THE PROFESSOR PART 1
October 8th, 2008 | Published in Scripts
THE PROFESSOR PART 1
Like a lot of Boomers, I’ve thought about teaching as a way of sharing some of the knowledge I’ve gained over the years. No, not how to make a really good Mojeto. College kids know how to do that. No, I recently got a call from the local university asking me to teach script writing for a semester. I’d be filling in for someone going on sabbatical. Now in show business “going on sabbatical” usually means “going to rehab.” So, I figured, no sweat. I’d be filling in for some professorial boozehound. You know, it would be like if Otis, the town drunk had tenure. I thought I’d go into the classroom, dazzle them with funny stories about my days in network television, teach them a couple of tricks of the trade like how stealing an idea from someone isn’t really stealing if you call it an homage. And, at the same time, I’d find out if I liked teaching any more than I liked going to school. Well, I guess my attitude has kind of gotten me off on the wrong foot. It turns out that in academia, when somebody goes on sabbatical, they’re not playing badminton at the Betty Ford Clinic. They actually go off and do academia stuff. I knew I was in trouble my very first day in class.
Marc in class – So, how many of you are fans of The Golden Girls or Laverne & Shirley?
Shot of bored students from Kona Coffee video.
Marc in Alley – No TV fans – not good. I was counting on a room full of students like I was in school: under achievers who spent their youth glued to the boob tube – worshiping at the altar of shows like Knight Rider – not the new homage Knight Rider that NBC is bringing back this fall. The original one.
MARC IN CLASS – Well what shows do you like?
STUDENT #1 – We’re not interested in the bourgeois, sell-out-for-cash-instead-of-creating-art world of TV. You know, except for MTV’s Pimp My Ride. But that’s about the art of pimping your ride, man. We want to be filmmakers. That’s why we took this course, to learn from Pedlosky.
MARC- Who?
STUDENT #1 Pedlosky. God, don’t tell me you were so busy making mindless pap that you don’t know one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
MARC – Hey, I worked on quality shows like The Golden Girls.
STUDENT #1 – You also did The Sinbad Show, Platypus Man, and something called Blansky’s Beauties.
MARC IN CLASS - Damn you, Google.
MARC IN ALLEY – Okay, so I’ve never heard of the guy I’m filling in for, Pedlosky. And maybe I’m in denial, but I figure if I haven’t heard of him, maybe he isn’t as big a deal as these kids think he is. I needed to find out more so I went home and did a quick online search to see what other filmmakers who I had heard of thought of this Pedlosky guy.
CLIPS OF TARENTINO AND SCORSESE TALKING ABOUT PEDLOSKY. THEY PROCLAIM HIS GENIUS. HERE ARE THE LINKS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-dhXhUckI&feature=related
Scorsese 6:50 – “When I watched those films on TV …
Tarentino – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqTxs2nxmh0
32:06 - 34:40
MARC IN ALLEY – Suddenly I’m not in denial anymore. I’m in deep doo doo. Maybe the university has replaced a real artist and sent in a hack. I don’t know what to do. I’d like to drop the course, but as it turns out, you can’t do that if you’re teaching it. I’ve got to figure something out. I feel like…well kind of like Laverne & Shirley felt when they thought they were too stupid to go to night school. That was a good episode. At least that’s what I think. Let me know what you think. I’m Marc at Boomer alley dot com.
Dissolve to:
Marc – Hey, if you’ve got an idea for a Boomer Alley video, text it to me – text it to 50500 with Boomer in the subject line. Now I know I just sent some of you Boomers into an apoplectic fit. Text! He wants me to text! – Check out the new Boomer Alley how to text video and get with the program. It’s easy and if you need help, ask your kids. It’s a good excuse to talk to them.
