When it rains, it pours!

The drought is clearly over.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I got a big contract and I'm excited like a teenager watching "Splash" without parents around.

um...y'know... the Tom Hanks movie where he does it with a Mermaid?

Cough Cough...

Anyway, since then I was offered a full time position working at a college in the area. This is the type of job that I would jump all over...if I didn't just get a video contract. I can't beleive these two major opportunities landed in my lap at the same time. What do I do? I'm going to take the weekend to decide but one thing is for sure: I'm not giving up Rail City Media. I've put in too much time to let that dream fall away. The question is can I do both.

I don't really want to get too much into the details of my decision but I will keep everyone posted as to what I decide to do. In the meantime I'm focusing a lot of my energy on my film career.

This weekend I'm 1st Assistant Camera for two music videos. I like doing this position because I get to see all the action up front and really learn a lot about the camera . Jobs like this don't give me a lot of money right now (of course union scale would be a different story) These are basically low budget projects but the experience is really important. When I say low budget I mean we are still working with lights and sets and a crew great camera not a little handicam and a flash light. The fact that I get to actually touch the camera makes my presence on these shoots very important.

The idea is to judge what will help your career and what won't. Taking jobs like this that might not pay anything will help me later on when I am doing something for money. People want a good product in the end so these small shoots are the time to learn and experiment a little and then the paid gigs are the ones where you put all your experience into. I have not been on a shoot where I did not learn anything. I ALWAYS learn something that can be used later on. However I do try to pick the ones with the biggest learning curve.
Here's me, on the set of "Useless things" cleaning a lens filter.

I was 1st AC on a short called "Useless Things" a number of months ago and I just saw a behind the scenes documentary about the film today. There is a strong focus on the camera we were using and because my job was to take care of the camera I am in the doc a lot. I thought it was kinda cool. I think it will be posted online soon so I will try to post it on here ASAP. An important aspect of doing jobs like these is to allways be professional and work your hardest. Run, don't walk, look and listen, bring your A-game every time, bust your ass and do it with a smile. Even though I have DP'd on a fiew shoots, I have a long way to go before I would call myself an expert so when I show up to a 1st AC job I do that job better than anyone instead of trying to be DP and be semi-OK. You never know what each job will bring.

Oh yeah...and my Gal is on the other side of the country in Banf where there is snow and I am here in Montreal where I am sweating. HI SARAH!!!

Kickstart My Heart!

I'm not sure how to start todays blog.

By looking at the picture above you I bet you can guess what happened. Yesterday I was offered the contract that I had submitted a proposal for. It basically has me filming about 27 promotional videos to be used for a new web page. This is HUGE! Ok, so the actual content is not a narrative story filming to be seen in theaters but lets look closely at what this opportunity offers.

- A big Fat Paycheck!
- Tons of Experience!
- A chance to start making money doing something I love.

The great thing about this is that it will give me an opportunity to make money while persuing my creative projects. And this could not have come at a better time. I was about 10 days away from finding a bus-boy job. Nothing wrong with being a bus boy but I can't realy further my film career while I am clearing tables. (I know people have done it in the past but I didn't want to and now I'm not so there!)

What this job is actually giving me is an opportunity to create a company where I can find work in the field I want to be in and be financialy stable and in turn start to make movies I really want to make.

So all this being, said I would like to introduce my new company to the world:

Waiting and waiting...

So I might be slowly going crazy.

The story is that I have recently been asked to create a huge corporate video project and although corporate video is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, it is something that I would like to do now. I get to work with video and editing and I can network and learn and all that great stuff but best of all, it pays well!

So I submitted a proposal and I'm waiting to hear back from this company to see if my proposal has gone through. I submitted on Wednesday and today is Friday. It feels like I have been waiting for weeks! It's taking me every inch of my strength not to call in every 20 minutes and ask if they have decided to sign me on to the project.

The thing is that if I get this contract, I will make enough money to run a fully functioning production company. I can buy equipment, get a proper website, spend some on advertising and so on. Heck even after all that I can go on vacation with my Lady and still have enough to survive for many months. I mean my Employment Insurance Benifits end this month so it could not have come at a better time. This is my deep breath I am looking for.

Somebody better call me soon!

This would be great a great opportunity for me and I feel sick not knowing if they want me or not.

Call. Call. Call. Call. Call. Call. Call.

I know that any type of film work, be it corporate or hollywood, has a lot of waiting involved. I'm just trying to find out what to do in the meantime. I keep imagining that they are going to call me while I am tyoing this blog entry.

Call me. Call me.

My heart beats fast everytime I think about it and everything somehow reminds me of the offer on the table.

PICK UP THE PHONE!!!!!!!

If I don't hear anything today that means I have to suffer through the weekend. What am I going to do?

I think I'm going to puke.