Midweek Update and I'm Quite Proud

Great news! The money is ALMOST IN!! I'm not going to elaborate really, except that as per usual, I had a spell of zero money (although not nearly NEARLY as bad as over the summer... which I'm pretty sure was an actual low-point in my money-life (hopefully?) (also, I reject the word "money-life" that I just made up... but I couldn't really call it a low point in my life in general... Whatever. Pressing on...))

While I was thinking of the burrito that I'm going to get, I realized that in the entire time I've been in LA, I only went out to eat ONE TIME! And that was to In-N-Out... which cost my $5.04 (don't know why I remember to the penny). That's pretty awesome and I fully intend on keeping it that way... save my burrito obviously.

Continuing on the topic of food-- avocados are quickly become one of my top 5 main sources of pleasure. I LITERALLY eat avocado every single day. I REGULARLY eat an ENTIRE avocado in a day. SOMETIMES I eat an entire thing of guacamole in one day, which consists of TWO avocados! Today I ate an entire thing of guacamole AAAAND there was a a quarter of avocado in my wrap this morning.

I eat avocado with eggs. I eat it in my wraps (I have a veggie wrap and an apple EVERY DAY for lunch. Proud?) I eat it in my salads (usually just a spinach and avocado salad... does that even count as salad?) I eat it by itself. Sometimes I pour a little balsamic vinaigrette into the pit hole of a half of an avocado and eat it that way. And obviously... I eat tons of guacamole! I refuse to believe that this is becoming a problem. Yes yes avocados are the fattiest vegetable blah blah, but at least they ARE a vegetable. When I start eating two tubs of Hagen Daz every day, then I'll start to put more thought into my food decisions.

ANYWAY, yesterday in my class we had a guest speaker, which is what the class is-- a series of guest speakers. As always it seems, I had the biggest anxiety attack after class was over. These speakers make the industry seem SOOOO scary and overwhelming. You get fired all the time and this person is going to scream at you and you're going to drop bajillions of dollars on a project that doesn't get past the script phase. Every time I leave one of these classes, I feel like I have to reevaluate myself and whether I will ever be able to take being in this business.

It's SO intimidating and really incongruent with what I've experienced so far-- that everyone is nice to the point of excess-- honestly I feel like a HUGE jerk if I don't think to let people off the elevator before me. And you'd think when you sit and watch on set, the workers would get annoyed that you're there and think you're in the way. NAY! They see you standing and they bring you a chair and ask you all about yourself! In fact, when I was on set today, these workers were making a lot of noise and the stage manager started to walk over to them. I thought they were going to get screamed at and my stomach got all tangled up in anticipation. But no, he just quietly asked them if they could bring the noise down. And at Present Pictures, everyone excessively appreciates every single thing I do to the point where I feel guilty accepting so much praise for something that was relatively simple.

Mostly I'm just excited for when I actually know solid pieces of information about the business. I've learned SOOOOO much in the past few weeks that it's pretty overwhelming. In my previous classes, they taught you how to write and KIIIIIIND of how to produce and BASICALLY how to make a video... but they didn't teach anything about where you bring your scripts and who buys the scripts and what the process to getting a film made is and where the money goes. And even as I'm starting to learn all of this stuff, I feel like I have gaping holes of missing information. It's as though I read an article about the film and television business for pleasure and basic information, instead of as though I went to a class and really LEARNED what I'm supposed to actually do.

I don't know if this is a great example, but I don't know how the camera men know where to put the camera on set. What happens is they do a quick rehearsal of a scene, then they shoot the scene, and then if there are no more scenes on that set, they scoot right over to the next set and do it again. I'm almost 1000% positive that they don't fill the camera men in on where to go before each shoot. So do they rehearse this before they start? Because that seems like a lot to remember. Do they look at a piece of paper. Is the director in the booth letting them know what to do via ear piece? And it's not like they are just sitting there. Sometimes the movements are fairly complex.

Also, I would like to know why soap operas are cheap enough to make that they can do an hour long production every day. Is it that the scenes are really short, which minimizes blocking, which means they can zip through it? Is it because the lines are dramatic so they don't have to see if something is funny? I don't want to be insulting, but are the writers paid less?

I would REALLY like to know what Present Pictures does when they are actually IN production. To be completely honest, I still only understand the CONCEPT of a producer... but I don't really understand the day to day stuff. Since it's a small production company, I have to assume they are more hands on. In fact, I want to know if they are connected to one agency and that's how they get scripts, or if people just send them scripts randomly, or if they get scripts from all sorts of agencies. I want to know how much a small company pays for a script. Does the company determine how many rewrites and give notes on the direction of the story? How do they find a director? Who does the casting? I just don't know!!!

"Blythe, you should just ask them! That's why you're there!"

"I know, but this seems like stuff I should already know even though I don't know how I would know... It's just embarrassing."

"You're working for free. They are SUPPOSED to be giving you information. That is your payment! Get paid, girl!"

"Settle down, inner Blythe, you nagging bitch face!"

In other news:

1. I'm not sure if it's prudent to start up my netflix again right away. After all, I still have 3 or 4 movies to watch for Present Pictures. Plus I have to finish reading a screenplay... so that's my weekend.

2. I have decided my next book shall be Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Or Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin. Or American On Purpose by Craig Ferguson (these choices define my level of intellectualism, I think... and I'm proud of that level).

3. Finished How I Met Your Mother. Obviously I enjoyed it or I wouldn't have followed through. Gotta say I particularly enjoyed the first half of THIS season. Although I feel like I tend to enjoy sitcoms as they ripen, which doesn't seem to be the case with many people. Also, Neil Patrick Harris got a front burner story, which... is basically the reason for my supreme enjoyment. I LOVE him!

4. No new celebs today. I avoided the autographs like the plague-- it's such a scary job! You'd think it would be my favorite part, but opposite. I'm terrified.

That is all for today (likely). I'm about to die of exhaustion.