A Dreaded Personal Update posted by Ben

That's right, I'm not writing about politics. What a crazy world, huh?

So on to the news:

I received two job offers in the film world today. The first is rock solid. A major cinema chain has decided that I would make a fantastic... usher. They pay 12% of my minimum per hour rate. They don't provide more than 25 hours of work each week. So why am I thrilled? One word: demographics. It's one thing to read the trades and see the standard box office numbers. It's another to connect audience breakdown to individual films. Or to listen to weekly discussions among the managers about how upcoming movies will play. ( Or to get to watch all the free movies I want, even when I bring family or a friend. For a fun way to finish off my time in Ohio, this is a pretty good deal!)

The second job is completely tentative. But I could know in three weeks if I will be hired in an above-the-line role on a $2 million feature film when my producer duties on Dorkness Rising are complete. Like 98% of movie deals, of course, this will probably never happen, but at least the movie people are thinking of me, right? And if that doesn't go through, I now have a promising fall back career as a movie theater usher. Life just doesn't get any better than that!

(P.S. You know how I got that usher job? By going in to the interview and talking about how excited I was as a filmmaker for the opportunity to get some experience on the exhibition side of the industry. We spent more time during the interview talking shop than we did determining if I met their ever-so-stringent minimum qualifications. I'm haven't been so amused in a long time.)