Ken Schmidtke--C'est Moi!

Okay, I admit it. I totally made Ken Schmidtke up--lock, stock and (cheese) barrel. It was an April Fool's post, for goodness sake! You're supposed to be careful reading stuff on April Fool's.

My plan was that people would start reading it and then gradually figure out I was kidding, as it would gradually get more and more stupid. But I wanted it to be kind of on the edge, from the real ridiculousness of people to...real ridiculousness. I thought it would be really cool if I faked out a few people. Boy, was I wrong! I fooled practically everyone. I don't know if I should list all the people I snookered, because I don't want to embarrass them. But John Pierson! Come on! Eugene Hernandez?

First, Anthony Kaufman emailed to thank me for the mention. He was stunned when I fessed up, but agreed to continue the prank with an April Fool's post of his own. He added some nice details about Ken. I liked the idea of Ken showing his movies in his garage to his friends. (My college professor, David Bordwell--as silly as he is brilliant--agreed to become an accomplice.)

But even if Ken isn't real, he is definitely not a joke. I truly love Ken because for all practical purposes he is me. I am currently writing my tenth screenplay. I spend a year doing each one and none have ever sold. Why the hell do I do it? My close friends know. They know that when Ken talks about success, he's using the same words that I use every day. I write because I need to. I write about stuff I really care about and that means a lot to me. And when I think I've written well, I consider that success. Just like Ken does.

I'm a little sheepish that I tricked Sujewa into writing a serious post about Ken, because I admire him so much. He's making movies himself, and he's out there fighting for everyone else too. The truth is that my post was inspired by the filmmakers Anthony wrote about in his original post and who Sujewa fights for all the time. The "ultra-independents," or whatever phrase you want to use.

One friend wrote me that she hated being tricked and she hated April Fool's Day. I disagree. It's nice to have one day a year that you can fib. (I use the word "fib" because it's ultimately harmless.) It reminds you that you are supposed to tell the truth during the other 364 days. And it imparts an essential message: that it is very easily to be misled by bullshit, no matter how sophisticated you think you are. It's great to fib one day a year: it's unacceptable to be Clifford Irving, Alan Conway, or President Bush and lie all year round. We shouldn't become so wary that we lose the ability to be open even if we risk being gullible. And when people take advantage of our trust, it's a crime.

Just not on April Fool's Day.

I'm sad to announce that this will be my last post for a while. I hope to pick it up later on, maybe even with video, as I did at this year's Sundance. I owe Megan Cunningham of Magnet Media a lot for asking me to do this. I hope it was interesting and fun for you, and that soon....we'll meet again.