This Business

I sit down and try to write but I instantly become bored with myself. I've tried to write blogs the last two weeks and I ultimatly get bored and quit them before publishing.
I'm bored because I need to write stories, not bland recaps of my recent history.

Barry, with a big, thick Boston accent and Irish-Catholic temperment, refuses to digress as he explains his theory on cutting a television spot (which is subsequently relalated to, in Barry's mind, everything else in life) in 'this business', as he says.

"In this business, copy is the fastest way to make a niche for yourself. You can make a lot of money if you can write this shit that goes in these spots. Not everyone can do that, you know? But that's not how it was when I was your age, Collin. No shit! Seriously! I'm not kidding! I came into this business as a P.A. and you know what happened to me?"

(I've heard this story or some varient of it at least three times)

"I was making $6 an hour, alright? Mutha fuckin' nothing. This was back in the 80's mind you, but still nothing. I had to work overtime just so I could get a free mutha fuckin' meal from work. You understand? I couldn't afford a meal on my own. I needed overtime to survive. And I decided that I was gonna teach myself editing."
"Now," (big smile) "this is before the days of this digital shit. Aight? Fuckin' reel to reel. Fuckin' big ass clunky tapes and shit. But listen, Collin, I'd come in on the weekend. I didn't have friends, ok? I just moved here from the East, ok? I made friends at work and all that, but I was going to teach myself editing. I'd go to the store and pick up a six pack and come in to the office and teach myself. Ok?"

(digress? Hardly!)


"One Monday I come in and my boss says to me, 'I heard you came in over the weekend.' He made me show him what I did. I didn't really want to. I said, 'No, that's okay. It's not worth showing'. But he made me show it to him. Then he made me a junior editor. Just like that! I went from $6 an hour to $15, which, you know, isn't a lot, but it fuckin' doubled what I was makin! And that's how I got started! Now, that couldn't happen nowadays. Back then this business was way different."

(slight pause as Barry rubs his face, thinking of a metaphor)


"Collin, it's like, if you think of the NBA back in the 50's... you know, little jump shots, layups, no shot clock, no 3 point line, and you put that next to the NBA now." (pause for dramatic effect) "THAT's how different this business is now from when I got started."

(I laugh at the thought of old NBA players playing LeBron and Kobe. Barry didn't know what I was laughing at tho...)

"No, it's true! It's the mutha fuckin' truth! It's like the NBA back in the 50's compared to the NBA now. That's how different it is."

(I assure him that his comparison is correct)

"It's like now, there's all these kids that are the heads of the studios now. They were under me when I was in my prime. It'd be like you under Mayhew or Shawn now. And now I'm workin' for them! They're the heads of maaaarketing at New Line, Paramount, Fox... everywhere. I know more than them, and yet I'm working for them! Can you beleive that? They have absolutely no idea what they're doing. I've been thru it. I know what I'm doing. You're telling me that when these guys have a bum project that they're gonna know what to do with it? No. They're not. They're gonna be my boss with a bum project and they're gonna be telling me what to do with it. Collin, do you understand what I'm saying? That'd be like me walking up to Barry Bonds and being, "Let me show you how to hit a homerun." Collin! He's about ready to break the homerun record! It drives me fuckin' nuts that these kids are now trying to tell me what to do! I've finished 47 trailers. Nobody else has finished 47 trailers. You add up everyone in this house and they don't add up to 47."

(Barry was an editor before he recently became a producer)

"Anyways, Collin."

(digression?)

"You gotta have strong copy. You gotta watch a movie and tell the story on paaapa. You gotta say, '300 must fight against a million...', that's not good copy, but you know what i'm sayin'? You gotta tell the story on paaaapa. That's your foundation. I try to build a house without that foundation, and it all come crumbling down. But, Collin, if I have that foundation, that story on paaaapa, my house will stand."

(maybe)

"And Collin, I want to see some of this in your spot."

(he pounds on his chest with his fist)

"I really want to see some of this in your spot. If there's not any of this in your spot, what's gonna separate you from all these other schmucks? Lemme tell ya, I've worked at all the different houses, alright? I was workin at a house and this guy from this other house gives me a call. He says, "Barry, I saw one of your trailas the other day." Now, I hadn't talked to him in years. Ok? He could tell it was my traila. He says, 'I just knew it was your traila." That was the best compliment anyone could give me. You know?"

(I nod)


"Anyways, just put some of this into your spot. I really want to see what you're made of. Let's say you put in the line (in my 300 spot), 'Everyone is held accountable for the words of his voice' because your dad said something like that to you when you were a kid. That's you. Put that in there. Build that foundation, though, Collin. Put that foundation in there."

(I nod)

"I've said this to all the young kids who come in here... You wanna sit and wait for your chance? Fine. It might take 5 years. Yout gotta come in and do it on your own time. You gotta learn what you can on your own time. And Collin, if you don't want to do this, then get out. Go get coffee at a production house. Do what you did here but do it where you want to be. You don't want to do this and then in 10 yeeeas be that guy who's saying, 'Barry, I don't want to cut trailers.' What? Are you gonna go get coffee at production house? You gonna take that pay cut with your wife and kids? So Collin, I don't know what you want to do, but if you don't want to cut trailers, then go do what you want. I just don't want you to be stuck in here in ten yeeas."

"I've got some stuff to do. Do you wanna leave together tonight?"

(a digression)

One time, Bryan had to go leave to get his car from a car shop across the street. When he left, Barry was talking to me. When he came back, Barry was talking to me. That's just how it is. I love it, though.

He can talk.