Internet Premiere

"Join This Group?" is now live on the internet! Find it here.

I've been drinking tea and watching British TV.

If this was the olden times, when people picked wives based on their skills and knowledge, my marketability would have soared this past week. I have learned three new skills - wall paper removal, spackling, and driving (okay, that would have definitely counted against me before). And I've been seriously practicing my baking skills.

And I started writing again.

So what, that lasted like a week and a half? I mean, I think that it's good to have a balanced mindset - so often writers are pressured to write write WRITE all the time, productivity is king, you need to always always always be working on a project (or two) in some way shape or form. And if this is to be your career, then yes, you need to work. But when the pressure starts to work against your creativity and your productivity and your fun (and your mental health), then you might want to consider a little break. And I had just finished a spec for class this past semester, so I can justify it in my mind. Besides, nothing makes you want to do something so much as not doing it. Or whatever.

So here are the projects. I've made my first few "official" notes for Current Draft, a children's spec. Right now I have more of a premise than a plot, more of a situation than a story, so I'm going to keep it percolating. I don't really want to do too much prewriting for it, though. I like exploring while I write. The other project I'm working on is a webseries. I outlined a couple sentences or so for twelve five-minute episodes before I took my break. I wrote the pilot today. It needs a lot of work for five pages, but I was still happy to have written actual pages for the first time in weeks. I also spent some time thinking about the feasibility of this project. A friend and I were talking about a webseries for next year. And to be honest, that one seemed a lot more infeasible, because we were talking several directors, rotating crew positions, having to make sure a lot of people coordinated in a way people don't coordinate if they're not getting paid. I really liked that webseries idea, though, so maybe we'll just make it a smaller production. So yes, that would be two series I want to produce this upcoming year. I'm not exactly daunted yet. I haven't set my heart on these series yet, but when I decide I want to do them - well, when I want something, it gets done.

Producing. I want to talk about producing later.

Apudne te vel me?

Most important news first:

We finished editing "Join This Group?" last night. I'm really pretty happy with the way it turned out. To hear more about our six hour editing adventure, check over at the Lives Agape Production Blog.

I have decided through this whole experience a couple things.

1. It's not so hard to shoot for fun. We had a crew of three, a weekend of shooting, and all equipment we snuck away from the school for the coproducer's "class" that finished last week.

2. Small cast. Us college students don't need no epics with hundreds (or ten) extras. Cast want characters, not cameos.

3. The new way to abbreviate "special thanks" is "spanks." It's already trademarked, people.

4. I don't like editing. I also need a lot of practice with Final Cut Pro still.

5. I also need a lot more practice directing. My actors were great, but I was still pretty uncertain on set and not focused enough on making sure I got the correct performances out of them. I think that's a self conscious issue I need to work on, and I think spending more time just thinking about the project in preproduction will help with that.

6. Restarting the computer really does help in fixing the problem.

7. Reliability and preparedness are key.

8. You know that you've made a good video - at least for yourself - when you still find the jokes funny after ten hours of editing.

9. It really goes so much better when you have fun while shooting.

10. I picked the best major in the world.

The video itself will be online on the Lives Agape website in a few weeks, once it's built. Once it's there, I'll direct you over.

In other news, I've been wandering around the blogosphere a lot. I think it started with Amanda the Aspiring TV Writer's blog, which I found initially through Jane Espensen and then again through Emily. From there I followed her links, and now I feel like I've picked up enough interesting blogs to start bookmarking them on the toolbar. I need to sort through which ones are active and useful, though, otherwise I'll spend inordinate amounts of time online reading about other people's attempts in the industry instead of making my own.

One thing I've realized though, one epithany I've had from reading these blogs, is that when you're out in Hollywood, one thing you're going to need is really great hair*. There are dress code variations across jobs, especially when you're 1. an assistant and 2. a writer, but amazing hair is like, something you can put on your resume under special talents, I think. All other sins a woman commits outside of her body, but having limp, dry, frazzled hair... Pull yourself together, girl!

Facebook has reached new levels of stalkerness. One of my friends had a status up about the web dating service ads on the side, as if they know that she's single. Looking to the sidebar on my page, I noticed there was an ad that point blank asked me, "Over 22 and Single?" They do know. They know everything.

I'm moving out of the dorms tomorrow, never to return - at least not as a resident. I'm ready to go home and see my family, but I have lots of fun things to do before then (that's meant seriously. I am really super excited for these things). It sucks being an out of state student during move out. Not only do you not have any help, I think it makes the end of the year a bit more melancholy. Maybe I just wish someone would take me out to dinner to celebrate another year finished. Maybe I just want a nice free dinner.

This page needs another layout makeover.

Tide To-Go Stain Stick is a Gift from Heaven.

We wrapped principle shooting this weekend on Sunday. Only afterwards did I wake up in the middle of the night, anxious I was supposed to be somewhere filming. That was 4 AM in the morning, and I was conscious enough to realize that 1. I was probably probably sleeping and we probably don't need to shoot at 4 AM, and 2. even if we had to shoot I didn't have the equipment anyway! This morning I woke up thinking about filming, too. Let's hope tonight it finally sinks in that we're done.

It went ok.

I haven't watched the footage yet, so we'll see if we need to do pickups at all.

Our screenplays for screenwriting class are due tomorrow. Guess who hasn't started writing their third act yet. Me. But, I do plan on starting tonight, so it'll be no big deal. Hm. This third act is going to be tricky, because it's just a lot of people talking. But then again, lots of movies are just a bunch of people talking. I think reading the script of Garden State helped, especially the plot line about Large and his dad. Because that's really where Large's conflict lies - his father represents his internal conflict about how he lives his life. And when he can confront his father and reject his drug-numbed way of life, that's when he's conquered the conflict, that's when he's transformed. And you know that moment happens when he talks to his dad about it. Ergo, talking with not kill your script.

Just be clever.

I'm developing a rhythm. I started my Script Frenzy screenplay last week. I finished writing for the day just over 5 pages. However, I decided that I wanted to take it in a different direction. So I sat down yesterday and started again, with the same opening image. After a few hours I had finished my opening sequence and hit the pagination key. It ended just over 5 pages, almost to the line the same length as my previous opening sequence. Am I learning something - or was that just dumb luck?

I just watched a new episode of Scrubs. Carla is by far the most interesting and complex character.

Lives Agape Productions

We didn't even let you get settled into our new blog address and title before we connected to the new endeavor - Lives Agape Productions. As I've started working on projects independent of class, I thought it would be fun to have a website for them, not only to showcase them when they're finished but to have a blog tracking their production and other fun features I'm sure I'll think of later. Really, this is playing at having a production company, but it's good fun anyway. I realized that I haven't really mentioned the short I've been working on that will be Lives Agape's first project. It's a short mockumentary called "Join This Group?" about the (over) importance of Facebook in a collegiate setting. I'm excited about it. It should be fun, but it's going to be a whirlwind of a production. We have three crew members, myself included, and we're hoping to pull it all off in three days of shooting. Hopefully, the interview style that dominates the script will help cut down on needed shooting time. Once the short is completed, there will be a link to that as well as to the Lives Agape Production Blog.

The reason I chose the name Lives Agape for the production company played largely on the meaning I want my stories to carry (ok, so maybe a mockumentary about Facebook is not the clearest example of what I want to demonstrate in my movies). I like to think that "lives agape" can mean open lives or lives of love. I think that by crafting stories that openly examine life, we can learn how to live lives of extreme love, which is, perhaps, the only way to live.

I read Galatians and Ephesians the other night for my Bible study, and I came across a verse that I had read and liked before, one I think people will find very little to argue with. Galations 5:6b, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

Lives agape, lives of love.