As soon as the calendar flips over to December, it feels as though I’m automatically two weeks behind. I’m finally catching up, so without any further apology, let’s take a look back at November in the Cameron/Utt household.
THE WEDDING TOAST
I started the month with a trip to Washington, DC, to attend a staged reading of my play The Wedding Toast. On Saturday afternoon we gathered around a conference room table and read through the play. It was first time I had heard any of the dialogue in a voice other than my own so it took a while to acclimate.
Some of the actors had already read the play and highlighted their parts. Some were looking at it for the first time. The director, Michael Skinner, stopped us occasionally to correct a word, smooth out a line of dialogue or decide which stage directions needed to be included in the performance. We read through it once and everyone left.
Two days later, the six actors were on stage at The Warehouse Theater in front of a small audience performing the show. What a difference 48 hours makes. A southern accent we had briefly discussed adding to one character was completely fleshed out. A throwaway line now had a dramatic pause that underscored another character’s regret. These folks were real pros; especially Michael, the director. He understood the script better than I did!
Even though the performance went smoothly, I was mentally taking notes on jokes that didn’t work and dialogue that needed to be streamlined. Afterwards, the audience shared their feelings about the characters, the structure and the themes. Then I sat down with the director, the director of the reading series, the artistic director, and some of the actors to answer questions like “What was your inspiration?” “What were you trying to say?”
As excited as I was about seeing the play performed, I had prepared for mostly negative feedback during these two exercises—that’s just my nature. Luckily, the comments were fair and have been immensely useful in helping me strengthen the script. The re-write should be finished in early 2007.
Also useful was seeing firsthand that people are interested enough in new plays to a) spend hours rehearsing and staging them and b) spend a few hours watching them.
Thank you to Charter for accepting The Wedding Toast into their First Draft reading series. Thank you to Warehouse for providing the venue.
Charter Theatre is an awesome organization dedicated to producing new plays. http://www.chartertheatre.org/site/Main.html.
The Warehouse Theater is another great organization that has something going on almost every day of the year. http://www.warehousetheater.com/index.php
KEITH, RACHEL AND ROSEY
The rest of the time, I was hanging out with my friend Keith, his lovely wife Rachel and their daughter/my goddaughter Rosey.
On our last visit to DC, Daryl and I got to celebrate Rosey’s first birthday and to attend the christening. She was so little then. Now, at twenty-two months, she walks, she talks, she sings and she lights up any room she happens to grace. She and I spent a lot of time playing with her blocks. We stacked them up, we knocked them down, we put them away and took them out again. I tested Rosie on the pictures and the letters and her retention was amazing.
She responds well to music and loves the Outkast song “Hey, Yeah.” When the lead singer says “…now, Ladies…” Rosey responds on cue,“Yeah?” It’s sooooo cute. When he says “…shake it like a Polaroid picture…” Rosey starts to rock back and forth. How adorable is that?
Another thing that cracked us up was when Rachel mentioned potty training and Rosey excitedly responded with “Potty train! Choo choo!”
Spending time with the three of them is a four-star vacation in itself, so even if the reading had gone horribly, I still would’ve had a great time. I hope to see you guys soon.
CLUSTER CLEAN UP
Saturday morning was the annual “Clean-Up” and I got to join Keith, Rachel and their neighbors as we swept walkways, bagged leaves, and spread mulch in the common areas shared by their cluster of townhouses. Sunday, we focused on Keith and Rachel’s yard and I got to plant bulbs. For someone who hasn’t had his own yard for two years, this was a real treat.
SCOTT’S RUN NATURE PRESERVE
The next morning, I was outside again, hiking through Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, a 335-acre park in McLean, Virginia, near the intersection of the 495 Beltway and Hwy 193. During my walk I took in autumn leaves, a waterfall, a deserted homestead, and the Potomac River. There are pictures here http://www.pbase.com/sc_20170/scotts_run and a review of the trail here: http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Scotts_Run_8872.asp
SMITHSONIAN THE UDVAR–HAZY CENTER
This continuation of the Air and Space Museum is located a stone’s throw from Dulles airport. Keith and I stopped off on my way out of town.
Since it’s dedicated to aviation, the museum is more or less a giant hangar filled floor-to-ceiling with all forms of aircraft, including biplanes, stunt planes, gliders, ultralights, helicopters, jets, record-setting balloons and lots more.
Some of the standouts for me:- Enola Gay—the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
- Gossamer Albatross—the first man-powered flight across the English Channel
- Concorde—the first commercial, supersonic transport [NY to Paris in three hours.]
- Mother Ship model used in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, [miniature R2-D2 and all.]
One wing [pun unintended] of the museum is devoted entirely to space travel and houses capsules, satellites, and the first shuttle Enterprise. There are display cases containing freeze-dried food and those perplexing space diapers. Did you know that astronauts collect their personal waste for testing back on Earth? [Although never given credit, I believe this practice was first instituted by aviator Howard Hughes.]
If we had stayed longer, we could have seen an IMAX movie, eaten at the McCafé, or gone up in the museum’s control tower to watch the planes landing next door. While there is some controversy about a free museum charging $12 for parking, the collection is worth the time and money. Here’s a list of the aircraft on display. If you need directions or hours, click on “Visit.” http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/artifacts_air.cfm
BOB
While in DC, I also got to catch up with my college roommate Bob. We hadn’t seen each other in fifteen years, but you never would’ve known it, except that every one of our sentences started with “Remember the time…” or “Whatever happened to…”
By day, Bob is an engineer working at the Patent Office reviewing technologically complicated requests that I couldn’t even begin to fathom. By night, he’s a comedian. He’s funny in the daytime, too, but he doesn’t make any money at it. Come to think of it, he doesn’t make too much in the evening either. Ba dum bump. Nevertheless, we laughed a lot during the visit and I’m looking forward to seeing him the next time I’m in town.
LORI MORAN
Back in Los Angeles, our friend Rob organized a terrific CD-release concert for singer Lori Moran at the Catalina Jazz Club. Backed by a three-piece band, Lori moved easily between standards and contemporary songs, sharing fun stories with the sold-out crowd. On her website you can sample all the tracks from On My Way To You, order your own copy, and read about Lori’s gig with DisneySings! and Voices of Liberty. http://www.lorimoran.com/id6.html
VISITORS
Daryl took off the following week from his new job with Buena Vista Games to spend time with our friend David Fernandez who was visiting from Orlando. They did so much I’m getting tired just thinking about it.
There was shopping on Rodeo Drive, Afternoon Tea at the Hotel Bel-Air, a holiday visit to Disneyland, dinner at the Tam O’Shanter and an encounter with Rip Taylor in West Hollywood. It went something like this: Daryl complimented Rip on how great he looked and was met with a characteristically over-the-top response “Oh stop!” David chimed in with “Really, you look great” when Rip threw back his head and yelled “It’s a wig!” They were in stitches for the rest of the day.
One afternoon during lunch, I gave them a backstage tour of the Disney Studios and showed David one of the sets used on his favorite ABC show Brothers and Sisters.
We also took David to Graumans’ Chinese Theater for the opening weekend of Casino Royale. Ron Glass [he played Harris on Barney Miller] sat behind us.
GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY
After a $93 million, four-year renovation, the Griffith Observatory recently re-opened, so Daryl, David and I visited early on Sunday morning. Built in 1935 and featured in The Rocketeer, Mars Attacks, and Rebel Without A Cause, I believe it is the only planetarium boasting a bronze bust of James Dean.
The new underground portion has exhibits, a gift shop and, [in a clever nod to author Douglas Adams] The Café at the End of the Universe. There’s also a Leonard Nimoy Theater which seemed highly logical. Each of the planets [in our solar system, mind you] has its own interactive display with NASA video, comparative models, temperature ranges, and the like. There’s a working scale at each stop so you can see which celestial body most flatters your own.
The upstairs area has been brightened and 21st century exhibits have been installed but the old TESLA cage—which generates awesome flashes of lightening—is still the coolest thing there.
We were there around 10:00am and unfortunately, it was already crowded with people lined up for the first two planetarium shows. So, after a half hour, we headed outside to enjoy the view. It is an observatory, after all.
Parking was free, the shuttle was free, and the museum was free. The refurbished planetarium only allows children to attend the first planetarium show of the day. Plan your visit or take a virtual tour on the website. http://www.lacity.org/rap/observatory/index.html
BARBRA STREISAND’S FINAL CONCERT
The whole impetus for David to come out to LA in the first place was to see Barbra Streisand in concert and luckily, Daryl was able to join him. Seeing Streisand live was one of the“100 things to do” on both of their lists, so it was only natural that they got to see her together.
Barbara Streisand wrapped up her “farewell” tour at the Staples Center on November 21 with David and Daryl sitting in the 15th row. This being a hometown crowd, Streisand seemed very relaxed. Her voice was in amazing shape and in some cases sounded identical to recordings made in the 60's. I heard from two reliable sources that her performance gave them chills.
Also appearing in the show was “popera” quartet Il Divo, the group that answers the musical question, “What if *NSYNC was made up of Josh Groban clones?” They accompanied Streisand on a few songs but mainly showed up when she had to rest her voice or make a costume change.
Rather than go through the whole concert, here are some of Daryl and David’s favorite performances of the show: People, Don’t Rain on My Parade, Children Will Listen, The Woman in the Moon, Happy Days Are Here Again, Funny Girl, and Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS—STREISAND EDITION
Daryl and David saw the following in the audience at the show: Barry Manilow, Rosie O’Donnell, Rob Lowe, Ben Stiller and wife Christine Taylor, Jeff Bridges, Elliot Gould, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sydney Pollack, Talia Shire, Kenny G, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Meg Ryan, Kevin Spacey, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and a few more.
THANKSGIVING
Wednesday, while David flew back to Orlando, Daryl tried to catch up on all the sleep he had missed during the visit. The following day, after watching the Macy’s Parade, we were giving thanks that Rob had invited folks over to his house for the moistest turkey in L.A. Daryl had greens, I had stuffing and we all ate homemade mint chocolate candies while the kids built gingerbread houses. It was a fun day for everyone until I was invited to kick their asses in Scrabble.
UCLA CLASS: PITCHING YOUR SCRIPT
Did you know that the average movie costs $98 million to produce? Most of these scripts are purchased and produced based on a simple three-minute pitch in a studio exec’s office. As I tried to describe/pitch The Wedding Toast to friends, I realized I needed some help in this area, so I signed up for a weekends-only course at UCLA called “Pitching Your Script.”
We had to come up with “loglines,” those one-sentence summaries that explain the plot in as few words as possible. The class favorite was this one for The Bourne Identity: “James Bond with amnesia.”
For the final exam we had to present an original three-minute pitch and endure constructive criticism from the class. At the end of every pitch, the teacher asked one of three questions to gauge the success: “It’s Friday night, who’s going to see this?” “Who here wants to spend $98 million to make this movie?” or simply “Who wants to hear more?” The show of hands said it all. An eye-opening and helpful class.
EXTRA WORK
In between assignments on the Disney lot, I worked a few days as a television extra.
For 7th Heaven I ambled around a fake shopping district for the afternoon.
On The Nine I did some scenes with actors John Billingsley and Kim Raver while they were campaigning in front of a grocery store. We did an interior scene where I was holding a pink cakebox as Kim says to me,“Hi Mark, I’m Kathryn Hale.” Careful viewers may recognize my left elbow.
For an ER Christmas episode, I spent three days dressed as a cold-weather policeman and showed up ever-so-briefly in the final cut. For the same episode, my car was covered in fake snow to help dress out a Chicago street scene. Sadly, it looked right at home amidst the drug addicts and homeless.
While shooting in a Ventura Boulevard restaurant for Desperate Housewives, paparazzi stood for six hours with their telephoto lenses trying to snap a picture of Eva Longoria.
After watching my episode of Monk, David Fernandez perfected his impression of me acting “concerned.” It cracked us up every time.
EVEN MORE STAR SIGHTINGS
Alfre Woodward [Heart and Souls] was in front of me at the LAX ticket counter. Ten minutes later, Kevin Federline and his posse were ahead of me in the security line.
While on the Disney lot, Adam Goldberg [Déjà Vu, Friends] walked by me. The following day, I shared a bench with William H. Macy [Fargo, Door to Door.].
During my three days on the Warner Brothers lot for ER, I saw George Lopez, Barbara Eden and Steven Spielberg.
DECEMBER
Daryl and I will be spending a quiet holiday in Los Angeles this year. I’ll tell you all about it next month.
Until then,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
James & Daryl
