A Day in the Life of a Megalomaniacal Producer/Director

Picking Up Speed...

   One interesting thing that I've learned since I've started this blog is that the life of an actor is not nearly as interesting as the life of a filmmaker or screenwriter. When I'm not working my dead-end job, I'm basically working on my acting and coordinating my move to Los Angeles. Not very interesting, right? Well I've got bad news for you guys, its more of the same crap.

   Recently I've scored a job at the local television station as a producer. Other than acting, I'm also a filmmaker and I've done a few small movie projects, but to this day, I don't know how the hell I got the job at the T.V. station. I called up there a couple of weeks ago asking for an intern position just so I can have something to put on my resume before I go out to Los Angeles. So over the past few weeks I go and meet some people and do some interviews and on Tuesday afternoon I meet the head production guy and he says "so yeah, we'd like for you to write the script for this new show we've got shooting next week, and you're going to produce and direct it." So at first I was excited. I figured that this meant that I could bypass being an intern and become a producer and my resume will look even better, but then I got home and realized that I had never done anything as big as this before. At any rate, I've got to brush up on my production skills a bit before I report for duty next week.

   In the meantime, I got lucky and scored an interview with a big Hollywood producer in the coming months to discuss me beginning my career. I feel really lucky that I can be taken under the wing of a successful producer, but I can't help but feel bad that I haven't really done anything to earn it other than knowing the right person. By no means do I think everything is going to be easy, but I must admit I thought I was going to be struggling something awful, a lot more than I have been. Perhaps I'm speaking a little early, things can always go wrong. God is the most tasteless practical joker, and I very well could be "punk'd" later on....

Untitled Comment

09:48, 2006-Jul-26 .. Posted by rofc2

I will tell you a quick story about a producer and and talent at a station I worked at in the early 90's.

There had been a movie out with Meg Ryan faking an orgasm (When Harry Met Sally). At some point after that, one local night club had a fake orgasm contest. Now, this was an interesting scenario to say the least. The talent was a divorced ladies man, who I knew and by the way liked very much. The producer, another man who I was quite fond of, and he was a regular at a local strip bar ( although it may seem like I'm telling on myself, I was a single collegiate, while these two guys were very "happily" married and much older.

At any rate, they decided to do a story about the orgasm contest, and didn't even bother to wait until the late braodcast to air it. Well, we're in the Bible Belt; and that story did not set well. The talent was too popular to fire, so he was only suspended for one week without pay. No one gave a rat's peetooty about the producer, and he was fired straight-away. In the end, it was the producer's call, and he SHOULD have taken the brundt of the punishment.

So here's my point with a contradiction to follow:

You're a producer of a news show. Stay conservative, don't make waves, just hone your craft.

If you have to talk obaout the repercussions of airing a particular story, then don't air it. You're better off running a story about the local dog show than risking losing viewers because "doggonit, Bobbit losing his penus is news, and my talent desperatley wants to say 'penus' on the air". It's a losing proposition every time....

To contradict that, if you are trying to get people to notice you, then break the rules, in a big way if you have to. Just know that the attention you get is the attention you earn. That kind of action can always backfire. And remember, an Oliver Stone debating the morality of a war is much different than a rookie going for a little shock value.


Not that you would do this, I don't know you and would never make that assumption, I'm just saying, if you are tempted, but find yourself in a moral dilemna, then back off. You'll never REALLY be glad you did, but if you don't you WILL be sorry...