That title is a lyric from a favorite Warren Zevon song, “Lord Byron’s Luggage” (a song that’s also noteworthy for successfully building a rhyme around the term persona non grata). It seemed an apt description for how I’m feeling as I look back on 2011.
It’s not a bad view, as these things go. Continue reading
As I write this, it’s just shy of five years since I met Nikki, and just shy of just shy since I informally joined the PrimaDonna team. I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things about the industry in that time, but it’s still a surprise, and no little honor, when I’m asked to share my experiences with others. Me being an ex-teacher and all, I have a hard time passing up that kind of opportunity.
And that kind of opportunity came again a couple of weeks ago, with an invitation from that man about two towns, Michael Druck. Home from New York for a time, Michael (through his Actors Network SA) was hosting an Actors Expo, an event designed to bring talent together to network with and learn from industry professionals. (Michael being Michael, the event also served as a fundraiser for the North East School of the Arts, one of the many essential organizations that foster and encourage the growth of young talent here in S.A.)
And that list of professionals turned out to include me. Continue reading
It’s a masterwork of writing and acting, and typical of Gilligan’s method/madness, building a shocking outcome on a foundation of nearly unbearable tension and pitch-perfect performances.
When I wrote that some while ago, fans were still abuzz over that “money shot” of Breaking Bad‘s season premiere. “Box Cutter” set a standard that any other season of any other series would struggle to merely approach, let alone maintain. But I was sure that Vince Gilligan and his cast and crew were up to the challenge.
I had no idea… Continue reading
Yesterday’s Express-News had a very nice write-up from Deborah Martin about one of my favorite Stone Oak Youth Theatre activities: the San Antonio Stage Script Study Group. She did a great job covering the origins of the group, so I encourage everyone to visit the link to learn more about what it is and how it came to be.
To sum up: the group’s a book club, with an exclusive focus on plays. Each month, we meet to discuss, analyze, and share our experiences of a play, and at the end of the meeting, one of us gets to choose the next month’s play. On the last Wednesday in June – having already read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Uncle Vanya – it was my turn to lead the way. Continue reading
One of the great things about Stone Oak Youth Theatre is its commitment, the commitment of everyone who works there, to introduce their students to the full arts experience. Just visit that website and you’ll find programs for drama, programs for musical theatre, programs for improv, programs for film acting (which will start up again tomorrow), programs all about the art, craft, and business of show.
This spring, SOYT added stand-up comedy to the list, with a class called Punchline. The class was designed to teach kids the ins and outs of being comedians.; it was a great idea for SOYT, and a great opportunity for the kids. Continue reading
“Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him. More than likely he will lie there sadly and the emptiness which is inside him will expand until it evacuates the entire neighborhood. But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere.”
– Binx Bolling’s theory of “certification”, from Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer
It’s not a little sobering when you realize how little you truly know the place where you were born. Granted, I’m not the most well-travelled of men, but having lived in San Antonio most of my life, I’d have preferred to believe that I don’t need to have it certified, made “real”, by seeing it onscreen.
But as my old catchphrase goes, I learn something new every day… Continue reading
Given the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey nature of production schedules, it’s pretty standard for effect to precede cause when you’re putting a story on film. The cast, crew, and locations you need for Scene 3 might only be available before those you need for Scenes 1 and 2, so it’s often a necessity to work out of sequence. So it’s been with Three Yellow Roses.
Having filmed a steak dinner on our first day of production, Tuesday evening brought us to Green Fields Market to film the shopping trip before said dinner, and another trip taking place some time after it. Given that one of the themes of the film is the relationship between past, present and future, it seems fitting that our production schedule brings them together as it does. Continue reading
In the tongue of our trade, the last set-up is known as the Martini Shot. When we were working on La Vida de Noche, as Pete and Wes were setting up our first shot, I wondered if there was a similar name for that first set-up.
After last night, I may have to start calling it the Steak Shot.
One of my earliest experiences in the PrimaDonna universe (or could I say “PrimaDonniverse”?) was a table read for a film then known as Dream Healer (which ultimately premiered as Dream Healing). It was a great experience, and looking back, the foreshadowing of the moment was so blatant only someone like me could have missed it, as I met so many people I’d ultimately come to know as friends and colleagues.
Among those actors (as the Dream Healer herself) was a girl by the name of Gabi Walker. I was genuinely impressed by the talent she showed at that reading, and even more impressed with her poise and character. So it was hardly a surprise to learn that she was one of Nikki’s students.
All of which is a roundabout way of saying that working with kids was an important part of my PDP experience well before the beginning of it all. And as you’ve probably figured out from recent posts, that continues today. Continue reading
As you can likely see from my last couple of posts, the year to date has been one for expanding our creative horizons. And while I’ve been working on building my résumé as a practicing screenwriter, my boss has also found a new venue for her passions and mission… Continue reading
Lee Hurtado, Writer 