This happened mostly over the course of the last week, but I’m just now getting a chance to sit down and type it all out.
Recently I decided to go back to school. I haven’t been in a few years and I’m still nervous even though I’ve already started, but I’m also excited. One of the things I was excited about from the get go was the thought of meeting some film buffs who were writing or even -gasp- making independent films.
See, my best friend and I used to carry a camera with us everywhere. Sometimes we would write scripts or improvise comedy or action, sometimes we would interview each other as if we were already famous, and sometimes we’d just film ourselves around town acting like idiots. The fact is I love film. I love watching movies, I love writing, acting, directing, basically everything about it. So I was naturally overjoyed when, on my first night of school last Tuesday, I saw a flyer in the hall. It read:
I thought, “Awesome! Some kid is making an independent film!”
So I emailed and asked him for more information. He wrote back and said he would like to meet me as soon as possible. I thought this was kind of weird so I wrote back and told him we should talk on the phone or at least email more to make sure we were on the same page. I described myself and left my cell phone number.
He wrote me back the next day and said he would really like to meet me Saturday morning. I wrote back again and told him we should really talk on the phone and make sure we aren’t wasting each other’s time, he still hadn’t told me what this project was all about.
Suddenly it dawned on my Thursday night what an idiot I had been. I was half tempted to jump out of bed and write him an email saying “I have a girlfriend, and I DO NOT do porn!”, but I let the feeling pass and fell asleep.
The next morning (Friday) he finally called me while I was at work. He said he wanted to meet me the next morning in the parking lot at “Phoenix College” (I never heard of the place) and he told me where it was at. I told him I wasn’t ready to commit to anything because I still didn’t know what this was all about. He said,
“Ok, can you do improv?” Yes, of course I can do improv. I love improv.
“Alright,” he said “this is basically what the project is about. You’re going to be playing a cop. There’s not really a script so it’s all 100% improv. There aren’t any cameras either-”
I cut in at this point, “Oh, so it’s like a play…”
He replied, “Well, yea, kind of, but there isn’t really an audience either. We had a lot of fun last time we did this. Basically you’re just going to get to ride around on a four-wheeler. So what time should I meet you there?”
I told him I would have to get back to him later on that, even though I had already decided FOR SURE that there was no way in hell I was going to meet this guy.
I had told him earlier that I was at work and I couldn’t talk for long so he said, “Well, I work too. I’m a Phoenix cop; special forces and undercover, so I won’t be home tonight-”
I’m thinking this kid sounded really young to be any kind of cop, maybe 18 or 19 years old.
He continued, “but you can leave a message with my parents. If they ask you who are just tell them you’re a friend of mine and you want to leave a message with them of what time you’re going to meet me.”
So I get off the phone with this creep and immediately run-down the situation in my head. What we have here is a kid who:
[ul]
[li]Wants to do some really weird project but doesn’t have any friends, so he posts flyers to get people to do it. I found out somewhere in our conversation that he doesn’t even go to my school so that makes it even weirder that he put flyers there…[/li]
[li]Wants to meet me in an empty parking lot on a Saturday morning[/li]
[li]Says he is a cop, probably lying but also probably has a gun, and already has an excuse for having one if he does - He’s a cop![/li]
[li]Implies riding 4-wheelers, which in Phoenix means going out in the middle of nowhere[/li]
[li]Lives with his parents and doesn’t have a cell phone, which means - not to look down on him for that, but these things are adding up - at his age he probably doesn’t have much of a social life.[/li]
[li]Doesn’t want his parents to know about any of this[/li][/ul]
I’m half-tempted to call the Police or do something but I’m not so sure how much man power they would put into investigating a kid who is “doing a weird project.” I just feel REALLY weird about this and I wish I could somehow warn the other people he is talking to.
He called me this morning and I didn’t answer but he left me a voicemail. He said the project is going down really soon and he “already has one actress!” so I’d better hurry up and get in touch with him if I still want to do it!
The whole situation just really creeps me out. I hope I’m not missing anything in the retelling of the story. Everyone I’ve told in person has been sufficiently creeped out. My girlfriend was downright scared.
