Liftoff

I nervously twiddle my thumbs as I wonder if anyone will arrive. A man walks into the pub with a tentative look on his face, scanning the bar. “Are you here for the meeting?” I ask. Fifteen minutes later, a dozen people are in the bar, some of whom are proxies for those who can’t make it. I take a deep breath, step forward and speak up. “I suppose we ought to start this meeting,” I say. They all quiet down and look to me.

Moving to a new place can be a waiting game. Waiting to find my neighborhood hangout, my grocery store, my circle of friends, my niche. All that never totally materialized for me in Galway. Cardiff seems to be a different story. I’ve made more of an effort to head to professional meet-ups, social events and some cool-but-terribly-named events called Tweet-ups. It’s paid off because at one of those events I met a film director and producer who owns his own production company. He was just starting production on a TV sketch comedy pilot. After a few conversations, he asked me to join his team as one of his two line producers. Which brings me to the meeting at the start of this story. We shoot in a week and I find myself responsible for recruiting and managing a crew of about thirty people. It’s all quite exhilarating (if not a little overwhelming). It’s been nearly a year since I moved abroad, and since that year of working consisted of not doing much career-wise, it’s been nice to get back in the saddle of (one of the things) I want to do with my life. If you’re in Cardiff and want to come check out the show for free, check out our facebook page.

But in a perfect example of “when it rains, it pours,” that’s not the only thing I’ve got on my plate. Two days after we wrap production on the television pilot I head to London to take a sort of standardized test not unlike the GRE — it’s a test I’ve spent most of my non-existent free time studying for. Meanwhile, at the hostel I’ve been asked to take on a bit more responsibility, ordering stock and communicating with vendors. Oh, and I’ve also launched this blog and been working behind-the-scenes to get more guest writers and more exposure.

It’s a lot of work, but I sure prefer this over what had become my habit of spending my weekends switching between Facebook, XBox and sleep. I’m finished with the waiting game. It’s time for my liftoff.