6 tips on networking darling. Click here to watch the video.
Tag: Feathers and Toast
How to Be a Left Handed Person in a Right Handed World
Art really does just imitate life sometimes.
For the first time since I started writing this blog, I have no idea what to say.
I’ve been over here hemming and hawing, waiting until the last second, avoiding the task completely, and its not because I don’t have anything to express, to the contrary, I feel like a shaken up bottled soda with the cap still on, ready to explode, I just have no way to get it out.
In that magical way that art and life intersect sometimes, I feel like I am experiencing the doubt and subsequent insights Holster would be experiencing at this particular moment in our story.
Here Holster is, constantly pushing Tallulah in the direction of what she feels will be the answer to getting her more ratings, trying to be infinitely more clever in her marketing ploys, trying harder and harder to give the audience what she perceives they want, but what if she’s wrong? What if its true what Tallulah says, that all she really needs to do is be her authentic self and that that will eventually lead to the success they both desire? What if trust, patience and the courage to be one’s unique self is all that is required?
Being an artist can sometimes feel like being a left handed person in a right handed world. You know you don’t fit in but there’s still the pull to try, especially in situations where you are surrounded by the right handed people. You try to fit yourself into their box, do as you think they would want you to do, be as you think they would want you to be, as if that is the road to any kind of success. But what if you being your left handed self is really all those right handed people really want?
Anyway, these are the thoughts rolling around in my mind this morning as I contemplate spending the day in, what is for me, the right handed world. I intend to do something different today. I intend to draw from the continuous inspiration that is Tallulah Grace, a woman who doesn’t fit in this world at all and clearly isn’t bothered by it. Wish me luck.
Which leads me to…
Industry Tip #21
Have the courage to be your authentic self. It’s the most original idea you’ve got.
And without further ado, enjoy Episode 6 of Season 2
The Funniest Cat Video In The History of Ever
Can I just tell you how disheartening it is to spend the whole of your adult life honing your skills, perfecting your craft, then spending countless hours creating, writing and producing content for Youtube to the best of your entertaining abilities, only to be shown up by a cat? Lots of cats. Kittens even?
I mean, come on!!! Take that one little Black kitten with the white paws, how long has he even been alive? 8 weeks? And all he had to do was throw his cute little paws up in the air each time his owner quit tickling him and you people swoon. At least make him work for it a little bit. He didn’t even have to get up out of bed and boom! You’re giving him million of views.
He doesn’t appreciate it. He just goes on his merry little way never even acknowledging his millions of Facebook fans. He is completely unconcerned with the coveted gift of going viral you have bestowed upon him. I’d become his manager and embezzle all his ad dollars to get back at him but he wouldn’t care about that either.
Yes its a sad reality we content creators will have to face: the fact that in the ratings game of life we are simply no match for the, always entertaining, but eternally ungrateful, house cat.
Which is why in our game of one up-man-ship in Season 2, the one where Holster keeps torturing Tallulah with more and more co-hosts who she claims she has hired because they are trending, she can’t help but bring in the sure fire ratings maker, the almighty cat. Tallulah had asked for just one episode that she could do in the style that she wished the show to be, but Holster just couldn’t do it. She had to “cheapen it all with a cat”
Which brings me to…
Industry Tip #20
If you can’t beat em, join em.
And now, without further ado I bring you Episode 5 of Season 2. I’m not sure what I love most about this episode, the fact that Mhairi actually did do research about the tomato soup sandwich, the fact that both my daughter and my cat attempt to steal the show, the fact that yet again Mhairi challenged me to create/edit something I never would have created on my own but sincerely love (meaning that whole b & w segment,) or the barrage of epic insults Tallulah hurls at Holster, all I know is we packed a lot into this 5 minutes of fun and it ended up doing quite well for us on the Festival circuit.
Who Wants To See a Half Naked Girl In the Kitchen?
This episode still makes me laugh the most out of all of them (thus far) and its largely because of Tallulah’s extreme reaction to it. I have never seen her get so flustered. (And yes, I am talking about Tallulah here, not Mhairi)
The funny thing about the creative process is that, just like you, the audience, we, as creators, are also still getting to know our own characters every step of the way. Sometimes you really don’t know how a character is going to behave in a certain situation, until you put them in it.
You develop the character well, give them a problem, and then do your best to get out of the way, so that your character can tell you exactly how they feel about this particular situation, and that is exactly what happened in this episode, to hilarious effect.
Mhairi and I knew that bringing Gigi (the Can Can girl, brilliantly played by our dear friend Charlotte, who actually is an authentic French Can Can girl) into the situation would likely bring out Tallulah’s jealous streak, but I don’t think either of us really expected this strong of a reaction.
From the moment I called action and Gigi entered from stage right Tallulah had an almost visceral reaction to her being there, she actually turned red at one point, often clutching her pearls as if they were safety rails on a train, as if her very life depended on getting this woman off her “stage”. She was not having it and it was hilarious.
Tallulah really just took over, but it was perfect, because I believe, in that moment, Tallulah perfectly embodied that primal fear so many of us women share. The fear of “what if all the things I do to better myself, to be smart, talented, kind, giving and wise, what if none of that really matters? What if the only real value we have in this world is how good we look naked? And p.s. there’s already a million younger girls out there who look better naked.”
It’s easy for women to get locked into that fear, because, if we are looking for it, we can easily find societal evidence of it everywhere (case in point, this and our twerking episode still have the largest views to this day, so we could read all sorts of things into that) and next thing you know we are obsessed with getting older, worrying about skin creams, tummy tucks and gray hairs, as if taking care of these things will somehow increase our value.
But honestly, I’ve always believed we can find evidence of whatever we are looking for, everywhere, and therefore, in times of fear, its best to back up and remind ourselves that we are the ones that get to decide what makes us valuable. We get to decide what determines our worth. We get to rest in the knowing that we are the sum of ALL our magnificent parts.
And when we take the time to honor, appreciate and really know in our hearts what’s valuable about ourselves, then we can come to a place where Holster’s response to Tallulah’s question “who wants to see this?” “Everyone” is absolutely true. Because like an exquisite piece of art, who doesn’t like to look at a half naked pretty girl once in a while? They make us smile.
Which brings me to….
Industry Tip #19
When navigating such tricky intersections as art and commerce, allow yourself to dance on the edge of what’s comfortable a little bit. That’s what art is for: to challenge us, to help us find that line. There is no growth in playing it safe.
So without further ado here is Episode 4 of Season 2 where we find Tallulah hanging on to her baguette for dear life, while simultaneously helping us laugh through all our fears.
How to Feel Grounded
This weeks vlog covers how I ground myself with a daily bead. To watch the video click HERE
The Thing is: Mimes Are Trending
Episode 3 made Mhairi and I both laugh out loud even at the first thought of it. (Yes that’s what we were cracking up about during our writing session in Malibu, in case you were wondering Jamie Foxx. 🙂 )
Whether people realize it or not, we are fully aware of the ridiculousness of Tallulah constantly banging on about the fact that she is a “classically trained mime” even though she literally never stops talking.
Tallulah is quite possibly the chattiest Mime that ever existed. In fact, if there was a society for Mimes, I am pretty sure Tallulah would have been kicked out by now for talking too much. But she would never admit it. No darling, she would say she left because they were droll, banal and terrible conversationalists.
So as we were coming up with all these ways to keep messing with Tallulah over the course of Season 2, we knew we had to throw a mime into the mix.
We found the perfect one in Mhairi’s dear friend Jabez Zuniga. I had never worked with him before but had a feeling that he was going to be great and he did not disappoint. The dichotomy of him back there, finding all these great moments, and Mhairi, straight faced, not having a clue what he was up to was, for me, hilarious.
When she finally did discover him and then accuses me of not even finding a real Mime. “He’s probably from Burbank or something” I almost had to break character and laugh. I don’t know where she comes up with this stuff, but she genuinely cracks me up, despite the fact that she’s my friend. Which brings me to…
Industry Tip #17
If you are making comedy, you better make yourself laugh. If you’re not even making yourself laugh, then you should keep honing it and developing it until you do.
And now for the ultimate test, does it make you, the audience, laugh? That’s what really counts. Without further ado, here is Episode 3 of Season 2 “There’s a Mime in the Kitchen!!!”
Marge Takes Over the Twittersphere
Well that was the plan anyway. Mhairi and I had decided that Season 2 was going to be all about the very real pressure that web creators are under to have their videos go viral, to gain the coveted status of “trending.”
We figured if Tallulah has her own web cooking show, then her lack of trending status would surely be her biggest obstacle to gaining all the success, acclaim and hats she desires and it was Holster’s job as Producer to remedy this. The trouble was, Holster and Tallulah had very different ideas about what type of content would cause that success. Holster felt Tallulah needed a popular co-host to help her stir up ratings, and lets just say Tallulah disagreed.
We thought, “wouldn’t it be funny if Tallulah chose to have Marge on the show, because in her eyes Marge proves how important she is, after all she’s saved a life?” Tallulah figures this will get things moving, and give her the proper acclaim she deserves but in the end it backfires because Marge starts trending instead?” We knew this would bring out Tallulah’s green-eyed monster and add to all sorts of fun.
To go a step further, we thought “wouldn’t it be doubly funny if we could actually get Marge to trend on twitter? Like in real life”
So that became the plan. We took to the twittersphere and created twitter accounts for Tallulah, Holster and Marge and then as the episodes started being released we started tweeting.
We had an awesome time tweeting back and forth in real time, in character, shared a lot of laughs, and even had quite a few fans join in on the fun, but in the end, as it turns out, you kind of need to already have a decent sized and engaged audience, for this kind of storytelling to really work.
While we may not have succeeded in making Marge trend, we did discover how much fun Improving with our fans on twitter can be, so you can expect much more of this behavior in the future. In fact if you enjoy a little Improv banter yourself you can always feel free to chat with Tallulah and the gang by following and tweeting to these accounts Tallulah, Holster & Marge now. Which leads me to….
Industry Tip #16
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. (cliche for a reason) Can’t tell you how many times this has proven to be true in this business. Persistence is everything.
And without further ado, here is Episode 2 of Season 2, featuring the triumphant return of the newly trending Marge #SaveMarge (and yet another slam dunk performance from Tami Hillberry & Mhairi Morrison who have proven themselves to be one take wonders, with Improv no less.) I love how Marge is suddenly dressed more like Tallulah, copying her every move. Little moments of genius, all found in the moment.
The Day Tallulah Was Forced to Share Her Kitchen with Circus Types
I’ll never forget the day we shot Season 2. Tallulah may not have appreciated having to share her kitchen with “circus types,” but Mhairi was thrilled. In fact, she was so excited that she greeted each and every new cast & crew member that arrived with giant hugs and little gift bags filled with candy, and of course, feathers.
It felt like a party.
I was thrilled too but if I’m honest, was still quite a bit nervous with anticipation about whether we were going to be able to pull this off or not. Our plan was to shoot the entire 8 episodes in one day, and given the unscripted nature of our show, this was no small feat. It was going to take a tremendous amount of focus, energy and determination.
I love Improv for the same reasons that I hate it: it’s scary, unpredictable and you never know what you’re gonna get, but when you hit it right, its like capturing magic in a bottle, and I was determined to capture that magic.
Mhairi and I had plotted and planned deeply for this day, we knew exactly the beats we needed to hit for each episode and I had no doubt that on her own, Mhairi would hit them all, as I had seen her do it a thousand times, but today we would be intentionally throwing ourselves a curve ball. We were throwing new characters into the mix, via new Improv actors, each with their own motivations and beats to hit and there was no way to know for sure how this dynamic would play out.
I was most nervous about introducing the Marge character, the woman Tallulah had saved from the brink in Season 1 and the sole reason for Tallulah’s messiah complex. She was an important character to be sure, but mainly I was nervous because I didn’t have a vision for her. Marge had been Mhairi’s idea, a character she described to me as a lump, depressed, and not doing much of anything, and although I trusted Mhairi completely, I had trouble seeing how that was going to be funny. (Silly me)
In an attempt to mitigate my fears, I had asked my friend and fellow Second City grad, Tami Hillberry if she would be Marge, as I figured if anyone could pull it off, it would be her.
And here we were, everyone in their places, lights ready, camera speeding, nervous excitement in the air, seconds away from filming the very first episode of Season 2, I call action, and in she walks, Marge, living and breathing. The dynamic between her and “Tallulah” was immediately perfect, Tami’s layered choices as “Marge” so obviously brilliant. I was riveted, as she was adding things I didn’t even know could be there, the perfect foil to Tallulah, making Mhairi’s already funny choices even funnier.
By the time I yelled cut I was already breathing a huge sigh of relief, followed quickly by deep and sincere gratitude. I knew I had just been blessed with the opportunity to capture magic in a bottle, the birth of yet another legendary character, which leads me to…
Industry Tip #15
Hire Tami Hillberry. I’m kidding. I know she’s not right for every role (or is she?) But seriously, your tip for the day is “cast well, and then let your actors do what they do. If you let them, they will bring you more to your characters than you even realized was there.”
And without further ado here is Episode 1 Season 2 of Feathers and Toast. We did about 3 takes of this scene but ended up using that very first one. It was perfect right from the start. (And honestly and truly Tami, I can never thank you enough for being our Marge)
The Tallulah Bankhead Mystery
Following on from what Holly’s blog touched on the other day darling, this is my version of events.
To watch the video please click here
Season 2 Was Born in Malibu with Jamie Foxx By Our Side
Literally. Mhairi and I came up with the entire outline for Season 2 of Feathers and Toast while hanging out in what has become our favorite place in the world for getting away and creating, Malibu. And just a few feet to the left of us, the entire time, was Jamie Foxx.
Yes, okay, he wasn’t actually aware he was participating with us, for all he knows he was just there hanging out with his family, silly him, but for two girls who had made it their mission that day to not come home until they had created comedic gold, the realization that there was an Academy Award winner sitting within ear shot of us really got the ole creative juices pumping. So thanks Jamie Foxx for being our silent partner, and no, you can not have any royalties. 🙂
Creating Season 2 was way easier than creating Season 1 because we now had a years worth of character development, and experience collaborating, on our side.
Thanks to our fans, we knew that their favorite part of our show was the Behind The Scenes bits, and thanks to our industry peeps we knew that collaboration with the right talent was one of the golden tickets to trending in the digital space, so we put that knowledge in our creative stew and started stirring.
Then we added a heaping helping of story plot lines that we knew we wanted to push forward, and a dash of our own personal angst as artists and voila! We had an 8 episode arc that centered around the age old battle between art and commerce with lots of special guest opportunities (which I believe the trailer below illustrates pretty well so I won’t overstate it here). And of course this leads me to….
Industry Tip #14
When scheduling important writing sessions, try to make sure your favorite Academy Award winners can be seated right next to you. I’m kidding. The real tip is to allow yourself to go off-road a bit, meaning if a place like Malibu inspires you, go there. That’s the beauty of being a writer, you can go places, explore things, even in the middle of a Tuesday when everyone else is at work. Allow your mind to soar, to flounder for awhile inside of the question, let it get uncomfortable even, refuse to settle on an idea just to settle, and then just before the brain starts to hurt too much and your faith in yourself as a writer is lost, boom, out pops your golden ticket.
And now without further ado, the trailer for Season 2. (Which btw we did not edit until we had edited all the episodes of the season first. See. We took our own advice) Have you watched Season 2 yet? If not I hope you will consider watching it along with us over the coming weeks.
