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Jewish World Review Aug 20, 2012/ 2 Elul, 5772 My very brief life as a director By Mitch Albom
I have no such desires. I write. That's enough. By the time I finish most of my work, I never want to look at it again, much less film it. But life is funny. A few months ago, a friend named So I did it. A little 12-minute story. I gave it to Jon. And he said: "Great. You want to direct it?" And I said ... "Nah." ("IDIOT!" I hear everyone shouting. "Who turns DOWN a chance to direct? Were you BORN stupid?" Well. No. Not that I recall.) I said I had no idea how to direct. He said he would help me. I said why would anyone listen to me? He said they'd listen to him. "OK, Jon, fine," I said. "As long as you sit next to me the entire time." "Absolutely." I arrived for shooting. And there was Jon, drinking a coffee. And I sat down in the wooden director's chair, looked over.... And he was gone. Now let me set the stage here. (Oops. Does that sound like I'm directing?) Our lead actress was the wonderful "I don't know what I'm doing." She smiled nervously. I asked how she saw her role. "Oh, G0d, don't ask me," she said, almost panicked. She then related how, when she directed her first piece, she made the mistake of inviting input from the crew. From that moment on, she had 700 people in her ear. "Just tell me what you want," she said. "You got it," I said. I frantically looked for Jon. Meanwhile, our other star was "Ready?" everyone was asking. The lighting people, the grips, the make-up folks, the sound guys. "What do I do?" I whispered to someone. "You say 'action,'." he whispered back. "Oh." I swallowed. "Uh ... action?" The next two days were insane. Cameramen asking if we wanted the "75" or the "50"? Lighting people calling for gobos and bounce boards. A rain machine. (A rain machine?) Things flew by so fast that all I basically learned was to yell "Action" and "Cut" and ask the actors if they wanted water. But here's the thing. When you are a director, they have these people called "assistant directors." And apparently, in And they did. They did the yelling, the pointing, the running, the troubleshooting. And after they finished, they'd turn to me and say, "What do you think?" And I'd fold my arms and say, "Wellllll...." Which is what directing is, I've concluded. That long "Wellllll..." As if your brilliant mind is considering all the mathematical permutations when, in fact, you have no clue where that rain came from. And then we were done. I have seen the finished product. It's actually very funny. Titled "Leslie," it starts showing Monday (Part 1) and Wednesday (Part 2) on YouTube.com/wigs. And should you watch it, despite the credits, just know that I am the director the way By the way, when the whole thing was finished, guess who showed up? Jon. "How'd it go?" he asked. "You said you'd be with me!" "Ah, you could handle it." I wanted to hit him, but realized I would have to hit an assistant director first.
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