"Surviving as an Artist" Event Summary Yes, you missed it, and it rocked... The following event summary is provided to fill in the people that missed the event, and revisit some of the lessons learned for the folks that actually attended. "Surviving as An Artist" Cocktail Party on Thursday, June 17 @ RC Sculpture Studios on W38 - An informal panel discussion and cocktail party about staying creative in this draining city… featuring some folk who have achieved much while living in phone booths…. The guests included... - Guy Maxtone-Graham - former staff writer for "Beavis and Butthead"
- Chris Kalb - illustrator/designer/cartoonist/web designer
- Django Haskins - singer/songwriter/Rock Figurehead
- Lynn "Breakup Girl" Harris - writer, comedian, website co-creator, and executive producer-to-be
- Josh Dodes - singer/songwriter/piano player extraordinaire of the much-lauded "Josh Dodes Band"
- Robert Jay ("Bobby") Cronin - co-founder and Artistic Director of the Ergo Theatre Company
But these were just the guys who went up to the mic... more importantly, we had 50 or so other interesting other folks from the NYC area socializing and exchanging ideas and numbers... After the panel ended, the wine and cheese (wiz) flowed as people gabbed and danced the night away. Some were never seen again. But don't fret... we'll have another one of these real soon and we'll find some folks to replace the ones we lost. Details of their discussions are below. If you have any further questions for our panelists, please drop us a line at THeMAFYA@aol.com. Also, please send as any questions or comments, or suggestions for the next event. We'd love to hear from you...
Chris Kalb and Lynn Harris spoke about effective partnering to put their website (www.breakupgirl.com), books, stand-up comedy show, and soon to be animated TV show together, and how you really can start from NOTHING -- two freelancers in a brownstone with a computer and a dream -- and create SOMETHING .... a job and a show at a major new enterprise (Oxygen Media). It's all about selling up, not out. key: networking with peers, partnership, pluck. Chris Kalb co-created Lynn Harris' cartoon alter-ego, Breakup Girl, when he illustrated and designed He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not. Chris will also Executive Produce the Oxygen Media animated series based upon this character. Chris did similar duties on Tray Gourmet: Be Your Own Chef in the College Cafeteria, which Lynn wrote with ex-boyfriend Larry Berger. Chris' illustrations also appear in 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics by Gavin Edwards (Fireside), and Up Your [SAT] Score (Workman), among others. On the web, Chris is the designer of Science Fiction Weekly, Sci-Fi Wire, Drug Strategies, and GraphittiDesigns.Com. Chris' comic strip in the Yale Daily News won him Scripps-Howard's Charles M. Schulz Award for the nation's most promising college cartoonist. Lynn Harris, when she's not Breakup Girl, is a writer and comedian who generally fails to take her own advice. She is author of He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not: A Guide to Fudge, Fury, Free Time, and Life Beyond the Breakup and co-author, with J.D. Heiman, of MTV's "Singled Out" Guide to Dating (Pocket, 1996) She is also a featured weekly humor writer for the New York Daily News women's and entertainment sections and writes features, mostly on dating and relationships, for Glamour, The New York Times, Ladies' Home Journal, Time Out New York, Smarty Pants and many other publications. Lynn frequently appears on national television and radio as the featured relationships expert -- including appearances on Today, Entertainment Extra, In Person with Maureen O'Boyle, Good Day New York, USA Live, Crook and Chase, CNNfn. She also performs standup comedy in New York City (click here for schedule) and is eternally grateful that she and chris have never dated.
Django Haskins (www.djangohaskins.com) talked about self-promoting his independent CD and getting airplay, including: - making pestering phone calls without completely pissing off clubs/radio programmers/press people
- promoting music on the internet through mp3.com, etc.
- press releases/packets for radio/magazines
- how to spice up those regular old peanut butter and jelly recipies
Django is a regular on the East Village concert circuit, and his album Folding Stars has been named one of the year's ten best efforts by CMJ Magazine. Heralded as a gifted songwriter with great potential, he's about to begin a major tour of the eastern half of the US. He also once stole my drummer. Some of you may remember Django as the guitarist, lead vocalist, and principal writer of Yale's own Earl's Comfort Station.
Josh Dodes (www.jdband.com) talked about staying creative while having the drag of a temp job. The Josh Dodes Band regularly pack the house at the Bitter End with their unique brand of tight, move-your-butt piano-funk, and are generating quite a buzz in the press (check out their fabulous write up in the Village Voice). Their ranks include Josh Dodes '95 on vocals and killer piano, and the "stunningly good" (VV said it) Rena Desai '97 on backup vocals. They are also my friend Rod's favorite band, and he didn't even go to Yale.
Bobby Cronin talked about going against the "advice" of the theater world and founding his own theater group, the Ergo Theater Company (www.ergotheatre.org), a not-for-profit producing organization. Robery Jay ("Bobby") Cronin is the Artistic Director of Ergo Theatre Company (ETC), a not-for-profit producing organization whose mission is to "empower and sustain the careers of up-and-coming artists". ETC was founded in the summer of 1997 by Royana Black and Mr. Cronin, and presented its first production (a much lauded revival of PERSONALS) January of 1998, with the addition of staff members Johanna Pinzler (Managing Director) and Katherine Clark Helzer (Business Manager). Since then, ETC has produced two new plays (THE BONUS ROUND, TALES OF AN ADOLESCENT FRUIT FLY), a new musical (THE VICAR'S WIFE, which was voted the Best Musical of 1998-1999 by Peter Filichia of Playbill and The Star Ledger), a reading series (ERGONOMICS, which featured Quentin Crisp), and a benefit concert (ET CETERA starring NYC's best and brightest singers). As a free-lance director/choreographer, Bobby staged THE VICAR'S WIFE, THE BONUS ROUND and PERSONALS (all for ETC), PROFESSOR ALBERT'S LESSONS OF LOVE (at NYC's Hudson Guild Theatre), MY FAVORITE THINGS for 4 time MAC Award winner Thos Shipley of MISS SAIGON (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and many, many more. This Fall, he will be directing and choreographing THE WHO'S TOMMY at The University of Pennsylvania, as well as developing ETC's next new musical slated for a workshop in the Spring of 2000.
Guy Maxtone-Graham talked about getting scripts and ideas to TV shows and finding writing positions in New York City and Hollywood. He drew on his experiences as a staff writer at various Comedy Central shows as well as MTV's Beavis & Butt-Head, plus his recent adventures developing a potential new sitcom for Fox, to come up with valuable "Do's and Don't's" for those trying to break into TV writing. Guy also provided us with a large list of resources for aspiring writers to check out: Books - "Screenplay" and "Four Screenplays" by Syd Field
- "Story" by Robert McKee
- "Making A Good Script Great" by Linda Seger
- "The Screenwriter's Bible" by David Trottier
- "Successful Sitcom Writing" by Jurgen Wolff
Magazines - "Scenario"
- "Creative Screenwriting"
Websites Other Resources - Applause Theater and Cinema Books on West 71st Street.
- The Writer's Guild of America, on West 57th Street.
- The Museum of TV and Radio
- ...And, of course, Robert McKee's excellent screenwriting seminar, taught a few times per year in NYC. Look for ads in screenwriting magazines listed above.
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