Welcome to the next chapter in the DMG saga.
It’s been some time since my last blog entry. My apologies if I’ve neglected the few souls who come here semi-regularly, hoping to discover some new David M. Green bloggy goodness.
I suppose I can immediately blame Optus. I moved into this new apartment in Hawthorn on March 10. I was supposed to have Internet installed on March 23. It’s now April 6 and I’m still waiting for my wi-fi modem.
Thank God for the “hotspot” function on my iPhone and the idiot in the neighbourhood with the unsecured wireless network, or I’d be living like it’s 1996.
Hopefully I’ll properly merge onto the on-ramp to the Information Superhighway soon enough, and join the rest of you.
I’m settling into my new place nicely. The kitchen is just about set up. I had to buy a fridge, a microwave, cutlery, crockery, cookware, the works.
I even needed to buy a bench from IKEA, as there’s not enough built-in bench space…
One Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and half of Gary Numan’s “Beserker” later…
Tada! Gotta hand it to those Swedes. They know kitchen solutions.
The lounge room/main room still needs some work. A couch is on its way from my lovely parents’ house in Adelaide. Then when I can muster the cash, I’ll get a coffee table and a bigger TV.
Speaking of cash, I recently signed up with DJ Masters as a casual DJ. Thus far I’ve DJ-ed two weddings. One in Metung, near Lakes Entrance in eastern Victoria. The other in Shepparton, a couple of hours north of Melbourne.
If you stalk me on Twitter you can follow my progress wearing suits and spinning tracks all over the state.
Want David M. Green to DJ your next rhythmic social gathering for some reason? Go to the DJ Masters website. Ask for me by name. Or a vague description.
I’ve also got a very promising new radio-related job in the pipeline. But more on that one soon.
And then there’s 31 Questions. My big project for 2012.
In a way, it’s been a blessing I lost the MTR job, because I have no idea how the hell I’d be able to produce, write and host this TV show if I was also working 40 hours a week.
I’ve got most of the 13-episode season now written and it’s coming together nicely. We’ve already shot some pre-tape stuff, including this:
And last night we had our first studio day. A very brief rehearsal and a chance to shoot some of the opening sketches.
Not surprisingly, we were plagued by problems. The hallmark of community television.
The most annoying hindrance was the absence of a large piece of our set, which we had constructed for our 2nd pilot in June 2011. It had simply disappeared from the store room!
In hindsight, we probably should have checked last week everything was in order. But Jesus! It’s a huge object. No idea where it’s got to. It’s either been misplaced god knows where, stolen, or broken up and used for firewood.
We were extremely fortunate to make a similar-looking replacement out of pieces of other sets. You can hardly tell the difference, right?
In the 2nd pilot, we had 2 plasma TVs on set. But we arrived yesterday to discover one of them was broken.
Fortunately I had a large poster of myself; an item I can stare at just as long, if not longer, than a flat screen television. An adequate replacement, no?
There were some other technical issues as well. Something was wrong with the lighting desk, which meant we only had time to record three of the seven sketches I had planned.
Hats off to our fantastic crew. Despite the setbacks, we all kept on and no one lost their cool.
We’ve still got the next six Thursdays in the studio so hopefully we’ll squeeze the rest in.
And I’m very happy with the new cast.
There’s myself of course (but you know that).
Taking over from Alasdair “Al” Tremblay-Birchall is the fabulous Anthony McCormack (from The Good Show and many other things). We all loved Al but he has conflicting Melbourne Comedy Festival commitments.
And it gives me great pleasure to introduce Sophie Loughran as our new 31 Questions scorekeeper.You’re gonna love her!
From our rehearsals, we gel together like some sort of razzle dazzle entertainment ooze. And I’m really looking forward to working with the two of them more over the next 6 weeks. I think we got something here.
Also, I got to wear a dress:
Disturbingly, I stayed in that dress just a bit too long after shooting the relevant sketch. I enjoyed it considerably more than I was expecting…
I don’t actually mind wearing lip stick and make-up, but here’s a fun fact for you: I absolutely hate face paint. Ever since I was 4. That one occasion at kindergarten in 1991 was the one and only time I ever had my face painted. From memory, it was some form of rainbow. Just didn’t care for it.
But back to the present. Remember, we’ll need contestants on the show too. Plus there’s plenty (every) of seats available in our studio audiences. So sign up to RMITV and keep an eye on the 31 Questions Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.
So big times ahead for the next six weeks. I’ve got a television series to make. And I have to scrape enough money together to pay for it, plus pay my considerably higher rent, and a cavalcade of bills and renewals… which always seem to come all at once, don’t they?
Car registration, servicing, RACV membership, Internet, ambulance cover. All these bills and more! Christ!
But then again, I could die tomorrow, and I’d still be in surplus.
So life ain’t so bad, really.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
With a new found appreciation for women’s fashion.
