Just Say No

So I arrived at the shoot location of this "Comedy Central pilot". Turns out it was someone's house--I think the guy that had concepted everything and was directing the pilot. It was a series of skits involving a 2-foot talking puppet that was nothing more than an enormous body part---that talked. I won't go into detail, cause it's irrelevant and not something I want to be attached to anyway. Several things came of this...

First, I learned to always read the script, or at the very least, find out what the shoot is going to be. I was stuck photographing garbage ALL DAY! In retrospect, I should've just left. But I try not to burn bridges and I had committed to be there and didn't want to leave them in the lurch. Either way, there wasn't a good solution.

Secondly, I met Anthony Deptula and Stephen Hale. They were a couple of the actors in the skits, that I'm guessing got roped in like I did. Anthony and I hit it off. He's from Ohio, I had just moved out from Ohio not too long ago. We chatted throughout the day, between takes and when he wasn't shooting. We exchanged numbers and have become friends over the years.

I finished up with the pilot and was glad to get out of there. I guess there are times when it's good to just say no.

Not long after this, I reconnected with Anthony. He was working on a film short called La Dentista and they needed some Mariachis. I had just booked the Mariachi Divas for a shopping center event I put together at my job at the ad agency. So since I had gotten them a paid gig, I called up Cindy Shea and asked if they'd be interested in doing this little movie. They agreed, Anthony got his Mariachis and I got a co-producer credit for helping out. I also shot some behind-the-scenes stuff at the shoot. It was fun to be on a set again.

So now I had a couple of shorts under my belt along with some good celebrity content. Over the next couple of years I did various projects...

I produced my first music video for Larry Bagby, who played Marshall Grant in Walk the Line. We shot this in one very long day, but this introduced me to my dear friend, Brad Johnson who directed this video. I did some camera work, but mostly produced and then edited it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YUQO5uoqhU

I shot a party for Lacoste that had some great celebrities there including Teri Hatcher and Nicolette Sheridan who were at the peak of Desperate Housewives. I ended up winning a Telly for this one. The top-tiered one at that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhAbIRJBFVU

I started doing fashion shows for Gen Art. And a lot of them:

Still one of my favorite edits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR_5fAnYyxs

One I shot for mark cosmetics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-O5vEE7AEY

A mix of film, fashion, music and art: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFVX3ui2bI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efJIxSpDRv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKx3Ajgoe0M

Another fave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXIphaGUNfA

And I kept doing the Costume Designers Guild Awards:

7th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhltW78O21I

8th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhltW78O21I

9th: Stripped of audio - thanks a lot stupid YouTube!

10th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk5zyPvN22E

etc.

And I started doing videos for shopping centers. This became a great revenue source. I shot their events, I even started doing some commercials for their events that nabbed a couple of awards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmPno6N2lEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI3g6ipmjso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyjz2anKu1Q&feature=related

And this was good for a couple of years. The business was growing steadily each year. Corporate was paying decently. Hollywood paid poorly, but gave me the credibility I needed. To be able to walk into a shoot and tell someone in the corporate world, "I last used this mic on Sandra Bullock" for whatever reason does wonders, lightens the mood, and helped me get booked for the next gig. And it was never a lie. I was constantly able to talk about the different celebs I'd mic'd.

But it came at a price...or rather, no price. For example, I shot a party for Ludacris--the launch of his Release Therapy, who had "no budget". So I had to shoot it for free. It's sort of the attitude, if you don't want to shoot this for free, I'll find someone else who'd love to be at my party and shoot it at no charge. And so free it is...or was.

A Stupid Leap of Faith

So this event was AMP, the Association of Music Producers awards show. Sounds like a big deal, huh? Well, it was to me!! This was awesome!! It was hosted by that guy that hosted Blind Date. And there were stars from the UPN there! This may be sounding sarcastic, and it kind of is, but it wasn't at the time. And it sort of still isn't. I was really excited. And even to this day, I think it was still pretty cool. Here's the link to that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1IsrG2SJ0g

At that shoot, I met up with the people that do the music for the United Airlines commercials. A VERY nice agency!! They asked me if I'd be interested in shooting a behind the scenes doc on the making of a United commercial. I of course said yes, and a few days later, I was in the studio shooting a mini documentary for them. Originally, it was slated to play in-flight, or at least that's what I thought, and so that's what I said. And that sounded very good!! Very official!! My video was playing in-flight on United Airlines all across the world! Was it true? I don't know. It was a case of "ignorance is bilss". So it made a good sales pitch for the next year.

That aside, I have to say, that shoot was sort of a tipping point for me. I actually had to call in at work sick that day because it shot on a week day. It was really close to my birthday, and it was almost like a really cool birthday present shooting that gig. I made three times that day what I made in a day at the agency. And there I was sitting in a legendary recording studio with two concert pianists on 9-foot grand pianos back to back playing Rhapsody in Blue. It was nothing short of amazing!! And then after that, 25 members of the LA Philharmonic came in and played a few bars of strings for a couple of hours. It was really cool.

We interviewed a few of the orchestra players and cut together a nice behind-the-scenes video segment of the making of a United Airlines commercial. Here's the link if you want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a43Gb9aRmnE

I submitted this to the Telly Awards. I received an envelope back. I already knew what it was going to say. I was prepared to be denounced of any sort of peer accolade. After all, this was only a fake real job. One where I had to lie and call in sick to pretend I was in the industry.

I opened the letter of rejection, only it said that I had won a Bronze Telly! I was elated!! This was exactly the validation I needed. My work had been noticed by my fellow video peers that it was at least good enough for a second place Telly.

Just as a side note, a Telly is for video production that hasn't aired nationally on one of the major networks.

So this was a really big accomplishment, and one of the elements, that I feel propelled me to continue in the video direction.

In July of 2004 I had my first kid. I got a leave of absence from my ad agency job compliments of the state of California for a ridiculously long amount of time. I returned to work for two weeks and then quit to venture out on my own. So now I had a new kid, I had just bought a house the year prior, I was up to my eyeballs in camera debt and then both my wife and I quit our jobs about the same time.

Would I succeed? Would I fail? The housing market was about to fall out and the busted economy would hit in just a couple of years... It really was a stupid leap of faith.