Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

Every Tuesday & Thursday this month, on Turner Classic Movie Channel, my playwriting professor, Hanay Geiogamah, is joining host Robert Osborne for a special series of films that Hannay curated for TCM and provides commentary before and after with Osborne and a select few Native American actors and filmmakers. The series is called RACE IN HOLLYWOOD: NATIVE AMERICAN IMAGES ON FILM. It’s a pretty mainstream look at Native American portrayals in cinema, starting of course with John Ford and Stagecoach and go from there. Each week there’s a different topic. The series covers some thirty films and about eight decades of films in and out of Hollywood. Plenty of classics are included like The Searchers, Little Big Man, Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, Northwest Passage, Black Robe, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. There’s also some rare titles thrown in, one in particular The Exiles, which was an award winning restoration project of the UCLA Film Archive when I worked there. The film is a documentary-narrative hybrid about a lost L.A. neighborhood Bunker Hill, which was where many Native Americans settled after WWII, in one of the bigger exodus from reservation life.

Hanay is, as I have mentioned on here before, one of my most favorite professors at UCLA. I have had the gift of studying playwriting with him for the better part of a year and it has been wonderful. He’s extremely intelligent, an eloquent speaker with a quick mind, but not pretentious in the least – that is a rare combination. He’s a definite academic – through and through – as well as the preeminent Native American playwright, director, and choreographer of the last half century, director of the American Indian Studies Center @ UCLA, Managing Editor of The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, artistic director for the Native American Dance Theater and The Native American Theater Ensemble,  a film producer (TNT’s Geronimo, Tecumseh: The Last Warrior, and Crazy Horse)  and a celebrated historian. Whew! As an academic, that’s the kind of resume I’d like to have – far reaching and respected. Hanay also loves to tell stories and he’s lead quite a life, so he has plenty to tell.  You should tune in one of these Tuesday nights just to catch a bit of him before or after the movies. He’s always worth it in my book, if nothing else because he’s such a great guy and a true character.  Of course definitely check out some of the films. At least watch One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. There’s a few video clips on the site as well, which you can link to by clicking on the “RACE IN HOLLYWOOD..” above. I would post them here, but I can’t seem to figure that out!

Enjoy!

This weekend, my dear, dear friend Elissa, (from Chicago) was in town. She’s a big time, hard-working class action/worker’s rights lawyer back in the windy city and an old movie buddy of mine. It was a treat to see her. I’ve been thwarted, more times than I care to count, in attempts to return to Chicago to visit friends their. Either, I had the money, but couldn’t get away because of some deadline, or I didn’t have the money, but had all the time in the world (usually in the summer.) It’s been frustrating, to say the least. On just a personal level now that almost three years have passed, I’ve been dying to go back just to see the city again, visit the old neighborhood, and just be on its streets again for old time’s sake. I lived their so long that I would experience, if it’s possible, the thrill of visiting Chicago; which I remember so fondly from when I was little and would come with my parents, as well as in college in Milwaukee when we would jet down for various escapades. It was, and always will be, my first “big city” – the capital of the midwest – and carries all the thrill and electricity when visiting that it means to go to a big, cosmopolitan place where roads from all over converge. L.A. feels slightly different than that. First of all it’s big, so much bigger than any other huge capitaleseque city I’ve ever been in. There is nothing close or compact about it. Secondly, and more importantly, it’s incredibly de-centralized. Incredibly, almost maniacally so. Therefore, it feels more like a grab bag of towns, villages, and a few small almost-cities loosely arranged in one general spot everyone refers to as “Los Angeles.”

Regardless, I digress. With Elissa in town, I traveled over to Echo Park, where she is staying with another old friends of hers, Julia, whom I know also from Wicker Park in Chicago (the old ‘hood.) Julia’s been out here awhile – since 2002, or so. We had not crossed paths yet. Turns out Elissa is here because all her close girlfriends were getting together here to kind of have an informal reunion. Some had moved on from Chicago and it had been a long time since they had all been together in one place. In the midst of this, Julia had just moved and was throwing a kind of house warming party, which is where I caught with Elissa and the rest of the crew – most whom I know fairly well from Elissa. It was great to sit and chat and catch up. Elissa’s always been such a good friend. For a long time we went to the movies weekly – usually on a Tuesday night, or Wednesday. I mean over years. She was in law school by then. We had met through the bar business. She had been a Server when I first met her, then got out to go to law school. It was a wonderful ritual.

Echo Park, though, to give you an idea is way on the east side of L.A. Remember back in the 80′s when latino comedians like Paul Rodriguez and Cheech Marin would make jokes about ‘East L.A.?” (I think they even made a movie, right? Born in East L.A.?) That’s Echo Park. It was the barrio once upon a time. Now, it’s one of three neighborhoods in L.A. where there’s been some gentrification – not completely – but some and a ton of Hipsters flooded the area. Most all of L.A.’s music scene is actually centered in and around there – the bands all live there, the clubs where they start out are all there. It’s its own world almost, because it’s so east. So, heading over to see Elissa was an adventure – which in L.A. is always fun. Again, vast being the key word. In traffic, this neighborhood is over an hour away; but without traffic is more like a half hour. The terrain is a bit bit different – very hilly and the streets are quite twisty. It’s much grittier (in certain parts); but really just reminiscent of places in Chicago that were a lot rougher – like Humboldt Park in the late 90s, Wicker Park in the early 90′s, and Ukrainian Village in the mid-90s. So, in a lot of ways, it felt like I was traveling back to Chicago (and in time) by going to the party.

Julia’s apartment is in what must’ve been a mansion of some kind, or, possibly, a municipal building. It was this epic columned, old, stately two story, high up on this steep hill (we’re talking four flights of stairs just to get to the front door.) The building had been carved into 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom apartments some time ago. The interior was very vintage. Julia’s apartment had some detail that was period (maybe 50s, maybe 30s.) She was up on the second floor, with an amazing view. At the party their was a tarot card reader, so I got my cards read. One word that came up in my reading, unprompted, was “teacher.” The spiritualist felt strongly that being a teacher was a part of my future. (Also, Jason – as long as we are cautious in our negotiations – financial success, professionally, should be coming soon. Very soon.) The last element was that I would find love, as long as I wasn’t guarder – but rather open to it – in the next two weeks to two months. So, somebody remember that and we’ll check back in August, see how things turn out. I think my odds are good.

Good night!

Officially handed in the first act of my first full length play, KEPT. I believe I feel more and more bullish about it being decent to good – essentially not embarrassing – overall. It took a few cheerleading emails today from my playwright friends, Tiff and Jacob (Thanks, Consiglieres of the Footlights!) But, by sundown, I relaxed into the notion that I was halfway (actually more than halfway) through a  reasonably readable tragicomic play in two acts. (Whew! What a relief! Really had no idea what was going to happen with this project.) I also submitted my grades for the quarter. Everyone got an A. I know, I’m a big softy. But, I felt like my crew did put in the work and did a good job overall. Those two things were my last official duties for the quarter, so this one is officially in the books – one more to go.

Jason and I had another meeting – this one at school with the UCLA director I have been developing John Doe (Formerly The Counted ) with, Tony Onah. Meeting went quite well. I was in the process of bringing Jason into the fold with Tony. Jason pitched his notes on the outline I had written from Tony and my development sessions over the past couple of months. Jason’s arrival/fresh eyes brought a good jolt to the story and I think put us on a more healthy trajectory overall. Very excited about where we’re going with this one. We have some UCLA Alums and current development execs (at Warner Bros and NBC/Universal) preliminarily interested in the concept and curious to here more, once we have a locked down outline. Which makes for a good initial goal for us to push through the notes on the outline and polish up the story.

Then had dinner with an old Chicago friend, Nicci Walberg, who is one of the producers on my short film (don’t ask) Last Cigarette, and is out here now – has been for longer than I have been. She’s a UPM (Unit Production Manager – kind of like the field manager for a show or a shoot) in Reality TV. She’s worked a lot of big jobs – The Osbournes, Real Housewives of New York, Tila Tequila – Another Shot at Love, Nashville Star, Top Chef (I think), and on and on. She’s been in Atlanta for the past eight months on some Animal Planet show with dogs.  This came right after six months in Nashville for Nashville Star. She is quite happy to be home. To give you an idea, I got back in contact with Nicci the first or second quarter I was here. She then left town a week and a half later, and this is the first I’ve seen of her since. Two years, basically. She just got back on Friday and plans to stay a lot longer. She loves her job, but I think is done with the traveling.

Niccis is one of the good eggs and it was a treat to catch up, hear all the road stories, and fill her in on what’s been up with me. All in all, a good way to wrap up the day.

It’s that time of the year again. We lose the hour we gained in the fall. I must confess, I believe Arizona does it right – let’s just leave time alone and quick shuffling it around. My thoughts are with all you bartenders and cocktail waitresses and doormen out there tonight. Especially in the Chicago 4 o’clock bars. You would think the city would pass some kind of ordinance or law regarding this particular evening in the Windy City. Alas, they don’t. So, as is the case on Saturday nights normally, bars are open an extra hour. So the 4 o’clock licenses are open until 5 a.m., and you would guess that because we spring forward, they get an hour back and a thrilled with the short night. Lord knows, in the fall, when you “fall” back, the Bar Owners force you to adhere to the time switch and add the extra hour to the night, milking it for all they can. But, they don’t give you that hour back. Instead, they claim it doesn’t kick in until after you close. Which, means you still grind it out for the full slot. Never, never, never a fun night in the late night bars. Especially this close to St. Patrick’s Day.

The Friday Night Random were a little short. I was a bit sleepy, so I had to pull the plug. Besides, seems like things are at a cruising altitude lately and not much newness is afoot. Besides, taking a peek beyond at post Spring Quarter a.k.a. the rest of my life, and seeing what might come next for a little bit, as I let several options play out. Not quite sure what that all looks like quite yet. You could say I’m taking a pretty thorough inventory of all that I have going in my life – as in what financially do I have to maintain in my day to day between the doctors and my rent and the loans and general bills, etc… There are a lot more moving parts to my life in L.A., than there ever was in Chicago. Lots of personal things that I started which I would strongly prefer to keep going, so it will take a bit more thinking and planing and, ultimately, good old fashioned faith. As long as I take action where and when I can, the rest will follow when it’s needed. Maybe not when I want, but it always does when it’s needed. This much I know is true. This much I’ve learned first hand over the past ten years.

So another wonderful play tonight out in Pasadena. It was MEN OF TORTUGA by the Furious Theater Company. The production was tightly directed and the actors were spot on. The play itself featured some hilariously wicked lines and the whole performance zipped along at a lightning fast pace. Overall the run time was just under two hours, but felt like forty-five minutes. Again, their was no intermission, but scenes were fairly contained and their were blackouts in between each; which is how I’m structuring my play, KEPT. Overall, I would say MEN OF TORTUGA was the play that is most similar, that I’ve seen or read,  to the actual rhythm/construction of mine. The scenes are not super short like some of Craig Lucas’ in RECKLESS, which we read for class. Neither are they epic long like Edward Albee’s THE GOAT or THREE TALL WOMEN.

In all honesty, I’ve really fallen in love with the theater all over again. It’s been a long time. Part of me wonders about the feasibility of getting a second MFA in Playwriting at some point, mostly to open up any teaching career down the road to more opportunities. One thing that’s been unique, and mesmerizing to me in a writer-geek way, during this excursion into this form is that I’ve slowly developed a completely different process to tackling the telling of a story in it. This is a process that is thoroughly the anti-thesis of my process for writing television pilots or screenplays. In film writing, I am a planner. I am a developer. I utilize a “platform” method and writing a script can take on the rhythm of building a house. There are steps, progressions, that must be met to ensure a strong story that will stand up to the elements. Things aren’t always as rigid as this sounds, but for the most part their is a methodology at play. Very specific tools are used to tackle problems and questions, to draw out the best solutions. In writing a play, I have settled into an early approach of complete investigation. I write a scene, step back and see what is going on, what emotions and thoughts are at play and proceed from their to the next scene that I feel I should write. Scenes are written out of order. Sometimes, in writing a scene for KEPT, I don’t even know where it will go or if it will stay in. Therefore, in the shaping of the play I slowly tease out what I would endeavor to plan out in a film script (The narrative throughline and the emotional arc.) I’ll have a sense, unformed even, of what I want it to be, but not the foggiest notion of what that will ultimately entail. It’s so freeform and I think if you polled most of my peers they would say I was definitely not a free form writer. So, in accomplishing this beautiful defeat of all my normal tendencies, I’ve really broaden my horizons and settled deeper into the process of writing, over the results. That is a stellar lesson to learn.

Congrats to Kathryn Bigelow on last night’s first ever win for a woman director and for the david overgoliath victory of The Hurt Locker over Avatar. Though, for the record, I do believe Avatar should have won Best Picture because it’s such a game changing, groundbreaking film. But, I would guess, that the Academy, in some ways, punished Cameron by not voting for him because it was so groundbreaking and so beyond what any of his peers had conceived or accomplished. As Steven Spielberg or Alfred Hitchcock could attest – the more successful you are, the less likely you are to be recognized by your compatriots.

One thing that I found lovely about Kathryn Bigelow’s victory that isn’t being reported much is her age. She’s 58 years young. Ageism is a dirty little secret in Hollywood labor practices, sadly. Almost as pervasive as sexism and racism in hiring practices. I think it might the 21st century dark spot that gets dragged into the light and eventually overturned. Maybe I’m being idealistic, but I hope to see it. Not so much because it may one day (sooner rather than later) affect me and my career, but more so because I think it will have a beutiful effect on the types of stories that can be told by the mainstream industry. That, in effect, it all won’t boil down to teenage boys as the lowest common denominator.

But, that’s not exactly what this post is about…

I just finished teaching what was my last class here at UCLA. I’m sitting in Northern Lights, a coffee shop here on campus. It’s a sometimes beautiful early spring day – a bit blustery here and there, but still mostly sunny. As I walked over from class, I ran into a first year who was on his way to hand in his first 434 script to Hal Ackerman, whose the professor I had at this same exact time – my first year, winter quarter. He was ebullient and relieved, remarking how he could finally sleep. I gave him a wry “congrats,” patted him on the shoulder and then shook his hand as we split – him heading in, me heading out (literally and figuratively.) As I walked away I ruminated on my students applauding when I gave them the “thank-you-for-being-good-students” wrap-up (the applause was a first, something we’ve done for Professors we’ve really enjoyed like Howard Suber, so you can imagine I was a bit surprised), on what that first year’s priority was now that his 434 script was done (sleep) and on that fact that I couldn’t be farther from that mind set if I tried, that I’m focused on what me and my writing partner have to do this week, right now, while contemplating our other projects, and my new found love of playwriting along with my growing desire to write a novel (Because of something my beloved Uncle Joe asked me not too long ago.)

In other words, in my usual roundabout fashion, I ruminated on the fact that I’m not a student anymore and, well, it made me a bit sad, sure, but it also brought to the fore a fast approaching reality – which is “what next?” Which leads me to the title of the post – leap and…the net will appear, right? Normally, I don’t have a huge problem with that. I’m a pretty resilient, stubborn, driven guy. I usually land on my feet one way or another. I guess what I’m realizing is that I really love my life as it is right now in L.A.  and I’m scared, very, very scared (irrationally, probably, but I figure I’m allowed) that I will lose this life  in some fundamental way. I’ve never loved my life in that way before. I was always in transition, wanting but not having or being. Now, I feel like I am just being and even though it can be hectic and very unpredictable, it’s always simply wonderful in the end.

What this is driving towards is the decision – to leave officially at the end of the next quarter, or to go through graduation and leave the door open to a tenth quarter in the fall, to buy myself some time. You see, I think my partner and I are close, instantly closer, for deciding to go basically all in at this juncture; but I also believe that it’s wisest or healthiest to keep the year ahead in mind. As in, be able to at the very least take care of yourself for a year. For me that’s a $20,000 price tag. That’s for bills and rent. That keeps my life in place as is. It’s a lot, but not a lot, you know? If I wrote two more pilots, that would cover it. Out here, I’m in that odd position of being able to work as a writer in unforseen ways to get by, but I haven’t quite gotten to fully employed as a writer yet, and the flip side is less than bartending, as I like to think of it. That means minimum wage and the like. I’d love to get a teaching gig, but so would everyone else and with all the budget cuts and economy, getting a teaching gig might just be more luck than anything else. But I’m constantly looking and hoping.

I know I’m rambling a bit here, but again – I never imagined how the dream would end or what it’s sequel would be. Don’t you usually wake up mid-way through? How wonderful to not have that happen with this dream, but then, because it didn’t,  I should really consider the obvious question: what next? This decision on the tenth quarter needs to happen relatively quickly, thus the sudden focus on it. My FAFSA(Federal Financial Aid Form) is not in and I’m past the priority deadline, plus I have to declare for graduation by April 30th. Plus the reality that the ten week quarter will fly by, that I’m literally three short months away from needing work or income immediately. Which leads to the question which I’ve skirted so far in Los Angeles – how do I do that here? (Make “getting by” money, while still hustling for the real goal – becoming a working writer.) I know I’m asking a ton of questions and not providing any answers. I don’t mean to cause anyone back east any anxiety, just being honest with myself. I don’t have any answers right now, and that could very well be the irrational fear talking. Who really knows until you’re through the looking glass?

So, what do you all think? If you leap, does the net appear – eventually?

Just got done getting caught up on grading my students papers for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been very good to this class. A little too laid back, actually. There’s only two weeks left with them, which means it’s far too late to correct course. Teaching a college class is not very easy, I’ll say that. Or rather, it’s not very easy when you are trying to do other things – like build a sustainable career. Often what it feels like, to me, is a contradictory shift in focus, between my work and there’s. I mean contradictory in the sense that it’s all or nothing either way, there’s just no balance between the two spheres of concentration, or very little balance that’s actually effective. Certainly this is compounded by the ten week quarter. I don’t know who thought up that breakdown to the academic year, or why they believed it would be a good time frame for learning to occur in. Without a doubt, it complicates everything. Alas…it’s the hand we’ve been dealt here at UCLA and you just need to roll with it. that doesn’t mean you get used to it, necessarily, instead I think you just learn to ignore the speed at which everything is happening. By the time you get settled into anything approaching a rhythm, the quarter’s over. For instance one of my biggest jobs these last two weeks will be to prevent those students of mine who haven’t been paying close enough attention to the calendar from freaking out when they wrap their heads around writing seven to ten pages of a screenplay in the next twelve days or so. This being something they’ve never done before, have little concept of, and couldn’t be farther from their skill set (most of them.) This quarter, I do have more than usual (four out of twenty-six) who seem to be seriously interested in screenwriting, which always brings a little vibrancy into the class. In the end it’s all about having fun, which is why I’m so laid back about it.

I wanted to get up a picture post, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. For now, I leave you with one I took:

Corona Del Mar, Sunset, December 31st, 2009

I’ve been teaching at UCLA for a full year now. It’s a great gig if you can get it. I primarily teach Screenwriting Fundamentals for non-majors to undergraduates. I’ve taught one quarter, in the summer, online. Which was actually a lot of work (it was billed as being easier), but actually more satisfying for me than the classroom. I took online classes with UCLA before coming west to the M.F.A. program and I can attest from personal experience in both the classroom and with online, you just have to pay more attention online – isn’t that strange? It’s true. You’re kind of one on one (which is where all that work comes in for the Prof.) (Yes, my students call me Professor Pedrolie no matter how much I tell them to call me Doc. It’s a little weird.)

I came west to get my M.F.A. in large part to teach. With the M.F.A., I will be street legal to instruct at the collegiate level – which is what I would like most of all for my teaching career; though I once interviewed for a post at the Arts High School in Chicago, and if there was such a arts centric high school – that might be fun, too. Ideally, I would love to teach at UCLA in the Grad Screenwriting program one day or in a similar Film School.

Usually my students are South Campus kids – the life sciences – with a smattering of curious sociology students and other assorted majors, or film minors. Some have just a rudimentary grasp of English, which is just part of life at UCLA, and struggle greatly to write in English. We have many ESL international students directly from the Pacific Rim. I usually think those students are pretty brave for taking a creative class. They’re all looking for an easy A (It’s a pretty easy class.) Usually you get one or two that are really interested in screenwriting. I had one kid today, come up to me before class started. He and a friend are writing a screenplay together, and they have about thirteen pages so far. He wanted me to look at, which I said I would. It probably helped a little he was wearing a Cardinals hat.

I teach for about an hour once a week. I wish I had them for longer. Maybe one more hour. It’s tough to get everything in, in ten weeks. They have no concept of what goes into writing a script or how to do it (I’ve been there before. Yes, I’m talking to you John Burkey!). They’re required to write ten pages of their script. My job is to get them through that with at least the proper format. It can be a bit like herding cats, but fun. Everyone loves movies, so it’s not like learning Calculus.

Today, I showed a couple of clips, as I will do sometimes to illustrate a point. I’m flying sans syllabus this quarter, just using the main, big lecture syllabus and not really planning out lessons. Basically, I’m just going with it and what the class needs, instead of forcing them in any direction. For right now the jury is still out on whether that was a good approach. I’ll keep you posted.

The clips, though? We were looking at the opening of movies. So, I showed Matrix, which they’ve usually seen. Then I showed them Gone, Baby, Gone – which I’ve grown to love more and more. It has a fantastic first ten minutes – really brilliant, minor key opening. Then I showed Jaws. I asked everyone before hand if they had seen it. Only two of the twenty-eight had. I’m serious. I was flabbergasted and immediately realized that, yes, I’m old. At least to them.

Jaws, people!! It’s one of the most iconic motion pictures of all time! Sometimes I just don’t want to know these things. Just let me live in this fantasy world. Don’t show me the reality like that!

Maybe we’ll get some video (no promises) of me teaching and post it. It’s quite a hoot.