Inching Toward Community

Northampton Screenwriters' Group tonight. Only a few of us showed up, and nobody picked up the key to the Media Education Foundation in time, so we ended up in a booth at Packard's, an extremely congenial pub a couple of doors down. Wade and Matthew ordered dinner, Diane had a glass of wine, and frugal Cicily had what was undoubtedly the cheapest thing in the place, a highball made with bar booze. We ate and drank and worked all at the same time.

Tonight was an industry discussion, and it proved very fruitful. We shared lists of resources and personal experiences. Wade and Mike, who between them have a couple of dozen completed scripts, had brought query letters, which we critiqued. Mike passed around a few pages of a screenplay he's working on. I thought all the comments were pretty useful.

Packard's, a former florist's shop, has a back room they call "the Library." It's the former refrigerated flower locker. Now it's lined with bookcases and portraits and furnished with an elegant conference table and clubby chairs. Any group can reserve it at no charge; of course it's presumed that a goodly amount of food and drink will be consumed. I had suggested it as a venue, knowing that the Northampton Poets use it for their meetings.

Wade had nixed it sight unseen, saying it would be too small and too noisy. But tonight, peeking in, he seemed impressed. He might be right about the size and the noise, but if so, it's too bad. Sitting around a big table, eating and drinking, is my solution to just about any situation. It certainly helped make tonight's meeting extremely productive. After breaking bread with these guys, I'm starting to feel like they're family.