VIFF 2003 – Volume 2

Last night was my first full shift as a driver for VIFF. I am so glad I did this. What an amazing experience I had. The BMW’s I had the pleasure of driving last evening were fine automobiles to say the least. The 325i was a peppy little sparkplug that shot up Granville St to the airport like a cheetah with its ass afire. The X5 (I must own one of these) was the most luxurious ride I’ve ever been in. I loved all the gadgetry on the console especially the 5″ x 7″ LCD screen that displayed all the vehicle’s vitals including GPS information.

The first person I met was Michael Cowan, a british producer who appeared to be a hybrid Fabio and Kato Kaelin type. He and his friend Peter, who has worked with Dario Argento, one of the great Italian horror directors, were nothing short of hilarious from the moment I emt them until I dropped them off at their hotels. They shared a variety of decadent move party experiences with me. There were tales of blackmail around XXX rated photos of famous actresses (names excluded of course) and talk of who’s done what in the ‘biz’ and what I need to do to make my mark. First of all I have to tell people who ask if I am in the business that “Yes. I am a writer, an actor and a director”, not that I’m a wannabe. LOL!

The last pick up of the evening was Thom Fitzgerald coming in from Halifax. Mr Fitzgerald is pictured at left with notables Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey who starred in his film “The Event” that will be playing on Sunday the 28th in Visa Screening Room @ the Vogue at 8:00 pm. I am definitely going to go. He actually asked me to come!

I was shy at first and didn’t want to irritate him with questions, but he said that Canadians are strange in that we seek permission to talk to people about things they like to talk about. After he said that I felt more at ease. We had a great discussion about zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, directing film, writing and film budgets, and other movie business related banter. He’s a man who chooses his words carefully, so I learned a lot from him during the trip from the airport to downtown. Especially interesting was that, if you want to and are creative enough, you can shoot a feature using any kind of video camera using your own cash. He told me I need to shoot some shorts (as was my plan) before I shoot my feature, but to go for it no matter what people say. I guess I’m headed in the right direction. I hope to buy my camera sometime this week or next.

I’m happy I volunteered already, and it’s only been one shift.