Fall and End of 2018

I have been the worst blogger lately, and some of it is laziness and the fact that I got so behind it seemed impossible to get back on track, but a lot of it is because I was out there living and doing things that I could later write about.
My last post covered up to mid-September, so instead of giving you a play by play of the last 4 months, here are the highlights:

FAMILY

My personal life saw some awesome highs, but also some heartbreaking lows. I got to celebrate an engagement, a bachelorette party and a bridal shower, got asked to be a bridesmaid, spent a weekend with the family in Lake George, moved out of my first Toronto home and in with my boyfriend, became an Ontario resident, welcomed a new niece, helped host family Christmas suppers, got out of town visits and brought my boyfriend home for the holidays… but we also said goodbye to some and suffered huge losses. Luckily, I have the most incredible people in my corner who were there for me every step of the way, good times or bad.

MARTIAL ARTS

I have been keeping up with my Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, both in Toronto and Montreal, trying some new places and even demonstrating a bit of what I am learning when CP24 came to 4points. A takedown workshop with Olympian Ohenewa Akuffo made me feel more confident on my feet, and watching the guys from 4 points compete in Niagara made me incredibly proud. I finished my krav maga classes, did some stunt training and had an amazing workshop with John Stead, but I hope to pick that up in the New Year.

WRITING

I have definitely been writing a lot less on a day to day basis, and don’t think I go any words in on this November’s NANOWRIMO, but the projects that I did start, I not only finished, I also put them out there for the world to see. One semi-autobiographical script was submitted to different competitions/workshops while another that I co-wrote was actually turned into a short film that is now in post-production.

ACTING

I have been to auditions, done self-tapes and spent days on set doing background, but haven’t really booked anything. I took an interesting masterclass at Armstrong and participated in the 4 points open house, but haven’t really been consistent with classes either. I did, however, organize a panel for TAWC/ACTRA on The Basics of Producing, attended the ACTRA conference and got to spend the past few months in a mock law trial that was so enlightening and a treat to be able to be a part of.

All the Things, which we filmed in August, was edited and put together and premiered at the Reel World Film Festival. There was even a Q&A after the screening to make me feel like a real filmmaker.

I was in a French anthology play thing called Les Deranges, which got me my first UDA credit, then performed twice with les 100 papiers, so I am officially a UDA member!

Most excitingly, not to take away from the Reel World Film Fest or UDA, but because I have been working so hard and for so long towards this goal, I AM AN ACTRA APPRENTICE!!! I co-wrote, produced and starred in a short film that was made under the TiP (Toronto Independent Production) agreement, and thus gave me my first ACTRA credit. This has been on my list of goals and resolutions since long before I started this blog, and I am so proud and excited that it finally happened. There will be an entire post covering what we put into making Get-Together, but for now, it was an amazing experience with the best cast and crew imaginable that finally gave me my seat at the table.
 

“Better late than never…”