The Postman Always Rings Twice
- Episode aired Dec 27, 2018
Kevin talks about the phone conversation scandal that got him kicked off of Public Access, and how the relationship abuse of a co-star insurrected and divided the cast, ultimately resulting ... Read allKevin talks about the phone conversation scandal that got him kicked off of Public Access, and how the relationship abuse of a co-star insurrected and divided the cast, ultimately resulting in the cancellation of Zombie Life TV.Kevin talks about the phone conversation scandal that got him kicked off of Public Access, and how the relationship abuse of a co-star insurrected and divided the cast, ultimately resulting in the cancellation of Zombie Life TV.
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Kevin from the Other Dimension: I was assigned to help cover Fantastic Fest with Logan Gordon and Mark Martinez, which may have been the only chance I would ever have to attend that Film Festival given my rate of poverty. Sometime before this happened, I attended the last Garth Manor screening of Carl Reiner's Summer School, and Mark Martinez was there as a photographer. We had a conversation outside the theater, and he received a call from Logan. I do not remember what the conversation was about, but for no reason whatsoever, when I mentioned Michael Ludlow, she just casually dropped the line, "Yeah too bad he turned out to be an abusive prick." I had no context for what she was saying to me. I don't know if their relationship was recent, or years in the past or what. All I knew is that Michael was the only one who gave me a job when I was blacklisted. And every time he was on set with his son, he was super nice. This was not a drama I needed to be in. So what did I say to her: "Nobody's Perfect." Jesus f**king christ. That is the one thing that you DO NOT say to a relationship abuse victim. Oh, it gets worse. The conversation elaborated and all I had to fall back on was my relationship with Angela, who would repeatedly start arguments with me over stupid shit and escalate them no matter what I did to try and calm her down. Angela would frequently escalate the arguments to their peak, then start yelling shit for no reason along the lines of "You want to hit me, be a big man and hit me, I'll call the cops". Except for the fact that there was no provocation or reason for Angela to be comments like those. No matter how much she pisses me off, I would never want to hurt her. So if someone like Angela can exist, then all I can think is that there's two sides to every argument, and the woman isn't always innocent. I DO NOT CONDONE ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS. Whatever Michael may have done to Logan in the past, I do not condone it. But I had no context for Logan's life. I did not know her. I was just there to watch a movie. So why was I a part of this drama conversation to begin with? Logan ended the conversation saying she would be sure to tell everyone what I said, and I didn't think anything of it. I said, "Go ahead, I don't care what they think about me." like it was nothing. I let my outspoken, no consequences, opinionated behavior that I had picked up from writing Bad Goddess go to my head and I got exactly what I deserved.
Kevin from the Other Dimension: When I arrived on the final night of Zombie Life TV, I was immediately pulled aside by Gavin Stone. My phone conversation with Logan got gossiped around the set and everyone was pissed at me. More than that, they were all pissed at Michael. His past relationship bullshit not only insurrected the cast of both Fanboy and ZLTV, but they were taking it out on me. Jeffrey Lorde's team meeting prediction about the damage that gossip can cause on a studio set came true. I tried to point this out to all of them online, but they refused to listen to reason. They had no context for my life, my relationship problems, and no understand for why I said the things I did. They didn't even bother to ask themselves why Logan would drag me into her past personal drama over a phone conversation about business in the first place, or how it got spread around the station when there were people who clearly wanted a reason to get rid of me, aka Courtney Manor. After all the volunteer work and favors I had given them, I was not given a fair trial, and that night on Facebook, I exploded. Gavin tried to console me, but he made one fatal mistake. In his attempt to reach out to me online and reason with me, he stated that there was no agenda against me, that freedom of speech doesn't protect us from the consequences of our opinions. A harsh lesson that, in hindsight, I needed to learn. But he also blatantly lied in a Public Relations move to make me look like the villain and save face in front of his friends. He said that ZLTV was leaving on good terms. No it didn't. Eddie Rotten gave the full story on his podcast a month later, you can look it up for yourselves, and that was most definitely the opposite of leaving on good terms. Basically, the studio put it's foot down. A new producer on the show came in and started telling Eddie what to do to improve Zombie Life TV's image, it conflicted with his plans, and he proceeded to tear her down. Hence, Fanboy TV and Zombie Life TV parted ways. They didn't even record the episode that night, and it was intended to diss them on their way out the door. If you flashback to Reinero De Valois's first appearance, Nero does a tarot card reading stating that he sensed a change of format was on the horizon, and it would come with sacrifice. Nero wasn't wrong.
Kevin from the Other Dimension: I don't feel that version Fanboy TV that I worked on would ever survive in the world of real television. Because it didn't understand where the power of a producer comes from. It's not the legal contracts. It's the paychecks. Your power as a producer comes from the fact that you have to pay people for the work that they give you, which is how you have the option to fire them. Richard Linklater said it himself on Slacker. You do not get to showcase an ego and gossip your workers like dirt when they volunteer their services for you. You do not get to pretend you are a Diva because you get to push buttons on a switchboard and play with pretty outdated equipment. And as I'll point out later, it's unethical for a producer to ask for volunteer work, then threaten you with legal action to get their way. That last one didn't happen to me on Fanboy TV, but it did later. Enjoy your life on Public Access Television. You've earned it. But never forget, that the higher you climb, the harder you fall. If you have to step on the backs of hundreds of people to get to the top of the mountain, someday every one of those people will have a story to tell about you. Each story will come together, brick by brick, forming a wall that represents your life. And that wall will stand forever.
Kevin from the Other Dimension: Afterwards, I did the only smart thing I could do. I was clearly suffering a bipolar meltdown. I was not in my right mind. I needed to remove myself from my soapbox. I blocked out everyone on Facebook and Twitter. I hid in traumatized depression for a month or so. I decided that it was not Gavin Stone's fault that he had been put in that position. Gavin was a good friend to me for the time that I was there. Even though he was trying desperately to save his own ass in his last message, I could read through the lines, and see that he sincerely wanted to help me. But he couldn't. Because if he went against his friends, he would no longer have a show. I will forgive Gavin Stone... and only hope that he can forgive me. It was for the best that I deleted his number off my phone. The last message that I sent him was: "It's okay Gavin, we'll always have The Greasy Strangler." It made him laugh.
Kevin from the Other Dimension: You're asking yourself what I meant by that last sentence, aren't you? The Greasy Strangler is this totally f**ked up cult movie that would make John Waters proud. And it's produced by Elijah Wood. I must say, I'm impressed by his work in horror. His label released Belladonna of Sadness, and he made a good psychopath in Maniac. I can forgive him for Cooties. I saw The Greasy Strangler in the theater, still have the preshow on file. Gavin Stone watched it later at home. We laughed and laughed about how f**ked up it was online, quoting lines, and moments. It's completely twisted, but it was our cinematic happy place. And no onset drama can ever take that moment away. It is ours forever.
Kevin from the Other Dimension: When I took that internship, I truly believed that it was my last chance to have a possible career. And when I lost it all, I knew immediately that it was Bad Karma for what I accidentally did to my friend, Ben, the projectionist that lost his career at Lake Creek. Well you know what... he had a job no less than a week later. It is now eight years later for me, and I'm still paying for the crime of being a dishwasher that wanted to program events and make preshows for Alamo Drafthouse. But you know what... not all dreams are supposed to work out. Sometimes we think we were meant for something in life... when in reality, we were destined for something else.