Unemployment Diary Week 2: Freeloader

This blog entry is part of a series, that deals with my current unemployment status: If you want to catch up, please do so by clicking the links below:

Day 1 | Why Don’t You Get a Job? | Haircut | Another Day In Paradise

Saturday

The best news that begins week 2 is that I got a paycheck from my former employer. Its one of the three checks that they owed me still. I really had this desire to use it to go on Vacation. Just spend it bumming around. beaches on the east and west side of Florida and everything else in between.

The Losers

In what could possibly be one of my last returns to the theatres, what with my quickly disappearing funds, and rising ticket prices, I decided to cash in a free movie ticket I had at Sunrise Cinemas thanks to their loyalty rewards programs. I can’t push these programs enough. What may seem like a hassle to carry around rewards cards and flash them while buying a ticket, eventually pays off big when you need it. Whether its a free ticket or free concessions, it all helps the wallet.

I decided to watch The Losers. Good or bad I tend to always support the comic Book movies that need it.

Give it a chance, The Losers might just surprise you. It’s faithful to the comic, but not bogged down by continuity or fan boys so they could cut loose and have a lot of fun. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and my review of it at the time was pretty much this. “If you’re looking for something to do. And You haven’t seen Kick-Ass, then watch The Losers”. Hell,  that should’ve been the blurb on the Poster.  Free entertainment At its finest.

Sunday

I hit Hollywood Beach Again. This time I took the kid and even though she was being quite a prat we still managed to have some fun.

She managed to lose that beach ball no less than 4 times, thanks to high velocity wind. And thanks to the sexy European chick who decided it was her mission to help her return it to us.  She also took the Goodwill roller skate shoes out for a trial run at the Hollywood Broadwalk.

BTW, Ally gets off on seeing herself on this blog or on Face book  or YouTube in whatever ridiculous adventures she gets into. But sooner or later I fear its going to catch up to her in an embarrassing way,

Monday

I applied for Government assistance to see where that would take me. But apparently I need a letter from my boss stating that I no longer am employed and why. I fired them off an email asking them to do me this Solid, so i could get some health benefits.

Things have been really shitty lately. Even though i find myself with more free time, I have even less desire to make use of it. I feel guilty to spend any money, and I feel even more guilty to use this time for leisure. I cant even watch TV without tormenting myself. 

It feels like when we have a power outage due to a hurricane. And there’s nothing to do, but sit around the house bored, and go to bed early.

Tuesday

I bought Super Street Fighter 4. Yeah I shouldn’t be spending money, but I had Best Buy Reward Zone points. Thanks again to loyalty cards, And it ended up only costing me 20 Bucks. Plus I got a free costume pack for the game, on Xbox Live.

A good friend wrote me, saying she’s been wondering how I am since the my job loss. I told her I’m a little sad, but carrying on none the less.

I think I’m sad because I’m bored. I’m bored because I have no desire to go out or entertain myself, because I have no job. When I do have a job, I usually hate it. And that makes me unhappy. But working allows me the opportunity to earn money to buy things.  New things amuse me. But I’ve learned as i get older that new toys don’t make me happy anymore.

I think what I really want to do is go to some deserted cabin in the middle of nowhere and just forget about all the trappings of society. But I'm not allowed to do so, because of my kid. Because of my family. SO I got to work. So she can grow up and get a job and a mortgage and feel like shit too. Life is retarded.

I don’t think my friend understands me anymore. As much as I desperately  want her too. I pretend I have something to do. That I have somewhere to be. And I go off and watch TV.

Wednesday

I called my bosses, because I have not received a response to the email. I really need proof that I am no longer gainfully employed to receive these benefits. But it looks like They are done taking my calls.

Thursday

I got denied for unemployment. Basically it stated I made no wages for last year. I think they got a hold of my former boss, and he explained to them I was a contractor. And probably was not entitled for benefits.

I convince my brother to see the new Nightmare on Elm Street. We’re both big horror buffs, and a new Nightmare, Halloween, Or Friday movie is one of the few we can both agree on seeing together. And it tides us over until the next Halloween Horror Nights. He brings his wife along. Which is fine, but I was expecting it to just be the two of us. But she’s paying, and therefore more than welcome. Popcorn and Soda are added to the credit card, and it still comes out cheaper than it would have been at AMC Aventura 24. Thanks to my sister in law Monse, and Flippers Cinema.  Too bad the movie sucked.

Friday

Another former Co-worker touted a job opportunity at his place of business. I was tempted to apply, because Man I NEED something. But the pay is considerably less than what I was making before. He said there are some good benefits and commissions that may put be on equal footing with my previous job. But we all know commissions are never guaranteed. This kind of decision is hard. I mean I need a job, But can i waste my time and someone else’s time when I know it wont be enough to pay my bills and may have to quit eventually? It’s something I’m going to have to thing about over the weekend.

Casey’s birthday party today. I attend not only to make merry with a friend. But just to have something to do. Oh and free refreshments is always nice in my time of need. I know it’s your  Birthday Casey, but thanks for The Quiche! 

Saturday

Free Comic Book Day! Talk about stretching your entertainment value? Thanks to Glen at Villains in North Miami beach, me and the kid got a great selection of comics.

What’s better than not spending a dime and getting Free Comics?

Spending a few pennies and getting an entire run of Keith Giffen’s Justice League International. At 20 cents a piece, Amazing deal at Zap Bam Ka-Pow! in Pembroke Pines. (Formerly EARTH 2 COMICS)

I didn’t get a check this Saturday though. And I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with Unemployment and the request for that letter.

Sunday

Free-loading at Casey’s party isn’t the lowest I’ve stooped this week. My daughter was invited to a party at Chuck E Cheese.  I hate Chuck E. Cheese. It’s the worst place on Earth.

Even the rat doesn’t look like he wants to be here. Sad Chuck E.,Cheese reminds me of this picture “Sad Vader”.

Still I went to the party and accepted beer, soda, pizza, wings, and cake from people I barely new and had no desire to befriend.  I'm not even a fan of beer, but it didn’t stop me from guzzling it down, in hopes it would dull my senses, from the roar of children screaming as they rode token operated machinery.

I ended the day and this weekend pretty much the same way i did the last weekend, at the beach Again. Just did not have a desire to go home I guess. This time though the kid had no swimwear. But that’s okay she’s not shy.

She was excited afterwards. Because she (mostly) got rid of her tan lines. I’m already starting to dread the days, she reaches of Age and finds out about  Haulover Beach, so she can get an “all-over” tan as she puts it.

She’s growing up way too fast.

-J.

Casting for Extras

It’s been over a month since I last posted regarding production of The Lunchroom.  I want to apologize for that from the get go.  This blog post is part of a continuing series on the making of are first short film The Lunchroom. If you want to catch up, Please do so on the below links.

The Beginning

Rebel without a Crew | Sifting | Last Call? | A Band Apart | Soundtrack | Lights! Camera!? | Bad M.F. |  This is the End | Gotta Have It

Pre-Production

Lunchroom Conversations | Another 48 Hrs. | Odishon

 On my last entry we had wrapped up auditions and had found new energy.  It had sparked the creative desire in each and every one of us. I’d like to tell you that we seized the moment and banged out a slew of short films in the couple of months since casting. But that’s not what happened at all:

Getting the film made was not an easy undertaking.  I don’t want to highlight any of the negative aspects, but suffice it to say there was friction in the group. Some of us, had experience, and some of us did not. Some felt they were just along for the ride. Some of us were used to doing things in one fashion, and others were looking for  direction, while others were flowing with the moment.  What I learned most though is even with a small group of independent filmmakers, it can get very Hollywood when its time for creative decisions. What I mean by “Hollywood” is when things spiral out of control in the creation process, and you end up with a giant fucking Spider in your movie. We see some asinine situations come out of Hollywood, absurd plots, stupid remakes, and ending that differ completely from the novel and you wonder Who the Hell was the guy that came up this bullshit? It’s just normal people. Each pursuing their own interests in the project, whether its money, fame or career. Each with an ego, they needed to check, an opinion they just NEED to share, They need to be heard.  You know the saying too many cooks spoil the soup? Well the same can be said about filmmaking.   And that’s something I learned for the future. Everyone should have an assigned job, and they need to it, and everyone else needs to get out of their way. The writer is the writer. The director directs, and producer needs to wrangle them altogether, or shit will never get done.

I decided since I wasn’t writing or directing, that I would take the task of production on my shoulders. It also seemed like no one else wanted it, even though a deadline for shooting had been set. Furthermore, we had yet still not cast the lead actress. The one that ties it all together. While I saw the comedic opportunities of the role, a crazy stalker. A woman too desperate to realize that her advances were unwanted. Leonard had the one caveat that she had to be extremely hot. So the idea that she’s desperate no longer worked.  The character would have to be naive.

I went ahead, and put up a casting call on Mandy.com.  The character sheet said she would be 22-29, but Mandy only had 18-24 and 25-30. I didn’t want the character to be so young. So I chose 25-30.  What I would soon learn is that in Hollywood talk, 25-30 is late 40’s to early 50’s. The first dozen or so applicants. where 25-30 years older than ME. It seemed like an utter disaster at this point. There were no actresses who would fit the description. The closest was a  late thirties hispanic woman, who had done some dramatic work in short films, but was going to be unable to attend the audition. She wanted to audition via the web. Which in this day and age was not an unusual request. Hell, production meetings on this film were being held over facebook messages.  But I had come up with the GENIUS idea, to hold auditions on the very same day of the shoot. The character didn’t have a lot of lines and no one was available to hold secondary auditions. So why not merge everything onto the same day.

I then moved on to Craigslist, which had been such a huge boon in talent scouting on previous projects. I sent out the same posting, plus a separate one for Extras. While I got a dozens of requests for people wanting to be extras, I got very few prospects in the way of lead actress. It wasn’t for lack of applicants either. I got tons of resumes this time. People that weren’t quite right for the part. Mostly because they had the wrong genitalia. Apparently on Craigslist Looking for Lead Actress means: Hairy chested men Wanted.  One woman even sent me the resume for her adorable 3 year old son. She had him pimped out in a business suit and a slick haircut. I know you’re looking for women, she said. But please keep my son in mind. Let’s see: Now casting for workplace comedy, The Office meets Fatal Attraction. I guess I really might have a part for junior.  He did have a nice suit.

Eventually the most interesting thing happened. My craigslist ad was dumped, on several, talent agency websites. All of a sudden I was bombarded with applicants. Male, female, and some of undermined sexuality. I’m not going post pictures, but they ranged from some beautiful women to some of the most absurd people. There was a guy who looked like he belonged  as an extra in Napoleon Dynamite. He had an awesome wristband, killer hair, and a katana sword. I really wanted him in the movie.  I can’t help it. I gotta post pictures.

Freakin’ Awesome. *lol*

Then there was this lady, who was part bodybuilder, part cougar, All bad ass. She was the star of her own comic book.  Correction. TWO Comic Books. Rarely does one get to be the star of one comic, let alone TWO. Unless you’re Batman. But we weren’t exactly sure if she was a female.  Serge and Eric, experts in photoshop and digital manipulation, went over the image in question and did notice that it was “retouched” in the crotch area.

here was this lady, who was part bodybuilder, part cougar, All bad ass. She was the star of her own comic book.  Correction. TWO Comic Books. Rarely does one get to be the star of one comic, let alone TWO. Unless you’re Batman. But we weren’t exactly sure if she was a female.  Serge and Eric, experts in photoshop and digital manipulation, went over the image in question and did notice that it was “retouched” in the crotch area.

Still Casting Auditions over the internet weren’t all bad.  It’s how we found Pearce Blair after all.

From the get-go I knew I wanted him in the movie. He just looked so pimp in that suit. There wasn’t even a part for him beyond extra. So I lobbied for us to create something special for him.  Pretty much the entire crew loved his look. So we created the role of “The Boss” for him.  If you haven't seen it yet. Check out Pearce in the short film Intervention below.

 

We also found Nikita Miller this way. She applied to be an extra in our film. But I knew right away, that we could cast her in the lead female role.

I submitted her in with the other applicants without much fanfare. Everyone’s conception of beauty is different, so I didn’t want someone veto-ing her automatically. Just because I thought she was right for the role, even though she was a bit young.  I think Serge was the first one to get excited over her picture. If she could act he wanted her in his short film Norwood.  I also saw her in a few of my feature length scripts. She had that girl next door quality in her photos. Eric also chimed in his approval, and lastly Leonard would ask to bring her on board in his usual understated way. Give me so and so, oh and Nikita too.