Travels and Thoughts

Even though I did just add a pathetic excuse for a post, I want to apologize for my lack of posting lately...believe it or not I have been a busy girl. I have been traveling a little and then people come and visit me! Because of the traveling and visitors I have been thinking a lot about a lot of things... that sounds really vague but I will explain.

Over the 4th of July I went to Portland, OR to have a reunion with my Miami Girls. Well as we all can expect I loved Portland. It is the perfect combination of chill. Everyone dresses comfortably and wears whatever kind of shoes they want which would be perfect for me and my uber sweaty feet. While it is also generally cool in Portland and not crazy hot like it was when we were there it would be great weather. Also, I wouldn't die of smog inhalation - clean mountain air....hmmmm!

The next weekend I went back home to Minnesota for a follow up lasik eye appointment. Man I love Minnesota...which I am sure people get tired of hearing. I went up to a cabin and enjoyed the atmosphere.

I have decided that if I were a big hot shot with a lot of money that then I would
A) be important enough that it wouldn't matter where I lived.
B) be able to make the business ventures around me!


Since I am not a big hot shot with a lot of money LA will do. I feel like I am too motivated and interested in my future career at this point in my life to move to what I think would be the perfect location to live.

Thinking about your future can hurt your head - Uff-da!

That is Sooooo L.A...

My first week in LA I was dining with the Newcomer family as they celebrated Ali's graduation at Occidental. Throughout there time in LA they used this phrase to describe something that is completely ridiculous and would probably only happen in LA. I saw this billboard in the airport and decided to write about things that were so LA. Here is my mini list... feel free to post a comment on what you feel is SOOOO LA!

- That people will flock to a city for a pop stars death and then asks it's citizens to help pay for the $4 million it cost to close down freeways and have extra security for the 2 hour long event.

- That there are yogurt, cupcake and doughnut shops on every street like Starbucks even though more than half of the city's population is on a diet.

-That there is a 30 degree difference in a 20 mile radius of the city. 80's on the beach at Venice and Santa Monica, 90's downtown and 100's in the valley.

Hello, My Name is Kelley and I am an Awkward Mover

I have been in LA for just over a month and I have learned, met, discovered many thing about this town...some that I like and some that I dislike. I like how there are cupcakes bakeries all over the place. Probably anyone that knows me even the slightest bit knows that I LOVE cake/cupcakes. I talk about cupcakes all the time...my inner (and if I don't control the cravings the outer) fat kid is coming out. I like the different areas but I am not sure where I would want to live when I graduate and move back to LA which is semi-frustrating because I like to know these things. On the plus side this means I could be happy living in multiple places.

I am really enjoying my internships and I don't think I could've been more fortunate this summer. At Regency I get to work with great people and get good opportunities. Today I asked the exec who hired me and Miami Alum, Navid, if I could sit in on a pitch sometime. I was SO nervous to ask him but it paid off and I am working with his assistant to find a pitch that works for both of us!

At ABC, Zack's departure led to Adam(the intern on MWF) and myself to take over his desk which is awesome because we are getting GREAT experience and are practically assistants. I can't tell you how excited/nervous I was last Friday when I got to roll calls with the execs!! At Disney/ABC, everyone is really nice and open to helping you out. The VP of Comedy Development said that she is going to get us (interns) into a table read!!! For those of you who don't know what a table read is, it pretty is when the cast of a show, sits around a table in a conference room and reads through the script in there character! Another exciting opportunity is that I met the head of West Coast Recruitment in the elevator the other day and we are finding at time to get lunch next week!

Now I feel like this has been kind of a lame post so I am going to quickly explain the title of this post. On Friday, fellow intern Kelly invited me to this party in Venice. Now there were a lot of people there and there was a dance area and I don't really like to dance because I am an awkward mover but I did it anyway because I needed to stick with the people I drove with so that I would be left in Venice. Therefore, this party has taught me that I do not like crowds, especially when I don't know anybody at the party very well, and that I really don't like to dance.

Ways to Get Ahead @ Work

While sitting at my desk at ABC today I was thinking about ways to get ahead at work. These thoughts were spurred by the recent departure of one of the assistants at ABC, Zack, who just got a sweet new gig as an assistant for the No. 2 guy at FOX, whose name of course I can't remember. ( I seriously need to look into this memory loss thing...LA is causing it I swear). Thinking about his promotion and being given the opportunity to sit at his desk on the days I am here has prompted the wheels in my head to start rotating about ways to get ahead at work. With a little bit of imagination oil acting as WD-40 to make them turn more efficiently, here are some things I have come up with:

* Saving your Boss's life- I came up with this one while in the bathroom. Imagine that you walk into the bathroom and find your boss/president of the company unconscious on the floor. Not only are you concerned about her well being but you also recognize this promotion opportunity. So you naturally and flawlessly begin CPR (because she doesn't have a pulse, duh!) and look good while doing it. You are also secretly thankful that you paid attention to all of the refresher CPR courses that you had to take while working at the REC center in college. After a few short minutes, you check and see that her heart as indeed started to beat again. By now of course there is a crowd of people around you letting you know that an ambulance is on its way. After another few short minutes of rescue breathing your boss/ president of the company regains consciousness and thanks you profusely for saving her life. You tell her not to talk because she is in a delicate state and right about that time the ambulance people come up and take over. Everyone is really impressed with your quick thinking and fast acting skills and would like to see that applied in the business setting since you are getting promoted to an executive level position. SCORE!

*Intra-Office Fraternization in a Sexual Manner (IOFS)- Strongly disadvised and commonly frowned upon, not to mention your co-workers will not like you! However, to each his/her own but proceed cautiously. You never know who else has dabbled in the office coffee pot and what diseases could be lurking in there...this metaphor can be extended to water coolers and candy bowls.

* Sucking Up- This includes but is not limited to bringing your boss her/his favorite cupcakes or daily coffee (even on Saturday and Sunday). Lame.

* Hard Work - Often overrated and probably the oldest trick in the book but still a good play that is sadly not used enough.

In my professional and generally sought out opinion I would go with Saving Your Boss's Life and Hard work. Opportunities to save your Boss's life are rare and hard to find, so either create the opportunities or go with hard work which is available all the time.

Orientation @ ABC

On Friday, I had orientation at ABC. It was a great opportunity to meet other interns that are working for The Walt Disney Company. I met some great people from all over the place, including fellow intern in comedy development Adam who goes to Kenyon and dislikes Ohio as much as I do. After watching some DVDs that welcomed us to the company we started the tour. My half of the group started in the archives. Like the name suggests the archives houses EVERYTHING disney, including books, awards, watches and statues, etc. Cool things there- scratch that, everything was cool there- were the Wardrobe from The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, original cartoon slides used in the multiplane camera for Sleeping Beauty, AND the 36 Oscars that Walt Disney has won.Speaking of Oscars, I GOT TO HOLD ONE OF WALT DISNEYS OSCARS!!! He makes them look like they don't weigh a thing but they are VERY HEAVY.

After the archives the lot tour continued on to sound stages (inlcuding the Julie Andrews Sound Stage where she filmed Mary Poppins and Princess Diaries) and to the old Animation building where the underground tunnels where used to film most of the Alias tunnel scenes. In reality these tunnels were used to connect the animation building to the Ink & Paint building. They used these in case the weather was too poor to walk the cartoon slides across the street. We were also told that when Roy E. Disney was young, he would take these slides from Ink & Paint and would slide down the tunnels on them. EEEK! Our guide said that when Roy talked about this as an adult he laughed because he knew he was ruining these slides but he also knew that nobody would tell on him because he was the son and nephew of the guys in charge.

This is a sign that sits on Plutos Corner. Read the directions, which don't correspond to the locations of the actual places on there.

After the tour, it was pretty boring and you don't want to hear about it. Trust me.

Since I met a lot of nice people I hope that we all start hanging out soon!

First Week at ABC

The first week of June marks the first week of work at ABC! As you may or may not know, I work in ABC's comedy development department on Tuesdays and Thursdays! So far it has been very chill and very cool. Everyone here is so nice- literally EVERYONE...you would think we are in Minnesota or something. Hehe- get it Minnesota nice. never mind. I work on the 10th floor which is the executive floor complete with security guards. No other floor except the ground floor entrance has their own security. This way any crazy actors, writers or directors who have been denied won't retaliate/seek revenge. Probably a good idea because LA has some crazies.

I work in cubicle 10120 ( yes I had to check that). So far my nameplate is empty but I am thinking about filling it in (by hand of course) so that I fit in, or rather stand out because everyone else's is typed. Anywho, in my cubicle I have a computer (which I had problems turning on and then entering the unknown password), every kind of CD case you could want and a TV!!!!!! Everyone here has a TV in their cubicles and they are on all day! I love ABC.

My first day they asked me to make some copies. Naturally I went to the copy machine and started punching the appropriate buttons; however, there was a paper jam so I opened the paper door. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT............. a plastic piece fell out of the machine!!! So I am freaking out. I haven't even been there for an hour and I BROKE the copier. This is obviously not something you can fix by turning the copier on and off (which is the common solution for copier problems). After many attempts to put the piece back, I succumbed to humiliation and embarrassment and grabbed Megan one of the assistants. She found this hilarious of course. She also attempted to put the piece back but failed like myself. Instead she used her cordless headset to call IT Services and get the problem fixed. You go girl! A couple of people and I laughed about this throughout the day but I still cannot believe that happened. SERIOUSLY! The first day working at my dream network and I brake the copy machine. That WOULD happen to me on the first day!

As I said earlier, I work Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am - 7pm. This week I worked a half day on Wednesday to help them out but it was DEAD here so all I did was watch pilot episodes that have been picked up by the network. They have some great shows but they also have a few that I won't be surprised don't get picked up after the short order (6 episodes). One of the dramas is called happytown and it is based in Minnesota! Like everything based in Minnesota it doesn't portray Minnesotans realistically in some aspects but very well in other aspects.

When I am not watching TV I am attending to my other duties. Some of my duties other than making copies when I can, is copying DVDs. Pretty much I burn copies of the shows we are developing or that other networks are developing. Yes, you read correctly I have access to all the shows on our network and competitive networks shows for next fall! AWESOME! There is a special room for that and there I have met a lot of people. I have met the other interns Dickie and Alison along with some assistants. Dickie is a doll and helps me when I have questions. Alison is really nice and we exchanged information and got lunch today! That's right I have friends to get lunch with. Steve, the guy who gave me my internship, saw me waiting downstairs for Alison and was asking if I was waiting for someone. I said yes and said that I made friends with another intern and that I do have friends. He laughed.

Alison and I are talking about going to Universal studios and she told me about sweet places to go, including Sprinkles a cupcake bakery that is to die for delicious. She also told me about this cool thing that the company does where we go to Disneyland before it opens and we have canoe races across a lake in Disneyland. HOW COOL DOES THAT SOUND?!?!?! We don't know how we sign up for it but I have intern orientation tomorrow so I am going to find out.

Only in LA...

Only in LA...
1. Will you see a brass animal zoo in a front yard, a major car accident and a movie being filmed on the same street.
2.Will I run with my blackberry in one hand, keys in the other and a ipod on my arm.
3. Will I get paid to watch TV...I do other things too but today it was primarily watching pilots for next fall.
4. Will I walk past Steve Carell and stare.
5. Will I be amazed when it sprinkles and suddenly everyone forgets how to drive...oh wait no one in LA KNOWS how to drive anyway!
6. Will I be able to obtain un-aired episodes of TV- including pilots for next fall and episodes of pushing daisies for this summer!