Saturday, April 4, 2009

Best Trip Ever!:part 6

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

The big day was here! Why was this a big day? Let me fill you in with a little back story:

When I started putting together my trip to LA, I checked on the channel 101 website to see if there was going to be a screening while I was in town. Sure enough there was, and I was super jazzed. I've been a big fan of all the cats involved with 101 for a long time. You might remember I had done several tiny tv shows for Channel 102 (now 101 NY) while I was in New York. Up until now, I had never sent anything into the original channel 101. I knew all the fools doing 102 in New York, so it wasn't that scary. But 101 in L.A. was the real deal. Those guys are rockstars! They consistently pump out amazing and funny stuff, making it all the more daunting to send in videos.

I started thinking about it and came to the conclusion I should shoot a show and submit it for that screening. I had a silly idea for a show and I told my buddy Mike Geier. He dug the idea and said he would help me put it all together. Along with Mike, some buddies from Dad's Garage, and Jon Goss, a friend from college that contacted me out of the blue on facebook recently; I was able to pull it off in less than 2 weeks. It would have been done in a week, but we had to cancel a shoot day and move it back a week.

And now, for the first time in this blog, I present The Evener:

Long story short, the guys at channel 101 get tons of shows submitted every month and choose only the best 5 for the screening. So I had my fingers crossed all week, which made eating, going to the bathroom, and all my pitch meetings a bit awkward. They usually post the excepted videos on the website the Friday before the screening. It was now Sunday, and they still hadn't posted anything. I was on pins and needles.

To calm my nerves Ryan took me to an all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurant for lunch. We rolled up at exactly 11:58am and noticed a woman cleaning the front window. We started to walk in, but were stopped by the woman. She informed us that they didn't open until noon. A mere 2 minutes away. Reluctantly we left and took a little walk around the neighborhood. I bought a Thia Ice Tea from some place called I Love Boba. Boba is a weird drink with puffed rice balls in the bottom. The rice balls have the same consistency of gummy bears. You have to use an extra big straw to suck them up as you drink. It was strange to say the least, and to be honest I'm not sure if I, in fact, did love boba. I did however come up with the brilliant idea to start a Star Wars themed boba place called "I love Boba Fette".

We went back to the restaurant and proceeded to stuff ourselves into a meat coma. Afterward, we waddled around for a while, full of pork and beef. When we get back to Ryan's, I checked the 101 site for the millionth time. They had finally posted the shows that made the screening. There in black and white was my little hastily thrown together mess, The Evener. I was jazzed out of my mind.

We goofed off for the rest of the day and then made or way to the screening. They usually have 2 screenings, but tonight they were only having 1, so I had made a reservation. When we got there we were seated right in the front row. I noticed my film was second to last on the roster.

I was super nervous. Turns out the screening was great, my film got a lot of laughs.

Afterward we hung out and drank at the place with all the 101 guys. I got to meet a lot of the people whose work I really dig. I met Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab, and Justin Roiland. Justin was the guy that created one of my all time favorite 101 shows, House of Cosbys. He said he liked my film and that made my insecure, self loathing little soul happy.

I also met Rich Fulcher:

This made my star fucker gland swell with delight. He is one of the guys from the Mighty Boosh. If you haven't seen this show I HIGHLY suggest you seek it out. It's insane, cute, hilarious, and reminds me of the old Muppet Show. It hasn't had a US DVD release yet which is a shame, but you can find it all over the internets.

Meeting Dan and Rob was great as well. Dan Harmon is an insanely gifted writer and Rob Schrab is one of the most talented mutha fuckas around. They founded Channel 101 over 6 years ago. Since then they have both had tons of success in Hollywood, and still find time to be involved in 101.

Unfortunately my film came in 11th out of 11, which means mine was the best worst one. Suck on that number 1. I didn't care that my film was last place, the experience was so great. All those guys were proof that you don't have to be a douche bag to be successful in Hollywood. Thanks for the great time guys!

It was getting late, so we hopped in a cab. I went to bed with visions of channel 101 dancing in my head.

One more day left....

5 comments:

ryan said...

Best Trip Ever! Part 7 (Madlibs Edition)
I woke up in a state of _______ and my bowels were ___________. Ryan, lucid but obviously hungover, said "(noun) (expletive) (noun) (adjective)" and as I tried to make sense of that, my (noun) began to (verb). "COME ON DOWN!" it read.

Nick Gibbons said...

That could be a mad lib for everyday of my life.

Also don't give away the ending Ryan.

ryan said...

(Obviously somebody out west is stalking your travelblog)

dicky said...

The long pause at the end of the Evener made me tingle with anticipation...thanks for the tingle

SAM said...

Congratz on being worst of the best. You deserve it! (I guess)

I am checking out this 101 thing. It's very funny. Must watch more...