roos, reviews, and an interview

December 10, 2024

What a month, huh. I’m drafting this on my porch in Los Angeles, mostly settled back in after the whirlwind of premiering in St. Louis and Melbourne. We sold...

film fests, here we come

November 1, 2024

DISCLAIMER: It feels bizarre to be sending this as the election looms. It feels bizarre to be heading off to film festivals! But here we go. The world...

teasing some news

October 1, 2024

Somehow it's been three months. The bullet points: Denman Island was perfect, though the blackberries were not yet ripe. Our car got stolen, stripped,...

smack in the middle (of summer)

July 3, 2024

How is it that June 20 feels like the cusp of summer, and by July 3 we're smack in the middle?? I already feel panicked that I’ve wasted it. I'm not good at...

falafel tacos, snow and ice, suburban mom cosplay

February 1, 2024

I spent a big chunk of January in Boston. The flight was cheap, I had no in-person obligations in LA, and I wanted to celebrate S's birthday with her. It's...

The best (and one worst) of 2023

December 30, 2023

Best birthday cake I made for R, a large portion of which oozed out of the springform pan and burned on the bottom of the oven, but was spectacular...

movie updates, silver pants, Michelin-approved tacos

September 28, 2023

I think I've diagnosed the problem. The minute I suggested that people sign up for this newsletter to get "jaunty, periodic updates" on Where in the Hell, I...

the reviews are in, sort of 😆💀

June 30, 2023

We've been test screening Where in the Hell over the past week or so, the idea being that it's wise to share with an eclectic group of people, not all...

Bridget Everett, birria, and a gray LA

May 31, 2023

May blurred by with short trips to Orlando and Maine, and a mild case of Covid I caught somewhere along the way. The Cov doused cold water all over my...

It's a real movie

April 30, 2023

Spring has descended in LA, a strange, gray spring, and I'm recklessly overdue sending a newsletter. In my own defense (not that anyone has accused me of...

How is it August already?

July 31, 2022

I've been in limbo these past months. Staying in. Rehabbing my wrists. Making small, meaningful strides with the edit, though we've got a long way to go....

Tendinitis, Los Dorados, an excellent pair of pants

March 14, 2022

A brief one. I finally got a diagnosis for my wrists. Tendinitis. I’m experimenting with dictation again, which is maddening, but maybe once I master the...

elation, ambivalence

November 1, 2021

I am officially a feature film director. The first leg of the shoot went smashingly. In case you're not on Instagram, here's a portrait of me on location. A...

surging with adrenaline

September 15, 2021

In four days, we roll camera on the first sequence of WHERE IN THE HELL, the art-house buddy comedy/dystopian road movie I've been writing and prepping to...

where in the ⁉️

July 11, 2021

Last night I went to get a Thai massage—a thing I sorely missed this past year (no pun intended)—but I couldn't quite relax into it. I caught myself...

relishing the in-between, a cheezy gordita, a wireless bra that maybe doesn't suck

May 6, 2021

Over the weekend, I finished the second draft of my new feature script. On Monday, I sent it off to my producers, my casting director, an exec producer I'm...

optimistic, and yet flexible 💀

February 28, 2021

I just peeked back at my newsletter from November 1, 2020. Four months and one entire lifetime ago, it seems. I mentioned the feature script I was writing,...

Emma Thompson, overalls

January 11, 2021

Back in October, I had the surreal honor of being on a Zoom with Emma Thompson. Just me and two other screenwriters (and one lawyer sister who tagged along),...

Hello out there 👋

November 30, 2020

Are you okay? I'm okay. I've adopted a strict writing schedule, 8am-12pm, that I'm mostly sticking to. It helps me feel like a person. My mom has endorsed...

It's still tomato season

November 1, 2020

I keep waiting for a quiet moment to send a newsletter. As if there will be a quiet moment when U.S./world events don’t eclipse my small personal struggles....

It's the Laramie Report! Remember, that newsletter you signed up for in the Before?

July 31, 2020

It's been a few months. I keep waiting for an epiphany, some little spark of a something to write to you about, but instead there's just me, sitting on my...

taco tuesday wednesday thursday, skunk vs. gopher, "Bull"

May 6, 2020

Hello my favorite people. Where did that month go?? It’s May, but it’s like... it could be August? It’s already hot in LA. I’m still going to the farmer’s...

no taco, but much gratitude

March 31, 2020

I don't have a taco rec for you today. I almost ordered an emergency taco kit from Guerilla Tacos, mostly just so I could write to you about it, but ten...

Fuck hope.

February 29, 2020

I got a big fat rejection on Friday, for a grant I’d been—not counting on, I wasn't that confident. But hopeful about I guess. What a bonkers human instinct....

Flour tortillas worth the headache

January 31, 2020

I'm on a pretty strict gluten-free diet. I discovered, more than a decade ago, that wheat flour was a migraine trigger for me. Cutting it out hugely improved...

2 1/2 new year's resolutions, 1 shrimp taco

December 31, 2019

I have two wildly conflicting resolutions this year: 1) Learn how to do nothing. 2) Get better at prioritizing the important stuff. Which means... 2a) Get...

It doesn't have to be that hard

October 31, 2019

This has been my mantra for past few weeks. I'm closing in on yet another draft of LIFE ON sMARS, and every little thing seems hard. Every little fix. Mostly...

sailing (sort of), straight-leg jeans, plus empanadas, gorditas, and chavindecas

September 30, 2019

Since returning from our road trip, I've been obsessively reading a book I found in one of those little free library hutches in Courtenay, BC. Actually, L...

WERKKKKK

August 31, 2019

This month's "taco" is a Trader Joe's tortilla wrapped around a slice of turkey. We're leaving town tomorrow, and we're in Eat-Everything-in-the-Fridge mode....

The Taco Diaries: Venice, CA v. Boston

July 31, 2019

I've been a little out of sorts since I got back from Boston. I expected to have three weeks of down time before my next gig, which has since stretched to...

the puffy taco you've been waiting for

May 31, 2019

We're still getting cool mornings in Los Angeles. May Gray, we tell each other, reminding ourselves that this is how it always is. And now, June Gloom. I've...

Long time no taco

April 30, 2019

Hello friends! You may or may not remember signing up for this newsletter? In which I sometimes brag about small achievements, often grouse about writing,...

gifts for feminist film snobs, hard-to-please pet people, and everyone else! plus a wild boar taco

December 4, 2018

I thought I'd change it up this month and do a gift guide. Please note: This may read as Laramie's holiday wish list, but it is not intended as such. It's...

Look Ma, I'm in the Hollywood Reporter

October 11, 2018

Hello friends! Today's newsletter is brought to you by a strong cup of coffee with coconut cashew milk and very large dose of adrenaline. I will do my best...

The dog days are (almost) over

August 6, 2018

Or... Are they. I googled the phrase the other day, and got zero clarity. According to Wikipedia, the dog days are "the hot, sultry days of summer. They were...

Let her eat cake 🎂

June 7, 2018

I'm drafting this at La Taquiza, my old fave taco joint from my USC days. Sitting at my old fave corner table with my yellow legal pad. I'm headed to a...

lip tint, monkey hot tubbing, 2 of 300 arguments

April 12, 2018

I'm breaking format this month to offer you a list of things I've found pleasing and/or meaningful: 1. Laura Olin's newsletter, which is a list of lovely...

RICCCCCKKKKAAAAAWWWWWWWKKKKKKKKKK!

March 8, 2018

Hello my favorite people. I'm sending this from a desk at an office, at a job that may last for 10 weeks (fingers crossed) or may end tomorrow. We just don't...

Accessing that smushy part of my brain

January 31, 2018

Good morning! Happy February. I managed to get up at seven (woooooo), and I'm out on the porch as I draft this, quietly drinking my coffee. Ricky's out of...

Good omens for 2018

December 31, 2017

1. A beautiful bunch of New Year’s carrots, gifted to me by the dreadlocked organic produce guy as I paid for my tomatoes. “To lighten my load,” he said. I...

a halfhearted rant about tacos and LA "winter" fashions

November 30, 2017

Happy December, friends! I’m drafting this at Salazar, an irksomely hip barbecue/taco joint, built on an old gas station site, I think? There’s a kind of...

Trees and trees and trees

November 1, 2017

Hello my favorite people! Happy November. Happy November 1, to be precise. I’m determined to get back to sending the Report on the first of the month. If I...

Without hope and without despair

September 13, 2017

I'm starting a new project (or, rather, re-starting a project I’ve started before, but I won't go into that...) so naturally I spent a solid hour yesterday...

I’m purging again

August 13, 2017

My clothes hang on an exposed rod on my bedroom wall, so I’m forced to look at everything I own, every day. It makes me crazy to see clothes I don’t wear,...

Nobody walks (at night)

July 6, 2017

In New York, you get all the walking you need just living your life, but if you want to walk in LA you have to make an effort. I have a rule, which...

June Gloom

June 4, 2017

I swore I wouldn’t use that hokey headline and look here I am using it anyway. I’m not actually gloomy. Pensive, maybe. (Pensive is my default.) But it’s a...

Life is good, you guys 🍕🍳

April 30, 2017

Sometimes I have to remind myself of this. It’s a beautiful morning in Los Angeles (what else is new), and I'm sitting on the porch, eating a leftover slice...

You can’t be a sellout if you haven’t sold anything

March 15, 2017

Good morning, friends! It’s 6:30am as I’m sitting down to draft this. The sky is just starting to go from an inky dark blue to a dusky dawn blue, and the...

Suiting Up For the Apocalypse ✨💀✨

January 31, 2017

Hello my favorite people. Hi. I’m under the covers as I draft this, hiding from it all. Yesterday I spent way too much time on the internet—like, the whole...

Staving off The Januaries™

January 3, 2017

Hello my favorite people. Here we are in January, my least favorite month. January stinks. There’s too much pressure, you know? To assess. To make...