The Conversation I'm hearing

I've always been an eavesdropper. I love to listen to conversations in public places. I've always been like this every before my play writing teacher in college told us this was a good way to learn dialogue - to learn how people talk.

So right now I'm in a coffee shop - my favorite coffee shop - a WRITER'S coffee shop (if the number of people I see in here writing screenplays is any indication,) and I'm listening to a conversation at the next table. Actually I'm trying to avoid listening, but they are fairly loud and I keep hearing words like "enema"(made even weirder because one of them is gorgeous.) Turns out they are two midwives and they are chatting about their weekly cases. It's fascinating to hear the words that they use and the way they use them - their professional banter. I'm sure I'll get to use it sometime but who knows when.

By the way - TWO MORE friends are leaving. My neighbor, who is a camera assistant, is packing it in and heading home and a friend of mine who has been trying to produce for the last few years is moving to San Francisco, though that may be a lateral move. Certainly it'll be more interesting than L.A. In any case, two more bite the dust.

Should this make me feel better???

The other night I was flipping channels, actually, since we have Directv I was paging through the guide and I saw a tantalizing entry on Showtime. Actually, it might not have been Showtime itself, it might have been The Movie Channel, but given that they are part of one cuddly media conglomerate I'm going to lump them together.

Now - a little backstory. Back when I finished my first film I decided it would be a good idea to head up to Sundance and press the flesh a little. So as I'm riding the shuttle up from SLC, I start chatting up one of my fellow passengers and it turns out he's the acquisitions guy for Showtime and he asks about my film. I tell him and he says, "We love William Katt," (who is in my film) "send it to me," he says.

So I did. Months later I was given a call by someone's assistant's assistant and was told that they were passing. No explanation, just a pass. Thanks, but no thanks. (did I mention I'd received this call after months of calling them (after a suitable waiting period?))

Then comes the other night and I'm flipping around as I mentioned and come across this tantalizing entry:

The Witches of Breastwick.

Now given that I tend, on occasion, to write with my tongue firmly implanted in my cheek, I should pause for a moment to explain that NO that is NOT a JOKE.

Well, there was no way I could let a film like that pass without at least taking a gander at it. You know? And so I did.

Now I understand porn - BELIEVE me, I understand porn. And I understand that there's a place for porn (soft core) on Showtime - heck - I think that's where my 2nd film wound up. I understand porn. But this was - - uh - - it was - - uh - -

Look - let me put it this way. I've watched some serious crap in my life because there was some naked on screen. (I mean I've actually sat through the dialogue of Dr. Penetration (mmm, this is worth three more dollars...for those of you who know - you know...)) But... well, I think I finished the remained of the hour watching Good Eats on the Food Network.

So my question is, should it make me feel better or worse that this network turned down my film?