Clever Blog Title

Happy 22nd birthday Ashlea!
Inappropriately, here's a picture from my birthday two years ago, but you get the idea. Party hats.



Yesterday I temped for the first time. I went to the Fox building in Beverly Hills and emptied drawers into boxes, then on Monday I will return to put those boxes of files back into different cabinets. I only worked a couple hours because my co-temp and I did the job pretty fast but I was making $15 an hour so I made a little bit of spending money. It was a boring office proving there are many (probably mostly) boring office jobs in the entertainment biz.

Last night a few of us went to Universal City which is an outdoor mall type place before the entrance to Universal Studios theme park. That just made me want to go to Universal Studios theme park. I ate an enormous cookie at Bubba Gump.

Here's a very, very early Oscar prediction. I predict that Heath Ledger is going to win Best Supporting Actor for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. I know you're saying "duh, Pete", but here's the twist. I predict that Daniel Day Lewis will accept the award on his behalf. At last year's awards shows, SAG and Oscars, Daniel Day said very nice things about Heath Ledger about how much he respected him, etc.

The Pastor Jones screenplay is going well. I am hopefully going to finish this weekend. I want to deliver the script by Thursday of this week. I'm also trying to work on some ideas for the next Pastor Jones movie so I can get another job with Nu-Lite. Pastor Jones Goes to Camp? Alien vs. Pastor Jones? James and the Giant Pastor Jones? You Don't Mess with the Pastor Jones? The Love Guru 2: Pastor Jones? The possibilities are endless.

WALL-E and Wanted come out today. I would see WALL-E but I'm not rushing out to see it, but Wanted looks awesome.

Jasper is on the internet!!





Watch it and tell everyone you know to watch it here:
http://web.mac.com/lafsc/iWeb/Films/Jasper.html

On Friday I played basketball with Rick Gonzalez aka Spanish from Old School. He was in Pulse, War of the Worlds, Biker Boyz, etc.



Then, as I was leaving, Joel Moore came to the court and I wished that they would know each other but I don't think they did. They have both been in Vince Vaughn movies though.

Earlier on Friday I turned in my Act One of the Pastor Jones script. The producer really liked it and only had one note about something that should happen later in the story. She left a message on my phone while I was at the gym.

So I was feeling really good about everything and then I went to the gas station and I waited forever for this woman, who wasn't even pumping gas, to pull away from the pump. I backed up to give her a lot of room and still waited for minutes. When she finally left the pump she sped up backwards and hit my car.









I should shoot the second half of a car crash scene now and the first half after I get my car fixed.

But so it's not that bad and I shouldn't have to pay anything but it is annoying and totally out of the blue. I'm probably not even going to call the temp place tomorrow so I can work on getting my car fixed. I also am supposed to talk to Nu-Lite and I need to talk to the technology director from the LAFSC about renting equipment but they announced at church this morning that his wife just had their baby this morning so he might not be in for the next few days.

Speaking of babies I talked to Mia on the phone today and she said to give her a shout out in my blog and I said "A shout out? No one says that anymore. Where have you been?" And she was like "Give me a break, I'm less than a week old." Then I said "You've been here almost a week and you don't even have a job yet? Slacker." Then she had to go because she had some errands to run and she had to start thinking about what to make for dinner, etc, etc.

I went to a BBQ at my mentor from Mr. Mudd's house last night and had a good time. He only lives a mile away so I might try and hang with that group more often.

Another thing I've accomplished:


So to recap, Tomorrow: get car fixed, get insurance claim figured out, talk to Nu-Lite, Send Ashlea's birthday present, Send thank you note to my uncle, e-mail Patrick about renting equipment, write a Black Christian screenplay, gym, maybe thrift, maybe finish reading The River (The sequel to Hatchet)

Sounds pretty good.

Does anyone have any questions that I haven't answered?

I saw Joel Moore at my gym again yesterday so I guess he just goes to the same gym as me. That's awesome. I bet he gets so many dodgeball challenges every time.

If you look at the comments for two posts ago I'm pretty sure David Wain, director of Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten, creator of "Wainy Days" commented on my blog. "Wainy Days" is great, it's on www.mydamnchannel.com and you should watch every episode every day. I watched a show called "Horrible People" on that site too and it's funny also if you like the Wet Hot American Summer, "The State" guys. Also, the woman who plays the Flight of the Conchords number one and only fan is on that show. I'm not thinking that David Wain needs my endorsement or anything but I do like his stuff a lot. All that said I'm going to go fondle my sweaters.

I met with Nu-Lite today. We signed some paperwork so it's a done deal. We have a working title and we're going to start casting as soon as I get Act One done, which will either be tonight if I work on it or tomorrow if I don't get called in to temp.

I have one day less than a month to finish the script, get a crew, and rent the equipment. Not so bad since I don't have a real job yet.



Over 2000 views, thanks guys. I'm taking into consideration that probably 1000 of those are just Ashlea.

Last week I played basketball with Joel David Moore from Dodgeball, The Hottie and the Nottie, etc. He used to be my favorite commercial star way back when. I was playing at the LA Fitness in Universal City where I go and he just walked in and started running with us. He was good. I jammed my toe and our team lost so he probably hates me.

He's the tall guy with the slicked down hair.


I've met and talked to Nu-Lite on the phone a couple times since last week. I got the correct movie with the characters I was supposed to watch on Friday. It's called Pastor Jones 4: Sisters in Spirit 2. The quality was much higher than Pastor Jones 2. I watched the movie on Saturday and instantly got ideas for my story. I finished outlining the script yesterday and I'm going to send a 5 page treatment to the producer in an hour or two, once their offices open. If she likes it then I'm going to start on the script (I'm also going to ask when I get mah moniez, because I'm not going to give them a completed script without it. I'm also going to register it with the WGA so they don't try to scam me) and since I outlined it so precisely it should only take me a couple of days, depending on if I get temp work or not. I called them already this morning and I just have to wait to see if they have anything.


This is kind of cool. This is the first time I outlined with note cards. Some screenwriters do it and it worked well on this type of story. The top row is ACT I, ACT II, and ACT III then rest are scenes or important things that happen in those Acts.

I'm going to try and shoot the movie July 18th-27th. I made the story easy to shoot. Minimal locations and characters, but a good story. I even put a Grandpa Slick cameo in there.

Other than all that I've been trying to keep busy. I saw The Happening which wasn't very good. I went to Nathan's church. I thrifted yesterday and put some stuff on eBay. I'm watching a lot of movies. I'm trying to feel OK about not working but I guess I am working because I'm getting paid to write the script and I probably will get a temp job at some point soon. If not then I'm supposed to start working at VER in July.

Happy Father's Day the other day and today Ashlea's Brother's fiance is having her baby Mia.

Nu-Lite sent me Pastor Jones 2: Lord, Please Guide my 16 year old Daughter. There were aspects of it that were funny.

Grandpa Slick is played by a younger guy but his wife is played by an actual old woman and Slick keeps making jokes about them dying and other jokes about them "getting freaky." That is really disturbing because the lady has got to be in her 80s.

The production value was lower than low. It look like it was shot on a regular consumer grade camera (maybe not even a 3-chip). Most outdoor shots were overexposed. In a few shots you could see a box light's reflection. In most of the indoor shots the lighting was very harsh like they just pointed that same box light right at the actors. I think that I could succeed where PJ 2 failed though. The story wasn't that bad (it wasn't great though and it jumped around considerably) and some of the acting, especially from Pastor Jones/ Grandpa Slick was good.

The characters I was supposed to be watching for weren't in the movie at all.

It seemed like the mom was the one messing up, the daughter was making mostly good decisions. She took one hit from a joint but other than that she abstained from her boyfriend's advances, turned down some beer, went to Bible study, gave a great (read: not great) sermon at the end, etc.

I hope all of Pastor Jones' sermons talk about da club. He asks the congregation something like "how many fellas stalk they woman in the club?"

I'm optimistic. I'm supposed to meet with Nu-Lite today or tomorrow.

I sent my resume to Sony Animation to be considered for a paid internship. My supervisor from Mr. Mudd e-mailed me about it.

I'm stoked to get the internet tomorrow.

5 days until Wainy Days season 3!!

I will finally have the internet at my apartment on Thursday. In the past two days I have seen two different people here at the North Hollywood library wearing the same shirt that says "I'm really excited to be here."

I talked to Nu-Lite and if the movies don't come today I'm going to pick them up at the office tomorrow. Finally Pastor Jones.

Writing wise I finally started to get my act together again. I'm working on my screenplay titled The Happenstances at the Yellow County Community Swim and Racquet Club the Summer Before Last. It's is kind of a prequel to Suicide Watch except about 7 years pass in between.

Ashlea was questioning why I would use the sauna at my gym. Here's an article explaining why:
If you enjoy using gyms and fitness suites, you may have wondered about the health contribution of the often-present sauna. Benefits of sauna use include improved respiratory function, healthier skin and a stronger heart, yet still very few people take advantage of them. Perhaps it's hard to believe that sitting around relaxing can do you so much good, but sauna benefits are real and can make a big difference to your overall health.

It's easy enough to understand how a sauna benefits the lungs. Breathing in hot, steamy air is a common treatment for a cold. A sauna benefits the lungs by cleaning out mucus and improving blood flow in the surrounding capillaries, stimulating the delicate passageways in the lungs which don't always get used. This can help to fight lung infections such as bronchitis. A sauna benefits other areas of the respiratory system such as the sinuses, which is why sauna benefits can include getting rid of headaches.

Regular use of a sauna benefits the skin by improving blood flow across it, bringing it a better supply of nutrients. This occurs because the body responds to heat by relaxing blood vessels in the skin, trying to cool down by letting heat escape through them. The skin also enjoys sauna benefits through sweating, which cleanses the pores.

Other notable sauna benefits include exercise for the heart. Using a sauna benefits the heart by increasing the speed at which it pumps blood around the body, another natural response to heat. This is equivalent to working out on exercise machines, which is why sauna benefits are appropriate to the gym environment.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Enjoy-Sauna-Benefits&id=649120

I didn't know any of that stuff until I just read it a minute ago, I just said that I liked to get a good sweat going.

Drew Payton, Jeff, Justin, Jason (after NYU with all his new contacts of course), etc should move out here and we'll all work at VER or whatever and rent the equipment for free and after we shoot Pastor Jones 7 or whatever (if that doesn't skyrocket us to fame) work on our own features on the weekends and get into festivals. I'm pretty sure Steve Holt would be down.

First thing, Ashlea is dying to see what my room/apartment looks like so here are some pictures (these are from a few days ago before Nathan had all his stuff out so it's a little more cluttered in the pictures than it is now):

my room

















My bathroom





fireplace in the living room



the living room





kitchen



My mail has been messed up lately and I haven't been getting my Netflix. I also haven't received Pastor Jones 1 or 2 yet because of it. Nu-Lite said I should have gotten them by now. I'm pretty sure I corrected it so I can get mail now but who knows what all I've missed.

I had an interview at Co-op Temp Agency this morning. They said they would call me when they had work for me but they didn't know when that would be.

I set up an interview at VER Video Equipment Rental for Thursday. They pay is pretty good. After 90 days you start to get benefits and you can rent the equipment for free and they have everything. That looks like what I'm going to do for a bit while I figure out this Nu-Lite deal. It will also give me time to write when I'm not working I suppose.

I joined a gym that has an outdoor heated lap lane pool, a sauna, hot tub, and a basketball court.

My parents are moving to Nashville in two weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

I'm here at a North Hollywood Library because my internet is temporarily out while we switch names on the account. It's kind of a freakshow in here.

I have a meeting with a temp agency on Monday that caters specifically to film and television production jobs. I was referred by Erica, that's where she got her start and now she's a writer on "Criminal Minds" plus she wrote for "The OC" so if I could follow in her path that'd be great.

I also have an application for VER, a film and video equipment rental warehouse where I would make good money and be able to work a lot of hours and save some money. I'm still thinking about what I want to do though. I'm also considering doing background acting (extra) work because it sounds fun, you get to be on real sets, and the money is also pretty good. I need to decide soon though, I'm getting stir crazy at my apartment all day.

I'm awaiting the delivery of the movies I'm supposed to watch for Nu-Lite. They might be here today, I haven't gotten the mail yet. This is what I'm waiting for:


So, as you can see, I have hours of entertainment/research ahead of me to enter the world. I don't know if I can discuss exactly what the movie they want me to do is about but it is related to Pastor Jones' world. Apparently the Pastor Jones series is popular among their viewers.
Here's the website where my movie will be distributed (I'm saying all this presupposing that the movie actually gets made):
http://www.blackchristianmovies.com/buymovies.html

The next step with that process is that I have to watch those movies and start outlining and take another meeting with Nu-Lite.

Here's a couple pictures from my drive out here with my dad:

our home

and

a very L33t rest stop

this is from my time back home:

some buds

In other news, my roommate has a juicer and my new favorite thing to do is make juice and my new favorite thing to drink is the juice I made.

Note to self: start bringing my camera more places. I was at the thrift stores yesterday and I saw a bunch of interesting things that I didn't want to buy but I wanted to document them. I'm selling things on EBay again by the way. If you want to bid on some silly t-shirts you can go here: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZpeter15h

Hopefully I'll have some good stuff to share tomorrow or later this week. I hope this was a fun post, I know I had a great time posting it.

It is still too early to say much but I had a meeting with Nu-Lite Entertainment today and they offered me the chance to direct a very, very (very) low budget FEATURE LENGTH MOVIE. They already have a basic story and it's a spin off of one of their previous series of films.

The producer went to the LAFSC screening because she is friends with one of the actors in Death and Money. She saw Jasper, then approached me after the screening, and we traded information. She called me while I was back home helping my parents move and we set up a meeting for when I got back. So it has been a very fast process.

They're sending me the previous films to watch so I can get acclimated to the world and to the characters. The producer told me to give her a call once I've watched them and we'd start doing some paperwork, writing an outline, etc.

I have to rent equipment, assemble part of the crew, and start thinking of the story generally.



I am beyond excited.