a new day

So I'm back as of 4 am yesterday morning. I worked at least 14 hour days, but it was fun. I met a lot of people who were very talented in what they do - you can check out some of their stuff at newdps.com. I ate entirely too much because it was good and it was free. So now I'm looking for some more jobs as this one. I can learn far more by doing stuff on the set rather than running messages and answering the phone. Here are some pics of the shoot.




My roomate in Florence has hooked me up with a producer out here, A.D. Oppenheim, he pretty big out here I guess. He just wrapped on film called KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS, a feature that should be in theatres soon. Moving on I went to the beach yesterday with Lauren and Brittany and we got to ride bikes to Venice Beach. We had a tandom bike and we'll just say brittany had a little problem at first stearing. But after getting use to it, it was no problem. Last night Eric and I went downtown to get something to eat and we saw huge lights on these buildings, so we had to investigate. They were shooting an outside scene, there were about 100 people on set. We watched for a while, but no one could tell us what they were filming. We did see a yellos sign for "Fracture." Yellow signs are posted to give cast and crew directions of where to park or where the shooting location was. So it may have been Fracture - you can read more about that movie here. We'll that's about it for today. Sorry I haven't written more, didn't have time on the set. I'll fix that problem. OH and here are some pics from the beach yesterday -

'no pink'

here's the film i'm working on. i got promoted to second a.d. - assistant director yesterday we shot in homes and today We're on location in San Clemente, CA. I got another film to work on in july. will write more when i have a computer. wes

Video Tour

YOU NEED FLASH!

haha the pic below is of the lobby...not my apartment, i wish. well no i don't, very content with where we are.

hope all is well with everyone. i leave tonight for orange county to work on a film called 'no pink' i'll post with my phone and pics I saw that it was like 90 degrees in tupelo today. it was 70 here. ok got to go

GOD BLESS!

wes

new apartment

so here's our place. right in downtown. it's hip. it's modern. it's home, well for a few months. oh and it's small. wes

The Guitarist's Girlfriend

A film I worked on yesterday. We're looking for apartments today, I think this is it!

Mrs. Marge

So I just figured out how to post a pic from my phone - I'll post pictures more now. So the first one is Eric getting a hair cut. Here's the story. We asked our friend where a good place to get a haircut was. He asked, "Do you want the Gay or Metro guy cutting your hair or do you just want a Barber Shop?" I first response was "we'll go with the cheaper one" So off the the Barber Shop we went. As we arrived, there were three older ladies and a nice mexican man. As we entered we noticed we were the only ones under the age of 50. Most we're almost bald. The mexican man was just shining shoes and taking out the trash. Option 1 - Denied. The lady at the front told us that we had to have an appointment so I choose to put Eric's name on the list first. My reason for this was so I could look at Eric's haircut and decide if I wanted to leave or not.

It wasn't bad at all. We had an hour wait in-between appointments so we walked down the street and got a 7/11 slurpee. Those things are good. I'll try to post a pic of my new haircut - styled by none other than Mrs. Marge herself.

Yesterday we met a guy about an apartment (christian couple) It was a nice one room with a separate kitchen and bath. Today we have an appointment with someone around UCLA so we will decide today. Our cars are still loaded with stuff because we have no where to put everything.

Afterward we ate lunch and I went to my interview at TriDestined Films. Honestly, there website doesn't do them justice. I'm sure they have the same quality of films, which isn't the best... but, the place was very nice. 26th floor of an office building downtown. You can see everything from up there. There was a white guy working as well. So we'll see how that turns out. Eric got a job at FOX today. He's just working today for a couple of hours moving boxes, but that's how you get in the business. If you can get on the lot, no matter what you do, from there you work your way up.

We went to see the Da Vinci Code Last night. I thought the film was great, it had my attention throughout it's entirety. Granted, I watched it as a fictional film. Of course I didn't agree with it's message.

We're on our way to see an apartment, hope one works out. Thanks for the comments.

wes

no sun for LA

good morning -
it's really wet here, it's been raining since last night. but everything else is great. were still looking for an apartment and I'm looking for an internship or a job for the summer. i sent about 20 emails this weekend, so hopefully some will return with a response. I had to rework my resume because of all the religious jobs that I've had. I asked some guys if it really mattered and they said "unfortunately yes" So I got by and changed a couple of things. I hate that it makes a difference.

Saturday we looked for apartments mostly near UCLA. We got a couple of numbers and we have an appointment on Tuesday. We're meeting with a couple today about one located on Vine. We saw Mission Impossible 3 that night. Really good - a lot of action. Yesterday we woke up and went to Bel-Air Presbyterian. It's a beautiful church positioned right on a hill top overlooking the north part of the city. The service was really contemporary, only a benediction at the end. In the parking lot before the service i saw a Mississippi tag from Jackson. I stopped by and said hello and turns out I was talking to Kimmel Monts brother. Kimmel and I graduated together from Tupelo High. Before he told me his name, I knew who he was because they look so much alike. I forgot his name but it may be Curtis. ?? He told me he and some friends were living in Laguna Beach for the summer and they were just going to find some jobs. Small World.

My parents and some friends are coming this weekend. My Mom and Dad are out here because it's my Mom's birthday - not saying her age, but it's young. There renting a convertible and driving upstate a bit. I'm sure I may be a little reason to come out as well. Lauren and Brittany Weeks will be here on Thursday for a wedding. The timing just worked out so I'll get to visit with them some also. oh yeah, I did get a production job. A guy called yesterday needing a P.A. for a shoot in Orange County. So i'll be working on that from Saturday until Tuesday. This is probably no pay, but it will build my resume and get me some contacts.

We'll were about to leave and check out an apartment, hopefully and God-willing it will work out. If it doesn't, not big deal. It's not like there isn't enough housing in Los Angeles.

Have a wonderful and I hope SUNNY day.

wes

home sweet home.....

our first full day in LA. for one, the weather was great and so were the people. we woke up and immediately started calling people about apartments - we got an ad about a christian couple who needed to sublease their apartment until September. *more on this later we also got a couple of leads on some others. we called and got the low down on our ucla classes, we have to take "the business of the film industry" and one elective chosen from many film classes. we then went to lunch to met a contact we made during spring break (he heads a bible study here and was once a youth pastor in Tuscaloosa, al) while waiting we went to an art gallery and met a guy from Alabama - he kept asking "who are you for?" he meant auburn or Alabama. Being from Mississippi, i didn't have a choice. we also got to watch this lady's dog whose name was "homer". after lunch we met with one of Eric's friends from Decatur, Al, he's working for a radio station here now. one our way to look for apartments, a lady asked us to roll down our window and she told us, "Welcome to California" she said she saw the car tag and all the luggage in the back of the car. there are a lot of nice people here.

we found an apartment in downtown www.theflatla.com this place is really cool, chic, and like art-deck - I guess. The rent is $1200 a month and the room is about the size of small hotel room. It also had plasma TV in the parking deck. We went on to check another place but the area got pretty bad so we decided not to investigate the other apartment. * somewhere at this point Eric almost ran over a girl and she it the window pretty hard with a metal object. All is ok* we then met with our friends from the road trip and ate dinner. A small Italian place in Westwood was the pick - pretty good! We then departed from our "roadtrip crew" and headed to studio city to stay at a friends house for the night. we're here now and about to go to bed - very tired from the long day. Tomorrow we will look for more apartments.

OH yeah two things -

a production company called me today to set up an interview. sounds great, right? http://www.tridestined.com/ well we looked at the website and quite frankly i'm not sure what to think. haha Eric helped in making the decision to go to the interview for experience at least, and maybe something will work out.

second thing - the "christian couple" with the apartment called back. we have a open house on sunday around 4 p.m. i'll let you know how it goes. the apartment sounds great - $1000 a month in the middle of hollywood.

goodnight.

wes

cal i for ni a

I'm sitting on a bed in Los Angeles, CA. My truck just rolled over 2,000 miles for the trip. I didn't post yesterday due to the cost of internet ($6/hour) at the casino.
So we got to the grand canyon the next day and walked around for about six hours. The place was beautiful, it just seemed that no matter how far up and down the canyon we went, we also saw the same shot. We did get to walk out on some protruding rocks, my dad would have killed me. We left the canyon and proceeded to Las Vegas. We didn't spend the night due the heat, potential rain, and the fact that we were just tired. (the weather guys said it was the hottest day of the year yet) While on the way to Vegas, Jason and I got pulled over - Jason was driving. The police car followed us for quite some time while Jason and I prayed he would pass. The lights came on and to the side of the interstate we went. Turns out my license plate lights had gone out and my plate wasn't legible. The officers were very nice and just asked that we get if fixed. We kept driving and soon after Megan and I thought it would be a good idea to pull off and look at the stars. We could see the lights from Las Vegas from 50 miles away and knew that the stars illumination wouldn't have anything compared to the lights of Vegas. The moon wasn't out, but the stars lit the sky quite well. We drove over Hoover dam and then saw a beautiful view city view of Las Vegas driving in.
we ended up staying at Bally's Casino - I lost 20 cents.

Today we got up and ate at Jimmmy Buffet's for lunch...it was fantastic and a lot less expensive than most of the food venues around. We soon left and headed for Los Angeles. On the way we stopped in Calico to see a ghost town. hmmmm no one was there, what a surprise for a ghost town. jk I believe they had just closed. Off we were to Los Angeles again. We had to stop for fuel with a price of $3.43 a gallon - ouch! We dropped Brandon off so he could go to san Francisco to see his woman and we came to the hotel. We walked to the Kodak theatre and ate dinner at a cpk (california pizza kitchen) and now were back in the rooms.

I was great. A lot of memories in the past few days and a unexpected future to come. Christ has really shown himself in ways this week. Just to say, today as we were waiting for brandon's ride to come a black man approached me. Three people had already asked me for some money and so I just expected this man to also. He proceeded to tell me that he was from Mississippi and just wanted to know if we needed help with directions, he said this wasn't the best part of the city to be in. We talked for a while and ended with a shake of hands. I think God was really saying that, Yes it may be a big place with a lot of uncertainity at the moment, but I won't leave you astray.

And a further note - haha like i haven't written enough - my roommate for the summer, Eric Herron, is hilarious. I find myself at the point of no-breathing many times of the day. He also is a great Christian, his ways are definitely something to learn upon this summer. I can't wait for what God has instore for us.

goodnight
(first night in LA)

what time is it?

WE MADE IT (to Flagstaff, AZ that is). 14 hours and 700 miles later. few stops and a whole lot of driving. tomorrow, the grand canyon and hopefully sleeping under the stars. here are some pics.

oklahoma

What a drive. We're now in Oklahoma City. The day began with a breakfast with the parents and I then met with the guys to begin our voyage. First stop was at B.B. Kings in downtown Memphis to eat lunch. Since I had just eatin breakfast, I had a small cup of gumbo. ($5.00 - rachael ray would freak) After we crossed the Mississippi River and the great state of Arkansas, along with a few bathroom stops. There were a few attempts to run Eric over with the car - ALL FAILED - he's still alive. Oklahoma soon came, but with little civilization. The exits are far apart with cows separating them. We got to OK City and ate at "Mizo's", I think that's the name. Good Italian food. The downtown area also has this cool riverwalk area in Bricktown. Coolest thing thus far in Oklahoma. Now at the hotel and we'll be getting up @ 8 to head out. More to write when I have time. Tomorrow we'll try to make it to Flagstaff......

pre-road

T-minus 11 hours until we leave Corinth, MS. Tomorrow we will travel to Oklahoma City, hopefully if we make good time we can go a little further so we have more time at the Grand Canyon on Wednesday. So this weekend has been busy, but great. Jason, Ana, and Glen came Saturday night and we got to talk and Jason told us about his dream of living in Fulton, MS. Today we had a family gathering here at the cabin in Eastview, TN, we have it every Mother's Day. I got to see a lot of people who I wish I knew better and also my little cousins who have grown up so much. The sky is very clear right now, one of the best things about this place is the lack of street lights. I'm sure the street lights of LA will overtake any illumination that the stars may bring. Well, I going to sleep, tomorrow we will conquer 4 of 9 states.

-wes