The Good People at NCIS

After Gina's first NCIS episode, "Engaged: Part I" aired last fall, Mark Harmon presented her with this beautifully framed still from her show's opening titles.  Every cast member signed it and wrote a short message of congratulations or welcome.  What a way to make a new writer feel at home!

A Little Residual Goodness

When work is slow, there's nothing like opening a nondescript envelope from SAG and finding some residual goodness!  Residuals are what actors (and writers, directors, etc.) make when a program/movie is released -- subsequent to its initial run -- or repeated on dvd, pay-per-view, pay/free tv, etc.  The value of residuals can vary widely based on what type of medium and how long ago the project was made.  My last residual check for Angels & Demons was fifty-some dollars, this one more than 10 times as much!  (Yay, for being fortunate enough to be a tiny part of a popular movie that is endlessly replayed on free TV!)  I realize that this is probably the last sizable check I will get from the project, but that's okay by me.

Also, last week I got a residual check from my 2010 episode of Criminal Minds -- it was a pretty big check, so the show must have reran in prime time.  Of course if I was working more, more of these babies would be rolling in quarterly, but as it is, I am definitely grateful whenever they do arrive.

Cat Yoga

Recently, I've had several inquiries as to how the cats are getting along.  Let's just say there aren't killing each other.  Actually, it's better than that though: the other day we came home after being gone all day and they were asleep on the same couch -- not cuddling, mind you, but still a mere four feet apart.  And you can see from this post that there are becoming (mostly) civil. 

Here is a video of the cats doing their version of yoga.  It's is not what one might call "strenuous."


And one final picture of both cats sitting in bed, helping Gina write her current episode of NCIS:

SAG Awards Contrarian

Of the 14 categories in last weekend's SAG Awards ceremony, the actor/program I chose as my favorite only matched up with the masses twice: Modern Family and Kate Winslet.  (How anyone involved in Breaking Bad doesn't win an award he or she is up for boggles my mind.) 

However, if my goal was to guess who would actually win, I would have gotten 11 out of the 14.  Begs the question of these awards shows: is there only satisfaction in seeing the actor you think should win actually win?  Or is there a measure of satisfaction in successfully guessing who the membership will choose? 

Here is a full list of winners -- and their speeches.

ONE UNION for Actors

For any of you who watched the SAG Awards last weekend, you saw many actors sporting these nifty pins:

I wrote about the talks recently.  And as expected, the merger proposal passed both boards (it should have -- as they were the ones that came up with it!), and the time-table for an all-member vote looks to be within the next several weeks.  Onward...