A few weeks ago on Twitter, I was having a conversation about branding and public personas with some fellow filmmakers, and one of them (a fantastic Canadian director named Brianne Nord-Stewart) made a joke that “my personal online presence is regulated by the notions of “am I okay with this living on forever?” & “do I care if my grandpa sees this?”” And it struck me how considerably less family friendly my online presence has become over the past few years. Continue reading “Public Displays of Profanity” →

Been thinking a lot about branding recently. It’s a topic that comes up a lot in indie filmmaking, because it’s important that all of your projects’ assets follow similar themes, colors, etc so that people can easily tell what accounts and posts are yours. It’s also something pretty integral to my ambitions in the media and entertainment world, because online, personal brand is everything. Continue reading “Fame, Branding, and Chubby Women” →

In an attempt to make the laziest possible February vlog due to the circumstances I laid out in my last blog, I asked Twitter for questions I could answer. Hopefully by the time THIS blog goes up, that video will already be live…. HERE. Continue reading “I don’t have hobbies” →

Once more, I’ve waited until the absolute last minute to post this month. In my defense, there were extenuating circumstances which include but are not limited to the fact that I’m moving in four days rather unexpectedly and the fact that this very website was down for almost a week with me.

The website being down was likely a result of my having a new blog window open for over a week which at some point stopped responding to the rest of the website because I was logged in and out and closed and opened my computer and browser so often, which then caused an internal error that spread as I failed to deal with the initial issue. Big props to my dad for fixing in fifteen minutes what plagued me and the 24 hour Hostgator support for over a week. Anyways- the site’s back up and that procrastination excuse is gone.

The moving rather unexpectedly is still a thing I’m contending with. I haven’t even been at my current apartment for a year but they informed us we wouldn’t be able to renew our lease because the building wants to renovate. So back on the moving grind, where thankfully we found a place within two blocks of where we are now after a few weeks of searching and panicking. Fortunately, it’s bigger and in theory a better place to live. Unfortunately, we have to move in the middle of a work week. So if anyone in the NYC area is free next Thursday…. I’ll buy you beer and pizza if you help! You only have to take boxes/minimal furniture DOWN stairs, as my new place is on the first floor.

In spite of my already having a creative project in the can in 2018, it’s been a frustrating start to my year. I had savings goals and creative goals and personal goals and all of them have basically been put on hold because of the move and will be put on hold for an indeterminate amount of time. I hate not planning for big changes like this, and I HATE moving in the city. Makes me wistful for the days of moving around in Oregon, where everyone had a car and a nearly guaranteed parking spot and elevators or at least less stories to houses and apartments.

I also tried to record a vlog two days ago, since I’m late on that as well, but it was out of focus and the audio randomly cut out halfway through so now I have to find time to do that AGAIN. How’s my 2018?? Frustrating.

This is enough writing for a blog for now. See you in a day or two for the next one because I’m running out of time and like hell am I conceding a NYR this early in the year.

Toodles!

This film is currently crowdfunding to pay everyone in this post for their incredible work! Throw us a few bucks (or more), get yourself some fun incentives, and support independent artists!

In November 2016, after a conversation I can’t fully recall, my friend Colin and I decided to write a horror short film together. He’d just finished a stint as Carl in season 2 of Brains and as Kevin in Ace and Anxious and we knew we enjoyed working together and that we were both writers. He was a big fan of horror and I’d been wanting to try my own hand at it, so it was decided: a short film in the horror genre with an idea of our production restrictions in mind as we developed the script. We knew we wanted to keep the cast small, the location singular, and the horror psychological, and within a month we’d written the first draft of what would become Buy In, following a charming young salesman and a strange, lonely traveler who find themselves locked in a struggle for control over their own destinies. Continue reading “Buy In: a reflection over a year in the making” →

The title may be uninspired, but so is this blog. And yet, I’ve decided to try blogging twice a month and posting a video once a month again and it’s already almost the end of the month, so. Here we are.

I’m posting this blog today and not at a more inspired time because it has been a mad dash of a month for me. Last year around this time I’d found a new therapist and had plans essentially every other night with friends and potential collaborators. This year I spent the month working at Stareable (where we’ve been slammed) and preparing for my next short film shoot, which will take place NEXT WEEKEND! Safe to say I’ve been keeping busy.

The short film is called “Buy In,” a psychological horror film co-written by me and my good pal Colin Hinckley, about a predatory traveling salesman and a lonely traveler. It’ll be our most cramped set yet, with three actors and three to four crew members crammed in a single tiny hotel room, and our most ambitious shoot, at 19 pages with tons of set ups. I feel good, though. We’ve all worked together before and we’ve planned, as always, within an inch of our lives.

I’ll be directing, something I’ve been wanting to do more of ever since I had such a blast on Ace and Anxious. Speaking of Ace and Anxious, I’ve gotten to attend two screenings for in the past two weeks. If you’re curious, you can peep a live Q&A I did after one of them here:

I feel… good-adjacent about this year. I’m set to wrap principal photography of a new short film before the end of the first month, with scripts for at least two more projects ready to go. Both shows I’m producing are solidly in pre-production, one of which has shoot dates planned already and one of which that’s currently finalizing casting. Work is busy but going well, and my latest web series airs its season finale in a week. I am dedicated to making this year my most creatively fulfilling one yet, and so far, I’m as on track as possible.

I’ll probably do one of my sappy thank you blogs about Buy In for my second blog of the year, so look out for that on like the 30th I guess.

This has been a waste of space blog, but it counts, and we’re all just gonna have to live with that.

2017 was a rough year and yet I still ended it with 8 completed resolutions and 2 partially completed ones, so I’m ready to take 2018 by storm.

Resolutions: 2018 Edition

1. Produce 2 new projects I write to completion. Last year, I only completed Sam and Pat Are Depressed, which was awesome, but not as much as I wanted to have to show for. Keeping this resolution the same because I do want at least 2 new projects for my portfolio by the end of THIS year.
2. Write a feature-length screenplay. Either by completing my partially completed one or writing a new one. Lots of writing opportunities require a feature-length script, so I need one.
3. Post a blog twice a month and a personal YouTube video once a month. This worked out SO well this year, forcing me to make smaller projects on a consistent basis. It also led me to write some really interesting things I might not have written otherwise, like this blog about my relationship with food.
   1. NEW VIDEO RULE: At least half of the videos from 2018 have to be filmed outside of my apartment, and ALL of them have to have a least one shot more cinematic than “tripod with me in the middle of frame.” If I’m serious about pursuing directing, I need to know more about composing shots.
4. Write 2 new TV scripts- one original pilot, one spec script. I always need new scripts to keep myself sharp for TV writing, and I have also only ever written one spec script which is WILDLY out of date, and spec scripts are a requirement for most fellowships, so if I ever decide to apply for one, this will be useful.
5. Close caption all previous (and new 2018) projects. Making my projects more accessible to people with hearing disabilities is an easy enough process, it’s just time-consuming. So making it a full year project seems appropriate.*
6. Save $1500. After losing my job at MTV, burning through my entire savings account during my four months of unemployment, and getting a new job that pays significantly less than MTV, my bank account looks like someone has been blackmailing me. So even without the income I used to have, saving money is really important, because I need a safety net and eventually I’m hoping to move to LA to be closer to traditional writing opportunities in film and TV. $1500 over the course of an entire year shouldn’t be too impossible.
7. Leave New York City at least twice. I gotta get out more. I love New York but if I don’t leave at least twice a year I start to get really claustrophobic.
8. Eat out less than three times a week and do something active every day. Tangible steps to better health. I learned my lesson last year: intangible resolutions do not work for me.
9. Take a photo every day. This just seems fun, and will be a nice way to force myself to do something every day. Depression has a way of isolating me from the world and from other people and maybe not wanting 40 pictures in a row of my apartment will motivate me more than saying “stop being depressed” over and over to myself did this year.
10. Talk less, listen more. Fine, fine, ONE intangible goal. I’ve realized the past few years that I tend to empathize via telling my own related story, but then I kinda end up taking over the conversation. Sometimes this is ok, but sometimes, I just need to shut up and listen. Not every story I have needs to be told.

Obligatory comment question: Do YOU have any new years resolutions? What are they? Let’s keep each other on track!

 

*if anyone wants to help me CC Brains or Ace and Anxious, let me know!

1. Produce 2 new projects to completion.- Partial Completion

Sam And Pat Are Depressed:

I wrote a bunch of new scripts, helped with other people’s productions that WERE completed, and we’ve got a shoot date in late January 2018 for the next short film, but, well, technically, this resolution was not complete. I definitely meant “produce to projects OF MY OWN WRITING to completion.” But hey, new web series!

2. Finish writing Brains- Complete!

Someday I’ll do SOMETHING with all these scripts, because I love them. But we’ll see.

3. Post a blog twice a month and a personal YouTube video once a month.- Complete!

This is my final blog of the year! And below is my final YouTube video of the year! Losing my laptop for a week put me a bit behind but I finished this JUST under my self-appointed deadline!

4. Write 2 new original pilots- one drama, one comedy- Complete!

Comedy: Dead on Arrival. A misanthropic filmmaker moves across the country to live alone for the first time in her life, only to discover that her new apartment is haunted by the cheerful ghost of the murdered former tenant.

Drama- Fourth Wave. A 25-year-old woman struggles to maintain both her faith and her recently uncovered asexuality in the wake of her divorce with the help of her bisexual atheist best friend, who vows to guide her through her feminist awakening. (tbh I’m probably not gonna do anything with this one, especially because some of the themes I wanted to explore ended up getting explored wayyyy better in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but still)

5. Edit The Toast, my screenplay. [alternate: write a new screenplay] – Complete!

I did edit The Toast! Still needs some work, but it’s definitely in better shape than before. I also started a new screenplay called Best Supporting Females

6. Work on a set or production that I didn’t write- Complete!

I worked on like a billion sets and productions I didn’t write! I spent more time on other people’s projects than my own, which while disappointing on one hand was a really good experience for me on the other.

7. Leave New York City at least twice.– Complete!

First- Hoboken for a production.

Second- Colorado for Christmas.

8. Make better choices when it comes to diet and exercise.- Partial Completion

Um. So depression and being broke kinda derailed this resolution, but since living on my own I have been cooking more often (and thus making better culinary decisions due to this) and for a little bit I was working out in the morning, but yeah, depression and having an inconsistent work schedule really shot me in the foot here. Technically, I did in fact make better choices than last year, but they weren’t, er, better enough, so I’m not going to make a pity “complete” since I don’t feel I made as much progress as I ought to.

9. Be less impatient with other people.- Complete!

This was a bad resolution and I don’t know why I made it, but I think I deserve a completed tag. I may not have made myself a less impatient PERSON, but I got better at designing situations and expectations where I wasn’t set up to be impatient. I removed the possibility of impatience from the equation and was honestly happier and more productive for it. This resolution also forced me to think “be less impatient” every time I rode the subway and someone was blocking the door or in my way, which I think made me a slightly better person.

10. Go to therapy- Complete!

For five wonderful weeks, I had a therapist this year! Then it turned out she wasn’t covered by my insurance after a certain period of time so I stopped going, and all the people she recommended to me WITHIN my insurance coverage were either not accepting new patients or weren’t available at times I could manage. I’ll be 26 next month, officially out of my mom’s insurance bubble, and so it’ll probably be a while before I’m able to do this again, but I’m glad I did it, even for a little while.

 

FINAL TALLY: 9/10! (Technically I had two partial completions, but together they made a full resolution, so there!) I actually didn’t do as badly as I thought I would. I came into this blog thinking I’d failed this year, but looking back, I actually accomplished a lot, especially given my circumstances (being broke, being depressed, losing my job, moving to a new apartment, being depressed, etc), which makes me feel pretty darn good.

Check back tomorrow for my 2018 resolutions, and tell me, did you make resolutions this year? How did YOU do?