I'm covered in dust

Today we actually got to do some work in the venue. We blacked out the windows with huge black curtains made of this lovely velvet type material called duvateen. If you've ever been in a theatre and seen a black curtain, it's made out of duvateen. I'm pretty sure that one day I'm going to come down with some horrible disease and it's going to be caused by the dust that rises off of duvateen the minute you move it. The stuff is heavy and just holds whatever hits it. We hung the curtains, put the screen together and right before we got the screen in the air we realized that the actually screen was on the frame upsidedown. It took ten people to pull it off and turn it around, but we got it straight and got the screen in the air. (By the way, it wasn't my fault that it was upsidedown...I have nothing to do with putting the screen together! I just help)! We did everything today that I had planned which was very good. We're not ahead, but we're right on schedule. It got a little confusing for a while because we had a bunch of curtains and poles that weren't labeled in any way so we really had no idea where they went. We ended up just having to guess, but it looks like it's supposed to so it's all good. No matter how many times I read through those manuals I think it just ends up that they were written by people who thought they'd be doing this job forever so they just wrote some stuff down because they were supposed to. I also had a bunch of meetings with the Conference Center people and I think I'm just going to have to bypass the booker girl and deal with the guys who are actually on the crew. It seems like it's going to work out better that way. Tomorrow we start hanging artwork while they set up for the Mushroom banquet. It'll be interesting!

Tonight, they're showing a film by one of the guys that has worked for this festival for a while. He made a movie and it's premiering at the Toronto Film Festival (which is huge)! He was also named one of the Top 25 Young Filmmakers to Watch by Filmmaker Magazine. It's good to see someone getting some recognition. Yay!