Thursday, November 20, 2008

Hey guys, just wanted to appaulogize that i couldnt be there yesterday or today at the meetings. I hope all is well. I have been having some problems that have required me to see my doctor a few times this week. If you guys need anythign from me just email/msn/ me. I should be at school on friday.

4 comments:

Jeremy Canton said...

Dave your apologies are a nice gesture to the group, but there can only be so many before it doesn't matter - apologies don't show up on/or make a film.

It also does us no good to tell us AFTER the fact. Please, if you have to miss meetings and such let us know in advance or at least explain what you're going through and maybe we can help.

Dave said...

Jeremy

I explained to derek on weds that i wouldnt be coming becuase of an appointment i had to go to, i thought he would mention it to the rest of the group. The thursday meeting was only brought to my attention on thursday morning when i also had another appointment that kept me from coming in.

I understand why you would be angry with me and i understand where you are coming from. Its hard for me to explain what im going through right now, because there are many different things going on that are making my life less then desirable.

I have been trying to do the best I can under my circumstances and all i can do is learn from these mistakes.

The last thing i want is for everybody to hate me in the group which, already seems to be happening.

All i can promise is that im working really hard to get through my own personal issues and with that said, it should help with the issues im having with the group.

Rob Finlay said...

Hey Dave,

First of all, I hope you don't take any of this personally. I think I can confidently speak for everyone when I say nobody hates you or has a problem with you on a personal level.

I also agree that Thursday morning isn't enough notice for a meeting that's taking place Thursday, and honestly I'm sure nobody would have made an issue of that if this was an isolated case. We've all missed or been late for meetings, I think. The principal issue is that your attendance at meetings (whether mentor meetings, production meetings or general meetings) has been sporadic since the beginning of the year, meaning that this is a trend rather than just a single incident. In most cases, we haven't had any advance notice that you would be absent, even if on this particular occasion we did. The fact that some of your work hasn't been done on time just compounds the issue.

Again, I like you, I think you're a nice dude, and if you're going through some personal stuff, I'm not unsympathetic. If you wanna talk to us about it, that's cool, and if it's personal and you'd rather not, that's cool too; obviously you're under no obligation to do so. That said, there is a responsibility to the group to let us know at least the information that's relevant to us. That means that if work isn't going to be completed on time or you're not going to be able to make a meeting, we need to know about that as early as possible. We also need to know when the work that isn't done is going to be made up, or if something is happening that will prevent your contribution to the group for an extended period, then I think that's something you really need to discuss with us or with Tony so we can make up the shortfall.

In the end, we just want to make a kick-ass film, and have to be able to rely on one another in order to get there. All anyone is really asking is that responsibility to the film and to the group be respected. Hope that clarifies things, and I also hope it doesn't suggest any ill-will, because as I keep neurotically restating, this has never been a personal issue.

Jeremy Canton said...

No one in the group hates you, Dave! Thats like playground talk - were more professional than that by now. Its all business.

Just realize the group always has to think for you - "What part is Dave doing? Did anyone tell him?" That should not be our responsibility. You need to be at the meetings yourself - spare us the extra work and extra consideration.

What Rob said pretty much sums it up really well. That is all.