WANT TO BE A MOVIE STAR?
The truth of human nature is this: some people want to be rich, some people want to be famous, and some people want to be idolized. But how badly do they want it? In my first major project outside of The Sci-Fi Guys, I'm co-directing an independent film. The premise is simple; myself and my two accomplices are going to make three people movie stars… but not just any three people. We're only taking the three people who want it the most. Interested? Click the pic to see how you can put yourself in the limelight.
"Living in the limelight, the universal dream,
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination,
The real relation, the underlying theme…"
- Rush, "Limelight"
The bald head behind the camera in the link pic is my co-director Ed. He's got film making experience. I've got television making experience. But we're currently involved with another film that is breaking our will to be filmmakers. But all that changed when we hooked up with Carrie, the actress/radio host/psychic medium pictured below. Carries is one of the leads in the film that is trying to kill Ed and myself, and she is also the genius that came up with the idea for what so far has been the amazingly rapid realization of all our hopes to break big into the entertainment industry, BID The Movie.
The premise is simple: you are bidding on the opportunity to be in BID The Movie, a documentary about YOU. The stars of BID The Movie will be three lucky winning bidders on an eBay auction. Carrie, Ed and myself, camera and lights in tow, will embark on a journey to meet the three winners, document your lives, see interesting sites around where you live, the works. Not only that, but the movie is basically a road trip movie. We're filming it all; from leaving Kentucky to arriving back home, the cameras will be rolling.
Really, we're hoping this project will be an opportunity for any middle class American to be in a film of their own. This isn't your chance to pretend to be someone famous, this is the chance to be famous for being YOU. Got an unbelievable talent to display? We want to see it. Got an amazing hometown, or just an amazing home to show off? We'll be there. Your story will be the story of this movie. Your home is the set, and your hometown will be our location. You will be a star as a part of our ensemble cast comprised of our BID The Movie auction winners and our production staff. If you have a story to tell, WE WANT TO HEAR IT. Of course, your life story must be at least 18 years long for you to bid. Moms and Dads who want to tell the life story of their kids, that's fine, but we cannot accept bids from anyone under 18 years of age, no exceptions. Sorry.
Since we're on a tight schedule (we all have other jobs besides this film), we don't have time to go very far. So we're limiting the available locations to film in a 6-hour radius from Cincinnati, OH. Of course, the more you bid, the more likely we are to let those rules slide a little bit. In any case, the auction only lasts so long, and it was just posted today. So why the hell are you still reading this? Get your ass over to eBay and make yourself a star!
January 28th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Just did some filming yesterday. We were scheduled to do an interview on a radio show to promote the movie, so the Carrie, Ed and I all loaded into a car and headed to the radio station along with a camera so we could get the whole thing on tape. I was so excited to be on the radio.
We get there and everything was great until this Nigerian guy started throwing a fit about signing a release form. This wasn’t anything unusual; no one gets into an independent movie without signing a release form. Its standard practice. It protect ourselves, the movie, the production company, any distributors who might pick the film up, and it also protects anyone who signs it from potential legal entanglement. Everyone has to sign one, even the three of us who are making the movie. But he kept going on and on saying “You do not trust me,” which, to his credit, was absolutely true. I did not trust him. No one that whines and complains that much about signing a simple release form is to be trusted. He was clearly out to get something.
He started talking about how he’s known Carrie for years and how he cannot believe she doesn’t trust him, and on and on about how he is asking for nothing, until it became clear that he was worried the the movie might make some money and he wouldn’t get any of it. So really it came down to the fact that he didn’t trust US. And that’s cool with me; he’d never met me before in his life, so why should he trust me? I have no problem with that. But there was no way he was getting in this movie without signing a release form. And no matter how much money the movie makes, he was never going to get any. We were going to put him in the movie to get exposure for his radio show in exchange for him giving us exposure for our movie. There was never going to be any money involved, ever.
So, in the end, I didn’t get to be on the radio and we all burned two hours of our lives sitting in a broadcast booth listening to irritating African music. But we did get some very amusing behind the scenes footage of the three of us that will probably end up on the DVD somewhere, so it definitely wasn’t a complete waste.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
TOTAL SUCCESS!! The auction ended with a last-second snipe that stole the win with a respectable $1000 bid. We will be traveling to Maryland to film the winner and get some footage of his hometown. Congratulations, winning guy from Maryland who’s name I do not know. You’re gonna be in a movie!
There are two more auctions to go, and two more road trips to make. I’m really looking forward to this, and I’ve never heard Carrie so excited. This is gonna be FUN.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I want to be in movie to make money. I need it really bad I having a hardtime making out there. I be break ssi ain’t me pay my bills.If you pick me I will be happy thank you.