I love Seattle. My friend Rob and I spent a few days there in ‘05, catching a Yankee series at Safeco Field. While the name Safeco is no doubt steeped in baseball tradition, it’s still not the best moniker in all of sports. That honor belongs to Quicken Loans Arena. Take me out to the economic downturn.I jeté back to the Pacific Northwest, where the Seattle True Independent Film Festival is lucky number 13 for The Beneficiary. And a chance for me to pay tribute to the backbone of my film: director Ted Melfi.
Ted is a Brooklyn-raised, former college baseball player. I’ve always found that college athletes, after years of handling the crushing schedule of classes/practice/fending off coeds, move on to become true vikings in the real world. Ted culled together the stellar cast, and blackmailed the crew into working for little or no pay. When we needed a pawnshop as a location, Ted scouted 13 places all over L.A.
On my way to our first day of filming, I felt a smidge of panic that the actors in my cast wouldn't enjoy working on the movie. When I got to the set, Julie Ann Emery, the lead, pulled me aside and told me that after witnessing the massive crew, including top-notch hair and makeup people and stunt coordinators, she was really happy to be there. Now that Phil Spector is taking the Jew-fro to Chino State, Ted is hands down the hardest working man in showbiz.
Not even a Slam-Dunk Delight from Edible Arrangements would be enough to let Ted know how much I appreciate all he did. So I hope a freebie shout-out on a two-bit blog will suffice.
