AFM 2000 - Day 4

AFM – Day 4
2/25/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

I woke up around 7:00 a.m. and started working on the script. The only thing I had to do today (besides finish the rewrite of the script) was have lunch with a dear old college friend, Jennifer. So, in the morning I worked on the re-write while Jenni tried to schedule a meeting with the foreign investor, Showcase, our Casting Director and her and Jeff. I finished the re-write around 10:30 a.m. It did what we needed it to do and Jenni would have the rest of the weekend to tweak it more before giving it to the investor on Sunday.

Jenni and Jeff, needing to run some errands (or just get away from me – I'm not sure which) and they dropped me off at the SAG building where I was to meet my friend Jennifer for lunch. I had tried to contact some other college friends, Dave and Sunday, but their phone number was now some auto place or something. So, I made my way up to the eighth floor (eighth floor again… hmmm) and Jennifer greeted me with a big hug. She looked exactly the same. I looked fat. She had told me that she had been exercising a lot and had actually lost weight. I silently blamed her for my weight gain since our college days, knowing deep down that her fat had been mysteriously transferred to my body over the last 12 years.

We went next door and ate at Koo Koo Roos. I offered to pay (I'm serious... you can ask her) but she insisted on paying for it herself. I realized I just may get through this trip with cash to spare! But, dinner still awaited. Jennifer and I spent lunch catching up on the past twelve years of our lives, talking about writing, the film industry, family and goals for the next 10 years. It was a great lunch and I wished we hadn't waited so long to get together.

You can see the effects of
prednisone on my cheeks.
Thank goodness for Remicade.

Jenni and Jeff picked me up and we headed back to the AFM so they could meet about casting. With Adrenaline, there's a basic cost of making the film, let's say $2 million or something like that and depending on what actors you get, the budget will be effected. So, they wanted to meet to determine what actors would fit into the fictional $2 million dollar budget, which actors would bump it up another million or so, and what actors would bump it up yet another million and so on. This is all part of the plan in determining funding and budgetary needs.

So, we arrived at the AFM and I got to meet our Casting Director Harriet Greenspan, who read Adrenaline and had LOVED it! She told me that it was one of the only scripts she had ever read where she couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting. Granted, she could have been bold-face lying to me, but she seemed like a very sincere, genuine person (yes, there are some of them in Hollywood) so I believed her. This probably makes me a sucker.

While they all met, I again strolled the halls of the AFM, taking more pictures, checking out which old TV star was starring a new disaster flick headed for Asia. As the evening wore on, we all ended up back in the lobby of the hotel. Bill Suchy, a fellow Floridian filmmaker, had flown in that morning and was going to take my bedroom/editing suite for the rest of the festival. While we waited for the meeting to adjourn on the eighth floor we talked a lot about writing, experimenting and using Digital Video as a low cost way to test our writing and directing abilities. It occurred to me, as the evening continued, that there were about five people in this entire room that were cloned to make the hundreds of people around me. There were the tall blondes with large breasts. The short brunettes with large breasts (I see a trend forming). The X-File look alikes. The hippie/European long haired guys. And the old guys who've been in the business so long they don't give a crap what they look like.

We finally all headed to Arnold S.'s restaurant, Shlotzies (or something like that), for dinner. Knowing that I'd been a total mooch since arriving and also knowing that my paycheck would have direct deposited by now, I insisted on paying for Jenni and Jeff's dinner. After we all induldged in some seriously good and expensive food, the bill came. But, it was all on one bill, I would have to charge it since I only had $4.87 cash on me, I couldn't afford to pay for EVERYone's meal and Jeff wouldn't let me pay for his and Jenni's anyway! So, I opened my wallet and threw the remaining four dollars I had onto the table as part of the tip and walked away feeling like week old pond scum.

We hurried out of the restaurant at around 9:15 p.m. My flight started boarding at 10:00 p.m. and was to leave at 10:30 p.m. Traffic was tight, I was tense and I REALLY didn't want to miss my flight home. Just when all seemed lost and the traffic was a near standstill, Jenni did some industrial strength thinking and drove around a parking structure, by-passing a ton of traffic, and exited right into the loading area for my airline. I gave her a quick hug and rushed into the airport. Jeff followed me up to the gate. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for all of his generosity. It was really great to see them after all this time. My trip into the world of filmdom was coming to an end and I appreciated the detour away from my everyday.

Flight 96, non-stop to Tampa started boarding and I was surprised how full the plane was. Every row had at least two people in it, so no one could stretch out on all of the three seats. I had a window seat, which I thought was a good idea, but I just couldn't enter that blissful slumber. Part of the problem was that I couldn't get comfortable… another was that I was anxious to get home and see my wife and kids… and another was that this small oriental gentleman seated directly in front of me continually passed gas in his sleep. Toxic gas. Intrusive, oppressive, oh-my-God-I'm-going-to-die gas. But, the guy was unconscious… what could I do? So, I turned my head and tried not to breath too deeply for the four hour trip home.

My wife and children waited for me at the airport baggage area. It was 5:45 a.m. and my loving wife pulled our kids out of bed just to pick me up. They were all glad to see me and I was thrilled to see them. On the drive home I recapped the trip with my wife as my kids fell back to sleep in the back seat. When I got home I plopped the remaining $.87 onto my dresser before diving into my familiar, comfortable bed and slept one of the deepest sleeps of my life.

I guess if there's one thing I learned during this trip is that, no matter what stage of the process you're in (pre-production, production, post, distribution, etc.), you are still your best salesman. You are still the one who has more passion and belief in your project than anyone else. You still have to keep working the film, making sure the distribution company is on the same page you are, pushing them, networking, making contacts... it doesn't appear that there is ever a stage in the process when you simply let go of the project. It's always yours. That's why it's so important that your first feature be something you are passionate about because you are going to live with it for a very long time.

Remaining Cash: $.87

Until next time...