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.