Going Smoothly

Everything's been going really well at work lately. It's a really exciting time at Universal Studios Hollywood, since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter just opened up. As a long time fan, I'm so excited to be a part of making the magic come alive for guests. The opening ceremony was really incredible!

In February, I became a full-time Production Assistant. This past month, I also re-secured my spot as an Audition Staff Member. Not only this, but a lot of opportunities seem to be coming up such as Production Coordinator and office staff positions that I'm hoping to try for. It's really nice working for a company that encourages employee advancement and frequently promotes from within.

Things with Don't Tell My Mother are also going great. We just finished our April show. I got to meet Angela Kinsey from The Office, one of my all-time favorite shows. My work on the pre-show this month was also a big hit. It was themed for Spring Break, and utilized media with fun and crazy Spring Break scenes.

Next month is our biggest show of the year, The Mother's Day show!! I really can't wait to see what kind of talent we can acquire, and we hope to pack the house!

Career Advancements and Updates!

Lately a lot of exciting things have been happening, and I haven't made appropriate time to keep up this blog. I'm planning on changing that though, starting with this new entry.  Here are a few updates from the last few months:

In January, I started a new secondary position within Universal Studios Hollywood.  I am now an Audition Staff member within the Entertainment Department. Within this role, I assist in setting up and organizing auditions for performance roles within the park. This includes fuzzy characters, face characters, and specialty artists like dancers and stilt-walkers. Some aspects of my job include venue set-up, taking headshots, and guiding candidates through the audition process. It's been very fun tackling another role within USH, and seeing more of what the company has to offer me.

Along those same lines, in June I also transferred fully from the Park Services Department to the Entertainment Department. I am now a part-time Production Assistant within the park. My main duties are to escort performers safely through the park,  make sure they get on and off set in time, provide customer service, and create positive interactions for our guests. The best part is how varied each day can be -- there are multiple character zones, many types of personalities to work with, and many roles to take on every day. Sometimes I get to work with Autobots one day, Spongebob the next, and a whole slew of Minions the day after that. I get to greet guests, take photos for them, and direct them to the photo lines. It's been amazing.

This next update comes from outside of my work with Universal. As I've mentioned, I still help out with the live comedy show, Don't Tell My Mother, primarily as a member of the production team. Recently, however, I was promoted to Associate Producer. This has meant a lot more responsibility and involvement in the show's growth and development.  During our production meetings, we discuss new show theme ideas, pre-show video concepts, and gaining sponsorships from organizations around Los Angeles. We've been able to book some popular talent lately, such as Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Allison Tolman (Fargo), and Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black). It's been exciting to get to work with stars from shows I love.

Last but not least, Don't Tell My Mother creator and my friend, Nikki Levy, has also encouraged me to take her short writing class. For the past two weeks, I've been attending these writing groups and working on personal material that could be used for live performances. It's really helped me get back on track with my writing, and I'm more determined than ever to keep up a regular schedule of updating my blogs, writing my novel, and developing scripts.

Long story short, I can't wait to progress even further within my new positions and see what other opportunities may arise because of them.

UCLA Campus MovieFest Finale

Last month, the Don't Tell My Mother production had another great show with a Coming Out theme in honor of National Coming Out Day.  There was a great turnout, hilarious performances, and once again I contributed some pre-show content to fit with our theme, which you can watch here: Don't Tell My Mother "Coming Out" Pre-show.  It was a pleasure to work with the DTMM crew, as always.  The next show will be in December, and I look forward to writing up another post for what is sure to be a holiday themed celebration.

In the meantime, I recently landed a gig with Campus MovieFest, an event I once participated in as a student and have mentioned in this post.  It's a great program that travels to campuses all over the United States, lending students the tools to make a short film in a week. The top sixteen are then screened on campus and awards (and the chance to go to CMF Hollywood) are given out to the very best. After I participated in this event, I became a member of the Distinguished Filmmakers Network, an extension of CMF filled with CMF almuni and opportunities for young filmmakers.  It was through this network that I was able to book the gig for the UCLA Campus MovieFest finale.

The event was a great experience, and my duties were fairly similar to those I generally take on with Don't Tell My Mother.  I helped unload and set up equipment and merchandise tables, I greeted audiences and directed guests, decorated the venue, managed the merchandise table, and assisted in recording video of the show.  The student films were impressive and fun to watch, and I enjoyed a return to the college atmosphere and enthusiasm for some bare-bones filmmaking.  Afterwards, the rest of the crew packed up the leftover merchandise and other equipment, and transported it offsite.

I enjoyed working with the CMF crew and the UCLA campus events team to pull off a worthy festival finale. I wish all the CMF participants luck and can't wait to see more from student filmmakers like those at UCLA.

Another Month, Another DTMM Show

Over the summer, I became pretty busy with my new job at Universal Studios Hollywood. That has been a great new experience, although the hectic schedule has kept me from being able to do as many standalone projects as I used to. However, I've still found time to volunteer with the Don't Tell My Mother show, which I mentioned here back in August.

Our latest show for September was a huge deal, primarily because Pivot TV was endorsing it and filming it for one of their new segments featuring live comedy shows. This partnership was great news for DTMM because it meant publicity and distribution for the show. I worked as part of the creative team, and we decided to pull out all of the stops for this big event. First, we secured the new venue of Busby's East to accommodate for the always-growing crowd. Then we made sure all our technical specs were good to go and ready for a live performance.

As part of a special project, show creator Nikki Levy asked my friend David Bornstein and I to create a pre-show reel that fit the "Back to School" theme of our September show.  We got straight to work using clips from well-known television and film that related to school and adolescence, and edited these clips using Adobe Premiere Pro. It was a lot of fun to create, and was a big hit during the live performance.  Here's a link to our Don't Tell My Mother "Back to School" Pre-Show , including the Pivot TV Promotional reel. Keep in mind that this played during pre-show seating, and therefore house music played over the video content (which is why the clips are silent.)

The show itself went off spectacularly; we filled the house and famous performers such as Joanna Kerns from Growing Pains and Jen Kober from The Mindy Project had the crowd in tears of laughter with their hilarious stories. Pivot TV was likewise able to promote their show of Please Like Me by showing a trailer for it and handing out a large amount of cool swag, such as t-shirts, stickers, and buttons.

Definitely check out Pivot TV, and keep an eye out for the next DTMM show coming soon to an LA venue near you (if you're in LA).

Rock Opera, Act One -- Short Film

A few weeks ago, I landed a PA gig on a short film, a musical entitled Rock Opera (I worked on the first act ,with secondary crews coming in later). It was my first time on a musical set, and it was quite the experience.  For this gig, I spent much of my time on the road, picking up props and equipment necessary for the shoot. When I was not out and about, I primarily assisted the art department in finishing the elaborate set design and helping out wherever I could.  

I was also in charge of food pick-ups and organizing craft service on set, a job which I've grown very accustomed to from many of my past experiences with the role. It was really nice to be able to shoot in a studio for once, as we had the creature comforts of a working fridge and ample space to lay out meals and snacks.

I really enjoyed contributing my skills to such an ambitious product, and I am proud of what the crew and I accomplished in such a short time. I also really appreciated being able to work with some of my film friends again, whom I previously worked with on Tongue Tied, and would love to work with this crew again in the future.

Shark Tank -- Reality Television

This past week, my friend Javier Gomez, who I previously worked with on the set of The Conduit, recommended me for a really great opportunity: production assistant for the hit reality television series, Shark Tank. If you haven't seen the show, it's a reality competition in which inventors and business entrepreneurs pitch their ideas/products to the 'sharks' (self-made millionaires/judges) to try and get investments to start or grow their companies.  It's a really fun and cool show, and I was so happy and grateful for the opportunity to work on it.

Here's a promo for the show's 4th season:



For this particular shoot, we worked on location to shoot an introduction segment of one of the contestants. It was really cool to finally be able to work on a television show, which is my favorite medium.  I did all of the usual production assistant roles, such as making runs for craft service and meals. I also help load and unload equipment, kept the location clean, and assisted other departments as needed.  It was a pretty short day, but we got a lot done and I am proud to have contributed to such a popular show.

Tongue Tied -- Feature Film

Earlier this month, I saw a post within a Facebook job group. A Craft Service PA named Brett had recently had other engagements come up that would have prevented him from finishing his gig with a feature film, entitled Tongue Tied. However, Brett made it his duty to find a strong replacement that could commit to the last few days of the film shoot. Because it was in the area and because I have had experience with working in the craft service department, I reached out to him showing interest for the position. The more we discussed it, the more it seemed like it would be beneficial to both me and the production. A few days later, Brett and I met so that he could hand over some of the craft service snacks that I would need to take to set the next day. He also provided me with the next days' call sheet, contact list, and a list of snacks that people were asking for on set. Overall, I felt pretty prepared going into the production the next day.

It did, however, start out a little rough. I had to find the craft service that had been left on set, and for a time we had trouble locating the coffeemakers. As most people in the industry know, a good film set absolutely runs on coffee. Luckily we found them soon enough, and this actually helped to acquaint me with the people and the set hierarchy. I met many cool people, and by the end of the day, I felt in control of my new position.

On set, most of my duties were craft service related. I made multiple runs to the grocery store to pick up snack items including ones appropriate for dietary restrictions, coffee supplies, and other necessities like paper towels and plates. I also had to handle the petty cash and stay within budget. During production, I organized all foods in an easy to access manner and kept the area clean. I occasionally ran food and coffee orders to the crew as well. During meal times, I organized assembly lines, served portions, and once again took care of the trash.

In addition to my craft service duties, I also got to help move equipment and become an extra in multiple scenes of the film. This was awesome but also uncomfortable, as we had to go without jackets during shooting on a cold night. I enjoyed the experience overall, however.

After four days of shooting, we completed everything that was shooting in the LA area. A skeleton crew would then be sent out to finish in Arizona. I really hope that the rest of the shoot goes well and that I can see the completed film within the next couple years. To my understanding, it centers on a racist talk show host who has a car accident, after which he can only speak Spanish. From this premise and from what I saw being shot, it definitely looks like it will be a funny and well-done film, and I am very grateful for the friends I made on set.