This month I was lucky enough to work on a Papa John's pizza commercial. That's right, I was lucky to work on a three week job including one build day, one pre-light, four 13+ hours set days and a wrap day at Steiner Studios. The best thing about this job was the competitions. There was a table tennis comp, a velcro dart board, a tomato guessing comp (like the jelly beans), $5 Friday and a best apron comp. And sorry about the lack of photos but we weren't allowed to take pics on set for this job. 

Then there was the food! This was by far the most indulgent shoot I have ever been on. Not for one moment was I hungry on this shoot. For starters I am a massive fan of the breakfast on set but this set exceeded all previous expectations with specialty dinners and fancy indulgences such as pizza testing from Juliana's, Franny's, Lucali, Roberta's and Motorino. And we also had an display of delectably decadent dessert from Chef Alex Grunert at Brooklyn Fare. 

We had: Vanilla Panna Cotta with sweet pickled strawberries; Cheesecake Cream with oven roasted apricots; Chocolate Mousse with raspberry jam; Blueberry & Stroh Rum Milkshake; and Red Currant Parfait with Espresso- Cardamon Streusel. Oh, and there were two Birthday's to celebrate with red velvet cake from Buttercup Bakery.

I also had a quick escape from the city with my friend James. We escaped up to Narrowsburg and stayed at a little cottage in the middle of no where. We went for a ten mile kayak down the river which was very peaceful until the last hour when the horse flies defended upon us and started to bite! Then in the last 5mins as we finished our journey the sky opened up into a vicious storm with sheets of rain, wind and booming thunder and spectacular streaks of lightning. And within another 10minutes it had passed and the sun was shining again.

The next day we headed to The Lodge at Woodloch for a spa day. It was beautiful. Very relaxing and scenic. And our final day we drove to PA for a high ropes and zip lining course. It was actually quite challenging and a good work out. Especially, when your team mates shake and rattle the ropes to try and make you fall.

This month was Pablo's Birthday! And he surprised me with an exciting trip to Atlantic City where we first stopped at one of our favourite burger joints, Red Robin! Bacon and guacamole burgers with bottomless fries! Mmm! We stayed at the Bogata and enjoy a stunning view from our room as well as relaxed in the spa. That night I took him out for dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Restaurant and surprised him with a chocolate cake for dessert, which he accidentally spilled while posing for photos. But there is no point in crying over spilt cake...hence, I'm the on giggling in the photo.

We did some breakfast gambling and we also hit up the local Aquarium which was a little disappointing. But we had a fun day walking along the boardwalk before heading back to NYC.

A massive Happy Birthday to you Pablo! I hope you had a wonderful birthday, I know I did! xoxo

This month I had the ePITome of all jobs. I worked at Production Assistant to Brett Ratner and James Packer (of RatPac Entertainment) on the filming of an Ocean's Eleven type commercial for one of James' casino's in Macau. Obviously, I was sworn to secrecy during filming, especially when I found out that the cast included, director/actor Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt!

The shooting was an intense adventure but full of memories I will never forget. Including one night when we were filming in Tao Restaurant that had been decked out to look like the casino in Macau and all of the actor's and Scorsese were sat at a table eating and talking. To actually see their faces and hear their voices and feel the auras was an experience I will never ever, ever, ever forget. To be in the presence of truly the elite of Hollywood, I felt inspired and more driven than ever that I am on the right path!

The commercial and film is restricted viewing in some countries but here is a news clip about it. P.S. I kept Brad Pitt's deodorant after he left his trailer as a little souvenir. Gross, but oh, so freaking cool!

I met the amazingly talented fashionista/photgrapher, Ilaria Conte on set and she invited me to a show at Fashion Week at The Lincoln Centre. We saw a Thai designer that was inspired by butterflies the colours were gorgeous and vibrant and the fabrics generous and flowing like wings of a butterfly! Although the place was filled with models and fashion people and I definitely felt ugly and fat!

I changed hats again and jumped behind the camera to become a wedding photographer and capture some photos for my Producer friend, Jennifer Lekuch and her Aussie husband Marek. I spent the afternoon with Jen taking pics of her getting ready, then we met Marek at the Fountain in Central Park for a few more photos before heading to a gazebo on the lake for the ceremony and some family photos too. We then headed to the Cafe in the Park next to the baseball fields where they served drinks and NYC snacks and an amazing wedding cake inspired by Bagels - it tasted like a croque en bouche but looked like a stack of bagels! So New York!

One last, "only in New York" moment I had was meeting an eccentric yet somehow wonderfully cliche, Italian Director, Robert Horvath Deva, randomly on the street and him casting me in a film that he was creating. I hope to enlighten you to some more details about this arty film soon but we filmed some guerrilla scenes around the city at a church and on the Highline which was strange but a lot of fun.

I'm having a great summer here in NYC. I just wrapped an Air B'n'B commercial that we filmed out at The Rockaway's Beach and I got to spend a tiny bit of time on the sand as well as indulge in the famous Fish Taco's. Yummy!

I also helped out with a production golf day for one of the production companies I worked for. I got to be "Beverage Bitch" and I drove around the course in my cart serving Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's and the occasional water.

I also got back behind the camera as a DP for a web series called MacKenna. A detective series by Director Jim Harkin of Kin Productions. Ventured out to Staten Island for some investigation and filming with a talented cast and crew. Felt really great to be behind the camera and using some creativity again! Hope it leads to some more work too!

I surprised my boyfriend Pablo with concert tickets to Eminem and Rihanna Concert out at the arena in NJ. I had a blast singing along to most of the songs. It was awesome to see two mega stars perform. The sound was a little rough but it always is in those open air arena settings. Poor Pablo, being a sound professional found it hard to enjoy with such poor quality. But I had a great time! I think he did too!

I also got to do some "LEARing at John Lithgow" at the Shakespeare in the Park. 

Next job was an NBC Shoot Promo for "Women Crush Wednesday's". Which was set at a shooting gallery with Debra Messing, Mariska Hargitay and Sophia Bush.

You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-yXi-zSHoQ 

Time for some summer fun. This summer has been full of fun. Last week I attended the Manhattan Film Festival where Dani Zarendieta's film MET in NYC had it's US Premiere. I was Assistant Director and Co-Producer (and BTS Photographer) on that film and it was such a memorable experience in so many ways. It's always wonderful to see a film you worked on come to life on the big screen and hear the audience react and laugh.

The beach is such a huge element missing from my life these days, I also made the trek out to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade. This is an event where people get dressed up in all sorts of sea themed costumes and strut their stuff along the seaside promenade. There are also plenty of muscle cars showing off too. I must say it's a much more savoury event than the Hot Dog Eating Competition they run on 4th July. Although there was one fishy female who wasn't wearing any pants!

I also ticked a couple of NYC bucket list items off my list, including a drink at The Boat House in Central Park as well as a row, row, row your boat on the lake.

Back in NYC we had one final episode to capture, Episode 5: Greed. We cheated this episode in our apartment living room late one night, dressing the set with a Texan flag, cookies for playing chips and some "Don't Mess With Texas" playing cards that I picked up at the airport. In this ep, Eve is about to head out for some retail therapy when Lucy invites her and Angel to play a friendly game of poker. But are all the cards on the table?

The next day Lisa had to leave. Pat and I accompanied her to the airport for one final closing farewell scene with the trio. We managed to escape all security issue and stole several shots. So after 3.5 insanely intense days of shooting, 7 scripts plus B-Roll in Texas and NYC we were officially wrapped. It was surprisingly bitter sweet and I kind of felt a little sad the journey was over. But was quickly distracted by my editing schedule and thus I disappeared behind my computer screen for the next two weeks.

As we enter the count down into the final hours before the TexSINS premiere, our little team would like to enlighten you to a few facts about this little journey.

The 7 episodes of TexSINS were written in 7 days, filmed by a crew/cast of 3 in 3.5 days while on "vacation" in Texas. We filmed, not with a low budget, but NO budget. And NO budgets means a lot of favours and thank yous! So, I just want to send out a massive thank you to a few people (aka Guardian Angels) who helped bring this production to life!

Thank you Patsy & Al Whitehead! Thank you Angie Strawn & Shawn Massey! And Allen Whitehead & Nina Sayadian! Thank you so much for your incredibly generous hospitality (filming and vacationing) and location scouting expertise in Sulphur Springs!

Thank you Donna & Steve Smith at Big Smith's BBQ, Sulphur Springs, for letting us film & eat in your truly amazing restaurant! As well as borrow your son, Luke to be our featured waiter! Can't wait to come eat and visit again…I'm craving ribs right now!

Thank you Brandy Runyan for your support on set and online - and you may recognize your own little man's cheeky face in one episode!

Thank you to Dani Zarandieta for the editing consultations and therapy Skype/Email/WhatsApp sessions.

Thank you Pablo Diez Casajuana from Sound on Set LLC, for your amazing post production sound expertise and consultations. And for bending time to help me out!

Thank you Steve Franchek from Sounchek Studio, for the last minute color correction lessons!

Thank you to my family, Susan Robinson, Holly Robinson and Neil Robinson for putting up with my crap from almost 10,000 miles away. Your love and support means the world to me.

And finally, thank you (and maybe sorry) to my two amazing actors/co-producers, Lisa Ronaghan and Patrick Shane for agreeing to my insane plan, putting up with me (on & off set) and bringing this quirky series to life. What an intense journey. Certainly action packed with laughs and memories I will cherish for a life time!

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart to everyone! I couldn't have done this without you!

Another early morning rise and battle with rain, wind and pending storm but we managed to film Episode 7: Envy in the picturesque country side in Texas. In this episode Eve gets a lesson about jealousy from Angel and Lucy. Maybe the grass on the other side, isn't quite as green as she thinks. Believe it or not, social media plays havoc in my self esteem and I am constantly retreating from it and then come crawling back. Anyway, this episode commentates on the impact social media can have on your self esteem.

Later that morning we moved to Sulphur Springs Country Club to film Episode 2: Sloth. In this episode broken hearted Eve indulges pool side in some slothful behavior. But idle hands are the devil's (and Angel's) playground. This shoot was extremely challenging. Not due to the content but due to a meddling local member who got us kicked out just before shooting our final 3 shots. Now let me set the scene. It's a stunning summers day. Blue sky and full sun. The pool is full of little kids. We are positioned discreetly next to the fence, not filming any children. Our cast are in conservative swim suits and Eve is dressed head to toe in black as she is mourning. Then all of a sudden, one of the mother's approaches us and in a thick Texan accent asks, "Are y'all shooting a porn"?

I was mortified and I assured her that it absolutely was NOT! But soon after we were politely asked to leave. Leaving us in the predicament of having to find another pool that we could cheat the final few shots. Also while chasing the sun desperate to beat the sunset. Thanks to Pat's sister, we were able to find a public pool and I condensed the final shots into one! As the last sliver of sunlight left the pool we wrapped! Phew!

But of course we were not quite done. We had one more episode to film, Episode 6: Wrath. Eve, Angel and Lucy attempt to enjoy some toasted marshmallows by a campfire, but instead of a sweet night, a rage is ignited within Eve! It's all about revenge fantasy! Pat did an amazing job building a massive fire for us which left us sweating on set. But didn't quite offer enough light so it's a super dark...storyline and footage wise!

And finally by about 2am we were wrapped in Texas and celebrated half heartedly with some s'mores. The next day we jumped on a plane back to NYC where we had one more episode to film.

Another early start to drive the remainder of the journey to Houston to spend the day at The Space Centre. Again we dragged along the camera and flitted in and out of character and filmed a little bit of B-Roll with Eve, Angel and Lucy. The Space Centre was amazingly inspiring.

We ended our day there with some space food - mint choc chip freeze dried ice-cream. Not quite as refreshing as the frozen stuff but a sweet treat indeed.

We then hit the road in hopes of being able to visit the Prison Museum in Huntsville. But sadly we didn't make the opening hours. Which is a shame because Lucy really wanted to see "Sparky", the first electric chair. So onward back to Sulphur Springs, stopping on the way for some Tex Mex.

We got to bed around midnight, back Pat's parents place and were set for an early rise to film another two episodes in the morning and early afternoon before also trying to squeeze in a rodeo in the evening.

We started the day with episode 1:Pride which we filmed at an abandoned gas station. The wind was a little blustery and the heat strong but luckily some cloud coverage offered a natural ND filter over the sky for us. This episode is Eve's first encounter with her Guardian Angel, and Devil. Eve is trying to escape her heartbreak by running away to Texas. Unexpectedly, she meets Angel and Lucy who offer to guide her on her journey. But will she swallow her pride and accept their help?

By 11am we were done and headed to a local restaurant to film Episode 3: Gluttony. My favourite episode. In this episode Eve goes out to dinner to try and mend her heart with some soul food. Basically to eat her feelings! But it looks like Eve may have bitten off more than she can chew. 


A massive thank you Donna & Steve Smith at Big Smith's BBQ, Sulphur Springs, for being so generous and letting us film & eat in your sensational restaurant, visually and gastronomically! As well as borrow your son, Luke to be our featured waiter! It was challenging to shoot in a working restaurant (remember, no budget, so we made the best of what we could) but we saw the best of southern hospitality as they were incredibly kind to let us film in their cinematic space. And another highlight was getting to eat all of our prop food at the end of the day...remember the episode is about gluttony! Mmmmm, Ribs!

Because we were all glutton's for punishment we headed two hours outside Texas for a Rodeo that night. We saw lots of horses, handsome cow boys and pig tackling (first time I've ever wanted to be a pig). When we exited the Rodeo to grab some dinner at a drive in near by, the sky was a blaze with a spectacular light show of constant lightning in the distance. I couldn't hear any thunder but it was certainly spectacular to watch.

Another early morning bed time and then one final day of filming in Texas. Talk about burning the candle at both ends.

My friend arrived into Dallas and Pat and I picked her up at the airport. Here we filmed our first shots for TexSINs. Let me back up a little bit and explain my concept for TexSINS. I love guerrilla style film making (main because I don't have a choice right now). And rather than being crippled by my limitations, I prefer to focus on making the most of the restrictions. The story line for TexSINS is..

When Eve, a young English woman is dumped by her boyfriend of 5 years, she decides that she needs some time away from her life and runs away for an adventure in Texas. Her alone time is soon interrupted when she is met by her guardian Angel and Devil who are there to guide (or misguide) her throw her heartbreak. Each episode is based on one of the seven deadly sins. It's going to be one HELL of a HOLYday.

Now, when I say limitations, I mean that the 7 episodes of TexSINS were written in 7 days, filmed by a crew/cast of 3 in 3.5 days while on "vacation" in Texas. We filmed, not with a low budget, but NO budget.

First stop on our journey was Wacko. We were hoping to get to the Dr. Pepper Museum (even though I think it tastes like fizzy medicine) but we were a little behind schedule so we missed out. Instead we just stopped for some kolaches and cookies at the Czech Stop bakery. And filmed again. I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy!

We then high tailed it all the way to Austin where we headed out for some local fun which of course included mechanical bull riding and some local music. Of course there was more filming, especially the mechanical bull, which I had my first camera glitch and lost Lisa's first ride. But she was a true trooper and braved the mechanical beast again!

After some quick prop shopping, it was back to our luxurious Motel 8 to film the first episode, Episode 4: Lust! We shoot the episodes out of episodic order.  This episode explore the idea that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else! Eve is looking for a rebound to get over her ex. Unfortunately, Angel and Lucy are there to prove that she's looking for love in all the wrong places.

The next morning we peeled our selves out of bed and headed to New Braunfels for some river tubing'! And you guessed it, some more filming. We had a fun time breaking in and out of character and shooting some water shots with my GoPro set up.

We then headed out for some lunch and serendipitously came across an angel adorned garden which Angel just had to check out. Got some cool B-Roll footage. It was then back into the convertible and headed to San Antonio! We spent the afternoon exploring the town, including the River Walk and enjoyed acting like idiots at the Buckhorn Museum Texas Ranger Museum. Then after a brief panic over a lost passport in the car park we set out to find the World's Largest Cowboy Boots. Surprisingly difficult to find despite how big they are but...come on, shoes, how could I not stop!

As the sunset over our boots we decided to head towards Houston and cheat a few pick up scenes for the Lust Episode. Sadly there was no hair and make up so I'm not sure we hit the mark on continuity but hey but 2am the episode was in the can!

One of my filmmaker classmates, Director, Val Hakun's thesis film was selected to screen at the Hoboken Film Festival. I was a Producer on this film and one of my roommates, Pat was the creepy lead character. Val travelled from LA and Pat and I travelled from NYC to the historic Paramount Theatre in Middletown, NY. Val has an extremely quick wit and a fantastic dark sense of humour. So dark that, Val's glass is not just half full but it's fallen on the floor and smashed into a thousand pieces. So you can imagine his joy when his film was the only film to suffer technical difficulties during the screening. But it would' have been a day with Val unless something like that happened. But it was wonderful to catch up and reminisce a bit about film school days. You can watch his dark humour here with his short film, Key:  https://vimeo.com/37121881.

So, one of my favourite people in this world (and actress extraordinaire) contacted me earlier this year and informed me that she was headed to the USA from England for a wedding and would I like to join her in a road trip around Texas. My answer of course was, "Yes"!

Serendipitously her trip coincided with our mutual friend Patrick (who is also an actor) who lives in Texas and also had a wedding to attend back home. So with two actors and a road trip in Texas, there was no way I was not going to film something! So my mind started whirring and as we began to map out our travel plans I began to map out an idea for a mini web series that took advantage of the locations we would be visiting on our adventure. I assured my actor's that it was a vacation first and a shoot second. Bahahahahahahahaha!

So let me begin with the tales of the vacation and my first Texas experience. Pat's family lives on a farm in Sulphur Springs. Our first meal was an indulgence in country cooking with fried chicken. Pat's family were extremely accommodating and Pat and I spent the first day getting his Mustang covetable road ready. The biggest problem was actually the infestation of Mud Daubers. These things look like wasps and create their nests out of mud. Anyone who knows me, knows that my achilles heel is bees and wasps. But Pat's dog had a blast with the hose as we washed the car down. Luckily they are not aggressive and I was not stung. And a side note, the heat in Texas is serious, so we cooled off with a few snow cones, the hardest thing being to choose between the 100s of flavours of sugary syrup!

It was Patrick's Birthday the next day and we indulged in an epic day of Six Flags Over Texas, theme park and the water park, followed by a drive in movie! 

The next day I got to try something I have never done before. Fire a gun! We went clay pigeon shooting. I was terrible to start with but then I relaxed my aim was much better. I even got in a few double shots! Not sure I could ever shoot an animal but shooting clay was a lot of fun and the power of the gun was real, just look at the bruises on my arm to prove it!

I think I've said enough today, let me bore you with the tales of the road trip (vacation) / TexSIN (work) shoot next time!