Darren McGavin, dead at 83.
sometimes you get what you didn’t know you wanted
Posted on February 26, 2006you know, when i started these latest projects i really didn’t know what to expect. will the people i am working with be complete jerks or cool and easy going? do they really have the money and are they really doing these projects or are they just jerking everyone around? all of it very pro / con like that with more on the con side.
when you have been around a little and done a few things, especially in an industry such as entertainment, you start to develop a pretty good bullshit detector. i have heard most every speech about how this or that things is going to happen and you just need to hang in there a little longer and it will all work out and blah, blah, blah.
the truth is, it sometimes does work out. most of the time, however, its complete bullshit. yes, i said it. most people in hollywood who work in the entertainment industry are full of it. that’s not to say that there are not great people who act and are professional and a pleasure to deal with. there are many of those. just not that many.
over the years i have met many great people and have had, and still have, great relationships with them. i have also met many people who i would love to club over the head. of course, as that is illegal, i would never do it. plus, its rather rude so doing it would pretty much drop me down to the level of the people i wanted to club. so that’s out.
what i do instead is just avoid those types of people and situations. during my initial meeting with a potential employer i can almost always tell in a few minutes if i want to work with them or not. many time, its in the not category. sometimes, i get a good feeling and i accept the job.
i am lucky in that i don’t have to accept any job that is offered to me. that alone gives me a great deal of power in the room when talking with a potential employer. i don’t care that much if i get the job or not. another one will be along soon enough. that also helps me when i get the inevitable question of “what’s your rate for this?†as in, how much are you going to charge us to do this job.
for my current projects, i didn’t have the best feeling and thought in many ways that the project would have a great deal of difficulty getting going and being completed within the stated guidelines. plus, i asked several questions that i normally ask and the answers were rather vague and in many cases, non existent. so, not a great start.
when the question came up as to my fee for these projects, i felt in a pretty good position to give a really high number. either they would accept and i would get a good salary for the next few months or they would decline and i could go about my business knowing that i probably didn’t loose out on anything except big pain in the ass. obviously, they decided to go for the money and i have been working since then.
i am happy to report that i seem to have stumbled on a patch of good people who are professional yet easy-going and fun to work with. perhaps its because the are english and like a good pint? could be. no matter the reason, i am having a great time and for the first time in several years, contemplating a return to a more active role in the industry.
plus, it looks like we got a movie lined up after this in july so that’s a good thing too. of course, that could also be complete bullshit. i’ll keep you posted.
sometimes you get what you didn’t know you wanted
Posted on February 26, 2006you know, when i started these latest projects i really didn’t know what to expect. will the people i am working with be complete jerks or cool and easy going? do they really have the money and are they really doing these projects or are they just jerking everyone around? all of it very pro / con like that with more on the con side.
when you have been around a little and done a few things, especially in an industry such as entertainment, you start to develop a pretty good bullshit detector. i have heard most every speech about how this or that things is going to happen and you just need to hang in there a little longer and it will all work out and blah, blah, blah.
the truth is, it sometimes does work out. most of the time, however, its complete bullshit. yes, i said it. most people in hollywood who work in the entertainment industry are full of it. that’s not to say that there are not great people who act and are professional and a pleasure to deal with. there are many of those. just not that many.
over the years i have met many great people and have had, and still have, great relationships with them. i have also met many people who i would love to club over the head. of course, as that is illegal, i would never do it. plus, its rather rude so doing it would pretty much drop me down to the level of the people i wanted to club. so that’s out.
what i do instead is just avoid those types of people and situations. during my initial meeting with a potential employer i can almost always tell in a few minutes if i want to work with them or not. many time, its in the not category. sometimes, i get a good feeling and i accept the job.
i am lucky in that i don’t have to accept any job that is offered to me. that alone gives me a great deal of power in the room when talking with a potential employer. i don’t care that much if i get the job or not. another one will be along soon enough. that also helps me when i get the inevitable question of “what’s your rate for this?” as in, how much are you going to charge us to do this job.
for my current projects, i didn’t have the best feeling and thought in many ways that the project would have a great deal of difficulty getting going and being completed within the stated guidelines. plus, i asked several questions that i normally ask and the answers were rather vague and in many cases, non existent. so, not a great start.
when the question came up as to my fee for these projects, i felt in a pretty good position to give a really high number. either they would accept and i would get a good salary for the next few months or they would decline and i could go about my business knowing that i probably didn’t loose out on anything except big pain in the ass. obviously, they decided to go for the money and i have been working since then.
i am happy to report that i seem to have stumbled on a patch of good people who are professional yet easy-going and fun to work with. perhaps its because the are english and like a good pint? could be. no matter the reason, i am having a great time and for the first time in several years, contemplating a return to a more active role in the industry.
plus, it looks like we got a movie lined up after this in july so that’s a good thing too. of course, that could also be complete bullshit. i’ll keep you posted.
me, myself and i
Posted on February 17, 2006yes, its all about me, me and again, me. i am now working on a couple of super secret projects that only a few key people know about. two are for one major electronics giant and the other is for an even bigger multi-media giant. anyway, the first two involve some actual filming (in HD really so no film) and also some fire, cops and a lot of action. good fun. the third one might involve filming as well but that’s still up for discussion.
plus, one of them also involves a rather well-known sports figure who is really quite cute as well. so, that should be fun. anyway, i would love to share more but can’t at this moment. that’s right, i can give you no clue as to who the sports figure is. sorry.
i can say that its actually much more fun to be back producing stuff than i thought it was going to be. at first, i was kinda not really that interested. producing things like this requires a lot of time and effort and often a little bit of stress, which i always try to avoid (the stress i mean. work is ok).
now that it has been a week or two, its actually pretty fun to be back into it. i’m sort of surprised really but also relieved as well. i’m glad it hasn’t been a total nightmare working with bad people who yell for no reason and can’t make decisions. who needs that, right? the people that i am doing this with seem much nicer and easy going and a pleasure to work with. so, i got that going for me. which is nice. plus, i get to work with friends and hire people that i like so that’s a good feeling too. and the money’s not bad either, which is also another plus.
on another front, i am looking forward to getting my hands on the new T-Mobile MDA next week. i will be picking one up and trying to determine if this i finally the device that will solve my problem of wanting one tool that is a phone/organizer and also gets email, etc. it has a lot of features and seems, at least on paper, to have what it takes. i should have it tuesday so i will let you know how it goes. although these jobs are taking more and more time (hence the infrequent posting) so i don’t know when i will really get some sort of review up.
i know some people (friends of mine) seem not to like t-mobile but they have been fine for me so far. their network seems to be pretty good here in los angeles. i even get signal in my home office which never happened with cingular/att. although, that was a few years ago. maybe they are better now. anyway, cingular is also going to have the MDA but they are calling it something else. i’m glad t-mobile is getting the mda as i don’t want to have to keep up with our cingular account to get one. now i can drop cingular completely now that i have moved all of our numbers over to t-mobile.
hope its a good device and as good as the specs indicate. it would be nice to find something. the blackberry is good just not great. same with the treo 650. i liked them both i just don’t love them. will i have to wait for an apple smartphone or will the MDA do the trick? come on t-mobile, rise to the challenge.
lacking something
Posted on February 10, 2006there will be a lack of posts here for the next few weeks as i get deeper into a new super secret project. this project should prove interesting but will take a lot of my time and energy. some of which i spend writing here. so, i hope people are not too disappointed by this turn of events but i can’t do much about it if you are as i won’t be here.
i will release details of this project when i can and perhaps provide a few choice bits and pieces for your amusement. in the meantime, i am confidant that you will be able to find other ways to amuse yourself. i hear there are a few other blogs out there in the internet somewhere. one or two might even be worth reading. probably more.
if you get time, check out some of the links on the left. these people are good writers and provide me hours of entertainment and intelligent insight. be sure to check them out.
see you soon.
I’m not worried.
Posted on February 4, 2006I’m not worried.
Posted on February 4, 2006The Future is Now (so is the past)
Posted on January 29, 2006i like these photos:
can you spot the apple products and the sony psp?
this would make getting around easier.
even great grandma liked her starbucks.
see more here.
Good Day for Dissent, Bad Day for Alberto Gonzales
Posted on January 25, 2006look at the picture and then check out the story here. isn’t it hard to sell something when nobody is buying? you bet your ass it is.
Happy Birthday Macintosh
Posted on January 24, 20061984 won’t be like 1984. on this date in 1984 apple introduced the macintosh and things were never the same. oddly enough, steve jobs hate the macintosh and tried to kill it. of course, he later changed his mind, took over the project and the rest is, as it is often said, history.
now with steve jobs poised to take a seat on the disney board and apple scoring record profits from sales of ipods and even a few macs, the little company has come a long way. pretty soon, steve may be able to realize his dream of making apple a bigger and better version of sony.
its been 22 years now and the mac and apple show no signs of slowing down. all of the doom and gloom predictions of the past have given way to glowing reviews and almost universal praise. apple has become a media darling. i guess when it works it really works. of course, it could have just as easily gone the other way. as smart as steve jobs is, luck has played a factor. luck always plays a factor. so, here’s to luck.
who knows what the next 22 years will bring. hope i’m still around to find out.