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noassallclass · 3 years

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So my roommate spent all of today writing up a report for Critical Role as a company and I really don't know much about business stuff but I think it is fascinating. Read to the end for a wild ride.

"Okay here is my idea of how Critical Role is actually structured based on what public information exists:

At Geek and Sundry, “Critical Role” as an entity was essentially a partnership between all cast members. The only asset this partnership had was the intellectual property of CR and the only Revenue it took in was licensing that IP to Geek and Sundry. This is because Critical Role Partnership was adamant about maintaining ownership of the IP. This license then pays out between the partners. Percentage

ownership of Critical Role Partnership is divided based on money put in, and previous work done. I would be very surprised if Mercer did not own at least 25% but probably not more than 50%, and the others are probably more or less even. At this point, the cast members both draw a salary from geek and sundry as employees (or contractors), and collect drawings from the licensing of the IP and also royalties as actors. When Orion leaves, the others almost certainly force him to sell out his ownership portion and he probably gets royalties from Geek and Sundry (and later CRPLLC). At this point, this licensing agreement is the only transaction that the entity “Critical Role” actually conducts.

Geek and Sundry pays to produce, distribute, and market the show, and takes all profit. It also takes some aspects of creative control, but probably not that much, though this is listed as the reason to leave Geek and Sundry. At this point, Critical Role continues to license with Geek and Sundry’s parent company Legendary Digital Networks and incorporates their partnership into a Limited Liability Corporation “Critical Role Productions”.

The ownership split is probably kept mostly the same, unless someone decides to sell portions of their shares, but I don’t see why they would. The shareholders (or owners) at this point hire a bunch of employees. Some roles they hire themselves, like Willingham as CEO and Mercer as CCO, and some they hire outsiders like COO Ed Lopez, SVP of Marketing Rachel Romero, and VP of Business Development Ben Van Der Fluit. Those who take additional roles will take salaries for those roles, as well as a salary for acting and writing, and dividends from profits. It is likely that Lopez got a certain amount of shares because C-Suite Executives often do as bonuses because it’s non-taxed income until he sells it and it incentivizes maximizing profits because that would increase his dividends. The other employees probably did not receive shares, so as not to dilute the percentage ownership further.

Critical Role seemingly has no board of directors (it’s possible they have one which is not public), which only happens when there are so few shareholders that they can all convene and take votes (Usually less than 20 owners), implying they don’t use investors to raise cash, which is consistent with a desire to retain creative control. This also means that it is up to all of the shareholders to vote on decisions about the managers of the company instead of a board. That means the only way they could fire Willingham as Chief Executive Officer is if all of the shareholders convene and vote for his firing. Without a board of directors, which often has independent outsiders, this is typically seen as bad for the company’s interests, but is legal in this case because it’s a limited liability corporation and they do not trade on an exchange .

Over the next year or so, CRPLLC makes a new studio and Geek and Sundry gradually relinquishes the distribution rights to older episodes. At this point everyone who works towards the function of the production and distribution of shows is an employee of CRPLLC and not Legendary or Geek and Sundry. For the past couple of years, Critical Role has licensed various brand crossover products like Funko Pops and The Darkhorse Comics. Funko Pop pays CRPLLC for the character likenesses and keeps all profits. CRPLLC also produces its own merchandise like t shirts and that sexy calendar that they pay manufacturers to produce and CRPLLC makes the profit in that scenario. They also have advertising revenue, which is a straightforward revenue stream.

Throwing back to two paragraphs ago, if they don’t use investors to raise cash, how can they afford to embark on a new expensive project that wouldn’t pay out until the future? Well, they could take out a loan (ew interest), save more money in retained earnings forgoing development in other areas (what do you mean we can’t afford to redo our website?) OR

They could do an 11 million dollar kickstarter! This would allow them to retain ownership of both the company and the product, because kickstarter is essentially just buying really expensive merchandise! People will buy a 30 dollar mug if it also comes with the promise that if enough people do it, they’ll make a tv show. Kickstarter money is revenue, not financing and it’s actually against kickstarter’s rules to promise equity for backers. Instead, kickstarter backers assume the risk that investors take (albeit on a smaller individual scale) with none of the benefit besides knowing that they helped make something exist. Compare this to if I, Callie invested $11 million into CRPLLC.

If the Legend of Vox Machina completely bombs and bankrupts CRPLLC which was kickstarted: CRPLLC would have to sell off all of its assets, resolve its liabilities (pay people for work done before laying them off, pay off bank loans) and whatever is left over would be split between the owners. Do they owe you, the kickstarter backer, for not making the show? Legally no. You chose to give us that money and had to trust we would spend the money well to make a good show and we spent all our money making sure our tree leaf animation looked good and could only afford to make 2 episodes.

If the Legend of Vox Machina completely bombs and bankrupts CRPLLC and it was Calliestarted: It would still be the same, except now Callie, the person who put in a lot of money for this show, is also an owner, and at least gets a slice of that money after the debts are paid off.

If the Legend of Vox Machina is really successful and it’s kickstarted: Good job, you did it! You got a fun tv show and like a t shirt! Fun!

If the Legend of Vox Machina is really successful and it’s Calliestarted: Not only do I get my fun tv show and probably also every piece of merch that exists, I got mad paid as an owner, not just from the show itself, but as we sell more and more merchandise because I’m a part owner of the company. I then continue to make money from literally everything else the company does until I decide to sell my shares or the company goes bankrupt.

And even better news! Amazon Prime bought the streaming rights for two seasons, so now I, Callie, have even more money from that sweet sweet licensing money.

Speaking of which, it is likely that the Amazon Deal is structured as follows: Amazon pays CRPLLC to license LoVM, with the stipulation that kickstarter backers can access the first 10 episodes legally. CRPLLC pays, with Kickstarter and Amazon money, Titmouse Inc. to produce LoVM. CRPLLC makes the difference between what they paid Titmouse (variable cost, depending on ultimate cost of animating) and what Amazon paid them. Amazon makes the difference of what they paid CRPLLC and what they make at market with LoVM. Amazon is the only company that stands to profit directly from the actual product of LoVM doing well. If it does poorly, there’s the possibility it gets cancelled, meaning that CRPLLC (and maybe Titmouse if CRPLLC already commissioned the work from them) will still get paid by Amazon, but never released. It’s possible that other companies could buy the license from Amazon in this scenario. This is the risk of selling your show to another company.

CRPLLC also has one subsidiary and one associated foundation: Darrington Press LLC and The Critical Role Foundation

Darrington Press LLC is an imprint of CRPLLC created to design and produce card and board games with the Critical Role IP. DP has 3 listed employees, Ivan Van Norman as Head of Darrington Press, Darcy L. Ross as Marketing Manager, and Mercer as Creative Advisor. As a subsidiary, it is wholly owned by CRPLLC. DP pays manufacturers and contractors to design and manufacturers games and pays for its own advertising, as a separate entity from CRPLLC. DP will likely sell its products to games distributers and the Critical Role Store. If the Critical Role Store sells DP games it’s because CRPLLC bought them from DP. The relationship between DP and CPRLLC is that when DP makes a profit and pays dividends, the recipient is CPRLLC. If DP goes bankrupt and cannot pay its debts, CPRLLC is not required to pay them. CPRLLC also chooses DP’s Board of Directors, which is probably just the owners of CPRLLC. This is all very ordinary. DP has four announced games set to release in 2021, but as of yet has not released any products or made any revenue.

The Critical Role Foundation is a registered non-profit and legally distinct from CRPLLC with seemingly no employees, with Johnson as President, and 4 other Board Members: Mercer, Lopez, Romero and another person named Mark Koro, who is a figure very closely tied to critical role I will outline later. Lopez and Romero are also in a long-term relationship or perhaps marriage. It is usually considered a bad idea to have two partners on a board of directors, as a conflict of interest can arise easily. As a registered non-profit CRF’s projected breakdown of donations is 85% grants to other non-profits, 10% emergency fund allocation, and 5% admin costs (this would be where possible future employees’ salaries would come from). Board Members on non-profits traditionally don’t take salaries, but can use their role as a board member to calculate donated time as a charitable donation for tax purposes. This all seems pretty normal. It’s not stated if or how much CRPLLC itself donates to CRF, including its initial endowment, besides the donation of free advertising, as no donation matching or any other programs seem to be advertised. In terms of an initial endowment, it seems that the only money put in was immediately spent on filing fees and legal fees, meaning the initial endowment was less than $5000. As a result, CRF operates from donors and possibly is not funded at all by CRPLLC. Any money that is donated from CRPLLC’s profits to CRF would be a charitable donation and lower CRPLLC’s taxable income amount. CRF began collecting non-taxable donations in May 2019, and as of December 8, 2020 CRF has yet to publish their 2019 financial statements, so not much is publicly known of how much money is raised by CRF and if they achieved their desired breakdown.

Now to talk about Mark Koro. Koro is an executive of Governmental Affairs (some places list director and others list VP) at Qualcomm, a telecommunications technology company with an annual profit of $7.67 Billion, and is estimated to make $20 per smartphone sold. Every smartphone. Qualcomm has been sued by China, South Korea, Taiwan, the EU, and the USA for anti-competitive behaviour. Koro’s department of Governmental affairs is responsible for negotiating and bidding with governments for contracts and rights to airwave frequencies, and also lobby and develop proposals for telecommunications legislation and policy. Before this, Koro worked at the National Security Agency in their corporate relations department liaising with defence and intelligence contractors. Before this, he worked in the George H.W. Bush administration as The National Security Advance Representative. This entails preparing logistics and security for Presidential events and dispatching Secret Service Agents to respond to Presidential Threats and continued in this capacity under following administrations until 2008. Koro was also an advisor to The Deputy Director of the NSA (the second highest position in the Intelligence Agency), and was a consultant to The Lawrence Livermore National Library, which is

“self-described as a ‘premier research and development institution for science and technology applied to national security.’ Its principal responsibility is ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons through the application of advanced science, engineering, and technology.”

These positions are all listed on Koro’s biography on the The United Nations website for the International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication Sector (accessed Dec. 8, 2020). Mark Koro has no public associations with Charitable Work.

There is little online about Koro’s association with Critical Role, besides an article stating that Koro, as a fan of the show, in 2016 matched $50,000 worth of donations to 826LA. Koro’s associations with a monopolistic technology company, the NSA, Nuclear Weaponry, and multiple presidential administrations would be cause for alarm for many of CR’s fans, but if it were a purely professional relationship, it could be excused as including him for his business accumen, but Mark Koro is mutuals on twitter with all of the cast members and Brian W Foster, Britney Walloch-Key. This might seem like normal professional courtesy, but there is a lot of interaction between Koro’s account and Critical Role Employees’ personal accounts that reflect at least a close personal relationship between people that he would not interact with regularly just as a board member of a legally distinct organization."

P.S. 100% of Critical Role's Chief Officers are men in relationships with female subordinates.

#critrole critical #long post #i wont be able to answer too many questions as i am not a business major like my roommate is #its about the transparency for me #also theres more but this post is so long as it is

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letterboxd · 3 years

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Natural Woman.

Filmmaking power-couple Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz chat to Jack Moulton about exploring untouched female perspectives in genre films, a fateful viewing of Michael Mann’s Thief, the humbling magic of babies on set, and Letterboxd’s small role in their filmmaking process.

I’m Your Woman puts the gangster’s moll, a classically underwritten character, at the heart of the action. We barely meet the gangster himself in this taut, 1970s-set crime thriller from director Julia Hart and her co-writer and producer husband Jordan Horowitz. Rachel Brosnahan occupies a tense and unusual space as Jean, wife of Eddie, a no-good chap who turns up one day with a very young baby then abruptly disappears, leaving her to raise this unnamed child.

In other versions of the story, we’d follow Eddie to a guns-blazing conclusion, but this is a Hart-Horowitz jam, so we’re quickly on the run with Jean and the baby, and we stay with her. I’m Your Woman is a compelling, unsettling twist on the genre. “What impressed me most … was how well it keeps its cards close to the vest,” writes Mikey on Letterboxd. It’s also an empathetic portrayal of new-motherhood in all its exhausting confusion, where getting a baby clean, fed and sleeping is as much a priority as finding the next safe house. “Despite valuing tension quite highly, Julia Hart still has the wherewithal to let it sit in its more tender and thoughtful moments,” writes Paul. “The ending really sneaks up on you in terms of the specific feeling it elicits.”

Marsha Stephanie Blake and Rachel Brosnahan in ‘I’m Your Woman’.

Hart and Horowitz have children, aged two and six, who have grown up around film sets. Before becoming a filmmaker, Hart spent her days with other people’s kids as a teacher; her 2016 debut, Miss Stevens, stars Lily Rabe as a high-school educator, but her follow-up films have been wider-ranging, from Fast Color to this year’s Stargirl. Hart credits this genre-jumping to her absolute love of movies. “I don’t have a favorite genre. I love musicals, Westerns, crime dramas, coming-of-age movies, superhero movies. It was so fun getting to learn about how to create musical numbers in Stargirl and how to direct a car chase in I’m Your Woman.”

Horowitz, meanwhile, is known for producing The Kids Are All Right and La La Land. Yes, he’s the “Guys, guys, I’m sorry, no, there’s a mistake” guy. Horowitz is also a Letterboxd member, and a hunt back through his diary reveals the date he first watched Moonlight, along with his wholesome reviews of Julia’s films. “I always tried to remember to log my movies in so many different ways,” Horowitz explains, “and then once Letterboxd came out it was a very easy solution.”

Jordan Horowitz corrects that famous Oscar mix-up.

Horowitz keeps diligent lists of references for his upcoming films, years before they’re even announced. It’s here that the roots of I’m Your Woman are found, if you’re looking closely: a fateful viewing of Michael Mann’s Thief nearly seven years ago was the primary influence on I’m Your Woman, “especially Tuesday Weld’s character, and the moment where she is basically asked to leave the movie before James Caan burns everything to the ground,” he tells me. “Our hope with this movie was to follow some of the women in those movies that don’t necessarily get the spotlight and shift the gaze of the camera to follow this car as it drives away with her in it, instead of staying with the criminal of this movie.”

Hart picks up the thread, naming Diane Keaton in The Godfather, Ali MacGraw in The Getaway, Theresa Russell in Straight Time. “Those were interesting characters played by incredible actresses but they only have a handful of scenes so I loved the idea of exploring a woman in that world and time but telling the story through her perspective.”

Horowitz defines master filmmakers Sidney Lumet, Martin Ritt and Jonathan Demme as Hart’s “spirit animals”, for their humanist takes in multiple genres. A particular recommendation of a Lumet classic from an Amazon executive changed the way they looked at their writing. “Running on Empty has this great scene where they all sing [James Taylor’s] ‘Fire and Rain’ together. Originally in our script, the ‘Natural Woman’ scene was just [Jean] singing. After watching that movie it inspired us to consider what if the Cal character joins in with her? What happens to the moment if it becomes a bit more of a community moment?”

Bill Heck in ‘I’m Your Woman’.

When talking about their writing process, Horowitz admits that he always has his producer hat handy: “I’m never thinking about writing for the sake of writing. I’m always keeping how we make this thing in mind. Do we have too many extras? Is this location gettable? That can help me when we get into production because I’ve already considered some of those things, but I do wish sometimes that I could just sit down as Julia does and just write.” Once the duo makes it into production, Horowitz admits “[I] definitely put writer mode behind me, to the point where we’ll be on set and someone will ask me something about the script and I’ll be like ‘I don’t know, ask Julia’ and they’ll say ‘didn’t you write it too?!’”

However, Horowitz credits Hart as the “idea generator” of the two. The premise to have Jean struggling to connect with her adoptive baby was always part of the conception of the character, largely based on conversations Hart had with mothers, pre-lockdown. “It sometimes feels like Hollywood sees mothers as a monolith where there isn’t much nuance and subtlety, especially when it comes to negative feelings about motherhood, so they’re often shamed into not talking about them,” Julia laments. “It was really important for me to explore a side of motherhood that isn’t talked about as much and make sure that mothers know that they are seen and heard.”

The decision to have a baby (performed by brothers Justin and Jameson Charles) in almost every scene was a big risk, and not one Hart took lightly. “Movie people can think what they’re doing is very important, but there’s nothing more humbling than when you’re on a whole set with hundreds of people [and] you’re waiting for a baby’s dirty diaper to be changed. It made everything feel so real and immediate, so everyone on set really had to live in the moment and adapt. You prepare, and prepare, and prepare, but you have to throw out so much if the baby is sleeping instead of crying, or crying instead of smiling. I think it’s important to portray babies as real people, because as a society we often forget that.”

Lead actress Rachel Brosnahan came on as a producer many years after the script was already in Hart and Horowitz’s heads, but Hart explains that Brosnahan brought a history and interior life, “more in the wordless moments of acting than in dialogue itself.” Along the way, Jean meets Cal and Teri, who guide her to refuge. They’re the heart of the film, and Hart elaborates on their importance to the narrative: “they have been through the hell that Jean is currently going through and her circumstances force them to go through it again, but this time they have honesty, truth and love on their side. In watching Teri and Cal, Jean starts to understand what real love, family and support are.”

Rachel Brosnahan with director and co-writer Julia Hart.

When you examine Hart’s filmography, it’s impressive how productive she’s been in such a short time, releasing four films within five years, with those pre-schoolers under foot. Horowitz makes a comparison to a prolific filmmaker like Steven Soderbergh, who advises to “fail as fast as you can”. Horowitz acknowledges that “I don’t think we set out like, ‘we’re gonna have two children and we’re gonna make four films in five years.’ If we knew that we were gonna do that we would’ve said, ‘wow, that’s a little bit insane, maybe we shouldn’t do that!’” But they did, and the film world is richer for it.

We always like to ask about the film that made filmmakers want to become filmmakers, and Hart lands on All That Jazz. “I’ve always been a fan of Bob Fosse since his [early] work. How he turned moving your body in a way that people haven’t really moved their bodies before into an empire is very inspiring. [Roy Scheider] is also my favorite actor, which doesn’t hurt. He’s so good.” Horowitz, meanwhile, is a huge fan of Back to the Future. “That was the movie when I was a kid that just opened my eyes to the power of movies, to make you obsess and dream about what other movies could be.”

“I remember going with my parents to see Back to the Future Part II on the Friday night it opened and when we got there it was sold out. We saw some other movie, but I was so upset so all I was thinking about was Back to the Future Part II. As we were leaving the movie theater, I saw through the back little window of the screen where Back to the Future Part II was playing and watched the end scene where Marty is standing in the rain and someone comes and gives him a letter. I did not sleep the entire night. That feeling of anticipation and imagination defines the way I like to look at movies and the way they can make me feel.” A subsequent look at Horowitz’s Letterboxd diary reveals that this conversation perhaps inspired him to take a trip back in time the following day.

Related content

Jordan Horowitz’s list of research for I’m Your Woman

She did THAT!—A list of women who kill

Mothers, Mommy Issues, Moms, Matriarch, Grandmothers

Letterboxd’s Top 200 Crime Films

Disillusionment in Sun-drenched 1970s American New Wave Cinema

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

‘I’m your Woman’ is on Amazon Prime Video now.

#julia hart #jordan horowitz #i'm your woman #rachel brosnahan #crime film #crime thriller #gangster film #gangster's moll #marvelous mrs maisel #directed by women #female director #52 films by women #jack moulton #letterboxd #filmmaking

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ryrycaptain · 4 years

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My Juliet - PBB 2020

Hello and welcome to my fic for the PBB this year. I took inspiration from reading Romeo and Juliet to create this story. I’ll be forever grateful for ilikestopwatches who helped me so much with this fic. I’d also like to thank Divy for making some amazing art to go along with my fic.

ao3 link

Dan was growing tired of following the lively man in front of him. He had a mop of brown curls resting on his head and green eyes that were framed by a lopsided pair of glasses. They’d already covered the dressing rooms, prop room, and wardrobe, and he was starting to sweat from the beating sun. “Ah here we are, sir,” the man, PJ called out, “the stage.”

Dan gasped in disbelief. He’d never been to the Globe Theatre before, and to see the stage he would be performing on in person was thrilling. The woodwork was intricate, and the stage was strong under his feet. “It’s amazing,” he cheered.

“It surely is a beautiful feat of architecture.”

At the end of the stage, people were spread out busying themselves with their scripts, but one person in particular caught his eye. The man had brown hair with the slightest tint of red and sparkling blue eyes that were framed by a simple pair of glasses. He looked to be in his early thirties, and he was currently staring intensely at the paper in front of him. “Who’s that?” Dan asked PJ.

PJ gave him a look of confusion. “That’s Philip Lester. He’s the author of the play.”

“Oh I’ve heard of him. He’s one of my biggest inspirations, but I’ve never seen him before.”

PJ nodded curtly and clapped his hands together. Everyone looked towards them and Dan’s cheeks flushed at the attention. “This is Daniel Howell, everyone. He will be playing the lovely Juliet. Please give him a warm welcome.”

With that, PJ started walking towards Phil which left Dan awkwardly standing alone on the stage before someone waved him over. He walked over carefully, wary of breaking something if he stepped too hard or breathed too loud. The man who had waved him over was even taller than Dan, which was a surprising feat since Dan was almost 6 feet tall, and had a shock of red hair framing his face. “My name is Christopher, but you can call me Kit. I’ll be playing the charming Romeo,” the redhead said.

“Um it’s nice to meet you. I’m Daniel but you can call me Dan,” he said, shaking his hand.

“Would you like to practise with me?” Kit asked. “We have a lot of lines together.”

Dan laughed. “I suppose I can make some time to practise with you.”

—

Dan had spent a good hour going over the script with Kit, and he had to admit that the story was brilliant. He could tell the play would be a huge hit with the plot twists and romantic storyline. He wasn’t totally surprised though because Lester’s plays always seemed to amaze him. Speaking of Philip Lester, he was currently perched on a seat in the highest viewing room and yelling at Kit.

“No. No. No. You’re doing it all wrong, Kit,” Philip sighed. “You sound too happy about your recent breakup. The whole point of this scene is to show Romeo’s impulsive behavior. You must be saddened by the loss of your relationship.”

“Ok,” Kit said. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!”

“That’s better, but I still feel like I am watching someone recite lines not mope about their lost love. You must practise this scene. Now, go on and take a break.”

“Yes, Sir,” Kit replied before walking over to the water where Dan was.

“I promise you he’s not always like this,” Kit stated after seeing the worry in Dan’s eyes. “I was an understudy for one of his other shows. He has a soft side, but it takes him some time to de-stress.”

Dan nodded. “I understand.”

Although he tried to play it off as a causal concern, Dan was worried he’d be cut from the show if he didn’t meet Philip’s expectations the first time around. He wasn’t a big name and it was a miracle for him to have a lead part in a Lester original. He needed this role to launch his career.

Pursuing his dream of acting was a huge risk, and his parents were doubtful of him. They were expecting him to earn money and to start a family in the near future and didn’t believe he could do that by playing dress up on a stage, and Dan needed to prove them wrong.

“What’s going through your mind,” Kit said, interrupting his thoughts.

“This is my first major role, and I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” Dan stated.

“I’m sure you have what it takes,” Kit encouraged. “After all, Philip does most of the scouting for his plays so the chances he picked you himself are high.”

Dan felt slightly reassured by that fact but also intimidated by the idea that Philip had seen him perform before. It had taken him a while to perfect his character and he didn’t want to seem incapable. He just had to hope for the best.

——

It was time for Dan to get on stage and to say he was nervous was an understatement. The actors who were playing the nurse and Lady Capulet seemed nice enough, and had some experience acting.

Philip seemed pleased enough with their performance and only commented on a few minor things throughout the run of the show. When they were done with their scene, Dan was pulled aside by a woman named Louise who needed to take his measurements and have him try on a few pieces of clothing. She led him through the halls of the theatre and into a room that was filled to the brim with various costumes and fabrics.

“I’m sorry it’s such a mess, dear. I’ve been a bit busy these days,” she hummed. “Can you step up onto that stool.”

She had long blonde hair and bags under her eyes. She looked exhausted and Dan wondered how many hours she spent at the theatre a day.

He stepped on the platform and she started measuring him with the tape measure that had been hanging on her shoulders. “You’re very nicely built, but I don’t think I have any previous outfits that would fit you. It’s a shame I’ll have to start this one from scratch,” she sighed. “Now to pick a colour!”

Her excitement was cut short by a knock on the door. “Mrs Pentland, may I come in?” A rough voice sounded from outside the door. Dan recognised the owner to be Philip and started to panic.

“Calm down, now,” she whispered to Dan before directing her answer to Philip. “Yes, come in sir.”

Philip let himself in and looked at Dan with a scrutinising gaze. “I was unaware you had company.”

“It’s no big deal, sir. Daniel and I were just deciding which colour dress he’d be wearing.”

“Ah, I believe you’ll make the right decision,” he said with a nod. He turned to Dan and stuck out his hand. “I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Philip Lester the director and writer of this play, but you can call me Phil.”

Dan took his hand timidly and shook it. “My name is Daniel Howell, sir. I prefer Dan though.”

“Yes, my Juliet,” Phil stated, making Dan blush. “What got you into acting?”

“Ah, I've always been a fan of the art. My parents took me to a show when I was younger and it’s been my dream to star in one since then.”

“Sounds similar to how I got into theatre although I’m much too shy to be a performer. I’ve always had a knack for writing though. I guess it all worked out in the end.”

“Of course, sir. Someone with as much talent as you is destined to be famous.”

“Can I ask you why you choose to portray women? I know it’s an essential job within the theatre but I rarely meet men who are excited to portray the role,” Phil said, deflecting Dan’s comment.

“I’ve always enjoyed trying on my mother’s dresses and messing around with her makeup. It seems a bit odd, but I like to take advantage of it.”

“I don’t think it’s odd at all,” Phil said with a twinkle in his eye. “I personally believe normalness leads to sadness. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back before PJ does anything rash with the scene. I’ll see you on stage, Dan.”

He nodded to Louise and shut the door behind himself on his way out. “See, he isn’t as intimidating as he seems,” Louise chuckled, “Now which colour should we go for?”

——

Dan walked out of the room with a smile on his face and a little more confident now that he could imagine the dress he’d be wearing. He wondered if it’d be made of the same itchy material that the ones for his last production were. He would have liked to imagine that the dress would be made of silk but he didn’t know how much they put towards costumes here.

He was stuck in his own fantasy world when he bumped into someone. He immediately bent down to collect his things with a muttered sorry. A hand touched his and he looked up to see Phil staring back at him curiously. “You’re still here? It’s getting pretty late.”

Dan blushed. “Louise and I got caught up talking about the costumes.”

“Oh, do you have experience too?" Phil asked, handing Dan the things he had picked up.

They both stood up and started walking towards the entrance. They weren’t going nearly as fast as they could have, almost like they had mutually decided that they wanted to prolong their conversation.

“I’ve sewn some clothes before but besides that I don’t have any experience. It’s always been an interest of mine.”

Phil nodded. “I’m sure Louise appreciates the company. I worry she gets lonely sometimes.”

“She sounds like she’s important to you,” Dan hums.

“Ah, she’s a family friend, nothing more. She’s already happily married with two kids. I’m afraid our parents would force us to marry if she wasn’t.”

“Oh, so you're single?”

“Yes. I’ve always been dedicated to my work, and it leaves me little time to meet people. Besides, the women my parents set me up with are unbearable. I assume you’ve got someone. You’re young and handsome after all.”

“No, it’s just me,” Dan answered. If he was being honest, he’d never met a woman he was interested in. He found men more intriguing but he would never admit that. He would eventually be married off, and it was for the best. That was just how it was.

“Oh,” Phil stated, “I thought you’d have women lining up to marry you.”

“My family isn’t the best off,” Dan admitted. “My father owns a small shop but that’s our main source of income right now. I hope to change that with this job. After all, my brother is going to university soon.”

“Ah, university. Those were some of the best years of my life. I miss my professors sometimes. They were always my biggest supporters,” Phil mused.

“That sounds charming. I never got to go, not that I really wanted to anyways.”

“That’s interesting. You took a big risk, unless you have some sort of craft you’ve perfected.”

“My only skills are in business, and I don’t have anywhere near enough money to run my own. Besides, I’m happy with my job right now. I’ve already met some nice people.”

“The cast and crew are exceptionally kind though they can get rowdy, especially when they’re under the influence of alcohol.”

“A lot of men are,” Dan agreed.

They were nearing the main doors, and Dan was surprisingly disappointed for their conversation to end. Phil didn’t bore him to death like the others he’d conversed with, and they actually had a solid conversation.

Dan yawned, startling himself back into reality. “You should head home,” Phil stated. “I hope it’s not too long of a walk to your house. It is quite cold and I can’t have my Juliet getting sick.”

“I’ll make sure to bundle up,” he assured the older man. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Dan.”

——

Dan had been standing in the same spot for the past twenty minutes, and even though he was supposed to pretend that he was chatting with others, he was watching Phil direct Kit and the others around the stage.

Phil looked nothing like the shy, nervous version of himself that Dan’d met. On this stage, Phil looked like he was in his element. His voice was firm, and he commanded the attention of the actors around him.

Everyone was starting to look tired, as they were four hours into practice, and people weren’t putting as much effort into their lines. Phil was clearly starting to get annoyed, as his jaw was clenched and his unoccupied hand formed a fist.

He watched as PJ walked his way and waved him over. “What’s wrong, Dan?” PJ said. The exhaustion was clear in his voice, and he glared at Dan. Dan didn’t take offense, because if he was directing a play he’d probably be glaring daggers at everyone too.

“Phil seems to be getting angry, and everyone is exhausted. Do you think we could take a break? Just for everyone to relax a bit,” Dan pleaded.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, but I’ve got to see what Phil says.”

“Can you go ask him now?”

PJ nodded and walked over to where Phil was directed and pulled him aside. Dan watched as they interacted, and Phil’s jaw slowly relaxed. He nodded and called out for everyone to take a break.

Dan exited the stage and grabbed his water. It was nearing summer, and it was almost unbearable to work out in the heat. The canopy above the stage blocked out the harsh sun, but the humidity still hung in the air.

“Thanks for saving me.” Dan jumped and looked over to see Phil looking at him with a grin on his face.

“You looked like you were about to murder someone,” Dan stated.

“I might have if you hadn’t asked for a break. I don’t know how difficult it is to stay in a straight line, but the torchbearers could not stay behind each other. We all know that movement causes the audience to get distracted.”

Dan hummed in agreement. “It takes a lot of power not to fidget, but if they’ve been in previous productions then they should know better.”

“Well enough about them. What did you do after practice yesterday?” Phil asked.

“Ah, I just went home and practised my lines. I’ve found that there aren’t many things to do on the weekdays,” Dan explained.

“How about you and I go to the archery range? I try to practise from time to time, but I'm afraid I'm becoming a bit rusty,” Phil suggested.

“I’m not sure. I’ve barely touched my bow since I finished learning how to shoot,” Dan stated.

“Perfect!” Phil exclaimed. “That means we can be horrible together. Now what's your address? I would feel awful if I didn’t give you a ride.”

Dan was still unsure about going to the range with Phil. If he was being honest, he became quite fond of the eccentric playwright and he wasn’t sure if he could risk it. Phil was clearly not interested in men. It was a sin after all. Dan needed to put a stop to his growing crush on Phil, but he couldn't resist the pleading eyes the other man was sending his way. Sighing in defeat, Dan muttered his address to Phil and, with their plans arranged, Phil skipped off with a grin on his face.

____

When Phil had said he would give Dan a ride, Dan had been expecting a carriage, seeing as he was a famous playwright and could afford one. Instead, he was met with Phil and a single horse. He blinked at the scene in front of him, wondering if he was seeing things properly. There was no way Phil expected him to walk. After all, Phil had specifically offered him a ride.

Dan looked up at Phil with a blank expression and realised the man was talking, “much farther away from the theatre than you. Dan are you listening?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Are you okay? You look a bit dazed.”

“I’m just wondering how I’m getting to the range,” Dan stated.

“Oh, you’ll have to ride behind me. You see my brother is borrowing Dante today so this is our only option,” Phil stated. “Unless you want to walk of course.”

Dan knew that Phil had meant the last part as a joke but he seriously considered it. He didn’t know how well he could handle being so close to Phil, especially with his crush on him. He decided that he couldn’t walk seeing as they were in a crowded city which meant the next range was more than a few miles away. “How do I get on then?” Dan stated as confidently as he could.

“Just stick your foot in the stirrup and hoist yourself up.”

Dan followed his instructions, and got up onto the horse. He tried to distance himself from Phil but it caught the attention of the other man. “What are you doing? You’ll fall off if you don’t hold on,” Phil laughed.

“Sorry,” Dan muttered, putting his arms around Phil’s middle.

Phil dug his heel into the horse’s side and it took off down the streets. Dan gripped onto Phil tighter, and watched as the scenery passed by them. He’d only ridden a horse once when he was younger, so to be high on top of one was quite intimidating. “Are you scared?” Phil shouted back.

“No.”

“Ok, Dan, I believe you, but can you let go a bit? You’re suffocating me.”

Dan blushed in embarrassment, loosening his grip. He didn’t mean to hold on so tight, but the speed of the horse had startled him. “Sorry.”

The rest of their ride proceeded with much less awkwardness, and a comfortable silence encompassed them.

When they arrived at the range there were very few people. It shouldn’t have surprised Dan seeing as it was the middle of the day and most men were at work. They went to find a target to practice on and finally settled on one that was positioned on the outskirts of the range.

Dan watched as Phil set his quiver of arrows down in the grass and fiddled with his bow. “Who’s going first?” Phil asked.

“Definitely you,” Dan answered.

“You’re really going to make me embarrass myself first?”

“I don’t want to be the first one to embarrass themselves.”

“Very well then.”

Phil picked up an arrow and positioned himself in front of the target. He stood for a moment, aiming to the best of his ability, and then he let go. The arrow whizzed across the range and hit the innermost white ring. “I thought you were out of practice!” Dan groaned.

Phil smiled. “I promise it’s just luck. Now it’s your turn.”

Phil stepped away and Dan took his place. He picked a bow out of his quiver and aimed at the target. His hands were shaking, and his pulse was racing so he knew he was going to do horribly. He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Phil though, so he took a deep breath and hoped for the best before letting the arrow fly. When Dan looked up he saw the arrow lodged into the outermost ring.

Phil chuckled behind him and Dan spun around at him. “You can’t make fun of me. Unlike you, I was telling the truth when I said I was out of practice,” Dan huffed.

“What? Do you need a quick lesson from the master?” Phil cooed.

“I suppose I could use one,” Dan muttered.

When Dan agreed, he thought Phil would show him how to aim and shoot, but instead Phil came up behind him and handed Dan an arrow. He fit his hands over Dan’s and positioned the bow correctly.

Phil’s hands were slightly cold but his body radiated a comforting heat, and Dan felt warmer just from standing by the other man. Dan's heart was beating rapidly and he couldn’t stop thinking about how compromising the position that they were in was.

“Let go,” Phil whispered, breaking him from his thoughts.

Dan let go of the arrow and watched as the arrow launched into the innermost black ring. “See you've got it,” Phil muttered.

Suddenly realising they were still together, Dan blushed and pulled away to face Phil. “I’m still not as good as you are. Besides you did most of the work that time,” Dan huffed.

Phil grinned, “You’ll just have to keep practising.”

Phil picked up his bow again and quickly aimed the arrow at the target. Dan watched as it flew and hit into the yellow circle at the centre of the target. “Bullseye!” Phil exclaimed.

Dan rolled his eyes. His competitive side was finally coming out. “Ok, Philip. Let’s play ten rounds and whoever gets the most points wins.”

“What does the winner get?”

“I suppose the winner can pick a punishment for the loser.”

“It’s on then.”

——

Dan ended up winning. He was surprised he’d beaten Phil and his years of experience, but when he thought about it, Phil had given Dan a lot of tips during their match. Phil had definitely let him win. “Did you let me win?” Dan scoffed.

“Of course not, Daniel. You won fair and square,” Phil laughed. “You just have to believe in yourself.”

Dan still didn’t believe him, but he wasn’t going to question Phil anymore. “Now, since you’ve won, you have to pick a punishment for me.”

Dan thought about it for a second until his stomach grumbled. He assumed Phil could afford much better food than the stale biscuits and bitter coffee Dan had based his diet on. “I suppose you can buy me dinner. I am quite hungry,” Dan suggested.

“That’s not much of a punishment,” Phil commented

“No, but I’m starving right now so I’ll let it slide,” Dan hummed.

“Alright, I suppose I can treat you to dinner. Is there any specific place you’d like to go?” Phil stated, picking up his quiver.

“No, it’s your choice. I don’t eat out much,” Dan said following the other’s lead.

“Ah, are you a chef?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I can cook a few meals.”

They walked back to their horse where Phil had put her in a stall. Phil led her out and gave her a few sugar cubes before using the stirrups to pull himself up on the horse. Dan followed suit and they were off again, heading back to the city.

——

Dan didn’t think Phil would take him somewhere fancy but, to his surprise, Phil did. There was a musician playing the piano softly on the stage with tables surrounding the raised platform. Candles decorated each table and customers sat in sharp suits and flowing dresses. “I don’t think we’re dressed well enough for this,” Dan whispered to Phil.

“Sure we are,” Phil stated. “Most of these people are on first dates anyway. They want to make a good impression.”

Dan blushed at the thought of it being a date. Sure he might have had a tiny crush on Phil, but nothing would come of that. Maybe if they were born in a more accepting time but in their day it wasn’t going to be accepted anytime soon.

“Right this way, sirs,” a waiter spoke.

Dan followed the man around the outskirts of the table and watched as they sat the menus down at a table. It was a bit secluded from the rest of the tables, and Dan instantly sighed in relief.

Phil sat across from him and picked up one of the menus so Dan copied him. The writing was riddled with flourishes and Dan couldn’t read it very well. His face heated up. He’d had an education, but it wasn’t one of the best. His parents couldn’t afford to send him off to a fancy private school like the other boys his age.

“What do you recommend?” Dan asked Phil.

“I usually get the chicken, but the lamb is also quite good.”

Dan nodded. “Lamb sounds nice.”

“Yes, the chefs here make the best in the city.”

They sat in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other’s company and the soft melody from the piano, until the waiter came back. They placed their orders and at the end Phil spoke up. “Do you drink?”

“Occasionally,” Dan remarked, “but if you're drinking, I’ll drink with you.”

Phil nodded. “We’ll have two glasses of your best wine then.”

——

They might have had more than just a glass each, and maybe Dan was having a hard time controlling his stupid limbs, but that wasn’t anyone else's business was it? He was using all of his energy not to trip, but it was bound to happen. He never drank so he wasn’t surprised that he was such a lightweight. He didn’t regret it though. He’d had a wonderful night, and it was nice to be free from his nerves for once.

Unlike Dan, Phil wasn’t drunk. At least he didn’t seem to be. He’d had a glass more than Dan but he was perfectly composed and Dan wasn’t sure if it was impressive or not.

Phil was leading him out of the restaurant with his hand clasped firmly onto Dan’s shoulder. They made their way to where the horse was being kept in a small set of stables behind the building. A nice man led the horse out, and Dan looked at it warily. “Do you think you can get up?” Phil asked.

Dan's face flushed red. He definitely could not climb the horse drunk. After all, he could barely climb it sober. “If you can't, don’t attempt it. I need my Juliet to have fully functioning limbs for the play.”

“Then I guess I won’t be getting on the horse,” Dan muttered.

“We can walk then,” Phil stated.

“No that isn’t fair. I can walk home from here and you can ride back to your house.”

“You’re far too drunk to walk home alone. You’d definitely get robbed. I’ll walk you home.”

“What about the horse?”

“She’ll follow us.”

Dan nodded and followed Phil down the road. They were only a few blocks from his house so it wouldn’t take long for them to get there, but Dan still felt guilty for making Phil walk.

They chatted about the play, their holiday plans, and a variety of other things. Dan learned more about Phil’s family which was made up of his mother, father, and his brother, Martyn, as well as his sister in law, Cornelia. Phil seemed to have a strong bond with his family, and, unlike Dan’s parents, his seemed to be supportive of his career.

After around ten minutes they finally stopped in front of Dan’s door. Dan blushed thinking about the times he’d been in this position with the girls he’d courted. He remembered his manners and thanked Phil. “Dinner was delicious. I hope we can hang out again sometime soon.”

“It was my pleasure. After all, I lost our bet.”

“I still don’t understand how that happened,” Dan laughed.

“I told you I was a bit rusty.”

“Yes but your first few shots were amazing.”

Phil shrugged. “I guess it was luck.”

There was a lapse in conversation then, and Dan wasn’t intent on leaving Phil just yet. He must have been more drunk than he originally thought because the next thing he knew he was kissing Phil.

Dan pulled away quickly when he realised what he was doing. He was blushing fiercely and he was internally groaning at his stupidity. He’d risked both of their safety and made a fool of himself. He was likely going to get cut from the cast if not worse.

“I’m going to go in now,” Dan muttered. “Goodbye.”

Dan rushed inside and slammed the door leaving Phil to stare blankly at the spot where Dan had disappeared from.

——

When Dad woke up the next morning he had an awful hangover and an even worse memory of the night before. He didn’t feel like getting himself out of bed but he somehow managed to get himself up. He dragged himself to his wardrobe and threw some clothing on before leaving the house and walking to the coffee place he frequented.

When he stepped in the door he immediately shrank into himself. Sitting at one of the tables was Phil with a newspaper in his hand and a cup of coffee in front of him.

Dan almost snuck out of the coffee shop successfully but then Phil made eye contact with him. Dan had no choice but to stay at the shop. He hoped if he acted normal then Phil would forget everything that happened.

He walked toward the counter and ordered a coffee. When it was done he sat at his normal table in the corner of the room. For a few minutes, Dan watched the people passing outside before he heard a chair scrape across from him. “Morning,” Phil stated, sitting down across from Dan.

“Good morning,” Dan muttered.

“Would you like to talk about last night?”

Dan stared at Phil in surprise. He didn’t think Phil was a very blunt person but he guessed there was no beating around the bush when it came to the kiss.

“I want to apologise-" Dan started.

“No I’m not mad.”

“What?”

“I thought you would catch on eventually but I guess you didn’t.”

“What are you saying?”

“I like you Dan. I know it’s wrong but I don’t think you’re going to judge me.”

“I wasn’t expecting this.”

“You are a bit dense.”

“I am not.”

“Ok, Daniel.”

“Can I ask what made you wait?”

“I had to make sure you weren’t a homophobe. After all, we don’t live in the most accepting age.”

Dan nodded. He wasn’t surprised that Phil was hesitant because of the world they lived in. Honestly, this was a fairy tale come true, but then again, there would never be a fairy tale about two men.

“What do you want to do then?” Dan asked.

“Well I think I’d like to take you on a date.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

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femalechibiblogger · 4 years

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Victoria Byng Character Bio (We Happy Few)

Age: Late 30′s to early 40′s

Family: Sir Robert Byng (father), Maharajkumari Indira Devi (mother), King of India (grandfather; possibly deceased)

Occupation: Director of the Department of Archives, Printing, & Recycling and Executive Counsel to the Executive Committee of Wellington Wells

Likes: Tea, her sense of duty, directing the citizens, Joy (formerly), keeping the public from the truth (formerly), Prudence Holmes.

Dislikes: Coffee yogurt, being off her Joy (formerly), the reality of the situation (formerly), chaos, abandoning her duty, her employees complaining, the citizens starving to death.

Voice Actor: Katherine Kingsley

Description

Victoria Byng was a minor character and antagonist in the game, We Happy Few, and the protagonist of the DLC: We All Fall Down. Victoria is an important figure in Wellington Wells, as she is the one who makes most of the decisions, and is one of the few people who can speak to the Executive Committee. But during her DLC, Victoria risks her job to get the townspeople off of the drug, Joy, in order to save them from starving to death.

Personality

Victoria Byng is an ambitious, career-driven woman who puts her sense of duty above all else. During the German Occupation, Victoria helped her father, Sir Robert Byng, to keep the people of Wellington Wells from fighting back against the Nazi Germans by creating fake tanks. Victoria was willing to go very far to keep the citizens safe...but a lot of her actions ended up having consequences.

Victoria’s sense of duty often made her seem cruel and arrogant, as she did not tolerate Downers and would go to great lengths to keep the people on Joy. Victoria was all for the creation of Joy, as it would keep the people from remembering the children being sent away to Germany and never returning. She even came up with an idea to put Joy in the town’s drinking water, and even had the ‘happy masks’ created to keep the people smiling and feeling happy all the time. Victoria believed that if the people stopped taking Joy, and remembered the past, they would riot and kill each other.

Despite her sense of duty, Victoria is actually a sensitive and caring person. Victoria had been traumatized by her role involving the children’s departure. She would sing them songs and play games with them to prepare them for the trip to Germany. But when they had to get on the train...there cries and screams would haunt Victoria for years, until the creation of Joy. Because of her traumas, Victoria became addicted to Joy and would become hysterical from withdrawal. Victoria also had romantic feelings for a female co-worker named Prudence Holmes, but her sense of duty made things difficult for them to maintain a romantic relationship...especially since Prudence was off her Joy and was planning to escape Wellington Wells. After seeing that the town was in disarray and the people were starving to death, Victoria realized that they needed to come off Joy and began to cut off the town’s supply of the drug. Victoria was unwilling to abandon the citizens, even if her life was put in danger.

Victoria has unresolved feelings involving her mother, who was a spy for the Indian government when the British were occupying India. But throughout the DLC, Victoria’s hallucination of her mother helps her find her way and realize the truth about her father’s true nature.

After destroying all of the Joy, Victoria’s fear of the Joyless people rioting and killing each other came true...but she remembered that they would have starved to death anyway, meaning that Wellington Wells would have destroyed itself anyway. But, strangely, she found peace within herself and decided to leave what was left of Wellington Wells...possibly traveling to India to see if her mother was still alive.

Relationships

Robert Byng: Robert Byng is Victoria’s father. Robert was a general who served in India, where he met his wife: Princess Maharajkumari Indira Devi. The two of them had Victoria, whom they feared would suffer hardships due to her being mixed race. After arresting his wife for treason, Robert took Victoria with him to England, where they eventually ended up living in Wellington Wells. Robert maintained a strict sense of duty within Victoria, and she looked up to him for many years. The two of them had a lot of control within the city, and had the citizens go on Joy so that they could forget what had happened to the children. Unlike Victoria, however, Robert did not appear to be very traumatized by what had happened, and was more concerned with maintaining power and order within the city. Victoria was, at first, unaware that her father knew that there was no food in the city, and that the town was literally falling apart. But she was a bit shocked when she realized that he did know but was doing nothing about it. Robert wanted to keep the people distracted with childish games and keep them on Joy, but did not seem focused on finding an actual solution to the problem. Later on, Victoria realized that her father was a coward who was willing to abandon the citizens to save himself, which made her angry and lose all respect that she had for him. It is unknown what happened to Robert Byng afterwards, but it is likely that he went into hiding or was killed by the mob of people.

Maharajkumari Indira Devi: Maharajkumari was the Princess of India and the mother of Victoria. When Victoria was a child, Maharajkumari acted as a spy for her people to get the British to leave India. Her husband, Robert, found out and had her imprisoned for her crimes. After Victoria found out, she was angry at her mother and felt as though she had abandoned her by committing such treason against her father. Before...Maharajkumari and Victoria had loved each other very much, but their relationship became strained due to Maharajkumari‘s betrayal. Maharajkumari was afraid that Victoria would be bullied for being mixed-race, and wanted her to be raised by her father, the king. But Victoria was taken to England by her father and never heard from her mother ever again. During the DLC, Maharajkumari appears to Victoria as an hallucination after she goes through Joy withdrawal, and acts as a sort of guide for her daughter. While Victoria still shows some anger towards her mother, she realizes that her mother loved her enough to make her hate her, so she wouldn’t hate her father. In the end, Victoria’s hallucination of her mother tells her that the people may never forgive her for saving them. She also tells Victoria to return to India, and implies that she may still be alive. Victoria is able to make peace with her mother’s memory, and hoped that her mother would be proud of her. It is unknown if Maharajkumari was released from prison, or if she is still alive. Since she was the princess, she may have been released by her father and is probably still living in India. It is implied that Victoria will return to India to see if she is still alive.

Ollie Starkey: Ollie was Robert Byng’s secretary and Victoria’s friend. When Ollie’s neighbor, Margaret Worthing, was killed by German Soldiers, Victoria comforted him and tried to help him deal with his grief. After Ollie lost his memories, the two of them did not see each other for many years...until Ollie confronted her about the tanks being fake and the children not needing to go on the train. Ollie tied up Victoria and took away her Joy, causing her to go through withdrawal and become hysterical. Victoria began to curse Ollie and threatened to kill him for taking away her Joy...but Ollie did not give in and tried to help her realize that she did not need it, and that it was causing more harm than good. After Victoria was able to escape from Ollie, she went to a mood booth to find more Joy...but decided not to take any when she realized that Ollie was right and that the people needed to stop taking Joy, or they would all starve to death. She was aware that Margaret was not his daughter, but did not correct him due to his insanity.

Arthur Hastings: Arthur was one of Victoria’s employees at the Department of Archives, Printing, & Recycling in the Parade District. Victoria believed that Arthur had a bright future due to him being a model employee, and Arthur had a great amount of respect for her. But after Arthur went off his Joy and became a Downer, Victoria became horrified and had Bobbies chase after him. It is implied that they went to school together, and she considered Arthur’s brother, Percy, to be ‘dim’. It is unknown if she is aware that Arthur managed to escape Wellington Wells.

Sally Boyle: Sally is a chemist who had helped create Joy at Verloc Labs, but left and started making her own Joy: Blackberry. Victoria knew this and allowed Sally to make Blackberry, as it kept people happy but also have a clear mind. Blackberry was given to mainly Bobbies and other people with important jobs...though the withdrawal symptoms were much more severe. Victoria did not seem to take it herself and only took Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate Joy. Sally was in a sexual relationship with Victoria’s father, General Byng, but it is unaware if Victoria was aware of this. Though Victoria is never actually seen talking to Sally, she seems to have a great amount of respect and trust for her, due to her creation of Blackberry Joy. She even had an idea for the people to take Blackberry so they could grow crops with clear heads...but her father informed her that Sally did not have enough ingredients for more Blackberry (which was true, as seen in Sally’s route of We Happy Few). Sally has a daughter named Gwen and escaped Wellington Wells with her.

Prudence Holmes: Prudence was one of the employees at the Department of Archives, Printing, & Recycling. Prudence and Victoria were quite close, as it is heavily implied that they both had romantic feelings for each other. Prudence knew that Victoria was mixed-race, while it is implied that Victoria suspected that Prudence was a Downer. Though they loved each other, Victoria’s sense of duty and Prudence being a Downer kept them from maintaining a relationship. Prudence left Victoria a letter, telling her her feelings and her plan to escape Wellington Wells. Near the end of Arthur’s Story, it is revealed that Prudence was killed by a cave-in in the moteline tunnels, showing that she was very close to escaping. Victoria is unaware of Prudence’s fate.

Anton Verloc: Anton Verloc was the head of Haworth Labs, where the drug, Joy, was made and manufactured. Anton took over Haworth Labs after getting rid of his superior, Harry Haworth, and took credit for the new flavors of Joy that were created by Sally Boyle. Victoria had a great deal of faith in Anton due to him being in charge of the creation and production of Joy, which the town heavily relied on. But the new batches of the drug appeared to be unsuccessful, including the new flavor: Coconut. At first, Victoria was unaware that Anton’s actions caused a plague to form in the Garden District, or that he was coming up with a new “permanent solution” to make the citizens “happy” all the time. Victoria confronted him about the riots that were happening within the labs, but Anton has her locked up after he realizes that she is off her Joy. After escaping the prison, Victoria began to set up bombs around Haworth Labs in order to blow it up and destroy the production of Joy completely. Anton attempted to stop her...but his attempts were unsuccessful and Victoria succeeded in destroying Haworth Labs, much to Anton’s dismay. It is unknown what happened to Anton afterwards...but it is very likely that he died in the explosion, along with his years of research.

The Executive Committee: The Executive Committee was the main government in Wellington Wells. The Committee was in charge of maintaining food production and trade with other countries, and were also responsible for all of the town’s affairs. Victoria was in direct contact with them, and was one of the few people who could actually see and talk to them. However...when trade and food production began to cease, the members of the Committee found it all too depressing and decided to take more Joy instead of actually trying to fix the problem. Victoria may have been aware that the Committee members found everything too depressing and were just taking Joy...though she may have believed that they were at least trying to do their jobs, as she was surprised to see the state of the districts.

The Citizens of Wellington Wells: The Citizens of Wellington Wells had a great deal of love and respect for Victoria, as they would come to her for guidance. Victoria would answer their letters, tell them how to handle a situation, and would make sure that they stayed on Joy. Due to being on Joy, Victoria was unaware that the people were starving to death. She was also unaware of the many, many problems that the town was facing: Bad maintenance, lack of food, people eating whatever seemed edible, plagues caused by pollution, bad batches of Joy, the growing number of Downers, violent attacks towards Downers, and the suspension of all trade with the Mainland. After coming off her Joy and seeing the state the citizens were in, Victoria realized that ignoring their problems and taking Joy was causing a great deal of harm, and so she began to destroy the towns’ supply of Joy. After destroying all production of Joy, the citizens went crazy and began to cause much violence and destruction. Victoria looked on in horror as the people were killing each other, committing suicide, and setting the town on fire. Victoria met up with the remaining survivors, who were angry with Victoria for telling them to pretend that everything was alright, and for destroying all the Joy. Victoria could not understand why they were not grateful for her efforts to save them from starving to death, but realized it was time for her to go her own way like everyone else. It is unknown what became of the surviving citizens, but it is likely that they all found a way to leave Wellington Wells for the Mainland.

Gallery

#we happy few #we all fall down #victoria byng #dlc #video games #main character #character description

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three-drink-amy · 5 years

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All the Shine of a Thousand Spotlights

Thanks so much for the support of this fic! It made me happy to know so many of you wanted it to continue. I hope you enjoy what’s to come!

masterlist - AO3

Chapter Three - Take a Chance, Take a Chance, Chance

I knew what I needed to do, I was just dragging my feet. The only person who could probably convince Jamie to take this role was me. But I was also a bit worried that I was the last person he wanted to see. The last time we’d spoken, he seemed angry that I was trying to talk to him. I could understand the position he was in, and likely why he was about to turn down the role. But he couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let him.

I had to act quickly. It wasn’t like we had forever. Production would need to begin eventually and we needed to have our lead. Marilyn and John were going through the list of other actors who had auditioned, but we all knew we didn’t want them. We wanted Jamie. I wanted Jamie. John was never wrong with his instincts, but I hoped that when I talked to Jamie alone, he’d tell me that he was taking the part.

Swallowing harshly, I looked up at the building in front of me. Taking all the courage I had, I ran forward to catch the door as a delivery man left. I followed the familiar path to his door. It was painfully obvious to me how different my situation was now than it was the last time I was here. Shaking my head, I tried to dispel the images of him pushing me against the wall and kissing me senseless in the very stairwell I was climbing. Before I got too caught up in memories, I made myself keep walking. There was a reason I was here, after all, and it wasn’t to vividly remember night we’d spent together. I did that enough on my own.

I must have stood in front of his door for a full minute before I finally knocked. My heart hammered away in my chest as I waited for him to answer. One of his neighbors walked past me. I bounced on the balls of my feet, willing him to be home. The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door almost made me lean closer to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.

The door swung open and he stood before me. I flashed him a strained smile. His eyes widened in shock as he stared back at me. “Claire,” he said, “what the hell are ye doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

He schooled his face, not letting his emotions show anymore. “What about?”

“You can’t turn down this role, Jamie,” I told him, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Jamie sighed, running a hand down his face. “Seriously? That’s why ye came by here?”

“Yes! Look, we saw plenty of men for this role and I promise you that you are the only man we wanted,” I told him. I was being more open than I ever had been with an actor before. “Jamie, you are perfect for this role. And not just because you were the only person who actually sounded Scottish. You have to take it!”

“No, I dinna have to do anything.”

I groaned. “You auditioned for it. Why do you suddenly want to turn it down?”

“Because of you,” he answered in no uncertain terms.

I recoiled a bit, taking a step back. My arms crossed in front of me defensively. “Because of me?” I could hear how small my voice sounded and I hated it. This wasn’t me. I never groveled or begged people to do anything. He was bringing out a terrible side of me.

He at least had the decency to look a bit guilty for what he said. “Aye. I’m sorry, but I canna take it. I didn’t want to turn it down immediately. I suppose I wanted to be able to change my mind, but I canna. I canna take the role.”

“Can you tell me why?” I asked. “Other than because of me.”

Jamie’s face fell. “Ye have to know how much I actually want the role -”

“Then, take it!” I cried.

“I canna. I’ll no’ let anyone accuse me of sleeping my way to a role.” And there it was. My mouth fell open at his statement. “I may no’ have much of a career, but I do have dignity.”

“It’s not like anyone even knows,” I reminded him. “Besides, you didn’t even know who I was. You weren’t doing that.”

“No, I wasna. But if anyone knew the truth, all they’d be able to see is that I slept wi’ ye one night, auditioned for yer play the next day, and then was given the role,” Jamie pointed out. “I want the role, but no’ that badly.”

“No one knows,” I repeated. I was getting desperate.

“I’ll no’ risk it,” he maintained. His eyes dropped from mine. “I appreciate that ye thought I was good enough. But I can’t.”

“Please think about it,” I urged. “This could be the role of a lifetime.”

“Well, then congratulations to yer second choice,” Jamie said, effectively taking the argument out of me. “Goodbye, Claire.”

I sputtered, trying to get one last word in, but the door shut in my face. My hands laid over my face as I tried to fight off my anger and disappointment. The worst part about it all was that he didn’t mince words. It was clearer than ever that his reason to not take it was me. Even more than wanting to have the perfect cast, I wanted to defend myself and tell him all the reasons he was wrong.

Except that, ultimately, I respected his decision. As I descended the stairs, feeling low, I understood why he stood his ground. I’d known a good amount of actors in my life, and I’m not sure that any of them would have the integrity to actually turn it down. And that’s not even addressing the ones that would have truly slept with the director to get the part.

I wanted a win, but I wasn’t getting it. More than that, I wanted to change the way he looked at me. I’d seen plenty of different gazes from him the night we’d spent together. But now, it was nothing but a cold shadow in comparison.

My office was dark, save a low lamp in the corner. I was wallowing in the misery of my failed attempt. John and Marilyn hadn’t the faintest idea that I was even going to try to sway him. That was probably for the best, since I’d failed. Elbows propped on the desk, my head was in my hands as I tried to figure out my next step. John walked in without knocking. He sat down on the couch in my office. Both of us looked a bit off.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Nothing. We’re just getting close to production.”

“I’m aware.”

“I got a few more confirmations today,” he told me.

“But not the one you’re wanting.”

“It’s the lead role,” John sighed. “If we fuck that up, our play is dead on opening night.”

“I know.”

“And the thing that makes me the maddest is that we didn’t do anything wrong!” John continued.

That you know of, I thought to myself.

“What do you think we can do?” he asked. “We all agreed that he’s the best. Surely the three of us can figure out a way to convince him. We’re all experienced.”

I nodded, trying to think of some comfort to offer John. I was coming up dry. “Look, we’re casting minor roles next week. By the end of next week, we have to have our cast list set. We’ll give him til then and hopefully he’ll come around.”

John laid his head back against the couch. “Okay. I guess that’s all we can do. But after that, we’ll have to act fast.”

“We will, if necessary,” I promised him.

But as John walked from my office, I hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. I was in full brainstorming mode the rest of the day and my entire evening at home. It was a lot harder to come up with ideas when I knew what the problem actually was. How could I solve it, short of traveling back in time and not sleeping with him? But then again, I wasn’t sure I would really want to do that, even for the sake of the show.

For the next few days, I sat through auditions, trying to be as present as possible. This show was supposed to be my passion project but I was failing. Somehow, my thoughts were only ever on Jamie. What did he think of me? Would I ever see him again? What were the chances he’d change his mind and accept? Had he actually liked me before my true identity had been revealed? Could something more have happened if he’d never auditioned for my show?

The ridiculous amount of “what ifs” and “how comes” kept me incredibly distracted at a time when I needed to be focused. I’d gone out the night I met him because I’d needed a break. But now, I needed one again for a very different reason. I knew first hand how much dedication the role of director took. And that was how I knew I was blowing it spectacularly.

All I wanted to be able to do was figure out a way to convince Jamie to take the role. Perhaps that would put a smile on my face. I figured it would definitely put a smile on John’s face. I was at a loss, though.

It took me two more days of spending all my time up in my head before I finally realized that the answer was in front of me all along.

I poured myself a stiff glass of whisky and sat down on my couch. Glancing over at the clock, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too late. I took a sip to give myself some courage, and then I dialed his number.

The line rang twice before he answered. “Hello?” he answered.

“Jamie, it’s Claire.”

He was silent for a long moment. “How did ye get this number? I dinna recall giving it to ye. Or ye asking me for it, for that matter.” For the first time, I wondered if he was bitter about more than the situation with the play. It had been a mere accident that I’d run out without giving him my number or getting his. As I’d left his apartment that morning, I was more than open to seeing him again. I wondered if he’d ever believe that with everything else that had happened.

“It might not be the most ethical thing, but I pulled it off your audition form,” I informed him. “We need to talk.”

Jamie sighed. “No, we dinna.”

“Yes, we do. Jamie, this role is yours. You are perfect for it and I meant what I said when I told you it could be the role of a lifetime.”

“I already told ye no once.”

“You haven’t turned it down though,” I retorted. “Why is that?”

He took a deep breath. “Because I ken exactly how big a role this is and it’s killing me to turn it down.”

“Then don’t.”

“Claire —”

“I have a new offer for you.” I talked over him.

“Oh?”

I took another sip, needing more liquid courage. “If you take the role…” I trailed off, afraid to actually make my offer. “If you take the role, I will step down as director.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I’ll step down if you take the role. That way, no one will be able to accuse you of sleeping with the director, because you wouldn’t have.” I tilted my head, thinking. “Well, theoretically. I don’t know your whole history.”

Jamie was silent again. It was frying my nerves. “Why would ye do this?” His voice was softer than all our interactions since the truth came out. It gave me hope.

“I remembered what you told me the night we met,” I said, my voice growing softer, too. “You said you often led your family to believe that you were more successful than you were. Jamie, this could truly be your big break and you deserve to have it. You have more bloody dignity and self-preservation than most people I know. It’s time for the world to see how great you are. But that can’t happen if you turn down the role.” I stopped to take a breath. “I heard you loud and clear. Your problem wasn’t with the role, but with me. So, if I’m out of the picture, it’s perfect. And this show needs you.”

“What about ye?”

“Not to sound too much like a braggart, but if I step down as director, I’m fairly certain I could find another show rather quickly,” I told him.

I could hear him breathing on the other end. “Claire, this is —”

“Just think it over,” I advised. “You have until Friday to make a decision. We have to have our cast list finalized by then.”

“Alright,” he agreed.

“Okay. Well, one way or the other, I’ll talk to you soon.” I said goodbye and ended the call. The idea of calling him and making such an offer had seemed like the hardest part. But I was wrong.

Waiting was going to be the hardest part.

Next chapter

#Outlander #outlander fanfiction #outlander fanfic #my writing #all the shine of a thousand spotlights

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makczio · 4 years

Text

Maxence Danet-Fauvel's interview for EntourageS with Kevin Elarbi part 1/2

On this interview for EntourageS, Maxence and Kevin Elarbi talks about Actors Factory, the success of Skam France, the pros and cons of a transmedia serie, and Maxence’s favorite series.

K: So Skam, a phenomenal serie from france tv slash. A bet that also made france tv shlash because it’s a transmedia serie, which we’ll talk about it later with Maxence Danet Fauvel, one of the pioneer actor. How are you Maxence?

M: I’m very good!

K: We’ve been running after each other for few months now to know where we can meet, which podcast an everything. I’m so glad you’re here with us for this premiere on Betaseries the radio. This serie is amazing it’s crazy, on the representation but especially on its popularity. Is this something you expected?

M: No

K: By the way, how did you arrived on that serie?

M: How did I arrived? Well I was in an actor formation at the Actors Factory for, at the beginning I didn’t really knew why. And when I started to discover the method I thought “I would love to work on castings it would be cool to do casting director. We do classes opened to the public every friday since January, and at the class I did at the end of my second year there was Léa Coquin, the casting director for the first two seasons of Skam France, was in the public saw me and called me a couple of days later and proposed me to do a casting.

K: Because the Actors Factory, we’re going to talk about it now ‘cause you just started talking about it. For the people that doesn’t know or that are not actor. It’s a theatre school but not like Cours Florent or Cours Simon (French institutions were you can study theatre), but looks a lot like Actors Studio in the 50’s

M: Wow! You just said 3 things, if my coach hears you she destroys you haha

K: I mean by the creation and the group, it’s not 2k people classes, were we want to know the actor

M: Yeah

K: How much could you define Actors Factory?

M: Yes I’m saying that because I always have the habit to say School but she doesn’t like it. For her it’s a studio.She’s at the extreme opposite of the french methods of acting, so it’s not a theatre school it’s a… (Max just realised he wasn’t speaking in the mic haha) It’s really an actor formation for the cinema. We work on camera, we work on the organic processus of the actor. It’s far from a theatre school. And how can I talk about it? It’s a 2 years formation where we first work on ourselves which allows us to get rid of the mask and avoid pretending on the camera and really live things.

K: And you arrived on Skam with that formation? Because you just said that you were at the Actors first, so you worked on that character with that formation. With professors or alone?

M: So at first it was alone, and then for every role I play I’m helped by my coach, the one who trained me at the Actors Factory, she also train actors that aren’t in the Actors Factory. And when I really worked on my character I see her and everytime she gets to see things, not really important for the viewer but very important for me to understand my character more and play it with all I have.

K: Because in the seasons 3 and 4 of Skam France, the very popular ones, the word to mouth worked! So popular that whenever we do an interview with one of you it’s immediately translated in China, UK, well everywhere!

M: Haha it’s true!

K: In theses seasons your partner is Axel Auriant, you have a common narrative arc. You’re going very far in the scenes you’re playing for a series for “teenagers”, that’s why I wasn’t surprised to see Euphoria in your choices because Euphoria does that too with HBO and OCS in France but we’ll talk about that later. So I’d like to see a clip from Skam France, a love scene between you and Axel’s character, so you can explain to us if it’s a decision of France 3 and France TV Slash because it never happened to go that far in a teenager serie.

A part of the Samedi 9:17 clip is showed.

K: So a really beautiful scene with Axel Auriant that we kiss (in France, when we talk about someone we like on television or radio, we say we kiss but it means we salute). How did you worked together? I know you shoot many useful minutes per day, and we don’t see it because it’s a qualitative serie, as I said in the introduction of the podcast. So you shoot many useful minutes per day however it’s very qualitative and technical. How did you did? Did you see each other a lot? Talked a lot? Repeated a lot when you weren’t on set? How did it happened?

M: So we have a big work behind where we repeated a lot with the director. With Axel we worked a lot about, how can I call that? It’s not even a work in fact, we get to know each other, first we went to take a beer, then we repeated at his place etc. And yeah we really took a big month to prepare ourselves, we got our texts and positions on the rooms rock solid before arriving on the set, so when we arrived on set and it was David’s goal, we just had to live all the colours that we created together, and yeah it worked so well because we trusted each other, we were well leaded with a great team. I mean it’s really an impressive team on Skam France because we don’t have a big budget, we shoot a lot and fast so it means that we barely sleeps, and really everyone is really invested and united and it gives a work energy were you don’t count your work hours, you don’t care acting 18 hours a day, you’re so invested that when it ends you feel like it’s a dream and lasted half a second and yeah the months were so fast!

K: Did you watched movies, did you got any book references or did you went with your knowledge in this character?

M: Well no, I never watch movies during a shooting or during the preparation

K: That’s very interesting, can you explain why? I think I know why but...

M: You wanna know why?

K: Yeah

M: Well because… Well my favorite part during a shooting, what really makes me love it isn’t the shooting itself but all the month before, all my preparation, the isolation is really a phase where I need to be alone at my place, changing my morning routine and the decoration of my apartment, there’s really a work to be the character. And that’s really the phase that I love the most, and it’s something that should be me that I don’t want to be inspired by... I don’t want to take the risk to steal something that an actor build. But what I do is maybe better than going to the cinema, is that I go on the street and I observe a lot people. And for Skam France for example, it was really impressive. I spent 6 or 7 hours a day walking in Paris without a destination or a goal. I walked an sometimes there were things that came in my mind and when I went back home I wrote it and thought “Yeah that’s good, this is a good element for this or that” so bit by bit you build something and a complete character

K: That’s so interesting! And as I said in the introduction, it’s a transmedia serie. So when we say transmedia we don’t understand it in the first place, can you explain what’s a transmedia serie? If I'm right it's a serie that take your character and broadcast it in real time. It's so 2.0. Did you understood this concept at first?

M: I understood… Well I didn't tried to understand it. Until the last day on set I was really focused on Eliott, and it's a character that's so close to me that I couldn't fail. It could've been so easy to go for my comfort zone thinking "Oh they took me for Maxence so I'll play some Maxence and it will be easy!" So no, until the end of the shooting I wasn't paying attention to that. I heard stuff, they asked us to take selfies on the set, I was expecting there was something to follow. But I understood that the serie was broadcasting in real time, so a Monday at 10:21 will be out a Monday at 10:21 and it was a full episode a Friday at 18:00 but I didn't really cared about it. So you want me to explain that's right?

K: No but that because when Lula explained me that concept when she came I didn't understood anything, I was thinking "What the fuck is that"

M: Okay so I'll explain

K: Yeah explaining but popularizing this term, for those who aren't used to this kind of serie

M: So a transmedia serie is… should I watch there? (he was pointing at the camera, funny he thought about that 11 minutes after the interview started). So basically a transmedia serie is… I'd like to call that a serie that you can't really see if you don't watch it during the airing time. Skam France season 3 you can find it in the France TV Slash website or youtube but during the airing, something like the scene we saw earlier, if it happens at, I'm going to say some crap I'll be bullied by fans haha, but I'd it happens Saturday at 11:21, I said it randomly, it will be online Saturday at 11:21 etc, and it's the same for every clip. And at the end of the week, there's the episode.

K: And that episode is the whole episode?

M: Yes that's the whole episode, plus, the characters have Instagram accounts where we can see them in real time, exchanging texts, that they put in an Instagram story so people can follow them, they post pictures during their days. For example if Eliott, well he doesn't do that but we can imagine Eliott posts a pic during the airing of an episode, if you update if Instagram account at that second the pic will appear. So that's a total immersion.

K: Isn't it dangerous for an actor, I'm thinking about the distance to have with the public, who is enormous. After the scene that we'll watch later I'll ask you something about the LGBTQI+ community in China or even the Middle East, that serie is very important and so many people watch it, sometimes they're hiding just to watch it. But how do you put a frontier as an actor, I mean during the convention when you meet tour fans, this serie is one of the few ones to have that many conventions I mean you'll soon have one in Seoul, it's crazy

M: Yeah it's crazy

K: Yeah, how do you do to.. Yeah there's tour character that's in your life and it's just fictional but is also everywhere like on Instagram. How do you do to put a certain distance? Is it something that you like or is it hard?

M: No that's not something that I really like, I mean I think we're already so much on our phones, even I am! I don't remember when but I discovered on Instagram you can see how much time you spend on it, it's dumb but you do there on the morning, during coffee, etc. I think it's not a good solution because we use a society problem to encourage people to use it more etc. I don't think people need that, I think in the new generation, there's people that wanna go to theater, there's young people that wanna go to the cinema, there's no need to give them that much on social networks to interest them. It's not something that I really like but it gives something to the serie that, I know when I watch a serie, during two seasons I miss the characters and I think "Fuck the next episode is in a year, it's hell", so in that case it can be cool. I don't know during an evening you wanna watch an episode of Peaky Blinders and the season isn't out yet, well you can see between the seasons what the characters are doing and it makes a link during the seasons. So there's something interesting about it but I can't say that I like it, because it would be a lie. The idea is good but if it was created in an other way I would've liked it too

K: So another clip and then I'll ask you to react to the importance of that serie for like I said the Middle East countries or China, countries where the liberties are less than in France, where your character and Axel's character are now close to political characters

A part of the Friday 20:27 clip is showed.

K: Yeah so a part of a clip of Skam France, a strong one. Oh and you're filled with emotions

M: Noooo haha (he's moved and has his eyes all teary)

K: Haha barely. I didn't wanted to move you. I know how difficult it must be because I know you gave a lot of yourself for this scene and maybe you're back at how you were during the shooting

M: Haha no I don't know

K: Haha yes I know, I tell you. Do to change the subject, I didn't wanted to touch you that much Maxence I'm sorry

M: No that's cool, it's beautiful. It's such a beautiful scene. This scene is magnificent it kills me, Axel is...

K: It's everything

M: Yeah it's everything, the music, the editing its wow!

K: Yes the travelling on him, and the light! I completely agree it's one of the most beautiful scene of this season, and I have to say thank you to Mathilde who works with me and insisted that I play this scene. Do you have any idea how important this serie is, seen by ao many people legally or not, even more seen in other countries than in France

M: Oh really?

K: Yes! Have you ever received testimonies, I'm thinking about Middle East or Chinese, even Russian, it's amazing the success in Russia

M: Yes Russia is unbelievable

K: So have you received testimonies?

M: Yes, we've got a lot of them in private, also a lot of touchy videos from hundreds of people, you were talking about Russian, I remember of hundreds of Russian doing secret meetings to watch the serie because they can't watch that kind of fiction and, and yeah that's very touchy but it's true that it brings to a really rough reality and we did Skam France for the love of cinema first and now with the message we give, it's true that it has a big impact and gives us responsibilities that we didn't thought about. And yeah when we see the impact it has like in China, even Corea, you know I lived in Corea and we might thought that it's free but not that much, it's getting better slowly but not that much. So seeing that in all those countries all these people are watching it and taking this message, it's something we didn't imagined. We weren't expecting this

K: We're lucky to have this serie, hopefully it will last. By the way, I don't know, because I know but I don't know if we can say it, I'll do like I didn't knew. You're currently on set?

M: Yes we are but I only acted just a day for now K: The shooting just started?

M: Oh no, it's been shooting for 3 weeks already

K: Oh okay not a lot

M: Yes it's not a lot but for Skam France it's almost half of the shooting

K: Oh yeah that's true. How many useful minutes a day?

M: 16-17

K: Wow, and with quality!

M: Yeah with quality!

K: Not a lot of series can afford 17 useful minutes a day! Don't laugh that's true!

M: Haha no you're right that's true

K: And the choices of the team are amazing!

M: Yes and also Xavier director of photography is completely insane, David the director doesn't give up, the actors are so invested. And yeah we're with a passionate team, very young. For most of us it's the first project, it was mine. For David it's also one of his first one. We all want to do something wonderful because it's our first experience, it was my first experience in front of a camera and you want to remember that your whole life and I think that, yes, it's by far the best shooting I ever done for now

K: A shooting followed by many, became I know the Actors Factory take a lot of time, the Skam France shooting too. And also one of my friends that was on the shooting with you guys

M: He also was there during the shooting of seasons 3 and 4

K: Oh yes but what I understood is that this year his work is more important

M: I won't say anything!

K: Fuck! I was trying haha! So you lose me I don't remember what I was about to say. Oh yes, I wanted to wish you a good luck for this shooting and I wanted to know if there was new ones?

M: Yes! There's new people coming but...

K: But you can't say who?

M: No I can't say

K: Why?

M: Mostly because, there's someone I won't talk about it

K: Okay

M: And a project that I won't talk about because I don't want to and I want to work it alone, also another serie but I don't know if I can tell for who or what it is

K: Is it french?

M: It is

K: A hertzian group?

M: Yes

K: Shooting in October, this summer?

M: From January to April

K: So it will come very soon

M: Yes very soon

K: So you'll come back to talk about it then

M: It would be a pleasure!

K: So now we'll talk about the series you picked. First we're going to talk about an amazing serie, and OCS serie called Westworld and the a scene without visual effects but I think you'd like with Anthony Hawkins, a philosophical scene from the first season

#skam france #maxencefvl #maxence danet fauvel #eliott demaury #skam eliott #lucas et eliott #skam universe

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that-writer-who-never-posts · 5 years

Text

You know what it's like

Another Jealous Tom (This time, 2k words of angst and 400 of a fluff smut.) - Special guest: Jake Gyllenhaal

This is a mix of the request by @schizophrenicstoryteller (who I can NEVER tag, thanks, tumblr...) and the beautiful idea by @elinesama (thank you so much for sending me it!❤)

Prompt: You're an actress and Tom gets jealous of your good relationship with your co-star Jake.

Warnings: there's a tiiiiny smut in the end. Couldn't help myself.

---

"Ladies and gentlemen..." The tv host announced. "Let's welcome the stars of the most awaited romcom of the year: Jake Gyllenhaal and Y/N Y/L/N!"

Everyone clapped and screamed as you and Jake entered the studio. Maybe that was the movie you loved to promote the most in your career, since you were doing it with one of your best friends ever.

Now you were sitting down for an interview on live tv, while your boyfriend, Tom, was watching it from the house you shared. When you walked in, he couldn't help but smile. He was so proud of you.

"It's so good to have you here." The interviewer said smiling as the two of you sat on the couch. "It wasn't easy."

"Yes." Jake laughed. "We've been traveling a lot."

"But we're not complaining!" You interrupted him. "We're grateful for this project."

"And you must be having a lot of fun on those travels." The host said, making the crowd giggle.

You looked around confused.

"True." You replied. "We've become great friends. The whole crew did."

"But isn't it harder having to do those make out scenes when they are with a good friend?"

"I think it's always hard." Jake admited. "Nothing personal, Y/N, you're great."

Tom was watching all that with an annoyed expression. Since the host suggested you and Jake were having fun and the crowd reacted like that, he started to feel weird. But that was... a little too much. You're great, Y/N. Great at what? Tom was an actor himself, he knew that actors don't rate their make out scenes, unless they really enjoy it. But it wouldn't be a scene if they did.

"Well... I hope I didn't suck that much." You laugh at him, and the audience goes wild.

Oh, so she's worried he didn't enjoy it?, Tom thought. Because looks like she did.

"Let's change the subject." Jake laughed too.

"Oh, no." The interviewer grabbed his water mug and pretended he was watching some great drama. "We're going to be on all gossip blogs tomorrow. Give us more information."

"What are you talking about?" You rolled your eyes.

"Yes..." Jake looked at him confused. "If they want gossip, I have a few things to say about Y/N."

You playfully punched him in the arm.

Too much. Tom stood up angrily and turned the tv off. He started to walk around the living room thinking about the last time he visited you on set. You and Jake didn't seem to have all that chemistry then. Maybe because it was in front of him. You really were a great actress.

The interview lasted a few more minutes, in which you finally got to talk about the movie, and not yourselves. The begining was a little annoying, the host probably didn't know you were engaged and kept trying to find something between you and your co-star that clearly wasn't there. But you were used to those childish things. After you were done, all you could think about was Tom... Getting home to him, getting to cuddle him a little before sleeping... It was so late, and he was probably as exhausted as you, but he always waited for you to come home.

---

You got out of the cab so quickly, you almost forgot to pay for it.

But when you opened the front door, you frowned a little. All the lights of the house were off. You walked towards your bedroom, afraid Tom would be hiding somewhere, ready to scare you. But you found him in bed, sleeping peacefully. To be honest, you felt a little disappointed... But when you saw your bed, the tiredness hit you, and you could totally understand him.

After a quick shower, you joined his side, laying down carefully to not wake him up.

Little did you know that he was awake. He wished he wasn't, because feeling your warmt close made him feel worse. But he didn't want to start a discussion that late, so he decided to pretend he wasn't laying down there overthinking for hours.

---

On the next morning, you woke up first, since you fell asleep a lot before him. So you watched him with a smile on your face, hoping he would wake up soon.

Didn't take too long for him to do so. When his eyes opened, the first thing he saw was your smile. His brain wasn't working correctly yet, so he tried to convince himself that it was nothing but a dream, that you weren't fooling him. But he eventually remembered everything.

"Good morning, babe." You said excitedly, approaching him for a kiss.

"Good morning." He replied coldly, pretending he didn't see that you tried to kiss him.

After rubbing his eyes a few times, he got up.

"Where are you going?" You asked sadly. "It's early, we can stay in a bed a little more. I missed you."

"Sorry." He didn't see you missing him while you were out there in public with your lover. "I have to solve a few things."

"Can we have breakfast together, at least?" You offer.

"Sure." He replied unamused.

---

You were sitting by the table quietly. Quietly for too long. There surely was something wrong, you thought maybe he got bad news yesterday and didn't want to tell you, but you needed to know.

"Are you okay?" You asked carefully.

"Yes." He replied almost automatically.

"Are you sure?"

He didn't even reply or look at you.

"How was your night yesterday?" You insisted.

"I don't know, how was yours?" His smile almost scared you.

"It was normal..." You were so confused. "I finished the interview and..."

"Oh, I know." He kept the weird smile on. "I watched the interview. Well, not all of it, only as far as my stomach could take."

"What?"

"The limit was when you started to get handsy." He finally looked at you. "To be more specific, cause it probably happened in many moments, it was right after he admited you shared your secrets with him."

"Stop." You couldn't believe what he was saying. "I know that host forced us into some awkward situations... But you should know how it is. You're an actor, and everyone always starts to ship you with your movie partner and..."

"The difference is that I don't play their game, like you did last night."

"I wasn't playing a game I..."

"So was it all real?" Tom raised his voice a little, making you unable to reply. "That's what I thought. But deep down, never wanted to believe."

"You're being ridiculous." You felt tears starting to form. "Jake and I are just friends. You know that. You've been around us many times, did you see anything between us?"

"Don't cry, I just..." He didn't say that in a comforting tone, it was an angry tone.

"You don't trust me." You cut him.

There was a long silence after that.

"I have to go." He said after a while.

He stood up and went to the bedroom, but you didn't move. You sat on the chair looking at nothing. At some point, he started to walk around the house looking like an absolute mess. He tried to organize his things, but his head was too far away to thing straight. He just walked in circles, buttoning his shirt up, tucking it inside his pants, looking for a jacket somewhere. Anyone who saw that would think he was on a hurry. But no, the things he had to do would start in about two hours, he was only on a hurry to get out of that house, hoping that being away from you would calm him down.

He walked towards the front door and stopped a few centimeters away from it. He took a deep breath and went back to the kitchen. When you saw him approaching you, you felt a little hope growing inside you. He seemed to be coming in slow motion. He got closer and closer and...

He kissed the top of your head, turned his back to you and left the house.

You were in shock for a moment. But the second you heard his car leaving the garage, you broke down in tears. How could he believe that you were cheating on him? How could he leave with nothing but an emotionless kiss?

That stupid interview. You wanted to sue that channel. You wanted to punch Jake, for real this time, because he played along. But you knew none of that would work... What you really needed to do was prove Tom that he was the only one for you. But how? If he wouldn't even look at you...

---

Tom was sitting alone on a bench. He was right, being away from the situation did make him see clearer. It made him see that he was clearly an idiot.

He was never a possessive person... Of course he was a little jealous of you sometimes, because he was afraid of losing you. But he never imagined one day his jealousy could be the actual guilty of a break up. Did he truly believe in what the media wanted the people to believe? Him, who was also a victim on those kind situations all the time...

He just wanted to throw everything away and run back home. He would apologize and beg you to not leave. But his watch warned him that he had 15 minutes to get in the theater for his play.

It was the hardest decision of his life. He loved his fans, he loved his job... He wouldn't want to risk his career for anything. But with you, it was different.

He got into his car and called the director. Told him he was very sick and couldn't make it. He told him to rearrange today's sessions to any other day, at any other time. The future didn't matter, you would only be part of his if he fixed the mistakes he made in the past.

---

You heard a car stopping in front of your house, but didn't pay attention. Not until you heard the door being unlocked, which made you jump from the sofa and look towards the house's entrance, to find Tom looking more like a mess than he did becore he left.

"Tom?" You said, sitting straight. "Shouldn't you be at..."

"No." He said walking towards you and kneeling in front of couch, so your eyes were on the same height. "There's nothing I should be doing right now other than apologizing. I'm so sorry, my love... Of course I trust you. I just tend to think that all this happiness I found by your side is too much for me... And I can't live without it anymore."

"Tom..." You cupped his face with your hands. "You don't have to worry about that. This is not too much for you, this is what you deserve... I was so angry because the idea of leaving you for anyone else seems ridiculous. You're the only one for me. You'll always be."

He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a passionate kiss. You always shared what people call "movie kisses", but that one was more than that. It was needy, it meant 'I'm sorry', it meant 'I can't afford to lose you'.

He needed to get you as close as possible, so he pulled you, making you fall on your knees in front of him, but that didn't break your kiss. Nothing in the world would break that kiss. You kept your mouths almost glued to each other's whenever you had to stop to catch a breath.

Your heavy breathing mixed to his was driving you crazy. You needed to be his in every possible way at that moment. He seemed to think the same way, because he naturally helped you to remove his shirt and did the same to yours before you could realize. Pants, underwears, all flying around the room without excitation.

When you were completely naked, Tom sat down and pulled you to sit on his lap, and you could feel his hardness against your belly. Your eyes met and you felt something knew. You didn't find lust or darkness in his eyes, neither of you looked for pleasure more than you looked for belonging to each other.

You lifted your hips so he could place himself at your entrance and, as soon as he did, you lowered your hips slowly, focused on the feeling him stretching you. At first, he kept both hands on your lower back, forcing you to move painfully slowly. But your hearts still beated fast, because of the previous rush. So as soon as Tom was sure it wouldn't hurt you, that you were ready, he removed his hands from your back, which allowed you to go harder and harder, and you started immediatly.

You began to kiss again, like your lips had missed each other for centuries. His hands traveled your entire body, caressing some spots, squeezing others, adding pressure here, barely brushing there...

While your hands never left his tense shoulders, holding to them while your hips found the perfect angle and pace. Suddently, his hands stopped, one of each of your thighs, squeezing them hard enough to leave a mark, and his moans got louder and more frequent.

When he spilled himself inside you, you moaned loudly and came too. Tom let go of your thighs and placed his hands protectively on your back, pulling you to lay on his chest, and you stood like that for a while. On the floor, him still inside you.

"Please..." You almost whispered against his chest. "Don't leave like that ever again."

"I promise." He held you tighter. "As you could see, I didn't last a few hours away from you."

---

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igglemouse · 4 years

Text

Hello My Name Is...

Soledad Guevara and I’m from a small town in Selvadorada. You see, I never had much growing up. One parent being a teacher and the other a humble mailman, so yeah, simoleons were always hard to come by for me and my brother, but, here I am…out chasing dreams in Del Sol Valley. My plan? To become a star.

And acting is my route to getting there. Sure, sure, it’s hard. Most actors never make it big, well, most actors never even make it medium. Most just stay where I’m at, bit parts, commercials, just names on a credit screen really…but I like to think that I’m different. You must have confidence in this field.

Moving to a new town also means meeting new people. Nora being one of them. She’s a fellow actress and one who has even more confidence than me…or maybe it is better to call it arrogance? I’ll speak more on her later though.

Another one is Lucho. We’ll learn more about him too but it should be noted that he’s incredibly attractive and kind of knows it? It sure doesn’t help that he’s seen as a prodigy in his line of work…umm, what do you call it? Soccer, fútbol, well, whatever you call it he’s pretty good at it and is likely going to be a big star himself, more on him in just a moment though…

This story is about me, after all, I’m the main character, the protagonist, if you can believe that. I’m an aspiring actress with big dreams and a loving papá that, well, would do anything to see me succeed. Even if it means taking rather big risks that put me in danger…hey, love can make you do some odd things. My dad, Stefano Guevara, just wanted to keep a fatherly eye on me and warning me to be patient and let life come to me.

But, sometimes, life comes at you fast…and what happens when you run into your new crush while working out at the gym and…AND…he invites you over to his place?

Well, you go, and you umm…you enjoy the night you spent with him and worry if maybe you gave it up a little too soon…

My papá did warn me and he called all that previous night I guess to check in on me. I never did tell him what I was up to that night, that’s not something you usually want to talk about with your parents after all. Either way, I tell him that I’m grown now and don’t need him hovering over me. He seems overly worried about something and at the time I couldn’t understand why.

Meanwhile, Nora was advancing through her career at a super-fast rate. While I’m stuck doing commercials she claims she already has a spot on a TV show. At the time, it was a mystery as to how that happened, it could just be that she was super talented…or it could be something else.

But you can only control what you can control and what I can control is…well, me! I focused on working hard and being flexible. Sure, I spent a lot of time doing Salty Suds commercials but it was something I was good at. Eventually, bigger opportunities would fall my way.

I did at least consider Nora a friend of sorts, well enough to invite her over to my place and tell her a bit about my romance life. Once she found out that I was kind of interested in seeing Lucho she revealed to me that he was dating someone else already…if only I knew that when I slept with him.

Thankfully, it wasn’t all bad news. A new director in town by the name of Darius Monroe had invited me out to dinner at a fancy restaurant because he had seen me in a few of those Salty Suds commercials and thought I fit perfectly for his movie. He talked about casting me and also flirted just a pinch. I kept the conversation focused on business though, especially with what happened with Lucho.

But still, something was going on, not just with my love life but…something else I couldn’t quite explain. I kept getting these odd calls and eventually, the caller said that they are coming for their simoleons…yeah, not what you want to hear usually, especially since my dad took out some loan in order to finance me moving out and I never knew where he got those simoleons from.

Being from Selva I know that I have to take such threats seriously. For those that do not know, Selva is going through a rough time right now, ruled and dominated by cartels, the main one being the Sedona Cartel…so of course every knock at my door, every sound made could get me to jump. Thankfully, this time, it was just dad. He finally revealed that he did get a loan from the cartel and he really didn’t think they were going to squeeze a poor man out of his simoleons. It was his hope that once I made it big, and he believed that was just a matter of time, that I’d be able to easily pay off the loan. Yeah…maybe this wasn’t the best idea of his, I agree.

But, I still had a career to take care of and I was even doing new things! Like um, voidbop commercials! Yeah, not my first choice, but a check is a check.

Meanwhile, Nora is getting movie roles. She’s shooting through the industry faster than I can keep up with and I’m not exactly sure why, not at the time at least. It makes me a little jealous because I’m sure I am better than her in nearly every way.

But you know, my acting career was the least of my problems. That whole cartel thing with dad? Yeah, it was getting worse. A man by the name of Lorenzo who worked for the Sedona cartel made it very clear to my dad that he wanted his simoleons soon, like tomorrow soon, and if he doesn’t get them that he’s going to take me instead…y-yeah, I mean…yeah.

I was still getting to know the city really and going out for a drink ran me into Lucho’s girlfriend or ex or I really wasn’t sure what was going on between them. I thought I was doing her a favor by telling her that Lucho had slept with me but she wasn’t very friendly. She told me I deserved Lucho and even called me scraggly. At least I learned that Lucho felt some kind of way about me, I wasn’t sure what it was, but at the time I believed that I was just a one night stand. I did hope on seeing him again. Steffi, his ex-girlfriend, revealed that Lucho had talked about me before.

As for the movie role that I thought I could get, Darius called and tells me it is going to my ‘friend’ of sorts, Nora. Said it wasn’t his decision, came from the producer, over his head, and he was really sorry about it. When things go wrong, they really go wrong.

Because the cartel came to collect and it wasn’t simoleons they were interested in.

But it was Lucho who saved the day. He had previous run-ins with Lorenzo and offered a little more than what he was demanding and in return he simply wanted the man to leave me alone. It took some convincing, but, Lucho succeeded.

I was mad at Lucho for ignoring me after our sudden intimate connection but I could only be thankful. He saved my life and I needed a shoulder to cry on. I don’t even want to imagine what Lorenzo had planned for me.

But my relationship with Lucho was improving. He came over the very next day and explained to me why he hadn’t called me. It wasn’t the best excuse, to be honest, as he said that the life of a pro-athlete has gotten to him. He thought I was like other women that try to latch on to him and so was reluctant I guess.

In the end, he knew I wasn’t like those other women because I work just as hard as he does. I don’t want to be his trophy wife like Steffi. I want to be a world famous actress and yes, that comes first before even romance. And so, I continued to work hard, doing commercials just to add to my resume and increase my fame.

But I would run into a huge obstacle in my career. Mr. Frost. You see, Mr. Frost is a big time producer in this town and so he’s a man that wields a significant amount of power. Too much, I’d say. The point is when we first met he mentioned that the next time he sees me he’d like for me to dress down a little bit, you know. Wear a skirt, heels, that kind of thing…

I then find out that Nora knows Mr. Frost pretty well, perhaps too well. Maybe, perhaps, possibly…her relationship with him was the reason she had no issues finding roles. She claims he doesn’t go too far and claims that it’s not too bad. I, of course, don’t like this entire situation.

A situation I did like was getting closer and closer to Lucho. On Love Day he took me out to an arcade for a humble date and while I wanted something more we both decided that it would be better to take it slow. Well, he wanted to more than me suddenly but it was a decision I agreed with.

Which was probably a good idea considering that Steffi wasn’t exactly ready to concede this battle. Lucho was still seeing her.

Meanwhile, back in Selva, my brother was having relationship issues himself. Some woman named Maria nags at him constantly about the smallest of things and if you know my brother Paulo than you know he’s one that values his peace of mind more than anything. Ah, more on this relationship later.”

Things were looking up in my career as I was able to get a role, a small guest appearance. I played the mom of a main character in a sort of flashback scene. So yeah, it wasn’t much, a few minutes of TV time, but it was better than any commercial I’ve done.

And I thought that maybe I’ve made it, that maybe my dreams were closer than they appeared…only to learn that this city wasn’t what it seemed. Mr. Frost wanted to see me again and this time he had a big offer. Playing a super heroine in the Marble Cinematic Universe. This is a big deal as those actors get paid tons and if my character connects with fans I could get my own movie in the future…but the role wasn’t mine. Mr. Frost needed one more thing of me to give it to me, she said…and what he wanted was for me to show him my breasts. I told him no and he kicked me out of the office and declared my career over.

And the immediate reaction to my unwillingness to expose myself? Denied roles with little explanation as to why.

But there was at least happiness with Lucho. We took things a little slower, just a little, and we enjoyed the time we spent together. I was really warming up to the idea of having a serious relationship with Lucho.

But the issue with Mr. Frost would not go away. I guess since I denied him it only made him desperate to wield his power on someone else and that someone else was Nora. This time, he asked the same of her, to take off her top and he’ll assure her a role in the Marble Cinematic Universe. He also asked for more, whatever that meant. He pushed a little too far with her and she left more than upset.

Back in Selva Paula, my mom, talked with my brother’s girlfriend. They seemed to like each other on the surface but mom sort of understood that maybe she wasn’t the one for her son.

But Paulo is determined to make it work. He tells mom that things are okay, that a compromise between him and Maria has been reached, and that things are just peachy between them.

As for my relationship with Lucho, it was going very very well!

#The sims #The sims 4 #soot #simblr #sims legacy #season 1 #soledad guevara #summary

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carversourcebe · 4 years

Text

Charlie’s interview for Digital Spy

Warning : this post contains spoilers about Ratched !

What first drew you to the role of Huck in Ratched?

“First of all, I love Ryan Murphy so much. I appreciate what he's done, and the way that everything he makes is in dialogue with the zeitgeist, and also pushes things forward, whether that's in terms of representation or subject matter. And I love him too as a person.

But then, Huck, in particular, was the first time I've really been given the opportunity to work from a physical place with the special effects makeup that I had on. It was a challenge for me. But that's what made it very exciting, to have something to really sink my teeth into and explore.”

How long did it take to apply Huck's make-up?

“Initially, it took about four to five hours in the chair to do each morning. And that speeds up as the team gets more accustomed to putting it on. It ends up also just passing by you – you've done it so many times, and it seems pretty quick.

The one thing that was so weird for me is, I've never worked with a full scleral lens. One of my eyes had this full lens in it, and I couldn't see out of it. I'm a klutz to begin with, but my depth perception was completely thrown by the process [laughs]. I was just walking into stuff all the time on set.

But, it's one of those immediate things. It's sort of a physical experience, having that stuff on your face and in your eye. It begins to shape how you are in the world. And that is, I think, the magic trick – the alchemy that an actor is attracted to. It's kind of shifting into an unknown or unfamiliar place, and playing from there.”

Evil characters are often scarred or disfigured in Hollywood, perpetuating harmful stereotypes, but I'd argue Huck is probably the only nice guy in the whole show.

“[laughs] I might agree with that too.”

Was that something you were mindful of going into this project?

“I definitely felt a responsibility to honour several different kinds of experiences. Not only does Huck have these scars on his face, but he's lost part of his hand – he's somewhat disabled. So to tell that story honourably, and to do research... There was a sense of communion with the character.

I had three or four of the scripts in my hand before we started filming, but I didn't necessarily know where the character was going, or how they were going to get there. But the purity of Huck – he undergoes this huge journey over the course of the season, into self-acceptance and self-love. There was this pure, good, honourable person at the core of it all.”

You mentioned that you only had three or four scripts at first – How did you feel when you got to the finale and read the death scene for Huck?

“[groans] Ugh! OK, so, I did know in advance that I wouldn't make it past the first season, which is kind of liberating. You know you're probably going to have an impactful death.

And it's sad. There was a split mentality about it. On one hand, I could create the biggest arc for the character, knowing he wasn't going to be around. But it was sad to let it all go. I had a very sentimental relationship with Huck.”

You mentioned earlier how much you love working with Ryan Murphy, and obviously you've got The Boys in the Band coming up as well. Would you ever be interested in working on American Horror Story?

“Oh, of course, if Ryan would have me, I would do that. I think that just sounds like so much fun. What a gift to an actor. Go for it.”

I feel like there are lots of parallels between Ratched and American Horror Story...

“Sure, sure. And that's what made Ratched so fun. There's this kind of baroque quality. There's a believability to it, and I think it's grounded by the performances and the characters. But you get to do things that we don't get to do in our average lives — and certainly not in most TV or film ones.”

Let's make it happen! And going back to The Boys in the Band, what does it mean for you personally to star in such an important gay story with an openly queer cast?

“It will be one of the honours of my life to not only have been part of the production, both on stage and on film, but to have shared in that with all of those guys. We really became a family, both on Broadway and while shooting the film in Los Angeles. There was such a shared sense of experience and identity.

I think things have certainly gotten easier as an out actor in Hollywood. But most of the time, I'm the only out person on a set, and while that's not necessarily lonely, it does do things to you. There's a sense of modulation about how authentically I can interact with people.

So that, in terms of a personal and professional experience, was very special. And to be a part of a story that has existed for 50 years; one that really was, and certainly represents, a paradigm shift in representation, at least in American culture. That's important.

I think there's a huge chunk of gay history in America, a piece of time that feels lost in some ways because of how many people we lost to the AIDS epidemic. And to feel in this play a sense of identity with, and a continuum to, 1968 – there is an indelible quality or spirit to queer life that I don't think could ever be removed from us, or erased from the narrative. This play is picking it back up, and re-canonising it for a new generation.”

Speaking of gay history, one of my favourite shows of all time is Desperate Housewives. A lot of time has passed since the show ended, but would you ever be interested in returning for some kind of revival?

“Oh, sure! If that's what the people want, then give them what they want. That would be a blast, to go back to Wisteria Lane. Gosh, I count my blessings for having had that be my first job in the business. And, wow, what a way to start.”

Since coming out, you've played a number of queer characters on screen. Was that a conscious decision?

“For a while, it was what I was up for, most often. The prevailing wisdom when I decided to come out was: you know, even if you do choose to come out, you have to be very careful about getting pigeonholed.

And I took issue with that. I found it kind of offensive. I don't want to be limited as a gay man or a gay actor. I don't want to be limited to only playing gay roles. But at the same time, to be told I might be endangering my career by choosing to play more than one of them? That just didn't seem true or accurate of the times.

I'm a part of a shift happening where, yes, I'm a gay actor who's taking on gay roles, but there are so many more queer people stepping into positions of power, whether that is as producers or writers or directors. Suddenly, the queer narratives that become available are complicated and different from one another.

As more representation becomes available, the breadth of queer experience and human experience becomes available to play. And those are stories that I am just interested in and want to tell. Because I think that they are impactful for a wide audience, not just a queer audience, and they're stories that haven't been told.”

There's been quite a shift over the last five years in particular. A lot more drive and authenticity that wasn't there before.

“Yes. And as an actor, I'm interested to see: what kind of situations do gay characters find themselves in? What kind of mashups of genre can these characters exist in so that their sexuality is not the first thing that you notice about them?

Because, as a gay person, it isn't the first thing I want someone to know about me. I don't care if it is, but, we're all complex human beings. And I want to see that represented better onscreen.”

What do you think the industry needs to do to improve queer representation?

“I don't think anything can be achieved instantaneously. So much of what needs to happen is more equity behind the scenes, and having all kinds of people in positions of power. I think that's what needs to happen most. Even on the crew side. Crews can be more reflective of the world we actually live in.

Representation is important. But I wouldn't want any story to be confined by obligations to represent everybody well all the time, you know? Not all stories have to be pretty. Not all stories have to be representative of a community, even though they may be represented in those stories.

There's a direct relationship between representation and an audience developing a sense of affection for a community or a member of a community. The trans community – particularly the black trans community, and black trans women – have had almost no representation onscreen. There's a direct relationship between that and the transphobic violence which exists in the United States and across the world.”

When you came out, what was the fan response like at the time?

“Oh my God. The fan response was incredible. I felt immediately held by everybody who, I guess, had taken a shine to me in the work I'd done.

In your head, you, of course, run through the worst-case scenario. But I just feel I was so supported by fans and the entertainment industry. I'm insulated by a lot of privilege in that. But it wasn't the easiest decision, and I'm so grateful for how it turned out.”

You might have worried about your career after that, but here you are with huge projects like Ratched, and The Batman coming up too. It must be really gratifying to look back and know you made the right choice.

“It is gratifying. I feel I get to participate more authentically and on my own terms. Whereas, before, I don't know – with an act of omission, it felt like I was pretending to be somebody else for everybody else's comfort. And I don't think that's how you want to live as an artist or as a creative person.

By having been authentic about that, I can take bigger risks and accomplish more as myself moving forward.”

Almost every queer person can relate to that feeling, pretending to be something they're not at one time or another.

“Yeah, you realise that you're accommodating other people's feelings over your own. You've got to put yourself first, and trust that by being honest with yourself, and putting yourself first, you're going to be a better person to everyone else.

I just feel so fortunate to have made a personal decision in the middle of this journey, and to have had it bear the kind of fruit it's beginning to bear.”

Link for the article here

#Charlie Carver #Carver Twins #ratched #desperate housewives #the boys in the band #the batman #interview

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themosleyreview · 4 years

Text

The Mosley Review: Worst Films of 2019

Well 2019 has delivered some of the most disappointing, ugly and just downright disgraceful films I've ever seen. With 2020 on the rise, I can marvel at the fact that I wasn't the only one of the cats that fought his way through hell to get through this year. On an international scale, I believe a phoenix swept over the film industry and became the terminator of many franchises. Like you all, I survived this dark year in film and it is with great pleasure that I bring you the list of what films to avoid like a hungry lion looking for his next meal. So lets see who is the king of my list of the worst films of 2019. If you would like to see the full review, then click on the titles of each film. The first film on my list just hurts.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: It is with a heavy heart that I had to put this film on my list. Star Wars has always been apart of my life and apart of my soul. At any given time, you can find me playing a Star Wars game, watching any of the movies or even revisiting The Clone Wars series. As much as I wanted to love this film, there is just no denying that this was just the worst film the franchise has ever seen. There are some truly amazing and fun sequences and a great lightsaber fight, but that all doesn't matter when your core story is too busy negating, betraying and apologizing for past films that tried to expand and do something new. All of the new and old philosophies were completely destroyed by conveniences of stuff just happening and lazy writing. As for a trilogy, it was a unplanned, unfocused and perfect example of how not to tell a story ark. It hurts my ever loving Star Wars soul, but this was the worst of the franchise and just a massive disappointment.

Terminator: Dark Fate: I love and hate this franchise. I love that they keep trying to make a good film without the creator James Cameron at the helm, but I hate that they are staying modern day. Now with the risk of erasing everything after T2: Judgement Day, there was a chance to do something right. Well after the opening scene, the door was flung right open for an interesting path and it ultimately failed. This film followed the same mistakes of being heavy on big action sequences and less on heart and character development where it was needed. It was great to see Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger back together again and they had an awesome villain to battle, but I just thought this film was just meh all the way through. This was the last chance for the franchise and they blew it.

Captain Marvel: Well not all of them can be winners. The Marvel Studios brand is one of the most trusted brands in the industry and they have earned it. Almost every entry in their series of films have ranged from classic to alright. This film on the other hand was just a waste of a potentially great origin story for one of their most iconic female characters. I honestly could not connect to the main character enough for me to care. She had no real weakness in the film and no vulnerability. Yeah sure she's only known the life of a soldier, but that doesn't mean she isn't human. The storytelling in the film was all over the place with some stupid decisions and there just wasn't enough substance. A character with a snarky attitude and no regard for anyone else doesn't make for a good hero or a origin you want to study more about.

The Lion King: Double dipping doesn't always work and this was the prime example of that. I love the original animated classic and I think it truly is my favorite animated Disney film. I didn't go into this film judging it against the original because that would just be dumb and unfair. It is undeniable that this film is a technical achievement, but that was about it. The voice acting was a serious mixed bag. The child actors for Simba and Nala, Timon and Pumba and Zazu were truly the highlights, but the adult versions of Simba and Nala were flat and purely directed. Shot for shot remakes are not a good idea and this was that. If you diverted a little more from the source material, then this would've been an interesting remake. Listen up Disney, don't do this again.

Dark Phoenix: Oh man. The X-Men film franchise has truly seen some better days. We can all agree that this film franchise really had no since of continuity or an idea of where it wanted to end. Well with a reboot mid stream, I knew eventually there would be another attempt at the Phoenix Saga. Once again they've missed the X on the spot. The fact that this was the last film in the franchise that started in 2000, is truly a relief. We've had some amazing films, but this was by the far the worst of them all. Goodbye X-Men. I'll always have Logan in my heart.

Cats: I mean. Is there really anything else I can say about this insanely bizarre film? I had seen the Broadway version of the show on DVD a few years back and I could't understand it. The film made it better, but I couldn't get over the horrific nature of the CGI cat fur on the acts. It ranged from weird to “What in heavens name did you do to Jennifer Hudson?”. I know it was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s vision and probably director Tom Hooper's dream picture, but this was just too strange to be adapted to film. Not even the star power behind the film could save it. If an example of why certain shows work best for the stage was needed, then look no further than this atrocity.

Hellboy: Why was this rebooted? Oh yeah that's right. The studio didn't want to complete Guillermo Del Toro's superior vision of what Hellboy 3 would've been. Let me be clear, I gave this film a chance to show me a new, darker and more violent version of the iconic badass. What I got was a violent, darker, noisy and whiny little bitch of a character. I love David Harbour, but he was really dealt a terrible hand and I think he knows that. There are some awesome visuals and a great fight scene with big trolls, but after the first 15 minutes the film just dissolves into a horrible mess of a film. I didn't care by the film's last 10 minutes as we retread the same themes of the first iteration of the character. Thank God there isn't gonna be a sequel to this trash.

And now we’ve arrived at the last film I hated. The crowning turd of 2019, is none other than...

Men In Black: International: Where do I even start with this abomination. I loved the original and third MIB film. It wasn't a great trilogy, but it was consistent. The character Agent J earned his place among the MIB and the chemistry between him and Agent K was a perfect example of how to do a buddy cop film in the sci fi comedy genre. This film ignored all of that and focused strictly on the comedy and just never took itself seriously. The main character Agent M, had an interesting beginning and 5 seconds after she finds the MIB, they give her everything. She didn't earn anything which made her immediately boring and unnecessary. Chris Hemsworth is a great actor and he has great comedic timing, but this was the most obnoxious and unlikeable character he's ever played. This film had no heart, no real stakes or even an idea of what the story wanted to be. Like I said in my review, this film franchise should've stayed dead after Men In Black 3.

That's all folks and thank the heavens. These were the worst films of 2019 and I say this every year, but I really hope I'm right. Let's hope 2020 has a shorter list of worst films.

#worst films of 2019 #star wars the rise of skywalker #hellboy #terminator dark fate #Captain Marvel #the lion king #dark pheonix #cats #men in black international #chris hemsworth #david harbour #taylor swift #james mcavoy #arnold schwarzenegger #daisy ridley #adam driver #tessa thompson #brie larson #samuel l jackson

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itsblosseybitch · 4 years

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The Reel Dunne (Griffin Dunne interview from INTERVIEW magazine, October 1988

Hollywood Wunderkind Griffin Dunne eloped at 18, produced a movie at 23, and has been acting all along. Victoria Hamburg stopped by to catch up.

When Griffin Dunne was 23 and managing a concession stand at Radio City Music Hall, he followed the cultural cues of his native L.A. and, with a couple of close friends, optioned a story for a movie. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a Hollywood-wise L.A. youth. What was not ordinary, however, was that the story--Ann Beattie’s novel Chilly Scenes of Winter--was actually made into a film, starring John Heard, and released by United Artists.

Chilly Scenes of Winter marked the emergence of the young Griffin Dunne as an actor and leading producer of American films. Son of writer Dominick Dunne (and brother of the tragically murdered Dominique Dunne), Griffin moved to Manhattan after high school to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Over the years, his film credits have grown to include An American Werewolf in London, Johnny Dangerously, Almost You, After Hours, and Who’s That Girl, and in his role as a producer, he has been equally canny. Along with his longtime partner, Amy Robinson, he has produced John Sayles’ Baby It’s You and co-produced Martin Scorsese’s After Hours.

This season, Dunne’s dual career is in full swing. He produced Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty, which was released in September, and is currently producing Lasse Hallstrom’s (My Life As A Dog) first American film, Once Around. He stars in Dorris Dorrie’s controversial second film, Me and Him, playing the part of a middle-aged man with two problems--a midlife crisis and a penis that talks (distributors have decided the film is too controversial for America, and it is being released in Europe this month). Dunne will also appear in the HBO movie Lip Service alongside Paul Dooley.

Dunne is as funny and charming off-screen as he is on. Dark, intense, and boyishly handsome, he is a natural storyteller, whose enthusiasm is contagious. Victoria Hamburg found him at home, in his West Village penthouse overlooking the Hudson. The apartment is airy and sunlit, with oversize windows, a fireplace for the winter, and a terrace with real grass for the summer. It is the perfect refuge from the hustle of the city streets and the madness of the entertainment world on which Griffin Dunne clearly thrives.

VICTORIA HAMBURG: I’ve been having my own private Griffin Dunne Film Festival. I looked at After Hours, An American Werewolf in London, Almost You, and Who’s That Girl. The movies that you’ve produced have more social commentary and a greater basis in reality than the movies you star in. The ones you act in are more like myths or fables about the dilemmas of modern man.

GRIFFIN DUNNE: It’s funny--as a producer, you think about material for material’s sake. You look for really rich characters and movies that have something to say. It’s much easier for me to find movies to produce than to act in. You have more control over material, and there are wider choices.

VH: What’s this film you were doing in Boston?

GD: It’s called Lip Service. It was just a great piece of writing by a guy named Howard Porter. He wrote Boy’s Life. It was on Broadway a while ago. David Mamet executive-produced this film and asked me if I’d be in it with Paul Dooley. William H. Macy, who’s an actor, directed it. [OP NOTE: There’s a misprint in this article, where’s he’s referred to as W.C. Macy. Or maybe Griffin was trying to be funny and make a reference to W.C. Fields]. It’s his first film. He did an incredible job, and it was great to work with a director who was an actor. It’s about these two talk-show hosts on one of those morning shows like Hey, Wake Up, L.A. It’s called Sunny Side Up. It’s been run for ten years by a kind of boring, staid broadcaster who’s like a Walter Cronkite of the morning circuit. They want to spruce up the ratings, so they bring in a sort of Regis Philbin type, and that’s me. It’s Regis and Walter on this morning show, and they’re two very different people. I idolize him, but he hates me. I’m always trying to get him to be my friend. There’s something very touching about it. It’s also very sad, because the public taste being what it is, I blow him out of the water. I’m so filled with energy and kooky ideas. I’m always looking for the lowest common denominator in human behavior, and people love it. They just lap it up. Dooley’s character gets fired.

Anyway, in this movie, for the first time I play a guy who is completely happy. He has a vicious mean streak, and then it’s gone, and he’s the happiest person on earth. I had a great time, because I usually play people with a tremendous number of problems. This guy hasn’t a clue of the problems he has, because he never listens. He never hears a word he’s saying. Somebody will be talking to him and he’ll interrupt them to ask, “How’s my hair? Do you think I’m attractive?” or some terribly vain question.

VH: Do you think that it takes being oblivious like that to be a happy guy?

GD: Yeah, basically, I mean, to not have a clue about anybody else’s suffering or even what color shirt they’re wearing is a different version of happiness. I’ve seen people without any sort of self-doubt. They just amaze me.

VH: When you were talking earlier, I was thinking you sound like somebody who doesn’t suffer from self-doubt.

GD: Who doesn’t have self-doubt at some point?

VH: Well, I know, but it doesn’t seem to paralyze you in any way.

GD: No, it doesn’t paralyze me. It’s a fleeting thought, but it was nice to play somebody so completely confident and ebullient in everything that he’s doing. The guy I played just had no problem offending somebody, because he had no idea he was offending them. Terrible hurt would cross someone’s face and he would just go right on talking. It was endlessly interesting.

VH: It seems as if we’ve reached a point where there’s a new Hollywood. There are people who are our age, in their late twenties, mid-thirties, who are now in a position of making decisions in the studios. Are they doing it differently? Is something going to happen that’s different from the way that people have been making movies in the past?

GD: Probably not. Even though movies are making more money than ever, they are still based on the star system. And the star system is getting stronger and stronger. Having name value is becoming more and more important. People are taking fewer and fewer chances. What I’ve noticed is that it’s getting to be taken for granted that this is the way to go. Even the smaller outfits have now figured out ways to hire major stars with name value. I think part of the problem with film is that the good movies--with interesting stories and actors--are not huge weekend movies. They’re competing against star vehicles with rotten scripts and one charismatic star that make the big kill for two or three weekends and then gradually dwindle away. The movies that don’t fall into that category are racing quicker than ever for the video stores. All this means that they’ve yet to figure out long-run releases. And the attitude is getting to be more and more--even among my peers--”I’ll wait for it on cable.” People look at small or interesting or intimate movies as the kind they’d prefer to see at home on their television sets rather than at a theater. Movies are considered failures much sooner than ever before. The failure rate has really sped up, and the success rate is much further down the line because now you have to look at the videocassette sales and rentals.

VH: I think it’s incredibly frustrating for all the people who go out and kill themselves for six years to get a project to finally happen, who risk everything they’ve got and go out on a limb for it, and then, even if it’s reasonably successful, it’ll probably run for only two or three weeks and end up in the video store, and who’s ever going to look at it then?

GD: It’s extremely frustrating. It’s like they spend six years to make the videocassette.

VH: Right. Whereas if you’re writing a book, even if nobody buys it, it will still be there somehow in a more lasting way.

GD: You notice how books and videocassettes are almost the same size...

VH: How did you feel when you were making Who’s That Girl and people kept calling it “the Madonna movie”?

GD: I assumed they would. She is an extraordinarily huge star, and a great deal of commotion happens around her when she’s out in public.

VH: How did the filming go?

GD: It was pretty wild. I guess I didn’t really expect it to be. I remember there was a marathon race on a Sunday. We were shooting in Manhattan. Here are these people who are nearing the end of a twenty-six-mile run. They could have placed respectably, but they pulled over to the side to watch the shooting and let the other runners go on. By the time they got to where we were shooting on Fifth Avenue, they had been running twenty miles. They took a breather to watch the shooting, to watch Madonna getting in and out of a cab. They just threw it all away to watch this. Everybody had a camera when we were working on that picture. Cabs would drive by, and little old ladies would pull out lenses longer than their entire frames and just whack off a few pictures. It was a bit of a carnival atmosphere.

VH: Which do you prefer, acting or producing?

GD: I don’t know. Acting is what I originally wanted to do. That’s really what I’m supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, the business of being an actor is a lot more disheartening than the business of being a producer. As an actor, you’re beholden to the material and the taste of other people who are developing projects that you may or may not get in. As a producer, you come up with the idea. Everything that my partner, Amy Robinson, and I have done, we’ve thought of and developed. The script for After Hours came from a student at Columbia University.

VH: You get offered a lot of roles that you turn down--if you kept getting parts that you wanted to do, would you end up acting instead of producing?

GD: It depends how far along I am in the producing. I’ve lately had a painful decision to make. I’ve turned down work because I’ve been too far into producing a picture. It wasn’t easy to do.

VH: Do you feel you naturally lean toward acting?

GD: I’ve always leaned toward acting. I’m very good at working on stories, casting, and crewing up, but when the movie’s being shot, there’s always the frustration I feel watching other actors working. That goes away once the film’s finished shooting. It’s almost the reverse of what I feel as an actor. There’s a certain relief that, once I’ve finished shooting, I can be in the editing room or in the screening room, watching the rough cuts develop and watching the picture just get better and better.

VH: Have you ever wanted to direct?

GD: Yeah, I think about that more and more.

VH: The relationships between an actor and a director and between a producer and a director are very different.

GD: The relationship between an actor and a producer is, in fact, one of total opposites. As producer--particularly during shooting--your job is to worry and to predict what horrible things will happen. You worry about time, scheduling, and logistics. You have to fall into a certain logic that does not come to me naturally.

VH: I always think it’s a combination of being the baby sitter, the whip-cracker, and the pacifier. In a way, all the things that you do make you feel like you have no control. On the other hand, you realize that ultimately you do have the control.

GD: What you’re doing is watching other people create and have a fantastic time. Amy and I have always worked with directors who have respected our opinion and relied on us heavily for story development, casting, and the creative part. But once the movie is going, it’s just this big monster rolling along that you have to keep in check. It’s much less creative. I mean, you can look at dailies and say, “Gee, it looks a little dark in that scene” and “Why does she have that expression on her face?” but it’s pretty much out of your control, with the exception of the ultimate ability to slow down or speed up the process. And sometimes even that’s questionable. But as an actor, your entire job is not to worry. Your job is to help others, create an atmosphere where you can be totally spontaneous, get lost in the part, and develop intense relationships with people. When I’m acting and things are going well, I have an extremely good time.

VH: It sounds like the acting and producing provide a perfect balance for you.

GD: Yes. Absolutely. I remember when I produced my first movie, Chilly Scenes of Winter. I was a desperately hungry actor who lived and died by my last audition and what people thought of me as I walked out of an office. That’s what most people think when they’re starting out. It’s an unnatural environment when you go in and read and show your personality to someone and they say yes or no. It takes awhile to get the hang of that. I was not good at it. I would clam up and freeze at auditions. I could not be free. So producing a movie was entirely liberating. There I was, in a casting room, auditioning actors whom I not only admired but envied, wishing I was in their position. I was 23 at the time, and I remember being in this office in Los Angeles, in Culver City, pre-screening the actors before the director, Joan Micklin Silver, met them. Bringing in all these actors I’ve admired my whole life and interviewing them, I thought, This is crazy. They thought it was pretty crazy, too. They thought, How old is he? But I did see how the audition process worked, and I thought, This is not so threatening.

VH: I’ve always thought of you as the boy wonder. I mean, there you were, producing a feature film. That’s not easy, but you were at the point where you and Amy could convince somebody to give you the money to do it. How did you manage that?

GD: We also had a third partner, Mark Metcalf. All three of us were actors. Mark was probably the most successful of the three of us, because he had produced Animal House [He also played Niedermeyer in the film]. We had a really good book by Ann Beattie, and people wanted it.

VH: How did you convince Joan that she should let you guys do it?

GD: She came to us. She wanted to make the movie.

VH: But you didn’t know anything about line-producing, right?

GD: No. For a year before we actually got it off the ground, we interviewed everyone. We called people right up out of the DGA [Directors’ Guild of America] book and said, “We’re doing this movie. Would you talk to us? Will you tell us about line-producing? Will you tell us what this means? Will you tell us what gross and net are?” We knew nothing, but we found that complete strangers were willing to share their knowledge and expertise with us. So we learned a certain amount the year before we actually met Joan. All we knew was that we wanted to make this movie, and we had the material. Several times, people said, “We’ll make this movie, but you three have to go.” And we said, “No, we come with it and you’ll have to go.” We pulled it off, and they let us do it. We had a production manager, a man named Paul Helmick, who was close to 70 years old [laughs]; he was Howard Hawks’ first assistant director, and he had incredible stories about the movie business. We learned a lot from him. We were the producers, but he knew the nuts and bolts--who to get on the crew and what the hourly wages were and all that.

VH: What would you say was the most important thing that you learned from doing the movie?

GD: Well, because I was so young, I sort of learned how the world works. I learned how decisions were made and business was run. The business section of the newspaper became interesting to me: why people were fired and hired. Just the decision-making process, and people taking responsibility for their decisions.

VH: You grew up in Los Angeles, didn’t you?

GD: Yes.

VH: So you must have had some sense of how it all worked. Your father was in the business.

GD: Yeah. I knew my movies. I loved movies. But I didn’t know anything about the details of making a movie. Casting was an instinctual process to me. Amy and Mark weren’t from the movie business. They grew up loving movies, and that’s what the three of us had in common. Being from Los Angeles and having parents in the business was not really helpful. I could talk to my father about what I was doing and the problems I was having, and he would understand what I was saying, but he wasn’t in production then. He was extremely supportive of me, just as Amy’s and Mark’s parents were supportive of them.

VH: Did you ever have moments where you were totally terrified because you didn’t know what you were doing?

GD: You know, I really didn’t. I was having such a good time. Nobody ever once said, “You’re a fraud. You’re 23 years old. Who are you to tell me this?” I knew the material. I knew I had a tremendous love and conviction for this book and for the script that Joan wrote and for Joan as a director. I didn’t really have any doubt in my ability.

VH: You and Amy have been producing together for such a long time. How does that work? Is there a role that she plays and a role that you play?

GD: I guess so. We bounce off each other very well. Whoever calls us knows they’re going to get both of us on the phone, and we’ve figured out how to talk without talking at the same time, so that we build on each other’s thoughts. We finish each other’s sentences.

VH: Do you do good cop/bad cop?

GD: Yeah. It depends who the person is. There are certain people she gets along better with and others I get along better with. People get treated well, so there hasn’t been any real tension on our sets coming from the production. Basically we’re both good cops. But we use that good cop/bad cop routine.

VH: How does she feel when you go off to be in a movie? Does she produce things without you?

GD: The day-to-day stuff is a lot of phone work, you know. Producing is all about talking on the phone. When I’m off acting, Amy is doing the day-to-day work in the office. We talk every day. It’s like I’m in foreign land, acting with complete strangers. I’ll call her, and she’ll fill me in on what’s going on. Then, if I have a few hours left in me, I’ll knock off about eight or nine phone calls. So I’m still doing my work. I never fall out of contact.

VH: You sound driven.

GD: Well, it is a driven thing. Amy is a very driven person, and sometimes I have to work hard to catch up with her if I’m doing two jobs. It’s a lot of work. I’m getting tired just talking about it. [laughs]

VH: I’m always interested in people who are able to make movies in New York. Do you and Amy feel pressure to do something in L.A.? Sometimes L.A. seems like a private club to me: you have to do time there or you have to have been a member.

GD: No, I don’t think so. I mean, the reason we’re doing well is because of the material. We choose to live in New York. We have to go to Los Angeles an awful lot for any number of reasons--to meet writers or talk to the studio about financing--but there’s been no pressure on us to move to Los Angeles. In fact, I think it would be a little stifling, because we could fall into that club atmosphere you’re talking about. A good deal of the time there is spent talking about “Have you read this script that was just submitted that all the agencies are reading? Did you get on top of this? Did you get on top of that?” And it’s a cyclical effect. You start buying something based on word of mouth and who’s attached to it--basically for all the wrong reasons. I think this distance gives us a little perspective on what the story is.

VH: How did you find the script for Running on Empty?

GD: Amy and I had been interested in radicals--the real hardened ones, the ones who had been living underground and thought that they were still fighting a revolution, who surfaced only to kill a bunch of people for a political idea that grew out of the ‘60s and had somehow gone terribly wrong. I had absolutely no sympathy for them. I understood where their politics originated, but I felt that they were in a complete dream world. They were the same criminals that sell drugs, or blow away cops to rob a bank, for no political reason. The idea that they thought there would be some kind of public uprising over killing a couple of security guards was delusion at its highest. We talked about making a movie on this subject, and then we came across an article about the custody procedure involving kids whose parents were radicals--two boys, 11 and 9. They were younger than the characters in our movie. Their parents were found with a cache of weapons, fighting to overthrow the government so that we would all be free. They were a lot harder than the characters in our film, but we were struck by the family aspect of the story. We went to Naomi Phoner [author of Running on Empty] with the article and talked about the origins of the parents and their political beliefs. We concentrated on the case of blowing up a napalm plant in the early ‘70s. Their pictures were plastered in every post office in the United States and they were on the Ten Most Wanted list. What effect would that have on their children?

VH: When I read articles about these people, there’s always something about them that makes you feel as if they could have been friends of yours in college. There’s something very ordinary about the people who did those things.

GD: Yes, but living on the run for so long, living underground where there’s a network of people that can help you--that’s got to warp your idea of society, because you have ostensibly left society to lead this kind of life. The society you’re trying to overthrow is very different from the one you have in mind once you’ve been underground for a few years.

VH: Did you actually try to contact people who were underground?

GD: Yeah, we spoke to a few people--they were hardly on anyone’s Ten Most Wanted list, but they had a lot to hide from. Naomi had some friends from college, in fact--former SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] higher-ups who were no longer wanted by the law.

VH: How did Sidney Lumet become the director?

GD: He read the script. We were at Lorimar, and Sidney had a contract at Lorimar. We had thought of Sidney quite a bit before we seriously approached directors. He read it and contacted us and told us how much he loved it.

VH: It seems like a good time to make a movie like Running On Empty. Here we are, with the Presidential elections before us...[laughs]

GD: When we were testing Running on Empty, we would show it to college kids. Researchers would ask them about their knowledge of ‘60s radicals, and they would talk about Jane Fonda. I guess they thought she was an SDS student or something and that she lived in the underground. There was very little awareness about the people who were trying to end the Vietnam War.

VH: How much does giving people something to think about have to do with your decisions about what movies you produce?

GD: We assume that other people will be interested in thinking about what we think about. What initially attracted us to Running On Empty was not so much making a political statement. What really drew us to the story were the family and the conflicts in the family. The movie is a sort of extreme exaggeration of what happens to boys or girls when they hit a certain age, when they look at their parents and they’re not parents anymore. They’re human beings with a lot of problems, and they become aware of what it took to raise them. It’s the first feeling that a kid might have of compassion toward his parents, of a sense of even feeling wiser somehow. That’s what attracted me to Running On Empty. It’s that story of looking at your parents and feeling in a funny way stronger than them. You suddenly have this knowledge that the decisions you make can hurt them. If you don’t want to hurt them, you make the proper adjustments. The alternative is to grow up and hurt them because you’ve got to live your own life. This movie is about all the complexities that go on in a family. Maybe there will be disappointment for a lot of politically minded people who think they might find an answer in this movie. It comes out in a much more family-oriented way.

VH: Your parents are remarkable people. I remember reading the story that your father wrote about your sister’s death and the murder trial that followed it. I particularly remember the description of your mother. I’ve always thought that she was unbelievably courageous.

GD: My mother’s an extraordinary person. She’s the strongest person I know.

[Ellen Griffin Dunne founded Justice for Homicide Victims in 1984 to support victims of homicide with legal and financial assistance, as well as counseling and referrals. In 1989, a year after this interview was conducted, Ellen was recognized for her advocacy work by then-President George H.W. Bush. Ellen also suffered from multiple sclerosis starting in the early ‘80s. She passed away in 1997. Justice for Homicide Victims is still operating today.]

VH: Do you think being raised by people like that allows you to try things that other people wouldn’t ordinarily try?

GD: It sure helps. I grew up in a very supportive environment. My parents were not easily shocked by the decisions I made. I was sort of a handful; I got into a lot of trouble when I was growing up. They never succumbed to total despair when I fucked up. I think that’s an important lesson for parents. I grew up with the confidence of knowing that my parents always thought I was going to come out O.K. They always thought I was going to make it, whatever I did.

VH: Did you have any heroes?

GD: I grew up idolizing people all the time. It’s harder and harder to find idols, but for as long as I can remember, I was always a worshiper of other people.

VH: Who?

GD: I was only 9 years old, but I had this obsession with John F. Kennedy. I was convinced I would someday know this guy and we’d become really good friends. [laughs] I called his wife Mrs. Kennedy, and I’d call him Mr. Kennedy whenever I talked about him. I used to write him letters--nothing very political, just to tell him that it was my birthday last week, and my brother did this, and that things kind of stank around the house but that I’d work it out. I would get letters back from his secretary saying that Mr. Kennedy had received my letter, and that was perfectly fine. I remember we used to go to church every Sunday, one day I just put my foot down and refused to go. I just said “I’m not going.” Big fights. They went to church and left me locked in my room. When they came back, my brother and sister and the whole family were glowing. John F. Kennedy and his wife had gone to church that day, and they sat right behind my parents!

VH: Don’t you think they made it up?

GD: Well, even as I’m telling you, I find it just incredible.

VH: Were you a gullible child?

GD: I was always gullible. But I can’t believe they’d be that cruel. I used to lie for years afterward--with the conviction of a total liar who believed it--about the time I went to church and John and Jackie were sitting behind me. Even telling you this, the lie seems true. I turned around, saying, “Hi, Mr. Kennedy, I’m Griffin Dunne. I wrote you these letters.” “Oh yes, Griffin. Oh yes, I got your letters. Just wait until after the service. We’ll talk.” And then as soon as the service was over, he tapped me on the shoulder, and I climbed over the pew. I’m between him and Jackie, and he says, “Have you met my wife?” “Oh, hi, Mrs. Kennedy. Nice to meet you.” He says, “Go on, about those letters.” And we were talking as we were walking outside, and we became friends in that moment. Anyway, he was my major hero. It’s been downhill ever since.

VH: Were you raised a Catholic?

GD: Yes.

VH: Has that had any lasting effect on you?

GD: Well, I think there’s something very Catholic about that fantasy. I was raised a Catholic, and it helped me in being an actor in plenty of ways. I hated church. I always thought those priests gave rather weak performances. I think that’s sort of how I became an actor--an early fantasy was if I were a priest, I’d do a much better job. When I became an altar boy, I became the church-clown altar boy and would bring the priest the wrong vestments.

VH: On purpose?

GD: No, it just worked out that way, but I got laughs.

VH: I’m half Catholic and half Jewish. I think that what I get from being Catholic is that I’m always guilty about something I did that I shouldn’t have done. And what I get from being Jewish is that I’m always guilty about something I should have done that I didn’t do. I heard the other day that the movie you were in that Doris Dorrie directed was banned in this country. I have a feeling this isn’t true, but this movie has a controversial reputation. What’s going on here?

GD: Well, I think it’s probably a “European” movie in that it’s going to open in Europe.

VH: What’s this movie about?

GD: It’s a sensitive tale. It’s about this guy whose penis starts talking to him and it just totally freaks him out. You never see it, so I don’t know why it’s banned. It’s based on a book called Two by Alberto Moravia. It’s a very typical tale, about this guy who’s an architect. He’s at the brink of having some kind of boredom breakdown--he’s married and he has a kid and feels trapped. His penis starts talking to him, screaming at him to wake up and enjoy life. You never see it. It’s all in his mind. It’s basically me talking to myself the whole movie and talking to women and the people in my office. I’m a very ambitious guy in the movie who starts to get ahead through the power of the seduction. He’s a philanderer, very Italian, both cocky and confused at the same time. He has all these desires of getting ahead and finding the perfect woman. I thought the part had a certain kind of charm to it. It might be banned because the movie turns out to look like one of those Ralph Steadman drawings with the back of people’s heads blown out, you know, like a shotgun went off in their mouth. Everybody’s totally distorted, and weird shit is coming out of their mouths. Everybody is very unattractive in a funny way. It’s not as funny as people thought it would be. It’s a much harder movie.

[This last part is interesting to read, because as someone who has watched Me and Him, there’s no animation in the movie whatsoever. I wonder if that was the original plan for the film but it got scrapped for the final product for whatever reason, probably due to budget constraints. I know there’s a ‘70s film based on Moravia’s book as well. My friends over at The Projection Booth did a podcast on this movie, and Doris Dorrie was interviewed and I don’t remember a word being breathed about any animation sequences, so this is the first I’ve heard about this. Griffin is not a big fan of this movie (neither am I) so he hasn’t talked much about it since, and he said he didn’t want to be interviewed about it for the podcast.]

VH: Her other movie, Men, seemed to be about how people of the opposite sex don’t really like each other.

GD: Yeah. I hadn’t thought that at the time, but I definitely think that now. It’s a battle of the sexes, but it’s a battle over which is the uglier sex. There’s nothing terribly crude about it, sexually. Emotionally, it’s very crude. But being directed by a woman on something as intimate as this is a little like playing the part of a dog and being directed by a cat about how you’d feel about being a fire hydrant. You know, the dog’s going to look at this cat and go, “What the fuck do you know about a fire hydrant?” How would you know how I’d feel about sex? Both of us sort of drew a blank. We had no idea what the other was talking about. It was a totally non-communicative experience. I did my job and she did her job. There really weren’t many ways we could help each other out.

VH: Do you think that people genuinely believe that the sexes basically don’t like each other?

GD: No, I think they do like each other, and I think that was what we disagreed on. As much as we would verbalize it and have many discussions, it always boiled down to the point that cruelty between the sexes was different. We disagreed on that. The movie is about how the two sexes dislike each other intensely, which was not, I felt, in the script.

VH: What are you doing next?

GD: Starting a movie with Lasse Hallstrom, who did My Life As A Dog. Amy and I are going to produce a movie. I’m going to be in it. Small part. Nice part. It’s a story, set in Massachusetts, about an Italian-American from a big, close family, whose sisters have all been married. She’s the eldest and the last one to get married. Everybody’s encouraging her to finally get married to this guy she’s been with for six years, and this guy turns out to be a real wimp. He finally admits to her, “I’m never going to marry you.” She’s devastated, and she goes off.

VH: That’s not you, is it?

GD: Hell, no. That is a wimp. So she goes off, and she meets a man who’s close to her father’s age. He’s a very outgoing, tough businessman, who is rich. He sort of tries to buy his way into the family emotionally and financially. While they’re happy for the daughter, the family doesn’t like the man. It’s a battle of the patriarchs and how the man gets caught in the middle. The family never can quite let the husband into their hearts. It’s very painful and it’s very funny. It’s a brilliant script. It’s written from the heart by a woman named Malia Scotch Marmont [This is a misprint. Her name is Malia Scotch Marmo, and she’s also been credited as a writer for Hook and Madeline], who was at a Columbia student. We found the script through the Sundance Institute.

VH: What do you play?

GD: I play the brother-in-law. He’s a guy who is heavily influenced by this very outgoing businessman and starts to take on his mannerisms, much to the discomfort of his wife, who dislikes him. I’m the only one who thinks he’s a pretty good guy. It’s going to be a great movie. I’ve been in Boston with Lasse. He’s from Sweden. I’m showing him the difference between Italian-Americans from Massachusetts and Italian-Americans from New York.

[The movie that Dunne is talking about would be released as Once Around in 1991, starring Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss as the leads. Interestingly enough, Dunne would end up playing that very wimp boyfriend in the movie. The brother-in-law would be played by Tim Guinee].

VH: What’s the difference?

GD: Well, as far as I can tell, the Italian-Americans from Massachusetts are more Yankee at heart. They really are closer to the family, the Mayflower, and they sort of cling to that. They feel a little more American than the New York Italians, like they got there first. The dialects are obviously very different. But we’re trying to make those differences clear to Lasse.

VH: This is his first movie in English?

GD: Yeah. It’s set in a very particular region of the United States. We can help him with the research and the regional differences, but when it comes to the matter of the heart, that’s his job and that’s where he will shine.

VH: If you could do anything you want, what would you do?

GD: I would have the kind of life where I could bury myself in work for an intense period of a year and then leave work for six months and travel somewhere, maybe live in a completely different area of the world and soak up whatever differences and experiences I might gather there and revitalize myself, then do it all over again. I’d have the kind of control of being able to walk away from something I’ve created that will be there when I get back.

VH: When we were talking about family and relationships, I wondered how come you’ve never been married.

GD: Oh, I have been. I have been. I’ve never mentioned it. Everybody who knows me knows that I’ve been married, but I’ve never talked about it before. It hardly deserves this sort of melancholy face I have on right now.

VH: You’re smiling. [laughs]

GD: Yeah. That kind of melancholy. I was married, when I was 18, to a girl who was maybe 19, whom I had met in high school. She was the daughter of the--at the time--head of a film studio. She was very, very beautiful and probably still is. I have no idea. I haven’t seen her since.

VH: Since you married her?

GD: Yeah, I married her and then I never saw her again. [laughs] Didn’t work out. We got married in Tijuana sort of on a dare. When I was 17 we crossed the border to go to Tijuana, and the highway patrol pulled us over, and they knew for some reason we were going to get married. They brought us into the office and tried to talk us out of it. It was a humiliating experience because she was older and the highway patrol cop was sort of hitting on her. I mean, she was really gorgeous--there was just something about her; she exuded a real intense sexuality. I was madly in love with her, as anyone who ever laid eyes on her was. So the highway patrolman is hitting on my wife-to-be, and the other guy has got me in a room, telling me that I should hold off and not marry that piece in the other room for a couple of years, until I know what I’m doing. I was in such a rage that when I turned 18--on my birthday--we got in a car and went right back to Tijuana and got married.

VH: And how long were you married?

GD: A whopping one year. I came back to--we were going to keep it a secret--the apartment we had gotten. I carried her across the threshold of this apartment that had no furniture in it and the phone was ringing, so I dropped her on the wood floor and got the phone--

VH: What a guy.

GD: Well, you see, she was voluptuous, so she weighed a ton. I got the phone, and it was my father, and he was saying “So, how are you?” I said, “Fine.” “Anything new?” I went, “No, no.” He said, “I just came back from the most beautiful wedding I think I’ve ever been in my whole life. This boy--Oh, God, he must have been your age, maybe a little older. But he and that bride, my God. You know the parents--very dear old friends. Your mother and I, when you get married, that’s how we want to do it. Everything was done just right.” And I thought, Why is he telling me this? Why did he happen to go to this beautiful wedding of a peer of mine, and why is he telling me about it? He must know. This is a sign. So I just murmured, “Well, it’s a little late for that.” He said, “What?” I said, “We just married this afternoon in Tijuana.” He roared with laughter. And I was silent. And he said, “Now wait a minute.” He had this kind of chilly tone. “I can’t tell if you’re joking with me now or what.” I said, “No, no. We really did.” And he said, in the coolest voice I have ever heard, “I think you had better come over here right now.” We went over, and both he and my mother were freaked out. I finally got a divorce--not because of that but because it didn’t work out.

VH: Did she get remarried to an aluminum-siding salesman and have six kids and end up living in Kansas?

GD: No, actually she is married to Fabian. I haven’t been married since then. It will happen. But when it does, the highway patrol won’t be involved. It will be a simple, private family affair.

[All evidence indicates that Griffin’s first wife was Kate Netter Forte. I actually read about this on the website whodatedwho but since that website is a dubious source, I mentally filed that under the ‘Unsubstantiated’ category and didn’t look into it any further. Kate’s father was producer Douglas Netter, and it’s reported that she met the former teen idol Fabian on the set of the film Disco Fever, where she played a character named Jill. She’s in about the halfway point of the film. Forte was married to Fabian from 1980 to 1990. She was the president of Harpo films for 18 years before being let go in 2013. Some of the films she helped produce include Tuesdays with Morrie and The Great Debaters.]

[Victoria Hamburg is a producer who helped produce the Keanu Reeves film Johnny Mnemonic (1995), directed by Robert Longo]

#griffin dunne #long read #long reads #interview magazine #1980s #vintage magazine #victoria hamburg #an american werewolf in london #after hours 1985 #this is us #chilly scenes of winter #baby it's you #running on empty

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rulesofthebeneath · 5 years

Text

how bout a dance: part 9

<AN> The long (??) wait is over! This is one of my favorite parts, I hope you guys enjoy.

Credit: @euphonyinestetica

Tagging: @pixelburied @lilmissperfectlyimperfect @witchiegirl @itsbrindleybinch @hufflepvnk @aidenzhous @ravenclawpokegirl25 @catlady0911 @ylevolenahs @awkwardalbatros

</AN>

The sixth week of rehearsal was almost a complete disaster.

During “How ‘Bout A Dance” on Monday, Kevin tripped over his shoelaces and fell flat on his face. He was lucky to not break his nose, but he definitely ruined the mood.

Rosa caught a 24-hour stomach bug on the Tuesday of the sitzprobe, but insisted on coming in to rehearse. She had to run offstage halfway through “That’s What You Call A Dream.” Half the cast caught the bug, and Wednesday’s wander probe had to be canceled.

Andrew and Elijah broke out into a shouting match over whose pants were whose after rehearsal Thursday, leaving them both hoarse on Friday. On the bright side, they were able to represent the animosity between their characters like never before.

On Friday, Grace made her mistake. During “You Love Who You Love,” she leaned too heavily against a set piece and caused it to collapse. The set piece was strong so it survived, but she did have to endure several (well-earned) angry looks from the construction crew head.

She only remembered one thing from the incident, however. Not the angry looks, not the fear when she was falling, but the look on Ajay’s face when he jumped up onstage at a supersonic speed to help her up and check if she was okay. He looked terrified, but then very relieved when he saw she was okay. And that was doing… things to Grace’s emotional state, so much so that she spent the rest of rehearsal half flirting with Kevin-as-Clyde and half casting glances over at Ajay’s desk to see if he had noticed.

She concluded from the look in his eyes—a little jealousy, a little desire, and a little something more—that he definitely had noticed.

To add to her list of evidence was the fact that during breaks and before and after rehearsal, he didn’t seem willing to leave her sight. He’d made up a bad excuse on Thursday about wanting to eat a snack under the heating vent that was her eminent domain because he was cold. They both sat under the vent, so close their arms were pressed together, for ten full minutes.

Furthermore, more than a few times she would look over at him to see him turn his head quickly away, a pink tint covering his cheeks. And his eyes lingered on her whenever she was onstage, almost at risk of ignoring the main action.

Logic told her that this was a bad idea. He was her director for one, and her ex for another. Her head tried to remind her of all the reasons they had broken up in the first place, and all the little things about him that had bothered her, and everything that still did.

But her heart told her that every time he looked at her, her entire body went up in flames. Her heart drew her towards him magnetically whenever she had a break. Her heart warned her not to flirt too much with Kevin-as-Clyde for fear that Ajay might assume she wasn’t interested.

All things considered, it was a war between logic and passion. It needed to end, and soon. Her attraction was growing day by day, interfering with her focus and, though she hated to admit it, hindering her performance. So, during rehearsal on the Saturday right before tech week started, she resolved to fix it by talking to him.

Over the years and throughout a few failed relationships, Grace had learned that honesty was almost always the best policy. Maybe not complete honesty, but she knew that it was easier to talk things through and reach a compromise once everything was out in the open. And that’s what she wanted: a compromise between her head and her heart. Hopefully a compromise that left her less easily distracted by the way he ran his hand through his hair, or by his self-satisfied smile whenever a scene went well.

Yes, she’d tell Ajay how she felt. After rehearsal, once she’d have changed into non-sweaty clothes and put on some fresh deodorant, she’d go find him and ask him to talk. The idea filled her with nervousness, but she knew it had to be done.

So Saturday passed in a blaze of barely-there flirtation, breathless eye contact, and a hand graze as she was walking past him that nearly made her heart jump out of her chest. Until finally the long day was over and she was back in her dressing room, changing and freshening up as quickly as possible so that she could catch him before he left.

But he beat her to it, and just as she was unbraiding her hair he knocked lightly on the door of her dressing room.

“Grace? Are you dressed?”

I’d still let you in even if I wasn’t, she thought, then shook her head. “Yeah,” she called. “Come in.”

He stepped in the room awkwardly, his face a little red and his hands shoved in his pants pockets. He didn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hey?” she said back, a little confused. He rolled his eyes fondly and took a deep breath.

“I wanted to ask if I could talk to you? Alone?”

Her heart skipped a beat.

“Uh, yeah, what is it?”

He shook his head. “Not here. There’s a diner up the street a bit. We could get dinner. Um. If you want?”

She searched his face, trying to gauge his intentions behind this. He was doing an impressive job of keeping his expression neutral, but she saw the badly-masked anxiety in his eyes. Her heart filled with hope, a smile involuntarily spreading across her face. This seemed like the perfect chance to tell him how she felt.

“Yeah, sure! Let me finish up here, then I’ll meet you in the lobby?”

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at her, a little more relaxed.

“Yeah. Take your time.”

Grace decidedly didn’t take her time, finishing unbraiding her hair (Had it really been all lopsided and half-undone that whole time he was here? Crap.) as quickly as possible and brushing it out so it didn’t look too unkempt. She grabbed her bag and all but ran out of the dressing room, almost forgetting to close the door in her haste. She met up with him in the lobby, walking up to him while he was cleaning his glasses on the sleeve of his blazer.

Ajay held the door open for her and they stepped onto the street, both squinting into the bright sun for a few moments. It was a little past five and the streets were starting to get a little crowded for the early dinner rush.

He guided them through the streets, turning a corner at the end of the block and indicating a small, cute-looking diner on the opposite side of the road. Once they got to the diner, sat down, stared at the menus and finally ordered something, Ajay finally looked right at Grace.

“So. I wanted to, um. Talk to you about something,” he started, a small tremor in his voice betraying his nervousness. His hand, resting on the table, shook a little bit. Grace had only seen him this nervous once before, and concluded that only one thing could be making him that nervous. She put her hand on top of his and he flipped his hand to lace their fingers together. His breathing seemed to ease a little bit at that, but he still looked unsure. She squeezed his hand and gave him a knowing smile.

“Let me do it this time?”

He hesitated for a second, looking like he was about to protest– but then he nodded, clearly relieved, signaling for her to take the lead.

She hadn’t quite planned out how to say this, hoping that the right words would come to her as she spoke. Now that she was here, looking at him and trying to remember how to breathe, she realized that that was a terrible strategy. She wanted to go back in time and kick her own ass for that stupid decision. But it didn't matter. She’d made her choice, and this was the consequence.

“Um,” she said inelegantly, and Ajay started laughing.

“Hey! You couldn’t do it either!” she argued, but fell in with his laughter too. The tension between them dissipated all at once.

“Fair enough,” he said, calming down slightly. “Well, go on. I think we both know what’s going on here, but one of us has to say it and you said you would, so it’s your problem now.” He smirked at her, eyes sparkling.

“Fine,” she huffed, pretending to be exasperated. She started again.

“Ajay,” she said more quietly, more seriously, “I don’t know when it happened, probably about a week ago, but it came to my attention that I probably have feelings for you.”

He raised his eyebrows, but a small smile spread across his face at her words. “It came to your attention? What are you, an HR representative coming to reprimand me?”

“Let me live! I’m so nervous!” she protested, threatening to let go of his hand with a smile. He just held on tighter. She rolled her eyes and started again.

“I like you, you dork! And I’m pretty sure you like me back. And I want us to be together. It would have to be after the show ended, though, because I don’t think it’s professional for a director and an actor to start dating in the middle of a show? Wait, that’s assuming you also wanted to date. You might not. God, I probably should’ve started by asking you that–”

He cut her rambling off by squeezing her hand.

“Grace. Yes, yes I want to be with you. Don’t freak out, I thought I was making it pretty obvious. And I also think we should wait until after the show ends.” He ran his thumb in circles over the back of her hand.

“Oh.” Her eyes went wide.

“Yeah.”

“Well,” she started, not knowing what to say.

He just looked at her, his eyes roving all over her face like he was trying to take in every detail of her appearance. His expression went impossibly soft, and his smile was just as sweet. She had never wanted to kiss anyone so badly in her entire life, and she was about to throw caution to the wind and just go for it when the waitress laid their plates on the table, effectively pushing her back into reality. She reluctantly let go of his hand to start eating.

After a minute or so, Ajay started talking again.

“So it might suck, but I think it might actually be good for us to have to wait the five weeks between now and the end of the show’s run.”

“Yeah? How come?”

“Well I mean, I know we’ve both had problems with relationships, especially ones that got too serious too fast. I think it’ll be good for us to have to wait, because then we can really prove to ourselves that this is something worth waiting for.”

“Hmm, I like the way you think!” Grace smiled at him. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to keep my hands off you for five weeks.”

“Nor do I,” Ajay admitted, a little smirk on his face. “But I’m confident we’ll make it through. And then we can be a power couple, like the good old days.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. Oh, that reminds me, I was thinking the other day about why our relationship didn’t work out back then, to try and see what we should avoid this time around.”

“I mean, it was because I moved three thousand miles away, wasn’t it?” He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Well, that was most of it. We also didn’t really have the best communication,” Grace said quietly, afraid of offending him. “Like we talked about the other day.”

“That’s fair.” He shrugged. “We just weren’t mature enough.”

“That’s exactly what I thought. So can we try and do better about that this time?”

“Definitely,” he said with a smile.

The two finished their dinner and split the bill, at Grace’s insistence. They stepped outside the restaurant, taking in the pale beginnings of the sunset.

A current of wind blew Grace’s hair in front of her face, and Ajay turned to her and pushed it back behind her ears. Then, he swept Grace into his arms and softly pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was short and sweet and almost over by the time Grace registered what was going on, but it made her heart stop all the same. It felt like a promise, and it felt a little like their first kiss all over again.

“Five weeks. Thirty five days. I’ll be counting every second,” Ajay said with a smile.

“Oh, me too. You don’t even know.”

Ajay took her hand and lifted it to his lips, softly kissing the back. He dropped it and started off in the other direction, while she stood stock-still outside the restaurant and watched the sun go down behind the buildings.

Once she finally remembered how to use her legs, she made the forty-five minute journey back to her apartment. She couldn’t quite keep a smile off her face the entire time, and she turned red as soon as she opened the door to her apartment and Mayleen took in her expression, eyes going wide.

“Oh my god, tell me everything!” Mayleen squealed, pulling them both down onto the couch. Grace set her bag down on the floor. She told Mayleen everything about the flirting between them all week, how he had showed up at her dressing room, and about the kiss that simultaneously made her melt into a puddle and burn into ashes. Grace couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, still remembering how his lips had felt against hers, lingering in that half-second. When she returned to reality, she noticed Mayleen looked more than a little wistful.

“You okay?” Grace nudged her.

“Yeah, I just… all this is making me think about, well… Rosa,” Mayleen admitted, face quickly reddening.

“Awwwwww!” Grace cooed. “Are you gonna ask her out?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Um, yes?!” Grace nearly shouted. “You guys would be so good together!”

“You think? And it’s not, like weird? Because she’s your friend, and…” Mayleen trailed off.

Grace rolled her eyes. “Yes, I do think you’d be good together. And no, of course it’s not weird! Honestly, it’s an excuse to have her over more often,” she joked. “But seriously, though. Ask her to get dinner or coffee or something, maybe tomorrow? It’s the calm before the storm that is tech week.”

“Ugh, fine! I’ll call her right now.”

Mayleen retreated to her room, grinning widely, but Grace stayed on the couch for a bit. Despite being exhausted from rehearsal, she felt completely warm and content inside.

#how bout a dance #ella i owe u my life #hbad part 9 #hssca #high school story #high school story class act #high school story: class act #high school story: class act choices #ajay x mc #ajay bhandari #long post #long fic #choices fanfic #my fanfic #hbad

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Common Language.

With her third feature, Lingua Franca, now on Netflix, Filipina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval talks to Valerie Complex about undocumented immigrant workers, sensual cinematography, taking narrative risks and Steven Soderbergh’s sexiest film.

“I’m not the type of filmmaker that is into crowd-pleasing and I think that resonates with audiences.” —Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval’s films have an auteur, European appeal; they take their time. Inspired by cinematic film legends including Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai and James Gray, Sandoval is pushing forward in an industry reluctant to change, creating narratives that speak to her existence, and her experience.

After making two feature films set in her native Philippines (Apparition, Señorita), Sandoval relocates to her adopted hometown, New York City—or at least a small seaside corner of it—for her third film. Lingua Franca follows Olivia (played by Sandoval), an undocumented Filipina trans woman who is looking to secure a green card so she can continue to stay and work in the US. Olivia knows the only way to legal status in present-day America is through marriage, but struggles to find the right person to accept her offer.

Green-card marriages also cost money. Olivia takes a job as a live-in caregiver for Olga (Lynn Cohen), an elderly Russian woman living in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. She soon finds a love interest in her client’s grandson Alex (Australian actor Eamon Farren), and her future seems solidified. Or is it? As anxiety about deportation mounts, Olivia strives to maintain autonomy in a world that continually rejects her.

The slow, meditative nature of Lingua Franca has already found fans on Letterboxd. “Trans narratives are so often couched in dramatic twists and turns, but here we get something so much more gentle,” writes Connor. Sandoval’s turn as a woman searching for her truth while existing at the intersections of marginalization is also hitting home. “This is the hardest I've been struck by a performance since Jeon Do-yeon's masterful display in Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine back in 2007,” writes Joshua. “I really cannot believe this is Isabel's first performance and I certainly believe that it won't be her last.”

Sandoval instinctively injects concepts of immigration, loneliness, and displacement throughout Lingua Franca in a way that doesn’t overwhelm, but does force deep empathy. “Artfully plays with a lot of themes at once,” agrees Letterboxd member Oluwatayo.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of ‘lingua franca’—“something resembling a common language”—can be interpreted in various ways. For Sandoval, she aims to create her own common language of passion, pain and new beginnings. With migrant workers sharing a common language of homesickness in every corner of the world, I had to ask why she chose New York to be the setting for this emotional drama.

Isabel Sandoval (as Olivia) and Eamon Farren (as Alex) on Brighton Beach, New York.

Letterboxd: What is it about New York that made the setting work for you and Lingua Franca? Is it the diversity of the environment or…? Isabel Sandoval: You know, growing up in the Philippines, New York was seen as romantic. I wanted to put my stamp and unique views of life in New York City. I wanted to do two things with Lingua Franca: I wanted to do my own New York movie from the perspective and the gaze of a foreigner and an immigrant, and I wanted to make a different kind of film that was quiet and patient. I wrote the script around the time when Trump got elected president, which painted a perfect storm for the premise, story and view of the film. I was also influenced by the James Gray film Two Lovers, which was filmed in Brighton Beach.

That’s not an easy thing to accomplish in a New York movie, yet you manage to do that with such patience and quiet and subtlety. I was shocked. But, you know, New York is not all crazy. There are places that are quiet. Exactly! Especially in Brooklyn. I wanted to capture the different worlds that exist block to block in the film.

Your movie deals with a lot of themes: family, immigration and romance… I’m always drawn to stories with a socio-political point of view about women who are marginalized and forced to make intensely personal decisions. French filmmaker Jean Cocteau once said: “Filmmakers make the same movie over and over”. As you progress and make more films, and you’re being involved as a storyteller, you’re beginning to polish; your style becomes more evident and sophisticated. That’s just the story I felt attached to because it was one I was passionate about and it was the right time to create it.

How do you feel about being embraced by the film community, both domestically and abroad? Tribeca, Locarno, SXSW and Venice are among the festivals that have premiered your films. It’s vindicating to me. My first feature film shot and produced in the US screened internationally, but, with Lingua Franca, it’s come full circle. I think critics now embrace and know that I have a voice and a sensibility that’s worth exploring more. They want to involve a filmmaker with different views, especially in an industry where you need to conform to certain formulas and certain group things in terms of how we approach certain issues or certain things or certain ideas. It truly makes me feel independent.

Art-house film and cinema has long been associated, or at least for the last fifteen years, with really gritty, social-realist drama. I’ve received reviews of my film that criticize it for not being romantic enough. My film captures emotions that are not easy, obvious and straightforward. I’m not the type of filmmaker that is into crowd-pleasing and I think that resonates with audiences.

You are the director, the star, the editor, and the producer of Lingua Franca. How did you stay organized enough to manage all of those tasks? I have one job and that is to make a film and tell a story. I had a clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish, and honestly, it’s me being a stubborn auteur.

The camera work is really sensual and intimate. What conversations took place between you and cinematographer, Isaac Banks, and what, if any other films, were the inspiration for that look? He and I discussed patience and sensuality often, so that’s why Wong Kar-wai had quite an influence on my work with In the Mood for Love and also Christian Petzold, the German director, who directed Transit and Phoenix.

Lingua Franca places a particular lens on the fragility of Filipino, migrant culture. In the film, Olivia exists at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, ICE and Covid-19—and you lay that all on the table here. What do you hope the audience will see in Olivia’s story at this time? She’s a trans woman, she is a woman of color, she is an immigrant, but she’s also more than the sum of these individual parts. I know my film demands a lot of intellectual and emotional labor, but it’s important that viewers think deeply and critically about Olivia’s motivations, which may seem contradictory and complex. I want Lingua Franca to be an emotional experience, even if it’s not the most comfortable to watch. If I get one audience member to do the emotional legwork of trying to understand where the main character is coming from, I will feel complete as a filmmaker.

What do you think is the must-see Filipino film, classic or new? [Peque Gallaga’s] Oro, Plata, Mata, which came out in 1982. It is a multi-generational tale set in central Philippines. It’s just a sprawling, dramatic epic, and it’s one of the films that made me want to be a filmmaker. It’s not the most technically polished film, but it takes risks narratively. At the end of the day, it’s not about how big the production is. It’s your willingness to be expansive and explorative as a filmmaker that counts.

What do you consider the sexiest film you’ve ever seen? Out of Sight by Steven Soderbergh.

Out of Sight?! I did not see that coming. Yes! That film doesn’t have any sex scene, but it’s the level of seduction for me. I think sensuality is not necessarily a physical encounter between bodies, but the patience and longing of the moment.

What is your all-time favorite comfort film? A League of Their Own by Penny Marshall. That was the first movie that I saw where I bawled in the last ten minutes of the film.

If I were doing a triple feature with Lingua Franca, what two films would you recommend to watch before or after? I would recommend Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, which is another interracial love story between a German woman and a Moroccan immigrant. The other one would be Two Lovers by James Gray, which is set by the beach.

Isabel Sandoval (as Olivia) and Lynn Cohen (as Olga) in ‘Lingua Franca’.

[Spoiler warning: The final two questions concern aspects of the film’s ending.]

I thought the ending of your film was powerful, because we’re right back at the beginning of Olivia’s journey. Sometimes things don’t work out and you have to pick up the pieces and move forward. Exactly! I also wanted to make a point that even though we are focusing on Olivia, I pulled the camera back to highlight bigger sociological themes. She is one of many immigrants in the script and their fates are not resolved by the end of this movie. I wanted that to be a subtle reminder this type of thing becomes cyclical. Life goes on, it’s just another day. Olivia is a displaced immigrant woman in America where Trump is president. Whereas Olga, who’s Ukranian-Jewish, left her home country fifty or sixty years ago in the aftermath of the Holocaust. I wanted people to see this connection.

Based on the meaning of ‘lingua franca’, was that your original choice or for the title? The definition really fits the story. The film is an invitation to the audience to really pay closer attention to language—the language of things said and unsaid. That probably was also a big point of decision for me to open and close the film with words in Tagalog, which is my native language. A lot of people have asked “why didn’t Olivia accept the marriage proposal?” at the end of the film. Sure, that would’ve been practical, but I invite the audience to look at the language between Alex and Olivia. I challenge them to look beyond Olivia as just an immigrant without papers or as a trans woman looking for love, but this is a woman who is taking her agency back and her ability to determine her life moving forward.

Related content

Leonora Anne Mint’s list of Films by Transgender Writers and Directors.

The Top 100 Filipino Films on Letterboxd.

Jojo Kuneho’s lists of Tagalog movies.

Philippines: The Ultimate List.

Follow Valerie on Letterboxd.

‘Lingua Franca’ is distributed by ARRAY Releasing and is available on Netflix.

#isabel sandoval #transgender filmmakers #trans director #trans filmmaker #new york films

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bluewatsons · 4 years

Text

Françoise Baylis & Jocelyn Downie, The Tale of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada: A Tragedy in Five Acts, 25 Canadian J Women & Law 183 (2013)

In the spring of 2012, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC)—the federal agency tasked with the oversight of assisted human reproduction in Canada—was abolished through the passage of the omnibus budget bill. This ignominious end was in part a response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act. However, as we recount in this article, it was also a result of a series of squandered opportunities to regulate assisted human reproduction in the interests of those who use or are born of assisted human reproductive technologies. This article details the genesis, life, and death of the AHRC. We conclude that many millions of public dollars and many hours of experts’ time have been spent, all for naught.

Prologue

This sorry tale unveils no secrets. Nonetheless, it will be surprising to many. The facts carefully pieced together by the authors—at times, actors in this story— provide a clear picture of events that led to the decimation of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA) and the demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC).1 The “what” of this story is a tragedy; the “why” remains a mystery.

Sadly, as a result of squandered opportunities and wasted money in the arena of the regulation of assisted human reproduction, Canadians are worse off now than they were before the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (Royal Commission) recommended national oversight of assisted human reproduction. At the time of the Royal Commission, there was genuine hope that we would have a responsible federally regulated system that would protect the interests of Canadians. It took a long time, but we did get legislation that may have been flawed from the perspective of some but did nonetheless seriously attend to the interests of women and children. Unfortunately, this legislation was never fully operationalized and, as most will know, was eviscerated by the Supreme Court of Canada. The net result is that we no longer have some of the significant protections that were once in the AHRA, and there is little prospect of getting those protections back in the near future.

Behind the publicly available (albeit frequently difficult to find) facts are individual actors who made decisions for reasons that are known only to themselves and (maybe) to a few close friends or colleagues. Speculation might have once explained the past with reference to changes in staff at Health Canada, to personal agendas in the Prime Minister’s Office and various ministries, to a general lack of political will, to incompetence at the AHRC, or to the Québec government’s constitutional challenge to the AHRA. However, the fact is that we cannot know why history played out as it did.

Act One: 1989 to 2007

In 1989, Canada’s Royal Commission was announced2—the fruition of many years of intense lobbying for the regulation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and related interventions.3 The commission’s mandate was to inquire into and report upon current and potential medical and scientific developments related to new reproductive technologies, considering in particular their social, ethical, health, research, legal and economic implications and the public interest, recommending what policies and safeguards should be applied.4

In 1993, the Royal Commission issued its final report, Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.5 This report included 293 policy recommendations, a majority of which required action by the federal government. Furthermore, the final report specifically enjoined the federal government to develop comprehensive legislation:

Given what we learned through extensive consultation, data collection, and analysis over the life of our mandate, we share the widely held public view that new reproductive technologies raise issues of a magnitude and importance that not only warrant but require a national response. We reject the argument that new reproductive technologies as a general matter should continue to be subdivided into component parts and left to the provincial legislatures, or delegated to self-governing professional bodies, for regulation on a province-by-province or even an institution-by-institution basis. Considering the overarching nature, profound importance, and fundamental inter-relatedness of the issues involved, we consider that federal regulation of new reproductive technologies—under the national concern branch of the peace, order, and good government power, as well as under the criminal law, trade and commerce, spending, and other relevant federal constitutional powers—is clearly warranted.6

Acting on the recommendations of the Royal Commission, the federal government introduced Bill C-47 (An Act Respecting Human Reproductive Technologies and Commercial Transactions Relating to Human Reproduction) in 1996.7 This bill was very brief and focused narrowly on prohibited activities. It did not include controlled activities and did not include a federal oversight agency. Before the legislative process was completed, however, an election was called. When Parliament was dissolved in the spring of 1997, the bill died on the order paper. Years later, in May 2001, Proposals for Legislation Governing Assisted Human Reproduction were presented by the minister of health to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.8 The committee’s report was issued in December 2001. The report included a number of recommendations including the recommendation that a federal regulatory body be established to license, monitor, and enforce the Act.

In May 2002, a new bill, Bill C-56 (An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction) was introduced in the House of Commons.9 This bill, based on the federal criminal law power, included controlled activities in addition to prohibited activities, and it also included provisions for the establishment of a federal over- sight agency. That same year (2002), Parliament was prorogued. Again, the bill died on the order paper. When Parliament resumed, Bill C-56 was reinstated at the same stage in the legislative process as in the previous session of Parliament (but as Bill C-13).10 Bill C-13 met the same fate as its predecessor after the thirty-seventh Parliament was prorogued for a second time in 2003. And, finally, Bill C-6 (An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research) (formerly Bill C-13) was introduced and passed all three readings on 11 February 2004, received royal assent on 29 March 2004, and came into force on 22 April 2004.11 Thus, the AHRA included prohibitions on conduct and the regulation of controlled activities within the domain of assisted human reproduction and provided for the establishment of a federal agency to be known as the AHRC.12

The AHRA set out the following praiseworthy objectives for the AHRC:

22. (a) to protect and promote the health and safety, and the human dignity and human rights, of Canadians, and

(b) to foster the application of ethical principles, in relation to assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies.

To that end, the AHRC had the following statutory powers:

24. (1)

(a) exercise the powers in relation to licences under this Act;13

(b) provide advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(c) monitor and evaluate the developments within Canada and internationally in assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(d) consult persons and organizations within Canada and internationally;

(e) collect, analyse and manage health reporting information relating to controlled activities;

(f) provide information to the public and to the professions respecting assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies, and their regulation under this Act, and respecting risk factors associated with infertility;

(g) designate inspectors and analysts for the enforcement of this Act; and

(h) do anything that is reasonably necessary or incidental to achieving the Agency’s objectives.

As well, additional AHRC powers related to the collection and analysis of health reporting information, licensing, inspection, and enforcement activities were provided through sections 14-19 (management of information) and sections 40-59 (administration, inspection, and enforcement) of the AHRA.

Not long after the AHRA was passed, on 4 December 2004, the government of Québec applied to the Québec Court of Appeal for an answer to the following question:

Les articles 8 à 12 de la Loi sur la procréation assistée, L.C. 2004, ch. 2, excèdent-ils, en tout ou en partie, la compétence du Parlement du Canada en vertu de la Loi constitutionelle de 1867?14

The constitutional question was modified and expanded on 14 February 2006:

Les articles 8 à 19, 40 à 53, 60, 61 et 68 de la Loi sur la procréation assistée, L.C. 2004, ch.2, excèdent-ils, en tout ou en partie, la competence du Parlement du Canada en vertu de la Loi constitutionelle de 1867?15

This was the beginning of what would ultimately result in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act (Reference re AHRA).16

Meanwhile, efforts to establish the AHRC as mandated by the legislation stalled. It would be nearly two years from the time the AHRA was passed until the AHRC was formally established on 12 January 2006 by an Order in Council.17 And it would be nearly another year (21 December 2006) before the president, chairperson, and Board of Directors of the AHRC were named.18 In the interim, there was a change in government. The Liberal Party introduced the legislation and established the AHRC. The Conservative Party inherited the legislation and the AHRC but had control over the membership of the AHRC. Finally, on 14 February 2007, the AHRC opened its doors and the first Board of Directors meeting was held on 25-7 March 2007.19 In total, there was a three-year delay between the AHRA coming into force and the creation of the legally mandated federal agency responsible for the oversight of reproductive technologies through licensing, monitoring, inspection, and enforcement activities related to assisted human reproduction.

Delay in establishing the AHRC was not the only early problem to plague the agency. In addition, there was “political interference” in the independent peer review process established under the Liberal government to identify suitable candidates for Board membership.20 Shortly after the AHRA came into force, Canadians were invited to apply for board membership.21 An independent expert selection committee was created to review applications and to make recommendations to government.22 Recommendations were made to government but were not acted upon while the Liberal Party formed the government. When the Conservative Party formed the government in January 2006, they “eschewed the recommendations of the expert selection committee in favour of political appointments.”23 Only two of the twenty-five candidates selected from the applicant pool, and recommended by the independent expert selection committee, were among those named to the Board of Directors.24 At the time, concerns about “the possibility of political interests at work”25 were voiced in relation to the perceived conservative background of four of the eight board members.26

Furthermore, while the original list of recommended candidates included patients, the inaugural AHRC Board of Directors did not include a patient representative among its members.27 Meanwhile, section 26 of the AHRA stipulated that board membership must “reflect a range of backgrounds and disciplines relevant to the Agency’s objectives.”28 It is difficult (if not impossible) to imagine how the perspective of those who avail themselves of assisted reproductive technologies could not be seen as the most important of backgrounds relevant to the agency’s objectives. In this way, the original membership of the Board of Directors did not meet the spirit of the legislation.29

Another important challenge for the agency was the absence of the regulations required for the AHRC to fulfil its mandate under the AHRA. Much of the substance of the AHRA was left to regulations, and, owing to the absence of regulations, key sections of the AHRA were held in abeyance. Most importantly, as noted earlier, the following sections of the AHRA concerning the powers of the AHRC never came into force:

24. (1) The Agency may (a) exercise the powers in relation to licenses under the Act . . . (e) collect, analyse and manage health reporting information relating

to controlled activities . . . (g) designate inspectors and analysts for the enforcement of this Act.

Given the pivotal importance of the regulations in operationalizing the AHRA, one would have anticipated urgent action by Health Canada to get the regulations writ- ten and passed as quickly as possible. Instead, not a single regulation was introduced in the three years between the passage of the AHRA and the AHRC becoming operational.

The regulations for section 8 were registered on 14 June 2007 and came into force on 1 December 2007.30 In between, the Québec Court of Appeal heard the Québec Attorney General’s constitutional challenge to the AHRA in September 2007. Sadly, these myriad failings on the part of the federal government and the AHRC foreshadowed future failures to respect the terms and intentions of the AHRA. With such an inauspicious and foreboding beginning, we turn now to Act Two.

Act Two: 2008 to 2010

Act Two, Scene One: AHRC

In June 2008, the Québec Court of Appeal found in favour of the Attorney General of Québec and held that the challenged provisions of the AHRA were unconstitutional as falling outside the jurisdiction of the federal Parliament. The case then moved into the Supreme Court of Canada’s appeal process. Against this backdrop, the AHRC still had a job to do. However, as noted earlier, regulations were needed to give effect to the AHRC’s powers. Meanwhile, with the exception of the regulations for section 8, no regulations were introduced. By failing to introduce the necessary regulations, the federal government, and more particularly Health Canada, helped set the stage for the ultimate demise of the AHRC.

Two discrete official explanations have been offered by Health Canada for its failure to introduce the requisite regulations. One explanation was that Health Canada must follow the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation in developing options and recommendations for Assisted Human Reproduction. The Directive is designed to protect and advance the public interest by working with Canadians and other governments to ensure that its regulatory activities result in the greatest overall benefit to current and future generations of Canadians. The Directive includes clear requirements for the development, implementation, evaluation and review of regulations. The Government must weigh the benefits of alternatives to regulations—and of alternative regulations—against their cost, and focus resources where they can do the most good.31

The problem with this explanation is that the AHRA came into force on 22 April 2004 and the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation only came into force 1 April 2007.32 This directive, therefore, cannot possibly account for the delay from April 2004 to April 2007. As for the subsequent two-year delay between the introduction of the directive in 2007 and this proffered explanation in 2009, no in- formation or evidence is provided in regard to Health Canada’s obligation under the directive to assess “the costs and benefits of regulatory and non-regulatory measures, including government inaction.”33

A second explanation for the delay was that Health Canada has decided to delay the prepublication of draft regulations in Canada Gazette, Part I, until an opinion is provided by the Supreme Court of Canada on the constitutionality of parts of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHR Act). Work continues unabated to develop proposed regulations under the Act.34

Appearing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, the minister of health, Leona Aglukkaq, rehearsed this explanation:

In terms of the work that Assisted Human Reproduction Canada is doing, as the member [Member of Parliament Carolyn Bennett] is well aware, we are dealing with a situation that is before the Supreme Court. The agency is not able to fully implement the full scope of the legislation that is in place before us until the court decision has been made, particularly around the development of the regulations to further proceed.

So in the meantime, the agency continues to do work within the scope of the legislation, and it will continue to do so until the decision is rendered. Once a decision is made through the courts on the challenge that came forward from Quebec, we’ll be able to proceed further related to the regulations that are required for the full implementation of the legislation.35

The problem with this second explanation is that the Québec challenge included section 8 and yet the government brought forward and put into force the consent-to-use regulations after the Québec government had launched its challenge to the AHRA.36 If active litigation was not a reason to hold off on developing and introducing regulations for section 8, then it could not legitimately be the reason for holding off on developing and introducing the other needed regulations.

While neither of the explanations provided by the federal government is satis- factory, the fact remains that, with the singular exception of the consent-to-use regulations, the regulations that were to accompany the legislation were not introduced and the AHRC was effectively marginalized. In the absence of the regulations required to fulfil much of its mandate, the AHRC’s possible accomplishments were essentially limited to business undertaken with respect to a few subsections of section 24. In brief, consistent with general responsibilities outlined in section 24 (b), (c), and (d), the president and chair of the Board of Directors met with the minister; the AHRC established three sub-committees and one advisory panel (the Tripartite Committee, the Healthy Singleton Births Committee, the AHR/ART- Related Outcome Committee, and the Science Advisory Panel); and the AHRC com- missioned a set of research papers on cross-border reproductive care and hosted the First Invitational International Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety.37

Furthermore, consistent with section 24(f), the AHRC developed educational products (brochures and a website) and hosted a number of invitational meetings, including a Multiple Births Round Table and an Oncofertility Symposium.38 In anticipation of eventual responsibilities with respect to section 24(g) and sections 45–59, the AHRC entered into a memorandum of understanding with Health Can- ada to have Health Canada’s inspectorate enforce the AHRA under the direction of the AHRC.39 The AHRC also entered into an agreement with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for investigation of allegations of non-compliance with the AHRA.40

Consistent with section 24(h), the AHRC implemented the section 8 consent-to-use regulations under the AHRA. Finally, presumably also under section 24(h), the AHRC transferred funds to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in support of research on assisted human reproduction.41

While the AHRC was active with respect to some of its powers, it could hardly be characterized as a robust agency for the protection and promotion of the health and well-being of children born through the use of assisted human reproductive technologies and of other persons affected by these technologies, most particularly women.42 As noted earlier, some of this inactivity most certainly was due to the lack of regulations. However, a number of unchallenged important provisions did not require regulations (for example, sections 5-7), so the AHRC could have been more proactive with respect to its responsibility to promote the enforcement of the Act. There is no evidence of such activity on the part of the AHRC. Furthermore, the AHRC had the power to advise the minister of the imperative for Health Canada to introduce regulations. There is no evidence that the AHRC provided such advice to the minister. The AHRC also had the power to direct the Health Canada Inspectorate to be more active with respect to the enforcement of the AHRA. There is no evidence that the AHRC so directed the Health Canada Inspectorate.

This lack of activity is all the more troubling when the AHRC’s costs are taken into consideration. The actual annual expenditures were substantial ($134,000 for 2006–07;43 $4,898,000 for 2007–08;44 $5,289,000 for 2008–09;45 $5,200,000 for 2009–10;46 and $5,200,000 for 2010–11).47 These are arguably exorbitant amounts of money to pay for not much more than some Board of Director meetings, committee meetings, workshops, pamphlets, a website, and one international forum.

It should be noted here that this admittedly harsh assessment is supported by the Core Control Audit of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada from the Office of the Comptroller General.48 The objective of the audit was “to ensure that controls over financial management were effective and conducted in a manner that was compliant with corresponding legislation, policies, and directives at Assisted Human Reproduction Canada.”49 The audit covered fiscal years 2008–09 and 2009–10. The assistant comptroller general concluded that “[d]uring the period covered by this audit, the Agency did not have effective controls in place over financial management and were [sic] not conducted in a manner compliant with the requirements contained in eleven of thirteen policies, directives and corresponding legislation.”50

Act Two, Scene Two: The AHRC Board of Directors

As noted earlier, the AHRC Board of Directors was named in December 2006 and held its first meeting in March 2007.51 The board was established with the following responsibilities:

30. The board of directors is responsible for the overall management of the Agency, including:

(a) the provision of advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies, or on any matter referred to the Agency by the Minister;

(b) the approval of the Agency’s goals and operational policies;

(d) the evaluation of the Agency’s performance.52

In the spring of 2010, three board members resigned: Françoise Baylis, professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Barbara Slater, policy expert (formerly with the Ontario government) in Toronto, Ontario; and Irene Ryll, patient representative from Edmonton, Alberta. The first to resign was Françoise Baylis “after coming to the conclusion that the agency was failing to enforce, or was actively undermining, the principles of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.”53 In the fall of 2010, these board members testified before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Health in regard to the many problems that had spurred them to resign.54 With respect to the Board of Directors’ legislated responsibilities, the following problems were identified: the Board of Directors of the AHRC (as distinct from the AHRC) never gave advice to the minister (section 30(a)); the Board of Directors gave approval for agency goals and operational policies identified by the president but was pre- vented from shaping or directing these goals or policies (section 30(b)); the Board of Directors did not vote on the 2008–09 AHRC annual budget (section 30(c));55 and the Board of Directors’ approval for other annual budgets can at best be described as pro forma (section 30(c)).

Following the resignations of three board members, further problems with the AHRC budgets were identified, including “difficulty getting line-item annual budgets, a lack of recorded votes, trouble getting the agency’s president to reveal what percentage of the budget was being spent on board governance . . . concerns over more than $2 million the agency allocated to consulting contracts in 2009–2010, while offering the board members little information about the services to be provided.”56 More generally, “requests for information about the budget consistently met with resistance from the president.”57 For example, board members were not told, despite repeated requests, the cost to taxpayers for the First Invitational Inter- national Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety, which was hosted by the AHRC.

Act Three: 2010 to 2012

On 22 December 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its ruling in response to the Québec government’s challenge to the constitutionality of the AHRA.58 Sections 10, 11, 13, 14–18, 40(2), (3), (3.1), (4), and (5), and sections 44(2) and (3) were struck down. Sections 8, 9, 12, 19, and 60 were upheld. Sections 40(1), (6), and (7), 41–3, 44(1) and (4), 45–53, 61, and 68 were upheld to the extent they related to constitutionally valid provisions. As a result of the decision, the AHRC lost much of its raison d’être. The agency nonetheless retained the following powers:

24 (1)

(b) provide advice to the Minister on assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(c) monitor and evaluate the developments within Canada and internationally in assisted human reproduction and other matters to which this Act applies;

(d) consult persons and organizations within Canada and internationally;

(h) do anything that is reasonably necessary or incidental to achieving the Agency’s objectives.

The AHRC also retained powers with respect to administration, inspection, and enforcement in relation to the following activities:

prohibited procedures, offering to do or advertising of prohibited procedures, payment or offering consideration for doing any prohibited procedures;59

payment for surrogacy, acting as an intermediary for surrogacy, payment to intermediaries for surrogacy, minimum age of surrogate mothers;60

purchase of gametes, purchase or sale of embryos, purchase of other reproductive material;61

use of reproductive material without consent (inter vivos or post-humous);62

obtaining of gametes from minors;63 and

reimbursement of expenditures in relation to gametes, embryos, and surrogacy.64

Significantly, while much of the AHRA was struck down, the prohibition on the purchase, offer to purchase, or advertising for purchase of gametes and embryos and the provisions with respect to the regulation of reimbursements for gametes, embryos, and surrogacy and the implementation and enforcement of these sections were upheld. Thus, the agency retained extremely important responsibilities and powers.

Presumably in recognition of these responsibilities and powers, implementation of the agency’s compliance and enforcement program was identified among the activities for 2010–11 and listed among the priorities for 2011–12.65 However, as with previous years, there is no evidence available suggesting that progress was made with respect to this aspect of the mandate. Activities undertaken in 2010–11 included:

frequent interactions with health care professionals, patient support groups, and individual Canadians to educate and inform;

promotion of evidence-based best practices;

educational products (brochures/website); and

oncofertility symposium.66

Priorities listed for 2011–12 included:

knowledge transfer and promotion of evidence-based best practices;

implementation of stakeholder outreach program;

delivery of patient/client group outreach strategy;

integration of the results of the Canadian Community Health Survey Infertility Rapid Response Module into health promotion and educational planning; and activities to increase awareness of the risk factors associated with infertility.67

Meanwhile, during this same time period, regulations were desperately needed for the legislation to become operational and for the AHRC to fulfil its mandate (for example, regulations with respect to reimbursement for expenditures under section 12).68 The earlier rationale for perpetual delays in introducing the requisite regulations, namely waiting for the Reference re AHRA, was no longer plausible.

Sections of the AHRA upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada required regulations, and yet these regulations were not forthcoming. While the AHRC did not have the authority or responsibility to draft and introduce the regulations, it certainly had the authority (and, we would argue, the responsibility) to advise the minister to press Health Canada to draft and pass regulations.

During this time period, neither the law member who had resigned previously for personal reasons nor any of the board members who had resigned in 2010 (as described earlier) were replaced. As a result, the law, ethics, policy, and patient backgrounds were not represented on the Board of Directors. Indeed, of the allowable maximum number of members (thirteen), there were only seven members. While the AHRA required that “the membership of the board of directors must reflect a range of backgrounds and disciplines relevant to the Agency’s objectives,” the membership only included three physicians, one senior health administrator, one president of a project management and communications company, a chair of Jewish Studies, and the director of research and senior communications consultant for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

In addition, during this time period, allegations of non-compliance with the constitutionally valid parts of the AHRA were brought to the AHRC’s attention.69 And yet, no effective action appears to have been taken. Once again, the mandate and powers far outstripped the activities. Once again, the lack of activity and impact is particularly troubling when held up to the annual price tag—in 2010-11, the agency spent $5.2 million.70 The AHRC had a staff of fourteen full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).71 It is not at all evident from the record that there was anything close to good value for fourteen FTEs and $5.2 million.

Act Four: Spring 2012

On 29 March 2012, the federal government announced in its budget that it would wind down the AHRC:

The Government will introduce legislation to wind down Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, with final closure of operations by March 31, 2013. The winding down of the Agency responds to the 2010 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada that significantly reduced the federal role in assisted human reproduction. Health Canada will take over responsibility for any remaining federal functions such as compliance and enforcement, and outreach.72

On 26 April 2012, the federal government introduced legislation to give effect to the budget.73 The bill was passed and received royal assent on 29 June 2012. The minister of health was given the authority to prevent or mitigate contravention of the AHRA immediately upon the bill receiving royal assent. The rest of the changes affecting the responsibilities, authority, and, indeed, very existence of the AHRC came into effect on 30 September 2012.74

Act Five: Beyond 2012

So it is that an extraordinary opportunity to protect and promote the interests of those who use, or are born of, assisted human reproductive technologies was squandered. Many millions of dollars were wasted. Many hours of experts’ time were squandered. Chaos was allowed to reign. As lamented by Françoise Baylis, “[t]here has been close to 30 years invested in terms of effort, energy and money [on the issue] and it’s all for naught.”75 The promise and hope of 1989 (with the announcement of the Royal Commission) was renewed in 1993 (with the report of the Royal Commission), in 2004 (with the coming into force of the AHRA), and again in 2007 (with the first meeting of the AHRC’s Board of Directors). But the promise and hope was eroded in 2010 (with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Reference re AHRA) and dashed in 2012 (with the abolition of the AHRC). As noted at the outset, the “why” of this denouement remains a mystery; the “what” is a tragedy. The onus is now on the provinces and territories to exercise their responsibility to protect and promote the interests of those who use assisted reproductive technologies and those who are born of these technologies.

Footnotes

Assisted Human Reproduction Act, SC 2004, c 2 [AHRA].

Françoise Baylis was contracted to write several papers on informed consent for the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.

For example, the work of the Canadian Coalition for a Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. See Margrit Eichler and Marie Lavigne, “Women’s Movement,” Canadian Encyclopedia (2012), online: Canadian Encyclopedia <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ articles/womens-movement>.

Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (Royal Commission), Proceed with Care: Final Report of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, volumes 1 and 2 (Ottawa: Minister of Government Services, 1993) at 3.

Ibid.

Ibid, volume 1 at 18.

Bill C-47, An Act Respecting Human Reproductive Technologies and Commercial Transactions Relating to Human Reproduction, introduced at 2nd Sess, 35th Parl (1997).

Françoise Baylis participated in the government-sponsored press release of this initiative.

Bill C-56, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction, introduced at 1st Sess, 37th Parl (2002) (the last stage completed was the second reading in the House of Commons on 28 May 2002).

Bill C-13, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction, introduced at 2nd Sess, 37th Parl (2003). On 25 October 2003, Françoise Baylis and Jocelyn Downie penned an open letter to members of the House of Commons. A draft of the letter was given to Timothy Caulfield to re- view, and minor amendments were negotiated. The next day, Canadian colleagues in attendance at the Joint Meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and the Canadian Bioethics Society, which was held in Montreal, were invited to sign the open letter. A total of sixty-five signatures were gathered and a press release was issued. All members of the House of Commons received a copy of the open letter. On 28 October 2003, the House of Commons passed Bill C-13. However, the last stage completed by Bill C-13 was the second reading in the Senate on 7 November 2003 as Parliament was prorogued before the bill could be passed by the Senate.

Bill C-6, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research, introduced at 3rd Sess, 37th Parl (2004) (assented to 29 March 2004). For more details on the legislative process from 1996 to 2004, see Françoise Baylis and Matthew Herder, “Policy Design for Human Embryo Research in Canada: A History,” Part 1 of 2 (2009) 6:1 Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 109.

AHRA, supra note 1: “(1) Sections 5 to 9 prohibit human cloning, the commercialization of human reproductive material and the reproductive functions of women and men, and the use of in vitro embryos without consent; (2) Sections 10 to 13 prohibit various activities unless they are carried out in accordance with regulations made under the Act, under licence and in licensed premises. These “controlled activities” involve manipulation of human reproductive material or in vitro embryos, transgenic engineering and reimbursement of the expenditures of donors and surrogate mothers; (3) Sections 14 to 19 set up a system of information management related to assisted reproduction; (4) Sections 20 to 39 establish the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada; (5) Sections 40 to 59 charge the Agency with administering and enforcing the Act and regulations, and authorize it to issue licences for certain activities related to assisted reproduction; (6) Sections 60 and 61 provide for penalties; (7) Sections 65 to 67 authorize the promulgation of regulations; and (8) Section 68 gives the Governor in Council power to exempt the operation of certain provisions if there are equivalent provincial laws in force that cover the field.” As cited in Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act, 2010 SCC 61 at court summary [Reference re AHRA].

Italics signify that the provisions did not come into force with the proclamation of the AHRA (and, indeed, never came into force).

Décret 1177-2004 (15 décembre 2004), Gazette Officielle du Québec (5 janvier 2005), 137e année, no 1, Partie 2, at 62-3.

Décret 73-2006 (14 février 2006), Gazette Officielle du Québec (8 mars 2006), 138e année, no 10, Partie 2, at 1290.

Reference re AHRA, supra note 12.

Order Designating Vancouver, British Columbia, as the Place in Canada Where the Head Office of the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada Shall Be Located, effective January 12, 2006, PC 2005-0726 (5 May 2005); Order Fixing January 12, 2006 as the Day on which Sections 21 to 39, 72, 74, 75 and 77 of this Act [Bill C-6], being chapter 2 of the Statutes of Canada, 2004, Come into Force, other than paragraphs 24(1)(a), (e) and (g), PC 2005-0725 (5 May 2005).

AHRC, AHRC Chronology of Events (20 February 2012), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/aaa-app/wwa-qsn/chronology-chronologie-eng.php> [AHRC Chronology].

Ibid.

Roger Chafe, Wendy Levinson, and Paul C Hébert, “The Need for Public Engagement in Choosing Health Priorities” (2011) 183:2 Canadian Medical Association Journal 165 at 165.

Françoise Baylis applied for membership and actively encouraged others to apply.

Jocelyn Downie was a member of the expert selection committee.

Françoise Baylis, “The Demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada” (2012) 34:6 Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 511 at 512.

Laura Eggertson, “New Reproductive Technology Board Belies Expert Selection Process” (2007) 176:5 Canadian Medical Association Journal 611 at 611. Françoise Baylis was one of the two.

Dr. Michael Rudnicki, scientific director of the Stem Cell Network, cited in Eggertson, ibid.

Françoise Baylis was identified as conservative by media pundits despite the fact that she supports women’s right to access termination of pregnancy and the research use of human embryos that are no longer wanted for reproductive use.

Eggertson, supra note 24 at 611; Laura Eggertson, “Demands Made for Inquiry into Operations of Reproductive Health Agency” (2011) 183:1 Canadian Medical Association Journal E-21 at E-22. Baylis, supra note 23 at 512.

AHRA, supra note 1, s 26(2).

At the first AHRC Board of Directors meeting, Françoise Baylis asked the then minister of health, Tony Clement, to consider adding a board member with experiential knowledge of assisted human reproduction.

Assisted Human Reproduction (Section 8 Consent) Regulations, SOR/2007-137.

Health Canada, Assisted Human Reproduction: Frequently Asked Questions (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2009), online: Health Canada <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/reprod/hc-sc/faq/index-eng.php#q2>.

Canada, Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation, Doc BT 22-110 (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2007), online: <http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/BT22-110-2007E.pdf>.

Ibid at 8.

Health Canada, Publication of Proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Regulations Delayed until Supreme Court Appeal Is Decided (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2007), online: Health Canada <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/reprod/hc-sc/legislation/delay-interruption-eng.php>.

Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess, No 26 (15 June 2010) at 1010 (Hon Leona Aglukkaq), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4626213&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3231507>.

Recall that the challenge was launched on 4 December 2004, that the regulations were not registered until 14 June 2007, and that they did not come into force until 1 December 2007.

First Invitational International Forum on Cross-Border Reproductive Care: Quality and Safety, Forum Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 14-16 January 2009). Françoise Baylis attended this event but did not present.

AHRC, Oncofertility in Canada: Building Connections for the Preservation of Fertility for Young Cancer Patients (Toronto: AHRC, 2010), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/young-cancer-jeunes-atteints-eng.php>. Françoise Baylis attended this event but did not present.

“For instance, the Agency has signed an MOU with Health Canada’s Health Products and Food Branch Inspectorate. Under its terms, Health Canada will provide inspection, compliance and enforcement services for the Assisted Human Reproduction Act under the direction of AHRC. This arrangement will address the need to respond to issues raised by AHR users and providers.” AHRC, Hope, Health and Safety: Assisted Human Reproduction Canada Annual Report 2007-08 (Ottawa: AHRC, 2008) at 12, online: <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/alt-formats/pdf/pubs/pubs/annual-annuel/2007-2008-rap-eng.pdf>. “The inspection and enforcement provisions of the AHR Act (sections 45-59), which includes authorizing AHRC to designate inspectors for the purpose of the enforcement of the AHR Act, have not yet come into force. As an interim measure, pursuant to section 5 of the Department of Health Act, inspectors employed by Health Canada’s Inspectorate have been designated by the Minister of Health for purposes of enforcement of the AHR Act. These inspectors have the powers provided for in section 22 to 29 and 35 of the Food and Drugs Act. AHRC has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Inspectorate. Under this MOU, the Inspectorate conducts activities related to the enforcement of the AHR Act and its Regulations, under the direction of AHRC.” AHRC, Compliance and Enforcement Policy (Ottawa: AHRC, 30 July 2010), online: <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/aaa-app/alt-formats/pdf/wwd-qnf/C-E-Policy-eng.pdf> at 4 [AHRC Compliance Policy].

“Where a breach of the AHR Act is alleged, AHRC has an agreement with the RCMP, the federal authority that may assist in investigating such complaints. If, for example, an offer to buy an egg or pay for a surrogate mother’s services (both activities prohibited under the Act) were reported and an individual or business were deemed to be in violation of the Act, the case might be turned over to the RCMP for investigation.” AHRC, supra note 39 at 12. This agreement has not been made public. Rather, it has been referred to in AHRC documents: “AHRC and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have established roles and responsibilities in relation to the enforcement of the AHR Act and its Regulations. Where there is accurate and reliable information that an offence may have been committed, AHRC may, at its discretion and under the appropriate circumstances, refer matters to a law enforcement agency, including the RCMP, for investigation.” AHRC Compliance Policy, supra note 39 at 4. In addition, “[i]n response to information regarding an alleged non-compliance, and following an assessment of the facts, AHRC may issue a compliance letter to notify a person subject to the Act of the non-compliance and to clarify what is necessary to achieve compliance. This type of letter will usually request a response within a specified time period to confirm that corrective actions will be taken. AHRC will then verify that the corrective actions have been implemented. When this is unsuccessful, as when the person subject to the Act is unable or unwilling to correct a non- compliance that may result in a risk to health and safety, other compliance and enforcement actions are available including, warning letters, on-site visits, and as appropriate, referral to a law enforcement Agency, including the RCMP for investigation. It is their role to then determine if there is sufficient evidence to bring the matter forward for prosecution and seek the consent of the Attorney General of Canada to do so. AHRC may also notify any interested authority, such as a professional licensing or disciplinary body if there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person may have acted in breach of their professional codes of conduct. Such actions may be undertaken independently, concurrently or sequentially with other actions” (at 8).

Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess, No 37 (16 November 2010) at 1125 (Françoise Baylis), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4782428&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3522112>. See also Memorandum to AHRC Board of Directors from Dr. John Hamm, Chair re: CIHR Funding, 2 April 2009 [on file with the authors].

Section 2: The Parliament of Canada recognizes and declares that: (a) the health and well-being of children born through the application of assisted human reproductive technologies must be given priority in all decisions respecting their use; (b) the benefits of assisted human reproductive technologies and related research for individuals, for families and for society in general can be most effectively secured by taking appropriate measures for the protection and promotion of human health, safety, dignity and rights in the use of these technologies and in related research; (c) while all persons are affected by these technologies, women more than men are directly and significantly affected by their application and the health and well-being of women must be protected in the application of these technologies; (d) the principle of free and informed consent must be promoted and applied as a fundamental condition of the use of human reproductive technologies; (e) persons who seek to undergo assisted reproduction procedures must not be discriminated against, including on the basis of their sexual orientation or marital status; (f) trade in the reproductive capabilities of women and men and the exploitation of children, women and men for commercial ends raise health and ethical concerns that justify their prohibition; and (g) human individuality and diversity, and the integrity of the human genome, must be preserved and protected (AHRA, supra note 1, s 2).

AHRC, 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 1 November 2007), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2006-2007/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2007-2008 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2008), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2007-2008/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2008-2009 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2009), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2008-2009/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2009-2010 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2010), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2009-2010/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

AHRC, 2010-2011 Departmental Performance Report (Ottawa: AHRC, 2011), online: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/2010-2011/inst/rap/rap01-eng.asp> [archived].

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Office of the Comptroller General of Canada, Core Control Audit of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (Ottawa: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, July 2011), online: AHRC <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/cca-vcb-eng.php> [Core Control Audit]. The three board members who resigned from the AHRC (see details later in this article) recommended, during testimony before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, that a forensic audit be undertaken.

Ibid.

Ibid. The following policies and directives were tested and found to qualify as “not met”: the Directive on Delegation of Financial Authorities for Disbursements, the Directive on Expenditure Initiation and Commitment Control, the Directive on Account Verification, the Directive on Acquisition Cards, the Directive on Accountable Advances, the Directive on Financial Management of Pay Administration, the National Joint Council Travel Directive, the Policies on Contracting, Hospitality, Membership Fees, and Performance Pay Administration (which includes the Policy on the Management of Executives, the Directive on Terms and Conditions of Employment for Certain Excluded and Unrepresented Employees, and the Directive on Executive Compensation). Core Control Audit, supra note 48.

As noted earlier, Françoise Baylis was a member of the inaugural Board of Directors.

Under s 32(2) of the AHRA, the responsibilities set out in ss 30(a), (b), and (c) are non-delegable powers. AHRA, supra note 1, s 32(2).

Eggertson, supra note 24 at E21.

Standing Committee on Health, Administrative Review of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, 40th Parl, 3rd Sess (16 November 2010), online: <http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4782428&Language=E&Mode=1#Int-3522112>.

Eggertson, supra note 24 at E21.

Ibid.

Reference re AHRA, supra note 12.

Section 5(1): No person shall knowingly: (a) create a human clone by using any technique, or transplant a human clone into a human being or into any non-human life form or artificial device; (b) create an in vitro embryo for any purpose other than creating a human being or improving or providing instruction in assisted reproduction procedures; (c) for the purpose of creating a human being, create an embryo from a cell or part of a cell taken from an embryo or foetus or transplant an embryo so created into a human being; (d) maintain an embryo outside the body of a female person after the fourteenth day of its development following fertilization or creation, excluding any time during which its development has been suspended; (e) for the purpose of creating a human being, perform any procedure or provide, prescribe or administer anything that would ensure or increase the probability that an embryo will be of a particular sex, or that would identify the sex of an in vitro embryo, except to prevent, diagnose or treat a sex-linked disorder or disease; (f) alter the genome of a cell of a human being or in vitro embryo such that the alteration is capable of being transmitted to descendants; (g) transplant a sperm, ovum, embryo or foetus of a non-human life form into a human being; (h) for the purpose of creating a human being, make use of any human reproductive material or an in vitro embryo that is or was transplanted into a non-human life form; (i) create a chimera, or transplant a chimera into either a human being or a non-human life form; or (j) create a hybrid for the purpose of reproduction, or transplant a hybrid into either a human being or a non-human life form. AHRA, supra note 1, s 5(1).

Ibid, s 6.

Ibid, s 7.

Ibid, s 8.

Ibid, s 9.

Ibid, s 12.

AHRC, Making a Difference: Annual Report 2010-2011 (Ottawa: Health Canada, 2011), online: Health Canada <http://www.ahrc-pac.gc.ca/v2/pubs/alt-formats/pdf/pubs/pubs/annual-annuel/2010-2011-rap-eng.pdf>.

Ibid at 4.

Ibid at 5.

Section 12(1): No person shall, except in accordance with the regulations, and a licence: (a) reimburse a donor for an expenditure incurred in the course of donating sperm or an ovum; (b) reimburse any person for an expenditure incurred in the maintenance or transport of an in vitro embryo; or (c) reimburse a surrogate mother for an expenditure incurred by her in relation to her surrogacy. (2) No person shall reimburse an expenditure referred to in subsection (1) unless a receipt is provided to that person for the expenditure. (3) No person shall reimburse a surrogate mother for a loss of work-related income incurred during her pregnancy, unless (a) a qualified medical practitioner certifies, in writing, that continuing to work may pose a risk to her health or that of the embryo or foetus; and (b) the reimbursement is made in accordance with the regulations and a licence. AHRA, supra note 1, s 12(1).

Alison Motluk, “The Human Egg Trade: How Canada’s Fertility Laws Are Failing Donors, Doctors, and Patients,” The Walrus (April 2010), online: The Walrus <http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.04-health-the-human-egg-trade/>; “Infertile Canadians Buy Frozen Human Eggs from US,” CBC News (22 April 2012), online: CBC News Health <http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/04/20/eggs-frozen-fertility.html>.

AHRC, supra note 47.

Ibid.

Government of Canada, Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity: Economic Action Plan 2012 (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 29 March 2012), online: Government of Canada <http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/pdf/Plan2012-eng.pdf> at 219.

Act to Implement Certain Provisions of the Budget Tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and Other Measures, 1st Sess, 41st Parl, 2012, s 713-51 (assented to 29 June 2012).

Order Fixing September 30, 2012 as the Day on Which Subsection 713(2) and Certain Sections of the Act Come into Force, PC 2012-1136 (2012) C Gaz II, 21.

Tom Blackwell, “Government Shutters Agency That Oversees Canada’s Fertility and Assisted Reproduction Industry,” National Post (30 March 2012), online: National Post <http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/30/government-shutters-agency-that-oversees-canadas-fertility-and-assisted-reproduction-industry/>.

#assisted reproductive technology #canada #genesis #life #bioethics #regulation #surrogacy #death #Assisted Human Reproduction Canada #controversy

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Turning Your Story From Pain to Profits

People often ask me how I got started writing one-person shows and I’ve never been able to quite, definitively nail down a concrete answer. Oftentimes I’ve said, "out of artistic necessity," and while that is an absolute truth, it’s only part of the answer. Although I had been a professional actor in Los Angeles, for many, many, many years, I felt like I wasn’t landing the caliber of roles that showcased my unique set of skills. I was an actor who could sing. I had superb comedic timing and I could conjure up such emotional depth in characters that allows me the ability to be totally present, and if need be, authentically cry on a dime. I also possess the rare ability to portray many different walks-of-life from the seediest of characters to the noblest of gentlemen. Why wasn’t I working? Early in my career I had booked a few leads in several independent films, and guest-starred in many television shows, but most of those roles did not lead to more fulfilling parts or a steady acting career. I was at a stalemate and did not know how to dig myself out of the trenches. It wasn’t until a former acting teacher, who knew I was also a writer, asked, "Why aren’t you writing material for yourself?" I thought about the question a while, and honestly didn’t have a concrete answer. So, I responded by saying, "I don’t know." I had never really thought about it. I had written a few books, articles and plays for others, but the thought of writing something specifically for me never crossed my mind. In fact, my first thought was that it seemed a little bit egocentric. Then I started thinking about film actors/directors I admired like Sylvester Stallone, Robert Townsend, Matt Damon, Barbara Streisand, and Spike Lee. These artists had the tenacity to create film projects for themselves when Hollywood wasn’t banging down their doors. But I didn’t have any money or the knowledge of how to get a film script made into a movie. However, I did innately understand theatre, so I set out to develop a stage play for myself. That turned out to be a daunting task as well. It wasn’t until I was introduced to the works of Roger Guenveur Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Lilli Tomlin and John Leguizamo that a light bulb went off in my head and I thought, "I could do that." However, that "Ah ha," moment was easier said, then done. First off, who wants to perform an hour and a half long monologue? The thought of trying to memorize pages and pages of the dialogue was intimidating enough to make me want to give up before I even started. Especially since, even though I was an actor and trained to memorize lines, I didn’t have the best long-term memory. As I continued to "toy," with the idea, I relaxed my racing mind and finally got around to, "What would I write about?" What I discovered was; I had a lot to say and even more to write. I started thinking about the essays and emails I had written and the topics I passionately spoke about with family and friends. Then it became clear that I would write about the plight of urban education. Alas, my first solo show, Did You Do Your Homework? was born. However, crafting it wasn’t easy. I knew I had something important to say and that getting it out of my head onto the page would be vital in developing the story, but I really had no clue how to start. Everything seemed to be jumbled up and every time I sat sit down to begin, I always found myself getting stuck in a "brain freeze." Frustrated, because I knew I had a story to tell, I almost allowed myself to give up. Then I thought to myself, "I need to approach writing this piece from a different perspective." I can’t start by simply writing the story from beginning to end. I have to first, alleviate my frustration by purging my head and hashing out all the ideas I have in it. Then I thought, "How do I do that?" The answer, "brainstorming." Once I got all my ideas on paper, I could physically see them and go about organizing and arranging them, piece by piece, into an "outline," that was cohesive and chronological. It was only then, that I could begin writing my story. But it didn’t stop there, because what I found, after my first couple of drafts, was that even though my story had a lot of content and interesting characters, it had no heart. It had no deep, pressing purpose or reason why I was telling the story and what made this story so uniquely personal to me. It had no depth. What I discovered was that I had not made the story deeply personal to me. It did not contain what made me a uniquely giving and passionate individual and artist. Even though I intellectually knew that by doing so, would make my story stronger and more affable to audiences, I didn’t want to be that vulnerable. I didn’t want to risk opening up my heart and letting complete strangers in. I wrote, Did You Do Your Homework? out of a need to talk about urban education. Most importantly I wrote this show so that educators could recognize, that although urban kids sometimes come to school with a myriad of social, economic and physical issues, at their core, many of them want the same things out of life as everyone else. They just may not know how to access their own feelings and ambitions because of the trauma they may be dealing with on a daily basis. They haven’t been taught to dream. I was once one of those urban kids who had gone through and survived trauma. I was physically and mentally abused and as a result used drugs and alcohol to numb my pain through middle and high school. In high school, I would go to school all bruised up and sleep through my first-period class because I had been up all night, taking extreme blows to my chest, in order to keep my step-father off of my mom. I would then sleep through the sixth period because I needed the rest and the strength for the night to come. I suffered in silence. My ninth-grade teacher would constantly kick me out of class if I showed up late or slept in her first period. It wasn’t until I got to tenth grade and had a teacher by the name of Jim Underhill who recognized that there was more to me than just the appearance of defiant behavior. He lifted my spirits by encouraging me to be and do more than what I thought was physically possible. He, along with my mom, constantly reinforced the notion that there’s greatness inside me, even when I didn’t believe it. Once I actualized my perspective on why I needed to tell this story and how teachers needed to remove all preconceived notions of who and what urban students are, then I had a way into the hearts and minds of my audiences. They could relate to the struggles and pains of physical and substance abuse and how a man struggling with his own demons is trying to make a difference in the world. At first glance Did You Do Your Homework? is a 12-character solo show about the bureaucracy of urban education and one substitute teacher’s journey through the inner dealings of an urban classroom. However, once you peel back the onion, it becomes a human being’s way of recognizing pain and using it as a catalyst to heal and inspire students going through seemingly insurmountable odds. I wrote this play having been a former teacher. Initially, it was a means to an end. A way to showcase my talents as an actor, singer, and writer. It was also a way for me to use social commentary to perform and talk about issues that were important to me. What I discovered during the writing process was the more it became deeply personal the more authentic and profound my script became. The result; a show, that was slated for one weekend, ran 9 months at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, making it the longest-running show in the history of that organization. It also amassed national and international, critical acclaim, and garnered several awards, including an International Gala Star from Bacau, Romania, a Roar of the Crowd recognition from Goldstar, and an NAACP Theatre Award. This came to fruition because I made a conscious decision to open my heart and let the story I had inside me out. By telling my own deeply personal narrative, from my perspective, in a voice that was uniquely mine, I unleashed my own power, motivated others, and authentically moved audiences. I said, "YES!" took a leap of faith and jumped. It is the best decision I have ever made involving the empowered trajectory of my career. Sometimes you have to get out of your own way and forge your own path in order to fulfill your true passion. You’ve got to, "Jump without a net, and let your conscious passion guide your subconscious dreams into figuring out how you are going to fly." Everyone has a story. What is yours? Whether you feel your life has been ordinary, extraordinary or somewhere in between, you have a life experience that warrants the probability of connecting with and inspiring others. Most people think they have nothing to say. They think their lives are boring, monotonous, or mundane. That there is nothing special about them that would warrant people paying attention, let alone paying money, to sit and watch their story unfold. When I hear people say, "I don’t have anything to write about," "I have nothing to say," or "My life is boring," it drives me nuts because those statements cannot be further from the truth. They’re unreal and firmly rooted in fear. Storytelling is an art that encourages personal narrative. How many people think they do not have anything to write about? How many think they have nothing to say? How many think their lives are boring, meaningless or mundane? Millions! Saying, "I have nothing…," connects you with a community of folks who feel invisible, isolated, undervalued, and even worthless. How many of us have felt this way at one time or another in our lives? I know I have. How many people have said, "There, but for the grace of God…," in recognition that other’s misfortune could have been our own? That statement alone connects us with the experiences of others. So, instead, start with, "I have nothing to say." What you will discover is that you will instantly connect and draw in people who will hear that statement tugging at their heartstrings. The reason; so many people feel that way. It is that simple. What is the story you want to tell and how do you authentically want to create it from your perspective? You are unique. Whatever the topic or subject matter, no one has your life experiences or point of view. No one can tell your story, from your perspective, better than YOU. The real purpose of your life is to fulfill your dreams. Your only responsibility in this process is to fully commit to your own joy and challenge yourself to go beyond what is comfortable. The time is "now," to develop your creative abilities and finally step into your true artistic greatness. Exercise your mind to get out of its own way and turn your "pain," from "passion," to "profits."

Source: ArticleBiz .com

#songwritingblog #Making it Big #performers #entertainmentbusinessarticle #Solo Performance #performingarticle #soloartists #musicbusiness

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