Hello all,

Sorry I haven’t been as active as I was in the past. This year up until now has been a bit of a whirlwind. So why don’t I catch you up to speed.

January

I flew to the Philippines to visit family and while I was there, went to Thailand for fun – to take in the sites, culture, and most importantly the food. Granted I was in the PH for the same reason, well family and then food. Either way the trip was amazing, and it gave me a better appreciation for my culture as a 1st gen Filipino American.

February

A week and a half after I land from my trip overseas, and quite restless for work, I’m back at it coordinating a small commercial. I hadn’t realized how much I truly loved my work until I was thrown into it again. My job in production isn’t the most glamorous because we handle a lot of the accounting as well as making sure every human on set is taken care of, in terms of gear and such. As I said, not the most glamorous (since most people think that working in film is such a glamorous industry), but it’s quite satisfying – despite the long hours and endless emails.

From there, I was recommended and landed a job that would become a huge career move, UPM’ing (unit production managing) an extremely low budget feature. I have been told this multiple times and I will always relay it those that do not typically work in features,

Features are a beast in and of themselves. There are days where you will feel helpless and hopeless. And some days you may even want to cry. You just have to learn to make the chaos zen and the rest will be easy.

It’s the best words of wisdom I had ever received since I began working in this industry.

March

Going into principal photography of the feature. Prep becoming more and more intense as the day grows closer and closer. I will not say this feature was easy. It was challenging as f*ck. I had my fair share of egos and challenging personalities and fires that needed to be put out in order to make the entire shoot go by smoothly. Despite all of that, I did learn quite a lot. Most importantly, I learned what kind of leader I was and how to be one.

April

Finished shooting the first block, and going into our second block of filming. Where? Middle of no man’s land, Palmdale/Lancaster. That was definitely an experience. A place I don’t necessarily will go back to on my own free time. But hey, first business trip? Woo, I suppose. Always got to look to the silver lining right?

A week after I officially wrap, I pick up a day playing gig on a show and reunite with the people I typically work with. I made the wish that I was going to coordinate commercials after the feature… Little did I know that my wish was going to come true.

Looking back, April was probably my most active. In total, I worked on three different shows. UPM on a feature. PA (production assistant) on a series. APOC (assistant production coordinator) on a branded content (essentially a commercial) video.

That commercial was intense. I can’t talk about it much, but all I can leave you with is that it was intense. The show moved so fast the minute I had hopped on. My email was blowing up like there was no tomorrow. And the lovely wrap binder was growing to the point that it looked like I needed to buy another one.

And the adventures that await this month? 

I’m still waiting on the official offer, but my summer is going to be completely booked. However, while I wait for that I’m currently coordinating a pilot that’s shooting approximately 20 minutes away from my house! My commute for once is going to be 20 minutes away! That’s simply unheard of! As you can tell, I’m quite excited about this commute.

And then I’m finally taking a much needed break in the east coast to visit my best friend and then family. But I’m getting ahead of myself, that’s next month.

Anyways that’s all I have for now. Sorry again for not writing as much as I used to, but as you can see I’ve been keeping myself quite busy. Here’s hoping it stays that way for the rest of the year!

Alright, until next time!