Published: September 12, 2008 03:52 pm            

KISSEL: Set adrift on bad memory bliss at Channel 4

Don Paul was the trigger.

As I walked down the concrete hallways of Channel 4 to find its heart, the studio, something in me seemed awry as the look of that very four-letter word.

I didn't want to be there. Strange. You'd think it would be exciting to be in a TV studio. But it was, and yet ...

Yes, despite a TV-ready Rus Thompson offering insights regarding Tuesday's primary action, something was off.

The strange, disembodied remote-controlled studio cameras were doing the roomba. (The whole somewhat quiet room reminded me big time of the Michael Crichton-directed trash classic "Looker," starring Albert Finney and Susan Dey.)

But before I descend into more celebrity and not THE ISSUES ... let me get the celebrity — such a pretty word — out of the way.

As I watched weatherman extraordinaire Don Paul gesticulate in front of a green screen — for some reason I was picturing the Milky Way behind him — it came back to me what I was repressing.

The Laughing Incident!!

Oh, no! Let me explain "The Channel 4 Laughing Incident."

A couple of several years ago I made a movie called WHEREINTHEHELLISNORTHTONAWANDA?, a rather ambitious musical-action comedy set throughout Western New York depicting the struggle of two powerful women philosophically and diametrically opposed in their struggle for the soul of this region.

Or are they?

Anyway, WITHINT? — as it was known internally — never set the film world on fire, which was not exactly the plan with its large cast, epic scale — for an indie film — superhero action with local and global concerns, predicting the nation's march to war and our looming global environmental meltdown.

Before that, though, the production and cast completed a 10-minute trailer which Channel 4 said they'd do a segment on.

Not that it would amount to much beyond a good buzz on the project.

But that's also pretty important when you're doing "The Wizard of Oz" meets "Lethal Weapon" set in Buffalo without a credit card — or a cell phone — for that matter. (Our motto was, if it isn't free, we can't use it. And it worked.)

So WITHINT? got lots of great publicity from the local media. We were lucky to be starting production in the wake of indie boxoffice sensation "The Blair Witch Project."

Channel 4 was among the best.

Until the night they became the worst.

It killed me at the time; as I type this, I smile, representing "growth."

But while I was in the studio just Tuesday, my memory feeling was raw again.

Scene, Channel 4 Nov. 2000. Lottery numbers, obviously coming up on the end of the show.

Of course, it HAD to be the WITHINT? segment. Our movie!

And as fate would have it, Don Paul made someone on the news team giggle.

Soon the laughter became contagious.

Jacquie Walker proceeded to then laugh her way uncontrollably all through our segment.

Nothing was intelligible. A few flashes of the trailer appeared but all I can remember now is seeing the backside of the film's protagonist running up the stairs at the Albright Knox.

Any opportunity to mention of our upcoming fundraiser trailer premier party was lost. (It turned out to be quite the affair at the newly renovated art film theater downtown with three bands, tons of great homemade eats, costumed guests, art exhibits and, of course, the trailer.)

I fumed. Then I hope I moved on quite quickly.

Because filming a feature-length movie is a constant series of challenges and battles won and lost. No time to perseverate only to persevere.

Standing amidst the primary night political action, the bloggers, and Channel 4 agreeing to let me take photos inside their studio, I remembered one of the oldest Hollywood truisms.

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

There's also better, however.

But to just let it go, that's always the best.



Joseph Kissel covers Grand Island for the Record.

        

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