So now we know.

[thehefner]

I've cobbled together the basic script for THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES from their original prose forms from the book. I now finally think I have a strong story to tell here, one that's both entertaining and personal. One with a much stronger throughline than if I were to simply tell the Tammy story or somehow assembling a bunch of stories under the feeble connection of finding my own self-identity. By tying the Tammy story into my own search for my identity, out of the shadow of the Hefner name, I think I potentially have a damn solid show ahead of me.

So now it's just a matter of turning a story that's 116 pages on Microsoft Word (double-spaced) into 50 pages.

Which can be done. Speakeasy certainly showed me that. If I was able to turn my fifteen-to-thirty minute long Wedding/Erection story into a six minute piece, I can certainly pare this epic down. It's a matter of figuring what what's best left unsaid, especially what can be understood through the way I tell it rather than just outright saying it. I can do this. It's gonna be huge and scary, but I'm shivering with excitement at what the story is going to be like when I pull it off.

That's the thing about this whole deal. There are times when I'm stressed under feeling of self-doubt, that Ole Devil self-censor sitting over my shoulder telling me that my stories aren't going to interest anyone, that I'm wasting my time, that all my hard work is going to be for nothing, no matter how many years I spend touring and promoting and refining the Hefner Monologues. "You're a white, upper-middle-class, heterosexual male comic geek. No part of you should be a storyteller!"

And other times, or even at the same time, I'm driven by the giddy excitement of what this is going to be when I do pull it off, and how it'll only get better and better the more I perform and workshop it. How this could be the start of the most important thing I could be doing with my life. I mean, I'm not going to make my fortune as an actor or a writer anyway, right? So I might as well go all-out and do that which drives me the most.

I could see myself happily spending the rest of my life performing and writing The Hefner Monologues, just so long as I've carved out enough of a niche cult audience. I don't need mainstream success, just a strong enough following that I'll be able to keep doing these shows. Something's gonna need to pay my plane fare when I take this all over the U.S. and to Scotland and so on.

This is so fucking cool. It's forcing me to believe in myself, something which I've always been terrified to do. But if I don't, no one will, right? I have to believe in my stories if anyone else is going to believe in them, which no one will do anyway until I just get up on that stage and fucking do them.

I'm off to get my trademark $3 blue suit dry-cleaned for the first time ever (which I should have done right when I bought it at the Studio Theatre garage sale). And tonight, after FAUSTUS, I'm gonna start setting to the task of making this bad boy work. While the buzz lasts, and before that Ole Devil comes creeping back in.

Comments

[ortugatay.livejournal.com]

Can you email me a copy of what you have right now, and as you work on it as well?
Firstly, I want to make sure I know exactly what material we're working with for when we work on the marketing forms and stuff, and secondly, new script development is rather my area of interest.

Thanks, and I'm so excited to work on this with you!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna edit it a bit tonight, so that I can at least tie the mess together with the throughline I'll be shooting for, and I shall send it to you promptly. So long as you know half of it will be gone.

Me too! Eee!

[kmousie.livejournal.com]

You absolutely can do this. I'm excited for you, and I'm happy to help in any way I can. :-)

[gnort.livejournal.com]

So now it's just a matter of turning a story that's 116 pages on Microsoft Word (double-spaced) into 50 pages.

I think the answer is pretty simple man, you just make it single spaced.

[frumple.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the trick of reducing the margins as well. :)

[gnort.livejournal.com]

and of course the tried and true changing of the font size

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

Yes! Get up on that stage and fucking do them!
I'm totally in your cult audience.

[gore-whore-5.livejournal.com]

When is the infamous performance day? I'm afraid I might be out of the country. If I am, please know I'll be there in spirit and please please PLEASE record it and PLEASE do it again. I really want to see you do this.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Smart asses.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

End of July. You can find the dates in a recent entry on the subject, but I don't have them on me. If you miss them, no worries. I'm hoping these will be the start of many.