1st Quarter Assessment

Chasing The George

Four months down, eight more to go! The first quarter of 2016 is over and I am here to honestly assess my progress thus far. After all, I am my own business. As you may or may not remember, I wrote a blog entry back in January detailing my focus for 2016. I wrote:

Cristela Alonzo, Tyler Perry, Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Jorge Ortiz: Self-generating artists who have carved a name and empire for themselves in Hollywood and in the world.

The above statement is a postulate. And a postulate is defined as:

A proposition that requires no proof, being self evident, or that is for a specific purpose assumed true, and that is used in the proof of other propositions; a self
evident conclusion, decision or resolution; a self generated truth, a prediction.

So let’s assess. Let’s see how I am Chasing The George and really moving forward with my postulate:

  • Met Cristela Alonzo twice…and we took two different selfies together.
  • Met a Latino TV showrunner for coffee and pitched myself to work for him.
  • Had a wonderful, hour-long conversation with a TV writer and received advice from him.
  • Finished writing the pilot script for my new TV series, “Anthony”.
  • Finished writing the third draft of my feature film script (where James Franco plays the villain) I have a title for the film, but I will keep it under wraps for just a little while longer.
  • Registered my “Anthony” pilot script with the Writers Guild.
  • Copyrighted my “Anthony” pilot script with the U.S. Copyright Office.
  • Registered my feature film script (where James Franco plays the villain) with the
    Writers Guild. 107 pages.
  • Researched a plethora of writing competitions.
  • Submitted the pilot episode of “Chris/Tina” to the Cannes Film Festival.
  • Submitted my “Chris/Tina” pilot script to the Back In The Box, Slamdance and ScreenCraft writing competitions.
  • Submitted my “Anthony” pilot script to the Back In The Box and Slamdance writing competitions.
  • Prepared and executed various postcard mailings, phone calls and email mailings
    to literary agents from CAA to UTA to Paradigm to Innovative to Heroes & Villains to Rothman Brecher, etc.
  • Manifested three direct connections to James Franco.
  • Promoted my work as an actor and writer on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on a weekly basis.
  • Started pre-production on a short film with a handful of my friends that we will use to showcase our talents as actors and writers. We are shooting on June 5th and 6th. We are shooting on the Black Magic Camera. My role in this film is actor, co-writer and executive producer. Creating the evidence. Creating the evidence. Creating the evidence. And then promoting the hell out of it.
  • Launched my own personal website so that everything is centralized in one location.
  • Put up work in Scene Study and the Professional Development Program 2.0 classes and threw down to stay sharp as an actor.

1st Quarter Assessment: Pretty good! Grade: B

I gave myself a B because I flinched on an impulse in one instance and I accepted “no” too easily in another situation. Not following my impulses has cost me in the past and will continue to cost me in the future if I don’t honor them.

Accepting “no” too easily is also not acceptable. I have to use more charm, humor and irony to exhaust possibilities.

2nd Quarter Assessment and Goals:

  • Get laser-like with my James Franco project and move it further towards completion. I’ve created a timeline to accomplish this using Ken Kragen’s concept of backwards thinking with forward motion (Ken was a top manager to many of the biggest stars in the world)
  • Shoot short film with my friends and promote the hell out of it.
  • Cut trailer of my written works.
  • Shoot new headshots.
  • Be more assertive. No is not an option. Flinch is not in my vocabulary. The word “no” does not come into contact or agreement with my postulate. I must maintain dogged, unwavering belief in my postulate.
  • Follow my impulses.
Chasing The George

Thank You, Prince!

Prince Rogers Nelson.

In 2009, I shot a music video project for Richard Lawson’s Professional Development
Program class. I shot and edited the video to “Hot Thing” by Prince. Above are some of the stills from the video (The PG-rated ones at least LOL)

Prince’s death hit me hard. On that devastating day, I experienced a wave of emotions from sadness to rebellion to sexuality to shock. I saw parts of myself in Prince and connected to his music more than I did to his contemporaries like Michael Jackson.

A genius. A pioneer. Along with Madonna, I looked up to Prince because he
transcended notions of sexuality, gender and race. He fused different genres of music and made it colorless. He was dangerous, sexy, unapologetically himself and true to his artistry. I became hooked on Prince when he released his “Sign O’ The Times” album. My older brother bought the record and played it all the time.

Till this day, I have people tell me that I look like Prince. Or that I remind them of
Prince. My ex, who is a hairstylist, did private hair sessions for Prince in 2014. I even drove my ex to Westwood one night so he could work with a “private client”. Little did I know I was dropping him off to do Prince’s hair. My ex later told me:

“Jorge, I gotta say that Prince reminds me so much of you. Your body types and mannerisms are so similar and you both sound alike. When Prince speaks, he sounds
just like you.”

It was amazing to hear that–and I’ve never shared that story with anyone before.

Artists like Prince and Madonna inspire me to stay true to who I am and true to
my artistry. To not be afraid of my power and influence as an artist. To express myself. To be grotesque. To push boundaries. To challenge notions of masculinity and femininity. To have a point of view. To be the best artist that I can be. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And I’ll leave you with this:

On July 21st, 2015, I posted a picture of Prince on my Facebook page and I wrote underneath it,  “One of the roles I was born to play. Might have to write the biopic
myself. Prince.” My cousin posted the following comment, “If you were shorter, I could see that.” I immediately responded with, “They’ll just have to cast taller co-stars around me.”

Chasing The George

Are You In My Gang? (aka Building My Stable Of Muses)

The insanely-talented Justin Huen and I last night at a play he directed in Hollywood called “MINE”. I attended closing night and it was great to reconnect with him. One of the first things he said to me was, “When are we working together again?” (I had previously directed Justin in a pilot called “Chris/Tina” and he was amazing.) And he was very genuine with his question.

I promised Justin that we would definitely be working together again. In fact, he is someone I have bookmarked in my brain of actors I want to write for and work with on a consistent basis. Think of Martin Scorcese and Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson.

I’ve been a big fan of his acting work for quite some time and it’s exciting to see him continuing to push himself artistically with another directing effort for the stage.

There are other actors I’ve bookmarked. Are you in my stable of muses??????

Stay tuned!

Advice From A TV Writer

Chasing The George

March 2016 was a blessed month of meeting TV showrunners and writers. I’d like to quickly share my last experience of March.

I had the honor and pleasure of being introduced to a working television writer. We spoke over the phone this past Wednesday and had a great connection and vibe. It was a wonderful, 45-minute conversation that covered our individual journeys as artists, our writing interests, the business of the entertainment world, etc.

I truly hope this is the start of a great relationship built on mutual respect, drive, work ethic, a love for storytelling and a love for creating compelling shows. An opportunity for me to keep learning and expanding. It was also re-affirming to be on the same page with a few things we talked about. Likewise, it was really cool for me to hear and learn new things as well.

Below are some highlights of wisdom they shared with me:

Keep writing.

Keep writing.

Keep writing.

Keep writing because you will get better and better.

There is no one way to make it in the entertainment world. There is no one direct path to making it. There are many paths to success.

Workshop your writings in class. Get actors to rehearse your scenes and put them up in class.

Keep writing.

Perform career administration (actions you take for your career)  Network; send your writings to agents; submit to competitions; film your written work and promote it.

One thing that was a re-affirmation was CERTAINTY. This writer has certainty about their work and certainty while being in the room with other writers and the showrunner and the TV network executives. Certainty that they know what they know and that they can deliver.

This television writer also invited me to share my pilots with them in three weeks!

Onward and upward!

Chasing The George

My Current Mood: Picture of the writer. Phase Two of my writing attack has begun. WGA registration, U.S. Copyright, Without A Box writing competitions, other writing competitions, WME, UTA, Paradigm, Innovative outflow. TV series, feature film. James Franco screenplay deadline of April 20th.

My Current Mood: Picture of Madonna. I’m passing through the challenges. Remember that time when…? Because I’m having breakthroughs and the bigger ones are coming. I’m the real motherfucking deal. Remember my face.

Chasing The George

An Open Thank You Letter To Cristela Alonzo.

Dear Cristela,

You were headlining a comedy fundraiser for the Casa 0101 theater in Boyle Heights on March 17th, 2016. Ironically, that was St. Patrick’s Day. As someone who was raised Catholic, I chose St. Patrick to be my confirmation Saint. He would be my guide as I transitioned into adulthood. But in the days leading up to the fundraiser, I found myself instead praying to Saint Anthony, the Saint of miracles. You see, the fundraiser was completely sold out. And deservedly so: The fundraiser was intended to preserve the Casa 0101-a theater dedicated to developing and telling stories of the Latino experience.

Even though the fundraiser was sold out, my intention was to get in. To make it go right. I arrived early to the theater and was put on a waiting list. Within two minutes, a gentleman named Danny approached the box office staff and informed them that he had an extra ticket he wanted to give away. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! I immediately looked at him and told him that I would buy his ticket. I paid him cash and we cracked a few jokes. Then I went inside and sat in the second row. I wanted to be as close to the experience as possible.

The two comics that performed before you were incredibly funny and they had their own beautifully-developed styles and voices. Then, the moment arrived for you to come out. When you came out, I felt your life force. I was beaming and clapping so hard. I thought to myself, “This is motherfucking Cristela! The first Latina to create, executive produce, write and star in her own network television show (on ABC). This is the same woman I have been following on Twitter for over a year now. This is the same woman whose tweets make me laugh and make me think. I get a lot of the references she makes on Twitter about movies, music, clothing, etc.” I first fell in love when I saw you speak at a SAG Foundation panel. I was like, “Who is this?! She’s wonderfully addictive. Life force!”

Cristela, you made me laugh so hard. I think I must’ve doubled over at least 30 times during your comedy set. You also made me cry. Your honesty, your humanity and your vulnerability when you shared stories about your mother really impinged me. You cut me open. Tears streamed down my face, as did the woman’s who sat next to me, as did others in the audience.

You mesmerized me. You inspired me. One of the very first things you said at the top of your set was, “Every little bit helps. Every little bit helps.” You were referring to giving back to the community. In this case, to Josefina Lopez who started Casa 0101 and cast you in your first play. You paid it forward. Every little bit helps because you inspired me and you inspired a lot of people in that room. Every little bit helps because you broke ground with your self-titled TV series. Every little bit helps because your series inspired people to go back to school-amongst other inspirational stories. Every little bit helps because you are holding that Hollywood door open for many Latino artists.

After the show, I knew I had to meet you. I waited by the door that said “private” and something just told me that you would walk out of there. Within a couple of minutes, you walked out. We locked eyes and you instantly had a moment of recognition. You called me by my first name and hugged me. You also told me you were so happy that Saint Anthony answered my prayers and that it was great to finally meet me. You asked me how my scene from “Hamilton” went in scene study class. We exchanged laughs and hugged three times.

To those of you reading this blog entry, I told Cristela that she is insanely brilliant and hilarious. That I laughed so hard. That I cried because I too come from a similar background. I was born and raised in the projects and I know what it’s like to come from nothing, but to be happy and to have a sense of integrity and strong work ethic.

I told her that I got all the references in her stand up routine. One of my favorite moments was the encyclopedia bit. I never grew up with name-brand clothing. Rather, many things were either non-name brands or hand-me-downs. But my mom was smart enough to buy the entire encyclopedia Britannica set instead (which she still owns!) I thought we hit the big time because of that encyclopedia set. My mom valued education over name brands. Her value of education is what ultimately got me accepted into Vassar College.

I asked Cristela for a selfie and she was totally cool with doing one! And then I gave her an LP of West Side Story. I’ve had this LP for a few months and I waited for the day that I could give it to her in person. I quickly told her the story of how I came into possession of this LP. I told her that I was working on my career administration one day when something told me to stop everything I was doing and walk over to the Goodwill Store. The spirit, if you will, led me to the LP section of the store. My hands automatically floated above the various record sleeves until the spirit told me to stop over one particular record sleeve. I lifted up the record sleeve and laughed to myself when I pulled out West Side Story. Cristela loves musical theater and West Side Story was mentioned on her TV series.

When I gave the LP to her Thursday night, she loved it. She then told me that she was in a touring production of it and understudying for the role of Anita and that she actually didn’t have a hard copy of this musical.

There are no accidents.

Knowing that there was a lobby of people waiting to speak to her, I ended our conversation by saying what a GIFT she is.

Cristela, you are a GIFT. You are inspiring. You are smart. You are beautiful. You are talented. Thank you for inspiring fellow Latino artists to pursue their dreams and for encouraging camaraderie and community between us.

Thank you for a wonderful night I will never forget!

Much love,

Jorge Ortiz

Outflow Equals Inflow

Chasing The George

Here’s my take on this topic. Outflow equals inflow. You get back what you put out there. What comes around, goes around. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s Third Law)

The following website, PhyiscsClassroom.com, provides some really cool examples of Newton’s Third Law in action: “For every action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction) reaction force…Action-reaction force pairs make it possible for fish to swim, birds to fly, for cars to move along roads…”

Hmmm, so “action-reaction forces” allow things to occur? It allows things to take flight and to move? So that means that this law can be applied to one’s career as well. Outflow equals inflow. What you put out there, you get back. And because the laws of physics are so precise, wouldn’t it make sense to be specific with what you put out there for your career? If we create specific outflow, we can give flight and tangibility to our careers. Shit, I don’t know about you, but I love to fly. I love the feeling of soaring. I love having dreams where I am flying majestically over cities and mountains and plains.

It’s really easy to just throw things out there, hoping and praying that something sticks. Easy to just throw things out there with no real intention or systematic approach. If and when something finally sticks, you are left with an unknown of how you got there, of how it happened. You think to yourself, “Shit, maybe it was luck. Maybe I got lucky this time around.” Or you think to yourself, “Damn! How do I repeat this and achieve similar, successful results?” I personally never want to be stuck with these kind of questions, so let me be specific instead. Specific outflow equals specific inflow. Specificity allows me to know what works and how to repeat successful actions.

When 2016 started, I wasn’t sure what I wanted this year to be about. I spent the first three weeks kind of meandering about with no clear purpose or direction (I think I was still daydreaming about those rookie Iowa cops I met and partied with on New Year’s Eve!)

I was clear about what I wanted on a personal level, and I shared it with you all, but I was not clear about what I wanted on a professional level. However, I DID know that whatever the professional focus was going to be, it had to be something that would fire me up, motivate me and push me forward throughout the year.

I finally sat down to get clear about my professional path for the year. I chose one of the postulates from my comprehensive DOIN’ that fired me up the most and created a whole separate DOIN’ for that one postulate. A DOIN’ stands for Declaration of Independence (aka a business plan)

I chose the following postulate to be my focus for 2016:

Cristela Alonzo, Tyler Perry, Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Jorge Ortiz: Self-generating artists who carve a name and empire for themselves in Hollywood and in the world. Hollywood buys my undeniable product.

And with a specific DOIN’ created for this one postulate, I have been moving with clarity and intention. Outflow equals inflow. Each action I take will bring in things that will get me closer and closer to reaching and achieving my postulate. One week after I had an amazing meeting with a TV showrunner, I found myself submitting one of my pilots to a producer who invited me to share my written works with him. Let me repeat that: He invited me to share my written works with him. He has produced several feature films. I’ve submitted one pilot so far and I plan on submitting another pilot in the near future.

The outflow of meeting with a TV showrunner recently created the inflow of receiving an open invitation to submit my written works from this producer. And if we go back just a little bit, the specific outflow I did in 2015 created the inflow of the meeting I had with this TV showrunner. They’re all connected. Outflow with intention equals inflow. The consistent outflow of writing my latest feature film for James Franco (I’m currently in my 3rd draft) has pulled in two different contacts that are both one degree away from him. No accident. Using “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story” and the Contour software program–both created by Jeffrey Schechter–are forcing me to be specific with the outflow of words, plot points, landmark moments, character archetypes, etc. that I am typing onto the page.

Outflow works for me when it’s specific. Whether it’s with relationship map building to targeting shows to getting headshots to scene work, it has to be specific.

I am challenging myself this week to double my outflow efforts. I am excited to see what comes back either immediately or in the near future as a result of my efforts. Part of my outflow for this week will involve meeting an actor/writer/executive producer that I admire and have been engaging with for over a year on social media. Meeting her will be the apex of a week that includes concentrated efforts of specific outflow towards my acting and writing careers.

Stay tuned!

Chasing The George

Certainty

I started following someone on social media almost one year ago today. I started following them because they responded to someone else I follow with a response that was very witty. I was like, “What a hilarious response. I have to follow them.” I followed them and they immediately followed me as well.

I soon discovered they were in the entertainment business as well and I became even more interested in listening to them on social media. Why? Because they were similar to a handful of artists I admire and respect. Artists who are carving out exciting careers for themselves. They are doing what I am creating and building for myself as well.

So with this person, I listened. I engaged. I was interested. In turn, they would sometimes engage with me as well. On July 17th, 2015, I invited this person to lunch and they accepted my offer. I really wanted to build a meaningful and supportive relationship with this person…from one artist to another. Now, this is an incredibly busy person, so lunch didn’t happen immediately. And I didn’t force another lunch date because I knew that I could always invite them to lunch in the near future. There was no rush. Just continue to engage with this exciting and interesting person on social media. Lunch would eventually happen when the time was right.

In the meantime, I continued keeping myself active and sharp as an artist with my studies, my training, my acting, my writing, my projects, etc. because I am constantly in a state of career administration. I have a business to run: Jorge Ortiz Inc.

Cut to the end of 2015 and this person shared a wonderful and exciting development in their career. I was so thrilled for them. Their win inspired me greatly. On January 6th, 2016, when I returned from location scouting in Iowa, I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to invite them to lunch again. However, I added more to the lunch invitation. Here is part of the letter I wrote:

Happy New Year. I hope you had a great and blessed holiday season with family and friends. I just got back from Iowa where I visited some family and scouted locations for a feature film I wrote. One of my favorite moments was partying with 15 rookie cops on NYE, casting them in my film and taking selfies with them! I’m writing because I wanted to look into an internship experience with you. I would love the opportunity to learn from a fellow producer so that I can apply those lessons into my own career and journey. I would be happy to even come in for just one hour a week to observe/learn/help. As a confidential person, I would also be happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement to maintain the privacy and integrity of your production company. My intention is to make 2016 a year where I learn from like-minded people who resonate with me. To get out of my comfort zone some more. I was drawn to you from the minute I saw you on social media…

On March 3rd, we finally met for coffee and it was such a great experience. This person was so incredibly wonderful, nice, gracious and funny. And the certainty I had was amazing. Certainty not in a cocky asshole way, but certainty in terms of confidence, passion and pride in who I am and what I’m about.

Throughout our hour-plus coffee meeting, certainty allowed me to:

**Look them in the eye.

**Answer questions they asked me about myself.

**Answer questions about the projects I’m working on.

**Answer questions they asked me about my ultimate dreams.

**To be moment to moment and present.

**To know I belong.

**To see them as a fellow peer and colleague.

**To express myself and have a point of view.

**To be charming, ironic, humorous, intelligent and passionate.

**To bring up my offer again to intern for them, learn from them and WHY I wanted to do so. The WHY was personal. From my heart. The WHY feeds into my raison d’être (reason for being and existence) as an artist.

**To give them a copy of my DOIN’ (Declaration of Independence aka business plan) so that they know who I am, what I’m about as an artist and they can see the roadmap and plan for my career.

Because I consistently train and keep myself current and sharp through the help of my teacher Richard Lawson and my awesome community both in scene study–but ESPECIALLY the Professional Development Program 2.0 class–I came armed with certainty. I have an arsenal of product and evidence to feed my certainty. I can be a person in a place who is interested, engaged and can talk about various topics with ease. I am informed. I continue to learn. I research. I understand and appreciate the art of conversation.

Looking back at the meeting, I know I presented myself as a dynamic, 360-degree person and artist versus a one-trick pony.

At the end of the meeting, they told me that they would be more than happy to help in any way they can and utilize me once the ball gets rolling on their current project. I thanked them for this opportunity and expressed my gratitude for how much this means to me. Their yes, their willingness to pay it forward, brings me a few steps closer to achieving what I ultimately want to achieve in my life and career. Especially during a time when people are shouting and begging for diversity. I am truly grateful.

By the way, if you’re still wondering why I posted a picture of myself wearing sunglasses, it’s because I bought them as a celebration. Celebrations mark and cement the wins and achievements. I’ve been wanting to purchase wayfarer sunglasses for quite some time now and so I purchased them the next day as my celebration! Every time I wear these sunglasses, it will remind me of this wonderful and successful meeting I had.

Chasing The George

Happy Academy Awards! The Academy Awards are my Super Bowl. This is it. And despite all the controversy that came along with the 2016 edition of the Oscars, I still want to congratulate every single nominee. A nomination is an honor and no small feat. So, to all the first-time nominees and to the nominees enjoying another nomination, I salute you.

Here are some of my predictions. I’m usually excellent with my predictions-with the exception of the 2015 ceremony where I bombed in certain key categories LOL, but I plan on redeeming myself today! From left to right according to the above picture:

Best Picture: The Revenant

Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu (He also won last year for Birdman)

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant

Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room

Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short

Best Documentary Feature: Amy

Best Editing: Hank Corwin for The Big Short

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant (This will be his third win in a row. He previously won in 2014 for Gravity and 2015 for Birdman)