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.