collaboration and film
published: 2012-09-22The producer eats a muffin. Blueberry, I think. He wouldn’t know either because he’s eating it without really tasting it. The same way I’m eating a salad. Food is simply a welcome distraction, for now. A going through motions that are aimed at saying we’re all fine and comfortable and not in the least tense. My colleague writer chews on a sandwich, the director sips at a smoothie. Meanwhile, we’re talking contracts and budgets. There is a cafeteria in the heart of a zoo. It has a playground. Kids shriek and cry. penguins holler, birds screech.
Once we have the budget-issues behind us, we move on to discuss content. The tension shifts in tone. We can now laugh about certain characters or plot lines and ‘what if’s’, but only to make sure everyone else there is assured nothing is set in stone. It’s a collaboration, see, so no-one gets to decide. Which isn’t actually true. Ultimately, each of us wants it his or her way. And so we continue munching, sipping, eating and dipping. Until all food’s finished and we are made to look at each other instead of a leaf of salad that refuses to sit on a fork. This is when we all get up and say our goodbye’s. The other writer and I decide to go to the lions one more time. We stare at them, without taking them in. Our minds are elsewhere.