Yes, it's true, that's a 'picture' of hell--and the coolest one I could find on short notice--and all of it is breaking loose in my world right now.
1) I'm in a 800 sq ft condo with my four kids and my wife in rainy Vancouver. And I'm real glad they're here but I'm also...
2) Supposed to be writing 25 episodes of one of my talk shows to be shot this weekend and doing that with my wife and kids around will be a first-time thing 'cause I'm usually here doing this alone so we'll see how that goes.
[the upside is it's 'pizza and movie night' tonight with me and the wife and the kids and our tiny condo has a HUGE flat screen TV so that's going to be awesome...]
3) My staff is having a very hard time (for very real and authentic reasons) getting all the interviews pre-shot in time for me to write the 'thematic structure' for each episode which means, in effect, that I have to 'fake it' 2/3's of the time imagining what the conversations are going to be like-- (I've given them a direction to pursue but I need to know the 'in point' the 'out point' and the duration) --how they start and end and how long they'll take which means I have to 'pretend' I know how long all our studio segments have to be which...
Is a friggin' nightmare.
4) We're in our typical 'fall renewal cycle' which means I have to re-do the budgets on our series to a) allow for the worst-case scenario (an eventuality I don't even really want to contemplate even while planning for it) and b) write another version to allow for the best-case scenario which involves near alchemy in terms of projecting costs and creative choices months in advance...
5) My editor just got a call from a guy from whom he's subleasing a room and the guy (who just so happens to be someone I fired) told my editor that he doesn't want me to come by and edit in his space which DRIVES ME CRAZY 'cause the guy's cool to take the money from my editor that comes from me but won't allow me into his space?!? Ridiculous. I'm so incensed about it, you have no idea.
6) My director on another series we produce has been on his honeymoon so can't do A THING to lock down the 101 details that still need to be locked down before we go to shoot in L.A later this month. He JUST called me today, even though he had told me he'd be back on the 13th, so waiting to hear from him has nearly driven me to leap off our condo balcony. I'm not hatin' on the the guy--I care deeply about him in fact--but it's been tough to breathe and 'wooosaaahhh...' in the midst of needing solutions NOW that I just can't get and it's right that I can't get them 'cause getting married and having a honeymoon IS more important than this and I've always believed and practiced that. But I'll be knackered if I didn't add 101 new grey hairs waiting for his call...
Oh and there's so much more (like a dramatic series pitch that needs my attention or planning for my wife's birthday tomorrow AND directing 17 episodes...) but that's enough for now.
I guess the SFS point is:
Look, if you want to do something outstanding (and I 'get' that the exact definition of what's 'outstanding' and what's 'pedestrian' is rightly up for debate...) with your life you're going to have to be willing and able to tramp through the (however many there are) circles of hell to get there.
Or as they say...
If you can't stand the heat, go be a bus driver.
T
No comments:
Post a Comment