Our apologies.  We’ve been silent for a few weeks now.  But we have good reasons.

1)  Josh and I are working furiously on our new screenplay.

2)  I started a job last month as the lead assistant editor for a reality TV show on Spike called Scrappers.  It’s a great “day job.”  I get paid pretty well, I like my co-workers, and the show is really fun and well-made.  Working a “day job” in TV is great because it expands my contacts, pays my bills, and gives me experience.  Sure, I’d love to be paid to write and direct immediately but in the current economic climate, I’m thankful just to be working.

The only downside is that it eats into our writing schedule.  I have to commute from Burbank to Santa Monica.  For you Southern Californians, you know that isn’t fun.  Josh and I write from 6am till 9am and then I head off to work from 10am till 7 and then fight LA traffic back home.  Lately, as the show is nearing completion, I’ve been staying at work later -  8 or 9, or sometimes 10pm.

As you can see, this doesn’t leave much time for anything else.  At the end of the day, I sit down and usually fall right to sleep.  My roommates always quote Back to the Future – “Did you sleep in your clothes again, Marty?”

Josh and I try to live by a Bible verse found in Proverbs – “Do you see a man diligent in his business?  He will stand before kings.”  But I have to admit, it sure is exhausting being diligent.

You may be wondering what a lead assistant editor does.  Well, let me shed some light on the subject.

Every show has a production crew who shoots the footage.  Every show has editors.  Someone needs to get that footage to the editors in a format that they can use.  That’s where I come in.  My team and I get the footage into the computers and then organize it so that the editors can easily find all the footage they need to cut the shows.  (That actually makes us sound like “middle men.”  Haha.)

We also assist in technical issues as well as walk the show through the entire “Online” process (sound mix and color correction.)  I am one of the last people to lay eyes on the show before it airs.

Scrappers premieres on Spike tonight (August 3rd) at 10pm.  If you watch it, look for my credit at the end.  It will be on screen for 19 frames.  (1 second = 30 frames.)  Don’t blink.  You might miss it.