Filmy film film

I'm a little surprised by how much the film world has absorbed my life. I remember considering film in High School and thinking "Ohmygosh, I could never get into that. It's too competitive and out there. I wouldn't even be good at it, I have no experience. I'm gonna be a doctor who secretly paints and writes instead." And even after I dove into the film program in college, I was full of doubts about post-graduation. This little voice in the back of my head kept saying I'd just end up being a receptionist after I graduated and would never use my degree toward a career. But then I applied for Colorless Green on a whim and it all went from there. I met people, started a network, worked on 4 feature films and a horror short and I just keep getting deeper and deeper into film.

I love it. It's frustrating and hard and the people can be assholes (for lack of a better word) and sometimes I find I'm not taking care of myself - food and sleep go out the window during a project. But I'm hooked, nonetheless. I've discovered a subculture full of people who think like me. Or who are willing to find out how I think and geek out about things that might go over other peoples heads because, let's face it, film people are freakin' weird.

Okay, I'm rambling. The point is, I've finally hit that point where it's become a passion and I can't shy away from it anymore. I want to make short films, write screenplays, and draw storyboards. And I've kind of let go of the fear that I might not be thriving, hugely successful, or making a ton of money in the near future. It doesn't matter because I'm having all these amazing experiences.

Anyway, recently my restaurant had a fire and I was put out of a job. The timing wasn't horrible because I'm volunteering at Sundance Film Festival full-time and would have had to take work off anyway. The downside is, I'm gonna be poor as dirt for a while and my roommates (aka my brother, his girlfriend, and his best friend) may have to put up with me scraping by for a while.

But, Sundance has been incredible and I'm a little sad that it's almost over. I'm surrounded by people who are equally enthusiastic about the films and who join me in disecting them.

It's been pretty turbulent though. I barely have time to eat and usually get a quick meal each day and that's about it. My time is being split between working at the theater, sleeping in my car, roaming Park City, and watching as many films as I possibly can. I'm never sure where I'll end up crashing so I keep all my belongings in a duffle bag in my car and my personal hygeine is probably lacking in some areas (I can rock dreadlocks, right?)

The theater I work at is one of the smaller ones and is a bit off the beaten path. But the team I'm on is hysterical and they make it so it never feels like work. The volunteers come from all over too so we've got a mix of people from the UK, Canada, all over the US, and elsewhere.

 I seriously lucked out this year. I also got a job that allows me to sneak into any movie that we're screening and participate in the Q&A's with the filmakers, which is my favorite part because I want to know everything about how the films were produced. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to see Richard Ayoade's movie and check out his Q&A. Sadly, I missed one of my idols, Marjane Satrapi, but I'll probably catch her movie in theaters later.

Also, celebrities tend to visit pretty frequently since mine is a discreet theater that they can easily sneak in and out of.
I've met Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi), John C. Reilly, Katy Couric, and William H. Macy while scanning tickets. Irrfan Khan actually grabbed my shoulder and asked me to show him where he could go to smoke. Then William H. Macy gave me the wrong ticket and I had him stand next to me while he searched for it so I could continue scanning tickets. He later grabbed my shoulder and asked where he could get popcorn. Super nice guy. And needless to say, that jacket is never getting washed. It's been insane. I kind of thought I might spot a celeb or two but I didn't think I'd have that many encounters. I also had Matthew Gray Gubler skip past me with his friends and got a friendly "hello" from him. Then took a terrible picture of the back of his head as he skipped away. And shortly after saw the guy who plays Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad dipping into a restaurant. So so weird.

Matthew Gray-Gubler

Irrfan Khan (in the tux)

I wish I had better pictures but we're not really supposed to bug celebs when we're on our shift. Plus I probably wouldn't want to go around jumping them anyway.

Anyway I'm beyond excited to do this again next year now that I know the ins and outs. It's been a great chance to network, reconnect with friends and professors from film school, and see some beautiful films and artists. It's also made me more determined to make my own stuff to submit to festivals. I'm probably just high off the festival but we will see! Just two more days and then back to real life but I'm going to get as much as I can from it.

I'll try to blog more so I can catch up on some of the films I've worked on and my trip to LA but I'm so attention-deficit that  I can barely answer a text message these days. More to come!