10.30.06
After Service
is a short film I created for the SacTicket
"Show Us Your Shorts" Contest, but
there's a bit more to it than that.
Originally, I meant to create a piece for
that contest AND the Seeds of Tolerance contest
at Current
TV. Unfortunately, I finished writing the piece
two hours before the Current TV deadline. (I had thought I had another 3
weeks. My bad! I thought about sending the script and seeing if they'd give
me a 'good faith' thumbs up.)
I wanted to write about Ward Ritter, one of
my best friends and the only man who ever called me little brother and
meant it. He contracted HIV after using an infected needle at a low point in
his life. I read the To Be or Not To Be' monologue at his wake, as it was
apropos--and found a prevalent, unsettling miasma of doubts and wonder about
his eternal fate, uncertainty about his last days, and judgments on his
suicide...he swam out into Lake Union in mid-winter, took several weeks to
recover him. A Samurai Spirit, he called it. He didn't want to burden
anyone once his T-cell counts dropped below 200, so he took his enterprise
of great pith and moment and kept a course of action that, though I disagree
with it wholeheartedly, I understand.
I personally do not believe it is my station
to judge before serving. Sure, I do it--but it is not something I
readily accept as acceptable behavior. This film basically says
'Look--please don't shut down your heart just because someone died in a
manner that might have implicated their own culpability in bringing it
about. We all make mistakes. We all suffer tragedies. We should have no less
compassion for a soul simply because a fellow human being encountered
misfortune. Ward's entire life was judged and summated by strangers.
"Oh, he got the AIDS. I didn't
know he was gay!"
"AIDS, eh? I guess I don't have to tell
you about God's judgment..."
"He committed suicide...he's in hell
now."
My thoughts when he told me? We were at a
party at his place, I'd been trying to reach him by phone for about 8 weeks,
he just vanished for a while. When he came back, he invited me to this
shindig, and halfway through he took me to the garage, where we sat on a
couple of motorcycles, and he apologized for not returning my calls. He said
he'd received some bad news--that his doctor told him he was HIV positive. I
sat there and the first thing that went through my head and came out my
mouth: "Anything you need, I'm here."
I'm not a great man. But I love people.
Despite wanting to hate some of them, I love them.
This piece really addresses preconceptions
and the propensity to assess one's life in a matter of moments in some way
we can define, so we can help bring closure to the new empty space that
suddenly opened up. How often we're prone to passing judgment or summarizing
one's existence in a few short thoughts that make it easier to deal with
their loss...and how often we distance ourselves from genuine compassion in
favor of nodding and saying 'Well, that's a shame...but...'
This was also very hard to do in that the
full piece is really made to be around 5 minutes, and we had to cut 1/5 of
the story down to meet the time requirement. A great lesson--I equated it to
buying a luxury car, then taking out the leather, AC and surround sound...the
5 minute version is complete and Hans is scoring it as we speak. Amazing
difference a minute makes. :)
I've also decided to use the 5 min version as
my entry for Spielberg's On
the Lot competition.
Hey, why not, right?
As the first version is only 4 minutes
maximum, there are no credits. So, without further ado, they are here:
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ÆSTUS
Films in Association with iLine
Entertainment
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presents
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a
Jason Bortz Æffort
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After
Service
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Written,
Produced and Directed by
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Jason
Bortz
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Executive
Producer
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Joe
Mendoza
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Director
of Photography
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Brian
Hamm
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Cast
(in order of appearance)
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Brian
Rife
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Brian
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Martin
Lain Noufer
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Martin
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Eric
Egan
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Eric
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Mike
Begovich
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Mike
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Elizabeth
Hunten
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Liz
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Chris
Uchman
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Bar
Patron
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Johnny
Souza
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Bar
Patron
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Original
Music
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Hans
Stiritz
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DIT
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Ryan
Todd
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Sound
Operators
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Rob
Neely
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Johnny
Souza
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Grips
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Toby
Annis
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Johnny
Souza
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Makeup
Effects
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Toby
Annis
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Editor
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Brian
Hamm
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Editing
Supervisor
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Jason
Bortz
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Camera
provided by
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Scott
Cramer
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Production
Assistant
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Russel
McDonald
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Special
Thanks
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GOD
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Dave
and Bonnie Boyet
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The
Bonn
Lair,
Sacramento
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Kevin
and Jo Haskin
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Kejo
Productions
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Joe
Mendoza
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iLine
Entertainment
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Laurie
Pederson
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Capital
Film Arts
Alliance
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Larry
Sherman
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Blue
Bomber Entertainment
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Chris
and Aimee Uchman
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Halcyon
Entertainment
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ATV
Sacramento
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Jennifer,
Caleb and Clarity Bortz
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Sarah
and Noah Hamm
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Michele
Noufer
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The
Town Lounge,
Roseville
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The
Sacramento
Bee/SacTicket
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Current
TV/Seeds of Tolerance
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www.current.tv
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On
the
Lot
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www.thelot.com
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Mt.
5:14-16
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For
Ward Ritter
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You’ll
Always Be My Brother
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