Maybe Tomorrow
Winner of the Audience Choice Award at the 2011 Sleepless in Lake Placid 24-hour film competition.

Cuddle Buddies
Clip featuring Jessica Bloustein Marshall, Bryce Stanton and Allan Nichols (Slapshot).

I have been a member of SAG-AFTRA since 2007. I did featured background work on a number of films, including Mona Lisa Smile, Baby Mama, Old Dogs and What Just Happened. TV credits include Law & Order: SVU, Canterbury’s Law and 30 Rock.

Tennis, Anyone? Six Films to Celebrate the US Open

The Secret Butt-Kicking Lives of Other World Leaders

‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting:’ Five Epic Movie Birth Scenes

Shot in Raleigh, NC  in March 2012, this little ditty came about because of the unexpected success of our previous video. We decided to up the ante this time, using more props and costumes—everything from plastic baubles and tiaras to our piéce de rèsistance, a unicorn-shaped piñata.

I write about movies, TV and pop culture for a young, Hollywood-loving, predominantly female demographic. Depending on the week, I write a recurring listicle feature called “Prep School”— 5 things I recommend you do before watching a particular movie or TV series premiering that week.

Click here for an archive of my work on Hollywood Crush.

Selected links:

Prep School Archive

‘Avengers’ in Love: 5 Heroes of Romance

‘Girls’ Episode Recap: ‘Weirdos Need Girlfriends Too‘

Actually, there’s more behind the music.

When my good friend Adam David Kissick and I were in high school together, we would spend hours on any given Saturday composing comedic skits and capturing them on video (all PG-rated, of course). Adam was (and still is) a multimedia shooting and editing genius, and I, while initially technologically inept, was always good for a short screenplay or two. Together with the rest of our talented HS crew, we produced some pretty entertaining stuff.

Fast forward X number of years later, when we decided to pick up where we left off as teens back in the 5-1-8. Teaming up with our respective spouses, Christy and Rick, we’ve produced the first in what we hope is a long series of Tanners Manners/Marshall Law collaborative comedic web videos.

The concept for this video literally came to me in a dream. Snug in my bed, I had a vision of Christy and I rapping (yes, hardcore freestyling) about how difficult it is to forgo the ridiculous footwear we love in favor of a pair of more sensible shoes. Throughout the dream, we were running around in 4-inch heels–on the streets, in the gym, on the beach (yes in the sand). The next morning, I awoke inspired. I pitched Adam and Christy the idea, and they were instantly on board. We agreed that I would write the rap and that we would shoot during a trip Rick and I had planned to visit them in Raleigh.

Despite inexperience and my lacking serious skills delivering beat poetry, the words started coming. My iPad was glued to my hand for the next few weeks, catching any floating bits of inspiration that came to me throughout a given day. Long story short, the rap materialized. Adam, Christy and I recorded it in their well-equipped AV “studio,” and we shot on the mean streets of Raleigh and its environs. While we couldn’t feasibly shoot every shot we initially envisioned, we got the beach shots—which ended up being a key element of the finished video. The looks we got during the beach shoot from passersby as we pranced in the sand wearing two pairs of my particularly insensible heels were well worth the entire effort.

Afterward, Adam worked his editing magic and put it all together into the finished product that you see today. Then we all went back to our professional lives, Christy and I none the wiser about wearing sensible shoes and Adam and Rick no less understanding of why we continue to eschew wearing them.

Stay tuned for our next video, details to be released soon!

• Reel Inspiration Blog Inspiring movie recommendations and reviews

• Press Play Blog A weekly round-up of inspiring videos online

• Disaster Relief in Haiti How you can help.

• Not Your Average Seder Creative play involves children in the Passover ritual.

• Pass the Cookies! One family’s Christmas cookie tradition

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiaXi0SnGDc"]

NEWSWEEK reveals the top five lies about student life and shows you can’t trust those college flicks.

12/21/08: NEWSWEEK ranks the 50 most powerful people in the world.

5/22/08: How the Dems can reconcile

5/21/08: After California’s landmark ruling on gay marriage, NEWSWEEK takes a look back at how the marriage issue shaped the 2004 campaign ads.

Videos shot, produced and/or edited by Jessica Bloustein Marshall:

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8wusl6YzOs"]
Newsweek.com: As movies and TV cover teen pregnancy, one young mother explains how having a baby changed her life. (Video: Jessica Bloustein)

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppyBAAro2pE"]
Newsweek.com: Black and white enjoy the annual community fair in Crawford, Ga., and two men vying to be county sheriff work the crowd for votes and grappling with a powerful symbol of the town’s racist past. (Prod/Camera: Lee Wang; Editor Jessica Bloustein)

[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSutsuJUJuE"]
Newsweek.com: ‘Real World A Capella’–What happens when the ‘Glee’ kids grow up: a look into the quirky world of semi-professional a cappella in New York City.