Trying To Get My Guano Together/Weekend Box Office #96

I'm in a rut.

I'm deluged with work, which on one sense I'm thankful for -- the economy isn't great, I'm in a weird uncertain business, and we're in debt so we can always use the money.

But I literally have piles of work lying around my office, that fall into four categories:

1) PRODCO WORK. This is the quick turnaround stuff, the companies I work for who send me something and need it back in a day or two. Usually the best-quality stuff, though not always. But it immediately goes to the top of the pile.

2) THE CABLE NETWORK I READ FOR. This is stuff that's not do for a week, or two, so there's no rush -- until it has been sitting there for a week or two. Then it has to get done.

3) THE TINY COMPANY MY FRIEND WORKS FOR. Half-price scripts with very little coverage required, so I can bang them out in an hour or so, and there's no deadline... again, until they have been lying around for a while, and need to get done.

4) MY $60 NOTES. This is the pile that is starting to take a toll. When I started this, it was as a lark; I wanted to develop this side of my brain, I wanted to be able to read a script and give constructive notes on how to fix it (which my regular coverage generally doesn't require in any extensive fashion), I thought I could help people, I was appalled by what other people online were charging.

I figured 2 or 3 a week would be easy to juggle in.

It's more than that now, and the problem is that they are more time-intensive than I wanted. Because I don't half-ass it; I curl up with the scripts, and take a lot of notes, and even jot down typos and format stuff, and then I type it all up. And suddenly a big chunk of my day is gone, and I have to do one the next day, and the next.

I like what I do, and I'm actually not getting burned out from the work. It's just so time-intensive, that at the end of the day I just want to curl up in the living room with the wife, and watch a little TV, and play some Scrabble, and go to bed.

But I haven't done any screenwriting in weeks.

So as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to do something with the $60 notes. Either shut it down (which I don't want to do) or raise the price (which I don't want to do) or maybe both.

Word to come. Because something has to give.

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Of course, whenever I get down, something comes along to remind me that my life isn't so bad.

Pop over to my friend Deb's website, and if you are inspired to buy something from her, please do. It's for a good cause, and she's good people.

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This weekend in theaters:

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (3072 theaters). This opened on Wednesday, and it's doing pretty well. Look for it to do about $38 million over the weekend, though it would do better if not for the Olympics.

THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS 2 (2707 theaters). The girls in the cast are suddenly biggish names, and this also opened half-decently on Wednesday. $18.6 million for the weekend.