Duck Soup

With orientation week drawing to a close, I figured it was time for an update. This has been a very busy week for all of us here at the LAFSC. We spent a couple of days trying to get our bearings, learning how to live on our own, and learning about life in LA.

The LAFSC is about a fifteen minute walk from our apartment complex. It's nice that all of us have the same schedule (at least for this week) because my roommates and I usually walk together. It took us a couple of days to figure out when we needed to leave in order to make it on time, but we finally got it figured out. I think I've finally got my bearings... for this block. Anything outside of LaBrea to LAFSC, I'm lost. Actually, even in LaBrea, I get lost. We decided to go on an "Adventure" today, since we finally had some free time. The first 15 minutes of said adventure was trying to find where Cory parked his car. The rest of the adventure including a lighting store and a grip store. We are definitely film students.

Tuesday, I discovered Ralph's... kinda. They told us where it was and that it was like Kroger. When Emily and I first went there, I walked in and said "It smells like Kroger!" I was really excited to find something that reminds me of home this far away. If you hear about me wandering the Kroger, it's because I probably got homesick. They have everything that Kroger had, which means every brand of all the foods (frozen dinners) I love to eat. Although I may not need them that much. My roommates have decided that we need to do family dinners, so we have. So far we have done three this week (which is more than I got at home). Turns out Christian loves to cook, and Matt's brother is a professional chef! At some point, it will be my turn to cook. That will be exciting... But if you have any delicious (simple) recipes, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mind sharing. I gotta bring something good to the table. Although, Cory DID only make hot dogs last night...


This week started with two classes a day. One from 9 to noon and one from 2 to about 5. The 9 o'clock was a ton of information about living in LA and how to be a good intern. The 2 o'clock was different every day. The first day we had a lesson from Karen and Jim Covell. Karen is the founder of the Hollywood Prayer Network and Jim is a composer (McGee and Me, Left Behind, Get Smart, etc.) They had a lot to say and it was very interesting to hear from Christians who work in Hollywood. Tuesday we had a class for Hollywood Production Workshop (HPW. Remember that, I'm not spelling it out again) where we learned about characters. I learned that my character/script is terrible and have since scratched them and started over. Wednesday we had a student video showcase. Basically, we got to see our competition. Just kidding. We got to watch videos of what our fellow students have worked on. It was a lot of fun. I was going to put in a video, but the music video Emily and I did is at home. So we couldn't show it.

Yesterday, those of us in the Narrative Storytelling class had a 10 to 5 class. "Good God!" Yeah, I know. It wasn't too bad though. Jeremy is a great teacher and it was all really interesting. Anything you could want to know about the parts of a story, I can get you information on. It was also our only lecture for that class. So that will make up for the long day. Today, I had a meeting with the Tech director (Patrick) and his wife and Housing Director (Sarah) to go over what my expectations are for the semester. They are also buying us lunch! Sarah and Patrick are funny people so it was a lot of fun. Actually, all the professors here are pretty entertaining. Tomorrow we will be getting a tour of the Dolby theater, previously the Kodak theatre. Also, the place where the Oscar's are held. Next week I have an interview to decide what places I should intern at. Chris (the internship lady) will then send out my resume and (hopefully) I'll have a job interview later in the week! I will be posting soon after I find out.

I am having a blast out here, and it still hasn't really hit that I'm living in LA. I'm sure it will hit soon though. I'm getting really excited to start this internship, whatever it is. I have heard of people working on well known films. Jeremy got to work on Titanic when he was here, and one of the other professors read the script for Brokeback Mountain, but passed* it. Hopefully one day, I can say that I read a screenplay or worked on a film like they did. A couple of people here already have internships too. I know a girl who is working at Ashton Kutcher's company and one of my roommates is hoping to get a job at MGM.

Be sure to check out Emily's blog too (link in the information at the top!) and ask her about the adventure to Ralph's, where we ONLY took left turns (Did I mention that there are NO protected left turns here?). That was fun. Until next time!

*Interns who work for producers are the ones who read the scripts. They then write a coverage (basically a book report, but for a script) of the screenplay and they can suggest one of three things to do with it. Recommend - "I think that this is a good investment for our company". Pass - "I don't think this is a good screenplay" or "I don't think this screenplay is right for our company". Maybe - "I don't really know how I think about this script soooo... I'll just pick this one"