Tonight I write to you after a yummy pizza and salad with my cousin Trey at http://www.villagepizzeria.net/ The Village Pizzeria on Larchmont Boulevard. Yummmmm... And for the first time, I saw Twilight. And I was SO stoked to watch Edi Gathegi whom I directed in the play I wrote called, Billie Jean at the Graveyard in Little Bird Theater Company's MIX TAPE Benefit Show last November 19th at The Lillian Theatre in the Elephant Complex. He was great in the movie!
And I also saw Avatar, at The Pacific Grove Theaters -- Trey and I walked... quite a feet/feat in L.A.! Major pop culture weekend. Sooo fun!
And now alas, I am settling in for the evening. I have decided since I have to turn in my memoir by March 1st to the agent I was referred to at WME and the amaaazing editor, Judy Clain, at Little, Brown -- 50 pages of it. I have given myself this deadline. I will be featuring bits of it on my blog -- to get my and hopefully your juices flowing...
So, onto the 3 things of the evening:
1. Worth. I am the voice of ROGUE in the animated Wolverine and the X-Men series and I HAVE NOT BEEN PAID. It has been running for a year and today I emailed my voice-over agent, Luanne Regis, at Innovative Artists, because of course while thinking about getting seriously aggressive about being paid, I was thinking hard core about my agents making a fuss and calling and calling on my behalf -- and of course, I run into one of them at The Grove today pre-Avatar -- no coincidences in this world. I told her that I deserve to be paid ASAP. And I also deserve to have my agents kicking ass on my behalf to get me paid ASAP. I did the job -- a great job, I might add, and I have been kind and patient for a year and the time has come to add pressure and to GET PAID. I think that sometimes we feel as actors -- ohhh, I am just grateful to be working at all. Well, F that. We deserve to be paid for our work. Just like a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, an entrepreneur. We all deserve to be paid for our work. And ON TIME. Not just when some slacky producer finally slinks around to being forced to pay us.
Seriously.
F that.
I am getting paid. ASAP. And I will get my agents and my accountant to fight on my behalf. Enough said. Because I know my worth. And I am a millionaire. And to get there -- I need to know my worth and act accordingly.
You don't become a MOVIE STAR by simply being sweet. There is also the fighter. My sister and I affectionately call it "lebbing out." We are half-Lebanese after all.
Well, my little blades -- tomorrow, I leb out.
2. Words. My words are below. This is another excerpt in my memoir that I particularly like. It's where your imagination can bring you when you long for a loved one. It's fun. And whimsical. And I hope you all enjoy...
3. Webs. So, Trey was telling me today that the former head of William Morris TV, Sam Haskell, went to high school with my Great Aunt Boop down in Mississippi (where else would anyone's name be Boop?) And that they were good friends. He also wrote a book about and to his mom -- regarding her struggle with cancer. He was described by clients as "Elmer Fudd in a suit." He created shows like The Cosby Show while he was there. Sounds like a lovely guy. And though he is gone now -- I would LOVE to get in touch with him. See who he knows, what he is up to, about his book. Pick his brain. Then, Trey tells me that my cousin who lives out here with her husband and two children was good friends with a talent manager I have been seeing popping as having like 36 mutual friends with me -- and he has some great clients. I have written him -- before I heard this. Because honestly guys, Facebook can be an excellent way of connecting with people whom you might have thought of writing before -- but maybe you had their address wrong or sent it through an agent and God knows if they even got it.
Tonight, I became "friends" with the famous playwright, John Patrick Shanley. He is the one of the absolute biggest and brightest stars of the New York Theatre World. And when I wrote him that when I was a kid, his name was always with golden circles around it, he wrote me back,
"Hi Kieren, Well it's nice to be friends. It's concentric golden circles to be friends. Love John."
How lovely is that?
I am off, my little blades... And remember -- know your worth, speak your words -- "sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the nation" and weave your way through the webs that populate this town... If we weave them through people whom we admire and want to work with, then we shall end up in a place of honesty and of working with the absolute best. But truly... it begins with knowing your worth.
And in case you've forgotten, I am a movie star and a best-selling author and a millionaire. Tonight, lets us all dream our greatest dreams... That we may wake into a world of miracles...
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oh so I'm off the hook for Avatar? ;)
ReplyDeletewhat about my raincheck? haha
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