A Lonely Profession

Yes, writing can be a very lonely profession. Hour after hour by myself in front of my computer. Not that I never get out of the apartment as you have seen if you have been reading my blog for a while. But, as nice as it would be if they did, scripts just don't write themselves while they're sitting inside a computer! I made the decision about a week ago that I will focus all of my time on my career. Not that I didn't work hard previously, but I farted around a lot, surfed the Net, played videogames, and generally loafed around much more than I should. Then, I remembered the Number One rule of a disabled person trying to make it in the world. You have to work harder, be more reliable, have a stronger work ethic, have more experience, and have better social skills than your able-bodied competitors or you don't have a chance. I forget that rule every once and awhile, and then wonder why my career is stagnant.

This handsome guy, well, the one that's not sitting in a wheelchair is Yancy Arias, a guest star in the "Special Unit" pilot, and a regular on the new FX Series "Thief." This picture was taken late on the last night of the shoot which ran way into the early morning hours.

I previewed the pilot of the new Christopher Titus series for Comedy Central, "Special Unit" for several leaders of disability groups a few days back here in my apartment, and they found it hysterical. The project is still alive by the way, so say your prayers. I know I have been. The show getting on the air would not only mean a great deal to me and to the several people with disabilities involved in the show, but it will have a huge effect on how people with disabilities are perceived in general! It is everything that I've been pushing for years to see portrayed on television. Realistic portrayals of people with disabilities as we really are with all of our foibles, and humor which I think is vital to create a comfort zone for able-bodied people who are still a bit hinky about being around us.

Networking

I went to an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences function last night honoring women in television. It was a panel of lead actresses of television shows, women executive producers, and Angela Lansbury. (A classier woman you will never meet!) They talked about the positive changes that have come about in the last two decades. They highlighted the increased number of women in the industry both in front of the camera and behind it. For example, during all the years of Murder She Wrote, Angela Lansbury's writers were all men. She tried very hard to get women into her writing staff, but the general feeling at the time was that women couldn't write about a woman detective as well as a man could. Things have changed a lot. Several of the executive producers had staffs of writers that were composed 50/50 of men and women. They also said the age of their writers is from thirty-four to fifty and up. Great news for me.

I also secured two women to write magazine articles about; Diane Burroughs, Executive Producer of "Still Standing, and Laura Innes, Dr. Kerry Weaver, from "ER," who is also a writer and director. I will be talking more about upcoming articles as soon as I secure them. Hint, I am setting up an interview with one of TV and movie's top male stars. I'll let you know his name as well as the names if the magazines as soon as I confirm everything.

I took pictures with a couple of my favorite actresses; CCH Pounder, currently starring on "The Shield", and Holland Taylor, currently starring on "Two and a Half Men." Both of them terrific, and they have done groundbreaking work during the course of their careers.




My demo reels are finally online where you can look at them. You can view them at jimtroesh.net/media.htm.

I have no news yet about "Special Unit," or any of my other projects. I have met with ABC again about my TV pilot "The Outsiders". Basically, it needs a great deal of rewriting before it is Network ready. I am fast discovering in my rewriting that it is vastly improved over its previous version. "I guess these network folks actually know what they're doing!" Sometimes it's hard to believe if you base your viewpoint on what you see on television.

Until Next time. By the way, I'll soon be making updates weekly, so be sure to check back often.

Skydive!

Yes, it's me. Sitting in the wide-open door of a twin-engine plane at twelve thousand five hundred feet seconds away from plummeting toward earth at one hundred eighty miles an hour! What was I thinking?! Actually it was very cool! Skydiving was one of the highlights of my life. I did it back in 1989 and as far as I know, I am the first quadriplegic skydiver. We jumped out at California city which is in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I do have a video of it which I recently edited and soon will be putting up on my website jimtroesh.net.

I was completely fearless. I thought I would either live and have a terrific story, or die a terrific death. It never occurred to me that I might end up more injured. If I had thought of it I'm not sure if would have done it or not. Thank God I had the presence of mind to have it videotaped.

That's Hollywood

Its all part of the HOLLYWOOD machine. On the one hand there is the capacity to make you a huge mega star, on the other hand there's always a chance that you'll end up on the cutting room floor. Such is the way of my recent work on BOSTON LEGAL. I received word from my manager on Friday that the final editing on the show left its a few minutes too long so my scene was cut.

It's happened to me plenty before, but it was always on shows where I had plenty of other scenes, so if a seene or two of mine were cut for time I was still in plenty of the show to be seen. Not so this time. That is upsetting a couple of levels. First call of all, I told everybody I know that my episode would be on March 7th, now have to go back and tell them again ethanol not on. Intellectually I know my scene was cut for time and not because I did a crappy job and I will probably be called back for more workers playing another character, but I was looking forward to it! Finally, when the show reruns in a few months since my face won't be honest I won't get any residual checks.

As for "Special Unit," we are still waiting to hear from Comedy Central as to whether or not we will be a TV series. Christopher Titus told me recently that they were in the middle of last minute editing, and I should have a copy to look at in a week or so.