I've been thinking a lot about that last bit of advice from my previous post and I think I'm gonna send a letter to Matt Groening.  Couldn't hurt, right? 

Besides, Stan Sakai has a story he likes to tell.  One of the first things he did when he moved to California from Hawaii was to look up one of his heroes, Sergio Aragones.  How did he find him?  By looking him up in the phone book, of course!  Says Sakai: "Don't bother looking for him now, though.  He got his number unlisted soon after I called him.  I've often wondered if there was any connection."  Well, Sergio didn't think too poorly of Mr. Sakai, as a few years later, he asked him to do the lettering on "Groo the Wanderer."  They've been great friends ever since.

So I'm not saying Matt Groening and I are going to be super pals or anything.  I'm just letting someone I admire know that I admire them and why.  And try to see if he needs someone to bring him coffee and/or pick up his dry cleaning.

Oh, hey!  That seminar was super-helpful.  Anyone looking for a job could have taken some lessons from this lady.  Her name was Adele Sheele and she let us in on some secrets about getting that internship/apprenticeship/job of your dreams.  Actually, it's not really fair to call them "secrets" as most of them were pretty obvious.  Even if I'd never thought of them before.

1. AN INTERVIEW IS A TWO-WAY STREET.  It's not just about you and what you bring to the table (though that is a big part of it).  Talk to your interviewer.  Ask them how they got involved in the company or how they got to where they are now.  Try to relate their story of personal growth to your own.  In short, get to know them.  They like that.

2. TAKE THE LOW/NO/DEFERRED PAYING JOB.  She told the story of her nephew who started out as an intern for a producer in the TV biz.  When the internship was over, he was offered a job on the game show "Supermarket Sweep."  Feeling it was "beneath him," he declined and went back to the East Coast.  About a year later, he tried contacting them and begged them to take him back.  They wouldn't.  All the people he'd met and worked with had moved on to bigger and better things.  And he was bartending in New Jersey. 

3. GET TO KNOW YOUR EMPLOYERS.  Try to find what likes and dislikes you share with your employer.  When the time comes for a promotion, they're much more likely to promote the ones with whom they have a rapport.  The old showbiz axiom is true: It's not what you know, it's who you know.  And how well you know them.

4. IF YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS, SEND A LETTER TO YOU HERO(ES) AND OFFER HIM/HER/THEM YOUR SERVICES.  Let them know how much you admire their work (citing specific examples) and let them know that if they are looking for an intern or an assistant, they need only ask.  The worst thing they can say is "no."

I'm typing this up for my own benefit (and that of anyone who wants the info).  I'll let you know if any of them work! 

Though, I'm not sure if I have the courage to send Steven Spielberg a letter...

Decisions, decisions!

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to cram a full load of school AND a job AND an internship in this summer without going crazy and/or ending up broke.  All of this stuff is stuff I need to do, but danged if I know how to do it.  Not only that, but if I can't get the money, I won't be going to school this fall.  Which is nice on the surface, but that means there's no financial aid to help with rent.  

I'm actually thinking of leaving the place I'm living now and seeing if someone at school or church can take me on.  I won't be a mooch or anything - I'll pay what I can as far as rent and utilities and I'll buy my own groceries, of course.  But if I could, man, I'd like to be done with school as soon as possible.  I want to graduate by next year. 

There's a seminar tomorrow night about Starting Your Career In College.  I will be there in the front row taking notes.

But in the meantime, keep applying for any job I can get, I guess.  Keep on keeping on, stiff upper lip and all that!  And I just need to take it one day at a time and not get all worked up. 

So Nestle Toll House didn't call back.  But I did get an interview with Wokano, a pan-asian restaurant in Santa Monica.  They're looking for bartenders so I applied, why not?  Should know if they want a second interview by next week.

Spent the day at the beach today and did a ton of beach walking which is pretty much my favorite activity.  Sucks that it was so cloudy though.  For some reason, the Valley can be sunny as all get out, but the beaches will be all foggy and overcast.  But I love the beach anyway, so I'll go whenever it ain't raining.  I want - nay, need - one or all of the following: A boat, a surfboard and a fishing pole.

I don't know if something's in the air, but a lot of marriages and relationships of people I know are ending/on the rocks, and it just saddens and frustrates me.  Granted I don't know all the details, but dang.  It seems everytime I turn around, somebody's breaking up with somebody else.  Depressing times.  Well, maybe it's not really depressing.  Distressing maybe?  I hate to hear about stuff like this.                         

Trying to psyche myself up for a big night of writing, so I'm makin' me an LJ post!  So what's going on...

I have an interview tomorrow afternoon at Hagen Dazs/Nestle Toll House Cafe in Canoga Park!  I can't tell you how much I'm hoping I get this job.  Not only is it better pay (not much better, but better than what I'm making now), more hours and benefits, but c'mon, free ice cream and/or cookies?  Yes, please! 

I have found out that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has a student organization that I can join for $25 a year!  They hold little get-togethers throughout the year, so it's good for networking and all that.  Plus, for an extra $75 per year, I can go to a free screening of every major new release film.  If the money's there, I'm definitely doing that.  Also, I'm told that this is a great thing to have on your resume, since senior members love to help junior members get started.  I'm going to see if the Director's Guild of America or the Motion Picture Academy has anything like this as well.

My Aunt and Uncle are in Santa Barbara and had to evacuate due to wildfires for the second time in six months.  They're fine, thank God, but their house is kinda right there in the Danger Zone.  Hope it comes out okay! 

I'm watching "Fireproof" right now.  All my Christian friends tell me it's amazing and the best movie ever.  And I'm here to tell you it ain't.  It's talky, boring, preachy and the characters have all the depth of a baby's wading pool.  Now I think they had a noble goal here: make a movie about a failing marriage in order to give hope to people who are in failing marriages.  Good idea, bad execution. 

This movie is built on stereotypes.  Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) is a firefighter who is a manly man who likes manly things, such as lifting weights, internet porn (at least I think it is.  They only imply it) and yelling.  His wife Catherine (Erin Bethea) is a nagging, unpleasant woman who likes womanly things like scented candles and yelling.  Caleb's co-workers, the fattest group of firefighters I've ever seen, are all either dim-witted hicks or stereotypical black characters that make Uncle Remus seem progressive.  Speaking of which, there seems to be a subliminal undercurrent of racism in the movie.  All the black characters have lines like "Girl, you GOT to get out that house" and "I think the doctor got a THANG for Catherine!" and "MmmmmmmmHMMMMMMMM" *head bop.*  And I won't mention the fact that the two black firefighters ride in a separate truck.
EDIT: Okay, I've now watched the whole movie and I don't think they meant to be racist, even though they don come off as stereotypes sometimes.

After going through all this, I don't really care whether or not Caleb and Catherine ever work things out.  Besides, the whole movie is little more than an ad for "The Love Dare," a marriage counseling book by Stephen and Alex Kendrick.  But if your marriage is on the rocks, just get the book and skip the movie.  

This is the major problem with most Christian entertainment.  It is trite, surface-y, and doesn't seem to bother with things like character development or plot.  It's sad that for every "Ben-Hur" or "The Apostle," there are about 500 "Fireproofs."  This trend could stop if Christian filmmakers were daring to make a story about a guy who was actually cheating on his wife or was physically abusive or a wife who was unfaithful or a drinker....something real.  Something where the stakes are raised to the point where I actually care whether or not the couple works things out.  But I guess that would be too "offensive."  But showing Christ getting nearly skinned alive and nailed to a cross for a couple hours is perfectly okay?  Get this, my fellow believers: Christian artists cannot be afraid to be artists.  If you don't take your craft seriously, nobody else will either.

So the Powers That Be finally made me get my California license plates.  How, you ask?  By impounding my car!  :D

Yeah, this morning, I came out to my car to find a cop car parked right next to it.  I thought they were going to give me a ticket, but apparently, the punishment for having expired out-of-state plates is much more severe.  So to remedy this problem, I had to go to the DMV (a good few miles from my apartment) and drop a not-insignificant amount of money for a temp tag, go the Devonshire police station to get a release, THEN go back to the impound lot and drop another not-insignificant amount of money to get my car back.  Oh, and I had to do it all by bus and good old fashioned walkin'.  

But here's the funny thing: anyone who knows me knows that something like this is more than enough to set me off on a temper tantrum.  But...nothing this time!  I had more than enough money to take care of it, which is a miracle if you ask me.  I get paid in two days and I should be getting a financial aid rebate from the school in a few weeks.  So while it kinda hurt me today, it'll be okay in the end.  And I didn't panic.  Not once.  Not panicking is a new experience for me.  But instead, I'm thanking God I had the money (and then some!) to take care of everything.     

Besides, this was entirely my fault, so I've got no one to blame but myself.  But I'll tell ya, I'm never letting this happen again!   

I've got the writing bug again.  And, as usual, when I get the writing bug, I tend to go about things all scattershot - working on about three or four projects at a time until they all kind of pile up on me and I end up getting absolutely nothing done.  So for the time being, I'm going to focus on school stuff, since it's the most important thing to focus on right now.  I've got to write and direct a script in the next six weeks, I've got to learn about all the budgeting, safety issues and contracts on a film set AND write two ten-page reports on the history of horror films.  Obviously, I've got my hands full and it wouldn't be prudent to focus on anything else.

BUT I do have an idea.  In an effort to both ingest as many films as possible AND boost my writing ability, I have come up with a project: "100 Days, 100 Films." 

Basically, it'll be a journey of discovery.  For 100 days straight, I will watch and write about films I have never seen before.  Then I'm going to take all the crap I wrote and try to make a halfway decent book out of it.  Like I said, it'll have to wait until I actually have the time to do it, but this is my pet project now.  Why?  Because in the event I'm not able to make a living as a film director, I'd like to make a living as a film critic.  Or maybe as a film teacher.  And I think this project may help me do that!  

But for now, school.

Two weeks since my last post?  I fail Livejournal.  I'm sorry, my Twitter account has taken over my life.

Well, not much to report, really.  The new quarter starts this week.  Here's what I'm taking:

DIRECTING I (I'll finally be making my first short film.  Wheee!)
UPM/AD (That is, "Unit Production Manager/Assistant Director."  Deals with budgeting, scheduling, permits.  You know, all the boring crap that's gotta get done)
DIRECTING: CASTING THROUGH REHEARSAL (Formerly known as "Stage Directing.")
MOTION PICTURE HISTORY: HORROR FILMS (On Saturday mornings.  Ugh.)

Funny about that last one; I had signed up for all my classes to be on Tuesday and Wednesday so I'd be free to work.  But the daytime section of Directing: Casting through...screw it, "Stage Directing"...was cancelled due to low enrollment, so they moved me to the nighttime class and moved me from my first choice of MP History ("The New New Wave: Darren Arronofsky and Christopher Nolan") to this one.  Now I don't really care for Horror films, but this is the third class I've had with Mr. Steve Haberman, so I know it'll be good.  He's an arrogant guy, but he's funny and he knows his stuff, so I always learn something new in his classes.

Also, may be going to Sacramento for a wedding at the end of May.  Sheana's cousin is gettin' hisself hitched up, and I've been invited.  I hope I can make it!

Also, working on an idea for a short.  I may be very limited in my first one.  For example, I will probably only be able to shoot during class (a four hour window of time) and probably only on one standing set with a limited number of actors.  The challenges abound, yet I will prevail for WE ARE SOMEBODY.

yeah.   

Well, another quarter winding down.  I've got my TV Production final tonight, which should go smoothly.  And my Visual Production Design final is due in about two and a half weeks.  I think I'm going to do a sort of drawing/collage hybrid for this one.  Since I don't know Photoshop and don't really have the time to learn it right now, I think this is the best way to go.  It's a good way to highlight some of the design elements of the story.  And, since it'll be digital and not on film like the last one, I can show y'all when I'm done with it!  

Taking a full load next quarter.  Up on my plate are:

Directing 1
UPM/AD (that is, "Unit Production Manager/Assistant Director")
Directing: Casthing thru Rehearsals (Formerly "Stage Directing," a name I liked better)
Motion Picture History: The New New Wave: Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky

And in the week between this quarter and next, I'm going to Tucson to see Sheana, which always does me good!

I think I have about another year and a half to go if I don't take the Summer and/or Fall quarters off, which I don't think I'm going to do.  I want to get finished as soon as possible.  Still have to talk the Cherokee Nation to see if I can get some moolah for the fall quarter.  If I can get it, I'm going to go full time.  Kind of get a leg up on the next year so I'm not here till I'm 40.  I feel old enough as it is.  Yeah, I know, "30 isn't old!"  Well...it sure feels like it.  And I'm almost there.  So gotta finish school soon.

Thundercats are go!