Checking out the shot

JT with the camera

It’s hard to think about the episode writing as not fun, which it is. The process of writing it is not. Coming up with ideas for an episode’s premise is fun. Sitting in front of laptop trying to figure out how the second act is supposed to go is NOT. Jotting down jokes and premise for future episodes which will most likely not be in our first season is fun, finish writing the first six episodes of the series is NOT.

You get my drift.

- R

One of my favorite plays “Who Am I” was produced by my company Cuchipinoy Productions in New York City after two NYC Theatre Festival runs. Was very excited to see it go up and have almost full control over the production. It was also a great chance for me to play one of the roles as well. Another one of my plays “Anonymous” which is my most recent written play went up in NYC as well as part of the Planet Connections Festival, and I was very ecstatic to see it go up as well. I’m currently working on, okay, well its at the forefront of my mind, a new play to hopefully go up late in 2010. Also worked on a five minute short for the Asian American Film Lab (AAFilm Lab) which was my first film short experience. Had tons of fun working in a new medium and of course, working with talented friends. This last endeavor probably added a lot of momentum to my next project: a webseries.

Right now I’m working on a webseries that my friends/collaborators and I are working hard on. This is a very exciting project for me. I also wondered what it would be like to create something not for the stage, something different, a more of a long form serialized story.

Back in college I took a class that I think was called, man, I forget. Basically it was a class where we learned how to write a sitcom. That was one of the most challenging and exciting classes I ever took. The class as a whole developed a sitcom from scratch, brainstorming ideas and eventually coming up with a concept and a bible. The series itself was called “Margarita On the Rocks” which was about a married rich woman who was estranged from her husband who now found herself penniless and on the mend for herself. (trust me, it was funny) and each one of us had to come up with an episode script. Unfortunately, mine wasn’t chosen but it was better that way. Mine had too many inside jokes but it had jokes nonetheless. It was maybe too complicated for a 22-24 minute sitcom but it taught me many things even as I continued my career in theatre as a playwright.

This class also led me to create a series on my own for another class, a television class, this time where it was a drama about college kids in Newark taking place back in the day where multiculturalism was non-existence on the campus and the reprecussions of that when different students of varying ethnicities broke the race barrier unintentionally. From creating that series and writing an outline of various episodes throughout the season, pointing out plot points and arc progression for the characters (even including a time-travel episode to the present akin to “It’s A Wonderful Life”) I came up with a beginning credit theme for the show. Shot on a camcorder which took VHS, I came up with the shots and had my friends in school playing the characters, adding in a theme song “Gold” by Spandau Ballet. Presenting that clip in class was something that changed my life forever. I mean, I always shot home videos with our family cacmorder involving Transfromers toys and the like, but my young eyes could definitely forsee this going somewhere, someday.

I have long since abandoned both “Margarita On the Rocks” and “NCAS” (yes, not NCIS, this one stands for Newark College of Arts & Sciences) but more and more ideas sprung up. During college and afterwards my friends and I came up with glory story ideas, movie ideas and such.

This time, I AM working on one.

- R