2012: The Numbers

# of blog posts written: 164

# of blog comments: 226 (Many, many after this post...)

# of blog followers: 41 (You want to follow me, right?)

# of followers on Twitter: 419 (Come on! Follow away!)

# of scripts written: 1 (Pathetic!!)

# of acting auditions: 37 (An excellent year - thank you life!)

# of acting auditions rescinded: 1 (Boo.)

# of acting jobs booked: 10 (Yay!)

# of industry events attended: 35

# of shows/storytelling events attended: 39 (So, so many tickets bought...)

# of agents who dropped me: 1

# of new agents who believe in me: 3

2012 had big ups and big downs - relieved to be leaving it behind. Bring on the new year!

Empathizing with Writer Problems

Whenever I hit a wall in my writing or the inevitable wave of self-doubt washes over me, I have to remember that I'm not alone. Writers have been suffering for their art for centuries, staring at blank pages in despair and/or staring at written pages with loathing.

Friends and acquaintances who aren't writers, though wonderfully supportive and well-meaning, don't always understand the struggle. "If you have the story, just write it down," they offer. Whenever someone says that, I think of this joke from Louis CK --



Oh, if only the writer's journey was as logical and simple as 'Have an idea, write it down.' Creating story can be a frustratingly inconsistent process. For me, there are days when ideas spill forth and the words flow like wine, but plenty of others when every single character typed on a keyboard makes me want to stab myself in the eye.

So it's always comforting to hear other writers talk about their ups and downs. It teaches me to have empathy for myself and move past my blocks.

One of my favorite stories that gives me faith is Kathryn Stockett's story of getting rejected by 60 agents before finding one who helped her sell The Help. One of those rejecting agents told her, "There is no market for this kind of tiring writing." Boy, did she prove that person wrong.

I recently found this article that interviewed screenwriters who adapted works into this year's Oscar hopefuls - "Rethinking Those Words for Screen." Writing an original screenplay is difficult enough - these writers had to figure out how to create a compelling film script while staying true to source material. Reading about them pulling out their hair and wanting to quit was refreshing and relieving for me.

So whether you're a writer or not, you should read this article and tap into that empathy. Writing is hard. Yes, we do it by choice and ultimately we love it, but it is hard.

Tools of the Trade: Postcards

Postcards are a great self-marketing tool for keeping in touch with industry folk. You're literally putting your face in front of theirs in a tangible way.

Some casting directors tell actors to save their money because they don't have time to look at them, but most love them because they're a fast, easy way to get an update on what you're doing.

I send a round to casting directors every six months - more frequently if I have something exciting to announce. There are marketing companies that will design and send postcards for you, but I prefer to do them myself.

Usually I use postcards that have my headshots on the front, but for the holiday I sent out these --

Fancy, right? I snagged them from Vistaprint - 250 glossy, full-color postcards for only $15. Total steal.

Next step? Designing a label for the back, because I'm too lazy to handwrite a message on every postcard. I create a template in Microsoft Word to be printed on 3.33" x 4" mailing labels. Here's the last label I sent --

Next comes finding casting director addresses. Back in the day, I inputted addresses from Backstage into a Microsoft Excel database to make labels, but now I just splurge for the updated address listings at Casting About. You can also buy a package of current labels from Samuel French.

Finally, slap everything together along with a postcard stamp, and you're good to go! It's not a cheap marketing project for me - the postcards, labels, stamps, and Casting About service all cost money - but it's worth it for me to keep my face out there.

Do you send postcards to casting directors?
What are some things that have worked for you?

Must Have Photo Booth

For kids, it's not a birthday party unless there's a bouncy house. For grownups, you need a photo booth.

And I have the perfect photo booth for you - Lucky Laughter, started by my friend Jaclyn, is a must have for your next shindig. And I'm not just saying that because she's my friend - this company is seriously awesome.

First awesome thing - she and her cinematographer husband built the photo booth from scratch! It's open air, features a preview window so you can see what your photos look like, and a professional lighting setup.

They invited me over recently to pose for test shots for their new Web site. They had several backdrops and a wide variety of props to play with --

Once we got going, I couldn't stop posing. Too much fun! Here are some of my favorites --

(Yeah, that's me with Josh Sussman who plays Jacob Ben Israel on Glee.)

Once each set of shots were done, they printed out double photo strips --

That's right, TWO copies on the spot. So much better than all of those "share one copy" or "go online and sign up for an account" photo booth companies. Hooray for instant satisfaction!

So the next time you're organizing a party or event, you should definitely consider hiring Lucky Laughter. They're super-professional and friendly...and good-looking to boot!

Click here to visit the Lucky Laughter Photo Booth Web site!

Student Films Step It Up

In my early days of acting, doing a student film was a crap shoot. You might get a call with directions to the location, you might not. Acting direction? Cracker, please. You were usually flying blind, hoping for the best, knowing that at least the film would get completed because they were students who needed to graduate.

Most of my recent post "An Open Letter to Student Filmmakers" is based on these experiences. I've never blamed students for their lack of professionalism - they're just inexperienced. And I've always compensated by lowering my expectations.

So imagine my surprise when the last three student films I did featured the most professional, capable student crews I've ever seen.

Most recently, I had a supporting lead role in a Chapman University student film called "Retreat."

Check out this detailed call sheet --

Badass. Chapman has a brand new, state of the art film school facility --

It is seriously souped up. AVID editing suites, motion capture studios - you name it, they're learning it. They even have a foley stage!

Day 1 started in makeup. She brought a ton of stuff to do up two women --

Then head into one of two soundstages they have on their campus. That's right, full soundstages.

You guys, they built their set. For reals. This is my mark --

Day 2 was on location in Ontario. They shot the film on an incredibly high-end HD camera. Better than the Red. Yeah.

Don't worry, my stripey socks were not in the shot --

Final day was in the middle of nowhere in Brea. It was a film about a meditation retreat, you see. And where better to meditate than the middle of nowhere --

Director on the left, lead actress on the right. Thanks for a great shoot, Chapman students!

Can't wait for you to see it - it's going to look great!

DIY Screenwriting School

I’m always at a loss when people ask me to recommend screenwriting classes.

Because my focus is television writing, I have almost no experience with the many, many options for learning the art of screenwriting – boot camps, weekend workshops, extension school offerings, and the hundreds of classes taught by teachers in person or online.

Despite this lack of first-hand knowledge, here’s what I always recommend –-

Get a screenwriting book, read it, then write your first script.

Any book on screenwriting structure and storytelling will do – I don’t have any to recommend specifically. And no need to buy it – there are hundreds at the library. Just get one.

Then start writing your script!

“But I don’t know how!” you cry. “That’s why I want to take a class!”

Here’s my theory – if you want to be a figure skater, it behooves you to know how to ice skate in a straight line before you hire a coach to teach you a triple salchow. Gotta learn to walk before you can run, you know?

Writing classes can be expensive, so I believe getting some experience under your belt before you open your checkbook will really help you get the most out of that screenwriting course when you finally take it.

And as any working screenwriter will tell you, every script you write makes you better and better. But you gotta start somewhere. Why not get your first script under your belt without paying a dime?

The first pilot script I wrote was meh. The second script was okay. We’re not even going to talk about the third script.

Then I finished my Certificate in Television Writing at UCLA Extension. My fourth script? Gold.

Start your journey toward your first Gold script. Start writing today!

Mining For Story Gold

So you know Fifty Shades of Grey?

Whether you’ve read it or not, you know what it is. A novel about an intense S&M relationship between an older man and a younger woman. The biggest book title of 2012. Mommy porn. Et cetera, et cetera.

But did you know this --

Fifty Shades of Grey started as a Twilight fanfic.

What the what? Seriously?

For the uninitiated, fanfic is short for fan fiction, or fictional narratives written by fans featuring the characters of their favorite TV show, movie, comic book character, etc. Some fans express their love for Star Wars by buying a Star Wars lunchbox – others write 150,000 word epic novels about Star Wars.

Fanfic authors don’t get paid for writing these stories and they certainly don’t have the copyright permission to do so, but it’s all good because it’s just for fun. It’s all for the love of the characters.

And that’s what E.L. James did. She wrote a Twilight fanfic called Masters of the Universe that was racy and soapy and posted it online to great success. Then she decided, “Hey, I think I’ve got something here,” so she took out the Twilight references, changed the names, and published it as Fifty Shades of Grey.

Boom. Bestseller.

Cue my revelation --

Story is story. E.L. James repurposed her fanfic to create an original novel. I can do the same thing with one of my fanfics!

Yes, I’ve written fanfic. Relationshippy tales based on The X-Files, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and more. Most recently I’ve written six or seven episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis in my head. (No time to write them out anymore.)

In my Stargate fanfic stories, the characters have almost died of an alien virus, rescued an entire civilization from genocide, and saved the world several times. And of course they’ve fallen in love, broken up, gotten engaged, almost divorced – it’s a tangled shippy world in my head.

I have plenty of story to be mined. So inspired by E.L. James’s success, I’ve decided to take one of my favorite fanfic stories, remove the Stargate references, and turn it into a sci-fi romance novel. I already have the whole story paced out along with all the turns and twists. I just need to write it.

So that’s my goal for 2013. Write my thus far untitled sci-fi romance novel. (In addition to finishing more pilot scripts and getting staffed on a new show and writing, producing, and starring in a new short film, of course.)

I’m making this my 365 Project, meaning I’m committing to working on this novel every day. That’s right, every day. You can follow my progress by following me on Twitter. You might even see a few excerpts throughout the year on Fiction Friday – who knows? The galaxy’s the limit. Here goes!