articles colliding at tremendous speed in this room and hopefully it's creating some good aesthetic vision for you when you go back to your rooms and write. So today we're talking about the difference in cross-platform writing, different media writing for film, writing for television, writing for the internet. And so my esteemed panel here, I'd like to maybe begin with going down the panel and just introducing the audience to briefly what's your experience writing or working in in some way with other media besides theater. And then I've got a couple questions for you and then I want to open it up and get lots of questions from the audience. So scribble down the questions that you have so that we can make great use of our one hour that we have here today. So, David, would you like to have me get it? Steve, are we attentional? I guess for most of my writing life I've been a bounce back between theater and TV and film and so I've worked in television and I've worked in film doing from like in the assortment things to studio kind of projects so I've always kind of balanced, I've tried to balance those things so I've probably had more film experience, screenplay experience actually than play experience. I don't realize where I'm going to sit in this panel but I should talk about it quite a bit. I have very little experience in film but I do have a recent experience which might be interesting which is the play that I wrote that is running here, The Favour, was actually made into a film last month. So the experience of doing that and how that was different than the actual play on stage was interesting to me. I mean they really are, the cast was different, the size of the cast was different, the way that it feels and how the story was different. That's my favorite. My primary focus is theater but I definitely am working in television right now and have been putting a lot of energy, especially we're starting development season now after July 4th it's like off to the races so. Focus in that area, I can feel comfortable with that when we're talking about TV stuff and a little bit of comic book freelance writing so. I'm a representation, I'm not a writer so I work extensively in all medium. My primary focus is the playwrights theatrical writing but I do represent David and as you can attest, every writer that I represent has a screenplay, multiple screenplays, multiple TV ideas, plays, short stories, children books, all sorts of different ideas that are sort of at the forefront of their brain and part of what it is that I do is to try to focus their energy and attention on what it is that they should be focusing on. I think a clear distinction should be made before we start getting into form and format is just some differences in terms of the placement of the writer in different medium. Though you may not feel this way, in the theater the writer is the king. You retain copyright, you retain ownership of your work and any producer that gets involved in producing the work they're essentially renting the work from you. At the end of the run it's yours. When you sell a screenplay it is no longer yours. It is owned by the studio and I know David has had examples, common examples, that you can talk about. They'll sometimes buy an idea and then completely want to rework it and the writer has zero recourse. I'm glad the worst moments in my life are comedic scribes. I don't think this could be a cowl. Sure, let's put them into the umbrella of comedy. The check clear. Would they have that clause in their mind that they own it throughout the universe? Throughout the known universe, which isn't to imply that additional universes are found, they will also own it there. It doesn't really give you a realistic idea of the enthusiasm of the project. It's why they wanted it for every planet. They really love this idea. But also, as it was pointed out in another panel yesterday, one of Susan Shulman's clients had a project where a studio bought it simply to bury it. Really? It was a competing project. It was a project that was going to compete with the release of Julie and Julia and they didn't want it to see the light of day. It's a fairly typical practice in Hollywood. That's fine. I'll just turn around. So the question I have for the panel and anyone, feel free to answer this. As you attend play, writing conferences, or in my experience, I teach a lot of playwrights. There are sometimes when you encounter a script, which was clearly conceived, not as a stage play, but as something other than a stage play. As you sit down to write a piece, at what point do you realize this idea can be encapsulated on stage? Or perhaps it's broader than that. It's got a different feel to it. It has perhaps a cinematic quality. When you sit down and conceive of an idea, it's obviously the first thought, this is a play, this is a screenplay, this is a TV pilot, this is a movisote for phones. Any thoughts about that? Did you say a movisote? A movisote? A movisote. I've never heard that. We need another panelist. We need a movisote. It's all the short content that telecommunication companies are buying to be able to set. No, I got it from context, but it was fascinating. Honestly, for me, and I think it's different for everyone, and I just got done saying earlier today, everybody has a different process, so everyone's going to approach things differently. Not that I never would, just because we're live streaming this, and God knows who's watching, but I haven't written a lot of screenplay, I haven't done a lot of screenplay work because for me, that's such a different set of muscles that I'm just not equipped with, and I haven't spent the time working those out at all. But it's a very different thing when you sit down. Once you're working in it, abstractly it's not that different, but once you're actually trying to develop television, it's a very different thing when I sit down to write a television show that's going to kick off something that you ostensibly want to run for a hundred episodes in disindication, then it is to sit down and write a play that has a beginning, middle, and an end, and then you're probably not going to write a sequel to. Those are very different things. And then the other thing I would say is that just for me, my theatrical work is theatrical.  So it's something that if you were to translate it to television or cinema, I think it would immediately die. And so it's just of those things for me to become very different. Talk about that. It's an aircraft carrier, screenplay. You know, Death Star, screenplay.  But I'd say unless you're doing kind of a European, independent film, the first literature in death anyways, if you have, you know, more than a quarter of a page of dialogue, you know, you can't, it's a visual medium. It's a visual medium. You see that over and over.  And I think that's, that is the kind of character that you want to show. I think that distinction between visual and not, which is between film and theater, with television less so now, because everyone knows all the great television shows for character development and all the things that happen, all these great shows now is a totally different thing. So you can obviously do great character work in that medium. But similarly, in terms of selling stuff, in terms of writing a pilot or something, you don't need to, you can't express the kind of way that you're going to sort of arc of a character in a play. You can't do that in a pilot, because like on any of the great shows right now, you've got an arc that runs four seasons, so you can't do that in 28 pages of a pilot. So it's, it's been still just kind of put some into the category of style of writing that we need to embrace. Yeah, one of the most consistent notes I give any of my writers who are, you know, primarily playwrights but then write screenplay is show it, don't tell it. Because there is an economy of theatrical writing that good playwrights use in terms of telling the complete story using only the dialogue that the characters are giving. And playwrights also consistently typically wrap up scenes and moments and sort of fall back on, you know, they have great buttons on scenes. It doesn't usually happen that way in screenplay. There's just a continuity of action that is sort of propelling things through it. So this is a question maybe for you Bruce, as a talent writer. Well, first of all, let me, let me pull the room. How many people in here are just strictly playwrights?  How many people have dabbled in writing TV spec scripts? Like half hour, one hour format, okay? Screenplays? Okay. What about something for a different medium? Internet or anything like that? Okay. Everyone's so bashful. What happened to all the progress we made this morning? What about the novels? Let's liven it up. What about novels? Novels? Okay. Novela? Haiku? Yes. And I know that there's at least one sonic writer. You write sonics, is that right? Yeah, okay. So then let me ask you this question because I know when I lived in Los Angeles, at least for television writing, there was kind of a geographic necessity to be in Southern California. Now I know that you're in LA, you're in New York, and you're in New York. Do you see with any geographic necessity if you want to write film or television or new media to be in a certain market? There's definitely geographic convenience to be in Los Angeles. The process, and Dave, you might want to speak to this as well, and Steve can certainly as well, in terms of the development process in putting a TV show together, even a film together. Increasingly, a lot of writing is happening because it costs money. It used to be at every sort of writer's treatment, director's pitch, treatment, pilot, episode guide, you'd get paid. Well now they just do a step deal. Exactly, so you get a little bit along the way. Exactly. And for clients that I have that are based in Los Angeles, that are primarily TV and film people, they have three to six meetings a week. And the rest of the time they're caught in traffic. And it's really about the face time and going out and frequently it's a general meeting that turns into a, we have a project that we'd like you to do a writer's take on or we'd like to hear your ideas that you have. Certainly there's television production happening in other parts of the country and in New York. But there's as much TV film happening in New York as, well that's not how I was going to say, as there is theater in Los Angeles I know. It's a myth. But, again, geographic convenience for TV film. I just want to say, but I also think that, I think that that's true, but I think the flip side of it that sometimes we forget as writers is that when I was in San Francisco during this residency I was making trips I was driving to Los Angeles to have meetings. And you walk into the meetings and one of the first things they ask you is that if they're going to spend as much money as they're going to spend not only on the script but on trying to make the script into a thing that happens they want to know that you're serious and committed to it and maybe you've proved that, maybe you've demonstrated that through your other work maybe you're coming to them from a place of I've had plays of labyrinth or I've had play, you know I have a sustained kind of career but if you haven't they want you to live there because they want you to demonstrate your commitment to this thing that they're about to spend tons and tons of money on. And I don't know that that's always the right thing but just generally that is a true thing. So you're from the Bay Area and then chose to relocate out of New York? I'm from Atlanta and I went to Gradsville, New York and then I just happened to through this NMPN that Nan was talking about yesterday get a year-long residency in San Francisco at the end of that I had no idea where I was, what I was going to do because sans the residency money I could not afford to live in San Francisco at least the way I had been. So my agents got together and said you know you've been talking about trying TV if you really want to be serious and give it a serious shot you should take this opportunity where you don't know where you're going to go and just go to Los Angeles and see what happens. What about your experience? Are you originally from New York or did you move to New York for the I'm from Philadelphia but I moved to New York after college so I didn't know for a while but I mean my experience was to get a job writing for a television show and the majority of the writers were out there so LA said no argument that's what you've got to be. I've lived in New York, I've never lived in LA except for a small amount of time when I was working on a specific project so I feel like if you've got if your career is at somewhere where you can get meetings you can go out there and go and be able to get meetings that's the thing in New York if you're not trying to be a staff if you're not, if you don't have that access then I think the shoes factor of being out there is important because the writers everywhere you go you meet people and it really is because in New York you can't do that so if you're at a point where you're really trying to get connections I think being in LA is sort of invaluable because you always meet people that are involved and that's a way of getting your foot in the door so that way I've managed to not do that but it definitely has negative repercussions being in New York I think being a writer if you want to be a screenwriter or whatever it definitely is not the wisest choice because it's just it's no comparison in terms of how much work there is how many people you need but it's possible but I think anyone especially who's saying if you want to write television LA you kind of have to be there so because you were born in New York I just think it's hilarious that I'm sitting on this panel really I mean I have one 15 minute short film well actually there's a little more than that but so yes what do you want me to know you've also said some of the most amazing things at this conference not now though I think I should sit over there what well it was partly about this whole notion of geography because I think there's something that writers obsess about I think that for a long time as playwrights we all probably obsess with the fact that oh my god we have to move to New York and with things like the advent of National New Play Network this becomes less and less of a of a concern for writers nationwide in regional markets but I'm wondering if still there is this feeling for writers of other media being in one of the major capitals particularly in Los Angeles is it a driving concern of yours well you know for me I don't know that I can really actually answer that question I'm afraid of Los Angeles I just always feel ugly there I'm not, I don't function well in LA and I've never thought of myself as a person who television and I've never had the confidence and I started writing it's going to become like a therapy session it sounds like that doesn't matter yeah okay I just, I also didn't start writing until I was 45 and I really did take time out to raise my son so the whole, my whole experience of being a parent and being a writer and being an actress sort of moved me along in a specific direction and I did go to LA as an actor I've never as a writer and to make some I do believe that if you want to be a playwright you need to be in New York I do believe that that you get all the stimulation and you get to work with some of the best people in the world so that's very interesting to me and anytime three of my short plays have been made into short films and I've experienced that and one of them was actually made in Syria which was an interesting film just before the war and it was about a deaf child and so the whole experience was actually in silence and then that whole territory where it was filmed is now destroyed and the war happened a week later so my experiences have been intense and short and not really like these gentlemen who have heard the living and I've never done that but for me it's been a side sort of remarkable extension of trying to be a creative person this is a two part question for you now so if you've had the experience of having something that was originally written for the stage which has now been adapted that's what's your experience I have some friends who they just want to take the money and run and say let somebody else do the adaptation I can see this as a play or a short story I don't want to deal with the adaptations others want to have the right first to write the first script so that's what you're experiencing in that regard the second part of it is in tandem with that we know that as playwrights there's no shortage of people who are willing talk backs or critics in the press willing to tell us how to rewrite our own plays in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry it's magnified considerably the amount of people not only who feel that they have a right to but also do have legal rights to tell you because they've paid for it is the paycheck a little bit of a spoonful of sugar or how is it frustrating? it's not a small spoonful of sugar it's a bag of sugar I would suggest about the first part just for me is that like adaptation is an art form not everyone excels at it some people should take the money and run I think people who adapt or are very generally this is very general obviously get paid to do that because they're skilled at what they do and just because I wrote a play doesn't mean that I have the wherewithal or the skill set to turn that into a film although I'll probably in my contract have like a first shot at it if they bought it then it's there maybe they'll give me that first shot as a courtesy and maybe I'll knock it out of the park but probably after the first pass someone who does that for a living is going to come in and take over so I have to know that and then the second thing is that I think it's a very different thing it's about where agency rests because in playwriting you don't want someone to tell you wait to your play do you know what I mean? in television it's your show you can't make it without all these other people there's a difference you know what I mean? they're invested in a financial way that you cannot be and there's so many people that have to say yes to something like 700 people have to say yes and if just one person says no it stops at least in that venue and then there's other venues that you pursue so I don't know it's sort of like when you've sat in enough talkbacks as a playwright you stop hearing the crazy like you stop hearing that person who's like this part and I think it should be this and what you hear is okay they had a problem on page 5 with this thing what does that mean? like where is that coming from? and so when you start to approach television notes and I don't have any idea my understanding is that it's much more sharp invested but is that in television at least when you get notes from producers no one's trying to tank your show they're all trying to make it better and so the idea is because they want it to and so if everyone's goal is the same then it becomes listening to notes that you don't want to hear and going alright how can I satisfy this note and still maintain what I'm doing how can I hear where that note is coming from make the adjustment, make the change and still try and satisfy my artistic integrity but I feel very different like plays or my plays that's my play and if I don't like what you have to say about it then screw off in television you can't say screw off so you have to sort of develop a thicker skin and learn how to hear a note and not freak out and just kind of deal with it that's my experience I agree with everything that Steve just said with the exception or the aren't you like I'm wondering if I'm able to fight with the exception of notes that executives giving are all about trying to make it better for TV my experience is that executives are given or more often to preserve their own job and they want to be able to ride the middle so delicately that if it doesn't work they can blame somebody else if it works they can take the crisis but that's a given and you know a major significant difference in television even more so than film but it's certainly in film it's for profit it is so corporate driven that it's almost it's preposterous it's hilarious I've been in situations working in those environments where there will be a script reading of some sort with a room full of suits and somebody will literally say that character needs to be taller it's like okay you know and you have to know it's given as suggestions TV and film are given as directives they sound like suggestions that's how tall exactly they don't want to hear why is it that you want that character taller it doesn't make him freaking taller then with regard to do you want the playwright to cash the check and let somebody else do it etc as you said as representation I certainly want the opportunity and the ability to get my client additional work if in fact they're the one that's best suited for it if they're not I turn to the rest of my last one see if there's somebody else that can do it but yeah certainly as Steve said it's all about who has the chops to do it I disagree with everything these two said I agree with everything the rest of said but in terms of the theater and television since the goal is seeing it done getting it produced whether it's television or not in terms of taking the notes you've got to be very very careful about knowing what notes are taken what not the notes that you don't take you can stop the project by not taking the note and the notes that you take that will make it going sometimes you have to this is true theater but less sell but in television certainly if you can get notes so recently I was working on a pilot for a network and I got some notes I knew if I took these notes these are the notes that are going to make it not happen eventually I just knew it and so you can find ways to do rewrites that you can convince them you're not going to win an argument on the phone or whatever you say well you're not going to win that fight you can then do the work sell them and slowly convince them that's what these guys are saying people are fearful of their jobs they're fearful about making money when you're on a conference call these guys get bosses on the call they're listening to them they want to feel like they can give notes that sound intelligent yet critical yet leading to something and they often will be the notes that can stop it dead and so it's just not smart about how to get what you want being careful of having a clear idea of not like I got this note from the executive so if I follow this then I'm going to get my pilot shot of the show you're going to be like well what's the larger picture and I'm going to lose the essence of this character if I take that note and I'm going to lose the driving force of what the premise of this project is by taking that note you know better than they do so you've got to keep an eye on that with being kind of smart about it can I a little thing to say I did actually have a job I was hired by HBO to write a pilot on someone who what they wanted was a story of a woman who was an agent a a literary agent actually it was sort of a suitmaker's story and they hired me to write it and so I went off and I wrote a pilot and the note thing I find that those of you sitting in the room and know how to deal with them is crucial and I was very naive about that and when I walked into the room and sat at the table with seven men as the only woman in the room writing a story about a woman and what I was told in that room was that's not how women behave and I was like well fuck you I mean I couldn't really believe that that was the response and I didn't know how to be graceful about it and probably to a continuation of the job I just didn't I just sat there and had all that resistant in a lifetime of issues around it actually the actual note was that's not how women behave and they should be taller I think that's what she thinks see I would know and I didn't I didn't let's feel some questions from the audience cricket over here yeah and then over here Nina I have two questions if that's okay one is Bruce how did David get on the radar how long ago and what was that like how did you guys hook up and then how did HBO know breaking me in store David and I have been working together for about six years and the reality of how I sort of found David was I was at a point when I was developing my roster and it's really paying attention to what was going on and there was somebody else at the time who was on my roster, no longer on my roster who said you really need to pay attention to this friend like David Barcats because you were playing at the time or he was writing everything at the time and I went and saw a piece of his in a reading and I've never laughed so hard in a reading and I knew I had to work with this guy our relationship is I work with him primarily theatrically he has a representation that really handles his TV and film work that's not to say that I don't read his work and provide any sort of feedback that he's interested in receiving is that both parts of the question? what's the last way how did these two people find you the way that Colin Calder was the head of the goodness he's still now well it's actually a weird little story which is that I'm very good friends with the playwright Richard Greenberg few people recognize that and he's a good friend of mine and we decided years ago that we wanted to write a short play together for the E.S.T. Marathon and we wanted to combine our names and make it an anonymous person and just see just played this game at least Ehrlich was our name I can't believe I'm saying this there's a camera and all that I know I know so we wrote this thing together about a woman a ball busting woman who just took charge of things and I actually did it I performed it and it did well it created a little bit of a stir and it got a good review so Colin Calder came to see it and he hired he met with us and Rich didn't want to do it so I ended up doing it and I did that's how it happened what's very true is that television in particular has a real fondness and can be for playwrights at least they say that they do but they can't the primary reason they didn't like me just in terms of character development and imagination and things of that sort but then they often times have a way of sort of all the stuff that made them interesting and beating all that out of them Steve how did you find representation? in my first year I love when you said well I found him he was like on the streets that was the G version that was an alley actually I was going to ask if David's story is the same as Bruce's would you tell the exact same story that Bruce just told? yes Bruce had written I went to a reading and I never left on her he was the guy from the yeah that was being a mutual friend the same thing she said this guy you got to be that was my time was really interesting I was in my first year at NYU and I had I wrote the play that we were talking about on the same French family and some Bill Fennelly who's a director in New York passed it along to Mary Harden and Harden Curtis and then they called me in they said we'd like to have a meeting and I was like oh that's great so I went in and like through the entire meeting I was like so I was literally on my best part like what can I do to work with you and literally at a certain point she's like Steve like we're here to try and convince you to let us represent you so we can fall down and I was like I did not understand that that was the context of the meeting and so then I was like yes Mary Harden's got it so Harden Curtis are still my theatrical audience now what was that in the year 2008 my question's similar but it's about adaptation so I have these plays out there they're published in short stories and maybe hopefully a novel someday and A how do I try to maximize that opportunity for somebody to say oh we can turn this into a film and then the second part of that question is how much control like let's say my next play gets picked up it goes to Broadway somebody wants to turn it into a film how much control do I have or is it at that point I just have to let go and take the money or get it I feel like I'm jumping in and all so someone else do it all I was going to say is it depends who you are I would have like if I had a play that went to Broadway and then someone said we want to make a movie out of it we want to buy the rights to do this I would have a little or no input other than staying with Leslie and what you're going to get together with Leslie Richard Greenberg please do the adaptation I need you to hire a lease airline but you know Tracy I would feel relatively certain I could be completely wrong people watching on the internet but like that Tracy probably had a lot of input into August Osage County the adaptation of that that's coming out because he's a Pulitzer Prize winning Tony award winning playwright and also the producers of the film are the producers of the play so there was obviously an interest in taking that particular work and creating a successful adaptation I think I'm going back to what you said originally about the adaptation I think the wisest thing really is that if you were to play a play that you were worried about the adaptation as you're saying to let a professional do the fact is that even if you know the most amount of it there's been so many different mediums and there have been so few good adaptations of plays in the films and the reason why they generally suck is because they're holding on to what made the play great and if there's something that someone come in and because the thing that a playwright might love about is that he's going to fuck it up into the film I'm sorry I absolutely agree that there's somebody that can put your input in whatever but I think if a playwright sometimes it's not clear if it's a screenwriter some of the dust is so invested ego or certain aspects of it someone else is probably going to serve you better in the end it's going to be better for you well it's things that you wouldn't even think about like I'm totally going to steal a story now but Doug Ryan who's one of the guest teachers at NYU was telling us this story about the process of turning quills into a movie and that he went you know summon not summon but he was requested to come to first of all he was allowed to be on the set a lot which the director wanted which is unusual but then he was sort of requested to go to Kate Winslet's trailer and she said to him she was Kate Winslet but she wasn't like now we have Kate Winslet and so she said to him this is my favorite monologue in the entire script I love it it's really beautiful and he's like me too and she said I don't know if Doug Ryan doesn't make me nervous but she said thank you and then she said I really think that I can accomplish this with a look and he had to get over like all of his sort of like you know playwright pride to have this moment and so he said to the director let's you know he didn't want to offend her and so I'm probably bow training this if anyone repeats this story monologue and then we'll give her a chance to do the thing that she wants to do so she did the monologue and he said that it was like earth shadowingly brilliant every little nuance of it was his favorite thing ever then she did it with a look and she was 100% right and that's what's in the film and like it's not something that he would have done or noted you or any of that stuff because it's a completely different medium and that's the place where having never written a screenplay the idea that I would then look at someone and be like I'm going to do a stunning adaptation of my own play with no distance or education is like I don't know who I would have to be that's ballsy it's so interesting I love that story I mean everybody has their own process writing a television show it seems like we were talking about knowing the ending of plays when you sort of begin knowing where you're going and with the television show every episode you have to sort of know that ending what is the process like in the room with so many other writers hands in the pot how does it become complete essentially for like a season well it's typically a showrunner a showrunner is an individual he's essentially oftentimes the creator of the show and executive producer of the show they're also the head writer of the show they're the ones that control the writer room and controls sort of the overarching vision for the show interestingly you just said we've worked together for six years and you don't know I always have stuff that's true that's true that's true that's true the recent re-release reboot of Arrested Development there was obviously a lot of press around the creator Mitch Hurwitz that's how you pronounce his name and he was talking about how he had he had envisioned an entirety for an entire 5, 6, 7 season art for all these characters and how it was all going to sort of tie back in there were seeds of jokes that were planted in season 1 episode 4 that didn't pay off in the initial run of the show and if people were paying attention in episode 6 of the new season that joke is finally going to pay off it's a very, very specific it's a very different process being able to write half our poundies a little bit different because those are typically episodic storylines that are continued it's much more relevant for how long the drama is to have sort of a satisfying episode that also propels the characters and stories more they wouldn't have a sense too because they're going to have input it's going to have input on all that stuff like maybe I think if you're selling to like Cable it's a little less like you could definitely network they're going to have a lot of thoughts about where it's going to go but I can tell you the very first thing I got lucky and it was luck and sold something very quickly a TV pilot and it was bought outright but one of the reasons that Sony bought it was because at the end of the pilot it ended on page like 34 and then there was two pages at the end that was next up on Tief by the end of the first season so that they had a sense of not only because one of the questions you get at the end of your pilot from everyone on the planet is what's every week going to be what's the story engine like how is this going to run from week to week even if you think it's the most obvious thing in the planet that question is coming like it's coming and so at least for me it's coming so they want to know that you have a sense of not just what happens in the pilot but of the direction, it's what we talked about in tension you know what I mean, they want to know that you've got a plan for where you'd like for it to go and then maybe they're going to tell you to go somewhere different with it but at least you have a plan be on that pilot it's with Sony now because they bought it outright so like they have control over where it goes next I'll be writing it no do they keep you in the loop I mean it may be short for 10 years but in 10 years where they decide it does not I think they have 4 years actually but it's the executive that has oversight over it is working on it it was a really killer season last year for spec scripts like a lot of things sold from Pinch not a lot of spec scripts sold last year so I think they're still waiting to see what's going to happen this year but I was surprised that it sold frankly because it's a cable half hour with very few places that it can actually end up in the long run so it was unusual that's why I say it was lucky I was very lucky to your point of reversion after 4 years or 10 years and a script comes back that's great in some regards but any other executive is going to say well if Sony couldn't get it done in 4 years what makes anybody think that we can get it done that's true sort of but the only other thing that I would say is that you also what you learn really quickly and you already know all this but like what you learn really quickly and that I did not know is that studios have certain places that they can sell things because of deal mechanisms and then there are certain places where there's like certain places that Sony can go and make a deal and sell something and get it on TV there's certain places that Sony doesn't have a model for how to sell to so there's channels that you just can't go to and so there's outlets that some studios can go to and it is your project worth reinventing the wheel to try and figure out how to do financing with an existing studio and like those are things that you're largely spared from but then you'll ask weird questions like well why didn't we go to this network to try because it seems like it'd be a good fit and when the answer comes back there's no model in place to sell to them it's kind of like wait there's this whole other world of financing that you as a writer don't have anything to do with that you slowly start to become it's like peeling back layers you know what I mean where you don't always know exactly what's going on did you go ahead and pitch it did your agents submit it I worked on it I got really lucky and our producer Eric Jenderson is a really great writer producer who did band of brothers for HBO read an early draft of the script gave me some notes he was really committed because it's about dentist and his father was like the dentist for president for one of the president for Truman I think it was Truman's dentist and he was flying from San Francisco to give him like dental worker so he was invested in it because it was about dentist and he did two passes with me on the script of sort of like here are my notes and you know it was kind of things like it feels like you could pick this up and set it in a hat shop and it would be the same thing so like make it really about dentist don't just make it set in a dental practice and at first I was like screw your note and then I was like oh actually that's an obvious note it's important and it just meant that I needed to do hard work and so they had a pod deal with Sony and so the very first place that he ended it too was Sony and Sony read it and then a week later they bought it and so I didn't have to have a meeting with anyone the entire time this is what I'm saying it's a freak story, it's complete luck and if I were to present that to you a skill or having anything to do with my work effort that would be a lie I just got very lucky it was a secret it's true, you don't have to build me up I'm fine I'm just saying sometimes people will present to you sometimes people will present to you well I got into television because I was brave enough to take I handed my script to an executive and they said this and I'm like everybody's story, like Winnie Holtzman who created my so-called life and wrote on Thursdays and she wrote the book for Wicked and everything she told us like I remember at NYU she told us that it's like losing your virginity like everybody's story is different but it roughly ends up the same like at the end of it you've had sex and I think this is completely different and I think that's true of television too it's like how you get involved with television is completely your own journey and like you can't model it on what anyone else has done but at the end of it you've had sex but at the end of it you're in television as the resident of Luddite the title of this is writing for film, theater, or internet and you've been talking about television but what does internet mean in that thing? Bruce? Do you have plans to write exclusively? Not exclusively, probably No So it's a strange title, right? No stranger than Boba So I don't know It should be no surprise to anyone who's got a smart phone that there's an extraordinary amount of content that's being created now for the internet There's a show, is it called Blue?  Has anyone seen this? No it's longer It's more like nine minutes Nine minute episodes That's what we need, if you need a show like that What is it? Netflix Yeah Netflix is doing shows but Netflix is doing like for half hours and a hell of a long time They're doing kind of the rest development I think the reason that he was putting on the panel I mean I didn't plan the panel but as much as we may want to look down our noses at this short form content it's another opportunity to get paid for your writing to get paid for what you love to do Can I just like anybody in this room that like maybe you'll hate me because I'm on all the panels today but anybody that's like looking down their nose at short form programming should probably stop doing that because your short plays can be a calling card for you it's how people learn about who you are it's a great opportunity to come to things like this and get seen the exact same thing with webisodes like a lot of people enter television by creating these webisodes that they can film themselves their lower budget they are things that they can do with like if you borrow your friend like I've got a friend who works this video he's got a red cam I can get it for two days maybe I can film three episodes of this five minute thing and get it up on the air and maybe that doesn't mean it's going to become a television series but people can see what I'm doing in a way that's The cat got a development The broken cat The cat meme But I'm saying that's one way I think it's changing things that breaks down like if you can create your own content and put it up there and it actually gets seen like it ends up on funny or die or it ends up getting picked up by other I don't know what you can want to call websites, outlets on the internet then that's a way for managers to find you it's a way for agents in some ways like innovative to find you it's a way for an enterprising executive to see you know to see your digital version of Mothra's adventures and then go what is he doing I want to know more about him and find out do you know what I mean so in that respect Is it Baltimore Center Stage that they have a whole series of monologues they've commissioned writers to write short minute three minute monologues and you can go see some extraordinary writers from all over the country who've submitted to Baltimore Center Stage on their website you can just click through them all and they're paying writers to do that they're creating all this content and some of those writers have been contacted by other people who say hey I like that monologue is it from a play and they of course lie and say yes it is now we'll have a few interviews so yeah I think that the internet has sort of changed how we can be accessed as writers and how we can gain access to the industry I have two questions a follow up to this if you have some kind of a web so are you protected and then the other question is very simple and straightforward if you have a meeting and you want to invite industry professionals is there a time from the week it's a day that's better than others I'd say the first part you're never protected from anything if you're a writer you're never you can do all the little games now you saw your squib you're never protected from anything you have you can take that as a universal rule the other part of it um yeah I mean there's no sort of silver bullet on that I mean typically Mondays because that's when people are days off or you know there's typically no theater that night but that's changing too it's really subjective you know I when clients are putting together readings I try to pay attention to see what else is opening at that time it's when you're drawing attention and focus Thursdays open bar any time open bar is probably I agree about the protection I think there's a certain point where you have to stop worrying about it it's a little bit of a sharp name problem like it's like when you get you know I mean like if you're worried that someone's going to steal your webisode idea that only four people have watched on the internet and like I mean you know it becomes an issue of like at a certain point people can't take your ideas because they've been so saturated like if someone were to try and steal the idea for a rest of development it'd be really obvious that's what you were doing because it's a rest of development and many people have seen it like if someone tried to steal like at a certain point it's like you write a play you send it out if someone's going to steal that idea they're going to steal it I think that that happens far less often than people are concerned about when they're initially starting their writing careers I don't think I have met a single writer in my career who's ever had a story where they know for a fact that somebody stole their idea now I have had many people who said you know what somebody beat me to the punch my play's very similar but they got a production first and that happens all the time it's called Spontaneous Creation and you can't be a newer from that and very often when you submit to certain places they'll have you sign a release that says we are on the receiving end of thousands of thousands of ideas a day and there's such a thing called Spontaneous Creation and just because you send us a script that's about a dog that lives in Alaska doesn't mean that we don't have five other submissions they're also about a dog in Alaska and just because we produce a film that's about a dog in Alaska doesn't mean we necessarily stole your script and unless you have a paper chain where you set up the script they said thank you very much and then they took that script and had two or three meetings decided to pass on it and then made a film about a dog in Alaska you've got very little recourse and I think you're absolutely right you should not obsess about this I mean I even have students obsessing about well I'm not sure if I should take a playwriting course and share all my ideas in a workshop because I don't want somebody else to steal that idea this is a freshman student who's never written a ten minute play before I'm like I think it's a little premature to be obsessing it's also about the execution of the idea and if you sort of broke down at the most basic level the premise of just about every sitcom ever they're identical Seinfeld is about a group of friends in New York so is friends so is you know I'm sure they're more contemporary perhaps yeah how about your mother I just love that you were like everyone here's an example for me exactly I have a question for Les most of us went and saw the festival last night and saw Lesley's play The Favour which she just had the film done so I want to know in the film version do we go into the room and see mom and do we see the picture of the French boy I've not seen it until tonight so I guess I don't have to yeah who's ruined yes yes and yes it's once I wrote the one act for it one of the things that I like writing one act I always feel that it gives you something to do when other things aren't working out so well and it does give you some measure of control there are one act festivals you can get things out it's fast, it's quick it happens, it goes up there's a certain thing to writing the one act and telling the whole story in a short period of time and I had just had a play that was booked to open actually this summer and it was dropped the play was just dropped which was sad and humiliating for me so my response to that was to write this play because I had gotten a picture in the mail from a distant relative of my mother in a garden in France at the age of four and she had a big bone in her hair and a huge exuberant smile on her face and she was holding hands with the little boy and on the back it said Flavio and that was the whole thing she looked happier than I had ever seen her in her life and so I took that one little picture and I wrote the play and after I wrote the play I thought, you know, it's possible this could be a film and given that, you know, I'm 65 this summer I'm looking for new challenges and I got maybe thrown with something I could play with a little bit particularly a short film I happened to like the short form so I thought, let me bring the mother into the film and so I put the mother in the bedroom and every time she walks out we go into the bedroom with her and we do see in the opening shot we do see the mother on the bed it starts with her in profile and then it goes, you see the elephant sitting next to her and there are folks all over the bed because she was looking at pictures of gardens in France and you open up the book and there's the picture of my mother in France with the big bow and the big, super expression her face and this little French boy in a sailor out but it's the most amazing picture and then the play unfolds and also what happens is at the end now close your ears, oh no at the end now in the film Ralph goes into the bedroom and you see him standing by the mother's bed which is played by Olivia Dukakis and she so her eyes are closed and he leans over her and just as he gets to her she opens her eyes and looks right at him and he chooses in that moment to kiss her so he moves in and he kisses her and she closes her eyes and receives the kiss and then one tear rolls down her face and she just wipes it away and that's it so it wasn't it wasn't I mean it was like a one day deal and I was so fortunate that I sent it to this company the only independent film company I know it's run by women and it's called Fugitive Films and they actually gave me a full production I mean they really made a film out of this it was really, it was awesome it was awesome please put your hands together thank you


The classified records transfer process outlines the steps taken to transfer legal and physical custody of agency historic records that contain national security classified information or data to the National Archives so that they can be preserved and protected. Executive Order 13-526 prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information. For agencies who store classified permanent records in the Federal Records Center program, additional time is needed to prepare these records for transfer. Sometimes it can be up to a three-year lead-up. The National D-Class Center requires agencies to review their material for specific aspects of classified material, an example of which is the Kyle Lott Review for RD and FRD materials. The transfer process begins when national security classified records reach their disposition date, and NARA notifies agencies that their records are eligible for accession into NARA's holdings. After notification, agencies should conduct a review of their eligible records to ensure that they are correctly scheduled. A transfer request is generated in ERA and NARA's Form NA-14130 Classified Records Transfer Checklist must be completed and attached to each transfer request, as well as a box list. NARA will then review the request before approval. Transferring classified records is a unique process and differs from transferring unclassified records. There are additional requirements that typically take more time, more agency expertise, and additional resources to accomplish. A significant benefit to transferring classified records to NARA is that the records are secured and protected. The records are preserved and transferred on time as determined by a schedule. Once the classified records have been transferred from the Federal Records Centers to NARA, the agency is no longer responsible for paying storage. There also will be no potential for an erroneous disposal of the records once in NARA custody. Unfortunately, there are consequences for not transferring classified records to NARA on time. These records are subject to the Federal Records Act. The National Archives approves agency schedules that determine the legal timeline for transfer. Not transferring classified records could mean that historic records are not properly cared for or protected. As a result, these records could also be transferred at a lower classification level than the information is marked, or transferred using an unapproved transfer method. Through the appraisal and selection of historic permanent records, the archivist requires that classified permanent records be accessioned into the National Archives when necessary to comply with the provisions of the Federal Records Act of 1950. This act provides the legal framework for Federal Records Management, requires agencies to cooperate with the National Archives, and requires each Federal Agency to establish an ongoing program for records management, including records creation, maintenance, and disposition. NARA reviews each transfer request to ensure that the records are correctly scheduled and that a copy of the box list and NA-14130 is included. Finally, agencies play a key role in helping NARA effectively accomplish its mission to preserve the historical records of the federal government. Through targeted planning and careful coordination, agency records officers can ensure their agency's historic record is both protected and preserved. Understanding and implementing these additional tasks and stages in planning the classified records transfer process could not be accomplished without agencies' assistance and participation.


okay take it away and again that's better because she was trying to work out she was going to do it you see she's having a work coming back as well okay so you notice she doesn't land on the foot she doesn't land like a normal bird doesn't do a straight line always up under and then throws her feet out and when we reach the rabbit right just wait rabbit okay that's better that's better okay now you'll see how much more efficient it is yep quite windy beautiful bell I um we take hunting parties out through the winter and a couple of Christmases ago actually a straight Christmas ago now we're out on a really freezing cold day and everyone you know we're all excited we have uh bacon rolls to start and a little chat and you know everyone's all excited and then about 40 minutes in we think we hadn't seen anything and it was freezing we literally hadn't seen anything and you can feel the whole movement and I called it wasn't her another hawk down to the fist to a rabbit head and she couldn't get in the head of the chickpeat past her and a rabbit ran out and straight across the front


Beltrami County deputies arrested Joshua M. Smith after receiving information that Smith had taken his ex-girlfriend against her will and was allegedly keeping her at a home about 30 miles northeast of Bemidji in Hornet Township. Smith made his first court appearance today. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


This is the first close now below the five day moving average since we closed right over here, okay? Right over here, and the next series of events, what happened? Welcome to Access a Trader, the number one community for those who are committed to taking control of their trading in order to achieve success, profitability, and longevity. Thank you for joining us. Here's Dan Shapiro to help you find your edge, master your process, and own your future. Hey guys, good evening everybody. Welcome to Monday edition of the Access a Trader dot com nightly wrap up show. Hope everybody is doing well. Hope everybody had a good day of trading. Definitely some pretty good value out there, but let's kind of rewind 24 hours ago when we started talking about on the weekend update. This is kind of very, very important and it's gonna set the stage for tomorrow's session. So we talked about, forget about what happened today. We saw a nice little sell-off today on all the indexes. We talked about this last night in the video. The last couple of times we hit the 20 day supply, we rolled over and went lower. Yesterday, excuse me, Friday and Thursday, back to back days, hitting the 20 day supply, lower highs, lower lows off the 20 day supply. And the question going into today's session was, as we talked about last night's video, there was a lot of names that actually looked pretty good, right? We talked about this last night in the video. NET looked really, really good. Even names like a Google, right? Like a Google who's sitting over the 50 day moving average looked really, really good. It actually put up a pretty decent move before the sell-off. Same thing with Apple. Apple was sitting there on the 20 day supply. So there was definitely some names that looked pretty good. The AFRMs of the world, right? AFRMs of the world before it kind of sold off. But the most important part, kind of going into today's trading session was, the names that were mirroring the cues that got stuffed back to back days, were they able to reclaim supply or were the bears, well, taking control after a pretty good dead cat bounce? And again, this is all it was, guys. Remember, it's super important. We talked about this last night in the video. It's super important to understand what this is and what this isn't. We are below the 50 day moving average, okay? There are no breakouts. There's a lot of individual, I wouldn't say a lot, but there was definitely a handful of individual names that looked pretty good and never sold off, right? The AFRMs of the world, the UPSTs, the Netflix's of the world, the Tess's of the world, right? They'd kind of sold off today towards the end of the day. But the most important part was, can the bulls stay above the five day and the 10 day moving average? And if you look at the close today, okay?  Tonight's video is basically like last night's video, right? If you guys remember last night's video, I said, look, you wanna be ready on both sides, right? Yeah, there's some longs that look pretty good. There's some shorts that look pretty good. Tonight's video just eliminate the longs, okay? And this is very, very important to understand that. This is the first close now below the five day moving average since we closed right over here, okay? Right over here and the next series of events, what happened going into the next business day, right? Was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven days in a row below the five day moving average. And we had a pretty aggressive sell off going from 370 all the way down to 350 in a matter of a week, okay? And again, nobody's calling for Armageddon tomorrow. But again, if you believe in the theory that supply and demand works and stocks go from supply to supply, then you have to remember that the opposite, stocks go from demand and all the way back to demand. So we have a lot of names tonight that closed below the five day moving average. For all you guys who are joining us here, the first time around, the five day represents the shortest term sentiment, right? That's the shortest term sentiment. And today, the cues close not only below the five day, which is the shortest term sentiment, they close below the 10 day, which is the birth of the trade to the upside. That means it's the birth of the trade to the downside.  You can't wake up five minutes to the bell and say, well, what's on the hot stock list? It doesn't work that way. We don't chase hot stocks. We look for technical analysis that makes the stocks hot, right? That's the whole point of confirming technical levels on an organic basis. And if you go through your charts tonight, and it's not gonna take you a lot of time, all you have to do is go through the NASDAQ 100 and you'll see the same exact setup for majority of the names. Look at the video, right? The video closed right at the five day moving average. Look at Amazon, right? Close right below the five day moving average. Look at Apple. Close right at the five day moving average. You see a theme happening here? Look at Square. We covered Square on last night's video. Look what happened to Square. Destroyed when right below the five day moving average got destroyed. This thing has room all the way back down. So there's gonna be a lot of names that look exactly the same. Look at a microchip, right? We covered microchip on last night's video. Closed below the five day, took out this whole channel and now it looks like next leg down. So there's a lot of value tomorrow to the downside. It's gonna be very, very tough to kind of get a, to try to squeeze water out of a rock and a lot of these charts, a lot of these upside charts. Look, is there some charts that look okay, right? You know, this BROS looks okay to the upside if it could confirm today's channel, but the value, the absolute value is look at technology, look at the semiconductors, look at the software makers, look at anything to do with the components of the NASDAQ 100 and you will see really, really good value tomorrow to the upside, excuse me, to the downside. So if you look at today's session, it kind of played out what we talked about in the last line of the video. You would long, there were some longs, but mostly there were some shorts and the way the market closed today really confirmed at least on paper what tomorrow potentially could bring. Now again, remember, we're not guessing what's gonna happen tomorrow. So we still have to wait for confirmation but based on tonight's research and based on just basic technical analysis of stocks either closing below the five day or at the five day, if they confirm for tomorrow it's not really a subject of technical discussion with somebody else. These things if they confirm, again, if you believe in supply and supply then you have to believe into demand and demand. So let's talk about, as you can possibly imagine and pretty much sell bias for tomorrow, I would love to see a gap up in the market tomorrow only because if these stocks get rejected into supply and they start rolling over green to red they'll have a really good clear value of what potentially could happen tomorrow through today's ranges. So let's talk about today's pivots again. We talked about a lot of names on the weekend video and they confirmed, you know, they confirmed pretty well and gave pretty good moves. We talked about this four, it was one of the stocks in the last line of the video. I said I have no idea what they are but this was the first close below the weekly trend line. And you know, 73.50, 73, if it builds below can flush. Here was F-O-U-R, right? Here was F-O-U-R, it took out this whole 74, 73 channel close right at the lows at $68 just got absolutely destroyed, congratulations for you guys who caught that. NET, right? It was one of the very few to the upside candidates but NET on Friday, 137 rejected, went to 140 and today 140 needs to confirm for the next leg up and here was NET, great move. I mean, really, really great move. This thing is in its own bull market, took out the 140 and traded right into supply at 146.  We talked about Boeing in the last line of the video. 230 needs to build. The coolest part about it is when option flow, correlates into a daily chart confirmation, it's usually all systems going and did exactly what we talked about, it took out the 230 and traded right into supply here at 232. Remember, for the exception of like an NET, you're not gonna have many really good looking charts and obviously the Dow is going to be sensitive on any type of volatility, especially in the diamonds but a nice little pop there, 230, I mean, not even, didn't even have a, it didn't even have a downtick from this move here with 230, I mean, really, really good move on Boeing. Draft Kings, I still like, never got to 4750. Tesla, nice pop on Tesla, 797 went about 802. It's still having problems. That's why I kind of want to watch both sides. TDOC didn't do much, it kind of died on a vine. I was watching that 133 level, traded up to like 133 in 30s and then just kind of reverse course did absolutely nothing. Microchip, we talked about in the last night's video, 145 held three times if it builds below, can flush. Here was Microchip, right, MCHP, right here was Microchip, took out the 145 held three times, closed at the lows here at 143. 80, I still like this thing for more downside tomorrow. Square got demolished, absolutely demolished. 238 five day support, if it builds below, can flush. We talked about in the webinar, it could get down to the 233 level, it traded down to 232, this thing still looks lower. Just got me, look at the move here in the afternoon. Just once it started taking apart this whole 237 level, look at this thing, just absolutely destroyed here, trading 232 after hours. Roku never got above here. NET take on the way up, FUR just getting destroyed, absolutely destroyed, went down to 68. Boeing, they were coming in for the 32 and a half's 35s. Again, the option flow dictated the underlining security. 145 is actually traded down to 146. Square, 238, we were talking about the 235 pre-market lows traded all the way down to 232. FUR again, 68, here comes, I set a punches chance at 233, traded down to 232. So we're set up for tomorrow. Sometimes again, you have to collect a lot of data. I was already pretty much sell buys going into today's session, just because the sequence of events that happen around the 20 day moving average, excuse me, I'm wrong symbol, on the QQQs. Again, here's your point of reference here. Two days in a row stuffed on the 20 day sold off. Here was the two days in a row stuffed on the 20 day today sold off and we closed below the five days. So again, if we have a gap up tomorrow, I am looking for a lot of these stocks to get stuffed into supply and then sell off, go green to red, breaking today's channels or if we gap down, we're obviously gonna watch opening range lows. So guys, have a great night everybody. Good job today and with God's help, I'll see you all tomorrow. Take care guys, have a great day.


Today's message might seem like an unconventional direction that I'm going to go. Today I'm going to talk about evangelism, and that might seem like, well, it's a prayer line Sunday. Let's talk about deliverance. Let me tell you something. This is a perfect opportunity to let those of you who are here for the first time and to remind our church that deliverance is just a step in discipleship. Amen. We don't live from deliverance to deliverance. It's important. It's actually vital that as a believer, we graduate from thinking about ourselves and start looking to say, how can I raise up another person?  Jesus wants to use us today. Amen. Amen. Church, I want to share a message with you. Like I said, it's about evangelism. It's important for us to remember that we're called to be the light to this world. Amen. It's important for us to come back to some of the most simple, most basic aspects of our faith. Today is a simple message, but unapologetically simple, because it's important that we come back to the basics, that we come back to what we were asked of from Jesus. What was the thing that Jesus told us? Does anybody know his famous last words? Go, therefore, into all the world, making disciples of all nations, baptizing the name and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're called to go, therefore, and make disciples, to be disciple makers. And today, don't get me wrong, we're ready. The atmosphere is charged. Jesus is going to deliver many people today. But more than that, let's take it another step further and let this be a practical reminder that as you're going to receive today, God is doing it so that he can use you to be a vessel to reach somebody else. Amen. The title of my message today is Gone Fishing. Somebody turned to your neighbor and said, let's go fishing. Turn to the other and say, yeah, I don't know about that. I want to read to you Matthew 419. It says, come follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. Now, some of you may or may not know, except for someone probably the first row and probably passed that, know that I love to fish. I wouldn't call myself an avid fisherman because then I don't want to have to show you pictures of the dinky little fishes that I got compared to some of the guys that I know in here who were like, oh yeah, I just caught this huge salmon the other day. I love fishing. I may not be the best at it, but I love it. And there's some things that I've learned along the way as I've been fishing that I don't believe it's a coincidence that Jesus uses this phrase, fishers of men. I mean, he could have said all sorts of things. He could have said hunters of men. That sounds a little interesting. That sounds kind of like John, where are you at? Are hunters of men, gunmen? He's a sniper guy. That's not what we're talking about. He could have used so many different things, but he chose to say fishers of men. And I think there's a lot of symbolism within this idea that I want to share with you some of the things that I've learned along the way that I think are really powerful. And so first thing is this. When I go fishing, and how many fishermen do we have here in the house this morning? Oh good. There'll be several of you. This is going to hit home. When I go fishing, the first thing I have to do is I have to put on my boots, I got to go out of my house, get in my car, drive to the river, take out my gear, put my line in the water, and then I'm fishing, correct? Simple enough. It would be silly for me though to go put on my boots, grab my gear, walk over to my bathroom, open the door, open the shower curtain, and throw my line into my bathtub, right? It's ridiculous. Why would I do that? There's no fish in my bathtub. But oftentimes in church, we forget this thing, this very important key, that if I want to catch fish, I have to go where the fish are. I have to go to the Columbria River. I've got to go and actually be in an area where there's fish. But how many times in church, we come on a Sunday morning, we're believing for God to win souls, to win our family, and then we're here in this house, and we're like, Lord, just save the souls. We're ready if you want to bring them right now. Right now, if you want to bring them to this baptism tank right here, and we never actually see souls saved in our churches or in our families, because we're not stepping outside the four walls of this house. We sit here and we pray, and it's good to pray. Praying lays the groundwork, but you got to start moving. You got to put yourself in vicinity of unbelievers. Mark 2, 15 through 16. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And when the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and the tax collectors, they asked these disciples, why does he eat with these guys? And it's important for us to remember Jesus was a friend of sinners. It's important for us to be surrounded by people who are not saved. It's important for us, especially those of us, and it's kind of like the strange phenomena in the church, is that the longer you've been saved, it seems like the less unbelievers that you have as friends, the longer you've been in the church, it seems like your whole crowd is no longer, you know, unsaved. Everybody's saved. Everybody's kind of, you start staying within your own clique. And we have this strange phenomena that happens with all churches everywhere. We kind of get into our own little clubs. And on top of that, you put COVID into the mix in these last two years. You've got people who are so bent on wanting to separate themselves from the world because they're like, man, the world's on fire. Let me go buy a piece of property up in the mountains. Let me go hide away. And let me just, you know, have me, myself and I, and I'll have my own family. My family will be saved, but that's it. I'm not thinking about anything else. And this is kind of the mindset that we can easily adopt here in the church if we're not careful, but we got to remember, if we want to see a harvest of souls, we have to go where the fish are. Amen. We have to get out of our comfort zone. And my question and my, my reflective thought for you this morning or this afternoon is, do you have un, unchurched friends? Do you have unsaved friends? And if not, what are you doing to expose yourself around people? Some of us, like I said, we're kind of in our own lane. We've kind of got ourselves dug in this rut where we're like, I'm so far removed from all of that. And that's a beautiful thing. It's good to be removed from a sinful life. But remember, we live in this world. We're not of this world, but we still are here and we have to be present and active with people. And so my question is, is are you being exposed? And if not, what are you doing about it? What are you doing about it? Shameless plug right here. For some of us, we may need to go to power evangelism with the interns today. For some of us, that means we need to break our routine of instead of at our lunch break, closing our office door and keeping our own space. But actually, that co-worker of yours that always that you're kind of annoyed at that keeps complaining, take them out to lunch. Spend your lunch with them. Step outside of your comfort zone. Don't be in your lane. Step outside of make sure that you have exposure. Go where the fish are. Amen. Point number two, using the right gear. Now, I have here some fishing stuff with me. You've probably seen it already. When you fish, how many of you guys know that I can go to the water and still just because I'm at the water doesn't mean I'm catching fish, right? I have to do something in order to attract the fish to me, right? There's got to be something that I have that they want.  Maybe in the light, you can see it reflects light. It's kind of shiny. This lure, particularly I've used, I caught a lot of fish with, and it's really effective at catching fish. And the reason why is because this little metal spoon that's on it is shiny. It's reflective. And what happens is when I'm pulling it through the water, the fish see it, the light reflecting off of it, and they go, ooh, shiny. And they take a bite for it. They bite towards it, and I can set the hook. Now, there's a light that each one of us have that we're reflecting. And I want to remind you of what Matthew 5.16 says. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. What light are you reflecting in your workplace? Do they even know that you're Christian? Do they even know that you love Jesus? Does your character reflect the Son of God? This reflects the Son off the surface of the water, but are you reflecting the light of the Son of God?    There's something about it. There's change. He seems happy. And don't get me wrong.   I'm not talking about this. Notice that this doesn't produce light on its own. I ain't asking you to manufacture anything. What I'm asking you is to let the Son of God reflect off of you, reflect through you to be that light. You can be real. You don't have to be fake, but let your light shine that all can see it. And don't be afraid. Don't put it down. But like the Bible says on the floor, put it on a lamp stand so that all can see. Amen. And people should be able to see within your life that, wow, they're going through the same struggles as me, but somehow they're handling it a whole lot better than I am.  Things that should have brought them down, man, they're still happy. They have a peace that passes understanding and that lures people into the truth. And that's your opportunity to set the hook and say, you know what? You know what I got? I got Jesus. And that's the hook. You can set the hook. Now, that's one way, but with the fishermen in here, you guys know that there are some fish that you can't catch by shiny objects. The fish that are not at the top of the water, but they're down in the depths of the water. Those of you who know what I'm talking about, cat fishing. If you're trying to fish for catfish, those guys are deep down in the mud. They're at the bottom of the river in the darkest depths of the water.  And there's some people in our life that we can preach the gospel to them. We can show our life and be a light. And no matter what we say, they're just not going to receive it. They're just not going to want to hear it because it sounds like the same old thing and it sounds too good to be true. But let me tell you, when I go cat fishing, I don't throw this out there. That doesn't impress some people. But you know what I throw? I throw food on the end of my line.  Like that's how silly it is. You can throw a hot dog on your line. You can leave it there and it can sit literally in the mud and a catfish will come up and eat it up. And I think that's so indicative of what happens, or representative of what happens. There are some people who are so stuck in the mud, so deep in their thoughts, in the darkness, in the depths. Demons are attacking them so heavily. And they just won't hear what you have to say. They just don't care that you've got everything going well. But there is one thing that will get them. And that's the feeding of their soul. Let me read to you this. John 6.35, Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry. And whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 21.17, Jesus told Peter, if you love me, you'll feed my sheep. My question to you today, are you feeding the weary soul? Does your life feed the people around you? That even those who don't want to hear your message like it or not, you're the best thing that happened to them. Because the way that you love and the way that you care pulls them even out of the darkest depths that they're in. I had a friend, his name is Reese, and I remember I used to try and preach to him all the time. He did not want to hear what I had to say. He actually was like, yeah, Rice, and that's cool. You grew up in a nice home. Your parents are together and everything. That's cool. He just would always shut me down real quick. And there was one day, we stopped hanging out for a long time. And one random day at my house at 10 o'clock at night, I get a knock on the door, I go answer it. And my friend Reese is there. I haven't seen him in years. And he's crying and he's bawling. And I'm thinking like, whoa, crazy, didn't expect to see you here. And then also didn't expect to see you crying and all this stuff. And first thing he says, he's like, I know it's been a long time since we talked. I'm sorry I kind of like been blowing you off, but I'm going through a really hard time right now. And when I was thinking about who I need to call, I realized you're the only real friend I've ever had in my life. You're the only person that I feel like I could share this with and they would have an answer. And I remember him telling me, he's like, you know, I know that I don't really pray and all, but I've noticed in your life for some reason, God answers your prayers when you pray. And I was wondering if you could pray for me. And it dawned on me, man, I am so grateful that I didn't stop praying, that I didn't stop being available for him when he needed me, even if it didn't turn around in a salvation like this, I still was available. And even when he pushed me away, he knew where he could come and be fed. Whether he liked it or not, there was food for his soul. Whether he liked it or not, he couldn't deny Christ in me and he needed it. The question is, who are you feeding? Who is being fed by your life? One, are you going to the river?  Two, are you showing the light of Christ in your workplace? Do people know it?  What are we doing? Are we carrying the burden of people's souls? Now, you see here I have with me in my next point, there's a lot to consider about when you go fishing and one of the things you need to consider is the rod that you have. Now, you see this rod I have here, this rod is actually my daughter's fishing rod. She's caught several fish on it now and she's only three, so she's doing pretty good. I'm raising her well. She's being trained in the ways of the Lord and both physically and soon spiritually with fishing, but this rod is interesting because you look at it and it seems pretty lame. It seems kind of like there's not a whole lot to it and that's true. There's not, but what's interesting about a rod and for those of you who don't understand this, bear with me for a moment. The rod can say a lot about what you are expecting as a fisherman. Now, imagine if I say I'm going to go fishing and I show up to the river with this, like you already know I'm not expecting to catch the river monster offered to the Discovery Channel. Like you already know that I didn't come ready for a big harvest. I came for a dinky little fish that might fit in my pan and if that, right? And so I think that's something to be said about the kind of rod and sometimes that we carry in our workplace in our homes is that we pray, we pray big, but when it comes down to it, our preparation for what God wants to do is like this. We show up to the river with our rod, say, Lord Jesus, send someone to my way and we show up with this pathetic little rod and we're not really prepared for what God wants to do and I wonder how many of us have actually missed out on the harvest in front of us simply because we didn't come prepared. How many of us even had an opportunity because how many had this experience where you know that the perfect opportunity was like lined out for you. It was obvious that Jesus was literally, he was lobbing the ball to you to win a soul and you snapped the line simply because you came to the fishing, the waters with this, not prepared, not ready for it. I think it's so important that you pay attention. What is your expectation of what God is going to do through you? What is your expectation of what God wants to do out of your life just because you're at work, just because you may not be on this stage, just because you might not be praying at this altar. It doesn't mean that you can't go or that doesn't mean that's where ministry happens. Ministry happens here, but real biblical ministry is out on the streets, is out in the world, is out in the workplace and let's not forget that. Let's not forget that some of the greatest fishermen are not guys who sit here and talk about fishing. It's the guys that are already out there on the water. The best fishermen, you don't see them, why? They're fishing. If I'm sitting here talking all the time and I'm not fishing, I wouldn't trust me as a fisherman. You want that guy who's already been out here, he lives on the water, right? If I'm going to learn how to fish, I'm going to learn from the guy who literally is out there every day, right? So don't be impressed or, man, I just, if I could just get on a pulpit or if I could just get in leadership position, then I could do this. I want to remind you that all of us are called to fish. It's not just for pastors and you might have a little rod like this, but that's okay. Let me tell you there's something, I got a story for you. My niece, her name is Kylie. I remember she was like four years old. We went camping and I took her fishing and it was the funniest thing. I strung up her line. I cast it out for her and I said, okay, if you feel a little bite, if you feel a little bounce, set the hook and start reeling in. And so I give it to her and I'm setting up my line over here, trying to get my stuff ready. And all of a sudden I hear, I got one. I got one. And she like, I'm like, thinking, I'm like, no, you don't, you don't have one. Like you don't even know what a fish feels like, you know, on the line. And I look over and her rod is going like this.  I'm like, reel it in, reel it in. And she's like, it's a fighter. It's huge.  And I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, probably in her perspective, it's huge. So I'm like thinking, yeah, reel it in, reel it in. She reels this thing in.  And I'm like, okay, good job, Kylie. And so I put the fish in our little stringer and I set her up again. I cast her out. I go over to my rod to set up again and she's like, I got another one. I got another one. I'm like, are you kidding me? And so I go over and I check. Sure enough, she got another one. That literally happened all morning. I didn't even get a chance to put my line in the water. She was literally catching one after another. She called more fish than the rest of us that day. And I think that's something to be said. And there's a lesson that we can learn here because this rod, while it's not super impressive, its foundation isn't very strong, at least comparison to what you look at. When you look at my nice expensive rod, you know, it's nice and big. It's got good strong line on it. And that's a, yeah, somebody was whistling. This is a nice rod. But yeah, it's gone to Bible school and kind of knows all of the tricks of the trade. But you know what's funny? I noticed something about the fishing that oftentimes it's more about the sensitivity of the rod. Now, don't get me wrong, if I could catch a fish on this, there's a probably good chance I'll catch a big one. But it's kind of funny how there's a correlation between the size of the rod and how insensitive and rigid and immovable this rod becomes. And sometimes there's, and I just want to speak to some mature Christians in the house this morning. Maybe your foundations are really strong. Maybe you know a lot about scripture and maybe you used to catch a lot of fish in the past. And so your rod is massive. It's like perfect, perfect for catch. But the problem is the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the sensitivity, the action, so to speak. If God put a fish on the other end of your line, would you even know it was there? Would you even know that you had something on? Fish on, like we say, those fishermen, you know, fish on. Would you even know that there was a fish on? Or would you just kind of just kind of go, well, this is a really nice rod. This is really cool. And it's funny because these guys over here, baby Christians, right, they're brand new in the faith. Why does it seem like all the baby Christians are winning people to the Lord, right? Like my nephew, or my niece, Kylie, she's just sitting here one after another, reeling them in. And I haven't even got a chance to catch one. And I think it's kind of interesting and it's so symbolic even what happens to us as believers is that sometimes along the way we become insensitive, we become immovable, we become, we know too much for our own good. But what would happen? And I think there's an example here for us. What would happen is, as a mature believer, I picked up my rod, I put my line in the water, and while mine's in the water, I'm still believing that God's going to give me a catch. But when the little one keeps reeling them in, I'm over here with my net, ready to make sure that boat, that fish makes it into the boat. That's discipleship. That's consolidation. Do you see that church? Sometimes you might not have as many opportunities as this guy. As long as you're sitting here, don't neglect your rod. Make sure it gets into the water. Make sure you're fishing. Make sure you're not missing the opportunities. And make sure that you're sensitive to the Holy Spirit when you've got to fish on. But come alongside the little guys. Come alongside the new believers and help them to bring those fish into the boat.  You're still learning how to like not sin and stuff. And so this is where the church even gets criticized because we get called hypocrites. And usually it's because the young guys are all preaching the gospel and then sinning at the same time. But what would happen if we came along, those of us who are mature in the faith is like, hey, good catch. Let me help you get that in the boat. We're not missed the opportunities in front of us. A mature Christian will have his net in one hand and have his line in the other. I want to encourage some of us this morning to graduate from thinking about me, myself and I.   But we need to graduate from that. We need to get out of our pews. We need to go to the water. We need to throw our line in and be sensitive if the Holy Spirit wants to mess up our plans. Amen. Get ready for what God has church. I believe we're moving into a season here at Hungry Gen. Man, we've got the beautiful boat. This is a very beautiful boat. It's got a lot of bells and whistles, deliverance, healing. It's got prophecy. It's got all the things. It's got the twin turbo engines in the back and everything. It's sweet. It's a nice boat, but it'd be a shame if this nice boat wasn't ready for the big catch that God has for us. It'd be a shame if we didn't have any fishermen in the house who were ready to be ready with their nets and their lines. Amen. I believe we're about to step into a new season, church, even in this next year. As we are rolling out, like Pastor Vlad said, we're coming back to a place with discipleship within the church and evangelism within the church. And I, church, I just can't help shake, but we're about to move into a massive revival of salvation. A massive revival. Massive revival. We're going to see healing and deliverance and the prophetic. That's going to be all beautifying what's happened, happening, but the real miracle will be the miracle catch of fish in our boat. People coming to know Jesus and being discipled, being brought in by the droves with our nets. Amen, church. I want us to rise up on our feet right now.  As we're coming to the end of the sermon, I know some of us here, we've been sitting in our lawn chair, figuratively speaking for a long time. We've been sitting back, letting the new guys catch the fish, but we haven't caught a fish in a long time. And I want us to pray and ask the Holy Spirit, use me, make me sensitive again. I want to be ready. I'm sorry, Lord, for coming with my dinky rod. This time I'm bringing out the big boys. I want us to close our eyes and I want us to lift our hands up to the Lord right now. And I want us to pray and just genuinely come before the Lord because some of us, we actually need to repent of thinking too much about ourselves and not enough about the mission and the vision of Jesus Christ. So, repeat after me, say, Lord Jesus, forgive me for thinking about myself and not listening to your vision and your mission. Holy Spirit, use me. I ask you, make me sensitive to hear your voice when you speak to me about my co-worker. Use me, Holy Spirit, during my lunch breaks, ruin my plans, make me available, and Lord, let me be sensitive enough to know what you're doing. Lord, we prepare our hearts and I pray right now, as we are here in this house, as a body, as a local church, we're asking you, Holy Spirit, to bring the harvest into this house. We're here and Lord, we're standing and we're here to say, God, we're ready to be the laborers that you asked for. We're ready to be the laborers that you've been looking for. And I pray right now, Lord, there would be a quickening in our hearts to evangelize again, to step out of our comfort zone, a quickening in our hearts again, to be consolidating people as they come to the front and not waiting for a pastor to talk to them, but taking the step of faith to pull them into our own house. And I pray in Jesus' mighty name, Lord, that as we prepare our hearts, Lord, that the harvest will be prepared for us in Jesus' name. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.