It's when you think you're close...

...when you look up, and you realize how much farther you have to go. The public reading for my screenplay opened up my eyes in a lot of ways, and while it's something you somewhat expect, it doesn't make the road look less daunting. Looks like I'm going to sleep for a week, and then it's back to the grindstone.

The Final Push

So the event of the year is coming. Will YOU be ready?

First Public Reading - Kidz of Echo Park
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
5:30 PM - 9 PM

Remy's on Temple
2126 W. Temple
Los Angeles 90026
Be there! You won't regret it!

6 Readers Cast...

...3 more to go... I still need three more Pinoys... who's it gonna be?

One Confirmed Reader!!!!!!!

And I think a second might be coming tomorrow! Oh joy!!!!!! But now I need some boys to step up and take some roles. C'mon folks, you know you want it!!!!

PS In case you don't know what I'm talking about...


Hello everyone. If you have not been in the loop, I'm have the first public reading of my new screenplay, "The Kidz of Echo Park"! I'm really excited because this is my first screenplay ever, and this is the very first time anyone will hear this out loud. My work is in pre-pre-production: as in all I have is a script, and that everything is subject to change. I have two main goals for this public reading:

1) To receive initial feedback so I can make revisions to the script
&
2) To find potential producers, directors, actors, etc.

However, this would be IMPOSSIBLE TO DO UNLESS I GET VOLUNTEERS! Here's a breakdown of who I need:

* 9 Readers (6 male, 3 female, with one female as the stage reader)
* 1 Agenda Facilitator (makes sure things run on time, and will facilitate the discussion after the reading)

Here's a quick breakdown of the characters:

Antonio - 17, El Salvadorian male, immigrated to american when he was 15, joins the Filipino gang "Kidz of 'Pilipinas" (KoPs), despite initial concerns, becomes one of the most repected members
Joseph - 19, Filipino American male, Antonio's mentor & best friend, defends Antonio like a brother
Maria - 16, Filipino American female, Joseph's sister, worries about Antonio & Joseph's future
Gamba - 19, Filipino American male, was part of Joseph's entering cohort into KoPs, greatly desires respeto, jealous of Antonio's position in KoPs

The other 3 males and 2 females will read the secondary roles, with one of the females reading stage direction (which happens to be the role with the most lines!). There won't be any rehersal time, although I will pass out samples of the characters and go over the major plot points before we go into the reading.

Here are the logistics of the reading:

Saturday, July 29th, 2006
6 PM - 9 PM

Remy's on Temple
2126 W. Temple
Los Angeles 90026

Any volunteers would need to be available @ 5:30 PM to go over the agenda. If you are interested in volunteering, please email me @ rundmb@gmail.com ASAP with the following:

* Your Name
* Contact Info
* What role(s) you would like to do


All the positions here will be fun and challenging, and you will receive my deepest appreciation!

Thank you everyone for your support!

Sincerely,

Randy Bautista
Extremely Excited/Nervous/Stressed/Etc.

Theraputic Pillows Bring Back Elementary Traumas

Back in April at the Pilipino Alumni Association dinner I had won a silent auction for a free massage and therapeutic pillow at a chiropractor's office in Laguna Hills. I finally cashed in the offer this past Friday, driving one hour from Westwood to Laguna Hills for my appointment. Although the drive to and from the chiropractor's added more stress than the massage in relieving it, the pillow was worth the drive. I'm definitely sleeping better with the pillow; almost TOO well. Now all I want to do is sleep.

When you sleep more deeply, you are more likely to remember your dreams, which I have for the past two nights. The self-analyst part of me loves picking at my own psyche, discovering my own internal motivations. But my emotional side is the total opposite, having to confront unresolved emotions. Such was this morning.

I was dreaming that I was back in elementary school. It was recess and I was shooting the basketball around by myself. But for the life of me, I couldn't make one single shot. I couldn't even make layups; I always ended up under the hoop at some awkward angle. As I played, there were some kids playing kickball, while some others were playing basketball full-court. What was funny was that all the balls everyone was playing with had "Bautista" written in permanent marker on them. As I kept missing, I asked other kids for some advice or help, but none responded. And as the kids played, the balls got flatter. My basketball, too, became flat to the point that you couldn't even dribble. I then woke up.

The dream had left me sad. I remember I would bring all sorts of things to school for my classmates to play with: basketballs, pen sets, toys. While some of the kids were nice, there were always a few that didn't have respect for the stuff I brought. Pens got lost, toys got broken. In particular, I remember one time when my basketball interfered with the 6th grade kickball game once too many times, and the kid just took it and booted it over the fence and into the street. All I wanted was a little courtesy and a little respect, but I never felt like I could even get that minimum.

Yeah, maybe kids are just mean and I should just leave it at that, but looking in retrospect, I realize that I was more reluctant to share with people after that. It wasn't worth it. Why the hell should I share things that were important to me if people were just going to shit all over it? No, everything I do and had was for my enjoyment alone, and I wasn't going to pimp myself or my things to anyone else.

It's funny that all this stuff comes up now, but with the public reading less than two weeks away, I'm feeling a little exposed. I'm wondering how people are going to react to a piece of writing that means more to me than anything I've done. And having yet to find any confirmed readers, I'm scared shitless that I'm not even going to have a chance to fail, that I'm just going to look like a fool who couldn't even sell his story to the actors themselves.

God... emotions are a bitch.

Reflections on 24, and Other Musings

There's so much going on in my head I don't know where to begin. Maybe I should just break it down one at a time:

1. Birthdays

First of all, thank you all for your birthday wishes!!! I had a great birthday weekend. It was just what I wanted: relaxing, with moderate amounts of alcohol, and great company. It helped that I was celebrating with a few others who were also celebrating birthdays, including two beautiful Pinays, Clarisse and Marianne, and my roommates Peter (last week) and Samir (the day before). On the 6th I was with my roomies as we hit up a rooftop bar at The Standard, with a late-night bite at The Pantry, which just goes to show that everything in Los Angeles must start with the modifier "The". The next night I was over in Pasadena where I had drinks with my old SPEAR counselor and good friend JP (we gotta take a pic together, Japes!), my buds Richard, Lara, and my birthday twin Marianne:



Aren't we stunning? Anyway, good times indeed.

2. Redecorating

For those of you who have been to my apartment, you know there were two things that were sadly missing, a couch and air conditioning. But not anymore!!! I took some birthday money from the parents (thanks parents!) to get a new fan, and combined with some artful scavenging by Samir & Shiva resulting in a new couch and coffee table (scrubbed down thoroughly, of course, my new apartment looks like this:



Now I can have guests over for a significant amount of time!!! Yay!!! Of course, this would have been a satisfying birthday present alone. But of course, I've saved the best for last...

3. Going To The Public

It's official: the first public reading of my first ever screenplay is on! Here's the site:

Remy's On Temple
2126 W. Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
6 PM - 9 PM

I'm so excited to finally unvail the project to the world! I'm also incredibly nervous, because it gives me only three weeks to find readers and to revise my current draft. If you are curious about this project, please contact me and/or come to the reading. So with that, I'll probably be dedicating my webjournal to updates about the screenplay and the public reading for the next few days. Oh boy... things just got a little bit more hectic...

What You See...

Found this website through my sister. Makes you wonder how image-altering technology has an effect our idea of beauty, and what is truly attainable.