To all those
wondering for 7 years what a gigantic break would look
like, turns out it's something along the lines of
pants-shitting fright. Truth be told, it wasn't
fright, it was confused excitement at the cryptic
message I was hearing. Glad I had the
wherewithall to tape this...but I'm ahead of myself.
Monday actually provided a tiny foreshadowing of this
moment...
I went down
to CBS to pick up my BETA tape of my
appearence and wanted to just confirm that my contact
got the pitch I emailed. Unfortunately there
seemed to be a new woman at the desk, and she couldn't
find the numbers to CBS to let me up. It was a bit of
a mess and then I looked up and actually
saw the producer walking down the hall and
I flagged her down. She laughed at the
coincidence because guess what was in her hand? A
printed copy of my pitch with some notes on
it.
Gulp...
I think this is Gulp x3.
She let me in to
get the tape but not before she had to be grilled by
security to let me in. These people don't fuck around
man. Seriously - they have to take the picture of
every single person that comes through security and
print it on a badge for you. It is literally more
secure than an airport...
Hey it's supposed to look like you right? Well
that's been my permanent face for a
week.
Wow, real secure
man - they spelled my name Adadm. Never got that one
before. Anyway, got the tape and left without any real
info except for the fact that the "pitch us" from the
week before was no line. Honestly, the woman
could've just been trying to make me feel good when
she said that but the fact that 5 hours after
I had sent it, I randomly see her holding
the pitch, printed up with notes on it... it's clear
she was serious. It was now my turn to
wait...
Everyone always
jokes about how bad waiting has been for me, but
I gotta say - not for something like this. I'm
getting my chance. Before? The waits were about
never, ever, ever, ever getting even the opportunity
to be heard. That's just not the case here. I'm
actually part of the game, and waiting is part
of the game so I'm havin' no trouble floating
along.
By the 2nd day
however, I have to admit - I was starting to
prepare for the eventuality of it not happening. Not
depressed in the least (thank you Donna), but just
being realistic. I always play the angles and
figured if I still hadn't heard from anyone on
Thursday I'd leave a message. I did, and of
course missed the producer's call back. Bad for me,
good for The Journey - because I could now set-up my
camera as I was listening to the message and
subsequently follow-up call. I knew the message
was probably going to be a quick "Call me back"
because good or bad there's no way she's doing it on
voicemail. What I wasn't prepared for was what
I got:
"Hey it's
your agent, call me back -
975-****"
It's a
funny
moment
for sure. My heart rate doubled as my head
started to realize that the pitch
obviously worked and that she decided to
toy with me as she sees where this is
going. She's called me personally and told
me every piece of career-changing news, so
I'm sure she feels like my agent at this
point.
So I scurry
to change camera angles as I was afraid the noise
from outside would ruin the sound. Call back, it's
busy. Call back again, she answers but can't hear me
and hangs up. Call back again - VOICEMAIL. Put the
phone down, try ever-so failingly to calm my nerves
and proceed to call back again and she answers. She of
course acts completely nonchalant saying "we have to
schedule a meeting with you, me, the head of the
internet (a couple other people I don't know) and
I assume you're pretty flexible?" She said that
last part laughing. "Yeah, I'm pretty flexible." She
said it would be tough to get everyone's schedule to
match up, but she assumed Wednesday morning or
afternoon. I asked if I should prepare
something and she said don't worry about it, she'd
call back next week when there's more
info.
It's fairly
obvious, even playing devil's advocate, that they're
not arranging a meeting around all of these people's
schedules to let me know they've passed. They want to
work with me in some capacity and it was literally the
"career-move of the century" to stay out here 3 extra
weeks knowing in my HEART I would turn it into
something. Charlotte saw an opening with the idea of
hosting the segment and pointed the way, I ran
and got through to the other side. It's an incredible
story.
I don't want
to go through a list of thank you's just yet. I'm
going to assume this next meeting is still part
of the pitch somehow and that I don't have a damn
thing. Of course we all get to wonder for the next 5
days just what that meeting will bring. And a happier
5 days I can't imagine.
Before I jump
off here, I want to thank everyone who has been
asking about "Smiley Girl" and how she's handling
everything with Donna. She's had happier moments to
say the least. However in her own right, she's already
broken some "bonds" while I was gone and is
actively pursuing other relationships and friends.
She's gonna be OK. The quickness of everything
obviously is a punch in the stomach and I agree:
it's out of fucking nowhere. But I've been honest
every step of the way and will continue to be. But
again, you guys have really been sweet to her and
I thank you for that. An unexpected
surprise.
Man, unexpected
suprise... motto of the week wouldn't you
say?
