Sorry, little fella. And sorry to you, dear readers.
While I have been busy, and there is always a carrot of hope/excitement dangling j-u-s-t out of reach, there is nothing concrete and 'wahoo' to report at this time.
For the past month or so, I have been working at the Renaissance Festival business office as an intern in the Marketing Department. No, it's not cool, and NO it's not glamorous....or anything else you may want to think working in a Marketing Department might be. By calling the position an "intern" spot, they are justified in paying $8 freaking dollars an hour. The dangling carrot with this opportunity has been the advent of a movie being filmed on the grounds during the season!
Yes, a movie. Follow the link to "Ye Olde Times" info, listed under Jack Black in the IMDB. Lindsey Lohan had been cast to play opposite JB, but has since been booted and it's our understanding Hillary Duff has now been signed - we shall see.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034090/
I was able to meet with the pre-production people when they came to the grounds to walk around and speak with the manager about what they were hoping to do, etc., and was told this would be a union movie, with very few non-union jobs. The RenFest folks said I would be the 'liaison' between the production folks and the MRF, but since it doesn't pay anything different (and why would it?), I was still only going to get $8 an hour from the festival side, and not able to work more than 8 hours per day...so you can see the issue becoming sour and uneventful right away, can't you.
I was terribly excited at the whole prospect, but have since been looking at my bottom line (bank account, mortgage payments, additional bills, etc.), and know that while it seemed fortuitous that I was dropped into the path of this gem of an opportunity, the fact that it is to start so far from now has me wondering what am I supposed to do in the meanwhile, waiting for the possibility of getting a maybe payed non-union spot on this project? I still have to make payments and meet obligations from June to August or September. And as much as I would LOVE to work on a major motion picture - this is all of my training and desires for the future - how am I to support my family and cover my bills waiting and waiting and waiting?
I have to keep looking for work elsewhere, but of course, this means taking myself out of contention for working with the film team as I would (hopefully) have a full time job and not be able to get away from it for the time needed to work on the film during the festival. Production companies shoot movies Monday through Friday, just like any other type of job (and on weekends as well). The hours are longer and grueling (not 9 to 5) - and the work I have done on other things has been great fun and great learning experiences...and while you are in the midst of it, you hardly notice the time reeling past.
In SOME instances, that is. When you are getting paid you mind it less than when you are 'volunteering' your time and being taken advantage of. But I digress.
I need the time I would happily put into a production of this nature, and the pay would me enough, but it would only be for a very short time - 2 weeks to 4 weeks, depending on the shoot schedule, pre-prod work and all - and then it would be done. Poof! I would then have to look for work again...still...until I found something. The "internship" with the RenFest is only temporary as well! It ends with the festival schedule in September.
So, if I were in my twenties and had no house or kids to think of, no huge worries or obligations, I would become a production gypsy. As it is, I cannot even contemplate it.
Thoughts, suggestions, comments - anyone?
I thought not. HEllo...communication is a two-way street. I guess I know which of us has found the gas pedal, eh?
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