Dear Diary

So, I work in Hollywood as an executive assistant on the creative development side of things.  I've had an internship, a medium-term assistant gig, many short-term assistant experiences while temping, and now a longer-term assistant job, all at two major studios.  It has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a whole lot, even if I am keenly aware of just how much more I have to learn before I'm ready to move up the ladder into an executive position myself.  Of course, there have been frustrating times as at any job, and it's not as glamorous as a lot of people think it might be.  But a lot of the time I can't believe how lucky I am to be working in the world of filmmaking, and I still feel like an excited kid when I get to walk on a studio backlot.  I was just thinking about some of my goals, and wanted to share some of what I hope for in my career.

The Fun Stuff

• Attend the Sundance Film Festival
• Attend the Cannes Film Festival
• Go to the Academy Awards
• Go to movie premieres
• Have an expense account
• Be honored in the trades
• Reunite with Jason Schwartzman, who realizes that he wants to marry me; attend Coppola family reunions, where Sofia's still friends with Spike Jonze for some reason, and so he comes and brings his ex Michelle Williams (because they're also still friends) and her baby Matilda, and I creepily tell Matilda that I'm really sad I'll never have a chance to make out with her dad

The Important Stuff

• In my time as an executive at a studio, make an impact in getting the studio to recognize more female and multicultural filmmakers; help tell stories that represent a more interesting and varied portrayal of members of society that are not necessarily cis-hetero-Caucasian-male characters.
• Sell a screenplay of my own
• Get involved in helping Hollywood reach out to the community, by helping teach people how to tell their own stories
• Create an organization that helps teach school children how to write stories, make movies, and share them with friends.  Get people to respect each other more by understanding each other better.
• Work for a studio that endeavors to distribute good, important content from around the globe, to give it a wider audience.

This is all probably very silly to read, but I just had to take a moment and reflect on why I want to work hard to make a place for myself in this industry.  Mostly it's the Coppola thing.

as the (real) world turns...

So, I don't often get too personal on this here film blog of mine. I mean, I mention goings-on in my life, and it's all about my opinions, but this isn't really an emotion-based blog like my xanga or MySpace of yore. However, I've been thinking a whole lot lately about my impending career in film and television. Unfortunately, I haven't really got much experience to speak of in the industry. The past two summers, since I realized that I wanted to work in Hollywood, I have had to sacrifice an internship in entertainment in order to take a paid job in a fairly unrelated field (public affairs, communications, and my school's alumni relations - all peripherally related to entertainment). So at this point, I'm looking for entry-level positions to begin in Fall of 2008, which require a B.A. and hopefully not too much experience. Yeesh.

Though my long-term goal is to be able to make a living as a writer for film and television, I am open to most kinds of entry-level positions in production. Though it's a bit early in the year to be actively submitting my resume, really, I have been scrolling through job listings as a new form of "productive procrastination" (cleaning my room, cooking, doing laundry, etc.). Primarily, I've been looking through the major production companies' and networks' job listings, and I did a more general search on Variety, but I still feel a bit lost about how exactly I should be job-searching. My school is primarily a government and economics school (though it is, nominally, a liberal arts college), and the career services center is in no way prepared to guide any student in how to search for jobs that aren't in consulting, accounting, or investment banking.

I am doing my best to take baby steps towards my goal though, including looking at other possible "ins" to The Industry than assistant jobs at studios. I sent my resume to the NBC Page Program in Burbank, but it was probably too early to do so. I've recently begun reading the blogs of Jane Espenson and Lisa Klink, and next semester I really want to start writing as many spec scripts as I can, even if I never send them to anyone, but just so I can get the hang of it. Of course the reason I have to wait until next semester to do this is because this semester I am writing my senior thesis, which is my first ever feature-length screenplay.

Also, there is the alumni connection. I have worked in alumni relations at my school ever since I was a freshman, and have found this to be my best resource that the school can offer. I am currently the student liaison for the fledgling Media Advisory Board, which is a great initiative working to get alumni in the entertainment industry able to enlighten interested students about the industry. Another recent happy accident is that the entertainment alumni from all five colleges in the Claremont University Consortium (Pitzer, Pomona, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, and my dear Claremont McKenna) have independently decided to get together and start creating a stronger network. Luckily, I get to be one of the two current students who will be attending the first mixer of the 5C entertainment alumni, and hopefully I can do a good job of networking there.

So, I am reaching out to the internet community at large, which my StatCounter informs me is, um... not yet obsessed en masse with my blog, to ask for advice. I realize that one avenue I should be looking into more actively is jobs at writers' agencies, but I have no idea how to find these agencies. When I did a preliminary Google, I couldn't tell which sites were reputable, and which I should bother sending resumes to. So if someone in the know comes across this appeal of mine, please comment with any thoughts you may have about good paths to take in this job hunt!

THANK YOU!