My recent trip to Los Angeles
Walking the Red Line
Recently I traveled to Los Angeles with mi amigos Rachel Lien, Ben Chrystak, Jill Carr, and Bill Grennan and let me tell you that the trip totally rocked! We did so much productive and fun stuff that it seems a bit overwhelming to try to recall it all…but I am going to do my best anyway.
So we arrived last Wednesday, April 8th, to quite a mess with our Enterprise rental. Basically Enterprise closed at 11:00 and we arrived at 11:15…so we hoped on a shuttle to the nearest car rental place, which happened to be Avis, who saved our hind ends. Then we proceeded to the lovely home of Corey Wish and April Wade (the Wish-Wade home, if you will). They were amazingly hospitable for everything and we are grateful to know them! We stayed at their place through Thursday of the following week and we all really felt like home!
But don’t think that I am going to jump to the end of the trip just yet. Let’s start with our adventures Thursday, April 9th, through Saturday, April 12th, while Jill was still with us. Basically, because Jill had to leave Sunday morning early, we had to cram in as much apartment searching as we possibly could into 2.5 days!
Thursday started off great with us looking at a number of apartments, some good and some bad. We had a very tight schedule, hopping from place to place. However, by 4:30 it was time to meet with our awesome contact that Rachel hooked us up with. His name, Nick. We sat and talk with Nick for about 2 hours and he was extremely helpful and down to earth. Very good dude! He gave us some insights as to some good classes to take and what his experiences have been in the industry thus far.
Friday we continued to look for housing throughout the day…I am pretty such we hit up Jamba Juice for the second time in two days. It was Friday that we found the beautiful apartment that would ultimately become our new place! In the evening we went out to eat with our friends Jenna Edwards, Amy Arter, and Dominik Rausch from April Showers. It was a fun time!
Saturday we looked at one place that really made us second guess the location we had looked at previous. It seemed to be pretty nice because it had a good number of amenities and the price was one of the cheapest we had seen, however we decided it didn’t feel like the right spot. The most exciting part of the day was when Ben had scored the 3 of us dudes an audition with America Young (friend from April Showers). The morning was mostly spent hustling around trying to get our headshots and resumes printed. The audition went well, but the most exciting part for me is how when Jill and Rachel showed up, one of the directors asked if we were all actors and we said, “Yes”. That is when he went inside and got some sides to have Rachel read. She did and since then she has been offered a part in the project! Its so great for her! I was really happy!
Sunday was Easter and Ben’s birthday. It was an awesome day because we went down to Huntington Beach where April Wade’s family has a home. We dove down the beach to Laguna at one point during the day an just hung at the beach for about half an hour. It was really nice and a perfect day outside! After that we went back to April’s parents house, there was food galore and I was in heaven! We swam in their wonderful pool (waterfall included) and had the best of time. Unfortunately, Jill had to leave us early that day to go back to Omaha for work the next day.
Monday, the big event that occurred was when we went to the Nebraska Coast Connection meeting. It was just an arbitrary decision, but when we went down to it, we made a bunch of different connections. The group is now up to about 2000 people that have come from and around Nebraska, so it was great to make some connections with some midwesterners! I met some people, as well, that may be interested in having me design their website, which rocks. While there, we got to watch the winners of the Coca-Cola contest. Their one minute movie will play in most theaters across the nation before the film itself (I think). It’s called “Meanwhile…” and its about what happens in the lobby of a movie theater while you are watching the movie. Its pretty funny! One of the writers/directors is from Nebraska.
Tuesday evening was the big premiere of April Showers and it was really awesome!!! We saw friends from the movie, we met some people, we walked the red carpet (pictured above), it was a really amazing evening! I don’t want to name drop, but we met some people with a good deal of clout in the industry and one of them asked us to audition for a project he is having on Showtime! It was a great night that you just hated to see end!
Wednesday was a layed back day. The most significant part for everyone was the signing of the lease for our new place, which was pretty exciting! I realized that there are some out door basketball hoops close by and got as giddy as a school boy. 🙂 Two more things happened Wednesday; we made plans to go to the audition Thursday morning, and we went on a tour of the WB Studios Lots. Our friend Corey Wish is working on a project there currently and showed us around the place. That was pretty neat! I nearly forgot to mention that Rachel, being interested in editing as well as acting, got a meeting set up for herself to me with Chris Lebenzon (imdb), the editor for a number of Tim Burton films!
Thursday we had a really fun audition (Rachel, Ben and I) then proceeded to head to the airport. Bill decided to have his flight moved back so that he could audition for the head hancho himself.
All in all, as you can see, it was a really successful trip and not one day was a dull one. These are just some of the highlights. Stay tuned next time to find out what happened to Bill Grennan when he awoke Tuesday morning, pants down, laying next to a 2 ton female gorilla! 🙂
Bryan
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April 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Sounds like an outstanding time had by all, I wish I were there. All I can think of regarding the Billy ending is ……..Banana!
April 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Looks like it was a great trip. How exciting! I couldn’t read this without adding a comment seeing that Dan McClure commented. Hi Dan!
April 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Thanks Chris! I hope all is well with you my friend.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
What a great experience for you guys with the posibility of work as well. Was glad to find out how you are all doing since you left as I just heard bits a pieces from a few members. Just stumbled on your site not sure how but glad I did. Its great to know how all of you are doing. Break a leg all of you and see you in the movies…
June 27th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I am glad you stumbled upon my blog. I am trying to keep things updated for everyone, so stay tuned!