An old friend of mine who was a dolly grip for years is now an author. His new novel Based on the Movie (which I picked up at Borders) is a dolly grip's story.
I worked with Billy Taylor about 17 years ago when I was still a young hammer and he was an experienced Dolly Grip. He is a great guy and has written an interesting and enjoyable novel. It tells the story of Billy Conlon, a Dolly Grip whose wife has just left him for a hot young director. It very funnily chronicles his subsequent drunken binges and dependence on Xanax even as he finds himself having to save the disaster of a movie he's pushing dolly on when the same young director is brought in to finish it. You'll recognize a lot of the situations and appreciate a lot of the predicaments he finds himself in. Check it out.
I worked with Billy Taylor about 17 years ago when I was still a young hammer and he was an experienced Dolly Grip. He is a great guy and has written an interesting and enjoyable novel. It tells the story of Billy Conlon, a Dolly Grip whose wife has just left him for a hot young director. It very funnily chronicles his subsequent drunken binges and dependence on Xanax even as he finds himself having to save the disaster of a movie he's pushing dolly on when the same young director is brought in to finish it. You'll recognize a lot of the situations and appreciate a lot of the predicaments he finds himself in. Check it out.
I just finished reading this hilarious book - on set - a rare thing for me, but this was a motion control commercial, so I was on the floor - and found myself laughing out loud too many time so I had to excuse myself to the package.
ReplyDeleteI had a alot of people come by and ask what I was reading, and told them, but felt that you wouldn't really get the meaning of the book unless you as / had worked as a grip, so it brought it even closer to home. I did however toss the Xmas tree out LONG ago...
My name is Robert Kegan and i would like to show you my personal experience with Xanax.
ReplyDeleteI am 19 years old. Have been on Xanax for 60 days now. I have periodic panic attacks, particularly at social gatherings, riding in cars, and walking into rooms full of people (i.e. late to class). I felt that the medicine worked, but I felt that it created urges to take more than directed when the rebound anxiety hit, so I switched from alprazolam to clonazepam (Klonopin). I think xanax is great for airplanes and adjunctive treatment with ssri's, but by itself I don't think xanax has much too offer except as a short term treatment for panic attacks, klonopin is less sedating and seems to prevent future anxious episodes without causing cravings, and tolerance seems to build up much slower than xanax does.
I have experienced some of these side effects -
I sometimes felt invisible, like nobody could notice anything I was doing. Occasionally it would make me fall asleep if I had to stay in one spot for too long. After a fairly short period of time I would feel moderate rebound anxiety.
I hope this information will be useful to others,
Robert Kegan
The character's name in the book is Bobby Conlon not Billy.
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