DIE TRYING 027

Publish, Project or Perish

Author

Michael Barnes
April 09, 2026

In partnership with

One crafty writer’s never-say-die quest to tell a story for the page or screen.

Hey! I’m that guy trying to sell my latest screenplay, publish it as a novel or die trying.

In DIE TRYING, you will get an unvarnished look at a bitterly honest writer struggling to make it. No name-dropping or Hollywood phoniness. Just the facts ma’am on what the media landscape really is like behind the curtain.

In TODAY’S ISSUE, we toss it in the big man down low, examining roundball and the Almighty.

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THROW IT TO THE BIG MAN DOWN LOW

I repeatedly stood, sat and remained silent on the recitation of the Catholic prayers because I am not a Catholic and don’t know better.

I am religious enough to know to throw it to a 7’3” Spaniard, the man down low in the hole.

I was at Easter service sitting outside with my family because, inside the church, it was standing room only.

The priest talked about centering God in your life. I had just watched University of Michigan center Aday Mara annihilate one-seed Arizona in the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.

The Spanish UCLA transfer punished the Wildcats with 26 points and nine rebounds, playing himself into big money as a likely NBA lottery pick.

He seemed like a logical center to throw the rock down to. Would my beloved Wolverines do that and win the championship game the next day against UConn and their assholeish but lethal coach?

Is equating basketball and God blasphemous?

I was about to find out.

THE GOD PROTOCAL

The last Blacklist reader of my script GOING PERM gave a backhanded compliment to my indeterminate religious sensibilities when they wrote, “The choice to incorporate a religious element is unconventional, but…”

Unconventional?

A sci-fi action film with a secondary plotline centering on quantum computing, Artifical General Intelligence and the God Protocal?

Come on, bro, that’s pure popcorn. Box office gold…

Had this Blacklist reader seen Tarkovsky’s Stalker? And the effect it had on me?

This boring but influential Russian art film centers God in the narrative.

The Catholic priest would have liked it, even if it is unmakeable in today’s crumbling cinematic landscape.

When the priest called for making God the center of your life, I nodded, hands on my bowed head.

I prayed. Center God in my life.

Why?

On March 21 of this year, I saved a Word of the Day.

Twenty one days after we started bombing Iran again. Four hundred twenty five days after Trump was sworn into his second term.

EAT THIS SHIT SANDWICH

War, famine, environmental destruction…how about we add some biblical plagues to the delicious triple-decker shit sandwich we’re eating?

Yeats was right. The center cannot hold.

The priest says throw it to the Big Man Down Low.

The next day, the University of Michigan Men’s Baskestball squad won a natty.

Aday Mara only scored eight points but his defense sealing off the paint was pivotal in beating UConn.

Throw it to the big man down low.

Jesus f’ing Christ, I’m trying…

THIS WEEK IN DIE TRYING

RAINING FROGS

If you’re reading this because you write, read, develop or sell scripts:

Are religious-themed films a “quadrant” or potential box office blessing?

Hit reply. I read every response.

—Michael