137 Days

...is how long its been since I was last in Chicago.

And that was just a one-day firework and bbq-filled stop off from Toronto. Haven't had some serious Chi-time since June, back when the Hawks were not yet Champions, Christine O'Donnell was still flying under the radar (with a broomstick?), and people merely disliked, rather than vehemently hated, Mel Gibson.

What an insanely busy few months its been away from home.

The summer was kind of crazy as I produced that thesis film for a classmate - The Lepidoctor - which caused me to miss my usual pre-fall semester August trip home - and I had kind of hoped that the fall semester would be a more laid-back time to work on writing and plan my future a bit, with expected graduation this December.

Then came the webisode class. Taught by a first time teacher with an impressive TV and internet resume, I had expected it to be a minor workload... shooting some funny people having awkward conversations in my apartment or whatever and be done with it.

But, foolish me, when my good friend and classmate Jeff pitched me a ridiculous web series idea with a hook I couldn't refuse - a Chicago Blackhawks fan makes a deal with the devil so the Hawks can win the Cup, and his girlfriend gets taken to Hell, forcing him to team up with a exiled demon chick to get her back.

THE SIN BIN was born, and my "laid-back" semester was killed.

The Sin Bin workload has been astronomical but it has also been a tremendous amount of fun, and I can't wait to show it to everyone soon.

Now, I've been busy on projects before, but I've found myself working SO MUCH harder this semester than ever before - later nights, earlier mornings, drinking LESS? And for a while I couldn't understand why until I finally figured it out:

This sh*t counts.

This semester, almost every single thing I'm doing is tied pretty directly to my future post-film school.

Not that it wasn't before but...it wasn't. The first two years were "film school" and everything I did, from killer Cost-Mart employees to carousels to workshopping my feature script, was still pretty much a learning process. Not that those things have no applicability in the real world but if anything were to "hit" it'd be more luck than anything else.

NOW I'm getting to a point where the material I write or things I work on are being seen by real professionals in the industry. Really. Like people who can give me a break, or, better yet, a JOB. Which is all great, but also infinitely more stressful b/c everything has got to be the best. There are so many exciting potential opportunities on the horizon...almost too many, because I'm trying to do it all and do it all perfectly.

Anyway, not sharing this b/c I want to impress NOR am I looking for sympathy (which, living by the ocean, I'll know I'll NEVER get from Chi-peeps barring a tsunami or something), but really to explain why I haven't been as up on the blog as I'd like to be these past months. There's been a lot of funny stories, cool moments, and crazy thoughts about "the 310" from a "312" perspective.

So blog's been a bit sporadic these past few months...but its got a live Twitter feed now! Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah?

I've got a WHOLE thing about Twitter that I'll hopefully get to spout out about sometime.

But, AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, next semester I will not take on any big production projects and will spend as much time as possible WRITING...scripts, specs, and hopefully the more than occasional blog post.

Oh, and watch stuff. There is so much I've been meaning to watch and I'm gonna really get into it in 2011. Lots of Showtime and HBO shows. I watched more pilots this fall than an air traffic controller but have rarely had the time to catch episode #2 of anything.

So that's the plan for the next few months, by the way, finish up many things and get my scripts and reel ready for the official entry of Mark Kosin into the "real world" once USC commencement is complete. Unless I decide to go for that Creative Writing MFA...

JUST KIDDING DAD

Anyway, I'll be back in beautiful Chicago in less than 24 hours....feels so good to write that.

Hopefully I can give a bit more insight into some of the various pots cooking on the proverbial "hot stove" that is "Hollywood".

And please save me some Giorodano's and Old Style before I become any more of a California "douchebag".

Or is it too late?