Clean House

COMING SOON!

Choke

Today I was a one-day employee with the popular production company...FOX Searchlight Pictures. The reason? My American Red Cross class was held today at UCLA...and was sponsored by "CHOKE" - a new movie coming out this Friday. "CHOKE" is a movie being produced by FOX Searchlight.

It was pretty neat, since...
1) I was teaching college kids and

2) The entire lecture hall that I was teaching in was COVERED in posters, free giveaways, etc. We got a ton of T-shirts and prizes that we got to distribute to everyone.

In the eyes of FOX, this was a FANTASTIC marketing plan. Why? Because...


A) THEY paid for all these college kids to go through the class for FREE.

B) If you couldn't catch the play on drift, they wanted us to really emphasize are unit on CHOKING....for the movie...called "CHOKE"....

C) Not only was the class free, but all the college students got a TON of free stuff that they can wear, hang, etc... that will advertise the movie to other friends.

D) I'm sure 99% of the people in the class will go see the movie just because it was advertised so heavily in our class....I know I will be!

So if anybody wants a "CHOKE" T-shirt, posters, keychain, doorknob, bookmark, or card...let me know...I got a ton of them.

Time to CLEAN HOUSE!

I recieved a phone call today from "E!" Productions...in specific, from the show called "Clean House" that airs on the STYLE network.

They got hold of my resume and cover letter and were very impressed. They have hired me for this week Friday and Saturday on a shoot they are doing. A PAID PA position! YAY! This job really has the ability to lead into a more steady lineup of paid PA positions, so I'm excited.

For those of you that are thinking "what the heck is Clean House?"...it's very similar to "Extreme Home Makeover" on ABC...the people come in, tear apart their house, and make them a brand new, very nice house.

I'm excited!

The Emmy's - Part 2

Here's the pictures from the Red Carpet of the 60th Annual Emmy Awards:











More to come after the show! I'm excited to see who wins :-)

The Emmy's - Part 1

Yesterday, Jared and I went to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This is where they do all the fancy stuff for TV and run 'The Emmy's. Somehow, we got lucky, and nobody was at the building.

Below are some highlight pictures. More details to come. I am actually heading out the door (again, with Jared) to head downtown to the actual event to get some awesome pics! Wish me luck!!!!

First Day on "Last Call"

Well, my first day of production of "Last Call" went really well. The job (like many in this industry) is very hot and cold. One minute, you'll be bored as heck...waiting for the production meeting to be over. The next, you have so many things to do, it's hard to keep track.

Overall, I learned alot thus far and I am looking forward to the rest of this week (and the rest of this season, for that matter) on the show. No real big talents have come through yet, so I am awaitng more excitement in that category....so far it's been Eddie Izzard and John McCain's daughter - with the ever popular secret service by her side every step of the way.

The one BIG thing I did on Monday night was ensure that the show went on air. As some of you may know, the show airs around 1:30 in the morning - starting in New York and working it's way back to L.A. - riding the time zones as it travels. In order to broadcast in NY on time, they need the show an hour or so before the actual broadcast time so that we can "beam it" from LA to NY. Well, because Monday was our first day of the new season - we were about an hour or so BEHIND schedule, so after the show, there was a rush to get the show edited so it could be ran to the studio where it needed to be (so they could beam it).

To make a long story short: We had 10 minutes to get the tape from the "Last Call" stage (Stage 9) to the Editing Bay (near Stage 1). The distance between the two buildings is not short...and we don't have access to cars. Guess who got to run the tape with LESS than 10 minutes to the OTHER side of the lot so the show could air on time??? Yep...I did. :-)

Ah well, guess this new job comes with benefits...weight loss!

Today and Tomorrow

Quick update:

Today - Long, LONGGGGGGGGGGG, class at the Red Cross. Like...2 hours over the expected time limit long. Yeah, that sucked.

Tomorrow - Busy day starting at 9 AM until 9 PM working on "Last Call with Carson Daly"...I'm super pumped, because it's a shooting day!!

I will likley be dragging my feet tomorrow evening...so if you don't hear from me until later on Tuesday...don't take it personally. I'll try to update this with all the excitement that is bound to happen tomorrow as soon as I can.

First High School Musical Flop

Special thanks to my ex-roommate Elliot for this story:

"ABC's High School Musical: Get in the Picture aired its series finale Monday night but few were interested in seeing who got "in the picture." The reality/talent series, which the network had high hopes for at the beginning of the summer, drew just 4.13 million viewers and placed fifth in its 8:00 p.m. time period."

By the way, if you DID catch the finale...there were no closeups of myself, Ashley Tisdale, or both of us in the audience. I think there might have been ONE shot that included me from when they moved us around, but yeah...

And BOY OH BOY was it completley different than how they shot it! 8 hours of filming condensed into 1 is not an easy task as it is, but still...they REALLY edited stuff...

I got the job!

Well, I guess the phrase "good things come to those who wait" is true. I am now a proud staff member on "Last Call with Carson Daly".

Today was my first day at the NBC office/studio, and it was a BLAST! I came home with TONS of free stuff and a lot of new connections.

Not much else to say, really...as weird as that seems. It's a great job, I'm excited to have it, and I can't wait until next Monday when the excitement starts (we start shooting Monday).

More to come soon, I'm sure!

Is it you, dad??

When you first glance at this picture, do you see anybody you recognize??



If you thought it looked like my dad, you aren't alone. I thought it was me at first, but after asking a few friends...I wasn't the only one who thought that.

Obviously it isn't him, but consider the irony: The picture was taken in Milwaukee on the 1st of Sept, and the officer rides a motorcycle...

The Interviews

As many of you know, today I had some interviews around town at local studios.

The first interview was at NBC Studios for the show "Last Call with Carson Daly". This interview went extremley well, and it was fun to be on the NBC lot, as usual...seeing where they film all kinds of neat shows such as "The Tonight Show" and "Ellen".

The second interview was at Raleigh Studios. Sadly, this interview was not what I was expecting.

When I arrived, I met with the CEO/Head Producer of a film production company that is run out of the 4th floor at Raleigh Studios. He was very nice and seemed like a fun, down to earth guy. He invited me to come into the back editing bay to check out some of the projects he was working on. He started to ask me alot about editing, and I said I was knowledgable but I was more interested in the original job I applied for...which was in Creative Development. He kind of brushed those thoughts aside and went on to show me his videos.

The videos I saw were crazy. I cannot go into too much detail, as I did sign a non-disclosure agreement, but basically...the videos featured content that was 90% all about this guy and hot girls.

Basically, to make a long story short, I got offered a job to be an editor at this production company. For good money, too. However, the following reasons detracted me from taking this job:

1. I was not applying for an editor job.
2. He is not the 'big hit' he thinks he is.
3. He is more into himself (you think MY ego is bad...) and hot girls than anything else.
4. The TV shows and films he is producing are not things I would support.
5. I would not want to be involved/given credit on a production from this company (on any of these videos that I do not support).
6. His staff talks poorly about him behind his back.

While some people may think I am crazy for turning down a good-paying job, I REFUSE to work at a place where I do not support the final products. If I am not proud to be a part of the production, I will not work as a part of it. Furthermore, this was clearly not a place I wanted to be...since I applied for one job and was offered another, and since numerous employees were not saying great things about the place.

We all know I am desperate to get into the industry, but I'm not desperate enough that I will ruin my reputation for the quality of work I set my personal standards to.

Ah well...live and learn, I guess. Hopefully I'll get a promising call from the set of Carson Daly, instead...

Interviews!!!

Wow, it seems as if something is paying off because tomorrow I have 2 interviews for 2 potential jobs.

First, is with NBC at "Last Call with Carson Daily", and the other is with "Raleigh Studios", which is known for filming numerous TV shows, such as "America's Funniest Home Videos"

I have the first interview at 10 AM tomorrow, and the second at 1:30. I'm going to be BUSSSSSSSSSSSY tomorrow!!

Wish me luck!!

ABC 7 News

Tonight, the local ABC station (ABC-7) had a story about a rapist who LAPD were trying to find.

When the image came on the screen, I almost spit out my soda laughing and grabbed a quick still with my camera (yay flash) for amusement:



Hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, moustache, ears....wow, this is just funny. I can't be the only one that thinks that this is amusing.

RIP - Don LaFontaine

I have the 11:00 news on in the other room and I wasn't really paying attention to the stories. Then, all of a sudden, a story caught my attention:

"You may not recognize his name, but you have definatley heard his voice".

I looked over at the TV and thought, "Oh! Maybe they are doing a story on one of the voice over actors I know".

Well, sadly, they were....and it was to report the death of Don LaFontaine.

For those of you that don't know, Mr. LaFontaine was the best of the best in the movie voice over business....his voice appeared in hundreds of thousands of movies over the years. There is no doubt that he will be sincerley missed.

Sad. :-(

Amusing Letter

The other day, we recieved this letter from our 'manger' at the Madrid Apartments. I thought it'd be fun to share with you all for humor's sake: