Entry #83
 
1:36 PM, Friday, October 13th, 2000:
 
Hollywood Screentest has restructured and refocused their goals, and it excludes all areas I was involved in. Yeah, a pretty massive restructuring. Basically, the technoogy that they developed as far as submitting a "screentest" to a website, will be a "service" they provide for other sites. For example: if another site, say "NIKE.COM", wants to run a contest where their readers submit their own commercial, HST.com will provide the inner-workings of that contest. A step-by-step set of instructions that anyone can follow to get their submisison onto the site. So Hollywood Screentest now morphs into a small web-feature business? I guess so.
 
Their first such "screentest" is with TheDotCom Guy. Heard of him? A guy locked himself in a room with a computer and 20 webcams on 1/1/00 and has lived the whole year off the computer...bought everything through the net and through sponsorships. He actually legally changed his name to "dotcomguy" - Anyway, he's coming out of the house on New Year's Eve...and already has interviews lined up with Oprah, the Today Show...and you will know this guy come January. Hollywood Screentest will be running the search for the new dot-com guy.
 
As I type this it certainly seems strange to me. I'm not sure I truly understood what the founder of Hollywood Screentest's original dream was...though I'm pretty sure providing a service to OTHER websites wasn't it. It seems like giving up but holding on to SOMETHING. Who knows. Just a theory...but as a dreamer this all seems wrong to me.
 
My involvement of course is over. The lack of syndicating shows knocks out 2 of my big involvements. One of course Movie Minded, and secondly my video editing work. Now the shows are still for sale on isyndicate.com, and if someone buys it we certainly won't turn 'em down...but things don't sell by themselves, and they aren't pushing them. My involvement in web design is completely over because...well there's no web site anymore. It will just be a page advertising what service they provide. A one page thingee, and I think someone's creating a little flash-animation for them. And my final involvement was of course the MTV commercial, which again fades away because there's nothing to advertise anymore. What a shitty day - LOL. It seems kind of wrong to have the grand prize for a contest just - not happen...but what am I gonna do? Sue 'em? Eric said he may fulfill the bargain by putting me in a demo tape they may do with TheDotCom Guy. What this really means is, we may need actors for our demo, and we don't have to pay you because you won a CONTEST. Weak indeed. It was a prize before because it was national exposure...and I was still joking about the fact it was just free work - NOW, it's not even exposure. I am pretty glad I wasn't that excited about it when I won though. Anything not judged on talent or skill is a joke. It's pretty meaningless, and now it's nonexistent.
 
I also bought a $1500 computer since my old one was DYING because of the work from HST....so that sucks. Blew that money. It works fine now that it's not being slammed so hard. And the new monitor because video editing required so much space. (sigh)
 
Well the true positive here, and it is indeed a positive: if I hadn't met up with HST in April, I would not be living in LA right now. If you remember back in April I wrote the infamous entry that was completely desperate and it wasn't but 12 hours later that HST came to the rescue. Providing me with the money that kept us in LA. And now that Jess has a better job, this recent debacle isn't as scary, it's just really disappointing. Man this has just been an insane year for me. Can it really continue like this? How many years can I live another 2000? What will it do to Jessica and I? When do I say it's been enough? I said 5 years before, but 5 years of THIS? CHRIST. I like adventures as much as the next guy, but this is just nutty.
 
Ha! It's Friday the 13th...in OCTOBER! That happened in 1989 too. I remember it vividly...was that the last time? Let me check. Nope 1995. Anyway, as is always the case - big events this year have happened on special days or special entry numbers.
 
So back to square one, and trying to find some computer work as I continue to push 4tvs. Thank God I never sold those puppies.
 
Oh, and I made a pretty cool video for the ocassion to the tune of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood"...lol
YouTube link added 02.13.09
 
Adam
 
original video file
OCTOBER 2000