This was supposed to be funny and just turned out angry, I'm going to post it anyway. Sleepy cricket you know I love you so don't feels bad.
I consider myself a pretty creative person who has yet to find his creative outlet. Until I am struck by some type of talent or skill I will record things on my camera and put the on the Internet. In late 2009 I was sent this facebook invite by a "camp friend."
Recently I had lost a lot of my collaborators to old age (they got successful or douchey) so I was very intrigued by the offer. So I participated and slowly transitioned from "camp friend" to someone where if a mutual acquaintance were to see me they would be like "hey where's the other ones?"
But back to the movie, they had an idea (lesbians and a slob) and 1.5 pages of script (something about a girl flushing the toilet while the other girl was taking a shower) and were in know hurry to make any more progress on the script before enlisting every person they knew to help with production. I really didn't want to manage this thing but I laid down a firm "hold your horses" and together we camp up with a very rough but readable treatment.
Before I go on I should say what I mean by "together," it means me having to act like an a-hole to keep the other one away from World of Warcraft long enough for him to tell me at least the broadest idea of what he had in mind for structure. I would then write as he raided with his guild or something. A couple days later I had a rough draft put together, and despite the premise which I hated and the lack of input I was kind of proud of. It wasn't "good" but it was shootable and it played to the strengths of those involved.
"The script is not in the right format," is the answer I was given whenever I would ask when we would start shooting or doing anything productive towards actually making something. So 2009 turned into 2010 and in early January we actually shot for a day. It was halfhearted and no one was really in charge but it was a start and I felt good that we were actually getting something on tape.
After the first day of shooting everyone acting in the movie got haircuts and other bodily changes. With the smallest speed bump in the road our crew had lost interest and without the connections to the rest of the talent I was unable to pick up the scraps and get it done.
If the other half were even half as committed as I was to his idea then this would have been completed and embedded below for viewing. But he wasn't so here is a copy of the script:
If I were to say one positive thing about myself it would be that I am a worker. I get it done, no matter how sloppy no matter how long it takes. And if I get other people involved I will walk to the ends of the earth for them. I was so excited about this silly little movie because for once I thought I could just work, I wouldn't have to rally the troops, I would have to sell the project to others, I wouldn't have deal with drama. I would just show up and do everything in my power to turn this no budget video project into something that we could all look back and cringe about. This experience was in the end a good one because it got me a new set of amazing friends but it drove me nuts at the time because this project leader has tremendous assets thrown at him such as the aforementioned amazing people and he pretty much just wasted their time on this.
I should not be angry about this. It's recreational time and its not like I would have been doing anything important if I wasn't involved with this. But I have wasted years of my life trying to make something happen either with my video projects, personal life, or career-wise and for the most part opportunities have alluded me... and forget it it just sucks to see someone with everyone having his/our back and not delivering... or even attempting to deliver. Am I jealous? Yes. Will I be bitter about it after I hit "publish now" on this post? NOPE.
Sure the leader had all these resources thrown at him, but how hard were the throws? Were they soft girly lobs that you'd see in a Powder Puff football game or were they Major League fastballs that were making the leader's hand sore when he caught them even through a thick leather glove? And was there an intentional walk attempted?
ReplyDeleteReally with all these questions in the air it's hard to tell. You surely delivered, a lot like Airborne Express used to deliver...and then we all know what happened to Airborne--acquired by DHL. And we all know how DHL delivers now. I'll surely go with UPS. After all, UPS has the closest initials to USPS. Talk about confusion there. And really, that was a lot of what the project was at time, confusion.
I appreciate your attitude and share it. I know that when I'm with my friends, I've got their backs. No. Matter. What. There's not a time when I'm not ready to escalate a bar fight for someone close to me.
By the way, I find it interesting your poetic use of the word "guild". I realize that you're being literary here but I can't help but wonder if it's an allusion to the Writer's Guild of America. Is this your way of saying that you're striking again? Because I'll be damned if I miss another episode of Grey's.
They weren't so much throws as hand offs on a silver platter. Women don't play sports so I will ignore the rest of that paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I send is love to Jon Purdy so I don't know nothing about no shipping locations.
I used Guild in a mocking tone to imply that your hobby makes you a lesser person than I am. Actually its not your WoW playing that makes you a lesser person than me, its you being a lesser person than me that makes you enjoy WoW.
Darn, it's too bad you're not bitter about it anymore, becuase I was sometimes bitter about it still, and I put a lot less into.
ReplyDeleteGuess I'm over it too.
And thanks for posting the script!
Ahh, lukewarm memories...
P.S. - I made it in a picture!