Old Friends Come Calling

My pal Leon from way back in the day gave me a call to check in.
He is a former active Marine but went into the film industry at 19. The military is perfect for film production because there is a chain of command and you do what you're told, and you listen.
Leon was a producer on a feature I shot years ago, and to be honest, I think he was a little over his head. He is now back in school learning business administration to get more credentials to do his thing. Smart.

Leon is a hard worker, but sometimes he has an issue with processing information. I think, as a solider, if you are told to do something you just do it. If you have to implement ideas, I don't think he is your guy. There are so many moving parts in filmmaking. Concepts and vision are meant for the officers and not the enlisted (he'd be the first to admit that).

He and I got to laughing about the people who want to enter the film industry. Leon is a realist, though he also has big dreams. He has a non-profit that specializes in the military. Can you imagine the production value if you can get them involved? Anyway, he goes to school with VERY young kids at San Francisco State who have big dreams. Sort of like some of you out here.
He tells me that most think they'll be Spielberg out the gate. That they'll segue in a directing job and that's it. We laughed for a while.

Yes, it's happened. Dumb things happen. Again, I must reiterate, people like this are the exception and NOT the rule. We all seem to read all these stories about how successful someone was because they pulled stunts. That is THE exception and NOT the rule. You NEVER hear the stories about the people who washed out into homeless living and died in the gutter over staph infection. This is normal. This isn't the exception.

Everyone thinks they'll make it and live in a big mansion in Malibu. Or be that freespirit who thumbs their nose at the establishment. The point is, the forget, this business is now the establishment. And I'm grateful to be in it and thumb my nose at them from the inside rather than suffer from the outside.

In the end, Leon and I both agree, there are too many flaky self-absorbed people who want to be in the movie business, and no one seems to have a plan. It's not a dumb thing, since there is no path to do it. However, the plan is to live long enough to get in in the first place.