Wishing you all a lovely holiday season from me and Domo! He's wearing a Santa hat. He's very festive.
Oh. You may not know who Domo is (even though he showed up in Targets and 7-11s last year). He's a Japanese cartoon character...and the Christmas before I moved to LA, we almost got a calendar featuring him. We didn't know who he was but my husband thought he was hilarious. I vetoed it though and instead chose a more "sensible" calendar. Of course I regretted my decision. Domo WAS funny. And I wished I had a calendar that made me laugh. So for my husband's birthday, our first year in LA, I tracked down a stuffed Domo doll which, at the time, was hard to find! The next year Domo was everywhere, as aforementioned. Anyway.....the long and short of it is that Domo is now a part of our little family, much like a pet. That's stuffed.
I think I may have shared too much.
Clearly, I need to take a break! And so, I shall. Taking a little break from posting here but I'll be back to our regularly-posting-schedule after the holidays. Hope you all have a beautiful end to your 2011!
It's been a busy couple of days. I've been working hard to meet my self-imposed deadline for my screenplay and I'm getting there! It may be a lot of gobblygook but at least there will be something there to tweak and hone and polish. Tuesday I had my improv class. Level 201 has a reputation for being difficult and not as "fun" as one might think improv should be. I haven't felt that way until this last class. It was our midpoint for the level and I was like, "Oh....this is what people meant." But it was good! I like to be challenged and I'm excited to go back next week and be better. After class I went and audited my old Tuesday night class at the studio. It was the last class before the winter break so not as many scenes went up. It was a short class but it was good to see good work and hear Ivana teach. And it was good to hang out and catch up with everyone after class!
When I got out of my improv class I had an email from my commercial agent - I got a callback for the commercial I went in for last week! Of course, you may remember that I had an audition for a webseries this week also - I got the audition the same day I went in for the commercial the first time. Well my callback time was twenty minutes before my webseries audition time. Luckily, the casting offices were right around the corner from each other so I wasn't too stressed about getting across town. But sometimes callbacks run long so I went early in hopes of being seen early. About a half hour into waiting to be seen, I realized that I was not going to be on time to my webseries audition. I sent them a text - I also gave them a heads up the night before that this might be the case - and let them know that the callback was running behind, so I was running behind. I said I would be there as soon as possible and hoped I could still get the chance to be seen. They thanked me for letting them know. All said and done, I was only about fifteen minutes late for my audition slot for the webseries. But it took a bit of juggling yesterday afternoon! But that is the kind of juggling I like!
It's rainy and cold here in LA. A pretty typical 'winter' day. My New York friends would laugh and say that is downright spring-like but my Florida friends understand that 50s and raining is winter!
On Friday I went out for a run and when I got back I had two auditions. A commercial audition for that afternoon and a webseries audition for this Wednesday. At the commercial audition I ran into an old classmate from Chubbuck studios and we ended up auditioning together, so that was fun. And I'm looking forward to the webseries audition this week. The people who created and are producing it are well-established in the web world and the project seems like a lot of fun.
I'm writing as I wait for a few of the members of my production company to arrive. We are having a meeting before everyone scatters for the holidays to sketch out a schedule for shooting our own webseries in the new year. I'm looking forward to getting a preliminary idea of where we're headed. And I love morning meetings. I baked some muffins and have tea ready for everyone. Any meeting where breakfast foods are involved make me a happy lady!
Was excited to have this issue of THR show up in my mail yesterday. I was tinkering with my screenplay so I haven't had the chance to even take off the plastic yet but I'm planning on taking some time this weekend and reading about the Power 100 Women In Entertainment and envisioning myself profiled in next year's issue. Ok, maybe in the 2013 issue. If I get my movie made next year then 2013 will be the more likely year for visibility for the project. Aw, dreams. I write them here so that when they come true we can look back and say, "See! We knew it all along." And if they don't come true by the set due date, we can still say, "Next year!" Aw, optimism. Putting a positive spin on...well...just about anything.
Guys, I bought a 2012 planner yesterday. And I've already started to fill it out. This year is almost over. Exactly four weeks left of 2011...I'm not sure why that feels so crazy to me. But it does. Would love to book another job by the end of the year. Sometimes there is a little surge of commercial activity in these last few weeks so hopefully I'll get in on the action.
On Friday I got to go to two screenings. The first was a SAG Foundation "Conversations" event with part of the cast of "Raising Hope." I love going to hear casts from shows I love at the Conversations series. We got to screen their Christmas episode, which is a must-see. It's an episode that really shows who these characters are and what is so endearing about them, so you can get up-to-speed on the series - even if you've never watched Raising Hope before. After enjoying the screening there was an intimate Q&A. I say intimate because there wasn't as large of a turnout to this Conversations but I think it's because it was at one in the afternoon, on a Friday. I've only ever been to evening events before. Gregg Binkley, who plays Barney on the show, told about his journey to this role. Basically, 18 years ago, he went in to audition for a role that he wasn't right for. When he got to the audition, the role was changed from a "college golf teacher" to a "delivery boy." Suddenly he was right for the role. When he was at the table read, one of the writers didn't realize the role had been cast and read his one line before he got the chance to. When he got to set to shoot, the main actor on the show suggested that the role of "delivery boy" wasn't necessary. So just like that, Gregg's one line and appearance was gone. But one of the producers on set remembered him when they were working on another show, which led to another small role. That same relationship led to another recurring role on another show. Which led to doing a few lines on the pilot of Raising Hope. Which led to a series regular role. All because he went in to audition for a part he wasn't right for. I love stories like that.
Then, that night, I got to go to the first LA screening of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Avid readers here may remember my slight obsession with the book so you know that this movie was going to be a tough sell for me. When you love a book as much as I did this one, it is really hard to imagine that the movie will live up to it. Well.....
I loved it.
I cried throughout the movie. If I wasn't in a crowded theatre, I probably would have been audibly sobbing. Ok, fine. Maybe I whimpered audibly at times. There are major changes to the book in order accomodate the medium of film but I really think that the changes work. The heart of the story is still there and it really moved me. Even now, just watching the trailer, I'm crying again. The movie takes you on Oscar's journey and I'm ready to see it again. And ready to read the book again.
My suggestion? READ THE BOOK FIRST. My husband came to the screening with me and he wasn't as emotionally effected as I was. I think because I had such an attachment to these characters and to the story, there were moments that were more poignant to me and carried more weight. The book is so beautifully written, you don't want to miss out on the experience of getting to know these characters and their story first in your mind and heart. Then see the movie to see that come to life.
So yeah. There you have it. Your two hot tips: Watch the Christmas episode of Raising Hope and go see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
