Archive for 2010
« Older Entries |4th of July Weekend
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
I spent all day Saturday working on a show; even though I was the lowest rung on the employee totem pole, I had a great time being “on set,” interacting with people who can teach me so much and wearing an ear piece. How can you not feel bad-ass wearing an ear piece while wearing all black working on a TV show?
Bright and early Sunday, I drove out to Rancho Mirage (near Palm Springs) and spent the 4th and 5th at a resort; relaxing at the pool and disconnecting from city life.
Now I’m back in LA and looking forward to the next adventure.
Posted in Life in Hollywood | No Comments »
Assimilating to the Los Angeles “Hecticity”
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
I’m living what some might call the “Hollywood Life” and this 4th of July weekend is no exception. On Friday, I intern at the reality TV production company until 7 and then do work on behalf of my marketing clients until the wee hours. On Saturday, I work Big Brother until 9. On Sunday morning, I drive to Palm Springs for the night and on Monday, I drive back to Los Angeles.
This is a new level of hectic I never experienced in Missouri, but it’s hectic because I’m doing exactly what I moved here to do.
Posted in Entertainment Industry, Life in Hollywood | No Comments »
Can You Help Me to Become the World’s #1 Gopher?
Monday, May 17th, 2010
I’m currently dreaming of finding a job as a television production assistant (PA). While it’s basically the lowest rung on the entertainment job totem pole, it’s my dream job because it’ll give me entry into the industry.
I’m extremely confident that I can be the World’s #1 Gopher (gopher as in “go for” coffee) and there are several awesome and unique skills I can bring to the set, such as:
- Being able to bench press over 150 pounds (hey, that’s a lot for a girl)
- Knowing how to work with all sorts of
crazy, unique and strong personalities through my work in public relations - Making the best cup of green tea known to man
- Having the ability to safely haul mail across 6 lanes of traffic in Manhattan as a CBS intern
- Having the best collection of Asics Onitsuka Tiger shoes in the world in which to run (no girlie heels for me, my boots were made for running)
So, I’m looking to my friends, family and web contacts for leads; if anyone can help point me in the right direction to find that first production assistant job (and inevitably land the title of “World’s #1 Gopher”), please drop me a line. My resume can be found here.
Tags: jobs, Production Assistant
Posted in Entertainment Industry, Journal | No Comments »
Questions to Ask Before You Rent or Sublet
Monday, May 10th, 2010
I’ve had a lot of good apartment rental and sublet experiences – both during and after college. I had no reason to believe that my first sublet experience in Los Angeles would be any different, but it was different … and not in a good way. I’ve put together the following list of questions that I suggest anyone ask if they’re looking to rent or sublet. They’re questions I didn’t think needed asking (I suppose I was naive in assuming that anyone renting or subletting out their apartment unit would have afforded a subletter the courtesies of cleanliness and full disclosure) and I hope that they might help others avoid the situation I was put in for the first 6 or so weeks of my living in Los Angeles.
- Will the apartment unit be professionally cleaned before I move in or will there at least be an effort made to leave the unit in clean condition?
- Will I have easy access to necessary services such as mail and laundry or will I be required to make a heavy effort to check and do said activities?
- (If you’re renting the apartment furnished) Is all of the furniture in excellent working condition without any insect or fungal infections? Or will the bed be not unlike a hammock that sags along with springs so broken, they go stab in the night, or infestations that cause pox-like scabs on the ankles.
- As it’d suck if the first morning you move in, you open the fridge only to have all of the shelves along the door fall out and wine, barbeque sauce and pickle relish spill out all over the floor and then you’re not able to use the dishwasher to clean up, do all of the appliances within the unit work properly?
- Along that same line of thinking, has the apartment (including the unit’s furniture, appliances, carpet or other spaces) ever had any insect or rodent infestations that you’re aware of?
- As I’ve learned growing up in a family of Realtors, sellers must disclose any instances of crime/fire/etc. that happen after a buyer submits a contract. I think it should be the same for people who are leasing or subletting apartments. That said, I think it’s important to ask if there have been any safety issues in the building or have there been instances of crimes such as armed robberies?
Also, I’d suggest requesting to be notified if any status changes to the sublet (or building crimes, fires, infestations or other big events) occur before move-in.
If I can help even one person avoid the situation I was in, I’ll feel as though my time in my first Los Angeles apartment was not for naught.
Posted in Journal | 2 Comments »
Settling in … by Moving Again
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
For the second time in 6 weeks, I’ve moved. This time, instead of moving nearly 2,000 miles from St. Louis to Los Angeles, I only moved 4 miles … closer to the beach but most importantly, into a lovely (and CLEAN) home! While I plan to be incredibly busy working my booty off in order to show the television world what a great asset I can be on the production side, I can’t wait to find some free time to explore the neighborhood, spend time at the beach, get to know my awesome roommate and all-around enjoy the California lifestyle. And … I have no plans to move again for a good, long while (although, if for some reason I must, my bed rolls up into a suitcase for easy moving). Here’s a view of the new ‘hood; not too shabby, eh?
Posted in Life in Hollywood, Photo | No Comments »
My Favorite Place in Los Angeles
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Taking in the Getty Center, originally uploaded by James Neeley.
The Getty Center in Bel Air is the place I feel most zen in this new city of mine. Whether it’s reading, writing, networking or sleeping, I can spend hours upon hours on the grounds of the white stone paradise, listing to the fountains, without wanting to be anywhere else in the world. I recently spent the afternoon there with an old high school friend and prepared for a big interview I have coming up on Tuesday. With free wifi and a AAA discount on food and beverages, it’s a shame they don’t have apartments, because I’d live there in a heartbeat!
If you’ve been to LA, what’s your favorite place?
Tags: Art Museum, Bel Air, Favorite Place, Getty Center
Posted in Life in Hollywood | No Comments »
Look Ma: I Have Friends
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
… to mingle with at happy hours dedicated to new entertainment professionals on hotel rooftops. (We’ll forget that I don’t exactly know who the blue shirted and red sweatered girl are third and second from the right.)
To eat nachos with at a Mexican shack on the side of the road at 1 a.m. (seriously, St. Louis could learn a thing or two about good Mexican and Tex Mex food).
Not to mention, to grab dinner with, to go to the beach with, to explore museums with, to spend holidays with, to sit by the pool with and to do homework with. I arrived in Los Angeles 40 days ago only knowing casually 2 people (hello Cranbrook Schools friends Elliot D. and Chelsea), and now I know people who share similar interests, enjoy spending time with me and have interesting backstories (you can tell I want to work in TV with that observation). Not too shabby!
Tags: Friends, Happy Hour, Los Angeles, Nachos
Posted in Networking, Photo | 1 Comment »
The Sublet Situation
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Things have been tough on the home-front (my living situation). I am not one to air dirty laundry online, but I have really learned a lot from my current living situation.
25 days ago, I advised my roommates that I’d be breaking my sublease (I gave 30 days notice, so I’ll be moving out in 5 days). I broke my sublease because I felt like I was not given a habitable place to live with a broken bed, furniture that had notes not to sit on it because of bugs, food cabinets that I was to use filled with rotting onion peels, and after a few days, bug bites that mysteriously started appearing on my ankles in the morning (and they still haven’t healed – perhaps a trip to a dermatologist is in order). 10 days into living in Los Angeles, I felt like I had been misled, I was tired (I was sleeping on a broken bed that was more like a hammock that had springs that’d stab me as I tried to sleep) and I was grossed out. I had to take matters in my own hands and made the decision that moving out was the only option.
The hard thing is that the roommates seriously nice, smart college girls who I, in theory, have put in a tough place because there’s nobody there to pay my portion of the rent. Since they live in the apartment, they don’t feel that it is uninhabitable and so it’s really a struggle between what I think is right and what they think is right.
I thought that I was doing a nice thing by giving them a month’s notice of moving out so they could find a replacement, giving some extra utility money to help them make ends meet, etc. Despite that, they were not overly friendly to me once I told them that I’d be moving out (I can’t say I’d have acted any different if I were in their shoes – being left with 25% of the rent unpaid is a daunting proposition and would probably cause me to be rude to the person putting me in that situation). But, I felt like I was living in a Cold War every time I was in the apartment. I’ve realized how hard it is to stay positive when I dread coming home every night – perhaps this is what divorcing couples feel like.
If I could do it again, I’d know to ask different questions before moving in: have there been any bug problems? Is all of the furniture in working order (since I’m paying for a furnished space)? How clean do the roommates like to keep the apartment? Live and learn, I suppose. These were not questions I knew to ask in advance – especially since I have always had such positive housing setups before this.
Despite the stresses of the living situation, I still have a completely optimistic look at my Los Angeles relocation. In fact, in a blog post before moving to the West Coast, I asked:
“If anyone in Los Angeles has a somewhat-reasonably-priced extra bedroom or a pool house they’re looking to rent (preferably furnished and even more preferably near the beach … hey, growing up in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio, I think I’m allowed to dream of living near the beach at some point).”
Well … I found that place! Next Friday (30 days exactly from when I gave my notice to my current sublet), I’m moving to Santa Monica where I’ll live close enough to the beach to hear the waves at night. A far cry from my suburban St. Louis house, wouldn’t you say?
Tags: Apartment, Roommates, Sublet
Posted in Journal, Life in Hollywood | 1 Comment »
First Hollywood Premiere
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
On Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to attend the red carpet premiere of the new film The Back-up Plan starring Jennifer Lopez. (While I participated in pre-premiere red carpet interviews as a CBS intern a few years ago, this was the first time I was actually able to go in for the screening.) It was a fascinating culture study to watch the fans who waited for hours to catch a glimpse of Ms. Lopez and husband Mark Anthony (they ended up sitting about 10 rows back from me during the screening), the 20 year old wannabe media moguls dressed in their Wednesday Skankiest and all of the production company employees doing their best to earn that promotion by cheering loudly when their employer’s name appeared on screen. While shaking hands with Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer), I realized that I’m exactly where I should be – I felt so “at home” connecting with industry people. I’m someone who’s normal, down to earth and hard working and with all of the butt kissers in the game for the wrong reasons, I’m confident hopeful that I can find my niche within the community.
Tags: Movie Premiere, Red Carpet, The Break-up Plan
Posted in Entertainment Industry, Life in Hollywood, Photo | 3 Comments »
Straight Out of Central Casting
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
On Monday morning I took a few hours away from work and homework and drove ALL THE WAY to Burbank (seriously, I had to take 3 freeways to get there; but I’m proud of myself for being brave enough to take them rather than continuing my habit of taking surface streets). In Burbank, I parked somewhat illegally (in a lot reserved for Metrolink users) because there was not one single open parking space within one mile of my destination: Central Casting.
Being in the right place at the right time seems to lead to the best opportunities, so I decided to register to be a background actor so that I can learn about life on set. As someone who doesn’t have an acting bone in her body (in 7th grade, I was in a production of Peter Pan, playing an Indian, and I tripped over a giant mushroom during my one scene on stage), it should be an interesting experience, but also an experience I hope will lead to great opportunities behind the scenes.
After waiting (along with about 100 other people just like me), I was able to register and have my picture taken (they didn’t show me how the picture looked, eeks) and then I was approved to begin working. Basically, the day before I want to work, I call a number and listen to a recording that describes the projects for which they need extras the next day. If I sound like a fit, I call a different number and hopefully book it. Then I just need to meet the right person on set who has a TV producer friend who needs a kick-ass assistant, and then my career path starts. (Wishful thinking? Maybe…)
What do I have to lose? Nothing, not even my dignity (I wrote “no” on the registration form when it asked if I am willing to do nude work).
Tags: Acting, Background, Burbank, Casting, Central Casting, Extras
Posted in Entertainment Industry, Journal, Networking | 4 Comments »