I just got an idea.

As I'm working on Just Like Julia Child, I had the to dedicated to someone. Two people actually. The main character is kind of based on me. As I'm writing my blog for Julie Powell, my main character is cooking Julia's recipes.

As a writer, you want the first 20-30 minutes to be about the characters and get to know them. And that's what I've done so far. Howard Gold works in a camera store under a photography studio and is working hard for a promotion. And the other people, like costars, are basically known for what they do. Joanne Gold just got a promotion and is working as an assistant to newspaper editor-in-chief Andrew Harding. Howard's friend, Ben Birch, likes to hang out with Howard and is sarcastic and a joker. After Joanne lets Howard know that she prefers home-cooked dinners, Howard buys as much as he can from Jewel Osco. And stock boy, Daniel Castro, befriends Howard and tells him stuff about cooking. Daniel is a culinary student at the French Pastry School in Chicago (which I already researched) and helps Howard out. One of Joanne's friends, Nathan Billiam, is a restaurateur in a classy - but fictional - restaurant in Chicago that was left to him by his father. More of Nathan will be explained later.

Now that the characters are known the plot can start.

And as I think more of what's going to happen, Howard is going to be a Julia Child follower as is Julie. He's not exactly like me, as I'm a Julie follower, but he cooks Julia Child meals for dinners and an upcoming dinner party that Joanne wants to host.

And my idea is that I think I want to dedicate my film - when it's ALL finished being written - to Julie. This sounds like something she would enjoy seeing (hypothetically) and can tell that someone - meaning me - had the knowledge to write something for her, like she writes for Julia.

I do plan to mention Julie once or twice about her blog, but it's basically about Howard cooking meals from a Julia Child cookbook. Not someone who dedicates things to Julia.

I'll post updates on JLJC. I just hope I can at least finish my book eventually.
-Cary