#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto
A while back I did an interview with two of the creators of the Fallout: Nuka Break YouTube series. Fallout is an awesome game franchise that takes place in an alternate timeline where the Cold War never ended and then nukes flew about and everyone was sent to underground vaults and mutants happened and then China and Alaska fought and it got crazy. Nuka Break is a fan series completely fan funded by YouTube subs and whatnot and it’s a totally original story inside that universe. What? You wanna watch it? Okay! Here’s a link.
I heard about it by trolling YouTube and looking at fan films and whatnot, and when I heard they were looking for extras, well, I couldn’t say no to that. So one thing leads to another and I’m driving up from North Hollywood to Agua Dolce to film at this crazy ranch at 5 a.m. in the morning. To get to the set I had to drive up in these hills, past all these way posh houses, turn down a mountain, past an alpaca farm ( I honestly didn’t think those existed in California but there you go) and then I got to set. I won’t tell you about the giant doorway that I had to open by answering three riddles and fighting a Cyclops because, I mean, how many times have we all heard that story right? Haha, man, good times.
When I got out of my car I immediately see the director and lead actor talking away about fifty feet in front of me. Sort of shuffling my way over holding all my stuff that I brought to help with my costume I said, “Uh, Phil up at the front of the road said I should tell someone I was an extra?”
Zack Finfrock, one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met and one of the series’ stars smiled and shook my hand. He introduced himself and gave me a few quick directions, then thanked me for coming out and introduced me to Vince Talenti, the director. Both of these dudes were way classy and super easy to talk to. I felt like I was going to REALLY enjoy working with and for them. The extra outfitter was in the back of the small ranch town and we were all getting dirtied up and dressing in our finest semi-western-post-apocalyptic wear. I had this cool hat and jacket from home and these old pants I was gonna mess up with combat boots. Then then threw a scarf around my neck, put some goggles there too, and then gave me a bandolier of fake bullets to go around my hate. I looked AWESOME. Like some sort of friendly-yet-slightly trigger happy cowboy. Below is a pic of all of us goofin’ around.
We’re all holding up different drinks because we realized that in horrible horrible desert heat and in like three layers of clothes we were sweating from our eyeballs.
The rest of the morning was devoted to shooting scenes on some roofs of buildings and holding airsoft guns while attempting not to slide to the ground after a 12-foot drop in 100 degree heat. It was a blast, and totally not in a sarcastic way. I mean I was having the time of my life.
My sister works in casting and we’re both big cinema buffs so being a part of a shoot and nerding out with all these other extras was awesome. I mean I got to see how the takes work, how some direction was done, acting, and everything in between. All the cast and crew were SUPER nice and so grateful to us for coming out and they took great care of the extras. I felt really at home and totally a part of what was going on there.
Maybe halfway through the day, all the extras were standing around taking a break and one of the assistant directors yelled at me, “HEY! JOHN! Can you come here?” There were two John’s (which is so freaking weird for me because I literally never run into other John’s on my own) and the AD was like, “No, sorry, the taller one. Big John, c’mere!” I’m 6’1” or 6’2”, depending on who you ask, so I figured that was me.
“We need you to switch roles with Phil cause he’s a little short to be playing the Mayor’s bodyguard. You’ll be with Steve and Doug. Go around that corner, take Phil’s clothes and give him yours and run back, okay?” I nodded and trotted off behind the buildings where Phil and I did the no-pants-dance. No, not THAT no-pants-dance. Get your mind out of the gutter. Pervs.
We ran into a problem once we had the clothes on. So, I’m 6 foot and some change, right? Phil’s like, maybe 5’8”? 5’9”? In any case he was like a head or so shorter than me and my clothes didn’t fit. I’m wearing his two sizes too small pants and he’s sagging in mine and we’re kind of standing there looking at each other and we just kinda laugh it off and I run back out to set. To be honest I just hoped no one saw that I was stretching the tanktop I was wearing down so that it covered up the fact that my pants were completely unbuttoned just so that I could fit in them. The rest of my look was black slacks, combat boots, and some aviator sunglasses. Cameron, the AD looks at me for a second and then takes off his utility vest and slaps it on me, “There you go. You look like a badass now.” He escorts me over to the two other guys I’m going to be working with and says, “John, this is Steve Dengler and Doug Jones.” We all shake hands and then sort of wait.
It wasn’t till later that I found out that Steven Dengler is the CEO of a company called xe.com. A big fancy pants outfit in Toronto. He had flown down here on his own money to play dress up in a fan film that he was also helping fund. I mean, the dude is the ultimate fan. I want to be Steve when I have my own dough. The dude is crazy awesome.
Then I found out who Doug Jones was. You ever see Hocus Pocus? How about Hellboy? Hellboy II: The Golden Army? Pan’s Labyrinth? Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Doug was in all of those movies, but you probably didn’t recognize him since he is the master of prosthetic makeup roles. He was the Silver Surfer, the blue fishman Abe Sapien in both Hellboy moivies, and he was the guy they resurrected from the grave in Hocus Pocus. OH! And he was the actor playing Pan in Pan’s Labyrinth. So needless to say I had the best co-workers ever.
I spent the rest of the day toting a sawed off shotgun, acting tough and chilling with some of the coolest people ever. Dream come true. I tell you. Here’s a few pics:
Where am I going with this? Well I’ll tell you. The fact that a bunch of people could come together, be funded entirely by fans, and totally create and awesome webseries that even impresses the writers of the game just shows how amazing the gaming community is. Honestly, there should be more things like this, and I want to be a part of them. Hell, I might even write one myself. But I am constantly floored by the cool people in the gaming community and how they all band together to revel in their own nerdiness.
I encourage you all to revel in your nerdiness. Start a blog, make a fan film, make a fan site, dress up, do whatever. Because if we don’t do any of that? Then the dinosaurs come back. And no one wants that now do they?
#nerdsunite
Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!