I am one of the leaders of the army that is a film or TV crew. I command with a walkie talkie and sometimes a megaphone. I make sure that everyone is where they are supposed to be, that people are fed and wrapped for the day when they are supposed to be, and that, in the best of times, come rain or shine, we get all of the shots we have scheduled for the day. I sometimes say “Action” and “Cut,” but I am not the director.

I am the Assistant Director, or AD.

Photos by: JannieT and Michael_McDonough.

Written by and about mothers of child actors, it isn’t exactly the same demo as YII, but like the background actor’s blog we profiled in December, the Hollywood Mom blog has created an online resource and community for a niche in Hollywood that often has to (or, rather, had to) make its own way, in this case through the trials and tribulations of being the parent of an aspiring (or actual) child actor.

Plus, the blogsite is top-notch and ultra-comprehensive, with sections devoted to auditions, product reviews, contents, the Hollywood Life, and our personal favorite, Momanagers (think Tish Cyrus, Miley’s mom) and the subcategory, Moms Gone Wild (which actually seems deservedly devoted to Dina Lohan, Lindsey’s mom).

So check out the Hollywoood Mom blog. You will be entertained- and definitely learn a thing or two!

Almost every writer I know has a well-worn copy of this book. Whether they’re having trouble getting started or hit a snag midway through a screenplay or TV script, these writers know that Bird By Bird by Ann Lamott has the right words to get the project on course. I would add that some of the best advice in this book can apply to any large project, and I have referred to it many times over the years when trying to move forward on a non-writing project I have been stalled on.

The title of the book comes from the author’s childhood memory of her ten year-old brother near tears the night before a big project on birds is due at school, a project he was supposed to have spent the whole summer on, but which he has not started. Trying to calm the panicked boy as he sits at the kitchen table surrounded by his school supplies and by unopened resource books for his project, her father puts his arm on his shoulder. ”Bird by bird, buddy,” her father tells her brother. “Just take it bird by bird.”

Chapters of this book are dedicated to getting started, breaking a project down into pieces, character, plot, dialogue, and many others, including my personal favorite, entitled “Shitty First Drafts.” If you are a writer, or aspiring writer, or working at any creative project (and what projects aren’t creative when done properly?), count on this book to be a treasured companion on your journey.

Several of the questions submitted were from people outside of Los Angeles who wanted to know if it was possible to get a jump on starting their entertainment career before moving to L.A. (”Yes!”) and, if so, how to do it.

My advice included ways to volunteer or get paid in entertainment no matter where you happen to be. (One tip I gave was to contact the local film board where you are – most states and metropolitan areas have them – and either get leads to work on upcoming productions shooting in the area or find out about volunteer or paid opportunities at the film board itself.) I also urged those who aspired to be writers or directors to actually write and shoot shorts or features now, to determine if they really like doing those things and (assuming yes) to have good samples of their work for when they do move here.

Another tip I gave those who are starting their career remotely (which I also give to people in L.A.) is to “find your people.” Outside of LA, this means going to – or creating – meet-ups (through MeetUp.com) related to film, television, music or new media, whatever area in entertainment you are interested in. Your people can also be found by taking a class – improv, singing, writing, etc. You want to be around people with similar aspirations so you can support each other and pursue creative projects together.

I also gave specific guidance to participants about breaking in as a writer, an editor, and an actor, respectively, and covered generally how to build your reel, both for a budding editor outside L.A. and for an experienced cameraman in L.A. who wants to transition into the industry after many years working for the military and the federal governemt.

All in all, I gotta say, it was a lot of ME. I had had the questions submitted in advance so I could make notes on what I was going to say and do any additional industry research, if needed, and decided not to have the call be interactive so I could cover as much ground as possible. But I think for future calls like this, I will have the person who submitted the question read it on the call and be available for follow-up from me and any related questions they might have.

The feedback I have received thus far has reflected the desire for more interaction, but also has been very positive, which is gratifying. One participant emailed me after the call to say he had already found his local film board on line and left a message to get more information. Some of the people who submitted questions also mentioned in emails that they’d gotten a lot out of the answers to other people’s questions in addition to their own.

I am looking forward to doing another one of these calls in March. For those who are interested, see below how you can get a jump on signing up when the time comes!

*Space was limited and offered to Mogul Mindset eBlast subscribers first, then YII blog subscribers, then the general readership, aka “those who can’t commit.” If you’re interested in participating in the next one (in March), might want to sign up for MMs or subscribe to YII so you can be sure to secure your place and get your burning entertainment career questions answered.

By networking around town, I keep track of the hot scripts and know who’s interested in what so my bosses know what to buy, when, and for what price. I give notes on scripts in development hoping to make them better before they go into production. In addition to tracking, I roll calls, take meetings, and do drinks. And my call sheet is always a mile long, if I am doing my job right, because everyone in town knows I know everyone in town.

I am a Creative Executive.

Photos by JannieT and Vikki heartbreak.

There are still a few spaces open for the FREE one-hour “Entertainment Career Strategy” teleseminar on January 26th at 8pm EST/5pm PST.  The call is limited to 20 participants and subscribers to YII’s Mogul Mind eblasts (who always get special opportunities and bonus offers from YII) were given first crack at signing up to get expert entertainment industry career advice.

Here’s how it will work: Participants will email questions about their entertainment career goals in advance and, during the call, they will be provided with concrete, proven strategies and career paths to achieve them. 

YII first approached Stephan Fleet to be included in “New Media Month” for his work as Director of Digital Media on “Ghost Whisperer.” Little did we know we were dealing with such a multi-talented professional who has managed to become a serious hyphenate relatively early in his career. As you can tell by reading his profile, he is also a strategic thinker who has set and is working toward big goals. He is setting his own course to his ultimate dreams and doing great work along the way.

Current position: Visual Effects Supervisor and Artist at Encore Hollywood. I work on about 10 shows, including “Castle,” “90210,” “Melrose Place,” “Big Love,” “House,” and “The Middle.”

College & degree: BA in Theater, UCLA and MFA in Film Production, USC

Internship: I did a Stage Management Internship back in 1999 at the Geffen Playhouse for some Davet Mamet plays. Met some great people who helped me get where I am today.

First job in the entertainment industry: This is a weird question for me to answer. Technically, I was a child actor. I starred in a film (not released) opposite Christopher Lloyd in 1986. However, my first job in the television industry would be Director of Digital Media at “Ghost Whisperer” / Development Executive for Sander/Moses Productions circa late 2006. Note: Sander/Moses produces “Ghost Whisperer” – I wore two hats at once.

Big break: Ian Sander, one of the showrunners of “Ghost Whisperer,” taught a television class at USC. It became clear to me that Ian liked to pitch TV shows with a lot of visual aids. Having been a graphic designer in a past life, I decided to go all out on a class project and make a full on, hard cover bound pitch book with about 30 pages of graphic design. I also produced a sizzle reel pitch video. The project went over well and got me a meeting with Ian and Kim Moses, his wife and also another showrunner of “Ghost Whisperer.” (As a wise teacher once told me, “When you see the door to opportunity ajar, jam your foot in the gap and pry the thing open.”)

Eureka moment: I’ve always known I wanted to be in and around the entertainment industry.  I’ve dabbled in (almost) ever aspect of film, television, and theatrical production and I love it all.  I’ve naturally gravitated towards the things that I like to do more (also the things that the industry wants more of from me). There was a stint, right after my undergrad, when I was scared of not having work. So I did about 2 years as a graphic designer for some dotcoms and Virgin Entertainment. I could tell that I definitely had taken a turn down the wrong path. Then 9/11 happened. Virgin canned me while I was on vacation, and I met my beautiful (now) wife Becca all at once. Becca quit her job (at Virgin) and together we spent some great years poor, but focused on what we love to do: filmmaking. It was during this time that I directed my first short feature, “The First Person” starring Ed Begley, Jr. (I met Ed Begley, Jr. at my internship at the Geffen Playhouse. Everything matters.) 

Career path: Ian Sander (Ghost Whisperer) is mostly responsible for my current career path and attitude. At first, when I went back to film school, I purposely hid my graphic design, VFX, and computer skills. I didn’t want to be stereotyped and categorized as “that techie guy.” Ian taught me to use all my strengths, not to hide anything. There are so many people dying to get into this business… anything that gives you an edge you simply have to exploit! Thus a year after school I had proven myself to Ian and Kim and was trusted with the position of Supervising Producer for  the “Ghost Whisperer” webisode series (Season 2). Ian and Kim also involved me in the creation of pitch materials for their production companies development slate. I learned a great deal from them about pitching TV shows. 

After “Ghost Whisperer,” I was able to take my knowledge from producing webisodes and produce an indie film for under $40,000! I used all the tricks I learned on GW to line produce that sucker tightly. I’m very proud of the film. It’s called PLAYER (player.legend44.com) and we just locked a distribution representative. My father wrote/stars in it and my mother directed it. It was a family affair. 

I then reconnected with a close friend from USC who, with his brother, had worked their way up to a really cool opportunity: to do a few visual effects per episode for NBC’s new “Knight Rider” series. They brought me on to help out, and within three months, we had beaten out the main company involved and built our own company, Master Key Visual Effects. At our peak we had 20+ people working on “Knight Rider” and I was a VFX Producer on a network show. Again, it was my understanding of the “languages” of VFX, Cinema, Computer Geek, and TV Producer that helped me there.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: Hah! If I am going to the office – I eat my oatmeal in a paper cup, drink two cups of coffee, sit down at my desk, rifle through all my emails, then dive into working on any number of VFX shots. Sometimes it will be adding a skyline to an episode of “Castle,” or making a giant stuffed cat pull down a curtain for a crazy video for a famous director.  Often times I will be asked to confer with VFX producers, clients, and inferno artists on the best approaches to shots and help hash out a plan. 

On other days, I’ll go on-set for a show and supervise. The hours are really random and each set has a different vibe. Generally I try and hang out near the director and writers at video village to get a grip on what they are shooting and what they want. When a VFX shot is up and it is my time to shine, I’ll run around like a madman taking all sorts of reference photos, measuring camera angles and lens lengths, answering questions for anyone and everyone who asks, and all in all trying to do my best job to ensure the VFX shot is shot right and I get the necessary data and info to help my company do the best job they can in post.

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry: One specific day doesn’t stand out to me. I’ve been lucky. My skills have prevented me from having to be a PA. I don’t think I could maintain the humility involved with those gigs. I will say at one job, I did have some issues with a co-worker who was, quite frankly, wrong for the job. The problem was mine, though. I let this person’s ignorance get to me. I learned a valuable lesson – it’s not worth it to build up anger and frustration. It accomplishes nothing other than making you feel like crap.

Best job (or day) in entertainment industry: I directed a short film called “The Outlaw Emmett Deemus” starring Larry Hankin. We were invited to be in the gala opening of the 2008 Hollyshorts film festival. I get there and find our film amongst films by Josh Brolin and Jessica Biel. I found myself on a panel with them, in front of an audience of about, like, 500 people, at the Egyptian. It was filled to the brim. All I can remember is this one guy on the panel was yapping on and on about how perfect his film was. I could see Josh Brolin and Jessica Biel about to fall asleep. When the mic came to me, for some reason, I screamed out, “Fuck the rules” (in regards to movie making) – the audience cheered really loud. That was a good moment! 

Best thing about your current job: The people! By some unexplained miracle of life, they are all really nice and cool.

Worst thing about your current job: It’s not producing my own TV show!

Brush with greatness: You meet lots of celebrities if you hang out in this town enough. They’re hardworking people like you and me. But I did get to go to the 10 year anniversary screening of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION a few years back. Morgan Freeman was there. That guy has a magical energy. Also, when I went to see “Flight of the Conchords” at the Orpheum a year ago, I sat RIGHT NEXT to Eric Idle. Holy crap no one even realized he was there! Oh, and lastly, Clint Eastwood spoke at my graduation and shook my hand. It was like shaking the hand of Zeus himself!

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: Learn anything and everything you can. Figure out what makes you valuable to the industry. You have to be valuable to get the job. Valuable is NOT having an idea for a movie. Valuable is knowing how to save a production money, make someone’s life easier on a production, or make the production (and people involved) be better.

Next move (or next five moves): Now it’s about striking a balance between lending my skills to the industry and maintaining my personal goals. I want to produce, direct, and one day run my own show. My strategy: I’ve found that I can use my skills to help TV shows. And helping TV shows means making friends with all sorts of people – producers, directors, actors, one day superstars. Really, it’s best to make friends with everyone, and help everyone the best you can. I believe in Karma. It’s also amazing how many of my peers from UCLA and USC are now up and coming. I already know Junior Agents at CAA, and famous actors and actresses, but when I met them they were classmates and friends.

My new thing is sharing.  I was reading John August’s blog (Editor’s note: More info on John August’s blog here.) and he said he wrote a blog because he believed that it was his duty to help people learn what he had learned. I like that attitude. I’m currently in the works on a series of video tutorials for my site exploring all the languages of movie making. One thing I have noticed in this industry is that everyone in every department speaks a different language. It’s kind of like we’re building a tower of digital-babel. Since I have a sort-of cross pollinated filmic education, I want to post tutorials that help give little tips and tricks to help communicate inter-department.

For example, I could do a 5 minute definition of “rotoscoping” that could easily help explain all the various pros and cons of this VFX technique to producers, directors, DPs, writers, and so forth.  I have a ton of cool VFX tricks for After Effects. Or maybe I’ll do a piece on how to use EP Scheduling and Budgeting for an indie, lower budget flick.  The sky is the limit, so keep checking my site, my first tutorials will be released soon and they will be on some practical After Effects techniques.

Stephan Fleet can be found online HERE (at his very cool website). Also, please note that Stephan is one of the judges for the 2009 – 2010 Third Screen Film Festival, which we profiled here in April. Visit the Third Screen Film Festival website for more details.

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? If so, please encourage them to subscribe to YourIndustryInsider.com and sign up to receive YII’s Mogul Mindset eBlasts today! Also, please visit Your Industry Insider Store to check out recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders!

VFX producer, Julia Frey, was profiled here a while back. If you missed it, click here.

Her blog isn’t always about being on location. It’s about her life. But working on back-to-back film shoots has certainly made her blog, like her life, about being location. She recently returned from a shoot in Morocco and the UK and is currently in the US Pacific Northwest scouting a new project.

There is a very specific rhythm and tone to a movie set. It varies according to how happy the set is, which has little to do with the budget of the project (though creature comforts, such as high-end craft service, can’t hurt). Add to that being away from home and family, working odd hours, exploring new cities, becoming close with people who were total strangers just weeks ago…

Julia’s blog, Julia’s Mexico City, captures it perfectly, such as in this post, where she discusses working nights on various projects over the years. If you like reading that one, poke around. You can learn a lot about what life would be like for you if you followed a similar career path to Julia.

Screenwriter John August (GO, CHARLIE’S ANGELS, CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, CORPSE BRIDE, THE NINES, CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY) has been blogging about screenwriting (and whatever else is on his mind) since as far back as at least 2003 and is widely read by both novice screenwriters and seasoned professionals. He will accept questions about screenwriting in general and about his process and his projects, but first check the “answer finder” on his site. If it’s about a released project, it’s probably already been asked.

He will not read your query, treatment, or script, nor answer emails to your personal account, but he’s very generous in giving his wide readership a goldmine of information through his blog. So if you are a screenwriter, think you might want to be a screenwriter, or are just a movie fan looking for a little insight into the behind-the-scenes process of writing a movie, check out JohnAugust.com.

(Note: We are taking a break this month from the “Who Am I?” series in order to feature as many entertainment blogs and sites as possible, focusing mostly on blogs and sites created by one person or a small group of people, rather than those launched by a corporation. Though we’ve got a few of those in the mix, we favor the little guy here at YII.)

Photos by JannieT and Vikki heartbreak.