Can you be Nice and Successful?

In Hollywood, there is a prevalent belief that the way to success is to step on everyone else on your way up, that you have to be willing to throw anyone who might be in your way into oncoming traffic.   It's true that this town is very cut throat and filled with competition.

But, I don't believe it's the only way for success in this crazy town.  Call me naive, but being nice can also get you work.  People want to work with people they like and, maybe I'm crazy, but I think people tend to like nice people.

Just watch movies, how often do you see the same people working together over and over again.  Many of the "big guys" like Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler have their group of people that they always cast in their movies.  Why?  Probably because they like working with them and they know that they are going to enjoy being on set for days on end.

Here is a little secret about me: most of the jobs I have had in this business are because I knew someone.  Sure, I've had a few gigs that I got from going to an audition, but often it's a call from a friend who needs a role filled immediately.  Why do they call me?  Because I am a hard worker and always do my best to be a pleasure to work with on set.  Basically, I make sure I am the person they want to work with over and over again.

So, is it better to be respected or liked?  I dunno ... but honestly I think I'd rather be liked.  If I work hard maybe the respect will come, maybe it won't.  But, I can't waste my time worrying if people respect me.  I'd rather be able to look at myself in the mirror and be happy with the person I am.

So, You Filmed Your Short, Now What?

When you wrap your short film shoot, you feel so accomplished.  However, that joy doesn't last long because this is when the real work starts.  Especially if you are doing this uber low budget without the luxury of a fancy-pants editor.

I know what you are thinking: yeah, yeah, yeah, editing takes a long time, etc.  Oh, no, before you can even dream of starting to edit your masterpiece you must label - all those days of footage (and you will soon regret all those Take 30s) every one of them must be labeled.

Okay, now that it's labeled you can start to build your movie, right?  Wrong!  Before that you must sync all that sound.  I don't know if you've ever synced sound, but it is pretty much the most tedious job you'll ever do.  You will start to want to murder the director for always yelling cut so much.

Great!  Now that you've spent days prepping your footage you get to finally start editing.  Yay!  You are thrilled because you know all those takes you did are going to be gems.  Slowly you start to piece scenes together and you realize there is no such thing as a perfect take.  In this one the acting is amazing ... but the focus is soft.  This one is perfectly clear, the acting is decent, but the actor has their glass in the wrong hand and it won't match the other shots.  This one is 100% perfect if only your neighbor hadn't started mowing his lawn halfway through.

Don't worry because it will eventually start to come together and you'll find the shots and you will finish it.  But, now you've spent weeks and weeks staring at all the footage so you know every flaw and the idea of actually watching it in front of other people will make you nauseous.  But it's done - mostly.  You still need to fix up the sound, add effects or a soundtrack, which if you don't know how to do yourself costs a lot of money.  In my case I spent twice on sound editing than I did on the entire budget of the short to begin with.

Now you have your film that you've spent months working on.  Yay for you!  Okay, great, now what?  Do you post it online and hope it goes viral, do you do the film festival thing and hope Harvey Weinstein sees it and wants to make you the next Matt Damon? 

I chose the Film Festival route with my film, All You Need.  And here is something you don't think about: film festivals are expensive.  So, there is an extra couple hundred bucks not considered in the original budget.  Also, how do you chose which ones to submit to?  The big ones where you have a chance of getting seen by big people or the small ones that you have a shot at getting into?

I don't know the answers.  I submitted to bigger ones and will see how that goes.  If it doesn't go well then I guess I will try the smaller ones.  I am up for any suggestions you guys have on places to submit my film to.

Learning to Accept Compliments

I am terrible at accepting compliments.  Mostly because I am never that happy with my work.  I tend to see all the flaws and no matter how perfect I want it to be, it's not.  Of course, I understand you can't expect perfection, but I hold myself to pretty high standards.

This weekend I had three short films that I wrote and produced in the Playhouse West Film Festival.   I had a hard time even standing in the theater while they showed.  Two were comedies and it's very nerve wracking waiting to hear if people laugh at the right times.  The third film is a drama called, All You Need.  I had no idea how people would respond and you can't take the temperature of the audience by seeing if they are laughing at the right times.  I kept walking in and out of the theater, biting my nails while it was showing.

Afterwards, I had so many people come up to me and say nice things about the movie.  It was wonderful, but of course I have no idea how to respond.  I wish I knew how to be one of those salesman type filmmakers that could have turned all those into great networking moments.  I should have come out with a stack of business cards and new contacts.  Instead I usually just stammered out an incoherent "thank you" and walked away.

At the end of the weekend, I was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay.  This was beyond unexpected.  I help run the festival, so I was busy backstage moving chairs when they announced my name.  I don't even remember what I said in the speech, although I'm sure I didn't say everything I wanted to say and probably looked like a bumbling idiot.

Here I am accepting my award.  Did I ever mention that I'm short?

So, since my speech was terrible.  Here is what I wished I said:

This award means so much to me.  I never considered myself a screenwriter.  I've been in LA for 7 years working as an actor, but never as much as I like.  I began writing because I wanted more opportunities to act.  I write the movies I want to see and the roles I want to play.  There are a few people who were a huge part of making "All You Need" happen.  First, Tony Savant and his writing class.  I started this script in his class and his guidance really helped craft many moments of this script.  My parents who are so supportive and really pushed me to make this film from the first time I sent them a draft of the script.  Of course, Ricardo who not only brought so much of my script to life as the director, but also helped me early on making it the best script we could create with all of his notes and edits.   Plus he has put up with me and all my craziness for 6 years, so he gets point for that too.  Lastly, my amazing cast and crew.  Sarah and Gabe worked so hard on each of their roles, going above and beyond rehearsing and getting to know Amaris.  They each brought so much more to the roles than what was on the page.  The Ultreras family for letting me use their home for 3 days and especially, Noemi, for letting me borrow her daughter.  Everyone else who came out to hold a boom, work as an extra, or slate for nothing more than free food and my gratitude: Kim, Marilyn, Alicia, Lacy, Karen, Kinga, Jacqueline, Elizabeth, Valerie, Shannon, Elena, Lance, Juan, Jessica, Brian, Kevin, Jenny, and if I'm forgetting anyone I am so sorry but seriously, I love each and every one of you so much.  

Thank you to everyone who came up and said nice things to me over the weekend.  It really meant the world to me.

Never Too Old

This week we lost a very talented character actor, Kathryn Joosten.  I didn't know her personally, but she always had a place in my heart as Mrs. Landingham in "The West Wing." 

Here are a couple facts about Ms. Joosten:

• She chose to follow her dream to become an actor at age 42.
• The first role you probably remember her in, "The West Wing," she booked when she was 59.
• She won two Emmy Awards for "Desperate Housewives" and the first one when she was 65.

People think Hollywood is only for the young and that as an actor you have some kid of expiration date stamped on you.  Many actors say that if they don't "make it" by 30 or some other completely arbitrary number that they will pack it in and go home. 

The truth is that there are a lot more than just young people in movies and on television.

Don't use your age an as excuse to give up, because the wonderful thing about acting is that you can do it no matter how old you are.  This isn't a sport that requires youth.  The acting muscle actually gets better with age and life experience certainly makes you a better actor.

There is no age limit on following your dreams.  Sometimes when we are young we take the easy path or path that was right at the time, but we come to realize we wish we were on a different path.  Many people might just look wistfully at the path they wish they had chosen without realizing that it's never to late to change things. 

It's never too late to start over, or try something new, or reach for something you never thought possible.  It just takes a little bravery and a willingness to take that first step.