Need New Naming System

Because of my utter inability to keep up with regular posts, the whole "Day ___" thing for naming these posts has to go. It takes too much math at the beginning of each post!

So I've been a busy boy since the last post. I spent nearly a week in Boulder, had the table read for my web series, possibly found our funding source for the web series (hooray for family!), finally got up the confidence to stop my Aunt and Uncle from taking advantage of my time (though I haven't told them this yet), applied for a job, and I finally paid my parking ticket, which was very close to doubling in price!

Phew!

Web series things are progressing, which is very, very good, though now I'm getting incredibly nervous. There are now less than two weeks til we shoot, and there are some very important things that have yet to be figured out. Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to get organized so that I can make sure they all get addressed. The down-side of having my friend Executive Produce with me (there are many, many positives) is that he's always incredibly busy, so the project isn't necessarily his top priority. It's down to me to make sure final details get figured out, but that definitely isn't my forte. But I know I've got to get my arse in gear to make it happen!

In other news, I've been staying in closer/better contact with my friends, which is nice, and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to them moving out here. It's getting closer, but it still seems so far away. Fortunately I have a couple of things to look forward to in the meantime, which will help. The first is the web series. HOORAY! That weekend three of the friends moving out here will be visiting, which will be nice. Then two weekends after that, MY GIRLFRIEND VISITS!!! I'm really, REALLY looking forward to that! She'll only be out here for a long weekend, but it will be wonderful! We're going to spend most of (if not the whole time) down in Disneyland, which will be absolutely awesome! It will also mean 4 fewer nights of having to figure out where to stay because my sublet will have run out by then, and I don't particularly want to move in with my Aunt and Uncle again. I probably will end up there, but I'm hoping something will materialize (or see if I can finally take my friends up on their offers to let me couch-hop. I think I can handle ten days of that...

And onto my poor girlfriend. When I was back in Boulder, her mouth started to hurt. When she went to the dentist, she discovered that she needed to have her wisdom teeth taken out. So she has that to look forward to Thursday morning (which is just before Easter AND her Birthday...oy!). It will be her first surgery and she's very nervous. I wish I was there to comfort her and to help, but I'm not, which doesn't make me feel particularly good, but I'll be happy to be texting away those first few days while she's not supposed to be talking much. Poor lady!

In other news, I've been having trouble getting back onto the workout-train, but this week I WILL do it. It may be tough these first two or three days while my grandmother is still in town, but I will hit the gym at night if I have to. I need to be exercising. Not doing so has been wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule and I've been feeling really lethargic. That's not good, especially when I've got a million things to do. I mean, I'm not famous yet!!! What the hey!?!?

Also, this makes me happy: One of my two friends that are in Europe recently took a short trip to Italy. She did not like it. For some reason, that makes me excessively happy! Not that she didn't have a good time, but that she hated Italy. Part of it may be my belief that all of our (Americans) romanticization of Europe is ridiculous. Anyone who believes that places in Europe are prettier than in America hasn't traveled America. Sure the non-native historical stuff doesn't compare, but the incredible range of natural beauty in this country is equal to or better than any other place on earth. And people in Europe are different than we are, which can be good, but is not always a positive thing. I know, for example, that as a guy I would have a much nicer experience, because the men in many places across Europe are creepy. They are incredibly forward, disrespectful and downright gross and offensive. Thankfully, this isn't a problem I will encounter, but my friends in Europe are female, so this is exactly the sort of thing they're encountering. Mostly, I'm proud of the place I live. The US is absolutely beautiful. Care to disagree? Well have you seen the Boundary Waters? The Grand Canyon? The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range? The Grand Tetons? Yellowstone (I still haven't been)? The Grand Canyon? The White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the most beautiful stretch of desert in the world? Mesa Verde? Rocky Mountain National Park? A sunset in Santa Fe (there isn't a more spectacular thing ON THE PLANET. Not even the Aurora Borealis)? Niagra Falls? The Finger Lakes in New York? Cherry Blossoms in DC? Fall Foliage in Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont? I could go on forever.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my travels in Europe, but it will take a lot to impress me (that's a lie. I love history, so all of that stuff will be awesome, but I'm talking about the setting for all that history). So it makes me happy in a dark and disturbed kind of way that my friend didn't have the greatest time in Italy. Now I hope she enjoys the rest of her trip and comes right home!

Love. So much love!

-D

Day Fifty - A Week With Friends

So tomorrow I fly back to Boulder for nearly a week to see my girlfriend, my friends and some Buffaloes Football (hooray for spring games!)! I'm excited, but I'll also have plenty of work to do during that week both writing-wise and as a producer. I also have to spend a little time today preparing for a production meeting I've got tonight with my other Executive Producer, possibly my Associate Producer, my Director and my DP. We all will get acquainted, talk business, discuss some stuff on the creative side, and hopefully begin to get them on the same page as me. That way, when the weekend we shoot rolls around, I can focus on acting and leave all of the creative (and most of the producer-things) stuff to them. Especially since this is my first time doing anything like this, I definitely want to have as much of my energy and focus directed towards my acting on set as possible. Maybe down the road I'll be able to handle more of the other duties in between takes, but I'm not sure I'm quite that good yet.

I'm babysitting for the afternoon and evening before running a quick errand and then hurrying back down to Culver City where our meeting is. I'm excited because my fellow Exec Producer is picking up the tab. Phew. I need me some free food. And he's willing to pay because it's a business meeting, which is great!

That reminds me, I need to send out an email or two to my cast. Man this is a lot of work! Definitely going to try to get another friend of mine to move out to LA for future projects. She is a phenomenal Stage Manager currently residing in NY, but she is planning on visiting LA for a while in a month, and hopefully if I've got more projects on the docket (which I don't at the moment, but hopefully will soon) I'll be able to convince her to be on board and to come out for the duration of each project. Once my crew and I get our own place, she will be super-welcome to stay with us, and that would help me out a ton, especially because on future projects I'm budgeting enough for a quality Line Producer/Co-Producer/Script Supervisor/whatever title she wants as long as she keeps me organized. That's her specialty, and I want her involved.

I mean, I'm already working on getting other friends to move to LA. I've got great friends, and I just want to keep them close. There's nothing wrong with that...right?

OK, I need to crank out a little work while my cousin is asleep. Love to every single one of you!

-D

Day Forty Six - A Whole Week Went By

It's been a week since my last update. It's been an interesting week. I spent quite a bit of time babysitting (...yipee...?) and not getting anything done. Now I'm down in Culver City living with a friend whose roommate is in Europe for six weeks. I'm already wishing he was gone longer, because there just isn't enough time. I'm already more productive down here, but I'm still going up to Burbank a couple times a week to babysit, and that's a LOT of time to not be paid or be working on getting work. It's tough. I need a job, and I would be looking for part-time stuff even if I had 7 days a week to work with, but with only 4 days a week? That's difficult. Things are better, but they aren't perfect yet. I'm trying to phase-out some of the babysitting, which is tough and putting some familial tensions on me, but I really need to have 24 hours of my day, all 7 days a week.

Otherwise, I've got just about the whole crew figured out for my web series, the cast is finally confirmed and we're working on scheduling a table read. It's getting really exciting! I hope I've got the time to be able to devote the energy to it that it needs. Everyone involved seems really excited about it, which makes me happy, because it's my baby.

What I'm nervous about with regard to the web series now is funding. I'm still about $1200 short on the funding front, so I've got to figure out how to scrounge that money up. I certainly don't have it, which is one of the reasons I need a job. Either I have to pay for it, or I have to find someone who would like to pay for it. If you, my wonderful imaginary readers, know anyone who would like an Associate Producer credit (or something similar) plus the satisfaction of knowing they contributed to something that will be awesome and just happens to have about $1200 laying around...please let me know! I'll buy them dinner or something!

Phew, I'm going to try to crank out a few more pages on one of my original pilot spec scripts and then get some shuteye! I hope all of you can find something tomorrow and really appreciate it's beauty. Because there are so many beautiful things out there! Notice and appreciate them...for me, please!

-D

Day Thirty Nine - So Much For Plans

The best laid plans of mice and men, eh?

So yesterday I got all excited about having specific goals and making time to accomplish them and hit the gym. What a fool I was. Because of course, that's the day my aunt and uncle decide they need my help all afternoon before babysitting tonight. And not only that, but little H had a bad night and I literally (EFFING LITERALLY) had to hold him or he would start screaming. He's normally very well behaved, but I had to hold him in one position for more than four hours. My back is still killing me. I couldn't sit down because he'd start screaming. I couldn't even shift him or he'd start screaming. My ear is still ringing a little bit and I can't straighten out my right arm. But more importantly, I was able to get less than two hours of work in yesterday. LESS THAN TWO HOURS?!? What the hell do my aunt and uncle think I'm doing out here? Really? Not only that, but they woke me up nice and early tonight. Did the dishwasher really need to be unloaded in frustration after H started fussing at 8 am? Thanks. Thanks so much for that. Because I'm still exhausted and I'm babysitting again tonight, and they 'need my help' all weekend. I need Tuesday to get here as fast as it can.

Oh, TUESDAY! The first bit of good news! I still haven't told my aunt and uncle, who will undoubtedly be upset that their free baby-labor will be leaving, but I have a place to stay! It's not cheap, but I should be able to actually get things done, which is a huge relief. Because as much as I've been trying (and I have), I've been getting so little done that it's really disgusting. I can't even believe how little time I've gotten.

But that all should change now! I will have more time to write, more freedom to do all the things I need to do for my acting career, I'll have cell phone reception, I'll be able to have privacy when I need it (and even when I don't) and I'll be encouraged because I'll be staying with a friend who is super-motivated and is amazing at organization and getting things done. This will be very good for me. Now if only I could get the energy up to tell my aunt and uncle (dilemma is that this living situation is only for 6 weeks, and won't quite last me all the way until the rest of the crew gets out here, so I'll need a place to stay for the two weeks after the friend returns from Europe).

Phew. I'll have no more excuses in four days, and I'm looking forward to that!

-D

Day Thirty Eight - Specific Goals

That's todays mission. I'm setting out specific goals, because I've been too vague in what I want to accomplish the last couple of days, and I haven't accomplished enough because of that. So today's plan is to escape from here as soon as I can (once the laundry is finished, hopefully!), hunker down at coffee shop (probably starbucks because it's close...I know, I'm a corporate sellout...), finish my damn review of Eccentricities of a Nightingale, create an outline for the original pilot spec I started last week (because I've been spinning my wheels a little bit), and then outline the feature that I started working on again that's tentatively titled 'What's left'. That seems do-able for today. I also want to sign up for imdb pro so that I can do some research and figure out what CDs and Agents I want to target, because I'm also spinning my wheels a little bit on the acting side of things. And I don't have time to be spinning my wheels! Fortunately I was talking with two of my new friends out here about teaming up to do dropoffs to agencies and CDs offices where possible. They are a little older and more diverse than I am which may mean we're targeting different places and shows, but it will still be a good experience and I think it's important.

OK, hopefully the laundry is almost done so I can fold it (and put on some pants) and get the heck out of here!

-D

Day Thirty Seven - Slowly But Surely

So I finally heard back from my TV Writer friend AND SHE LIKED MY SPEC SCRIPT!!! That's super exciting news, and she is happy to pass it on to her agent (who, I discovered after some research, is a pretty big deal!)! Hooray! Good news for me! I just have to keep cranking material out, now. I'm working on finishing one of my original pilot specs, and I just moved my screenplay idea from a back burner to one closer to the front. Since I don't have anything tomorrow morning, I'm planning on seeing if I can burn a little midnight oil tonight and crank out some pages!

I also was turned on to a bunch of new resources, and had a semi-job interview today! It would be very inconsistent work, but it actually would be a beneficial opportunity for me to get some acting and writing work, plus some on-set experience.

Mostly good news today!

Also, saw David Schwimmer, and he's got a big ol' beard right now. It's making me consider growing mine out a little bit again...hmmm.

-D

Day Thirty Five - Making Up For Lost Time

So the past week has been mostly spent dealing with things for the job that I just quit. Phew! Now I can focus on the important things (and maybe finding a job that doesn't suck my soul). But I've got some Web Series related business to take care of, which is always fun to work on, even if it's just keeping track of peoples contact information and whatnot. I also get to write a review of the play I saw on Saturday, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, which will make me feel good.

And on to the business of today!

-D