Chasing The George

Working artists. This is a picture of the final rehearsal before we shoot two SAG-Aftra films. For me, this will be my first time back on set since the election 2016 results. And in my last blog, I wrote that art is more important than ever during this current political climate. I’m excited to channel the energy I felt about the election into my art.

In the first film, I play a character who works for the Trump administration. I wrote and drew inspiration for my character from George P. Bush. The character is equal parts ironic, humorous and scary. A timely commentary about where we are now as a country.

Stay tuned!

Pictured from left, clockwise: Mikey Scott, Beth Pennington, Lindsay Hopper, Jorge Ortiz and Kelly Tighe.

Art Is More Important Than Ever

Chasing The George

Dear fellow artists,

I can’t emphasize enough how important we are right now. How valuable we are right now. There is nothing corny about this. There is nothing weak about this. I mean this with all my heart and soul.

On election night, I taught class and said to my fellow artistic students that the only solace I could find right now was through my art. Art has always been my solace during challenging, tough, dark times. Art gives me a platform with which to express myself and channel all my emotions through. Art heals me and others. I JUST lived an example of that when on November 3rd, I did a personal monologue in scene study class that not only healed and moved me forward, but it healed and moved forward several others as well. Art was the silver lining that I could find and hold on to on election night.

Art was literally the first thing that popped into my head as a solution on how I move forward.

We as artists must mobilize. We must connect to our purpose. We must shine.

We as artists must be even more focused and dedicated to telling our stories and using our power to inspire change. Art is universal. Art creates change faster than any other medium. Art brings people together. Art heals.

Create art and the narrative you want to tell. Reveal to us what a woman can do in your world. Or what a person of color can achieve in your world. Humanize and reveal different sides of the LGBTQ experience. Create your narrative for others to see.

Create art and inspire love.

Create art and inspire a sense of humanity.

Create art and help us to learn about different walks of life.

Create art and make us laugh.

Create art and give us hope.

Create art and use the power of social media to reach the entire world.

Create art and bring people together.

Create art and defy stereotypes.

Create art that defies stereotypes and elevates thinking instead.

Defy stereotypes so that your art reveals the wonderful, positive, richer sides that different groups of people possess.

Create art to help us understand others.

Write films that make people think.

Write films that inspire people to be the best they can be.

Write films that help us learn about different walks of life and create a sense of tolerance, understanding and empathy.

Create characters that aspire to be the best people they can be. Characters that are up against challenges that they eventually overcome. Characters that get to the other side of a challenge and are better for it. Characters that change and have a greater understanding of themselves and of others.

Here is just ONE, just ONE example of how art can change the world: “Cristela” on ABC. A half hour sitcom. You may think, “What the fuck can a sitcom do? How the fuck can a sitcom create change?” This sitcom inspired many young girls to either go back to school or go to law school (since the main character is a law school graduate interning at a law firm) That’s just ONE example out of millions of ways art has created wonderful change.

Art inspires change. Art moves people. How many times have we heard, “I saw this movie as a kid and from that moment on, I knew I was put on this planet to do X, Y, Z”?

Cristela Alonzo became the first Latina to create, produce, write, and star in her own primetime comedy series. I can only imagine how many people she inspired with this achievement! How many people who previously said “I can’t do that” or “That’ll never happen” to now saying “I can do that too!”

Let us lead by example. Let us express our life force. Let us inspire current and future generations to be the best they can be.

Channel your energy into the place where it has value: Art.

Act

Write

Paint

Sing

Dance

Take photographs

ART.

Week 2 Status Report!

Chasing The George

For a second week in a row, I stepped up my awareness in certain areas of my personal and professional lives so that I can be in alignment with my career postulates. With this increased awareness, and by taking a set of actions, I am stepping into the light and power of my postulates. If I see and want these things for my career, then I need to behave and act in accordance with the things that I see and want. For example, one of my postulates is:

I am a household name infiltrating and conquering mainstream Hollywood through my film acting work and by creating TV and Film content that is just beyond the margin of comfortability (Daring and artistically free content that falls within the wheelhouse of HBO, Showtime, Netflix, The Weinstein Company and other powerful indie studio houses)

I see this postulate. I just have to fill in the blanks to get there. Take the actions to get there. So that when I do become a household name, it’s déjà vu because I already saw it X amount of time ago. But in order for me to get closer and closer to achieving this postulate (and other postulates), I need to have an increased awareness of how to live and operate my life in certain areas. For example, I have to be a leader. I have to be in the front. I have to speak my mind. My viewpoint must be unyielding with good-humored inflexibility. I have to ask for what I want from the people on my team, etc. I have to take actions and vibrate at the same frequency level of my postulates.

So I tackled the same list of actions again from my October 16th blog entry. Again, some of these actions are already a part of my everyday routine. A few other actions are a little more challenging and I need to lean into them more. That being said, I had a little more ease with tackling the challenging actions in the second week than I did in the first week. Moving forward, I have to continue tackling these challenging actions until they become a way of life for me, a part of my routine.

So without further delay, here are the list of actions I took again. This is not a final, comprehensive list of all the actions I take for my life and career. This is just a small sampling of my career administration, with a focus on challenging actions I need to step it up in. The asterisk (*) indicates a challenging action.

To sit in the front row. (Yes. In both of my acting classes)

**To speak my mind immediately. (Yes. Better. Improved.)

**To follow my impulses and instincts. (Yes. Better. Improved)

To lead. (Yes. Taught my ass off in the PDP 1.0 and PDP 2.0 classes.)

To dance while in the passenger seat of a car when a good song comes on or when the driver dances. (I did not ride shotgun this time.)

To spice things up. (Yes. Sunday night.)

To dance in the streets. (Yes.)

To make extra money. (Yes. Two times.)

To be myself without apology. (Yes. In terms of the way I laugh, the things I say, the jokes I say, the way I dance.)

**To hold my own space. (Yes. Much better. Improved)

To dance without consideration at the top of acting classes. (Yes.)

To continue administering my acting and writing careers. (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To engage in conversation with a new person (Yes. I engaged with a customer at the smog check station, with the tech assistant at the smog check station and with two people at a Halloween party.)

To ask various industry people for something I want. (Yes. I reached out to two TV showrunners to be their assistant.)

To excite my agent again with a new piece of administrative evidence that will push my career forward. (Yes. I sent them my commercial headshot template.)

To be submitted on 3-5 TV series and 3-5 feature films. See below:

TV Series: The Fosters, Silicon Valley, Counterpart, Grey’s Anatomy.

Feature Films: Happy Anniversary, Willie and Me.

To impinge! (Yes. I stood by my Halloween costume concept and didn’t yield from it at the Halloween party. Also posted my concept on Facebook. I also impinged when I taught PDP 1.0 and PDP 2.0. I impinged with an audition I did. Etc. Etc. Etc.)

Here’s What Happened!!!

Chasing The George

So last Sunday, October 16th, I made a commitment to tackle a small list of actions that would help and push me into being the living embodiment of my postulates (The blog entry was titled, “This Week, I Commit Myself”: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-1u)

A postulate is something I see for myself and claim. A prediction. A proposition that requires no proof. Being self-evident. You see something, you work towards it and when you achieve it, it becomes déjà vu. A postulate is a way of life. I have to live my postulates and be them. Currently, I do a pretty good job of living and operating within the realm of my postulates, but I know I can step it up even more.

In other words, if I want to achieve certain things in my life and career, then I need to start living them even more so. Behave as such. Behave as if I already have them and achieved them. So I created this small list of actions to start moving faster towards the completion of my postulates. I already execute some of the actions on this list on a daily basis, while other actions on this list need more awareness and attack.

I committed to doing these actions for a week, and man, what an experience. Many of the actions on this list were easy to complete, but a couple gave me a challenge and I found myself flinching from them.

The areas I flinched on (flinch: to back away, to retreat) was speaking my mind immediately and listening to my impulses and instincts. This is the people-pleaser in me. This is the person who wants to run for mayor and be liked. Many years ago, I was running for mayor big time and trying to please everyone. That shit was so fucking exhausting. It was not fucking realistic. Who has time for that shit? As Bianca Del Rio says, “Not today, Satan, not today.” I’m not about that because it makes me weak and puts me at affect. I have come a long way from that person I used to be.

However, there is probably 9% of that people-pleasing aspect still in me. And that 9% held me back from speaking my mind immediately this past week. I spoke my mind in certain situations, but not in others for fear of rocking the boat and disturbing the waters. That 9% also held back my impulses and instincts in a few situations. Again, to avoid getting into “trouble”.

When I flinched, I immediately busted myself and asked, “Why did you flinch on that?” “Why did you back away?” “Why did you look the other way?” “Why didn’t you speak on that?” “What do you think is going to happen?!” Because when I do speak my mind and when I do follow my impulses and instincts, it’s fucking liberating!! So, I kept calling myself out every time I flinched.

It takes a lot of energy to be a star. To be a leader. To see and be seen. To perceive and take responsibility for what you perceive. To just be. To not fidget. To hold your head up. To be the example. But I want to achieve what I see for myself and so I have to work at it.

The more I do this, the more manageable it will be. So, I will repeat the same small list of actions this week–and beyond–so that the challenging actions become second-nature. A way of life. Again, some actions on the list were easy to complete and is a part of my everyday routine, while a couple of actions were challenging.

Below is the list of actions and my status report for each line item:

To sit in the front row (Yes. I sat in the front of my acting classes. I must always sit in the front row or be in the front of a group.)

To speak my mind immediately (Yes on certain topics and no on others.)

To follow my impulses and instincts (Yes on certain things and no on others.)

To lead (Yes on certain things and no on others.)

To dance while in the passenger seat of a car when a good song comes on or when the driver dances (Yes. This pushes me to be the fool. To be present. To loosen up.)

To spice things up (Yes.)

To dance in the streets (Yes. I danced and skipped down the streets of Sherman Oaks. I also danced while holding 5-pound weights inside of Target.)

To make extra money (Yes. I made extra money on three different occasions. The intention is to create a state of affluence and financial abundance. To know that I can always create money for myself.)

To be myself without apology (Yes. In terms of my point of view, in terms of my laugh, in terms of my reactions to things, in terms of how I dress, in terms of the stand up comedy I recently did, to dance how the fuck I want to dance, etc.)

To hold my own space (Yes and no. Yes in terms of allowing myself to hold space at Queen Mary Dark Harbor Nights, holding my space on the trains and buses, at Trader Joe’s on Sunday during peak hours when the Brooklyn in me went in and out with groceries in FIVE minutes. No in terms of fidgeting. No in terms of looking the other way when a few people looked at me throughout the week. No in terms of not speaking my mind immediately.)

To dance without consideration at the top of my acting classes (Yes.)

To continue administering my acting and writing careers (Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!)

To engage in conversation with a new person (Yes.)

To ask various industry people for something I want (Yes, yes, yes! I asked for advice and leads on self-publishing a book.)

To excite my agent again with a new piece of administrative evidence that will push my career forward (Yes. I emailed him my theatrical headshot template.)

To be submitted on 3-5 TV series and 3-5 feature films (I was submitted on several TV series including: Criminal Minds, Speechless, The Real O’Neals, Master of None, Dear White People, etc. I was submitted on 3 feature films: Skin In The Game, Patriarch, Killer Complex.)

So, here we go again for this week! Round two!

This Week, I Commit Myself:

Chasing The George

To sit in the front row.

To speak my mind immediately.

To follow my impulses and instincts.

To lead.

To dance while in the passenger seat of a car when a good song comes on or when the driver dances.

To spice things up.

To dance in the streets.

To make extra money.

To be myself without apology.

To hold my own space.

To dance without consideration at the top of acting classes.

To continue administering my acting and writing careers.

To engage in conversation with a new person.

To ask various industry people for something I want.

To excite my agent again with a new piece of administrative evidence that will push my career forward.

To be submitted on 3-5 TV series and 3-5 feature films.

To impinge!

A postulate is something I see for myself and claim. A prediction. A proposition that requires no proof. Being self-evident. A postulate is what I see. It’s a way of life. I have to live it and be it. I will do these things above to live out my postulates, to be my postulates. Live them now so that when I eventually achieve them, it will be déjà vu.

On Sunday, October 23rd, I will give a full report on the above commitments.

I Sent My Business Plan To My Agent

Chasing The George

As I gear up to shoot a pilot presentation with some fierce artists, I wanted to first share with you all a great and powerful action I took on my journey as an artist. On September 12th, I signed with a new theatrical agent. A week later, I emailed my agent a copy of my DOIN’ (which stands for Declaration of Independence) A DOIN’ is a business plan, a concise road map, for your career. This powerful document is part of the training and development of every artist at the Richard Lawson Studios.

I emailed my DOIN’ to my agent so that he could see what I’m about as a whole, 360 degree artist. This is who and what I’m about. When I pulled up my DOIN’ on my computer, I read my dreams in a new unit of time and was blown away by them. I have some large dreams! And I loved reading through the specific administration plans I created to get closer and closer to achieving my dreams. I was also amazed by how much I had already achieved and I took pride in crossing things off my DOIN’. I was also very happy to see that certain administrative actions were now a routine part of my life.

I also added some new things to my DOIN’ and made a few things more specific–which is totally cool because your DOIN’ is a living document. A business plan evolves and changes as a person/business evolves and changes. Your DOIN’ should be alive, passionate, personal, specific and fluid. You grow and your DOIN’ grows as well.

I emailed my DOIN’ to my agent with such a tremendous sense of pride. My subtext was, “Wait till you get a load of this!” By sending him this document, we are starting off on the right foot. There are no guessing games. This is it. It’s all laid out and transparent.

Within a few days, he responded and said what a great job I did. He was really impressed with my DOIN’!

Onward and forward!

 

Creating The Evidence Equals Power

Chasing The George

Creating the evidence seems to have been the recurring theme this past week! I must have told several people that there is no greater joy than creating your own evidence. Yes, I love having representation in the form of an agent and a manager, but there is something really special and powerful about creating evidence for yourself. Evidence that is a direct extension and expression of who you are.

Several times this past week, I said to various people that when you create your own work, people look at you differently. They pay more attention. They take you more seriously as someone who is really about something. They are more interested. You’re standing face-to-face and toe-to-toe with other industry professionals with quality product that you’ve created. You’re in the arena with other industry professionals.

Two days ago, a film that I executive produced, co-wrote and co-starred in, “Human Revolution”, was submitted to Sundance! How freaking cool is that?! We also submitted to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival! How freaking cool is that?! And we have several other film festivals that we are targeting in the near future. How freaking cool is that?! It’s so exciting to get my work out there!

To be able to send people your evidence, your product, is amazing. Whether it be a short film, a pilot script, a sizzle reel for a film, a demo reel, a feature film script, etc. It’s incredibly empowering, satisfying and rewarding. At the end of the day, this product is yours. No one can ever take that away from you. You can stand firmly behind it with pride and joy.

People take me more seriously when they see how involved I am in the 360 degrees of my career. They see that I’m not just a devastatingly handsome face 🙂

My agent, who I just signed with, was thrilled that I write and create my own work. He believes that actors should create their own work in addition to the hustle that an agency provides when they go through the breakdowns, pitch their clients and negotiate contracts. I can create my own work and empower my representatives on our journey together.

A classmate of mine recently printed up a new script she wrote and held it with beaming pride. That’s what I’m talking about! That script is a direct extension of who she is and what she’s about as an artist.

Two classmates recently screened their pilot presentation and they talked about it afterwards with tremendous pride. Hell yeah!

This week, I’m going to push and shock myself with two powerful actions towards the advancement of the script I have written for James Franco (and for MYSELF!) By pushing and shocking myself, I am staying in alignment with the concept of “Chasing The George”. In this way, we can see the week-to-week progression and construction of my journey as an artist.