Good Kitty Bad Kitty.....

There are always two sides to every story -

And the end result to every disagreement ends the same way....

In China - the foreign devil pays.

Lao Wai is the term that we are known as. Even now. Foreign Devil. Kinda funny - kinda amusing - kinda racist in a sweet way.

Yesterday we went to the telecine. When you shoot commercials on film - you go to an expert colorist who sits with your negative and works the colors and contrast as you lay back to video.

The telecine process is one of my favorite parts of the job. You get to see the footage you shot come to life in a new way - usually before anyone else.

For the last 11 years - I always go to the same guy out in LA - Claudius. I've followed Cladius everywhere - through 7-8 different post houses. He knows my style and what I like. Everytime we shoot film - we go to Claudius.

But Claudius isn't in China.

And we are editing in China - so we telecine here.

The guy here is nice. He's been doing TC for 15 years - so he knows what he's doing.

Sort of.

As we started going though the rolls - I have never seen negative so dirty. Each roll seemed to get worse.

Kodak had just put a new lab in here... Its actually on the same grounds as our editing place. The TC guy said that a lot of the footage from Kodak came back this dirty. I couldn't believe it.

So we called the lab.

And they looked at the footage.

And they couldn't believe it either.

So they came back and said that it was the telecine. And that it must have happened there.

And the telecine guy says its the labs fault.

So we take another roll and go back to the lab. And look at it again.

And we don't see any problems.

So the answer is:

Maybe its no ones fault. Maybe its everyone's fault.

Either way - I have to pay. No one admits its their fault - and now we have to go frame by frame and clean up the dirt.

In five minutes, the TC op, my producers and the Kodak rep were arguing over how long the battery life on their computers are. We so quickly forget - and in the end - I pay.

There are lots of little conflicts like this here.

Its never really about taking responsibility - cause its all usually written off to a cultural misunderstanding. I have been in Asia for a large part of my life - and I'm not sure that I understand - even now. And I don't know how to solve it.

I love the guys I work with here. They are good guys. But there is never any fault.

Just two ways of doing things.

Good kitty. Bad Kitty.

And somewhere in the middle is the truth.

All others pay cash.