October 2017: It turns out I’m terrible at updates! But it’s been a crazy, crazy year! A few highlights:

• The War Girls finished in the top 3% at the New York Television Festival scripts competition, and I was named a notable writer! I really enjoyed meeting lots of other writers and creators at the Festival.
• I am planning to film a few scenes from The War Girls in November…so stay tuned for some fun clips!
• I’ve been auditioning a lot, and working on a new comedy webseries with a friend, which we hope to release in the spring!
• I’m continuing to study with my amazing teachers, Ken Schatz and Van Hansis. I’ve been working on some really interesting, challenging material, and having a great time!
• I’m working on a new pilot about something very close to my heart — humanitarian aid (but this time about aid workers on the ground in conflict zones!). I’m really enjoying writing it!

I also took a really fun break this summer to backpack around Madagascar with my brother! We met some lemurs, and saw some baobabs — I highly recommend!

I’m excited to see what the rest of 2017 has in store!

February 2017: I’ve been a little lazy about updates lately — mostly because things have been so busy! My amazing editors are almost finished with The Humanitarians, and I’ve begun submitting it to festivals — I’m really excited about the way it’s turned out, and hope to get up some sneak peeks soon!

In acting news, I’ve been auditioning a lot, and I got my very first callback from an EPA! This gave me the chance to audition for one of my very favorite directors in a really fun part, which was an amazing opportunity.

I’ve also been continuing classes with Ken Schatz and Van Hansis, and they’ve been wonderful! I’ve got a brand new comedy monologue, which I’m having a ton of fun auditioning with. This month, I also took a fantastic commercial acting class with Brooke & Mary, which I highly recommend! I learned a lot, and can’t wait to get out and audition for more commercials!

In other news, I spent the first two months of the year writing a new pilot — this one’s a drama about female war correspondents working in Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. I did a ton of research, and really enjoyed the writing process — and I’m really proud of the way it turned out! It’s called The War Girls, and you can check it out on The Blacklist now!

Hope everyone has had a great start to 2017!

October 2016: I can’t believe this year is almost over! October has gone super fast! We wrapped production on The Humanitarians, and are currently hard at work editing the pilot. The footage I’ve seen has been incredible, and I cannot wait for you all to see it!

I’ve been in class this month with Matt Newton and Ken Schatz, working on some really exciting material. I’m also doing a ton of writing–I finished scripts for episodes two and three of The Humanitarians, along with a show bible/season one arc, and I’m very hopeful that we’ll get to make more episodes! I also recently began working on my first feature film script–it’s a very different challenge from writing a TV show, and it’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I’m really enjoying it!

I also spent a lot of time at the wonderful New York TV Festival, where I saw a bunch of really exciting independent pilots, and attended several interesting panel discussions. It was a really inspiring experience, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s!

Finally, in December, I’ll be shooting Exposure, written and produced by my fabulous Humanitarians producer Justine Browning. I’m super excited about this project, so please support it if you can!

September 2016: Happy Fall! This month has been all about The Humanitarians! We released our trailer, which has been getting a really incredible reception. And we began filming last weekend! Our first few days of filming were fantastic — it’s been an incredible learning experience, and I’ve been so excited by how well everything is going! We have a few more days of filming coming up, and then my DP/editor extraordinaire Shar will cut it all together! I can’t wait to see the final product!

Producing The Humanitarians has felt like a full-time job, but I’ve also kept up with training and auditioning. I’m still in class with Van Hansis and Ken Schatz, and I recently started a new on-set masterclass with Matt Newton, which has been fun and incredibly challenging. I’ve also been cast in a new short film, which will be shooting later this fall.

Finally, the pilot of the web-series that I co-created and am featured in, Nouveau Rich, will be screened at the Brooklyn Web Fest in October. We’re hoping to film the remaining episodes in the coming months!

August 2016: This month has been crazy! I had a great time filming a super fun sketch parody with the really awesome Richard Dery (which you can watch here!). I’ve been continuing in class with Van Hansis and Ken Schatz, and having a great time with both. I’ve also been taking advantage of the slow summer at Actors’ Equity and attending tons of EPAs, which has been great.

But mostly, I’ve been working on The Humanitarians! We have an incredible cast in place, and we filmed a teaser (which will be released in the next few days!). We’ve booked locations, organized a whole lot of paperwork (I am now the proud proprietor of Meraki Media Productions, LLC), and gotten a fundraising campaign ready to go. We begin filming at the end of the month, and I am so excited! Stay tuned for more updates…

July 2016: Summer is going way too fast! It’s been a great month! I shot another commercial (so watch for me in the fall if you’re flying All Nippon Airlines!)! I’ve also been trying to get seen at as many EPAs as possible, and I’ve gotten to a few really fun ones this month. I started a new on-camera class with Van Hansis at Matt Newton Studios, which has been really awesome, and I took a great two-week casting director workshop with Joey Montenarello at The Actors’ Green Room. I’ve also been in class and coaching with Ken Schatz, and worked on a few great scenes.

My big project this past month has been my TV pilot, The Humanitarians, and it’s going really well! I’ve made some revisions to the script, found a director, and held auditions! We saw an amazing group of people, and are now trying to decide! Our goal is to have the project fully cast within the next few weeks, and hopefully begin shooting in September. Stay tuned for more updates! 🙂

In other writing news, I completed the pilot and show bible for a drama I’d been working on, Human Interest. It’s currently posted on The Blacklist, so go check it out–I’d love to hear your feedback!

June 2016: Happy summer! This month I booked my first “commercial”–a promo that will be running on Facebook very soon (and I will post the link as soon as I have it). It was a super fun shoot! I’ve gotten seen at quite a few EPAs this month (yay!) and gotten generally positive feedback, which has been exciting! I’m working on two new monologues in class (one from The Spoils by Jesse Eisenberg, and one from The Merchant of Venice).

I also made some huge revisions to what I thought was a web pilot…until it became 35 pages and was suddenly a TV pilot. I’ve also found a producer and DP: we’ve come up with locations and a budget, and are beginning casting in the next few weeks! I’m currently working on creating a funding campaign, and I’m so excited to start filming this! I’m feeling super motivated–July looks like it will be very, very busy and I can’t wait! 🙂

May 2016: It’s been a busy, busy month! I started a new, part-time job (which has left half my day free for acting and writing!). The extra time has been fantastic–I’ve finalized my TV pilot, finished writing the pilot for my web series, and I’ve been auditioning like crazy! I performed in a really fantastic sketch comedy show, A Sketch of New York, at the Producers’ Club, and met a whole bunch of really awesome, hilarious people. I shot a short film, Take Your Meds, with Darryn Prioleau–I got to play a fantastically evil character, and I’m so excited to see how it turns out!

I took an amazing four-week class with Jenny Ravitz at Actors Connection, where I got to work on sides from my favorite Chicago shows. I also took a really wonderful two-week class with Ross Meyerson, where I learned a ton! And in my ongoing scene study/monologue class with Ken Schatz, I worked on a scene from my favorite play, Time Stands Still–I got to play Sarah, which remains my dream stage role. I’m really excited to see what the summer brings! Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather!

April 2016: April has been amazing! My fantastic writer-actor friends and I finally filmed the pilot of our brand new web series–it was tremendously exciting to see all our hard work finally come to life, and I can’t wait to see the finished product! I’ve been cast in a sketch show, A Sketch of New York, set to perform May 20-22 at The Producers’ Club, and I can’t wait! I’m also working on a new monologue in my class with Ken Schatz–a really fun, dramatic piece from Sunday on the Rocks, by Theresa Rebeck. I’m in class again with Dena Tyler, working on my on-camera audition technique, and that’s been fabulous! I’ve gotten to work on some really fun comedy roles. Although my TV screenwriting class ended last month, my classmates and I have continued to meet weekly to work on our pilots–and I’m really proud of how mine is coming along! Happy spring!