Make Film not Drama…

I think the hardest part about writing a blog about what I do, and maybe this is because of who I am, in the genetic sense, is that when I write down my daily thoughts or weekly events, at the time they sound important or worth telling and then after a few days pass by I look at what I am about to publish and I think, “Oi, not worth it,” or “Gosh, who is going to care?” For example, I was going to write about the agent who bold-faced lied to me about an actor reading the script and passing on the material and then I found out by emailing the actor directly that they had never read the script, I was going to write about that, but after writing most of that (3 full pages!), I re-read it and thought to myself, “I don’t care anymore, move on Matthew.” Or, I was going to write about the fact that I have had no work and all of a sudden several projects came in at one time and now I find myself in a position not to not accept the jobs, because I need the money and none of them are paying what I need them to pay in order to do them all properly, but I still took the gigs because, well, I needed the money. I could tell you that, in retrospect, it sucks to have to do that, because, I can’t focus on what the production needs, by not paying for an assistant or an assistant and an associate, my time is spent going through emails and scheduling auditions and working so virtually, that the phone calls I need to make to discuss the projects with a live person get thrown to the back of the line and the phone calls to return get pushed back to the back of another line and that the phone sheet becomes my enemy and still somehow I have to remember six different films’ characters and make lists and check availabilities on my own because these producers have no idea how intense the work load that they are asking me to do, is…I could write about that…

 

I could also write about the big drama over Casting Workshops and how over the past several months, my good friends who run these workshops have been freaking out about the LA City Attorneys letter sent to Casting Directors and workshop owners warning them that they may be in violation of the Krekorkian Talent Scam Prevention Act. I could write about that, but after attending several of the meetings and hearing all parties concerns, I got board from the lack of knowledge as to what people (i.e. people who don’t do what I do for a living) do and how we do it and also the lack of understanding that it actually is possible that someone like myself is good at something else besides casting a film and can actually teach a class legitimately and does care about imparting knowledge on to actors but is also entitled to make a living, I could go on and on and on about that, but it just gets a little whiny.

 

I could write about my interns, all of who are in their early twenties. All, still in college, and all of whom are completely useless with computers, printers and the Internet. All of which makes me CRAZY! I don’t understand this, I don’t understand that a generation that has grown up with digital music, cell phones, the world wide web, virtual shopping, virtual worlds, that this generation can literally not plug in a computer to a printer or figure out how to download a printer’s driver onto their laptop, how, dear God up in the sky, how do they function on a daily basis? I could write about that, but then I just feel old and as I am not even 39 yet (a few more days, presents accepted), I could write about that, but I will swallow it and chalk it up to remembering that when I was 22 I was probably as much of an idiot as I think that they are and I probably was…

 

I could write about the office rent and phone bills and needing to put that damn poster up that has been leaning against my office wall, framed and all, since I moved into the office (2 years ago). I could write about needing to dust and vacuum the office and clean out the files, which I leave to Monika, because she loves to do it, I could remind myself that somewhere on my desk which looks like KATRINA hit it, I could remind myself to find that article on that rapper that everyone is talking about and how I tried to get him in a film two years ago but my producer thought he didn’t mean anything. I could write about the gazillions of times I have tried to get the obviously hot, hot actor to be to be the lead of a film and pay him peanuts because he would be happy to be in a film and then by the time the film was ready to be released, by that time, the producers would be kissing me, licking my body in joy and love because all of a sudden their 1.5 million dollar film had the new hot star of the moment, I could write about how this happens to me on a daily basis and still, somehow, I keep my cool when I hear back, “Matt, they just don’t mean anything…” I could write about that…

 

But I don’t want to write about any of this stuff. I want to tell you that I have been really lucky over the last few weeks and working my butt off to make it all work and that despite the state of the independent film world, I have faith that money will come back to it and that the business will find a way to continue to produce and distribute films and that the business will continue, because in truth, we need to find a way to keep things moving in a positive direction or else a lot of us in this industry will be doing something else. And since I have no other discernable skill set, I really need to keep my gig going.

 

So go out there and go to your local independent movie theater. Support independent film. Rent them on Netflix and demand them at Blockbuster! Support an industry that has a lot of talent, support us, because the less support we have, the fewer choices you will have in quality entertainment, quality writing, and quality acting. Support your local theater, school’s arts programs, volunteer, be a good person and remember, if you are in this business: IT IS NOT EVERYTHING, IT IS JUST PART OF WHO YOU ARE. Don’t freak out because you can’t book a client, don’t lie to me (or anybody) if you can’t deliver on something promised, just work towards making things happen. That is the only way we can continue to have an industry that thrives.

 

And with that rant, I will say, have a great rest of the summer. I will try to post something soon, but I have too much on my plate and too many places to visit (Aspen and the Grand Tetons here I come!). Be good…Act well: Cast thoughtfully! Actors still say “no,” it’s ok; you will get your film cast…