Quote:
Originally Posted by badgoodDeb
While we're name dropping (ref your friend) .... one of my cousins mentioned that he'd been offered a chance to work on some startup software company. But it was in a garage, run by a couple of Steve's ..... the cousin went in a different direction.
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I met a chap a while back who is a custom fabricator. One of his hobby projects was a set of Star Trek Fleet Marine combat armor outfits, custom molded from fiberglass to fit the intended wearers. They were premiered at the masquerade competition at Shore Leave, a popular fan run media convention, and the audience reportedly shit a collective brick when they came out on stage. No surprise. He had details like a guy with a hand-held Gatling mini-gun. It spun, and as each barrel hit the spot where it would fire, a red LED lit up at the tip to indicate it was firing.
He was contacted by some folks who wanted him to work on a project. They couldn't tell him what the project was or where it was located unless he signed on and signed an NDA. They
did tell him he would be out of the US in a remote location for 6 months. He declined. He found out later that they worked for Peter Jackson, and wanted him to be an armorer working on kit for The Lord of the Rings trilogy Jackson was filming.
I think he made the right call, but others who heard about it said "They wanted someone to do things like make Glamdring and Orcrist?
I'd pay
them to get to do that..."
I know another chap in Boston with a similar story. He's an upholsterer by trade, but does costuming as a hobby. He's a Batman fan, and decided he would make a replica of the costume in the recent movies. But it would be a costume Batman would actually wear if he existed, so it included the Kevlar body armor and titanium fittings. (I've seen it in person. It's extraordinary work.) He got noticed by film people, and got an offer to move to LA and do FX for one of the production houses. He said "No. I like being an upholsterer, and my family and friends are here. I don't want to relocate." They said "Understood. But we're thinking of opening an East Coast office in Boston, and you'll be one of the first people we call if we do."
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Dennis