Last time I wrote in this blog was in March, and I was feeling discouraged and stuck. I feel slightly less stuck now, even though not much has changed. In this blog post I will continue to write about my job situation as it relates to the present, the hopeful future, and the unlikely future.
Jobs I May Get Soon
Well, one answer to prayer from my last blog post is that I have a job interview next week for a reporter position at my local newspaper! This job is only part-time they said, but I would be happy with any kind of income right now (as I currently have none, unless I try to sell more things on eBay). They told me I need to bring to the interview some samples of my writing - at least one essay from school and at least one blog post from here. I’m still deciding which ones to bring, though I probably won’t bring them this post, as I’m writing about it right now.
The people at that newspaper are nice, and the lady who works at the front office seems to like me. Each time I go to visit the paper to ask if they’ve seen my resume yet, she encourages me to aggressively pursue this job. Maybe they just really want someone my age to work there; some fresh blood to liven up the paper. Not to say the newspaper has been lacking, but newspapers in general have severely lessened in popularity, due to the steady increase of online news sources.
I think I would enjoy being a reporter for a newspaper. I like writing, I like telling stories, and I like investigating. Plus, it might make me feel a little like Clark Kent :D “I gotta find a job where I can keep my ear to the ground. Where people won't look twice when I want to go somewhere dangerous and start asking questions…” (Superman/Clark Kent, when he decides to become a reporter at the end of Man of Steel).
And while I am preparing for my upcoming interview at the newspaper, I am also awaiting a call back from Savemart (a local grocery store) for an interview there. That job would also only be part-time, but it would be a job nonetheless. The position they are looking for is a “service specialist.” I would be the person who helps puts groceries into paper or plastic bags, then asks if the customer needs any assistance taking them to the car.
A job at Savemart is not exactly what I had in mind when I graduated with an English degree, but there is a potential benefit. If I get a job there, then later decide to move to Los Angeles so I am closer to all the movie industry jobs, my job at the Savemart here might be able to transfer to a Savemart in the Los Angeles area. Of course, a job at the newspaper would also be a good starting ground for a writing position in the movie industry as well…
Jobs I Would Like to Have in the Future
I like visiting movie news websites like Screenrant and reading articles about various movies in production. I recently read an article which gave a script update on the upcoming films Avengers: Infinity War and its newly renamed sequel “Untitled Avengers”, from screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely [by the way, these two are my heroes; they wrote all three Captain America movies, and the first three Narnia movies (someone else is writing the 4th)]. In this update, they explained a what the writing process is sometimes like:
“When we lock ourselves in a room with the Russo brothers and a couple of execs from Marvel, one wall has cards for movie one and the other wall has cards for movie two and another wall has little baseball cards of every character still alive in the Marvel universe… And then we looked at that began to shuffle the cards around.”
I want to be in the room where it happens. I want to be one of those people shuffling cards around, creating stories. I don’t know if I necessarily want to be the one physically writing the scripts, I just want to be part of that group of writers and directors, inserting my ideas and bouncing off the ideas of others. I think I do better with collaborative storytelling than on my own.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I am working on a comic series loosely (like, extremely loosely) based on Kim Possible. These comics began in 2002 and have continued on and off again since then. I am the one who physically writes, draws, and colors everything, but I do most of the writing with my brother (with the occasional input of one or both of my sisters). When it’s just me I can get some of the story done, but if I’m talking through the story with my brother, the ideas come out much faster, and it’s a lot of fun. I like to think of these comics as some kind of practice for the future, whether that be collaborative storytelling, storyboarding, or scriptwriting.
I love stories of every kind, but I’m especially a big fan of movies. My siblings and I could easily quote almost entire scripts of our favorite movies, and many of our responses back and forth to each other are often movie or TV quotes (not always intentionally). Another one of our favorite things to do is to film scenes from movies, sometimes shot-for-shot. Below I’ve posted a video my sister and I made about a year ago. This is an almost shot-for-shot remake of a scene from Spider-Man, centered around the character Norman Osborn:
This was made just for fun and is obviously not meant to be professional. Before filming this video I watched the original scene from the movie a couple times, then made quick sketches of what each shot should look like, labelling each shot. After placing props around the house, my sister and I then walked through where each shot would be filmed, and I showed her where would be the best places to stand so that she would not be seen in the mirror while filming. She also recorded my voice on her phone and played it back while filming the shots where I am talking, but my lips don’t move. This was shot using my iPhone 5S, then edited on Windows Movie Maker.
This is something I love doing; I just wish I could get paid to do it. I want my English major to count for something. Plus I’m too stubborn and proud to work at a fast-food restaurant and prove all the naysayers right that all an English graduate is good for is saying “Would you like fries with that?” I just wish I knew how to get into the movie business! I feel like I’m on the wrong side of the computer screen; I want to be the one writing and directing movies, not the one reacting to them or reading articles about them. I may know a lot about the movie industry from movie news websites and Wikipedia, but I can never fully know or experience the art of professional movie making until I’m in the room where it happens.
Jobs That are Basically Impossible, but Would be Fun
By the way, if you don’t recognize that last line (also the title of this post), then you are not familiar with the musical that has swept the country this past year: Hamilton. This musical marks the first time (at least in recent history) that a Broadway musical has become so popular or gotten so much media attention. In addition to this, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a new play set 19 years after Deathly Hallows, just opened in West End. The script for this book is now on its way to becoming the best-selling book of 2016. Both of these are helping reignite the public’s interest in both musical theater and drama. Something which is either good news or bad news for me; someone who also has a keen interest in theater.
The bad news is that more and more people will be wanting to participate in professional theater; a field that was already extremely hard to get into, but will now be made even harder by this oncoming surge of newcomers. The good news is, however, that more opportunities will also probably open up as well, to accommodate everyone.
As I said, professional acting of any kind is extremely hard to get into, but that is also something that interests me very much. Since graduating from Cedarville, I have been a part of four theatrical productions, the most recent of which, Theater Arts Alliance’s production of Beauty and the Beast, is actually semi-professional - meaning that I am under contract with them and I will get some financial compensation from the profits the show is sure to make (you can get tickets here).
So, is there a way to say “I think I am a good actor” without sounding vain? Several directors and assistants at Encore theater have told me so. I have to be careful though; comments like that have a bad habit of going to my head easily. I can’t let my imagination get the better of me, and I can’t let a highly unlikely future in acting cloud my thoughts or my better judgement. But even so, I sometimes like to think acting professionally in theater could lead to acting professionally in films, which could lead to writing professionally for films…
Well, back to reality, even though chances are I will never be a professional, I greatly enjoy theater and I’d like to audition for more plays and musicals in the future. Coming up at the end of this month are auditions for the musical White Christmas. I love the movie, and the music is great, but I get the feeling that a musical like this would only be fun if I got a lead part (which is unlikely at this theater, because so many more talented people audition there). Next spring at Encore Theater, they will be putting on the musical Pippin, which unfortunately is not about the character from Lord of the Rings. I don’t know much about this musical, but one of the directors of Oliver! (a musical I was in earlier this summer) told me he would very much like it if my sister and I auditioned. There are many other musicals I would love to be in as well. The Music Man, Les Misérables, West Side Story… I eagerly look forward to the day when the rights for Hamilton are available so that smaller theaters like the ones around here can put it on. I very much want to be in that someday, but I’m willing to wait for it.
Prayer Requests
I don’t always remember to pray, and I often feel bad about it, but then my parents have told me in the past, that God doesn’t love me any less even if I forget. But when I do remember to pray, and if you have time as well, these are the things I need prayer for:
- that my interview at the newspaper would go well, and that I would be able to get that job
- that I would also be able to get the job at Savemart as well
- that God would provide me with money to make my next school loan payment, because right now I have basically no money and no source of income
- that God would guide my future and lead me towards the job that is right for me
- that God would guide my thoughts; that I would think only what is true, honorable, just, pure, and lovely (Philippians 4:8), and not worry about the future
Thanks for reading and thanks for praying! I’ll try to update my blog more often, especially after I hear back from my job interview.
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