Sex And The Married Girl

The title of today's entry came from a thought I had while watching the movie. There's a short scene early on in which Ingrid Bergman teases Cary Grant about having fallen in love with her and he doesn't say anything, he hardly even seems to be listening -- then he just grabs her and kisses her.

I felt a bolt of lightning shoot through me. Not simply because two incredibly good-looking and likeable people were kissing (though that probably helped), but because I was re-experiencing that first electric moment when two people kiss for the first time, give one another the first touch of passion. It's at a moment like that scene I realize that, if my life continues as I've planned, I will never experience that sensation again, except vicariously. One good side to TV and movies, I guess.

Monogamy has its benefits, mind you: the bonds between you and your partner, the feelings of safety and trust, an openness to having a good laugh when you hug. But on the downside, when you kiss, there's no danger, no sense of finding someone for the first time. You don't have to worry about dating and breaking up and all the rest of it. But...

I wouldn't trade Darin for anything in the world, but he is a sure thing. Although our limited times together -- seeing one another every couple of weekends -- does help with the electric feeling of togetherness some.

I know that I am not revealing something never before discovered in the human psyche -- there is a cause for the "Seven Year Itch," a reason why couples play dress-up or meet at motels under assumed names when they've been married 15 years. Not because they don't have a good love life or feel passionately about one another...but you lose the feelings of butterflies in the stomach, of not knowing what's going to happen when you kiss.

Later on in Notorious is a reminder of what the uncertainty of a young relationship can be like: Cary Grant is very nasty to Ingrid Bergman.

Interesting pitch meeting last night. Mostly the producer, writer, and development exec discussed what to do and what not to do, both in terms of a single pitch session and your career altogether. A lot of it was stuff I already knew, but when we got to the actual pitching and brave souls among us got up to pitch, I learned a few new things.

1. Describe your characters with positive attributes. Even if they're the wackiest people on the planet, choose positive traits, so that the people hearing your pitch have something to like about your characters.
2. Keep the listener up on where you are in the pitch. Act I, Act II, or Act III.
3. Keep it short. Don't chat forever.

There are going to be future pitch sessions as well, with developments execs who are scouting for projects. (Last night's meeting was more informational than anything.) I don't know if I'll have anything, but I'm sure going to keep going even if I don't: I love learning new things -- and how to do new things.