Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man by Steve Alpert

Author:Steve Alpert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press

Asses in Seats

I had to leave for New York a day in advance of the rest of the group. The documentary filmmakers following Miyazaki wanted to make sure they captured his on-stage appearances at the screenings of Princess Mononoke. For most of the on-stage appearances NTV also sent a camera crew to get footage for their news programs and TV variety shows. Up until the screening at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City, having a crew filming had not been much of a problem. In each case we had agreed to certain limits and restrictions and promised to mention the screening venue on air or in the documentary’s credits. Sometimes we paid a nominal fee. But the NYFF was asking for $10,000 for permission to film in Avery Fisher Hall for the two to three minutes Miyazaki would be on stage. Miramax was not able to talk them down. NTV didn’t have the budget for it, so Suzuki wanted me to go and see if I could do something to get them to lower their price.

It was Wednesday and the NYFF had given Miramax a deadline of 6 pm that evening to say yes or no to the fee and come up with the money. I had to be out of the hotel by 4:30 am to get a 6 am flight from LAX to JFK. I had let DT, the Miramax liaison with the NYFF (also one of our hosts at the dinner in Toronto), know that I was coming and that once I got to New York we could decide what to do. Meanwhile DT was trying to call in favors from Miramax’s New York VIP list to see if he could go over the festival director’s head and get the fee reduced. In addition to the fee, the festival had a twenty-page legal agreement they also wanted signed.

The flight to New York boarded on time and was taxiing down the runway for an on-time take-off when the pilot aborted and taxied back to the gate. Many of the passengers expressed their disappointment when the pilot announced a fifteen-minute delay to fix a minor problem. I fell asleep, and two and a half hours later when I woke up, the plane was just taking off. When I got to New York at about a quarter to six I immediately searched out a working public phone (cell phones existed, but they weren’t common). I had to shove aside an old lady (I’m not proud of it) to get onto one of the very few working phones. DT said he had got the NYFF down to $8,000.

DT: But they need you to sign the contract.

ME: I can’t get there from JFK by 6. That’s fifteen minutes from now. Impossible.

DT: OK, let me see what I can do. But you’re OK with the eight thousand?

ME: Yes, please do whatever you can. I’m on my way.

When I got outside the terminal, the line for taxis to Manhattan was over two hundred people long.

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