5

 

 

 

12:24 PM, Tuesday, May 8th, 2018:   This was supposed to be a Flash & The Fundamentals episode. Don forgot. And so I don't break something after 2 days of cleaning and wiring for a new set-up I'm going to write an entry.   Ahem.   First and foremost, today this happened:     That's the Indie Rights booth at Cannes at this exact moment as I sit here and type. It's hard to express how surreal this picture is for me. 3 months ago I had just finished the edit and was hoping Gravitas would want to distribute the film. 3 weeks later they did and I decided to go in another direction. The first reason was immediate distribution, but truth be told I could have done that on my own. What I most assuredly could NOT have done was have a booth at the Cannes Film Festival and have my film be sold to foreign territories 6 weeks after Ready Player One had a massive foreign box office take. The timing is just perfect and having a Delorean Time Machine on the cover of your movie this year should be golden. And if it isn't? Literally nothing more I could do. I put this film in the best possible position to make money and I did it in lightening fast time while sitting on a piano bench next to my bed editing on my laptop (granted, with a 2nd monitor, but still). This is a proud, proud moment for me and it brings me to that point I've made for decades now:   You have to celebrate these little moments and never worry about the egg that might be landing on your face next. That picture right there? That's actually a moment. That's actually an achievement. That's worth more than most things that happen in life with your career, BELIEVE ME. Will I be celebrating more if a foreign territory buys it? Sure. Of course. But know there will also be people who think of it as some shitty consolation prize for a film you couldn't sell in the US. Point being: there's never a landing spot that will feel anymore accomplished than now because with each step there's more obstacles, more assholes and more pushing. That journey never ends, it just gets more complicated. To the point where finding happiness in those moments is really, really hard.   Ya know what I remember most from my time at CBS doing Adam & The Egos? Me and the crew getting to go out to lunch after the shoot on the company's dime. The first season ended with the "Up & Adam" news and Friedman paid for a NIIIIIIIIIIIIICE lunch at Morton's. I remember looking around at everyone and it hit me: this is all happening because I made a crazy choice to bring 4tvs to LA. I was just offered my own late-night show, we were all eating the best food I had ever tasted and it was just one of those moments. In fact, ya know there's an entry...   Jesus, I just read that, hit the month page and saw what followed. Mother, fuck. How did I avoid heroin? I mean... how was I strong enough to get through that? I haven't felt NEAR that high again and christ I don't even know if I could feel it if I got there. Spectacular.   ANNNNNNNNNYWAY, the reason I am glad that I celebrated openly during that time is that if I had held back because nothing had actually happened yet? I'd have missed it all. I would never have felt those incredible life moments that are with me to this day. Most people I know think that's insane. They hold back and hold back... and what they don't realize is that "moment" is right in front of you and may never be topped. Enjoy the moments. Yes, it's just a movie poster I printed and is now at a booth in Cannes. It's a fairly superficial thrill. But goddamnit after what I've been through this year? Sheeeeeeeeit. That January fire knocked me into a such a state that I couldn't stop. Then March and April comes along with so many events... just an absolute jaw-dropping amount of work and then POW: tomorrow Don and I fly to Houston. Next month? We take Talya with us to MOTHERFUCKING PARIS. July? We open a film festival in Seal Beach.   These are the good times. It may never get any better than this no matter how hard I work and push and push, so I'm just gonna keep looking at that picture and smiling. I'm never gonna be fully satisfied so I have to at least allow myself this.   ...oh and a new camera. So my 5D Markii has been rendered completely fucking useless because the compact flash slot's prongs got bent. There's nothing in my mechanical mind that can explain how the fuck this is possible since it doesn't even allow you to put the card in upside-down. I took the ENTIRE thing apart and there's just no fixing it without replacing that part. It's so goddamned annoying and it brings me to the other issus: no one can really use this camera unless they're professional. For what I do? I need the flexibility to hand a camera to someone to get a shot that has auto-focus and image stabilization. That's why iPhones are perfect. But, unfortunately, they just don't look like DSLRs.   Enter the Canon XC10 which feels like it was made for me. Auto-focus, Image stabilization, 4K at 24fps... Adam's found the topper to the iPhone. It doesn't matter that I'll personally be using it in manual and adjusting the focus on the fly, etc. I can hand this to ANYONE and they will get me a useable shot and it will look like film. It's not the best camera money can buy, but it's the best compromise for my situations, bar none.   Played with it a bit with the kids...      Pretty awesome. It certainly looks nice on my 4K screen. The cool part? I didn't even have the digital image stabilization on - that's just the lens. The auto-focus is slow, but once it grabs a face it stays on it really well. That's awesome. Can't wait to take this to Houston...   ...which is tomorrow. Whew. Alright May, let's DO THIS.   Adam