Category: Blog

First of all, I cannot believe I got to make a season 2 of my silly zombie web series. Frankly, I can’t believe I got to make a season 1. But I can believe that they are as good as they are because the people I’ll wax poetic about below were involved. This intro serves as a blanket thank you to every single person who has made this dream of mine a reality, from those who donated a buck or two to the IndieGoGo, to the actors, to the crew, and to the people who gave advice and support in my many times of need. Brains exists because of all of you, and I will never get over that. Continue reading “The Brains Behind Brains, Season 2” →

Remember when I set 10 resolutions for myself at the beginning of the year? I do, because I torture myself with them every waking moment! Enough small talk, let’s see how I’m doing! Continue reading “New Years Resolutions 2016: Mid-Year Checkup” →

Last week I tweeted something about how the best part about being an artist is getting to work/ be friends with people you’re a fan of. I tweeted that because I had just seen the episode of Chicago PD my awesome friend Brandon Smalls was a suspect in, plus the play that my other awesome friend Marshall Taylor Thurman had put on with his new theater troupe, The Culprits. So last night, when I watched another awesome friend, Jean Perez, in a theater production at his college, I realized I had more to say. Continue reading “Fan of, Friends with” →

As you probably guessed by the title, this blog is going to be SUPER FUN and UPBEAT. You know, the two things I’m most known for. Anyways. Continue reading “On Anxiety” →

I specifically didn’t make a resolution regarding this site for 2016 because we all know how that usually works out. Also, I’ve been making a habit of blogging on Tumblr fairly frequently, because it’s easier for people to find things on there. I can tag something “Skyrim” and anyone who follows Skyrim-related things will find it. Pretty neat.

I don’t want you guys to feel like you’re missing out too much, though, so I wanted to link to a few of the longer posts I’ve done recently. In an attempt to give back to the web series community I’m trying to break into, I wrote a series of reviews/recommendations of my favorite shows online right now. If you’re interested, the links are below.

Classic Alice

Pemberley Digital (Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Emma Approved, Frankenstein MD)

Social Medium

Carmilla

The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy

Happy New Year, folks! It’s that time of year again, where I set highly ambitious personal goals for the year ahead. Last year out of my ten resolutions I succeeded with 6 of them. Any bets on this year?

1. Take care of your damn self. Last year I was not kind to myself, which manifested in emotional as well as physical ways. I discovered that my go-to response to extreme stress is not eating, which, despite my natural wish as a chubby girl to lose weight, is not a good thing. There was a three day period last summer when I didn’t eat a full meal for three days because of something that was going on, and that’s not ok. I need to eat on a healthy schedule, I need to eat healthier things ON that schedule, I need to pay attention to not overworking myself, and I need to give myself a break once in a while.

2. Film another season of a web series you write. Be that Brains season 2, or an entirely new show, I want another season of my writing on the web.

3. Find a full-time job you don’t hate, or at LEAST series of steady part time jobs that pay rent. In May, I will graduate from grad school, effectively ending my formal education forever. From May 2016 on, I am a full adult person. While obviously I’d love to immediately get a job in TV or in web production as soon as I receive my MFA, that’s not realistic. But I really hate job hunting, and I hate being in constant fear of not making rent. By next January, I will have a full time or a steady series of part time jobs that, at the very, very least, I don’t hate. Let’s hope that’s not too much to ask.

4. Leave New York state at least twice. In 2015, I left New York exactly once, to go home for Christmas to Colorado. I love New York, and I love what I’ve managed to do since moving here, but sheesh, it wouldn’t kill me to do something else. Even if I only manage to go on a weekend trip to New Jersey or something, I don’t want this city to consume me the way it did in 2015.

5. Write a new draft of SLJ. My undergraduate senior thesis novel, The Secret Life of Jane, is one of my favorite pieces of writing I’ve ever made. It also needs a lot of work. I worked out a battle plan in 2015 for revision, so in 2016 I should put those to use and actually edit the stupid thing.

6. Write 2 new short stories. I love my new life in screenwriting, and it’s definitely where I should be, but getting scripts out there is hard. You have to rely on a bunch of other people, and while when that works it’s amazing, it isn’t always possible. Short stories, on the other hand, can be sent off to lit mags and other publications as soon as you’re happy with them, and having publishing credits under your belt looks impressive no matter what industry you’re in. Plus, I miss prose a little.

7. Find a slam poetry venue and perform. Even if I only perform once the entire year, I miss being on stage rhyming about hipsters and optimus prime and the word “fuck.”

8. Learn two new production skills. Summer 2015 was a crash course in filmmaking for me. I went from being merely a writer, actress, and vaguely-defined “producer” to a executive producing powerhouse, lead on-set sound person, head editor, camera operator, assistant director, production designer, [really bad] makeup person, as well as a bunch of other stuff. And it was hard and frustrating but I’m so glad I have those skills now, particularly in editing and producing. In 2016 I want to, either formally or again informally, learn two new skills. Right now, I have my eye on special effects makeup (which totally has nothing to do with the amazing-awesome Page, who did the special effects makeup on Brains season 1, moving to Seattle) and directing (if we get a Brains season 2, there’s already a plan to have me direct episode 8). But who knows! Maybe I’ll discover a deep-seated love for being a gaffer or a DP.

9. Stay in touch with people better. Be that Norman Steinberg after I graduate, my friends from home and from college, or my friend Rebecca who literally lives in New York but whom I barely ever see, I want to make sure that I don’t lost touch with the people who are important to me. I’m bad at this, so I could use some help, but this resolution is a promise that I’ll do my part.

10. Work on a set/production for something I didn’t write. Of course, it would be cool if I did this on a professional production and got paid, but if that’s out of the cards for 2016, I want to work on projects that aren’t mine so that I can learn about this industry from all angles and learn skills I might not otherwise learn.

What do you think? Should I add something else? Take something off? Revise? What are YOUR resolutions, if you have any?

2016, COME AT ME, BRO.

It’s officially the end of the year, and I have officially accomplished a LOT in 2015. But how did I do based on my arbitrary list of goals I made last January? LET’S EXPLORE!

1. Order in less than three times per week.

I have no money and I live with Quinn, who cooks 85% of the time for us, so… SUCCESS!

2. Two meals a week have to be a salad.

Salads are the worst. Failure.

3. Post a YouTube video once every two weeks.

I mean, I posted 10 episodes of Brains plus a bunch of cast and crew interviews and BTS videos, so…. that should count for something? (Failure.)

4. Post a blog every other week.

It’s really cute what I thought I would be able to do AS WELL AS produce three web series. Also a failure, obviously.

5. Draft Burden of Proof season 1 by next January. 

So I have a third draft of the pilot, as it’s my capstone script, but the full season is in no way drafted, or even fully planned. BUT I wrote the entirety of Brains season 2 (10 main episodes and 10 mini-episodes to be released in between) so in the spirit of this resolution I think I succeeded.

6. Film at least 1 episode of Brains.

Not only did I film the entire first season of Brains, but it has already been accepted as an official selection at FOUR film festivals! I think this over achievement should count towards my salad failure. SUCCESS.

7. Figure out a battle plan for SLJ rewrites.

Battle plan, yes, new draft in the near future, no. So, soft success?

8. Complete draft of The Toast movie.

Hellz yeah, although it’s not very good right now. It’s currently taking a back seat to Brains S2 and Burden of Proof, but hey, draft mo’fo’ing complete. Success.

9. Keep bedroom cleaner.

Look, two people living in a room meant for 1 with absolutely no storage to speak of isn’t an ideal clean situation. But I no longer leave pizza boxes of shame at the foot of my bed for weeks at a time, so I think I’m calling this a SUCCESS.

10. Visit both Oregon and Colorado. 

I’m visiting Colorado at the end of the month! For a whole week!! I’m not making it to Oregon by year end, unfortunately, but Colton visited me this summer and brought a bit of Oregon to me so that’s something.

 

SUCCESS: 6 (including the half successes of #5 and #10)

FAILURE: 4 (including the half successes of #5 and #10)

That’s pretty good! I am not unhappy with this outcome. As always, the self-care and do-stuff-consistently resolutions fell by the wayside, but that’s because it’s so much easier to lock in and finish one script over the course of a week or two than do something over and over on a consistent basis.

Next year’s resolutions will be up on January 1st. Hopefully I’ll do a bit better in 2016, but 2015 was by no means a failure overall.

Are you a fan of my love, friendship, neuropsychology, and zombies? Check out my webseries, Brains!