conflict and tea

"-What's wrong with it?

-I don't know. It's just not right.

-That's not helpful.

-You're not helpful."

i think it's fair to say that working creatively, with a short time-frame in mind and 'strong-minded-people' (for the kids, you know) makes for a stressful and conflict rich environment. i don't know whether it's fair to say that such environments allow for more interesting work but in the case of our show it was certainly a factor.

i remember disagreements, raised voices, fights, screaming, tears, Ian going to get a sandwich and a tea with a little milk, returning with a bar of chocolate, 3 teas and a pleased-with-himself-smile (usually because he managed to carry the tea without spilling any) to a simmered-down conflict zone and a little bit of progress made on, what would often become, an irrelevant point of argument.

to say myself and nessa disagreed frequently would be an understatement the size of my ego at the time of an argument (i can hear nessa saying 'all the time, you mean'). it would often leave ian exhausted, pissed off, wondering what the hell he'd started, if he had enough money to get another tea and, probably, trying to figure out what the hell the argument was about because he'd heard one very similar the day before.

but it wasn't our disagreements that were shocking. the scary moments were when we all agreed, when we saw one of the others do something or develop a scene in a few seconds and then for a split second seem to make it to the moon and everything in that what-could-be-three-seconds made sense to all of us.

it didn't happen often (well i guess it happened often enough for us to make a show) but it was enough to keep us going. below are a few videos that inspired us, provoked us, made us argue, laugh, and wonder what the hell we were doing. hope you enjoy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B0dJQ35rDs
http://www.youtube.com/user/dancingbrick#p/a/u/0/FlQHwn3bxG8