Welcome To L.A.

It was just a dream, the disdain of my surroundings served up on a tray
No money and no experience, but I left anyway
22 years is a long price to pay
when you're longing for something more day after day
My friends and family, their full support on display
Choked up and speechless, was left with nothing to say
Bags were packed and loaded, all there was to do was pray
Please let it be worth it, I'd whisper in hotel beds as I lay
Trees eroded into plains, so far from the beautiful red Georgia clay
Maybe we should turn back, I thought for a moment and then said nay
Returning to my sense, something deep inside I knew I had to slay
A renewed vigor excorcised the doubt, no time for my confidence to sway
Its so easy to get lost in the grey
Immaculate complexity, all of life consists of opportunities from which we weigh
Eventually entering into the land of dreams and angels, careful to not be lead astray
My old dreams became reality, endless information on my mind like a boat on a restless bay
Go here, no go there, and endless array
Diverse and dying inhabitants gleaming in an ever-present gamma ray
Too dry to walk, no water to spray
Why am I here I pondered, then he yelled and said "HEY"
What did you say? Where you referring to me or they?
Opportunity himself pat me on the back and assured me everything would be okay
Time passed, slowly finding myself, not to sound too cliche
But this truly is a land of chances and opportnuties, an "all you can" eat artist buffet
Sometimes I feel as though it is unjust, a gift wrapped in a bouquet
The trick is to take advantage before the gift begins to decay
It's hard though, to illustrate exactly what I'm trying to convey
The pride, success, and anguish of an artist always on full dispay
Now park your vehicle of destiny, even if you have to use valet
Your journey is soon to follow, be careful not to delay
I hope one day my example will shine like a beacon to welcome you to L.A.



-Cam-

What Is Art??

What is art? It's such a simple question but its one that no one can quite answer. If you polled 5 random people on the street they would all have different responses. Now that I am slowly becoming entrenched into the world of entertainment  I have been asking myself the same question. Are studio productions any more or less artful than their independent counterparts? Should something that has garnered mainstream attention be held in the same regard as something no one has ever seen? Must we be forced to pay for art or should it be handed to the masses? Are we art? Is life art? Okay fine, I'll stop the rhetorical questions before it gets a bit too existential but my point stands. These questions are quite common despite their inherent complexity. Never have I pondered this conundrum more than when I took an impromptu visit to LACMA to "witness" the art of Kanye West.

For my dear friends in Georgia, LACMA stands for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Many of you have probably noticed the famous "Urban Lights" pictured above.  The lines between "fine art", music, and film are blurred to the point of becoming indistinguishable. Me being in film and a huge fan of all things music,  I jumped at the opportunity to see a Kanye West short film being exhibited at the museum. To make things crazier, the film was directed by none other than Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave). This union between these two masters of their crafts filled me a mixture of great anticipation and hesitancy; both in equal measure. Regardless of this, myself and a caravan of my fellow bulldogs headed to the museum for the event.

Without ruining the experience for everyone, I truly do think everyone should see this for themselves, I'll attempt to give you a little context into what I saw. First, it's important to note that the film center's around two songs from Kanye's upcoming album. For this reason it feels much more like a music video than a conventional film. Another interesting thing to point out is that the entire 9min "event" is shot in one take. There is a "chase" like aesthetic to the entire thing with many comparing it to a matador and his bull. I don't know if I completely agree with that but there is definitely some subverted text present. One on hand you can view it as Kanye running from the "gaze" of our world or you can watch it as Kanye just being Kanye; rife with pretension and all. My interpretation? That is a little more complicated.

Through a film perspective, I would be lying if I said this wasn't expertly shot. Any filmmaker's blood pressure would raise to unsafe levels if they knew they had to shoot something in one take for over 9 minutes using only natural lighting. From a musical standpoint I think most people will have to get over two major hurdles. First, you either like Kanye's music or you don't. Secondly, and more importantly, the booming base present was so overpowering that it was difficult to hear the other elements of the song during the viewing. I do not however know if the blame should be placed on the audio mix or the venue. The booming presence may have also been purposeful which is something to consider. After three viewings, I really could not decide if I liked what I saw or not. I could not shake the feeling that if this exact project was made by someone with less acclaim no one would ever see it or even give it much thought. What I can say confidently though is that when I left LACMA that day I left with more questions than answers; the most prominent of those being,what the hell is art anyway?

Cam vs LA Housing

                                                              (www.telegraph.co.uk)

Oh how hard it is to find housing in LA!

Endlessly searching Craigslist day after day

They said moving out here would be such a good change

But everything out west seems so far out of my price range

What do I do when I have nowhere to go?

I have had many highs, but this is a very low low

Options running thin, my dealdline not very far

Sorry mom, but I may have to live out of my car

Time to move quickly before this situation turns sour

I'm not asking for much, just a couch and a shower

"Is there anyone out there that can help me?" I yell and I weep

I'll take anyone as long as they don't murder me in my sleep

Maybe I should calm down and be more positive

Something will turn up if I'm creative and causative

The city of angels is quite transitive after all

I'll have to search every nook and cranny, no matter how small

So prey for me friends as I sit here and lay

And please understand me when I say

Oh how hard it is to find housing in LA!

Endlessly searching Craigslist day after day

-Cam-

Maintain Your Contacts!

During my junior year at UGA I had the opportunity to meet Jessica Dicicco; a voice actress known for various roles including the portrayal of the Flame Princess (pictured above) on Cartoon Network's Adventure Time!. She made her way to Athens as a favor to one of my professors who had known her years prior during his teaching days at Syracuse. I was and still am extremely interested in the production of animated programs so I felt that hearing someone such as herself, being knee deep in the industry, speak would be a great opportunity. As expected, her anecdotes about her journey into voice acting were quite intriguing to me so I decided to talk to her after everything was over. I then learned that she would be exploring the Athens bar scene afterward for some drinks. Without hesitation, I jumped on the opportunity to join.

The night of bar hopping was a great experience, and yes I was of age in case you guys were wondering. Without knowing it at the time, this was one of my earliest memories of networking with a professional. We talked, I continued to learn, and then she left to prepare for her flight back to LA. I thought this was probably the last time I would ever see her; I was wrong. Fast-forward to August of my senior year at UGA. I'm minding my own business when I receive a random text message from my professor. The message said that Jessica would be coming to the annual Dragoncon in Atlanta and was in need of a handler. A handler is basically an assistant. They handle money, fan interactions, schedules ect. I quickly said yes even though it meant I would miss the first home game of the season vs Clemson. This would also prove to be the only home game I missed in my four years at Georgia. My professor recommended me and Jessica was in to the idea since she remembered me from the afformentioned night in Athens.

The morning of Dragoncon arrived and I was almost late to the hotel due to Atlanta parking. Luckily, I made it just as they were heading to their first panel. To my surprise, Jessica was accompanied by Jeremy Shada, The voice of Finn on Adventure Time!, and Niki Yang, another prominent voice actor on the show who is also an animator and storyboard artist. Being at the panel was amazing because I had backstage access with the stars. Seeing the thousands of Adventure Time! fans in the crowd was also a crazy experience. In between panels and interviews, the actors man booths where they sell merchandise. This is where the bulk of my work resided. I promoted merch, kept the line moving, and controlled fan interaction. It was a very fast paced environment but I learned quite a bit about the industry. Highlights included walking on stage during a panel and eating a fancy dinner with the cast of Arrow. 

Now friends, Jessica told me to contact her if I ever made it out to LA. In the year preceding my journey out west, I periodically emailed her just to keep in contact. She was extremely helpful in my transition including the internship search. She has also been an amazing resource for me while I have been here since I always have a TON of questions. Yesterday (7/20/15) I actually met Jessica for lunch. She is helping me with my ongoing battle to find housing here in LA and has once again been an invaluable resource. I tell this story to illustrate the importance of having a network of people to help you out. This friendship was the result of a series of a very random series of events, but I would be much more loss out here if I did not keep up with this contact. And adding another friend to your life is never a bad thing.

Full Frontal!!!

Now that I've hooked you with the title, I will give you one of those strange intern stories that I find quite hilarious. Word of warning, this story deals with some slightly graphic subject matter but I'll make sure to keep it clean for the kids. Additionally, I'll even try and make this a little educational for you lovely readers. I know you are reading this and sweating with hot anticipation for my story, but first I will provide you with the "boring", depending on who you talk to, stuff so you can have a background as to why this story is important. Without further ado, I present to you the story of Good Universe's interesting relationship with the MPAA.

For those of you that don't know, the MPAA stands for the Motion Pictures Association of America. The MPAA is responsible for determining film ratings which has surprisingly big business implications. Just as a quick reminder, the ratings range from G to NC-17. While a movie rated G may be open to all audiences, it comes with a certain connotation; alienating certain groups from wanting to see the film. On the flip side, a movie rated R is more restrictive but may be taken more seriously by pretentious film buffs such as myself. Often times, an indie film will strive to get an R rating for that very reason. If your film receives an NC-17 rating it will only be exhibited in special theaters which is bad business. Films will then have to be re-edited to achieve an R rating. Remember this fact because it is integral to my story. The last tidbit of information I will give you is that the MPAA values drug use, language, and sex more explicit than violence. In Europe, violence is considered much more explicit than sex. I just found that interesting.

Now, on to my story. Unfortunately, I will have to be extremely ambiguous due to the Non Disclosure Agreement I signed but you should be able to follow. So Good Universe is producing a film scheduled to be released in the Fall. There is a scene in the film that involves a certain shot of a male that many would find inappropriate. I think you understand what I'm saying, if you need hints look back up at my title. Anyway, the MPAA decided that this was enough to give the film an NC-17 rating. As I have told you before, this is bad business. Instead of opting for a re-cut, and this is where the story gets strange, they tasked interns with scanning through other R rated films and taking screen shots of "similar situations" if you follow what I mean. Since I was familiar with a lot of the films on the list, don't judge me, I was recruited to help. So for the next few hours, myself and another intern selected the best "shots" and compiled them. Once we were done, we compiled the pictures and sent them in to one of the assistants. I would LOVE to see the look on the NSA agent's face who was monitoring that email conversation.

Another tidbit I found interesting, mainly cause I had never given it much thought, is the process of obtaining said "image" for use in you film. In our case, one of the assistants was on the phone all day with a porn star's manager negotiating deals for licensing out his "package". So the next time you see nudity in a film, think about the poor interns who made it all possible.

The Ins-N-Outs of International

For my latest lunch in, I had the awesome opportunity to sit down with the International Division of Good Universe made up of Helen Lee-Kim, Akshay Mehta, Micheal Meyer, Brent Jack, and Kristina Starner. I think it would be safe to say that the average moviegoer never really considers the importance of international sales to the film industry. In fact, international sales can make up as much as 75% of a total film's gross. This is due in large part to China becoming a big player in importing films in the last decade.For this post though, I will try my best to layout certain international factors and explain how producers such as Good Universe do business. Once again, I am relaying this info in incredibly broad strokes and it should be noted that I am no expert on the subject myself.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, it is important to understand how international distribution is handled based on the size of the producer. For this example, I will separate studios, independent studios, and independent producers into three categories. Studios are obviously the biggest and would be represented by something like Universal or Sony. Independent studios fall in the middle and are represented by an entities such as Lionsgate and EuropaCorp. Independent producers are the smallest and Good Universe falls into this category. After a project receives the "greenlight" by a studio the studio will then self distribute the film domestically and abroad. While the studio maintains autonomy over the film, which is ideal, if the film fails to perform up to box office expectations the studio loses money. An independent studio on the other hand will also self distribute domestically but will license the rights to the film abroad. The indie studios still hold the same domestic risks as the bigger studios studios but if they are able to sell their licenses for a good price over seas they can see a nice payday. On the flip side of this, if they sell their licenses and the film happens to do much better than projected, they may lose money. Independent producers such as Good Universe have a little more flexibility. They can either go to a studio and let the studio distribute the film worldwide or, and this is more likely, they take a film and sell it to individual foreign markets therefore splitting the rights by territory. An advantage to this strategy is that Good Universe can ask for an MG or a minimum guarantee. This means that even if the film bombs they are protected in their investment. The negative side to this though is you may have lost a business partner over seas if the film you sold them fails to perform.

 

 Since there are so many risk factors that go into selling a film internationally, it is extremely important to do good research. One of, if not the most important thing, is to understand what kind of films do well overseas. Action flicks tend to travel well while comedies have trouble. There are various cultural factors that go into this but the most important thing to understand is the importance of "high concept vs low concept". A high concept film can be defined by one symbol or a couple of words. A good example would be the batman symbol. The higher the concept of a film the better the probability of a film doing well overseas since there are less cultural and or language barriers present. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but if you have ever seen the British version of The Office you see very quickly that cultural references that make people laugh in the UK are lost on American audiences.

 

Lastly, and for me the most interesting aspect of the international team, is the fact that they basically run a separate business outside of Good Universe. It takes a lot of work to run an international department, that is why many studios just outsource the international part of the business to entities such as Good Universe. Many scripts that interns such as myself read may not be picked up by Good Universe for production, but the international team may continue to track it if they like the script for its international qualities. Notable films handled by Good Universe's international department but not produced by the company include Snowpiercer and Kick Ass. In the end, it takes a certain kind of personality to pitch a film to foreign investors over and over again, but traveling to Cannes every year probably makes the stress bearable.

The Most American Weekend Ever!!!!

Ronald Martinez/ Getty Images

 Red, White, and Blue decked out as far as the eye could see. It was that special time of the year again. It was that time of the year where it was okay to be unapologetically patriotic. Yep, you guessed it, it was the 4th of July! Of all the time I have spent in Los Angeles this was the first time I truly missed being home in Atlanta. This would be the first time in 6 years where I did not participate in running the annual Peachtree Road Race, a race I always run with my dad, and I was missing southern BBQ more than anyone ever should. While the tacos in California transcend anything I've ever eaten, the BBQ is much to be desired. But despite my yearnings for the south, California definetly lived up to America's yearly celebration; leading to perhaps the most American weekend I've ever had.

Even though I couldn't have "good" BBQ from back home I would be damned if I had a day without grilling some type of meat. That is why myself and a couple of my comrades from the University of Georgia headed to Ralph's (Kroger) bright and early to buy food for our feast. This was of course AFTER we watched Joey Chestnut shockingly go down in the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. Every year I watch this event, which I watch religiously every year, I never know if I should be appalled or amazed. Fast forward from our journey from Ralph's, we had raw meat, buns, and beer in hand; we were locked and ready to go.

As the sweet aroma of the meat sizzled and rose off the grill, I sat poolside with a tallboy of Colt .45 by my side. Yes you read that right, a Colt .45 (sorry mom). I drank that extremely mediocre beer with such American pride that I swore I was sweating beads of red, white, and blue sweat. Those of you who know me know that I'm as big a beer snob as can be, but I regret nothing of my activities this past Saturday. After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, the food was done. We feasted like kings with no cares in the world and for a moment in time it felt very okay not to be back home in Georgia; I am truly blessed to be an American.

The following day is when things really heated up! It was the day of the Women's World Cup final and the USA would be playing Japan for a chance at revenge. If you remember, 4 years ago the Americans lost on penalties to Japan in the 2011 finals. If you haven't noticed yet, or if you have never met me, I am a HUGE soccer fan. I played for the majority of my life before college and I have played in games all across the United States and as far as Beijing China where I played against the Chinese National team at age 17. So yea, I love soccer. Back to the story, we arrived at a British Pub (ironic) down the street from the apartments to watch the game. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was rallying around one cause. Suddenly, the whistle blew and the game was underway. Right from the get go we all knew it would be a much different result from 4 years ago. We (USA) quickly jumped out to a 4 goal lead in the first 16 minutes of the game; something I had never seen before in a women's or men's game. Chants of USA rang through the pub as if we had just won a war, it was incredible. My American pride was at an all time high and I am so happy that our country rallied around female athletes in the way that we did.

I decided that I could take the "American" up a notch before the weekend was over so I made a decision that I am not very proud of. Brace yourself..... I went to Carl's Jr. (Hardee's) and ordered the "Most American Thickburger". Needless to say that was a mistake and I would not advise anyone else to take one of those down. It must be said again though, I regret nothing from my "most American weekend" ever.