From now on, I will interview one member of The Buzz Team each week. The interview will contain questions about Bootleggers, but also about real life. My first victim was Afty. He returned a few weeks ago from his long vacation and I’m really glad he’s back. Afty is one of the best Buzz Writers I’ve ever seen and he can do a lot more than just writing amazing articles. But who is this Afty? How old is he and what kind of job or study does he have? Enough introducing, it’s time for an interview!
Hello sir, could you please introduce yourself?!
Hello, I'm Afty, I've been called a Legend three times this week. So, I must be doing something right.
That’s what I call a short introduction. Now don’t get shy, give me that information about yourself!
I'm 27 years old, unemployed, attempting to become a screen-writer. I played BL for a while in 2007, and then came back this year when someone told me that a new round was starting. I studied Business at college and spent a lot of time working in web design (mainly php/MySQL). I run my own online game (not here to promote it). I'm a big fan of football, wrestling, TV, films, books and Spiderpig. I was married, I'm not anymore, I'm obsessed with Emma Stone's voice. That pretty much covers it.
We got a William Shakespeare over here! But what kind of scripts do you want to write?
I want to write movies and TV shows. I've been working on a few ideas for a while. The one closest to being 'done' is for a sitcom.
Time for a preview?!
Well, I won’t say too much because I don't want someone else going off and writing it before I get it sold. It's based on an old people's home. It looks at the relationship between old people and their children, the frustration of the children with their parents and how the role reverses, the children start looking after the parents and the parents become quite childish.
Let’s keep an eye on MTV, because I got a feeling we’ll see the show very soon! But how the hell do you sell a script?
Well, once you finish your script and you're completely happy with it, you have two main options. You can approach production companies yourself, or you can approach agents to represent your work and approach production companies for you. Both are fairly difficult options, a lot of people want to write things, a lot of people think they can write things. Once you've written something and had something made then it is much easier to get noticed, get some form of representation and get some money!
That makes me wonder… What if such a company steals your script?! They copy your script and afterwards they tell you they don’t want it. What to do?!
Well, you can register your script/idea with 'The Writers Guild' and then it is protected. It's also tricky for them to get away with taking someone else’s idea. It's probably better to go down the agent route, they want to represent good things because if they get sold then the agents will earn a percentage of whatever you make.
Now that’s a ‘crew’ which is worth joining if you ask me. So you love to write movies?! I bet you also watch movies! What’s your favourite movie at this moment?
I suck at picking one favourite movie. I terms of a movie that I've seen recently and enjoyed, I'd pick 'The Next Three Days' with Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. I was kind of surprised by it. Russell Crowe can be hit or miss for me, but I thought he was really good in it. The plot is slightly unbelievable, but at the same time it is done in a way that is plausible. I quite liked 'The Hunger Games'... also with Elizabeth Banks... I see a pattern emerging here!
Elizabeth Banks, hmm, yummeh. Uhmm, yeah. So, what was the worst movie you’ve ever seen?!
Ohh, that is a tricky one. Gotta say the first one that comes to mind is 'The Tourist'. It was just stupid.
A pity, because Johnny Depp is just awesome. Anyway, something completely different! Please give an explanation of your love for… Spiderpig.
Well, it's strange really. I saw The Simpsons Movie and Spiderpig was the funniest part. Yet, he doesn't actually speak. He was just funny without saying anything. I was previously a bit obsessed with Gromit from Wallace and Gromit, he doesn't speak either. I wasn't quite as obsessed as I am with Spiderpig. I like to say that Spiderpig is my Dorian Gray. That is to say that he is the visual representation of my soul. Deep.
Tell us more!
Well, in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, a man paints a portrait of Dorian and Dorian becomes convinced that the only things worth living for are beauty and pleasure. He makes a deal to sell his soul in order for the painting to age rather than Dorian himself. Dorian gets his wish and as he goes along with a live of 'sin' his portrait shows the damage of each act on his soul, which is shown by aging of the painting. So, what I'm saying is that not only is a picture of my soul Spiderpig, deep down, I'm also really Spiderpig. Or at least in my head.
We’re getting pretty psychological now. Maybe too much?! Let’s start about Bootleggers! You want to become a screenwriter. At this moment you’re also part of The Buzz Team. Coincidence?!
Not a coincidence, but not necessarily related. I find The Buzz interesting and it's a good way to get your ideas and thoughts out there, while still avoiding the troll fest of the Game Forum.
And what is your opinion about the current status of Bootleggers?
Generally speaking I think it's quite good. I have to admit that I share the frustration of much of the community with regards to BSF and changes etc. But really, those are things that are out of our control, spending time moaning and complaining about it won’t really make anything happen.
You’re an admin of an online game, which we won’t name. Do you understand the position of BSF2000?
Yeah, I do. Gamers are very hard to satisfy, you only have to buy the Call of Duty games and follow the community there to understand it. A game comes out and there are millions of things wrong with it, they've ruined the series. The following year the next game comes out... actually, last year's game is pretty good, this year's game sucks! Players rarely know what they really want and what one type of player wants, another type of player doesn't. In terms of adding changes, if BSF cannot commit to regular (monthly) updates in some kind of form, then he should look for other coders to come in and help out.
Time for some extreme fantasies! What if BSF2000 asks you to become an Administrator for Bootleggers?
If he asked me to help out with coding? Sure. I'd definitely be interested. I think it's unlikely to happen though. I'm sure the mods have coding experience and as far as I'm aware they aren't involved in coding BL. BSF won’t let just anyone come in and take a look at his code.
Unfortunately, we ran out of coffee. Last question! The future of Afty?!
I'm hoping that the future holds big things. Everything is sort of in motion at the moment, just got to keep waiting for things to align and fit together.
That was the interview! I’d like to thank Afty for answering all my questions and I want to thank him for all his hard work for The Buzz! You’re a legend Afty, and that’s the fourth and last time!for this week…
Thanks for reading everyone! But who’s going to be my next victim in the next Issue of The Bootleggers Buzz…
