You can read all my posts about "On The Lot" over at my main blog, Everyday Goddess. You can also visit my On The Lot profile and watch my film, "Hammer".
After three top-bunk nights at a Chicago Hostel, followed by one night in my right-off-the-170, North Hollywood apartment, I woke up on Tuesday July 31st, wrote up a BlogHer post, and left for the beautiful Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Mi vida loca, for sure.
Forgetting that 11am is not my usual 45-minute, morning commute to Hollywood, I arrived early. I was so excited and so happy that it didn't even give me pause to check my '94 Toyota Corolla with the valets. Everyone was supernice, and at least the air conditioning works now, right?
I was greeted by the folks from Hill and Knowlton and Ford Escape. Soon, I was checked into a cute little cabana room, which would turn out to be more fun than blogger-functional, but with a fantastic bed, a great shower, and excellent bar proximity. Still, I really would have liked more light, more plugs, and better wifi. I determined to spend more time having fun and less time worrying about work-ish stuff like that however.
Before we headed over to On The Lot, we had lunch on the top of the Roosevelt, followed by an introduction to the Ford Escape and what our weekend was going to be like. Given the limitations of my laptop, I was glad we got to watch a bunch of Ford's "Contestant 51" promotion. But more about that in the day 2 post. Here's some pics from the top of the Roosevelt:
Without further ado, the bloggers in attendance were Irene from Bitter Tonic, Denis from Superblog 5000, Stefan and Alex from Elephant Larry, Carolyn Castiglia, Emmet from Film School Student, Kraig from The Adventure Blog, Megan from Divine Reality, Brian from Welcome to Tardville, Jennifer Dziura, Josh and Jeremiah from Adventures in Filmmaking, Elizabeth from juicefairy, Carmel from Josh Spear, Celeste from Average Jane, and Michelle Kenobi Osorio. Yes, when you add me that's 17 peeps, and we had like 7 handlers. It was surreal.
After lunch, we hopped in the cars and drove to CBS studios. I drove a light blue Ford Escape Hybrid, and I have to admit it was fun. It was wild to be driving an SUV, albeit a thankfully smaller one, in L.A. I had to think how far I've come as I zipped across Laurel Canyon, taking the curves like a pro. While I'd never get an SUV in L.A., I have to admit that if I lived somewhere else, I'd definitely consider it after this experience, particularly since you can get a hybrid. I honestly couldn't believe how easy and fun it was to drive. Here's a couple pics from right before the first spin in the Escapes:
I loved driving onto CBS because I was there before with the television director I shadowed a few years ago, and it felt great to be there again. That studio always feels like lots of good, focused, hard work is going on there.
Soon, we were getting a full tour of the place, including the production offices and the control room. Everyone was really nice about answering questions. Most interesting was learning about how the short production is managed. I was only A LITTLE JEALOUS, HOLY CRAP.
One thing that was really funny was that production peeps kept joking about how a leak could be on the Internet in hours, and I'm thinking, Yeah, more like mere seconds because we can Twitter from our mobiles. They didn't leak a thing, of course.
I also ran into an FSU Film School alum who works on the show, and another FSU Film School alum who may have been there to be in the audience, or may also work on the show, I'm not sure. And I ran into a friend who works in reality TV and who just happened to be there for the show.
Anyway, far, far too many people saw me dance on stage during the audience warm-up. Oh, yes.
Later, one of our hosts told me I seemed really connected. Ha! NOT CONNECTED ENOUGH, CLEARLY.
But, I kid. The truth is, I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven all day. Sure, I didn't get on the show, but it was a super awesome day, and I had a great time. People, we met - one by one - Mark Burnett, Gary Ross, Penny Marshall, Carrie Fisher, and Adrianna Costa.
I gave a "Living the Dream" sticker to Mark Burnett and Carrie Fisher. They both sincerely liked it, and it was interesting that Mark Burnett read it completely sincere and Carrie Fisher read it sarcastically. And honestly, it's always meant both to me, so that was fine. Some days, you're walking on the stars and looking at the Hollywood sign, and you feel like you're really living it. And some days, L.A. is just killing you, and that's all part of living the dream, too. Funny, that just reminded me how the joke about my film short "Every Little Girl's Dream" is that it's really about every little girl's nightmare.
I'm going to put up a photo album with all my pics (and I promise to upload some of my pics to the Ford flickr account, fellow Ford Escape bloggers), but for now here's a pic of Carrie Fisher with my sticker:
In order of meeting them: Mark Burnett was SO nice and fun and inspirational. His first job in L.A. was as a nanny in the 80s. It's always inspiring to me to hear things like that, because my main philosophy out here is that it's all about working hard and keeping at it, and that it takes time. My five year mark is Monday August 13th, and while I may not be a DGA member, yet, I'm definitely closer and smarter than I was five years ago. Mark Burnett said to us that, "Whether you get a pat on the back or a kick in the nuts, it's the same thing," in the sense that both are fleeting. So accept them both for what they are and keep working. He also said, "The thing about America is they reward results. They love risk takers.
It’s no fun playing if people are playing safe, not really trying." I knew I fit in here for a reason.
We met him before the taping, and then after it we met Gary Ross first. I asked him what his favorite part of directing was. I've realized that I ask questions like this not only for whatever wisdom might be shared, but also I'm always listening for a director to say something that I can relate to. Gary Ross did not disappoint in that he seems to truly enjoy production, and he mentioned loving actors, AND he brought up the wonderful exhaustion after a long, hard day when you've done the work, and made it happen. Sigh.
Next, Penny Marshall answered our questions about directing and being on the show. It was very cool to meet her as she's one of the few female directors of major successful Hollywood films. She mentioned that there's no roles for older women in features these days, and talked a bit about film vs. television, a topic dear to my heart. Seriously, role models matter, and talking to a woman who's actually done the work you want to do makes it all seem a little more possible, no matter how challenging you know it still is to break in.
Carrie Fisher was simply wonderful. I mean, besides liking my sticker (ha!), she was very down to earth and really chatted with us for a while. We talked about TV, and she asked us which contestants we liked. She asked about blogging. I suggested that she should direct something she mentioned Penny was working on, and she said, "That's what Penny just said!" And she hugged me after she liked my sticker so much. Did I mentioned I'd died and gone to heaven?
Finally, we met Adrianna Costa who came across as very professional and nice. She seemed very knowledgeable about the show and caring towards the contestants. She was asked about having to deliver the bad news about which contestant got voted off and talked about what that was like. I asked her if she had any input into her wardrobe, and she said that she picks what she wears. Which, even though I haven't liked some of her outfits, made me feel better, because it's good that she likes them and isn't wearing something that makes her uncomfortable. (Even if her outfits sometimes make me uncomfortable!) She did say that sometimes an outfit turns out to look different on camera than it did in the mirror. I also asked her about how the show has started to hit a stride now, and she agreed that finally the show is clicking. She seemed really involved and knowledgeable as host, and I liked her a lot.
OK, I know this is a monster post, but I'm just going to talk about meeting the filmmakers, and that will finish this post up. After the show and meeting everyone above, we went down to where the contestant bungalows are and met the remaining filmmakers, Will Bigham, Jason Epperson, Sam Friedlander, Zach Lipovsky, and Adam Stein. I also checked out where they live and their editing suites.
I'd met Will Bigham's wife, Cat, before but it was great to meet Will and connect with another FSU alum. I told him that I thought his shorts were the most consistently good, which I fully believe is the truth. Other contestants have had highs and lows for me. But more about that when I (finally) blog last week's show. Here's a pic of Will, me, and Adam:
You can just tell I would have rocked on the show, can't you?
After the reception, they, along with Adrianna Costa and some of the key production peeps, also joined us for dinner at The Standard and then later for drinks back at the Tropicana Bar at The Roosevelt. I sat next to Sam Friedlander at dinner, who I really liked, and who I just knew I would - but I was a little uncomfortable at first because I haven't really liked one of his films in a while. (And I'd written about it on my blog, obviously.) Like, I totally thought he'd be going home the week before. That said, I was genuinely pleased he was still on, because I've liked him from the beginning.
The hardest thing for me was that being at the taping and all the excitement and not to mention the alcohol made it tough to keep things straight. I totally got Adam mixed up with Zach when I first went up to him - Mortification! Hopefully I redeemed myself by actually speaking to Adam's film after I was back on track. Oy vey.
People kept asking us which was our favorite, and even though I'd just seen them, I felt uncomfortable stating a firm judgment. So I mostly stuck to Yeah, Will! FSU alum!
You could tell as the night went on they were stressed out about the next morning, but they also all seemed to have a certain amount of confidence. I would, too, after all they've done since getting on the show! At this point, they are all doing awesome. My personal philosophy is that this town and this business can be so hard, that if you can't be genuinely happy for others' successes, you're just going to be miserable. I really, really had fun and appreciated the opportunity to meet everyone, and I was just honestly really happy for them. It's obvious that everyone on the show has been working really hard.
So that was Day One! I've got an art show to go to tonight, and then hopefully I'll do my (totally late) "On the Lot" review post tonight before I go to bed, my Day Two post with road rally pics (see Liz be a tourist in the Ford Escape!) tomorrow, and then my Monday BlogHer sex & relationships post before I go to bed on Sunday. With fun boyfriend action in the middle of Sunday. I've got a date with my hunky actor and Jason Bourne.
I've also been thinking a lot about my personal production goals for 2008 after meeting everyone at On The Lot and also some of the bloggers that I hung out with during this event. So planning and posting will be coming on that in the next few weeks, I'd suspect. I know I need to write and shoot more, so that's the nutshell version for 2008.
We call that "Living the Dream."
