My Brain-y endeavors of late:  First, a video interview with pioneering director Katt Shea – one of few women to make her mark in the horror & thriller genres. Katt’s got great insight on acting & directing and tells an inspiring story on getting her first green light & whether she thinks horror exploits women. This interview is part of a series I’ve been working on with actress Kristina Klebe (star of Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake) on the unique opportunities the horror genre offers (particularly early-career) actors.

Second, we just published this  sit-down with the Screen Actors’ Guild’s New Media Department. There’s a lot of confusion in the acting community about union jurisdiction on web series – Does it have to be covered? Is it AFTRA or SAG, etc… In this interview, SAG tells us how they’re working to make it easy for new media producers to work with union actors and what we can do to help (and we’ve even attached a nifty tip sheet for actors on how to get a reluctant producer to union-up).

Photo by gruntzooki

or Can I Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Power Point?

This, my latest post for Brains of Minerva, is about trying to make the writing we must all do about our creative work as exciting and engaging as the work itself. It comes with flavorings of my SXSW trip and some spice courtesy of Twyla Tharp.

I wrote this little story for Laura Simms’ wonderful site Create as Folk. It’s a true-life adventure starring the exploits of friend and artist Megan Metcalf and myself as we try to get in trouble one night at The Hammer Museum.

Backstage recently ran this generous profile of Brains of Minerva. Sarah and I both started our professional careers with the audition notices that would come out every Thursday in the actors ‘paper of record,’ so it was especially sweet to be on the receiving end of its attention. Thanks to journalist Christopher Vaughan for tracking us down and shining the light on our work.

…or “Southby” as I’ve been told the regulars call it. This week I’ll be making my maiden voyage to Austin, Texas to attend the film & interactive sections of South by Southwest Festival. The film festival has been the launching pad of some of my favorite directors of the last few years, like Lena Dunham & Andrew Bujalski. Since Sarah & I launched Brains of Minerva in 2009, we’ve spent loads time learning how to market and communicate effectively on the web. And now that I’m embarking on a new project, Analices, that lives in the intersection of my life in traditional acting and new media, what better way to indulge my interests, invest in some serious professional development, and experience a new city than to take a few days and head south and, well, west…

If you have a film/panel/performance that I just can’t miss, please drop me a line.

overview-Vimeo Default 720 from Claire Winters on Vimeo.

Huh? Doesn’t wordpress come with spellcheck?

Analices is an online acting game in development.

It started off, an embarrassingly long time ago, as an aspiring audition tape for the role of Alice in an adaptation of the novel Indecision. Hence the Alice part, and then there’s, you know, some (over?) thinking involved (after all, I’m at the helm…) so I wanted to play with the word analysis…The project combines my main acting interests (long-term development of complex characters) and teaching strengths (helping others use themselves well in projects they create themselves (that actually mean something to them)).

If you’re in the market for an epic video game/online acting class/self-improving art project, stop on by.