SPY V SPIA KICKSTARTER! and other news!

SPY V SPIA

As many of you know, Carlo, my partner in life AND writing AND acting, and I have written a very fun WEB SERIES for us to star in. We have had some amazing movement on this series! Check out some of the info:

Spy V Spia, a MADCAP Spy Parody...

…served up with an unexpectedly romantic twist!

LOGLINE: Two rival international spies join forces only to discover secrets about their past, their future, and their hearts...

Written by and starring YOURS TRULY and CARLO CARERE...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oan2CdZU1U&feature=youtu.be

 

With a TOP SECRET THEME SONG composed and produced by MARK MALLMAN, sung by YOURS TRULY...

With DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER N. ROWLEY, whose previous films include "Molly Moon" (starring Emily Watson, Dominic Monaghan, Joan Collins) and "Bonneville" (starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, Tom Skeritt!)

Produced by GRETCHEN LANDAU (whom we met on the set of FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S "Distant Vision" last summer!)

Director of Photography: KARSTEN HOSE (If you've seen a BMW or Suzuki commercial in the last few years, he likely shot it!)

It's a series that promises to have a lot of fun! Zany characters, a lot of heart, action, super cool spy stuff, evil organizations, an aria of death, Cheesheads vs Vikings fans, traditional pizza vs ham and pineapple pizza, and tons of Ninja, Femme Fatales, spyboys and spygirls and maybe a little romance...

Or as Carlo would say, no Romans. He's Neapolitan. ;-p

We are going to be launching a Kickstarter in a few days from the CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL(more about that in a moment) and I wanted to invite you all to share, donate if you can, and let me know what YOU would like to see as perks and promotions. As you know, I like to hear from you all, learn and grow... So please, don't be a stranger! We're planning on raising enough to shoot the pilot first, but along the way we are also seeking Executive Producers and or Private Investors, so, if you're interested, or no of anyone, we're open to talking with people!

We can share more about out commitment to diversity casting, quality of filming, and marketing plans if you like.... but also know.... it's going to be a TON OF FUN!!!

Our Facebook page is up to around 10,000 likes. Have you become a Secret Agent, too? If not, check out any of our Social Media:

www.SpyVSpia.com

*Currently links to Facebook Page, but will link to our Kickstarter once we launch!

https://www.facebook.com/SpyVSpia/ 

https://twitter.com/SpyVSpia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SINGING PERFORMANCES AND WRITING CONTESTS If you happen to be in Costa Mesa on October 1st, I will be performing that Sunday afternoon with my long time friend and collaborator, JEREMY WEINGLASS. We will be singing at a benefit designed to raise money for research into HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE... the theme of our show is BROADWAY! I'll be singing selections from everything from "West Side Story" to "Les Miserables" to "Chorus Line" to "Monty Python's Spamelot." We're going to have an amazing time. You can get tickets here. In WRITING NEWS,  Carlo and I have been busy! We won 1st place in the ACTION/ THRILLER category in the StoryPros Awards and are featured in their Winners' Circle with our script "TIME ZERO." Next week we will be attending the CATALINA FILM FESTIVAL as one of the top 20 finalists in their screenwriting competition with "Time Zero." And the week after that, we'll be representing "Time Zero" in another contest at theOAXACA FILM FESTIVAL. We have been in contact with the people running the festival after the devastating earthquakes of the last few weeks. They are well and the festival is continuing- we are continuing to hold them in our thoughts and prayers. If you're going to be in Catalina or Oaxaca, do let me know! I'd love to see you. :) Until we launch our Kickstarter.... please email to say hi!

Burn after reading!  Just kidding.  **Erin  and Carlo too!  and Henry. :)

 

UPDATES on everything: action thriller scripts, romantic dramedy, spy parody, and singing!

UPDATES!

Hi everyone! Just a quick update on some fun wins we have recently had.... "SPY V SPIA" It's on its way! We are finalizing the script in conjunction with director Christopher N. Rowley and producer Gretchen Landau.... with a goal of starting filming this Autumn! What does that mean? Well, the next step after finalizing the script for this will they/ won't they romantic comedy with a spy parody twist web series is to put together a more exact budget, fundraise (while applying for grants and contests) and attach some star actors to fun parts. :) I'll keep you posted on the fun developments there! "TIME ZERO" This is the action-thriller screenplay Carlo and I have been writing... and rewriting... and.... We just won FIRST PLACE in the Story Pros Screenwriting Contest in the action/ adventure/ thriller category! http://www.storypros.com/10thAwardsWinners.html What does that mean? Well... it gets us one step closer to the right screenwriting manager (as separate from my wonderful acting manger and agents) and/ or producer. It gets us publicity to help sell the script so that it can be made into a movie! It's sort of like "The Bourne Identity" meets "Dead Zone," so we need a pretty big studio to make it. Cross your fingers! "IN THREE" This little romantic dramedy written by yours truly has placed in its second contest- the ScriptFest Comedy Contest! I haven't talked about this one as much because, quite frankly, I have a number of projects going on and I know it can kind of become confusing. I think of it like I'm a mother to twelve children, but instead of actual children I have projects. They're all important to me, and I hope for all of them to have a life of their own that becomes a part of other people's lives as well, but only certain projects take my attention at any given moment. So, this script had previously placed in the WEScreenplay Diverse Voices contest and now is a quarter-finalist in the Script-Fest Comedy Contest. https://screencraft.org/2017/06/15/announcing-2017-screencraft-comedy-screenplay-contest-quarter-finalists/ What does this mean? Maybe the script will get attention of the right director or star. It's an indie dramedy about a middle aged woman who "has it all" until she finds out she has advanced stage 3 cancer and embarks on a very wild fling wit a much younger, newly sober man. It's a lot of fun! ;-p BUT WAIT, ERIN, WHAT ABOUT SINGING? I give performances every afternoon in my apartment. In the meantime, I have a few charity events I'm performing at this autumn, and am secretly writing and recording songs that will be featured as snippets and singles connected to my web series, "Spy V Spia," (see above.) As you all know, I really NEED to perform. And I haven't had a gig outside of a wedding in a little while... but when I asked an acquaintance of mine, who is the head of A&R at a major label, what it would take to get seen, heard, signed, sealed and delivered? He said I'd need to sell out an arena, get some kind of notice someHOW. He was honest and it got me thinking.... how can I be my Bette Midler meets Annie Lennox meets Andrea Bocelli meets Barbra Streisand meets Adele self (haha) and get my music out there? That's part of my series. While it's not a musical or an opera at all, my character is a singer. So, in episodes now and then, she will have snippets of songs that I hope to record and release alongside the series, or perhaps, after the fact. I have a few secrets that I've been saving for the right time, and I can't wait to share them with you all.... watch this space!

Kind regards,  Erin love love love love love

Meaning, memories, and "A Splendid Torch."

Meaning, memories, and "A Splendid Torch."
==========
Happy Memorial Day to those of you living in the States! And to all, everywhere on this little blue dot we call Earth/ home...

Memorial Day, of course, is not just a day to kick off summer by consuming a lot of burgers, be they veggie, turkey, or beef. (Although Carlo and I _did_ go to FatBurger on Saturday night.)

It's "a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered..."

Growing up in Minnesota, my Grandmother grew gorgeous gladiolas. (As pictured above.) She was an amazing gardener with all kinds of flowers but what I most remember her talking about were her African Violets and her "Glads." Every year on Memorial Day, she would delicately cut at the base of the Gladiola stalks and create stunning bouquets. Then, we would drive from her farm in rural Jackson to the town cemetery. We spent the most time at the grave of my Grandfather, as well as other distant-to-me-but-probably-not-to-her relations. I still cannot quite put it into words, but a certain feeling would come over me then, and still does now, just thinking about it... a deep sense of connection to the past, and a profound honoring of the lineage from whence I came.

In some places, gladiolas are called "Sword lilies." In Rome, gladioli were associated with gladiators. Some say that gladiators wore gladiolus corms around their necks during battles to help them win and protect them from death. Because of their association with gladiators, the gladiolus flower meaning is strength and integrity. They also symbolize infatuation. By giving a gladiolus to someone, the giver sends the message “you pierce my heart” to the receiver, because of the flower’s pointed shape. Another gladiolus meaning is remembrance.

Sometimes, it's good to remember. Not to dwell, not to dramatize, but to feel that connection to that which came before us, to the circles and cycles of possibility and love and honor and creation that has delivered us onto the world today.

So, this Memorial Day... It no longer feels exactly right to say "Happy Memorial Day" after all this.... so I will instead share my favorite quote:

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

George Bernard Shaw

In Three, a semi-finalist in the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Contest

So, a while back, I had an idea for a movie about a grown up woman going through a crisis who meets a young man going through a crisis... I wrote a scene for an acting class, and then, in a fit of inspiration, wrote the whole d*** script. I put it away for a little while, and then, after learning more about structure with my stalwart #screenwriting and #life partner Carlo Carere, I reworked this script about two beautiful, hurt, funny souls going through some sh**. This is a script that I feel is true to my poetic (and weird... uh, let's say "unique") (and sexy, it's definitely a movie for grownups!) sensibilities. But I worked on structuring it in a way to take all that artsy fartsy stuff and make it commercial.

I'm kinda proud. My script is a finalist in the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices contest. :)

"In Three" written by Erin Carere

LOGLINE

When a middle-aged business woman who seemingly "has it all" discovers she has stage three ovarian cancer, she throws caution to the wind and embarks on a sexy, life-changing weekend with a newly sober, much younger man.

Also, Diverse Voices and WeScreenplay raised $2,712 for the Books for Kids Foundation!

https://www.wescreenplay.com/blog/post/diverse-voices-spring-2017-semi-finalists

Anne With An E, and what Anne, Emily, and Maud mean to me

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning here in the City of Angels, and I'm feeling oh so very Emily-Anne, i.e., the hybrid that many of us die-hard writer type fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery and her indomitable heroines identify with. (For myself, I'd add a dash of Sara Stanley to my list as well. After all, I'm most like Anne in action and experience, most like Emily in my soul and writing, but I always feel The Story Girl is left out a little in the canon and that I am at once the creator AND performer of stories much like Miss Sara.) I spent the morning walking my dog, Henry, along an avenue full of jacaranda trees, the purple blossoms falling to our feet... in fact, I also had to navigate my dog AWAY from the leftover chicken wings and broken beer bottles that people dropped on the street likely in a drunken state... I live in a very urban area. Safe, but full of popular nightclubs, restaurants and bars. And the entire morning, while musing on the new Netflix take on the Anne series, Anne With An E, I practiced Anne Shirley's ability to focus on beauty and magic, even if sometimes she, and I, and indeed all of us, have to create it for ourselves.

Here's the thing. I tried really hard to like Anne With An E. I did. I ADORE that lead actress, AmyBeth McNulty. She is a treasure. She is an EXCELLENT Anne, even if Megan Follows was my first Anne, even before I read the books. I gave the series 5 episodes. 5! Of 7! And then I just had to stop. I just couldn't take it anymore. Perhaps if I hadn't already been an uber fan for, oh, almost my entire life... if I hadn't watched and rewatched the Sullivan/ Megan Follows series and devoured every book Lucy Maud Montgomery ever wrote, even her journals, and then wept when I had read the very last little bit that was possible to read... perhaps if I hadn't joined Anne Societies and made 100s of pen friends across the globe, some of whom I STILL write to.... perhaps if I didn't return to Anne of Green Gables every time I need comfort in my life, in every time of trauma and stress... perhaps if I hadn't talked my mother into taking me and my sister on one of the best trips of our entires lives, STILL, to Prince Edward Island when we were teenagers... 

This picture of the coastline at Prince Edward Island gives a lot of "scope for the imagination!"

I can go on and on about my incredible lifelong relationship to this 100+ year old heroine, Anne... to her creator, and to the other books and heroines of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author who helped shape my life and whose work saved me from very dark times. Rehabs for eating disorders, depression and suicide in high school and college.... escape from bad relationships... renewal of spirit and dreams.... overcoming grief and the tragedy of premature death of my beloveds... ANNE is who I turned to. ANNE.

And why?

The beauty of Anne is that, while her troubles in life in Avonlea seem almost trivial when read on the surface (red hair and freckles seem like something that, today, a lot of us would kill to have! Thank god for Clairol!) they are actually the RELIEF from what certainly hid beneath all the surface of the actual horrors of life, to which Anne was not immune, much of which she most certainly would have gone through and which were hinted at delicately in the books. It's like this: when you're in 8th grade, going through a death at home, but tomorrow morning you have to take a math test in school. The test isn't fun or easy, most likely, but at least it's not Grandma's funeral. And you can transfer so many of those feelings that are so immense and difficult into the lesser stakes problems. Things like the test. Things like the crush you have on someone. And indeed, those problems can then have the opportunity to flow into the imagination and the magic of the world. That's what a lot of us do. It's not a bad way to cope, at least for a while. And while humanity has its darknesses, and the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, certainly had more than her fair share of such (depression, a depressed and perhaps mentally ill husband who believed he was predestined to go to hell even though he was a minister, suicides and family shame, unrequited love with a social lesser), she found ways to choose happiness, to choose dreams, to never give up. It was so unlikely she would even WRITE Anne of Green Gables, let alone never give up and go on to create a character who is as popular today as she ever was. 

THAT inspires me. That inspires a lot of us Anne/ Emily/ Sara/ Maud fans.

So... 

Back to the new Netflix Series. I really wanted to like it. I loved the actors- moreso their hearts and intentions- and SOME of the realism I did enjoy. I don't mind new takes on old favorites. I loved watching Marilla be unable to express her feeilngs until pushed to the absolute limit. That's pretty real. That's a lot of people I know. But...

Too much, Netflix. Too dark. Too dark with not enough light. People going through incredible traumas don't need to see more trauma, and most of us turn to Anne because we need something that lightens our load without being too shallow. We need inspiration and hope, and Anne has enough of that for FIVE villages of Avonlea. Maybe for the whole world. 

You know, we don't love the film La Vita E Bella, known in English as Life Is Beautiful, because of the atrocities of humanity. We love it precisely because it gives us hope that as humans, we aren't all going to succumb to some evil, that while war can make murderers of us all, it is possible to choose something greater than the base and low instincts of survival... that sometimes, beauty and whimsy and magic are PRECISELY the road to survival.

I really look forward to seeing all of these actors again, especially AmyBeth McNulty. And the writing is excellent. Of course it is. The showrunner is beyond brilliant... but... well.... It's just not Anne.

This morning, before writing this blog, I went and google image searched the 1985 Anne, Megan Follows. When I landed upon the "blog" on the Sullivan Productions website (the people who produced the 1980s series), I began to weep. I just cried and cried and I'm crying still. I cried looking at images of Megan Follows (now on Reign,) and Jonathan Crombie (RIP.) (He was one of my first crushes, as Gilbert, and in fact, Gilbert remains the ideal for me. Thank God I have the Italian Gilbert. ;-p) But I wept almost uncontrollably for, really, not many reasons... what am I so emotional just looking at these pictures? 

Am I crying for all our innocence?

Perhaps.

Am I crying for lost dreams? Lost opportunities, mistakes and regrets of my own, marked in time by a return to Anne and her kin?

A little.

I'm definitely crying for all the hurt and lost and orphaned children near and abroad who might never find a home of decent folks to move into, for those whose lives will be cut short by violence, or grow long into pain and suffering because life wants only to continue to live.

And I'm crying for a distant memory of hope, and for a future full of it.Or, so, I pray. I truly do pray.

You see, Anne isn't about just Anne. That's why so many fans are so disturbed by the new series. It's not about antiheroes and breaking bad and ONLY the meanness of small town folks or complex class systems with unspoken rules. It's about kindness, community, flowers, magic, fairy tales that do come true, even if different than what the mind of the child invented.

And we are all children.

Me, with my Kindred Spirits button, which you can't see because my camera is... not so good. But you get the gist. ;-p

Time Zero

I'm honored by the following feedback on my action-thriller script with Carlo Carere, Time Zero, from the BlueCat Screenwriting Competition.

"It is so rare that a screenplay has me so invested in a story that I simply cannot put it down. This is a much easier feat when writing in prose, and can feel nearly impossible to make that kind of impact on someone when it comes to screenplays. So, I would just like to say: well done. “Time Zero” was simply astounding, and I would absolutely love to see this kind of story on screen. The fact that you started this out as a terrorist attack and then leapt into the realm of science fiction is astonishing and I couldn’t believe that such a risky move paid off so completely well."

It's motivation to us to keep writing, and, well, rewriting. Hemingway reportedly said "the only kind of writing is rewriting," and while many writers I know get freaked out by that sentiment, I feel it's true even from a first draft. You have an idea, and then, depending on your process, by the time your pen hits the paper or your fingers hit the keyboard, many translations have already occurred in those nanoseconds in between. And so I feel a certain responsibility to the story, the characters, the intention- to get it as true to its own core as possible, but also, written in such a way that it will make the best thing of its kind as possible, too. It's honoring the possibility of who you are as writers and what it can be as its own entity (film/ tv show/ book/ play/ poem/ Facebook post.)

We're excited for Time Zero to go from page to screen. This keeps us going!

Auditions, Seasons, Life

PLAYLIST

(Courtesy of, referred by my soulfriend Markie)

SEASONS: Oliver Davis (and Vivaldi!)

Currently: Anno 1: Spring

Listen to this song, you won't be disappointed, and it will help you feel ALIVE and hopeful, yet with a twinge of disconsolate angst... just a twinge, just enough to wanna create your masterpiece!

I've been auditioning a LOT lately. Mostly this is because I have really been upping my casting director workshops, reaching out to friends and acquaintances in casting, and, well, just putting it out there more! Plus, going brunette seems to have made a huge difference. Don't get me wrong- I miss being blonde! I definitely felt lighter, younger, and more... Californian. (So says the primarily Nordic SHE.)

But, something about the last few months of my life, I've wanted to be more natural, more myself. I stopped getting lash extensions (okay, that's because it turns out I'm allergic to them. I still love the way they look!) I went to as close to my real hair color as I could get, and judging by the roots coming in, I'm pretty close. And I have been OWNING my badassery alongside my elegance, eschewing my former rock and roll years and truly focusing on singing Broadway and opera and standards a la Bette, and owning my TV and film game a la Cher and Susan Sarandon, and writing away a la Nora (Ephron!), and marketing myself like Sandra (Bullock) meets Babs (Streisand.) I've been avoiding politics and instead creating somewhat populist web series and films to remind us that our differences can sometimes become assets, and in the end, we're all human, and we all share a few basics... and some of us share more basics than we ever thought or imagined from our own little worldview.

So I've been more me than ever before. Curiously, Carlo informed me the other day that I have been very sad, maybe even depressed, for the last 6 months. I swear to God I had no idea! I swear to God the opposite is true! I think I've just been really focused... and...

When people meet me, they think, "Dang that girl can talk!" It's true. I can talk a waterfall. But when I get really close to someone, I rarely talk at all. Weird, right? It's sort of like.... words are false compared to my love, and the closest thing I can find is violins and latin verbs sung in my mix-chest register. I know that only makes a tiny bit of sense but there we have it.

Getting to know a person, really know a person, is a funny thing. With me, in the beginning, there's this layer, oh, the talker. The entertainer. The people pleaser. Then there's the layer of thoughtful gifting and caring, but not much actual interaction. Then there's the layer where you show your anxieties and your hopes and fears and dreams, and pray to God that the risk you're taking in vulnerability isn't pushed away, because you're getting really close to that hot lava core of the heart of a person. And then there's the other side, the other side where hearts are connected and spirit sings in unison, and when one or both of you needs to be human, you can individuate in an instant, and just be there at the drop of a hat (or tiara, in my case.) And that's when you are soulmates.

Everyone has different layers before you get to that other side. I tend to become soulmates with people who aren't talkers in layers one or two, but when they are super close, almost to that gooey lava core, they won't shut up. :)

Yes, I did say "become" soulmates. I didn't mean anything by that, or maybe I meant everything.

PLAYLIST:

ANNO IV: WINTER.

So the other day I was auditioning for a very cool film project that I really wanted. I was disappointed when I got there because every woman auditioning for my part was probably about ten years older than me, yet I'm about ten years too old for the other awesome female role. I'm in between castable ages? I dunno. It's okay! But it was amazing to watch all the kids across the room waiting for a different audition. I loved watching the interactions between child actors and parents- which children were just PERFECTLY behaved... I watched one woman stroke her daughter's hair lovingly, maybe even sort of... too lovingly. Not in a weird or wrong or bad way but like... maybe it's the Minnesotan in me, I'm just too pragmatic to think it's a good idea to stroke the hair of a 12 or 13 year old the way you would nurse a baby. Then again, maybe I'm just jealous. Watching that young lady, I kept thinking of me at that age, and how desperately I wanted to be a child actor. I would BEG my mother to take me to Hollywood. She never would, telling me instead that when I turned 18 I was free to do as I pleased. I want to go back in time to that little 11, 12 year old and tell her a few things....

First of all, I want to tell her that I grew up to transcend those awkward "ugly" years.  I was never as pretty as any of these children in these auditions. I was chubby, with crazy funky hair, and big coke bottle glasses. I was awkward, although loving and smart and funny. It doesn't matter if a person is "pretty" or not, it really doesn't, but I embrace myself now, where I am lovely, where I am not so lovely and am working on appreciating the hell out of myself anyway.

Secondly, I want to tell my childhood self that she was right. It's amazing to perform, to be an actor or singer or writer, to tell stories, to move people, to walk a mile in someone else's shoes and explore the boundaries of humanity and then share that with an audience.

And thirdly, I want to tell her to get a big cup of f*** it. Because people will and will not like your work all day long, and it all has meaning but none of it has meaning about your heart, your soul, or your potential.


PLAYLIST:

Vivaldi: Four Seasons: Concerto No. 1 in E Major.

I'm about to go make dinner, but I wanted to dash off a few of these comments. I am grateful for every audition. I am grateful for every script. I am also happy, despite what my allergies may make it look like in my Instagram feed. ;-p

Love to you

I'll get to blogging soon, I swear! Here's why I've been so busy.

As I posted on my newsletter this morning:

https://madmimi.com/s/84d3c9

Hello, Friends!

What's New Guys and dolls, I have been BUSY! I wanted to take this moment to update you all on some fun things I've been busy working away at these last few months... First of all, BREAKING NEWS, I'm back to brunette. :) LOL And since going back to brunette, I have signed with new representation, both in Los Angeles AND Chicago! I have signed with Adel Nur of Halcyon Talent here in Los Angeles. I have signed with Susan Sherman of Ambassador Talent in Chicago! I am excited to work with these wonderful agencies and, by the way, am open to any referrals to NYC agents as well. Check out my IMDB!

UPDATES Many of you know that I booked a recurring role as Los Angeles Police Detective "Jo Frazer" on a NEW show called "Emergency: LA." I've been getting into shape (EEK!) in preparation as we will start filming this spring! The show stars some incredible actors AND athletes and I'm honored to be a part of it. You know, the reason I even got the audition in the first place is because I did a Variety Show in a theater and the fellow who is the showrunner and creator had ALSO worked on that show! So, thanks to Amanda Callas for introducing me to Len Davies (Creator of "Emergency: LA.") ALSO because she was a catalyst for my relationship with my sweetie, Carlo Carere, but that's a story for another time. ;-p Some of you have seen SPY V SPIA's "Proof of Dialogue" teaser! Watch it HERE on YouTube! Some fun news with that show! The script is currently a FINALIST in the Reel Rebels Entertainment Contest, and we are looking into ways (aka investors and production companies) to produce the Pilot Episode soon! In the meantime, feel free to like us on Facebook. Spy V Spia Web Series: A will they/ won’t they rom com with a spy parody twist Logline: Two rival international spies from across the global discover they’ve moved in next door to each other and form an uneasy, love-hate relationship, until nefarious ninjas attack and the Spy Duo joins forces to save the world, and maybe fall in love-love.

1 MILLION hits on You Tube? As of this writing (March 14th, 8:32 pm Pacific Time!) one of my videos on YouTube has 998,715 hits. It's me singing "Time to Say Goodbye." Kinda cool! Finally, I have been VERY busy writing, both on my OWN, with writing partner Anzu Lawson on one project, and with writing partner (and life partner) Carlo Carere on several projects. I can't say much about my solo project just yet, nor on the the project with Anzu (only that it's REALLY EXCITING!) But I CAN tell you that with Carlo, our script, "Time Zero," has has so far placed as a finalist, semi-finalist, quarter-finalist, or official selection in the Page Awards (top 25 out of 1000 in its category), the Fade In Awards (top 6 out of 1100 in its category), the Script Fest Awards (top 36 out of 1000s), the Beverly Hills Film Festival Screenplay Competition (top 75 out of 1000s.), the Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition (top 5%), the ScreenCraft Awards (top 10%), and the Austin Film Festival (top 10%). In fact, we are planning on attending the Beverly Hills Film Festival, so if any of you reading this is going, hit me up! TIME ZERO GENRE: Action, Thriller, Sci-Fi *Feature Film The Bourne Identity meets V for Vendetta. LOGLINE: A near-death experience leaves a hard core CIA Operative with the disruptive ability to see everybody's past. His self-induced isolation ends when terrorists kidnap his loved ones and force him to use his powers against his country. OH! My sweetheart, Carlo, was awarded the prestigious "LIVATINO AWARD" for his novel, "Radioactive Nightmare," available in bookstores across Italy and online for those of you who speak- or read, rather- Italian, for its part in the fight against mafia and organized crime. I am VERY proud of him!

That's All For Now! I will be sure to let you all know when I have music available, gigs, or when you can see me on TV... until then, I hope this finds you well! Take care, Erin<- p="">

ANNOUNCEMENT about SPY V SPIA!

"Spy V Spia," the new web series written by and starring me Erin Carere ErinCarere and Carlo Carere was just named a FINALIST in the ReelRebels Entertainment LLC Screenwriting Contest! I am super excited to keep this series moving forward.

If you haven't seen the teaser video we did, head over to SpyVSpia.com or youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oan2CdZU1U

and take a gander.

Spy V Spia is a digital sitcom that blends spy parody with a “will they/won’t they” romantic comedy twist… Like Moonlighting, but with spies!

LOGLINE: Two rival international spies from across the globe discover they've moved in next door to each other and form an uneasy, love-hate frenemy state. When mysterious

ninjas attack in a nefarious plot to overturn the world, the duo joins forces only to discover secrets about their pasts, their futures, and their hearts.

One of the reasons this project is SO close to my heart is because... as many of you know, I've been an artist/ singer/ writer/ actress a looooooong time, with many wins, but many heartbreaks as well. That's life, yeah? And especially life as a performer. But I decided a few years back that even if I never "made it" (whatever THAT means), I would create projects that fulfilled my gifts and talents. But WHERE and HOW could I create something that was about an opera singer, but that was funny?

Then, A few years back, Carlo and I put ourselves on tape for an audition, a first date gone wrong kind of scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nktJdRwYBg

When I accidentally ran across it again a year ago, I was struck by the sexy yet antagonistic spark between us. It reminded me of "Adam’s Rib," a favorite battle-of-the-sexes film. I then watched every such project I could find, from "His Girl Friday" and "The Lady Eve" to "Moonlighting" and "Cheers." At the same time, Carlo and I were writing our action-thriller script "Time Zero" and I was deeply engrossed in that genre as well.

A story began to emerge in my mind about two lost, international people who were attracted to each other, but for some reason couldn’t come together the normal way. What emerged from that was "Spy V Spia," a love and spy-themed amalgamation of snark, heart and charm, telling the stories we love to reimagine in each generation but in a way that reflects the movement and evolution of TODAY.

Wish us luck, and have a GREAT DAY!