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An open letter to a member in my final project group.
Dear A.,
there are so many things that are wrong with you; if I were to list them all, I'd be here all week. So I'm just going to point out the few things that you keep doing that make me want to take a hit out on you.
-- pretend your Roman Polanski
Now, being Roman Polanski wouldn't exactly be flattering even if it were true. But you're not. You're a decent director, as far as television-production-university-course standards go. That doesn't mean you're a ~great artist, and it doesn't mean that all the other students are drooling imbeciles who don't know what they're doing. Yes, you have friends who are professional film makers. Good for you! Score on the networking points. But you are still no more than a student, and treating other students like they're idiots won't win you points with anyone.
-- sabotage team efforts in order to cultivate a "lone wolf" air
Anyone who tells me with a straight face that they can't do team work because they're a lone wolf and work best on their own will lose points with me, since it's a ridiculous thing to do. In your case, it's even more outrageously idiotic, because newsflash--you're a director. A director always has to work with a team, and unless they're Tim Burton, they need to make a certain effort to integrate in that team and work with them rather than against them. Otherwise, the film won't happen. Which is what is happening now with this film. You constantly working against rather than with the team is tearing our entire project apart. And the fact that you're only doing it because it fits in with your superiority complex and your self-image as a martyred artist makes it even more infuriating. (Next time you tell me something as ridiculous as that "lone wolf" comment, I am not going to hold back, and am going to laugh out loud in your face.)
-- disregard all input from other team members regarding both creative and managerial issues
I don't know where you get the character profiles from that you seem to have formed in your head. They are certainly not the characters I wrote, and they are certainly not the characters described in the treatment or discussed in multiple production meetings. This script has a female lead with a male character in a supporting role. I know this might be hard for you to wrap your head around, but it's what we're working on. You're going to have to consider women actual people, at least for the duration of this shoot. It'll be hard, but thems the breaks. Oh, and next time you tell me to do something? Don't walk off and do it yourself without telling me. I will get around to it a bit later, call the person in question up, just to be told that someone else already talked to them, and to look like an idiot who can't communicate with her team members. Although I'm guessing that's probably what you were hoping for. Please refer to the above point about how I'd like you to stop sabotaging team efforts. (Also, I spent all weekend making the schedule for our shoot. Would it kill you to take a look and decide whether the production times I estimated for each scene are enough for you, and then get back to me about that? Because hearing you banging on about how you'll need so-and-so-many days to shoot this, while the schedule is laid out for a different amount of days, gives me the impression that you probably never even opened that Excel document I sent out.)
-- cast female actors based on whose pants you'd like to get into
The actor you want for our female lead is horrible. Everyone agreed she was horrible, except you. You also were very clear about the fact that you wanted to get her phone number off of her for personal purposes. You know what? Go right ahead and get her phone number, I don't give a fuck. You have a girlfriend, but since she's not in the country at the moment, I suppose you need to keep yourself entertained somehow. But do not cast her into our movie if she's entirely unsuitable for the role, just so you can keep her around and impress her with your artistic director talent.
-- be a raging homophobe
I don't have time to reform all the homophobes in the world, and I have to work with you, so I'm going to try to avoid shouting matches until after we've finished our film. But you know I'm in a relationship with a woman, and I've made it clear on several times that your constant disparaging comments towards the LGTB community make me uncomfortable. So would you please just zip it while I'm around? Also, just for your information, not every man with long hair is transgendered. Or "a transvestite", to use the term you used, although I would like to point out to you that this term simply means "a person who crossdresses". The guy you were talking about wasn't crossdressing. He had long hair. There's a difference. (I'm not going to go into how many men who enjoy crossdressing are actually straight, since I know this would make you even more insecure than you already are. But please, if you're going to be a condescending, homophobic asshole, at least get informed, first.)
-- be a misogynist
I know you don't realize it, because you're painfully oblivious, but you don't consider women real people. This makes it very difficult for women to work with you. It also makes it very difficult for me to communicate with you on an equal level, since you don't consider any of my input worth listening to. Nods and placating comments are not what I'm hoping for when I come to you to talk about an issue I have with how our project is going. I'm not going to go into all the things that are wrong with the way you treat women, because as with the homophobia, I don't have the time or the energy, and I have to work with you. But please, stop treating me like a lesser citizen because of my gender.
I've not even started to cover all the things I'd like you to change about who you are, but these are the basics, and these are the things that are sabotaging what could have been a fun project. Please take them into consideration next time you feel like being a dick, and don't be a dick.
No love,
M.
there are so many things that are wrong with you; if I were to list them all, I'd be here all week. So I'm just going to point out the few things that you keep doing that make me want to take a hit out on you.
-- pretend your Roman Polanski
Now, being Roman Polanski wouldn't exactly be flattering even if it were true. But you're not. You're a decent director, as far as television-production-university-course standards go. That doesn't mean you're a ~great artist, and it doesn't mean that all the other students are drooling imbeciles who don't know what they're doing. Yes, you have friends who are professional film makers. Good for you! Score on the networking points. But you are still no more than a student, and treating other students like they're idiots won't win you points with anyone.
-- sabotage team efforts in order to cultivate a "lone wolf" air
Anyone who tells me with a straight face that they can't do team work because they're a lone wolf and work best on their own will lose points with me, since it's a ridiculous thing to do. In your case, it's even more outrageously idiotic, because newsflash--you're a director. A director always has to work with a team, and unless they're Tim Burton, they need to make a certain effort to integrate in that team and work with them rather than against them. Otherwise, the film won't happen. Which is what is happening now with this film. You constantly working against rather than with the team is tearing our entire project apart. And the fact that you're only doing it because it fits in with your superiority complex and your self-image as a martyred artist makes it even more infuriating. (Next time you tell me something as ridiculous as that "lone wolf" comment, I am not going to hold back, and am going to laugh out loud in your face.)
-- disregard all input from other team members regarding both creative and managerial issues
I don't know where you get the character profiles from that you seem to have formed in your head. They are certainly not the characters I wrote, and they are certainly not the characters described in the treatment or discussed in multiple production meetings. This script has a female lead with a male character in a supporting role. I know this might be hard for you to wrap your head around, but it's what we're working on. You're going to have to consider women actual people, at least for the duration of this shoot. It'll be hard, but thems the breaks. Oh, and next time you tell me to do something? Don't walk off and do it yourself without telling me. I will get around to it a bit later, call the person in question up, just to be told that someone else already talked to them, and to look like an idiot who can't communicate with her team members. Although I'm guessing that's probably what you were hoping for. Please refer to the above point about how I'd like you to stop sabotaging team efforts. (Also, I spent all weekend making the schedule for our shoot. Would it kill you to take a look and decide whether the production times I estimated for each scene are enough for you, and then get back to me about that? Because hearing you banging on about how you'll need so-and-so-many days to shoot this, while the schedule is laid out for a different amount of days, gives me the impression that you probably never even opened that Excel document I sent out.)
-- cast female actors based on whose pants you'd like to get into
The actor you want for our female lead is horrible. Everyone agreed she was horrible, except you. You also were very clear about the fact that you wanted to get her phone number off of her for personal purposes. You know what? Go right ahead and get her phone number, I don't give a fuck. You have a girlfriend, but since she's not in the country at the moment, I suppose you need to keep yourself entertained somehow. But do not cast her into our movie if she's entirely unsuitable for the role, just so you can keep her around and impress her with your artistic director talent.
-- be a raging homophobe
I don't have time to reform all the homophobes in the world, and I have to work with you, so I'm going to try to avoid shouting matches until after we've finished our film. But you know I'm in a relationship with a woman, and I've made it clear on several times that your constant disparaging comments towards the LGTB community make me uncomfortable. So would you please just zip it while I'm around? Also, just for your information, not every man with long hair is transgendered. Or "a transvestite", to use the term you used, although I would like to point out to you that this term simply means "a person who crossdresses". The guy you were talking about wasn't crossdressing. He had long hair. There's a difference. (I'm not going to go into how many men who enjoy crossdressing are actually straight, since I know this would make you even more insecure than you already are. But please, if you're going to be a condescending, homophobic asshole, at least get informed, first.)
-- be a misogynist
I know you don't realize it, because you're painfully oblivious, but you don't consider women real people. This makes it very difficult for women to work with you. It also makes it very difficult for me to communicate with you on an equal level, since you don't consider any of my input worth listening to. Nods and placating comments are not what I'm hoping for when I come to you to talk about an issue I have with how our project is going. I'm not going to go into all the things that are wrong with the way you treat women, because as with the homophobia, I don't have the time or the energy, and I have to work with you. But please, stop treating me like a lesser citizen because of my gender.
I've not even started to cover all the things I'd like you to change about who you are, but these are the basics, and these are the things that are sabotaging what could have been a fun project. Please take them into consideration next time you feel like being a dick, and don't be a dick.
No love,
M.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2011-03-09 12:05 am (UTC)(link)...People are funny about the networking thing. I have professional filmmaking friends, and it... doesn't mean anything beyond that I can learn a bit from them.
Hope that the project comes together despite him. My experience is there's always one in every group effort. - Dandy
no subject
Well, he made friends with all the film tutors at my uni, and they take him along to their important film shoots, so he thinks he's massively impressive and so much better than everyone else. Which, you know. He is a good director, there's no denying that. It just gets a bit tiresome when someone lets you know with everything they say to you that they think you're just so not on their level.
It's coming together. Slowly. We're shooting soon, and I'm gonna be rid of him for a while afterwards. Since I'm not doing post-production, so I hope I can avoid him.
no subject