I have discovered a tersely excellent blog, Hands On, “Life and art in all their moving parts,” which is written by David Handelman, a journalistic veteran, an inked up old soldier, a printmag workhorse which rocks in it’s quality and rolls in industry access. Hands On is NOT about music, but Handelman did write for Rolling Stone. But the print stuff is yesterday, left in the 20th century.
Handelman blogs in Hands On about his current creative life in the entertainment trenches, about writing for real money, creating scripts, treatments and screenplays with the white hot possibility they might be either seen by the entire globe, or despite quality of concepts, concern, talent and effort on his part, get lost in a misdirected business decision. As you can imagine, this celeb proximity makes for delicious idea candy and Handelman’s article length experience with RS, Vogue and numerous other mags make his entries serenely readable.
In a piece called “Writes With Others,” Handelman describes the TV group writing process and rather than decrying it as a violation of every artist’s needs for solitude and sole credit, he extols it as a potential time saver and tells you why. “It forces you to make decisions and cut to the chase — two things that a writer sitting alone in a padded cell doesn’t often do. You can accomplish in a week what would take you several months on your own, because of the instant, outside input. (Theoretically one writer whose episode it is drives the story, but everyone and anyone can and does break it.)” Handelman includes the photo at left, from his time with “One Tree Hill” to illustrate the organization of multiple creative vectors.
In “The Ones That Got Away,” block excerpted below, my favorite of his blog posts so far, he discusses the nagging losses of his print rag years, the celebrity profiles that were never published, due to reasons beyond his control. Please, check it out.
Over the years I have… favorites (The Coen Brothers, James L. Brooks, The Kids in the Hall, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) [which had] to do with their personalities, where they were in their careers, and how much access I got (usually a result of the two previous factors; people starting out aren’t yet sick of hearing themselves talk, and people who are secure sometimes open up under the right circumstances).
The Worst have to do with a different variety of factors. I’ll devote another post to all that.
But what nobody ever asks about, and what really have stuck with me through the years, were the ones that got away. The way most people pine over unrequited loves and crushes,
writers torture themselves about unfinished stories. As with botched love, they can happen for an infinite number of reasons, but the end emotional result is the same.
For the full post, click here.
He goes on to describe lost heartbreakers involving Charlize Theron, Hector Babenco, Jann Wenner, Josh Malina, k.d. lang, Michael Jordan, Paul Reubens, Sports Night and Uma Thurman. Yes, Uma freaking Thurman. Uma Uma Uma Uma…
Add Hands On to your blogroll immediately.
