May Madness

The Month of May is the season for drama. Staffing season for TV, 8th grade Orthodox Jewish girls and therefore, my life.

I have been working very hard, readying for "staffing season." The time when you submit your TV scripts to shows who are staffing their writers for next year. My partner and I had an original pilot and a sample of "The Mentalist" ready by February, as that's when it began. And our manager has submitted our work and all is well. We had a few meetings already and I assumed the meeting season was Feb till about July, since most shows gear up in August, to present them to you fine folks in September.

I was wrong.

While I was in the middle of tutoring a 6th grader, my manager emailed me that my partner and I had a meeting with CBS (YAY CBS!) next Friday the 14th. Then I informed her that my partner was in India (BOO INDIA) till the 18th. To which she informed me that meeting season was in May. May! Within the staffing season there was just a month long meeting season and it's a pretty small window. Kind of like the one my writing partner was looking out of as he flew away for 2 of the 4 weeks of meeting season. Whew. We finally found a good day for the meeting but still, we were in a pickle. (What an odd saying. How did it start? Why that preposition - "in" a pickle? Who gets trapped inside of a pickle?) But with some creative mental elbow grease, we will make it work.

The other season that May contains is "8th grade girls learn acting, dancing, singing, and rehearse and put up a play" season. Previously, the 8th grade girls at the Jewish school I teach at, has had a play written by a lovely Jewish woman. And there were usually about 8-12 girls in the class. This year I was asked to help pen a play for 20 girls, based on a book about Tznius (dressing and acting modestly) that they could perform. It was based on a series of diaries that were not already in play structure. As I sat in my thong and miniskirt, picking my teeth with bacon covered toothpicks, I set to the task of writing a very Orthodox Jewish girl play. Actually, I took the top 3 writers in the 8th grade class, came up with a structure and had them write it. Or so I thought,

And then I wrote a lot more. And rewrote. And rewrote. And rewrote. And it was April. And the play was supposed to be in May. But it came together like lox and a bagel and I realized that this was boot camp for when I am staffed on a show. I will have crazy deadlines, input from everyone, actors waiting, and a tight production schedule. So I'm quite grateful for the process. And I also know from experience that when I see them acting, singing and dancing, and most importantly,when my little writers see THEIR OWN writing on the stage, it will definitely be worth it.

So May is a crunch time for these girls. They got the script and are learning songs, dances, lines, and so much more, ready to go up on June 6. They are working their hearts out and yes, they complain a bit (they're 13 and 14 year old girls after all...) but they're under the gun and it is, after all, just for the month of May.

Like staffing season.

So for now, I direct the girls, wait for calls about meetings, change a flight for $200 so I can meet with the lovely CBS people, and it's an exciting time.

To paraphrase the classic comedy, "Airplane":

I think I picked a hell of a time to cut down on sugar.