New Year's Eve Resolutions? Part 2

            You have to read my last blog to understand where I’m going in this blog, because I want to jump straight in with the talent.

            In this blog I will be focusing on 3 very talented people. First off is my most successful protégé, and then at the end my most sexiest talent. Right in the middle I focus on my newest electrician/ lighting operator. That way I give props to the big dog, shine some light on the new kid and end the blog with a real treat for my male readers.

            One of the best pieces of advice I can give, even though it is frowned on by most, is to 'ask questions' ,and 'ask for jobs/work'. Jordan Whaley was 17 years old and had met me once thru some friends at a birthday party. He already knew he wanted to be in the entertainment industry and asked for my contact info. Out of the blue several months later I got a phone call from him asking for a chance to work on ‘anything’ to get some experience. I was really taken aback because most kids think they know everything and never act humble or grateful, so I gave him an opportunity to be my PA on a gig that I had coming up. I never told anyone that he didn’t know what he was doing on the gig, I just watched to see if he would jump in the fray or just stand around waiting for people to tell him what to do. He jumped in the fray and worked his ass off. He never asked for pay or compensation, he felt the experience was pay enough. Brownie point from my world! So I continued to use him and eventually was able to get him some pay for all his hard work.  When he had learned as much as I could teach in Florida with our limited exposure to big film productions, I talked him into moving to New Orleans, LA. I had been working with an actor ( Tyler Cross ) and was extremely familiar with the amount of work being offered there. Jordan had an aunt he could move in with in New Orleans, and with a few names, we were able to get Jordan on his 1st film set. Now at this point, I was done with what I could do for him, because I live in Florida. It was completely up to him to make or break it. Jordan is very young, but highly educated and has no problem with sweating and putting the time in. New Orleans is a right to work state so he had the chance to work with I.A.T.S.E. guys from LA and really learned from the pros. I’m so excited to announce that Jordan was asked to join the union in N.O. as an electrician. His credits include the latest Twilight movie, Battleship, coming out next summer, Green Lantern, G.I. Joe 2, and a bunch more. One perk about being a mentor is that I get to hear about what's coming out in theaters way ahead of time. He can't tell me everything due to set confidentiality.

            Here are some great photos from over the last 2 years.

          Next up is Richey Sanchez. He is my current trainee at the downtown nightclub I am in the process of updating. When I pick someone to help or mentor, they have to meet a few requirements. Number one is that they must be obsessed with becoming a worker in entertainment. To be more specific, they have to sweat, bust their ass, and be the first person picking up the heavy stuff, or first to want to load a truck. This tells me so much about their understanding that this field is generated by labor, and lots of it. Sure we would all love to sit behind a console, but it just doesn’t work that way. Richey caught my attention when I was working the Headdress Ball this year. He was a volunteer and hustled and jumped when asked. He started asking for work from me within the hour. My second requirement for taking on a new person is their humility. Of course most new techs know how to do some things, but there is nothing worse than when I ask ‘did you understand what I said’ (in regards to setting something up like hanging a fixture properly) than to have a young person say yes, and then mess it up so bad because he didn’t want to seem green. I love it when my new trainee says no I don’t know how to do that, but tell me the gist and I’ll make it happen.  He is a student filmmaker but loves the experience I’ve been able to give him in the way of club lighting and club install information. He will do well if he just remains humble and continues to work with such a great attitude. Here’s a link to one of his films.

www.richiesanchezproductions.com  the film is called Dream Sweep.

            Now for the talent side, and the beautiful Karena, AKA Halo. Karena is an atmosphere talent for outdoor music festival, nightclubs, and brand parties. She spins fire poi, LED poi, fire staff, and blows fire. How I help her, is by shooting some stills with her fire and editing her promo videos. I do 2 video’s a year because she learns new tricks, or has costume changes. She has been a little different case in regards to mentoring, because I can give advice, but her field is so new, she has to face some of her decisions on her own. So sometimes my advice may seem like she can’t use it, and then a situation will come up and confirm what I may have told her correct and she can react faster to make things happen. She is also a personal friend and that can be weird sometimes, because I have been known to be a little over-bearing (all my friends are screaming “ a little?”) I know when she makes it big, I will be bragging to everyone that ‘I knew her when”. She has to put years into her career before it will pay enough to survive so she goes to school full time as well which means she may be beautiful, but she’s no dummy.

Here is her channel and some pictures. I also put a link to the video’s I edited.

http://vimeo.com/16819967

http://vimeo.com/32429520   (This is a rough one that I'm working on making better) 

www.youtube.com/halopoigirl