I met up with Patrick and Adrian at MAF and then went for a little walk with them.  We sat down across from the Morris Civic as Patrick lit up a cigarette.  Adrian asked me something about why I got into MAF and what not.  I told him since I was unemployed freelancing that I wanted to use the time to develop a film project that I was going to shoot locally.  After all, it’s the reason I decided to get involved in MAF in the first place: to make connections and get some advice so I don’t make dumb mistakes.

I mentioned that I had planned on getting a camera later this summer.  I saw Adrian very quickly look at Patrick as if to say, “Reeaaallly?”

I gave them a very brief gist of what it was going to be about.  Very ‘Pulp Fiction’.  Adrian wasn’t too impressed.

It then segued into what they were working on.  They were both apprehensive AND chomping-at-the-bit at the same time to tell me what it was.  Adrian asked me if I had heard of the video game Myst.  (Is this going where I think it’s going?) I told them I had but that I’d never played it.  I knew it was huge but that I had never gotten involved in any computer games for the most part.  Patrick then filled me in on how they got into it, the books, the rights and all this stuff.  To say they had done their homework is an understatement.

As of right now, they are working toward producing a 10-15 minute studio-quality live-action trailer that they want to use as a calling card.  They are planning on approaching investors with the trailer script to get the money they need with the idea that the investors would then be repaid out of pocket by them once a movie deal is signed.  Once Patrick and Adrian get the the trailer done they are going to send it to the creators of Myst to try and team up to get the films done.

A couple things popped into my mind:

1)  Freaking sweet.  This has “Hollywood Darlings” written all over it.  Two small town guys make it big.  But c’mon.  Myst?  Someone – who has never heard of them – owns the rights.  You can’t just go around making pretend that you want to make a feature length movie on subject matter that you don’t own the rights to about a game that has a huge cult following.

2)  Keep your day jobs, not gonna happen dudes.

3)  Why are you telling me this?  Don’t get me wrong, we’re forging a pretty good friendship and you both know more about film than I do, but why me?  What can I really do to help you?  I have some post-production skills and I can maybe pull-out some storyboards for you, but I’m not the most networked guy around.  I don’t know anyone in the film industry.  Even going back to college I don’t know that I can find anyone who could help.  Regardless of their reasons I am quite flattered that they found something in me that would make them trust me to bring me into their plan.

We wrapped-up the conversation like most do and I went home.  Here I am now thinking about this.  I can’t help but be thankful that they let me into their little world.  I don’t know if I will get too much sleep.  This is simply huge in scale even for a trailer.

I also can’t help but think I really need to find a full-time gig.  If I want to get my film going, I need money to buy a camera.

We’ll have to wait and see.