The poet

Well, this is your second story on a similar theme, so I'll clarify. I never liked Jake in that way, Cadence (and Salina). At uni, I was briefly attracted to him, but any ideas that we were somehow partners are simply wrong. I was briefly attracted to Glen as well, and we actually lived together for a year or so. I saw him as a friend, but not a lover. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been so insulted when he came onto me that night. - Much like Gary and I are just friends, despite the opinions that some people have. - Why weren't we together? Because I have high standards.

He was way too much of a dick for that - plus all those put-downs about my music that he made weren't exactly helping his chances. That was classic negging. I think that your interpretation elides the nastiness that was part of his personality. - Ultimately, I'm fine with people basing characters in stories on me, but it's not as though I'm going to avoid commenting on those. He may see it another way, but I never said that I loved him back, and he was the one that presumed that. I mean, it's your choice to write whatever story you want, but I felt like it lacked conflict. Underneath all the cleverness of the writing, it felt shallower than some of the other Newsroom stories that also had varsity settings. Those are mostly nostalgia pieces, though some are recent, and that weight of memory adds something to those stories. I'm not hugely literary, though, unlike James Cain or Aj Manson. I fell into writing, while I studied music and cinema. - To my 'peers' that refuse to actually write me emails: I'm not likely to write a play. That's why I sought out Dave Armstrong to talk libretti and that type of thing. When it comes to plays, I'm basically interested in writing songs, and that's all. I find the whole thing hugely tedious, and I think that the arrogance of theatre people is staggering. Newsflash: how many of you Wellington theatre people have ever made a full-length feature film? Ben Zolno, and that's about it. I liked Status Pending, but I think my film is better.

Your notes on my Tina script killed the project, and were clearly wrong, given that they were based on prejudicial opinions that you held about me that were based on Jake feeling butthurt - despite Sean being someone else entirely - plus Jane and other so-called 'friends' that suddenly felt vindictive after reading my incisive portraits. Accept that, Red Scare and VUW. No means no, and you cannot negotiate for IP unless you're willing to do so in good faith with the explicit proviso that my script isn't the same as my body or voice, and that you can't have those things. Buy my script; rewrite it for yourselves, then try my medium rather than pretending as if you're my friends when you really aren't. - Also, despite what some gay men might wish, I'm not a side. I saw my friendship with Jake as being largely transactional: he got me weed, and I gave him tips on his writing. When I told him that he didn't need a girlfriend, I was expecting him to woodshed in the way that I began to do after These Words Are Meant For Someone and my inability to tell Lauren how much I loved her. She's still the one that got away (hence why I emailed her about my new musical). I'm into girls, despite what people think. It's just that I was raised like one too, so therefore I'm good at bolstering male self-esteem, but it really pisses me off that people think my basic courtesy and attempting to be positive is somehow expressing something more... like that line in The Asterisk. Part of why I like my criminal buddies is that they see me as a friend, and were broadly supportive of my transition, as opposed to all those NZSM arseholes. - I'm really sick of the mainstream arts scene condescending to me, the underground weirdo that occasionally shames them with synths that are more vibrant than some of their fully realised music. All you lot have is money - mostly taxpayer money - that subsidises your life at a higher rate than my life because CNZ doesn't fund films and the NZFC and Peter think I'm an amateur that needs moulding... I disagree. I could use the money, but I know how to write, shoot, block, cut and grade. John Waters made films that were cheap and dirty. So did R.W. Fassbinder. Perhaps it's a sign that I'm not suited to working with the Film Commission, which isn't a film buff's paradise, but rather a bunch of middle managers leaning on their overseas experience (and getting fat on the taxpayer's teat).