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Posts published by “Alex”

JHRTS FTW!

JHRTS FTW!

Let’s begin today with some awesome news:
My LEGACY script got the runner-up spot in this year’s JHRTS Pilot Script Competition (Drama Category)!

Celebrate good times, come on!

Incidentally, this seems like a great time to talk about how awesome JHRTS is.
No, this is completely unrelated to my pilot script placing.

In case you’re unaware, JHRTS stands for the Junior Hollywood Radio & TV Society. It is the (shocker!) junior branch of famed HRTS (a networking forum for top executives).

I have previously mentioned the importance of “industry” groups, specifically in my TV writer roadmap.
JHRTS is, simply put, a large (assistant-level) industry group that holds regular networking events, charity drives and topical panels. You can get a glimpse at some past events in their archives.

A recent example of an awesome JHRTS panel I attended is “Crafting a Career in Writing for Television“. As the name may or may not state outright, the topic of conversation was about having a career as a TV writer. The panelists were Community‘s Dan Harmon, Empire‘s Wendy Calhoun, Black-ish‘s Kenya Barris, The Comedians‘ Dan Grego & Doug Mand, and Silicon Valley‘s Amy Aniobi.
The best part about these panels is that the moderators usually have some prior relationship with the panelists, meaning that they get right down to the nitty-gritty. In this case, moderator Marcus Wiley honed down on legitimate TV writing career questions, as opposed to usual “TV writing 101” topics such as, say, the difference between a “spec script” and a “spec pilot”.

I joined JHRTS nearly five years ago, almost in time for their 2010 holiday party.
In November 2010, then-assistant Sam Miller made me a sweet deal on #TheGreyBox for me to join JHRTS, even if I wasn’t going to be able to attend the holiday party:

Sam: but i’ll make you a deal – if you buy a ticket + membership, i’ll treat you to a two hour open bar of your own some time after your birthday

Five years later, he still owes me those drinks! (Yes, Sam, I’ve kept all the IRC logs.)

But let’s get back on track.

The reason why I’m bringing up JHRTS is simple: when it comes to television networking, JHRTS is pretty much the go-to place outside of your usual spots (i.e. work and play).
Thanks to their events, I’ve met a lot of great people I wouldn’t otherwise have known; one of whom being CAA’s Matt Thilenius, who also name-dropped JHRTS in his interview.

I’m a big believer in the idea of “putting yourself out there”. In this industry, and this town, you have to be a part of the conversation.
That doesn’t mean constantly waving your scripts around, but it does involve human-to-human interaction.

This applies to you too. (Who? Me?)
Most writers have some form of social anxiety. (Why else would we retread behind pen and keyboard?) We rarely mingle outside our kin.
Putting yourself out there is hard, especially with people who, you feel, may not understand what you’re going through. The thing is, agents, managers and executives are people too.

“Networking” is a dirty word to a lot of folks. They go in expecting either the need to find someone to help them, or the need to sell themselves.
Instead, you should go in with the need to meet cool new people. Whatever happens after that is, well, whatever happens. Kind of like dating.
That’s also why “context” is key. Having a forum, a place where you can meet like-minded individuals who are also here (hopefully) to meet cool new people (you).

Enter: JHRTS. It’s a bunch of cool new people waiting to be met. Also, panels.

Finally, and since I rarely do it, I’m going to take this opportunity to pimp myself out (L’Oréal Paris told me I’m worth it).

Dear agents, managers and executives reading this post: definitely contact me to read my audience-backed industry-loved award-winning(ish) TV pilot LEGACY.
It has a proven track record of people saying it’s not the worst thing they’ve ever read. Plus, it even got second place in this year’s JHRTS Pilot Script Competition.
Contacting me is just a click away. Act now and you’ll get a free bag of Jelly Belly beans.
It’s an offer you can’t afford to refuse!

5 years in Hollywood (and the USA)!

5 years in Hollywood (and the USA)!

Today marks my official 5-year anniversary of living in Los Angeles. Hollywood. La la land. The city of broken dreams.

Five years ago (August 6, 2010), I moved out to LA from France not only without a car, but without a driver’s license. Or friends. After all, I’m a foreigner!

The first six months without a car were not great. And not just because “it’s LA” or because I didn’t know anyone.

Like many people, my first apartment–or sublet in this case–was horrid.
It was supposed to be furnished. When I got the place, I finally realized that, yes, there was a bed, a fridge, a stove…but that was it.
No sheets. No pillows. No utensils. No nothing.
Within the first 48 hours, I had to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy a ton of basic stuff I probably didn’t need, and then lugged it all the way back to to my place across town. In a bus. It was ridiculous.

As it turned out, the previous tenant also forgot to mention she had a certain moth infestation going in her closets.
Most of the clothes I had brought with me were destroyed within the first three months. Lovely.

Why am I telling this story now?

Well, for one thing– Holy shit! 2010 was FIVE YEARS AGO!

More importantly, I wrote about it during my very first update on my life in LA. Thinking about it again today made me ponder about how fleeting things are. More specifically, the famous adage that “life is what happens while we’re making other plans.” The good, and certainly the bad.
I didn’t expect the crap that I got. No one was there to drive me around and do my bidding (still no words on that last one). But I survived. I made it through. (Sort of.)

You can make due with what you have right now, but you still need to keep pushing forward.

Five years on, I’m still trudging my way through this town and the beast that is the entertainment industry. Cracking doors, knocking pavements, or something else that sounds like doing work.

Let me ask you something trite: where do you see yourself in five years?
Or how about: Where DID you see yourself in five years?

Nina Bargiel recently wrote a Medium article that caught my attention.
What hit home for me was this little bit:

There is an arbitrary line in the sand that we give ourselves:
By [age] I will have figured out [giant, important thing.
By 26 I will have figured out my career.
By 32 I will have figured out my love life.
By 41 I will have figured out my health.
This is a mathematical equation that is near-impossible to solve. Because all of the big stuff: work, love, health, involves hard work, yes, but it also needs a little bit of luck to make it through.

That impossible mathematical equation on life is something I’m still struggling with.
However many years later, I’m still getting used to the fact that, no, life isn’t a checklist with expiration dates attached to it.

We drive ourselves insane by setting arbitrary goals in the hopes of getting a packaged, predetermined life.
Yes, it’s nice to have aspirations and targets, but part of the journey (at least mine) is realizing not everything can be “controlled”, “scheduled”, “figured out”, or, you guessed it, “planned out”.

Life isn’t a biopic, or an autobiography, or a three-act structure, or a climactic hero’s journey.
As Opus once said: Life is life.

Five years strong. Let’s keep it going.
Here’s the next half-decade, and many more to come!