Kate Danley

WordSalad March 6th

2012-03-03T09:13:00.003-08:00

Head out to The Talking Stick on Tuesday, March 6th for WordSalad. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the theme of the evening's essays will be "Drink or Drunk". I'll be sharing some of my finest moments.

$5 Minimum Donation

The Talking Stick

1411 Lincoln Blvd.

Venice 90291

@ California across from Ross

(plenty of free parking in back)

Borrow Maggie for Hire for FREE!

2012-03-02T17:45:00.003-08:00

Look at that bright shiny new month that is upon us! In honor of March and St. Patrick's Day, you can grab a copy of my latest book about a dimension bending, magical object tracking, sass talking, Irish lass for FREE!

If you are an Amazon Prime member with a Kindle, you can borrow Maggie for Hire for nada. Zip. Zero.

"If urban fantasy could be bottled, then this story is a shot-glass full of awesomesauce." - Dark Side of the Covers

"Combine vampires, ghouls, and one whip-smart, take-charge heroine, and you have a recipe for success. Kate Danley has served up a female lead character to fill the gap that the ending of Buffy the Vampire Slayer left in the world of sci-fi/fantasy." - Twisting the Lens

Travis Richey on Sigourney Weaver

2012-03-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

Don't have time for the full Kate-cast interview with Travis Richey (Sivartis/Robot Ninja Gay Guy/Inspector Spacetime/Dinocroc vs. Supergator)? Catch this one minute bite sized clip of him talking about who he would like to work with out of the whole entire universe, living or dead.

The Kate-cast with Travis Richey

2012-02-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

Check out this week's Kate-cast with actor and producer Travis Richey!

You might know him as Inspector Spacetime on Community, from Robot, Ninja, Gay Guy or Two Hot Guys in a Shower on his Sivartis channel, or maybe from all the dying he did on SyFy's Dinocroc vs. Supergator.

This Weekend on The Kate-cast

2012-02-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks! This weekend on The Kate-cast, we'll be taping an interview with director of Cirque Berzerk, Cirque du Soleil clown, and co-writer of Kooza, Joshua Zehner.

Any questions you'd like me to ask?

Question to readers...

2012-02-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

So, as some of you know, I’m an author. We’re having a heated debate (okay, more lukewarm-splash-in-the-bathtub than heated, but a debate nevertheless) over on an author forum about review etiquette.

Some authors think they should reply to reviews, giving a “thanks so much” or (in the case of a negative) “interesting point, care to elaborate?” or "you're so right, I should have done that".

I feel like such things are super creepy and we authors should leave you poor readers on your own without us coming in like uninvited guests (I mean, here you're fair game and I'm gonna pounce on you like a puma on a rib eye roast and smother you with love. But elsewhere).

Am I wrong? Do you like it when authors reach out to you via your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon?

Little Quirky Movies

2012-02-17T22:39:00.000-08:00

So I came across an old DVD of a film I loved and went, "Man... I hope I'm not the only person in the world who ever saw this..." And then I thought, "Heck. Maybe I am..." And so I thought to try and combat these films from being lost in the ether of the DVD sea, I should make a list.

If you've got a three day weekend coming up and are looking for a good flick, here's some of my favorite little films that hold a very special place in my heart. They're not blow 'em up blockbusters or gut wrenching heartbreakers. Just little films with sweet little souls. They just make you feel good. Try 'em out.

1. Sky High
2. Galaxy Quest
3. Radioland Murders (the sound design will blow your mind)
4. Soapdish
5. Strictly Ballroom
6. Last Holiday (with Queen Latifa)
7. Bedazzled (the one with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley)
8. The Brady Bunch Movie
9. George of the Jungle
10. Hancock
11. The Karate Kid (with Jackie Chan. Think of it as a loving homage, not a remake)
12. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
13. Sneakers
14. A Thoroughly Modern Millie
15. Nanny McPhee
16. Ella Enchanted
17. Stardust (the Neil Gaiman adaptation)
18. The Secret Garden (the Francis Ford Coppola version with Maggie Smith)
19. Puss in Boots (with Christopher Walken)
20. Son of Paleface

The Kate-cast with Danielle Stewart

2012-02-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

Head over to the official Kate-cast blog for the official details, but here's the very first episode of The Kate-cast with actress and comedian Danielle Stewart. Find out what makes a working comedian tick!

This is a full length interview, so cuddle up on your couch and stream it on your TV!

February 15th at El Cid

2012-02-13T10:26:00.001-08:00

February 15th at El Cid

The Playhouse will be screening episode one at Webseries Unplugged!

Dinner & Drinks at 8pm
Show starts at 9pm

Web Series Unplugged FB Page...please 'like' it. Thanks!
www.facebook.com/webseriesunplugged

This month's show features:

5secondfilms
Stallions de Amor
86'd
Half Day Today
Old Dogs & New Tricks
Rigamortis: A Zombie Love Story
Conveniently Desperate
The Playhouse

Massive amounts of awesomeness!!!

Stay Tuned TV.net & ITV Fest...will be represented at the show!!! www.staytunedtv.net/

$8 cover -- 21+

The start of something sweet...

2012-02-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 15th will mark the start of a really cool project I am so proud of called The Kate-cast.

Let's face it. I know some awesome people. Folks with STORIES. People who are out there every single day chasing down a dream. And whether they catch that dream or not is irrelevant.

It's all about getting there.

Besides...

...you never know what could happen. So go subscribe to The Kate-cast blog! And make sure to tune in Wednesday, February 8th for the start of something special.

My first guest is Danielle Stewart (Chelsea Lately, Life & Style Magazine, The Teeb & The Heeb)

How could this go wrong?

Want a free copy of Maggie for Hire?

2012-01-29T14:50:00.001-08:00

Enter to win one of three paperback copies being given away on Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Maggie for Hire

by Kate Danley

Giveaway ends February 01, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Lovely new cover for The Woodcutter

2012-01-29T10:11:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of working with Char Marie Adles on a new cover for the e-book version of The Woodcutter.

Isn't it lovely? Look for it to go live in the next couple days!

I'm also working on the 2nd Edition paperback because... drum roll people... the audio book is nearing completion! Yes, the hard working little elves in San Francisco have been chained to their editing bay... erm... I mean... working diligently, and it appears the audio book will be out in just a few months. Rejoice, America! Rejoice!

The Playhouse Soap Opera Blooper Reel

2012-01-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

Well, if this week hadn't already been overflowing with awesome, here's a nice little digestif to get you through to Friday...

It's The Playhouse Blooper Reel!

I recommend watching the other episodes in the series first, just so you know what we're messing up. And because they're awesome.

Author Interview

2012-01-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's FANTASTIC book review of Maggie for Hire, Dark Side of the Covers approached me and asked if they could do an author interview, to which I said ~~OFCOURSEOHMYGAWDOHMYGAWD!!!~~ sure, that would be lovely.

http://www.darksideofthecovers.com/2012/01/indie-views-kate-danley/

I swear I'm not just saying this because they've been so wonderful to me, but if you're looking for a FANTASTIC book review site for your next great fantasy read, check them out. The posts are SO well written. The content is fantastic. It's just a great site! Bookmark it. For shizzle (did I conjugate "shizzle" correctly? It's so hard to know...).

"If urban fantasy could be bottled, then this story is a shot-glass full of awesomesauce." - Dark Side of the Covers

2012-01-24T08:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.darksideofthecovers.com/2012/01/review-maggie-for-hire-maggie-mackay-magical-tracker-series-1-by-kate-danley/

WHOA!!! Check out this FANTASTIC review of Maggie for Hire by Dark Side of the Covers! Seriously, I can't think of anything nicer a person could say about my book. She got it. EVERYTHING. I think her review is more entertaining than my book! And guess what? Come back tomorrow, because I'm the featured author interview! RIGHT?!?! I know. This is CRAZYTOWN! I'm off to print out this review to carry around in my wallet... and draw little hearts all over it...

Great Maggie for Hire Review by Twisting the Lens

2012-01-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

I opened up my email and found one of the nicest reviews in the world sitting there for me. If you have a moment, pop on over to Twisting the Lens and give it a gander.

Kate Danley has served up a female lead character to fill the gap that the ending of Buffy the Vampire Slayer left in the world of sci-fi/fantasy....Maggie for Hire is an enjoyable, quick read that had me laughing the entire time. She is a brash, sarcastic, unladylike character than is easy to love- a lot of Buffy with a dose of Daria thrown in. Danley doesn’t get off track with trying to throw in a romance for Maggie, which is somewhat refreshing in today’s sci-fi/fantasy genre. She is a tough, smart, and resourceful lead character that will leave you waiting for more.

RIGHT?!?! I know.

So, I'm going to go off on a little tangent here...

Indie book review bloggers take on the task of wading through a metric shitton of horrible manuscripts. And they are doing it, truly, from the kindness of their hearts. This blogger has no connection to me, she didn't receive any monetary recompense, she is just out there supporting us indies as best she can.

Yet Twisting Lens and others like her provide us lesser known authors with an invaluable service, and, from what I've heard from a bunch of other reviewers, they put up with some awfully special brands of craaaaazy: authors wondering why the review wasn't done yesterday, authors pissed off because the review wasn't good, authors who don't understand WHY the reviewer isn't accepting new books. One reviewer I met quit reviewing because she started receiving death threats. Another got herself a stalker.

It seems like reviewing books would be The Best Thing Evah, but there is a seedy underside to it. So, if you have a chance, go spread some love on the Lens. She didn't have to read my book. She didn't have to say such nice things. But she did. And I, for one, am so grateful. Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

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Want to get your own copy of Maggie for Hire? Here are all the places you can grab a copy.

I should have so much to type about...

2012-01-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

Ugh. You ever have so much to type about, you just kind of go, "Eh, I'll catch everyone up in February..."

I'm still heartbroken that A Christmas Carol is all over.

It's not often that you get to do a show THAT GOOD out here in Los Angeles. The project was bigger than all of us and I'm filled with so much gratitude I got to be a part.

Regular old Christmas was pretty wonderful, too. My new niece is cute as a button.

We all took turns giving the new mom a break.

We all took some time to go tour the city.

And just hang out and be reminded how cool our family is.

It's been a long time since we were all in the same room together.

After cooking all week for that crew, though, Mom was ready for a little R&R, so she made a surprise trip down to Los Angeles to catch the Rose Parade for her very first time! Our great-great grandma sewed the capes for the very first Rose Court... or something like that... so we had a little hometown pride going on.

It was delightful seeing Charles Phoenix waving merrily at us from his float. The last time I saw him was in the Doodah Parade. I KNOW!

We also cheered loudly for my cousins' high school. I came to see my actual cousins march a few years ago... in the rain... I think this was probably a better experience for them.

We then went down to Farrell's where we met two really sweet ladies in line who decided to buy us lunch.

It was such a random act of kindness. They said that they were just sharing the bounty that had been showered upon them. A million blessing right back at them! It was so sweet! Also, this milkshake. It was pretty sweet. Figuratively and literally.

We then went down to Laguna to catch the sunset, which was divine...

We went to the Skirball for some cool exhibits and got great pizza and hung out with the birds and watched a TON of British shows - Foyles War, Miss Marple, The Last Detective... and Ab Fab...

It was a fantastic trip all the way around. And now... It's back to life. In whatever form it decides to take in 2012. In the next week or so, I'll be able to announce two really cool projects I'm involved with, but until then, in case I haven't mentioned it... because I don't think I have...

In the words of Bartles and James... Thank you for your support

2012-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

This week, I enrolled my book The Woodcutter in a special program on Amazon and in a 48 hour period, over 15,000 people grabbed a copy and shot The Woodcutter to the #1 Fantasy book, the #10 Fiction book, and the #16 on the Top 100 list on Amazon. Thank you all, so much, for taking the time to grab a copy and thank you for reading it. This book is truly the Little Novel That Could.

I wrote The Woodcutter over six years ago when I should have been paying attention in anatomy class. Being a secretary to support my acting career had been wearing thin and I was going through a tough time trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. So I went back to school... and learned that I could rule out x-ray tech.

What came from that exploration, though, was this book. I went through another five years worth of rejection letters before finally being published. Truly, if it was not for the digital era we live in, this book would still be sitting in a drawer gathering dust.

The responses I have received since its original publication have overwhelmed me and filled me with such gratitude. And I just wanted to say thank you. So. Thank you.

The Woodcutter Available for FREEEE!

2012-01-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

What's that sound you hear? I think it is the sound of AWESOME.

If you have a Kindle and are an Amazon Prime member, you can now borrow The Woodcutter for FREE! That's right, my friends, for FREE!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046LU7MA/

Tell your friends! Borrowing is good!

The Playhouse Soap Opera Finale

2012-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

HOW WILL IT ALL END!?!? Find out here.

2011 Retrospective

2012-01-01T11:02:00.001-08:00

2011 Retrospective, a set on Flickr.

I need to write a real New Years post, but I'm afraid I probably won't get around to it until February, so here are some pictures! Worth 271,000 words!

Holiday Blog Hop Award Winners!

2011-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for participating in this year's Holiday Blog Hop! It was a blast having all of you swing by and I hope you'll drop in again!

In a completely random drawing (see! this is me bleery eyed next to my unmade bed randomly drawing your names out of a holiday bag! I thought the glitter was appropriate for the occasion)...

... * drumroll *... I am pleased to anounce our winners!

The "If the Boot Fits" Retro Cowgirl Bank
- Dawnmomoffour

The fairy candle
- Shadow Kohler

And in a rare fit of Christmas spirit, I decided to give away TWO copies of each of my books. It is a Christmas miracle! I know! Well, Santa told me you all had been very good this year...
- NicoleSender
- Helen

And TWO copies of Maggie for Hire
- TeressaOliver
- Theresjustlife

Congratulations! You all are now entered to win the Holiday Blog Hop Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire!

And, again, thank you SO MUCH to all of you who entered and commented and shared little glimpses into your life via the comment boxes. It was great to have you here!

Accolade Award - Fragile

2011-12-25T22:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidaze! In a completely random occurance that falls under a very much appreciated holiday gift, Fragile, directed by Bryn Woznicki and starring Joseph Limbaugh, Neev Asken, and myself just won an Accolade Award!

It is an absolutely gorgeous short and I am so proud to have been a part of it. Bryn and her crew were amazing, the cast top notch, and all around it was just a fantastic project. But don't take my word for it. Check it out here!

Holiday Blog Hop/12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop - Days 4 & 5

2011-12-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

12 Days of Christmas & Holiday Blog Hop Day 3 - The Coming of the End or The Last Two Shows of A Christmas Carol

2011-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas and Holiday Blog Hop! With deep thanks to the Holiday Blog Hop, comment on this post for your chance to win a Kindle Fire and other great prizes! Click here for the details. And make sure to visit the other blogs on this hop for free goodies and give-a-ways!

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We've got two more performances of A Christmas Carol before I have to bid a fond adieu to the Ghost of Theater Present.

It has been an amazing show. I have been overwhelmed by the response afterwards. People have come up to me with tears in their eyes. They have sought us out, needing somehow to try and express the journey they just went on. There are a hand full of shows that I have worked on that have inspired such a genuine outpouring of warm regard.

Last night, a man who has seen just about every production of A Christmas Carol (and ticked them all off for us to prove that he knew what he was talking about), said that this was his favorite interpretation. People who hated A Christmas Carol, people who loved A Christmas Carol, they have talked about the simplicity of this production. How it is focused upon what is important - which is not the storyline. It is the text. It is the original words as written by Charles Dickens. We were laughing and nodding our heads in agreement backstage last night, recalling feedback from one audience member that to form an opinion on A Christmas Carol without actually reading or hearing the original text is like forming an opinion on Romeo & Juliet based on Taylor Swift's song. Said audience member was A Christmas Carol convert after seeing this show.

Truly.

The difference is THAT great.

I remember how theater changed my life. I remember sitting in the audience of A Secret Garden on Broadway, watching Mandy Patinkin and Daisy Eagan, I remember watching a children's theater version of Little Red Riding Hood in Golden Gate Park and feeling afterwards like I could fly. THAT is how theater should make a person feel. That is why we do it. That is why we see it. And that is why it should be supported. Because we have a duty to each other. Our souls should feel so light and alive afterwards that each step is like a flying dream.

A Christmas Carol
12/17 at 8PM, 12/18 at 7PM
Pay-What-You-Can

GTC Burbank
1111-b West Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91506

www.gtc.org

Blog Hop Day 2 - Awards are Always Nice

2011-12-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

HOLLYWOOD DREAM ROLE
HDR: Best Character Performance, Female - Season 1
Kate Danley as The Mom who's Daughter's Molar is Possessed, in “The Dentist” with Jade Harlow

HDR: Best Support of Guest Star, Female
Kate Danley as Kate, Doomed Wife of Jewish Gladiator “Noshicus,” in “Noshicus” with Sean Kanan

MURDER BY ACME

MBA: Best Character Performance, Female
Kate Danley as Kitty Van Horn - the femme fatale in "The Shady Darque"

So, now it is your turn, dear readers and commenters looking for something to write about... The premise of Hollywood Dream Role was that we would ask a star what their "dream role" was - the one they had never gotten a chance to do, but always wanted to play. We would then improvise a 45 minute long show with them starring in that role. For example, Alison Haislip said she always wanted to be a superhero. Patrick Muldoon always wanted to play Danny Zuko in Grease. Walt Willey always wanted to be in Jaws. Candis Cayne always wanted to play Mommy Dearest.

So how about you? If you could play any role in any movie, what would it be? And why?

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop

2011-12-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

As if one Blog Hop wasn't enough... How about two? YAY! Welcome to the Intoxicated by Books Blog Hop! You're welcome to enter my give-a-ways! Just leave a comment on any of my posts from now until December 24th, and you're eligible to win a copy of Maggie for Hire, The Woodcutter, a sweet and sassy retro Boot Fund piggy bank, and a lovely fairyfolk candle! Just mention which one you're interested in with your comment and you're entered in the raffle!

Holiday Hop Day #1

2011-12-15T10:50:00.000-08:00

Comment on this post for your chance to win a Kindle Fire and other great prizes! Click here for the details.

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This year, I've got the holiday spirit.

It's probably all to blame on doing A Christmas Carol (ahem), which is pay-what-you-can tonight (hint hint hint) and there are 1/2 price tickets on Goldstar (HINT HINT HINT) . I was looking at my calendar and realized that I haven't done a scripted show since 2008. That's a lot of time I've spent these past couple years just getting on stage and making stuff up. It's been such an intense six weeks, I'm not even really sure I'm going to know what to do with myself come Monday.

I mean, other than Christmas time with my brand new niece.

Yah. She's pretty frickin' adorable. Emily June Auve. Emily hasn't called for bail money or crashed her mom and dad's car yet, so I'm thinking my kid sister and her husband seem to have this parenting thing under control.

Their cats on the other hand...

Trouble. With a capital "T".

So, I really like my holiday decor. Pictures never really do things justice, so just trust me when I say they are kickarse in real life.

I love this little set up, though. Every item has meaning.

The drawing was given to me for my birthday by my friend Joe Purcell (creator of The Fall of Paul and the fantastic Dr. Dass in episode four). It was drawn by Paul Coker, Jr., who created all of my favorite holiday claymation specials. I LOVE claymation. As a kid, it was like watching toys come to life. I still break out the films every Christmas. My favorite is when Rudolf and Benjamin Franklin go off to save the Baby New Year from the time vulture.

That silver tree trunk? I looked at it and looked at it and FINALLY, after weeks of thinking and dreaming about it, I went back and grabbed it. I thought it was a lovely little holiday homage to The Woodcutter.

That big disco ball cup there in the back? Another item I needed like a hole in the head, but kept obsessing over. I FINALLY decided to pony up the whole... I think it was $15... and get it. But when I arrived it was the last one and it had no tag, so they gave it to me for $2.00.

The little white trees? I bought them in a mall in El Paso the weekend my grandmother died. My suitcase broke (the wheels axle snapped in half so here I was, this grieving passenger, just dragging my bag through the terminal like the saddest traveler ever to travel) and these little trees were there at the store on a 70% sale, because evidently, I'm the only human being who wants white blown glass trees. People are nuts.

The green tree was a big indulgence during a time I was pretty broke.

The Elf on the Shelf is from my other grandma's house. I think it belonged to my great-grandmother before her.

The little green elf I've had since I was a kid. It used to sit in this printbox I had hanging on my wall, filled up with other little treasures I had collected. Back in the day, there weren't a whole lot of friends for my Barbie, so more times than not, he ended up playing her baby. He is really quite attractive swaddled up in Kleenex, held in place with scotch tape.

The little angel statue I actually bought on eBay a few weeks ago. My Idaho grandma had a similar statue in her guest room and I don't know if we saved it or not when we were clearing out her house. I saw this gal and just went, "Oh. She makes me so happy..."

So, there you have it. My million miles long DAY ONE POST.

If you've made it this far, it's probably because you're DESPERATELY SCANNING for SOMETHING to write a comment about. So, let me give you a topic... Tell me about something you bring out for the holidays that has sentimental value. What is it? Where did you get it? Why is it important? And if you have a link to a picture, post that, too! I'd love to see it!

And remember, if you'd like to be entered for one of the faaaabulous prizes and be eligible for the Kindle Fire, make sure to mark down which raffle you'd like to be entered into!

Holiday Blog Hop

2011-12-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Holiday Blog Hop 2011!

What's a Blog Hop? It's a way to get to know other bloggers and, in this case, indie writers. Here's the list of the 75+ authors participating in the Holiday Blog Hop. From December 15-24, we're running contests, giveaways and games on our blogs with a grand prize of a KINDLE FIRE! So click here for the list of Holiday Blog Hoppers and enter yourself to win!

Have you found this blog through the Hop? Welcome! I've got some fun prizes for you!

1. Boot Fund Piggy Bank in Retro Cowgirl Style

2. A lovely Fairy and Birds candle handmade by a local Los Angeles artist, perfect for when you want to read some fairytales by candlelight

3. What? You need some fairytales? Well, it is your lucky day! I'm giving away a free copy of The Woodcutter in either paperback or eBook. Your choice!

4. Like your fantasy a little more modern with a bit more grit? Well, my fine friends, I have got you covered! I'm also giving away a free copy of Maggie for Hire! Paperback, ebook, you name it, it is yours!

So how do you get your hands on these FAHHHBULOUS prizes?

THE RULES

1. I'll be blogging every day from December 15-24 (gulp). Post a comment on any of the posts from December 15-24. At the end of your comment, note which prize you'd like - #1, #2, #3, #4. The more you comment, the more times you are entered!

2. Already own The Woodcutter or Maggie for Hire? Send me a picture for my Sightings Page and you'll get five entries!

3. At the end of the week, I'll put your name in the appropriate hat, cover my eyes and draw a winner.

4. The four winners from my blog will be entered to win the Holiday Blog Hop grand prize - A KINDLE FIRE! Yes, you read that right. A KINDLE FIRE! Kindly furnished by our hostess with the mostest, Cheryl Bradshaw.

PLEASE NOTE: I will need a way to get in touch with you if you win! If you have disabled your sign in from displaying any contact info, shoot a message to katedanley@gmail.com with your handle and email, and we're all set. I promise I won't sell your email to Amway. It's just to get in touch with you if you win.

We're Open!

2011-12-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

We officially opened A Christmas Carol last night, with a preview on Thursday night. I am so proud. It has been amazing. There are moments as an actor when you sit there listening to the audience hold its breath. It is a quiet like no other. I've also been SHOCKED to hear the audience cry BOTH nights we've run. I mean, come on. It's A Christmas Carol. We all know what's going to happen. But I guess we're doing something right. :) (yes... I used an emoticon. Let us never speak of it again.)

And tomorrow (Sunday, December 11th) has been declared a special Pay-What-You-Can night! So come out! We run tonight and tomorrow, then Thursday - Sunday next week. And there are 1/2 price tickets on Goldstar. If you come, let me know what you think!

Thu, Fri, Sat 8 pm; Sun 7 pm
GTC Burbank
1111-b West Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91506

The Playhouse Episode 5 is UP!

2011-12-09T09:45:00.001-08:00

A Christmas Carol Opens This Thursday!

2011-12-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

I'll be taking a turn towards the darkly warm and fuzzy this Thursday in the GTC Production of A Christmas Carol.

With a cast of three, we bring to life the original text as written by Charles Dickens himself. We bring it to spooky, spooky life. It is a ghost story, after all...

Did you know that? Yah. It is a ghost story. Says so on the front page of the original book. And we don't shy away from that.

I've done a bunch of shows over the course of my career, but every now and again, I get one that makes me go, "Wow. This is cool."

This is one of those shows.

The direction is brilliant. The set and lighting are breathtaking. The actors are insanely talented. And the text is yummy with a spoon.

Prior to this show, I was sort of O.V.E.R. A Christmas Carol. I had seen it so many times and done so badly, that I flat out never needed to see another version ever again.

This show has made a convert out of me. It is timely and challenging. There are social and political statements behind the text. And the text itself... It's like people forgot that it's not necessarily what you're saying, it's how you're saying it. Anyone can recap the plot of A Christmas Carol. But the words... Oh, the original words of Dickens are delicious. A couple spots in the script, I actually have trouble getting through because the words are so beautiful. I get choked up. True story. This emotional Grinch over here gets tears in her eyes.

So, come catch the holiday fun! Challenge your brain! Come out and see some theater in Los Angeles that doesn't suck!

A Christmas Carol
adapted from Charles Dickens
by Kevin Cochran

featuring:
Kate Danley
David Allen Jones &
Frank Simons

December 8-18, 2011
Thu, Fri, Sat 8 pm; Sun 7 pm

GTC Burbank
1111-b West Olive Ave.
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The Night of Writing Dangerously

2011-11-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

I love NaNoWriMo. Let's just get that right out on the table. Some kids look forward to Christmas. I look forward to being chained to a desk and forced to hack out 50,000 in 30 days. I expect it is the same sort of high that forces people to run marathons and swim to Alcatraz in their Speedos. Personally, I'm partial to the comforting glow of the computer screen and the gentle tippity tap of the keyboard to pushing my body to the brink of quitting on me, but to each its own. Actually, no, you marathon runners and swimmers are nuts. Now pass me the Halloween candy. You weren't going to eat it, anyways.

So I received an email way back in the middle of October about this event going on in San Francisco in conjunction with NaNoWriMo. It was called "The Night of Writing Dangerously". It was a fundraiser for this charity that gets students fired up about long form, creative writing.

I started really writing in the 4th grade. We had gotten a story starter (it was this picture of a clock). I was so proud. I wrote a whole six pages, front and back, on that thick, large lined, brown newsprint with my fat red pencil.

Turned out a guy in my class really like to write, too. We were stuck on a bus together for 45 minutes each way to school and so he and I would sit there making up stories the whole time. We had a brilliant series we were going to publish. Kind of a Care Bears/Smurfs knock off. Trust me. It was genius. We could have ruled the kid demographic commercially marketed world.

My family moved and writing once again became the tie that bound my new friends and me together. Books were written on school yards. Stories were mailed back and forth for notes. During those horrible middle school years, writing was the one way I could communicate. I would sit for hours at my dad's computer with it's whole 2MB hard drive and type and type and type.

All this is to say, I viscerally know how important creative writing at a young age can be.

So I set about raising some funds to get up to this Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-Thon. And you guys stepped up to make it happen. Thank you Caitlin Bergendahl, Bridget Franckowiak, Robin McWilliams, Cassie Oates, Joe Purcell, Richard Van Slyke, Mary Stancavage, Ken Steadman, Ray Stilwell, Tammy Turk, and Christine Wilhelm.

Sunday started at the altar of my liquid god at suck o'clock in the morning.

Bleary eyed, I drug myself to the land of the living.

It was a slow dash to pack. I kicked all the laundry under my bed and just shut the door in the hopes that the pet sitter wouldn't peek inside to see what a horrible housekeeper I am.

Laptop and powercord. Check. Novel on the laptop, emailed to myself AND on a flashdrive. Check.

Rainbow unicorn sweatshirt. Check.

It was off to the sweet little Burbank airport that I love so much. I was the only person on the shuttle.

As a last minute afterthought, I threw my collapsible umbrella into my purse, which turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I've ever made, for the weather gods decided we all needed some proper atmospheric conditions for writing dangerously. How else were we supposed to call upon the moody influence of dark and stormy nights? Quite considerate of Mother Nature. Really.

So, blogging about food is pretty stupid, but knock me down a couple IQ points and call me Bubba. There is a GREAT little random food place in the Southwest terminal that makes a killer breakfast burrito. I highly recommend.

Thus fed, caffeinated, and happy, my plane departed.

Now, 30,000 ft and 400 miles is no excuse for not staying on top of things. Muttering to one's self under one's breath is a fantastic way to keep your seatmate from yapping at you, so I pulled out my script since * gulp * we open next week.

Everyone says that Oakland is the easier airport to get in and out of, but the Bay Bridge toll road would make me argue the point.

Even so, I was in San Francisco. And not even traffic can kill that buzz.

I had about a 1/2 hour to kick around before check in, so I toodled down the road to Ghirardelli Square.

The rain had begun in earnest, so I was thinking I'd just pack it in and head off to the dry comforts of my motel, when I turned around and saw the most amazing rainbow I think I've ever seen.

It was double, all the way from one end of the sky to the other. And then I don't know how this worked out, but I could actually see the end of the rainbow. It crashed into Alcatraz. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!?!?

But the hour to depart approached, and I headed off to the little Castle Inn.

Let's flashback for a moment, shall we? When I was on those long bus rides, before the days of writing stories, I would stare at all the hotels in San Francisco and play this game where I would decide which hotel was my favorite that day and cheer on the hotels that had a "No Vacancy" sign, giving them a gold star and a thumbs up.

I was kind of a weird kid.

So, anyways, the Castle Inn was one of those hotels that I would pass and it was kind of a kick to see what it looked like inside almost thirty years since I had first wondered.

I got dressed, primped and polished for the big event that night.

I rode down the ancient lift to my car.

And headed over to the The Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Building.

From the moment I entered, I had already made, like, five friends.

It's hard not to notice the cool kids when you're all dressed up in 1940's noir. Everyone was so insanely sweet. There were people from all corners of the globe, all gathered in San Francisco for this Write-a-thon.

There was a candy bar.

And an open bar.

And then the ballroom opened up at at each of our places was a tote bag with swag and a mug and an event poster.

We all found ourselves a seat.

And set up our sea of laptops.

I made a beeline to check out the raffle table where they were giving away baskets full of gift certificates, a wizard robe, and a hand carved Viking doll.

The whole evening was filled with word sprints where you typed as fast as you could. I was proud of hitting 800 wpm. The winners were pulling 2200. The winners had to wear a hat shaped like a flower pot with flowers sprouting off the top. There were competitions between the tables to see which group could churn out the most words. Dinner was all finger foods which could be eaten with one hand while you typed with the other (spring rolls, dim sum, bitty sandwiches).

Anyone who hit the 50,000 word mark got to run to the front of the ballroom and ring this great big handbell. The whole place then erupted into applause and they got their very own gold crown.

About halfway in, we got a visit from Psycho Donuts.

I chose the Mello Submarine, which was a rice crispie cookie on top of an old fashioned donut. And then I saw God.

One of the really special moments of this entire evening, though, was being there as Chris Baty said goodbye.

He's the founder of NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy. After thirteen years of literary abandon, he has decided to retire from the madness and spend some time getting is own writing whipped into shape and out into the world. His goodbye speech had the whole room in tears. He then came around to each and every table to sit and chat, and thank us, personally, for supporting the NaNoWriMo charity. So, I pass it along to you all by proxy. Thank you.

Around 10PM, the dinner and donuts had been cleared away to make way for a milk and cookies bar. I was pretty hopped up on caffeine, myself. DRINK ALL THE COFFEE!

I took a pause, though, to grab a picture with the Los Angeles contingent. As luck would have it, the head liaison from my friendly neighborhood LA borough happened to be sitting at my very own table.

As the hour approached 11PM, we were fast and furious at the keyboard. When the final duck quacked (it was the signal for "pencils down" all evening), I had hacked out 4,958 words. Not too shabby. The final count for the entire evening (from those who turned in their counts) was 43 people who met the 50k November goal and a group total of over 420,000 words.

As I drove back to my little home away from home...

...and climbed the stairs to tuck in for the night...

...it was just one of those surreal evenings that seemed almost larger than life. Larger than me. Writing as a grown up is such a solitary activity. It was amazing to meet the other people on this planet who are engaged in this goofy art, too.

I rose the next morning at 6:30AM and wandered down to Fishermans Wharf as it was waking up. I got Boudin for breakfast with a hot cup of Pete's coffee.

There wasn't a tourist in site and I sat on the dock, watching the crab boats.

I drove to The Palace of Fine Arts

And watched the swans

I could visit that place a million times and always see something new. There is something about the way the light hits it at different times of the day and during different seasons.

The time to go home was at hand and I started my long drive out to Oakland. It was an utterly amazing 24 hours in the city. Thank you comes woefully short of the gratitude I feel for each of you that made it possible. But for lack of a better phrase in the English language... thank you.

R.R.R.E.D. the Musical Original Soundtrack

2011-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been around here for just ages and ages and ages, you might remember a show I was involved in way back called R.R.R.E.D. the Musical. It was based upon a real study that believed, due to globalization, that red hair will be extinct by the year 2100. So my brilliant friends Adam Jackman, Katie Thompson, and Patrick Livingston wrote a musical about a militant group of gingers that encouraged procreation with other redheads to Save the Red Headed Heads.

It was pretty brilliant.

And now the original cast soundtrack is available for purchase through CD Baby. You can listen to samples here and buy it here.

The Playhouse Soap Opera - Episode 4

2011-11-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Lies! Drama! Passion! It's all here at The Playhouse!

Save the Date(s) for a Spooky Good... erm... I mean... Heartwarming Holiday... Good Time! With Ghosts.

2011-11-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

It is our first publicity photo! And you guys were here for it!
* giving you hoots and hollers *

Every Thursday - Sunday, December 1-18, 2011, I'll be over at the GTC Burbank playing all the female roles (why did Hyperbole and A Half pop into my head? "PLAY ALL THE WOMEN!") in a three person, original text adaptation of Charles Dickens' ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Oh, you read that right. It is a ghost story. Said so on the original book cover.

This version is juicy and delicious. I'm having an amazing time. It's the biggest role(s) I've had in years. 90 minutes of me, folks. I don't leave the stage once. No. Wait. That's supposed to make you WANT to come. Come back! COME BACK!!!

99-Cent Sale on The Woodcutter

2011-11-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

Listen, the holidays are coming up. I feel you. It's tough. But you're faced with sitting through another recounting of Aunt Bitsie's 1920 bender when she had just a too many bathtub gin martoonies OR you can sneak away into the attic, pull out your eReader, and let yourself be swept away to a land where dragons munch on the bones of those who pinch cheeks and ask you why you're still single.

I'm here for you. I am. We'll get you through this. And how? For the cost of a 7-11 Big Gulp, you can pick up a copy of The Woodcutter.

That's right, folks.

The Garcia Award Winning, Best Fantasy, Winner of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Category book is on a special sale!

For the month of November (and November ONLY!), The Woodcutter eBook is only 99-cents. Kindle. Nook. Pick your poison. I've got you covered. We'll get you through this lame month.

Don't have an eReader? It's okay. For you, yes you, because you asked so nicely, go to https://www.createspace.com/3490918 and type in code 5BPYSPX5. It'll get you $4 off the paperback version.

You're welcome, America.

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-11-01T12:37:00.001-07:00

Let's do this.

Hammer time.

Halloween Sock Zombie Trick-or-Treat

2011-10-31T22:26:00.001-07:00

The Playhouse Needs Your Click!

2011-10-31T11:46:00.001-07:00

Episode Three of The Playhouse is on the Viewers Poll on WeLoveSoaps.net for the Best Indie Soap of the Week. Got two seconds and your clicker finger warmed up?

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/10/isotwoct23.html

No registration required. Nada. Just a click. Vote for The Playhouse!

Christmas Carol

2011-10-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

And just when I thought I would never act again, I got a call today asking if I'd like to be in a really cool experimental, conceptual version of A Christmas Carol. And the angels rejoiced and broke out into mighty Hallelujahs! More details to follow!

Oh virus laden faux websites, sometimes you come up with a funny

2011-10-27T13:33:00.001-07:00

In case you can't read it, this website has my book Maggie for Hire listed as, "Fart Books: Maggie for Hire" in the FartHub Fart Store

Dawn of a New Age

2011-10-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was driving home and the great big world suddenly zoomed in front of me. If my life was a movie, it would have been a quick rack focus from the lights of Hollywood Blvd onto my face as I mouthed, "OH craaaaaap..."

Last month, I stepped away from my home at the Acme. I'd been there for about four years and it was this very nice, fuzzy little security blanket where, no matter what, I knew I could show up on a Wednesday night and play with my friends. I had some amazing times there and met some of the dearest folks I know.

But, if you're not growing, you're dying, and I realized it was time to leave the nest.

I've kind of been in this place recently where I don't know if I want to be an actor anymore. I've heard this struggle play out in the lives of a lot of folks who've been here longer than me, so I know its not entirely crazy talk. I've been acting for almost 25 years. I spend thousands of dollars on classes and headshots and workshops, not to mention the emotional angst of bombing at comedy clubs and being rejected at hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of auditions... for maybe one paid gig a year. Maybe. If I'm lucky.

And it has just kind of made me scratch my head and wonder if this is any fun anymore.

In my core, I believe that you shouldn't be afraid of exploring your life. This writing deal hasn't been so bad for me. People seem to genuinely like my books.

But there is a Mt. Everest I have yet to climb and that Mt. Everest is the world of writing sketch comedy. It is what originally drove me to the Acme before I got sidetracked by that improv stuff. I mean, sure, I took some classes and I performed in some shows, but I always sort of felt like I wasn't "getting it".

So a couple days after my Acme departure, I signed up for the Intro to Sketch Writing over at The Groundlings. If you read between the lines, it is a class for knuckleheads like me. No audition necessary, no prior classes necessary, just come out and learn. This COULD have been a recipe for disaster.

Instead, it ended up being one of the Top Most Valuable classes I think I've ever taken here in Los Angeles.

My teacher was Guy Stevenson, one of the writers on MadTV. RIGHT?!?! An intro writing class being taught by one of the MadTV writers?!?! WHAT??? And he's brilliant. And then the class was filled with folks like me who were waiting for some of the upper level Groundlings classes to open, folks with experience doing improv and sketch. Also, my puppet buddy Erik Kuska (you know him from the Sock Zombie videos) in it and we always have a good time.

I learned a new structure for sketch writing and new ways for generating ideas and new angles for approaching an idea and ways to keep the pacing up. It was amazing.

And I walked away from this whole experience going, "Well, huh. I guess I don't suck as bad as I thought" which, truly, is worth its weight in gold.

So, if anyone else looking for a great class, the intro to sketch is a GREAT class and Guy is fantastic and he is really good at getting your brain clicking.

But back to my car ride last night (WHOA THAT WAS A TANGENT), I'm driving home. And the writing class has ended after six weeks of awesome. And I realized that I don't have anything planned. Like. Nothing.

I've got the whole wide future laid out in front of me with absolutely no ties to anything and I have to pick which road to travel upon. Writing? Acting? Grad school? Shakespeare? Shakespearian Improv? Generating webseries? Watching Netflix on the couch until I turn into a pile of dust and blow away? ALL OF THE ABOVE?!?!

As of last night, I've got to decide which path to set my feet on. QUICK! SOMEONE HAND ME A CRYSTAL BALL! OR AT LEAST A MAGIC 8 BALL!

OOOooohhhh CRAAAAAAAAP.

Episode Three of The Playhouse Soap Opera

2011-10-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, we are not going away my friends! It is EPISODE THREE of the 2nd Place Indie Soap of the Week (*WeLoveSoaps.net poll) THE PLAAAAYHOOOOUSE!

Come on! It's four minutes long. What else do you have to do while you're sitting on hold?

Comment! Share! Give it a THUMBS UP! Rah! Rah! Go Team Drama Queen!

Sock Zombie Halloween Tradition

2011-10-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

It's tradition. Don't fight it.

Sppooooooky

2011-10-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of Halloween, I was invited to be a guest blogger over on Ruth Barrett's Spirited Words, where I recollect my one and only experience with a ghost. You can read my article (and other great real brushes with specters from the afterlife) here.

http://ruth-barrett-spiritedwords.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-kate-danley-ghost-of-antietam.html

Turn off the lights! Turn on the flashlights! And cuddle close to the one you love!

BOOO!

The Night of Writing Dangerously

2011-10-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm raising money for the Young Writers Program, an organization that works with kids to get them excited about creative writing and I need your help! In order to participate in the annual Night of Writing Dangerously event in San Francisco, I need to raise $250.

So, if you are willing to lend me your support, I've got some fabulous prizes for you.

$10 Donation

A free copy of the book I write this November (the re-writing process is lengthy, so expect a Summer 2012 release) or I will send you a free copy of Maggie for Hire or The Woodcutter. Heck, they're $12.99 online. This saves you $3!

$20 Donation

A free SIGNED copy of the book I write this November, Maggie for Hire, or The Woodcutter.

$50 Donation

A free signed copy of the new book, The Woodcutter, or Maggie for Hire AND special thanks on the Acknoweldgement page.

$75 Donation

A free signed copy and I'll DEDICATE the book to you right there on the front(ish) page.

$140 Donation

A free signed copy, I'll dedicate the book to you, and YOU can decide what book I write from this list of options:

Maggie for Hire - The Sequel! This time with more cussing and brawling!
A story about a mysterious circus. It's sort of steampunky and spooky.
A gothic ghost story. Oooo CREEEEEPY!
This case of mistaken identity. It takes place in a castle and there's dragons and a knight and MADNESS ensues. Woka woka.

Donate and get all the details here! Thank you for your support!

We're #2! We're #2!

2011-10-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you, everyone, SO MUCH for going over and voting for my goofy little project over on WeLoveSoaps.net. The results have been tallied and The Playhouse debuted on the charts at #2!

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/10/isotwoct8.html

I'd like to thank all those years in community theater... and that vintage dress shop on eBay that sold me my nightie... and... Wait. GIVE ME BACK THE MICROPHONE! I HAVE MORE TO SAY!

WeLoveSoaps.net is one of the biggie soap blogs out there, so this is really, really cool. Thank you!

Indie Soap of the Week!

2011-10-10T22:33:00.001-07:00

Got two seconds? The Playhouse Soap Opera (that little soap project I've been working on) has been nominated for Indie Soap of the Week on WeLoveSoaps.net. Vote for us to win! No registration required! Literally, you just click the button and DONE!

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/10/isotwoct2.html

The Playhouse Episode Two

2011-10-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Drama! Passion! Betrayal! It's all here at The Plaaaaayhooouse!

Happy 10 Year Anniversary

2011-10-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in a random little restaurant in downtown LA last night with Giddy Girlie and Mr. Giddy when it suddenly dawned on me that I had forgotten it was my ten year Los Angeles anniversary.

Ten years ago, I had packed up my car and driven cross country. 9/11 had just happened and my brother was in the Middle East somewhere. He couldn't tell me where.

That trip across country, though... I discovered Nashville and a great blues artist in this random alley filled with music clubs. I went to Graceland and touched Elvis's mic in Sun Studios. I saw my best friend Schmoogie in Oklahoma and she took me to this bar where people were riding real bulls.

I was living on my Aerobed on a friend's floor for two months and I still feel bad about all that. She had no idea what she was getting into... I was jobless in one of the worst economies. I made a couple bucks putting up "Walk for the _____ Cure" signs around town.

My college friend, Alena, who moved out with me, we found a one bedroom in Hollywood. I slept on a futon in a living room for a year.

We threw some great parties.

I was flipping through Backstage (the big audition newspaper at the time) and saw an audition for a pilot. I pulled up to the place and told myself to just turn around and go home. It was this sketchy little studio in the middle of Crenshaw. But, for whatever reason, I went in. And I got the job. The pilot didn't go anywhere, but the director was living in the guesthouse of a gal who was casting a show over at USC. It was a sitcom being overseen by the main director of Friends, Peter Bonerz, and the creator of The Jeffersons, Jay Moriarty. It was called God Help Us. We ran for four seasons and I met some of my dearest friends.

I was working at a foundation where I met this really nice gal who would become one of my best friends named Katie Thompson. I was tired of not getting cast in things and asked if she would take the second half of a one woman show I was producing. I met her best friend, soon to become another one of my best friends, Adam-Adam, as he hauled her piano up two flights of steps to the theater.

I started up a production company with my friend Stu Brumbaugh. We produced a short I wrote called Dog Days and did a couple more projects before calling it quits.

I decided that I wanted to shake up my life a bit and quit my job. Spent a spring handing out shampoo samples on street corners. Broke my hand with no health insurance. Got a new job.

I found an ad in the back of Backstage again for a sketch show with some folks from Second City Chicago.

I joined a theater company and left the theater company.

While I was there, though, I got to write and direct and discovered I really loved it. I also made two dear friends who started up a management company. They represent me to this day.

I started up x-ray school to become a Rad Tech. It was horrible. I was dying inside so badly, that I started writing a book called The Woodcutter to keep myself from bathing with toasters. Turns out a couple gals I knew wanted to write, so we would meet up on Monday nights and keep each other on track. Miss Bliss finished her comic book series which should be out soon. Trina's screenplay became Down for Life and stars Danny Glover.

At a scam of an "actors training" program, I met a gal named Princess Sarahlina. We both purchased passes to Disneyland and hung out there almost every weekend.

I got a call from a guy named Matt Braunger. You may now know him from MadTV. I knew him from those goofy sketch shows and the best space work motorcycle you've ever seen. His message (which I am HEARTBROKEN got erased - I seriously kept it for years) went something like, "I have this friend who is doing a show. They're looking for someone really trashy, and I thought of you."

And thus I was hired for Blake... da Musical

And my life was never the same again.

To this day, I'd take a bullet for any of those guys.

When the show ended, I was devastated. I started making plans to leave Los Angeles because I didn't think anything would ever be better ever again. So I started making a list of things I wanted to do before I left. If you say "You mean a Bucket List?", I'm going to punch you in the throat.

I started taking improv and sketch classes over at The Acme.

Which led to more sketch and improv classes.

And pretty soon, I was in the company.

I was being invited to act in other people's stuff and I started producing my own shows with a group we called Hair of the Mangy Dog.

The guy who played Mr. Snuffleupagus in the 1980's was going to start teaching some on camera puppetry classes at the Acme, so I signed up.

In that class, I became good friends with Erik and April. Erik started up a touring puppetry troup with us. They introduced me to the Los Angeles Puppetry Guild, where I was hired for an NBC pilot playing the head of a 20 ft. dancing dinosaur. Erik and April were kind enough to agree to do a goofy little film I had written based upon a zombie sock puppet created by Out of Character.

Sock Zombie: the Movie! - watch more funny videos

They also invited me to puppeteer on a pirate ship.

Meanwhile, there was this show at the Acme where you could draw a picture and they would animate it on set and improv a little comedic bit. I was getting into the blogging scene and one of the blogs I followed religiously was written by a gal named Giddy Girlie. Her husband was an inker and was giving a talk at a local library. Miss Bliss knew them in real life after a blog meetup, so we headed out to the library and I got to meet the Giddys. I invited them to this show (you know, since Mr. Giddy drew) and, rather than being terrified of strangers inviting them to strange shows in the heart of Hollywood, they said yes. Now, unbeknownst to them, I had decided they needed to meet Adam-Adam, so I invited him to the show, too. And from that point forward, we became thick as thieves.

They took me to my first comic convention... and now can't get rid of me...

They became my Scooby Crew.

And we continue to have fantastic adventures.

I quit my job. I was in a horrible car accident (sans health insurance) and couldn't remember lines anymore. I started doing stand up, thinking that if I could memorize five minutes worth of material, I could get better. Besides, it wouldn't matter if I screwed it up, since it would only be me onstage.

I couldn't find a job. I did some long term extra work on some projects that could have changed my life but they got cancelled.

During this downtime, my buddy Joe from The Acme started talking about this series he had written. It was called The Fall of Paul. So, Joe, James and I stepped into the world of production. We got some friends from the sketch side of the Acme - Joe, James, Cormac, Danielle, Art, and Joanne - and put it together. Mr. Giddy's band The Taint scored it.

I returned to my old job. As my brain started to heal, I found improv was the best thing for keeping me sharp. I started doing old time radio shows and murder mystery shows and the Hollywood Dream Role show.

People I love got married and had babies.

I lost both of my grandmas and my Aunt Ginny and a woman who was my second mom.

I traveled more than I ever have in my life.

I wrote two books, one which won a national award and someone stepped up and volunteered to make an audio book out of. I won a screen writing competition and got an all expense paid trip to Breckenridge as a prize.

I adopted four birds Buddy, Jeri, Todd, and Petey. Only Todd has left us.

I filmed a bunch of tv shows and commercials and short films and long films. Some I am in. Some I got cut out of.

I made incredible friends and kept in touch with old ones.

I don't have pictures of everyone. If you're not here, know that you are loved. I just don't have pictures.

So where am I now? Who will I look back upon when I have to count the next decade?

I feel like I am at this strange point in my life where things are changing.

I have left the Acme and, as I wait for some of the upper level courses to open up, am enrolled at a sketch writing class at the Groundlings. I feel like I'm finding my voice. The day of my anniversary, I was on set for 16 hours. I own my own bed and my own furniture. I still keep my futon. I'm starting to move a little more towards writing than acting... I produce a webseries called The Playhouse - I wrote it, I act in it, I own my own film equipment, I edit it.

I am proud of it.

I think the biggest difference between the woman I was and the woman I am is that I have ceased to look for someone to tell me I'm ready... that I'm good enough... I no longer believe anyone is going to swoop in and make my dreams come true. Instead, I have gathered enough tools to be able to do it myself. In the same breath, though, I've realized how important those I love are and that, indeed, nothing is worth doing without you.

Goodreads Give Away

2011-09-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Are you a member of Goodreads? Whheeeehhheeeheeeelll my friends, it is your lucky day! I'm giving away three copies of Maggie for Hire! Enter to win here!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Maggie for Hire

by Kate Danley

Giveaway ends October 20, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Thank you Seattle!

2011-09-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

It was a great time up at the Jet City Comic Show! My kid sister is so frickin' talented.

I'm not just saying that. She IS. In addition to her METICULOUSLY crafted pet bows (like, every single tail is perfectly even and fray checked and sewed. I'm the sort of crafter that would just frickin' Tacky Glue it and call it good enough), she did this couture retractable Breakfast at Tiffanys dog leash with hand placed Swarovski crystals... I am unable to do justice to this thing. I mean, seriously. It was blinding.

Imagine this, except 1000x Awesomer Squared in real life.

The Seattle crowds were so good to me.

Friendly and supportive, met some really nice folks. My other sister and mom swung by to say hello before they ditched us for THE ITALIAN FESTIVAL going on RIGHT OUTSIDE. Comic convention AND all the spaghetti you can handle? WIN!

The guest of honor was William Katt a.k.a. The Greatest American Hero. So down to earth and normal and completely unphased how everyone and their mother seemed to have a GAH spandex outfits and curly wig just laying around in their closet to bring out on a moment's notice. It was a HOOT. Unfortunately, I missed him judging the karaoke competition, which I can only image.

Thank you Seattle!

As sad day

2011-09-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

I love Doritos. I love them so much I would marry them if it was legal in California. I am currently on a 90-day diet. What foods am I not allowed to eat, you ask? Soda, pizza, and chips. But mainly chips. Mainly Doritos. Seriously. I mean, have you tried the taco flavor throw back? My favorite past time is to eat a whole bag while scrolling through Tumblr. Yes, I realize that is EVERYONE'S idea of a perfect evening, but mine especially!

Today, the founder of Doritos, Arch West, passed away. May he nosh in peace at the Great All You Can Eat Nacho Buffet Restaurant in the sky.

In honor of his passing, I bring you a little Doritos commercial some buddies and I put together for a competition earlier this year.

Sock Zombie is very upset that Arch West passed before expanding the brand.

Jet City Comic Show

2011-09-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy Cats and Kids!

I'll be doing a signing September 24, 2011 at the Jet City Comic Show! I'll be over at the Christy Bows table, purveyers of fine puppy dog (...and people) bows, so swing by and say hello!

Jet City Comic Show
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
10am to 6pm

Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
299 Mercer St.
Seattle, WA 98109

Ladies and Gentlemen, Maggie for Hire

2011-09-15T08:52:00.001-07:00

When monsters appear on Earth, Maggie MacKay is on the job. No one is better at hauling the creepy crawlies back where they belong. No one, that is, except Maggie's dad, who disappeared in the middle of an assignment without a trace.

Now, an elf named Killian has shown up with a gig. Seems Maggie’s uncle teamed up with the forces of dark to turn Earth into a vampire convenience store, serving bottomless refills on humans.

The only hope for survival lies in tracking down two magical artifacts and a secret that disappeared with Maggie's dad.

WARNING: This book contains cussing, brawling, and unladylike behavior. Proceed with caution.

Paperback
https://www.createspace.com/3660073
Type in Code WQY5KAZN for $4 off!

Kindle
www.amazon.com/dp/B005MZ1F8E/

Nook
search.barnesandnoble.com/Maggie-for-Hire/Kate-Danley/e/2...

The amazing cover art was done by Kirk Diedrich at Vondada.com

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Playhouse Soap Opera Episode One

2011-09-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

A year ago, I got a call from Richard Van Slyke asking me if I might be interested in co-writing a webseries with him. He was thinking it would be a soap opera set in a community theater. I innocently agreed.

A year later, episode one is now on the web. Welcome to The Playhouse Soap Opera!

Richard's been a fab producing partner and I've had a great time getting to chew up the scenery as this character. She's one of those stock characters I've always carried around in my back pocket and am THRILLED whenever I can pull her out and step into her shoes.

I've also been inducted by fire into the wonderful world of production and post-production. If you ever have any questions about any glitch that might possibly come up when using Sony Vegas, feel free to drop me a line BECAUSE I EXPERIENCED EVERY ONE OF THEM.

That said, there is something empowering about my transformation into computer geek. I know RAM. I know cores. I know luminocity and color matching plugins and changing my user preferences without blowing up my hard drive. I have installed cards in to my mutheffin muthaboard, muthaeffers. I've got an HD camera and sound systems and lighting kits. I'm tearing my way through sound scrubbers. And I no longer have a dining room because I have a production office now.

So enjoy this most recent baby! I promise she's a charmer.

And then...

2011-09-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

...there was more terrible artwork as I goofed around with covers, trying to come up with something stomachable after my cover artist flaked on me.

And THEN... I remembered my friend Kirk Diedrich is a graphic designer over at Von Dada Artwerk...

To be continued...

In the beginning...

2011-09-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

...I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2010...

...and at the end of 30 days, I had a first draft of a little book...

...and a terrible, horrible, home designed, place holder cover...

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Playhouse Soap Opera Trailer

2011-08-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we wrapped principal shooting on The Playhouse Soap Opera.

And today, we have the trailer.

Biting my fingernails until September 13,
Kate

P.S. I love living in the future.

Well. That was cool.

2011-08-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

"I would like you to pay attention to what happens on August 16-17... As I mentioned just now, various parts of your life are likely on fire. If your birthday falls on June 15 (mine is the 16th), you are feeling massive change." - Astrology Zone Gemini Forecast for August 2011

For giggles, I sometimes check out my astrology forecast. You know. Just so I have something to blame when all heck breaks loose and I need a good excuse. Everything is in the shitter? Darn you, Mercury in Retrograde! Saturn is crossing paths with Uranus AGAIN? (*note: I have no idea if that is a real thing)

But, there have been some huge changes this month, each deserving of their own blogpost. The culmination of all these changes has been a general push towards, "Get off your arse and do something. Anything. Anything at all! Time is ticking!"

(*Please note the August 16th date. There will be a quiz at the end of this blog post.)

One such wake up call was actually in the form of a phone call last week. I started training last year at The Groundlings. I got through their Beginners and Intermediate and, after nine months off, got the call that I'm getting close to the top of the list for the writers lab.

For those of you outside of the Wonderful World of Sketch & Improv, this is probably the most panic inducing call you can get out here. Your brain becomes aswirl with thoughts of, "Crap! What have I been doing with my nine months!" It's like your SAT test. You knew since you were a freshman you should be boning up, but unless you had a tiger mother dragging you away from Night Court reruns every afternoon, The Day of the SATs probably left you thinking maybe you should have spent a few more evenings cramming and a few less nights trying to figure out if McGuyver REALLY could have freed himself from that underground vault with a stick of bubble gum and a shoelace.

But this was just the "Pre-Panic" call. I would have plenty of time to panic later. Unless... *as the thought formed itself*... unless one could proactively invest one's self in one's own future and CHANGE TEH COURSE OF CAREER SELF DESTRUCTION.

The Groundlings, for you folks who worry about things like building rocket ships and saving cancer babies instead of fretting over being able to make up songs about proctologists* on the spot (*for the love of god, if you ever go to an improv show, do not shout out "proctologist"), is a theater here in Los Angeles. It is the Yale School of Drama to the sketch and improv world. Phil Hartman? Groundling. Pee-wee Herman? Groundling. Will Ferrell? Groundling. Kathy Griffin? Jon Lovitz? Lisa Kudrow? 90% of the cast of Saturday Night Live*? Groundlings. (*not sure if that is a real statistic. But it FEELS like a real statistic)

But more importantly, they don't just have this reputation because of a reputation. They are achingly funny. Their shows will hurt your face. Their brains will make you feel like the village idiot. You will DIE* from laughing so hard. (*you will not actually die)

But because of their Reputation Of Where All Things Funny Come From (please see: "People Ignoring That The Main Company Is Actually Insanely Talented And Not Just Automatically Famous), everyone and their sister tries to get into their classes. And you get one shot. That's it. One shot and then you are cut and you are NOT ALLOWED back into the Clubhouse to try again. EVER. Because there are 12.2 million kids in the queue. So you had better be ready.

So... I decided yesterday it was time to get ready. Not that I'm fooling myself into thinking I'm good enough to ever be a part of them, but because I started the classes last year because I really and truly wanted to know what they know. My entire sketch/improv journey these past four years at the Acme and UCB and The Groundlings and Theater Asylum and Impro has been because of a quest for the answer to, "How?" Once I get into the lab, if I fail, I can't go and take their special workshops on writing and singing and characters. The opportunity to learn "How do they do that?" will be over.

So, I decided to dip my toes back in with going to a show - their Lottery show. As a graduate of Intermediate, I was eligible to put my name in a bucket and, if chosen, get up on stage and improvise with their main company* (*See: The Chosen Ones of Comedy. Gladiators of The Gauntlet of Funny. Honored War Survivors.)

I arrived and sat down in their gorgeous theater. It was completely sold out. I struck up conversations with the folks around me. They were just people there to see a show. They weren't students... they didn't know anyone in the cast... they were actual... audience members... just coming... to see... a... show... *brain malfunction*

The lights dimmed.

The director, Mitch Silpa, comes out with the buckets. Puts his hand in.

And pulls out my name.

I ran down the aisle like I just got called on the Price is Right.

Because I kind if did.

Last night, for a blessed forty five minutes, I got to improv with the insanely talented Edi Patterson, Jeremy Rowley, Christen Sussin, and Taran Killam. I was directed by Mitch Silpa. I've been watching these guys for years. And I was on stage. WITH. THEM. *cue Elvis fangirl swoondom*

I can't even describe what it was like sharing a stage with them and watching them work. The ease. Their ability to delve into details. To sit there and trove the moment for truth and nuance. And I gotta say, I held my own in our Neighbors Feuding Over The Merits of X-Men 2 vs. X-Men 3 scene.

I've been replaying the night with "should have/could have/would have"s, but not in the beat-yourself-up way. In the, "OH! This is how you can make it better!" sort of way. Answers! I got ANSWERS! I walked out feeling so inspired and in awe and honored... and hungry.

The whole night feels like a dream - but it was one of those things where no matter what happens in my life from here on out - once, just once, I got to be on The Groundlings stage. And I got to play with The Groundlings.

*cue quiet moment of reflection as we sit, staring at the sun rising over the Hollywood sign on August 17th*

In a Fairy Tale

2011-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

So way back in 2002, I was working at an arts high school here in Los Angeles. My cube mate and touchstone of sanity was a fantastic gal named Katie Thompson who, at the time, was a struggling artist just like me.

One day, out of desperation, I decided to remount my one woman show and asked Katie if she'd like the second half of the evening. And she said, "Sure!" Which, as a sidenote, is how I met Adam-Adam - as he hauled a piano up two flights of stairs to a theater on the 2nd story of a strip mall. Sorry Adam-Adam. And Katie. You are good sports.

So the show maybe had six to ten people in the audience a night, which, having lived in Los Angeles for awhile now, actually isn't too shabby. Right? I know.

But it was a hoot and a project to keep ourselves from losing our minds.

Flash forward to today, Katie's got a couple Broadway contracts and if you watch "So You Think You Can Dance", you've seen a bunch of her songs on there.

But there is this one little song that she sang in our little two woman, one woman show night that has always stuck with me. So, last night, I decided to bust out some of the trinkets I've got lying around and put together a little piece. What can I say? Some people watch TV. Some people take 500+ pictures of plastic toys they got out of blind boxes and set them to music. Don't judge me.

Catching Up

2011-08-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in my blogging. It was made painfully aware to me that I gotta get caught up this when Sunday I spent a glorious afternoon with this crew:

From left to write (I'm PUNNY!) are bloggers Out of Character, Giddy Girlie, and Rocky Time Warp. Not pictured, but also a part of the party, was Leah Peah. This weekend was the annual Convention Of All Things Female Blog Related a.k.a. BlogHer. Out of Character had flown in to San Diego and Giddy Girlie and I decided to hop in the car an make a run for the border (of a really great Mexican restaurant in the Gas Lamp district) and meet her, Rocky Time Warp, and Leah Peah for some seafood served in buckets.

Such a great group of people and, seriously, we sat in the restaurant for FIVE HOURS and the conversation never stopped flowing. One of the topics was how blogging really and truly changed our lives. Out of Character and Rocky Time Warp had never met in person before, but knew each other through their blogs. I met Giddy Girlie and Out of Character through our blogs. Out of Character and Rocky Time Warp met Leah Peah through her blog and at blogger meetups. Some of the smartest, wittiest folks I know are all because we spent a few minutes to dash out some our innermost thoughts and post them on the world wide webs.

So, yah. I gotta get better about this. Just because blogging has become a whore-y meat market of book deal commercialism and Google Ads doesn't mean that there aren't still some really awesome people still out there. And I will find you. Oh yes. I will.

Acme TNT

2011-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm officially a member of the Acme Company at the Acme Theater. And tomorrow, Saturday, it appears I am going to be making my grand debut in Acme TNT.

I haven't done sketch in... a year...?

I just checked my records.

Yah. June 26, 2010. It's been over a year.

Wow.

Time flies when you're... not doing sketch...? That doesn't quite have the right ring, does it...

ANYHOOGLE.

Acme TNT
Saturday, August 6th at 8:00PM
The Famous ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood
135 N. La Brea Ave
Hollywood, CA 90036
Buy Tickets Online for $10
$12 at the door

Come out! There are some good folks in the show and some funny sketch. And, if I stay true to the pattern, you won't see me do sketch again until September 2012.

Muuuuurder by AAAaaaacme

2011-07-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

Our regular Celebrity Improv Mashup show has been preempted by a special presentation of AWESOME!

Murder by Acme is back for another tour de force! Okay, so just one show. And maybe another one in the coming months.

What is Muuuuurder by Acme you ask?

Oh, foolish mortals, it is a 45-minute, live, improvised, noir murder mystery. And this show just happens to feature a mess of actors from the Liquid Radio Players - an all improvised 40's-esque radio show. In other words, folks who actually know what they're doing, by jimminy!

Brian Breiter, Joseph Limbaugh, Michael Perkins, Ian Tindell, Kristen Trucksess, Ruben Dario, and yours truly, all directed by the eloquent Brian Giovanni.

This show is always a HOOT and I can hardly wait to play!

Friday, July 29th at 9:00PM
The Acme Comedy Theater
I know it isn't listed on their website... they have a Facebook thingie.

Wait. Here. You can buy tickets on LaughStub!

It's really happening. I'm not making it up. Just come. Don't make me punch you in the face!

(Note: No actresses were actually punched in the face)

Backstage Article

2011-07-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's funny how the tangled web of Hollywood works. I had a friend in Baltimore say that a friend of hers who writes for Backstage was looking for some long-timers here in Los Angeles to write about "How We Met People" in this crazy town of dreams.

There's nothing I love more than rambling on and on to the kids about how in my day I had to walk to auditions with printed 8x10 black and white lithographs and hand-typed resumes uphill both ways, so I said, "Sign me up!"

The article just came out and you can read it here:

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news-and-features-features/how-five-los-angeles-actors-met-people-in-1005295662.story

Shout Out to the San Diego Comic Con and a Plug for Ryan Winn

2011-07-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

So, I've been blogging for lo on 1.2 million years, blogging since the ancient days when the blog-o-sphere was a web that the spiders wouldn't index, bloggers got cease-and-desist letters from companies pissed that they were reviewing products and movies, and posts were un-Google-able.

It was the days before Google Reader and RSS feeds. The only way to find a blog was through a link on someone else's blog and the only way to drive traffic to your site was to leave a comment on someone's post.

It was the wild west.

And we were frontier folk - startled and delighted whenever we found a like minded individual's log cabin in the lonely cyber woods.

One such individual wrote a blog called Giddy Girlie. My real life friend, Miss Bliss, had met Giddy once at a blogger meetup in San Francisco and swore that she was cool.

Giddy's blog struck a chord with me and one day, when she posted her husband was going to be doing a lecture at a local library on making comic books, I thought, "What the heck..." So Miss Bliss and I drove south and I shyly introduced myself. We all went over to Rubio's for fish tacos afterwards.

I invited Mr. & Mrs. Giddy up to Los Angeles to see a show my buddy, Joseph Limbaugh, was producing called Overdroid where the audience drew pictures and then improvisers on stage would animate the drawings using video game controllers (and somewhere on the internet is the video from said show). I also invited my friend Adam-Adam to join us.

Thus began a glorious friendship.

This is me at my very first comic book convention in 2008.

It was in Los Angeles. Mr. Giddy, a.k.a. Ryan Winn, had landed his first big gig inking The Darkness.

Also at this convention, he had been pulled into ink a special lithograph of The Freshman for Seth Green.

I was so star struck, I couldn't get any closer to the Seth Green table than to take this picture.

All Mr. Giddy kept saying, as my brain was exploding, was, "You think this Con is cool? Wait till you see San Diego!"

Here's a picture of Adam-Adam, Giddy Girlie, and Mr. Giddy after our very first comic convention together.

Look at how cute and young we are?

Sometimes, you meet an artist who works their butt off. They aren't off goofing around, riding along folks' coattails, depending upon "who you know" to get them where they want to go. They have integrity. They LOVE what they do. They work every. single. day on that art and when success in their chosen field starts to inch its way towards them, you go, "FINALLY! There IS justice in the world!"

That is Ryan Winn.

Who would have guess all those years ago that a ride in the Batmobile...

...would end up being prophetic.

Mr. Ryan Winn, a.k.a. RAW for those of you looking at the artwork, is the official inker of Batman.

Hellzyah.

And three years after that dinky little convention in downtown Los Angeles, he'll be at the San Diego Comic Con. When he's not at DC Comics signing Bat-FUCKING-MAN comics, he'll be over in Artists Alley at table DD-11.

So, swing on by and give him a high five.

Official Site of The Playhouse

2011-07-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Howdy howdy howdy folks! So, as some of you may or may not know, I've been busy producing a new webseries called The Playhouse. We're halfway through the shoot and it is a scream. The creator, Richard Van Slyke, grew up on soap operas (if you've got some time, head over to YouTube and do a search for the 1950 soap opera Love of Life. It is FANTASTIC) and had the concept for a soap opera spoof.

The official blog for The Playhouse is up at http://theplayhousesoapopera.blogspot.com, so add us to your blogroll! To miss it would be scandalous! (did you see what I did there? did you?)

The Queen's Decree

2011-07-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

This past January, I was invited to puppeteer for The Dread Crew of Oddwood's music video The Queen's Decree. Click here for some pictures from the shoot in Dana Point.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyduck/sets/72157625888536328/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40757320@N02/sets/72157625885923204/

Well, the video has been released, and seriously, it is AMAZING! WARNING: Buckets o' fake bloody and grizzly puppet death. I am so proud to have been able to work on this project. Not only does it look great, these guys were the nicest group of pirates this gal has ever met!

Aarrrrr! It was a pleasure crossing swords!

A Debt of Gratitude...

2011-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Isn't funny how things work out? I had finished up my latest book with great thanks to my beta readers at Adam Pictures and R. B. Wood, who took a manuscript I was D.O.N.E. with and took it to the next level with their gentle suggestions and enthusiasm.

I dropped a note to the absolutely fantastic copyeditor of The Woodcutter, Claire Paccha, but, unfortunately, her plate was full. I started searching through the KindleBoards for recommendations... when I stumbled upon a blog and a mom who needed some financial help to get her and her daughter out of an abusive situation.

An auction was being held and one of the items up for bid was editing services. It was something I was looking for and for a great cause, so I decided what the heck and dropped an opening bid.

I won and, seriously, it was like the heavens were pointing me to this place and moment. I just wanted to give a shout out to Ray Stilwell of Captains Blog who did the most AMAZING job. He had suggestions for smoothing out some logic problems that have been plaguing me, caught some ridiculously embarassing "Ooops!" glitches my eyes glossed over, and was all around awesome.

He had his own book come out recently, Mets Brand, so go pick up a copy!

And cross your fingers for me! Maggie for Hire (title still under consideration) begins her journey through the submission gauntlet today.

Wish us luck!

Celebrity Improv Mashup

2011-07-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, Celebrity Improv Mashup is back in full swing and I haven't had time to blog about it AT. ALL. We're switching up the formula again and trying out some new technology, because nothing spells comedy gold like a bunch of old fogeys trying to figure out a green screen. Needless to say, looks like none of us will be moving on to a promising career in weather reporting. Darn you Doppler!

Stars Drew Seeley and Jillian Clare gratiously consented to being the guinna pigs as our mad scientists worked out the kinks of this show. All genius should be attributed to the huge talents of Drew and Jillian, who were absolutely fantastic despite the fact our ensemble is stumbling about trying to figure out what the heck we're doing. Ah, improv... we're totally making this up as we go along.

Here are pictures and video from the show:

Drew Seeley Pictures from Celebrity Improv Mashup

Jillian Clare

The Playhouse

2011-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I get to chew the scenery and connive and plot as the villian in the brand new soap opera webseries The Playhouse. More details as we get stuff in the can, but I get to play with some of my favorite Acme people - including Diana Costa (whom you might remember as the crazy menopause lady in the Jack in the Box commercial), Carolyn Wilson (who has been on The Office and The Middle - but was also one of the casting associates on That 70's Show), Eli Chance (who played a fantastic Frankenstein) and Richard Van Slyke (who is a familiar face in LA's live theater scene).

Stay tuned for all the draaaama!

Birthday of the Eclipse

2011-06-16T19:34:00.001-07:00

Birthday of the Eclipse, originally uploaded by eyduck.

Buddy, my 8 year old bird, got really sick last night and I had to cancel my birthday today in case he decides he's had enough of this mortal coil.

Also last night, as I was cleaning out Jeri's cage (and letting him fly around), the electricity went out. As I crawled on my hands and knees around my apartment finding matches, terrified I would step on him, all I could hear was the sound of him crashing into walls, being absolutely powerless to help (my childhood parakeet died flying into a wall). He is okay. And I am grateful for every one of those smelly candles people have given me over the years.

I decided NOT to let this be foreshadowing of my year to come, rather a byproduct of that awful eclipse last night.

So I'm sitting in pre-shiva at home when the buzzer rings.

Adam-Adam, visiting from Utah, brought me this, in honor of The Birthday of The Eclipse.

It might be one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.

Woodcutter Contest

2011-06-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Economic times are tough. I totally understand. You've been putting of purchasing The Woodcutter until that next paycheck comes through.

Well, in honor of my birthday on Thursday, I've got a little present for you.

I'm doing a Woodcutter giveaway though Goodreads. Click to enter! Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Woodcutter

by Kate Danley

Giveaway ends June 24, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Phoenix Party People!

2011-05-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

Who has two thumbs and is hitting the Phoenix Comicon? About 14,268 people. Including this gal!

Out Of Character, creator of the Sock Zombie

Sock Zombie: the Movie! - watch more funny videos

is hosting

Mr. Giddy

Giddy Girlie

And yours truly for a Phoenix Comicon Weekend of AWESOME!

Out of Character's legion of undead foot warmers will be there to take over the world. Hope you have prepared your survival kit! Mr. Giddy will be off signing and inking, so stop by his table for all the low down on Batman. And then Giddy Girlie has been kind enough to share her table with me to host a Woodcutter signing event!

My kid sister has also decided that dogs are pretty super, and deserve their own superhero status, so get a super bow for your super pet! Christy Bows! Doo-doo-dooo-DOOOdle-dooo-DOOO! (that was heroic superhero music being played on a trumpet)

My brain is about to explode from all the awesome That Will Be Had. PREPARE THYSELF!

Next Generation Indie Book Awards

2011-05-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

It's officially offical! It is on the internets and they can't take it back now! The Woodcutter has won the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards! In honor of this proud day, I have updated the cover to reflect the awesomeness!

I'm running out of room. I'm going to have to start wrapping around the margins. It is a glorious problem to have.

As part of this award, I get some stickers and a certificate and a Winner medal I can wear around my neck and a cash prize. I PROMISE to take pictures as soon as those things come in. I hope the cash prize comes as one of those huge novelty checks, because I think that would be TEH BEST IN THE WORLD! I might make one for myself JUST BECAUSE.

And as if that was not enough, the part that pretty much floors me is that my book is now being reviewed for representation. It is being featured in a catalog being distributed next week at New York Book Week. If I didn't have an immovable meeting at work that means having a job or not, there is an awards ceremony at the Plaza Hotel that I was invited to attend. As an honoree.

I just look back at all those years of rejection letters... I look at that rejection letter for my 2nd novel I just got last week. I look at the rejection letters I got for The Woodcutter even after all of these awards.

Shut door after shut door after shut door...

I think about the fact my book sat on my hard drive and if it wasn't for a well timed email and the fact we are living in the future, when a girl can upload her manuscript and be a published author, The Woodcutter would still be living on my hard drive and no one would have ever met these characters that I had fallen in love with, characters that whispered their story into my ears as I would try to sleep or try to get through a day or try to go somewhere. They really wanted their story to be told.

And so I uploaded the book.

And then something remarkable happened that you, yes you reading this, I know who you are, you supported me with your kind words and that geniuine look in your eyes when you said it was not just good, it was really really good. It made you cry. You went back and read it a second time because you wanted to experience it again. You passed on The Woodcutter to your friends. You bought copies as Christmas presents. You brought it to your book club and forced them to read it. You wrote reviews and tagged my book and gave me ratings and tweeted and blogged about it and loved it so much, you asked if you could make an audiobook of it or could you draw the cover.

And I realized you weren't just being polite. That this thing actually WAS good. That maybe The Man didn't know what He was talking about. Maybe He could go flush his head.

And then a little more light came in to dispel the darkness in the form of the Indie Book Awards.

Dear Rest of the World,

Remember how you said that my book The Woodcutter wasn't good enough?

Thanks for sharing.

Signed,
This Indie Book Award Winner & Her Fucking Rad Gang

Just a reminder fellow artists...

2011-05-06T13:07:00.001-07:00

No Sleeping, originally uploaded by eyduck.

Once more with feeling

2011-05-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 6th (yes, as in tomorrow), we're bringing back Murder by Acme for an encore performance.

Seriously, such a fun show. It is old skool Acme, long form, story driven improv. It's creepy and twisted and the audience hoots and hollers and plays a great big role in the show.

9:00PM
Friday, May 6th
Acme Comedy Theater
135 N. La Brea Ave
Hollywood, CA 90036
Tickets are $8 online
$12 at the door

Burbank Book Festival!

2011-05-02T22:21:00.001-07:00

Burbank Book Festival!, originally uploaded by eyduck.

This Saturday, May 7th, from 1:00-4:00PM, I will be doing a book signing of The Woodcutter at the Burbank Book Festival with 100+ other Burbank authors as part of the Burbank Centennial Celebration. Come out! The library is pretty!

Buena Vista Branch Library
300 N. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA

www.burbanklibrary.com

The Woodcutter Audio Book

2011-04-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

"Hey Kate! Wanna do an audio book?"

That's sort of the summation of an email I received about a month ago from my buddy James Cutts, whom you might know from our Fall of Paul webseries. We had done some of my favorite sketches together at the Acme and his departure to the far reaches of Northern California (which is like, all the way up in the Bay area which I think is like, in Canada or something) was a sad, sad day indeed.

He and some other people (I'm looking at you Adam-Adam) had been asking about when I was going to get my butt in gear and take that next logical step for an out-of-work-actress-turned-author and read my gawddamned book into a frickin' mic and put out an an audio book, gosh darn it.

But, you know, things kept distracting me. You know. Important things like making sure I got caught up on all the 30 Rock episodes before my Hulu Plus membership expired.

But The Masses would not be deterred!

Like the Argentinian people, the public (all two of them) continued their relentless demand. And when faced with riots and revolt, who am I to not step out onto the balcony in my best Eva Peron ballgown? Besides, I really like ballgowns. Stick a tiara on me, and I can clean my house all day. What? Who cleans their house in a tiara? That would be crazy.

So I said to James, "Hellz yes I would do an audio book. Hellz to the yes."

A buddy of his, the super talented Marc Weibel, was wanting to branch out into audio books and it seemed a natural fit. And not natural like LA Beach Body Botox naturally fit. Natural natural fit.

I was flown up to the city, put up at a schwanky hotel, and arrived at the GORGEOUS Studio Trilogy (that rumor has it, a certain star, whose name is a synonym to Woman Goo Goo, was at just a few weeks earlier. See what you get when you read my blog? Name dropping AND word games. You're smart to stick around) and we started a three day recording odyssey in which I learned I have fat cheeks and my lips like to get caught on my teeth.

Gosh, there's a lot of things you learn about yourself when you read aloud for twenty hours. I recommend it to everyone!

(This picture was totally staged. Don't let them fool you. Whenever they disappeared outside the view of my window, I'm pretty sure they were playing foosball and telling fart jokes)

The final printed version of The Woodcutter that I was reading from was ten pounds of paper. For real. TEN. POUNDS. OF. PAPER. 400 pages. And we did it. Start to finish.

I even got an evening to tool around.

I made a promise to my ten year old self that everytime I returned to San Francisco, I would visit The Palace of Fine Arts.

I managed to keep that promise one more time

I got down to Ghirardelli Square and bought myself a celebratory ice cream sundae. I didn't get a picture. Just imagine vanilla ice cream, chocolate covered strawberries and hot fudge. You're welcome.

I then strolled down past the cable car turn around and down to Fisherman's Wharf (which is delightful in the non-tourist season), where I grabbed some street calamari, and then promptly threw it away realizing now was probably not the time to play chicken with a game of food poisoning. It looked like really good FRIED SQUID though (I always get a giggle that folks call it calamari, all fancy like. FRIED SQUID! IT IS FRIED SQUID!)

I then stumbled upon the penny arcade. When I was a kid, this place was in the basement of The Cliff House. But now it's over at Fisherman's Wharf!

So, not to go saying I'm special (subtext: I'M MORE SPECIAL THAN ANYBODY!), but being a military brat and moving around so much, I wasn't around to watch the places from my childhood morph into something else and have the memories grow with the changes. Things are either Still There or Not Still There. End of story. So, it was really cool, after discovering this place was gone a few years back when I was at the Cliff House, to stumbling upon it in the darkness and walking in and seeing things just as they were when I was a kid. It was great to find something that was Still There.

So, anyhoogle. This post is longer than anyone cares about. I will shut up now. I promise. After a brief summary.

In summary, I found the San Francisco climate to be charming and the sights of the city enough to warm any chill brought about by the brief stints of fog...

Who is writing this?

The audio book is gonna be kickass. It should come out mid-to-late May. I'll keep you informed. In the meantime, tell your friends they can release that breath they were holding. IT HAS BEEN RECORDED! BREATHE AGAIN!

Dark this week

2011-04-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

The Acme is dark this week, so how about some videos from the vault?

Fragile

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bryn Woznicki is this super talented director currently tearing things up over at CSUN. A lot of times, you agree to do a student project and you end up with something you're going to have to relegate to the "life experiences" file folder in your head.

But this? Bryn is amazing and I'm really proud to have been invited to be a part of it. Bonus! I got to act with my 1st improv teacher and current director Joseph Limbaugh, who is super cool and, in my opinion, knocks it out of the park.

Bryn was so fantastic about making us feel really comfortable on set and breaking things down for us into bite sized little emotional pieces. Because of my physical type, I usually play the wacky neighbor, not the romantic lead in things, so I got to do some stuff outside of my normal bag of tricks.

I, for one, welcome Bryn's eminent takeover of the entire entertainment industry. She's already on her way!

(As fair warning for the faint of heart (and any family members and that friend who was all, "But I know you. Ugnnhh."), right around 2:38 there's some steamy stuff. Let's avoid anyone having to gouge out their eyeballs.)

Young Me Now

2011-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last year (June 25, 2010 to be exact), Keith Coogan (Adventures in Babysitting, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead, and all around good guy) came out to The Acme Comedy Theater to fight some zombies in Hollywood Dream Role.

A few weeks ago, he returned to the Acme to fight some villians in our Acme Experiment - Murder by Acme show (an all improvised noir murder mystery)

We're so Young Me Now.

For more pictures, here's a collection of some photos taken by Rob Wood over the season http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyduck/sets/72157626296027368/.

Friday, April 8th - Celebrity Improv Mashup with Patrick Muldoon and Terri Ivens

2011-04-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Howdy Howdy Howdy folks! This Friday, April 8th at 9:00PM Celebrity Improv Mashup is pleased to welcome Patrick Muldoon of "Starship Troopers" and Terri Ivens of "All My Children" to the Acme Stage. We had our workshop last night and these two owned it! Wear your best bobby socks and poodle skirts is all I'm sayin'. :)

Then, for anyone who cares, we're going to be dark Easter weekend (4/22) to ensure we all have time to hit Target and stockpile our fallout shelters with enough Cadbury eggs to get us through the coming Apocolypse. May 21th, right? I should probably do laundry. It would be SO embarassing to be stuck in my granny underwear for all eternity.

Then the theater will be dark for all of May to make way for the LA Comedy Festival.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you've got three more chances to catch the show before we go on break. Plan accordingly.

SCANDAL!

2011-04-03T20:29:00.001-07:00

Brian Krause and Patrika Darbo Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup!', originally uploaded by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR.

Brian Krause and Patrika Darbo Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup!'

- Gotta say, I was pretty darn proud of this episode.

Patrika Darbo and Me Rockin' Out

2011-04-03T15:03:00.003-07:00

DSCF6105, originally uploaded by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR.

Brian Krause Making My Heart Go Pitter-Pat

2011-04-03T15:03:00.001-07:00

DSCF6317, originally uploaded by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR.

Eric Martsolf and Jade Harlow Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup!'

2011-03-31T15:47:00.001-07:00

Eric Martsolf and Jade Harlow Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup!', a set by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR on Flickr.

RIDICULOUSLY fun show! We improvised "The Exorcist" with silly string instead of pea soup. Aaawwww yah!

Mark Hapka and Alison Haislip Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup'

2011-03-27T20:38:00.001-07:00

Mark Hapka and Alison Haislip Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup', originally uploaded by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR.

Gotta love a girl whose dream role is to be a super hero. In addition to her secret identity, Alison Haislip was super cool. See what I just did there?

Mark Hapka and Alison Haislip Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup'

2011-03-27T20:36:00.001-07:00

Mark Hapka and Alison Haislip Guest Star in 'Celebrity Improv Mashup', originally uploaded by ACME Comedy by CharlesRileyPR.

Girl Power!

The Woodcutter Featured on Omnimystery News

2011-03-22T10:11:00.001-07:00

The Woodcutter Featured on Omnimystery News, originally uploaded by eyduck.

http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2011/03/woodcutter-by-kate-danley-wins-garcia.html

Happy Tuesday Morning Everyone!

Paul Shall Fall. Oh Yes. Fall Paul Shall.

2011-03-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

Kids, The Fall of Paul is gearing up to smack you across the face with more funny than a barrel full of tuna.

Don't look at me like that. You try coming up with witty comparisons at 11:41PM.

This morning I had a threeway with James (Paul) and Joe (the writer and creator). CALL. A three way CALL. CALL. You people are sick. And you kiss your mother with that mind?

So, we're making a new Fall of Paul episode. Filming in April. IN LAS VEGAS.

Actually, I'm not sure we're actually going to be filming anything. I think it is pretty much just an excuse to hang out. In Vegas. "For our art" and junk.

Right now, the plan of me and those two boys bunked up in a hotel on the Strip with a camera. Something about illegal fireworks and an Indian reservation. At which point, I ceased asking any more questions about any sort of "plan" and just began nodding my head so vigorously I sustained a traumatic brain injury.

I guess the real reason behind this post is that I'm going to need someone I can call for bail money. And I think you'll do. Please stand by.

2011-03-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Last night, Adam-Adam gave me a call. He asked me how I was. I said I was fine, how was he. He said he was fine. And then we sat there in silence on the phone for a moment, the brake lights of the 5 freeway glaring at me as I crawled along at 10 mph. And then Adam-Adam said, "Actually, I've got *insert crazy bullshit* going on." And I laughed and said, "Wait, I've got *insert ridiculous mind fuck*." And we laughed and laughed at all of the dumb crap that makes you think you're a failure and makes you want to punch someone in the nose and makes you wonder why you sit in brake lights or why you ever left. Everything turned into catastrophic hyperbole and suddenly, it was better. All because the conversation didn't stop at "I'm fine".

What came in the mail today...

2011-03-14T20:43:00.001-07:00

What came in the mail today..., originally uploaded by eyduck.

It is officially official and I've got the gold seals to prove it. I was interviewed last week for a press release which should be hitting soon. Today, the certificates and the foil seals came. They're so shiny...

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!

2011-03-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Catch me tonight at 7:00PM in the Original Room of The Comedy Store. Yah, THAT Comedy Store. Crazy, right? Tickets are $10 + 2 drink minimum. But just think, now you don't have to drink alone AND it's cheaper than going to the movies and ordering a large popcorn. Support live performance! And me! I mean. Live... performance...

3/11/11 Celebrity Improv Mashup & Murder by Acme

2011-03-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well, if you didn't get enough murder and scandal last week, you are in for a treat THIS week, folks! I'm back this Friday in Celebrity Improv Mashup at the Acme Comedy Theater.

And who are our mystery guests? None other than Acme darlings Jade Harlow and Eric Martsolf!

Now, you probably remember Eric Martsolf from Hollywood Dream Role last year when he sung and danced his way into everyone's hearts with his imaginary best friend Shaniqua, the nunchuck skunk hat wearing love of his life. And if you don't remember that, you are living a half life and need to go watch the YouTube video immediately. I believe there is some sort of law that one single person is not supposed to be allowed to hold a trifecta of talentness,gorgeousness, AND niceness, but Eric Martsolf is so frickin' cool, we've decided not to report him and will, instead, just bask in the glory of his awesomeness.

Eric is back and this time to save Little Valley from the machinations of evil in the improvised soap opera Scandal!

On the Hollywood Dream Role side of things, Jade Harlow is on our team! Seriously folks, she is so frickin' sweet, you want to just put her in your pocket. I'm pretty sure she gets around Los Angeles riding a unicorn and pays for things with leprachan gold and pixie dust. She will be bringing to life the role that made her want to get into acting in the first place. All I can say is that it involves pea soup and levitating beds. And no, that is not a metaphor for a normal Friday night on the Sunset strip.

The third part of the show is the mash up, and this is what makes life so cool sometimes. Jade and Eric were on Passions together. In fact, Eric played Jade's older brother. But they never actually appeared on screen together. UNTIL NOW! We've got soap opera history in the making folks! BROTHER AND SISTER UNITED AT LAST!

Because that's what we do at the Acme, folks. We bring imaginary families together. God bless America.

Celebrity Improv Mashup with Sean Kanan, Casey Deidrick & Chandler Massey/Murder by Acme

2011-03-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

It's a two-for-one of fun tonight! Three soap stars, two shows, one murder.

First up at 9:00PM, it's Celebrity Improv Mashup! I'll be part of the core ensemble for the month of March, so catch me every Friday. How did you get to be so lucky?

Today is a triple play with Sean Kanan, Casey Deidrick & Chandler Massey. If you're Young and Restless, shouldn't you be spending this particular Day of Your Life with these hunk-a-hunks of burning comedy? Watch out! Someone's gonna lose a shirt!

And as we creep towards the witching hour, how about a little mystery to spice up your 11:00PM? It's MURDER! MURDER BY ACME! Leave your weapons at the door. We'll have plenty to go around.

Check out all of the ridiculousness at www.acmecomedy.com

My new book cover... for right now...

2011-03-02T07:24:00.001-08:00

My new book cover... for right now..., originally uploaded by eyduck.

The Woodcutter - Garcia Award for the Best Fiction Book of the Year & 1st Place Fantasy Book in the Reader Views Literary Awards Winners

2011-03-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

I opened up my email today and was kind of stunned.

The Woodcutter was named by the Reader Views Literary Awards as their 1st Place Fantasy Book.

So, that was super cool.

But then there was a second email.

The judges decided to honor The Woodcutter with the Garcia Award for the Best Fiction Book of the Year.

I didn't quite get the enormity of it until I read the fine print - the winner was chosen from all first place winners in all the fiction categories.

My little book.

The Woodcutter.

It took me a year to write The Woodcutter and four years to finally get it published. Every six months during that time was a new rejection letter, someone else telling me that, based upon my synopsis, my book wasn't good enough. It wasn't "right". It didn't "fit". In fact, just this week I got word that my book hadn't made it past the 1st round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, which is based not upon your book, but upon the quality of a 1,000 word pitch, the irony being that if I was good at pitching, I probably wouldn't be self-published.

And then came the Reader Views awards and my book was evaluated upon its own merits. It had to stand on its own legs, no bells or pony shows allowed. The judges sat down and they actually read my book.

And when they did, the affirmed something that I have known since the first day I wrote a scene about a monster in my Anatomy 101 notebook, something I knew as I fell in love with a hero big enough to fight not just the monster on the page but the monsters who were making me want to run away from my life and the monsters sucking my spirit. They fell in love with the Woodcutter just as I did with every word my fingers found.

I am honored and touched and moved and... And it just means so much.

Murder By Acme

2011-02-24T22:59:00.001-08:00

Murder By Acme, originally uploaded by eyduck.

Catch us tomorrow night, February 25th, at the Acme Comedy Theater in Murder by Acme, a chilling mystery that will unfold before your very eyes (and our very eyes, because it is improvised) as we creep moment by moment to from 11:00PM to the witching hour.

www.acmecomedy.com