Dan in LA

Almost Something

2008-10-09T12:14:00.009-04:00

Well, It's been over a month since last time, which is pretty indicative of how exciting my life has been. The job hunt continues.

I had an interview to work box office at a local film fest. Of course I get asked the dreaded question: "Do you think you're overqualified for this position?" How do you answer this without selling yourself short and without sounding entitled or uninterested. I have NO life skills, and I haven't been able to get hired thus far. Please. Please. Please. That's what I wanted to say. I ended up saying something more acceptable. But I never heard back.

So what's next? Time for minimum-wageish applications. I went to a day-long hiring mill event for a movie theater. And, of course, was rejected. In my head, I'm gonna say I was overqualified, but in my heart, I know I didn't speak enough at the group interview.

Let's talk about group interviews. This was my second and I don't get them. I suppose it's interesting to see people interact with strangers, but really, they're weird. You have to tactfully balance allowing other people to speak while fighting for "screen" time while also making sure everyone in the group isn't bored to tears. I knew I should have answered at least one more question, but the interview was getting long, they were breaking down the meeting room, and quite frankly, I didn't have anything meaningful to contribute to that last question.

Oh well. A new editing job is keeping my head above water (and my bank account, barely, above zero. I have about 2 months of funds left before I'm done.)

Quick script update: I have barely been working on my SW? spec - though my newly formed writers group should help out with that. I have now been officially rejected by NBC and WB.

Celebrities I saw this month:
Justin Timberlake (Future Sex/Love Sounds) MY FIRST A-LISTER! Normally, I have very little use for JT, although admittedly his music is pretty dees (dec?) My friend sent me a text that he was at a neighborhood restaurant. I was like, "I'll be there in three minutes." I had to pretend to get water like eight times so I would have an excuse to walk by him. He was sitting with...

Jessica Biel (7th Heaven) Now, I really have no use for her. Really.

Sam LLoyd (Scrubs) He was also at the restaurant. (That was a good day!) A friend told me she saw him enter the bathroom, so, obviously, I coincidentally had to go to the bathroom as well. I waited outside and when he walked by me, we head-nodded to each other. Awesome!

Nick Cannon (Wild 'N Out) Eating outside the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills, like he wanted to be seen. Nick, next time you decide to go out in public, bring your wife.

John Schneider (Secret Life of the American Teenager) At a comedy club. Slightly better looking in person.

Matthew Bomer (Chuck) He was pushing a baby stroller at a park. I am now officially two degrees away from Zachary Levi.

Mark Brunetz (Clean House) He was in a coffee shop, dressed very un-designer-y. T-shirt and jeans? You can do better, Mark. Either way, my creepy levels shot through the roof as I pretended to text someone/was really taking a picture of him to send to my sister. I am not okay.

RAIN!

2008-09-29T15:14:00.003-04:00

We had rain!

About 2 minutes of it.

I was watching Mad Men, and during the last minute I heard tapping on the window. So I ran outside and enjoyed the lightest and shortest rainfall of my life.

Beautiful.

Luck

2008-08-28T14:03:00.007-04:00

So, it's been a month. My previous feelings of optimism now seem adorable. And sad.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but let's "long story short" this and just say I do not have a job or a car.

I do have an unpaid internship as a script reader. Which I am enjoying and is certainly a step in the right direction. I applied for a few other internships and have heard nothing. It makes you wonder when people don't think you are qualified enough to work for free. My friend did hook me up with another freelance job, so the bank account is (mostly? partially?) not dying.

In a completely shocking (to me) turn of events, my Friday Night Lights spec script was rejected from the Austin Film Fest. My script! Rejected! Can you believe it? I was so sure I was going to win. Or at least make it past the first round. I mean, it's Friday Night Lights - filmed in Austin. If it can't win there, it can't win. I keep telling myself it wasn't the script - it was actually the fact that there may or may not have been hard-to-read pages due to my printer running out of ink 10 minutes before the deadline.

I also did not make the cut for the Fox sitcom pilot competition. But I reread my pilot and realized if they had picked it, I would have judged them. One rewrite later, though, and it's looking halfway viable. Kind of.

Whatever. Nothing left to do but keep writing. On with the Samantha Who? spec!

Celebrities I saw this month:
Jane Lynch (40 Year Old Virgin) I actually just co-wrote a pilot that I want her to star in. Fate!

Rachel Fox (Desperate Housewives) I saw her at the grocery store. My grocery store. I almost pulled her over and said, "Listen, you little bitch, I'm glad Lynette smacked the shit out of you." And then I saw her mom, and remembered she was a real person.

Celebrities I Saw This Week!

2008-07-30T01:15:00.008-04:00

Or these previous 10-ish days.

New Sightings!

Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) I stared for a long time before I realized it was her. She wasn't wearing make up, and she looked thinner in real life.

Rich Sommer (Mad Men) I saw him get in his car and pull up to a stop sign. He seemed genuinely happy to see a family with puppies crossing the street. Which made me think that he was a real person who didn't let the success of Mad Men go to his head. I guess averaging 1 million viewers can do that to a person.... No matter. Congrats on the baby-on-the-way, Harry!

Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) He looked so scruffy and "average joe" I had a hard time believing this was actually Ned the Piemaker. But then he spoke, and all was confirmed. Side note: He was walking a dog! :) But it wasn't a golden retriever.... :(

Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) A brief glimpse, but the mustache is unmistakable.

Repeat Sightings

Michael McDonald (MadTV) - I played it cool and completely ignored him. We are halfway to becoming BFFs.

Eriq La Salle (ER) - holler.

Riding a Wave of Good Luck...

2008-07-21T22:54:00.005-04:00

My friend's roommate gave me a deadline: I needed to be out by Monday morning. No problem. I have another friend I can stay with until I find a place. I call her. Problem. She is leaving town on Sunday and won't be back until Thursday. For those of you keeping track, that's 4 days of homelessness. Which is approximately 3 more days than I've ever spent without a roof over my head - and that was when I was in college protesting something that I did not then - nor do now - quite understand. Ah, righteous anger. If not for you, we would have no reason to sleep outside Independence Hall on a cold night, five to a blanket.

But what could I be protesting now? My poor planning? My lack of friends?

With growing frustration over having no home, job, or car, I enter the weekend.
And then, Saturday night, God sends me a sign. Like in Neon Lights. It takes the form of Sarah Chalke's un-makeuped and sweaty face. That's right: I had my first relevant celeb sighting since I moved to Los Angeles! I ran past her, silently gasp, and felt the weight of problems leave my weary shoulders. I was gonna be okay. God and/or Sarah Chalke was looking out for me.

I found an ideal living situation on craigslist on Saturday, saw the place on Sunday, and moved in on Monday.

My friend and I decide to celebrate, so we head to a restaurant that is LESS than
a mile away from MY NEW PLACE - and whom do we see on the way? Another celebrity! Or, at least someone I recognize from TV.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna ride this good luck through the rest of the week. Someone's gonna offer me a car and a job tomorrow. And that someone just might be Damon Lindelof.

Searching...

2008-07-07T12:34:00.008-04:00

I need a car.
I need a job.
I need a place to stay.

Craigslist is a dangerous place. I've spent that past two weeks searching the "roommates needed" ads and I've seen some things I did not wish to. Someone was offering a 1 bedroom for either $500/month or 1 sexual favor/week. I actually had a close call. I exchanged a few emails with a guy who seemed cool, and we were about to set up a meeting. Before this could happen, I did my usual myspace-stalking research just to see what kind of public image this guy put forth. Well, his profile was pretty much blank, revealing nothing except his love for Cher and himself. There were 6 pictures posted of the guy, 5 were muscle shots. And the other one? Just a picture of his clothed erection with the caption: "Just chillin. What's UP with you?" Ummm, no thanks. In a previous email, I had told him I did not yet have a job and would prefer a month to month lease and he had indicated it would all be fine and we "could work something out." I'm now a little bit nervous about what he meant.

Roommate crisis 1 averted!

Celebrities I saw this week:
Eriq La Salle (ER) He is graying and still wearing the earings.

Michael McDonald (MadTV) A repeat sighting. Last time he seemed like an adult. This time, he acted like he was actually in character as Stewart.

Welcome to Los Angeles

2008-07-03T03:45:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I got on the plane and headed out to LA with the parts of my life that could fit in two stuffed suitcases and a carry-on book bag. (My build-a-puppy Wallace made the cut; underwear did not.) I had this really awesome plan to only sleep one hour before heading to the airport so that I could sleep through most of my 4.5 hour flight. It didn't work. The 4.5 hour flight stretched out to a 5 hour flight, made worse by the fact that a Martin Lawrence flick was selected as our in-flight movie. (I did not have my headphones in, but even without sound I could tell Raven TOTALLY carried the movie.)

About three hours into the flight I pretend to go to the bathroom so that my legs don't atrophy. I return to my seat and pass the time watching CW sitcoms while praying that we crash on an island inhabited by Matthew Fox and Emilie de Ravin, who thankfully are not related in real life. (It would be hot, and you know it.)

I land, my awesome friend whom I owe about 1 million favors picks me up, we eat, I buy underwear at Walmart, and we head to our super-secret celebrity sighting spot. I decide that my first "resident of LA" sighting will be indicative of the year I am going to have - an omen, if you will. I search desperately, and finally see a recognizable face, but do not immediately remember from where. Once I remember, I realize it would have been more exciting to see him 10 years ago when he was relevant. Interpretation: My year = not noteworthy. Which pretty much reflects what it always has been. Sigh.

Anyway, directly after I reunite with a friend I haven't seen in a year and we eat ridiculous amounts of dead cow with dead pig. Quite delicious.

I still can't believe I'm actually in Los Angeles, and that I'm actually here to live and get a job and buy groceries on a weekly basis. To me, this is still a visit. And yet, my bank account is rudely reminding me that the honeymoon is about to end. Yikes. Welcome to LA!

Shameful Things I Did Today

2008-06-28T04:06:00.002-04:00

1. Lost My Glasses
I went to the bar tonight with a few friends as a sort of going away party. At several points in the night, I ended up on stage dancing (ie. flailing my limbs as if I were drowning.) I was really feeling the music (or was it the alcohol?) and I aggressively gyrated my face into my dancing partner's shoulder. My glasses flew off. Next thing I know: me, my three friends, and two heroes to the community* are crawling on the ground, using cell phones as flashlights, searching for my elusive pair of glasses. (Miraculously, the two strangers (angels?) found the glasses - unbroken, untrampeled, and unmolested!)

*people I don't know

2. Photoshopped John Krasinski
To see if he would look better with a smaller nose. Results inconclusive.

Celebrities I Saw This Week!

2007-11-30T18:08:00.008-05:00

In order of personal importance...

Damon Lindelof (Lost) I saw him on the picket line, but was too shy to lick his face or talk to him :( There's always next time....

Tom Welling (Smallville) My friend and I ran back to get a second look. He was wearing sunglasses, but I could tell he was glaring at us.

Stewarrrrrrrrrrt! (MadTV) He nodded at me! I gasped so hard I went into a coughing fit. No lie.

Kat (LA Ink) I saw her for half a second. She was hiding in the back room.

The dad from "Clarissa Explains It All" I hated the show. And the laugh track. But he was on an episode of Mad Men so kind of evens out.

The racist store owner from "Crash!" He was my first!