Dealing with deadlines today. I tell people I feel like I'm on vacation any time what I'm writing doesn't have to be in tomorrow. Today, I'm writing stuff that has to be in today. So you won't see a lot of me on this blog 'til some things are done and in and gone.
It's interesting how my profession has changed due to the Internet. I now deliver just about everything I do via e-mail. Not all that long ago, I had to print scripts out on paper and physically transport them, either by taking them in or mailing them. Mailing cost me a few days. If they needed it in New York on Monday, I had to get it done by Friday or, before Federal Express, Wednesday or so. Now, if they need it in New York on Monday, I can sometimes finish it on Monday.
I had an argument once with a New York-based editor over that. I said I'd have the script in on Monday…and I did. I sent it via e-mail at 4:00 PM my time, which was 7 PM where he was. He'd left the office and gone home by then — and since he didn't check his mail from home, he didn't see it until the following morning. To him, I was a day late but I said, "Hey, I said I'd send it in on Monday. I sent it in on Monday." He gave me a little condescending lecture on the importance of promptness in our industry and then, as is way too usual, his firm took about three months to pay me.
General rule of thumb for writers: The more insistent they are about you getting your work in on time, the less they care about paying you promptly. Nowadays, instant delivery of scripts is expected via e-mail. I haven't heard of any publisher setting up a process via which the payment can be deposited in your checking account just as instantly.
I have worked for one animation studio that does that and it seems to work quite well. I'd deliver something and the payment was in my bank account within the hour. They told me it was easy to set up and very simple on their end from a bookkeeping standpoint.
The only downside is that they have to turn loose of the money sooner…but with interest rates as low as they are these days, they're not losing much to do that, and they say it causes writers to deliver more efficiently. If you work in publishing and you're having a problem with tardy delivery of work, you might want to look into this.
Back to the deadlines…