The first movie set I ever worked on was a little on the crazy side. Over two thousand extras running around, with me wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into for the week. At the end of the first day I had found Michael, an actor who explained to me the whole process of how to get into the Screen Actors Guild and actually try to make a reasonable living. So I put my head down and less than five months later I was eligible to join SAG thanks to a little luck on Law & Order and Wall Street 2 plus the fact that Martin Scorcese liked my glasses on a Chanel commercial. When I was in college I worked for the student television station, but I actually preferred working on the production side rather than being on camera. I wrote all the scripts for our show, assisted with the cameras and lighting, sometimes directed but very rarely appeared ON the show and I loved it. Maybe it's because I'm a little bit of a control freak and as an actor you don't have much control over anything but your performance unless you're also a producer of the project. I've been spending time lately looking up the requirements to belong to the Writers Guild. It sounds damn near impossible to get in there but I've decided that I'm going to give it a shot anyway. After all I never would have imagined that I'd be a card carrying member of SAG and here I am. So anything is possible! A few weeks back I entered the NYC Midnight Screenwriting contest and the results for who qualified for the next round will be posted in the next twelve hours. While that will not get me into the WGA, it could still be a significant step in building a reputation. But as most people who know me can attest...I'm not patient. So in the meantime I decided to challenge myself and do something I've always wanted to do but never actually made the time to sit down and create. Whenever there was a television show that I found myself really getting into (as in HAVE to watch or DVR every week and NEED to discuss with someone afterwards), I always had the itch to write an episode. Just to see if I could do it, even half as well as the writers who were giving me something great to watch every week. Day 21 I decided it was time to finally sit myself down, turn on the laptop and not get up until I had written twenty-two pages for a half hour sitcom. And when I thought about what show I wanted to pen an episode for, it was a no-brainer: 30 Rock was my choice. The writing on that show is so funny and smart and there are such great characters, I figured it would simultaneously be really difficult and really fun to do it. And the entire time I was writing I could hear Jerry Seinfeld's voice in my head, "You can't just write a Murphy Brown!!" But I ignored Jerry and kept at it until I was done. Day 21 completed!! I'm sure these pages will never see the light of day but at least I know now that I really can construct a story that resolves in 22-23 minutes. Is it funny? I'd like to think so :-) When I become a member of the WGA someday you can judge me for yourself!
I'm off and running for Day 22!! And don't forget Day 23 my actual birthday, the place to be is Headliner in Neptune, NJ from 7pm to 11pm for the Tough Ta Tas big fundraiser for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Raffles and prizes, including a live date auction with yours truly!!!
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