So I got a package a week or so ago. That's not unusual. My propensity for ordering things off Amazon at 3am, and the occasional TV screener from interesting P.R. companies that understand the value of sending bloggers screeners means I'm always getting packages.but this one was different. It was weirdly shaped -- long and thin. I opened it up and immediately recognized it from my visits to a hundred TV production company offices through the years.
It was that long fancy-papered, calligraphied certificate noting that I had been nominated for a Gemini Award. There it is, "nominee" stamped in leaf. Or, um...ink. Anyway, it's very high quality printing. Litho'd, maybe? I don't know.
When you go into a meeting, there's usually a Vanity wall, where you see all these certificates framed and ready. Gemini Winner, Gemini Nominee, New York Festivals Gold, Houston Worldfest Silver, etc, etc, etc.
Now, sure, none of those have the psychic weight of an Emmy, or the physical weight of a Gemini statue, which, believe me, I would gladly display. But I don't have one of those statues because I lost.So what do I do with this certificate thing? Do I get it framed? Put it up in the office? I mean, really? Am I that guy?
Or does it go in a drawer? I just....I mean, once you get the first one framed, aren't you committing to being that guy, with one of those walls? I'm really not sure I'm that guy.
What do you think? Am I that guy?
Vote at left. Thanks.
EDIT: Also, on the docket for discussion. Is it good to be that guy, or not? Discuss.
17 comments:
Oh, for God's sake. You frame it. Then, if you want, you can leave it at the foot of the wall as if you can't really be bothered to hang it up.
As you struggle with getting shows made, or getting hired on a show you care about, it's good to remind yourself now and then that you've done something good.
Now now Alex, don't be dismissive of my struggle. Realize that it's entirely cultural:
" Now, you might think this “ridiculous” success, as Lehane describes it, might result in a swelled head, but you would be wrong. “The Irish will forgive you everything except you feeling conceited about success. They're okay with success, but the great crime in Irish culture is to put on airs. My family and my friends,” Lehane says, “have been very consistent in making sure my head doesn't blow up.”
At the same time, one mustn't don the cloak of faux humility. “Wasn't it Springsteen who said nothing's more pathetic than ‘a rich man in a poor man's shirt?' ” he says, riffing on the lyrics from Better Days. “If I was still going for drinks at Vaughan's Tavern in Dorchester, I think everybody would tell me to go home,” Lehane observes. “It'd be like that great line in Mississippi Burnin g: You're not from here no more.”
I know a filmmaker who has his nominee certificate hanging in his spare bathroom. The one that only gets used for 'business'.
I don't wanna think you're that guy Denis...but...'ulp', I think you're that guy.
Seriously.
On that very note, I was sorting boxes and found nine...NINE!!, of those nomination or award certificates --- all framed and nice and everything, but in bottom of box of old memorabilia.
I can't remember why I got em all framed, or why I never actually put them up on any walls. I'm that old.
But I'm 'not' that guy.
My career awards are in the living room amid the souvenir paraphernalia and momentoes from other endeavours and travels.
The nominations I lost are framed and on the back wall of my office so I only see them when I'm leaving -- a reminder on good days that I might have to do better and a consolation on bad days that there's still hope.
Be the guy! It's good to be the guy!
I voted to go for it, because seriously, who's going to think ill of you for it? And if such people exist, why on earth are you letting them in your house?
That said, it's only worth doing if your reaction when you look at it "Yay! Pretty thing they gave me 'cause I DONE GOOD!" If you're going to duck your head every time you walk by it and think "Dude, I am LAMESAUCE"? Into the drawer it goes.
Best of all, whichever decision you make is reversible. It can always go in the drawer at a later date. Y'know, to make room for a shelf to hold shiny little statues.
Enjoy it if you can, stash it if you can't. Everything else is noise.
HAHAHA...those pics are four kinds of awesome.
And Jimmy is 'that guy'...I am a little surprised to learn that.
And I like Valerie's overview...I always thought 'I am LAMESAUCE' whenever I saw them...whether for wins or losses.
However I stand by my original assessment --- you may think you aren't 'that guy' D, and may mock 'those guys' from your perch at the Paddock...but I still think part of you wants to frame it and put it up over your desk.
Go for it.
If the print is that good, you might as well treat it as a painting. I go for framing.
Cheers from Portugal
Absolutely frame it!
Then you just need to debate yourself on where or if to display it!
i think one has to answer the question as to whether it matters to you. every time i get hepped up about the "peers" nominating me I remember that the starland vocal band beat elvis costello and the usually means the awards end up in a pile of un-filed tax returns
Of course I'm "that guy"! Where's the harm in acknowledging that this is the business you're in and sometimes people notice?
Do you shy away from a mechanic because he's got one of those Goodwrench Good Guy plaques they make more of than actual cars?
Do you Kick a beauty pagaent contestant to the curb because she only won the "Miss Congeniality" title?
The best people in this business are often NEVER noticed.
Was "CRASH" really the best screenplay in its year, let alone the best movie?
Winning isn't as important as staying in the game. Maybe think of this as your "participation ribbon".
It really IS an honor just to be nominated -- because a bunch of other writers said, "Hey, y'know -- spelling aside -- this was pretty good. Anything more is often just a matter of luck, good manners or who you know.
Not only that -- but it's your first -- and it might not happen again. Remember how Dan Marino always said he'd get 'em in his next Superbowl?
Frame it! Nail it to the wall! Dare anybody to say you didn't earn it!
Fantastically high-class problem!
Personally, I think it's time to start scrapbooking. :)
Frame it and hang it and be proud of your accomplishments whether they came with little statues, engraved invitations or stand alone in your mind. It's either a reminder or a marking post, enh? Who gives a toss what the rabble think?
I have a few Genie and Gemini Certificates and a big Brass Profile face and a few other award-like trophies. I had them framed but never put them up... they sat collecting duct in the attic until my girl Stacey fond them and hung them... I don't feel quite pretentious... as she hung them... not I... but WTF, why not... at least it is a personal item and then maybe you can take down a few of the "Unicorn rides a Rainbow' velvets and/ or your Obama/Battlestar Galactica/Hilary Duff posters...
Happy New Year Bitch
If the struggles against "Resistance" and the financial uncertainty and the artistic compromises and the constant honing of craft are the price of admission, then the certificate is your receipt. Frame it.
It's a real thing that real people gave you for doing real work. Frame it.
Wooooo...looks like you gave everybody who has one the chance to "admit" they'd got a blurb certificate of recognition, Denis. What's wrong with a little, as you call it, shameless self promotion, right? Gawd!
Oh, by the by, I waited until I had more than two, framed em all and hung em in the office...the basement office...right next to a huge stack of porn.
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