Closing the Sale
Wherein our narrator executes a well-made
plan.
Two weeks ago, Malcolm Long posed a question that
almost seemed like a koan to me" What do you want to do? OK, so it's positively
weird that I'm unaccustomed to thinking in those terms. You'd think someone
like me would be terrifically goal-directed. But it just ain't so. I think I'm
a bit more of a hyperactive child in a candy & toy store, most of the time,
running about, going "Oooh, something shiny!" and then "Oooh, something sweet!"
and zigging around the shop in such a tizzy that eventually nothing at all gets
done.
But, well, let's face it, I've
had something of a productive career, so that can't be entirely
true.
Still it was a question to
meditate upon, until the answer appeared naturally. There are two things: I
want to work at AFTRS, or rather continue building the program that I am
currently designing. And I want to learn how to produce. That is, in the
Hollywood sense of the word. I want to learn how to be a film & TV &
interactive producer. Why? I'm not sure I could tell you. We know that I can
produce/direct for theatre (if DJCS is any indication, and it might not be) but
these other forms of media, they're dark arts to me. The best way to learn them
is probably to study with people who understand the ins & outs of
production. If I can have them mentor me - indeed, if I can just watch them at
it - I'll learn something.
So, in
furtherance of several goals - to stick around in Australia for most of 2004, to
get some of my ideas put into practice, to learn how to produce - I marched my
ass into Malcolm Long's office at 9 am this morning, and put it to him bluntly.
Yes, I'd like to stick around, and yes, here at AFTRS. He's signaled as much
during our first conversation, but - guileless being that I am - I had not set
out to have a permanent position at AFTRS. I came here to do a job, do it well,
and make an exit. But now, with the staff asking me if I'm sticking around -
something that never happened at USC - I guess I must now be doing something
right. I must be less obnoxious. (Or maybe they just expect Americans to be
obnoxious, and are figuring that into their calculations.) In any case, there
may be an open door.
I say may, because
no one knows if there's budget for this. No one knows how long the budget will
last. Clearly we're lining everything up so that Malcolm can go to Canberra on
bended knee and ask for more dollars for the school, to turn it into a
world-class new media educational facility. And we're giving him the best
possible ammunition - at least, the best that I'm capable of - to take with him.
Asking the government - any government - for dollars is always a dodgy affair,
but if anyone in this country can do it, it's Malcolm Long.
In the short term, it's up to them to
discuss and debate and figure out where the money is coming from. I told
Malcolm bluntly that we can re-negotiate my rate to something not quite as
stratospheric. (I'm not sure that anyone at AFTRS is getting paid what I am.
At least I'm worth it.) Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut - I may need
that money to set up real housekeeping in Sydney. But whatever. If the doors
are opening - if they are opening - it's time to walk
through.
Weirdly enough, when I left
school today, the sky had taken on this odd cyan color. And there is this
gigantic ball of light in the sky, which seems to be emitting copious quantities
of heat. I wonder what's going on...
Posted: Tue - December
9, 2003 at 05:39 PM