Where do I go from here?

I'm a student right now - an online student. Needless to say, I don't get out much. This is something that has really been bothering me lately. There's so much that I want to accomplish, but I feel like I'm stuck in my apartment all the time. I don't want to miss out on opportunities to connect with people who can help my career, but I don't know where to begin.

I know I should be doing an internship right now, but I'm having a hard time focusing. Like I said, there's a lot I want to do. So, what do I do first? That's the real question. And how do I meet the people I need to meet in order to do that?

I suppose here is as good a place as any to lay it all out there. Here's a list of things that I KNOW I can do... that I KNOW I would be good at:

1. Screenwriting. Kind of a no-brainer, since that is what my degree will be in, but I know I can write well and tell an interesting story. The trick will be getting someone important to read it.

2. Acting. I've always been able put myself in someone else's shoes, to empathize with them. I'm not the kind of person who bottles up their emotions, containing them beneath a tough exoskeleton. And that's actually something I consider a strength, not a weakness. I keep those feelings right at the surface where I can easily tap into very raw emotions. Pretty important skill for any actor if you ask me.

3. Directing. Goes hand in hand with the last two, I know. Noticing any patterns here? But this is just another thing that I know I could do well. I like reading classmates' scripts and imagining how I would film them.

4. Casting. It's more that just finding a good actor. It's about finding the person the writer didn't even know they had in mind all along while the story was being written - the person who was born to play this specific role. This is something that could make or break a film. A good script is only the beginning. The right cast and crew make it come to life - make it a success. I would love to be the one doing that.

I'm kind of at a cross-roads right now. I can either get an internship, most likely at a production company or casting agency, give acting a go, drudging to hundreds of casting calls, or do the unspeakable - pay for more education in film-making.

Of course, there is another option, but it might be too financially risky to really pursue. I could write a fresh script from scratch, cast and direct it myself, using friends from the LA Film School and Full Sail. Even just writing a script and gathering the crew to film it independently would be quite an undertaking. Still, the feeling of having actually accomplished that would be... indescribable.

I will definitely post updates here if I do decide to take this on. In the mean time...

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