Why I Work in Second Life « from the director’s chair

Why I Work in Second Life

03Feb08

Recently a few people have been wondering why I made the shift from doing real world video production and take the incredible risk to move into making machinima, mainly in Second Life. Well here’s something I wrote 3 years ago that is kinda indicative of what real world video production had become for me:

You know you’ve made the right decision to turn down a job directing a commercial when:

It’s exactly the same people that screwed up last year’s attrocity.
One of the producer’s ideas for Harmony Week is a scene involving a burning flag.
The 1st AD doesn’t know what a call sheet is.
The DoP doesn’t think they need a call sheet on a project that is shot over three days using seven locations and a cast and crew of ten.
None of the actors have done any acting before.
The script involves a sparking electrical cable.
The power company doesn’t want to be involved.
One of the actors pulls out six hours before principal photography is due to start due to a religious belief.
The grip has pulled out, because he hasn’t been paid by the producer for a past production, and hasn’t told anyone on the production team.
The commercial was designed by committee.