Re: [OT] Gaming at work ...(Long rant with a happy ending )

>> Going back to a thread of a couple of weeks ago,

There were quite a few jealous rumbings about this original thread, and
I
don't want to annoy too many list members, but be prepared to go a very
deep
shade of green :)

Me, I'm 41, got my first real job working for GW in the late 70's and
the
honour/privelege/shame to have been their first full time employee ;-). 
I
answered the ad in the back of White Dwarf 2 or 3 and started packing
their
mail orders.  For a teenager with imagination it was a dream job, and
like
it or not after 5 years of orcs, elves and goblins I parted company with
GW
just before they entered their M&S phase, having fallen foul of the
politics
which were developing at that time.  I'd just started a family and took
any
job I could get to keep food on the table etc, and, not being that
ambitious
and a 'serious' gamer I pootled from job to job none of which satisfied
me
financially or had the sparkle that I got from GW, until I got a job at
the
BBC...

I was an office bod at the beeb for their Drama department for a few
years
and I asked how I could get into TV production.  They looked at each
other
and muttered, said I was too old.. I ignored them at got work experience
on
productions that were short handed and eventually I reached earned my
spurs
and got paid to be a runner, and progressed to a 3rd Assistant Director
working on Films and Television for the BBC.  I was happy as a lark :) 
It
is a wonderful business: hard work but exciting and fulfilling if you
have a
creative streak. There are few jobs around where you get an adrenaline
rush -
Unforgiving if you cock up in any way at the wrong moment - not that
there
is ever a right moment to make a mistake :-)

Anyhoo a series of cock-ups at one of the busiest times EastEnders had
ever
had produced a situation where a work-mate felt it necessary to score
points
off me via a series of machievellian plots and schemes which ended up in
me
being the target of a phone hate campaign (designed to disrupt my home
life), and lets screw him over campaign which led to a very stressful
last
few weeks before I was ousted.	I suppose you could say I was gutted -
I'd
worked 5 years to get the EE and was given a real working over by some
seriously ambition women who I call 'The bitches of Elstree'.  I pieced
the
actual events of my demise together over the two years since I finished
there and despite my experience and my connections at the beeb, I came
up
against a stone wall, seemingly unemployable.  After two years of
treading
water in their transport department waiting for my next production job,
I
gave up and left the BBC totally demoralised - On a day to day basis I
was
booking transport for Drama, yet when I rang looking for work I was told
variations on a theme as to why they were no jobs available for me.  I
sunk
into a fug, but my treatment and situation fired a spark which wouldn't
go
out, and began to make my own plans...

I'd always wanted to work for myself, and have always wanted to work in
the
games industry again, having been forever changed by the years of
rolling
dice at GW.

So, I'm setting up my own business after all this time (Roar from the
throng...).  I won't reveal too much about it at the moment, but it is
all
geared towards setting up my own production company where I can Direct
and
Produce SciFi/Fantasy the way I think it should be done :)  I've helped
to
train most of the directors who you see on the credits at EE, and I know
I
could do the job - the plots and twists I used to throw at my player
characters when I used to run Traveller (Yep, Criminals WD19 was me!) or
when I was a Champions guru are still talked about with fondness and
glimmer
that nostalgia gives to a memory.  Directing is not too far removed from
being a GM:)

Back to the point.  One of the benefits of being your own boss is that
you
can have a gaming table in the conference room ready for use at any
moment,
should the strain of producing the next Babylon 5 prove too much... 
This I
will have, along with the capability to produce magic.

As you read this FTtheMovie _is_ in production.  I'm working on a short
script and working out my shots list - more as an experiment to prove
myself
and the people I'll employ to do the job, than to make a mint though I
wouldn't mind :-]

With any venture, you keep it simple, keep it cheap and keep it going. 
I've
set wheels in motion, and providing I can back up what I say, it will
happen.  I've spoken to Obi-Wan Tuffley, and he is happy enough that I
use
his universe as a backdrop for my project on the understanding that we
need
to agree the fine detail when he can see evidence. In the meantime, if
there
is anyone who like to work in Film/TV Land in whatever capacity, and is
willing to work for kudos alone initially,let me know (off list) as you
may
provide a missing skill from a long list of wanteds - I'll need crew,
costumes, extras, props, locations, equipment etc.
all of which must be bought, hired, borrowed or built.	Even if you have
no
actual experience, but would like to get in at ground level I can
probably
use your help - you'll get a credit on whatever I produce and you will
have
experience which you can put on a CV and impress your friends with down
the
pub. So far I've recruited a small cadre of individual who are willing
and
able and motivated - and a small force applied in the right place can
move
mountains.

Thanks for listening,
Mr Zorg

P.s. I also ran the MKW fleet games which have been reminisced on list
recently and as I say, if I'm working for myself I'll use time
management to
fit in the things I enjoy like Full Thrust, and this time I'll finish
what I
start ;-]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VMW_FAT