Taking Advantage of a “Career Lull”: Using My Words

What do I have in common with Steve Martin, Tina Fey, James Franco, and Andrew McCarthy? We’re actors who are also writers. You read that correctly, Andrew McCarthy is, in fact, a writer. He’s an award-winning travel writer. Check out some of his stuff on National Geographic Traveler. Now, I’m not talking about actors who all of the sudden want to “write” their memoirs, and get a ghost writer to do it for them. I’m talking about people with actual skills, who do their own writing. As a matter of fact, Tina Fey and Steve Martin actually STARTED OUT as WRITERS. I’m guessing they did it while they were pursuing acting as well, due to the fact that they are in both realms of the industry. Granted, there are those actors who have also written screenplays or stage plays, and blogs,  but that’s a different type of article all together.

I started acting when I was around the age of 8, maybe 9.  But I started making up stories as soon as I could talk. I even had an imaginary friend when I was 5 who I would tell my stories to. Her name was Jinglelyn, and again, I was 5. When I actually learned to read and write, writing took a back seat to performing onstage. I had found my passion for storytelling on stage. And I loved it. It’s my first love. Telling stories, no matter what shape or form, is what I love.

What I find funny now, is the fact that my parents kept giving me journals on my birthdays or Christmas, and I never really used them. I wasn’t really a “dear diary” type of girl anyways. It seemed sort of silly to recount my day on paper. I started writing short stories and plays, and when I got to high school, I helped start up the creative writing club at my all-girls, Catholic high school. I wrote stories, parts of novels I was working on, and seriously wanted to become a writer and an actor when I grew up. I was involved in anything creative. I sang in choirs, acted in the school plays and wrote stories. My English teacher even gave me a writing award my junior year of high school.  When I got to college, I majored in English because I love the element of story-telling, plot and characters. I thought it would help in the acting realm because I was able to learn about the different things that make up a good story. It was sort of like four years of script-analysis. I acted throughout college, even directed. My senior year of college, I got my first headshots and auditioned at my first major theater convention, which led to moving to NYC to study at Circle in the Square Theater School.

Within these past six years, I have been acting and putting writing on the back burner. I got my union cards and even pursued stand-up.  The closest I came to writing, before starting this blog, was stand-up comedy, which I still love because you can create your own material.  I started this blog because I wanted to get back into writing, and I wanted to write something from the perspective of an actor who was going through the ups and downs in their career. Not someone who is washed-up and giving advice. I’m still in the trenches and being in a  career “lull,” I have been writing about what I love. Movies I love, movies I loathe, anything and everything that has to do with the industry, with a unique perspective. It seems like I’m in good company of those who came before me. If you use all of your talents, it can lead to something. What that is, I don’t know. But I am pursuing my writing and my acting. So I guess I can add a back-slash to my job description. I’m a writer/actor. And I’m so glad you are reading my blog. Thanks.

YouTube: Re-Defining the Documentary

The documentary has always been one of my favorite genre of film. If done properly, a good documentary can make people rethink how they see the world, and the people who inhabit it. YouTube has been a  great place to find films in terms of  utilizing it as an archive. You can also discover self-produced indie films, as well as shows from overseas. People have taken to the streets to create  documentaries of their everyday lives. In keeping with the “Food on Film” theme, I found a documentary that I can’t find anywhere BUT YouTube from a producer in the UK. The documentary itself even has its own channel of the same name, Health Food Junkies, which deals exclusively with the raw food diet. I found it fascinating because I couldn’t actually find it on Netflix; and, as far as my research goes, it has not been distributed and is independently produced. Is this the new wave of documentaries? As a filmmaker, you are able to reach a broader audience in the comfort of their own home. Therefore, it might be to your benefit  to publicize your film via YouTube. Remember Kony 2012? The campaign became a famous one due to the 26 minute documentary on YouTube.

Here, for your viewing is the documentary Health Food Junkies. I am including it because I think it is interesting that this film decided to upload it to YouTube. I really haven’t heard anything else about it other than what’s publicized on the popular site.

DISCLAIMER: I am only including it to highlight people’s ability to make readily-available documentaries. My views and opinions about diet are not necessarily reflected within this film.  It is in 3 parts and uploaded to one channel:

Whether it is a documentary, archive footage, or an entire rare film, YouTube has become a valuable resource for filmmakers and actors alike.