Tuesday Newsday
My first time on a film set, first day of school, and homemade tortillas (!)
Last week I paid a visit to my dear Aunt Christy in Bethlehem, PA with my dear cousin from the other side of my family who had her husband and baby in tow. We were on our way to a friend’s wedding in the Berkshires and it all felt so wonderfully pre-covid: visiting family that are friends with friends and family and just passing through and staying the night and sharing a meal and telling stories and talking politics and laughing with the baby.
It reminded me of a Jane Austen novel-turned-movie where it is simply one dinner scene after travel scene after drawing room scene after another, in a world where we would simply pay visits to one another. How charming and simple!
I think about how much visiting one another would have been such a major form of entertainment in a world before screens. In the movies they always have an entire staff on hand ready to prepare guest rooms and meals (must be nice!), and while I know that my perception of this comes from just a tiny sliver of mostly romanticized storytelling from a tiny sampling of storytellers, I love to think about how we might be different if we really prioritized visiting each other for the sake of the visiting and didn’t necessarily wait for major life events to prescribe a reason, or worry anxiously about imposing or being an imposition in our collective experience of just being with one another.
First time on set!
Last Monday, I worked background (as an extra!) on the set of a movie filming here in DC. It was my first time on a movie set! While we received many emails warning us to keep things top secret and that we would be signing an NDA, we were never asked to sign an NDA (?). Even still, I won’t say any more details for fear of Big Movie watching and listening, but I’m pretty sure I can tell you that I did that and that’s where I was! It’s my alibi for any crimes I may be of suspect committed Monday, May 2, 2022.
It was a really fun, long, interesting, and eye opening day. It felt like a true privilege to have the opportunity to watch all of the professionals doing their professional thing, from all the makeup, hair, and costume people to the camera, sound, and light crew to the director, director of photography, and the production assistants. We did a lot of walking back and forth to get the shot *just* right. We mostly stood around. And I think that from now on I will be incapable of not noticing background actors, thinking about how they set up the scene, and searching for inconsistencies.
When the trailer for this movie comes out I think is when I can share more! And then this will be me.
Self Tape May Update!
So far I’ve done 3 tapes, which means I’m a bit behind on my goal of 4 per week, but I plan to do a couple extra this week to catch up! Woohooooooooooo 🏋️♀️ 🎬 🌟
Podcast: Mystery Show
Cam and I listened almost exclusively to this podcast from Gimlet on our drive back home this weekend, even though we’d already listened to all of the episodes, including the Belt Buckle episode, which Cam says might be his favorite podcast episode ever. It’s really good! It’s fun and moving. It’s so good that we’ve both listened to it many times at this point. I recommend it! I also enjoyed the Britney episode, for what it’s worth.
They’re cute and look cozy and are made out of PAPER YARN? From a hemp plant? I’ve clicked around the website a bit and read all of the fine print and so far it seems actually as cool as it sounds and doesn’t seem like a huge marketing gimmick. I also appreciate how the brand explicitly says that they “don’t claim to be a sustainable brand” but they go on to explain how paper yarn is a super sustainable ages-old material and practice. To me, this shows that they really really know what they’re talking about. What a world.
The homemade flour tortillas my aunt made us for dinner:
First day of school 📚
I started an acting conservatory program this week! For the next four semesters, I’ll be attending National Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts in a part-time program that’s really designed to cover all of the bases and get one set up for working professionally. Aside from being extremely conveniently located to my home (a long walk, an ideal (albeit hilly) bike ride, a 15 minute bus ride, and an 11 minute drive), refreshingly affordable, and hosting an extremely open, welcoming, and progressive program and faculty from what I can tell, it seems to attract a truly diverse and eclectic student body. The class sizes are small which means lots of great working time, a lot of which will end up being 1:1 with the faculty, who are all working artists, producers, and directors in the area.
ANYWAYS. What is really inspiring me at the moment are the other (3!) students in my class. We came together today as a full group and told a bit of our backstories. I am completely fascinated by people who make bold choices in life and step into the unknown and take risks (probably because these are things I’m grappling with myself), and I love how storytelling can completely bond and shape a group dynamic. I don’t know my classmates yet at all, really, but I feel like each of the stories they told could have been really good indie films in and of themselves and I can’t wait to work on this shared project with them for the next year and a half!
Thanks for reading, I hope this brightens your day a bit and that you try some homemade tortillas.
hugs!
emma