#Assistant Director Jobs in WB

[thefirsthogokage]

Fuck AMPTP and the bullshit going on. I'm tired, might not do this well:

(link to article in above picture) From The Article

Receiving positive feedback from Wall Street since the WGA went on strike May 2, Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Paramount and others have become determined to “break the WGA,” as one studio exec blatantly put it.

To do so, the studios and the AMPTP believe that by October most writers will be running out of money after five months on the picket lines and no work.

“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” a studio executive told Deadline. Acknowledging the cold-as-ice approach, several other sources reiterated the statement. One insider called it “a cruel but necessary evil.”

The studios and streamers’ next think financially strapped writers would go to WGA leadership and demand they restart talks before what could be a very cold Christmas. In that context, the studios and streamers feel they would be in a position to dictate most of the terms of any possible deal.

[Image IDs: Twitter thread by David Slack posted July 12th, 2023 that reads in totality:

And right on cue, here’s the inevitable Deadline article claiming that the AMPTP and their CEO bosses are ready to wait us out and let us “go broke.”

They’re not. They can’t. This studio propaganda, and here’s why.

In the increasingly mega-merged and hedgefundified Hollywood, these companies live or die on their quarterly earnings reports. It only takes one bad quarter for their stock price to plunge, putting the company and the CEO’s job in jeopardy.

But their stock prices are holding steady, right? Right. For now. Because our industry is a pipeline that starts with writers. The TV and movies they’re releasing now are shows we started making for them 4-12 quarters ago. But what happens when that pipeline runs dry?

What happens is they run out of product. No new shows in streaming to drive and sustain subscribers. No new shows in broadcast and ad-supported to bring in ad revenue.

No shows, no money.

No money, bad earnings report.

Bad earnings report, bye-bye stock price. Bye-bye CEO.

After 70+ days with no writers to create their product for them, the pipeline is running dry.

Their stock price isn’t tanking yet. But if they don’t make a deal with us, it will.

And they know it.

If they make a deal soon, they might be able to weather it. Stretch out releases. Rush some new stuff through.

But the longer they keep us out, the longer that pipeline runs dry, the more unavoidable a catastrophic dip in new high-quality shows becomes.

And they know it.

So yeah, the studios are planting articles in the trades that make it sound like they’re so determined not to pay us the 0.02% of company revenues we’re asking for that they’re willing to hold out forever.

Bullshit.

I’m sure the AMPTP bosses would love to break our union. But they love their jobs more. They love money more. They can’t make that money without us.

And they know it.

Ignore the trades, walk the line, stand together, and win. #WGAStrong

/End ID]

Bonus: John Rogers' Reaction

[Image ID: A tweet from John Rogers that he posted July 12th, 2023 that reads:

I was trying to be cool and professional about this strike, but this AMPTP “we want to drive them to homelessness” shit means I’m going to be dug in at WB Gate 4 like Hiroo Onada. They’re gonna have to send @ellenstutzman with a bullhorn to order me out of the bushes.

The second image is Ellen Stutzman's Twitter bio that says:

Cheif Negotiator for WGA MBA, Assistant Executive Director, Writers Guild of America, West; Cornell ILR and UCLA Anderson alum. Views are my own.

/End ID]

EDIT: Please see the update on this HERE

[blogynews]

"Exclusive: Calcutta HC's Astonishing Twist in ED Officer's Enquiry - Unveiling a Revelation That Shakes the Foundations in WB Cases!"

The Calcutta High Court has made modifications to its previous order regarding the involvement of Enforcement Directorate Assistant Director Mithilesh Mishra in investigations related to West Bengal. Justice Amrita Sinha, on September 29, directed the ED director to relieve Mr. Mishra from the school job scam investigation and prohibited his assignment to any West Bengal-related case. During the…

[blogynewz]

"Exclusive: Calcutta HC's Astonishing Twist in ED Officer's Enquiry - Unveiling a Revelation That Shakes the Foundations in WB Cases!"

The Calcutta High Court has made modifications to its previous order regarding the involvement of Enforcement Directorate Assistant Director Mithilesh Mishra in investigations related to West Bengal. Justice Amrita Sinha, on September 29, directed the ED director to relieve Mr. Mishra from the school job scam investigation and prohibited his assignment to any West Bengal-related case. During the…

[gouracademy]

Post of Assistant Director Recruitment 2021 @https://wbpsc.gov.in

Post of Assistant Director: নিম্নলিখিত যোগ্যতা সম্পন্ন ভারতীয় প্রার্থীদের কাছ থেকে অনলাইনে Post of Assistant Director পদে নিয়োগের জন্য Public Service Commission, Government of West Bengal-এর তরফ থেকে নোটিফিকেশনের মাধ্যমে আবেদন করার জন্য আমন্ত্রিত জানিয়েছে। Post of Assistant Director Recruitment 2021:  গ্রাজুয়েশনে অন্তত 60% শতাংশ নম্বরসহ বাংলা বলতে, লিখতে ও পড়তে পারা যেকোনো প্রার্থী Post of…

[dailylooneys]

Happy 112th Birthday Norm McCabe

Another one of the least known cartoon directors at Warner Bros’ Termite Terrace.

Starting at WB, he was hired as an in-between during the Harman and Ising days in 1932. McCabe even went with both Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones to assist Ub Iwerks to complete two of Iwerks WB shorts, which was Porky and Gabby and Porky’s Super Service. 

McCabe later became an animator for Frank Tashlin, then Bob Clampett, animating some of the most famous shorts of all-time, such as Clampett’s beloved, overtly surreal Porky in Wackyland. 

He would later take over Clampett’s old unit. 

His first directors credit: The Timid Toreador (1940) co-director Bob Clampett

His solo directional debut: Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1941)

In a similar manner of Robert McKimson and Arthur Davis, McCabe gets the short end of the rope. He directed nothing but black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts, never the later color Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies. Much like Clampett and Tex Avery, McCabe would have a habit for the use dated topical humor relating to the world of the early 1940s like WWII, and his notoriously politically incorrect shorts, such as “Tokio Jokio” (his final short) and even the best ones like “The Ducktators” and “The Daffy Duckaroo”, was probably what set him back in his status.

Regardless, McCabe still did some great shorts. His directional style, I would say, was a mix between Freleng and Tashlin, razor-sharp timing, topical satire and insane wacky gags. He had quite easily THE shortest-lived directing job at WB, with only Tashlin and Arthur Davis out beating McCabe who directed only 12 short films.

The reason for McCabe’s short-lived directional career at WB was due to being drafted. When he returned, he would try to get his job back as a director, but Eddie Selzer wasn’t so easy on let him back in.

McCabe was the longest-living WB cartoon directors up until his death in 2006. He worked in commercial illustration for Bozo the Clown such as children’s book and educational films. He later continued his animation career, animated on Disney’s Bambi, revisited WB once again in the 1960s, went to Filmation, then DePatie-Freleng Enterprise, was an animator on Ralph Baskih’s Fritz the Cat, and did his second revisiting to WB again in the 1980s and 90s, as an animator on The Night of the Living, The Duxorist among other things, was a sheet timer and timing director on Tom Rugger’s Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid! and Taz-Mania, and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, and even was an animator on the infamous 1993 Pink Panther TV series at MGM, a director on Bobby’s World for Fox Kids, a sequence director on 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. Surprisingly, McCabe admitted to hating his work at Termite Terrace once he met up with animator Mark Kausler, screening his shorts. According to Kausler himself, McCabe was “incredibly modest about his Looney Tunes, he hated them all!”, once had a screening in North Hollywood, pleading to everyone “oh turn those off, I can’t stand looking at them”. Well, whatever the case was, your cartoons were the best Norm!

[veronicamarsconfessions]

Joel Silver, The Ruthless Producer (But He Wouldn’t Allow Logan To Be Killed)

This blog talks a lot about Joel Silver and his influence on pop culture (especially his role in Veronica Mars). He is well known as one of the “Bosses From Hell” in Hollywood and yet he is the lesser evil from other producers like Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin. Which is not a compliment whatsoever. But he is known as very protective with his assets such as his TV shows.

It is surprising that we hardly heard about sexual misconduct allegations against women/men (yet) especially during this decade alone. According to many, he is not interested that much in sexual hedonism as he is more concerned with being on top of the food chain. He is a married flamboyant producer who is deeply serious about his investments. He is always at the movie/tv set, watching everything like a hawk, making sure that everything is working accordingly. He dislikes unprofessional behavior from actors or showrunners, and most of the time, he just loathes writers. “Writers sometimes don’t know what works and what’s not. I don’t care if you are a brilliant writer, but I know better than anyone else in this business.”

That is the young Joel Silver, playing a frustrated director named Raoul in the movie 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. According to interviews, Raoul was based on himself but more tamer.

Joel Silver was a type of producer who likes to change a lot of the source materials, to the chagrin of the creators. Many just saw him as this tough guy producer who is very meticulous and wants the job done properly. Sources said that he liked to yell a lot, but hardly physical towards his employees (unlike Scott Rudin).

This is why it was so shocking that he and Rob Thomas had a fistfight argument at the Veronica Mars set. Rob must’ve pissed him off so bad that he resolved to a fistfight. According to a TVGuide interview, Rob said that Joel wanted to have Tara Reid as Trina Echolls and Paris Hilton to be put in the show as a guest star while promoting the House of Wax movie. Rob hated the idea and Joel didn’t take it lightly. Their brawl was reported to many blogs and forums back then.

Joel was frustrated and furious that Rob was adamant about his vision, citing that he knows more about what works and what’s not in the industry, and that includes casting and storylines. Rob insisted that Veronica should be with the love of her life, which was Duncan Kane. Both Joel and Rob head-butted about this because Joel knew that Logan was more a compatible and popular character than Duncan. Not liking the idea of being blackballed all the time, Rob wrote Logan as insufferable in season 2, hoping that fans would turn against the character.

The plan backfired as the fans at the time rejected Duncan instead. Diane Ruggiero even admitted that they were reading the feedbacks especially from Television Without Pity and she said that they didn’t have a choice but to get rid of Duncan. At the time, they also didn’t know whether the show was going to be renewed or not in season 3, especially during the merger between UPN and WB to form The CW. The fans’ voice was clear: they wanted LoVe (Logan & Veronica) to be together. This didn’t bode well with Rob, but the fans (and Joel) have spoken. He finally got rid of Duncan by sending him off to Australia with his baby. And that was it, the end. Logan and Veronica got back together.

But season three came, and another obstacle came in a form of Dawn Ostroff (the president of CW) who wanted some changes in the show for the network to be more teen-friendly. Gone the whole Noir and mystery style, they focused more on the white teen drama and a love triangle. At this moment, Joel decided to stay behind the scene. He was no longer hovering, he had other projects, other money to pursue. He still co-owned Veronica Mars. But he was no longer involved much.

When Veronica Mars was canceled, Joel immediately snatched Jason Dohring - he approached Jason "out of the blue” and said, “There's a role, and I'm making it younger". Joel offered the main role of the CBS vampire procedural series Twilight to Jason before it was changed into Moonlight. Jason read two pages of the script featuring Josef Kostan and was interested in the character's "dark" and "sharp" personality. Jason had to go through the normal audition process and was not sure he would have gotten the role without Joel Silver, who had "pushed it through to the end". Joel noticed very early that Jason had a main protagonist charisma so he fought for him to be cast as Josef Kostan. Jason’s performance was praised by many critics and fans alike as this sarcastic manipulative vampire. Unfortunately, the writing of the show was atrocious and the rating was abysmal because of the Writers Guild strike and they had to hire ghostwriters to keep going. After one season, Moonlight was canceled and it was another money down the drain for Joel.

When the idea of a movie was pitched, Joel said the movie would NEVER HAPPEN. “There are no fans for this market. Sales of DVDs and merchandise are nonexistent.” Joel was thinking as a producer; no sales for the merchandise = no fans, which is wrong, obviously. But that was the way many producers thinking at the time, and still are. After his company severing ties with the Warner Brothers, Joel was no longer interested in any mention of the Veronica Mars movie. Knowing that Joel would not approve of the Kickstarter, Rob and KBell decided to go straight to Warner Bros head honcho Kevin Tsujihara and asked for a chance to get a Veronica Mars movie funded by the fans. The movie then was made, and Joel was proven wrong for this particular moment.

Sharks however started to circling Veronica Mars movie - a lot of producers started to take an interest in the Kickstarter when they found out that it became successful and a phenomenon — notorious producer Harvey Weinstein wanted to grab the rights of Veronica Mars and he boasted that he could make it more successful under his Miramax banner. But his rival, Joel Silver, wouldn’t have any of it. Joel might not be responsible with the Kickstarter, but he sure the hell would burn a swimming pool first before Miramax steals VMars.

Rob and Joel have a “good work” relationship - they definitely aren't friends in real life, but most of the time they avoid each other except in public events and red carpets. Their relationship is mostly being tolerant of each other. Joel didn't even bother to come to the Veronica Mars movie red carpet even though he was the executive producer of the movie and this franchise was a part of his life. Many thoughts for him not attending the red carpet were to avoid any embarrassment because he said that there were no fans of Veronica Mars. If it was allowed, Rob would say ‘fuck you’ to Joel as he strutted on the red carpet during the premiere of the Veronica Mars movie at the Chinese Theater.

However, when HULU took an interest in a VMars miniseries, Rob asked Joel for a favor, which is to get Kristen Bell to work around NBC The Good Place contract. As HULU is a part of Viacom and also an umbrella company for CBS and CW where VMars reside, technically she couldn't and was not allowed to be working with a rival company. So Joel helped Rob by calling the NBC president Noah Oppenheim to lend Kristen Bell to HULU temporarily. No words or interview about how Joel thinks about season 4 and how they killed off Logan Echolls; a character he protected during his reign back then. It is obvious if he was in charge of Veronica Mars season 4, he would scold Rob Thomas for killing the Golden Goose or maybe already stopping him before it happened. He might have a soft spot for Jason Dohring himself, calling him a “talented actor but too quiet for this industry”.

Joel Silver seems to have moved on from Veronica Mars and its tumultuous relationship within. He has a bigger problem than handling a franchise that has crashed and burned because it flew too close to the sun; namely being sued for the death of an assistant and the fact that he was kicked out from his own company (Silver Pictures) by the company CFO Daryl Katz, and also he is a bit struggling with financial means. But no matter what, Joel Silver was a part of Veronica Mars with its complicated history. And he definitely has no problem keeping going - after all, he is one of the notorious bosses in Hollywood.

[dizzymoods]

I need you to go into more detail on your take on this vertical monopolization of the theater industry. From my layperson's perspective it looks like it's going to screw a bunch of potential up and coming, soon to be rich and famous people and I couldn't care less. But I want to know how this is going to affect say a career gaffer or something like that. How will this affect people for whom making movies is a much needed job job.

my major point for that post was that a telecomms company like ATT (which owns HBOMAX & WB) has a vested interest in driving consumers to use their telecomms technonlogy and to discourage them from going to other avenues (theaters). And how the biggest media conglomerate in the world, Disney, just announced that much of their future slate will be available on their streaming service day and date. They tested the waters with charging $30 for Mulan earlier this year (even though i think it’s free for D+ users now?). So, I’m not necessarily talking about vertical integration of theaters so much as how this very sudden pivot to streaming/tech, understandably exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, is shortsighted and a guise for these media conglomerates to abuse workers. I was framing my post from the perspective of an independent director to kind of vent my frustrations as I seek funding for my next movie. and how this news is going to affect the financing of independent american films. And which kind of films get greenlight, accepted to festivals,  and picked up for distribution etc. A friend of mine was in talks with an indie producer to make their film this year (obviously didn’t happen) and now that productions are happening again the producer gave notes last week for them to restructure scenes/runtime that might make it more appealing to amazon/netflix. This is an indication of the flattening of artistic expression in american cinema. The kind of sameness of a lot of recent movies from these streaming giants and the boutique companies like Annapurna or a24. This trickles into representation as only certain forms of blackness or femininity or queerness or disability are useful to the algorithms (ex. Black Death). Which is why I said this is a blow to the quality of all american cinema.

I’m also thinking of  an increase in situations like w Garret Bradley’s Time which is a phenomenal look into how america’s prison system affects families but is distributed by Amazon Studios, whose parent company is invested in the carceral technologies that lead to the very same fracturing of families the film highlights. But also we are talking about film/media conglomerates so we should also not just be thinking of on set workers like gaffers but also interns, office PAs, assistants, secretaries, etc. My friend was just laid off from Disney. She was a middle manager’s assistant. Pre-pandemic the company was doing bs like not honoring OT, coercing her to do stuff that isn’t her responsibility and reprimanding her if she failed such tasks. With the first wave of layoffs her workload got much more demanding and with the pandemic it became more difficult too as she worked from home with restricted access to their programs (for cybersecurity reasons). These kind of restructuring layoffs put more stress on the people who remain at the company as they are coerced to take on the workload of those who were terminated.

I have another friend who edits video content for ViacomCBS. The merger and subsequent re-launch (re-introduction?) of CBS All Access increased their workload in preparation for that (and now even more as they rebrand it to Paramount+) in addition to the increased demand from the company to push out more online content bc of the pandemic despite laying off over half the team during last years’ merger.

This article from THR details how bad the Disney layoffs have been recently as they restructure to be more stream heavy. Additionally, a lot of these older media congolmerates are taking note from netflix, which has notoriously bad working conditions.

Where I work, our gaffers are being reduced to grips (less pay) and many are working multiple sets (which overworks them and provides less opportunities for other workers) as we invest in digital lighting technologies and post work. There’s talk that next year that we’ll merge our digitechs & retouchers into one job and downsize the numbers in both depts. My parent company has also invested into AR which will eventually make my team (ecomm) obsolete.

Our freelance stylists talk all the time about being replaced by digitechs in fashion who can just digitally add a watch or shoe or dress to a model.

Unreal Engine’s Project Spotlight can mean a future with less G&E, set builders, people in props department, etc. This isn’t necessarily going to happen overnight but look at how quickly and how many film developers and projectionists etc lost their jobs due to digital filmmaking.

There’s a lot going on in media production right now and the pivot to streaming animates anxieties in all these ways (and more). This is to say nothing about the many, many people who will lose their jobs as these tech companies try to make theaters obsolete (ticket checkers, concessions, projectionists, custodial staff, etc)

[the-afro-belle]

I live in New Orleans.

This is a harsh reality for us. We have experienced 4 major flash flooding events since Mother’s Day. Many of my friends, family & colleagues have all lost their cars & personal property. Some twice in just a few weeks. Our insurance rates are through the roof. Though my car stalled yesterday, I was able to get it to move. I’m not sure of the issues I will have with it later on, but I guess we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.

I’m not asking for sympathy or whatever, I know it’s not yalls problem. And no, I don’t have a gofundme and I’m not asking for donations. But I’m asking everyone who follows me or sees this post to reconsider visiting New Orleans until our mayor and protection agencies do right by us. Our city caters to tourists and we love y’all. You are a huge part of our economy and we love sharing our culture with you. But there’s a couple things y’all need to be aware of.

Here in New Orleans, we have an intricate system of pumps and levees to protect us as we’re sitting comfortably 6 feet below sea level; as far as 8 below in some areas. Our levees protect us from the bodies of water surrounding us: Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, etc. The New Orleans Sewage & Water Board operates our pumps, which are used to remove water that accumulates during storms, since we’re pretty much living in a bowl. 120 pumps are spread across 78 stations to protect all 400,000 of us across the metro area. The pumps are designed to flush out 1 inch of water in the first hour, and one half inch each hour thereafter. Yesterday we received 5-6 inches of rain in less than 90 minutes, thus proving once again that our system is completely ineffective.

New Orleans has rallied for a change since forever. Flooding is a huge part of my childhood memories. I remember the May Flood especially. I was in elementary school and my dad had to swim to get to us. As a child, we splashed in the water and played games, with no idea how dangerous and irresponsible our leaders are. There’s been protests, city council meetings & an overwhelming public outcry for this issue to be rectified. Hurricane Katrina left us all devastated some 14 years ago, and though we’ve had a few storms since then, nothing has been as significant and as frequent as the flash flooding we’ve experienced this summer.

Why won’t they upgrade the system? Why don’t we have more pumps, or at the very least more effective pumps? WHAT ARE WE TO DO IF A HURRICANE COMES AGAIN?

LaToya Cantrell & the New Orleans Sewage & Water Board enjoy your money. But they are not using it to protect and preserve our precious home.

Not all of us live in the French Quarter.

I work in a hotel that I can’t afford to stay in. I love my job & I love being able to be a part of sharing our culture. Im just asking that before you consider spending $4,000 per night, ask Mayor Cantrell what her plans are, since this was a MAJOR part of her campaign.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell can be reached at (504) 658-4900 and mayor@nola.gov

Her office is located at 1300 Perdido St., New Orleans, LA 70112.

Gloria Smith is her executive assistant, and Sharmaine Russ is her briefings manager.

District B City Councilman Jay H. Banks is sitting director of NOLA S&WB and served as the king of Zulu for Mardi Gras 2016. He can be reached at (504) 658-1020 and Jay.Banks@nola.gov

Other S&WB board members include:

Tamika Duplessis, Ph.D. - Executive Dean at Delgado Community College (504) 941-8500

Alejandra Guzman - alejandra@aleguzman.info

Joseph Peychaud - (504) 529-2837

[atlantisking]

( this is all i have to show for it, - i blurred my name out - but tbh i’m a wuss and after signing a contract on not leaking things, i didn’t want to lift my camera high enough to people to even have the doubt that i might be taking photos because i don’t want to be sued by WB thank you very much... the second photo i posted before, but the significance of the corner of that white tent is that it was literally the tent where Gal was changing from scene to scene. our little open tent was right next to hers where we could sit if we wanted and we had a monitor, that’s pictured, where we could watch what the actual scene looks like filmed, but most of the time we’d rather walk to the side of the set to watch it live )

anyway... so this will be vague and spoiler free because what’s fun about already knowing some big twists before you’ve even seen it? okay like i don’t know the biggest twists either, but we were shown some definite spoilers. the only person i talked to about this in fuller detail was husband, because i trust him not to tell anyone, but tbh even to him i said things where he said ‘i didn’t want to know that!’ so yeah i’ll be vague.

if you don’t know what my job is, this is probably weird, but for those who do, they probably understand why i got so lucky to go to the set. so my morning was really crap as i’m sure you’ve seen from my post, i had to be at the studio by 10am, so i actually picked a really early train that would get me there just after 9 so i’m definitely not late. but life wanted to fuck with me, so when i got to the train station they immediately cancelled the train i needed to take, and then shortly after the train that was half an hour later as well to make sure i definitely don’t get there on time. so immediate stress at 7 in the morning. but i wasn’t gonna give up, so i went to the other train station in town to get an alternate route. i live about 40 minutes outside of london to the south west, whereas the studio is on the north of london. so through my alternate route i got to london by 9 but by train getting to the studio would’ve been another 1,5 hours, so i sprinted to the taxis and jumped in the first one and wow that’s expensive and let’s never do that again (at least i can claim it back from work), but the guy at least got me there by 9:57 so... success. although i left my hat in the taxi but fuck it...

i was given passes for myself and my fellow visitors, who arrived not long after me and we went inside a place that i think they call the war room, but i might be saying bollocks anyway, this room is full of pictures categorised by the main themes and chapters of the film, all having photos that you probably have seen and many that you haven’t. even to us they blocked out the last few chapters just so we still get a lot of surprises when we watch the film. what can i say, once again everything looks gorgeous. after that we were given the contracts to sign so yeah i keep repeating i won’t say anything even remotely spoilery here...

our next stop was the costume department, we actually saw lindy hem.ming for a very short moment where she said hi before we were given a tour from another member responsible for the costumes. the room we were led to had some of the main outfits on mannequins with accessories next to them spread out on a table and pictures of the costumes in action behind them. obviously the first one was the iconic ww costume, redone for this film, as we have already seen it’s a lot more colourful and we got to touch it and wonder tbh at the fact that it all looks like metal but the materials they work with are super light. the inventiveness for replacing materials is really cool, we have been given many examples that are more spoilery. fun fact, because of wear and tear, the main costume they have made about twenty of. i have seen the outfit from that image of steve tre.vor with the fanny pack and the black jogging outfit, and some outfits of pedro pas.cal’s character, and some bar.bara mine.rva things but i won’t go into detail. we were in awe already tbh and then we had a short visit to the workshop where they create and mould some of the armours and weapons.

then we were moving on to visiting some of the sets, we walked past some extras already dressed up in full on 80′s style, the attention to detail is amazing but i could say that every two seconds, like you can get why it takes so long to make a film, because they really think of every small bit that you might never notice because it’s gone in a second, but it’s there. so we visited the set of diana’s workplace which i can’t remember if it was revealed yet so i won’t say it, but because they weren’t filming there, the light were taken to somewhere else so it was literally pitch black, we had to use our phones to light our way. but when you walk onto set, it’s like you just travelled through time and space and you find yourself in a different world... we also got to see diana’s office there. you could look through her bookshelf, see what she’s working on, some artefacts lying around... it’s indescribable. then we went onto see her apartment! fun fact, the actual apartment they found in the US but then they built the interior in the WB studio, so in the film when you’ll see her out on the balcony, that’s in the states, she walks inside and suddenly she’s in the UK in that studio. once again we could walk through her rooms, see some files she’s been working on left on the coffee table... it was really cool, i’m just fangirling really. fun fact, because there’s only one shot in her bedroom (i don’t think that’s a terrible spoiler), they actually didn’t build the right wall so we walked through there.

we then saw some stunt doubles doing a fight scene with the cgi dots on their faces so later they can add the actors’ faces. saw some scenes where people were slammed through walls and such, very intense!

then came the even more surreal part, got in cars to drive to the back lot, our cars just slowed to a stop when a woman ran across the road towards a set nearby, we only saw her back but we already knew it was pat.ty jen.kins. so we walked up there and were introduced and once again sorry, won’t describe the scene but film sets are the coolest... of course there are massive blue screens around, as far as the street scene goes, they create the perfect atmosphere for a foreign country. then walking on the set, ready to film was suddenly gal... so tall and beautiful, full of smiles and a nice word for everyone, she is a literal sunshine like her energy is absolutely infectious i can’t even describe but you can’t help but for in love with her at least for a few seconds. she was in full hair and make up, wearing the tiara but with a purple dressing gown because it wasn’t that warm so she would freeze to death running around in that tiny costume otherwise. then the filming began and i have to say, it might seem glamorous but it’s the slowest process and you need real patience for it. we saw really small scenes being filmed without dialogue, but even these moments that won’t be longer than 5 seconds in the film, take hours to create. every scene has to be set up, so pat.ty sat up the angles and what she’d like to see, then they rehearse with the extras a couple of times, every single time they have to reset cameras and rearrange the terrain and make sure everything looks the same as it was at the start of the take. then with simple scenes the actor comes along and again they do the take at least five times or until pat.ty is happy with the result. we saw a scene filmed where it was literally just diana walks into the shot, looks around, looks at a tv then runs off. and that over and over again.

then if it includes some kind of stunt, same process, but they first test it with stunt double, they rehearse with her for like five times to perfect the shot and then gal comes along and she does it however many times it takes. in this case it was just her doing a running jump, involving a harness and cables as she leaps up into the air. but once again you can’t not love her... the way she laughs and has fun take after take, like you can’t fake that, but i don’t want to gush.

we had lunch sometime inbetween takes, the whole massive maze of a set is so impressive and surreal, you have all these extras in full costume and make up, then all the set team members with their walky talkies looking very important, but let me say everyone is so damn nice. the amount of people it takes to create these scenes is insane from people who rake the terrain to the assistant director to the camera man to the five dudes to push and pull the camera for dynamic shots to people who operate these big construction vehicles to put lights and blue screens in place... i kind of suddenly really wanted to be a part of this massive family, but at the same time this is literally their life, up like 5 in the morning and not stopping until who knows how long...

then gal was whisked away to a different set for further hair and make up, but the sight of wond.er wo.man with the beautiful flowing hair and tiara, dressed in a grey tracksuit is pretty weird and hilarious. so then for a while we watched a scene being filmed with just extras a crowd scene that’s all i’m saying. then at that point it was very near 4pm so... it’s been a long day, but before we would leave, we were invited to walk over to another set not too far away, and suddenly we were once again in a different country, a different street. dry ice has been working like crazy to give the street a misty look and a handful of extras were practising what direction to run in and when. gal was there once again, being her lovely self, waiting as they practised, and at one point i turned around, i don’t even know why, but i saw a black car half to a stop and saw this tall blonde man get out of it, and the realisation came that it was ch.ris pi.ne and tbh by that point everyone was pretty chill about being around gal, you get used to it, but then suddenly everyone was star struck once again just watch him walk up to us and say hi and casually chatting while two people started to wire him up for the scene so they can record his dialogue, so... it’s hard not to stare at least a little when they’re hiking his trousers and t-shirt up to place these wires........... then when they were ready we watched one take of that scene, can’t describe it, that’s probably the most spoilery out of all of them and then it was time to go home.

seven hours we spent on set and it was damn amazing, even if it’s tiring to just sit around and watch, trust me it is, it’s lot better to actually do something, it’s really hard to let go and leave. not one part was disappointing, everyone was so lovely and nice and i can’t wait to see these scenes on the big screen and think ‘I was standing around in the background when they shot those!’

tbh once again on my way home my day had to be framed by crap because kings cross tube station was closed because of fire, so i had to walk to euston where suddenly the crowd was insane because everyone from kings cross moved over there so travel was not straightforward, but the memories i made......... i still really wanna work on a film set now........

[sail-not-drift]

Ok so my tags got cut off on my original post about this but I REALLY WANT TO VENT ABOUT HOW FUCKING PISSED I AM ABOUT THIS DESK SHIT BECAUSE OF ALL THE TIMES FOR THIS TO HAPPEN I REALLY REALLY DIDN’T NEED IT NOW.

So, like, ignoring my living situation shit (WHICH SOMEHOW CONTINUES TO GET WORSE AND WORSE) we moved desks today at work. I used to sit in a hallway/reception type area but now I’m in a cubicle room. Which is fine. But TWO WEEKS AGO I put my name on the cubicle I wanted, which I wanted because it’s the only one where I could position my computer to have my back to a wall and an eye-line on the door. But somewhere in there someone moved me to the back corner, cut off from everything, except my back faces the kitchenette. 

I’m pretty sure I got moved because the two programmers need to sit across from each other to ~work together~ or something (I don’t really get why they can’t just share a cube if they work THAT closely but whatever), but, I work really closely with my boss too. He’s at the director level but he’s sitting at what amounts to the room’s reception desk, as far from me as is possible in this room and completely out of my eye-line. And there’s no way for us to have a private conversation. Ignore personal issues; our roles involve really confidential information. Like, protected by federal law and multi-million dollar lawsuit confidential. And a lot of what we talk about involves strategizing on how to work with the people WHO NOW SIT IN THE SAME ROOM. 

So not only did my desk get taken so someone could sit next to their boss WHICH IN TURN PUSHED ME AS FAR FROM MY BOSS AS POSSIBLE, but I also don’t feel secure in my work environment. And I don’t want to come across as a whiner but I CANNOT SIT WITH MY BACK TO THE ROOM. I CANNOT SIT ISOLATED LIKE THIS. It’s a recipe for constant emotional exhaustion AND I’M REALLY EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED ALREADY.

NOT TO MENTION we’ve been in that room for the better part of an hour and I’m 90% sure I’ve been silently designated in charge of keeping the kitchenette stocked. Which in most situations wouldn’t bother me. I’m the only admin level person in the room; a director, an assistant director, and two IT people who don’t even know what a cost center is aren’t about to spend time surfing WB Mason. But I’m also the only woman in the space. So of fucking COURSE I’m getting duties unrelated to my job description by fucking default. And someone already tried to pull the, “You’re in here with all these guys, you better keep them in line” crap.” I shut that shit down: “Uh, no. They can keep themselves in line. I’m not doing that emotional labor, thank you.” 

But. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. All I want is my back to a wall and an eye-line to the door and maybe some fucking access to the ONE PERSON I WORK WITH. That shouldn’t be difficult. And I know I could talk to my boss about it and he’d see what he could do BUT I ALREADY HAVE A GIGANTIC FAVOR TO ASK HIM ABOUT SOMETHING WAY MORE IMPORTANT TO MY LIFE AT LARGE and, again. What’s the line between cool and breezy and “this is seriously going to fuck up my mental health and my ability to do my job effectively”?

Can the universe PLEASE stop taking long wet dumps on my life? Sometime soon? Maybe?

[spideyxchelle]

so, zendaya and tom holland were at the oscars this last weekend. and so, uh, this happened. because they looked incredible on the red carpet. mood music

tw: some implied sexual activity

when peter gets into USC for film he cries. that is the home of Spielberg and Lucas, the halls where Ron Howard walked. it makes directors.

he had always wanted to be a director. from the time he was a little kid he sat behind his shitty camera that he dumpster dived for and made dumb movies with his friends. and some of those dumb movies got a bit of a production value jump when he joined the AV CLUB in high school. and some of those dumb movies were good enough to be submitted to USC. and some of those dumb movies were good enough to get him in.

when peter stops crying long enough to breathe, the oxygen that rushes to his brain shocks him into reality. he is going to be going to LA to study film. and maybe, just maybe, one day he’ll be a director.

the four years at USC are gruelling and exhausting and wonderful. everyday is better than the last. he’s surrounded by movie magic.

and then graduation breathes down his back and he’s suddenly terrified because he’s made some high quality students films at USC (the amount of money the film school has is criminal) but students films don’t make him a director. they make him a dreamer like everyone else in Hollywood.

and for some unknown, maddening reason, the closer they get to graduation the more and more it looks like everyone he knows has a plan for post-graduation except him. they have PA jobs, or have lower-level work at studios, or have internships. its like he missed the memo on how to make his dreams into a reality.

which is why he starts writing Until I Fade Out. it’s a character driven film of his own creation. in all his time at USC his writing classes were always a burden to him. he had to take them to graduate but he never liked  them. he never felt like he had a voice, like he had something to say. and now all he has is the anxiety and the pressure of making a name for himself by 25 and the horrible nightmare of failing to succeed on paper compared to his classmates.

Until I Fade Out is refreshingly frank and honest and precious to peter. it becomes his refuge to talk about his fears. he graduates and keeps writing. and all of his friends start their industry jobs. and he keeps writing. three months after graduation its done. and he has blown all of his savings on the cost of living. he is jobless.

but he has a script and a vision and his passion is reborn. so he calls Ned, one of his buddies from school that took a job at WB after graduation. he is some executive’s assistant. but he was also one of the best writers he went to school with. he passes the script along to him asking for notes.

and he hears nothing for three weeks. until Ned shows up on his doorstep with a printed out copy of his script. “this, jesus-” he says without a hello, “you have to make this, peter.” and peter exhales. there is some traitorous anxiety he has been holding onto since he finished writing that finally withers away and dies. the fear that his work sucks. that no one would love it or want it. but Ned likes it.

and so, with Ned’s help he gets a relatively young producer to finance the film. and its not a lot of money at all. but people on indie films never have a lot of money to work with anyway, peter reasons. and all peter can hear when he gets the news that he’s been financed is that he gets to make his movie. the particulars don’t matter.

the very next thing he does is call Cindy. they went to school together. she was the cinematographer on all of his student films. and she is doing PA work for some freeform show that she hates. but the money is consistent, shitty but consistent.

so she isn’t convinced quitting her job to work on a three month indie shoot is a good idea. in fact, she tells him she adores him but she doesn’t want to shoot herself in the foot and get blacklisted in hollywood. so he tells her to read his script. and then decide.

and that’s when it happens. when Michelle Jones finds out about the project. Michelle Jones is a relatively popular young Hollywood actress. but she is at the teeny bopper stage of her career. nothing “serious” will look at her. and she happens to be one of the series regulars on Cindy’s crappy show.

and, as fate would have it, Cindy leaves peter’s script on the Kraft services table during lunch. and Michelle picks it up and takes it back to her trailer. she reads it. she loves it. and the watermark on the script has Cindy’s name on it so it isn’t hard for Michelle to find her and approach her about it.

Cindy has been looking for the missing script all afternoon when Michelle hands it back to her, “looking for this?” Cindy exhales and then gets immediately star struck, “uh, yes. Thank you.” “what’s this?” Michelle asks. Cindy is alarmed by a starlet of any caliber talking in her direction, “my, uh, friend Peter’s movie. just got financed by some guy at WB. but, like, its not a WB film. it’s a little indie film. like, the producer put his own money in it. I’m sorry, I, uh, didn’t even know you knew my name.” Michelle smiles warmly, “uh, you get my coffee for me, like, five times a day. I’d be a dick if I didn’t. besides, there are practically no women on this set so I make it a habit of learning all their names. so, why do you have the script?” Cindy gawks, like she cannot believe this whole day is happening to her, “he wants me to be the cinematographer on it.”

without blinking, Michelle advises her, “do it.” Cindy sputters, “excuse me?” “its good,” Michelle glances down at the script in Cindy’s arms, “and tell your friend, Peter was it? tell him if he’s looking for someone to play Tisha, well, I’ll make the time.”

when Cindy recounts this story to peter, all three of them (cindy, peter and ned) all freak the fuck out. and then, almost immediately peter comes to the conclusion that she was just being nice or whatever. because there is no way michelle jones is going to sign to his nothing of a movie.

except that is not what happens. when cindy goes to work the next day to quit because she has a little film she wants to be the cinematographer for, michelle stops her on her way walking off set. her hair is halfway done and she’s out of breath. “fuck,” she groans, “you move fast. I’ve been calling your name for like two whole minutes.” Cindy stares at her, “um. Sorry?” “no,” michelle shakes her head, “its cool. look, I saw you leaving and I have to ask. are you doing that movie?” cindy nods. Michelle grins, “that’s good. great even. I’m happy for you. and uh, hang on, take my number. if he can’t find anyone for Tisha…please…call me. I’m in the middle of shooting the season but I’d shoot on the weekends or late nights. whatever. just, keep me in mind. don’t forget.”

and peter hardly believes it. but he does forget about the Michelle Jones encounter. because they have two and a half months of preproduction that have to happen. they have to hire crew and scout locations and rent equipment. and all on a tiny ass budget. but once it looks like the movie is actually going to happen, peter remembers he needs to hire actors.

because he needs to put people in front of the camera and, for some stupid reason, he can’t help but remember michelle. its been nearly three months. and shooting for her show should be going on hiatus soon. the thought of her actually working on his movie sounds…feasible.

so he does something recklessly stupid—he calls her.

the first conversation he has with Michelle Jones is awkward. because she is immediately on the defensive. when she picks up he says, “michelle?” and she snaps, “how did you get this number.” he flushes and tries to correct his mistake, “no. uh. I’m peter. peter parker. you know cindy. I mean gave cindy your number.” “who?” “Cindy- nevermind. look, she was a PA on your show. and you read my movie. and you told her you were interested in being in it. and I just…I shouldn’t have called.” he goes to hang up but she nearly shouts, “no, wait. I remember now. I remember your movie. Until I Fade Out.” “yeah.” “yes,” she says. “oh sorry, of course, yes.” “no,” she laughs and his heart stops, “I wasn’t correcting your yeah. I was saying I still want to do it. if that’s why you’re calling.”

he must black out for longer than five seconds because she starts repeating his name until he snaps back to reality. “I’m sorry,” he laughs, “did you just say you want to do my movie?” “yeah,” and he can hear the smirk in her voice, he can almost imagine it, too, “I go on hiatus in two weeks. if you can wait that long.” “yes,” he immediately says. and its not exactly true. they start shooting in five days. but he’s the director. and even if the rest of the crew hates him maybe they can adjust the schedule so they shoot scenes without her for the first week or so.

like he is in a city of dreams (because maybe he is), he makes plans with michelle jones to be in his movie. ned is going to have to help him with the legality of it. she’s union, after all, and she warns him that her agent is going to be furious. but she is going to be in his movie.

and her agents are not the only people that are furious. his crew is furious that he is moving the shooting schedule around to accommodate an add-on. and the friend of his from school that thought she was going to play Tisha is not thrilled either but these are the decisions a director makes.

oh fuck. he’s a director.

that really hits home when he walks on set the first day. and its barely a set. there are lights rigged and a camera set up in someone’s living room. but there are twenty people that all look at him like he’s the boss and that means he must be.

peter pulls off his baseball hat and smooths back his hair, “hi everyone.” they all smile at him. and he feels the same pressure he imagines every director must on their first day. but he pushes through those nerves and keeps it brief, “thank you all for joining me on this adventure. now, let’s make a kickass movie.” and just like that, he is directing a movie.

and Cindy makes every shot better than he could have ever imagined. her vision, her eyes, give every scene a heartbeat. he nearly kisses her at the end of the first day. instead, he buys her a drink and makes a toast between the two of them, “to our movie.” the smile she gives him back makes him feel like he can do this, they can do this.

after nearly a week of shooting, the crew already feels like a family. there is a lot of work that goes into every shot. people in hair and makeup have made it a fun little game to try and swipe glitter on the back of peter’s neck at the start of the day. the whole crew gets on the joke.

he loves his life.

and then, michelle jones shows up on set. she drives to the house they have been shooting a majority of the interior shots in. and when she steps out of her car, peter can hear his heart beating. he wonders if the rest of the crew can, too. it is early, she hasn’t been in HMU (hair and makeup) yet, so she looks like anyone else. if they were crafted from diamonds. “hi,” he nearly chokes, “I’m peter.” she grins from ear to ear and shakes his hand, “mj.” “mj,” he raises his eyebrow and stupidly keeps shaking her hand. she has to awkwardly pull her hand out of his, “yeah, no one really calls me michelle. at least not my friends. and we’re gonna be family the next three months so—” his chest melts, “lemme introduce you to everyone.”

and the crew loves her. it takes her exactly three shots for her to pick up on the put glitter on peter game. except she sucks at it. because every time she touches him, his flesh tingles and so he knows it was her. without even having to look.

as an actress she is receptive. as a member of the crew, she is a delight.

and peter waits only five days before he groans into his pillow and admits to himself that he has a major crush on her.

the movie is goes well. better than he could have ever imagined. the scenes are clicking. the crew is bringing to life his vision. and he starts to dread it being over. because nothing could ever be better than these three months. it makes him feel at home. they feel like home.

after shooting one night three days before the end of the shoot, michelle invites everyone back to her house. she lives in the Hollywood Hills. Ned makes a joke about her being afraid of the fires in the mountains. she raises her eyebrow and dares him, “you scared?”

everyone packs into cars and goes to address given. it is not a surprise to anyone that the house is incredible. not needlessly opulent but large and open, like it was always waiting for the crew to fill it with their love.

peter sits next to Cindy and she leans against him. when everyone is drinking and laughing and swapping stories, she whispers to peter, “thank you.” he looks down at her, “what?” “this experience has changed my life. I’ll spend forever chasing this, these moments.” peter sucks in a breath and squeezes her hand. “so thank you,” cindy adds. Peter shakes his head, “no, thank you. you’re behind the camera. I could never…I could never have done this without you. and I never want to. if we…if we get lucky enough to keep doing this…we should do it together. me and you. partners.” Cindy sits up and blinks at him in awe, “you mean it?” he nods, “you’re my eyes, cindy. I can’t work without my eyes.”

the moment is magic.

like, if he has cindy on side he could hold onto this kind of magic forever. he knew from the beginning she was the key. whatever he was looking for in his writing. she was the key to getting it filmed.

he catches mj’s eye across the room and she smiles. he becomes eternally grateful to cindy in that moment, too. because he brought michelle into his life.

he squeezes cindy’s hand and she gives him a knowing smile as he crosses to mj. michelle ducks out of the room and heads to the balcony overlooking Hollywood. he stands beside her and they are both quiet.

peter tries to come up with something meaningful to say but standing her with in silence is more than enough. he takes her hand on the railing and she sucks in a breath.

neither of them look at each other.

michelle speaks, “I’m glad I read your script that day.” “you mean when you stole it?” he jokes. he does not look at her but he knows she rolls her eyes, “agree to disagree on specifics.” he squeezes her fingertips, “me too.” she is breathless when she says, “isn’t this cliché? the director and his leading lady?” he finally does look at her. and she looks scared. it startles him. because mj is always so fearless. this is the same girl who, on set, tries to learn every department when she isn’t shooting. the same girl that has a secret handshake with the gaffers. she is michelle jones.

and she looks afraid. “what is it?” he whispers. “it won’t always feel like this,” she whispers, “we spend every day together but set isn’t like real life. when the movie ends you’ll…forget about me.” “no,” he shakes his head. she nods, “you will. and whatever this feeling you think you have now will fade. this is your first movie. you can’t tell the difference yet. but you will.” “mj, I won’t. I…you…I mean, wow.” she smiles sadly but unlocks their hands and heads inside without another word.

devastated is not a strong enough word for what he feels. but he has three days left to shoot and, damn it, he is going to do it. he is a professional. and if it hurts to look at mj sometimes, well, that is just the price of making art. your heart should always be in danger of being broken. otherwise it never matters, its never true.

the last shot they film of the movie, is a scene halfway through the script. Tisha and Bill, his protagonist, are just talking. they sit beside each other on the front steps of a house. and Bill talks about feeling stuck, about how he looks around at all of his friends and they all seem to have life figured out and he is desperately behind. these are peter’s words. the scared boy that wrote them just after graduation is now a man a little less than a year later. and he remembers how the words used to scare him, but they don’t anymore.

he watches michelle the entire last shot. he knows he shouldn’t. he should be watching for a hundred other things, but she captures him. and when the scene is done…he does not speak.

the whole crew looks at him. the actors stay in the moment, suspended and confused. and then, peter remembers himself and yells cut.

when he watches playback, cindy is crying and she wraps an arm around him. he squishes her back. their movie. they did it.

with a heavy heart, he looks at the crew and shrugs, “well, that’s a wrap.” and everyone applauds loudly.

they didn’t have money in the budget for a wrap party. so they turn set into their farewell. someone starts playing music and someone, he suspects wardrobe, pulls out drinks. and the night is nothing short of perfect.

once the set is broken down and everyone is spectacularly drunk, there is nothing left to do but say goodbye.

he saves michelle for last.

she approaches him for a hug and he eagerly complies. they cannot seem to let the other go. and he takes the moment to whisper in her ear, “thank you.” when they pull out of their hug she looks so startled it makes him smile. but only for a moment because then she is smiling back and knocking into his shoulder, “you did good, Parker.”

and in the next few months in post, he learns, fuck, he did. the movie is incredible. Abe, another friend from school, puts together a small post-production office. and with the help of that team and cindy, they cut together and mix a wonderful film. when they show it to their backer, the small time producer named Happy Hogan, he cries. and he asks for a copy to send to his boss, TONY FUCKING STARK.

Peter knows that the movie is more than a little special when Tony Stark calls him after he screens it to schedule a meeting with himself and peter. peter, of course, brings cindy. and it takes only fifteen minutes before tony tells him he wants to personally finance sending it to the festival circuit. Cannes, Sundance, AFI.

he calls to tell michelle but gets her voicemail. her show is shooting again. and she is suddenly impossible to reach. or at least for him. he knows she picks up cindy’s calls. he tries not to take it personally. but he fails.

and then, they attend their first festival.  AFI.

and he does a little press. but its only a few interviews. until his film screens. and all of the sudden all people can do at AFI is talk about his little movie. it wins Movie of the Year and shit explodes.

they take it to a dozen other festivals and it begins to win a plethora of awards. and then, people outside the festival circuit begin to talk about his little movie. and they want to talk to him about his little movie.

by August, the public is frothing at the mouth for his movie. they want to see it. so, Tony gets it to have a limited release in select cities. and the internet explodes. they love it. they’re fascinated by him.

they are, no surprise, in love michelle. The New York Times says her performance is, “played with dauntless and sometimes reckless charisma, Michelle Jones proves to be one of the, if not the, formidable actors of her generation.”

and the interviews don’t stop. in fact, there is one. one that hits him like a pile of bricks. it is the first interview he does with michelle when she joins the press tour.

“I find it rather remarkable,” the interviewer gushes, “that there is no love story in this film.” peter opens his mouth to speak but mj beats him to the punch, “I would disagree.” “so you think Tisha and-“ “no,” she shakes her head, “the movie is about learning to love yourself. about waking up and trying to be better than you were the day before. my generation, every generation, somehow thinks they have to be a roaring success at 25. that’s just not true.” the interviewer smirks, “but both of you are under 25 and experiencing an insane amount of success.”

“but,” mj counters, “this was our path. it doesn’t mean everyone else will have the same journey. nor should they. if you spend your time worrying about being better than someone else you forget to better yourself.”

peter loves her in that moment. maybe he always did. maybe he did that first moment she stepped out of her car on that first day. but he knows in this moment. he knows because she knows him. and all anyone can ever want from love and life is to be known. truly and deeply.

the interviewer looks to him. and peter shrugs, “I have nothing to add to that. she said it all.”

if he had more time, he might have also added that there are different kinds of love. and they are all important. there is love in his movie. and it’s a love between two friends. he loves Cindy but he’s not in love with her. and her friendship makes him better. maybe, he thinks, he wrote this movie about himself and their friendship. and ode to selfless and supportive platonic love.

after that interview, the buzz for his movie turns into charming festival movie to Oscar worthy buzz. and Michelle freaks out. because she has worked since she was thirteen years old to be seen as more than some dumb kid on some dumb show.

it all becomes terrifyingly real when the Golden Globes nominations come out.

they’ve won awards all year round. small awards, festival awards, but the golden globes are mainstream.

they are sitting in Tony’s office waiting for the announcement to be made, peter’s entire team, when the phone rings. peter is alarmed but tony picks up the phone. they are five minutes out from the official announcement. the stream has barely begun.Tony hangs up and looks severe. peter tries not to be crestfallen. he needs to keep it together for his crew. he is the director after all. Michelle grabs his hand. “what?” Peter asks. Tony shakes his head and gestures to the screen, “watch.”

and one after the other awards start to be announced. and one by one he hears his movie’s name. from editing to music to cinematography. peter drops michelle’s hand to embrace Cindy when they hear her name. he is jumping up and down and celebrating when they get to best screenplay and in the recesses of his mind, he hears his own name. a golden globe nomination. he’s a golden globe nominee.

he is frozen. his team, his friends, his family, all crowd him and begin to shout. embracing him, shouting. he can’t believe it. until mj kisses his cheek. and the world is real again. and then, best supporting actress in a drama comes up and they say Michelle’s name. and the room starts to shout, people begin to pour drinks. they are too busy celebrating to notice that Peter gets nominated for best director (he’ll read that shell-shocked on the internet later) but he does hear Best Motion Picture. and the noise stops.

it all stops. because, fuck, they did it. THEY DID IT! and suddenly, their movie is a nine time golden globe nominee. and peter realizes they could be Oscar nominated. the rest of award season is a blur. he vaguely remembers going to Colbert and Fallon. and he sort of recalls doing lots of photo shoots and interviews. but what does know with perfect clarity is that he gets to spend almost every day with mj. the award circuit means every day is with her. and he’s so, so happy.

because he missed her. because he misses her when she isn’t in the room. because he knows she said he would feel differently in a year but that time has passed and he’s still crazy about her. when they’re getting ready for the globes, Peter decides he likes his t-shirt, jean and baseball cap look a lot better than a suit and tie. Michelle walks into the room and nearly kills him. she looks...wow.

his mouth dries. he licks his lip, “you, I mean, you look, its great. nice dress.” cindy snorts and peter shoots her a look. it is not a pleasant look. “you don’t look so bad yourself,” mj smirks, and casually adjusts his bowtie. his heart leaps out of his chest. and he knows that she knows what she does to him.

they walk the carpet together. well, sort of. they care more about michelle than him. but occasionally someone will see him and ask for a photo as well. because he’s a director. and that means he’s important to pictures but not movie-star important.

when they get inside the first thing he realizes is their table has alcohol. and it feels like a great and terrible idea. because his crew looks like they could all use a drink but he’s not sure its smart.

in the opening monologue, peter gets name checked for being the baby of the directing category. and everyone laughs. and peter’s chest warms. because he’s accepted. because he’s acknowledged enough in his industry to be the butt of a joke. because he’s a golden globe nominee. michelle must understand what the moment means to him because she grabs his hand under the table. and they lock fingers.

he turns to look at her. and they lock eyes. and he misses the camera on them. but the internet does not.

and the internet does not miss when he wins for best original screenplay and the whole table, michelle included, toss him around for cheek kisses. and the internet does not miss when michelle wins the way peter leaps to his feet and tugs her into his arms. and the internet does not miss when peter loses best director the way michelle rests her head on peter’s shoulder. the internet does not miss a thing.

the following morning peter wakes up to a million texts of congratulations because he’s a golden globe winner. and he is linked to about nine million articles about him and michelle. and its mortifying.

because those looks, the way he looks at her, belong to him, to them. they were their moments. and now they belong to the world. and he sort of hates that his privacy is on display for the world to pick apart and scrutinize.

so he texts her about it. and michelle calls him thirty seconds later. “this is the job,” she says when she picks up. “no,” he argues, “my job is to go to set and direct.” he sits up in his bed when she talks, “peter, you’re a public figure now. golden globe nominee. they don’t care how you feel. and they especially don’t care about the fact that you want your feelings for your leading lady to be a secret.”

peter’s jaw drop, “mj-” he doesn’t want to do this on the phone. he wants to talk to her. he wants to look her in the eye when they have this conversation. mj quickly cuts him off, “we don’t have to do this now. but soon.” he exhales and agrees, “soon.”

except soon does not actually mean soon. because its award season. so they don’t have the time to talk. and, okay, fine, honestly? he’s terrified.

and then, by the time the oscar nominations drop, peter and mj still haven’t spoken. but unlike the golden globes, peter and mj decide to watch the nominations privately. at his house. its not like her house. not nearly as big. but since all of the press and success of his film he’s been able to get something modest. and respectable. in an area that isn’t exceptionally dangerous.

michelle cuddles up on his couch and, fuck him, she looks so at home there. on his couch. in his home. and he wants her to stay.

he takes his place beside her on the couch. and tentatively wraps his arm around her. she smiles and turns her head slowly to him, “what are you doing?” “nothing,” he shrugs. she snuggles into his arms, “is this soon?” peter rests his head on hers, “it can be.”

michelle sits up and pivots to look at him, “okay, then. here it is.” michelle grabs his hand and looks at him in a way that makes him feel like whatever hope he is holding onto might be misplaced, “you don’t care about me. this is just...awards season. its intense. and you think you--”

“okay,” peter cuts her off, “i know you said this is a cliche, then. i know you’ve said that this is awards season or whatever the fuck that means. and you said then that i would feel differently in a year. and you’re saying now I’ll feel differently when this is all over, but, cards on the table, i don’t and i won’t. you’re still the best part of my day. and i spent every day in post-production watching one of the dailies of you. cindy tells a joke behind the camera and you, just, you smile. and it killed me. i watched it every day. and i missed you. that was my life before the movie took off. and now that i get to spend time with you again i never want you to go. this isn’t because i’m the director and you were my leading lady. this is because you’re you and i’m me. and you make me feel strong. like i could do anything. please, please don’t give up on us. not before we’ve even begun.”

she blinks at him and he suddenly feels super embarrassed. because he’s put his heart out for her and she isn’t talking to him.

the television starts to play the nominations and he awkwardly turns back to look at the television. the room is heavy. he hates it. they talked about it. and she rejected him. or whatever silence means. silence feels like rejection.

their movie gets a few nominations in the technical categories. even, cindy. peter makes a mental note to call her after. and then, just before they get to writing, michelle turns to him. “peter?” he doesn’t respond, so she tries again, and he can hear the lip tremble in her tone, “peter, please.” so he reluctantly turns and she wipes at her eyes, “please don’t be mad at me.” “i put my heart on the line and you didn’t even respond. you couldn’t even say you didn’t want me.” “that’s because i do!” she insists. he rolls his eyes, “please.” “no,” she grabs his hand, “i do. i just...when I’m not your leading lady...i’m afraid you won’t want me anymore.”

he shakes his head, “why would you say that?” “because i’m your muse. i’m your movie. and when award season ends and you start on your next project because...you’re gonna be so famous...you’ll move onto your next muse. and you’ll forget all about me. and i can’t handle that heartbreak.”

he cups her face, “you beautiful idiot. you aren’t my muse. i wrote that movie before i ever met you. and i just...love...you....” he whispers that last bit. he pulls down deep for some of his strength. “i love you,” he says again, more proud, “and i want you. and you Mi-”

“Michelle Jones,” the television set says. the two of them, their eyes bug open. they look at the television and there it is. in black and white. for best supporting actress. michelle jones. for their movie.

he pulls her into a bone crushing hug. “holy shit,” he whispers into her shoulder. she starts to cry, “holy shit.” they pull apart and echo together, “HOLY SHIT.” and then, the laughter comes. sudden and bubbly. because she is an academy award nominee. its best supporting actress just like the golden globes which is bullshit. but its the academy awards. and technically his lead is a man. but, like, FUCK.

and then, the laughter stops. and they are breathless and staring at each other. and the moment crackles over.

the last year is present in the room. and tension cannot hold. it will always break. and it does.

they crash into each other. their mouths eager and desperate. he has wanted her for so long. and now, he can taste how long she has wanted him. and it tastes like that first day on set.

it gets intense immediately. they have no time for foreplay. peter groans deeply into her mouth. and she whimpers back. they move their clothes out of the way just enough to couple.

and when he is inside her, the pair of them shutter. and it is so cliche, like a hollywood movie, but they fit. it is like he was always made for her and she him.

and they are so wrapped up in each other, the comforting rock of their love making, that peter doesn’t hear his name for best screenplay or director. he doesn’t hear that his movie gets nominated for best feature film. he doesn’t hear any of it.

the academy has nothing on michelle.

after, they take a minute to look up the nominations. and, well, they have to celebrate two more times.

its only the following morning with michelle tucked up in his arms do they talk about what it means for them. what this means for them. and they both decide-- everything.

the night of the academy awards mj stuns him in brown and he barely looks acceptable in a standard black suit. but he is the director and she is the moviestar. so he supposes, that logic checks out. on their way out the door she gives him a brief kiss and tells him, “you hit the jackpot, tiger.” the smile that puts on his face is present in every photo.

they keep a respectable distance from each other because peter tells her late one night that he doesn’t like the world knowing his business. he wants this to be theirs. he doesn’t want to share their moments. and she crawls on top of him and seals that promise with a kiss.

but its much harder to keep it respectable during the actual awards. because he’s so goddamn nervous. he knows he’s young. incredibly young. and he has his whole life ahead of him to win these kinds of awards but it feels like a sign. like, if his movie wins tonight then the universe is rooting for him and michelle.

she keeps their knees against each other for the entire night because she can’t hold his hand. and he appreciates the contact. it calms him down.

and soon, the relief starts to pour through his body. they lose. a lot of things. but Cindy wins for best cinematography and she was his eyes, after all. she is his eyes. his partner in making movies. and if she is the only one that goes home with an award tonight he’ll be happy.

and then, best supporting actress comes up and michelle’s nervousness boils over. she can’t help but hold his hand. and he sends a silent prayer that the internet will think she is leaning on her director for support.

she wins.

she wins and everyone, including michelle, is shocked. she’s young. crazy young. and it is her first nomination. and it takes some jockeying from peter for her to start to walk toward the stage. she is absolutely floored.

when they hand her the statue, she blinks back tears, “oh, wow. i can’t believe it. i just...can’t believe it. to, um, to my parents. thank you for loving me and supporting me and telling me that a little movie with a script that i loved was worth doing simply because i loved it. thank you to our entire cast and crew. this movie is a labor of love and this award belongs to all of us. thank you to Cindy Moon who lost the script to this beautiful movie. i thank god everyday i picked up that script and read it and gave it back to you. and thank you to Happy Hogan who believed in this movie and Tony Stark that helped get it off the ground so everyone could love it as much as I did. and lastly, peter, our fearless director, you wrote a movie that dared to say hard things and spoke to people’s souls. it spoke to me. and i am so thankful you put your trust in me to speak your words. thank you. thank you. just, thank you.”

when the applause fills the hall, peter knows she did it. she won the award. and she thanked him. forever, michelle jones thank you speech at the academy awards will include his name. and he feels like the universe might be on his side.

she comes back after fifteen minutes and one musical number. when she sits in her seat with oscar in her hand, he checks the area for a camera pointed their way and when he feels safe, he kisses the side of her head, “i am so proud of you.” he wants some moments to be just theirs.

then, the screenwriting award comes up and he loses. he loses to a war film that he heard was lobbying pretty hard for some awards. it stings but he will have his shot at other awards some day. he counts himself out for director.

and rightly so. he loses that, too. michelle grabs his hand and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that he is going home with the real prize tonight. the academy is second to michelle.

until something ridiculous happens.

they win best picture.

everyone on his team is shocked. they didn’t win the golden globes. but the oscar? wow. even the audience is shocked. there is a really rude gasp that ripples through the crowd. but when the presenter repeats the result they all jump to their feet and begin to hug and kiss and rush to the stage. peter and happy and tony are all handed awards. he is an academy award winner. or, well, his movie is. and peter supposes that still counts.

happy and tony speak first. they talk about producing the film and distributing it. and thank all of their families. and then, they look at peter. like they expect him to speak. that is when he remembers. he is the director. that means he is the person that lead the ship into harbor. he is the face of his little company.

he approaches the mic and shakes his head in shock, “when i wrote this movie i didn’t feel like i had a future in this business. i wrote this movie because i was lost and felt like everyone around me knew what the heck they were doing. i felt like a failure and like i would never accomplish my dreams. and so, i want to dedicate this award to everyone that has ever felt that way. and i want to tell you that amazing things do happen and you are not a failure. keep doing what you love. and thank you to my incredible cast and crew. you are my heart. to michelle who did a movie with a bunch of nobodies with no guarantee that anyone would even see it, let alone like it. and to my aunt may, for everything. thank you.”

he turns around and opens his arms and his entire team, his family, floods into them.

they drink and party and celebrate all night long. and at the end of that night michelle and peter go back to his house with two oscars in toe and they celebrate another way.

the news gets out the next day. there is a picture of them going back to peter’s house at the end of the night. the paparazzi are vultures on oscar sunday. and he is furious. because he wanted it to be private. he wanted it to be theirs.

but michelle patiently kisses his nose and tells him that he’s an idiot and that just because they can’t hide that they’re together anymore doesn’t mean that they have to tell anyone anything. so when he does his post-oscars interview and the interviewer asks about michelle he cooly says, “i’d like to keep my personal life private, thank you.”

mj is less patient because the media is sexist. they insinuate sleeping with the director to get the roll. which is ridiculous because a year ago he was a nobody fresh out of school. she rolls her eyes and kindly tells a different reporter to ask her anything that isn’t “blatantly sexist and invasive when it comes to my private relationships, okay?” and peter loves her so much its an actual ache.

then, the buzz dies down. the oscars are over. the world moves on. and peter and cindy start to discuss their next project. ned wrote them a film. a good film. a great film. and WB is going to back it this time. not just happy or tony. the entire studio.

and michelle decides to leave her show at the end of the season. she is an academy award winner. and she wants to be a superhero. or, well, play a superhero. Disney calls and tells her they want her to be the lead in a new female superhero movie. and she does look great in capes.

when peter shows up to set for his new movie nearly six months after the oscars (pre-production takes time before filming actually begins), he puts on his baseball cap and feels strange. the crew is mostly the same, he made sure of that, and cindy is right at his side but there is something missing. it takes him until lunch time to figure it out.

he goes to the bathroom and calls his girlfriend, “mj?” “peter, what’s wrong?” “i miss you,” he says. he can hear the exasperated tone of her voice, “you saw me this morning.” “i miss you here,” he corrects, “i miss you on my set.” “i can’t be in all of your movies, baby. and you can’t always cast me. people will say your biased.” “i am biased,” he grumps. “i love you. and i’ll see you tonight. go do your job.”

and, somehow, those words snap him out of his funk. because he did it. he’s a director. this is his job. so, he walks out of the bathroom, takes his place beside cindy and turns to his crew, “okay, let’s get to work.”

[sagarchavan98]

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[identity-stunt]

Meet the Creators of IDENTITY STUNT Part II

Juancho Velez

Color Artist - Volume 1, Issues #2-#4

Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Juancho Velez always knew he wanted to be part of the comic book industry, which led him to The Kubert school. During his three years studying cartooning and graphic design, he was naturally exposed to comic book coloring. Due to the fact that being a colorist was also a way to make it to the “big league” publishers, along with professional and artist growth, he decided to pursue his career as a Colorist. It's now been over six years of great learning -- and published color work -- with clients such as: Aspen Comics, Darby Pop, IDW, Chapter House, 7G Lab Colombia, Zenescope, and DC Comics...and hopefully many more!

Follow Juancho on social media:

deviantART |

Tim Brown

Color Artist - Volume 1, Issues #1-#2

Tim Brown was born in back in '95, and is new to the comic scene. Growing up as a kid, he loved drawing, and comics. When he was 17, he jumped into comic coloring, and very quickly decided to focus on that. Over the last few years, he's been studying and teaching himself to look at the world around him, and portray that in comics. Catch his work on KISS vs The Army of Darkness from Dynamite Entertainment! Tim currently resides in a small town in British Columbia, just left of nowhere. When he's not practicing his art, he's enjoys playing pool, video games and writing this terribly short bio.

Follow Tim on social media:

Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook | deviantART

Patrik Mock

Color Art - Volume 2

Patrik Mock is a freelance graphic designer living in Berlin with his dachshund hybrid Mamush.

He started coloring comics with Nightingale and the Finchfor Dub Comics in 2015, followed by 2 issues of Worst Day Ever from Luke Stone Studios. For Markosia, he's colored issues of No Romance, Alpha Gods, and Hero 9-to-5. He's currently working on the next issues of your favorite comic, Identity Stunt!!

Right now, he is probably walking the dog.

You can check out more of Patrik's color art at: https://patrikmock.wixsite.com/mocks-color

A.J. Scherkenbach

Letterer - Volume 1, Issues #2-#4

A.J. Scherkenbach is a letterer, graphic designer, writer and filmmaker. Born and raised in San Diego, California, A.J. joined the Army as an Infantry Soldier, traveled the world, lived the adventure and retired 20 years later. He went straight to school, Platt College of San Diego, after and earned his AA in Graphic Design and BA in Video Media. He wrote and lettered Sweet Lullaby and he letters Slate & Ashe.

A.J. now resides back in San Diego but travels to Los Angeles often to either work on films as a writer, director, producer and occasionally actor. In his free time he reads, watches to many movies and TV, and spends as much time with his family and friends. One day he plans on being successful.

Follow A.J. on social media:

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Michael Hoffert

Letterer - Volume 2

In Michael's own words:

"I've always wanted to make comic books, but went to school for technical theatre and designs instead. Once I graduated, as a way to make money, I got a job as a mail carrier for the USPS.

Several years ago I finally got one of my short comic book stories drawn, but I didn't have anybody to letter it. Instead of trying to find someone, or have it be done with sub-par lettering, I decided to teach myself lettering. I used several tutorial videos and websites that offer the rules and design tips for comic book lettering and found that I was actually pretty good at it.

I then got recommended for a job lettering an online comic by a friend, which I promptly took and used those pages to hone my craft even farther. Since then I have lettered over 100 pages in various styles, learning something new with each project.

My goal is to use this skill to letter independent comics for people, and earn enough money so that I can get back to getting my own comics made."

Follow Michael on social media:

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Jeff Kline

Script Editor - Volume 1

For nearly two decades, Jeff Kline has been one of the fortunate few “genre nerds” able to move freely between prime-time and daytime television, motion pictures and the Web, and the East and West Coasts.

As both Writer and Showrunner, Kline has been responsible for more than 40 animated and live-action series and pilots. Currently, he is an Executive Producer and co-developer of TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE, a follow up to his previous project, the multiple Daytime Emmy® Award-winning CG series TRANSFORMERS: PRIME.

Over the past few years, Kline also co-developed and Executive Produced both TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS and G.I. JOE: RENEGADES for Hasbro Studios and The Hub as part of an exclusive multi-year pact.

Previously, Kline has been Showrunner on a slew of fan-fave animated series including JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES (Kids WB), MEN IN BLACK: THE ANIMATED SERIES (Kids WB), ROUGHNECKS: THE STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES (Syndicated), BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT (Fox Kids), and GODZILLA: THE SERIES (Fox Kids).

Paul Baumeister

Script Editor - Volume 2

From ThePullbox.com: "What can be said about Paul that hasn’t been said? Well, he’s not a fan of the “introduce yourself” bio page, but he is a team player who actually kinda likes talking about himself in the third person. Paul has been reading comics of all kinds since he was old enough to do so without drooling all over the pages. He’s been through all of the mainstream, has had a few favorites, and has developed a huge appreciation of the indies. Don’t bother asking about a “Top 10” because it’s never going to be the same list twice. Writing for thePullbox for the last couple years has been a blast, and has served as a great outlet for Paul’s incessant need to talk about the comics he really likes"...including Identity Stunt! Follow Paul on social media:

Twitter  |  Instagram

Renae Geerlings

Managing Editor - Volume 1

After getting a degree in theatre and moving to Los Angeles, Renae Geerlings was hired by David Wohl at Top Cow Productions as a lowly editorial assistant in 1997.  In 2006, after almost 10 years of climbing the ranks, she ended her tenure there as Editor in Chief. She has continued to freelance as a comic book editor/consultant with many companies including Darby Pop Publishing, Spark Unlimited, IP Factory, and Radical Publishing.

Follow Renae on social media: Twitter   |   Instagram

Sam Moyerman

Story and Script Assist - Volume 1

Sam Moyerman is a longtime comic book fan and reader who has long been involved as a critic and editorialist, first for Broken Frontier and then for Mightyville, for over a decade.  He has been involved as a writer and editor for Cave Drawing Ink, penning a story in their Rise of the Outlanders Anthology book and also as an editor for future anthologies and as an assistant editor for the successfully Kickstartered Grave Soldiers.  In his spare time he is also an award winning international volleyball coach, which also isn’t even his real job.  He lives in Ardmore, PA with his wife Elizabeth and their menagerie of animals.

Follow Sam on social media: Twitter |  Tumblr  | Instagram

👊🏼

#ABeatdownIsComing

[onceuponamirror]

did you see wb's statement? bc just like with ouat and all the other shows in vancouver, everyone works long and late hours, but there are safe options to get home. kj chose not to use any of them. "On the day of the accident, KJ worked 14.2 hours. The previous day he worked 2.5 hours, and the day before that he worked 7.7 hours. KJ has repeatedly been informed about making production aware if he is tired or feels unsafe, and if so, either a ride or hotel room will be provided for him."

according to another article, this is the official production policy:

“WBTV’s policy is that actors are responsible for their own transportation to and from set, particularly when production is shooting outside the U.S. The studio, which makes several shows in Vancouver, declined to comment, but a source notes that actors are told they can call a taxi or stay in a hotel near a set on the studio’s dime if they feel it is unsafe to drive.” [x]

blaming this on KJ, a person who works extremely hard to provide (i assume you watch the show) you with the content that you’re consuming—along with the rest of the cast/crew—is kind of the very basic “blame the worker” mentality that’s perpetuates poor working conditions. 

the discussion is not about the individual, it’s about the environment that creates the pressure/circumstance in the first place. 

if you click on the notes from the article posting i shared below, i personally can see at least three people who work in tv/film production commenting that for however many hours the actors work, the crew work even longer, and they’re in the same boat of getting home after long, distant shoots. 

here, i’ll even quote for you, from @oobiwankenobae: 

I work in film and television and it’s this shit that is pushing out of the work before I even really get into it. I have only worked as a production assistant and we are some of the crew that works the longest hours. You think that actors have it bad working 16 hour days? On that same day, an assistant director is working at least 2 or 3 hours longer. And as below the line workers we get NO attention on these things.

I PERSONALLY was two second away from falling asleep on the way home from my first overnight where I worked 2pm to 8am the next day. Sure there was an offer from production to stay at a hotel but no one really cares enough to force you to do it and all you want is to get home. On the same Production, the producer fell asleep on the drive home but since he’s stinking rich and has a Tesla, it was self driving and drove him home! We don’t have that luxary.

Production is such a dangerous business FOR EVERYONE and it’s ALL about money, and fitting as much into a day as possible to stick to schedule instead of keeping hours safe and just adding more days. [x]

so honestly don’t take it from me, take it from someone who has the personal experience to speak to this kind of thing—again, the issue is that this highlights the lack of infrastructure in place to ensure safety in production. the hollywood reporter article linked at the top even spoke to the recent deaths in stunts that many consider avoidable/negligence.

with film/tv, we are being gifted this content, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere. there are hundreds of people working tirelessly, and at all odd hours, to give us the entertainment we enjoy. 

the absolute least we can do is pay attention when the people involved request better working environments so that accident’s like KJ’s are avoided, create social pressure to hold the companies accountable, so change can be made, so that there are systems in place. 

when jobs ask of extreme conditions, there should be shuttles already there, already provided, for everyone to get to work and home.

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Justice League

TLDR version: I liked it. I liked it a lot. It had its problems-- pointed look at the camera-- but considering all it had to contend with? I really liked the finished product.

I can actually see myself watching a three hour director's cut of this.

Going through point by point of the movie, Good points and some nitpicks and some ugly, but bringing it all together with the Happy.

This is going to be a surprise but for the few people who know me, I actually wasn't impressed with Avengers. I thought the visuals were so-so, and it brought home what I thought when I first watched Serenity. Joss Whedon is not a good movie director. He can do a passable job on TV but he is no Jonathan Nolan nor is he a JJ Abrams. He doesn't have the visual eye for it, and he tends to go back to his old stand-bys.

(I mentioned it in my initial reactions of Thor: Ragnarok, Joss Whedon wishes he was Taika Waititi but he's not even close.)

Zach Snyder on the other hand? Despite my issues with his other movies, no one can deny that Snyder paints a fantastic visual picture. It is his strongest suit. In this movie he delivered in spades.

This is a really, really great getting the band together movie and the thing that made this work a lot: the characters. They sparked off each other, and you can tell they were having a lot of fun making this movie.

We got to see the Amazons be awesome!

We got to see a lot more of Hippolyta doing action stuff and it was awesome and wonderful! For anyone who wished they saw Queen Hippolyta fight more, we see that! A lot and it's so awesome!

And then she sends out a flare and it was such a heartwarming moment because she knows only one person in the outside world will understand and her whispering as in prayer: 'Hear me, Diana.'

It broke my heart a little because Diana hasn't seen her mother and amazons in a while and then she had to hear from Steppenwolf that a lot of Amazons died. Also, this gives credence to my theory that in BvS, when she decided to help, she was actually on her way to find a way back to Themyscira.

Okay, so the elephant in the room is the treatment of Diana, Amazons, and Lois Lane terrible. Wellllll.... it's not as bad as reported but after watching Wonder Woman, I cringed in a lot of scenes.

The controversial new revealing costumes where there. I don't know why they needed to, and when I saw them standing next to Amazons who are in regular armor costumes, they stand out.

Then the unnecessary camera angles, especially when Diana is standing in front of the camera. It's like a study of male gaze directing vs someone who consciously works against it. I cringed everytime there was butt shot and an upskirt shot. It wasn't a lot but there were enough that coming from watching Wonder Woman, it was bad.

I didn't really need to see that gag about Barry falling on top of Diana and accidentally grabbing her boobs. I did not need to see that. It had Whedon's fingerprints all over it and just NO. NO NO NO NO.

Then there's Arthur Curry loudly telling Diana she was beautiful etc., and then revealing he's actually sitting on the Lasso. They didn't need that and the only important thing we got there that once upon a time the Amazons and Atlanteans were at war. You can practically see Whedon's work there.

Going back to the happy: Danny Elfman to score the movie was the best move ever, and that's one positive cookie points for Whedon. Because the iconic Batman score is there and strains of the iconic Superman march too! Honestly, there is a reason why those were iconic. Star Wars kept to its musical score with other composers just expanded on John Williams work.

Although, I wish there was a Justice League score too. I was waiting for it, actually.

WB really should've let Snyder direct a solo Batman movie because I can practically feel how much he loves Batman everytime he was on screen. This is not a knock by the way, because I would like to watch Snyder's translating Batman graphic novel on the big screen like he did with Watchmen.

I love Diana's relationship with Victor and I love that she keeps wanting to reach and support him. I love how she was mentoring him.

I love how this is about Victor accepting his gifts (as Diana called it) and being the right person to stop the Mother Boxes. He upgraded machinery when needed and found information they needed in time. I still wish for a Cyborg movie, though.

Arthur Curry was advertised but I don't have a lot to say yet I feel that Aquaman will answer a lot of questions but Mera was awesome and he was able to hold off Steppenwolf which is a feat in itself.

Barry Allen was funny and so very young with his own issues, he was like a kid in a candy store when he arrived in the bat cave and his crush on Diana was cute and I don't begrudge him that (the moment with Arthur though, that I wanted to cut out).

Bruce is working over time to get a team started out, and clearly doing this to work off his guilt, Diana calls him on it. And dammit, I'm weak but I ship Bruce and Diana. I can't help it! It's Justice League and JL animated has primed me for shipping Diana and Bruce together, okay?

They never got together in animated but I love that they're playing this as a frisson of tension between them, and that it's mostly Bruce who is kind of pining/crushing over her, in his Bruce way.

But I am also not about Bruce being an asshole to Diana, throwing Steve to her face to 'push her' or whatever. I'm glad that Barry was all: if she murders you, we'll hide the body for her.

I did love the conversation between Bruce and Diana after, and it cleared up the century of not doing anything thing BvS tacked on. I love that Diana revealed that she might not have been visible but she's been fighting for all that time just not leading. 'Because leaders get people killed.'

There's a story there which I hope we can get in her next solo movie, also: Diana casually strolling into Bruce's heavily secured building and in BvS one-upping him in a Spy vs Spy game--- Agent Diana Prince in her next movie Y/Y??????

The CGI. I really try very hard not to notice the CGI but I can't help notice the CGI. All Sci-fi/Superhero movies have this problem, particularly when it comes to the CGI villain. I see no reason why they couldn't used make-up and light CGI, because even the actor had a hard time bringing his villain to life. There's a reason why I liked Hela as a villain, because that was Cate Blanchett acting and not a CGI version of Hela. Even Zod and the other Kryptonians with him were easier because they were not CGI villain.

Someone should put a moratorium on CGI villains.

Unfortunately, there's even a more egregious use of CGI and that's the mustache gate. I do not get why they didn't go with bearded Clark instead of.. waves hand that.

I like Clark in this! I've always thought that Man of Steel 2 should've gone first than BvS, watching BvS then this just kind of solidified it. There were moments in MoS that I loved and thought would continue but Snyder just doubled down on the other part I disliked with BvS but JL felt like it was continuing on with the the tone of the parts I loved in MoS.

I was honestly surprised how they went about the resurrection. There's no fortress of solitude so there was no regeneration matrix but there is the Kryptonian ship and the Mother Box.

Clark's resurrection seem to give a second wind and a happiness that was missing in BvS but had more in common with in the final moments of MoS. I wish though, that Lois had more to do.

And how is it Lois and Diana have never shared a scene together??? This is the second time she mentioned her devotion to the truth, I mean, Diana is all about the truth. Truth is her province. It's where she lives! LOIS AND DIANA NEEDS TO BE FRIENDS DAMMIT.

I liked that Diana was the voice of reason, and even Arthur came around to her way of thinking, in a way that feels like he has experience about people coming back wrong.

Full disclosure: I was afraid they were going to make Diana that wet blanket friend who breaks every body's fun but she had a point which Arthur came around to. They've seen their fair share of things like these going pear shaped.

Fortunately, after the mandatory fighting against the newly awakened Clark things turned out for the better.

Seriously though, Diana taking Clark's headbutt and giving one of her own. AMAZING. He only won that round because he had the advantage of getting more force behind his headbutt via flying. Headbutts are an Amazonian Hello.

Not a fan of Diana being Worf'd just to show how super extra powerful he is, I'm just consoling myself that she either has most of her powers locked away (like in the comic, removing the vambraces would unlock her full potential as a demigod).

I do like that even though Clark had the brute strength, Diana had experience on her side, she fought Steppenwolf like a warrior. Seasoned and skillful.

Also: 'On my lead.' Diana led the team on the ground! I AM HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

I love the final fight there were so many iconic moments and its stitched together really well, one of the biggest issues I had with BvS was how Snyder painted a beautiful picture but it's a moment divorced from the flow of the story. Here it came together pretty well. The iconic moments were iconic without taking away from the story.

I like that they took note of what people had issues with and worked with that feedback, bringing in more color and lightness to the movie while still maintaining the gravity of the situation.

Do you know what else I love? That the final blow was Diana's with an assist from Clark. Because she lives up to her name -- Godkiller.

other moments I liked:

The Superman and Flash race, I love it. It is universal law, a Super and a Flash must always race.

Diana lasso-ing the bank robbers and then greeting a crowd of little girls.

Diana handling the artefact with revenance.

Victor openly working with his dad in the Star Labs

Barry pushing the sword to Diana.

Diana with the red robe over her armor. I love it.

Speaking off, Hippolyta's Helmet!

Luthor finally acting like Luthor and not like an evil Mark Zuckerberg. Also, he freaked out about Clark, what about Diana, who is an actual demigod?

Speaking of demigods, the guy throwing lighting bolts young Zeus or Ares? And when is Diana going to handle lightning? She's the last survivor of the Pantheon, she must inherit it too, right?

WAS THAT ATHENA OR ARTEMIS??? IN ANY CASE I AM HAPPY TO SEE A GODDESS.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home Edition May 29, 2020 – I WILL MAKE YOU MINE, THE HIGH NOTE, HBO MAX and more!

Before we get to any potential theatrical releases – there aren’t many (if any?) this week  –  today is the day that HBO MAX launches! I hope to add it to the streaming section below, but since it’s a newborn baby launching today, it will get the lead in this week’s column…

Some of the HBO Max original programming at launch will include On the Record, the new doc from The Hunting Ground and The Invisible War directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, which looks at the story of music exec. Drew Dixon and her decision to be one of the first women of color to come forward about being sexually assaulted by Russell Simmons. I’ll freely admit that I haven’t watched this yet, but my friend/colleague Candice Fredrick did this amazing interview with Dixon and the other subjects for Shondaland, which you can read right here, and it’ll make it obvious why  (like Dick/Ziering’s previous docs), this one NEEDS to be seen, even if you don’t have a horse in this race.

Anna Kendrick will be starring in new romantic comedy anthology series called Love Life from Sam Boyd, each season which will follow a different person from their first to last romance. I hope this is better than Kendrick’s Quibi series.

On a lighter night, there’s a new series of Looney Tunes Cartoons, a series of 11 to 12-minute cartoon collections featuring all your WB favorites. While I was mildly dubious about new cartoons, apparently WB has been making these for a few years although they’ll now be migrating over to HBO Max. Some of the first toons will include a couple Porky Pig-Daffy Duck shorts: “Curse of the Monkeybird” and “Firehouse Frenzy”; another one called “Harm Wrestling,” pitting Bugs Bunny against long-time nemesis Yosemite Sam, and another Bugs one called “Big League Beast.” These new toons definitely have their own identity and charm and are pretty clever with wackier modernized cartoon violence ala “Ren and Stimpy” or maybe Adult Swim would be a more current reference. The series is exec. produced by Peter Browngardt, and I don’t think regular Looney Tunes fans (or cartoon fans in general) will be too disappointed by these offerings.

There’s also the Not Too Late Show with Elmo, which looks cute, but it’s definitely veering more towards the TV side of things than movies, at least for now.

Something rather strange and interesting happened leading up to this week’s “Featured Movie,” but it involves an introductory story: Just before the lockdown on March 12, I went out to see Emily Ting’s great new comedy, Go Back to China on its very last day in New York theaters. One of the actors in the movie, Lynn Chen, seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t figure out where from. Sometime after that, I started seeing a few tweets about Alice Wu’s 2004 film, Saving Face, which I thought I was one of the only people who knew about it, having covered it 15 or 16 years ago. This led to a Twitter conversation about Wu’s new Netflix movie, The Half of It, which made me realize that Chen was one of the two leads in Saving Face. One thing led to another and besides learning about Wu’s new movie, I also found out that Chen’s own directorial debut would be coming out soon. That movie, I WILL MAKE YOU MINE (Gravitas Ventures), is now available digitally and on DVD/Blu-ray. Got all that? Good. So that’s what I’m going to write about next.

Chen’s directorial debut is an interesting black-and-white romantic dramedy, but you really need to go into it knowing that it’s also the third part of something being labelled, “The Surrogate Valentine Trilogy,” based on two indie comedies directed by Dave Boyle. I did not know this the first time I watched Chen’s movie, which may be why I was so confused about the relationships between three Asian-American women with a musician named Goh Nakamura (who plays himself in the film). Once I watched the previous movies, Surrogate Valentine from 2011 and Daylight Savings from 2012, things became a LOT clearer.

Both those movies were quirky comedies mostly based around Nakamura’s day-to-day, but they also had romantic undercurrents with three different women over the course of the two movies: Lynn Chen’s best friend Rachel, “the professor” Erika (Ayako Fujitani) and fellow singer-songwriter Yea-Ming (Yea-Ming Chen, also playing a version of herself). It’s immediately clear that Chen’s movie is going to focus on the three women, but it my not be as evident who these women are or their relationship to Nakamura without having seen the previous two films.

The movie takes place five years after the previous one, so Chen is taking the Linklatter “Before” trilogy approach, at least in concluding the overall story with a few players from earlier movies also making apperances. Erika and Yea-Ming are still polar opposites with Erika’s moodiness being increased by the death of her father and having to care for her five-year-old daughter (Ayami Riley Tomine).  Yea-Ming is still single and ready to mingle, while Rachel is now married but she is still reminiscing about Goh, who she long ago put in the friend zone despite his feelings for her.

Both the previous movies were left hanging with no real answers, so it’s quite respectable for Chen to take the reins in trying to answer some of the unanswered questions. The general idea is that all these women are still thinking of Goh, and you’ll have to watch the movie to see which one he ends up with, if any. (Not too sure how I feel about all these beautiful women chasing after the mopey Nakamura, but like the “Before” movies, you’ll be quite invested after seeing the other two movies.)

Nakamura is an incredibly talented musician, songwriter and singer (as is Yea-Ming) but not a particularly expressive actor, especially in comparison to a seasoned pro like Chen. As a director and co-star, she does a better job getting a performance out of him than Boyle did, although her character’s arc is more about dealing with her cheating husband Josh. Chen maintains the quirky humor of the earlier movies without involving as much of the bro-ness of the characters around Nakamura. Putting the focus on the three women trying to discover themselves and figure out what they want in life just makes her film a far more enjoyable experience as a whole, especially as we get to see them interacting with each other.

I particulary like this movie on its own merits due to the very funny and talented Yea-Ming Chen (whose own musical project is called DreamDate). She clearly has the best chemistry with Nakamura, but I Will Make You Mine gains so much more knowing the characters’ history together, even if those relationships were not necessarily the focus of the previous two films. There’s no question Lynn Chen has a solid future as a filmmaker, as she takes the ideas and characters introduced by Boyle’s films to a far more emotional level. I recommend watching the entire trilogy, which hopefully Gravitas Ventures will put all in one place (like a collection of all three movies with a soundtrack CD?) someday soon. In the meantime, you can find out where you can watch I Will Make You Mine on the official site, so do check it out!

I had been pretty interested in Focus Features’ new film, THE HIGH NOTE, which will be available via PVOD this Friday, mainly because it was directed by Nisha Ganatra, who did such an amazing job with last year’s Late Night. This is a very different movie, maybe more commercial but also not quite as much my thing, which is odd since it’s set in the music business, which is almost definitely my thing.

Dakota Johnson stars as Maggie, personal assistant to legendary soul singer Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross from black-ish), but she would rather be a record producer. Maggie hs been practicing by doing an edit on a live album for Davis who is being drawn by her manager (Ice Cube) to take up a Vegas residency ala Celine. Soon after, Maggie meets Kelvin Harrison Jr’s David Cliff, an aspiring singer and songwriter who she decides to take under her wing, without letting him know she’s actually a personal assistant.

Written by Flora Greeson, her first produced screenplay, it’s almost immediately apparent this movie came about due to the success of the 2018 remake of A Star is Born, which did so well despite winning only a single Oscar for song.  There are a few hurdles the movie had to overcome right away, the first being my general “eh” feelings about Johnson as an actor, but then there are also serious credibility issues of a Hollywood personal assistant getting away with HALF the things Maggie does in the movie. There is definitely an aspect of the movie that reminded me of Working Girl, one of the movies that made Johnson’s mother (Melanie Griffith) a household name, but this sort of “everything works out for the white girl” just seems kind of stale and played and maybe a bit out-of-tune in this day and age.

The High Note is barely a drama and more of a romantic dramedy and while the songs are decent, there’s very little way that this can be deemed any sort of “musical.” There’s also the whole “white savior” thing in play where Maggie is there not only to save Grace’s flagging career but also trying to help David make it big. Harrison is as good as he’s been in almost every role, and that seems almost wasted among the other okay performances.

The thing is that The High Note did eventually win me over, oddly with a pull-the-rug-out twist that for some reason I didn’t see coming. There is a cuteness aspect to it that makes it palatable, if not always entertaining, but I definitely expected more and better from Ganatra for her second feature. It makes it that much more obvious what Mindy Kaling brought to the table as the writer/producer on Late Night.  

Next up is John Hyatt’s documentary SCREENED OUT (Dark Star Pictures), which is probably rather apropos right now as it deals with something very prominent and timely: our addiction to our devices. The movie follows Hyatt and his family who go through their own journey of dealing with screen addiction. It will be available in the US and Canada this Friday. I really couldn’t get too far into this movie, since I generally hate docs where the filmmakers turn the camera on themselves, and I’m not talking about Morgan Spurlock or Michael Moore so much, as those who make these movies about themselves without having too much to offer the viewer.

Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema adds two new repertory films this week: Philip Borso’s 1982 film, The Grey Fox, starring Richard Farnsworth (in a new 4K restoration) and Andrei Ujică’s 1992 film, Videograms of a Revolution.  Film at Lincoln Center’s own virtual cinema adds Mounia Meddour’s Papicha (Distrib Films) about a university student during the Algerian Civil War who is studying French with an interest in fashion so she defies religious conservatism to design dresses for her peers. The film won the César Award for Best Female Newcomer and Best First Film, and was a selection for the recent “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.”

STREAMING AND CABLE

Netflix’s big launch this week is the new series from The Office (American version) creator Greg Daniels (his second new one in the last month!), SPACE FORCE, a comedy based on the Trump military initiative that reunites Daniels with Steve Carell. He’s joined by John Malkovich, Jimmy O. Yang, the late Fred Willard, Ben Schwartz, Noah Emmerich and more, so we’ll see if I like it more than the Amazon series, Upload. (Granted, I’ve only seen one episode of that.)

I’m semi-flattered that Hannah Gadsby named her second Netflix comedy special, Hannah Gadsby: Douglas, after me, but honestly, I’m one of the few people who never really understood the appeal of her as a comic. She just seems like a snarky Australian who just happens to also be a lesbian, but I dunno, maybe I’ll like this one more?

Fernando Frias’ Mexican teen drama, I’m No Longer Here (also on Netflix), is about a young street gang in Monterrey, Mexico who get into a feud with a local cartel, forcing the leader to migrate to the United States.

Also, I’ve heard good things about Andrew Patterson’s THE VAST OF NIGHT, which will be available on Amazon Prime, this Friday. It stars Sierra McCormick as Fay Crocker, a switchboard operator in 1950s New Mexico, who discovers an audio frequency that can change their small town forever. It sends Fay and a radio DJ named Everett (Jake Horowitz) on a scavenger hunt into the unknown.  This movie played a lot of genre film festivals last year after debuting at Slamdance, and I generally enjoyed it, since it has a very different vibe of other thrillers, even period ones. The two leads are so cute together in the film’s opening scene, you’ll definitely want to see where things are going, and the dialogue is particularly good. Maybe the movie isn’t as direct in its genre elements as others, but it goes to interesting places for sure.

Also, the We Are One: A Global Film Festival is supposed to start this week, running for a week from this Friday to June 7 with proceeds going to benefit COVID-19 relief funds with programming curated by a number of film festivals including Tribeca, the New York Film Festival, Berlin and others. You can see some of the programming here, and the festival will run starting Friday on the YouTube channel.

Next week, more movies (mostly) not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!