Julia's Mexico City

366/2012: Day 132 On The Lot

I was on the Sony lot for a job interview. Fingers crossed it works out.

A Game of Thrones Thing I *Can* Blog About

After working on the original pilot in the fall of 2009 through spring of 2010 and not-really-blogging about it specifically, it's fun to just be a fan. Especially since 99% of what I worked on doesn't even exist in the new first episode/pilot due to recasting and reshooting after the show got a green light. My "fame" has now faded and I'm just another gal in line for the food truck.

HBO is doing a great food tie-in for Game Of Thrones. Tom Colicchio is creating menus from locations in the books and then serves the food (FREE!) out of trucks in NYC (last week) and Los Angeles (this week). Kurt and I went to today's location at Wilshire and Hauser and waited in line to get the grub.

The line moved quickly and the food was FANTASTIC! Seriously, that Colicchio guy knows what he's doing.

I opted for the sweet corn fritter and Kurt got the squab with black bread pudding. We both got the lemon cake dessert. I could have eaten seven more of all of it. The black bread pudding was especially savory and yummy and mmmm.

My camera's auto focus was drooling over Kurt's food and got a bit wonky.

The view as we left.

I'm probably going to track down the truck again on Thursday. Even if you have no idea about Game of Thrones, just go for the free delicious Tom Colicchio food!

You can see a bit more detail from Tom C himself about what we ate today:

Game of Thrones Mini Moot!

So there I was in Seattle and after almost a year of being twitter and FB friends with Paul and daughter Betty, we got to meet in person! Hooray!! (That makes US mini-moot #2 after having met Axechucker last summer.)

We spent the cold morning having coffee and yummy pastries at a local spot near their house, then went across the street to a park so Betty could swing in the swings and jump in the mud puddles. We talked about writing and movies and tv and books and all that stuff that makes us happy. 

Again, I just love the internets for all the new friends you can make without hardly trying! And while I was slightly popular with the Game Of Thrones gang while I was working on the project, that star is fading. But the friendships never will.

Thanks Paul and Betty for a great afternoon!

 

A Year Ago Today

One year ago today I was packing for a four day trip to Scotland and Ireland. This was a scouting and meeting trip for that project that is no longer nameless: Game of Thrones. I was excited to be employed with HBO after a few previous false starts. I was also excited to go on location again as travel is a big deal for me and when someone else pays (even though it is still work) I love it even more. 

On 9/15 we (me and the VFX Supervisor) flew from LAX to LHR to EDI and were picked up by the other department heads and went to Doune Castle for a scout and discussions. This is where I first met most of the gang.

It was surreal as always to get right off a plane after flying ten to twelve hours and start working, but luckily the discussions were pretty straightforward. And having work to do keeps you awake through the afternoon. 

After about two hours there, we got back in the vans and drove to GLA, then hopped a plane to BHD. Belfast City Airport is small and there is a huge IKEA at one end of the runway. I like to imagined that you exit the aircraft then collect your luggage and any new household items you might need before finding your hotel transport. No such luck.

Everyone was amazing and it was nice to meet people who I had only emailed with or spoken to on the phone. My favorite was Katrina who dealt with my travel info. She would occasionally call to confirm info and her calls always started with "Hello lovely lady!" Such a sweet way to begin business.

It was a whirlwind trip and I got to start my love affair with one of my favorite restaurants: The Barking Dog. If the Barking Dog were in LA, I'd be there every week or so. The food is great, the atmosphere cozy and stylish and they play great music too. (We Shazamed about 10 songs when I ate there with Kurt.)

I would be back to Belfast about ten days after that to start the job in full. Little did I expect that I would become "famous" in certain circles or that I would make a lot of great new friends online. I also didn't realize that the not so happy days on set would inspire me to do so many new, creative and exciting things in 2010. 

And I was given a nickname by B Camera crew which they assure me was a not a slight: Lady Battenberg. But you never can be too sure with camera crews...

What a year it's been. Can't wait to see where I am one year from now. Here's hoping I'll be scouting locations for my own tv series.

Fans Become Friends

You may recall I worked on a project last fall in Belfast wherein my blog became quite popular with a certain segment of the population. Okay, I'll say it outright and risk sounding self-centered: I have fans. (That project is called Game of Thrones and there is now an official HBO website.)

The lovely thing is, these fans have become friends. I met some in Belfast and then became better friends with them via twitter and facebook, some I only know online and one I met in LA this past weekend! That's right, I got to meet Axechucker IN REAL LIFE! We met at the LA Metblogs Donut Summit (hence my t-shirt and silver donut award for best apple fritter.)

We had a great time chatting about all things donuts and GOT. Okay, not ALL things GOT of course, still can't chitchat too much about that...

 

Axechucker was behind the interview that was posted on Winter Is Coming earlier this year and it was really a pleasure to spend some quality donut time together. 

I love the internets!
 

Where Do The Weeks Go?

Time is flying and we don't even have kids yet!

Speaking of kids - the adoption process is coming along. We are finishing up our last bits of paperwork and having our last meeting with the social worker on Saturday. Tidying up the details. Then we'll be waiting to find a match. Nothing terribly exciting to report other than "most of the boxes have been ticked."

In the mean time, we've been writing and writing! You saw my Script Frenzy progress in April -- I wrote 120 pages. Then May (and part of June) was Rewrite Frenzy. Kudos to me, I finished a first draft of a screenplay last Thursday. Key word there being "first". The script is now out to a few readers while I take a week off. I'll get feedback then keep working on it. There is the other project Kurt and friends and I are working on, that's going well and moving forward. More about that when I have something specific to report. I'm also going to start some research into a third project...

I'm slowly looking for work, but I know work won't be nearly as exciting and fun as the writing has been, so it's tough to leap out there.

My weight loss plan is working great and I'm really pleased with myself on that. I've also learned to drink coffee without anything in it so that I wean myself away from extra sweeteners (real or fake). I'm amazed how quickly and easily I adjusted. 

Volunteering went well in May -- I doubled up to make up for not volunteering in April. I need to find something in June, but haven't organized it yet. I had a nice conversation with Kim Tracy Prince about helping her more with Help A Mother Out. I feel very inspired to keep helping with that cause, now that I'm soon to be a mom. We'll see what comes up. I did sign up for multiple shifts at KCRW for their summer fund drive, so I'll be taking your calls in August!

Yesterday was the Donut Summit (an LA Metblogs event) and we had a great time! Here we are, sporting our favorite pastry shirts. 

 

Not much more to report other than housecleaning continues and we will be having a fun visit this week by Grace and her friend Audrey. They are coming down to learn about 3d animation and the film biz, going on tours, meeting people, seeing Toy Story 3. Fun!
 

Wee Frog

Weeks ago (WEEKS!) my friend Helen and I were chatting online. We worked together on That Project and became good friends. She's an amazing photographer. During that chat we were sending each other photos of where we live and family and other fun misc stuff. Then she sent me this awesome photo:

 

I promised to post it on my blog. And I failed miserably until today when she asked if I had. My only excuse is that I've been so distracted with all the writing. That's a good thing, right??

So here is Helen's Wee Frog in all it's amphibious glory.

I love the wee fellow! 

Script Frenzy!

 

You might have noticed my new badge over there on the right for Script Frenzy. It's a fun project simply created to help get writers motivated. 30 days - 100 pages. All in the month of April. There are over 15,000 people signed up. There are no prizes, no one reads your script (unless you want them to), no real rules, no one holding your feet to the fire. It's all about you and getting those words on the page!

I have been wanting to finish a script for a while now but have been putting it off and putting it off with no real good reason. So I'm using April's script frenzy time to do so. And then in the last few weeks I learned of a public domain story through a current writing project partner and the two of us are going to tackle aspects of it. I'm going to bang out a draft of a script for it. Plus all the other creative work on the other thing I haven't talked about plus a short FX paying gig. 

April is going to be awesomely busy and creative!

Yesterday I was so busy working my both sides of my brain, the logical work side and the creative fun side that I was exhausted by the end of the day! It took me a while to get up this morning. I'm going to sleep in a little bit tomorrow though. Whew.

If you have something you've been promising yourself you'd write. Do it now! It doesn't have to be perfect or even anywhere near finished. IT'S JUST A DRAFT! Just get it out on paper.

Other New Horizons

I bid a fond farewell to Shane's Castle (where this photo was taken) and Belfast in general as I am no longer with The Project. I handed in some final docs today and while there may be some additional follow up, that's basically it. This was not a surprise and while some of my fan/friends felt confident that I would be back to the UK, alas, that was my excellent poker face at work again. Chances were slim that I would continue on. 

So let's enjoy some fun on set from one of my all time favorite days. It wasn't just that I got to play with the snow, but it was the day I was given a nickname (Lady Battenberg) by the B camera crew and I knew we had bonded for life. Seriously, those guys kept me laughing and having a good time throughout the entire shoot. This was also the day I got to meet some of my new fan/friends in Belfast at McHugh's. Great night!

I have never worked on a project with more amazing people. Out of the whole cast and crew, I can honestly say there were only two people who I didn't love. (I'll never name names.)(On my blog.) That is the kind of production crew love percentage you dream of on a job. I'm very grateful. 

There are many new things on the horizon for me, thought which ones will come fully into focus is not clear yet. I look forward to whatever lies ahead.

 

Losing My Grasp

Last week was B U S Y. So was the week before that. It's good to be employed, no doubt. But it's not normally the way I like to work and a lot of it was out of my hands, so I just had to deal. This week will be busy as well, but in a much different way. More adjustments.

And speaking of adjustments, I'm having a hard time adjusting to this new year, to these new directions. Hard in that I find I'm still wallowing in past frustrations, still bemoaning things that haven't happened yet instead of focusing on making them happen now (or soon). I think part of what is frustrating is that much of it is plan B. Thankfully there is a plan B, but still, plan A was plan A for a reason. 

I know, I'm being vague. Sorry. I have to let go of what is past because it is past. Yet I find myself holding onto to it so tightly. I'll be concentrating on letting it go, one finger at a time, this week.