While Sam was studying for his degree in Atlanta, I was working in the film industry in Hollywood. This was mid-1980s and I was hanging with another old and dear pal, Brad Laven. We were hired to produce 5 karaoke music videos for $5000 (for all) to be completed in 5 days. I wrote the concepts and directed these videos. Brad produced and kept the majority of the money. These karaoke videos are special to me. This was the first paying gig that I had complete creative control over. They may be a bit cheesy, but they have pretty good production value considering they were shot for next to nothing in no time. By the way, the 5 days included pre-production, production and post-production. The $5000 included the producer, director, cameraman, editor and actors. Believe me, it does not go far. Half of the time our actors, who were paid $100 for their talents, didn't show. That's why I'm in three of these videos and Brad's in one. I never made it big in Hollywood, but I have a weird feeling I'm a huge star in Thailand, or China and just don't know it. Hey, you never know. It's possible. Karaoke's huge over there!

• published: 24 Nov 2007
• views: 79806