Tony, it's not that you don't occasionally connect with Bambu on some topic, it's that a lot of posts seem to offer unrealistic advice from the perspective of someone who hasn't really succeeded in that area. For example, you keep offering advice on making films....
Some people think that school is a waste of time, but if you learn how to write, produce, and direct movies, then you can make movies anywhere you want, you can make movies here in Southern California where all of the great schools are, and once you learn how to make movies then you can make movies at Cinecitta in Rome, Italy, or anywhere you want to work. You can write your own ticket to success if you can learn how to make movies. An education is very worthwhile if you can learn how to be a successful filmmaker, and then you also can have your own voice and you can tell the stories that you want to tell.
I do not regret going to school to try to learn to become an actor and filmmaker, I only wish that I would have gotten more training so that I can complete my goal of making movies. And I can create local opportunities for the young film students as they graduate from film school.
I just need to keep moving forward, my movie script is good, and I have some good ideas. And eventually I want to find a wife to help me, I can find a wife who wants to write and produce movies, etc.
Who wants advice from someone who hasn't had much success at acting or filmmaking? And obvious platitudes about getting the right training are just tiresome to read over and over. Of freaking course we know that training, experience and connections are important. But what members here are interested in becoming directors or scriptwriters? And if we were, why would we look to you for advice? You are on the wrong end of things - you need to go to a forum with actual film professionals and humbly seek their advice, instead of spouting drivel here. People come here to discuss national news and politics, not the prospects for moving to Italy, growing grapes, and making movies.
And the name-dropping is just mindnumbingly boring. And pathetic. You met Suzanne Pleshette, or washed Greg Kinnear's poodle (or whoever the fuck it was), or David Lee Roth answered an email. Whatever. Find a FB forum for people obsessed with celebrities and celebrity encounters, and wank off with them.
I worked and studied hard, and I am smart, and I worked for Suzanne Pleshette for a whole year, it was not just meeting her, and Suzanne Pleshette loved me, and Hal Needham was a neighbor of Suzanne Pleshette and he directed "Smokey and the Bandit" etc, and Hal was my friend, if Hal was alive still then he would help me. I have a lot to contribute to the world, and to this forum.
So far as the Entertainment Industry, it is a hard industry, especially if you do not have family in the industry. But, I am a good smart guy, and when I worked at Universal Studios my fellow employees wanted for me to buy the studio, they wanted for me to rise to the top and to buy Universal Studios. When I was studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which is the best acting school in the world, my fellow students wanted for me to "Dream Big" and they wanted for me to rise to the top and to Produce and to help to create honest jobs here in Hollywood. The people who I worked and studied with wanted for me to rise to the top and to help to create jobs here in Hollywood.
Hollywood is my home, and the locals here wanted for me to rise to the top and be a leader here.
So far as my movie script, I did seek help from a professional writer and teacher, I wrote my movie script with the help of a college professor from Texas. And Hugh Hefner read and liked my script, it is a great script.
But I am not going to work for the Japanese again, nor will I go to Canada to work. I want to work in Hollywood with an American company, such as working with Apple, and I want to create local jobs for the people here in Hollywood.
Your insults do not hurt me, life is what it is. I cannot deny that so far I am a failure, but at least I am not a criminal, I am not a drug dealer, and my intentions are good. I am a good honest man with good intentions.
And bashing me, and trying to put me down, does not make you look better, what you write is a reflection of you, and not me.
Of note, I refused to go to Canada to work, I was invited to go make films in Canada and I said "No thanks." I am from Hollywood, and I want to create local jobs here in Hollywood. I do not want to create jobs for Canadians, I want to create local jobs here in Hollywood.
Meanwhile, if the Writers Guild of America goes on strike, then I will go march with the writers, I will get there early, I will bring donuts, and I will march with the writers, and that would be a good way to meet the writers and to make connections. That is a good thing about living here, if the writers go on strike then I can go march with them and I can meet the writers that way.
And we still have a lot of great people here, including Arnold, and Sylvester Stallone, and Jeff Bridges, and Sam Elliott, Hollywood has a lot of great old timers who have stayed here instead of moving to Canada. I can find a lot of helpers here as I get out and meet people. And California has great schools which are training the next generation of actors and filmmakers.
Salute,
Tony V.