Part II

So where was I? Ahh... well after telling me how wonderful a writer that I was, the head agent told me that she would be the one representing me and not Jared. Well, I didn't like that idea at all. You know she can tell me what a great writer that I was and all of that but I didn't know her, I didn't know if I could trust her. And I told her so. I said, "I don't know you as a person. I'm sure if we were to run into each other on the street and we didn't know each other you would be all polite and maybe even stike up a conversation but I don't know that for a fact. So I would feel more comfortable with Jared representing me. I don't want you to take it personally but if I don't feel comfortable with you I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable with my screenplay in your hands."
She was quiet for a moment and then she said, "He is only just starting out and inexperienced I know you don't want that for your career. I am only looking out for your best interests." Well this went on in a go around between us for like an hour and finally I said, "If you really want the screenplay to come from one of your agency's clients you are going to have to let Jared represent me, otherwise its not happening." Needless to say she refused. So I was back to where I started with it a jumble of ideas without a real story. However, Jared, still believing that this could be the next big thing helped me to go through all the proper channels and helped me copy right it. That set me back a few dollars but it was worth it. Apparently the head of the agency was trying to give out the idea to another writer who she represented and I was able to make sure that that didn't happen and she was not very happy at all.
In all of this Jared had to find another job because the head of the agency found out that he was helping me and fired him. You have no idea how bad I felt for it. I hated the fact that he lost his job for helping me when I was really a nobody. But he told me it was fine and that as long as I would recognize him and thank him in the credits of my movies and let him represent me he had no problem with it. So I knew in him I had found a true friend. Plus he got a better job, He wasn't happy before with his job and so this new place was a step up and that agency is actually the agency that represents me now.
So after all this had happened it was around Christmas time again. It was at this time that I started getting calls from colleges trying to get me to go to their schools. This was a difficult time because there were several colleges who wanted me and were willing to pay for me to go to their schools. However, me, being the stubborn person that I am, wanted to go to the school that wasn't willing to pay for me because I thought that they would put a better emphasis on what I wanted to do with my career choice. Yeah, they just screwed me over. I could've gone to Princeton, Yale, Harvard, NYU, Brown, Stanford or even elite colleges in the UK. They were willing to pay for all of my tuition and fees and I just went against all of that to go to school in San Francisco where I didn't even go for a full year and I had to take out major loans and I'm still trying to pay from my pocket the stuff the loans wouldn't cover, about $40,000. So I learned from that experience and I am still learning from it. Now through this I am still working on the screenplay and I am coming up with scenes and getting it worked into a full screenplay.
By this time its graduation time and I graduated in the top ten of my class and I graduated with honors because I had finished two years of college while going to high school. Plus since I did speech contests our school was the only school in the area to go to nationals and place and there were only two of us competing and we both placed in all of our categories. In the Individuals I got a Division 1 rating in Acting, Prose and Radio. I got the number one performance rating from all the judges and so I won that award as well. In the Large Groups it was just Kris and I because we were the only ones in our school interested and we got Division 1 ratings in Ensemble Acting (we can now never ride a Ferris Wheel because of this one but that's another story for another time), Improve (I don't know how we did it because he kept making me laugh), Radio, and Theatre. We also won number one performances from the judges as well. Since they were both during the same time as a school we had the most Division 1 rating than any other school throughout the U.S. and so we won the most coveted prize of the contests. Kris and I were the only ones in the history of our school to ever do that and our school was a small 1A school. We were competing against 4A schools and so to do this was amazing. The reason I bring this up is because who presented us with our awards. It was Cameron Crowe. Now he is one of my favorite directors ever. He has an amazing eye when it comes to film and I have admired his work since I was 10. Now Cameron Crowe comes in again later on in this story but that is why I brought him up now. I have that picture of him and Kris and I and it is one of my most prized possessions I kid you not.
Anyway, I graduated and less than a week after that I was moved out of my parents house and I moved in with my aunt for about 6 months as her nanny again in Indianapolis. So yes, I got be with Matt again for the summer. Now for my graduation my oldest brother couldn't be there because he was in Iraq for a second tour of duty and that hurt. Of all my siblings he and I are the closest even though there is a nine year age difference. He has always been the one who I tell everything to first, even before my parents. You know how a lot of girls are worried about their boyfriends meeting their dads? Well I wasn't worried about what my dad would think about my boyfriends I was worried about what Vincent would think. (Though lately I'm more worried about the current guy meeting my parents just because he's FBI and my parents have a problem with not liking law enforcement officials). Well, since Vincent couldn't be there his wife brought me the present that would help me with my career. A video camera (were talking professional 16mm camera with the works) and a computer. Now this was a big deal for me. This helped me to start my videos that I had originally planned this blog for.
So anyways, it was the middle of the summer and Matt and I flew out to LA for the weekend to chill and meet up with some of our friends who were living out there (Jared was one of them). While we were there Jared took me to meet the heads of the agency that was representing me and I knew the moment that I walked through the doors that it was a good choice because I felt at ease and there was no pressure from anyone. It was totally opposite from what I felt when I was talking to the other agency. I got to know the heads and I instantly felt like I had known them my whole life. Greg and Amy were amazing and it was as if they knew me. We were there for a couple of hours and the four of us went out for lunch and by the end of it we had set a date for another get together and they set me up with a meeting with the producers of a new T.V. show. I went to meet them later that afternoon and by the end of the day I was asked to help write one of the episodes. This short lived T.V. series was called 'Related'. This series lasted a whole 5 episodes and the two episodes that I wrote by myself were never aired but there was one episode that was aired that I helped to write and it was last one that was aired before the series was cut. This was an amazing time for me. I wasn't in LA full time at the time it was a lot of email and phone calls and faxes because I was still a nanny and I was barely getting paid for writing but it was worth it. So after this it was the middle of October and I was in the middle of my online classes (through San Francisco) and I went home for a couple of weeks because my brother had a three week leave from Iraq and he came home and so I wanted to go see my brother. So I left my aunt's for a couple of weeks and went back to Iowa. It was at this time that I was having trouble with the programs on my computer and so I was lucky enough to have friends who would let me use their computer to do some assignments in order to stay in school and get a good grade (Thank you Frisbies!).
So after those few weeks I went back to Indianapolis and it was at this time that I went to the nanny agency that my aunt used when she was a nanny before she was married and I knew that this job was close to an end because the boys were in school and I was needing a better paying job because I had a lot of things to pay off (school). After about a month nothing was coming of this and i was going to different places in Indianapolis looking for work. I was looking for anything; I would go to Burger King one day and Kroger the next putting in applications in. well it was close to Thanksgiving and one of my visiting teachers invited me to go to Niagara Falls with her and her kids for Thanksgiving because they were driving there and her youngest has Autism and whenever I would baby sit for them he and I got along great and he was always asking for me. So I said I would. I wasn't going to go to Iowa or Kansas so I figured it was something that I could do and a new place to visit; plus it was Niagara Falls. I mean come on who would pass that chance up?
We head up there the day before Thanksgiving and we get there and I immediately hit it off wonderfully with my visiting teacher's sisters and mother and their spouses. Abby was Susan's youngest sister and she's maybe 8 years older than me and she lives in New York City so since I visited there sometimes she gave me her address and number to call her the next time I was there. Anyway, we had a great time and it was during this time that I got a call about a nanny job in New Jersey and I got it. It was great because I had just about given up and was ready to accept a job as a custodian (I hate cleaning if you were wondering). So after that I had 1 week until I left and I had to pack up everything.
Now I could tell you what happens next but I like keeping people in suspense and also I am really tired and I have to work tomorrow so I will say good night and let you mull over all of this.
Nighty night!