Ask the Author: M.A. Barrett
Answered Questions (6)
M.A. Barrett
Life takes care of that.
M.A. Barrett
Find your own way. I spent far too many years listening to industry experts. Learn to write a good story. Hone that story by yourself or with the help of trusted writers/readers. Find a way to put it out into the world. Pay an editor to help you.
Do like Ani DiFranco does.
Do like Ani DiFranco does.
M.A. Barrett
The abject isolation.
Heh. Heh.
Kidding.
Sort of.
Heh. Heh.
Kidding.
Sort of.
M.A. Barrett
Oh, God. I don't. I friggin' hate it. I do something else, honestly. I'm notorious for forgetting writing all together and learning a whole new skill like baking bread from scratch with natural fermentation, or dog behavioral training, or starting a political campaign, or learning to be a stand-up comedian. I run away from writer's block right into something that will spark my interest just enough to write something new. I usually do this in six month intervals.
M.A. Barrett
I was a waitress for fifteen years before I became a filmmaker and then I was a waitress again after that didn't work. I've seen some shit in the restaurant industry. Boy have I.
In 2003, while I was slogging away as an expediter at one restaurant and server at another, I had the idea for VIRAL. See, I had this nasty, entitled general manager who loved to grabbed my and the other waitresses asses, tits, and crotches (Yeah. That.) every day and who, rumor had it, masturbated in the office first thing in the morning.
I used to leave my shift thinking, "Man, if I could get a camera in that office..." If I could show everyone that we're not lying about this guy. When we're forced to quit our jobs because our boss is sexually assaulting us, we're not lying.
And if I could get a camera in there and show him re-plating a steak that's fallen in the black muck on the floor (the au ju, as we called it), or how he and several of his managers/cooks referred to black customers as Spodas, or how the bread is sometimes just too many days old, but is served anyway.
Maybe then people would believe us. Maybe they'd believe racism and sexism and workplace harassment exist. Because they certainly didn't believe us when we said it out of our own face holes.
I never rigged that camera, but my character Scarlet does. It took a long time to write and VIRAL went through some ridiculously embarrassing versions. It took on new shapes as our technological landscape changed and our version of our lives was more often put on display through the use of smartphones and the internet. It took on a whole new shape when, in the past few years, we started seeing more and more eyewitness video of hate crimes recorded by citizen journalists.
This story has never been easy, not since 2003, but I hope I was able to break down all of the difficult pieces that build up our psyche, communal and singular. I hope I was able to portray our connection to others as well.
I hope you'll believe us now.
MAB
In 2003, while I was slogging away as an expediter at one restaurant and server at another, I had the idea for VIRAL. See, I had this nasty, entitled general manager who loved to grabbed my and the other waitresses asses, tits, and crotches (Yeah. That.) every day and who, rumor had it, masturbated in the office first thing in the morning.
I used to leave my shift thinking, "Man, if I could get a camera in that office..." If I could show everyone that we're not lying about this guy. When we're forced to quit our jobs because our boss is sexually assaulting us, we're not lying.
And if I could get a camera in there and show him re-plating a steak that's fallen in the black muck on the floor (the au ju, as we called it), or how he and several of his managers/cooks referred to black customers as Spodas, or how the bread is sometimes just too many days old, but is served anyway.
Maybe then people would believe us. Maybe they'd believe racism and sexism and workplace harassment exist. Because they certainly didn't believe us when we said it out of our own face holes.
I never rigged that camera, but my character Scarlet does. It took a long time to write and VIRAL went through some ridiculously embarrassing versions. It took on new shapes as our technological landscape changed and our version of our lives was more often put on display through the use of smartphones and the internet. It took on a whole new shape when, in the past few years, we started seeing more and more eyewitness video of hate crimes recorded by citizen journalists.
This story has never been easy, not since 2003, but I hope I was able to break down all of the difficult pieces that build up our psyche, communal and singular. I hope I was able to portray our connection to others as well.
I hope you'll believe us now.
MAB
M.A. Barrett
A Dystopian of course...
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