Still Writing

Holy sh!t

2009-11-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

So I know this blog has been basically ignored for a good time now. I do not mean for this to be so but I've been busy applying to creative writing grad schools. I was searching for inspiration for my personal statements and I decided to revert back to this good ol' blog. Little did I know that Issa Lopez had personally left me a comment about a week ago!!! O.o She responded to my "Day 1--Issa Lopez" blog with the following:

efectossecundarios said...: Issa Lopez here. Viv, Thanks so much for the faith... truth to be told, many of the things you say above are because of luck and luck alone. Listen, I cannot read material from anyone that does not come through agents and so and so because of veeery weird and paranoid copyright issues that I had to agree on, but, if you are asking for advice, it would be this: Forget Telenovelas. It's a rotten world, and producers only ruin your work. If you want to write movies, then do that. Take some screenwriting workshops, join filmschool.... all the contacts that helped me make my movies, came from there. Best of luck, and thanks again!!
WOW! First of all, how freaking awesome that this rock star took the time to read my crap?! RIGHT?! Second of all, this is really good advice. She's not bull shitting me around, she knows the nitty gritty of this business. I may have to just skip the telenovelas and move right onto movies. Either way, I have decided to go to grad school in creative writing, where I will actually be recieving workshops in both screenplays and fiction. From then on, my journey will continue. Though ofcouse I am disillusioned with the world of Telenovelas, I'm still going to poke my head around and see what's there. Till then faithful readers, don't ever think that no one reads your silly little blogs. :D

It's been a while

2009-09-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

And for that I apologize oh so loyal readers. I have not forgotten about my mission, it's just that school tends to get in the way...papers and stories and what not. The good news is that my cousin from Mexico got back to me and gave me a list of AWESOME advice as to what type of Spanish literature I should be reading. He wants to read some of my work which I am both excited and scared about...nothing like the good ol' fear of rejection which is quite common in my field. He also said that he would contact some people and once he got their information, he would give it to me. In the mean time, I'm still writing and waiting.

Tweet Tweet

2009-08-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

As my final year here at the university really sinks in, I realize how pressed for time I am to start my dream job (or any sort of job for that matter) with Televisa. I have done a few things to reach this in the last few days:

1. I emailed relatives I have in Mexico to see if they knew anyone with any information since they are a lot closer to the source than I am. My cousin who is in the business of writing, emailed me back basically saying, "So you want to be a screenwriter for Televisa? We should talk."

2. I created a Twitter (@Viv_Writes) and am now following Televisa and a bunch of Televisa workers in hopes of them seeing my little link to this blog. So far I have 14 followers, more than half of them are just spam links.

Since life tends to get in the way of my dreams, I have to focus on my Creative Writing classes for the moment. This involves dissecting creative non-fiction and figuring out the appeal of 17C drama. More posts to come as more news surfaces.

The good and the bad..

2009-08-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty crappy day. Too many classes, no break for lunch, more classes and then work at a dorm cafeteria. I was (still am) exhausted and had to come home to a bunch of homework. AND YET, just as I said I would, I checked Issa Lopez's blog chat box to see if she had responded to me. Guess what? She did! Here is what she wrote:

Issa: Vivianna, I went to a writers school at televisa, and that´s how I started there. But the school doesn´t existe anymore... and I´m way too far of that time... I wouldn´t know of no pointers!

Soooo uhhh...awesome that she actually responded to me...sucky that she has absolutely NO pointers HA. Still, this director of movies who USED to be a writer for televisa, is pretty famous, is the first one who has answered my inquiries. Does no one else find this weird? What are the workers of Televisa, the ones sitting at their desks, the ones working human resources doing!? I haven't even gotten an automated response! It doesn't matter. I'm going to keep on trying. Issa's actual response just added to my drive! Dare I start quoting Journey?

Day One- Issa Lopez

2009-08-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned before, I have been mass emailing the people at Televisa announcing my goals to be one of their writers. As I wait for a reply, I have also decided to email some writers from Televisa and see if anyone a. checks their email and b.gives a crap enough to reply. So far, no biters. However, in the process of searching through IMDB to find all of the writers of my favorite novelas, I stumbled upon the name Issa Lopez under Primer Amor a Mil por Hora. The name may or may not sound familiar depending on who (if anyone) reads this.

Issa Lopez is basically my role model. She rocked film school, started out with Televisa as a writer, crept her way into movies and now writes and directs what she wants. She's the reason for Ladies Night, Niñas Mal (Charm School,) and her latest flick is Casi Divas (Road to Fame.) This last movie is about several ladies competing to be the next telenovela star and exposes all the glamour of behind the scenes. Pretty much if someone perfect could help me on my mission, she'd be the perfect candidate.

So in vain, I searched for Issa's email, facebook, myspace, ANYTHING for about a good hour or so. Nothing popped up but her blog which sidetracked me another hour because I had to catch up on all of her witty posts about life. Her blog did, however have a little chat box which she had replied to a few times. Yup, I did, in less than 200 characters I spilled my guts as best as I could and asked for any pointers while at the same time complimented her on her work. I will check this blog everyday in hopes for a response. Other than that, I will keep sending those same emails to those same people.

Till then, check out the trailer for Road to Fame: Road to Fame

And so it begins...

2009-08-22T17:19:00.001-07:00

I felt the need to start this little blog as a sort of documentation. My sister pointed out that my situation was similar to some documentary called "My Date with Drew Barrymore," and while I have not actually seen the movie yet, I found the idea intriguing.

The Situation: Currently, I am seeking employment as a guionista de telenovelas, a soap opera screenwriter for Televisa. And by seeking employment, I mean sending out mass emails to the poor souls who work there, asking how to get my foot in the door as a screenwriter.

I am 21, a senior about to graduate school with a double major in English Literature and Creative Writing, as well as a minor in Latino Studies. What was that? All degrees pretty worthless in a crappy economy that is thriving on technology and ways to ruin the environment? Yes, I am aware. Nevertheless, my hopeless romantic and attention seeking self has decided to be stubborn. My goal/mission/dream/desire/aspiration/destiny--whatever you want to call it, is to write...write well...and make a living off of my creativity. Yes, I have joined everyone and their brother in wanting to steal hearts by writing books and screenplays. For this you can blame my family.

Growing up with a big loving Mexican family gave me evenings watching telenovelas. There are three telenovelas that helped shape my passion to create my own. The first telenovela I have recollection of was called Kassandra, and I used to watch it with my grandmother when she took care of me...just googled it, it came out in 1991. Of course I don't remember the basic plot or who was in it or how it ended, but what I do remember is that my grandmother stared at that screen with such focus and intensity that my four year old self knew better than to talk when it was on. I was aware that this show was captivating, almost hypnotizing, and though I couldn't understand why at the time, I developed a weird admiration for all telenovelas. After my grandmother passed away, I continued the tradition of soap watching with my mother and sister with Lazos de Amor. This novela is important because at that time, my older sister was getting married. I distinctly remember in those last few days leading up to the wedding, many social events were held that impeded our ability to watch the 7pm novela. My sister would set the VCR and when we could, we would watch what we missed. What baffled me was that my sister's Caucasian fiance was also enthralled by this very novela, revealing to me at the young age of 8 that telenovelas broke racial boundaries and identities, something society is still trying to achieve today. This guy who didn't speak a lick of Spanish was dying to know if the evil triplet had died yet. Many more novelas were seen between then and now, all dramatic, all heart breaking, never realistic. By high school I found myself hooked to Rebelde, a high school drama that yes, had hot guys in ties, but also showed teenagers in a positive light rather than just screw ups, which is what a lot of past novelas focused on. It stressed the importance of youth and the beauty of dreams.

Bottom line: Yes, there are a lot of crap telenovelas out there, but it doesn't matter because they fulfil their purpose. People need them as a means of entertainment, to escape reality, to learn a new language, to reinforce their connection to their homeland in a strange land, etc. I will be part of this phenomenon some day, and I'll do what writers do best, I'll write about it.

Primer Amor A Mil Por Hora Intro