07
Like fireworks, and family, and major motion pictures — or: My Summer Vacation, and how I forgot to water the plant but it grew anyway.
The last weeks have been full of wonder and frustration. The group is salivating to get to the next step, but there have been logistical delays that we’re now working through hour by hour. There have also been many, many conference calls taking place on cell phones while in the hell-fire conditions of parked cars.
South Bend saw summer days and then momentarily returned to November — only to hit 85 again the next day and make us all sick (well, at least me). And the evening of the 4th was so moist that we were driving through clouds and could stick our heads out the window to get a cool drink. It was just too bad that what could have been as refreshing as Dasani (read: bottled St. Louis) contained too many ash particulates to truly act as an effective thirst quencher.
About 8 days ago, my plan to take a temporary break from the Myst Movie project went into effect right after having a conference call with Adrian and a production head in LA regarding the potential attachment of known somebodies as Executive Producers. And then, as I drove the 40 minutes to my ex’s brother’s house to see my son for the first time in months, I called my sister to plan for the family weekend, express my frustration in being late to pick up Micam because of the call, and pontificate on the excitement I was feeling from the call itself.
My sister’s first question: Do you have Robert Downey Jr. attached yet? She apparently loves him and asks me this once a week. Her son’s next question: Do you have Zac Effron attached yet? High School Musical 1 2 & 3 is in constant rotation in their DVD player. Oh, the disappointment when I again inform them that we’re not going after either.
I then drop the names of industry giants who spear-head summer (and winter) blockbusters and explain that there is potential opportunity in having one or two key figures come on as Execs to help round out the project. Her next question, in attempt to ascertain the level of our star-struck-ness: Are you and Paul (Adrian) pissing yourselves yet?
My response: It’s kind of rude to wet yourself while in a meeting with an exec, but you can surely buy stock in Depends if you want to…
And then I caught myself, realizing that I in fact was maintaining a cool head and a clear goal; it’s amazing how commonplace this type of thing becomes. Common like, you know, prepping to pitch huge properties to the power players in domestic cinema.
Now, then, up until today or yesterday, days went by where my connection to Myst was only as strong as what updates Adrian could offer during a 1am call with him dead tired from working pitch material and me exhausted from running around with my 5-year-old son in the middle of summer. This has been Micam’s one week of the year in town with me so I’ve been extracting every moment to play family while jerking randomly to check e-mail. And old friends, in town for the forth have also been taking attention, as well as my entire family; Dad and the dog and the family “house” are stained from the pitter-patter of little mud-covered feet and the soot of $90 “cake” fireworks that I got at cost from my “connections.”
Micam’s comment when comparing the small fountains he picked out to my boxes of sparkling machine gun fire? “That was kinda lame.” He was referring to the fountains. He’s cool.
After passing off the daily grind of writing synopsis material to Adrian, Jason and Yale, I’m now looking forward to the coming days. Yesterday morning had me in e-mails confirming meetings with one of our attorneys who will help seal some deals that have been in the works, and today we’re connecting with Tony to go over some other things. It feels good to be back “home”. The frustration is the requirement for diplomacy and a silent stance.
As I was expressing to Sarah and Ryan (”Nails” who worked with this project heavily from ‘04 to ‘06), one of the biggest disappointments that I’m facing is having to refrain from expressing here all that’s going on with complete transparency. If time permitted, Adrian and I could be in here every 30 minutes with the latest updates and results from the most recent phone call. We could could be texting transcript tweets to twitter. But as we get closer to Hollywood, everything gets wrapped up in agreements of non-disclosure and pending exclusivity and virtual handshakes that have us watching the e-mail and answering our phones “Mysteria Film Group.” It feels good, it’s going forward, but it’s also saddening that we can’t share every moment.
A couple days ago, I had a potential employer call and ask why my voice mail sounded like a major business operation. What are you involved in on the side, he asked. Oh, just a little film deal.
Yeah, little.
[edit: The originating version of this post was pulled down yesterday after Adrian and Isaac identified that some of my dry wit infused with a cold medicine high would come off negatively — and apparently, it did for some. Sorry for the scare.]
12:37 pm
) 
I used to think they looked cool, but that feeling waned… Can anyone even remember what a given anime character looks like? When you’ve watched enough anime, all the characters just become copies of each other (at least within the same styles of anime). In the end all that is really different is the shape and colour of their hair. It gets old… Even when it comes to personality they are just a variation on a few stock characters. I still watch some anime if a friend sends it to me, which they do from time to time, but for me most of the novelty has worn off. (no offense to rabbid fans!)
Jul 07 2009
Huh well I never saw an original version. I guess it’s nice to see a not-so-negative Patrick.
So this is really like a double-edged sword. I’m sorry it all happened so fast and you didn’t have time to enjoy the process. I guess we should be careful what we wish for.