Directing kids is…different, shall we say? It can speed up the aging process by a factor of three and certainly requires a whole different approach than directing trained adults you can have a conversation with about subtext and motivation and wants and needs and tactics and trauma. The younger children are, the more challenging they are to direct. Yet somehow I have worked with kids on probably 80% of my directing projects. I don’t know how it happened, it wasn’t a goal of mine – I don’t even have children. But when kids are involved people tend to call me, and I do enjoy working with these unruly little humans. I enjoy their directness, their authenticity, their willingness to play, the way you bond with them…

And I’ve found that even though every child is different, there are definitely some common strategies that apply to all of them. So here’s some wisdom I’ve gathered over the years working with kids from 3 to 12. Here are my ten tips for directing kids:

…

Ten Tips for Directing ChildrenRead More »

“You should go to Berlin or Cannes—they’re really fun and good places to meet people,” producers would say to me. But I was always like: What do you mean? Why would I go to a festival if I don’t have a film there? What would I even do? Can my fragile filmmaker ego handle going to a party I wasn’t invited to? 

But in January I got some cool news: myself and three other up-and-coming filmmakers were chosen to attend the Cannes Film Festival as part of a Dutch talent program. The goal was to teach us about the secret world of the festival circuit and to have us meet every single person present, or so it seemed. We were sent lists and lists of attending producers from all over the world to research and set up meetings with. We were asked to prepare verbal pitches, pitch decks, one-pagers, printouts, and last but not least suitable sartorial choices for Cannes famously formal dress code. By the time we were on a plane most of us were pretty nervous and at least a little intimidated—if not by the dress code and stature of the festival, then at least by our packed schedules.

But Cannes turned out to be a wonderful experience—and most of all, extremely educational. So in case you too are a filmmaker that hasn’t been to a big festival yet, and are wondering whether you should go, here are ten things I learned from attending the Cannes Film Festival as a new/upcoming/early-career/whatever filmmaker:

…

Ten Things I Learned from Going to Cannes as a budding FilmmakerRead More »

Work harder. Never give up. Believe in yourself. Shout self-affirmations in the mirror. Adapt the habits of “highly successful” people…

How many times have we heard those things? In award speeches, articles, self-help books… All those who have made it seem to imply this: If you just work hard enough, long enough and believe in yourself, you will be successful.

But, like…will you though?

I can’t disagree entirely. It’s not that these things don’t contribute to success. They can. But they get way more credit than they should, overshadowing some much just as if not more valuable ingredients. You see, all these golden nuggets have one major flaw: sample bias. A lot of successful people might subscribe to the idea that hard work equals success because they like to believe that they are where they are because they earned their place. It’s nice to think that everyone gets what they deserve, after all. But that does mean all this well-meant wisdom completely ignores the part of the Venn diagram containing those who are just as good and worked just as hard but aren’t successful. What are their thoughts? Obviously we don’t know, because we don’t hear much from those who don’t make it.

But you’re in luck! Because I have experienced spectacular failure in one career path as well as found some succes in another. I know people that have made it as well as people that haven’t gotten to where they hoped they would. And after spending decades on this planet overthinking, overanalyzing, philosophizing and most of all failing epically I have discerned that, in the end, there’s one real tip for succes that lies at the foundation of it all…

…

No, You Don’t Have to Work Harder: About Finding Success And HappinessRead More »

So, what’s Los Angeles really like? Ever since the Netflix show You and the movie Marriage Story (written by New Yorkers, just saying) have made it a point to highlight the lowlights of the City of Angels, it’s a question I get a lot. But it’s not a new question. Los Angeles is a strange place to have chosen as a person from the Netherlands. Don’t get me wrong: moving abroad as a Dutchie is perfectly normal. To London. Or Paris. Or Madrid. Even New York or Boston. But choosing LA is a little out there. Choosing LA says something about your personality. Because LA is Hollywood. LA is plastic surgery. LA is everything Amsterdam is not. It’s big, perpetually sunny, spacious, mountainous, has no real city centre, a grid-like layout, sparse public transportation, mostly post-19th Century architecture, and the car as the main form of transportation. It’s where people dream big and loud. Amsterdam is rainy, small, flat, has one city center, a circular maze-like layout, the world’s best public transportation, mostly pre-17th Century architecture, and the bicycle as the main form of transportation. Oh, and the motto is “just be normal, then you’re crazy enough.”

I’m sure the fascination behind the question “what’s LA like” therefore is part sincere. But the other part, perhaps, is the expectation of the answer that You and Marriage Story have provided. That LA is fake and shallow. A cultural wasteland. A tacky summer postcard inhabited by botoxed Barbies and imported palm trees. A smoggy suburb of full freeways and empty souls.

And relax, I’m not here to climb into the role of Defender of Los Angeles. As many LA transplants do, I both hate and love LaLaLand. Sometimes simultaneously. Honestly, I could write a book about LA and it inhabitants. But alas, I will not, since I am busy being an Angeleno cliché: working on a screenplay. I will attempt to condense my thoughts to a Millennial cliché though: a blog post. Here it goes, assumption by assumption…

So what is LA really, like, really, like?

…

What’s Los Angeles Really Like? An Ode To and Takedown of the City of AngelsRead More »

I was 18 when I first set foot in Los Angeles. I was on a road trip with my family and I didn’t see much but the horrible tourist sites, yet I knew I’d be back one day, to pursue my dreams of being a Hollywood actress. And I did go back. At 19 I took off on my own to spend a summer in LA doing acting classes. I had the time of my life and returned at 20 to do the same thing. At 22 – after attaining my BSc and working full-time for a year – I returned again, this time for eight months in pursuit of an agent and O1-B visa. It didn’t work. At 23 – after one final three month trip and nine months of waiting – I finally moved to the promised land.

Last August 17 I turned 31. That means I now have known many aspiring actors in Los Angeles for over 13 years. This realization more or less coincided with the news of one of them booking a series regular role in a sitcom. Of just one of them having that elusive proverbial breakthrough. I started thinking: what has happened to all the other aspiring actor friends I’ve met over the years? What do the lives of these dedicated dreamers look like after 10+ years in LA? Wouldn’t that be interesting to share? We read the succes stories of actors who made it plenty. But that’s not a very representative sample. What happens to the the ones not in the news? To the other people that packed up their lives into their car and drove from Ohio to LA? The other people who went through the im-migraine-tion process to get the O1-B visa? The other people who left everything they knew behind for a chance to be a working actor?

Of course, I can’t claim to bring a completely representative sample either, as I’m sure I myself have been a biased selection tool while navigating LA. A Dutch girl on a pink motorcycle with ladybug helmet isn’t for everyone, after all. On top of that I switched from acting to writing pretty quickly after moving to LA.

But I can give you a more complete picture than what the stories of successful actors in the news paint. I can tell you what happened to the people I met in all those acting, improv and audition classes. The people I bunked with in dorm rooms of dingy guest houses. The people I met at casting director workshops, networking events, or through Facebook groups. Even on OkCupid dates.

I can tell you what happened to my friends.

So, here it goes…

…

12 Years Later: What Really Happens to Actors Who Come to LARead More »

Hi! Remember me? Maybe not since it’s been two full years + nine days since I’ve posted, and I’ve accumulated some epidermal wisdom aka wrinkles in the process. So what the f took me so long? Well, various things. I started this blog as a 21 (!) year girl who wanted – correction: was obsessed with/desperately needed – to move to Los Angeles to become an actress. I started it during a time when blogs were fairly new and not everyone above 11 and their dog wrote op-eds on TV show episodes yet. I chronicled everything from visa drama to acting classes to motorcycle accidents, and tried to help other artists who wanted to move to Los Angeles. Fast-forward and I’m now a 29 (!!) year old woman who lives in Amsterdam, is not pursuing acting anymore and has a lot more perspective and mental stability – most of the time anyway. So, what’s the story? Have I become a bitter quitter and is this gonna be a “just give up already” post?

Nuh-uh!

This is gonna be a “know thyself” post that will help you find true happiness and eternal bliss. Kidding. But if you’re someone who’s die-hard pursuing something it might help you reflect and make yourself a little more content. Still a lofty promise, perhaps, but lemme explain…

…

Why I Stopped Blogging, Acting and Living in LA and Yet This is A Happy PostRead More »