~~~~~~~4 feet Under: Day 3~~~~~~~~

It's official and I am announcing it the whole wide world.

I can float. Finally.

Today is important and it will stay etched in the aqua tinted recesses of my brain. A sense of accomplishment and a really big one if you ask me since I never had the opportunity to learn how to swim or simply been afraid. I could have gone on, the misery of not overcoming this fear and instead made excuses for lacking the gumption and simply blame my parents for not taking any interest in my extra curricular activities. Or been miserable whenever I was tin an exotic paradise where surfers and bikini clad women made me feel like a ninkompoop. OR worse faced the end of my life if ever caught in a flood.

However, I don't want to find myself in any of these scenarios and so it's been pretty much sink or swim attitude that's taken over.

It paid off.

It didn't happen easily though. Between several half baked attempts at gliding from one end of the pool to another,  forcing myself to breathe under water and finally letting go, there's been the sense of absolute misery for wanting to chicken out yet again. I did this when I was 14 years old and I think growing older beyond 25 gives you a checklist of things you want to feel proud of. Being lousy in water amongst a family of swimmers ( and mind you my parents swim in the sea, lakes and ponds. Pools weren't even a luxury to them) isn't what I wish to be stuck with when I am 30. 

Subconsciously though, this push to learn swimming began when I struck up a seemingly perfect and too good to be true relationship earlier last year.  I realized what great joy it would be to be able to swim next to this person. Our little plans of traveling..maybe Goa first, the beach and the sea, that talk must have done something. 

Perhaps distance does change equations. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be. 

But hey! I am on my way to finally enjoy nature's liquified bounty. With or without a companion.

By the way, this was my third swimming lesson and my instructor has turned out to be really patient so far. However,  I have a friend and stranger to thank much more than anyone else for getting ahead.

All that I could think of in those 3 hours in the pool today, kicking , floating and enjoying every minute of my new found skills, was the big lake in Ma's village and wanting to go swimming with her and Baba.

Pardon this abrupt jump ahead, but Day 2 was really a lot of paddling around and getting the kicks right. I also spent 2 extra hours by myself teaching myself to stay under water longer. In comparison, today is just more exciting to write about :)

Next class will undoubtedly be more exciting, if I manage to get the stroke right

Glub, glub. More updates coming up

~~~~4 Feet Under: Glub Glub Chronicles~~~~

I wish I had something more original to quip. But the TV series, two numbers more, that bowled me over in high school always inspired sad one liners. And here's mine :P


I force myself 4 feet under....water. Every Wednesday night, I walk half a mile across the campus at about 7 pm into the gym. A couple of minutes later, I am trying my best to work on my fear. Yes it's swimming.


I love bathing in the sea and splashing around in the pool but never have I ever swam and I'm getting frustrated letting my fears grow stronger over the years.


When in Hawaii over winter break, I felt like an idiot waddling around with a tube in a 4 feet pool.


And SO It's my New Year's resolution to learn to swim this year and for a change I am sticking to mine. Only that it's pending from 2010.


'High time'. Ha ha!


Glub glub chronicles begin here :)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 1


"Give me a dead man's float".


I splutter through the chlorinated water barely able to say "How?" because my teeth refuse to stop clattering and here my 21 year old coach is asking me to simply let go on my first day of swimming lessons!


"I have control issues DUDE!" I yell back furiously.......in my head.


 I mean, when in water, I am freaked out of letting my feet float off.


"Take a leap of faith", he adds promising to spot me.


Right!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More to come!

Hop- Scotch

My mind plays little games
Amidst friends over dinner
In a crowded pub brimming with laughter
Over long walks in the snow by myself


It's trapped in blurry lines
Of the future and the past
Of memories threatening to fade out
Faster than the only picture of yours that I have


Tonight I said no
To another and to myself
Happy going solo
Happy to be with myself


And yet my mind skipped thousands of miles
To the second day at your house
I noticed the little blue book of Jeet's collected poems
And smiled to myself that afternoon all along


In its own little way
Undistracted by my departure at hand
And what you felt for me
We were perfect


Over long walks in the snow by myself
Fleeting emotions now and then
Your smile and our conversations through the sleepless city
My mind plays little games

The Rainbow Spotter

It's a Friday night and I am fishing for new martini recipes while soaking in the orange glow of my little flat. My little nest this home has become, comforting me with its 70 F temperature while the Tundra outside threatens me with arctic frostbite like symptoms. I am waiting for someone to join me and I am so happy that I came home tonight to share my single-hood with Q instead of falling asleep to yet another night of an episode from Mad Men (don't get me wrong, it's a finely written and brilliantly directed series but sitcoms make bad bed-fellows. You know...they are addictive, you feel miserable falling asleep alone, so you watch one more and then one more until your eyes hurt with sleep. You then wake up next morning looking pathetic)

I have travelled two continents and I still stand by this solemnly: no one in this world can compete with your women friends when it comes to companionship in times of joy and sadness. Yes the cliche stands true that we do blabber our heart's content about EVERYTHING. I see my male friends and how clammed up they can be, denying their inner feelings to be vented and thereby building layers and layers of emotions suppressed unhealthily. God knows what that self-inflicted silence hides beneath the tough exterior of most XY species.

I am privileged. Yes I am....to meet the confident, independent, funny and inspiring women who befriend me wherever I go. JJJCQ....I look at these women and I wonder if there's a larger cosmic reason we all are yet to be found by worthy companions.

I say "found" and not "we are yet to find". We chased - in some cases relentlessly - men whose intellect fascinated us. Normally, I am all for the new order of courtship that my generation of women practice. Woman spots/meets guy, tests his sense of humour and intelligence, checks to see if he is compatible and then zeroes in to lock herself emotionally. But, of late, I get a sense that maybe the old order of courtship needs to be revived. I am not suggesting you play coy and wait for a man who is IT. But why not give them an opportunity to seek us out. Someone I knew very well used to say "It's all about the chase". I finally get it even if I want to deny it.

 If only all of us can resign ourselves to this: fate and timing often have more to do with meeting people. Not "right" or "perfect" but individuals who are confident of themselves yet humble and up for a challenge.

It must be a bit of the wisdom that my professor shared with me tonight or the good Hendricks drink she fixed for me...but I think I can see myself a bit clearer today. Being a woman, an Indian and turning 26 , in this country is sparking off the epiphany that all of us have parallel identities, co-existing and supplementing the extremes of the other. And if we all managed to live the most honest and healthiest of each of those identities, ONLY then would we be truly doing justice to ourselves.

Enough diatribe! I shall now sit back, cross my feet and enjoy my chilly lemon martini. Cheers Q! Your presence really brings out the zany side of me...albeit in a good way. Now only if I can find a guy who does the same.

DAy 5 @ LA: 101 Hollywood for an Indian

Today was the last day on our schedule and I almost feel a little upset that this fantastic week of learning from industry professionals out here in Hollywood has come to an end.

Today’s set of lectures combined information on technology and valuable advice on how to build and sustain relationships and hence one’s future in the entertainment industry. We traveled back to the Writer’s Guild and first met with Chuck Slocum who upon graduating from Newhouse had gone on to join business school. Chuck advises the guild about technology and sure enough this man was speaking tech trivia in context to the changes taking place in the industry in almost every new sentence. Here are a couple of things I am now curious about – net neutrality vs piracy policing, residuals, vongo a clause that allows stars online benefits (I need to read up on these as much as I can) and high speed internet being streamed to the television and how this will change TV viewing.

I learnt a couple of things that hadn’t struck me before and found out why: cable companies as owners of internet connections purposely slow down content (I need to understand why and how this is benefitting them); more things have been digitally shot in TV because AFTRA has been more co-operative than other guilds; one and a half percent of your earnings as a writer is given to the guild; that eventually the goal is for AFTRA and SAG to merge but this is proving to be a challenge because they have separate health plans; the contracts department of the WGA can be of help to even a producer, however it does not negotiatte your personal deal and to do so you need an agent or entertainment lawyer; you can call and ask WGA to help you set basic clauses/minimum wages in your contract; directors like Spike Lee use unusual credits and they can do so because they are outside the guild; the two separate offices of WGA (East and West) do not have a national board authority; Netflix has star titles because some stars have the vongo clause in their contract; Netflix is a significant element to the studios today, they have 15 million credit card users and hence are now an incumbent. However Netflix has problems regarding rights and therefore only has 1% of films and finally coming back to tech again Blue Ray is going to be big by 2012.

After the lecture, I interacted with Mr Slocum for a while and asked his advice if I should join a business school given my interest in the business side of the entertainment industry and aspirations to facilitate Indian-American collaborations in film. He said I absolutely must but after I work for a couple of years in the industry. That gives me something new to factor into my ‘five year plan’. There is something else that Mr Slocum advised I am going to try and live by: “live on half of what you make for the first five years”.

Next we had a Line Producer speak to us. Steve Grossman moved out to LA in 1977 and had no job to go to. He sold shoes and as one hears of many of those “by chance” stories landed his first job in the entertainment industry through one of his customers. Steve said something very poetic and yet so accurate to the attitude required in order to survive this industry, “Every shoe I sold was a mile further away”. We learnt about the different functions of the line producer and how s(he) works with writers, producer and actors to afford the canvas upon which the project comes together. The line producer also facilitates and sometimes resolves dialogue or conflict between writers and actors. Ultimately, a lot of the Line Producer’s job is to be a conduit of information to people who are on and off the set as well as deal with talent and cut down tension on the set. Something that Steve mentioned took me back to what I was discussing with Norm Guzenhauser the night before at the cocktail reception. Steve said that, “TV is familiar topics re-represented and re-generated”. In order to do so or even successfully work in the Television industry, I must set out to read and see sitcoms as they have evolved over the last three decades. Steve had many other wise sayings for us which all of us meticulously made note of and having worked myself, I couldn’t agree more with him: “don’t deny an opportunity that can provide you a living so you can do the bigger things”; “at work what will make you stand out is the attitude”; “don’t shy away from older people”; “observe people as much as you can”; “don’t forget to live”;” write to people in shows or the networks who you admire and appreciate. You never know what it will bring”; “depend less on technology and read more. This country is at a very interesting time when a 25 year old fired from Wall Street is competing with an unemployed 45 year old”; “personalize you passion”; “despite technological advancements, it is the ancient art of storytelling that will dominate. It’s the content that is king not the tools”

The day ended with a meeting with Mitch Messinger who handles Publicity for ABC Daytime and SOPnet. We spent a few minutes understanding how the publicity department strategizes General Hospital’s episodes and characters to garner attention from existing and potential viewers. Following this, we made a quick round of the set where an episode of General Hospital was being shot and also spent a little time watching the directors in the production room. I was so amazed to see how Sitcoms like Young and Restless and General Hospital are directed and switched in the production room as if it was a live TV event. Makes me wonder if daytime soap operas back in India function the same way.

So here’s the end to what has been a fantastic journey so far. I can say this with absolute surety that what I observed and heard on this trip has been priceless learning not only towards my future in this industry but added to my growth as an individual. I am grateful that I am a part of an school which prides itself on the relationships it has forged with its students and to see Newhouse alums come together to give back to yet another new batch re-assures me of the importance of forging genuine bonds with individuals first and not merely as professionals who can help advance your career.

A lot of perspective has been added to my immediate goals and a plan is shaping up to make the most of what is now on my plate. Going back, a systematic strategy to set out exploring opportunities in LA will be underway.

I can’t help but recall what my mother told me back in India when I was unsure of coming to Newhouse since it was not my first priority. It is overwhelming to realize that perhaps there is a reason why we are offered certain opportunities which at that moment do not seem to make much sense but hold a lot for us in the future and eventually when this dawns upon us, it is incumbent that we make the most of the small or the big opportunities. Spring semester will be painful since it is my last one at Newhouse but it also seems to be the promise of the most exciting time at Newhouse given that the LA trip answered many of my questions. Here’s to making every second left in school as productive as possible.

Day 4 @ LA: 101 Hollywood for an Indian

The industry seminars has been so far packed with writers and producers but today’s itinerary had two areas of the media which may not have interested me as career options but definitely made me learn a lot more than I knew of them so far.

First up, we visited the Rhythm and Hues Animation Studio and met up with an animation artist and a producer. I could recall most of what I had learnt of the process of animation when I was producing a feature story on the animation industry in India but there was so much else about this craft and its business that was new to me. It was interesting to learn that there is a designation such as ‘Production Executive’ in an animation studio and that his/her task is to scout for new projects. We were also told that Rhythm and Hues is presently in collaboration with a movie company and for the first time R&H is a profit participant and not just a service provider. This new understanding has piqued my interest to learn more of profit sharing models for creative collaborators in the industry. So, a step forward in this direction will be to ask Evan Smith -- who is teaching us Film Business this semester -- links and articles to catch up with this facet of the business side. I also had no prior idea that the budget of an animation project is calculated shot by shot!

As we moved from one side of the studio to another, I noticed a couple of Indian men in conversation with employees of Rhythm and Hues and I instantly thought of Pixar, Framebox and the less recognized but equally efficient numerous little animation units across Mumbai and Hyderabad that are executing a chunk of the ideas developed here in the US. A decade after the IT boom and call centre outsourcing phenomenon, here we are, Indians and Americans working on the same germ of an idea through the same models of outsourcing. I am now keen on finding out if someone with my interest in development and learning the business side of the entertainment industry, can explore job opportunities in the animation industry. I would be excited to intern with the development department of a studio and also help facilitate dialogue and strategy with animation outfits in India who are at the other end of the outsourcing spectrum. I raised this question to Scot, the producer and after a bit of quizzing me on my background, he offered his e-mail id and said he would get back to me with a suggestion if I could write to him soon. And I am definitely doing that first thing when I get back.

We then returned to our hotel where a panel of Producers and directors all working in live TV was to engage with us. Production on live TV is something I am familiar with and hence assumed I would not have much to take away from the ongoing discussion. But once again I was surprised. Mr Rosenblatt explained how one’s personality drives one’s professional advancement in this line and also emphasized that the strategy to bettering one’s craft is to, “take things that are good for you and not those that will pay you a lot of money. Money will come if you enjoy and are good at what you do”. Yet another panelist saying the same thing all over again, but after all clichés are nothing but the truth often repeated. I interpreted his advice as this: a creative professional will thrive if he does what he can to apply himself to his work spontaneously and sincerely. I also made a note of Rosenblatt’s statement that the present crop of producers in live TV are less familiar with the history of this business. I have realized that despite my familiarity with American sitcoms and films growing up we watched more American content than any other), I need to read and watch TV series over the years and see how the styles have evolved. This will help me not only understand the popular culture references but also be more engaging with potential employers while I explore job opportunities here.

The day progressed to the most anticipated event on this entire trip’s schedule – the networking evening with Syracuse alumni. Walking into a room packed with a little over a hundred people and knowing that most of them were accomplished or recognised names in the industry was initially a bit intimidating. So, I started by talking to people who had started out in LA just a few years ago after graduating from Newhouse. I first spoke to a group of three men: Adam, Pete and Brent who go by ‘boardbrothers’ and are Syracuse graduates from 2006. I found out how they moved out to LA and got them to share their experience and efforts in sustaining their own creative aspiration on the sidelines while working on other jobs that help them sustain their group’ creative pursuits. I must have spoken to Adam alone for 40 minutes and was enthralled as he drew me deeper and deeper into his personal experiences that have shaped him as a writer and producer. The conversation must have really engaged him because he made sure that I had his contact number and mail id and asked me to get in touch with him whenever I need to for help. Feeling much better and more prepared to forge new friendships in this room, I moved on to interact with Steve Kent (Senior Executive VP of Programming at Sony Pictures Television), Doug Robinson (Executive Producer, ‘Rules of Engagement’) and Norm Gunzenhauser (writer of Newhart and Murhy Brown amongst many other sitcoms of the early 80s) for more detailed one on one conversations . While Mr Kent did not have enough time for a long conversation he has been kind enough to provide his contact information and ask me to get in touch with him. I am excited at the possibilities that might arise from this meeting and hope to learn more of Sony’s business plans in India in the motion picture and television industry. The evening ended with a heart warming conversation with Mr Gunzenhauser and I am glad I had this incredible opportunity to meet and talk to people who share a bond not only through Newhouse but by their passion for this industry. As Mr Gunzenhauser said, now it’s time to be calm and receptive while small and big opportunities come by in their most inconspicuous form at me. Only then will I be able to make the most of what LA has to offer.

Day 3 @ LA: 101 Hollywood for an Indian

Day 3 has been undoubtedly the most packed since this trip began. Packed not only with a larger number of industry professionals but also information that I have been seeking for a while but not been able to get answers to. Today’s meetings gave me a very good insight into both business and creative aspects of the industry.

The day began with a panel of Producers, a writer, a Senior VP and a Manager, almost all Syracuse alums working with Sony. This is the first time we had people working in the film industry speak to us and being more interested in the development and business aspect of filmmaking, I gained a lot from this panel.

It was disheartening to hear that there is a 30% decrease in production of films and that a trend of being hired as an executive within a shorter span of time in one’s career is no longer true. But along with the reality check, there was other information that our panelist shared with us that proved to be valuable given my interests. Jason Blumenthal explained how he had to turn entrepreneurial as a producer when the movie industry began its phase of a big slump and his emphasis on the concept of branded entertainment further drove the reality that movies are increasingly integrating strategies that ensure commercial success. The writer on the panel Andrew Mazer, however explained that regardless of what is being made for the big screens -- for those interested in the creative side of filmmaking especially writers and directors – we must stay true to our passion and avoid making things for the “marketplace” because what is relevant today might be passé day after.

The concept of “shrinking windows” was also raised by a panelist and therein, I learnt something new about the technological aspect of films becoming increasingly accessible within the confines of one’s house. A classmate of mine brought up this question and I realized, I need to spend more time reading the trades in the section of technology as well to understand the shift in viewing and marketing trends in the entertainment business. Finally after the panel discussion was over, a personal Q&A with Andrew Grumpert revealed that he knew Ronnie Screwalla, my ex boss from UTV back in India because of a deal that UTV was involved with SONY. Yet another example of how small the world is and how everyone in this profession knows someone invariably! I really wanted to build on this little piece of information and ask Mr Grumpert what kind of companies I should be looking at for an internship if I wanted to learn more about the Indian end of business negotiation with American studios here but we were asked to vacate the room. Going back to Syracuse, that’s the first thing I am doing of course after sending a hand-written “thank you note” to Mr Grumpert.

Talking about thank you notes and the etiquette side of the media industry, I learnt more today about cover letters, resume and networking, all in the span of an hour than I have on any other occasion. And I am going to fast-forward a good seven hours after the panel with Sony ended. Post dinner we had Kimberly Koser (a Syracuse alum again) the Director of Human Resources at Bank of Manhattan educate us about the most crucial aspects of the process of job applications. I finally have a better understanding of how I can organize and structure the next two months into executing a plan for my internship and job applications. To begin with I know now that I need to do a self-assessment of my weaknesses and skills, think of my 20 PAR moments (Problem Action Resolved) from my previous work experience and develop a 90 second pitch of myself. I may be trying to stay focused on getting through this journal entry but even as I do so, I am already on my list of 3! Also, I realized that my sister was absolutely right. Cover letters like Kim mentioned take a long time and the sooner I get started on narrowing down the potential companies/ production houses I would like to work in. The earlier I can start working on the cover letters. So going back to Syracuse, I am getting down to my top 10 places to intern in LA and New York.

Now rewinding back to the block of time I have not accounted for in between the Sony panel and our meeting with Kim. We had met with writers and producers from the TV and film genre and now it was moving onto a wholly different genre: reality TV. Dan Goldberg of Freemantle Media and two other speakers I knew little about until now provided us with an understanding of the business of the reality genre and why it was working for a lot of youngsters who are trying to break into the industry and although I have been allergic to most of reality TV, I have to agree that the advice we got from this panel was arguably what aspiring producer/directors in the class have never been privy to before. The aforementioned two young speakers were Dan and Ben Newmark, young producers/actors/writers who came out to LA to become actors and still intend to but until that happens they have found a way of having their ideas recognized by using the basic resources, network of friends and some great team work. To have two people closest to your age tell you their strategies of writing, forging friendships over the often overused term of ‘networking’ and understand that it was important to keep churning out visual work for people to see was refreshing and comforting. The Newmark brothers had all of us entertained, enlightened and engaged. No doubt they are able to tell the stories they are. I definitely for one, now see the benefits of partnering with a like minded class-mate to develop and pitch ideas and I can only hope (after this encouraging interaction) that we will do this sooner than we thought we would.