I have a very strange claim to fame.
I have the world's largest collection of answering machine messages.
16 years. 1988 to 2004.
Yeah, weird, huh?
And at the same time just the most amazing thing I can imagine.
I seriously don't know how I managed to keep them from being lost stolen, burned, destroyed by dust or water, etc.
It's just crazy that I now have a rare time capsule of the voices of a bunch of friends and family from the 90s.
Before cell phones. No voicemail, no texting, no Internet, not a single luxury (bonus if you know my silly reference).
Side note: my outgoing messages were drawn from 70's TV jingles, famous songs, and movie lines, with the intention to elicit interesting messages.
These messages range from hilarious to heart-breaking to romantic, to bizarre, to capturing historical random events.
Now that you know WHAT I did, not for the WHY?
I have no idea.
That's not true, I have a lot of guesses. Yet it still being a bit of a mystery to me, and wondering what to make of my intense nostalgia and coming to terms with these voices from the past, well that is the central notion of my story: explaining the back story, my parents got divorced when I was 5, being heartbroken from missing my dad, him being a singer and storyteller who left long messages, his years living in Laurel Canyon, and my decision just after high school to start saving his messages and all those from my fascinating, weird, entertaining UC Berkeley friends.
The main emotional punch of this film will be that now, upon listening to the messages, I finally understand a lot more about my friends, girlfriends, family, etc. And I reflect on it. And will contact some of them 30 years later!
Hence the title "I Can Be Here Now: Please Leave a Message"
Finally, two other bodies of info are relevant:
1. My grandfather, whom I never knew, was a diplomat who had a letter from Steinbeck and several from LBJ and Humphreys.
2. The fact that I just spent the last 5 years getting priceless, authentic, incredible footage of my dad slowly dying from Alzheimer's.
Will you help me conceptualize, strategize, write, and edit this into an award-winning memoir documentary?
Hourly rate will depend on your background, experience, and the nature of how we frame how we work together.
If you feel drawn to this, contact me!
Scott