Tag: screenplay

Second Draft! Here We Go!

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of “The Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

My writing goal is moving along nicely! On August 28th, October 2nd, and October 9th, the PDP 3.0 Collective met to review the feedback we received on the first draft of The Third Act feature film script. We answered many questions and discarded things that didn’t serve the script. On Wednesday, October 16th, Kelly and I met to begin work on the second draft! It was a wonderful and heartwarming reunion. We were excited to start meeting again and create some more magic. The first step was to figure out where to start LOL. Where do we start with all this feedback? Once we landed on one thing, we expanded upon it. Hooray! We got the ball rolling! From there, we decided to take the next few days to rewatch the Zoom recordings from August 28th, October 2nd, and October 9th to make sure we had absolute clarity of the feedback the Collective went over. Keep reading below 🙂

On October 25th, Kelly and I met again. And this time, we came equipped with ideas because we had more clarity after rewatching the recordings. For example, I presented some ideas on how to make a crucial set-up in the script pay off in the end. I also identified dialogue that we can add to a couple of scenes to strengthen them. Kelly presented five main areas we can focus on to move the second draft forward exponentially. What felt potentially daunting last week now felt more doable and achievable. We are meeting on October 29th to begin implementing the above ideas! Keep reading below 🙂

See you all next week!

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Double Whammy Acting & Writing Update!

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we we are focusing on BOTH of my goals for 2024: Book supporting roles in feature films produced and distributed by independent or mid-sized studios and finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

On the acting front, I’ve begun watching the list of independent feature films I’ve researched that screened at various major film festivals in 2023 and 2024, and I’ve started reaching out to their respective directors to let them know how much their work impacted me and how I would like to work with them in the future. Keep reading below 🙂

On the writing front, the Professional Development Program 3.0 Collective just finished designing a lookbook for “The Third Act” feature film script. This upcoming Wednesday, we will comb through the feedback we received from different artists and industry people to decide what we’re keeping and what we’re discarding. As soon as we complete that, Kelly and I will start working on the second draft of the script while the other members of the Collective will start working on the production aspects of the script. Keep reading below 🙂

And some quick, additional wins: I had a great self-tape audition for an untitled HBO series! Also, in my June 30th blog entry, I wrote, “Remember the Sundance course I took during the summer of 2023, where I created a 11-page feature film treatment as a result? I picked it up again on May 31st to continue carving it out. It has since expanded, and I will do a few more read-throughs…” I finished expanding my feature film treatment on July 23rd! The next step is to start writing the script for it!!!! Keep reading below 🙂

See you all next week!

Photo by Emily Sandifer Photography.

Emmy-Nominated Writer Likes Our Script!

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

Since our table read on July 14th, we’ve received wonderful feedback from fellow artists and industry professionals. The feedback has been universal and consistent, so it lets us know we are on the right track with what we have. We even had a writer-director-producer come into class this past Wednesday to clarify and expand upon his awesome notes. From all the feedback we’ve received, I believe the one that was the most thrilling and heartwarming was from Jeffrey Alan Schechter. Not only is he a two-time Emmy-nominated writer, but he is also the writer of the story structure book that we use extensively at the Richard Lawson Studios, “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”. His book helped us shape and write “The Third Act”. His book helped me write two feature film screenplays, and I’ve used his book as a supplement during my Sundance writing course. Keep reading below 🙂

Jeffrey read our outline in 2022 and then came into class to provide us with constructive feedback. So, it was important to continue to involve him in the journey. Jeffrey read our script and had many beautiful things to say about it! In addition, he believes that our script is viable, a good and worthy story with characters so compelling as to attract talented actors. To receive this feedback from the same person whose template we follow is the icing on the cake. Special. Magical. Keep reading below 🙂

Our next step as a collective is to read all the feedback again and decide what to keep and discard. From there, Kelly and I will tackle the second draft of the script. Keep reading below 🙂

See you all next week!

Picture from: https://mystorycanbeatupyourstory.com/

Our Table Read Was A Hit!

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

On July 14th, 2024, the Professional Development Program 3.0 collective had a table read for the first draft of our feature film script! This journey started almost five years ago and it was based on a true story that Richard Lawson shared with us. From that true story, the collective worked together to research, brainstorm, and map out a story. In mid-2022, the collective appointed Kelly and I to make sense of all the research that was done up till that point and to write the script. On May 9th, 2024, Kelly and I finished the first draft of the script. Keep reading below 🙂

The entire experience was electric from beginning to end. Thank you, Craig Taggart, for lending us your beautiful office space for our art to occur and flourish. We set up the large conference room with tables and chairs. Craig printed out and placed name cards in front of each chair. Thank you Nic Monteilh and Mark Larwood for setting up the cameras and mics. As the actors arrived, there was a sense of excitement and community in the air. Thank you actors for the wonderful performances you gave. It was thrilling to hear these words come out of your mouths. It was also great to hear which moments/scenes worked and which moments/scenes didn’t quite land. Invited guests ranged from Richard Lawson Studios students to outside industry guests, and they either sat in the conference room with us or in another room where they could observe us through a one-way mirror. Thank you all for coming! Keep reading below 🙂

After the table reading ended, we handed out questionnaires for everyone to fill out. Once those were collected, we celebrated afterwards in the lobby area with food and wine. There was a buzz in the air. Actors and guests flowed positive comments and constructive feedback during the reception. After everyone left, Richard and the collective stood behind to debrief and to cement this huge win. This was a huge and successful win for all of us. It felt like we all gave birth, and the feeling was satisfying. This past Wednesday, we read through the questionnaires and discovered common themes, feedback, and suggestions that will be helpful when Kelly and I tackle a second draft. Also, Richard sent a copy of the script to Jeffrey Alan Schechter for feedback. Jeffrey wrote “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”, and it is his book that we used to structure our outline and script. Fun fact: Jeffrey read our outline in 2022 and then came into class to provide us with wonderful feedback. Keep reading below 🙂

And finally, thank you to such an incredible collective: Richard Lawson, Beth Berlin, Lindsay Hopper, Sayaka Miyatani, Jorge Ortiz (yes, I’m including myself even though I’m writing this blog LOL), and Kelly Tighe. We are all excited for the next chapter of movement and development.

Our Table Read Is Today! (July 14th)

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

The day has finally arrived! The PDP 3.0 collective will witness an exciting cast of actors perform our feature film script today. We have our location. We have our signed NDAs. The actors received their scripts via email this past Wednesday. We have invited guests to observe. We created questions to ask the actors and guests afterwards. Hardcopy scripts will be available at the table read. We will have food and drink. Richard came up with the exciting idea of filming the table read with three cameras so we could later edit it and send it out as a marketing tool to interested parties. Keep reading below 🙂

I can’t wait to let you all know how it went! See you all next week!

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

Casting Actors For Our First Table Read!

Chasing The George

Hello, my fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I have two goals that I am focusing on this year. And each week, I am alternating between the two goals to provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging. This week, we are back to my writing goal for 2024: Finish the 1st draft of the “Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Once that’s done, do a table read, get feedback, and complete additional drafts.

Things are moving and cooking with this goal! This past Wednesday, June 12th, 2024, the Professional Development Program 3.0 collective met again via Zoom to start casting actors for our first, official table read of “The Third Act”! We have our date (July 14th!), time, and location. It was so exciting to go through each character and envision a few actor choices for each one. We entered our choices into a spreadsheet and certain members from the group will reach out to those actors to get their interest and availability. The intention for the table read is to hear the script in the hands (and mouths) of these actors, ask them questions, and receive feedback. This process will allow us to determine the next set of rewrites for the second draft of the script. In the meantime, Kelly and I will cut down the script before it is emailed out to the actors. Keep reading below 🙂

See you all next week!

Picture from: https://scriptmag.com/career/table-read-screenplay-hold-acting

Some Of My Favorite Blog Entries

Chasing The George

Hello everyone! I wanted to quickly share some of my favorite blog entries of 2018. Here they are! All in one place!

Honor Your Genius: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-Co

I Can’t Act! https://wp.me/p8uI5M-CJ

Table Read Fun! https://wp.me/p8uI5M-CM

My Oscar Speech: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-CU

How I Got An Agent Offer In One Week: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-D0

James Franco Said No To Me: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-D4

How To Make Yourself Valuable: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-Dd

Finding An Agent Is Like Dating: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-Dp

An Ode To Actors: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-Dr

You ARE An Artist! https://wp.me/p8uI5M-E1

How I Wrote A Script In One Hour: https://wp.me/p8uI5M-E6

How I Wrote A Script In One Hour

Chasing The George

I am so proud to announce that a film I wrote, executive produced and co-starred in, “The Doppelganger”, is done with post production! My director and I have a solid game plan in place to submit this film to a specific list of film festivals over the course of one year. We just submitted the film to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Sundance on August 3rd! In addition to the film festival circuit, we will look at distribution platforms for the film.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: There is nothing like creating your own evidence. It’s exciting and it truly takes a village of people to come together and bring your vision to life! I am truly grateful.

The idea for this story came to me while I was scanning shoes at a department store’s bi-annual inventory extravaganza. No joke. I saw the entire story play out in my mind while I scanned various pumps. I saw how the hero of the film travelled from the orphan phase to the wanderer phase to the warrior phase to the martyr phase (Please check out the amazing screenwriting book, “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story”, by Jeffrey Schechter.) I knew what compelling thing the hero wanted. I knew what compelling counter-argument the hero would receive. I knew that Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone would influence the style and context of my film. I knew who I wanted to cast and the people I wanted to work with behind the camera. I knew that I wanted to star in it.

The next day, I outlined the script in 30 minutes. Four days later, I sat down at my computer and completed the first draft in 1 hour. Shortly after, I presented the first draft of my script in class and it went great. My classmates had positive responses and reactions to my script. I made a couple of tweaks afterwards, but I kept everything else I had written intact.

We shot the film on December 10th, 2017 and wrapped post production on July 31st, 2018.

Going back to the script, it came to me so quickly because I was on go. I didn’t question my ideas. I didn’t question my impulses. I didn’t fall into any agreements that this story wouldn’t work or that it would be unbelievable. I allowed myself to be on go with the story that was unfolding in my mind.

Writing can be such a confronting process. I know. I totally understand. I’ve been there where I would rather paint my entire house than to write a script. Where I would rather find the cure for cancer than to write a script. However, I also know that when you have a compelling story burning inside of you, you have to write it. You HAVE to write it. It won’t leave you alone until you do. It will keep bothering you until you sit down in front of a computer and start typing.

THIS story was compelling. The story felt instinctual and visceral. I could not wait to stop scanning those shoes so that I could go home and start working on this story right away.

So if you have a compelling story or idea, make the time to write it. Sit down and write it. Whether it takes you one hour to complete it or one year to complete it, do yourself a favor and get that sucka done!

Thanks to all the people who helped bring my story and vision to life: Lindsay Hopper, Javier Lezama, Hitoshi Inoue, Beth Berlin, Sayaka Miyatani, Jessica Sade Ward, Lauren Elle Christie, Taylor Babb, Courtney Nichole, Craig Taggart, Richard Lawson Studios PDP 3.0 class (What! What!)

You can check out The Doppelganger and my other credits at:

https://www.imdb.me/jorgeortiz

Artistic Abundance

Chasing The George

Happy Oscars day! I want to say congratulations to all of the nominees. It was raining this weekend in LA and it inspired today’s blog entry! You’ve heard the expression, “When it rains, it pours”? Well, that’s what I feel like is happening at the moment for me in my artistic life.

Earlier this year, I laid out my 2018 goals and I’ve been going after them in a deliberate way. One of the goals was to put the actor back into Jorge Ortiz Actor (jorgeortizactor is my social media handle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram…hint hint…follow me!) And since putting the focus back on acting, I’ve been up three times on stage in my scene study class (and in one of the scenes I did, Richard Lawson used me as an example of the teaching and how I effectively and clearly apply it) I also have a few more scenes scheduled to go up and I have other classmates who want to work with me as well.

My editor is doing the finishing touches on the first cut of a film that I not only executive produced and wrote, but that I also starred in. Actor.

A friend of mine highly-referred me to the playwright, the director and the executive producer of a play that they are launching in June. I met with them yesterday and the meeting went great. I got to select and pitch which role I would be interested in playing should I decide to come on board.

I did a table read last month for a feature film and my performance left a wonderful impression on the writer and producer of the film. This past week, I shared with him a self-tape audition I did and he really enjoyed my work. As a matter of fact, he enjoyed it so much that he is considering me for other parts in his feature film.

I have an audition for a feature film tomorrow (Monday) for a leading role in a feature film. I’ve been working on my sides all weekend and I also have to sing a song! My goal and intention is to book the audition room! I can’t wait to deliver my product.

I’ve also been researching commercial acting classes to take!

On the writing side, a friend of mine recently did research for me on various writing competitions because I am interested in getting my writing works out there!

I’ve been teaching four acting classes at the Richard Lawson Studios since January of this year and really being of service to the students and to their growth. I am maintaining my relationship map and keeping that alive and healthy.

And of course, celebrating along the way!

There are many more things happening this year and I can’t wait to continue sharing my journey with all of you!

Until next week!

Chasing The George!

Table Read Fun!

Chasing The George

Hey artistic warriors! Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

I had an opportunity to act in a table read for an exciting and powerful feature film. I was asked to be in it by the writer of the film. He and I met at the Richard Lawson Studios two years ago and we kept in touch by sharing our artistic endeavors with each other. Plus, he had seen my work as an actor and liked it. He mentioned at the table read that he hand-selected each of us because he knew what we would bring to the characters.

And although I can’t talk about the storyline of the feature film, what I will talk about is the process I employed for the table read. First of all, the scripts would only be available at the table read, so none of us had the opportunity to read it and work on our characters beforehand. We were only emailed our character names and their breakdowns. So essentially, this was a cold reading! Which I thrive on!

Based on my character’s breakdown, I came dressed as the character. I decided to wear something “hip nerdy” and I wore non-prescription glasses. When I took my assigned seat at the table, I literally had five minutes to find my scenes and read through them. On the first read through of my scenes, I just read them in order to gather the facts that the writer was giving to me. What’s going on? What’s happening?

When I finished the first read through, I went back and created a quick history for my character. Then, I created a moment before and then I began reading through my scenes again. I allowed myself to be open and present so that my instincts and impulses could come through. As subtext and thoughts popped into my head, I wrote them down on the margins of the pages. I didn’t question myself, I didn’t flinch, I didn’t critique. I honored my impulses. When I finished the second read through of my scenes, I closed the script and let it go. I didn’t do any more read throughs.

A minute later, the table read began. I connected with my other scene partner and found moments where I was impinged by him and where I impinged him. I allowed myself to have a moment of real reflective delay when he delivered some bad news to me and I allowed myself to have an experience.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and the writer loved and appreciated what we all brought to the table read. We had a quick Q&A afterwards and he shared with us his upcoming plans for the film.

Until next time! Have a great artistic week!