It’s On Backorder, Or Not

We are living in an age of shortages, i.e., there’s just not enough (pick any or all that apply): Water, Food, Housing, Money, Credit, Privacy, Upside, Jobs, Vacation Time, Medical Care, Property, Security etc., etc., etc….

But, should you go ahead and write one (i.m.h.o.) funny little script which you then set out to produce and direct, there’s one thing you can be absolutely sure of, there will be no shortage of people who will tell you it simply can’t be done, and then proceed to tell you exactly why that is. Cite something as an example you ask? An experienced feature film world 1st assistant director was brought on at the request of my co-producer, he was a well meaning guy who told me plainly that a script of more than 20 pages can’t be shot in a day, and based on in his years of single camera theatrical feature film world experience he was quite correct. When I mentioned that shooting following several rehearsals and using 3 (or maybe 4) cameras to cover what will basically run as a play, it’s not only possible, but that i’ve worked on hundreds of them.

The sort of show that I worked on, back in the day.

I covered those sitcoms as a still photographer, working for the major networks and studios from “LaVerne and Shirley” and “Happy Days”, and “Mork and Mindy” and “Taxi”. Most of these were usually taped in 3 to 4 hours with some re-shoot coverage on occasion when the director or producer felt it was warranted. If you doubt this, find a comfortable place to sit and watch, and put your phone in the airplane mode when you’re on my set.

These people are everywhere, and you don’t even have to tell them what it is that you’re doing to get the feeling of what it’s like to have this knowledge about you and your project already be plugged in the map of human awareness. To get a better understanding of how this phenomenon plays out, you might want to see the movie “Putney Swope”, made circa 1969. It stars Robert Downey jr’s father, you guessed it, Robert Downey Sr.

Robert Downey On The Right And On The Left

in doing so you may learn that this film is where the phrase “The Drum” was to the best of my knowledge used the first time to explain (sort of) how private information can first become dispersed and then turn up as public knowledge. And yes, this was decades before that thing we humorously refer to as “The Web”.

Remember, The Drum Never Lies

Want to see a little more of what I’ve been writing about lately? 

Have a look at this:

http://www.bsp.us.com

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and / or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as we’ve found, success will have a million parents and failure will be an orphan.

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..  

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

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