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March 31, 2006
Real Movie Posters. Real.
It's funny. Way.
Truth in advertising... movie poster style.
Happy Friday!
Posted by bonnie at 2:54 PM | Comments (6)
Okay, this is weird.
I just took a quiz. Not until I saw the results did I recall having received the exact same results at some time in the past. Yup. Like just over two years ago, in fact.
What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com
Hmm. So, I'm either really boring or really stable. *snork*
Posted by bonnie at 3:34 AM | Comments (7)
March 30, 2006
Step One
Step one, dear Thwok, is admitting that you have a problem.
Granted, you are a cat, and I guess it's okay if you want to go around all Kate Moss with junk on your nose and all that.
But still...
Fix your face, woman! That catnip is a crazy bitch!
Posted by bonnie at 8:07 PM | Comments (11)
Wanna Feel Like a Failure?
Just kidding. I know you don't. But if you want to see what other folks have accomplished by the time they reached your age, check out this site that Stumble Upon sent me to this morning.
At age 35:All in all, I'd say I'm doing okay. ;)
Based on a nightmarish dream, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Russian ambassador Aleksandr Borosovich Kurakin introduced the practice of serving meals in courses.
Frederic William Herschel, an English astronomer, invented the contact lens.
American sprinter Evelyn Ashford won her final Olympic gold medal at age 35, old for a sprinter.
Amedeo Avogadro developed Avogadro's hypothesis.
Law School professor Anita Hill charged that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas made indecent remarks to her.
Margie Profet proposed a new theory of menstruation which claims that menstruation protects against infection and won a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin achieved his life's ambition at age 35 and wondered, what do you do after that?
Mozart stopped composing and started, well, you know.
And you?
Posted by bonnie at 6:33 AM | Comments (6)
March 29, 2006
Great Review of SMFA2!
Woo hoo! Thanks, Bob Fraser, for the kick-ass review of Self-Management for Actors in this month's "Showbiz How-To."
In this review (free download of the whole newsletter in PDF at this link), I am grouped with the LEGENDS of writing about the industry (K Callan, Judy Kerr, MK Lewis, and the late Larry Parke), two of whom I count among my most important mentors (and dearest friends) in my authoring journey.
I am humbled. Truly.
Thanks, Bob, for the outstanding review. I really do appreciate it.
And Proofer Patrol, Contributors, Supporters of ALL KINDS... thank YOU! I couldn't have done it without you. And... thank you, Keith, for being the "test subject" for the whole SMFA concept. I love you.
Posted by bonnie at 5:57 PM | Comments (3)
Burning Question...
Which "red effing shirt" will KiKi wear in 110.5 hours when we meet IRL for the first time?
And, will our first utterance be "wheeeeeeeee" or "yaaaaaaaaaay" or "eeeeeeeeeeekk" or "yippeeeeeeeee" or "aaaaaaackkkkk"?
Place yer bets, blog readers!
PS--What I wear, what PAM wears, and what Keith wears are of far less importance, yo.
Posted by bonnie at 3:00 AM | Comments (6)
March 28, 2006
Press Release Du Jour
"Self-Management for Actors"
Course by casting director and author Bonnie Gillespie
Bonnie Gillespie's Self-Management for Actors seminar provides an inside look into the business of acting and helps you identify your primary type, create your best self-marketing plan, and give you confidence to navigate the Hollywood landscape without personal drama.
Remember: Drama Costs Extra!
This small-group course answers the questions: What is your type? Does your headshot accurately portray you? How should you market yourself? What's in a great cover letter? Do you need to join the unions yet? Do you need an agent yet? Do you need a manager yet? Do you need a publicist yet? What are they saying about you after you leave the audition? What's a must in a demo reel? In what area do you need (craft) training right now and who is best-equipped to provide that? In addition to three hours on Self-Management for Actors, you'll participate in an hour of Q&A custom-tailored to your needs.
Class info: four hours in Santa Monica, maximum 12 actors in each class!
Next seminar: Wednesday, April 12, 2006, 6:30pm. REGISTRATION NOW OPEN.
For more details (what to prepare, how to register, etc.), please visit: http://cricketfeet.com/seminars.html.
Posted by bonnie at 4:39 AM | Comments (2)
March 27, 2006
Fuck You, High Road
I don't always like you.
But I'm going to take you.
My husband, on the other hand, will be meeting me on the other side of this mountain after having kicked someone's ass all the way down that low road.
Posted by bonnie at 11:09 PM | Comments (3)
Dirt
Note: I put the "framework" of a "future blog post" into the "unpublished" mode at 8:15pm on Sunday. It is now 2:48am Monday and I finally have time to finish this blog post (read: make it make sense, add images, and create links to relevant stuffs) and publish it for reals. But I'm thinking I may like it BETTER this way. It's sort of haiku-ish, no? Hmm.
==========
Origin's Spice Odyssey
Like Dirt
Which is from a show I've never seen, but I watch enough
Best
Soup
Ever (David Spade)
to know that the Bangin' Weepin' Hetero is selling something called Dirt.
Anyway, it's really good. Smells nice. And although it's weird to use, I enjoy adventures in bathtime.
Big week ahead. What do you think of The PodCASTing Report by Bonnie Gillespie? Would you subscribe to that? Hmm.
===========
Yeah. That may be my new blog style. Well, for now that's how this post will stand, anyway. I must get some sleep. Gotta sub for Cujo's mom in a few hours. 'Nite!
Posted by bonnie at 2:48 AM | Comments (4)
March 24, 2006
Randy Quaid, are you kidding me?
I mean, just because your agents didn't work a good back-end deal (no pun intended) for your work in Brokeback Mountain, you NOW want to sue for $10M in damages?
Quaid said in the lawsuit that he originally was approached in 2004 by director Ang Lee, who told him, "We can't pay anything, we have very little money, everyone is making a sacrifice to make this film." Quaid charged in the lawsuit that he was the victim of a "movie laundering" scheme.Look, every time you do a low budget feature film (and yes, a film like Brokeback Mountain, shot for around $15M, IS considered a low budget indie, EVEN IF a studio backs it), it is the job of your AGENT to be sure you have points on the back-end in case the film gets wide release (good lord with the double entendres), especially when you work below quote on the project.
Sue your agent. Not the filmmakers.
Posted by bonnie at 11:39 AM | Comments (6)
March 23, 2006
Keith's First Co-Star
In a town where getting your FIRST co-star role on a network series is one of the HARDEST things to do, Keith Johnson, my actor/hubby, has done it.
Congratulations, honey. Now get to the set! CSI: Miami is waitin' for ya!
Posted by bonnie at 5:18 PM | Comments (15)
Deep Thoughts
Why is "Jack" short for "John"?
Why is "Hank" short for "Henry"?
I mean, I get "Dick" for "Richard" (even though "Rich" makes more sense) and "Liz" for "Elizabeth".
But "Bitsy" from "Elizabeth"? And "Peggy" from "Margaret"?
How?
Posted by bonnie at 12:19 PM | Comments (8)
March 22, 2006
Movin' on up...
My sign is Cancer. Cancer the CRAB. I think, if I examine habits of various crabs, I'd have to assume that I am, in particular, a hermit crab.
The hermit crab does not actually grow a shell. Instead, they move into empty mollusk shells as they grow, the process that gives them their namesake. A hermit crab locates its prospective shell, inspects the opening with its antennae and, if it likes what it finds, it quickly moves in. When threatened, they withdraw into their shells, blocking the entrance with their thick claws. They maintain a grip inside the shell that is so tenacious that the crab cannot be extracted without breaking the shell.Oh HELL yeah, that's me.
Looks like me, no?
Okay, so why is this on my mind today? Well, I have been antsy lately to the extreme. I've got the whole "what to do with Casting Qs" issue as well as casting several projects, guest-speaking more than I ever have, writing my weekly columns, wondering if I've all but abandoned the actor showcase concept I've been working on, and looking into creating podcasts of various columns and chapters of my books for actors to download when they need info about any particular topic I've covered. I am all over the map. And it feels way weird. But not.
So, I did a lot of thinking (and talking with Keith--even though he really really really wanted to be sleeping, seeing as it was like 2am) and realized that I am a hermit crab whose current shell is too tight. And one of the (scary) things I have to do, as this creature of migration-to-bigger-shells, is explore those big, scary other shells before I feel safe leaving this too-tight one that will surely crack open, if I stay in it for far too long.
Once I gave myself that visual anchor, I got a LOT more relaxed about the whole thing. It stopped feeling like a trauma-filled concept to have so many balls in the air, so many decisions to make about what to do first (or at all), and so little excited and passionate energy toward any of it. It's okay to not have passion about something as scary as "moving into a new shell." But since the move is inevitable, how's about I just embrace it and MOVE and then have passion about filling that new, larger shell with all of these glorious new opportunities.
Yay!
Oh, and thank you EVERYONE for the emails and comments about the next steps for Casting Qs.
Further, thank you CHIP for fixing comments! Woo hoo!
Posted by bonnie at 7:51 PM | Comments (5)
March 21, 2006
"Casting Qs:" Decision-Making Time
Okay, folks. I need your help in making a decision about the fate of Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews. (I know you won't be able to comment on this post for very long, so when comments go all disabled/wonky, please still email your opinions on this issue, as I really do want some advice that originates outside my head.)
So, my first book, Casting Qs is in low-inventory status at our distributors' warehouse. Now is the time for me to decide which of the three things that can happen next WILL happen.
Do I begin the process of recontacting the interviewees (all 200+ of them from the course of my career, not just the 120 who appeared in the first edition of the book) to get their updates, conducting new interviews with the latest up-and-coming hot casting directors in town, writing up all of the interviews, editing the old ones to make them better (and shorter, to compensate for the larger number of interviews in the next edition), hiring the kickass graphic designer to do a new (way cooler) cover, promoting a new book (which is not a "simple" task, ever), putting my delightful proofer patrol back on "high alert" for the proofer duties they do so well, and spending the (gulp) near ten grand that it would take to make all of that happen?
or
Do I spend a little less than that (like, near eight grand) and let the existing book (outdated info, typos, and all) be reprinted with no changes whatsoever so that there is inventory, when people order the book?
or
Do I spend nothing and let the book go out of print, so that once these last few hundred copies are gone (by mid-2007, if current sales trends continue) there are no more Casting Qs at all?
Okay, obviously, the last choice is the laziest. It's also the cheapest. I can just let the book sell out and then, maybe next year do another version of it when money isn't so tight (we lost over ten grand last year as Cricket Feet, Inc.--ouch). I can't imagine doing the middle option at all, since why would I want to spend thousands of dollars reprinting a book to have a 2007 copyright when its data is all from 2002? Obviously, I'd want to do it "right," but since Casting Qs is not likely to be a "hot seller" like Self-Management for Actors is, I wouldn't see any of my investment back for a couple of years. Typically, that would be okay, but right now, it's a little scary, financially.
What about turning Casting Qs into an e-book? Does anyone read those? Would that sort of format be appropriate for a series of casting director interviews? Bob Fraser tried to convince me to "go e-book" at a breakfast meeting last year with Judy Kerr (and she'll be doing that after her 11th (and final in-print) edition of Acting Is Everything is released late this year. He said he's made TONS of money going e-book format with his books. I guess I just have the whole, "It's not a book if it can't live on a shelf in a library somewhere," mentality. Also, I know (heck, I assume) that colleges and universities (our biggest customer base for Casting Qs) aren't likely to pick up Casting Qs as a required text book for students, if it's something they can download from a website for a small fee.
Or am I behind the times? Would this be the best option? What is "required reading" like in colleges today? Are e-books fair game?
Heck. I just don't know what to do on this issue. The "if I won the lottery" answer is: I'd do the second edition of the book, with all of the love and care I poured into the second edition of Self-Management for Actors and just be happy to have another baby of which to be so proud. Of course, I haven't won the lottery, so I can tell I am, in fact, concerned about the financial issues involved here.
*sigh*
Any/all feedback is greatly appreciated.
Posted by bonnie at 6:21 PM | Comments (7)
March 20, 2006
When Comments Are Broken...
...leave me a voicemail. On my blog! FOR REALS!
I just signed up for Odeo. Scroll to the place on my left menu bar and click on "Send Me an Odeo." Assuming you're cool with letting Odeo access your computer's microphone (via Flash), you'll be able to record a voicemail for me, with no software, no account, no nothin'!
Cool, huh?
Thanks to LifeHacker for pointing out the how-to on Digital Inspiration. It's way cool, from what I can tell. Yippee!
===========
added to the post because comments are broken again:
Well, Ellen, nothing has come through my new Odeo inbox from you yet. :( I'll keep checking. And thank you for STICKIN' IT TO THE MAN and doing something fun during work! ;)
You rock! I'll let you know if/when it comes through. Thanks for trying it!
Posted by bonnie at 5:08 PM | Comments (7)
Monday Morning Search Party
Realizing we haven't had a Search Party in awhile... (and in honor of "erik patterson is a gay google" showing up in the searches that lead folks to KiK*'s site, it must be time)!
*Didja notice how I shortened your nickname? Does that mean MAP calls you Iki now? Didja also notice I totally fudged the placement of this "resolved asterisk" in order to not leave you hangin'?
Please pretend I'm a fraction of the funny that is CoCo, when she does her searches.
bonnie's bookstore activation code: Wow! I have NO idea what that means, but I really like it. I WISH I had some secret activation code that would lay out a store full of books ala me. Ooh! Like a secret room in the Batcave or something at Q's headquarters! What a fantasy! I'm more literary than I thought I was. Mom would be so proud! (I wonder if journalist momass punk is proud, just for good measure.)
invalid sibling link: I'm sure this search has to do with the computer hell that I faced a couple of months ago (jeez--not even), but I like the idea that it has more to do with brothers of unusual relations (Rodents of Unusual Size?) and non-existent connections. No?
"do not eat" poem poetry: Girl, please! If I could "do not eat" more, I'd be back at my fighting weight (whatever that is). Of course, I've written many an ode to the size of my ass and my addictive behavior regarding food and drink. I still believe that someday I'll be one of those freakshow women who gains only 10 pounds when she's pregnant but then drops like 60 pounds after giving birth. It's the "knocked up" diet. If it didn't involve a major change in my daily schedule, I'd so do that diet right now!
bonnie sex free: Sadly, that's sometimes true. Damn. Is it normal to get laid less in your 30s than you did in your 20s? Oh, wait. "Sex-free" wasn't hyphenated. So, it actually is a search of "sex... free," right? Oh. Well. No. Never free. I mean, duh. I am a female. There is always a price. Oh, and it may be of interest that this particular search came from Pakistan. No. Comment.
bonnie young girls 8 to 10: Okay, stop that! NO pedophile pornographers here! NO! (Is anyone else hearing Peter Griffin telling the TV "No! You HAD yours!" while trying to feed Magnum PI through the screen after the Y2K end of days? No? Just me? Hmm.)
copy right 2005 drunk org: Wow. Did you define my year or what? KIDDING! Or AM I?
should Isaac Mizrahi work Oscars red carpet: I think any of us who saw him do it would weigh in with a big fat NO. But, what do we know? Stupid Ryan Seacrest is earning millions of dollars to Botox up his face and make life hell for all other E! folk. Right, Chairman? Oh, I've never been so proud to share an ATL radio background with someone. PSYCHE!
Hollywood insider blog: Well... of course. ;) I sure as hell love that! It falls in line with my secret truth that I'm feeding into search engines everywhere. Ready?
"Is it true that Erik Patterson and Bonnie Gillespie secretly run Hollywood?"
Bring it, searchers.
BTW--NO RUG IS SAFE in the Gillespie-Johnson household. Blame Thwok. But for reals. NO RUG... NO! Photos to follow. Keith is on a rampage.
PS--You now have 11.5 hours to comment. I think. Good luck!
Posted by bonnie at 3:35 AM | Comments (9)
Okay, that's it...
I think I've figured it out.
Comments break just after 11 hours. Case in point: Ed was able to comment at 2:04am on a post made at 3:08pm and I was NOT able to comment in reply to Ed's comment at 2:44am.
So, that's not quite 12 hours... or could it be the number of comments? Does that equal "full" in the MovableType-universe?
I'm so cornfused.
Well, anyway.
This is what I was going to say, in reply to your 2:04am comment, Sir Ed:
Yup. My "SixHundy." I've loved it for over two years now. People say, "Wow. That's a big phone." And I reply, "Yeah, but it's a TINY computer."PS--Isn't The Shield an effin' kickass show? Man, I'm lovin' the season one marathon on Spike(notLee)TV.Love it.
I've posted blog entries from it several times. It rocks.
And yeah, it cost too much, but considering how every-every-every day I use it, it's worth it.
Posted by bonnie at 2:49 AM | Comments (6)
March 19, 2006
Yes. Comments Are Broken.
No. I don't know why.
They work, and I don't do anything to monkey with the settings and then they're broken and I go change a couple of settings and sometimes they start working, sometimes they don't.
I have no idea what is going on. Maybe Mercury is inflicting its Retrograde motion on me by getting me to spend LESS time on my blog and MORE time on anything else.
Thank you for the emails letting me know about the broken comments, as I'd never know otherwise. *sigh* Oh well... maybe we should start a second blog called "comments on bon's entries" over at blogspot. Naaaah. Mercury does go direct here in a few days. Phew!
OMG! Kiki's comments are broken too!! What is going ON!?!???
Posted by bonnie at 2:58 PM | Comments (12)
March 18, 2006
"It's White Smoke. It's healthy!"
That's what our waiter and restaurant owner/master chef Juliano told us just before we took our first bites of the desserts we'd happily ordered, after having feasted on a delicious appetizer and three very differently delicious entrees.
He told us that just as he waved a burning bunch of sage in our faces.
The funny thing is, we had just finished a conversation about how no one we know smokes anymore and how great the new, super-strict smoking ban in Calabasas is.
So, we couldn't help but laugh at Juliano's stop at our table, even though we'd managed to not laugh the three other times he came by, shirt buttoned in only ONE place, pants AND button-up boxers not buttoned AT ALL. *giggle* I guess you can do that sort of thing when your name's on the restaurant. *heeeeee*
Okay, so this was the day of dates with couples, really. Even though I started off with JLD and the Chandler Hall (yes, my name was misspelled in the credits) world premiere (oh, and the screening of a very clever, fun, outstanding short called Apocalypse Oz), it was the fun time before and after the screening, hanging out at his pad with the lovely costar/girlfriend Shanna that was the most delightful. (And OMG how precious is their dog Theodore? So precious!) After that, I caught up with Shon and Jodi in another of our famous "we didn't plan it but it worked out" moments. And, wow! Was Juliano's YUMMY!!!! I could eat RAW forever! Y'know, if it didn't cost so freakin' much. Wow. Good thing for that tax refund, eh Shodi?
Our shared menu:
PUMPKIN TORTELLINI $9.24 Pockets of cheese slightly warm & drizzled with oil & herb or marinara.
GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH $15.70 Thick pine nut cheese between flax and buck crackers w/ guacamole, tomato, & cilantro. Rich.
GREEN CURRY PASTA (THAI) $22.18 Zucchini and mango pasta mixed with an amazing thai nut curry cream topped with coconut noodles.
SUN BURGER BURRITO $12.47 Not as serious as the western bacon double but still quite intriguing… Salad, mustard, ketchup, mayo, pickles, meat, avo or wrapped in a collard green.
APPLE PIE $9.24 Spiced apples & vanilla cream.
CHOCOLATE PARFAIT $9.24 Will definitely do the trick.
BEST EVER CHEESE CAKE $9.24 Ask for the flavor of the day. (It was coconut today. Yum!)
Oh, and KiKi, you are famous in my real life. Shodi asked whether I'd be suggesting that you do a "new thing" and eat at Juliano's. *giggle*
PS--Is Rachel McAdams a cross between Eliza Dushku and Jennifer Garner or is it just me?
Posted by bonnie at 11:23 PM | Comments (2)
Early Screening
Very excited! I'm on my way to pick up my hot date (Jesse Luke Dunn, star of Chandler Hall) and we'll head over to Venice in my cute little car. Why?
To attend the world premiere screening of Chandler Hall at the Other Venice Film Festival.
Yippee! Screenings are fun! Dates with cute boys are fun!
PS--Keith has dates today too, so don't feel sad for him. ;)
PPS--Nelson, kick ass tomorrow in the marathon!
PPPS--Welcome, StumbleUpon visitors! And thanks, SilverSurfer for the thumb's up!
Posted by bonnie at 8:25 AM | Comments (6)
March 17, 2006
Dates With Men Who Aren't My Husband
Okay, so I have a goodly number of dates coming up with boys/men who aren't the boy/man I'm married to. And suddenly the former Marine is bristling and marking his territory.
Now, I love the guy, but I'm wondering if perhaps I shouldn't have given him my blog address. Not because I don't love him and all... but because, MAN do boys get all territorial. I mean, I'm talking about something that happened 20 years ago (see IkIk's comments--AKA my secret blog entry pages--for details), planning a morning movie with a future superstar I cast in a film (yes, he's wonderful--he's like one of the few actors on the planet who GETS that the coolest date you can ever take to your film's world premiere is the casting director who put you in that movie), eagerly hopping up and down about my future date with IkIk and his MAP (hellooooo, Keith... just because I met YOU online does not mean that I'm going to marry EVERY boy I meet online EVER), and simply enjoying my job which involves finding actors of BOTH GENDERS very attractive and castable. And how is that threatening?
Ah, well... I guess I'll get it right back in my face when he books the gig on a series in which he must kiss some vapid see-you-next-Tuesday on camera and I get to not only hear about it but watch it on infinite reruns. Lucky, lucky me.
Jodi, are you happy now? See! We DO have the issues! ;)
Oh! BTW, I believe the comments are broken... like the first morning.
I keep getting emails from folks telling me they're trying to comment. So, well... I've tried (again) to adjust the settings and I hope I'm making it easier for y'all to comment (but not making it so that I'm spammed relentlessly through fake comments and trackbacks). *sigh* Yo, Texas Sarah, I am soooooo ready to hire you as my assistant. For reals. Maybe you could fix the comment thing. Or at least field the ones that come through to about ten different email addresses. OH! BTW, I recently deleted EIGHT different email addresses I used to have. That's deep.
PS--Biggest piss-in-my-pants laugh I've had today (other than during My Name Is Earl, which was simply brilliant tonight) came from reading the recent exchange between Def Jam Becca MC, PAM, Urp, Erik, and me at KiKi's/IkIk's blog. I swear, I'd love to get through a whole post without talking about my NBF(F) Erik, but I just can't. Damn. Coco hooked me up but good. Again.
Yes, this post is light on the links (and has no photo). That happens when you have a job-job to finish before sunrise. God bless the survival job! No matter how Hollywood you get. ;)
PPS--I think I'm going to start doing what EriK does (dammit! I mentioned him again!! I must be soooo in love!!!!!!) and reply to comments IN the comments. Not only will that make my comment count rise, but it'll make my replies more public and perhaps more (egad) interesting.
Aw, hell... what do I know? Maybe comments will be broken for me too and that'll just suck beyond all. But at least I'll know the comments are broken earlier. Maybe.
PPPS--Am I the only one on the planet who believes having a MySpace account is completely unnecessary? Or am I missing something?
PPPPS--OMG, I tried so hard to make a comment to the post below about KiKi's foot. I reset the settings and nothing worked. Dammit!!!!!!!!!! So, here's what I said, since I really tried to comment in comments and now no one can comment in comments, it seems.
----------
Okay, here's my first shot at posting replies within my own comments. Wish me luck!
Nini--so so so so glad the book finally arrived. Do you really think it's sexier than the book you received layst year? Oooooh, I'm just so happy! Miss you. Love you. Please move to elay soon.
Ed, I would never tattoo my foot, but I am a big fan of writing on myself with a Sharpie, so be ready to see photos of that nature after KiKi and I meet in person and write on each other.
Since I'm big ol' gluten free, there's very little of the Outback foods I can have, but they did take care of me, somehow. It was yummy.
KiKi, I had to crop. I HAD to. I simply had to assume that some of my readers wouldn't clink to your blog in order to see your comments about your own Brit-Spears-grocery-store-feet experience, and, well, I had to cover, just to be sure.
And, yes, we have a very specific-earlier-than-your-PAM-shows-up meeting time. Yay! We shall have a time. No doubt!
This was my first time commenting on my own comments. I hope it works.
----------
Ha ha, punkassbon. It didn't work.
Back to the post.
Anyway...
Please pretend this post was interesting.
Posted by bonnie at 1:38 AM | Comments (21)
March 16, 2006
Copyright... right on!
Man, if copyright law had been explained in comic book form when I was in J-school, I might've really enjoyed my CommLaw class a whole heck of a lot more.
Duke's "text" on the subject is brilliant. I still don't understand it all, but I sure enjoyed looking it all over a bunch more this way.
Posted by bonnie at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)
A New Thing
So, I totally forgot about this, but in the spirit of my NBF KiKi and his Year of New Things, I made a note of a new thing I did while in San Diego.
Ready? This is actually very exciting. The new thing I did while in San D (or, at least the new thing I NOTED doing while in San D) was... *drumroll, please* eat at Outback Steakhouse.
Exciting, no?
PS--Thwok is back on her trip of licking all of the glue stuff off the unsealed envelopes around here. What IS that?!?
PPS--Holy crap, that was fast. I just put the word out that my SAG LifeRaft Seminar was up for RSVPs before we left for the SAG CAP event. While there, I learned that we already had 75 RSVPs. Now... the event is FULL. We had 160 at last year's event. Yikes! And... cool.
Posted by bonnie at 5:30 AM | Comments (3)
March 15, 2006
Woo hoo!
So, I love today. Not only do I have a date set with my NBF* KiKi** and his PAM*** for next month, I was treated to a half-hour long high-speed chase LIVE on KCAL-9.
The best part: this one came within 18 blocks of the Gillespie-Johnson household. Heeeeee! I am such a geek!
*New Best Friend
**EriK
***PunkAss Mom
PS--Are comments broken? Ames says so. :( I'll try to monkey with a setting (again) and see if it helps.
Posted by bonnie at 2:53 PM | Comments (3)
March 14, 2006
Back from San D. Time for 90210!
Hi y'all! I'm back! And what was waiting for me when I returned? A stack of 90210 trivia from Halacious P. Woo hoo! Hal challenged me due to my comment in my last post about wanting to cross the border and smuggle drugs back, ala 90210.
Hmmm....I watched a bunch-o-90210 (proudly, as a matter of fact) back in the day, and I don't recall a drug smuggling caper like that.
Dude, please. Don't EVEN try and out-90210 me. Dylan smuggled drugs back from Mexico twice, using a different girl as a mule each time, stashing the heroin into the base of a fertility statue that he bought for each of the gals (Kelly and Gina). Later, when Dylan was (again) clean, he and Kelly went back to Mexico to smuggle prescription drugs for Matt's schizophrenic wife, who could no longer get her "good drugs" in the US, b/c they were killing her.
Nevertheless, allow me to sort of tag you and test your 90210 trivia knowledge:
Yay! Love that!
1. Which 90210 character was the first to meet Dylan, and what happened to them? (Hint, it wasn't Brenda).
Kelly. In kindergarten. They ended up making out in the series finale, leaving us with hope that they may end up together after all.
2. Which "Mamas and the Papas" member and her daughter made separate appearances on 90210, and who did they play?
Trick question. Michelle Phillips played Abby, Val's mom, on several episodes. Her daughter never appeared on the show, but her stepdaughter, Mackenzie Phillips, did. She played a drug counselor during an intervention on behalf of Dylan, who had fallen off the wagon (again).
Well done, Hal!
4. What kind of car did Brandon drive to school on his and Brenda's first day at West Beverly (Hint: It wasn't Mondale).
Only in the pilot, Brandon drove a brown POS two-door hatchback thingy. I don't know cars well enough to know exactly what it was, but I know that when Brandon and Brenda got out of the car on their first day at West Bev, they discussed needing an increase in their allowance.
Also in the pilot, the Walsh house was a different exterior (two-story brick middle-America looking house) but the same interior that would be used throughout the series.
Also in the pilot, the twins (and their peers) were juniors in high school (and the school had valet parking). When the series got picked up, they magically became sophomores (at a school that no longer had valet parking), to give them more years of the series based in high school. AND! Brandon DANCED in the pilot. After that, he began his policy of never dancing. Additionally, they brought in the Dylan character for the series. He must've been absent from West Bev for the couple of weeks covered in the two-hour pilot, considering that he had been in school with Kelly for ten years by then.
While I'm listing... also in the pilot, Mrs. Teasley (vice principal) was nowhere to be found although, early in the first season, the actress who played Mrs. T was a researcher at UCLA by a different name, where the Walsh kids participated in a twin study.
The actress who played Mrs. T wasn't the only actor to play two roles over the course of the series. Randy Spelling was a fellow "Beverly Hills Beach Club" employee in the first summer season. Later, he was introduced as one of Steve's half-brothers. The future "Stuart Carson" (Brenda's fiancé) was once a bellhop in Palm Springs who helped put Brenda up in a broom closet when she couldn't find the hotel Dylan was staying in. And, the future "Camille" (Donna's business partner and David's girlfriend) was first on the show as a lesbian with whom Steve and Brandon inadvertently double dated.
Of course, there were also a few roles for which we saw two actors cast. Both Dylan's dad and Kelly's dad were played by two different men, each. Donna's mom and Kelly's mom were each played by two different women. Erica (Dylan's half-sister) was played by two different girls. And Andrea Zuckerman's grandmother was at least two different actresses, if not three.
5. How many members of the Walsh family were still part of the cast when the show finally ended its run in 2000?
Brandon Walsh made a final appearance in the last episode via videotaped messages to the bride and groom, but Jason Priestley was only in the credits as a producer by that season. None of the actors who played members of the Walsh family were in the series regular credits by season ten. Jason Priestly was in the credits both as producer and "very special guest appearance" in that last episode, but I'd say the answer to the question, technically, is zero.
6. What line did Valerie use to pick up Dylan?
Hmm. I seem to recall it being something about a pool cue and, "Are you going to use that thing?" He had it up on her shoulder, I believe.
7. What nickname did Nat's brother call him?
Ooh! I don't know!!!!!! Good stump, Hal! Wow! I seriously don't know the answer to this one! Well done!
8. What fictional TV show did Steve's mom star in?
The Hartley House.
9. What was the name of the son on said show?
Chucky.
10. Which Melrose Place character did Kelly have an unhealthy crush on?
Jake.
11. What did Brandon's opponent in the student body presidential election call him?
The chancellor's lackey.
Anything else? ;) Hee! This was fun! Thanks, Hal!
It's good to be home. YAY!
Posted by bonnie at 5:54 PM | Comments (3)
March 11, 2006
¡Hasta!
Keith says I'm NOT allowed to cross the border and smuggle drugs back home.
Dangit! He NEVER lets me do any of the cool things the kids from 90210 got to do. *stomp* *pout*
PS--While I'm gone, here's a big BIG happy birthday to Brody and Ali, two of my favorite people on the planet! Love y'all! Bye.
Posted by bonnie at 5:42 AM | Comments (4)
March 10, 2006
Howdy!
Oh my, my, my, my, my. Busy gal. But I did want to come by and say HOWDY!
Taxes got pushed back 'til I return from San Diego next week (subbing Billy Cowart's classes there) and I'm seriously grateful for that. Even after a couple dozen non-stop hours of working on our financials, I still had/have work to do. Should finish it all up today. Phew.
Made offers to two name actors for HILMMAKS today. That is seriously so much fun! Yippee! The other feature film I'm casting is on hold while producers get some legal stuff together (they weren't as ready to begin casting as they'd thought at our meeting earlier this week), which is good b/c it gives me a bit of breathing room to (hopefully) get some deals made on HILMMAKS before issuing the next breakdown.
Spoke to Billy DaMota's class at the Strasberg Institute last night. That's always such fun! Really talented kids over there. And catching up with Billy is a blast. He has a new book that we may publish through Cricket Feet. Stay tuned on that.
Keith is at an audition, then off to CSI Miami casting for his intern gig. I'm hoping to get our financial statements to a good "finishing point" before he gets home, so that I can then get my column written (early) and do some Roxbury work before leaving town. I'm very much looking forward to being entirely offline for a few days. There's something very comforting about that sort of break from the daily noise.
Let's see... other things to catch y'all up on...
Books are selling remarkably well. I'm so very pleased with how happy folks are with Self-Management for Actors. In fact, it's in stores now, so the numbers should continue to increase this month. Yippee! More important than sales, to me, is that people like the revisions. That's a big ol' happy. Otherwise, as long as we don't lose money on the printings, I'm just fine and dandy.
When I went to update the Cricket Feet site with some more screenings for Queen of Cactus Cove, I did a little poking around to see what's up with some of the other films I've cast. Holy crap, y'all! Hombre Kabuki also got into a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards, which means it is entirely possible (though certainly not probable, but a girl can dream, right?) that TWO FILMS I cast will be up for Best Live Action Short Film on Oscar night, 2007. HOLY CRAP, RIGHT?
Also, I learned that Chandler Hall will have its world premiere next weekend at The Other Venice Film Festival. I don't know anything about the fest, but I'm so freakin' excited to get to see how the film turned out. The film's website has a trailer and stills. Looks great! And honestly, I've been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to add a link to that site from the Cricket Feet site--nor have I edited together MY casting demo reel, which includes clips from all of these films that are (all at once it seems) starting to become available.
Hmm. Maybe I'll do some of that here, and y'all can go see the trailers on the sites where they currently live, and I'll use this post as a reminder to myself to come back and do all of this linking from the Cricket Feet site when I have a chance.
Ha!
I haven't even gone blog-reading all week for the most part. Eesh! I am one busy Bon! Okay, I'm going to go ahead and post this entry even though it's really boring and then I'll try to come back before I head south in order to link up some trailers. Man, I need an assistant.
===========
BACK: Okay, here are some links to trailers, if you'd like to see some of what I do for a living (outside of writing, which you can see every week).
Queen of Cactus Cove trailer.
Chandler Hall trailer is available here.
Hombre Kabuki trailer. (Hombre Kabuki came out of casting for Each To Each which is in post right now.)
The Moor trailer is up at the Cricket Feet site.
Posted by bonnie at 3:10 PM | Comments (4)
March 9, 2006
T-Minus 10 Hours
'til our appointment with the CPA.
I do not think I will have our corporate taxes finished in time.
What a craptastic day! Seriously, doing nothing but prepping financial statements for 15 hours after having been woken up at 7:10am (after having gone to bed at 4:50am) by an anxious producer makes for a crabby Bon. No sleep in sight for this gal. I think I'll have a shower to see if I can feel as though I have a fresh set of eyes for this mountain of paperwork.
AUGH! Why are taxes such a HUGE pain in the ass?!?!?
So much for giving up complaining for Lent, eh?
Posted by bonnie at 2:48 AM | Comments (3)
March 8, 2006
C'mon People, Represent!
Seriously. I am fascinated by the fact that someone who is 10,375 miles away from me has visited my blog this week. FASCINATED.
So, it's not that I'm thinking I SHOULD have visitors from (well, anywhere at all, really) South America, but I do find it odd that I've had visitors from pretty much everywhere else since installing the ol' ClustrMap so I have to wonder...
Where y'all at?
(Good lord the lengths I will go to to avoid finishing corp. taxes. Ugh.)
Posted by bonnie at 4:17 PM | Comments (4)
March 7, 2006
Get Ready for Blast-off, Y'all
So, there was the great news from Saturday, which has made casting How I Lost My Mind and Killed Someone an incredibly surreal experience. Then, there was the amazing dinner with the Damn Skippy Pictures gang (such wonderful people) last night! Today...
rockstar meeting with the Visualize This team. Yup! Initial (private) breakdown will go out on Friday for Wanderers of the Wasteland. I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM CASTING TWO 7-FIGURE FEATURE FILMS AT ONCE! Any advice on how not to freak out over reaching a career level you only ever dreamed of would be greatly appreciated.
Meanwhile, the script-leaking process begins this week. Such fucking amazing stuff. Truly outrageously synergistically great experiences happening right now. Bummed I had to miss out on the tea with Tovah this afternoon, but I had my own meeting scheduled and that one was seriously kickass enough. I'm sure Joel and Trevor did just fine without me. ;)
Oh! Also got news that Queen of Cactus Cove has made it into yet ANOTHER film festival. Holy crap, we may actually have a shot at the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar in 2007. I can't even wrap my brain around what that would mean/how that would feel.
And maybe that's why all of this stuff keeps happening. I stop leaving room for negativity, I no longer fear saying NO to what isn't working, and I'm not questioning whether it's POSSIBLE to get what I want. Could it really be that simple? Wow. YotL.
Posted by bonnie at 8:36 PM | Comments (2)
New Favorite Thing
Yes, I realize I title a lot of blog entries, "New Favorite Thing." Can't help it. I'm fickle like that and I frequently have new favorite things. I think that's a wonderful quality. But on to the cool new thing.
I have new animals in the house!
Not only did sis-in-law Liz come to LA for Keith's big birthday weekend, throw a suprise '80s party for him and Shon, and bring me a Pilates circle for way cool workouts, she also brought me a family of shrimp. A family of shrimp who live in a hermetically sealed ecosystem that is color coordinated for our cubby-filled office.
OMG, this is so so so so the coolest thing I've ever seen! Little red shrimp-folk are swimming around in this lovely glass container, occassionally stopping to sleep on branches of one plant, then heading over to another for feeding and pooping. There is no need to feed, change the water for, or otherwise take care of these creatures. And they live for YEARS!!!!!!!!! I think Liz said that Galen's have been kicking for like ten years or something. I can't even imagine that! It's just so cool!
Truly, I am a fan of the odd. And this is WAY up my alley. So, when you come over to visit me now, you'll not only see crazy kitties (one of whom has taken to chasing her tail for a half-hour a night atop the cubbies--guess which one) and the redecorated office structure/system, you'll also meet the modern day seamonkeys! MUNKEYS!!!!!! Yay! Thanks, Liz! You rule!
Posted by bonnie at 3:04 AM | Comments (4)
March 6, 2006
Tubular!
Because nothing is so rad as a totally awesome '80s party, I have these bitchin' photos to share.
Cookie Crisp cereal, Pop Tarts, Twizlers, Tootsie Rolls, Tab, Bartles & James, Fresca, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Boone's Farm, Pop Rocks, Lik-m-Stix, Fruit Roll-Ups, Atari, paint pens, Mad Libs, Play Doh, "Fletch," "Raising Arizona," "16 Candles," fingernail decals, blue eyeshadow, leg warmers, gummie everything, and all-you-can-eat PB&J, baby! It was truly a trip in the wayback machine. Fast times, dude. *giggle*
PS--And the winner for best post-Oscar blogging goes to CoCo. Seriously. Go read that.
Posted by bonnie at 1:35 PM | Comments (3)
March 5, 2006
Bustin' Out
CoCo showed up bearing gifts last night. Not only did she bring my favorite vodka to the party, she also brought amazing news.
Yup. Conventioneers won at the Independent Spirit Awards last night. Read an interview with director Mora Stephens and then read a review of the film.
Why is this a big deal? Well, when Julia Stiles and Tom Welling have been pitched for the lead roles in a film that's fully funded at the $200K level (because the script is so rockstar brilliant), it's already a good day in the life of a casting director. When the writer/director of that film (How I Lost My Mind and Killed Someone) wins an Independent Spirit Award for writing/producing another film (Conventioneers), suddenly funding at a much higher level becomes guaranteed. And my phone calls to managers and agents tomorrow morning become filled with energy and excitement. We're at a whole new level of awesomeness now. It. Is. On.
And after what will certainly be a rockstar casting day tomorrow (interrupted only for a three-hour series of talks at the drama department at St. Monica's Catholic school across the street), we have a delightful dinner meeting with producer/director/writer/actor friends, followed by a big casting meeting on Tuesday for Wanderers of the Wasteland. Also speaking at Strasberg and teaching in San Diego this week. Busy. Awesome.
PS--Go read My Cousin Joni's Oscar Picks post. She's really smart.
Posted by bonnie at 3:52 PM | Comments (2)
March 3, 2006
Interesting
Why is it, that when I have a desire to sleep I stay up all night, and when I need to stay awake (just for another 90 minutes, even), I am suddenly exhausted?
Weird.
Oh, and why do I have to stay up? Because Keith is SURE that Liz told him she was flying it at 8:35pm. Of course, she emailed me her itinerary, which says she's flying in at 8:35am. So, either:
a. Keith heard wrong and Liz will be waiting for him at the airport 12 hours earlier than Keith had planned to be there,
b. Keith didn't hear wrong and Liz doesn't realize she needs to be on an airplane in just under three hours,
c.
d. Keith didn't hear wrong and Liz has changed her flight since having emailed me the itinerary,
e. Keith didn't hear wrong but Liz has since figured it out and, in sending me her itinerary was hoping I'd make sure Keith had it right too,
f. or something else entirely.
I'm too exhausted to try and figure it out.
Point is, it is now my job to call Liz at 5:15am and make sure she's headed to the airport. And, if she has another 12 hours before she's due at the aiport, I get to hope she can fall asleep easier than Keith can, if he is ever woken up too early.
Happy birthday, my love. You get to sleep and I'm going to deal with this terribly typical Johnson family miscommunication, even though I really really really want to come to bed. You also get eleven new audition shirts. And a yummy cake. *giggle*
Posted by bonnie at 3:46 AM | Comments (4)
March 2, 2006
How To Make Me Happy for Three Bucks
Buy me something way geeky, way useful, and way cheap. You'll have my heart forever.
See, people love their iPods. They even dress like them for Halloween. So cool.
Well, I got my first iPod (a Shuffle) as a present when we had the whole Zed's Dead fiasco last month. While Keith was at the Apple Store wiping clean my computer's brain, he saw Shuffles on sale for under a hundred bucks and, well, there ya go. My first iPod. I'm late to the party, but I always manage to show up.
Now, most folks already know about this. Apple's lawyers feel the need to warn you against eating the iPod. Some people even write poetry about it. So, of course, when the time came to name the iPod, I chose the only logical name I could think of. DO NOT EAT IPOD.
So, where does the "three dollar gift can make me so happy" thing come in? Well, Keith bought a three dollar cable that does two things. It allows me to plug my iPod into my car stereo's auxilary jack. Awesome. Good. Commercial free music... all of my favorites. Makes for good driving. We love that.
But here's the best thing this cable will do for me. Stand back technophobes, we're goin' analog here. This cable will allow me to take my mix-tapes from decades ago (and since then) and IMPORT THE MUSIC INTO MY IPOD! I will be able to take music that was originally on a 45 or LP record and then put on a cassette tape (and played in my car stereo [tape deck version] no fewer than three thousand times, I'm sure) and DIGITIZE IT so that I can have it in my iPod and then in my car stereo [CD version] all over again!
As I told my dear online friend and iPod lover KiKi in a recent comment exchange, there is plenty of room for failure (inconsistent levels, bad sound, pops, hisses, and crackled tape), but I DON'T CARE! I'm so excited to get some of my mix-tapes back into my "system."
It's been so long since I've put a cassette into a tape deck (stupid Keith replaced my car stereo [when it died in 2003] with one that has a CD player instead of a cassette deck. HELLOOOOO! I DRIVE A SIXTEEN-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD TWO-SEATER ROADSTER THAT HOPS AT EVERY PEBBLE IN THE ROAD. WHAT DO I WANT WITH A CD PLAYER? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL OF THESE BOOKS ON TAPE?!? Ugh! Men!) that I don't even know if those lonely mix-tapes will even still roll. But man, we're gonna try to make it happen. And I may just even scan in all of the hand-written-with-love liner notes from those homemade-with-love cassettes. Oh, I am sooooo looking forward to this project.
Suddenly, I am absolutely positively aware of how I will successfully avoid doing our corporate taxes on time. Yup. I have a much more important project stretched out before me.
Posted by bonnie at 4:27 AM | Comments (4)