Shoreline

The meeting with Shoreline went well. We discussed some possible deals for the future. Morris and I had a good conversation. It was clearly a "feeling out discussion." We talked about a few projects that Shoreline represents and a few projects that I represent. How Shoreline exploited them and what made Shoreline choose to work with those projects. They base their decisions on their inside sales peoples projections of what they think they can make off them in foreign markets. My company Heretic will send them Lurking in Suburbia to see if they want to distribute it internationally. Could be the start of a solid relationship.

An awkward moment in the conversation came when I asked him about a scumbag sales rep who we will call Dirtbag Steve. Dirtbag Steve repped a small project that went to Shoreline instead of Heretic. That's fine projects get to one distributor or another and getting mad over one lost opportunity will keep you from exploring the next opportunity. It will also make you old, fat, bald and really really frustrated. The problem with Dirtbag Steve is he told me that I could have that project if I invested in another of his projects. As far as I know, Dirtbag Steve never gave those filmmakers my offer. Life is too short for that kind of lack of ethics - I know that's naive, but seriously, the people that succeed in this business and life in general are true to their word. I asked Morris if he did much work with Dirtbag. Morris said "no." I said "Good. If you told me that you worked with him often. I would have walked out." I'm pretty sure that the look in his eye said: Wow, a strait talker. That must get him in a lot of trouble. What he actually said was "I guess I can be frank, I don't much like him much either."

I liked Morris. One of the rules I like is work with the right team. People that you can trust. People that you want to work with for a long damn time.