A Pretty Solid Week (again...oops)

Before I get started,
I got to meet Larry David at the LA premier of Sicko last night...
I worked as an usher (as part of the internship) and Larry David had forgotten his ticket to the movie.
This was my first real case of being star struck, and thankfully Larry was a nice, funny guy.

So I just realized that last week's last post was rather lacking.
it seems I didn't copy and paste from the daily journal...
Anyway, last week can be summed up with one word: COVERAGE

From Wednesday on I've been covering at least one script a day.
Unfortunately though, none of them were good.

They were entertaining though, to say the least.
The best one was about the Seraph class of angels--only they were evil angels.
So these evil angels would steal magical babies away from their safe homes on the countryside
and then throw the magical babies into volcanoes, eating their souls as they float up.
I tore it apart in my coverage.

NOW FOR THE DEEPER STUFF:

I wanted to take some time this week to talk about the work environment at TWC,
as it is almost completely different from any other work environment I've been in.

At my other jobs (working at a church, working at a supplies and logistics company, working at a bank),
people were generally tense, quiet, and pretty much serious all the time.
This made work unenjoyable and tense...I always felt like I was in trouble for something.
At the Weinstein Company, the environment is similar to what you would find in a friendly study group.
In our down time we joke with one another, tell stories, watch funny videos on youtube, etc...
but tension in the office only comes about when there's a rush to get things done,
and even then it's not as miserable as at the supply company or at the bank.

When I started thinking about all this, it was pretty easy to come up with a reason as to why the environments differ so drastically...
The Weinstein Company, despite its wide reach into film and television, is a company that makes entertainment.
Though TWC has hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, the projects it funds are still made for people's enjoyment.
When it comes down to it there are no lives at stake, nor major contributions to society being made from day-to-day at TWC.
But that's not to say that's a bad thing...just different.
Where a company like On-Target Supplies and Logistics makes money by organizing the distribution of office supplies,
TWC--and all other production companies, for that matter--makes money by distributing entertainment.
Therein lies the biggest difference.
Though we (film students) may see it otherwise, entertainment is far from a daily necessity...at least, not in the same way that pens, paperclips and printer toner are daily necessities.

Unfortunately my conclusions on this are pretty lacking at this point, as I've only recently started thinking about this stuff.
What I have concluded however is that companies are controlled by their driving purposes:

A supplies and logistics company is controlled by other companies' needs: paper, pens, toner...
so the pressure is brought from the companies placing these orders.

A production company is controlled by its own desires (or maybe Harvey and Bob Weinstein's): new, entertaining movies and TV shows.

So I'm glad to be in an environment where it's OK to watch mildly inappropriate youtube exerpts...
I find that it not only makes for an enjoyable workday, but it also makes the friendships within the office stronger.

My next post is going to be an overview of an awesome little bit of history that I've found while working here.
I was given a copy of a transcript for the meeting between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Larry Kasdan when they came up with the storyline and plot for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
REALLY cool stuff...
but you'll just have to wait for it.