I’m writing this, believe it or not, in the cab of a Ryder rent-a-truck going 65 mph down I-80, driven by Roland Gustafsson. We’ve just crossed into Nebraska and are determined to make Omaha tonight.

Back up a few days…

I caught Doug before I left and expressed my concerns about Prince’s marketing. He was surprisingly sympathetic. Before I’d even had a chance to complain much, he agreed with everything, and right then and there put out a message to Sophie K. on E-mail suggesting that they redo Prince as a candy box. “I can’t really lean on her any harder than that,” he said apologetically. “I’m sorry – I feel so powerless.”

I dropped by Sophie’s office too, and expressed some of the same concerns I’d expressed to Doug. She was infuriatingly unsympathetic. She was happy to chit-chat about my trip to New York, my life there, etc., but when it came to Prince – forget it. I left her office with steam coming out of my ears and my face hardened into a pleasant smile.

She didn’t even have the decency to commiserate, to say “Gee, it’s too bad this game isn’t selling better.” She as much as told me that 1,000 units a month is all this product deserves to be selling. And this is the product’s marketing manager speaking.

After that I had an even more upsetting meeting with Brian, of all people. He told me that Ann had offered to pay $2500 of the (estimated $15,000) cost of the Mac POP graphics, not a penny more, and I’d have to pay the rest out of my pocket. I gave him all the arguments as to why Broderbund should pay half the cost, at least. We argued for a while and then he said, in the heat of argument: “We just can’t justify spending that much money on a product that we don’t even know for sure there’s going to be a market for.”

I almost blew up, but then I saw the expression on Brian’s face looked so miserable, I couldn’t bear to continue. I knew he was just repeating what Ann had told him. Prince has no better champion than Brian. He’s been fighting for a year. He’s powerless, that’s all.

So we agreed to continue the discussion later, and I went to lunch with Rob. My last Broderbund lunch.

Today, from a pay phone at a Wyoming truck stop, I got Ann to agree to pay a third of the graphics cost and Presage to agree to pay a third. My share will be deducted from my royalties (cross-collateralized, at Ann’s insistence). Fine, as long as it gets done. I just hope Leila can do it all without me there to guide her, and without going over budget.

Brian says they’re desperate for Prince in Europe. Domark showed it unofficially at CES in England and it made quite a stir. I hope they can get their respective acts together and release it sometime soon. It’s already been pirated on the Amiga.

Brian said: “You know what? Sophie walked into my office this morning and said ‘What would you think about reprinting the Prince box as a candy box?’ Of course, I said ‘Why yes, I think it’s a fine idea!’ I’ve only been begging her to make it a candy box for the past twelve months. Something must have happened to make her change her mind. Maybe because Latricia left, now she’s finally starting to make decisions on her own.”

“Maybe,” I agreed.

I guess Doug still has a little bit of pull around Broderbund.

We did it. Thanks to Robert and Roland, I’m in my new apartment, surrounded by all my stuff. It’s like a dream – to be in New York City, and to be home, at the same time. The city is lying out there waiting to be conquered. I’m so happy to be here.

I’d write more, but I have to get up at 4:30 am to report to Kevin’s for the first day of shooting. I’d feel better about it if I weren’t already about 19 hours short on sleep and every muscle in my body weren’t already sore.

First day of shooting. After this past week, I suppose it’s only fitting that my job as “production coordinator” should turn out to consist largely of carrying boxes and equipment up and down stairs, loading and unloading vans and trucks, and driving them around the city in heavy traffic. Such is fate.

It’ll be character-building. One week of this, I can handle. And if my goal was to meet NYU film students, I’m certainly meeting a lot of them.

My boss is Deborah, Kevin’s girlfriend and production manager. Then there’s Rick (assistant director), Nick (D.P.), Steve (assistant camera), Rob (gaffer), Paul (gaffer and Kevin’s roommate), Mark (sound), and Marcy (boom). And the actors.

Man, it’s different, having a boss. Deborah is the type who makes sure you’re sorry for every little error. The others I got along with better, although Mark and Marcy (the sound team) do seem to spend a lot of time bickering. In the van on the way home, Rob asked me if I had any short screenplays for him to direct.

Two days of rest at this point would do wonders. Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards. My alarm is set for 4:20 am to drive back to Brooklyn.

I can’t even think about the big issues, like that I’ve just moved to a new city and am sharing an apartment with my brother. I just don’t have the mental energy right now.

Virginia wrote to say she’s getting married.

16-hour day, most of it spent driving around in the van. To wit: pick up dogs and trainers and bring them to set; drive to ambulance rental place and take Polaroids of ambulances for Kevin; drive to midtown Manhattan to pick up insurance certificates; drive back to Garfield Place, make pot of coffee, bring it to set. I spent at least two hours stopped in traffic in the rain on Broadway and on Flatbush.

Today was frustrating, but I have to remind myself why I’m here: To (1) help Kevin by making his shoot go smoothly any way I can, (2) earn my entree into this NYU-film community, (3) learn something about student filmmaking. So there’s no point resenting Deborah for, say, sending me on a wild-goose chase to Manhattan during rush hour when a simple phone call would have determined that the trip was unnecessary, or for keeping me so busy with errands that I hardly get to spend any time on set. It’s all part of my education. Like boot camp.

David read Bird of Paradise and pronounced it much improved. I should show it to Kevin when the shoot is over. And Cindy. And Irv. It would be good to get some professional opinions beyond friends and family.

Really enjoyed today. I got to spend the whole morning on set in Prospect Park. I decided to shadow Rob, the sound man. I asked him a few questions and he was happy to explain everything and even let me listen through the headphones. I bet I could learn to do sound pretty quickly. (Maybe I could do sound on Rob’s thesis film when he shoots it next June?)

I’m finally starting to learn my way around Brooklyn. The filmmaking aspects of this job aside, it’s a great way to get to know a new city fast. I’ve lost my fear of driving in New York. After these three days, nothing can faze me.

I can’t believe it’s been only three days. It seems like a whole epoch in my life.

I need sleep.

Yesterday I left the set early (2 pm) to take care of some of personal stuff like: opening a bank account, getting renter’s insurance, touching base with Broderbund, etc. I did it all in a single afternoon. Thanks to this film shoot, I’ve reached new heights of efficiency in my own affairs.

Today we shot interiors at Garfield, and I picked up the first dailies at Precision on 9^th and 45^th.We watched them in Kevin’s living room. They looked great.

Yesterday Deborah gave me a blistering lecture: “Why does everything seem to be so confused with you?” It’s true; having spent the past several days as a gofer, I now have a much clearer idea of what skill set and personality would make the best fucking gofer in the world, and I’m not it. Listening to Deborah lay into me, it occurred to me that she’s not the greatest production manager in the world, either, and needs all the help she can get. Once I took that attitude, things started to get better right away. I think we’re on the road to a passable working relationship.

Rob Sherwin gave me his treatment to read.

Three hours of sleep coming up. I can’t wait.

Yesterday we shot in the subway.

Today was Steadicam day. I made my screen debut as Bart’s friend who comes to pick him up. I got to wear a suit and tie.

Tomorrow is my last official day. Deborah is begging me to stay on.

Spent my day off setting up my bedroom and office, buying household items, etc. It felt strange not being on the shoot. I guess I really should stick it out until the end. It’s only one more week.

Deborah had this to say about NYU: “They say it’s a three-year program, but it really takes five years. You can expect to spend $2000 on your first-year film, $10,000 second year, and $20,000 third year. Add that to three years’ tuition, and you’ve spent a hundred thousand dollars. What I would do, if you have the wherewithal – I mean, three years and $100,000 – is spend those three years working for free on every film shoot you can. At the end of it, you’ll know how a film gets made; everybody will owe you favors, so you’ll have a crew; the equipment rental places and the labs will know you, so they might give you a deal too. Take the $100,000 and make a feature! Then you’ll be a filmmaker.” She sighed and said: “But no one ever does that. They come around like you’re doing, and ask a lot of questions, and I tell them what I just told you, and then they go off and enroll in the program.”

Ambulance/extras day. It rained. I’m definitely coming down with a virus.

I promised to work tomorrow (half day) and Tuesday and Wednesday. Deborah was thrilled.