In which we discuss the things for which we are paid...

[Chad Peter]

The trailer is finally up for the show I've been slaving away on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZFvOYRckU

[Lance]

Looking forward to binge watching the hell out of this.

[Chad Peter]

HOMECOMING billboards litter the streets of LA. Reviews are solid, so that almost makes the PTSD worth it.

[Mike]

...that almost makes the PTSD worth it.

The sigworthy Chad Peter, ladies and gentlemen, the sigworthy Chad Peter.

[Faldor]

I watched the first episode of Homecoming, it was good but I didn't see any effects...

Try harder next time Chad!

[Chad Peter]

I watched the first episode of Homecoming, it was good but I didn't see any effects...

Try harder next time Chad!

I HAVE FAILED YOU.

No, but seriously I want to know when you see shitty VFX.

[Faldor]

No, but seriously I want to know when you see shitty VFX.

There was a couple of dodgy driving plates in House Of Cards, clearly they need you back!

Between Homecoming, House Of Cards and the BBC series Bodyguard, it's been a pretty grim weekend of telly. I had to dig out some Monty Python after all that.

The original TV series has popped up on netflix and I've not really seen it, Python wasn't really known to anyone under 30 when I was growing up as the BBC doesn't seem to have repeated it after about 1990. As a teenager I had to seek out VHS' of the movies.

[Chad Peter]

hahaha, every last driving plate from House of Cards was done with outside vendors. Mindhunter season two will be the first time we do those plates in-house, for better or worse.

[Lance]

No, but seriously I want to know when you see shitty VFX.

There was a couple of dodgy driving plates in House Of Cards, clearly they need you back!

Hah, I was just laughing at that. Some physics defying freeway action. Like passing a traffic jam on an infinite off ramp.

[Chad Peter]

Fortunately I was able to convince them to shoot on real moving cars in HOMECOMING... even though it nearly killed us to have to paint-out all the city lights in the background of some of the "middle of nowhere swamp" shots in episode three of homecoming. Long story short: film wherever your scene is supposed to take place.

[Tony]

So, I got out of the Air Force in 2016 and moved closer to DC, still in Virginia though. Still just the 4 kids (13, 11, 8, and 6 - all girls).

Became a government contractor/intelligence analyst for a while. Separated from my wife in the summer of 2017, divorce was finalized earlier this year. Ended my intelligence contracting job earlier this year too, started working for a local political campaign. My first paid campaign work, and my client/candidate defeated the incumbent in the primary election in June, so that was cool. Now I am working for the campaign as the general election approaches. Managed to turn that gig into a job with a local political communications firm, mostly doing email marketing and fundraising and such. I started last week. They are developing an in house video team that I gave a few bits of advice to the team regarding camera angles and lighting and shot framing and such, and then got invited to do a test shoot last week and did a quick edit (in Davinci Resolve - never used it before but it seems pretty intuitive) and now they keep looking to me like I have all the answers they seek. I haven't done much with video in quite a while, so I am relearning/refreshing my memory on how to do stuff. Next week I think we are going to tackle greenscreen work, so that will be interesting. And I'm getting paid for it, so hey.

[Chad Peter]

So, I got out of the Air Force in 2016 and moved closer to DC, still in Virginia though. Still just the 4 kids (13, 11, 8, and 6 - all girls).

Became a government contractor/intelligence analyst for a while. Separated from my wife in the summer of 2017, divorce was finalized earlier this year. Ended my intelligence contracting job earlier this year too, started working for a local political campaign. My first paid campaign work, and my client/candidate defeated the incumbent in the primary election in June, so that was cool. Now I am working for the campaign as the general election approaches. Managed to turn that gig into a job with a local political communications firm, mostly doing email marketing and fundraising and such. I started last week. They are developing an in house video team that I gave a few bits of advice to the team regarding camera angles and lighting and shot framing and such, and then got invited to do a test shoot last week and did a quick edit (in Davinci Resolve - never used it before but it seems pretty intuitive) and now they keep looking to me like I have all the answers they seek. I haven't done much with video in quite a while, so I am relearning/refreshing my memory on how to do stuff. Next week I think we are going to tackle greenscreen work, so that will be interesting. And I'm getting paid for it, so hey.

Hah, nice, Tony - How'd it feel to dive back into video post?

I've just wrapped work on Mr. Robot season four and I'm beat. For the first time in (i can't remember how many) years, I've got no job lined up - and I'm beyond STOKED for that, even though god only knows what's next. Universal got me into the Directors Guild of America as a "Director", so now I can be hired on tv shows, studio films and such, but have no clue how to start doing such a thing, outside of cold calling agencies in the hopes to get representation as a director (that process will start next week, when Hollywood returns from vacation). In the mean time, I'm trying to refocus on "Black Flower" and another short - though I can't technically direct anything if it's not a UNION film now. :-/

[Faldor]

Congrats on getting into the guild, that sound very exciting. You'll be fired from a Star Wars project in no time!

[Chad Peter]

Congrats on getting into the guild, that sound very exciting. You'll be fired from a Star Wars project in no time!

A rite of passage!

And thank you!

[Bryan]

Universal got me into the Directors Guild of America as a "Director", so now I can be hired on tv shows, studio films and such, but have no clue how to start doing such a thing, outside of cold calling agencies in the hopes to get representation as a director (that process will start next week, when Hollywood returns from vacation). In the mean time, I'm trying to refocus on "Black Flower" and another short - though I can't technically direct anything if it's not a UNION film now. :-/

Congrats sir. How did Universal get you in? Does this mean you can't direct "Freddy 2: The Return of Mr. Ice Cream"?

[Chad Peter]

Universal got me into the Directors Guild of America as a "Director", so now I can be hired on tv shows, studio films and such, but have no clue how to start doing such a thing, outside of cold calling agencies in the hopes to get representation as a director (that process will start next week, when Hollywood returns from vacation). In the mean time, I'm trying to refocus on "Black Flower" and another short - though I can't technically direct anything if it's not a UNION film now. :-/

Congrats sir. How did Universal get you in? Does this mean you can't direct "Freddy 2: The Return of Mr. Ice Cream"?

hahah, people would be so lucky for us to unleash "Freddy 2: The Return of Mr. Ice Cream" onto the world.

I asked to direct the 2nd unit on Mr Robot this season, and they gave me some scenes to shoot (as well as all the inserts for the season), but in order to lead those teams I have to join the union - which I can only do if Universal agrees to hire me (they have to send the contract to the DGA and the DGA contacted me to say "congrats! now pay us money to join." In a nutshell.