Archive

a Future Soundbyte

posted 24th November 2010    Written by: Nikki    CATEGORY: All Posts, Inspiration, Job/Career/Work, Nikki, Season 3

The date:  November 24, 2015

The Scene: In studio for KCRW (CA local NPR station)’s live radio show “The Treatment” – interviews in Arts and Entertainment.

Welcome to The Treatment; I’m Elvis Mitchell.  Since her debut in the cult classic trilogy “Atlas Shrugged,” based on the controversial Ayn Rand book, my guest Nikki Klecha has caught the attention of audiences with memorable supporting roles in some of the last five years most notable indie films.  She’s here with us today to discuss her most recent project, the award-winning film “The Hum,” her inspirational website, and her first novel, due out early next year.  Welcome, Nikki; we’re glad to have you here.

I’m so incredibly happy to be here; thanks for having me.

Now, Nikki, your LA story is an interesting one; tell us a little bit about your journey.

Well, about six years ago, I was done with Los Angeles.  I was a burned out actor; I’d been working hard & feeling like I was getting nowhere.  I took some time out, traveled for a while –

Australia, right?

Yes, four months in Australia, which changed my perspective.  I realized, I don’t have to be miserable (laughing) I don’t need this career that frustrates me and I’m not tied to LA, there are many other things I can do to be happy; it was a revelation.  So I planned to move, sold all my furniture, and the day I sold my bed was the day I got the call that I was cast in “Atlas.”

If you love something let it go and if it comes back to you… right?

I guess so!

So, you stayed  in LA, obviously, and “Atlas Shrugged Part I” was the first time we, the movie going masses, heard of you.

Right.  The film came out in 2011 to great reviews, and the next thing I knew, doors were opening!  Things still moved relatively slowly, of course, I’m not a household name, by any means, but I just managed to ride the wave of that movie.  I was in the right place at the right time.  And with the subsequent success of Parts 2 and 3, I was able to pay off my credit cards (something every LA-actor dreams of!) and really focus on my writing, acting and building my website.

After the Atlas trilogy, you filmed “The Writers,” which gained a strong underground horror-fan following.

Yes.  That and my most recent film, “The Hum” were labors of love; all the cast and crew were friends, and I’ve known most of them since college.  They were so much fun to make.  And I must be the easiest actress to work for in the horror genre; I was honestly terrified half the time!  (laughing)

Tell us a little about the film you just mentioned, “The Hum;” it just premiered at Sundance and took home some awards, correct?

It did, yes!  That was a dream come true, going to Sundance with a film, especially one that was such a collaborative effort between friends.  I think we all feel like, finally, finally we’re hitting our stride and doing what we came here to do, after 10 years of struggle.

You also run a successful blog called The Grateful Sparrow, which I must admit, I’m a little addicted to.

Are you?  Thanks!  Yes, it’s my baby; I think of it as a daily jolt of inspiration.  I believe that we each have the power to change our lives for the better, whether it be through a large change, like quitting a job or moving, or a small change in mindset.  I hope the site helps people see that and gives them the courage and inspiration to take their next step toward a happier life.

And you’ve written a novel; have you always wanted to write, or is this a new endeavor?

Oh no, I’ve always loved writing; ever since I could read, I’ve been writing.  I just love stories.  For years now, I’ve been freelance writing – in fact, 2011 was the landmark year where I was able to not have a “day job” for the first time ever! – for various online & print publications.  I’ve always had “write a novel” on my bucket list, and now, thanks in part, I’m sure, to the attention I’ve received from the films and the blog, I have a publisher lined up and I’m finally doing it!  It will be available early next year.

And I understand we can look forward to seeing you in the next Michel Gondry film?  Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yes!  And I am kid-on-Christmas-Eve excited!  He’s my favorite director; I love the imagination that goes into his work.  We had our first table read the other day and the storyboards are just incredible.  I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s going to be a dreamy, lovely story of friendship and the absurdities of love.  I can’t wait to start shooting.

And, as if all that isn’t enough, what’s on the horizon for you personally?

Well, I just got married and got back from a two month honeymoon; we bought around the world tickets and continent-hopped.  It was amazing.  We just bought our first house, and I’m ready to settle in, be in one place for a while, and nest.  I think I’ve earned a little down time.

Well, don’t take too long off, we’ll miss you.

(laughing) Ok I won’t.

You can catch Nikki Klecha in the award-winning film, “The Hum” in limited release nationwide, on her blog TheGratefulSparrow.com, and keep an eye out for her book next year.  Thank you so much for coming in, Nikki.

It’s been my pleasure.

[Photo: me doing a Sirius radio interview for a film I was in, "Family"]

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Like Summer Camp, Only Cooler

posted 6th November 2010    Written by: Renee    CATEGORY: All Posts, Events, Renee, Season 3

It looks like we’re halfway into this Stratejoy blogging gig and you’ve all been dutifully following our up and downs, trials and tribulations. I told you how terrified I was to start grad school and teaching.  I told you how money gives me an ulcer.  I told you my hopes and dreams.

So where are we now?

Midterms are over, marking one of the most hectic periods of my life.  This also marks the second half of my first semester of grad school.  I’ve made friends.  I’ve established a routine.  I’ve actually gotten all my shit done.  I’ve taken time for myself.  I’ve battled stress migraines. I’ve discovered the Bruno Mars station on Pandora.  I’ve paid off half my credit card debt. I’m so close to creating the perfect mac and cheese recipe. But the best part?
I signed up to cross something off my life list.
I registered for improv classes at Second City Theatre in January.

This is a goal I had barely admitted to myself… to study at one of the famed Chicago improv theatres.  I quietly added it to my life list with little pomp and circumstance. I told no one. Until one day, I checked out Second City’s website… and realized the week-long class was within my budget.  Then I started telling people. “I think I’m going to sign up for a class at Second City.”  I was worried about the reactions… I anticipated hearing, “Why?” or “Do you think you’ll learn anything?” or “Do you think you’re good enough?” or “What’s the point?”
Instead I heard, “Oh my goodness, we’re going to see you on SNL!” and “I’m so excited for you!”  And boy oh boy did that announcement get a lot of “likes” on Facebook!

Though my Sarah Palin impression rivals Tina Fey’s, I have no aspirations of the SNL stage.  In fact, I have no aspirations of any improv stage.  Improv in front of an audience terrifies me… but I’ve always wanted to try. Whose Line Is It Anyway was my go-to sick day show. I took improv in college but it wasn’t what I anticipated. I wanted more. I wanted to study under the best.

I thought, “Who knows how much longer I’ll be this close to Chicago? This might be my last chance.”

So I took the opportunity.  I’m doing this class for myself.  In January, I’ll spend a week in the city for me.  It’ll be like summer camp, only cooler.

{photo via drurydrama}

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The Satisfied Artist

posted 1st September 2010    Written by: Nikki    CATEGORY: Creativity, Money, Nikki, Season 3

We have this romantic notion of the “starving artist.”  As though somehow it’s noble to lose everything in pursuit of an art.  In fact, an artist that makes money is often labeled as a sellout.  Do we ever call a doctor a sellout for working in a private practice instead of traveling with Doctors Without Borders?  Do we ever expect an accountant to give his services for free until he’s established himself with a CPA firm?  No.  But every day actors, musicians and visual artists are asked to work for free, or looked down on for “selling out” and doing a commercial or signing with a major label or even teaching.

But artists need the same creature comforts and securities everyone else does.  How do we reconcile our need and drive to create with our basic needs of food, shelter, healthcare and retirement plans?  And how do we maintain our sense of artistic self in the toxic money-making machine of the arts industries?  Even when we’re working & selling our art, it’s a struggle.  A friend of mine was in an audition waiting room with a very famous older actress, and as she went into the room, she turned to him and said, “60 fucking years in this industry & I’m still auditioning; I’m sick of this shit.”  There is no level of security.

I, as an artist, have conflicting views towards money.  I vary between denying that it’s important (“I can live frugally and just be a nomad selling art and doing theatre – I don’t need stuff – money is made to be spent!”) and freaking out when I realize it IS important (“Oh my God what do you mean I have to pay $800 to fix my car??!  And rent is, ahem, HOW much!!??”).

I’m a nester.  I’m a Taurus.  I need a home space and some level of comfort and stability to balance my adventurous streak.  In other words, when my tour around Europe (hee hee we’re talking dreams now) ends, I need a lovely little home waiting for me with down pillows and my things.  I need walls on which to hang the pictures I took on my world trip.

I don’t want money to rule my life.  I see so many people my parents age (and recently, a lot my age too – scary) who feel trapped in jobs they hate because they’ve over-mortgaged their lives.  They choose the big house and nice car over a career they love or a life they actually get out and live.  I’m not judging, those are their choices, but they’re not the choices I want to make.  Unfortunately, I think sometimes I’m so afraid of ending up that way that I shut myself off to a lot of options.

And then there’s the lure of Hollywood money… Let me just tell you, the movie I was just in paid as much in 2 days as I used to make in one month at my full-time day job.  And I was a dirt cheap hire.  But the gap between those that work steadily at that rate or more, and those that have to empty their purses for the chance to book one of those jobs a year is the size of the Grand Canyon.

All this said, though, I actually am pretty good with my finances.  I never used a credit card until after college, and I really only use it when I’m traveling or for emergencies (which has actually proved to be a BAD thing because our society’s backwards in that if you have no debt, no one will loan you money).  I am queen of bargain shopping; I even buy my groceries at the 99cent store (don’t knock it til you try it!).  I always have a savings account which, though it doesn’t have much in it normally, is easily forgotten and therefore left alone to it’s direct deposits and interest accrual.  And somehow, in 2009 on a net income of somewhere around $20,000, I managed to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, travel to Grand Cayman, fly cross country twice, and travel through Australia for 4 months.  Don’t ask me how.  I might be magic.

I guess, ultimately, I’d like a job that is creative (not passively creative like, “I have to think outside the box so solve problems” but actively, imaginatively creative) that is always changing so I don’t get bored, and which provides me with the financial security to be a crazy, stuff-shunning nomad and then come back to my home like a little nesting bird.  I respect money’s importance in our society, but I don’t like it.  I want to love my job, but I want to work to LIVE.

[photo source]

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Dreaming in the City of Angels

posted 25th August 2010    Written by: Nikki    CATEGORY: All Posts, Inspiration, Job/Career/Work, Nikki, Season 3

I gotta be honest with y’all, I’m having a really hard time writing this post.  Even though I’ve been incredibly open in my last three posts, this, somehow, makes me feel more naked.  I have to tell you my dreams – dreams I’ve wanted since I knew how to dream, dreams I’d thought were dead and then were rekindled, dreams I’ve recently discovered I have.  I find myself gauging your reactions – will you think my dreams silly?  Stupid?  Selfish?  Boring?  Generic?  I’m showing you a little hidden piece of my heart, so please, be kind.  Here goes…

I dream of being onstage, with an audience’s adoration roaring in my ears and lights glinting off my eyelashes.  Of standing ovations and acceptance speeches.  I dream of sitting in a dark theatre and forgetting it’s my face onscreen, sharing a cathartic moment with a  group of strangers.  I dream of collaboration; long, long days on set or in the wings, knowing we’re making something amazing and working through that giddy sense of exhaustion to an explosion of creativity.

I dream of creating everyday.  Of the freedom and discipline in sitting down and writing, every day.  I dream of the perfect words to describe a feeling or a place, and the perfect reading of a line.  I dream of a book jacket with my name on it.  I dream of a paycheck earned in ways that make me feel more alive instead of less than human.

I dream of a home that is mine in a city I love.  A home that is cozy and colorful and full of sunshine.  One that welcomes laughter, music, and comfortable silence.  I dream of an ever-blooming garden with twinkly lights in the trees and cocktail parties in the grass.  Of soft puppies and snuggly blankets.

I dream of a big big love.  A man who thrills me beyond reason but has all the reasons to justify that thrill.  My partner in every sense; balanced in respect, love, trust, and passion.  I dream of knowing it’s right beyond all my doubts and fears and stubborn independence.  I dream of an ability to communicate honestly and a shared view of life as much more than the white picket fence.  Of a marriage where we choose to be together while both retaining our sense of self.  I dream of a loving healthy little family that explores together and is not limited by money, location, or outside expectations.  I dream of best friends and family being much closer than a plane ride away.

I dream of adventure.  Of traveling the world and stepping foot on every continent, in every ocean.  I dream of eating with locals and learning languages, of getting lost and proving to myself I can find my way again.  I dream of scuba diving caves and wrecks, of stomping grapes and exploring pyramids, of total immersion bringing me totally present in the moment.

I dream of the self-awareness, clarity and balance to pull me through whatever lies ahead, and keep me grateful for the joys in my life.  Of self-confidence and complete comfort in my own skin.  I dream of eliminating “should” and “settle” from my vocabulary.  Of re-cultivating my inner 5-year-old and her imagination.  I dream of costume parties and cartwheels through sprinklers on hot days.  I dream of goofy grins and laughing till my sides hurt, and then laughing more.  I dream of sweet tea and hammocks and watching for shooting stars.  I want bubbling, tear-inducing, uncontainable joy.

“Nothing happens unless first we dream.”  -Carl Sandburg

[photo source]

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Confessions of a Hollywood Dropout (pt.2)

posted 18th August 2010    Written by: Nikki    CATEGORY: All Posts, Job/Career/Work, Love/Relationships, Nikki, Season 3, Travel, Travel/Adventure

Last spring, I was burned out.  I was a frustrated actor who felt like a zombie, going from uninspiring day job to hours in traffic to uninspiring auditions.  LA had me convinced that it was the only place that mattered & if I couldn’t make it here, well, I’d failed.  I was majorly unhappy and just going through the motions, bottling it up so I wouldn’t have to admit my unhappiness and therefore make a change.

Then, one day, I cracked.  And that crack let so much light in, it was stunning.

Except I didn’t notice it at first.  I was tightly blindfolded by feelings of failure and fear.  But light has a way of seeping through the dark and finding you, even when you’ve got a hangover headache & have buried yourself beneath the sheets.  Especially then.

So, I declared myself done with acting.  DONE.  Its success was too out of my control, too intangible, too taunting.  I came to a standstill.  And I was angry.  I was mad at the industry for being so fickle, I was mad at my teachers for telling me I was talented, I was mad at myself for even trying; I’d become the Hollywood stereotype, one of the locusts swarming off the bus seeking fame & fortune, and leaving without a penny or a credit to their name.

I couldn’t even stand to listen to people talk about movies.

At the height of this pessimism-party I was throwing myself, some friends convinced me to join an artists collective that was creating an original play.  I was skeptical and creatively barren, but attending the meetings started to shift something inside me.  These people were seriously inspiring.  After a few months of contributing nothing and feeling useless, suddenly all my frustrations and fears and passions poured out of me, uncontrollable and raw, in the form of a monologue.  It was sad and funny, and when I tentatively read it for the group, they insisted it be the opening piece of the show.  It had been born not in spite of my crisis, but because of it, and reminded me I am still an artist, no matter what. I contributed two original pieces to the show, which ended up being one of the most amazing projects I’ve ever worked on, with one of the most inspiring groups of people I know.

And I was back!  …Somewhat.

I still was crisis-ing, still boycotting the film industry, still single, and I still had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, but at least I was creating again.  The light crept in and I started to feel alive.

During all of this, I was planning & saving for a trip to Australia.  For years I’d talked about going and this seemed like the perfect time; I wanted to run away, where better than the other side of the world?  Everything fell into place – I got a temporary job working an arts festival there, got my visa, ticket, and couldn’t wait to see my old college roommate who’d gone to London with me years ago & had been living in Australia since.

I needed this change, I was ready to go & not look back – and then The Ex re-entered the picture.  He’d been around, after 5 years together we had a lot of the same friends, and we’d done the whole messy “hook-back” thing, but this time was different.  This time we were honest.  We talked about why we broke up, what we needed in a relationship and who we were now, after 4 years apart.  It was intense.  He wanted us to try again after my trip; I left feeling confused.  I’d had such a hard time letting go of him and I still cared about him so much, but… but…

I got on the plane with a head full of the past and a heart fighting to understand the present.  I needed to get away.

I could write an entire blog solely about Australia.  (In fact, I did.) How being alone in a strange city, in a strange country, on a strange continent helped me find the freedom in lonely.  How making friends comes easily when everyone’s the new kid, and how conversations with strangers can be oh so fulfilling.  How much easier it is without the burden of things, of history, of expectations.  How much stronger I am than I knew or remembered.

And I met an Aussie boy; while it wasn’t quite love, it taught me more in 2 months than my 4 years being single.  He showed me what I was worth, after years of not valuing myself much.

Little by little, I let go of all the anger, fear, and “what ifs” that had been shadowing me for years.  Little by little, I let the hot Australian sunshine in.  Between the bright red earth and the stunning blue sky, I realized my life was so much bigger than I’d imagined, and I let go.

After four months (twice as long as I’d originally planned to be gone), I wasn’t ready to come back home.  It felt like I had just experienced a whole other life in the short time I was away.  But in that life I’d grown & achieved some clarity; I’d realized no career or idea of success was worth giving up all the other things in my life that make me happy.  And nothing was worth sacrificing my own self-worth.

I decided to move to DC and live with my Mom for a year to bring some balance into my life, save money, and figure out my next step.  I sold my furniture, got out of my apartment lease, and threw myself a goodbye party… and then got the call that I’d been cast in a feature film.

It terrifyingly changed all my plans, but I took the part.  It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Now I’m still crisis-ing, still single, still in LA, and still have no clue what I want to do with my life, BUT I’m trusting.  I’ve pulled off the blindfold, woken up blinking in the bright morning of this new chapter of my life, and I’m letting the light pour in.  I honestly have no idea what will happen in the next week or month – I don’t even know where I’ll be living in October – but I’m OK with it.  For once in my life, I’m not trying to plan or control anything.  I’m letting life happen and I’m trusting that I am exactly where I need to be, right now and always.

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