THE B-STORY AND FULL THROTTLE AWARDS SEASON BEGINS!

THE B STORY - MUSINGS BY THE OLD LADY PARTNER OF SPENT-LAURA BUTLER
I thought it would be great and deliciously self-indulgent (aren't all blogs?) to create a column within our Spent TV blog that talks about the trials and bumps of dreaming-the-dream at a non-traditional age. In my case - fifty plus. I'm not even a college grad - there I said it, much less a film school student. Did I mention I dated one once, does that count?

I'm simply a grown up little kid who never gave up the dream of winning an Oscar and sharing my stories with everyone on the big screen in that we-are-all-one, Kumbaya kind of way.

"The B-Story" I hope will make you laugh, cry and maybe even learn to hate my guts in my quest for my own golden statuette on the mantlepiece. So here's the first installment. Enjoy - or not. But be kind in your comments. I'm an old lady you know.

THE B-STORY #1  - AGE  
Yeah, yeah age. I'm not whining just pointing out that indeed there are those that believe my writing or ideas are about as relevant as an IHOP senior discount because I'm not thirty. What's fun for me, is my voice is somewhat younger than my birth years. My demeanor, too. So it's always an adventure when people talk to me over the phone and  expect a thirty to forty year old and get my fifty-plus self when we meet instead. I wish I had an iphone pic for every awkward look.

I began my real journey toward my dream when I was 41, penning my first script - THE COLUMNIST - which placed third in the American Screenwriters Association annual screenplay competition. Pretty frighin' good for a first try, or so I thought. Ha! I was naive and certainly ill-prepared when the agencies did call. I won't get too specific name wise here, cause the land of LA LA continues to be a small town, but what I will say is three agencies called and asked to read my script. One of the agencies, and yep, it was a big one, called me. Read it. And called me in for a meeting.

Lordy - I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Hollywood, Highland and that little red carpet here I come! I parked my broken down Honda in the agency's parking lot, gelled my hair and made my way up the stairs to what my naive little ass was convinced would be a fabulous meeting and a signed contract for representation.

Welp, the good thing, and I mean the only good thing (besides validated parking) was that the meeting was good. The male agent loved the script, said it was incredible writing and he wanted to read whatever else I had. He was polite, engaged and earnestly shook my hand when I left.

In that instant, that excited kid inside of me could already taste the Wolfgang Puck Governor's Ball dinner and smell the excitement of Oscar night. I had hope and I thought my dreams actually had a future. But my immediate need brought me back to reality - I had to pee. Nerves and coffee. Laura the aspiring writer needed to find the loo. And wouldn't you know it, the ladies room happened to be located in the hallway on the way to the main elevator.

Nature called and finished. I washed my hands and stood at the door towel drying my hands and heard the voices of the same-shirted agents making their way toward the elevators for lunch. I heard them laugh, talk sex, and finally pause to tie a shoelace right outside the door. The shoelace tie-yer outside the bathroom was none other than the agent I'd just met with. Funny thing was their sex talk subject suddenly changed to me.

"Too bad she's old," my shoe-tying agent said. "If she were younger and a guy, I'd have signed her. Her script is a hell of a good writing sample."

"She's that old," another asked?

"Yeah. Like forty, maybe late thirties," the shoe-typer replied.

"Oh."

Oh. OH? Oh what? I'm too old cause I might be thirty-nine or forty? I guess now at fifty-four I'd give him a heart attack I'm so old - shriveled all up, like a strawberry pop-tart in the desert.

The truth is ageism is part of the problem in Hollywood. Guilds have addressed the issue more than once. What it's meant for me personally is I must try harder, ignore it even, and avoid botox at all costs. I'm proud to be fifty four, proud to be one of those who never gave up on my dreams despite my AARP card carrying status.

I never heard back from the ageist agent again. despite my email attempts to contact him with my follow up script. But I knew I wouldn't. I did send him a final email, tho, one that simply stated this fact:

"The average age of screenwriters when they win the Oscar is 57. Here's to 57."
I signed it "No-need-to-be thirty Laura"


GOTH AND SPIRIT AWARDS
In case you haven't read, heard or seen, the Gotham Awards were handed out last night in NYC and the Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced today.  Below are partial lists of both, with links. Some great films this year, talented performances and direction. Spent TV extends it's congrats to all!

Click  here for Independent Spirt Award Nominees

Click here for Gotham Award Winners

LLA SHOOTS THIS WEEKEND
Our next installment of our webseries LLA shoots this weekend. Actors Kurt Sproul, Catherine Brewton, Charlotte Rae and John Nagle join our wonderful cast. Check back next week for some onset pix!


VOTE VOTE VOTE FOR OUR ACTORS
Check out our series and vote for your favorite Spent actor people! These hard working talents deserve the kudos, so please click and vote on the right side of our Spent TV blog page.

Leftover Stuffing

So, if you are not dodging pepper spray at the mall today, hopefully you are out taking in a bargain matinee at the local theater. It's the perfect weekend for buttered popcorn and visual entertainment. Watching movies on the computer, on a mobile apparatus or a good old fashioned TV are fine, but nothing beats the shared experience of a room full of moviegoers reacting and enjoying the same thing on screen.  This weekend, you got your Muppets, a kid named Hugo and a bunch of Bloodsuckers, not to mention a silent throwback film thats got plenty of Oscar buzz around it. So forget the sales and hit the movie palace instead.

STILL TIME TO VOTE
January 15 we hand out our very first and not the last Spent TV best actor award.  So cruise our wbenet and vote for your favorite! Now!

CHANGES A COMING
We are making some changes to the webnet, looking for more feedback from you. We also hope to introduce a new live stream segment where you can chat with us. The new year at Spent TV looks to bring some great new surprises, so stay tuned.

Holidaze!

As the day of food indulgence fast approaches, the people at SPENT TV want to thank you for tuning in to our original online programming and for your support. This year has been a challenging one for us, the economy and personal hurtles within our families have made getting our projects finished and up on the web a sometimes exhausting one. But still we prevail. And as we look forward to juicy stuffing and bourbon soaked pumpkin pie we want to thank our generous talented actors, our amazing crew, and again all youze folks for sticking with us. Next year begins a new season, with two new shows we are sure will make you laugh, cry, and want to throw things at your television sets.