This will be my last post for a very long time. Maybe forever. Not because I'm going silent, but because I'm changing with the times and migrating to a new platform.

I love listening to podcasts. I listen to a lot of them while I walk dogs. My favorites are The Nerdist, How Did This Get Made, and The Broken Projector. I also listen regularly to Scriptnotes, Quick and Dirty Tips: The Dog Trainer, Stuff You Missed in History Class, Talking Comics, and The Business.

So a few months ago I attended a live recording of Scriptnotes - the one about superheros - and I mentioned on Twitter that I was disheartened by the lack of female participation. One woman was on the panel, although she didn't talk nearly as much as the men, and no women asked questions at the Q&A session.

But Emily, you may say, why didn't you ask questions? Well, I was trying to think of one, when two women stood up and got in line. But the people in front of them took so long because they began telling their life stories, that both women got tired of waiting and sat down. Then the show ended.

So as I commented on Twitter about this sad state of affairs, someone asked if there were any screenwriting podcasts run by women. Not exactly. There are some movie business podcasts (The Business being the best of them) and there are a couple of okay podcasts that talk about screenwriting some of the time, but none that can compete with The Broken Projector or Scriptnotes in popularity or production value.

I have not yet had a chance to listen to The Moment, so forgive me for not including that one.

Anyway, somehow this conversation led to three of us agreeing to put together a podcast called Chicks Who Script. We'll be posting our first episode next week.

So from now on, that's where I'll be, along with Lauren Schacher and Maggie Levin. We'll be discussing screenwriting from a female perspective, and we will have a guest each week. It won't always be woman-centric, but it will always include the female voice in the conversation.

So if this kind of thing interests you, please check it out.

Website: ChicksWhoScript.com
Twitter: @CWSPodcast

Thanks for reading. Here's a cat picture for the road.

My podcast is up! Here's all the information I'm too lazy to type out for myself: http://www.scriptdoctoreric.com/2012/04/scriptcast-42-emily-blake-strikes-back.html

This episode was really long. The one they posted on ITunes is trimmed down from the original broadcast, and it's still really long. I am a tangenty individual. But we had a grand time. I love these guys and I am always up for talking about what makes scripts work.

Meanwhile, I haven't actually written any screenplay pages in months. I've been working on treatment after treatment but not any scenes. Last weekend I kicked off the first few pages of a new script and it was fun. This morning I cranked out the first big action piece, and the words just flowed. It's like they were backed up behind the fence and then I released them into the world. Feels good.

Writing is fun. Now if someone would just pay me to do this, I'd be golden.

The best thing about having a fiance who's in law enforcement is that he's always got clever and realistic ways to pull of action sequences. He's like my action scene consultant. I say to him, "Beefcake," says I, "if you were trapped in a mine and needed to get past some bad guys to get to the entrance, how would you do it?"

And then he'll give me a three-hour lecture on different procedures and what kind of weapons would be best.

Sometimes I'll be like "Hey Beefcake, what kind of gun would you use to shoot zombies if you were trapped in a mine?"* And he'll give me a list of possible options.

Plus he has friends in like EVERY branch of law enforcement, so if I ever need to know about some procedures I can just find someone to ask. It's a pretty sweet deal for me.

So if there's one piece of advice I could give to writers in search of a career in action films, it would be to marry a law enforcement agent who really likes talking about how to shoot shit. And get him to take you shooting because it's fun, even if he does get embarrassed when I pretend I'm shooting zombies with the shotgun.



*I am not actually writing a story that takes place in a mine or anything about zombies. But maybe I should be.

Script Doctor Eric runs a fantastic podcast called Scriptcast, where he and his buddy Matt discuss screenwriting and the Industry in a fun, casual atmosphere. For some reason, they'll be talking to ME tomorrow, Tuesday June 28.

I appear to have fooled them into thinking I have something to say. For all I know, we'll spend an hour discussing my adoration for Zombie Strippers.

But if you want to check it out, go here to subscribe or search for "Scriptcast" on Itunes. And even if you don't want to listen tomorrow, I encourage you to check it out in the future or listen to past episodes. It's a podcast for people like us, working from the sidelines to get into the big show.