Review: Pan Am

Really enjoyed Pan Am, on ABC last night.

I have always been fascinated by the Golden Age of Flying.  I think the setting is perfect for a TV show.  The Mad Men era style, the international intrigue, the fascinating stories...

I'm diggin' it.

After I watched the show, I watched a Travel Channel special on real Pan Am and other airline Stewartesses at during the 1950's - 1970's.  Some of those woman had such amazing life experiences.  It must have been so cool to be a part of such an amazing time in our nation's history.

The show was well written.  The cast all seemed well fitted and the production value was top end.

Record season!  

Man with a plan.

I have a plan.

I plan everything.

I always have. I can't help it. When I was six I dreamed of being a movie star. By age eight I had determined that I wanted to work in Hollywood and be a movie star. I started to plan how to make that happen...

I took acting lessons as a kid, did musical theater, and was cast in starring roles in local theater productions. I was the Prince in a production of "The Little Mermaid" -- I have video of it somewhere... (embarrassing video).

When I got older, I finally got a video camera. I became obsessed with it. I loved it. I made tons of home movies, and shot lots of family video. In high school I took more video production classes, including classes at the local University, Chico State. I shot and edited music videos, news stories, and short films.

I had always loved learning, and was drawn to reading and studying science and technology, as well as Science fiction, religion and the humanities.  I always enjoyed school.  I enjoyed being social and learning about people, making friends.  Growing up I rode horses, I skied, I snowboarded, surfed, rock climbed, mountain-biked...  I love the outdoors.   I love to be challenged, physically and intellectually.  I love to learn new things.  For a while wanted to be a scientist.  I was amazed how people like Einstein were able to come up with the Theories of Relativity.   I love Philosophy, social theory and discourse about science, laws, people and past and future empires.  I realize today, what I love most is the creative theoretical aspects, more than the math. In the end I was more into Art than math, so I knew I didn't want to be a scientist.  But I definitely knew I wanted to go to college.

 I was accepted into the University of California, Santa Barbara Film & Media Studies program in 2000. It was in college that I was really pressed to write more than I was used to, and better than I was used to.  To make the grade I was forced to read about and write papers about all kinds of subjects.  Mostly centered around film history.  I took a class on acting and directing, worked on student films, and was the marketing director for the Reel Loud Film Festival. Because UCSB's Film Studies program was all about film history and film theory -- production classes were elective -- it was all writing. I learned that I loved to write, I loved film theory (and social theory like postmodernism) and I was told I was good at it. I took screenwriting classes on a whim and found my calling...

After college I moved to my Dad's house in the Bay Area and worked for a hotel in San Francisco. I continued my education by buying and reading books, by keeping up with the media business, and by learning about the world -- the world of finance, economics, art, politics, religion and science. I met people from all over the world, rekindled my love of art, and art shows, painted, flirted with a career in modeling, and then produced and starred in a micro-budget independent film. It was called "Devotion" (2005). I truly enjoyed the experience.   After helping produce the film, I realized I wanted to learn all about major studio (big budget) film production.  I decided to finally move to LA...

My sister was already living in West Hollywood when I moved to LA, which very much helped my transition into the SoCal / LA lifestyle.  I started going on auditions, got into the background circuit.  It was fun at first.  I watched and learned how production works.  How directors, DPs, PA's and writers and Producers operate.  I made new friends and had a blast working on HBO's Entourage as an Agent in Ari's boardroom, and as a British Solider in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3.   I quickly decided I didn't want to be an extra, and that I was going to be put acting on hold.  I wanted to work in production.  I wanted to work on the show I decided...

The next year I was working on Entourage as an Office PA. I liked working in the office, rather than on set, because I could work on my writing in the down time.  Plus I was well trained in computers and administrative work.  In the office I you still get to interact with the directors, actors, writers and producers and crew.  I liked the office because it was like the nerve center of the operation.  Working in the Production office, you see it all get put together, and how.  I loved working on Entourage but really wanted to work on another big feature -- Pirates was a mega-budget blast.  I really enjoyed it.  During the last episode of Entourage, I was hired as a special 'assistant to the producers' on Indiana Jones Four.   It was the chance of a lifetime.  Literally a dream come true...

I interviewed with one of Hollywood's biggest producers, was given the okay, and then interviewed by Spielberg's assistant.  I was hired on the spot.  Truly one of the best days of my life.  I was flown to New Mexico three days later and directly assisted and tended to many well known Hollywood billionaires and millionaires. It was incredible. The whole time I was basically on the clock 18 hours a day, with so much going on, I didn't have much time to sit back, reflect and enjoy it.  After IJ4 I went on to assist several other producers and work on several other globally successful hit shows.   I most recently worked on the seventh season of HOUSE, with Hugh Laurie. I took the job as an Office Production assistant, knowing I was over qualified, because I new I could learn from the experience.  I knew production was changing quite rapidly even in the last couple years, and I knew working for NBCU on HOUSE would be a great opportunity to I learned and grow.  It watched interesting, subtle and major changes to the Hollywood landscape -- NBCU being bought by Comcast, digital distribution platform creations, App creations as marketing strategy, all unfold in real time, day by day, from inside the machine.   Because I went into the job with so much background insight into production, I was about to extrapolate and get a lot (of understanding and growth) out of the experience...  I know what the job and function of every person on set is, how they play into and create "the big picture".  I understand how Agencies, Managers and talent must coordinate and get along to get things done.  Hollywood is ultimately a business.  Knowing and understanding business, how business works and gets done, helps tremendously.  I have have a multifaceted understanding of the film business, and how it interacts with the tech business, the news & media business, telecom and so on...  I understand the complex market forces that are dismantling and building the 21st century film business, driving the digital shift, and social media plays into this.

As I reflect on my life and career thus far, I realize I met many of my childhood plans and goals.  I wanted to star in a film and I did.  Even if it was only one film, and it was micro-budget, I still consider it a dream come true.  A goal I planned and met.  Next I planned (how) to work on major studio productions and I did.  I made the connections and made it happen.  I learned how Hollywood works, which was the plan...

Today, I have so many plans and dreams... it's plan overload.  There is so much I want to see and do, there is no way I can do it all.  I need to pic a direction, and manage my priorities effectively.  You don't want to spread yourself so thin you never get truly great at at least one thing.

Plans and dreams I have now include being a Show-runner, writing and producing shows, indy films, and big budget features.  I can see myself as a Creative Executive, and I dream of owning and running my own Film-Media-Design-Art company.  I want to have a weekly or monthly podcast...

One day I will own a restaurant and a farm.  It'll be small, intimate, and it's limited menu will serve only the highest quality, local, loved organic food, and culinary creations.  I would love to meet a good chef with a similar vision for the menu, travel to Europe and Asia for spices, food and culinary inspiration periodically, and create amazing food for people.    I'm an unashamed food snob.  I love good food and I love the restaurant business.

As I head into 2012, I'm excited about my future, and ready to achieve my new goals...

I transitioned from the creative side (acting) to the production side three years ago, and now am feeling it's time for me to transition to something new.  Something that is either creative on production, writing, assisting writers, or something with more normal hours like a studio, assisting an executive.  Something with lots of room to grow, and something that allows me to develop my business skills.

If you follow the media and tech business trends and developments closely, you can make connections in the developments, and position yourself in the best and most profitable way.  I bring keen insight into business, technology and popular-culture, as well as an understanding of all the moving parts that make Hollywood possible.  I offer an understanding of Hollywood history, the major players past and present, and insights on the future of the business based on models and technology and social trends.  I  offer an inside perspective on working in production, having met many players, and seeing it all go down, I am comfortable talking about it and how to improve it.  I am able to offer analysis and insight into the economics, business, and trajectory of the current or hypothetical media models. How the pieces of global media conglomerates, have positioned themselves, and what that means for the business as a whole.  It's a "New Hollywood" -- a Global Hollywood -- out there today.

The 21st century economy is a model that is in flux. It is in the middle of profound change, upheaval and creation. Because the new model for Hollywood and America (and the world) is under construction.   Being an active participant in this construction, and having ideas, insights and plans for it, or how it could work, this is the time to act.

This is the time where the creative planners shine. Where the people that can see through the clutter to the reality, will shine. These days, it's all about creating sustainable models, which can grow into paying (creative) dividends.

As an adult -- almost 30 -- I am slowly formulating my new, grander plans for the New Hollywood, and for my place in it.

It starts with knowing what you want. With a dream, a goal or a plan.

After that, it's all about the end game.

Sept 11th, 2011

I can't believe it's been ten years since Sept. 11, 2001.

I remember the day well. I was living in Isla Vista, going to UCSB. I watched the towers fall on CNN with my roommates. One of my roommates struggled for hours to get a hold of his family in New York City. The restaurant I was working at decided to close for the day, as did many of my friends places of work. I called and talked to my family about it, and what they thought it meant for us, and for America in the bigger picture... I realized the world had changed. But only now, ten years later, am I beginning to see just how much the world had changed.

The world has continued to change ever more, ever faster every year since then. Back in Sept 11, 2001 we didn't even have Facebook or Twitter! Or even smart-phones. On Sept 11, 2011, ten years later, I have come to realize just how amazing and strong America is, and how brave and innovative it's people are. America isn't perfect, and has been a victim of it's success in many ways, but I believe it's America's amazing power for good, can heal it, heal it's people and the victims of horrible terrorism. I believe that America's amazing power for good can create a brighter day. A safer, more prosperous world requires work, compassion, creativity and awareness. It requires America to reach out to the world, and to look inside itself -- collectively and individually -- for the answers to our greatest problems. America can help create a better brighter future not just for Americans, but for the whole world as well.

America, being American, gives me -- and people from all over the world -- the opportunity to truly make the world a better place through innovation, creativity and collective awareness. For me, the lesson of Sept 11th is that we are truly one world, that America is not immune to the dangers in the outside world, and that in fact the world needs our help. The dangers and horror of Terrorism around the world must be combatted and healed with a deeper understanding of the human experience, with education and understanding of just how amazing and wonderful the world can be.

Sept 11th for me, is a day to think about this. It's a day to remember and honor those that lost their life, and to remember that the best way to honor that loss of life, is to learn from it. To make the world a better place because of it. We must rebuild, better and stronger, inside ourselves, in New York, in our whole country, and in the world at large.