Illustration © Michael Aschner, 2009

Some people use unemployment as an opportunity to take stock, reassess goals, change course, or pick up creative projects they’ve been putting off. Others, like me, respond by curling into fetal position and moaning. Because I’m not the kind of person who rolls with the punches. I’m the guy who keels over and vomits.

Even though I knew it was coming, I didn’t react well when I was laid off on April 26th. Ironically, it happened just a few days shy of my three-year anniversary as a Houstonian. (I’m a New Yorker who moved to Texas for love and cheaper rent — but that’s another story.)

A few days into unemployment, there was much moaning, abyss-gazing, and platitudes from well-meaning friends (e.g., “When one door closes, another one opens”). And then I noticed an ad on Facebook plugging a video contest. I usually ignore these ads but I clicked this one on a whim. The objective: make a short film about a funny job interview.

What the hell, I thought. I’m checking Monster and Careerbuilder and craigslist and there’s just NOTHING OUT THERE. I’ve wanted to make films ever since I took those Continuing Ed filmmaking classes ten years ago at SVA. I just never got around to it. I was uh…you know, saving up for better equipment.

So I wrote a script that reimagined the typical job interview as a game show with two contestants competing for the grand prize: employment. I titled it “Who Wants to Not Be Unemployed?” and poured all of my jobless anxiety into it. It felt good. Almost cathartic.

My wife, Melany, and our friend Brian, signed on as actors. I still needed two more actors so I called our well-connected friend Mariana who runs a bar/performance space here in Houston called AvantGarden. Mariana urged me to drop by and meet her bartender, an actress. On Thursday night, I arrived at AvantGarden with two freshly-printed scripts burning a hole in my knapsack. Found the bartender, Pamela, chatting with a friend, Sam, who also happened to be an actor. I hired them both on the spot. In a bar. Two days before the shoot. Auditions? No time. They were willing and so they were hired.

On the way to the shoot Saturday morning, Melany and I picked up a jug of Starbucks and an assortment of coffee cakes — the best Kraft service we could provide on a limited budget. I was director, cameraman, and crew. Exhausting yet unexpectedly exhilarating. But I really lucked out with my actors. They were better than I deserved. I made some blunders but I shot a lot of coverage and after 16 hours of editing, found a way to make it work. Of course, I wish I’d had more time to develop the script and procure better equipment… But I did what I could with what I had, and somehow made the deadline.

As of this writing, we’re in fifth place with a $1,000 prize at stake. The prize money could bring me a step closer to better equipment for future projects — or, it could be used for frivolous items like food and rent.

It’s kind of funny. Had I not been laid off, I wouldn’t have had the time to enter the contest. And through the video I met some talented new people in the Houston film and theater scene, got to collaborate with my wife (and discover that she’s a hilarious actress), caught some locally-made short films at the Houston Fringe Festival, was approached by an artist friend about collaborating on some avant-garde videos, and had an excuse to get in touch with some old friends who were only too happy to help me out with a vote.

Am I still living a waking nightmare of existential horror? You bet. I’m unemployed with absolutely no prospects on the horizon. But I’m moaning a little less. And did I mention there’s another online contest coming up in June? With an even bigger prize? Maybe some new doors are opening after all.

-By Michael Aschner Visual Communications Specialist & 405 Club Member