Week 440: A Jinx or a Sign and a Ghost

Weekly Written Review 

First, I want to preface this post by quoting my mom, "What for you, is for you." It's possible her quote might have been a lot more religious like, "What God has for you, is for you." I can't recall her exact words. Nonetheless, I had one of the most amazing phone calls of my quest on Tuesday. After a day of mostly losing basketball games, I sat on the floor to rest and checked my phone. Facebook indicated a message request. That basically means I have a message from someone I'm not friends with. As I read the message, my eyes lit up immediately. It was in reference to Week 438: The Calm Before the Imaginary Storm. This is the same opportunity that blasted my imagination beyond Mars. Apparently, they couldn't get a hold of my agent so they did their due diligence and found me on Facebook. My conversation was with one of the producers and he did his homework. He knew about my late night journey and stated that he watched a lot of my funny videos on Youtube. Our talk was overall very positive. We talked about pay, which is pretty nice and some of the relocation conditions. The gig would've required me to relocate to Utah until September. If chosen, it's expected for me to relocate almost immediately. Everything sounded promising. I've been waiting for a phone call like this for over a decade and it appeared everything was in my favor. However, there was one red flag and a caveat. The red flag was him asking for my age. I hesitated for a moment. I told him my age range at first but he wanted to know my real age. Then I replied by saying, "I'm in my early...." Then came a flow of compliments and it seemed all was good. In reality, things are never in my favor when someone asks the age question. Technically, asking for some one's age is an unethical question in this industry. The caveat is that it's a non-union gig. I'm union and that complicates things. Thus, I determined this gig was worth taking a risk for. The offer is for me to be hired as an actor and a writer. We're talking about actor/writer credits, growth, and an abundance of exposure. The show, in my opinion, is essentially the Family Friendly Saturday Night Live of cable and the internet. I was ready to pick up and go on the drop of a request.

The conversation ended well and he told me he's going pass my info to his show running. The way he was talking, it seemed like he would be calling the same day. I told him I would be available in 45mins after my shower and I followed up with him on Facebook after my message. He responded and I waited. Tuesday ended with no show running phone call. On Wednesday, I followed up on Facebook, no response. On Thursday, I followed up basically asking for closure and there was again no response. They went completely ghost on me. Why not just tell me you've moved on. Our conversation had my mind thinking days into the future. It sucks, but on the bright side I got my taxes done early because of these developments.

Over time, I've learned not to tell anyone about premature developments. Yet, one or two people always get the 411 from me. I ended up telling Pam early on and in the back of my head, I thought I was probably jinxing myself. I say, jinx, because it seems like every time I open my mouth and share good news it always turns into bad news. Honestly, I wasn't really phased much much by this disappointment. The industry has left me hanging many times before. I really rather not move but I'll move in a heartbeat if it means taking my journey to the next level. Plus, it's just a temporary move. It's not a permanent gig. Change is good and I'm certainly on standby for a situation upgrade.

If I'm not jinx, I'm going to consider this a sign. As quoted above, "What's for me is for." What's for you is for you." I like to parallel my journey to the summer of 2010 and this reminds me of the time I was in contact with Oprah's camp about her Your OWN Show contest. Developments were great but it fell through. In hindsight, being a part of her contest would've been a disaster to my quest. It was basically a reality show contest. Most reality show stars end up disappearing once the program is over. I ended up moving to LA a couple months after Oprah went ghost on me. I'm confident my move to LA to officially begin my journey was ordained by the Most High.

It's very possible that Studio C might still be considering me. Maybe they're working on details behind the scenes before they call.  I'm going to safely assume that they've moved on. Furthermore, the phone call alone is a win-win for me. A respectable comedy company was interested in me as a writer/actor, I'm taking that as a sign. Something better is on the horizon. I've been here before. If I can only get SAG-AFTRA to consider me for an opportunity like this. During this process, I realized I've never had speaking lines in a SAG-AFTRA project. That's another hurdle but for now, I like the road signs in my view.


Sunday, February 17, 2019

* Scripting reading/rewriting...

* Phone calls...

* Watching the Dragon Prince


Monday, February 18, 2019

* Scripting reading/rewriting..."Surreal Vision" vision

* Movie Monday's The Maze Running Scorch Trails

* Fitness Boxing


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

* Basketball

* Cooking Salmon

* Studio C phone call :-O

* Scripting reading/rewriting...


Wednesday, February 20, 2019

* Basketball...

* Tax prep. With all the excitement from yesterday, I decided to start my tax preparation get it done early.


Thursday, February 21, 2019

* Completed first reread of the script but still more to do

* (ISA) Screen Writing Association networking event in Santa Monica

* It was cold today


Friday, February 22, 2019

* Tennis with Robert at Shatto Recreational Center

* Ralphs...

* Fitness Boxing


Saturday, February 23, 2019

* Cleaning...

* Scripting reading/rewriting...

* Last SAG-AFTRA Film Society of Lego Movie 2. I went by myself. It was okay. A lot going on but I like how it wrapped up.

* Trader Joe's...I got fancy and made some Fettuccine Alfredo

* Fitness Boxing


As the quest continues...

The future of Late Night

Motown Maurice