Shiny Happy People

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Sometimes we have selective memories. In both my jobs I deal with a large volume of people on a regular basis.

This is especially true at TIFF, simply due to the size and scope of the event. On some days we have thousands of people passing through the public box office and once the festival opens we deal with an average of 20,000 plus attendees per day attending an average of seventy events at locations throughout the city.

When you are dealing in these volumes, there are going to be some people that have fully committed to perceiving their lives as nothing more than one giant inconvenience.

I encountered one such gentleman who insisted that I should stop taking care of a lady who had a slightly perplexing problem that required a phone call to resolve, and thus held the line up for a few extra minutes.

The basis of his logic was that I should drop what I was doing and take care of him, because what he needed was going to take less time. He then bellowed at me that he was illegally parked!

In the calmest voice I could muster, I told him that his nefarious parking habits were none of my concern, and that if he was in favour of a system whereby people were ranked as to the length of time that it would take to serve them, I would be glad to canvas the entire lineup so I could rank people thusly. Could you possibly wait an hour or two while I do that?

Next was a women whose type I have seen time and again. In my experience these are the people that I am most wary of. I call them the "ladder climbers". Inevitably, this demographic is in the 32 - 49 bracket and they have committed every essence of their being to carreering, and they have achieved some success. They have sport utes, a blind allegiance to whatever massive corporation they toil for, and a mortgage in Oakville or some such other car required locale, where the only minority in the area is the Pizza Pizza delivery guy.

Anyway, this particular woman opened with a possibly legitimate complaint that she had not been emailed. I apologize if there was a glitch, but you're here now so lets move forward, shall we? She then went on to explain that this made a big problem for her as she was holidaying in Greece and not getting her email results was a very huge problem. Again I tried to convince her that we should accept the past and make the best of the present. It was then that she made her first of four statements that she spends a lot of money at this festival.

By the fourth time that I heard how much she spent at this festival, I told her that attendance was not a requirement, and that I would be happy to refund her entire investment and cancel her account with TIFF. She then claimed that she didn't have time for this, as she had an important conference call.

I don't know about you, but to me the almost very last thing that would give me a sense of urgency when I am trying to help someone is their pleading that they have a confernce call scheduled. This is the filmfest version of "my dog ate my homework".

Anyway, it took all of ten minutes to fix this problem, but I had to endure one last eyeroll when I told her that she would have to step into another line, which was all of two minutes long. I then watched her tie up one of our cashiers for forty five minutes. Guess that conference call wasn't that urgent.

Yeah, I know, your life couldn't get any more difficult. But actually it could, and you will never get to that realization until you pull your head out of your self absorbed ass.

My third example of people who made my head explode is the guy who showed up complaining vehemently about the length of the lineup and how we were stupid and didn't know what we were doing, then failed to meet any of the clearly stated requirements for picking up tickets. I explained to him that part of the reason the lineups are long is that there are people like himself in them.

Having said all that, I must admit that most of the people who attend this divine madness are in fact patient, polite and generally awesome.

It seems to me that an unfortunate fact of life is that the human mind tends to gravitate towards remembering the negative experience over the positive one, in all contrast to the reality before us.

www.goyestoeverything.com

Mr. Magoo Meets His First TIFF Celeb

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So tonight was my first shift at one of the Toronto International Film Festival venues. I was nervous going in, it has been a few years since I worked on the public side. I kept invoking my mantra that I use in these situations - "things are not necessarily difficult, simply unfamiliar".

Generally, things went well, and I have to give a lot of respect to Helen and Freya for staying calm in a situation that was far more unfamiliar to them than it was to me.

I began to realize that the source of my nervousness was that I had no "Mommy" or "Daddy" to help me out. The next realization was that I had somehow become "Daddy" and it was up to me to help others out, and to answer the questions that they couldn't answer. Just like a real parent, I know that I don't have all the answers, but for the sake of the kids I have to come up with something.

Generally things went very well and nothing came up that couldn't be dealt with, and I remembered the importance of staying calm, so as not to upset the kids.

Our final screening was a film called Suck. Described as a Canadian rock and roll vampire comedy, it was not really my kind of flick, so I hadn't even bothered to look it up in the phonebook known as the TIFF Program Guide.

However, the film had generated lots of interest, to the point where it had gone "Rush Only" or standby in the more common vernacular.

Just prior to screening time a couple approached the box office seeking tickets. The man was kind of scraggly and smallish, the woman striking in "rocker" attire without being trashy. I was immediately struck by how gentle, respectful and polite they both were as they inquired about purchasing tickets.

The lady working the box office explained that they would have to get in the standby line located downstairs and outside at the east end of the building. It was only then that they mentioned that they were in the film, and I was summoned to deal with this situation. (I'm a big believer in letting others try to solve problems before stepping in, but thats a whole other post).

I asked them both to step aside while I looked into the situation. Again, they both were incredibly gracious and thanked me as they stepped aside. I found the person who deals with talent and they were whisked past us while thanking us yet again for our assistance.

I thought to myself "if only everybody who attends this festival could be so polite, calm, and gracious".

Later one of the box office people looked up the film in the guidebook, and there in the picture was none other than the guy that we had helped get in to the film. Turns out it was some musician by the name of Alice Cooper. Perhaps you've heard of him?

This is typical of many of my celebrity encounters at TIFF. I often don't realize who I am talking to until after the fact.

Anyway, I must doff my cap to Mr. Cooper. He and the lady he was with set a new standard for humility, politeness, and patience among TIFF celebs. Alice Cooper is a true gentleman, and a kick ass king of rock and roll!

http://goyestoeverything.com

4....3....2...1...

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So today is launch day. This is the culmination of work that begins only weeks after the last TIFF. For me, I jumped on the train in early July. While I have nothing to do with the content of the event, I do help the powers that be execute the event, alongside a great many others.

I'm reminded of the image of Mission Control, with a bunch of people behind computers launching an Apollo or Shuttle mission. For the next ten days we will watch this thing soar through the sky, while praying that nothing brings it crashing down to earth.

Make no mistake, there will be minor glitches on a personal level for a few attendees. Relax, we will do our best to live up to our commitment to you.

Over the next ten days the people of Toronto will have the opportunity to witness many aspects of the human experience as perceived by filmakers from around the globe. TIFF can teach us a lot about ourselves.

With all due respect, don't waste your time on the George Clooney film. Go see that flick from Vietnam that you will never have the chance to see again. That is the true beauty of TIFF.

Now lets light this candle, shall we?

Here Comes TIFF

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While I have had the pleasure of working for TIFF for months, I am starting to get excited. While The Toronto International Film Festival has had a public presence at Nathan Phillips Square since early July, the real beginning of the divine madness begins on "Book Day".

This is the day that the full schedule is released and the Official Program book is released. It is also the day that the vast majority of Torontonians rush (for the 34th consecutive year) to our ticketing office to try and buy packages that have been on sale since early July, and are now sold out.

I'm going to post here some advice to the individual seeking single tickets or access to high profile events as we move forward, but here are some basic principles.

You can always "Rush" shows.

Rush is like flying standby. I have two basic strategies for rushing a film. The first is "if its a big venue, I have a greater chance to get in" . I use this when I want to see a specific film. RTH, Elgin and Ryerson are the three largest screening rooms at the festival, and therefore the chance of getting in is larger because of the size of the house. However keep in mind that many of the screenings at these venues are premium priced. Know before you go!

My second strategy is to fly by the seat of your pants. Find a timeframe that works for you that combines with a flurry of screenings on the schedule at a single location You need to have some sense of adventure, but flexibility is key to enjoying the festival.

My basic message is to chill, y'all. If you want to get into a film badly enough, you will, but I seriously favour looking for the smaller films and day screenings. After all my years at the festival the two films I remember most are films you have likely never heard of.

Also for those on a budget, there are a lot of free events happening. I will be posting about this next!