Happy Holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 

Today, I am thankful for being able to spend Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in a very long time. I'm also grateful to have a few days off because I really needed the break.  Work's been exhausting and non-stop these past few weeks, but at the end of the day, it's still a job. 

Friends and family and good food and conversation are LIFE...and that is something to be very thankful for.

Copyright 2012 by KLiedle

Solitude With Nature

Recently, I went to South Dakota to do some preliminary work for our filming there next month.  Although I had quite a bit to do, I welcomed the opportunity to bond with nature.

It's easy to get burned out while working on a film.  The hours are long, there's constant pressure and the work seems never-ending (and often is.)

That's why I appreciate the moments when I can stop what I'm doing and marvel at the beauty of the world around me... trees, fresh air, wildlife, and my own solitude.    Those few days were a nice getaway from production.

With the holidays coming up, I'm thankful that this film has brought me closer to the place where I grew up.  I'll get to spend Thanksgiving with my family which hasn't happened for quite awhile.  I get to hear the crunch of fallen leaves beneath my feet and witness the changing of the seasons which doesn't happen quite so dramatically for us on the West Coast.

©2012 by KLiedle

Meltdown Karaoke

There are few things in life worth getting worked up about.  In fact, I've gotten pretty good at rising above things like stress.

"That darn stress won't get me," I snarl as I see it taunting me from across the room.  Nope, I'm better than that.  I'm in charge.  I'm focused.  I can handle anything!

Except that I can't.  Not always.  A couple of days ago, when the weekend was still so very far away, I could feel the stress seeping into my pretty, little head in a surprisingly fierce way.

The domino effect of another change in our shooting schedule did it to me.  As a film kicks into gear, filming locations move around all the time based on proximity, budget, conflicts, pairing with other locations, etc.  Eventually, the whole enchilada of things fall into place so I don't let it phase me.

That day however, I felt I'd been on the rollercoaster a tad longer than I'd intended.  When I felt the stress storm coming on, I locked myself in the bathroom on-set and had my mini-meltdown. 
 [I hate crying at work, but occasionally it does happen.] 

I emerged about five minutes later looking tired and depleted-- sort of like a melted crayon some kindergartner had left in the backseat of a car in the middle of summer.  Only, it wasn't summer.  There had been flurries that morning.  I was freezing.  I don't like winter, that's why I live in California.  And no, my day was not going well.

Mini-meltdown behind me however, I tried to re-focus.  This was followed a series of feverish texts, phone calls, e-mails, and me flipping through my notebook countless times while accomplishing seemingly very little.  It was then a crew member turned to me and said:

"You know who you remind me of?  Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada." 

I looked up at her.  Yes, I'm brunette--  I got the bangs and the straight hair, and a similar body type (minus the boobs.)  Like Hathaway's character in the film, I also had the worrisome look on my face and my phone clutched in my hand at all times.

Yes, that day I felt like the devil wears Prada--  only in my case, I didn't know who the devil was.  Meryl Streep certainly wasn't anywhere to be found.  We didn't cast her in our film, did we?  Not that I'm aware of.

Moments later, they were rigging up karaoke to be used in a scene the following day and they needed someone to test it out.  As another woman was making her way to the stage, I unexpectedly jumped up to join her. 

It should be noted that I am the least likely to volunteer for karaoke ever.  In fact, I don't think I've ever volunteered for karaoke in my life.  I've always been dragged into it by some overzealous friend.  But I needed karaoke right then and there.  I needed to get the stress out of my system.  Kick that devil to the curb.  So, I sung my heart out with this woman I'd never met.  In fact, we bonded over that short-lived experience. And that's how my stress fled back into the shadows and out of my day.

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle

Knowing When To Take A Bow

I was just as bummed out as anyone else when I heard that Louie is going on hiatus until Spring 2014.  Louis C.K. though?  I applaud the guy.  It takes balls to walk away from a critically acclaimed show and say,  You know what?  I wanna do something else for awhile.

He's certainly taking a chance, but I don't think he sees it that way.  Thanks in part to the popularity of the show, he's got a cult following.  Those people will ensure that he won't be forgotten.  They'll follow him on the road, back to his stand-up roots.  Kudos to FX for allowing him to go, for giving him the creative freedom to explore, for taking a leap and putting the show on the air in the first place.

As I see it, Louie C.K. cares enough about his show to walk away from it.  To make sure that it doesn't lose an ounce of integrity, that he doesn't get tired of doing it.  It's hard to keep the creative juices flowing day-in-and-day-out, especially on a TV series.  You can't force creativity.  I have no doubt that when it comes back, it'll be just as quirky and endearing as it's ever been.

According to Top Of The Rock: Inside The Rise And Fall Of Must See TV,  Seinfeld had an initial run of only four episodes-- one of the smallest sitcom orders in television history.  When the network ordered more episodes, Larry David said he didn't want to do it:  He was out of ideas.

Luckily, someone convinced him otherwise.  Seinfeld went on for nine seasons, totaling an astounding 180 episodes.  And you know what?  I still miss it.  And I miss Cheers and The Cosby Show and Mad About You and The Golden Girls.

We should all be reminded that the best shows go out while they're still on top.  The best performers know when to take a bow, when to turn away, and when to do something different.  That's what makes them iconic, what makes them memorable.  It something that happens so rarely these days.

Today, breakout stars burst onto the scene with unbelievable force.  They're overexposed, overdone, and annoyingly in-your-face, all the time.  More often than not, they burn out before they've reached their own potential-- if they had potential at all.  New shows get cancelled before they ever get a shot at finding an audience and other shows seem to go on for years and years beyond their glory days.  Remember how tired Friends felt in its last few seasons?  It was beyond embarrassing.

So, no one should be whining about Louie.  It's not like it's going away.  In fact, its absence will give an up-and-coming show a chance to be seen in a highly sought after time slot.   That alone, is something I'm sure Louis C.K. would be proud of.

Louis C.K. : On Tour

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle

On Location: Home Away From Home

 [My dresser adorned with postcards from my collection in L.A.]

What’s beautiful about filming in an area outside the norm of New York or Los Angeles is that people are generally excited about the movie-making process.  They’ve never seen it in process.

Watching a movie being made is not as exciting as you might expect.  Basically, it’s just watching a surprisingly large number of people stand around.  Most of them are grumpy by the end of the day because our days are extraordinarily long and by then no amount of caffeine helps anymore. 

Every now and then, of course, the film crew has a hustle and bustle of activity.  Then, it’s like watching an aerial view of an ant colony at mealtime.  It’s a sight to be seen, I suppose.  Even when there’s absolutely nothing going on, I’m always surprised at the number of people who watch and stare at the film crew—as though they’re completely in awe. 

We begin filming in a few short weeks… the days are long and the weeks much too short.  I’ve now become a resident in this small community far away from L.A.  I am starting to feel more at home though even if I’m still essentially living out of the suitcase I brought with me a month ago.  I have spread out a little bit.  My clothes are on hangers now and I’ve put most of my items in dresser drawers.  Things like that go a long way.  (Right:  a photo of my home away from home.)

 I will say, the people here have made a huge difference.  They aren’t jaded.  They say ‘yes’ more often than they say ‘no.’ And they’ve been genuinely friendly and accommodating.   With the long hours and the exhausting and all-consuming nature of filmmaking, that helps a lot.  In fact, the crew has felt welcomed in town and the surrounding areas of this place we’re calling home, at least temporarily.

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle

Regarding Travel For Hollywood

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I’ve been too busy to do much of anything, let alone blog.  I’m currently doing pre-production work on a film.  It’s difficult to orchestrate being away from home for 4 months.  It’s not only the packing (for summer/fall/winter) but it’s all the other logistics.  I had to get someone to pet-sit while I’m gone, someone to move my car every 72 hours (since it’s parked on the streets of L.A. somewhere.)  Now I have to keep track of bills in two different states.  All the L.A. bills are for things I’m not even using: Rent, that new couch my roommate and I split the cost of—it’s super comfy (as I remember), Netflix I don’t have the time or capability to use right now.  Oh, and yeah… on top of all that, I’m pretty damn busy with my actual job on the movie.

That brings me to another point:  The entertainment business is not exactly kind to relationships (or families.)  I don’t have kids, but I can’t imagine trying to figure things out if I did.  Relationships?  There was a time for that, but not anymore.  Not for awhile.  And I’ve been on the receiving end of things, too.  When someone else was the one going away.  When the timing was right and then it wasn’t and then the time just ran out.  You have to just remember the beautiful moments.  It’s never easy, but I keep going despite it all.   

Sometimes, the entertainment business seems to take everything I have, but it’s also given back to me.  It’s given me unique experiences, treasured friendships, and enough stories to keep this blog going for a few more years. 

Copyright ©2012 by KLiedle

Photo credit: KLiedle

Cheers to Theme Songs

I haven't been too interested in movies lately.  Not anything that's in theatres right now anyway.  Instead, I've been watching more TV shows.  Odd for me, yes.  I'm not much of a TV person.  In fact, when analog TVs became dinosaurs, I had to get one of those digital converter boxes.  It was the first time I'd set foot in a Radio Shack in ages.  I went home, fiddled with the "bunny ears" antenna on the analog TV I'd had since college and got it all jazzed up with the converter box. 

The result?  I got a bunch of channels to flip through. Unfortunately, most of them were scrambled or in Chinese, Spanish, and Russian.  The only English language channel that came in clearly was Channel 7.  It was  mind-boggling that I couldn't even get the major networks like NBC and CBS.

Most of the "TV" I do watch is through digital streaming.  Besides my recent Breaking Bad Season 4 binge, I've otherwise been watching older TV shows.  I think it's great that entire series are now available for streaming.  I've really enjoyed revisiting shows like Cheers, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, and The Bernie Mac Show.

One thing that's struck me about these shows is how simple most of them are.  Prime example: Cheers.  Many of these shows also existed in an era when shows still had theme songs.  For Cheers and The Golden Girls, and even Friends, the theme song became as much a part of the show as the characters.  Shows had openers during the credits.  In the case of Family Ties, they did a whole "oil painting into family portrait sequence."  Cheers went through the evolution of the bar through old illustrations of bar patrons that gradually evolved into portraits. 

Today we're so impatient to get to the content of the show that theme songs really, if ever, exist.  In fact, most of the time there is no song of any kind and the opening credits occur during the action. Increasingly, even the end credits are shrunken up in some tiny corner and cut out entirely.  (This is one of my all-time pet peeves.) 

Theme songs and opening montages and the like gave TV shows a sense of identity, a sense of place.  I'd love to see shows go back to that.  Just a little bit.

Copyright © 2012 by KLiedle