Making Movies for Fun and No Profit
First of all, Ken Levine somehow stole a blog post idea directly from my head. (This fits with my theory that Rupert Murdoch has a chip my brain, and he’s stealing all my good scripts before I even write them.) Ah, well, it’s probably for the best– he’s a better writer than I am, anyway, […]
Set Visits
I was walking a friend from out of state one day, and we saw a line of unmarked, white trucks along the side of the road. My friend said, “It looks like there’s a circus!” Did I mention my friend was from out of town? To an Angelino, those trucks are the surest sign that […]
Job Well Done
Some days, you can be proud of the work you’ve done, knowing that you’ve contributed, in some small way, to the production. Then there are days when you drive two and a half hours to pick up a DVD with a three second vanity card. I don’t understand why it wasn’t just uploaded to a […]
Success
I’ve met Bryan Singer twice. The first time, he came as a guest judge for a student film competition at my school. This was before X-Men had come out, but he must have been in the middle of post, so it was pretty cool that he came by. Of course, at this point, Singer had […]
You’re Fired!
I once worked for a guy who told me that he’s never had a job he wasn’t fired from. This was a point of pride for him, as it “proved” he had an entrepreneurial spirit, and he would never be successful until he started his own business. He seemed to be right. He started his […]
10-1
Anybody who works on set and who is slightly immature, by which I mean grips, just giggled at the title. You see, channel 1 is the main production line on the walkies. Anyone could be listening, so you shouldn’t say anything that you don’t want other people to hear. You’re also supposed to follow certain […]
Blame Arbitration
I remember a director trying to give a pep talk at the beginning of a shoot. It’s going to be a great film, we have a great cast, great blah blah blah. Then he gets to the part about how this film will be great for all of our careers. Pretty standard, until he says, […]
Incoming Links
Hey, Alex Epstein gave me a link! That’s some quality endorsement. Besides being full of amazing advice, Alex has a tendency to link to other great writers, as well. While on the subject of links, Amanda the Aspiring writer posted a link to a TV writer’s group. It sounds like fun, and I definitely plan […]
Good Mornin’
You work strange hours when you’re making a TV show (or a movie, for that matter). You’ll come in at 7:00 one day and 10:30 the next. Sometimes you’re there for twelve hours, sometimes sixteen. You just never know. One artifact of this, I believe, is that “morning” is whenever call time is, be it […]
Do Your Own Job
The people in charge don’t have any idea what’s going on. They hire people like me, so they don’t have to know. That’s why it really burns my toast when my boss tells me how things are run. Just today, our additional 2nd AD (not to be confused with the 2nd 2nd AD, which is […]
The Hardest Part
(It’s the waiting, for all you non-Tom Petty fans.) Ever walk into a Starbucks, and the line is short, and you think to yourself, “Yes! I’ll get my coffee before the end of the decade,” and then the guy in front of you whips out a scroll as long as your arm, like he’s about […]
More Industry Blogs
I was reading Alex Epstein’s Blog, and followed his link to the Film Industry Bloggers’ site. It’s a great site, since it tries to cover a lot of the crafts. It seems that screenwriters are disproportionately represented in the blogosphere. (I’m gonna go ahead and guess this is a result of self-selection.) It’s fun to […]