What a Day!

I'd like to start off by thanking Amtrak for deciding to not electrocute me if its trains were to run today. It's a nuisance for Rhode Island to be flooded, but it's not my fault--or is it? Anyway, I got most of my fare refunded, and I managed to get on a Megabus to NYC at 2:30. I loved Megabus, especially since it was a double decker. It claimed to have Free Wi-Fi, but what's the point if internet disappears once you leave the bus depot? I also don't understand why there's a service called, "Free Public Wi-Fi" when it doesn't do anything to juice up your internet. EPIC FAIL! Unlike Amtrak, where I could legit concentrate and get work done, I couldn't really do that on the bus. I have a 7-page paper, a detailed budget, a schedule for The Emerson Channel, and Kevin Bright post work to do. I guess that'll have to wait until this weekend!

The trip to NYC was fairly smooth, and we only hit traffic when we got closer to our destination. We bypassed the Bronx and drove through Harlem, from 153rd Street all the way to 28th Street. It felt like an eternity. No wonder I prefer taking the subway! Speaking of which, I had to take another bus from NYC to NJ, and that meant taking the subway from 28th Street to Times Square/Port Authority. Once I got to the bus terminal, I grabbed dinner, and just made the 8:00 bus. Why that bus was crowded at a late hour, I'll never know.

I'm home now, resting. I prepared some notes to deliver at my grandfather's funeral tomorrow. Thankfully, it's supposed to be nice weather. I'm not looking forward to traveling: NJ to Long Island to Brooklyn to Manhattan to Boston. On top of that, guess what my Friday will look like: sleep, 7AM registration, sleep, 4-hour class, "Speechless," and post-production supervising for the Kevin Bright class. I really need to sleep in this weekend!

The Font Tard

Ah, nicknames. They come and go whether you like them or not. I've had a few attached to me over the years, including "G-Unit" and "G-Man." But the nickname that tops them all is one I earned last month: the font tard. What does it mean? Where did it come from? Two words: my professor.

Before I go into how I got that nickname, I should clarify that she didn't directly call me that, but because of the way it was presented, I managed to take that name upon myself and embrace it. Actually, it's a pretty cool and original nickname. As the post-production supervisor, one of my responsibilities is to schedule the editors' availabilities and label them on a calendar to present to the producers and professors. I copied and pasted a calendar layout from the internet. Most of the calendar was done in Helvetica, which is my professor's font of choice. However, the large heading was laid out in Comic MS Sans Serif. According to my professor, a veteran of the production world, such a font will only cause you to get teased by your colleagues and bosses. Anyone who uses that font, said my professor, is a font retard. Guess who submitted his calendar the exact moment she said "font retard?" Well, "font tard" sounds better--the class took a vote.

Since that eventful day, I've taken on two more nicknames from this same professor: "VIP" (I'm not sure where that came from) and "Pants" (because I lent one of my jeans to one of the lead actors for wardrobe). Taken in the right context, I think nicknames can be hilarious and great. Sometimes, they are mean and verbally debilitating. Use caution before labeling someone. Better yet, don't label them at all. If you must, do it in Helvetica.

Floor Directing

Tonight, I had the great opportunity to floor direct "The Dish": a college version of "Entertainment Tonight." The headset the office gave me was one of the reasons I was so excited to floor direct: I looked like a pilot flying a jet, except I had a battery pack attached to my waist. Most people wouldn't feel safe with a pilot who had such attachments. The first hour and half was uneventful: I got the white card, moved around a camera, and listened to whatever the director commanded.

One of the funny parts about me floor directing was that I was still expected to know all this technological know-how about plugging cables into "Ox 1" or extending BNC cables and stingers. Granted, this was stuff I supposedly learned last year in Intro. to Studio TV, but somehow, I managed to bypass the crew part and shoot up to executive producer. Speaking of which, one of the EPs I worked with tonight was as knowledgeable in technology as I was. Essentially, it was the blind leading the blind. When that happens, hilarity ensues. Thank goodness we got along well. I should also mention that the other EP is a very good friend of mine. Do you want to know another funny part about this evening? When cuing talent, I think I accidentally gave them the finger.

One of the things I learned about floor directing from my Studio TV class was not to make funny faces, gestures, or movements because the talent will literally fall apart. I don't think I improved that much, because the hosts had to stifle some laughs whenever they looked at me. Hey, at least I made the evening more enjoyable. Honestly, I'm so glad I did this, and I hope I'll have a similar opportunity in the near future.

Audience Coordinator

As I mentioned earlier, one of my jobs as an Associate Producer was to be an audience coordinator. Basically, I was in charge of publicizing the in-studio taping and booking a full house. The task started out well; I contacted every program coordinator, PR person, and high ranking school official I could think of. Luckily, I also had an assistant who e-mailed production offices and followed up on printing tickets. We publicized like crazy: Facebook, Twitter, listservs, etc. We got the class to reserve a set amount of tickets, and the student body e-mailed us like crazy. My assistant and I devised a color coding system for marking the different groups of tickets: class, actors, VIPs, and general admission. Everything was going swell. Then, show night happened.

Everything was set up: stanchions with row markings, labeled tickets, and a table to hand out tickets. I was told I would have a PA and a few classmates to help out. Great. People showed up, got their tickets, we had them wait in the lobby, then we set them to the theatre lobby at 4:30. At that time, though, we got nervous; many people didn't show up or ended up canceling their reservations. To make matters worse, I contacted the general audience to let them know that we were overbooked but still encouraged them to come, stand by, and sit in the holding area until we could pull them for the studio audience. Well, that failed because people equate over book with "don't bother showing up." FAIL. Oh, and then was the audience load-in.

It all worked in my head: I'd line people up by rows in front of the stanchions, I'd lead them in one row at a time, and seat them. Well, a few things happened: I didn't get my PA on time. House management was disorganized and delayed load-in for 20 minutes. Moreover, I confused the hell out of people when I attempted to line them up. If I actually had a head attached to my shoulders, I would've moved the stanchions to the front of the theatre and lined people up accordingly. But did I do that? Of course not. I lined people out in front of the production office, and I told them to face me while I counted them off. That didn't work too well, as people wanted to be at the end of the line to sit by the aisle. Folks: it doesn't freaking matter where you sit! People were just confused. I was frustrated. To make matters worse, the house manager assigned to help me clearly didn't want to be there; she told me it was my show and to do what I want. She then walked to the theatre and counted people as they entered. She could've died from boredom. FAIL.

Regardless, I got people seated, mass texted everyone I knew, and seated the extras halfway through the show. When all was said and done, I was only three people short of a full house (despite the fact that I originally overbooked in the first place). The show itself was great, and the audience had a great time; I can hear their laughter now as we're editing the show. Yes, there are things I would've done differently, but given the circumstances that arose, I think I did a pretty good job. I wonder how they deal with audiences in the industry...

The "T" = Totally Annoying!

I, like many Bostonians, have many complaints about the T. The green line is the worst: it's slow, it constantly breaks down, the "E" train (my train) rarely comes, and the damn thing goes express! Hello, there are 30 people waiting for you, yet you just ring your damn bell and breeze right past us. Also, must you close at 12:30AM? Do you know how much it sucks to have to leave a party early because I just don't feel like shelling out money for a cab? Do you know how many times the T has delayed me?

Aside from bashing the MBTA, I do have my share of T stories. One that stands out was when I got back from Thanksgiving break; I was having a miserable morning, and I realized that my November pass expired. Since I live at an outdoor stop, I have to show my pass to the conductor because there are no scanning stations (FAIL, MBTA!). The train pulled up, and at first, the conductor only opened the front doors. I was about to go in that way, but she then opened the side doors, so I decided to enter those doors. I found a seat, put my stuff down, and was gathering my things when the conductor got up, turned to me, and barked at me to pay. I was about to do just that when her royal highness made that proclamation. I told her I had a pass and showed it to her, and she brazingly snipped, "Well, you get on and you show it!" I haven't seen her since... hopefully she was fired for being a witch.

Another moment occurred a few weeks ago when a few of us were coming back from a party at the Middle East. A guy sitting across from us on the red line saw we were dressed up--more specifically, he noticed my friend who painted herself blue (background: we went to the party as the X-men). The conversation took a different direction when we talked politics, Jewish culture, war, peace, etc. For a guy who didn't know English too well, he did a pretty good job.

Last one: a few days ago, I'm waiting at the Northeastern stop. The train pulls up, we line up in front of the door, and we move aside to let people off. This woman with a horrible dye job and dreadlocks tries to make her way through, but we block her to let people leave the train. We enter, and she starts babbling about how she was trying to pay, how rude we were, when in fact she wasn't better than any one of us. I just glared at her and said nothing. In an alternative universe, I would've given her a piece of my mind, but in this world, I'm too polite and simply stay quiet. It takes a lot of patience to not explode at people, no matter how much they deserve it.

I miss the New York subways. They may be dirtier, but they are much more efficient!

Life and Stuff

After writing a morbid post, I decided to be more uplifting, and stealing titles from "Roseanne" episodes seem to work for my entries. I've been thinking a lot lately about life, and this

is what I have come up with:

1. Be surrounded by people who love you and support you--no matter what.

2. Find something you want to do and makes you happy.

3. Live by the Golden Rule.

4. You can always get by with a little help from your friends.

5. Try to laugh once a day; you'll feel a lot better.

6. Don't take guff from anyone.

7. People will do mean things things to you. As atrocious as that is, you can't let it affect you. They are the ones out of line and will eventually pay for it. You're just as strong as you ever were, and you ARE a good person; don't ever let anyone tell you the opposite.

8. Try taking a bath every now and then; it'll relax you.

9. Never assume. EVER.

10. Learn a trade (i.e. gardening, cooking, sewing, etc.): you'll be amazed at what you can do if you put your mind to it.

Death and Stuff

My life is a whirlwind of activities. Literally, I spin from one thing to the next--sometimes not fully cognizant of what I'm doing. Rest assured, I do set aside time for myself everyday. However, reality hits, and you have to stop what you're doing.

I learned that my grandfather died this afternoon of respiratory failure at the age of 93. He lived a very long and fulfilling life; I'm just sad he never took advantage of the tape recorder we gave him for his birthday a few years ago. My grandfather was full of stories, whether it be family tales or accounts of when he was a soldier during World War II. Whenever a lot of people filled the room, he would sit back and observe; I think I get that from him. Papa lived through many eras: the last few years of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, Sputnik, Watergate, Reagonomics, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and thankfully, the election of President Obama. I wish Papa spoke more about his experiences during these times; he was a wonderful storyteller who always kept his audience captivated, and he was quite the charmer. Though he lived in New York for over 80 years, you could stick detect my grandfather's Boston accent (he was a native of Winthrop before his rather large family relocated to the Bronx).

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit him over spring break. The news of a family member's passing is always hard to accept even when you know it's bound to happen. No matter what, you're never fully prepared. I find writing about my grandfather a catharsis for dealing with his death and for reflecting on one of THE most important elements of life: FAMILY. I'm lucky to come from a tight group of hilarious, crazy, intelligent, and caring family members, but I realize that not everyone is fortunate. You don't have to have a blood family--nuclear families are just as efficient in bringing people together and forming tight bonds and strong networks of grounded interpersonal relationships. At this time, I want all of you to get up and hug someone you consider family whether you're related to this person or not. Don't take each other for granted, and always remember to enjoy the times you have together.

TV Theme Songs

I'm not going to lie... this what I do in my spare time sometimes. People think I'm nuts for liking old school TV shows and for listening to their intros repeatedly. Yet, I strongly believe that a theme song can make or break a show because of the tone it sets for the series. I've downloaded quite a few of these songs onto my iPod over the last few weeks. I still can't get "Cheers" and "The Wonder Years" out of my head. The '80s version of "Swinging on a Star" is quite a hoot, and no matter how many times I listen to the opening of "The Hogan Family," I still think it's a drama. If there's one song that really stands out it's the opening from "Life Goes On": the cast's rendition of the Beatles song of the same name. Actually, I HIGHLY recommend that everyone watch this show; it's beyond realistic and so well done; I watched it almost everyday at my internship last summer and nearly cried every time. They just don't make TV shows like they used to.

Wrap Parties

Based on tonight's interesting experience, I decided that there should be several rules for a wrap party:

1. Only invite the people who worked on the production.

2. Hire a bouncer.

3. If you are hosting a party, and people whom you don't know show up, be alarmed.

4. Crowd control is something to consider.

5. Champagne should always be included (which was a WIN for tonight!).

6. If people get excited over the latest Photoshop installment, don't mock them; join in the revelry.

7. Don't talk about work--MOVE ON (unless you're like me and have to be a part of post-production. BOO).

8. Every department should host a wrap party.

9. Hug everyone who worked on the production at least once.

10. Don't let anyone urinate on the floor.

My Tastes in Music

As you've realized by now, my musical tastes are rather unique and unusual for someone my age. I tell people I'm a hippie at heart. Honestly, I think I must've been alive during the '60s in a past life. The music is so rich because it's fun to listen to and because the lyrics are so deep. I'm not trying to put down contemporary music because some modern songs do a great job speaking to love, pain, politics, and war. Yet, there seems to be more depth to hippie music, and these songs definitely apply to modern times. Look at the lyrics to "Eve of Destruction" or "I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends."

I'm listening to Susan Boyle as I type this. No, she's not a hippie, but she has one hell of a voice. This woman is so angelic--she makes my heart melt every time I listen to her. I honestly don't think anyone can top her rendition of "I Dream a Dream," and I'm looking forward to her next release. I just hope she's able to take it easy every now and then. Cass Elliot is now playing on my iTunes. Now THAT'S a singer. There's so much emotion behind her music that it feels real every time I listen to her. Elliot's friend Leon Bing hit the nail on the head when she described Cass' singing as comfortably settling into a hot bath. Remember when "Make Your Own Kind of Music" played during the second season of LOST? That was vintage Cass Elliot. I wish there were more singers like her.

Recently, I've gotten into '80s music. I know describing the tempo of these songs as groovy is anachronistic, but it's the only term that comes to mind. I think some of the greatest love songs came from that decade. However, the most unusual singer on my list is Sheila, an internationally renowned French singer who surprisingly is not as popular in the U.S. as in other countries. Her career spans from the sixties to the present, not to mention she looks FANTASTIC for someone who will turn 64 in a few months. I was first introduced to her when we watched "8 Women" in my French cinema class; one of the characters sang "Papa, T'es Plus Dans le Coup" ("Daddy, You're Not With It") during a segment, and I've been drawn to Sheila ever since. The only reason I continue to understand French is because I keep listening to Sheila.

Casting

Casting the pilot was a tedious process, and I highly commend the Casting Director and her assistant for putting up with multiple auditions, call-backs, hirings, and firings. The casting gods were not always nice to this team; we fired our two main leads, one of them right before we began pre-taping last Saturday. However, being a part of the casting process was really eye-opening, given that I'm going to have to be an essential part of this one day--not to mention that I really want this casting team to work for me in the future. But let's deal with the present for now.

Helping out with auditions was definitely one of the highlights of working on this project. As the crowd control person, I had the opportunity to meet a plethora of people who waited anxiously for their turn to perform. A lot of them were fun to talk to. Others... let's just say they were in their own worlds. Working camera during auditions was a lot of fun as well because I was able to sneak footage of my classmates goofing off between auditions. It also gave me a chance to relearn the camera because I'm a "techno boob"; I'm just not meant to operate equipment no matter how many times people show me. Thankfully, I'm more of a creative type. But I digress. The best part was actually sitting in on the auditions and taking notes on the actors. Some were really good while others fell flat. I feel bad because some of my notes were really harsh. Yet, writing those "reviews" made me feel more like a producer because I was being so nit-picky. It's definitely a good trait to have.

I performed the same jobs during callbacks. Some of the actors improved while others failed miserably. Callbacks were intense because we only had a select number of actors we wanted to consider, and at one point, we didn't have anyone to cast for one of the roles! We also had to run all our choices by Kevin, and he didn't always agree with them. As frustrating as that was at times, he was ultimately right. I'm happy with the actors we finally chose, and I'm going to take a moment to toot my own horn because I suggested one of them for the role of T-Vor--the one role that we didn't cast until the night of the table read.

Overall, I enjoyed the casting process and learned so much from my experience. It's a very difficult component of working on a show because multiple circumstances affect an actor's chances of landing a role--and even after that happens, that same actor is often fired before, during, or after taping and replaced. Luckily for us, the actors we ended up casting were a fantastic bunch and were great troopers for lasting in the cold for our 12-hour post-shoot. No one should have to deal with a prima donna, but it sometimes happens. Just remember that everyone is in the same boat regardless of his/her position, and every single person involved has the same goal: to end up with an aesthetic, creative, flawless product that they are all proud of.

That's a Wrap...NOT!

Today marked the final day of taping the Kevin Bright sitcom pilot, "The Record Cellar." It's been a fun ride, and I promise to devote additional posts to the more specific aspects I participated in. It's a great feeling to be done... except, I'm not.

I'm technically the Associate Producer for this project, and my two main jobs are Audience Coordinator (for the in-studio taping that occurred this past Thursday) and Post-Production Supervisor. I've also been a Casting Associate and an on-set PA when needed. The post team will spend many a late night on the eighth floor of the Ansin building cutting and reediting scenes. Our assembly cut is due this Thursday. The good news is that we're tackling the first and longest scene tonight, and most of our footage is ingested.

The fun really begins the week of April 5th when we have in-class edit sessions and when Kevin joins us at night for the last few cuts. I should consider placing an order for a cot; it's about time someone turned the Digital Production Lab (DPL) into a hotel.

What Do I Want Out of Life?

The first things that come to mind: happiness and success

Money always comes to the forefront of this conversation. I don't want to come across as greedy, but ideally, I'd like to live comfortably. If I play my cards right, I could be a millionaire in just a few years! My parents constantly stress that this won't happen unless I work hard, apply myself, be persistent, etc. As much as I hate hearing it over and over again, it's so true. It's very possible for me to live my dreams; I just have to act on my ambitions.

So what is it that I want to be? Two words: Executive Producer. Of what, you ask? Situation comedies. As cliche as this is, laughter really is the best medicine. I constantly argue that no matter what situation people are in, whether they are having the time of their lives or experiencing the worst day/week/month/year ever, a little comedy can go a long way--especially if it's done RIGHT. My gripe with modern sitcoms (except for a select few) is that they cater to crude humor. Sure, sex is funny, but only in moderation. I don't think explicitness is always necessary to make something funny. Implication, on the other hand, usually works. It comes down to stellar writing, awesome acting, and incredible directing (not to mention a generous budget and an outstanding line producer).

I'm still trying to figure out my premise, but mark my words, it'll be the funniest sitcom ever--at least, that's the goal.

Where does happiness come in? Simple: enjoying what I do, loving the people I'm with, and caring for the people who mean so much to me (i.e. friends, family, and hopefully sometime soon, a girlfriend/wife). No matter how tired I'm am, if I can wake up everyday smiling, I know I'm doing the right thing. If I can make people laugh on a daily basis, then I know I've done my job.

I'm so excited to make all of this a reality.

Welcome to My Blog!

Here I am: finally a member of the growing blogosophere. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to do this until the summer, but my position on the Kevin Bright sitcom will give me a lot of time to sit, think, and reflect. Whenever I need to retreat to my room or a private space, I often philosophize on things that happened to me, things I did, or just my life--or LIFE--in general. My goal for this blog is not to solely rant but to get myself and my followers to consider the events that occur everyday, how they affect us, and how we should respond to them. There are times when our lives go to the crapper and we feel helpless and frustrated. But what's better: wallow in self-pitty or find ways to find solutions, learn from our mistakes, and move on? One thing that I will take away from the Kevin Bright class is to always be solution-oriented. Believe me, this applies to general living in addition to television.

With that being said, thank you for joining me on a spiritual and expository journey. This is my world, and welcome to it!