A Working Actor's Lament (Chapter 28)

And The Hits Just Keep Coming

The actor paced back and forth as his wife made the call. As his dog lay on the floor, praying that his owner was aware of his location, the actor listened as his wife talked to the woman on the other end of the phone:

"Los Angeles International Short Film Festival? I was just wondering if you had notified everyone about possible acceptance into your festival."

His heart began race and do cartwheels at the same time, like Ricky Bobby's car did in "Talladega Nights". He remembered the email he received from the LAISFF a week before asking, if accepted, which format his film would be screened. This couldn't be a bad thing, right?

"Yes, we did receive that email."

"Sean Spence. Sure, it is called 'Lucidity'. Sure, I'll hold"

That was it!!! A smile came across his face as the sweat began to dry from the palms of his hands and from between the toes on his feet. He began to realize that he was lucky he was married because the writer of his blogs sure didn't paint a pretty picture of him. But he had more important things on his mind. Why wasn't his wife talking to the person on the phone anymore? She had sat there for over a minute before he heard another sound from her.

"Sounds great. Thanks."

His wife hung up the phone. He could feel her excitement. She told him that the nice lady on the phone informed her that if they had received the email about the format of our film, it was a good sign. When he asked her about the long pause, she told him the lady on the other end of the phone seemed to be flustered when she told her the name of our short film. After coming back on the phone, she said they should be receiving an email in the next 5 minutes.

They hugged; they kissed; they broke out the bottle of wine they had been saving for this specific occation: a vintage 2005 Sutter Home White Zinfandel from the six-pack box they bought at Costco the previous day. This was it, they were going to be in the Los Angeles Short Film Festival.

"Ding"

It was here, the email that would change their lives, at least their day. As they opened and read each letter of each word, they were confused. They were not accepted into the film festival. What was going on? Was this some sick joke? Where was Alan Funt? Where was Tom Bergeron? As the actor tore up his apartment looking for the hidden cameras that were not there, he thought he was being over-dramatic. Sure, he only thought of tearing up his apartment, but he quickly realized that he would have looked retarded. As he continued to read, he realized that they were still going to screen his short film, just not 'officially', in a sub-category called "Los Angeles Filmmakers Showcase".

He was more confused than ever. He decided to call up the nice lady his wife talked to to clarify this email. After talking to the woman, he found out that his film would be shown at the same venue during the same time frame as all the other films, but that his film was not part of the festival competition. He would get all the perks of being in the festival (passes, theater screening, etc.), but he would not be able to win any award for his film. He hung up the phone and thought about what he had just heard.

For the next couple of hours, he pouted around the apartment. How could a film that was more thought provoking, more visually stunning than last year's submission, "The Adventures of Mapboy", not be accepted. Then it hit him, he was still going to have his film in the festival, he couldn't say it was an 'official selection' of the festival. That was all. No big whoop. Who cares? His film was going to be out there for the world to see, or at least Southern California...probably during the work week...in the early afternoon...while the town was still at work...

Fricken A, man. This was a good day.