What makes me happy? When something I wrote or made motivates a complete stranger to send me a note.
I recently received this via the blog’s Contact page.
Subject
Lincoln CLEP commercial
Message:
David,
I have the commercial on a beta cassette. If I can get it transferred
to DVD I would be more than happy to send you a copy
M.
The commercial M. is talking about is an old one I remember seeing as boy, where Abe Lincoln goes to an employment agency and is sent packing because he doesn’t have a college degree. I wrote a post (Unlikely and Sneaky Inspiration) about it and included the commercial, which was on Youtube. But it was taken off Youtube a couple of years ago so you could no longer see it. M. apparently had a copy. Here’s my response.
Thanks for the generous offer, M., but if YouTube had to take it down, then I’m not comfortable sharing it on my blog.
Thanks for checking out the blog and taking the time to offer up the commercial. I appreciate it.
I was also thinking M. might want to charge me for the privilege, and that’s why I was a little frosty. I’m not usually that cynical, but I’ve been dealing with archival footage people recently and some are great and generous and others are not.
M. replied.
I don’t know why it was taken down. I was disappointed to see that. I was the art director who created it along with my writing partner at the agency which is why I have the beta tape I got at the time from the production company. Maybe the director had the issue. I was moved by your blog. I don’t have the equipment to play it so when I have it transferred I’ll make an extra copy for you.
M
This was smile-inducing.
Hi M.,
Oh, that’s very cool that you were the art director. I just love when people discover the blog and get back to me about some connection they have to it. (Someone reached out to me after reading something I wrote about portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer–a photo I used was of his grandparents.)
That commercial was very powerful, and not just for me, I’m sure. So congrats on creating something that has really lasted and had a profound impact!
I’d welcome a copy of the commercial for myself, that’d be great, thank you.
And thanks for your kind words about the blog. I’m in the last phases of post on the film, and will post more frequently as the film gets closer to being finished. Hoping summer 2016. If you’re on Facebook, check out the film’s page–
https://www.facebook.com/alifeswork
Thanks again for reaching out.
Best,
David
And then, exciting news!
Watch “PSA for CLEP – featuring Abe Lincoln” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/72102403
Having lunch with my former partner in a few weeks. I’m sure we’ll talk about it. We also won a Cleo for it.
M.
That’s great. Tell him “thank you” for me.
D.
And now the commercial lives again in that post, as it was meant to be. All is well with the world.
Other things that make me happy can be read here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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[color-box color=”gray”]What’s A Life’s Work about? It’s a documentary about people engaged in projects they won’t see completed in their lifetimes. You can find out more on this page.
We recently ran a crowdfunding campaign and raised enough to pay an animator and license half of the archival footage the film requires. We need just a bit more to pay for licensing the other half of the archival footage, sound mixing, color correction, E&O insurance and a bunch of smaller things. When that’s done, the film is done! It’s really very VERY close!
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