Thursday, February 25, 2010
In a Mood
Well...perhaps the law of attraction is working against me today (all week actually). I have never felt so stuck on a project in all my life. I'm not so good on relying on people and my current project has left me in a place where that is ALL I can do...I'm not really a tech person (although I have fixed my own crashed computer and will figure ANYTHING out if I have to) and I'm definitely not an expert with what I am producing right now...live action mixed with animation. Live action...I'm good to go. Animation...not so much. And while this has been a great learning experience for me...it always hasn't been a pleasant one...OK it's NEVER been a pleasant one yet!!!!
So while I scream silently inside about my MIA tech people (AKA the "hole" people...see earlier post) I take that crappy attitude with me where ever I go. Yesterday, I was so full of restless energy I had to run it off via my wii fit (it was raining outside...another un norm for LA yet apropos for my mood). Today I took my daughter to her ballet class and creative movement class and there was another Mom there with her daughter who decided to scream tantrum style ALL THRU BOTH CLASSES while the Mom just stood there and said..."Use your nice voice" Really? Like that is gonna work...please just yank the tot (who wasn't even 2, the minimum age to BE IN THE CLASS) out of the class and deal with this in the privacy of your own home where the rest of the kids (and parents) dont have to be disturbed for an hour. Honestly I can care less how you choose to discipline your child (although I may have an opinion about it :-) ) but I dont need to hear it for an hour when I am trying to take my daughter for some fun Mom/daughter time. I've been there and I can honestly say TAKE THE KID OUT OF THE SITUATION... whew...I feel so much better now that I vented :-) It just bugs me when parents are inconsiderate and selfish... (and thus teaching their kids to be)
What else am I doing today? Trying to figure out how to market my loop group better, just recorded a voice audition, made some vouchers for the PTA book exchange I'm in charge of next week at my sons' school, updated the PTA website (another thing I do in my "spare" time as PTA VP), try to get a meeting together with the "hole" people so we can start rendering this weekend, and set my goals for the year... OH...and change what I'm "attracting"...LOL
Later...I'll be going to Chuck E Cheese for my daughter's school fundraiser...fun times! Gotta love Chuck.
So while I scream silently inside about my MIA tech people (AKA the "hole" people...see earlier post) I take that crappy attitude with me where ever I go. Yesterday, I was so full of restless energy I had to run it off via my wii fit (it was raining outside...another un norm for LA yet apropos for my mood). Today I took my daughter to her ballet class and creative movement class and there was another Mom there with her daughter who decided to scream tantrum style ALL THRU BOTH CLASSES while the Mom just stood there and said..."Use your nice voice" Really? Like that is gonna work...please just yank the tot (who wasn't even 2, the minimum age to BE IN THE CLASS) out of the class and deal with this in the privacy of your own home where the rest of the kids (and parents) dont have to be disturbed for an hour. Honestly I can care less how you choose to discipline your child (although I may have an opinion about it :-) ) but I dont need to hear it for an hour when I am trying to take my daughter for some fun Mom/daughter time. I've been there and I can honestly say TAKE THE KID OUT OF THE SITUATION... whew...I feel so much better now that I vented :-) It just bugs me when parents are inconsiderate and selfish... (and thus teaching their kids to be)
What else am I doing today? Trying to figure out how to market my loop group better, just recorded a voice audition, made some vouchers for the PTA book exchange I'm in charge of next week at my sons' school, updated the PTA website (another thing I do in my "spare" time as PTA VP), try to get a meeting together with the "hole" people so we can start rendering this weekend, and set my goals for the year... OH...and change what I'm "attracting"...LOL
Later...I'll be going to Chuck E Cheese for my daughter's school fundraiser...fun times! Gotta love Chuck.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Reliability in LA
Where have all the good guys gone?...or girls for that matter? After living in LA for many years and dealing with people in the biz you come to realize that the only person you can truly count on is yourself...and for some of the people out here, clearly they can't even count on THAT person...LOL...
I'm working on a spec pilot for a kids show...I've gotten really good feedback on it and I can honestly say it's a really cute project with a lot of promise...Promise that is, IF we can ever finish it. Believe me, if I could figure out animation and rendering I would have had this done months ago...unfortunately I decided to put my trust in people...other people...LESS THAN RELIABLE PEOPLE. And yes...these people, some of them, family friends even.
Let me back up...I had written a script for a kids show and was contemplating using puppets a la Seseme Street or animation with live action ala Blues Clues (in 3D not 2D though). A family friend said..."hey! my company can do that for you...we've been looking to break into 1/2 hour and this would be a great opportunity for us" I thought..."terriffic". Little did I know this would start the journey that would lead to me wanting to pull out all my hair, become an alcoholic and become an eskimo in some remote village where I would never be heard from again!
Pathalogical Liar. That pretty much sums it up. Not only did they breach their contract and do NOTHING that they said they would do...but they wasted a good year of my life. A very good year I might add indeed... Since then, we "fired them" (I say this loosly as they could care less and think they actually deserve the money I paid them) and hired another tech person that my other producer new from college... Now I wont say that he is not doing work because I THINK he is :-) But trying to communicate is very difficult. It's like these technical people come up for air once a month or something and then go back into their little hole for a while...I dont work well with the "hole" people...
Now let's talk about the amazing animators that I have working on this. They are interns and have been producing a lot of GREAT stuff...until now where they are dropping like flies. Now on the one hand I can't blame them. A few have been working on this for a good while, others not so much but hey Free is Free...Everyone has to pay their bills. The downside is that we are almost done and if they all quit...well, they did all of their work for nothing. Not done is Not done... But you can't get blood from a stone and unfortunately until I can recoup my loss from the pathalogical liars I really dont have the cash to pay everyone to stay. I do know that I will do my best to hire any of these wonderful people once the show gets sold...although if they already know about realiablity in LA they may not believe me...(I however am NOT LA...although only my track record will speak for itself soon enough I hope)Let's hope they see me for me and know the difference from me and THE OTHERS ;-) (wish I did before now)
So...moral of the story? I'm still working on it, but I can tell you that I will NEVER trust anyone without a VERY long track record with me again!!!!!!
I'm working on a spec pilot for a kids show...I've gotten really good feedback on it and I can honestly say it's a really cute project with a lot of promise...Promise that is, IF we can ever finish it. Believe me, if I could figure out animation and rendering I would have had this done months ago...unfortunately I decided to put my trust in people...other people...LESS THAN RELIABLE PEOPLE. And yes...these people, some of them, family friends even.
Let me back up...I had written a script for a kids show and was contemplating using puppets a la Seseme Street or animation with live action ala Blues Clues (in 3D not 2D though). A family friend said..."hey! my company can do that for you...we've been looking to break into 1/2 hour and this would be a great opportunity for us" I thought..."terriffic". Little did I know this would start the journey that would lead to me wanting to pull out all my hair, become an alcoholic and become an eskimo in some remote village where I would never be heard from again!
Pathalogical Liar. That pretty much sums it up. Not only did they breach their contract and do NOTHING that they said they would do...but they wasted a good year of my life. A very good year I might add indeed... Since then, we "fired them" (I say this loosly as they could care less and think they actually deserve the money I paid them) and hired another tech person that my other producer new from college... Now I wont say that he is not doing work because I THINK he is :-) But trying to communicate is very difficult. It's like these technical people come up for air once a month or something and then go back into their little hole for a while...I dont work well with the "hole" people...
Now let's talk about the amazing animators that I have working on this. They are interns and have been producing a lot of GREAT stuff...until now where they are dropping like flies. Now on the one hand I can't blame them. A few have been working on this for a good while, others not so much but hey Free is Free...Everyone has to pay their bills. The downside is that we are almost done and if they all quit...well, they did all of their work for nothing. Not done is Not done... But you can't get blood from a stone and unfortunately until I can recoup my loss from the pathalogical liars I really dont have the cash to pay everyone to stay. I do know that I will do my best to hire any of these wonderful people once the show gets sold...although if they already know about realiablity in LA they may not believe me...(I however am NOT LA...although only my track record will speak for itself soon enough I hope)Let's hope they see me for me and know the difference from me and THE OTHERS ;-) (wish I did before now)
So...moral of the story? I'm still working on it, but I can tell you that I will NEVER trust anyone without a VERY long track record with me again!!!!!!
Monday, February 22, 2010
My Kids Call Me Mommy 1
One of the things I'll be highlighting this year is a little entry called "My kids call me Mommy" It'll attempt to show how I can possibly juggle my career with raising a family (and juggling their career's...LOL)
On a typical day, I drop my 2 kids off to school by 8:15am (Cassidy 3 and Dylan 7) and start my day. My day consists of running errands/household chores (today I am doing laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills & setting up appointments -dr/hair cuts) trying to fit in some exercise (today I will take my dog for a nice long walk/jog), producing my kids spec pilot (today I check in with my 8 animators to see how they are doing, my tech guy to get rendering started-who has been MIA for 2 weeks, my old tech folks-who I need to sue for not finishing what I paid them for, but am still holding out hope they will come thru for SOMETHING-to ask for rendering help, and call my editor/2 D animation guy to see if he is back in town-he is not; he'll be back Wed).
Side note: Producing, I find, is mostly babysitting and using creative thinking to motivate people in the best way that works for them (everyone is very different in what motivates them so you HAVE to discover what motivates EVERYONE on your team as an individual) Thus, it really is no different than raising kids...LOL.
This is a typical day and so far none of us have any auditions to go to (I have a voice audition to record later, that I will do in my own office here at home and send the mp3 to my voice agent). Of course...that could change at a moments notice ;-) For now though, I have until 2:30 when I pick up my son (3pm I pick up my daughter) to get my work done so I can help with homework, cook dinner, and get some family time in. Throughout all this I check my email CONSTANTLY for work, auditions, kid show questions, etc. There is also acting submissions, my music, searching for a new theatrical agent and loop group communications that continue to go on daily... Joey is working on a film today (doing looping) so I am on my own with the day...
This is my typical day...a good way for entry 1 to begin and end...
On a typical day, I drop my 2 kids off to school by 8:15am (Cassidy 3 and Dylan 7) and start my day. My day consists of running errands/household chores (today I am doing laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills & setting up appointments -dr/hair cuts) trying to fit in some exercise (today I will take my dog for a nice long walk/jog), producing my kids spec pilot (today I check in with my 8 animators to see how they are doing, my tech guy to get rendering started-who has been MIA for 2 weeks, my old tech folks-who I need to sue for not finishing what I paid them for, but am still holding out hope they will come thru for SOMETHING-to ask for rendering help, and call my editor/2 D animation guy to see if he is back in town-he is not; he'll be back Wed).
Side note: Producing, I find, is mostly babysitting and using creative thinking to motivate people in the best way that works for them (everyone is very different in what motivates them so you HAVE to discover what motivates EVERYONE on your team as an individual) Thus, it really is no different than raising kids...LOL.
This is a typical day and so far none of us have any auditions to go to (I have a voice audition to record later, that I will do in my own office here at home and send the mp3 to my voice agent). Of course...that could change at a moments notice ;-) For now though, I have until 2:30 when I pick up my son (3pm I pick up my daughter) to get my work done so I can help with homework, cook dinner, and get some family time in. Throughout all this I check my email CONSTANTLY for work, auditions, kid show questions, etc. There is also acting submissions, my music, searching for a new theatrical agent and loop group communications that continue to go on daily... Joey is working on a film today (doing looping) so I am on my own with the day...
This is my typical day...a good way for entry 1 to begin and end...
Welcome to 2010
Hi all my blog friends :-) WOW...has it really been a year? I am ready to turn a new leaf and blog my little heart away so...watch out! Seriously ;-)
I definately have a lot to say this year...from Mommy Advice to carreer news, here is the place you can find it all...
Here's to a great 2010
I definately have a lot to say this year...from Mommy Advice to carreer news, here is the place you can find it all...
Here's to a great 2010
