A Bit of Catch Up (Or Is It Pronounced Ketchup?)

The first order of business: After a long (and somewhat stressful) period of negotiations, I have been hired as an associate producer on the upcoming feature film “The Poet in Exile.” You can see my updated imdb profile at the link below. This assures me a paid position following the project I’m currently working on. More than anything, this assures me a life after college. The future is now much clearer.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3956358/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Next, casting is Denver has been postponed from its original date in February to an as of yet undetermined later date sometime this month. This is due to the script not being ready in time and the star of the pilot receiving a callback for the new X-Men film Days of Future Past. I’ll admit that I’m really bummed but that’s showbiz, folks.

On Saturday, March 2, I received the script for the first episode of the pilot. I read it. It’s quite good…and that’s all I can say as of right now.

Now to properly recap these past four weeks (the entire month of February as a matter of fact), I’m going to copy and paste my weekly reports detailing the market research I’ve conducted and the feedback I’ve received beginning with:

Monday, February 4, 2013

Hey guys.

Here’s the lowdown for what happened with my daily tasks this past week.

On Tuesday, my task was to respond to messages. I did this in the evening, around 10pm (Central Time). There was only one new message and it was an update from an ongoing conversation in which a fan had agreed to convince his friends to like the page. I spent the majority of my time sifting through old messages to get a good feel of how everyone had been responding to fans.

Thursday, I copy and pasted the message listed in the manual to the unofficial [omitted] pages via the [omitted] fake page. Not much else beyond this.

Finally, on Sunday, I posted the status regarding the Super Bowl and Warm Bodies. It had a good reception with 133 likes and 24 total comments. In addition, 3,094 people saw the post. The comment that struck me, however, was one from Ricardo Delacour from Guadalajara in which he stated that he had a hard time understanding the post since English is not his first language. I guess the Super Bowl and Warm Bodies aren’t exactly practical term combinations when it comes to translations. He did, as he stated, comp us a “like” so the power of love overcame all, I suppose.

Hope this helps guys and sorry this is coming so late. I had a financial situation come up that took up most of my time this evening.

All the best.

Stephen

FANTASTIC UPDATE STEPHEN== and humorous!

Deeply appreciate your thorough rundown –

Very intrigued by what you hit upon- a TON of fans from places where English is a Foreign language-

Which poses the question- how do we sell them HOMEFRONT when they can’t understand it?

Is there a Facebook translation button?

Something to all think about.

WORKBOOK 2 coming tonight….

Tim

Some great notes!

One of my immediate thoughts.

Sounds like we need to be a little more specific with labels for our international audience.  For example; when referring to a film make sure to put it in quotes and label it like: saw the movie "Warm Bodies" and remember other countries have different names for things like: football and futbol. So, I watched the Super Bowl, that's the American Football Championship Game for all you international crew, lol :)

-John

Monday, February 11, 2013

Hey guys.

Hope all is well on your side of the country. Here is the overall gist of what went down this past week on my end…er middle. What would you consider the Midwest?

Tuesday 2/5

I spent the night responding to messages. I had it pretty easy since this was the day we reached over 10,000 fans. For the most part, messages consisted of congratulatory remarks. I thanked each and every one of them for their support and told them that I (omitted) couldn’t have done it without them.

Wednesday 2/6

It was my duty to post on TLA GAY and TLA Releasing Fans. I copy and pasted the message to TLA Releasing Fans without any trouble but TLA GAY has it set so that no one can post on their wall. The only way to interact with this page is to comment on THEIR posts. This is a bit of a conundrum as TLA GAY has 5,186 fans while TLA Releasing Fans has a meager 2,809. I’m looking into finding a way to access this page but I’m up for any suggestions. I could try tagging TLA GAY into a post in hopes of it showing up on their wall. It’d be better than commenting on an unrelated post.

Thursday 2/7

The standard copy and paste on [omitted] fan sites. Nothing too exciting.

Sunday 2/10

I had fun with this post today. I posted the picture of [omitted] standing on the gargantuan boulder at his place of Zen in Hollywood Hills and asked fans to share their favorite places to relax and clear their heads. Fans immediately responded garnering over 209 likes (compared to the 144 from last Sunday’s post) and 42 comments (2 of which were mine…er…[omitted]). This was cool because it brought the attention to the fans and helped deter them from asking me questions I might not be readily available to answer due to my location in Iowa. What’s strange, though, is that less people saw this post than the Super Bowl Sunday post yet their reactions were much more grand. 2,809 compared to 3,858.

A serious point I need to bring up, however, was a comment from Jonathan Hinchliffe who had this to say: “Can't find you on Google+  don't want to miss your webcast next week [omitted]. Can you post a link to your profile, would be awesome J”

To this I responded “You bet Jonathan. I will get that taken care of. I would hate for anyone to miss out.” This received 5 “likes” btw.

So, it would probably be within our best interest to post something within the week to help everyone find where they need to be for the live chat.

That’s all I have for now. Hope you guys didn’t find my update excessive. Otherwise, I’ll keep ‘em coming and I look forward to seeing everyone in Denver a week from today.

Best.

Stephen

Hey Danny-

Hope you are well.

Just got the below message from Stephen stating the below concern-

A serious point I need to bring up, however, was a comment from Jonathan Hinchliffe who had this to say: “Can't find you on Google+  don't want to miss your webcast next week [omitted]. Can you post a link to your profile, would be awesome J” To this I responded “You bet Jonathan. I will get that taken care of. I would hate for anyone to miss out.” This received 5 “likes” btw. So, it would probably be within our best interest to post something within the week to help everyone find where they need to be for the live chat.

Would you be so kind as to guide us all on how to respond to such queries from fans and remedy the situation?

THANKS DANNY!

Tim

Right quick, I want to chime in and say that this next week, a live chat was scheduled between our star and fans of the facebook page (10,000 or so of them) for Saturday, February 17, but technical difficulties prevented it from happening and forced it to be rescheduled. Also, on Sunday, February 17, we received an email from Tyler James, the head of the social media front, who told us that facebook has certain regulations once a fan page exceeds 10,000 fans and that we would all get the following week off for “winter break” while they worked out the bugs.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Hey guys.

Here’s the week 3 update for the [omitted] facebook page. I’ll try to keep it short this time so I’ll leave out the extraneous details regarding the copy and paste messages on other pages.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Personal messages that I noticed on Tuesday consisted of fans desperately wanting to speak to [omitted] in person or as one fan put it, “I think we should get to know each other better.” I referred each of them to the live chat that would be taking place on Saturday as being the best possible opportunity. Most of the other messages consisted of carryover conversations that had been continuing amongst the rest of us although one I noticed that struck me was a question that had never been answered on January 30. It seems as though some of the fans are getting direct on questioning [omitted]’s sexual orientation. This particular fan (a female in fact) had asked this question and despite the ongoing conversation she had had, never received a response. Then on February 12, she sent another message saying, “I guess you do mind.” I’ll admit, I was a bit taken aback. The manual states:

NEVER CONFIRM OR DENY SEXUALITY- BE VAGUE.

But what do we do when they’re direct like this? For some people, I suppose learning [omitted]’s preferences could be a deal breaker despite the role model aspect [omitted] has with the NO H8 campaign.

Other than this, fans are clambering for autographed photos and memorabilia.

I answered what I could and took a quick break at 10pm to shoot a short film of my own only to return to answering questions at 4am (Central time) the next day.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Sunday post, which I sent everyone the live link to, went well. We’re still recovering from the live chat mishap so I felt it appropriate to address the fact that [omitted], as I put it, is pretty “bummed.” I tried to garner the fans’ sympathies by asking for Valentine’s Day stories to cheer [omitted] up. To make the post even more personal, I posted the second picture [omitted] sent me, which I never used for the prior Sunday post, and said that [omitted] would probably require a visit to his place of Zen. These two aspects served as a callback to last week’s post in which I encouraged fan interaction and posted the second photo of [omitted] in Hollywood Hills.

Things were quite successful and attracted more positive attention than [omitted]’s apology video that was posted the day before. The Sunday post achieved 145 likes compared to the video’s 111 likes. Because of the encouragement, it attained 39 comments over the video’s 31. This is most surprising because the post was seen by 2,432 people versus the video’s 2,812. I posted earlier than I usually do (around 10am). I had the day off since I was originally going to leave for Denver that morning. Despite testing out new waters with the difference in time, my post actually paled in comparison to last week’s so I’ll probably revert back to posting between 2pm and 3pm Central time.

If I learned anything from [omitted]’s demographic, it’s that most of his fans are single (but I’m sure that you knew that already). In fact, most of them tried turning the tables on me and attempted to garner my sympathy by telling me that they spent Valentine’s Day alone. And you know what? It worked goddammit….because I spent Valentine’s Day alone as well. But that’s my own problem since the girl I love is on the other side of the world. But enough about me. Back to [omitted]. Ahem.

Most of the fans are getting antsy to speak to [omitted] so here’s hoping the live chat will quench their insatiable thirst.

That’s all for this week and…WOW…this message is longer than I had intended. Sorry guys but I hope this helps.

All the best.

Stephen

Stephen- If only EVERYONE put as much thought and personality into this as you do.

GOD BLESS YOU.

We definitely need to deal with the ‘sexuality’ question- and that was something that WAS on the agenda for the Live Chat- [omitted] knows what he wants to say- but HE wants to say it.

And if he loses fans because of it- then they have been missing his NOH8 message all along- and who needs them.

YES- we are scheduled to start selling pics and memorabilia in March- great to know the desire is there—

Take a break this week while we work out some glitches-

Keep on being your amazing self- and if it’s any consolation- I was alone on Valentine’s day too!

;0

Tim

On Sunday, March 24, we received another email saying that the kinks had been worked out and that “winter break” was officially over. I want to say that I noticed that after my post stating that I had asked the fans a question regarding their favorite places of Zen, everyone else seems to have adopted my tactic of turning the tables and asking the fans…usually to lesser effect than me but hey, that’s just expected in my book ;-) The live chat was also rescheduled for Sunday, March 3.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Hey guys.

Here’s the weekly update for the things I’ve observed on facebook. After viewing the live chat, however, a lot of this is going to seem redundant.

My tasks this past week consisted of responding to private messages both Tuesday and Thursday night. The most prevalent thing people are clambering for is a sequel to [omitted] which was addressed during the chat. I responded to these fans by telling them that there are no official plans for an official sequel but to keep an eye on [omitted]’s upcoming projects. Oh, if only they could see my expression behind the computer monitor. It would be a Christopher Reeve-like wink to the camera. Well…actually…it’s a good thing they couldn’t see my expression because then they would know that it wasn’t [omitted] responding to their messages.

I received several requests for shout-outs during the live chat which he did quite well with during the actual event. People like hearing celebrities say their names.

Finally, it’s worth noting that one of [omitted]’s fans I encountered is from Iowa and we just recently experienced a huge snowstorm. I was able to connect with this fan by telling him that [omitted] has a friend in Iowa (that’s me) who was fighting a losing battle trying to shovel his driveway.

That’s the gist of this past week other than today’s post reminding everyone of the live chat. And you guys already posted the recap video for those who couldn’t attend, so that helps immensely for the copious amount of people who were upset that they wouldn’t be able to stay up late.

Sorry to hear about the postponement of the trip. I have to admit that I’m pretty bummed (albeit slightly excited about the new X-Men film “Days of Future Past). Hopefully I’ll get to meet the rest of the team in person…someday?

Until then, keep your stick on the ice.

Stephen

I sent this email off moments ago and have yet to receive a response. It's worth noting that I filmed a Batman fan film during this time with an estimated budget of $20,000 (the biggest budget of any of the films I've worked on with my film company). I've been incredibly sick since and because of this internship, I don't think I'll be able to film anything else. It's a shame because I originally planned on shooting five films before I left the state. I want to mention that I’m currently doing additional work for Adam Rifkin, a renowned screenwriter. I’ll cut this blog short, however, and save my story for the next blog. Until then, stay frosty, guys. Actually, with the looming threat of another snowstorm, don't do that. Stay warm instead.

Every Stereotype You Know about Entertainers is True

Friday, February 1, 2013

I received a call from Brian McCulley today. Let me rephrase that. I received a “missed” call from Brian McCulley while I was working out. Turns out that Brian is the manager for Adam Trent, a world famous illusionist, and he’s scheduled to perform in Iowa on Saturday night.  Upon learning that he’d be in Iowa, Tim notified him that he had to get in contact with me. Brian tells me that he can comp me tickets to the show and that he’ll tell me where the show is being held once the plane lands in Des Moines.

Of course, I’m ecstatic. Wouldn’t you be? For once, I don’t have to travel a ridiculously long distance just to meet with the people I’m doing the internship with. And I get to see a free show to boot. Without hesitating, I agree to come to the show.

Unbeknownst to me and Brian, however, the show is being held at the Sondheim Theatre of Performing Arts…in Fairfield, roughly a two hour drive from Des Moines. So much for them coming to me. Now, I had never heard of Fairfield which is weird because I am a huge Beatles fan and Fairfield, IA is the home of Maharishi University of Management which Paul McCartney’s son, James, attends. Regardless of my ignorance, I say yes immediately without realizing how far Fairfield is and upon learning how long it will take, thanks to Mapquest, I realize that I won’t be home until very late.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Having been unable to find anyone to accompany me (everyone turned me down on such short notice), I embark on the long journey with single CD to get the creative juices flowing on my four hour round trip.

Upon arriving (and after having my GPS try to lead me off of a cliff), I find two tickets waiting for me at the box office and I am escorted to the VIP section of the theatre located in a private box stage right. Shortly after I’m seated, I’m greeted by a couple to my immediate right. He introduces himself as Lee Ross and his partner is Tracy McCormick. They’re both from LA. Lee explains that he’s involved in the film industry while Tracy is in the music business and that they’re in Iowa scouting out locations for an upcoming film. I’ll admit, Lee seemed a bit pretentious at first, trying to build himself up about how he’d been backstage hanging out with Adam Trent, but then he gained a genuine interest in me once he found out who I was. In fact, after I mentioned that my film company is called the Iowa Zoetrope, he immediately smirked. He made the connection. Immediately, when I make mention of the Iowa Zoetrope to the average Joe, his or her face immediately goes blank. Lee understood that the name was derived from George Lucas’s and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope. We talk for a bit and he gives me a business card telling me to send him a demo reel.

The show begins and I’m immediately impressed. Adam Trent doesn’t rely on flash but instead has a very strong personality to carry the performance. The best way to describe it is Michael Cera as a magician. He’s funny and provides some genuine moments that make the audience feel sentimental. After the show, I meet up with Brian at the merchandise table. He tells me to head backstage and wait in the dressing room while he and Adam sell magic sets and dvds to legions of ravenous fans. When Brian finally meets me backstage, I’m finally afforded an opportunity to discuss matters about the project in person as opposed to going back and forth via email. First up, casting is set to begin in Denver on the third week of February. In fact, Brian says that his team and his studio are already set in place to the point that we could begin filming tomorrow but delays with the script are what’s postponed everything. He goes on to say that this is why so many people get discouraged with the film industry. Things feel like they’re moving at a snail’s pace because there are so many factors involved that need to click into place in a precise way.

I’m also given the details that we’ll be filming an hour long pilot and that we’re dividing it into four 15 minute segments. This is similar to the shortcom model that television networks are beginning to implement (See Kevin Smith’s interview on Smodcast for more details on this). We, however, are going to be releasing our episodes online at $4.99 per segment.

Now, one thing I should point out is that the star of the show we’re working on did a very well-known drama several years ago in which he played a homosexual. Because of this role, the actor’s sexual orientation has been put into question with his fans when in fact he IS heterosexual. It’s gotten to the point, however, that his fans actually prefer his character’s personality over his own. This is especially prevalent in Asia where he has garnered the most fans. If you’re still wondering who the actor is, I’ll give you a hint and tell you that he was in “The Social Network.”

Because of this, he is has a huge fanbase with the gay community. Brian tells me that as producers on this project. We’re all guaranteed 2% of the net profits and that if we obtain 1% of the audience from all of these groups which we’ve obtained support from, we’re sure to make a copious amount of money. It’s a comforting thought but I’m not in it for the money. In fact, I still consider the job unpaid. After all, I’ll be spending my own money on a hotel room throughout filming along with meals and travel expenses. Factor in the fact that I’ll be on a leave of absence from my job and you’ll be looking at an even poorer college student.

Brian goes on to tell me the best ways to stay on Tim Sullivan’s “good side” which include:

1.    If Tim calls or emails you, make sure you get back to him the same day.

2.    If Tim tells you to do something, do it.

3.    If you haven’t talked to Tim in a while, take the initiative and call him.

Brian assures me that I’ve been doing a great job and that this is just a formality that he’s telling everyone.

Throughout the conversation, Adam keeps popping in asking about a couple of blondes who were at the show and inquiring if they’ve come back yet. This threw me off a bit. Adam gave a very family friendly performance and now I’m seeing him in a different light as a sex crazed entertainer. This only verifies some of the stereotypes of big name entertainers I’ve heard (I’m lookin’ at you Rodney Dangerfield).

As things wrap up backstage, Brian invites me back to the penthouse that they’re staying at. The blondes never show. As I head to my car, I notice that it snowed several inches while I was inside. At the penthouse (following a quick stop to McDonalds), Brian shows me around. It’s a nice Victorian era house with a grand staircase, bathrooms with heated floors and twin showerheads, and a room with a Jacuzzi.

After the tour and a brief conversation, Adam leaves to pick up three girls who were at the show. This gives me a chance to discuss some of my work with Brian. When Trevor returns with the women, I’m not sure what to expect. Will he want me to leave? Did he bring back three girls because there are three of us? How’s this going to work?

Instead of losing my virginity, as half expected, Adam has the five of us engage in a conversation of constructive criticism about the show. Which tricks stood out and which need work? This is the furthest thing from what I imagined and I was honored that I got to participate and see that my opinion mattered. Normally, I hate criticizing another person’s work. I’m the type of person who would rather create than critique but something about this moment felt meaningful. I guess not every stereotype is true after all.

I also get to see how some of his illusions are created and that during one trick, he had to resort to an emergency rose which he compares to resorting to the backup pull chord while skydiving. It’s somewhat of a relief hearing that even the pros sweat bullets when things don’t go as planned.

Finally, I look at the time and realize that it’s 2:00 am and I still have a two hour drive to get home. I depart despite everyone telling me to stay the night. I would have liked to but I had to be at work at 5:30. I drive home on roads where the snow has drifted and struggle to stay awake but I finally make it home. My dad is still up when I walk through the door. Apparently, he’s been waiting for me and I neglected to tell him that the show was in Fairfield. He’s blunt and tells me that it “was pretty stupid” of me to stay out that late knowing that I had to work early. Oh well. It was worth it in my book.

I have a lot of catching up to do on these blogs but I’ve been busy like you wouldn’t believe. And you’ll hear about it soon enough.

Best.

Stephen

A Birthday is Just the First Day of Another 365-day Journey Around the Sun. Enjoy the Trip

Sunday, January 27, 2013

I received this email from Tim today.

Hey Guys-

Hope you’ve all been enjoying your weekends.

Been working on the New & Improved [CLASSIFIED] FOR DUMMIES manual!

Been a bit of an undertaking, as it is designed to provide a day by day breakdown of what needs to be done and who needs to do it. Hopefully, this will set the stage for smooth sailing hence forward!

The game plan was to get this out to you all earlier today- but as often happens, life got in the way- so expect this later tonight or early am tomorrow.

You will need a day to go over it and process it- but I assure you- it is designed to make things much more simpler versus difficult.

The new schedule starts tomorrow- but worry not- I will be standing by to guide one and all.

I will also be reaching out to everyone individually to go over their duties tomorrow.

Till then- no need to do anything until you have received the schedules  and a communication from me letting ya know what I need you to do.

Also- the pilot script for [CLASSIFIED] is coming along greatly- and I will have it for everyone MONDAY FEBRUARY 4^th.

Thanks for your patience everyone- and for all your assistance on this endeavor.

Catch ya later-

Tim

Monday, January 28, 2013

Today was my birthday and boy howdy was it a hassle to get time off from work. When I actually leave the state, I’m not sure what my department will do without me.

At 8:08 PM, I received an email from Tim with an updated schedule and manual. This one is even more in depth. While the last one was roughly 10 pages in length, the new and improved version is 21 pages long. Tim says that it’s so detailed that were he to drop dead all of a sudden, we would be able to carry on without him as if nothing had happened. Looking at the schedule, I noticed that my first day of tasks is tomorrow. Looks like I’ll be spending the rest of my birthday studying. I have, however, been responding to messages from everyone who has written on my wall for my birthday. It’s something I do every year but it also makes for excellent practice for what I’ll be doing.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

My first day of tasks consisted of responding to messages sent by fans. This is harder than you’d think. On average, anywhere from 50 to 100 messages are sent from people around the world. Some messages are sent in very broken English while others are sent erratically by people who are clearly obsessed. In some cases, however, people have sent really touching stories on how certain films have made a difference in their lives. There are a lot of guidelines I have to follow so as to not arouse suspicion that I’m the man behind the curtain but so far so good.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Thursdays are pretty easy. All I have to do is log in to a fake profile and copy and paste messages on other fan page walls so as to herd fans to ours.

That’s what I have for the first half of my first week. Tune in for my next blog for some major developments. I’m currently in negotiations for another project and I had a few unexpected events occur on Friday, February 1.

In a “NUTTshell.” See What I Did There? No? Well, Read On.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

For the past few days, I’ve been reviewing the workbook. It provides a detailed account of the daily tasks, who’s been assigned which task on what day, the steps for posting under the guise of our star, etc. I don’t actually start posting until next week, which is a relief, since there’s a lot to review.

Tonight I met with Haven Nutt via Skype. Haven and I actually met last August in Chicago at Tim’s filmmaking workshop. In fact, we read opposite each other as lovers during the first draft phase of the screenplay process. She played the typical easy teenager while I played a southern gentleman who turned out to be a psychopath. Typical.

In fact, following the workshop, Haven went on to become Tim’s personal assistant in order to fulfill her internship requirement for her school. Haven has actually been running the social media posts for the past few months but now’s the time to branch out and garner more fans. Haven and I spent roughly 40 minutes running through a tutorial in which she showed me how to respond to fans via screen share and appointed me a page administrator.

Not much happened beyond this. There’s still a lot to digest and I’m currently in contract negotiations for another upcoming project.

I’ll keep the updates coming. There’s A LOT more to come!

I Owe It All to Johnny Depp (Sort of)

January 14, 2013

“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...” 
― John Lennon

A bit of backstory before I begin. (Or you can skip directly to the Internship Part Marked Below)

Back in May, I traveled to LA for a special screening of Tim Burton’s 2012 film adaptation of Dark Shadows. Now this wasn’t the premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (formerly) but a double feature at the Vista showing the new film and the 1970 House of Dark Shadows. The event was exclusive to members of the Dark Shadows fan club and featured cast members of the original show along with a charity auction.

Now this was my first time traveling to LA and I wanted to stand out so I went the extra mile to craft my own Johnny Depp inspired Barnabas Collins costume. My trip to LA, however, started out on the wrong foot. I overslept and almost missed my flight, got sick on the plane, and my jaw hit the floor when I saw that the cab fare from the airport to the hotel was $86 without tip. After dropping a third of my money on the hotel room, I decided to try to find the theater in advance but my GPS malfunctioned and lead me in the opposite direction to a liquor store in a bad part of town across from the Church of Scientology.

I had hit rock bottom but there was nowhere to go but up from there and I won’t go into detail regarding the fun I had exploring the “touristy” parts of LA and will instead skip to the actual screening. After House of Dark Shadows concluded, the charity auction began and who should I spot winning all of the memorabilia but Daniel Roebuck. Daniel Roebuck, a character actor who has literally been in everything ever made in Hollywood, from The Fugitive (Biggs) to Matlock (Cliff Lewis). Of course, my generation knows him best as Arzt from Lost, the know-it-all obnoxious teacher who blew up while handling dynamite. I’m an admirer of his film Dark and Stormy Night so naturally I had to talk to him.

I noticed, however, that Daniel was talking to another gentleman so I waited patiently for him to finish before interjecting. Now picture, if you will, ME dressed as a pale white vampire with razor-like bangs, fangs, and a green Inverness cape standing a foot away with piercing eyes staring. I guess I hadn’t taken my appearance into account as I stood waiting all nonchalant. I’ll let you infer what Daniel’s reaction was but it did end with him asking for several photos with me. I talked with Daniel for a good five minutes before he had to rush off. Before he left, he pointed to the man he had been talking to and said “He’s a director, you know.”

He immediately held out his hand to shake and introduced himself as Tim Sullivan, the director of 2001 Maniacs and Chillerama. I had seen 2001 Maniacs back in high school and saw that Chillerama was on the shelf at Target so Tim’s name did have merit in my book. We talked for a good while about all things Dark Shadows, comic books, and movies until an usher interrupted saying that the manager requested my presence for photos. Tim told me to look him up on facebook as I was whisked away.

It wasn’t until I had finished with the photo op that I realized that I had just missed the greatest opportunity possible to enquire about an internship in film. I returned to my seat slightly dismayed just as Tim Burton’s film started. As the credits rolled, I jumped up and scanned the theater for Tim. Now, this isn’t like a movie theater we’re used to in Iowa. With its Egyptian décor, it was closer in size (length wise) to CY Stephens. Just then, something caught my eye. Tim was at the back of the theater and he had spotted me. He waved and I desperately tried to make my way to his location. Did I mention that I had been sitting in the second row? Hordes of people stood between me and Tim and something happened that I hadn’t considered. I was still in costume. And I was surrounded by legions of Dark Shadows fans. I was stopped every two feet by people requesting photos and I couldn’t say no. Finally, I reached the outside of the theater and Tim was nowhere to be seen, lost amidst the sea of limousines waiting to pick up the original cast members.

Flash forward two days and I’m back at my home in Ankeny, Iowa. Tim accepted me as a friend on facebook. I’m about to send him a message asking about internship opportunities when I notice that his “About” section states that this page is to be strictly used for fan service and NOT business. Disheartened once more, I look up Tim’s film company New Rebellion Entertainment and using the email there, shoot him a message.

One week passes before I hear anything. The email I receive goes along the lines of “Great meeting you at the premiere last week. I rarely check this email account myself so use this one instead…or better yet, here’s my cell phone number. Give me a call.” My already large eyes doubled in size that day as I gazed at my computer screen.

Now flash forward again and I’m making my calculations on the best time to call. Because there’s a two hour time difference, I figure that I’ll call at 9pm which will be 7pm his time. It’s great because it will be after supper time and I won’t have to worry about him being stuck in horrific LA rush hour traffic. The phone rings eight times before it reaches voicemail. I leave my message saying I’ll call back.

The next day, I’m lying on my futon stressing over when to call again. This time, I figure I’ll call at 2pm but then I realize that this will be lunch time and I don’t want to interrupt anything. I lie on my futon over-contemplating the situation before finally passing out from the stress. Suddenly, I’m awakened by the sound of my phone ringing loudly from where it sits. And then I realize…Tim has called me! I tell him that I make films in my spare time and he tells me send him some of the films I’ve done.

I send him Steampunks, Under the Setting Sun, and the fake trailer for Elvis Presley Vampire Hunter. He tells me that I look just like “him” in Under the Setting Sun and that my work in Elvis shows that I have a similar acting style (being a character actor and all). Needless to say, Tim is impressed and he approves.

Internship (In case you decided to skip everything above)

I’ll cut to the chase now. Tim told me about an upcoming series he’s working on and that he’s still assembling a crew and that I’m more than welcome to join him as a production assistant. The series will be filming in Denver, CO in August.

We keep in contact but in July, I receive a call stating that production on the series has been pushed back to March but that he’s holding a two-day film school workshop in Chicago in August.

I gladly attend the workshop (and I frantically rush to register for the last few required classes I need for the Fall semester). The workshop consists of reviewing the progression of a scene from script (first draft to final draft) to filming via the review of raw footage to assembling the scene ourselves through editing.

Let’s jump to now. The crew has been assembled and my duties have been assigned. I’m acting as an associate producer and I’ll be managing the social media of the show’s star. This will allow me to work at home until we start casting in Denver come February and filming in March. Now let me elaborate on this process. Whenever you see an official facebook page for a celebrity ie. Joss Whedon or Felicia Day (the Geeky ones not the Hollywood blockbuster celebs that use only twitter), there’s so much to manage that it’s literally a full-time job. If the celebrities did everything themselves, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything; no new films or projects.

Now I know what you’re thinking. So, these official pages are run by imposters then? No, not exactly. We work in conjunction with the star generally obtaining photos, statuses, and videos to post at various times of the week. They are all chosen by the star and we act as liaison between them and the fans. We respond to the messages that have been sent in a way that doesn’t seem like they’re being written off and not giving too much so as to encourage stalkers.

I realize that because I’m revealing this secret that I can’t actually tell you (the general public that is) the star of the show that I’m doing this for (for confidentiality reasons). Although, it wouldn’t take much to figure it out.

I can, however, post the email I received from Tim today as we embark on this new journey:

Hey Guys-

I feel like Professor X gathering the X MEN for the first time!

But here goes- this is the FIRST email to the entire HOMEFRONT team, or Team ****** as I like to call it, as not only will this team be responsible for producing HOMEFRONT, it will also be responsible for maintaining the social media surrounding our boy ****.

This is a true experiment in what I see as the future of the industry-

Basically, using social media to build an interactive fanbase to which we then sell content and product.

If this works- we should all benefit creatively and financially. The sky truly is the limit – and in the end, the heights we reach or don’t reach will rest squarely on our shoulders.

As with any venture- the start up will include a lot of work with little compensation- but then, it will inevitably be a lot of reward and a machine that runs itself having been well oiled along the way.

Why am I doing this?

First off- FREEDOM. Freedom to be my own boss creating my own content that I own without answering to corporate hacks who ‘don’t get it’.

Second off- the chance to build a CREATIVE COMMUNITY of talented individuals who will all grow in this venture and get the experience and opportunities that might never get in exchange for hard work and passion.

Thirdly- (Section omitted due to Confidentiality)

Because at the end of the day- I MAKE THE MOVIES THAT I WANT TO SEE CUZ NO ONE ELSE IS MAKING THEM.

And the money to be made from making them ensures I don’t have to go back to McDonalds to pay the rent while making them.

So—with that being said- tomorrow will be our first TEAM ****** production meeting in LA. We will be going over the attached WORKBOOK/TO DO LIST.

For those team ****** members who will not be in LA (Danny, John and Stephen) you will be with us in spirit, and we will be in touch within the next day or two to go over the worksheet personally.

So- for those at the meeting tomorrow- feel free to glance over the attached- but don’t sweat it- I will have a hard copy of it for you tomorrow- and we will go over it page by page.

For those who won’t be here tomorrow, take a look at this when you can- and again, I will be in touch.

Thank you everybody-

And away we go!

Tim

As you just read, I sadly couldn’t attend the production meeting, but am currently waiting for a phone call detailing my schedule and specific duties as I sift through the workbook that was attached to the above message. I sent a text to Tim stating that I’m just happy to be a part of the team.

The journey has just begun. Who knew that dressing up as Johnny Depp and being at the right place at the right time would lead to such an opportunity?

I’ll keep you all posted.

Best.

Stephen