Working Hard or Hardly Working?

The former. Definitely, the former.

I'm two days into my internship with Muse. It's a lot of fun.

On Monday, I was told to get to the office at 9:45. I figured I'd show up early, make a good first impression and all that. So I get there at about 9:20, and ring the bell. No answer. I call the office. No answer. Around 9:45, a guy rolls up and shouts from right outside his car, "You must be Josh?" I respond in the affirmative, and he walks over, and we shake hands. He unlocks the door, and we walk upstairs without saying another word. Then, "Uhhh so the first thing we do in the morning is get the mail. So... do that."

And nothing but work since then! I've been reading a lot of scripts. I read the script for the new Emile Hirsch film, then did coverage on it. Yeah, science guys... I have jargon too. Coverage is when you read a script and condense its 120 or so pages to a page and a half long summary/review. Essentially, I was giving my boss my thoughts on whether or not he should give the production money. Kinda hefty for my first day, especially considering we're talking 7 digits of dollars! (But be on the lookout- the script was good, and is coming to a theater near you. Once it gets funding. And gets shot. And gets edited. And gets distributed.)

I also read some scripts that Muse is producing that I mentioned in my previous post (Inferno and Yellow). They are, respectively, a biopic about infamous porn star Linda Lovelace and a chronicle of a woman's addiction to (yellow) pills.

On the subject of Inferno-- one of my jobs at Muse is to answer the phone (kinda difficult, since I don't know any of the answers to the questions that people ask me) and answer the door (we keep it locked because we're a block from Venice Boardwalk and Venice Boardwalk is sketchy). So today, I went to answer the door, and there was a gentleman in his 40s. He was very polite, and introduced himself as Matt. This was a nice change of pace, having dealt with my fair share of self-important Hollywood-type producers. So I led him up to the office, and he had a meeting with my boss. Overhearing a few key phrases, I realized that this gentleman Matt was in fact Matthew Wilder, the writer-director of Inferno (not this Matthew Wilder). Always the thinker, I tied this into my project, noting the differences in personality between businessmen (producers) and artists (in this case, directors). Just food for thought... Never too early to get those senior project presentation gears flowing.

Aside from reading scripts and answering phones, I've been doing some research and other little tasks. I looked into who owns the rights to "The Case of the Speluncean Explorers" a faux-case that appeared in the Harvard Law Review, as Muse wants to make a film out of it. I've also been running errands all over Venice, which is nice, since it allows me to familiarize myself with the city.

And lastly, some pictures.

This is the office:

This little guy is my desk.



And yeah Gabe, we also have a kitchen. I can keep my food cold in the refrigerator or warm it in either of two microwaves. Or I could cook it in the oven or on the stove or even a toaster. Or if I wanted to, I could make a movie with that camera lying around in the kitchen.


This is the staircase up to our roof, where I ate lunch today.


And this is a picture of the Pacific Ocean, where I ate lunch yesterday.


Anyways, that's where I am now! Keep the posts coming, everybody! We gotta stay in touch!