Professional Competition Entererererer

My dear friend Helen Kim is threatening to leave Los Angeles to go to grad school in Texas – I told her that she is being very selfish if she does this as she is not thinking of me and what on earth I would do without her! Helen is that person that always has her finger on the pulse about anything and everything that is happening around town. I feel if she left, I would be culturally void and possibly the most uninteresting human being (so sad). 

My cool friend Helen Kim

In any case, it was dear Helen who told me about…

THE ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER SHORT SCREENPLAY CONTEST

Given that now I am a full time, professional competition enterererer, I decided that I should enter it. I hate writing, I have plenty of ideas but would much rather hire someone whose writing I admire to pump the scripts out for me. Having said that, being poor, I cannot afford such a luxury and therefore I have to rely upon myself (grumble grumble).

I have decided to write a 15 minute short called “Damn These Slanty Eyes” – its an idea I have played with before, but now am thinking live action (rather than the animation I made). It’s about Asians seeing in wide screen and white people seeing in TV aspect ratio – it's a comedy (duh!) so we shall see…

Aspect Ratios - its funny... trust me!

With my new competition entering profession, it would be really easy to wake up late, drink coffee, walk to Larchmont and stare at the trees. Nevertheless, I have been trying to keep my days really structured in order to keep sane (or what little sanity I have in place). Therefore I wake up around 9am (still late – I know!) and then have breakfast as I check my e mail (this is really riveting I am sure) and then start work on whatever it is I am working on (aka today it was my script). Then I allow myself one adventure a day – weather it be going to Larchmont, having coffee with someone etc. Today it just so happened that my outing/ adventure was to…

DOUGHBOYS!

Now this I am sure means nothing to most of you but it is in fact one of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles. It closed down over a year ago because of insane rents etc but has just re opened with the EXACT SAME MENU (oh dear – there goes any hopes of loosing all this weight… sigh)! 

I was introduced to the place by Mischa so what better way to get back into the wing of it than with Mischa, Justin and Mandy…

Mandy and Mischa

Mischa and Justin

Justin trying to be a Japanese tourist - he wishes!

I had the famous French Onion soup and Doughboy salad (yum) 

while Mandy and Justin went with the Tuna Melt and chicken noodle soup. 

Mischa had something that looked… well a little strange but he seemed happy! It was delicious and what is great is that it is right next to “Chateau marmut” where all the fancy dogs go to get groomed so its like watching a little doggy parade from your table… though I think this one may have been a polar bear…

We were all good and steered clear of their famous “Red Velvet Cake” – though now I am wishing I had some… waaaaa

In sad news, Corey Haim passed away yesterday. 

It was such a shock to me as just the other day when I was thinking who I could get to write me recommendations for my HBO application, none other than Corey’s name came up. My good friend Noah has been his neighbor and friend for years and said that Corey was willing to do it for me. I had said to hold tight as it looked as though Judd Apatow and Mark Romanek were going to come through and the next thing I heard... Corey had passed away in the night. So so sad… in honor of him, Justin, Mandy, Ryan and I are off to a midnight screening of “Lucas” tomorrow…

PS in totally different news, in a strange twist of things Mark Romanek never ended up writing my recommendation? Not sure what happened as he said “yes” and that he loved my short etc and then never got back to me? Never replied to my last few e mails etc… Mark – if you are out there… I am worried… are you ok? It turned out all right in the end as my savior Mardie (the Louise to my Thelma) managed to get our friend Massy Tadjedin to write one for me. Not only is she a kick ass female director (her next movie starring Keira Knightly, Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes “Last Night” comes out this year), but she is also a writer and an awesome person – THANK YOU MASSY and MARDIE!!

Chiara outshines the Oscars!

Ryan, Alia, Sabrina and I had a blast at the midnight screening of “Alice and Wonderland” Saturday night. We pre purchased VIP tickets to the sold out screening at the El Capitan Theater and it was well worth the steep $25 price tag.

What I love about going to the movies there on opening weekend is that it is usually the die-hard fans that make up the audience. People dress up and go all out and to be a part of that ride makes the experience that much cooler. Not only that, because the El Captain is owned by Disney and Wonderland is one of their movies, they had great prize give aways at the beginning and the entire theater was decorated according to Wonderland! We had free popcorn and drinks with our price of admission and Sabrina had brought along mini chocolate mushroom cookies to munch on and to go along with the theme of Alice in Wonderland – so thoughtful!

Anyhow, I enjoyed the movie (despite its giant flaws), and was plagued by horrid dreams of Jabberwockies (sp?) etc. Thank god I did not have that much time to stay asleep, for Sunday morning it was my good friend Clio’s daughters 2^nd Birthday party. 

Seeing as my nephew Nayou is so far away, Chiara is like my surrogate niece and I love her to death. 

She is cute, cheeky, smart, did I mention cute?

It was a great gathering in Clio’s backyard with mostly adults that have all helped in babysitting and helping out with Chiara. John (Clio’s husband) manned the grill with Ryan.

I concentrated on devouring everything in vast quantities (Clio is the most AMAZING cook I know)! It was a lovely afternoon and I can’t wait for Chiara to turn 3!!

This is the great party store down the street from me. I got these two "walker" balloons that you can drag behind you and it is as though they are walking behind you. Chiara is really into balloons at the moment!

Blowing out her candles!

Opening her presents!

Chiara and her cousin Rena

Rena having cake for the first time!

Lucy and Dan

It was then off to West Hollywood to my friend Mandy’s house for the Oscar party. We had ballots and I was late so hastily filled mine in and now have to bare the shame of knowing I voted for James Cameron to win best director when in fact I KNEW I should have gone for Katherine Bigelow – how exciting to have watched the first woman receive her best director award. It was a great night – some of my friends I had not seen in quite some time so it was lovely to catch up!

On the way home I was thinking, there is only one “best Director” category so why on earth are actors divided up into men and women? In all honesty the whole thing is a little strange as it is not a level playing field. If we were to truly judge who is the best actor, they would all have to play the same role, in the same film etc. That being said, seeing as that is not possible and each actor is judged for the movie they made and the role they played – why are there separate categories for men and women? Shouldn't there just be a “best Actor” category? The Oscars are always harping on about the ceremony going too long, why not drop the separated categories and go for one? Just a thought…

PS Not sure why I have no pics of Sarah and Mandy from the Oscar party? Perhaps my camera is sexist? 

The Independent Spirit Awards - yeee harrrr!

I have been to award shows before, but none that I really connected with and none that made me say “I want that” at the end of the night….

The Independent Spirit Awards was fun, heartfelt and entertaining… I was seated at a table that was in the 2^nd row from the stage and I had Ryan (my husband) to my left and none other than John Powers

(film critique for Vogue magazine) to my right! Seated next to Ryan was Susan King 

(film writer for the LA Times) and the because we were at the New Zealand table, we also had Phil Keoghan 

and his wife (host of my favorite TV show “The Amazing Race”), Barrie Osborne and his lovely wife and a few members of the Tourism NZ team! Great company and great conversations!

The room was packed with A list celebrities, up and coming film makers and industry pro’s and want to bee’s (aka moi) but it all just felt like a level playing field. Ego’s were checked at the door and acceptance speeches were long, but heartfelt with lots of “Thanks” given to family members and LOTS of tears (it put me a little at ease for the horrid flashbacks I keep having from balling before my screening of “Sweet As” in New Zealand – its normal… I’m normal… Hurrah!).

Anyhow, the night began with me having a freak attack over what to wear! Now I know that this is normal in many women’s lives – not mine! I usually take a maximum of 20 minutes to get ready for anything (that includes shower time), but the problem was that I have gained weight over the past few months and therefore could not fit into any of my clothes (agh!). I finally decided on a white, eye lit dress by “Ghost” as it was a little dressy but still casual. I put Ryan’s outfit together and he wore it despite the fact that he said he felt like a Jonas Brother (though secretly I think he liked it)!

We then drove downtown to LA LIVE where the event was being held for the first time (it used to be at the beach) and everyone pulled up to the VIP/ VALET entrance in their limo’s and town cars  - we did in my little Alfie (my mini cooper) who I believe has not been washed in over 5 months (agh)! Not to mention the fact that I also have a pirate flag that flaps proudly from my rear antenna – a sight to behold!

We skipped the red carpet and went straight up to the “cocktail” hour. 

We spotted Andres at the New Zealand tent so we went over there and “ohhed” and “ahhhed” over the films playing (it was so cool to see my movie up there)! The reception for “Sweet As” was amazing! 

Great to hear people talk about it who have no connection to me what so ever and for them to say it is fantastic without knowing that I made it – I know that you should not have to rely on outside validation, but it is always nice!

I was then asked to have some pics taken… I never realized how awkward I am in front of the camera (hence that I am behind it!), but I felt like I was posing for my high school yearbook photo… I really hope that they don't use any of them as I can only imagine what they look like! On a more casual note, Barrie’s wife Carol Kim was nice enough to offer to take some pics of Barrie and I in front of my movie so we snapped away which was great…

I was then whisked off to the press tent where I walked past Elton John (what was he doing there? I ask myself the same question… but it was cool so who cares!) and then was sat down to do an interview for Empire magazine. 

With my backstage, press pass!

It is an article that is going to be predominantly about Andres but they wanted to chat with me too, which was great. I cracked them all up and then they compared me to such directors as “Guy Richie”, “David Fincher” and “Tim Burton” – I almost DIED… with the exception of Guy Richie (though he is one of Ryan’s favorite directors) I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE (there are not enough “LOVE” words to describe my LOVE) of Fincher and Burton… WOW WOW WOW! I have had a silly smile on my face ever since!

It was then into the HUGE tent for the event and dinner. Each round table had a table number 

and a nameplate so you knew exactly where to sit. In the middle were a HUGE bottle of champagne and a HUGE bottle of whiskey (must to Ryan’s delight). Dinner was salmon on rice with green beans (Ryan ate mine as I am vegetarian) and then dessert was little tarts, cupcakes and strawberries. The food was so so (but who on earth cared!). We also had HUGE goodie bags sitting on our chairs – I had to restrain myself from ripping it open to see what was inside (naturally it was the first thing I did when I got home)…

The Awards show was great – we were right next to the “Precious” tables as well as –Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters (Ryan was in awe) as well as Matt Dillon and Ethan Hawke. 

Two tables away was Adrian Brody, Maggie Gillenhall and Jeff Bridges blab la blab la… it was exciting!

I also ran into my neighbor Sharon Lawrence (the actress) who is the head of Women in Film. 

She was so excited about the movie that she gave me her card (she has never done this before) and also info about a finishing fund that they have set up… now I just need to start a movie so I can finish it! I have promised myself that I am 100% (full time job) going to search high and low for the perfect script, story etc to make into a movie this year… MUST MUST MUST! 

What was also exciting about the Spirit Awards was that there were quite a few women that received awards (including best director)…. How exciting! Especially when the number of women in film has in fact declined over the years instead of the opposite (specially in principal positions such as Director, Producer, Cinematographer etc)… must turn that frown upside down!

Ok ok, so after the show it was off to the after party. We had a few more drinks (for me that means diet coke) at the New Zealand tent and then went across the street to party like rock stars. 

To be honest, the after party was kind of dead… no one was dancing (though that did not stop us from busting a move) and there was no food (we were STARVING) with the exception of what I call “White Trash” candy (Twinkies, hoho’s, twizlers, raisenetts)…. It was cute, but I was hoping for some cheese and crackers!

We danced, we ate Twinkies, we had a drink and mingled and then it was time for Ryan and I to retire. 

Busting a pose with the host of the night Eddie Izzard

We walked back to the valet stand to get Alfie and had a chuckle as they brought him around, pirate flag a fluttering as other guests of the awards piled into their chauffeured, black cars – awesome!

What an amazing end to what has been an amazing experience. I now need to up the ante. I have applied to several fellowships (one for the ABD/ DGA Directing Fellowship) that Barrie Osborne was kind enough to write my recommendation for (though I don't have a good feeling for some reason about getting accepted into that program) and then Monday I will be mailing my application to the HBO/ DGA directing fellowship (which you needed working, professional directors to write you recommendations for – this was a HUGE challenge but thank god I was able to secure one from Judd Apatow 

(the director of “40 year old Virgin”, “Knocked Up”, “funny People” etc as well as Mark Romanek 

who is probably the most famous music video director with such gems as “Michael Jackson’s “History”, Madonna’s “Rain” and “Bedtime Stories”, Weezers "El Scorcho” not to mention the feature film “One Hour Photo” with Robin Williams). In addition, my champion, BFF, advocate, agent, manager, super star friend Mardie looks to have an additional trick up her sleeve for me (we have to wait and see!!)…

Now we have to keep our fingers crossed! Tonight I am off to see Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burtons latest) in 3D with Ryan, Alia and Sabrina… 

I CANT WAIT… what an amazing few days I have had… SO LUCKY!