Resolution: FINISH MY DAMN SCRIPTS!

I’m a master of finishing a draft of a script and then tinkering on it few years or, in one case, decades. Last year was supposed to be the year that I actually finished these scripts and put them out into the world but I basically slept away most of 2025 so ‘26 will be the year! (Or will it?!)

The reason for the kick in the ass today is that one of my ideas seems to be a fairly popular premise in the indie world. My script, Inebriangel, is about a woman who wakes up after blackout drunk and realizes that she has superpowers. She can’t remember how she got them and she soon figures out that her powers only last as long as she’s hungover. After getting wasted again to regain her powers, she discovers that, when she’s blacked out, her drunken self acts like a superhero, putting herself in harm’s way to help others, and that’s something our hungover/sober hero is NOT cool with.

It’s a fun half-hour comedy with drunken and hungover hijinks that also investigates the question, “What if there’s a better person inside of us but we just don’t like that person?” and “Is it OK to not want to be your supposed best self?”

Anyway, I’ve been sitting on that script for a while and lo and behold, today I discovered that drunkeness is having a moment.

My friend sent me a story about the new film Buzzkill.

“Buzzkill centers on a group of sorority sisters who end up trapped with a murderer. Nora’s (Agudong) tipsy memories hold the clues to figuring out who is killing their friends, but she can only remember them when she’s drunk.”

The funny thing is, my friend only sent me that paragraph so when I went to find the story, I stumbled upon another announcement from just a few months ago about a different movie featuring drunkeness as a key element and, well, you’ll never guess the title.

Billy Magnussen and Lulu Wilson have signed to co-star in Joe Lynch’s horror comedy Buzzkill ahead of an early 2026 shoot in Texas, as Anonymous Content and The Veterans join forces to launch sales on the film at the AFM.

Billed as a blend of A Quiet Place and Another Round, the movie is set in a small Texas town terrorized by a creature that can only be seen by people who are drunk.

Now obviously, these films don’t follow my exact premise and maybe I can jump in and finish off the original trilogy (although mine’s a TV show not a film) but it inspired me to tackle the project and finish it so I can maybe try to do something with it.

Another script that, sadly, is having a moment is the script I started writing in college. It’s called Freaks and the premise: Set in the old West, a traveling freak show gets stranded in a town of xenophobic, homicidal maniacs. The travelers must realize that the townsfolk are the true freaks and escape before it’s too late.

I feel like with everything going on in the US right now and all of the ICE craziness, this script could get a bit more attention. Unfortunately, despite tinkering on it for about 25 years, I’ve never been able to crack it. But, again, maybe 2026 will be the year!

At the very least, I have to give it a try. I’d love to enter my 50s without any unfinished scripts/ideas looming over me.

Resolution: Less Autopilot

One thing I’ve noticed in the last few years is that I spent way too much time on auto-pilot. There are a lot of things I do either while daydreaming about something else or I just do it so much without thinking that 15 minutes later, I can’t remember if I did it or not. As I get older, I worry that the memory thing is a loss of cognitive function but, in this case, I think it is more that I spend a large part of my days, doing things somewhat thoughtlessly and just going through the motions. The 2026 Resolution is, in more cliched terms, to try to be more present in everything I do, even the little, mundane moments of life.

Resolution: Be Social Sober

I’m not going to do New Year’s resolutions per se. This year, when I realize something I don’t like about myself or some failing of mine, I’m going to immediately make a resolution to improve.

After dinner, I went to give Death & Company one last shot (more on that later) and I was seated next to a woman who was also alone. It was pretty evident that she wanted to chat but I just sat there like a loser and kind of avoided eye contact and just kind of spun my glass. Even after she introduced myself, I didn’t try to be social and friendly or, dare I say, human. Even as I was sitting there, I was wondering why I just didn’t strike up a conversation.

Now, if I had had a few more in me, she probably couldn’t have shut me up. It’s a bad habit I’ve fallen into so the resolution for the rest of the year is to be friendlier and more open with chatting with people when the opportunity presents itself.

On the same note, I’ve somehow stopped looking at people when I talk. Not sure when I picked up this stupid habit but it’s kind of weird. Obviously, you don’t want to lock eyes with someone and glare into their ojos while talking to them but I’ve somehow gone the opposite direction and am often looking past them or just not looking up which is less creepy but more rude.

So those are two self-improvement needs for 2026. I’ll let you know how I do.

As for Death & Company, it’s definitely Off The List for me. It’s basically a date bar for the young ‘uns. It might be the darkest bar in LA and while the music isn’t obnoxiously loud, it’s not exactly old folk friendly. Basically, whenever I’m there I feel like Al Pacino in Scene of a Woman.

The other thing I don’t love about it is that it’s a completely seated establishment,. You walk in and a host brings you to your seat. Even the bar seats are doled out by the host. This is why I call it a date spot; it’s certainly not a neighborhood bar to pop in for a drink. That being said, the bartenders were very friendly and I’ve heard that the mixed drinks are delicious but that’s not enough to bring me back.