22 Comments

Egad. I can't be the only one who can imagine this developed into a screenplay for a movie about how not to make a movie . . .

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No, others have mentioned it. If it does maybe I should take the same crew and cast her to play herself?

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HA!

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Oh boy! 😬 Thank you Remy, I really enjoy your writing about your experience in the film and television industry. It’s very enlightening from your point of you

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Thanks Charlotte!

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Feb 13Liked by Remy Bazerque

"a part of me just refused to flee or back down to Cacia."

i absolutely get this stubbornness, though. it's a matter of principle: i started this fucking thing, it's my name involved with it... i will finish it and i will finish it properly, dammit!

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Oh my, what a nightmare. That Snow White gif is just spot on.

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Sadly yes

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Hi Remy,

I have a saying: "You don’t have to experience something to know the outcome." Your story sounds like a case of that in spades.

I have a job next week that I have a bad feeling about…. I’m going to can it.

There is a fabulous book about filmmaking: Bruce Robinson - Smoking in Bed.

He is the writer and director of "Withnail and I," which explores experiences similar to yours.

Another recommendation is With Nails: by Richard E Grant. It delves into his attempt to make a film with a French producer, turning into a nightmare.

Cheers.

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I love Withnail! It's definitely one of my favourite films. Thanks for the recommendation and good luck on the job...

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In a past life I dipped my toe into the animation and advertising industry. I think(?) I’m glad I just dipped. I used some of my experiences- not all!! - to build the bones behind a recent short story https://open.substack.com/pub/linnhe/p/cold-coffee?r=24lshr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web I know its not cool, to just throw that at you. You dont have to play catch. ✌️

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I need to find the time to get to it, I created myself somewhat of a backlog yesterday lol

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It’s not compulsory ✌️

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Jan 29Liked by Remy Bazerque

Ha. Night shoots cost extra, but not to write. So, no sweat. Consider it done.

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Jan 29Liked by Remy Bazerque

I have an idea. Humor me, please.

We loosely remake Misery, but we can't afford to call it that, so we all have to swear to secrecy.

Remy directs, and is our young James Caan, but more wiley.

Cacia is invited to play our Annie Wilkes. It's a complex role. According to Chris Grosso's Fangoria article, "She is bipolar, sadomasochistic and exemplifies schizoid and schizotypal behaviors (among others)," but if she's not convincing, she is paid in what? Dog dollars? No. What the gaffer was paid in. Wait...what?

(I too seeth, so that same gaffer comes back, is paid in advance and only needs to make sure the buffet is up to par.)

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Oh my god lol

She would totally go for the same gaffer, I think it wouldn't occur to her that he is pissed.

By the way as long as you write the script and not her, I think there is a glimmer of hope. And then we can go back to the eastern French village............ Please put 4 weeks of night shoot as well if possible :)

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This is all why after I was forced to put acting to one side I never pursued directing and pointed these energies back into a rather over-ambitious bunch of comic stories which became my "films". And I wanted them to look and feel like films not like comics.

I don't know if that was a bad idea. But it's what happened. I often thought about doing my own real low budget short or something just to understand how I could cope with all this, and to gain a bit more experience and to find out if could I get anything out of this experience creatively. Even that small scale stuff comes with pressures. And I know there's a gigantic sea of independent shorts all part of a gigantic world of crap that no one cares about, all from these hopeful home brew directors and I didn't even want to be part of that sea.

When I did acting I saw a lot of the kinds of things described in these articles. Disasters, egos, time, money and bad feelings and so on. Probably I have more the director's brain that the actor's one, but it never happened.

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For sure there is an everest of shorts done every year. Did you know that sundance had 18,000 applications this year? 18,000 out of which probably maybe 2/3k features, the rest shorts. And they select about 20 shorts, half of which will be invited because this or that.

For sure it's tough man, but it's not always as bad as that film. I've had mostly wonderful experiences and lots of fun--if not lots of money

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Jan 27Liked by Remy Bazerque

"That gaffer by the way, the man who found the car accident and sorted it out; he never got paid on that miserable film. I’m still seething."

I'm seething for you. This whole thing just sounds like a clusterfuck (is there a good French term for that?). I'm so sorry.

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I guess you'd say 'un gros bordel' :)

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Remy, as I told you in the previous chapter, I think this would make a great movie script. And a really good one, because it could be humorous, horror or erotic. Think about it :)

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Thanks Rolando, I will. I could imagine horror or humour, but erotic... Having experienced it... I'm not sure haha

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