

- Antibacterial Gel — This city can be a goddam toilet bowl. It helps to keep your hands germ-free. I would move here permanently, but whenever I come back from a long day out and find that the soles of my shoes are sticky, it makes me miss California.

- A Bad Attitude — If you’re walking across the street and you have the right of way and a cab keeps lurching forward threatening to run you over, it’s important to put your hand up in the dude’s grill and keep on walking. This is your city, it’s up to you to own it.