britt talks 6 months

No, I’m not having a baby.

Okay, well maybe my career baby. I’M HAVING MY CAREER BABY.

Let me explain.

I was realizing while talking to Dani on the phone two days ago that in exactly 6 months time, I will be a resident of Los Angeles. It hit me then how rapidly time is moving and that… yes… holy SHIT, I’m doing this!! I’m moving to LA!!

Here are some things I want to accomplish in the next 6 months:

~Have at least four months of Silverlake rent in the bank (I am almost half way to that goal already, wutuuup?!).

~Schedule meetings with potential theatrical agents (perhaps fly down a month before I move for meetings?).

~Have a job lined up in Silverlake/Echo Park area (or a job that I can do remotely).

~Record an album with my brother.

~Have the ultimate Portland summer filled with food carts, Forest Park hikes, SE Portland esplanade runs, The Big Float, binge on Voodoo Doughnuts and Lonesome’s Pizza, and just like… have the city of Portland barf all over my face. Perhaps I’ll even throw the Naked Bike Ride in there. I want to OD on Portland before I leave.

Also–true to Britt and Dani fashion these days–I am posting my weekly post a day late again. DEAL WITH IT.

…Exactly.

(Also, can I say on a side note how much I LOVE the show Girls?! Lena Dunham is a genius and I want to hang out with her. Lena, please contact me so we can be friends and make sweet sweet art love together. Thank you.)

Anywhoo. This is what has been keeping me busy the past seven days:

My Week:

As you may recall from my last post, last Monday was my last official day at my day job until after the film wraps (so… five weeks from now). This is the first time I have taken a hiatus like this and I sure hope I will have a job to return to afterwards…!! LEAP OF FAITH LEAP OF FAITH. !!

But umm.. helloooo dear Britt… you are now transitioning into a new way of life. How awesome is that? At this point in my life, about 50% of my income is from acting or other creative work. Holy crap I have come a looonnng way! And I am going to continue in this direction, damn it. I hope this good fortune continues (and if my dear friend Susan Miller is right, it WILL). I am equal parts excited and scared at all times these days.

In my time away from the office this week, I prepped for Birds of Neptune, stayed up late, slept in, ate well, rehearsed extensively for Crumbs, shattered my iPhone screen, couch-surfed, had a couple emotional meltdowns (I’m a Pisces, don’tworryaboutit), had my parents visit from out-of-town (we had a lovely time), saw a Hey Marseilles show (LOVE those boys), and tried to get my head on straight. It was awesome.

Speaking of Crumbs and my amazingly talented friends Amir Shirazi and Avial Shira, the workshop of the musical sold out for both performances this weekend! Thanks to my wonderful friend Max Maller, we have some photo documentation of this event!

  

That last shot is of Amir, isn’t he sexy?! Seriously. Stop it, Amir (but don’t).

And finally… as everyone scrambled to get the last pieces of the puzzle fitted in time for shooting day one of Birds of Neptune, I got my Rachel hair:

…And I am officially in Birds of Neptune land.

OMG BLUE HAIR!!

OMG 6 MONTHS TIL LA!!

OMG I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

For real,

~britt

britt talks not enough time

So yeah, for those of you following along at home, I missed my weekly (Monday) post this week…whoopsie! Better a day late than never, right?

Just as Dani described in her last post of feeling upside-down (both metaphorically and literally, the yoga-genius), I too feel as though my whole life has been turned on its head and my concept of time has been thrown out the window. Things in different areas of my life have begun to spin out of control (for better or for worse) and take on a life of their own. Time speeds up and then slows down and then takes off at the speed of light again, hardly allowing me time to catch my breath.

This week, I’ve been experimenting with time. How can I make more time for things that are important to me? For relationships that are important to me? Is “being this busy” making me a selfish person? Sometimes I feel like it. I am so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life who love and support me and I hate feeling that I am neglecting them. Or maybe this is simply The Exhaustion talking, turning me into a stressie-guilt ball that is constantly bouncing off the walls to stay awake. But in a time when things are taking off career-wise, you are expected to answer that call, right? Put everything else on the back-burner? Put some relationships on hold…or get rid of them all together? Brave the change alone? Is that what you are supposed to do? I don’t know.

I have no idea anymore.

Yesterday was my last “official” day of work at my desk job for four weeks (I am an accountant, mind you, so this is a “big deal”). I am taking time off to shoot for the feature film, Birds of Neptune. I’ve never taken a leave of absence from my job like this before, and I must admit–it makes me nervous. If someone can take over my duties for a month, that means I am replaceable… right? Eeep!! Don’t think about it Britt, just take the jump! One day at a time.

One day at a time. That was the name of the game this week. One moment at time. Let’s catch up, shall we?

My Week

I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get a decent night’s sleep (mostly by choice, but let’s also remember that I’m living with four college boys ) all week. But I need to tell you… at this point in time, I wouldn’t change a thing. Sometimes you to push through weeks like this before you are able to see some incredible pay-off.

This week, rehearsals for the workshop of Amir Shirazi’s musical, Crumbs is in full swing with the cast!! How exciting.

This whole process has been truly fascinating. Each evening at rehearsal we have had a revised libretto to go over, new music to learn, and new material to feel out as an actor. It’s like being at theatre camp!! It is so fun. I love being able to see new work take shape and to observe the playwright’s process. I am honored that Amir allows for my input and to be a part of this experience. We are all excited to share this beautiful project with an audience next weekend.

Birds of Neptune begins shooting in six days and we have been working hard this week with rehearsals, photo shoots, costume fittings, music rehearsal/studio sessions, and me trying to learn how to roll my own cigarettes. Bam.

(c) John Campbell w/ Molly Elizabeth Parker

It is exciting to see the designers and crew added into the mix, to see the art department come in and change the interior design of the house/set while we are rehearsing in it… I can feel everyone and everything buzzing with anticipation of its first official shooting day.

I was lucky to get called in to audition for NBC’s Grimm again this week for two different roles. And thanks to some great coaching and a day off of work, I got called back for both roles!! That was an exhausting couple days (I was trying to meet a payroll processing AND audit deadline at my day job at the same time… when it rains it pours, right?). No dice for Grimm yet, but each time in the room is a step forward.

I also had the incredible fortune this week of booking two commercials: one shoot on Wednesday for a South Dakota car dealership with r-west and one shoot on Friday with R2C Group. This gave me some peace of mind money-wise, as I am nervous to leave the stability of my day job… ah, thank you Universe! Just what I needed. And hopefully a good tax return along with that. 🙂

And as I rush to get this post out in-between things today, forgive any typos, poor sentence structure, and/or just flat-out Crazy Person Talk, okay? Thanks friends. Oh, how I love you.

… it’s a working day.

Love,

britt

britt talks where to look for freedom

In the past couple weeks I have been desperately searching to find a place to land, some space in my life to settle, and a less chaotic rhythm to fall into as I adjust to an ever-changing routine. In the midst of big life changes and plans and crazy life surprises one after another, it’s been hard to find some peace.

When I start to get life-tired and overly emotional from wearing myself too thin and neglecting sleep (which has been quite often over the past few months), I try to assess what I can cut out of my life–how I can give my heart more space to live in a place of happiness. So, true to Britt-fashion, I made a list of my current obligations before bed the other night.

What I found was an overwhelming list of ingredients to a budding dream life… a life that I have been trying to position myself into for years (minus the desk job, of course). In scanning my list, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude washed over me. I thought to myself, “Holy crap, I am fucking exhausted, broke, and overworked, but…my hard work is getting results.”

I can’t deny these results, and not just tangibly– but in my quality of life. I am SO much happier than I was a year ago… I am constantly surrounded by the most beautiful and supportive people on the planet. I am spending time on projects that fill my soul and challenge me as an artist and inspire me to be a better human. My life fucking ROCKS.

Making this list like, woke me UP. It energized me. It’s like feeling the burn after a good workout and celebrating that hurt. That good, sweet hurt that tells you that you’re going in the right direction, that you are making progress. That is what this exhaustion is for me right now. And I want to celebrate it. This uprooting and constant movement I am experiencing is somehow giving me more freedom and exhilaration than I have ever experienced. I love it.

So Exhaustion, my dear friend, I thank you. With you, I am finding my freedom.

My Week:

Dear Exhaustion, let’s tell these folks what wonderful projects have made you a constant in my life lately!

This week has brought me much excitement with rehearsals starting up for the premiere of “Crumbs,”  a workshop of the original musical from composer/playwright Amir Shirazi, directed by Avital Shira.

CRUMBS is a prequel to the Hansel and Gretel fairytale that explores the question, “What could compel a father to cast his children out of their home and abandon them in the woods?” Written in the wake of the loss of Amir’s father, CRUMBS takes those experiences and more on a journey into new territory with a family broken by loss, yearning to rebuild their family from crumbs. It is a beautiful journey of love, grief, and what it means to rebuild family — or tear it to pieces. I cannot talk-up this project enough. Amir’s music is incredible– it fills my heart up to the brim to work on such beautiful words and notes. I am honored to work alongside such a talented cast and production team!!

This week also brought the excitement of a successful and sold-out opening night at Theatre Vertigo!

(c) Gary Norman
actors: Andy Lee-Hillstrom & Nathan Berl

I have been working on The Velvet Sky (producing duties) with the company for months now and it is always such an amazing feeling to see all of that hard work pay off. I’m truly proud of my dear company and the high-quality work it continues to produce, no matter how overworked we all are. And speaking of hard work, MANY hours go in to producing a show in a company with eleven resident members and no artistic director. That’s right, this little commie company worked hard into the dead of the night this week to prep for the show…

…but we had plenty of pizza and beer to keep us happy, so it was totally worth it. Go Team.

Rehearsals for Steven Richter‘s feature film Birds of Neptune is ramping up, as we locked in the shooting dates for March 4th-22nd. Eeeeeee! I have been lucky to get to play with many musical toys to prep for this role (my artistic wet dream fully realized):

But I think what I am most excited for right now is the opportunity to take a month off of my day job to concentrate fully on these creative endeavors. For this four-week period of time, I will be entirely–financially–self-sufficient as an actor. Uhhh… what?! This stint of artistic oasis rarely happens, so I plan to enjoy the hell out of my four weeks of Dream Life.

As I reflect on this stint of awesomeness, I realize that all of this insanity and uncertainty is what brings me the most joy… and it offers me great freedom inside of it. I am the master of my own universe. (Watch me, I’m getting all WOO WOO again.)

Every day I’m discovering how and where to look for freedom. See you on the other side, Cubicle.

~britt

britt goes viral

The Internet is a strange place.

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You may recall my mention of a short film project I was shooting with Chris R. Wilson of We’ll Fix It In Post Productions in my last post. The film starts out with this introduction: “Cleverbot.com has been touted as one of the most advanced artificial intelligences ever. The website allows users to chat with the A.I. Cleverbot. But how good is it, really? I sat down with Cleverbot and collaborated on a movie script. What follows is a movie written by a machine.”

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Chris emailed me about this idea on a Wednesday night while I was pleasantly tipsy enjoying a Backfence PDX event with my friend Suzzane. The whole concept sounded hilarious to me at the time. Or maybe the booze made it seem like a funnier idea than Sober Britt would have thought. But whatever, I promptly emailed back, “I’m in”. Thank you, two pitchers of McMenamins Ruby Beer.

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We woke up early that Saturday morning and drove out to a forest East of Portland in the freezing cold. We put on crazy costumes, talked in crappy English accents and exclaimed complete nonsensical dialogue while hikers looked back at us in shock at a distance. The six of us shared a bag of Lays chips (thanks, craft services!) and I mistakenly sat on Zach Persson’s PB&J sandwiches (which he’s probably now selling on e-Bay) and we successfully wrapped in a few hours. It was rad.  ‘Twas a perfect Saturday to run around in the woods with your friends doing crazy shit. I drove home happily afterwards to a warm shower and a three-hour nap.

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But what came of all this was kind of insane.

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Our little video about artificial intelligence blew up and in under a week achieved over 117,000 views and was written-up by popular blogs and news sites such as reddit, mashable, Daily of The Day, The Laughing Squid, Animal New York, Buzzfeed, and The Huffington Post.

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Cleverbot his/herself even put us on the home page of their site! Hello! Nerd Alert!

My favorite media quote reads: “Cleverbot wrote an amazing short film called “Do You Love Me”. It’s Academy Award material. And, Cleverbot? The answer is yes, obviously.” Thanks, Buzzfeed! Oh, Internet, where will you take me next?

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Seriously, Interwebs, you be CRAY.

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So, at the risk of beating this video to death….here is this Virus of a Video in case you missed it. Cause you know what? Eff it. I am going to enjoy every second of this 15 minutes of fame. Once I move to LA, I may very well drop off of the grid and into the soul-sucking abyss that is the inner-circle of actor hell forever…Ever..everrr.. .(Echo echo)…

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…just kidding.

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Not kidding. Sort of kidding. Maybesortofkiddingidontknow. Whatever, Just WATCHIT.

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And although the explosion of this video in Interweb-Land made me waste many an hour sitting at my desk at the ‘ol day job this week, I was up to some other shit besides Robot-Cinema as well:

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My Week

Rehearsal and prep work for the feature-film Birds of Neptune have been keeping me pretty busy. As indicated by the photo below, I think I had a bit too much fun at our makeup/camera test this past Saturday:

Molly Elizabeth Parker & I are sisters in real life, apparently.

Seriously, we are escapees from the asylum in this one. Aaaand to cleanse your palate from that frightening image, here is a less-frightening one:

Photo by John Campbell

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I was also lucky enough to get back on the horse for NBC’s Grimm this week. I auditioned and got called back for a guest star who was… in her 30’s. Seeing as how I’m playing an 18-year-old in the movie I am working on currently, I have no idea how I come across in terms of age for casting anymore. Maybe this is a good thing. I don’t know. Mostly I am just constantly having an identity crisis. Typical actor.

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In other news, the show I am producing with my theatre company (Theatre Vertigo) is in tech! I am so excited for The Velvet Sky to open this weekend. It is going to be a beautiful and jarring journey. And all y’all Portlanders should go see it.

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Anywhoo… my mind is exploding with all of the crazy-awesomeness that is my life this week.

…Yup, kinda like that.

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And all of this busy kind of makes me forget that I am living in a closet in my brother’s basement.

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I’ll take it.

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Best of luck in your journeys this week, my friends!

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~Britt

britt talks moving into her bro’s basement, part 2

It happened, folks. I did it. I moved into a closet-sized dungeon room in my 21 year-old brother’s basement to save money to move to Los Angeles. This photo is for Mom:

ROOMIES. Me, bro, & Severus Snape (he goes where I go).

…Nothing but trouble, that’s for sure.

I left this glorious studio apartment with city skyline view in SE Portland (let’s pretend I made my bed in that photo):

  

For this 100 sq. foot room in a college house (go Pilots):

 

(thank you to the lovely Suz for looking hot in above photos)

And because I am a badass, I pimped out the closet-room to look like this:

 

That’s right, this girl will be on Cribs next season. Check out that sick gold Sultan-curtain I have for a door. Who needs a door when you can fly straight into your room on your magic carpet? A door is clearly unnecessary, so fuck that. I would like to think that all of this basement-dwelling is prepping me for the Ultimate Basement Adventure when I move into Dani’s place in Silver Lake. I shall be reining Queen of the Basements!!

seriously, don’t mess.

With every dollar I save on rent and every college party I live through while creepily squatting in the basement as a post-collegiate troll, I am one step closer to being prepared to make The Big Move. Eye on the prize, 25-year-old girl living with four 21-year-old boys, eye on the prize.

I am impressed that I could execute a move in the midst of such a busy time. I couldn’t have done so without my amazing friend Suzzane helping me move car-fulls of my crap across town. And yet, in the midst of this moving extravaganza and 32 hours at the day job, I was still able to sink my teeth into the juicy FUN stuff of BrittLife that keeps me keepin’ on.

My Week

Rehearsals for Stephen Richter ‘s new film Birds of Neptune have become even more exciting as we are mere weeks away from production. I cannot wait to for this story to be told.

(c) Reverie Films, 2013,
concept image

I also had the pleasure of working with the genius goofballs from We’ll Fix It In Post on a short called “Do You Love Me”. To tell you anything about it would be a complete spoiler. So… you will just have to check in with me next week to watch. That’s right, those crazies work fast!

(c) Chris Wilson

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…Beware, as I am also a crazy that works fast. In just under two-weeks time I have successfully made a move happen and created a solid financial plan with 9-month budget to get debt-free and saved up to move to a new city. But I know the hardest part is yet to come. Sticking to that financial plan will be a bitch. Eye on the prize, Harris, eye on the prize.

Back at my brother’s–er, my house–, I walked up to the back door to use my new key for the first time. As I walked past, I couldn’t help but realize that I had never seen the backyard during the day-light hours. Behold…. the Backyard of Broken Dreams. I spied a large table broken in half and defeated on the lawn, several PBR cans, a (surprisingly upright) barbecue, and several dilapidated plastic chairs strung about on the grass. It’s likely that a stampede of wildebeests crashed through my poor brother’s yard. And that’s not really something you can plan for in the Northwest.

I walked inside and informed my brother’s roommate of the backyard situation, as any good and caring sister-roommate does: “You guys have a lot of broken furniture and crap in your yard.” To which my new roommate responded, “Yes, there is a lot of broken furniture and crap in…our yard. It’s your home now too.”

3…2…1…Awwwwww!

“ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONEOFUS!!”

And the Post-Collegiate-Troll-Squatting-in-the-Basement’s heart grew three times its size:  “It’s my broken furniture too!! And my backyard!! And my home!!”

I do have life outside of the golden curtain of my sultan den… and it will be glorious. As reining Queen of the Basements, I say it shall be so.

britt talks 2013

My girl Dani left Portland this past Monday to return to her sunny home in Silverlake. Though I am sad to see her leave, we took full advantage of our time together by packing more fun and awesomeness into one week than I thought possible. I could not imagine a better way to kick off the new year. 2013 is going to be huge, we can both feel it. My dear friend Stephen told me over coffee the other day, “2012 was a year of preparation. 2013 is a year of action”. I could not agree more. This also scares the ever-living crap out of me because it means I can’t punk out on the plans I have created for myself… and I have so many plans. So many huge, lofty, pie-in-the-sky plans.

…Which brings me to this:

Hey Britt!! Let’s have a check-in!

Okay!!

Part of my desire to write this blog, aside from being able to spend quality time with my Dani from afar and help other creative types know that they are not alone in their insanity, is to keep myself in check. To keep myself accountable. To keep moving and to never settle. To do what makes me happy, what pushes me out of my comfort zone, and what moves me closer to my dream life.

So, in brief, my personal blog entries are mainly to remind myself of this:

photo courtesy of http://www.yesandyes.org

SO, here’s my check in.

My Week in Art

Monday. Kicked off a new show I am producing with my theatre company entitled “Velvet Sky”. It’s going to be awesome. I am so lucky to have the creative home that I have at Theatre Vertigo. Here are some photos I snapped from the first read:

 

That handsome devil in the mask is Vertigo member Andy Lee-Hillstrom, who will be playing the role of Sandman. I am already having beautiful, beautiful nightmares. More info on the show here: The Velvet Sky. That’s right, it’s going to be fucking awesome.

Tuesday. Had a shoot at the Oregon Coast for a music video. It was a million degrees below zero with a wind speed of infinity, but it was still really fun:

My favorite thing about this shoot was exploring Fort Stevens. Everything reminded of being on a Walking Dead set (OMG zombies are awesome):

     

Wednesday. I had the pleasure of catching up over drinks with the lovely people who created this animation:

…Needless to say, I laughed ’til I peed. For four hours straight.

Thursday. Pre-production meeting for my amazing friend Amir Shirazi’s musical, Crumbs, in production next month. This is us “working”:

…when what we’re actually doing is a ukulele cover of the TLC song, “No Scrubs” for the entire bar. Cafe Side Door (aka my living room) will forever have my undying love for tolerating my antics on practically a daily basis. We’re a traveling troupe of minstrels, people!!

Friday. Had an afternoon of rehearsal for the feature film, “Birds of Neptune”, being shot in Portland next month:

Promo shot for Birds of Neptune, (c) Reverie Films

Whew. SO yeah. I had a ton of fun this week. Thank you friends and internet world, for holding me accountable to the self acknowledgement of my progress in creating the life that I want. 😀

But let’s be real. Things aren’t all work and no play (well, a lot of what I do for work is play, but never you mind). Here are some fun things that propelled me through my week:

My Week in Inspiration

This lovely surprise that Dani left me in my apartment before she left town on Monday:

My “spirit animal” as wall art, per Dani.

This council crest trek with my friend Stephen when the *GASP!!* sun (!!) came out:

Portland + Sun = GLORY

Books that are currently blowing my mind:

                        

“Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable.”  –Twyla Tharp

“I know that will well now. It’s the will of certain mothers and daughters. It comes from living in bodies that can carry life or kill it. ” –Lidia Yuknavitch, The Chronology of Water

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Aaaaaand I’m spent!

I wish you magic and fun in your week, my friends!

Much love,

Britt

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