Hello Everyone, this is your X-Hollywood reject & truly Demented reporter, Craig Amabello, reporting in from the front lines of New England productions.
DISCLAIMER: Once again, I truly do not mean ALL of you people out here in New England are bad, I know THERE MUST be many fine, talented, creative, hardworking individuals out here.... I just keep running into the truly deranged, egomaniacs with such astounding arrogance that it would even put Gene Simmons from Kiss to shame!
Why, I ask myself am I always running into Braggarts, Simpletons, Fools, Losers, & such untalented Hacks that act like they just came off a feature film working for Martin Scorsese, & taught HIM all that he knows????
I am constantly being treated like absolute shit from people in the New England production community.
Are people like dogs? Am I giving off some kind of SCENT that people can pick up on & I am just totally unaware of?
I swear, every time I am booked for any kind of shoot to work in any capacity on, I am always the LOW MAN on the Totem Pole & yet, I smile, take it like a man, & still put out a good attitude.
I show them a willingness to work, to help others to do WHATEVER it may be to MOVE the production forward. I exude a form of HUMBLENESS that is not FAKE, it is quite real, & yet people INSTINCTIVELY SEEM TO PICK UP ON THIS & START KICKING ME LIKE A DAMN MANGY DOG THAT JUST PEED ON THEIR FAVORITE RUG!
WHAT GIVES?.... What the Hell am I doing wrong? It is truly very Frustrating.
As a child I used to Argue Vehemently with a dear friend of mine (who eventually Blew his Brains out all over the carpet), that "KINDNESS IS A STRENGTH.... A very Powerful form of Strength & Confidence, Caring & Humanity to your fellow earth Beings". He would always say that I was a fool & that I was wrong & that "Kindness was a weakness & will always be perceived as such, by anybody on this planet!".... I am exasperated to think that after all these years, after all my efforts to Exude an Honest, sincere, form of Kindness to Human beings that Danny was right!
PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET SEEM TO ONLY UNDERSTAND STRENGTH.... ARROGANCE... VILE CREATURES THAT BULLY PEOPLE WITH THEIR RUDENESS & DERANGED CHARM.
"KINDNESS APPEARS TO BE A WEAKNESS TO ALL THAT I HAVE ENCOUNTERED"
So where the Hell does that leave a guy like me???
Do I have to become a complete Scum-bag? A complete Rude Pig of a human to get what I want?
How do I get people to take me seriously, without Punching them in the face after they treat me with absolute disrespect?
I truly do not seem to know any more... It disheartens me to be at such a cross roads after so many years of failure with not only LIFE ITSELF... But with the way other Humans beings treat me.
Why am I rambling on about all of this anyways? I just finished a gig the other night where I was working with 2 College grads from a very Expensive & Important Theatre Arts school... These two Clowns, (& that is being really Cruel to Clowns) were completely Rude, arrogant, self absorbed, LAZY, Self Pretentious, WANNA-BE ARTISTS that had no freakin respect for ANYONE or ANYTHING except themselves!
These two "Well Schooled" Morons were so lazy, arrogant & Inept that it took 3 & 1 HALF HOURS TO PUT UP TWO LIGHTS & SET UP A JIB!
Let me repeat that again.... Just so you can really UNDERSTAND & it can Truly SINK IN....
It took 2 guys 3 & 1/2 hours to set up TWO LIGHTS & a JIB!
Is it me, or is that about 3 hours to freakin long?
Let me explain: I met these two guys on the set, the Director introduced us ( It went something like this.... Craig, this is my DP, my director of Photography Matt & his cinematographer Joey. This is Craig... he has been helping me out... THEY were given TITLES & I was given just my NAME & that I HELPED OUT).
Now I know it sounds like I'm Nit Picking, but why is it that every time I'm on a shoot & everyone starts bandying about Titles, these people usual end up being untalented hacks & rude Idiots that just cling to their freakin Titles & Demented dream of Hollywood Delusions!
Wherever I go... I'm just Craig Amabello... NO TITLES.... NO BULL.... Just Hi, I'm here to work, help out in anyway I can, do a good job, get paid & go home...... Is that so bad? Is that so weird?
Do I need to introduce myself As the Grand Wizard of Reality & the Ruler of all Mankind from the past, present & future?... Is this how one goes about getting respect here on planet earth?
Using big Convoluted 10 cent words & titles that more than naught end up being gibberish for the foolish to gnaw on like an old bone is to a junkyard dog?
I hate titles... And I truly feel that many people that have NEVER BEEN to HOLLYWOOD.... Or WORKED in HOLLYWOOD.... CLING TO THESE STUPID TITLES FOR DEAR LIFE... Because they feel it will Validate them to the uninformed masses.
TITLES ARE BULLSHIT!...... There is truly no need for titles out here.... Yes in Hollywood, where there are Unions & Guilds & all that powerful stuff, Unfortunately you need titles to play the game... But for Christ sake people.... WE ARE NOT IN FREAKIN HOLLYWOOD...... Can't we just Mellow the hell out & be a WEE Bit Normal? Have some damn fun? Create some cool stuff? Without the need to prop ourselves up with INSANE Bullshit Pretentious Titles that are pretty much just empty words anyways?......
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... I get so damn frustrated playing these silly, foolish childish games Over & Over & Over.... But I NEVER... IN A MILLION YEARS EXPECTED TO PLAY THESE KINDS OF GAMES OUT HERE, IN NEW ENGLAND WITH SUPPOSEDLY, NICE, Homespun, easy going Country Folks!
Anyways, my story continues...........
Right from the beginning after meeting these TWO IMPORTANT, WELL SCHOOLED, HOLLYWOOD types, I said, "Hey what can I do? What do you guys need? What lights are you going to be putting up? Do you want me to get them? etc, etc, etc..... I was bending over backwards to help out... (Like I always do on every shoot that I am on), To show these two guys that I was there to HELP the production run smoothly. To not give attitude, to not disturb the Power flow... (If they were in charge I thought, So be it. I will make it work & still be polite & courteous to all involved in this production. I am here to do a professional job & be paid.... I might as well attempt to make it a pleasant experience as I always do).
I pretty much got NO-RESPONSE.... A couple Mumbled, "I'm Thinking", " lets see", "give me a minute" etc., type answers, but they both just seemed to be floundering.... DOING NOTHING!
(I must explain here that When these two jokers first showed up on the set the first thing these 2 losers did was to RUN to get PIZZA & left me & the director to carry up almost all of the equipment up 3 flights of stairs into the studio where we were shooting at).
To me this act alone spoke VOLUMES about their Integrity, work ethic, & Presumptuousness!
But even after this, I still bit my tongue & tried to work with these guys.... To help them in anyway possible to get this shoot going & off the ground instead of laying there like a dead fish for almost 4 hours of senseless waiting!
(I must also explain that the director seems to be a very nice, kindly, quiet man who has never directed before, he is BRAND NEW to all of this production stuff. So he seemed very much lost as to how to get the whole show on the road & Unbelievably left it in the hands of these two simpletons that seemed to Revel in their New Found Power!).
So..... My long winded story continues.........
After doing everything in my power to help out, get the lights out, bring them to the set, get the scrims, stands, extension cords, etc... IE: I DID ALL OF THE PHYSICAL GRUNT WORK.... THEY STILL DID NOTHING BUT STAND AROUND & USE CUTE SHOW BIZ WORDS ON EACH OTHER.
I was utterly amazed & appalled by these College Grads behavior.... (Unfortunately I must admit that I am a lier.... I have seen this type of behavior & attitudes on Sets many, many times before, from coast to coast & It is just Sickening, aggravating & nauseating to me at this point in my life)
Then the other genius starts acting like he is now the Art director/ Set director etc & wished we had real live sticks, twigs & rocks on the set to make it more realistic.... So the next thing I know I am out in the park at dark with the director picking up leaves & junk while the 2 college art boys must have been laughing their asses off at their ability to act all special & important & DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING & how truly easy it was to get flunkeys to do their bidding!!!!!!!!!!
But believe it or not.... I still maintained my cool... I still was not about to sabotage this nice mans shoot because two rude arrogant, lazy, shiftless punks had somehow managed to TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION...... There was Talent on hand... I did not want to poison them with a bad attitude..... Why should I hurt them? Get everyone upset? So I just shut my mouth & kept being the LAP DOG to these TWO jokers.......
HOURS HAD FLOWN BY & NOTHING WAS DONE.... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.......
(The only work that was done up to this point was clearly only the physical work that was done by the Director & myself)...... Otherwise those two jokers stayed locked up on the set doing God Knows what & kept at least 8 people waiting).
The director then asked me if I could go down & get a 25 lb. sandbag that the DP was in need of... I almost said, "let the chubby lil bastard go get it himself"... But no... I put my tongue in my mouth... my tail between my legs & quietly stewed as a struggled to bring this sandbag up 3 flights of stairs......
When I arrived onto the set & dropped the sandbag, the DP said to me, "Can you bring that over here?" ... I just walked away & said that I was tired. He then very quickly & curtly stated.... "NO?... Well thank you very much for your cooperation". It was as if, he was almost in some form of state of shock that the PEON didn't jump to do his bidding... Very bizarre dweeb this guy was.
(Also, as a side note I found out later that this punk is a Christian Youth Minister... Can you Freakin Believe that? This crappy attitude & bullshit behavior all coming form some Pretend Christian/ Religious Scum-bag teaching HIS ETHICS to young children? And you wonder what the hell is wrong with this country at times?)
Anyways....... After this Punk had the audacity to give me lip after I had done nothing but be helpful, polite & kind to him for the last several hours.... I wanted to FLOOR HIM!
Strangle the lil bastard right then & there..... ruin the shoot...... All because this arrogant, lazy little puke was for some reason or another under the MisInformed impression that I was HIS LITTLE PA... ( Or should I say, Peon).
Well I don't wanna bore you folks any more with the details, but the shoot finally got under way almost 4 hours later.... I had done most of the Physical work myself & those two guys where constantly being deferred to as the Director of Photography & cinematographer etc., while I just stood around looking & feeling useless & dumb!
And do you know what the first words out of his mouth were once the whole cast, friends & family had finally assembled onto the set?........ "Welcome to Hollywood"..... I wanted to Kick his teeth in.... Last I recall, we were in Freakin Lawrence Mass!
My whole point is this.........
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT THIS KIND OF CRAP HAPPENS TO OUT HERE WORKING ON NEW ENGLAND PRODUCTIONS???
Have any of you people out there ever had a situation like this happen to you? If so, could you please share it with us....
I know that I can not be the only person out here that crap like this constantly & consistently happens to.....
I would love to hear others stories of nightmare shoots gone to hell....
Not because I want the negativity... But because maybe, others can learn from this very disturbing & dysfunctional behavior & know that it should not be tolerated any where on ANYONES SHOOT!
I would truly love to know what you other production people out here think of my little tale of disturbing, lazy, attitudes by College Art school Majors....
Thanx's & I hope all of your shoots out here in New England are fun, productive & Profitable & not anything like the NIghtmare shoots from Hell that I seem to be working on.
Your X-Hollywood Reject
Craig Amabello
( & yes, the Irony is not lost on me that I DO USE TITLES!... But for all the right reasons)
