Monday, April 28, 2008

Where are we now?

So here's the current status:

I launched the company last year and started fundraising by sending emails to everyone I knew (and had email addresses for). That brought in the first round of dough.

After that I got the website up and running and I sent out a winter newsletter announcing the website and some other initiatives and that brought in the second round of dough.

In February I sent out a snail mail mailing to fellow Waterford High School alums and the amazing crew of drivers I had worked with at OZOcar...and wouldn't you know it (and, if you knew these folks, this would come as no surprise to you) both the Lancers and the drivers really stepped up to the plate to bring in another round of dough.

Currently we're at about $4500 - which is not bad at all for a few months work, but seeing as the goal is $20,000 we still have a ways to go. Now, I may get to a point when I can afford to rent the theater and not much else - a point where I just pull the trigger and we have a show - come hell or high water. Honestly, I'd rather have the whole budget in the bank and ready to spend before I spend a dime, but the clock is ticking (for tax reasons I MUST have the show during this tax year) and if I can't have the perfect big budget production, maybe a smaller budget show will still be worth it. Honestly, if I can afford a performance space for a 3-4 week run, then the smaller budget thing will be fine with me...Besides, I need to be directing. It's killing me that it's been so long since I've worked with actors and really crafted a production, so, yeah, that "come hell or high water" thing, looking very appealing right now. I have gotten to the point where I'm directing my fiance around the apartment and really, that's just bossy and naggy (two things I'd really rather not be)...but I digress...

The next step which is happening even as I write this, is the prep and distribution of the Spring 2008 newsletter (which some of you have already received and others will be receiving) - announcing this blog and getting people prepped for some spring/summer fundraisers that are in the planning stage. The hope is that people, after reading the newsletter and the blog, will want to get involved and want to be a part of GTTP's future.

So that's where we are now - $4500 and counting. My aim is to have at least two fundraisers in the next couple of months and the show this summer... I will keep everyone posted.

Monday, April 21, 2008

So what's this show you've mentioned?

So I got the fiscal sponsorship and I got the website up and running (have I mentioned it? It can be found here www.goingtotahitiproductions.com. And now I'm trying to raise money...but for what, you ask. Very good question.


Ok, for those of you who don't know this, I am a sci-fi fan. This is important because, as a sci-fi fan, I'm particularly sensitive to spoilers. "Nice non-sequiter, Jess," you say. Actually it's not a non-sequiter. As someone who is sensitive to spoilers (like don't want to even know if you liked it or hated it before I see it because if I know you well enough I'll be able to tell from your like/dislike, what happens in the movie and then I'll be bummed sensitive to spoilers), I would absolutely hate the idea that in discussing my shows, I ruined something for a potential audience member. So, dear readers, for those of you who are as sensitive to spoilers as I, skip the rest of this post if you don't want to know anything about In The Ebb until the curtain goes up and you're butt is in a seat in the theater. That is my big

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT!!!


For everyone else who wants to know what the shows are about, here you go:


In The Ebb
is a trio of one acts: I Like You To Marlowe, The Ebb, and St. James in the Field of Stars. They are based on short stories that my sister, Camilla wrote a few years ago. Each story has at it's core a woman who is trying to deal with whatever life throws at her. Each protagonist is technically a different woman but they could conceivably be the same woman who has just had different life experiences. The main characters of each are archetypes of the modern American woman.

But what are the plays about, Jess?

I Like You To Marlowe is about fear. Fear of death and never becoming the person you were meant to be. Fear of turning from a normal girl into a bitter woman. Fear of losing, or of already having lost, who you are as a person. Before the events of the play two college age twin sisters (yes I said twins and don't think for a second that that doesn't give me a little thrill of fear about the casting process), Stella and Luna, are in a car accident and though both lived, Luna was left with a disfiguring scar (and there are the palpitations about the make-up process). For Luna, the injuries have meant a retreat even further into herself. On the eve of the millennium, when the world could possibly end, the sisters and their significant others brave the crowds (and Dick Clark) in Times Square and try to celebrate another year gone by. For Luna, celebrating the year gone by is more difficult - she would prefer to hide from the world, from her own face which she sees on Stella every day, from the guilt of feeling sorry for herself and being angry with her sister and from the fear of knowing - really knowing - that this life can end in an instant. Luna would prefer to pull away and wait for life to quietly pass her by.

The Ebb is about fear. (Are you sensing a theme here, people?) Emily is a normal young American woman. Recently married and fixing up her dream house with her dream husband and living her dream life...A life she can't seem to enjoy because she is absolutely terrified that it is going to be taken away from her. Despite the gifts life has bestowed on her, Emily can't settle in to her own happiness because the love she feels for those around her is so overwhelming that she is paralyzed with the fear that it will end and she will be left all alone, again. Emily fears that truly enjoying her life will be a flag to the universe and will bring the wrath of the fates upon her...and as much as she knows in her head that this is something she needs to get past, she can't seem to move forward. She's stuck in this transitional zone between fear and contentment, between love and loss and no matter how she tries she can't seem to reconcile the contradictions. As her new husband and she fix up their dream house, she pulls away from him and waits for life to quietly pass her by.

St. James in the Field of Stars is about fear. (yup, I think you figured out the theme.) When Alicia's father was lost at sea, she moved to Europe and basically ran away from everything in her life that was familiar to her. When Joel, her "Never," tracks her down and invites her from the cold, wet and dark of Scotland to the sunny, dry and warmth of Spain, she goes more because she needs to keep running than because she actually wants to see him or Spain. Alicia is so frightened that she will connect with someone again and lose another person that she loves - a loss she has never gotten over - that she, like Luna, like Emily pulls away from everyone and tries to build this protected little bubble around herself so that no one can get in...and she can wait for life to quietly pass her by.

Luna, Emily, and Alicia are all three paralyzed by fear...and all three need to find a way to face that fear, embrace their lives and those around them and live, if not without fear, at least in spite of it.

...so, yeah, that's what the show is about.

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Joys of Fiscal Sponsorship

So, what is this "Fiscal Sponsorship" you speak of, Jessica? Well, for those of you who don't know, it is this amazing thing where a nonprofit organization sponsors a smaller organization. If you are an individual, or a small company, particularly in the arts (I only know about it in the arts, though there may be other organizations in other fields that offer it) you can become sponsored by a larger, more established company. In my case, I went with The Field. By being sponsored I am able to have the benefits of being a non-profit company, without having to go through the process of selecting a board, writing bylaws and applying for my own 501(c)(3). What's more, if down the line, I'm interested in establishing an LLC or LLP instead of a non-profit, then I don't have to reverse anything. I can just go from Sole Proprietorship, to whatever corporate structure I wish without having to dissolve something I already established.

By being sponsored, donations made to my company are tax deductible to the donor. Additionally, I can apply for grants that are available only to non-profit companies, and I can use resources that are for non-profit companies. And, if someone wants to donate to my company by credit card, they can do so on The Field's website without me having to set up some sort of online payment system. It's remarkably freeing - allowing me to have the benefits of a non-profit company without having to set it up and run it. It allows me the opportunity to focus on the art.

Now comes my PSA - If you are an artist in the New York area and you're interested in becoming fiscally sponsored, there are a couple of organizations which can help you. The two I am most familiar with are The Field www.thefield.org and Fractured Atlas www.fracturedatlas.org.

Both organizations are wonderful and provide many more resources than just fiscal sponsorship. I believe The Field started by being a dance support system whereas Fractured Atlas was really more focused on theater (but don't quote me on that). Now they both are really active in supporting all performing arts. I absolutely can not say enough good things about The Field (I have no personal experience with Fractured Atlas but from what I understand from people I've spoken to, they are also a wonderful organization.) Everyone at The Field is helpful and knowledgeable and just all around terrific. As you can see, I'm a bit of a fan.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Why I Snapped and What I Decided to Do About It

So last Easter (2007), I finally just got fed up...Fed up with the day job thing, fed up with the still not having a career I enjoy or am meant to do thing, just generally fed up. A few years ago I directed a short film, a short film I still hope to return to one day, and it went really well and the end product is great, but I don't know how to go from a short film that I paid for with my credit card to a full length movie that I somehow raise a million dollars for. And, for years in New York, as I mentioned, I have directed these shows, which usually had a 4 night run and which only friends and family came to see. So when I snapped, I decided it was time to move it up a level, make this directing thing happen once and for all or give it up.

So I picked a project, a GREAT project - a series of one acts that my sister, Camilla, wrote and actually put together an actual budget and decided to try to raise some money, have a long run (at least three weeks), and try to get reviewed - try to get some buzz and end up parlaying this into a career. And, the more I thought of it, the more sense it made to start an actual company, get a federal tax id number, and have a base, from which to really launch the rest of my professional life. Forget that I had no IDEA how to do that. As the Nike commercials say, the best way to figure something out is to just do it, right? I knew I'd still need a day job, probably for a couple of years. But at least I wouldn't be devoting all of this time to something that is there for a weekend, and then is over and goes nowhere.

So, through much bumbling around, I figured it out, registered the business name, applied to the IRS for a Federal Tax ID Number, opened a business bank account and figured it out. Hell, I even figured out how to get a website up and running. See it here at www.goingtotahitiproductions.com. And then I found a fiscal sponsor...

Sunday, April 6, 2008

How I got here...cont. (ok, so maybe you will need can goods for this story)

You see, I have been really spoiled by my family in this realm. My parents are both college professors and they both love their work. They love the atmospheres they work in. They love teaching. They're really good at it. And, for better or worse, I don't think either of them have any idea what it is like to get to that Sunday night before heading to the day job and think to yourself, I would honestly rather stick a pen in my eye than have to go to work tomorrow - I mean, pen-in-the-eye is a legitimate reason to miss work, right? ...all I mean to say by all of this is that I grew up thinking it was perfectly right and good to love what you do for a living. In fact, I grew up believing that you should aim for that - love what you do. And my parents, god love 'em, have absolutely supported my pursuit of this dream.

So I came to NY and started directing. I have had many day jobs - waitress, receptionist, admin asst., executive asst., office manager, massage therapist - and all the while I have been directing. Lots of little shows - most original works - at all different theaters around the city. And they'd gone pretty well. My family and friends have come to see them, and if they are to believed, I really am a rather good director. But I never wanted to produce. It's just not something I ever wanted to do. The questions a producer has to deal with - the logistics of raising money and mounting a production - hold no interest to me. It's not creative enough for me. So for years I have resisted producing my own productions. And then I snapped...

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Entering the Blogosphere - officially

Ok, so it's time for me to get on the stick and seriously enter the blogosphere, so here we go.

Welcome to the Going to Tahiti Productions Blog. I'll be talking about all manner of things here but primarily I'll be talking about my struggle to start a theater company, raise money, mount a production and generally follow my dream.

So here's the update so far - I'll try to keep it brief - I hope you won't need canned goods for this story!

I came to New York in 1996. Big dreams, I had big dreams I tell you...
Actually, I had what I considered a relatively small dream. I wanted to find a way to get paid to do what I love - directing. I didn't care how, I didn't care what, I just wanted to direct - theater, film, tv, industrials, commercials, my roomates in my apartment...you know, just directing. It's the thing I've been put on this earth to do-I KNOW this, so I just wanted to be directing...

I was interested in film, but had been trained in theater. And, after I graduated from college and tried the LA scene and decided it wasn't for me, I decided New York, the indy film scene and theater were definitely more my bag. So that was the dream I showed up in this city with - direct. Win a Tony by 30 and at least be nominated for an Oscar by 35. Modest dream, right? Actually, all I really wanted was to have a career doing what I love.