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Rachel Brethauer
Becoming a long and difficult-to-spell household name
I write, drink whiskey, and curate a museum of the obscure inside my brain. Staunchly in favor of television, the Oxford comma, and naps.
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- Mar 04, 13
Since I’m still awake and tinkering around on this blog, why not post something for Musical Monday. Also this weird, weird evening, I watched CROSSFIRE HURRICANE, a documentary about the Rolling Stones. It was…interesting-ish, marrying audio from an interview on the eve of the band’s 50th anniversary in December with archival footage. All I REALLY learned is that I need to watch GIMME SHELTER. And go to sleep.
So, as I head off to sleep as the sun begins to come up, I leave you with one of my top five Rolling Stones songs: Moonlight Mile.
I am just living to be lying by your side, indeed.
- Mar 04, 13
So, about ten years ago, one of my good friends lent me her copy of The Artist’s Way and suggested I try it. I dove into that program like a madwoman, and it really helped get me on the path to becoming a professional creative person.
If it weren’t for The Artist’s Way, I never would have become a copywriter, and I never would’ve built up the courage to leave copywriting and actually try to achieve my real dreams of being a television writer. See, shadow careers aren’t all that bad. Sometimes you need them to help you discover what you don’t want. And I learned a LOT in the advertising world—and not just how to have three beers at lunch and still be productive in the afternoon. I learned how to write every day, how to be creative on demand (even with a hangover, or worse, a migraine). I learned to work with difficult people.
But I was talking about The Artist’s Way. This is why I shouldn’t blog at 4am, in my post-migraine euphoria. ANYWAY.
The key to The Artist’s Way is Morning Pages. If you google that phrase, you’ll see over 1.2 million results. It’s helped people change their lives, myself included. The period after I did The Artist’s Way (and mandated morning pages) was the most creative time in my life up to that point, and I know it enabled me to become the powerhouse that churned out work when I got to agency life. (Of course, silly me, I thought that being the person with the largest number of projects—often a ratio of 3:1 over the other writers, who always claimed they were “so busy”—would make me valued and respected. I was wrong).
These memories made me decide it was time to do the Morning Pages thing again this year, because this semester at grad school is all about creating original work. And I want to write the best scripts I can. So, in January, I started doing my requisite three pages every day. And within a week, I was MISERABLE. It was so weird. I’m naturally a navel-gazer, always seeking to better understand myself, as a way to understand the world around me. But getting inside my head like this again just felt like torture. Like there was nothing new to be found in this giant cranium of mine (seriously, 95th percentile. It’s hard to buy hats). And I thought it might just be resistance at first, like getting used to a new workout routine (something ELSE on my list of things to boost my creativity). But when I couldn’t shake this miserable mood for the entire day, it had to be something else. So, I did a test. I stopped writing morning pages for a day, and I felt good. Next day, I wrote them again, and felt bad.
Perhaps it’s the writing them in the morning thing. Perhaps my bladder was just too full, and I was taking the “morning pages” deal too strictly—for example, maybe I should take my journal outside and get some of that California sunshine while I write.
Or maybe, for the first time in my life, it’s OK to not be in my head so much. I’m slowly starting to pay attention to my body, and try to live more in it than just in my head. It’s weird, though. I haven’t been able to find anybody else on the internet who has had this same experience. Which maybe is why I’m writing about it now.
I wonder if maybe the morning pages might flow a little better (and I might feel a lot better, or at least not as distraught as much of January was) if I did them later in the day. Or after exercise. So many things to try. Because overall, they’ve been great in my life. But for them to be more effective, the words have to come out in a space filled with light. That sounds super woo-woo, but I think that’s what’s gonna happen. Maybe I’ll start over with the Artist’s Way program, and document my progress here. Of course, not the drivel of the morning pages. But this blog might make me feel accountable to something and force me to keep my artist’s dates and such.
So, here goes nothing: Bring it on, Julia Cameron.
Also, maybe I get weird ideas when I’m awake at 4:42am.
- Oct 28, 12
1. MY LIFE WITHOUT ME: I never would’ve appreciated this film in 2003 when it came out, even though the images of a young working-class family in Canada will always ring true. But now, this movie makes me miss Toronto. Which is a really weird idea for me. Because yes, I miss the friends I have there (hi everyone!), but it’s rare for me to miss the city itself. (and even weirder? The movie was made in B.C.)
So many of the people I love, love Toronto. And I’ve never understood it, even when I dreamed of living there—and despite living there for a decade. The city never felt like home to me, there was always something about it I could never grasp. I was an outsider, always. So for this exquisite movie to make me miss this place, to ferret out some things I truly did love about the city: the freezing cold rain of late fall, the one that comes for a few days and freezes your extremities, informing everyone that winter is just around the corner. The kind that requires hot chocolate and sweatpants and slippers to recover from. The kind that always made me want to cuddle up next to a man that was never there.
The movie, with its conceit of a woman leaving tapes behind for her family members, also makes me realize that we should be telling people how we feel about them when they’re in our lives. Not when one of us is gone, not when it’s awkward to run into each other on the street, not when too many hurtful words have been exchanged, and all hope is lost (or maybe, exactly then).
2. A pretty dress: It’s kind of amazing how powerful one can feel when you look and feel good. I had that today, for the first time in a very long time. And of course, I didn’t take a photograph. Maybe that’s for the better. But now, I want to feel like that every day. Damn, how am I going to find the time? (or the wardrobe?!)
3. Vulnerability: it’s not even that I’m good at being vulnerable (SO NOT.), or that I’ve been vulnerable lately. But it’s a concept I’ve been circling for a while, and it really seems like my next big life lesson. So, trying to head it off at the pass, I’m going to be preemptively grateful for it. Booyah.
4. Paper cuts: paper cuts mean lots of reading, lots of writing, lots of creativity. YES.
5. Roommates adept with blowdryers: I need to learn to wield mine better, but thankfully, my actress roommate will help me out in a pinch. YAY!
- Oct 24, 12
I freaking love Bruce Springsteen. Heartland rock, man. It’s the music of my people. That’s why I’m crazy about this awesome, in depth feature on The Boss, from The New Yorker. Like, shit, man—what a career this guy’s had. Bruce has taught me to have passion, how to tell a story effectively, and that people just wanna dance to a band having a good time.
Also, I miss Clarence Clemons. And I love the line “I would drive all night / just to buy you some shoes / and to taste your tender charms”. Buy me some shoes? Bruce, you know how to charm the ladies. Check it: Bruce Springsteen at Sixty-Two
- Oct 22, 12
In an effort to blog more often, I’m going to start posting articles I read that I particularly dig. Today’s is a great one for writer-types. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with what projects to work on next. This semester at school, we’ve been assigned what we’re working on—a spec episode of THE MENTALIST and one of NEW GIRL.
Next semester, though? It’s all on us as we write both a drama pilot and a comedy pilot. The drama pilot is coming together slowly, through LOTS of research. Characters are beginning to emerge, but I’m not totally sure what kind of situations these people are going to get into.
The comedy pilot, though? Not a damn clue. When the craziness of this semester dies down (which, I’m grateful to report, is NOTHING like the craziness of last semester), I’ll be able to focus on the first step in this article: RELAX. Something I need to learn anyway.
No matter what, this is a great read. Check it out! 6 Steps to Choosing Your Next Writing Project
- Oct 21, 12
Unearthed a copy of my life list tonight, and it’s high time I got back to being grateful for things. Or at least, making a point of calling them out. So, here goes!
1. People who remind me that I love travel. Travel is going to be a priority in 2013. I’ve missed my family and friends way over here on the left coast this whole year. And being in Los Angeles for as long as I have without a break is just detrimental to every possible kind of health. Not that I don’t love LA, but there can definitely be too much of a good thing.
2. This photograph:
3. Naps. Dear lord, I love me some naps.
4. A cool-ish, overcast Los Angeles day.
5. “I’m afraid too. But fuck it, I wanna give it a shot.”
- Jul 24, 12
And I’m tripping over my joy. I just keep on getting up again.
I heart you, Rilo Kiley.
- Jul 13, 12
I’ve been thinking a lot about storytelling lately, but not in the traditional form. Or, really, even in a “new media” kind of way. Nope, I’ve been thinking about how storytelling is pretty much EVERYTHING.
The clothes you wear on your back every day tell a story about you. The way you walk, the way you eat, the way you sleep…everything is a narrative. And that freaking fascinates me. The kernel of this idea came about when I was thinking about a presentation I might have to give in the fall. Admittedly, I was kind of freaking out about it. And then I thought, “wait a second. You’re a storyteller. This is your jam, yo.”
Maybe this is putting a little bit too much pressure on me (at times, I feel like a boiler… if you don’t use that relief valve enough: KABLAM!) to think of everything from this angle. But right now, it feels kind of liberating. And I wanted to link to the blog post that kind of set off the thinking. It’s an interview with Tara Hunt (on the SlideShare blog) about how the social site helped her grow as a speaker. Interesting stuff and cool links out. Definitely worth checking out.
Tara Hunt: 3 ways SlideShare helped me grow as a speaker | SlideShare Blog.
- Mar 27, 12
This song has been in my head all day. That’s what watching the season 5 premiere of Mad Men three times in a row will do to you.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and figure out how to tease my hair like
- Mar 21, 12
This is an article I wrote for my internship, which for a number of reasons didn’t get published. Some of my wonderful friends have been asking to read it, so it just made sense to post it here.
Plus, it also gives me a chance to post a photo of this guy, who hugged me twice on the press line. Yeah, being a pretend journalist has its perks.
Full article after the jump!
Salty Language, SAMCRO’s Struggles and Season Five Scoop: Sons of Anarchy at PaleyFest
Kurt Sutter and Katey Sagal at the Sons of Anarchy panel at PaleyFest Credit: Kevin Parry for PaleyFest
Wednesday night’s PaleyFest panel was devoted to Sons of Anarchy, and true to the show’s name, it was a wild ride! Executive producer Kurt Sutter was joined on stage by his wife (and star) Sagal, and Theo Rossi, Tommy Flanagan, Dayton Callie, David Labrava and Michael Ornstein for a conversation moderated by Stuart Levine of Variety.
Between stories about Perlman’s lack of motorcycle prowess and working with Tom Arnold and David Hasselhoff, the gang spilled a few hints about season five. Starting off about a month after season four’s explosive finale, Jax and Tara will be front and center as they figure out how to operate within their new roles as president of SAMCRO and old lady. Or, as Sutter put it, “Can you be a leader of an organized crime syndicate and not become Clay? And if you choose not to become clay, are you forced to suffer the same fate as John Teller?” Sounds like life’s not cooling down for Jax any time soon!
Of course, Tig’s (Kim Coates) end-of-season rampage that accidentally killed Laroy’s girlfriend—who just happened to also be the daughter of a yet-to-be cast Oakland crime lord named David Pope—is going to “be some of the adrenaline that gets season five started,” Sutter promised.
Might some of that adrenaline carry on off the bikes, say between Tig and Gemma? Sutter acknowledged the attraction between the former president’s old lady and his sergeant-at-arms, but plays it close to the vest. “Tig has been the third wheel in that relationship for years, and I think there is that connection between the two of them. I don’t know where that’s going to go,” he said.
The cast members were excited to find out what their boss has planned for the gang in Charming, especially Dayton Callie. Playing cancer-stricken Unser, he wonders just one thing when every script gets to his door: “Am I f–king alive?” Considering how important Unser is to Charming and the Sons, chances are he’ll be sticking around—and we can’t wait to watch it all unfold.
Sons of Anarchy returns to FX this fall.
What do you want to see happen in season five? Who should be cast as David Pope? Sound off in the comments below!
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Tweets
- SON-IN-LAW is on. Why does all the awesome stuff happen after 1am?
- Today's lesson: don't let the glass fall out of a mirror and onto your toe. http://t.co/nM7lj6IiaA
- @EStutland can't wait!
- @Lulamaybelle yes! I used to be woken up at ungodly hours by my old neighbor's smoothie addiction.
- @Lulamaybelle luckily, I'll be out all day. But there is no soundproofing in this building. Insulation is a thing I miss about Canada.
- Things I wish I knew before moving in: renovations happening upstairs ALL DAY for the last two days.
- @alliecine I'll be here for at least two more years, though the plan is much longer—hope we can get together again in that time!
- @alliecine a studio apartment around the corner from my old place. Still in Culver City.
- Oh, IKEA. Why did you discontinue your well-priced flokati rug? #sad #toomanyuglyrugs
- @sioron I did, but forgot all about it. Thanks! Hope I have time to write something. I heart Theo Rossi. :)
- It only took me five months, but this new wired connection on my Blu-Ray player has made HuluPlus look AMAZING (and stop being a douche).
- That was a great episode of COUGAR TOWN. Thanks, @MelodyDerloshon!
- New street has 200% more screaming children. Things are so different half a block over.
- Sounds like everything I read out of Toronto today is about rent hikes. What is going on, guys?
- These movers are blowing my mind with their awesomeness.
- @vaedri A BIRTHDAY burrito?!
- @Erin_Boudreau ooh, that could be fun! My stylist and I will be chatting about it on Friday. :)
- Movers will be here in less than two hours!
- Can't get Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" out of my head, and it's bumming me out. I feel so sad for this fictional girlfriend. #insomniafun
- Would very mucH like to be asleep right now.
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Info
- Seasoned creative copywriter seeking freelance opportunitiesWriting and Editing | Greater Los Angeles Area, USSummary
Writing, editing, brainstorming, and bending technology to the will of a project are the reasons I get up in the morning. Prolific and passionate, I play well with others and strive to find perfect solutions to each client’s problems.
When I grow up, I want to be a comedy writer.
Specialties: Writing, editing, Web content development, conceptualization, social media, advertising, marketing, branding, technical writing, SEM, SEO, Microsoft Office. Some experience with CMS systems, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver.Experience- Sept 2012 - PresentDevelopment Intern / Carol Mendelsohn Productions
- Aug 2011 - PresentGraduate Assistant, Committee on the Status of Women / Loyola Marymount University
- Aug 1998 - PresentWriter / Red & Kitty Media
Wrote feature-length screenplays, original teleplays, television spec scripts, advertising and marketing copy, web content, social media content and more.
- Jun 2012 - Sept 2012Intern/Factotum / K/O Paper Products
- Jan 2012 - May 2012Writer / NBCUniversal, Inc. / E! Online
Internship. Wrote blog posts and created photo galleries for E! Online website.
- Feb 2010 - Jul 2011Writer, Creative Marketing / Open Text
Deliverables include: Writing, proofreading and editing Web content, e-newsletters, marketing collateral, event signage, direct mail letters, brochures, postcards, posters, buckslips, print ads, and more.
- May 2009 - Sept 2009Freelance Copywriter / The Creative Group
A freelance assignment writing, proofreading and editing Web copy for a world leader in commercial dishmachines
- Sept 2008 - Feb 2009Copywriter, Digital / Capital C
Wrote Web, DM and promotional copy for a number of brands, including Dove, Pepsi, Cineplex, Buckley’s, Canada Bread, SCENE, Scotiabank, Sunsilk, and Novartis.
Deliverables included: Writing, proofreading and editing Web content, Web banners, e-newsletters, CRM, direct mail pieces, brochures, shelf talkers.
- May 2006 - Sept 2008Copywriter / MacLaren McCann / MacLaren MRM
Crafted award-winning direct marketing and digital copy for a variety of clients, including General Motors, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, HUMMER, RBC, Durex, Intel, Kraft, Luminato, Camp Oochigeas, McNeil, Canadian Scholarship Trust Plan, and more.
Deliverables included: Writing, proofreading and editing Web content, Web banners, e-newsletters, Direct mail pieces, direct mail letters, brochures, CRM program elements, postcards, posters, buckslips, print ads and more.
- Mar 2002 - May 2002Locations/Production Assistant / CBC Television
Scouted locations, pitched locations to director and producer, craft services, driver for cast and crew on a CBC-TV comedy series.
Education-
2011 - 2014Loyola Marymount UniversityMaster of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Writing & Producing for Television
Activities: Committee on the Status of Women -
2005 - 2006Humber CollegeOntario Graduate Certificate in Media Copywriting
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1998 - 2002Ryerson UniversityBachelor of Applied Arts (B.A.A.) in Radio and Television Arts
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1994 - 1998St. Benedict C.S.S.OSSD in High School
Additional Information-
Honors:2008 CMA Award Gold: Direct Response: Direct Mail B2C: Camp Oochigeas “An Evening of Summer Dreams” Event Invitation Silver: Fundraising/Non-Profit: Camp Oochigeas “An Evening Of Summer Dreams” Event 2007 CMA Award Merit: New Media – Interactive: Durex Hump Day 2007 PROMO! Award Gold: Best Activity Generating Brand Volume: Kraft Hockeyville Silver: Best Brand-Building Campaign: Kraft Hockeyville Bronze: Most Innovative Idea or Concept: Kraft Hockeyville Bronze: Best Event Marketing Campaign: GM Blockstorm
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Interests:Reading novels, biographies, memoirs, books about television, film, and style, writing screenplays and TV scripts, watching TV and movies (particularly sitcoms and spy movies), annihilating competitors at board games, getting to know a variety of whiskeys, laughing, finding new musical sensations, travel, reading an excessive number of magazines, baking, dive bars, great conversations, tennis, road trips, and much, much more!
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Status
- WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THIS EPISODE OF MAD MEN?
- Coffee is for closers. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
- Oh my god, ALF is on hulu.
- This will make your day.
- Why is it always humid here? Is it a byproduct of human decomposition?
- The Third Man screening in hipster soup.
- Ana and Rachel will you vow to boycott this movie with me? We can gather other angry Downton Abbey fans/Dan Stevens haters I'm sure. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/10/dan-stevens-summer-in-february-dominic-cooper_n_3251402.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&just_reloaded=1
