From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home

Pinocchio is really excited right now… and so am I! I was working on Blog #19 yesterday while going to and coming from Ron’s studio. Ron is the producer I have used for the past two projects I have done: “A Very Jenny Christmas” and “I Wanna Be Pinocchio”. Anyway, that was the plan, until, I just got some awesome news a few hours ago. So that blog will have to be Blog#20!

So, let’s see, what to say first! Well, I love working with Ron because he’s a breeze to work with and he is a kick ass producer, musician and everything in between. So, I went there to record ,”Getting Out Of My Own Way”, a song I have had in my repertoire for a while yet had not felt the need to record it professionally yet. And, it’s a good thing I didn’t because I actually ended up rewriting the song a few weeks back while I was taking a ten week songwriting class with a great teacher and mentor, Jody Gray.

Anyway, I rewrote the song and then literally a week after I did my 6th and final rewrite of the song, I was asked by a friend in the film industry if she could lisence out that song for her movie and, if I could also score it! If that wasn’t enough to get me excited and scared at the same time, she also wanted me to audition for the role of Kayla, the sister of Alexis, who is the main character. Long story short, I had played the role of Kayla a year and a half ago when Nicole, who I only met once at the time, asked me to be a part of the staged reading for “Sleeping With The Fishes”. She was looking for potential investors to get the film made. The whole experience was just wonderful and I fell in love with Kayla’s character because she is just filled with wisdom and quirkiness all at the same time! Anyway, the point is, Nicole really wanted me to audition for the role and I was very happy to do so. I said yes, I would audition! I said yes, she could lisence out that song! But, she would need to listen to the new version to see if she still liked it. We met up for lunch. I played her a demo I put together at home and she loved it! I auditioned for Kayla. I got a call back and I had the pleasure of reading with the lovely Gina Rodriguez, twice. She’s very down to earth and she made me feel at home while I auditioned, which I appreciated. So, what happened? I did not get the part. I was actually up against Ana Ortiz and, well, ya know… that’s show business! hehehehe I was upset for a day, but then I got really clear that I was meant to focus on the music aspect of this film, so that is what I am doing for the rest of the summer, putting my best foot forward doing what I love to do!

So, Ron and I got a lot of great work done yesterday. We got down my guitar parts, vocal parts, harmonies and a few other fun things that he suggested we do for “Getting Out Of My Own Way”. We’ll be working on this for the next few weeks. I look forward to having it completed and then I get to bring out this next song as a “single”. It’s funny how life works, huh? Oh, so I also gave Nicole a care package with a mix of a half dozen songs and instrumentals of mine that could possibly fit into certain scenes throughout the film. Since I am very familiar with the script, I took it upon myself to go the extra mile and put the package together with descriptions for each song and instrumental and exactly where each one could fit into the movie. If she finds any of it useful, great, and if not, it was worth practicing this process for future films I will be involved in. I will also be scoring the film, and while, at first, I was scared, because all new experiences are, I am now just really exited to do this! I mean, this is what I want! To be a paid songwriter, musician and performer, and it is happening, as I put one foot in front of the other and let every experience from here on be exactly that, an experience.

So, why are Pinocchio and I REALLY excited? Because… I just got word that the movie, which starts shooting today, got written up in…Drum Roll Please… The Hollywood Reporter!