Christmas and New Year

It was a completely and utterly mad week prior to Christmas, we were shooting episode 2 and some other episodes as well, I was falling asleep half way through the printing of our storyboards in the middle of the night as we had such early starts.

I am absolutely amazed I managed my lines! But we did it! Oh yes we did it.

Then we had the preview party, which Kym kindly help organise with Jo Jo at his Wine Shop, HM Wines, in Bangsar for the first Episode.

I was so nervous, I was prowling around like a cat on a hot tin roof! I even bugged my brother to come and give me support! His version of support was "ok"

Me - So what do you think of the show?

Bro - "Ok"

Me - Would you watch this show?

Bro - "O..K."

Me - Do you think we look stylish and professional?

Bro - " Ok...hmm"

Me - Do you want a drink?

Bro - Ok

That folks is my brother giving his stamp of approval...

The Night went well, we had mostly very positive comments, and a few that were "hmmnn???", but overall the main sponsor loved it and so did the developers so that was that!

Then it was back to finishing off the final bits of editing for Episode 2, and as usual, me being me, I was not that psyched with the sound (my former music background..eh) so I was irritating my editor about the music beds and the overall sound of the show.. (he will most probably be nodding through gritted teeth here) and of course, I still can't get used to seeing myself on screen, it feels weird, and I am my own biggest critic.. I think he is so fed up of hearing "I LOOK SO FAT!", even my Film Director was looking at me quizzically..

We finally got everything transferred and sent out to the Broadcaster and in my deluded mind I thought I could concentrate on the holidays... but no, there were more interviews and meetings, so I cancelled our holiday to OZ. However , and there is always a however I managed to surprise my family with a trip to Phuket on Christmas day, so off we flew to have some fun in the sun.

It was wonderful to be away, but I just had a look at my phone bill, between my producer in Oz, Kl and my Film Director, Celcom must be raking it in!

Upon returning to KL, we were inundated with all sorts of last minute details, and finally on the 5th, my gal pals organised a night in to watch the show on one of their big screen TVs. It was a noisy, uproariously funny night, with much ribbing and shoulder bumping. When the show finally came on, they were all making their comments and finally one them yelled "SHUT UP I AM TRYING TO WATCH THE BLINKING SHOW !!!" Did they ? Nooo... ( I am still nursing a sore arm from all the smacking I got.. you know how girls are!)

So now we are nose to the grindstone again, I have to finish scripting the up coming shows and make sure I've storyboarded them properly, deal with my producers and finalise the shooting schedules...

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to watch the show every wed at 8.30 on ntv7 or on our website www.artoflivingshow.com

Saluti!

Dx

First Episode of T.A.O.L.S

*Hey Daph, can you come over to my shop now ?*, says my best friend Sakinah.
*I will be there in an hour or so, just waiting on some docs here, whats up? *I say
*I am trying to figure out the best colour for your dress for the opening title* , She says
*Oh my god, girlfriend!*, *I said I would just come over and have a look at what you already have! You don't have to make a dress especially for me!* I exclaim.
This is so very typical of Sakinah, who owns Intent in Bangsar. She is a perfectionist when it comes to clothes and fashion, so rather than have me choose something that fits, she will make something that is perfect, and when I went there a couple of hours later, the dress was already sewn up and ready for a final fitting. She had chosen a royal purple colour. I looked at her quizzically, I don't usually wear purple.
She said * Just you wait and see, the colour will really pop out on the screen* and guess what , she was absolutely right!

The next day we started our shoot for episode 1,we took off to Ipoh for the day, to shoot a couple of developments there, and the day after two beautiful luxury resort condos in KL. I have waited so long to bring this whole production together, I had waited for my Film Director to be available and for my make up artist Lyana Dee, who know just how to make my skin look flawless!

Exhausted? yes. Stressed? yes. Loving it? absolutely!

Yesterday I spent three hours in the recording studio doing all my voice over pieces. My throat was so sore by the end, but it was a very productive recording, albeit the phone calls and e mails swamping my blackberry every second!
This week we have more shoots to do, and will be looking at the final edit of episode one, I am so excited!
Dx

splash page

*We have the PO!* says Jo Jo*s text to me, and two minutes later she calls, in her sublime Polish accent * what do you want me to do with it? and who*s gonna pick up the original copy*
I smile, and say * Jo, it is the weekend now, just go and chill out* She says * I just wanna get this over and done with * and rings off. We are now officially with a major sponsor for our Air Time, which is ICI Dulux, and a huge weight lifts off all of our shoulders. My exec Producers have been working really hard to pull in all our Developers, they had just come back from Penang, which was a successful trip.

The phone goes off again * Why did*t you call me back* Jer Jer my Media Consultant and good friend says. * I was in the middle of texting you* I reply. *Tsk, Just call me* He says. * Ok we have an Agency should we need to use one* He informs me.
Great stuff, everything is coming together and shaping up really really well. Our show is confirmed to go on air on the 5th Ja 2011, we had just had a meeting that morning with the Broadcasting station.

Sometimes I have to take a deep breath and count all the good things that have happened in the last few months, my show is really taking off, and when my web designer sends out the link for our splash Page www.artoflivingshow.com, it just makes it all so REAL. I have the Film Director I want on board, and excellent Editor whom I have worked with before, Make up artist as well, now we are just waiting for the Clothes Sponsor and BMW to confirm.
I also received a wonderful e mail from the MM2H Agents Association, and they are happy to endorse the show with the MM2H logo! Truly truly good news, we had been negotiating with them for months now.

Now the real work begins, I have to start storyboarding all the developments we are going to showcase, and gear my self up as I will be hosting the show as well... Am I a control freak.. naahhhh

With all this going on, obviously my social life is down to zero! However, I prefer being the Hermit for now, staying focused on my goals is paramount at the moment. (My excuse for staying home and I am sticking to it!) Ok Ok so the occasional cuppa with an old friend from waaayyy back can still be arranged... I am only human!
Next week, we will be sending out the press release and we start the opening graphics for the show.. SO EXCITED!

Thank you Ana for our text logo. XXX
Dx

This is it!

I was having a meeting with the Film Director I have been wanting to use for my television production , Peggs was with me, and was getting a bit bent out shape as she couldn't find the right type of protein food to eat whilst out, so instead settled for a can of full on full fat Coke!

I said to her * are you sure you want to go there Peggs?* *Yeah* she says nonchalantly...
OooKkkk, so I resume my hyperbole. Two minutes later Peggs looks up from her phone and says *Jo Jo just texted, ICI is in*. I say *oh that's great*... Peggs is grinning from ear to ear, and our Film Director says, *wow , congratulations, that is great news*

I know the news has not hit me yet, as I am not feeling anything, and carry on with the meeting. When we are done, Peggs looks at me and says *WE GOT ICI!!!* and I say *Yippie*, still not fully factoring in what this all means... yes I have delayed reaction syndrome, never try to throw me a surprise party..

When I get home, my really good mate Mikey, is on skype and has BIG news to tell me, so I say the same to him, that I have BIG news to tell him too, so we begin to type in capitols so we know that we are shouting at each other with our news! And only when he says, * you may not realize how pleased I am for you , I have a huge grin on my face* is when it really sunk in. Then I got the goose bumps, and when my best friend Ana texted congrats from France, that was it, you talk about rocking the house... Miz thang here had it goin on!

I can*t tell you how much of a good mood I was in the next day, but it felt and still feels really goooooddd. As I said to Ana, my dreams are becoming my reality.
Dx

Pre Production

Hideyhooo! It has been a full-on last couple of months. With the TV show actually going into production, we have been splitting all the meetings between my two EP*s, Peggy, Joanna and myself. Sometimes there were just too many meetings squeezed in and we were left feeling like zombies at the end of the day!

Happily though it is paying of, we have several Real Estate Developers on board, including some lifestyle products as well, the show is shaping up quite nicely and we are all very excited about our shoot, as exhausted as we are !

Having to keep quiet about the show, which is called Art of Living, has been hard, but we believe the time is right now, to step it up a notch and start doing some teasers and viral info bytes to create a bit of awareness and hopefully piqued everyone*s interest. Facebook and Twitter have been the first we have used to do this, the answers from our friends have been really funny! I am just waiting to see what people think we should name this show!! heh heh!

Mariana has kindly designed the Art of Living font which we are using as the show*s logo, it is as usual, wonderfully illustrated, and we have asked another good friend who specialises in web design to begin work on our website www.artoflivingshow.com. I have been trying to be a smart a**s by fiddling around on i web to upload some pages I created for the www.cleidenproductions.com web site, yes try going there.. all you will see is, work in progress.. just like my attempts!!!

coming to a station near you!
Dx

UP their Bums

I'm now more than determined to get my TV show up and running again. We've almost completed the re jigging of the presentation, we have a photo shoot on Tuesday because the pictures of me are slightly dated, and I'm still number crunching the budget as the air time sales have jumped up slightly. I've got two great exec producers on board, and my CFO will be coming back to KL in the next couple of weeks, no doubt she'll be giving me a terrible ear bashing on my amateur cash flow projection attempts, heh heh. Next stage is to get our sponsors on board! I'm so pumped up! More time especially since I'm no longer with Vanity/Envie group.

However the icing on the cake is that I get to go on holiday for a few weeks to center myself, refresh and relaxxxx! yippie!

Zippy de doo dahhh!
Dx

Merry Month of May

Would you believe it's been almost half a year already? Where does the time fly? I keep saying to myself, you need to blog regularly, and as we all know something, someone or just life in general gets between you and that blog spot!
Ok where are we now? Right, I'm now doing the PR and Corporate Comm for the group that own Vanity Mansion and Envie Clublounge. Yes YES I know, I said no more crazy all day jobs, but I do love a challenge. Vanity Mansion is new, so I did the PR for their Soft Launch, their Grand Launch, the Food Tasting launch and now I"m working on the Gourmet Club there and hopefully we'll get the Sunday champagne lunch off the ground soon.
Dasha is doing really well in her singing career. We have bookings for her every month, and are able to keep her in the circuit. She's performed for Petronas F1 in March, and tomorrow will begin a 3 night performance for the BMW launch. In June she'll also be flown to Sabah for a performance at the Hyatt Hotel, lets hope this will be the beginning of the international circuit that we've been planning to put her on.
Apart from that there are two more projects in the pipe line, stay tuned as we plot and plan!
Dx