after we got back from vermont, it was time for me to prepare myself for something i had no idea what i was getting into. about a month before i returned back from rome, laura IMed me and asked me if i wanted to come with her to utah and work at some film festival that was going on in park city during the time of sundance. i immediately said yes because ive always loved movies and wanted to go to sundance so i took this opportunity as soon as it was offered to me, yet i had no idea when it was, what id be doing, or what this thing was called...
the week before I was booked to fly to utah for this film festival I didn't know much about other than it was called SLAMDANCE, I was pretty much the sickest I had been in years, I believed the excessive drinking/smoking in vermont had something to do with it, but I don't like to point fingers...
But I rested up, didn't leave my house for around 5 days, annoyed my mother with the whining she had probably missed all those months I was gone, then by the end of the week I pulled my shit together and packed to begin this journey.
I met laura at the airport, we hugged and swayed for a few moments at JFK, we like causing scenes so that was ok, then we checked in and headed to our gate to board our first flight. We knew we were flying with a man named Tom, we didn't know who this Tom character was but we found it to be a good idea to walk by people who were between 20 and 40 yrs old looking and whisper his name and see if there was a response. we were unsuccessful...but we found him shortly after when we got on the plane and laura asked the man sitting next to us if this was the alleged Tom we were looking for, and he was. He explained to us in his british accent a little about slamdance, how the area was gorgeous but we will never step foot on a mountain or a ski (good thing we brought our ski pants for nothing haha), and that it was a lot of work but it was fun. we were still tired and i think i spaced out halfway through our convo then i passed out until we landed, a great flight, soon it was time for round 2.
we had about an hour and a half or so before our next flight so we thought it was a good idea to get an enormous beer at a mexican place to prepare ourselves for our final flight to utah, we chugged it like champs, got on the plane, i think i passed out before we even took off and next thing i knew we were in utah flying over mountains and it was beautifulllllll!
we got in around 5, got to TMI where slamdance was being held at around 6, met about 20 people in under 49 seconds, met the infamous Drea who ran the show and who we received emails from ever so often, then were rounded up into a van and take 15 min to our condos with our soon-to-be friends. laura and i were sharing a room and were with 2 other girls, alex and liz, both awesome who explained to us a little about what slamdance was, what we were doing, who was who, and what would be going on during those 2 weeks, it was a little overwhelming but sounded fanstasticcccc!
The next day, all we knew was that we had to be u and out by 9:30, which didn't sound too bad at all after being told by tom earlier that day that our days usually being at 7am. little did we kno that it wasnt necessarily the truth, but from that day on, we were up by 6:30 to get ready and shower and be out by 8am.
so we got there the first day, we had our morning meeting, then basically were told to just do what people needed us for, we were setting up everything that day, putting together the gift bags from all the promotional stuff and sponsors, and organizing our area, the merchandise, so it was ready for the next day when tickets went on sale and then the films would begin. we were able to meet everyone on a more personal level that day but were still a little confused with names and who was doing what since everyone was working on everything at first.
that night was the opening party, this let us really get to know people in a more social atmosphere, it was great, we had a great time, drank a lot, and tried not to pay for the it the next day, i think we did pretty well. that night was really fun, i mean how could it not be when jaeger dos equis, and michael collins were our sponsors haha.
The next few days were awesome and hectic but we loved it all. we worked with awesome people who were full of such great advise from their own life experiences (heidi and nicole cough cough haha), we were able to talk to new and interesting people everyday, and lets not forget the very frequent celeb sightings that kept our days very interesting and exciting.
we saw some amazing movies while we were there and met the casts throughout the festival at some point. since we were located right inside the building where people would first come in, we got to meet and talk to soooo many people and have some really interesting conversations with them, this was the best part of our job id say.
(marta scaring me with her camera during happy hr haha)
each night we were so tired but it sometimes didnt stop us haha. there were a lot of cool bars and restaurants to party at with some of the staff each night like with ali and ash who never let us down and didnt let us live it down when we were too tired to make it out with them haha, and im not gona lie, the altitude made me happy when i would be drunk after a lot less drinks then it would take at home ;0)
(party after the closing night party)
but back to the celebs...heres the official list, sometimes i substituted the role they were in if i didnt know their name at the time haha:
robin williams, the cast from its always sunny in philadelphia (loved them!), dad from freaky friday, dad from smallville, paul giomatti, matt davis, denise richards, jamie kennedy, ron jeremy, writers/actors in beerfest/super troopers, topanga (no corey matthews sorry), benjamin bratt, seth green, mariah carey, daughtry, shooter mcgavin aka christopher mcdonald ?, matthew lilliard, shirt guy in king of queens, ben affleck, spike lee, liam neason, peter gallagher, ralph macchio, oldest brother in malcom in the middle, hot blonde guy in xmen, other guy in 2 and a half men, christopher malloni, singer from everclear, uma therman, mini driver, joseph gordon levitt, robert redford, james gandolfini
great success? i think so
all in all this was one of the best trips of my life, and yes I'm comparing it to my european adventures. it was such a different experience and it was nothing that i expected. everyone we met and worked with were so amazing and so inspiring to pursue whatever it is you want to do in life. of course it wasn't a surprise to my parents that I was now interested in working on tv or film in the future and moving somewhere to do so after this coming summer, so we'll see what happens. I've been pretty good at not doing what I am "supposed to do" with my major so I suppose this is just the next interest in life to pull me in a different direction than what I expected...how exciting!
