An overdue update

Hello, Hello.... Is anyone still there?

Ahem, yes. I am still here. Although it may not seem so, I am still kicking ass here in LA (Well, it's actually debatable). I just haven't been writing here.

But there is a good reason I haven't updated!

Actually, there isn't. I've just been lame. But that's ok. I'm not here to judge and hopefully neither are you. Although I won't judge you if you want to judge me. But I can't make any promises. At least I don't think so? Wait. What?

So, do you want to know what's up with me? Well, I am still working at Generate on The Invested Life. We are currently between filming cycle 2 and cycle 3, so things are pretty slow. Once we make some casting decisions we can move forward, but until then we wait. And wait. And wait....

The latest on the MPC front is we filmed several shorts this last weekend to add to our Funny Shorts library. I think they will be funny. Let's just hope so. And I will be starring in another one. Get Excited! We are also screening two of the Funny Shorts at a "Web Series UnPlugged" showing. One of the ones I am in will be shown. I'm famous!

My New Years Resolution is to learn Spanish better, to get back to where I was when I came back from Costa Rica. Maybe even surpass that mark. I've been watching this series called Destinos and listening to a podcast called Notes in Spanish. Now I just need to find someone to have conversations with.

I have also been eating healthier and working our in attempt to get in shape. I think this is the time in my life where I can have the body I always wanted. It's really all about how bad you want it and how much you are willing to commit to it. I am definitely putting in some effort and I think it is already starting to pay off.

A Pound of Flesh

One thing I believe is important throughout life is to continue learning. To always better yourself and continue moving forward. Because if you're not moving forward, where are you going? No where. And if you are not going anywhere, you might as well be dead.

Wait. Dead?

OK, maybe not dead, but you certainly are not making yourself any better.

That is why I always make it a point to continue my education in whatever way possible, to be a student of life. I listen to NPR instead of music on my work commute, to try and learn something about the world. And I recently started taking a Sunday afternoon Spanish class, just to keep in practice. But, probably the best way (and an inexpensive way) to learn about something is to read about it.

That brings me to A Pound of Flesh. No, it is not a book about how to be a coroner (this post has turned out to be rather morbid...), it is a book about Producing. Written by a guy who has been in the game since the 80s, Art Linson has produced some pretty well know movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Heat, and Fight Club. The book is written very well and is an easy read, but it is also full of information.

Linson takes you through some of the situations he has been in while trying to get films made. Starting with getting the idea for a movie, finding and working with a writer, trying to convince the penny pinching studio executives to give you money to write a script, then finding a director, then trying to convince the execs the give more money to put everything else together, like trying to get actors or locations; and then finally asking for more money to put the thing into production. Then all the other problems that come next....

I ate this book up because it is pretty much what I want to do for my career, but I think anyone would enjoy it. If you ever wanted to know what a Movie Producer does, and you want to find out through personal stories, definitely check out A Pound of Flesh. He wrote a follow up called What Just Happened?, which I plan on reading next. Gotta Keep moving forward!

One Year.

The beginning of November marks my one year mark in LA. I think the 6th, maybe the 7th? Regardless of the exact day, it is still pretty unreal to me that a year has already passed me by. And yes, I'd say "passed me by" is pretty accurate, because I'm not sure where it went. Crazyness.

One year is kind of a land mark for people who move to Los Angeles for the Entertainment Industry. Supposedly very few people make it this far. After a few months, they become discouraged enough to move back home. I may have been discouraged but some how I decided to stay. Perhaps that was a mistake?

Oh well, I'm still here. And I have to say, while the time really did seem to fly by, I did have some accomplishments. I worked on a couple different feature films (one with a budget of $300 million), I have a full time job, I made some friends and I still have a roof over my head and a little bit of money in my bank account. Kind of a success. Surviving, if nothing else.

Yet, when I think of what I have done, I can't help but to think of where I could be. I still have such high expectations for myself. I feel like I could be further along in my career than I am now. Where would that put me? Who knows. Maybe it's just my lingering naivete, and I should be happy that I at least made it this far. If I can count the little successes, it is going to be a long hard run here in LaLa land.

So yes. I have done good thus far. I am in a better position that I was a year ago and I am still on the rise. Let's just keep this going. Little by little, eh? How 'bout it?

Par for the Course

Once again, not much to report. Just kind of moving along.

Although there is a new Funny Short up. It's called foot chase. And like all of the Funny Shorts, it is kinda ridiculous. Check it -

The exciting part of this funny short is that most of this footage is from a test shoot that me and a friend are going to begin developing into a web series. Just try to imagine all the bad assness of the video but with an awesome story.

In all truthfulness, there is a good chance that the web series will just be an even more elaborate game of tag.

Doin' work

Not much to report for this post.

Still going into work everyday from 9:30a till about 7:00p. Things have been a little more quite around the office as some of our people are out on location filming. We're stretching across the entire U.S.

As for the Motion Picture Cooperative, we posted a new video for our Funny Shorts project. PREGGERS. It's pretty awesome. What make it even better is my cameo. Who knew a doctor could look so good? Check it out:

Catching up...

I feel bad for not being more diligent with these posts. I think it is a problem that plagues a lot of amateur bloggers. Alas, I have been afflicted as well.

So let's get out of this information debt!

On the Sarah and the Sock Puppet front: Yesterday we finished our principle photography. It's a big step in getting the film finished. I'd say we are 2/3 of the way finished (Pre-production, Production, Post-production) and all we need now is to assemble the footage into something worth while. No small task, yet the end is in sight.

On the job front: I am working full time for a management/production company called Generate. I work as an office PA for the production part of things. The show we are producing is a web based financial reality show called "The Invested Life" <- *click to check it out*. There is a fine line I walk between what I can talk about, production wise, so forgive me if I am ever cryptic. But there is definitely a lot of awesome stuff going on. Today I got to sit in on a legal meeting! Well, that stuff is awesome to me... At least I am learning stuff that is important to know in the future. I can say that I have grown to really enjoying working here and am learning a lot about putting a show together.

I think that just about does it. I guess that wasn't too much to catch up on. Stay tuned...

Bad weather = Bad news

So much for good luck with SATSP...

We had to cancel our Day 3 yesterday. The culprit: Bad weather.

As much as you can fix things in post production, you can't really change a rainy day for a hot and sunny day. Well, maybe you can, but I don't own a money tree, so that is kind of out of the question. But one day!

This really is pretty bad news because the last day on our insurance is tomorrow. We are filming our Day 4 stuff today (at least I think we are, I had to be at work and not on set), but we cannot come back to film under our insurance time frame due to scheduling issues with the actors. And we can't really afford to get more insurance because of our shoe string budget. Thus, we are going to have to get creative.

The actors have availability next week, so maybe we can put something together. It is going to be interesting to see how this shapes up.