Category: Life

Funny thing that happened: So for a scene today, the crew smoked weed. Now since I’ve taken on the role of one of the actors (see last blog entry), that meant that I needed to smoke weed too.

Well, it really worked well. And it’s all caught on tape. In any case, let’s just say that there’ll be lots of blooper footage for this film.

The shoots are coming to a close. There’s one next Thursday, one next Saturday, and that should be it. There might be the need for another one on top of that followed by the one-on one interviews that I’ll do with everyone after. This is getting done!

Well, this morning was another shoot. It was a small team this time round – only me, the lead, and two supporting actors. Unfortunately, one of the two supporting actors copped out. This is the second time (in three shoots) that this particular guy has done this to me.

Last Saturday, as I found out later, it was because he decided to go canoeing instead. It’s not because he had forgotten about it either – a day or so before the shoot he informed me that “something had come up”, and that he wouldn’t be able to come. As for today, it was because he chose to attend a protest. He didn’t even bother to let me know. It was only after I called him this morning that he finally got back to me.

This scene really focused on him, the lead, and the co-actor. His absenteeism screwed me over, and I didn’t really appreciate it. I spent $1,500 of my money to make this movie a reality. Not only that, but I have a very tight schedule – the boat company I use as a set is closing up shop for the season next week. Had he even bothered to let me know a day in advance, I wouldn’t be writing this here. People tell me dates they can’t make it for all the time, and I work around it.

But I can’t work around the issue if he only lets me know half an hour before the shoot. Furthermore, I’m already going out of my way for this guy doing a series of videos as part of a project he’s part of. In fact, I stayed up until 4AM finishing one up for him last Monday/Tuesday night.

It’s clear he has different priorities, and that I’m not in there. He claims it was a rather novel protest, and that his attendance helped. So be it. It still means that I am, on his priority list, somewhere between “worthless” and “oh hey, I have a few seconds free.” It has me questioning how much I’ve been putting myself out to help him. I work seven days in a row; he doesn’t. He doesn’t even have a job.

It’s frustrating. He even had the audacity to try to switch the blame to me. There’s truth to his argument – I could manage without him last Saturday, and I did say that I could manage if he couldn’t make it today. But that’s before he said he would show up today, and before the whole “not letting me know until the shoot itself” ordeal. In any case, he is no longer part of this movie. I used myself as a substitute for his character today, and I’ll have to come up with some kind of reasoning with regards to the switch of character. I’ll also have to find someone else now to play the part of the character I was going to do.

He’s since apologized. I don’t believe it to be sincere. Had he actually cared, I wouldn’t of found out he wasn’t coming half-an-hour before the shoot began. It would of been before, or he would of chose to attend the shoot. The only reason I think he even apologized to that extent was because I let him know under no uncertain terms that I was rather upset at his dishonest behaviour.

I think he’s scared that he might lose me as a video editor, which would screw him over royally. I won’t screw him like that, but he better be more considerate in the future – or I /will/ drop out. I haven’t had much sleep over the last few weeks, and working on his thing will insure I don’t get any for a while to come. This means that I’m more confrontational than my typical pacifist self, and that I will bite back if necessary.

I work in the service industry. In other words: I deal with the general public. I’m not in an office where it’s the same people everyday, presumably with some level of common sense. No, I get to deal with all types.

I’ve been in the service industry ever since my first “real” job at the age of 15. Whether it’s being a ticketseller, being a computer sales associate, or being a tour guide – and over that time, I’ve dealt with some pretty nasty folk.

For instance, one guy a few weeks ago railed on my boss on my boss’ apparent inadequate French skills. He then came to me, to rail about something else. Getting weary of putting up with his crap, I gave him a choice – get on our boat, or get a refund. He wasn’t pleased. Lo and behold, a few days later he sent that same boss (he was unaware of my boss’ status) a nasty letter about me. Essentially, making up shit that I didn’t do as to get me fired. It failed.

Today, my roomate got spit on by a customer. He works in the deli department of a big chain grocery store. The man didn’t believe the price of the meat he was buying. So he spit on my friend. My friend calmly walked away.

Had it been me, I would of been over the counter in a heartbeat. Had it been another captain I work with, the guy would of been on the ground with a black eye. That’s the one downside of the service industry. You deal with a bunch of good, honest, people… but then you have to deal with all the fucktards too.

Well, today was quite the shoot. It *technically* began at 8AM, and the key people didn’t go home until 2PM~ish.

Because a few actors couldn’t make it today, I had to push off a few of the main scenes to next week. Furthermore, one of the main guys is leaving for three weeks. What that meant was that I had to get everything of his done today, as three weeks from now the set on which I shoot will no longer be available. Not only that, but it had to be done by 10:30AM (for his stuff) because he had to get to work.

Nevertheless, despite the fact we started an hour after I would have preferred, it was a resounding success. Lots got done. I have about an 1h20 of footage caught on tape. Amongst them a few classic scenes, which will be shared on this blog soon.

Saturday’s shoot went really well, all told. That niggle I spoke of in the previous entry got resolved in the nick of time (yay for Craigslist!) On the negative side: It started to rain, which meant that I couldn’t do two of the main shots I had intended to take care of. On the positive side: everyone showed up, they were all wonderful actors, and we finished on time. Even the most difficult scenes went off without a hitch.

Interesting Story: I had actually scheduled 3 backups to come in for Saturday. None of them showed up. But all the main actors did, safe for one. Screwed was I? Nope – because one of the actors, who’s a buddy of mine, brought a common friend of ours to come see. So he took on the role!

Despite these good news, I’m not out of the woods yet – there’s still lots more footage to be taken. But at least now I can breathe a little easier.

I’d update this entry with photos, but unfortunately I still don’t have Internet at my new place (which makes organizing shoots a royal pain in the %##$!) This Internet-outage is brought to you by Rogers.