If its Monday - it must be Hong Kong

Sexy time!

I usually start each day off by reading about 30 blogs on writing. Then I try to compress my thoughts into something original or at least something more than boring...Because that's the kind of standards we set here... Usually I at least post a funny picture...

Last night I let myself down again. After walking around in the beautiful evening - I came across a couple locations that Shawn and I shot in years ago...Brought back a lot of good memories. We had a kick ass crew here in HK - some of John Woo's people. I particularly remember the dolly grip who could send the dolly flying down the street at a sprint and still feather the end to make the stop on the mark so stinking precise... Great group.

Anyways - I only made it till 9:00 - then fell asleep. Last night was National Day here in HK - and Fireworks went off like crazy just a few minutes later. I was so dazed and half asleep - I thought someone was trying to break into my room.

So I woke at 4 am.

Sensing a pattern?

But reading this morning, I stopped by a favorite - wc dixon's blog - and read a great post on polishing a turd.

Great concept - and it does surprisingly apply to TV - where time and money are the two things always getting shorted.

I got a decent break a long time ago when I was one of two directors put on an anthology series that was not from LA. It was a dramatic series kind of like twilight zone - but no where near as good. In fact - it pretty much sucked. But it looked good.

We were doing the same thing - shooting an episode in 3 days - doing two a week. Sometimes up to 11 pages a day. 12-18 hours a day. Special effects. All locations.

It was a nightmare.

The Show Runner was a guy who worked on Crime Story and Melrose Place. He was crazy - as well anyone should be with that much work to do in that little time. He used to say that if Michael Mann could yell at everyone to get what he wanted - so could he.

Somehow - in that first couple weeks - I found that I had endeared myself to him. I was taking my scripts and rewriting scenes - because I didn't know that I wasn't really supposed to do that. I would go to him and ask him about what he thought of the changes. Not that they were brilliant - but I think he thought I was OK - cause he said that I had permission to do that to my scripts. I was the only director that would be allowed to do rewrites...

Can you sense already how this is to come around?

Anyways -

During one episode - which I fought to get a certain young actor friend of mine cast - you may have heard of him - Tony Hale? Buster on Arrested Development? I got him his first big TV break - on a little crappy show...

So.

Buster - against type - plays this tormented young man who has this voice in his head that makes him kill people. He meets a girl who wants to help him - but he has a hard time overcoming the voice... And at one point he is running through the halls of his abandoned warehouse looking for her. And she just so happens to decide to hide in the room where he keeps all the bodies hidden...

Brilliant!

Anyway. On set - Buster decides to CALL HER NAME. The character name - mind you - as he is looking for her. And really - to his credit - it was giving him something to do - cause I extended the sequence out to going through the place a bit more.

So he's calling for her. And running around.

That's it.

So we finish the shoot - and I sleep for two days. Rushes come back and I get a call. 3 am. Its the Show Runner. Screaming!

Greg! How could you do this to me?

Hello?

I trusted you!

Um... It's 3 in the morning.

You betrayed me! I told you you were the only one - and then you stab me in the back!

What are you talking about?

He's calling her name! That is not in the script!

Click!

And that was the end of my time on the show.

Show never got a second season and it is available now only in Best Buy - where they bulk sell all 44 episodes for the price of 19.99. Somewhere in there - you can see my great 8 episodes.

And the one where Buster got me fired.