Tag: writerlife

Good morning, fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly blog. As you all know, I am focusing on three goals this year. Those goals are: 1) Book supporting roles in feature films produced and distributed by independent or mid-sized studios and 2) Complete the second draft of “The Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. 3) Write and complete the first draft of my rugby feature film script. Each week, I will provide updates that are hopefully inspiring and engaging.

Before we jump into my updates, I wanted to say that I voted this past Wednesday for this year’s SAG Awards nominees. As always, it was a lot of fun to watch the nominated performances and do my civic duty as a voting member. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees! Keep reading below 🙂

This past week has been pretty productive. On the acting front, I continued watching indie films from my target list that screened at specific film festivals (e.g. Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, etc.) It’s been a wonderful experience watching these thought-provoking, interesting, and unique films. These films are within the realm of projects I want to be in. I continued reaching out to the directors behind these films. Some have respinded! This action has been rewarding and empowering. Keep reading below 🙂

On the writing front, I continued moving my rugby feature film forward. Utilizing the feature film treatment I created at the Sundance Collab course, the scenes and dialogue continued to flow onto the Final Draft application. I’m letting the dialogue unfold easily and quickly, being mindful not to get caught up in perfection or getting it right. Just let it flow. I also understand brevity (getting to the point in certain scenes) and knowing where to go a little longer with the dialogue in other scenes. Keep reading below 🙂

I look forward to creating even more brevity and preciseness in subsequent drafts. Writing this script has been rewarding and empowering. Regarding the second draft rewrites for “The Third Act”, my writing partner and I were unable to meet this past week. However, I know we will be back on the writing saddle shortly! We know where we are picking up from and I have combed through potential dialogue for a major scene in Act 1. Keep reading below 🙂

Until next week!

Throwback photo by Marisa Leigh Photography:

Good morning, fellow artists! I’m excited to jump into my new blog entry. I am lucky to have a home office where I can create and administer my career. I love sitting in my red, leather executive chair and operating from my large, powerful desk. My desk sports framed paintings, photographs, action figures, and trinkets that inspire and move me. Additional paintings, plus my Declaration of Independence (DOIN) and Vassar College degree, hang on my wall. Various books that have transported me into different places and worlds sit to my left. These authors are inspirational, thought-provoking, fabulous, and accomplished in their respective fields. Above the books, sitting on top of the mantle, are a few celebrations I purchased. These celebrations include a record player and a Sarah Connor “Terminator 2” action figure. I am surrounded by things that feed and fuel me. I love working from my home office. It’s my power base. It’s my artistic sanctuary.

On Monday, February 3rd, I walked upstairs to my home office to create a plan of attack for both short-term and long-term goals. Using my DOIN as a guide, I started writing down ideas for my administration plan (aka my to-do list) on paper. These ideas ranged from the simple to the more complex. I didn’t censor any ideas that came to me. From this initial list of ideas I generated, I plugged them into my 2025 planner and got to work. Since this past Monday, I’ve been cooking with my administration. Executing my administration and checking things off my to-do list made me feel powerful, accomplished, and inspired. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO ADMINISTER MY CAREER. It feels so good to do for ME. Keep reading below 🙂

A little planning goes a long way in building morale and spirit because I’m in action. I’m moving forward one step at a time. I’m doing things that I’m passionate about. I’m putting myself out there. I’m crossing things off my list, and it feels good! A little planning goes a long way in making things more tangible and reachable for me. A little planning goes a long way because it inspires and generates other ideas for me to tackle. A little planning goes a long way because it makes me the CEO of my enterprise. I am the boss. Keep reading below 🙂

I’m carrying over two goals from 2024: 1) Book supporting roles in feature films produced and distributed by independent or mid-sized studios and 2) Finish the second draft of “The Third Act” feature film script with Kelly Tighe. Keep reading below 🙂

See you all next week!

Welcome back, my fellow artists. I hope 2025 is off to a wonderful start with new and continuing possibilities. My partner and I have become big fans of the movie musical, “Wicked”. We’ve seen it twice, and he purchased the film for us to watch at any given moment. We had never seen the Broadway musical, so it was a treat to see the movie adaptation. I couldn’t help but be struck by the song “Defying Gravity”. It’s the climatic number that Elphaba sings at the end of the film. This song reminded me so much of how I defied gravity in 2024 (and in the past) and how I would like to continue defying this thing called gravity in 2025 and beyond. Keep moving forward. Do not get stopped.

I think about the times I have defied gravity on both professional and personal levels to carve my career and move it forward. For example, when I moved to LA years ago on a one-way flight, one piece of luggage and my leather CD book (remember those things called CDs?!) I had every reason to stay in NYC, but instead, I took that daring leap of faith and moved to LA. Or when I called every major agency in The Agencies Book that I purchased at Samuel French (remember when this used to be a physical store?!) because I wanted these agents to know who I was. Or when I secured a pitch meeting in Hawaii with the casting director of “LOST” because I created a way to integrate myself into season three. Or the time I tracked down Martin Scorsese’s notoriously hard-to-find production company in NYC and flew down to pitch myself for a movie musical he was producing with Madonna. Or the times I targeted various TV series with characters I created for myself (“Ugly Betty”, “Looking”, etc.) Keep reading below 🙂

I think of the challenging and liberating personal work I did in my scene study classes with teachers and mentors like Richard Lawson, Gary Imhoff, and Milton Katselas. They helped me to discover and embrace everything from my authentic voice to my sexual orientation to my ethnic and cultural heritage. They helped me peel the layers back so that I could come into focus as a person and an artist. One of the biggest liberating lessons came from Richard Lawson when he taught me that my job is to bring a character to life and not get caught up/trapped/limited by the fact that I am a gay man. Focus on the qualities of the character instead and bring those to life. Keep reading below 🙂

I think about all the short films, feature films, and half-hour pilots I’ve written (and the ones I’m currently working on.) I think about this weekly blog that started in 2015. I didn’t believe I would have enough material or stamina to share my artistic journey beyond a few blog entries (and here I am 10 years and countless blog entries later!) I think about pitch meetings I’ve had with networks for my half-hour TV series. I think about all the times I have taught classes and how I didn’t believe I could do it at first. I think about all the times I have been a leader and when I realized it was just as important to lean in, listen, learn, and be a student. I think about all the auditions I’ve been on and the jobs I’ve booked. Keep reading below 🙂

I think about the heartbreaks I’ve experienced and how I put them into my work to grow and heal. I think about all the times I have disarmed people with my charm, humor, irony, talent, professionalism, heart, and intelligence and dismantled potential stereotypes they may have had about me (thus expanding my relationship map.) I think about my L4 and L5 disc herniations (L4 and L5 are the two lowest vertebrae of the lumbar spine) that pinched my sciatic nerve. It was painful and debilitating. I still attended acting class (albeit lying on the floor on my back, LOL), but I knew I had to be there to maintain my sanity. Through months of physical therapy, I finally managed those herniated discs and got my life back. I look back at my glaucoma diagnosis in 2010 and how I have successfully managed it through compliance with eye drops and regular visits with my ophthalmologist. I think about all the times I overcame financial challenges to stay put. Keep reading below 🙂

Part of my raison d’être states that I am a brown, queer Superman. And guess what? I just realized that Superman defies gravity, too! I suppose that quality has always been a part of me. Keep reading below 🙂

Defying gravity in the past, present, and future to continue shaping my career. Thank you for joining me again for another exciting artistic journey this year.

Happy 2025, my fellow artists! I hope you all rang in the new year with joy and happiness. Here’s to another wonderful year. I just wanted to share a sampling of my wins from 2024. I am filled with gratitude as I look back at this past year. I look forward to continuing and sharing my artistic journey with you all in 2025!

LOL Where the f#@k have I been? Did I take an extended LOA (leave of absence)? My reemergence from the depths of hell feel like the opening lyric of Madonna’s single, Like a Virgin: “I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through.” Child. Girl. Bitch. Challenges came up that made me process, pivot, and proceed with my life-ing and adulting (although, to be honest, I’ve been life-ing and adulting for a very, very long time…hello!) But this recent spell was different though. This spell literally stopped my career administration in my tracks. I found myself not doing ANYTHING for my career. At one point, I asked myself, “What the f#@k was I doing again?”

Fortunately, I woke up and realized that I needed to reconnect to my career. I needed to administrate my career again. I told myself, “Take one action today, dammit!” LOL. And I did. And it was glorious. The sweet taste of career administration. How I had missed it so! Taking that one action was like drinking a cold, tall glass of water after being in the desert for days. I also read my raison d’être and postulates again. I looked at my goals for 2024 again. I handled the spell I dealt with and things are back on track. Keep reading below 🙂

Kelly and I met recently to continue shaping the second draft of the script for “The Third Act.” We also met with Richard Lawson to get clarity on a story point that stumped us. After meeting with Richard and rewatching the recording, I have clarity about how to proceed with his suggestions. I am excited to take this second draft to the next level with Kelly. Once this second draft is completed, we will coordinate a second table read (which will also be directed in order to further bring these characters to life.) It feels great to be back on track. I also can’t wait to reach out to more feature film directors on my target list to continue that successful line of action. Keep reading below 🙂

To remind everyone again, here are the goals I’m working on 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.

LOL:

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.