Gianni's Bar and Grille. Guns and shit. And Bourbon. And occasional side boob - i almost punched a director and got fired (really i protested silently)

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i almost punched a director and got fired (really i protested silently)

This story is way too long and way too dumb but I already typed it so whatever.

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I was hired by a small private film company that I've done a lot of work with to get a crew for a small quick 2-day shoot down in a beach not too far. The crew was to consist of me, one paid pro, and "as many unpaid student interns you can get that don't suck." Great. Out of the 30 or so students in my film department, about 6-8 of them are worth a damn, and trying to get them to work for free 20-30 minutes away on a friday and saturday night outside in the cold would be tricky, but I got a good crew. In fact, as far as unpaid students go, I got a great crew.

I was to be in charge of the small crew on the set, and pretty much run the show. I had them work, while I taught them at the same time. They learned basic grip & electrical terms (C47, stinger, cube tap, jib, dolly, track, sandbags, hollywood arm, C-stand, knuckle, matte box, HDMI, XLR, blonde, redhead, HMI, ballast, bates plug, genny, etc.) as well as how to work properly, safely, and professionally on a 'real' set. All in all they were pretty happy to be there.

The original schedule was for friday and saturday 4PM-9PM. In the world of film the original schedule usually doesn't mean much. We were shooting some footage to put together a reel to send out to LA hoping to find a big budget and shoot the feature film in the spring. We needed to be on our best behavior and to really impress these people.

We arrived on set to set up a 28-foot jib - a manually operated crane with counter-weights on one end and a camera with a remote controlled 360-degree pan & tilt head on the other.

We finally wrapped at midnight (lol 9pm).

Call time for saturday got bumped to 2PM and I had to scramble and get everyone down to the set which I told the bosses would be "impossible" but we made it happen somehow.

The students were very professional the whole time, kicked ass at their jobs, and did so with smiles on their faces. Everyone was completely impressed (including the private client and the real local pros that got on late saturday) and I got hired on full time to run the crew for the private film studio here. I've been their go-to guy for a few months now, but this sealed the deal and I'll be on each and every project they do.

We wrapped saturday evening early, having the truck loaded and ready to go by 8PM. Sweet! The director wanted the entire crew (about 15 in total) to meet down the road at the Ocean Grille & Tiki Bar for dinner. Stoked. We all pile in vehicles and make it to the restaurant and get seated when the director (who had been pretty cool) stands up and shouts "everyone has ten dollars for their meal tab!" to which I kind of giggled to myself. Funny. One of the very poor students beside me asked if he could borrow a dollar or two to cover his burger and coke which would come out to about $12.50. I told him, "Dude, he's kidding get some food."

We ordered and ate and had a beer or two when the director came over to our table to sit down and chat and thank us for the excellent job we did. He also told us a funny story of how he ate shit in a parking lot trying to jump a small fence and hurt his leg. Then he looked us all square in the eyes and said that "the restaurant can't do $10 to even out the tabs so is $9 OK? Everyone cool with that?"

As my blood began to boil and the hair on my arms started to stand up I somehow kept my calm and just kind of glanced at him. We all just kind of shrugged and smiled as we didn't really know what to say. I had 5 qualified and unpaid students come down 30 minutes away (some driving their own vehicles), on a friday and saturday night, in the cold, in the rain, and working FOR FREE AND THIS SMUG MOTHER FUCKER WASN'T EVEN GOING TO BUY THEM A GODDAMN CHEESEBURGER AND A COKE. Did he expect us all to pay tabs for $1.23?! I got fucking angry.

After the director got up and walked off, I looked at my crew and said "Don't worry about it, you're covered, just sit tight, we're all good, everything's fine, you're not paying." I got out of the booth and grabbed the guy in charge of the private studio and pulled him aside. As we rounded the corner he joked about "YOU'VE GOT TEN DOLLARS! LOL!" I looked him in the eye and said "Dude, you have to take care of this, or I will." Being a good guy, he said "Fuck that guy, I've got this."

Studio guy stood up in front of everyone and says "If any of you have remaining balances on your tabs, I've got them covered. Thanks for working so hard and being such a great crew. You really made this happen." The balance came out of his pocket, and the director got up and angrily walked off.

After dinner and drinks I got back in the car with the studio guys and told them I was about to get me, them, and everyone else fired by cussing this dude out and screaming at him in the middle of a crowded restaurant by pointing out how much of an asshole he was, and that if he didn't take care of it I was probably just going to punch him. Studio guy jumps up in the front seat of the jeep and says he wished I would have.

:swear: