THE STORYBOARD GIG

Listen folks, there are no “small jobs”, just smaller amounts of money you can have in your bank account.

Last week, I explained how bad work was the last two months, but that I just got a little gig that was “small”.

Okay, when you get used to doing features, a commercial is “small”. Not in stature, as commercials pay better on a day by day basis, but I’m usually done on a commercial in a day or two, when a feature can last weeks or months.

When one has bills to pay, MONTHS sounds better.

The upshot on this job, was that I got to work with a very talented director whom I am honored to call a friend.

Bennett Miller, has done a number of commercials you may have seen, but he is known in the film world for deciding for his first film to do a story about Truman Capote.

For those of you lucky enough to have scene “CAPOTE”, it should have knocked your socks off. If you have not seen it, go to the video store now.

As I chide the choices for most film debuts of directors from other mediums (horror, “hood” films and comedies are a reliable choice), Bennett did a very studied film about one of the great writers of the 20^th Century. He also made it funny, even as it touched you.

Bennett and I have always gotten along well, as we share a sense of sarcasm and wit in our daily observations. Plus, we just respect what the other does.

The spot was for Nikon, featuring Ashton Kutcher, who has done a number of spots for this company.

This job could have been for can openers, as it always great to work with Bennett, where we can trade quips and stories. The job went longer than we thought, but it got done. The money I made will do well to pay for some bills, and I met some very nice people at the production company as well as hopefully making some connections.

Yes, enough “small” jobs can work out quite nicely.