Joined a friend at a comedy club called The Ha Ha Cafe Thursday night...



Place where some famous comedians got their start. This was new talent night so the comics were so-so. We had seats in the second row of this very intimate venue. After the first act finished the MC got up to intro the second, saying he was someone still trying to make his way in the industry that we may have heard of. Suddenly out pops Damon Wayans!! He did 50 minutes which of course was hilarious. I'd heard that famous comedians appear unannounced at their old haunts occasionally, so this was an amazing treat.



Just finished my first full week at Autonomy...after a week and a half of loading, we start cutting the first montage Monday afternoon.



Went to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" last night. Great documentary, great audience. People gasped upon hearing some of the information, as well as never before seen images of wounded children and soldiers in Iraq. Michael Moore's films always have a way of putting the audience in hysterics one moment, then being able to hear a pin drop the next. This was no exception. There were several moments when the audience applauded heartily in agreeance, then cheers as the credits rolled. Bush is SO done.

Oops...



Just found out this afternoon that the Peter Weller Q&A following "Robocop" is not until NEXT tuesday, the 29th. D'OH!! No biggie.



Today was great...starting to get into the groove here, having fun. Expect the rest of the week to cruise along smoothly...



BTW, saw "Dodgeball" on Sunday. Consistantly hilarious throughout! Some major laugh-out-loud moments. If you see it in the theater make sure you stay until after the credits. Sooo...now I like Ben Stiller. Didn't for a long, long time though. He had always annoyed me but now I've warmed up to him. Plus he's great in this movie.

Starting off my first full week at Autonomy...



Things are going well. The next two and a half days will continue the clip loading process. Thursday or Friday I'll start working on the first rough cuts which will continue all next week. Then they'll go out for approval, etc.



Heading to Arclight in Hollywood tomorrow night to catch Peter Weller's Q&A following "Robocop". I'll try and slip some "Buckaroo Banzai" question in if called on.



And thank God there's a Quizno's one block from here!!! Mmmmmmm, honey mustard chicken with swiss cheese and bacon on a toasted sub roll. Come...to Butthead.

Finally started working with Laura, the producer from Warner Bros., late yesterday.



We're both on the same page with our interest in movies so that's been a good start...I think things will be great. BTW, it's not confirmed yet, but I heard something along the lines that she may have been the producer on the big Oscar 75th anniversary montage which was shown during the Academy Awards (!!).



As I mentioned she, like many producers, likes to work with editors she has a good rapport with. Right now there is one editor she requests, but they're introducing me as a second choice for now and the future. I'm told that if I fit the bill with her (as I'm very confident I will) Laura will definitely be asking for me on other projects. This one for The Hollywood Bowl is done every year and the montages are very much like the ones you'd see on the Oscars. So if it's true what I'm hearing about her, you probably see what I'm driving at...Academy Award montage producer...talented editor whose great to work with.



As soon as I know, it'll be here.

Day 2 going well...



I still have not started working on the Hollywood Bowl project, but they've put me on some other smaller jobs in the meantime. Think they're still getting a few things together and lined up before I step in. I'm told that will happen tomorrow.



Probably going to see "The Terminal" tomorrow night (Spielberg film so it's a holy obligation), or maybe even "Dodgeball". MAY check out "Harry Potter" but really don't have any interest in seeing "The Stepford Wives". Little under two weeks to "Spider-Man 2"...

I'm here at Autonomy waiting to be introduced to the producer from Warner Bros. I'll be working with.



It's a little bit of a political thing. They wanted me to come in today so when I meet her I seem more like part of the team as opposed to someone brought in special for this project. So I guess you could say it's a comfort level thing. In the meantime I've been given the run through of how the edit bays work, patching to decks, backing up projects at the end of each day, etc.



So now that I am officially working here, the link on the right for Autonomy has been moved from 'in the wings' to 'post houses I work with'....and there was much rejoicing (yeeeaaaahhh!).



Looks like this won't be a full day, but from tomorrow on will. One minor down side is due to where they are in the payday schedule, I won't get my first check until two weeks from today :( But I should be able to hold on until then. I still have a check coming from the one day I worked at Working Pictures before I left plus a second check from Media One in Albany. They were nice enough to give me half of my pay on Friday (offered without my prompting) which was a huge bonus.



Oh and I forgot to mention this...major kicker! Gary at Media One asked during my interview last Wednesday if I just wanted freelance work or would be interested in a staff position. Course he knows about my trips to LA so I was kind of vague about being permanent. After two days of work, and seeing the caliber I was putting out, he offered me just that. D'OH! I told him we would discuss it when I returned just to make sure the 'work' door remained open. He did say that when I came back to Albany he'd have regular freelance work for me every week just the same. This of course is very good during the current pre-transitional period (whoa...nice use of the term 'pre-transitional'). Jeez, seven weeks of drought and then The Great Flood comes sweeping in...amazing.



Also...I just found out that next Tuesday, Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood will be presenting the original "Robocop" plus Q&A with Peter Weller immediately following. I am SO there! Arclight have these regularly...recent presentations included "Terminator 2" with James Cameron (still kicking myself I wasn't out here for that!), and "Jaws" with Carl Gottlieb (screenwriter) and Bill Butler (Cinematographer) just to name a few. So I'll be watching their upcoming film roster closely.



And yes "Spider-Man 2" at the Arclight Cinerama Dome on opening night would be very cool!

I'm here...and slept almost twelve hours last night. Catch up from pre-flight.



Met with Gina and their senior editor at Autonomy this morning. They're definitely a fun bunch. Aside from our discussion about the forthcoming project, I think they appreciated the fact that I knew the movie lines they threw out. This looks like it's gonna be a good fit and the atmosphere seems really laid back.



I was also introduced to their main in-house producer (he could have been a voice double for Nicholas Cage) who briefed me on the client from Warner Bros. that would be producing; she's a little hard edged at times but very nice. Apparently she prefers working with certain editors, but they've presented her with new ones whom she's taken to. They feel very confident that I'll have the same affect.



The project is a series of movie compilations involving films from the last fifty years. I'm to cut these to music that will be removed for the main presentation at the Hollywood Bowl. The orchestra will perform live while they play on a giant screen. I'm told this is something they do yearly. I'll be loading clips from DVD's but when it's time to do the online we'll be matching to vault film elements which they will cut based on my edit list. Basically the same way features are assembled, just using positive prints instead of negatives.



Essentially I'm amazed by the fact that I'm being brought in for such a huge project. Normally post houses have you come for a gig that lasts a couple of days, do the try-out thing, then continue from there if they like you and your work. As I mentioned before this project will last through September 10; first month steady, then on and off until the end.



I start tomorrow at 9:30am...which of course means I'll be leaving Extended Stay at 8:30. And if I had to travel there at 3am it would probably take just 20 minutes. Love that freeway traffic!

Launch time...



My God I was up way too late last night! Working for the last three days put a real cramp in my packing...but hey it was work! Ready to go and just about to leave for the airport. Probably going to sleep a bit on the plane. Next stop, Hollywood.

I was sitting at a table eating Chinese food and thinking to myself, "this magnificent feast represents the last of the petty cash"...when suddenly the alarm sounded.



"THE CALL!!!!!!"



Yes it's time to return to LA! Just received an e-mail response back from Gina at Autonomy (link over on the right under 'in the wings'). They have a project she thinks will be perfect for me. It starts next Tuesday and will initially last for 3 to 4 weeks steady, 5 days a week(!). However the end date for this entire series of promos is scheduled to go until September 10th! Which means after the first month I'll probably be in there at least 3 days a week through that date, says Gina. She also mentioned that other projects may fill out my time while not working on those.



Now of course I want to make sure I take this as it comes. Things change at the drop of a hat in the industry. Looks like I'm definitely set for the first month and then we'll see what happens from there. See...smart.



As mentioned I've been trying to get in the door there since September of last year.



So now it's time to prepare for the trip and as usual, when these things come up at the drop of a hat, my head's spinning with what I have to do. Packing, burning a semi-gross of my reels, printing resumes...all while I'm working here in Albany tomorrow and Saturday. I'll be leaving Monday morning.

Just had an interview today with a company called Media One Communications. Don't think I mentioned this, but when I spoke with Aaron regarding the situation at Working Pictures he asked about passing my info on to someone who was looking for a Final Cut Pro editor locally. That guy gave me a call yesterday to set up an interview.



Very small operation about 10 minutes north of here. They do corporate/commercial post work and are starting to do some television programming for The Food Network, among others. Things went well and his pay scale is comparable to what I make at Working Pictures. He also said he needed someone to start right away, tomorrow in fact. This is a freelance position but I'm told there would be work for me at least 2 or 3 days a week.



This is great from a financial aspect...just not very challenging. So I can't really say I'm hootin' and hollerin'. But hey, it's money!



Sent off three e-mails yesterday; one to Gina at Autonomy (my usual check-in), one to Tim at ipostini, and one to this woman named Cara who I was referred to by Mojo. For those of you who don't know, his real name is Adam and he started at Foundation Imaging in LA as a CG animator for "Babylon 5" in the early 90's. O.K. let's take these in order:



Gina/Autonomy: Waiting for the return e-mail which she's always very prompt with.



Tim/ipostini: Received an e-mail first thing this morning. He's definitely going to call me when the next thing comes in...still waiting word on more trailer work from Showtime. He also mentioned passing my info on to another post house who is currently doing some spots for Speedo and in need of help.



Cara: She's a producer who had been working for a trailer house in LA and has now started her own company, in need of editors and graphics people. Now here's a great way to get in on the ground floor I thought. I contacted her a few months ago to introduce myself. After a month she returned my message saying she was in Canada for a family emergency but wanted to see my reel. I asked for her address but never got a response.

Now here's the kicker. After my message yesterday I received an e-mail back from her first thing today. She definitely wants to see my reel, but wished I had contacted her 2 days ago because she was in need of an editor. D-OH!! Course I had no way of knowing, but she had to bring in another freelancer. She's seen my resume already and stated she wants to work with me soon. So I'm overnighting my reel today and we'll see what happens. Keeping those fingers crossed and having faith that soon I'll be on my way, because I'm ready to get back out there.

I've just enabled the comments feature so feel free to post feedback. You know things like 'cool blog', 'when are we going to the Oscars?', 'this guy's got a cannon', 'guns, tanks, bombs...they're like toys to him!', 'throw it!!!', 'do you have a kiss for daddy?', 'come with me if you want to live', 'good shot, Jensen!', 'splash the zeros', and most importantly...'what a fine looking young man that is in the picture above'.

Just picked up a new planner yesterday.



I knew at some point the medium sized one I had would become outdated. Now I have a full portfolio sized planner. Man I didn't realize what a job it would be to transfer everything from one to the other! Plus I needed to do some updating of late '03 - early '04 info which has sat on scraps of paper waiting to be transfered onto it's proper pages. Now I have enough room for full contact sheets, calendars, web directional maps, a spare tire, handy wipes, food for a week, the kitchen sink...



Still very concerned about last friday's news regarding the now lessened available freelance work with Working Pictures. After a day or so I realized it's God's way of pushing me closer to that permanent trip to LA. Thank you God but I need to eat and pay the rent before then!



Pulling up more trailer, promo, and general post house info to get my reel and resume off to. Still no word back from i.d.entity who asked to see my reel, overnighted last week.



BTW, just rented "Underworld" over the weekend. Had been wanting to see it since released in theaters last year. Really loved it...so much that I picked up the unrated extended cut special edition just released last week. Good story, void of a lot of the cliches one might expect. Like "Blade Runner" for me; enjoyed it at first, then a day later the rest sunk in and I was hooked.

Some action scenes are inspired by "The Matrix" but they did a nice job of making it their own. Kate Beckinsale's Selene is smart, sexy, and a very sleek action hero. Was also very impressed by the filmmakers who spoke in the supplement about not wanting to have over produced CG effects. 95% of the werewolf effects are guys in suits, combined with lighting and camera movement they work very nicely. Filming begins this fall on '2'.