For those who care...

Eric Boellner

Eric Boellner

Well-known member
So 2 months ago, my good friend Calix Reneau called me up and said "Hey, I'm shooting a feature here in LA at the end of March. If you can get out here, I'll find you a couch to sleep on."

A week later, I booked the flight. I'd never been to Los Angeles before. I've been out here for 2 weeks now, working as a personal assistant to Calix (along with numerous other jobs on set). I actually extended my stay for another week, despite it costing me an extra $170 out of pocket.

F..k, I love this town - it's amazing. The people are assholes and they're incredibly friendly and personable. The city is a mess and it's beautiful and orderly. Everybody's going somewhere and there's nowhere but everywhere to go.

I spent hours today shoveling s..t. After a while, Calix - the writer, director and producer of the film - stopped and helped me for a good hour-and-a-half. We ended the day with dinner at Denny's, just him and I, and he said to me "The people who make it in this business are the people who get the phrase 'By any means necessary.' "

Something he wrote in a blog for the film's website (links at the end of the post, for those who care) is "The worst day on set is better than the best day doing just about anything else." He wrote that on his worst day of this shoot.

And I realized today, I would rather shovel s..t for monopoly money (pay is deferred) on one of Calix's sets than get paid $200 a week for throwing meat and veggies on bread at Subway. The work is harder, the hours longer and the pay virtually nonexistent. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

F..k, I love this town.


Michael Traven

Film website: http://www.canyonroadmovie.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/canyonroadmovie
 
Hey, good to see you made it out here! I've been out here for 4 months now, and I love it. Spent Saturday hanging around the art galleries in Chinatown and walking around Little Tokyo. On Thursday I had a job interview as an assistant to a fashion photographer in a seedy converted slaughterhouse on Willow Street in the Arts District. Two major films were filming outside, and I come to find that this seedy building has all these room with different sets inside--a prison, an interrogation room, a nightclub, a living room, bedrooms...It turns out they rent this building out to productions all the time. Now I really hope I get the job because I can use the building for my own shoots two days out of the month.

When you get the chance, check out Film Tools in Burbank. It's like Guitar Center for filmmakers! Oh, and eat some Vietnamese sandwiches. They're huge, delicious, and as cheap as a McDonalds sandwich.

I love this town, too!

P.S. If you end up staying out here and want to partner up on a project, let me know!
 
Hollywood is a shallow stinking money trench where the wicked run rampant and good men die like dogs for no readily apparent reason.

Once you get comfortable with that - which doesn't generally take long - you can have a lot of fun.
 
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