Reflections on 2015

I am not a big holiday card fan. You know, cards like this?

I have, however, always loved the newsy missives – the ones where they describe what everyone’s been doing for the past twelve months? Like, “Mary just had her thirty-seventh child,” and “Joe got a big ol’ promotion at the factory”?? That kinda thing.

You probably hate those.

If you do? I really hope you have an amazing 2016 and you should absolutely stop reading now.

If you don’t? It is YOUR LUCKY DAY! Because I’ve been pretty blown away by all the amazing things the LK&Co. Faculty has been up to of late, and I thought this letter would be a perfect time to fill you in on all of it. The good news is that it was written by our own Evan Gaustad, who abandoned us this year to become a fabulous comedy writer!

Here goes . . .

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Fortunately for the world, Eric Ladin was able to take a break from shooting HBO’s The Brinkand starring in The Power of Duff at The Geffen Playhouse in order to co-chair Unicef’s Masquerade Ball, raising money to help children affected by the migration crisis. He would have helped deal with global warming as well but he’s got two young boys and there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Angel Parker & Eric Nenninger have officially become Hollywood’s most unassuming and casual power couple. Eric was in the Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and Angel shot the Ryan Murphy mini-series American Crime Story: The People Vs. OJ Simpson. In addition to shooting shows with the longest titles, they also hold the record for “Longest Run of Co-Teaching an LK&Co. Friday Ongoing Class as a Married Couple and Not Getting Divorced.”

Lilah Richcreek moved in with her boyfriend in late 2014 and the move didn’t end their relationship or either of their lives. To celebrate, she booked the role of Jane in the ABC Family pilot, Gorgeous Morons, and then traveled around Europe.

Jim Mahoney had planned to travel in 2015, but then he booked an Equity play, Cash on Delivery, produced and starred in a web series, shot a few commercials, wrote a spoof used to promote the release of The Hobbit Trilogy, and co-wrote two feature films, one with Zach Lewis (who had a baby boy! His wife, Stephanie Jackson, did the heavy lifting). But he still traveled a little so the year wasn’t all bad.

Our beloved Jolie Jenkins gave birth to a VERY cute baby boy this year, and because he was so adorable she decided to spend a lot of time with him. She also managed to write a bunch of articles for The Huffington Post, book some work, including House of Lies and the pilot, Poor Todd, and write, direct, and star in her own one-act play; and she did all of it during the baby’s naps.

Brilliant Ed Quinn hit a huge career milestone in 2015. It took a lot of hard work, grit and determination, but he can finally relax, content in the knowledge that he achieved what most actors only dream of – being part of a TV threesome on Mistresses. He also taught Sally Pressman how to survive aliens on Ed Quinn Vs. . . . .

Richie Keen directed his first feature, Fist Fight, starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Kristina Hendricks, Kumail Nanjani and Dean Norris for New Line Cinema. We’re all really worried about him and his career.

Alexis Krause booked a recurring role in the Netflix show The Get Down, as well as a bundle of commercials. More importantly, she and her husband bought a house so she has a comfortable place to hang out and watch herself on TV.

Helen Highfield booked a national commercial for Yelp in which her character was harassed by an octopus. Instead of leaving town after that harrowing event, like any normal person would have done, she stuck around and booked roles in Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life and I Ship It, a CW Seed show that, despite it’s nautical sounding title, does not have anything to do with octopi.

Todd Stashwick’s household is prepping to send their eldest child off to college. As a coping mechanism, Todd spent the year shooting 12 Monkeys in Toronto, doing Comic Con panels in San Diego and New York, and writing for the upcoming Star Wars game in the Bay Area. If you see him, offer some support.

After two years of constant child rearing, Sally Pressman’s boy finally entered pre-school in 2015. She used the newfound free time to perform in a one-act play with her husband, shoot a pilot with and for Ed Quinn in Vegas, and work on season 5 of Girls.

2015 brought Angelique Cabral a lot of happiness but also a really tough decision: when people ask her how things are going, should she lead with the new house that she and her husband bought, or that her CBS show Life in Pieces was picked up for a full season and is America’s #1 comedy?

Joel Johnstone had the misfortune of playing a lead role in The Astronaut Wives Club, forcing him to disappoint all his friends and family who asked if the show shot in space. He also worked on The Wedding Party, which fortunately didn’t prompt as many foolish questions.

2015 was a banner year for Jill Remez and her “Shows I’ve Done” checklist: Modern Family, KC Undercover, The Thundermans, Secrets & Lies, Snowfall, Criminal Minds and Colony all got marked off. Fun Jill Fact: She keeps this checklist next to her grocery list and the two are rarely confused.

Tyler Poelle’s world mostly revolves around his four-year-old daughter and teaching her all he knows about things like salesmanship (from the half dozen commercials he shot), mortality (in his tear-jerking episode of Grey’s Anatomy), and how it’s okay to be a goofball (by being in shows like KC Undercover and Dog With A Blog). He also did some writing, working on a movie about sex trafficking, and plans to teach her about that never.

Mainstream shows have become old hat for Adam Korson. Sure, he worked on Castle and Hot In Cleveland and a handful of other shows this year, but they all seemed too… authorized. Never one to sit back and accept the status quo, Adam booked The Unauthorized 90210 Story and The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story. Mold broken.

Trisha LaFache’s acting prowess helped God’s Not Dead make a bajllion dollars at the box office, so the filmmakers wisely decided to bring her back and to shoot God’s Not Dead 2 this past year. Fingers crossed that God continues to not die and the franchise lives on.

Alison Turner is the resident acting coach on a massively successful network show. This would be a big deal for most people, but Alison is from Texas, so it’s sort of just a medium sized deal for her.

Jacquelyn Zook joined the ranks of Kim Kardashian, Snookie and other reality TV stars when she filmed The Real Housewives of Shakespeare. She worked under the stage name Olivia and the show shot in Illyria. Determined not to be typecast as an Elizabethan actress, she also shot The 60 Yard Line, a movie about football.

Guest-star roles in Bones, The Mentalist, and NCIS: Los Angeles led Victoria Garcia Kelleher to dub 2015 her “Murder Year.” Both because she’s “killin’ it” on the booking front and those shows are full of murder.

Jay Lacopo moved to Hollywood in the spring of 2015 and the first thing he ever wrote, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life, was picked up for 13 episodes. We’re all excited to see if he can handle the instant success.

Tiffany Elle‘s greatest achievement of 2015 was swimming deep into the ocean while battling a flock of frigates to give a hatchling sea turtle a fighting chance at life. She is also quietly amassing an army of woodland creatures. We think (and hope) this refers to her Instagram account, and not to poorly conceived plans for world domination.