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Friends,

I went to a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last Wednesday night, and I must say that it was an incredibly experience from start to finish. Two of the films original starts were in attendance as well and participated in a Q & A before the movie began. Keep in mind that 2012 marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the film. The male actor that was in attendance was Norman Lloyd, he’s turning 98 next week by the way. He was sharing his fondest memories with Chaplin which included playing 4 singles matches against him in tennis every week. And Claire Bloom spoke so well of Chaplin, noting his genius, passion, and work ethic. I can only hope that people will speak that highly of me some day.

I absolutely loved it and now I can say with confidence that I have a new hero and director/writer/actor to look up to and to draw inspiration from. My new goal is to watch his other three masterpieces, “Modern Times”, “The Dictator”, and “Gold Rush.” Luckily for me, I have them all in a 4 DVD box set, which includes “Limelight”, waiting for me when I return to NY in December.

P123

Friends, 

I hope that you’re all doing well. I have been extremely busy over the last two weeks, as you can imagine. My internship is incredible and I’m loving very minute of it. I am one of 4 interns but I work by far the most hours and everyone seems to enjoy having me both on set and in the office. The Technical Director in the control booth knows the rest of the interns names but calls me “Sy

Friends, 

My internship at Disney/ABC officially starts tomorrow. On the set of General Hospital, and the mentality is “here’s to trying new things and gaining new skills.” You’re learning all the time, whether you acknowledge it or you don’t. 

I also have a phone consultation with Vancouver Film School and a meeting with the admissions counselor to take a tour of the campus of the American Film Institute on Friday. I’m doing things today, so that I’ll be able to do things tomorrow. 

Talk soon my friends,
P123

Friends,

It has been sometime since I have posted an update. A lot has happened in the last couple weeks as you can imagine! I was officially hired today to be a Production intern fro the Disney/ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital and couldn’t be more excited to get on set! It’s going to be high paced and high energy! 

Since my first internship fell through because the production company had

Everything happens for a reason

            I lived the first 20 or so years of my life not believing that events and actions were connected in any way. I believed that things just happened, and that there was no rhyme or reason for any of them to have occurred. I also realized that I wasn’t a very positive person. Fast forward to now, where I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. Whether the reason presents itself within the first hour or not for a few years after something happens, there is always a reason for something having had occurred. And I’ve learned that this thought process is the number one reason why I am an incredibly positive person now.

            You’re probably asking yourself where this is going. And my answer for you is that this belief was applicable today when I was able to understand and appreciate the fact that the internship that I was supposed to be working at for the semester isn’t going to work out. That sounds like a pretty bad thing, doesn’t it? I mean, I should be pretty stressed out and worried about whether or not I am making the most of this semester, or whether or not I am missing out on opportunities to get valuable real world experience. But I’m not worried one bit, and here’s why:

            First of all, if my internship had begun at the beginning of the semester, I would never had the opportunity to be a production assistant on a commercial produced by Zach Snyder (Director of 300 and Watchmen)’s production company. And if this hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t have been able to be promoted to head PA for Day 2 of the shoot and I wouldn’t have been able to impress the producer of the shoot. And without that, I wouldn’t have been offered opportunities to work with the producer again later on during the semester. There’s no guarantee that my inaugural and inevitable Starbucks coffee run would have come any time soon. And anyone will tell you that, regardless of the stress level of your first coffee run, there’s nothing more liberating and relaxing than getting it out of the way.

            Second of all, if my internship had begun at the beginning of the semester, then I would never have been able to accept the opportunity to work at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. I would never have met Spike Jones, Jr. The man that has served as executive producer for this ceremony every year for the last decade and was the executive producer for the 2012 Writer’s Guild of America Awards. His father was a famous Jazz musician and composer. And this man has endless amounts of connections within the film and television industries. I would never have been able to meet the production manager who would tell me, as I left the Nokia Center for the last time, that whenever I need a job he’ll have one for me.

            And finally, if my internship had begun at the beginning of the semester, I would never have been able to learn as much as I have over my first 4 weeks here in Los Angeles. I have had the chance to meet and work with so many different people, to try new things that I would have never thought that I’d ever have the opportunity to try, and to learn skills that can be applied to all facets of my life (not just professional.)

            Was it going to be an amazing internship? Yes, of course. And this is because there really are no bad internships. But is my life worse off because I didn’t get to actually intern at the company? Nope, not even close. The internship was going to be in production, and I was going to be on a movie set every day which is a dream come true. The reason why the internship fell through is because the movie that I was supposed to work on didn’t get the green light. What I learned from this is first-hand experience with the fact that it is incredibly difficult to get films green lit for production and therefore nothing is certain in this industry. Not even an internship. And this knowledge is incredibly useful moving forward, especially as I begin to develop realistic expectations for how my time in the industry will play out.

The real lesson here is to remain positive in all situations. Learn to roll with the punches, appreciate everything whether good or bad, and make the most of every situation. If you do these things then you too will realize that everything happens for a reason. 

Celebrities are people, too

            Growing up, it was my belief that celebrities were the highest class of people. They were idolized for their talent, they had the nicest things (cars, clothes, houses, you get the picture), and they got to walk the red carpet. Side note: I always loved that no matter what the award ceremony was it was always called the red carpet, further adding to its wonder and exclusivity. I realize now, of course, that this idealistic belief that celebrities were gods among people was ignorant because as I have learned during my time in LA, no matter how brief, celebrities are people too.

            Sure, they are on the TV screen and everyone knows their names. Their names and faces are on giant billboards, facing crowded streets and highways, advertising the next best movie. People flock to department stores to buy perfumes so that they can smell like them. But, they’re people too.

            It wasn’t until the SULA group was invited to the taping of ‘Last Man Standing’ that I really got my first hand look at celebrities being themselves. Between takes the youngest daughter would dance to the music that played to keep the crowd hyped up. Hector Elizondo, realizing he had a few seconds before the next take, cleared his throat and then approached the crowd to dance salsa. And Tim Allen screwed up one of his lines with his co-star but was able to laugh it off and make fun himself when a writer offered him a script. And this gesture got the whole audience laughing as well.

            The main difference between people and celebrities is that celebrities are performers. They can make it seem like they are the strongest, the smartest, the nicest, most confident, and most talented people in the world. When in reality, and anyone who’s been around them when the cameras are off can tell you this, they can actually be the rudest, most self-conscious, and most selfish people in the world.  Celebrities aren’t perfect. They have needs, habits, desires, addictions, weaknesses, strengths, flaws, and imperfections just like the rest of us. But celebrities can also, and most times do whether positive or negative, serve as role models because of their work ethic, passion, and success during their lives.

            Celebrity status isn’t unobtainable, as seen with the incredible and sometimes surprising, success of reality TV. It is something to be proud of, and something that should never be taken for granted as only a small percentage of people will ever have it. I’m just glad that I know that celebrities have problems too and that no one’s life is perfect.