Saturday, January 22, 2011

Los Angeles

I'm in L.A. now.  It's amazing.


The Weather
I was secretly terrified of the weather, that it would be like summer year-round.  Dismally hot and sticky, with deadly strength-sapping humidity like I'd become accustomed to after 8 years in NYC.  Actually, here it's closer to my favorite time of year, Fall, mostly cool and breezy but nice and hot in the sun.  Well, the sun is everywhere.  My favorite phrase to describe the sun in the time I've spent here is, "It's beating down on me!"  I usually say this in the car with Kate because she blasts the heat no matter the season or time of day so that adds to the effect.

This is right outside our house from the porch.  We also have a backyard complete with lawn chairs from the previous tenants.


The Neighborhood
I am living with Kate and two roommates in a big-ish place in Silverlake.  Silverlake has ritzy spots and depressed spots but we're in a great family neighborhood on a tree-lined street minutes away from Brooklyn-esque culture like coffee shops, thrift stores, vegan restaurants and a great vintage movie theater.  Our house is in the vicinity of Los Feliz, Echo Park,and Sunset Junction, so there is a lot of great people watching and atmosphere.

Santa Monica Blvd and N. Hoover St.

Business
I've had the good fortune to be able to connect right away with friends of mine who've made the trip out before me and their wisdom has been invaluable.  Getting to know a whole new business culture and entertainment industry protocol is going to take some time, but thanks to my friends going to endless coffees and hang-out dates with me, it won't take as long as it might otherwise.  If any of my New York theater friends are reading this and thinking of moving into film, start now with your on-camera projects.  Having a reel is absolutely critical.  Go to NYU or Columbia or wherever you need to to get yourself on film.  I've seen a bunch of really cool independent actor-generated footage and I encourage you to make that kind of stuff or find it in NYC.  I was fortunate enough to have an NYU thesis film, a Law&Order, and some good indie stuff in the can already, so I'm assembling it now and putting my own together.  More on that soon.

Vegan Restaurant

In New York, "one-on-ones" are the meetings you can take with Casting Directors and Agents.  Here, they're called "workshops".  I've been doing a lot of these in an effort to jump start my name-recognition for pilot-season given that I've only just got here. 


I've also got a profile on Casting Networks (you have to sign up again if you've already got one on the East Coast--"different servers" they said) and have been submitting myself to some cool projects.  I've been called in for a bunch of things and booked most of them, although whether or not I opted ultimately to DO them has been mixed.  The film work I have is mostly from 2005-ish, so the more I can get myself in something recent, the better.  Nobody cares about Off-Broadway because they don't know what it is.  If they can't put it in a DVD player, it never happened.  Awesome.

Kate on a picnic this summer

With Dalton at Venice Beach

Griffith Observatory, right by our house
Dalton and Louise on their visit

I played a DP in a plagued student film, here's my cast shot for the credits.  Broad comedy, people.
More to come!

10 comments:

網頁設計 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

抓姦 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

偵探社 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

尋人 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

討債 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

討債 said...

Thank you, that was extremely valuable.

法律諮詢 said...

hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!

網站設計 said...

Keep the faith, my Internet friend.

E's Dating Diaries said...

What articulate comments about your experience in LA and I LOVED the pics. How about one of you on the scooter?

網頁設計 said...

Keep the faith, my Internet friend.