I’m back! Okay, I was never really gone but, a few weeks ago, when doing my taxes, it hit me that, last year, for the first time, I earned more money as an actor than I did as a screenwriter. I know, what a shame, what a tragedy -- he can get paid to write, direct and act!

Still, it got under my skin. I set out to be a screenwriter not an actor. So, it was a really nice boost last night --- actually really early this morning -- when a producer friend hit me up on Facebook and offered me a screenwriting gig. Despite knowing tons of people in common and both of us being cast as actors in the same indie thriller shooting this summer, we’d never met face to face until last week. Besides being a great guy, he impressed me with his knowledge of movies and film production and I guess I impressed him because he asked me to do some script work on a project that is being shopped around Cannes later this month.

Yes, much of the time, I am a screenwriting teacher. While, of course, it involves my screenwriting skill set, I tend to compartmentalize that gig, separate it from my actual screenwriting work.

So, as the academic year starts to wind down for me and I replace my screenwriting teachers cap with my screenwriters cap, I’m psyched. I have the new gig, I’m supposed to be writing another documentary and one of the top production companies in the area wants to shoot a short screenplay of mine after I tweak it once more. It’s like spring training is over and I can hit the field for my professional screenwriting season.