Tuesday, August 26, 2014

counseling/ should I continue into TV production? (Part 1)



Aug. 7 Counseling: I finally went to a counseling session the other day.  I haven’t been to counseling since around the end of 2012.  I called up Counselor #1 again whom I have seen about 4 times that year.  She said she wasn’t taking any new clients anymore and that she was ending it.  I was fine and was going to start looking for another counselor.

I had seen Counselor #2 once in 2012, but she was more expensive and didn’t help as much.  At that time, I had benefits and my work paid for it.

I had gotten this information sheet from Counselor #2 about subsidized and affordable counseling.  I called them up and they were all about a sliding fee scale based on how much money you make.

This time I saw Counselor #3.  She was affordable.  I knew I had to start over again with her, as in give her my family information and my life situation up to that point.  There was a questionnaire I had to fill out and asked what you wanted to get out of this counseling.

Writer interviews: When I was talking to the Counselor #3, I felt like I was in my fictional writer interviews.  That’s because the fictional host and the real Counselor #3 were discussing about my writing.



The Years: I had to tell Counselor about the years and gave a timeline.

2008 The Year of the Soup Place: I was working full-time at the Soup place and pitching my script constantly.

2009 The Year of The Vertex Fighter:  I was working full-time at the Soup place and pitching my script constantly.

2010 The Year of Unemployment: I was laid off in Mar. and then I was so busy looking for a regular job and an office job, that I stopped pitching my script.

2011 The Year of the Office Job Search: I was working at my restaurant job in the morning and constantly looking for an office job on the internet and going all over town to go to job interviews.  I probably did on average 5 interviews a month.

2012 The Year of New Directions: I was working at my restaurant job and constantly looking for an office job on the internet and going all over town to go to job interviews. 

This time it’s different because I did a lot of temporary jobs like Telemarketer #1, Telemarketer #2 and job shadows at a dental lab and selling newspapers door-to-door. 

I did career counseling and regular counseling.

I also looked for a job in TV production.  It lasted about a month because there aren’t that many TV production companies in Edmonton and that are hiring.  I made lots of contacts.

2013 The Year of the Office Job: I worked at the Office Job for 5 months at the beginning of the year.  I worked at the restaurant on the weekends.  In the last half of the year, I worked at the restaurant and looked for an office job.

The experience at the Office Job, I can put on my resume.

2014: The first half of the year, I was working at the restaurant job and constantly looking for an office job on the internet.

Aug. 8 Should I continue into TV production?: I had written this list last month, and I shared it with the Counselor.  Now I will put it on my blog.

Continue into TV production:

  1. The producer John Kerr believes in me.
  2. Lots of TV producers have read my script and shown interest (over the years.)
  3. There are lots of TV production companies in Alberta, Canada.
  4. There are lots of TV writers and TV producers in Canada, so I can achieve it too.
  5. There are lots of Canadian shows that are successful like The Listener.
  6. A few weeks ago there was an office assistant position at a TV production company.  I got excited and applied to it.  I was genuinely excited.
  7. I was deleting Screenwriting Goldmine emails, and I still feel like I should take note of all the TV production companies listed so I can pitch to them.
  8. My goal of getting The Vertex Fighter is realistic and achievable as a TV movie/ back door pilot.  I’m not trying to get it into theatres.

Don’t continue into TV production:

  1. It takes years to produce one project.  (For example, the movie Tammy took 6 years in development.)  
  2. I have always said: “If I was to die unexpectedly, produce my TV script.”  Now, it’s more like: “Continue my blog.  I have cut out a bunch of news articles.  You can find the articles on the internet.  I had highlighted excerpts of it.  You can bold the text of the parts I highlighted.”
I wouldn’t ask my friends and family to try to get my TV script produced because it’s so hard.

Another question is: If I were to die unexpectedly, “Would you regret that your script didn’t get produced in your lifetime?”

Tracy: I wouldn’t.  Because I gave my 100% effort into getting my script produced in 2008-2009 (2 yrs).  Also 4 months in 2010.

Your opinions: I’m asking this to my friends and family, (and my blog readers) the above question: “Should I continue into TV production?”  If not, then what I should I go into?

That’s why I talked to a Counselor, somebody who brings a new perspective.  Because sometimes when you are too close to something, you don’t see it.  It’s like that time my friend Leslie told me that I get so angry watching Dr. Phil because I take it too personal.

Poke holes through logic: Here are some examples of outsider’s perspectives on things and they poke holes through logic.

Teen pregnancy: Here’s the Tyra Banks teen pregnancy episode.  I have written about this before where this black girl Jessica at the beginning of the episode talks about wanting to have a baby with her ex- boyfriend.  This is a paraphrase:

Jessica: I want to have a baby with my ex-boyfriend.  He doesn’t want to have a baby now or in the future, but I feel like when the baby does come, he’s going to want to be with me and we’re going to be a family and raise it together.
Tyra: So you want to have a baby with a guy you’re not even with?

Jessica did come back on the show months later to say: “After I saw myself on TV, I realized how stupid and ridiculous I sounded and looked and that I’m not ready to have a baby."


Christal Khalil: I wrote about her playing Lily on the TV show The Young and the Restless and there was an interview with her leaving the show to go to college.

Twop person: So you don’t want to play Lily anymore, yet you don’t want anyone else to play that role either?

Aug. 12: I am inviting you guys to either tell me to continue or not continue into TV production.

Aug. 20: I know I ask a lot of questions in my email, and no one really answers it often.  I get comments here and there.  This is an important question regarding my life direction and career path so your input would be helpful, even if it’s something small like “Keep going into TV production.”

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