Friesians, Sort Of

I work on a studio lot, and the best part of my work week has been the beautiful Friesian horses that have been filming on the stage across from my office. At least, I thought they were Friesians. Looking at this photo, I'm not so sure. The horses on the lot are black and have thicker legs than your average thoroughbred or quarter horse, but I'm not sure they're as thick as a Friesian's. Anyway...

On Monday, only one horse was brought in, and he neighed or whinnied loudly at least every half hour when he wasn't filming and was tied to the horse trailer outside. Loud enough to clearly hear through all our closed windows, and echoing in my cave of an office. I'm sure he was very bored, as bored as I am on film sets. And he was probably confused, being that he was covered with the blue dots they use for motion tracking. Festive.

On the days since, there have been two horses, and much less neighing. They both get the lovely blue dots. Hopefully they'll make a good movie. If not, it's hard to blame the beautiful talent.

Mine's Bigger Than Yours

 
I've worked some crazy jobs since I moved to LA. Lots of interesting characters. I read an article this week that reminded me of a funny work story.

I once saw the office of an executive producer on a successful TV show. We'll call that Show A. Show A had been on for a couple seasons before Show B started. Show B was not a rip-off of Show A, but it had a similar feel, and the shows were often compared to one another. Show B usually fared better in these comparisons, at least critically.

I noticed a framed letter hanging outside of the EP's office. It was a letter to the EP, in ugly, scrawled penmanship (it could have been a ransom note) about how Show B sucked and Show A was awesome. There was even profanity. And there it was, framed for all the world to see. It wasn't a note from Spielberg congratulating and admitting to being a fan, this was some random person from Nowheresville with the penmanship of a kindergartner and the grammar of a preschooler. It made me giggle. I still imagine the EP ordering his assistant to frame and hang that letter.

Ha! See! We have won. My show is better. This note proves it.

And so it did.