E!Entertainment-Not so entertaining...

So-to answer the big question. How does a girl go from interning in Los Angeles at E!Entertainment Networks to living in Washington,DC and pursuing a life 180 different?
It's not easy. But, I'll sum it up like this, I had always believed that I could go out to Hollywood and create meaningful work. I would make films that inspired people, that changed the way we viewed women and the way we viewed other minority groups in the media. By my work, I would then change politics, social standards-who knows how people could be affected. This was a big dream....
My first film related internship was at CTVN(Community Television Network) in Chicago, a local documentary focused non-profit. We worked with kids from the South and West sides of Chicago to make educational documentaries that focused on topics they understood firsthand. I worked with some of the students on the idea of women in the media and the negative impact of the advertising industry on women's self image.
During this period, I met a young film student at Columbia named Spence Warren. He was a great guy, and a good person who was working at CTVN. We collaborated-after I left Chicago-and kept in touch by phone and e-mail. Together we produced a short movie in black and white about a young girl's tortured self image. I wrote the script and Spence found a young hispanic girl named Anne from CTVN to act out the monologue. The film turned out great, better than I had imagined.. we were able to get it aired on local TV in Chicago. I felt like it was a great triumph and it was the first time I had seen my work on film. A copy of the film is still in my home film collection...sometimes when I feel down about my writing and my accomplishments, I get it out and watch it..to remind myself...
So, that Summer of 2001, I moved out to Los Angeles to Intern for E!Entertainment Online. I had a column, developed great writing skills, learned to edit writing work more efficiently and discovered I had a knack for public relations...But, I found E! to be a rather lonely place with a lot of indifferent people and few friends. I made two-Celine Ohanians and Melinda Wilfred. Celine has long since moved on from her work as a writer there and Melinda still manages their photography and pictures for the website. In fact, Melinda offered me a job as her assistant last Spring. But, the job was temp to permanent and did not pay well under E!'s tight budget.
More importantly, I dreaded the idea of moving back out to Los Angeles and feared what my life would be like...I found people to be vapid, unsophisticated, and mean in this city of physical human perfection. I think of Hollywood as the backdrop to a theater stage with odds and ends hanging out all over the place, no cohesive theme, dust, and lonely forgotten pieces of scenery just sitting around waiting for someone to use them.....I met a lot of people. I actually assisted on a show at E! called Film School which, allowed me to meet action film directors Jan DeBont, Martin Campbell, John McTiernan, Richard Donner, and Brett Ratner.
The realization that I did not belong there in that environment came when I was waiting to start production on the newest show. As I stood outside of the studio room, some of the girls were joking about how they liked to shop. It was actually a funny conversation detailing how small one needs to be to fit into the jeans sold in Sunset Blvd. shops. But, then one of the ladies started talking about how if she got pregnant, she would be miserable because she wouldn't be able to shave her crotch. Do you understand, she was telling us she would have an abortion because her pubic hair would get unruly during a short 9 month period???!!! Are you kidding me? We all get a little self-conscious at the idea of being pregnant and out of shape..but this was beyond my comprehension. AND the other woman agreed with her!!!! I knew than that I could not live in this place, or work in Hollywood. I could not stand to be in this environment that took life and people so lightly and saw them as dispensable....what I didn't realize is that my entire life course would change after that moment.
There were really funny moments along the way, getting Brett Rather's best friend, assistant, and publicist lost was one of them, or getting into an argument with the main producer of Alias and actually cutting her down to size...it was an amazing experience in some ways...(to be continued)

Why....

I don't know why a person would start a blog, extreme narcissism, boredom, angst, anxiety, for fun, out of frustration?
I think that's where I will start..ya see..it's not a simple story. But, I'll tell you the basics. I live in DC, I'm 24 yrs old, I dabble in politics, have a dog, and I have been underemployed-that's working without decent pay at a non-career job for almost 6 months. That's right-6 months.
I am sometimes although not always on the verge of what my other 20 something friends jokingly call a midlife crisis or mid 20crisis. Why? High expectations for myself, from my parents, from friends, for life...too many bills and not really knowing if I will find the answers to my career problems...has made me well....nuts.
One other thing, I love to write, research papers, newspaper articles, fiction-I've written a book on my own, volumes of poetry and I am on the verge of finishing my first play since, I was 18 yrs old. Writing makes me happy because it feels so good...
So, that's how I came to start this blog, to talk about my escapades around DC. Spout off about politics and celebrities and try understand this weird spot I am in...I will try to explain in the next posting..how I came to DC..when three years ago, I was a movie obsessed kid living in LA talking about politics, great literature, and philosophy thinking I would change the world with my ideas...and now.. I live in DC, feel frustrated, can't find work in my field of interest(Media Relations)and worry that I am wasting my life....
I'm a fun girl-no really-I like to dance, love to socialize...I even just got a new boyfriend...so just give me a few minutes of your time..and please drop back by...