Recent trip to Seattle...

I'm on a ferry headed back to town after trying to find a steak house I'd heard of in Bremerton, but nobody knew anything about. Instead I had a decent pulled pork sandwich at a restaurant near the ferry and damn near missed the boat because my server was so friggin' slow.

Hasn't changed much since the first time I went, 4 years ago...no, wait...I went nearly 8 years back, the first time. In November 2005, to accept an award for "Bugzters", my family film script. I came in 2nd, and got a check for $300, which paid for half the trip from LA. I also got a certificate, and it hangs on the wall by my desk.

That was the script I tried to make into an animation film and nearly lost a couple of friends over it. It was good as it was, for live action, but I thought I could do what was necessary to make it work in a different format...and found I couldn't. I liked my characters as they were, and the demands for changes were at the point of being ludicrous.

That was also when I started realizing, no matter how good your script is, most people in the film business will want to change it because "it's not good enough." It's never good enough. I finally got to where I understood the only way something of mine would get made is if I connected with someone who a.) would not take no for an answer and b.) believed in my writing enough to tell a producer, "I don't care what you think; it's perfect as is and we're making it as is, and we'll make a killing by doing that." Meaning someone who was passionate about the project. I was passionate about my writing, but I have never had the ability to instill confidence in people about my abilities. I'm still far too open to thinking other people's opinions have more validity than mine, and that is deadly in any business like Hollywood.

I took this as the ferry exited the inlet and headed back across Puget Sound. I like the composition and the feeling of it. Like the ferry's trail curving across and around. Like the calmness of it...and hint of isolation and danger.

Seattle's got a lot going for it, and I'm at home with the whole atmosphere of the place...but I still couldn't live there. It's so tight and hard to get around. And would really be no different from Buffalo, right now.