Glynis Mitchell

There’s going to be general auditions for this at Stone Soup Theatre, but some of you might be interested in knowing that I’m directing a couple of short plays in a festival featuring women playwrights, directors, and backstage tech personnel called XX Fest. I’m keeping it in the “family” by casting Carolynne Wilcox and Joesephine Hoy, but I will also be looking for the following roles:

Man: age 25-35

Woman: age 30-50

Man: age 35 and up.

Let me know if you’re interested and shot me a headshot and resume at gmitchell@watchcausality.com.

I despise reality TV. Except for the one show that is simply made for the format: RuPaul’s Drag Race. If you want drama, cattiness, and the simply fabulous, what could be better than drag queens? It blows Jersey Shore and Real Housewives out of the damn water.

So, naturally, I love the high-camp-meets-Metropolis trailer for the new season. The styling and costumes are amazing and the cinematography (and girls!) are beautiful.

THEY’RE ALIVE!

If you follow me on Twitter or know me IRL, you may have picked up that I spend a ton of money monthly on health care. Mental health care, specifically. For the sake of mild activism, I try to be “out” about my disability: I am on the severe end of the Bipolar Spectrum with a ton of comorbid disorders. For those that don’t know, BPS is genetic and can be seen on PET scans, and has high correlation to other debilitating disorders such as epilepsy (don’t have that), migraines (got that), and PTSD (yep). I think it’s important to be out, and I work very hard to maintain a high level of functionality: if you met me in person, there’s a really good chance that you wouldn’t guess how sick I am. Also, I’m tired of passing: it’s exhausting to pretend to be something I’m not, and it’s selfish when it comes not only to other mentally interesting people but also those neurotypicals who know little about mood and brain disorders. People should understand that there is much that can be overcome, and despairingly much that can’t.

To understand, and be understood, is to be free.

I’m not saying any of this to get sympathy, any more than someone living in a wheelchair probably would. Very few disabled people like to feel like victims. We’d rather just be people. One of the best things about my “family” here at Causality is that everyone treats me as a fully-functional person and I can be honest with them when I’m having a challenging time with my illness. (I’m also privileged enough to be able to set my own schedule, to a degree.) They’re incredibly supportive, and my work on this tiny little scifi show gives me a kind of hope and drive that I wouldn’t otherwise have. It gives me a goal, and the knowledge that people rely on me for their own hopes and dreams. It gives me a reason to go on, in the hard, dark times, when my brain, the very organ that a human needs the greatest, tells me the biggest lie of all: that I am ready to die.

…your journey can be a lonely and difficult one where you feel overwhelmed by the world, but upon admitting you need the help of others, you can summon the help of people willing to offer a hand, and whilst they may not remain in your world, they make the journey a lot easier for the time being.

So, all this is a prologue to a great article that I read on The Border House recently about depression and gaming by Jordan Salari. Yes, I am a gamer. I don’t call myself a geek, but it’s probably the geekiest thing that I do with any frequency. I think there are things in his article that cross over into any geekery: the fine line between dangerously addictive escapism and the freedom that imagination and hope give those who live with challenging mental and emotional conditions.

Gaming helped me realize that for all the varying forms of reality they had to offer, they all had something in common; they offered purpose, something which I’d lost in my life, and worried that I’d never find again.

Go read it. I’m betting that more than a few of you will find something in there to relate to.

So! You might have heard that one of our great friends from the Seattle webseries community is having a Kickstarter campaign: Glitch. You may remember Glitch producer Josephine Hoy and supporting actor Trin Miller (who is also part of the Causality cast!) from our Women in Webseries Geek Girl Con panel.

But did you see the amazing press that they’ve gotten? Those articles will tell you all you need to know about the premise: Joystiq, Techzwn, and The Escapist are all over this campaign and the show behind it. (I can’t write a better synopsis than these, so I’m passing the buck!) You should check those out — there’s at least one interview in there, too — and, most importantly, back their campaign! If you contribute at the $35 level, you get a preview of the pilot episode, which I can honestly say is funny, true to itself, and has great production values. That’s unusual in webseries, take it from me and other creators.

If you’re like me and have played video games pretty much all your life, you will love this show. I guarantee it.

Go ahead: watch Glitch!

As you all know, we’ve been super busy with principal photography during the holidays and the footage shot by DP Brian Liepe is beautiful. We’re not slowing down on that one bit, but we are gearing up for something special.

Over the next month, we’re going into a more in-depth, professional production of Podcast to the Past, starting with a reboot of the first episode. If you’re a fan of our earlier podcasts, don’t worry: we’ll keep them around and will be cutting them together for some Best Of shows. We love doing PttP, we’ll just be adding some structure to our Science Fiction Ephemera. (Cue the signature echo…)

But the really exciting part is that we’re partnering with Cazador Radio Network. I’m sure you know them: their team brings you not only the Men With No Lives podcast, but also the lush and gorgeous visuals of the award-winning Western X webseries. Starting in February, Podcast to the Past will be one of their curated, sponsored podcasts.

But! you guys get a little preview tomorrow night: Ralph and I will be hanging with the boys on the Men With No Lives Livestream tomorrow, January 7th at 7pm PST. If you miss the stream, you’ll also be able to catch that episode on the Cazador Radio website. Be sure to check that out!

It’s audition time again! I’ve posted this on some local boards but thought I should let our Twitter and Facebook followers know too.

*****

Some of these roles recur. To schedule an audition later this week, please email gmitchell at watchcausality.com (that’s me!) with a headshot and resume. If you send a link to a reel or website, please include a brief cover letter. Emails containing nothing but a link will be assumed to be spam. Ideally, all candidates (except minors) will be familiar with social media: we love to promote our colleagues and hope that you would love to promote us!

Character breakdowns:

James (recurring supporting cast): A likable guy with a sporty-Northwest clean-cut look. The kind of guy who works tech during the week and hikes or bikes or runs 10k races over the weekend. At the opening he is finalizing a divorce precipitated in part by the death of his only child. 30′s, probably Caucasian as we have to cast his son as well and the mother is Caucasian.

“Santa” (supporting): A holiday bellringer for charity dressed as a traditional Santa Claus. Bonus if you have a real beard and/or your own suit. Any race, 40-older.

Elijah (supporting): James’ and Holly’s very ill son (could be played by a tomboy girl with short hair). 7-10, probably Caucasian.

Grade School Teacher (supporting): A grade school teacher; looks like a very nice person. Any race, any gender, any age over 25.

*****

Got it? Good! Tweet me with any questions!

Wow. We had such a fun panel at GeekGirlCon yesterday: me, Mary Higgins, Trin Miller, Josephine Hoy, Joanna Gaskell and Vanessa Driveness, Jane Espenson, and our moderators April Grant and Amanda Shockley of Indie Intertube. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support us! You guys are amazing, as are all these lovely panelists.

There will be video! I’ll post it next week. Today I’m trying real hard to get myself off the couch and back for the second day of the con, but between all the prep and excitement for this and also helping my partner open a bar (!) I’m so beat all I can do is try not to fall asleep.

Still. We did so great yesterday that I felt just like this.

Hey Time Travelers!

Not much to report this week: Team Causality has been busy getting all our ducks in a row so that we can start shooting the bulk of the season this autumn. But if you want some webseries goodness to tide you over, I highly recommend Standard Action. It’s a hilariously meta-nerd commentary on classic tabletop gaming, with a surprisingly deep core and excellent characters. Trust me: if you listen to Podcast to the Past, you know that I hate (most) things, but I love this. Watch the whole thing.

The cast and crew will also be at PAX Prime this weekend for a panel! The SA team will answer questions, shake hands, promote Season Two, and premiere Episode 12 of Season One. So if you’re in the Seattle area and you’ve got a pass to the (giant, sold out) convention, I highly recommend joining them at 1:30 in the Unicorn Theatre on Sunday. I will be.

From the PAX website:

Embrace the Chaos – Standard Action: the Webseries

Unicorn Theatre
Sunday 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Plan? What plan? When producer Joanna Gaskell and director Rob Hunt set out to make gamer webseries Standard Action, they did it in a most unconventional way. The web is a fast-paced medium, and in keeping with that energy, each episode of Standard Action’s first season was written, produced, edited and released in 3 weeks, allowing production and characters to grow and change as the season surged forward. Despite the controlled chaos, production value is high, and episodes feature everything from complex prosthetics to special effects. Learn why Standard Action chose this dynamic path, how they pull it off, and watch selected episodes! Panelists include: Producer/Writer/Actor Joanna Gaskell, Director Rob Hunt, Prod. Designer Carla Miller, and Costume Designer/Actor Edwin Perez.

And in the spirit of Standard Action, which features it’s own ladies dressed appropriately for combat, I give you this: Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor. You’re welcome.

Hey Time Travelers!

Did you know that it’s been an entire year since Montoure and I sat down and came up with the seed of Causality? And what a year: joy and tragedy and health and illness. Yet we’re still working toward that original ideal:

…for me, that’s what Causality will be…about: the families we find, even when we don’t look for them, and the little and large griefs along the way.

Our show has grown from a seed to a tiny sapling now: deep in pre-production, securing funding and backing for our first season, revising the script, designing the world, casting our supporting actors, wrangling our kickass crew…it’s like the work never ends! It’s energizing work, though, and we can’t wait for you guys to see this first season.

We’re excited to be here, and so pleased that you are all beside us! With the support of our fans, we hope to have many more years to tell this story.

Happy birthday, little indie TV show. Make a wish.

I don’t know about you guys, but I use social media a lot. A lot. For staying in touch with my friends and family all over the world, for gathering information, for meeting people pf like minds, and for work and networking.

When connecting with people I know IRL, it’s pretty easy for me to justify why I use Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Of those three, Twitter is undoubtedly my most public voice: I hardly use FB any more and G+ is in it’s infancy. But it’s a little different with people I’ve met through networking. I’m not particularly interested in finding heaps of people to collaborate with, at least not right now. I’ve got a fantastic team and a full plate. I do love to support my webseries and local film community, though. So I follow a lot of people to keep up with their work, and I retweet them when I can.

But some of these folks are boring. So, so boring.

I don’t know about you, but when I work with people, if we’re colleagues, I like to know a little something about them personally. So I try to pay attention to folks’ interests, and pick things up. For instance, one of our favorite friends of the show loves coffee and has an adorable dog named Shyla. Another one, a single dad, always seems to be at the gym. Other run D&D games for their crew, watch horror movies, play Xbox, go to burlesque shows, eat at weird restaurants…and I love hearing about it. I love knowing that the people I “meet” online while I’m working are real folks. And knowing who they are makes it much more likely that I’ll pay attention to their stream…which makes it even more likely that I’ll want to support their projects, whether by retweeting them, following back, or donating money to their Kickstarter. An endless stream of links and self-promotion doesn’t do it for me: you have to be yourself, not just promote yourself.

Not everybody is going to do that, and I understand life is busy. But if you’re just programming your tweets with linkspam that directs me only to your website or IndieGogo page…yawn. Unfollow. I want my social media to be a little more social than that. I want a conversation, because apparently even with a hyper-social day gig and plenty of friends I don’t get enough talking.

That why I chose a picture of my GeekGirlCon tickets* to start this post: being on the Women in Webseries panel is completely a product of networking on Twitter during #webserieschat with some fantastic ladies. Getting to know them online has been a real pleasure. Meeting them in person will be even better.

How about you? Is social media a thing for you? How and why do you use it?

*Get your GGC tickets soon! They’re only $35 dollars for both days until August 1st, when the price goes up.