jenny-the-girl-who-edits-and-is-no-longer-in-LA

final shots of final film

2009-05-21T15:02:00.001-07:00

were on the side of a busy road in longsight, surprising how much the presence of a camera divides the public - half of them stop, honk and wave, the other half look at you like you violated a sacred code.

anyway, we wrapped before it started raining. extra set of hands on this third film came in very useful. also have a sort-of special effects guy, which is making everything very exciting. our lead actor told us that this was the most relaxed and easy shoot he'd ever been on. hooray!

2009-05-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Disenchanted
Uploaded by jennymegan.

Final edit of second short film.

Meeting tomorrow to take final shot for third and last film! Very exciting.

filming in progress...

2009-05-16T10:41:00.002-07:00

we had rehearsals yesterday, and learned how to greenscreen.. or rather, how not to (two tone material over the unversity's projector screen.) photos of our demonic lead have been photoshopped onto great events in history... see if you can spot him.

it's may already?

2009-05-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

so, i am just finishing the first edit of the march film - behind, i know! the dissertation was crazy and took so long. i haven't had a minute until now. and of course it's at the same time as pre-pro on the third film, and i'm producing that, so i'm busy with that too, we're casting tomorrow (casting call pro and talent circle are fab casting websites, for future reference) and hoping to film next weekend. i'm leaving manchester on the 24th may, can't believe it's come round already.

suppose i should go and edit some more.

more more more

2009-04-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

a new script is in pre-pro for the final film, this time a sort of party political broadcast, but with a twist... bear with us , it could be fun.

i'm at home and trying to organise dubbing singing on top of the yet-to-be-edited footage from last month, whilst juggling the dissertation. pandemonium!

post shoot

2009-03-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

well, we made it!!

last weekend was the fateful shoot, and not only did we drive down without crashing, we shot some really great footage too (touch wood!).

still need to dub singing over the top, which will be easier said than done, and to edit the whole thing together, but we have raw footage...

and what's more i've drafted a script for the final film which i really quite like and which i think could work well. i want to be writer-producer.

will put up some links to photos from shoot - here's facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2342947&id=61400410&l=930a58dd18

AAAARGGGHH

2009-03-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

i think my head might explode with all the things buzzing around in it. i have actually considered self-sedation. but buying valium online is fiendishly expensive.

our short film shoots this weekend, which is seeming more and more ludicrous as travel/costume/prop expenses mount and scheduling is a bitch. it is essentially the only thing i think about, which is not helping the 5000 word gender and hollywood essay i've got to do get written.

to avoid fainting keep repeating "it's only a movie..."

this is all fun. or something. a learning curb, certainly...?

ARGH!

T.o.W.

2009-02-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

as promised aeons ago - the tug of war docu from the summer. it's all a bit of fun - no sound or tripod, just the valiant dorset folk following their dreams. keep watching for bloopers. that's my favourite bit.

it doesn't seem to want to embed, sadly, so there's a link below.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8bvmh_tug-of-war-wars_people

update

2009-02-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

am currently putting together the lyrics and script updates to make a second draft of the hansel and gretel story we're doing. we have a beautiful cast, but i am still fearful about sound quality on this, and about RAIN during our three day shoot - it'll be impossible to reorganise if that happens! ahh! cross fingers.

had a screening of everyone's documentaries last week, it was actually really nice, there were a couple of scarily professional ones there. getting marks sometime soon i think. nervous!

More Chinns

2009-02-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

i know there's probably more academic things i could post but still. MORE CHINNS!

End of the Docu... WHOOP

2009-01-29T16:08:00.000-08:00

Il documentario is as complete as I think it's going to get now...seeing as deadline is tomorrow!

Grey Lady
Uploaded by jennymegan

NB. i don't know why it has cut off the side of the picture. sodding internet. it's all there if you click through to the actual dailymotion page though.

Editing it was a fulltime job, a much bigger process than the simple piecing together of an already-storyboarded fiction piece, but I learned much about the beast that is FinalCutPro in the process so I suppose it's all for the best.

Onward and upward - we are casting for our next piece...

Chinntastic

2009-01-25T02:48:00.000-08:00

So, yeah, I have been doing film-related stuff, and these little beauties are the products:

new year

2009-01-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

a very vague assimilation of mini documentary lies here:

www. dailymotion.com/jennymegan/video/x83r33_palace

the sound, order, titlecards and credits all need work. but it is proof that i have done something recently!! fed up of this project now and want it over with.

am working on a script for the final movie of this year, hoping it will get picked up, whilst casting and sorting locations for march's horror musical.

gran torino is doing exceedingly well in the US and i can't wait for it to come over here end of february.

lena headey is funny in this clip:http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/7dfcae5581/lena-headey-in-mercy-corp-from-fod-team#player

and that is all i have to say!!

christmas catch-up

2008-12-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

christmas holidays - mental - so much work - for money and for uni.

writing and trying to score our next short film between us, three to six minutes of horror-musical goodness. then comes casting.... argh!

plus the editing deadline for the docu has been pushed back which is great as music is tricky to dub in.

really haven't much to say, just thought i should use and abuse the internet as i think this is the last night i'll have it for a while. sigh.

happy christmas all :)

Palace pics/Storyboard samples

2008-12-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Palace theatre shots which we might fade into each other as part of the intro to the documentary:

Some of my Woodland Graves storyboards (they might not look like much but twenty minutes' worth took FOREVER.)

The Appropriation of Blog for Academic Purposes

2008-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so, this is now and for the next six months or so to be considered as a part of my "reflective practice".

I completed - at last - the little comedic semi-documentary I had been filming over the summer about the local tug-of-war team. I'll try to upload it though it'll probably take hours and hours.

Whilst I was editing that, I was storyboarding for the short film I'm AD on, "The Woodland Graves" outside of Uni, which shoots for three days over next weekend (very. excited.) and also brainstorming ideas for the documentary we're making within Uni.

Taz, Alice and I decided to defy convention - no buses, bikes or hospitals for us - and find out about ghosts. But seeing as we were confined to a subject based on Manchester's main road, Oxford Road, we needed a ghostly location nearby. We hit upon the Palace Theatre, and brief research showed that it was indeed haunted.

Our first grapple with filming had me on camera, Taz on lighting and Alice on sound, and took place on Halloween - £10,000 worth of film equipment and a lot of drunken Mancunians was a recipe for potential disaster, but we, and the kit, survived and got some entertaining vox pops.

After this we had a brief dry spell where we felt like we were chasing people via email and phone calls and getting nowhere, but Alice found some local ghosthunters who were happy to talk to us, and Taz tackled the Palace head on and got us permission to film.

Thursday night we trudged down to key103 with our kit and eventually found the right door, got let in and had a lovely time talking to the Mischievous Spirits crew. The next morning we were at the Palace talking to Lisa, the assistant, and to a cleaner, Sylvia, who's seen the ghost herself. After our previous night, and now with being alone in a huge dark haunted theatre, we actually got a little bit freaked out ourselves...but we didn't encounter the Grey Lady ourselves, even though I swear the box she haunts is at least 3 degrees colder than the rest of the auditorium.

So now the first stage of editing commences, I've been at this desk for hours, my fingers are like ice. We've got about 16 good minutes, so obviously it needs reducing more to fit out 6-12 minute time limit, and we need to get our music sorted etc.

I should mention the hassle I've gone to to even actually be ABLE to edit this right now: finding [and stealing] my family's miniDV camera, buying a firewire, re-formatting (wuth a great deal of difficulty and geeky confusion) an old external hard drive to use with my mac - it doesn't have enough memory on its own to cope with this level of filmmaking- and getting hold of and installing Final Cut Pro. All because those damn Film and Video students have booked out the editing suites and I hate the idea of missing my deadline for this project.

So...watch this space? I guess!

Jenny

the end

2008-08-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

wow. it's over!

i can't believe i'm done with malpaso and LA and the summer...nearly.

i'm sure i'll be seeing all of you soon to tell you my tales in person, but briefly- my last day at work was one of my favourite days EVER. i walked in to find karen had bought me these lovely silver earrings as a thankyou present, and then billy had gotten all these little cakes iced with my name on which we had for breakfast... and deana - clint's assistant - sent over a bag with a malpaso fleece and a hat in it, and a dirty harry tshirt - bless her!!

we had a great lunch and to top it all off-----

i got to go down the the sarah connor chronicles shoot.

TWICE!!

not only this but

I MET LENA HEADEY and had a proper conversation about manchester and living in LA, and work and life and stuff. and she winked at me...

iris, the PA who billy knows and who invited us onto the set, LIVES with sophia myles, and hangs out with anna friel and lena headey on a regular basis. can we swap lives?

not only all this amazingness but it seemed like everyone i spoke to wanted to know how soon i was done with uni and whether i wanted to come back and work for them. i was even semi-invited to start working on malpaso's next project - in south africa!! - and for MONEY! unfortunately if they remain on schedule they'd start in january and i won't be done with school until june.

irritatingly i am now less certain than ever about where i want to work next year!for a while at the start of the summer i missed england so much i couldn't imagine staying here. but now i love it so much i'm back thinking that yes, i do want to work here....

london? or LA? LA throws up the visa issues again but it would be sooo worth fighting for. on the other hand i met people who know people on both harry potter and james bond over here in the uk and were convinced they could get me PA jobs on them.

all in all i am delighted, excited, overwhelmed and so so glad i had this experience. and on a personal level i already miss everyone in the office like CRAZY. when they asked me to keep in touch i'm not sure they realised my capacity for doing that... hahah.

this is really neither coherent nor detailed, but as i said, it'll be much more fun for me to tell you in person. :D

if you're within reach, come to mine at 7ish on tuesday 26th. (EIGHT DAYS AWAY!) bring a bottle!

i'm currently chilling in colorado with kelli, getting a lot of reading done, blissful.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

one week left!

2008-08-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

..at my internship. can't believe it! crazy crazy stuff. have i mentioned that i'll miss it?!

going to see "pineapple express" at some point - highlight of my life? i think so! been waiting for like 6 months now. better be worth it.

um, outside of work i have been.... watching "firefly"? i'm a film student, i'm allowed to admit that's what i have spent the past 24 hours doing, right? i did leave the flat yesterday and go to have dinenr with my flatmate shannon, and then we went to see "sisterhood of the travelling pants 2". OH YEAH. i am tibby, hands down.

not really any more news, hope family still having lovely time on holidays, can't reeeally remember when you get back but will call you next weekend.

love to everyone

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps saw ned and chuck from pushing daisies again, and drove by britney spears wit her crazy pouffy hair in an open top white mercedes. trashy, brit? never.

venezia

2008-08-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

so i guess my family are in venice right now on holiday (i say i guess as i'm really now entirely sure.. trying to phone them in the UK was hard enough, now that they're out in europe i think it will cost me a zillion pounds a minute to talk to them on the phone so it's sort of guesswork.) and i have been back to venice beach in solidarity. :)

little video here which doesn't really show how sunny and lovely it was. but it was, trust me.

liz went home yesterday (my roommate) as her internship is over - but, lucky bum, she gets to keep on working for them down in san diego in october! we had a nice lunch in a diner as a goodbye, and then watched "the core" on tv, purely for comic value. UNOBTAINIUM. what a bad film.

venice today was as awesome as last time - except this time i had a few pennies to spend.. :D hooray! got a bit of jewellery and a top which was (fate) still there from last time i went. ok, i can hear you thinking "probably because it's hideous" but it isn't. it's nice. it is however, knitted. very appropriate for a day when i got sunburned boobs.

i have two weeks of internship left myself, and i am really starting to panic as it's gone so fast! i'm going to miss everyone i work with like mad, it's so great in the office, karen always squawking about something or other and swearing obscenely when things go wrong, billy looking (and laughing) at me like i'm crazy when i express my delight at just how much takeaway fits in those tiny cartons ("it's like harry potter!") and blu and i quoting "flight of the conchords" to each other instead of having actual conversations. and the work, of course. i'm annoyed that i have to leave ONE WEEK before the shoot ends. i wanna go to the wrap party! poo.

can't wait to get home and see y'all for a slap-up bbq. and for the plough music festival - tents a go-go! but i will miss the sun here. sigh.

love to you all - hi to the family if you see this whilst you're away! drop me an email tell me you're alive?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

a happy post

2008-07-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

went to catalina and lay in the sunshine on the teeny weeny beach, whilst the locals pootled around on golf carts instead of cars and went about their business in their smaller-than-life film-set-esque houses. it was bizarre but cool.

on sunday liz and i went to see 'step brothers' followed by the xfiles movie. it was a great 5 hours, i tell you that. step brothers was worth a few good laughs, not amazing but funny, and the xfiles was just....well, mulder and scully. wow. how can it be bad? i'll admit the storyline was average at best, episode worthy maybe but not fantastic - but seeing scully doing all her i'm-dealing-with-my-emotions stuff was SO GREAT. i'm aware i'm running out of superlatives. oh well. that can only be a positive thing, right?! :)

and then this morning the BEST THING happened whilst i was running an errand on the lot - i had to stop and wait for two women to get out of their trailer and onto their cart, and i recognised the little skinny redheaded one as SHIRLEY MANSON, who is not only the lead singer of my favourite band (garbage, people) but also cameoing in SarahConnor Chronicles!!!! so i had a stupud grin on my face the whole time. bless her she was tiny and so cute! and then two minutes later who do i spot going into his trailer but CROMARTIE the evil terminator in the series! he made direct eye contact with me. i thought he might leap on my cart and try to terminate me prompting the apparently invisible sarah c to rescue me but no such luck.

still, AMAZING morning i was so happy. :D

good times.

miss you all oodles

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

long time no type

2008-07-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

hey all

it's been pretty quiet lately, not much news, life just keeps on rolling... um... so last weekend i went and bought some clothes and had my hair cut and my blonde bit re-dyed. much to the chagrin of my petite and very neat little armenian hairdresser, who insisted that having one piece of colour "wasn't NICE" and wanted to highlight it all. oh well.

we went out to hollywood on saturday night, to a club called "goa",

which i must try and put more photos up of; it was [obv] indian themed and the decor was beautiful, all dripping candles and hanging lights, with cocktail waitresses dressed like belly dancers. sadly there was precious little dancing as everyone was so pretentious and over prettified. have to say though, we were picked from halfway down the queue and allowed in for free BECAUSE WE'RE PRETTY. or that's what i like to think. :)

what else happened this weekend...um...oh we went to see mamma mia, which i LOVED. so much. embarrassingly much. geoff who works here worked on the movie though and is very pleased that it's doing so well and so many people's mum's are enjoying it!

narrowly missed batman movie at cinema last night as our bus was 45 mins late to pick us up at work. but am going to see xfiles and step brothers this weekend i hope! we're supposed to be going to catalina island tomorrow morning bright and early [bus leaves halls at 7.45am :S ] so we'll see if i make it up or not. i am so tired!

tuesday night was great, went over to geoff's flat with blu after work and had some beers and played that rock band. seems that on the easiest song and the easiest setting, i can play a mean bass guitar. ooh yeah. and i sang 'don't fear the reaper' and scored 98% -- i'm not entirely sure how they mark you, i think you just have to make some sort of register-able sound into the microphone, but what the hey, apparently i'm capable of that! then we went out, LA style, in geoff's open-top car and got pizza in an all night diner. fabulous. got in at 1am and being the old lady that i am, was soo sleepy all through the next day, but so worth it.

jealous of the party at home this weekend, have a good one however small it ends up being! gary [one of the editors] is going to london on sunday to show 'changeling'... i am tempted to hide in a suitcase to come visit y'all briefly. he is getting me some dairy milk. whoop!

lots of love to all,

missing you lots as ever.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

thursday, o thursday

2008-07-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

i got my student loan! whoop! this means that those shoes are officially MINE. if they are still in the shop.. can we cross fingers please?

sushi the other night was hands-down amazing, but also disgusting because it was all-you-can-eat and if you DON'T eat what you ordered, they make you pay extra, so we were all cramming it in until we were ready to burst.. mm. then went to see hellboy2, which was really great fun, even if it meant that poor old woman me didn't get to bed until 1am. sigh.

this week they are shooting so we are in the office manning the phones all day, and today, until next weds, karen (our boss) is away so we are really supposed to be running the place (hahaha.) it looks like it could be fun.

this weekend i have somehow agreed to be the singer in a "rock band" game with the guys - i guess it's like guitar hero, except you have a whole band. oops. oh well. i will channel my inner britney - or something!!

i need a haircut...my bangs are way too long. see what i did there? i used an american term. oh yeah. i have been here a long time now, it's starting to sink in. nearly 4 weeks!

um.. not much more to tell.. well done the plough on the tug of war, sucks that those nasty teams used all kinds of mean tactics against you, i'm sorry.

i'm thinking of you as the beer festival draws near - good luck playing, dave-o, and good luck organising, elodie. charlotte, you will ACE the barmaid business! dress up for me.

lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

lazy sundays

2008-07-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

so it is another sunday... hooray for lie-ins!

yesterday we went with the other "dreamers" (yes, to our horror that is what the staff on the program like to refer to us as) to the dodger stadium to watch a baseball game.

i went because it said "all you can eat."

it was worth it for two hotdogs and nachos and popcorn, but man oh man is baseball boring.

everyone filters into the stadium as the game is going on [RUDE] and talks and throws things and runs about and essentially ignores the sport going on very far away and very quietly in the

middle of the pitch.

odd.

BUT afterwards there was 80s music and fireworks, and everyone went and sat on the pitch to watch it. liz and i actually got enthusiastic for the first time when they started playing "tainted love" and "come on eileen" over the tannoys, and we danced on the bleachers. yeay!

what else has happened this week... it was a good week at work, just sort of getting established and ready for the shoot, which begins tomorrow! they put my name on the crew list, which made me soooo happy. not sure if that gets me in the credits or not, and i'm pretty sure there's something else you have to sign before that happens, but crossed fingers. haha!

hope plough stuff is all well; how was that tug of war? glad dave's gig went well, i bet it was great fun, sorry to have missed it :( there is a parcel winging its way to y'all.

i've been talking to a guy in manchester who was advertising for help making a short film at christmas time (he's only just my age i think, but he has a script and a plan) and i'm going to be AD [assistant dir.] for him, which is great and very exciting. we film in december but casting and stuff is when i get back in september.

OOOH i found the most amazing assassin shoes (since seeing "wanted" i have been on an assassin bent.) we all know i'd never wear them, but i want them soooo much. i haven't bought them (yet.) elodie, do you like?

they're $60... which os only £30 really. hmm...

am off to have sushi tonight with the guys from work (blu and geoff) who are convinced that they have found the best sushi place on earth.

hoping they feel like paying for it, then. :)

lots of love to you all

miss you loads,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

martha

2008-07-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

martha -i tried emailing you at the address you gave me and it just pinged the email back to me. are you sure that's your address? i used to have one that was fsnet but it was longer, like fsnet.millbush.co.uk or something. ask dad!

[ok, i just found a different address and i think this time it works. let me know]

xxxxx

i'm in work, it's thursday (hooray, nearly the weekend) it's been a pretty good couple of days here, what with the arrival of the big boss and all. he's gone now, presumably for good as he's flying out to detroit this weekend.

yesterday they (editors) asked karen, my boss, and sam-from-wardrobe and i to watch the two versions of the trailer for 'changeling' that have just come in. 'changeling' is clint's last film, which premiered at cannes but is still undergoing final touches, it's a true story about a woman in LA in the 20s whose son was abducted. starring angelina jolie and john malkovich. it looks awesome [not that i can honestly judge the merit of a movie once i see angelina in it. sigh.]

so we actually got to give our opinions on which of these trailers worked better etc etc

but i have to admit, as much as i love her, if i hear angelina's voice screaming from the editing suite "answer me! you know his name, you called him an angel" ONE MORE TIME i may crack. it has to have been at least a hundred. ooh, there's another one. argh! i guess joel is trying to grab a snippet for the final trailer or something.

i see [bbc news site rocks] that it's peeing down with rain in england as usual? :( too bad, i'm sorry. i miss y'all loads but not that weather!

lots of love xxxxxxxx

aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

2008-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

quick update:

i just met clint!!

actualy, i ran into him on the steps outside the building on my way to get lunch. he would have had no idea who i was (but he could have surmised i was to do with the company as i was coming out of that door) and i was like "uh...hi!!" and he was very nice and said hello back. then i literally sprinted to lunch and grabbed a salad and ran back and now he is watching audition tapes down the corridor.

EEEEE!

xxxxx

UPDATE :

i just went on my fedex run with Billy the new PA (helen you'd love him, he is beautiful and so nice..) and we went past the pushing daisies trailers and i saw anna friel!! kneeling on the floor chatting on here phone. she is so small and pretty! i looked for Ned, catherine, but his door was closed. sorry.. maybe tomorrow?

great day!

xxxxx

ps

2008-07-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

look at meeeee and my giant bottled beverages.

iced tea (new fave) and margarita :D

just wanted to share :)

venice beach

2008-07-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

...rocks my socks.

see here: THE PHOTOS

having bemoaned the lack of a place where i feel hippie dippy and close to nature, i have now found a place full of beautiful little tattooed gum-chewing freaks. (name that movie, go!)

it's like the northern quarter moved to the side of the ocean, and got some sunlight, and a healthy injection of tourism.

or the big chill splayed along a promenade, a little more commercialised.

street sellers, performers, dancers, jewellery makers, dress designers, pot smokers, artists, musicians and crazies of every variety patrol the streets. and you can lie on the beach if you get tired of it. aaaand there are a bunch of tattooists along the promenade too. :)

i actually saw a couple on rollerblades in swimwear walking their dog.

and a guy dressed as...a bush? a monster? on stilts..

loads of rastafarians --

assorted hippies--

girls in US flag bikinis--

pierced and illustrated people galore--

it was great. i love them all. made me want to pierce innumberable parts of myself and get tattoos all over my arms. and dreadlocks. bleach blonde ones. [i didn't. yet.]

and there was so much i wanted to buy! am definitely going back, it's an easy bus journey.

all in all a really lovely day :D

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

today's the 4th of july...

2008-07-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

(doesn't that just make you sing that aimee mann song, dave? you should play it tonight. i always do on 4th of julys. well, i don't literally play it myself, being somewhat lacking in musical talent, but i listen to it...)

hi all

i am enjoying a friday off work to celebrate america's independence from us nasty brits. we're slowly slowly getting up and aim to head out to the beach lunchtime ish. there aren't fireworks there as we thought there would be so we're going to spend the day there, sunbathing and whatnot, then checking out some of the street sellers and tacky gift shops (parcel is nearly complete but not quite...hahah) and trying to assess where to go out tonight!

i want to go dancing, i haven't danced since the friday i left and i miss it! bars and pubs here are all very well but we want to go somewhere to dance. last night i was invited to go with some lads to "les deux" in west hollywood, but it is "lindsay lohan and the girls from the hills' favourite haunt!" and i just can't be arsed getting dolled up like nobody's business and paying $12 a drink in some italian themed club. nuh-uh. i hate getting dressed up anyway*, we all know that. 'sides which it's one of those places where you have to be a 6ft tall blonde with gravity defying breasts and killer heels to even get in the door.

hmm...

i, on the other hand, have been consulting with liz, who wants her nose pierced whilst we're here, about having some new tattoos... i say some, cos they're very tiny mum, you won't even notice them i swear. they're quite lovely though... i'll tell you more when i've planned them just right. :D

to all blog readers who are not facebook junkies (go you)

i am having a bbq/party/music and drinking time when i get home, pretty much as soon as i get home, because that is how much i love you and miss you and how excited i am to see you.

tuesday 26th august, 7pm ish. bring a bottle. we'll be out in the field so pray for sun.

i can't wait already. does line still have that bouncy castle??

anyone fancy doing some DJing who's not my father?

i think i got a little tan yesterday whilst walking to the shop for some food. GET IN.

i am addicted to 'so you think you can dance' that cat deeley presents over here. and she is SO pregnant.

good luck all plough-ians in the tug of war tomorrow, i will try and call you tonight, though i can't decide whether to do it at your 7pm, so you're all coherent but probably busy, or at midnight so i get the delight of slightly drunken transcontinental conversation.

kisses

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps martha i will email you but i don't know your email address!

*"dressed up" here refers to being socially acceptably dressed for a posh club, i.e. a tight dress, shiny hair and high heels. which i am not good at. i DO enjoy dressing up as in dressing up in costume; pirates, prostitutes, cheerleaders, 50s diner girl... whatever. :) just don't make the mistake of thinking i am disowning my proud costumier heritage.

oh my gawd

2008-07-02T11:10:00.001-07:00

i just found this and needed to share.

i'm working hard, ok?

(non terminator fans will not understand. so just ignore. :P )

OH NO WE'RE ALL DOOMED

contact. please.

2008-06-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

my address here, for those of you who care to take up pen and paper (or marmite, or dairy milk...)

Jenny Twist
c/o University of Dreams
Hitch Suites-Room B 13
250 De Neve Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

USA

go on, you know how much i miss you. letters are important. and not that expensive to send here.

and i promise i am putting together a communal parcel for those of you near plough-land. watch out for it!

kisses as ever xxxxxxx

videos from universal (read the post below first.)

2008-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

so much fun. i loved it. and i went to it for you guys (you know who you are. thanks for introducing me to them. love. )

i took a couple on my phone too, i'll post 'em up but they're not as good. they're just funny.

universal

2008-06-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

we went to universal studios today, and being the old anti-tourist cynic that i am i really wasn't that excited about it...but MAN it was awesome!

highlights included

1)a LIVE terminator 2 3D show thing which involved actors playing john, sarah, arnie and doggett-off-the-x-files-as-a-baddie-terminator segueing into actual footage from the film and robots firing guns and stuff. and they had real footage filmed for the show with actual linda hamilton and arnie in, which was worrying and weird(did they really have nothing better to do when universal asked them?) but very cool. sarah connor ran around the room with a gun!!!!! hurrah!!!

2) seeing (and stealing a tiny piece of) the bluesmobile!! well, i saw two actually, the newer shinier one, and the battered one with the huge megaphone on top.

3) despite not being a huge fan, driving down wisteria lane was pretty cool. (desperate housewives, mum.)

4) getting unexpectedly SOAKED on the jurassic park ride thing and then drying off in ten minutes because LA is beautifully warm.

5) getting some british guy to give me free pizza at lunch (on top of my already eaten pasta. :) oh yeah.)

6) being deeply psychologically traumatised - though not as bad as thorpe park that halloween, the actors can't touch you here - in the haunted house by having to push through a room filled with hanging corpses. not.nice. and the texas chainsaw dude, WITH a chainsaw, leaping out at the last minute. i actually pulled a muscle moving very fast to avoid him.

7) catching the blues brothers (well, as close as one gets) live on the way out...and having a cheesy photo with jake. swoon.

last night was lovely too, liz, my roommate, and i, went to westwood, the student village, and went to a shisha cafe, which despite being in manchester for three years i never got round to, and it was so chilled and lovely. and great milkshakes :D

oh and then we went to a place called diddy reise which sam the wardrobe girl had recommended to me, whre you get a cookie/ice cream sandwich for $1.50 ... and they are GOOOD cookies and it is GOOOOD ice cream.

we just stumbled in at 5pm after a day at universal and all have been asleep for two hours! liz and katherine (room next door, same flat) have gone for a run -more fool them - and are bringing back beer and chocolate.

YEAY

now i gotta figure out the photo putting up business. i seem to only be able to post one per session, which is annoying cos today i have lots.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

UPDATE

so this is a public link to my photos which uploaded to facebook with no problems, it's just on here they take forever and i get bored. so click this to see me on the terminator bike. :D

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2262572&l=2bd3c&id=61400410

TGI friday

2008-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

what news....

um....

people in LA do weird things whilst driving. today we saw a guy playing a trumpet in the car. two hands on the trumpet, knees on the steering wheel. and on the freeway (5 lane super fast super busy motorway) we saw a man on a black motorbike thing (sorry i can't be more specific dave...it was old, and wide) wearing a top hat and tails and carrying a full sized huskie dog on his lap/sort of lying across the handlebars. ace.

yesterday sam, the wardrobe assistant (22years old, only been working there 6 weeks, is leaving when her job is done in about 3 weeks) took me out to target, a massive supermarket that sells literally everything except groceries. everything. things i didn't know existed. i got a phone for $15 to use over here, and some nice blue eyeshadow.... ok, i know it's not that exciting. but it is nice. we hung out for about 3 hours running errands! we went to a place called mr oh's, a fairly anonymous looking warehouse filled with clothes from movies going back 50 years, it's crazy. all run by this tiny asian man who organises all these costumes.

oh and i went with sam to the malpaso wardrobe building - ie the place where all clint's costumes for the last X hundred years are stored - I LOOKED FOR HATS, I REALLY DID. but they are all locked away because they KNOW how desirable they are. damnit. if you wanted an old man polo shirt i could have one like a shot. lol.

sam is great company cos we're in the same boat; we both work long hours and fall asleep at any given moment, we both want to work here and in the same industry, and we're working for/with the same nutty people. plus, she loves "wicked" too. (eat that, tara may!) so we sing along in her car. fab. it's a shame she leaves so soon :( she's going travelling for three weeks or so, so i think she will be back before i go, at least.

other things to tell you...

i have found the trailers for the cast of sarah connor chronicles. i am so excited. there is a guy at work called blu whose dad is an oscar winning editor (he didn't tell me this, i think he's embarrassed about it, but i found out) and he knows the lot backwards and is totally not excited about anything being filmed, but he has said if i get hold of a shooting script somehow he will take me on set. OMG!! can't wait. they film chuck here, all over the place, but it's just not as good as SCC. no lena involved in chuck. ;)

we had a bad time this evening at work when the men's urinals in the offices above us overflowed and pee-y water came through in the costume room, of all places. it was chaos emptying out the room of rails and rails of clothes. monday will be pretty.... there was casting for the film today as well, loads of young wannabe latino actors coming in and yelling behind closed doors.

ooh, and we have a mission on the lot; well, in malpaso, to bring back the squirrels which up until a month ago would come in the windows and sit on the desks; they're being caught and "sent to live in griffith park", which i think may be like what they told joey about the chick and the duck on friends. so we are sabotaging traps and have a phone network in action for any squirrel sightings. i think it's hilarious but blu and karen take it very seriously and it gets me time outside the production office chasing across lawns so... hahah!

what i should mention and don't want to is the impending possibility of a SAG (screen actor's guild) strike. their deadline to sort things out with the big motion picture companies is june 30th, and they've been arguing since march. everyone is praying it gets settled, and we're all keeping our heads down, but if the worst comes to the worst and the actors strike, we're in BIG trouble. and i do NOT have enough money to support a six week HOLIDAY!!

(did you sort out my rent, padre????? i hope so. )

and i'm sure there's other tidbits, like meeting john wayne's granddaughter, and people seeing britney spears and david beckham, and the girl who interns upstairs from me talking to george clooney for ten minutes yesterday before realising who he was...we're going to see 'wanted' on monday too. hooray for angelina!

but importantly: i miss you. and i love it here, but it isn't right without you all. and i wish so much that i could just pop open a portal and come home for dinner, or go dancing in the pub on fridays, or sit in the cinema with my manchester girlies and just gossip. sigh. i am thinking of you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FAO Chris and Dave if they read this

2008-06-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

there is a man who works here who worked on the blues brothers movie. and he is not in today but when he is i promise i will get him to tell me stories about it for you.

ps. we're goign to universal studios on saturday and there's a blues brothers stage thing there; presumably one of the set pieces from the film. I WILL TAKE PICS FOR YOU

kisses (or not?)

xxxxxxxxxxxx

UPDATE:

if you email a pic of the blues brothers bbq we had (i'm thinking the chris in the rain with the umbrella on the leopard print seat) only a low qulaity one, i'm not trying to rip you off dave ;)

then maybe i can show it to mike and he will see how dedicated to the blues brothers cause y'all are..and then he can send you the original blues brothers hats. right?

contact details

2008-06-25T13:50:00.001-07:00

just in case there is anyone other than my ma reading this, feel free to post comments on the end of an entry - go on.. just to keep me occupied.

or just mail me jennymegan@btinternet.com

i like to know all the gossip. go get it for me.

ooh, and mum, did you remember to get my wages from work? thank yooooou

xxx

first day at warner

2008-06-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

i did it! got up at 7, went to breakfast (i haven't expounded on the food situation yet have i...? it's crazy. it's like you swipe your pass and have access to a world of free food. and it's all my favourite stuff. i can have ice cream for breakfast. and nothing but pizza and three slices of cherry pie for dinner. which is not to say that i HAVE DONE.. yet. ) and caught my "shuttle" to work - ten of us all heading in a similar direction.

found my malpaso offices - next to george clooney's parking place, hahah, ad met karen, my very sweet and overworked boss. she's been working with clint eastwood for about ten years on and off, and is apparently addicted to eastenders which plays at 5.30am on sunday mornings here!!! bless.

there are only a few people left in the offices as the rest are out on location in detroit. there's karen and i, two costume dept girls, and three editing guys - one of whom, blu, i'm pretty sure karen is trying to set me up with. let's see how THAT goes. :)

so i read the script for the film, and got hold of all the crew lists etc, then just sorted of bummed around, answered a few phone calls, chatted to karen and got stuff figured out. lunchtime we went to the "commissary" (sp?) where the whole world goes to get food; extras, crew, producers, security, evryone. there were girls in cirque du soleil style outfits just queuing up with guys in overalls. AND i got my lunch bought for me.

highlight of the day was the 4pm fedex run, karen took me down to the drop off point in one of those golf buggies, and then let me drive it back up! (i say let me, it was more like made me, we know how i hate to drive anything new... :S !!! ) and then when we got back blu needed to take some stuff to so she sent me to drive him (for his entertainment, it's not like he's incapable) and we took a wrong turn and FOUND THE SET OF SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. and i had been sooo cool and un star struck until that point, and then i nearly bit blu's hand off to try and see what was going on... eeek! karen has a friend who works on the show so she said maaaybe i can go see it... this is AMAZING!

the scary part is actually doing the work...lol. answering phones to people who want to speak to people i have no idea about. but it's all do-able. the biggest issue is working the phone; it has like a thousand buttons and then extensions, and i have no idea how to transfer, or put on hold, or change lines... it's almost comedic. almost.

oh, and there is food EVERYWHERE. including pots of sweets (especially in clint's office, what is tha tabout?) clint is at his ranch right now, but may come in before filming starts on july 14th. frankly i'm terrified that he will! i'm told he will tease me. hm. !!

pick up time at 6.20 pm, got stuck in hideous traffic jam, where people were actually walking up the lines of cars selling tshirts (!) and we got lost again.. but it was all made worth it as we were going 2mph down sunset blvd and realise that the guy in the beaten up car next to us is actually a dishevelled COLIN FARRELL. he suddenly realised a van full of girls were pawing the windows to get at him, and had the grace to look a bit embarrassed and drop back, but we were next to him for about ten minutes. poor guy.

so that was my day :)

i am still super jetlagged and my eyes keep closing at 4pm, but i am coping!!

wish me luck stalking sarah connor

kisses

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

day uno

2008-06-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

i'm here

whoop!

i had a MINOR freak out last night before leaving, involving driving out into the pouring rain at 1am blubbing like a small baby because the party at home was too noisy to let my addled self sleep. sigh. and everyone's emotional goodbyes were a bit much... thank you all lovelies. i AM reachable by text but i may not reply in an effort to save money. i appreciate every message though. :)

but now i am in the sunshine and all is well! i ended up on the plane next to a guy from birmingham uni who's doing this course too, working in warner music, so we got a taxi together with a girl from royal holloway who we met up with in the airport.

roommates are fantastic, i somehow ended up rooming with a real life cynic who's interning at a record label and we take the pee out of the inspirational speeches we're given together. hooray!

tomorrow is orientation day so i get to see just how long it does take to get to work in the morning. gulp.

tonight was spent in a haze of energy pills (the last one, CHRISTOPHER) and jet lag, playing the super bonding get-to-know-you-games that all americans except my wonderful cynics seem to love.

it's 29 degrees which is just right, and the evenings are warm but not too much so.

mmm...there is no kitchen here which means i will have to get up and go to the cafeteria for my food! noooooo.

i am teaching people to say "car park" and not "parking lot", and "half nine" instead of "nine thirty". it's like a mini revolution.

love you all

xxxxxxxxx

UPDATE!!! BEX!! one of my roomates was on the same flight into LA as patrick dempsey! she got pics of him from a distance. he went coach class too. he has lovely curls at the moment. bless. VIVA GREY'S ANATOMY x

nearly there..

2008-06-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

two days to go! and i am spending all my time in the pub or sleeping on someone's (you know who you are) couch. not really had much time to see the family but they are all hard at work/school.
just wanted to put this uber cute picture of my goddaughter up here
<-------- how gorgeous is she???

don't have too much to say..other than does anyone have an ethernet cable they want to give me? or any money, y'know, that goes down well too...

ARGH two days until sunshine and smog and no stars at night and "stars" in the daytime and hard work and americans and movies and tomAYtoes and roommates and panic

here's the lowdown

2008-06-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

2 weeks to go.....

so for those who don’t know or aren’t clear (I forget who I explained to, so many people have asked me), I was going to be working in warner independent, an offshoot of warner bros that handled the low budget/art films picked up by the studio, but they went bust under pressure from fox’s rival company (searchlight) so I was thrown back into the interviewing stages in late may for a june start!!
chaos ensued, but in the end it worked out well as now I am to be in the LA production studio owned by clint eastwood (malpaso productions) who essentially only power up when he is working on a movie. he’s filming a new one this summer, physically the cast will be working in Detroit (tax reasons or something) so in the studio we will be doing to business side of things and keeping the practicalities covered.

this way I actually get to work in producing a film, as opposed to reading x amounts of scripts a day in a larger studio. oh, and malpaso are still physically located on the warner brothers lot, so I will be wandering the avenues where the start of the ‘friends’ credits were filmed…and where Johnny depp could be just around the corner coughHELENcough. hahaha. the flipside of this is that it takes about an hour and half to get there in the morning with the traffic; and they want me IN at 8am…so somebody do the maths and tell me when I have to get up?? I don’t even want to know. I think I will just culture my jetlag so that 8am in the morning there is like 4pm for me. !

I am living in UCLA halls with a bunch of other students doing internships in all kinds of industries, and we’re working from june 23rd til august 15th; then I’m moving out into a hostel on santa monica beach for a week for a break!! come visit me at any point. I will find you a floor to sleep on… :)

I will try and keep this updated, and I thiiink I can put little videos on here as well, which I’m sure will be entertaining. please email/write me, as I will miss everyone loads and loads.
email is jennymegan@btinternet.com , and I will put up my mailing address when I know it. and don’t expect wonderful capitalisation on here; I dislike capitals. spelling and grammar are one thing, but capitals just bug me. so get over it, mum!

big love xxxxxx

testing, testing

2008-05-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yup, so, one month to go, no idea where i'm going, but just thought i'd set this up now so i can start panicking straight away. awesome.