I Stayed Out Too Late
I WENT TO A PARTY
I was up until 2 a.m. last night. No, scratch that. I was out until 2 a.m. last night.
I do not go or stay out that late anymore. Was it fun? Not fun enough. I should have gone home at 11 p.m. when the event ended. We all know that the "don't go to a second location" rule applies to impromptu after-parties. The part that makes the least sense? I wasn't drunk! I can either drink or stay out late. I can't do both.
Anyway, the point is: I'm dragging. I'm tired. It's 8:30 p.m. and I'm in bed. But I refuse to start skipping issues. I won't start being slippery on that slope.
Where was I? Thanks for asking! I was at the NYC premiere of the TV series Étoile. I wrote on the show. You'll see my name in the credits as a Producer. That's a Writers Guild union thing. No one who is a writer—except people who are in their first year as writers—are called writers. The titles of people who sit in a writers' room and write are called Story Editors, Producers, Consulting Producers, all kinds of crazy names. That's why when you watch a TV show and think, "Why does this sitcom about dads who can't stop farting have 15 producers?" That's why. The title means something within the union. It sets your pay scale and if you're needed on set. I do a lot other than just write in the writers' room or at my desk, but I'm Autistic, therefore literal, and it drives me crazy that people don't know these things.
BASHING BILLIONAIRES
I've been working on Étoile since January 2023—minus a six-month unpaid writers' strike. Remember that? That's when we all tried to warn you about AI coming for our jobs, and we told you that you were next. We went up against overpaid network CEO’s. We thought we won. But ultimately, we lost the bigger battle against the Wall Street model of profit that runs Hollywood's streaming services, AI in general, and the billionaire tech bros holding unchecked power. I guess marching in the NYC summer heat, chanting, "YOU SAY AI, WE SAY BYE-BYE!" while cabs and cement trucks beeped in support didn’t spark a revolution.
I WILL NOW PROMOTE A TV SHOW
Anyhoo, I wanted to give y'all a heads-up that Étoile drops on Thursday, April 24. All eight episodes in Season 1 come out at once. You have a binge coming your way if you want it. This is the part that I feel squeamish about. It's on Prime Video. (That's Amazon.) Yup. I work for the billionaire's box company. Look, if you already have a subscription to Prime, this is a great way to use it.
I don't know why Mr. Bezos had to send Oprah's best friend into space, or why I, as a woman, am supposed to take that as a personal win. I'm not trying to promote his business. I'm trying to promote this one-hour comedy about two (fictional) ballet companies in NYC and Paris. One of the big themes of the show is that billionaires and their blood money sometimes fund the arts. If we don’t extract ourselves from them completely, is it possible to take their money and justify it somehow?
The actors on this show are RIDIC. I loved working with them all.
I'm so lucky that I got to go to Paris a few times in 2024—even though I got COVID from the French crew guys. They were all coughing. I assumed they were just heavy smokers.
I was stuck in my hotel room for seven days, but the concierge checked in on me three times a day with “Hello? You feel good? You need things?”
I'll be posting some fun behind-the-scenes pictures on my Instagram stories on the day that it drops, which again is Thursday, April 24th.
This is what I wore to the premiere. Fun, right?
MY ADHD MOMENT OF THE WEEK
I bought a cute cropped tuxedo jacket to wear with the Cynthia Rowley bow bandeau and skirt. And guess what? I accidentally returned it with the jackets that didn’t fit. At one point, it was hanging on a hanger, ready to be worn, and somehow ended up in the pile to be returned. I have no memory of doing this, but I absolutely did. I didn't realize I had done that until I was getting dressed for the party and could not find the jacket. I had to improvise and throw on this blazer that changed the look entirely, but whatever. Let's focus on my fun purse that I've had for a few years and bought on Depop.
Next week, I'm going to tell you about all of the things I am reading, watching, listening to, and thinking about in my spare time. It's going to be popping off like potpourri.