I came across Gabriel at the 2012 Vimeo Awards and Festival. He won for Best Narrative Short in 2010 and was in NYC to present to this years best. We talk a bit on Friday the day after the Awards Ceremony and immediately hit it off. Enjoy.
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Gabriel Bisset-Smith is an award winning writer/actor/director from London. He’s had plays produced at the Hampstead Theatre, York Theatre Royal and for BBC Radio Four. He’s been on attachment at the Soho Theatre, the Royal Court and a regular story contributor on the Channel Four series Skins. His short film “Thrush” won the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival Tenderpixel audience choice award, the 2010 Vimeo Best Narrative award and the Grand Jury Prize at the Disposable Film Festival. He’s also directed music video’s for the Golden Silvers and three other shorts “Mr Dorothy”, “Tomato Soup” and “Last Night”. He is one half of comedy double act GUILT&SHAME guiltandshame.co.uk
As happy as I am to win these awards I would give them up in a second to have Tim back on this earth. I am so grateful to Tim, his wife Kaylan and the entire Often Awesome Army for allowing us to do 34 episodes on their battle with ALS. It sucked watching a person suffer with ALS. It sucked even more when that person is your friend.
We documented this series from his diagnosis to his passing. That took two years. In two years we saw his body give way to this horrible disease. The most frustrating thing was to watch this disease progress and there is nothing you can do about it. Not only watch it…but edit it. Over and over. There is a portion of your brain that shuts down and allows you to work and get things done. But it wears on you and does damage.
After Tim passed, I kept getting sick over and over for two months straight. I had fatigue like never before, I was worn down and depressed. I know it was Tim’s time to go but my body was constantly in this go go go mode and would do anything for that man. I wanted him to keep fighting. But that is the stubborn and selfish side of me. When he told me he wanted to see his memorial video before the next episode my heart sank and I knew he was ready to go. The amount of pain he was facing was beyond intense, it was cruel.
I remember getting the call from his friends that he was unconscious and they didn’t know if he was ever to awake again. I came by the house on a Friday, to see my friend for the last time. It was hard, even though you try to prepare yourself and know that this is the best for him. I looked around the house and his friends were hanging out, talking, drinking and playing his favorite music. If you didn’t know Tim you would think it was disrespectful…it was a beautiful moment. Tim asked us not to shoot this moment and I’m so glad he said that and I’m not sure if he said that for us, him or his friends. Whatever his reason I’m glad he did, cause if he asked us to shoot it…I would’ve.
I came by the house on Saturday to see Tim one more time. He was conscious for a brief moments throughout the day. I was fortunate that I was there during one of those moments. I walked over to him, held his head in my hands and told him how proud I was of him, he did an amazing job and that I loved him. I looked into his eyes and I could tell he heard me. I’m so grateful that was able to tell him that. Tuesday, Tim finally left his body.
I’m a mess right now reliving that. These tears are from missing a friend. From watching him go through all the pain and suffering. From knowing that research for this disease is terribly underfunded. From knowing there has been no significant treatment to slow down the disease. For the families that have to watch their loved ones go through this. For the future people that will be diagnosed breaks my heart.
Winning these awards is absolutely amazing. The Vimeo Award is extra special. Their community is full of amazing films and filmmakers from around the world. To bring home an award for this series is the highlight of my professional career. This web series is for the world to know this disease and not turn away, but to look at one another and say how can we cure this fucking disease.
What an exciting week for us at All Aces Media. Often Awesome the series got nominated for a Webby for Best Documentary Series and now for the Vimeo Awards for Best Web Series. Please help us bring home the award and vote for us daily at The Vimeo Awards and at The Webby Awards.
I am so proud to say that Often Awesome the series has been officially nominated as the Best Documentary Series on the web by The Webby Awards. Blake and I have worked endlessly on this series when Tim was first diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The first year we dedicated to put out an episode every other week. After the first year we had 26 episodes. That nearly killed us. We worked full time jobs and shot and produced the entire series on our own free time. Year two we dedicated ourselves to produce an episode each month. We now have 34 episodes in the can and are working on the final episode. During that time we were so grateful to witness the amazing story that Timothy LaFollette left to share with the world. He courageous battle with the disease was inspiring. Kaylan, his wife, never wavered from his bedside and his friends showed the world what community and friendship truly meant.
Working with Tim changed my life in a very positive way and at the same time it was the most difficult thing to do. I witnessed this disease take his movement from his limbs, breath from his lungs and food from his mouth. His mind was still active, creative, strong sense of humor and sense of purpose too. His battle will always be my source for inspiration and to never give up. I am so grateful to Tim and I will share his message to anyone that wants to know what it is like to live. This web series isn’t about someone waiting to die…it is about someone living to his last day. It’s about people coming together selflessly and giving to make Tim’s quality of life more comfortable. It is a lesson in humanity and I was in the front row.
I am thrilled to announce that Often Awesome the series is a finalist for Best Documentary Series in The Webby Awards! Often Awesome the series is a web series that follows Timothy LaFollette who was diagnosed at 29 with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 2009. We created 34, 10-minute episodes from diagnosis to his passing. Often Awesome the series chronicles a beautiful tale about love, hope, community, friendship and courage, in the face of daunting challenges and deep loss.
Tim wanted to participate in this series to raise awareness about ALS and to show the horror of the world’s best kept secret disease. He did his job well! It is now up to us to get his story out to as many people as possible and the best way to do that is to vote daily for Often Awesome the series for The People’s Voice Award of The Webby’s. This award is the Oscars for the web and can bring light to such a dark subject.
Often Awesome the series is nominated along with programs produced by PBS, the Sundance Channel, and the Independent Film Channel, all of whom have professional marketing teams at their disposal. That’s why Often Awesome the series needs your help.
Blake Faucette (co-creator) and I urgently ask you to vote for Often Awesome the series and to share this opportunity with your friends, family, co-workers, Facebook, Twitter, linkedin, Google+, reedit, message boards, blog it and anywhere else that you have a voice.
Not only do we want to educate people about the horror of ALS, we want to introduce the world to Tim. He was a one-of-a-kind talent freak with a heart open for the world. This story will not only bring you to tears, it will make you smile about the beauty of humanity.
Copy and Past for twitter:
Often Awesome, our #ALS Doc Series is nominated for a #Webby help us get the vote out for People’s Award http://bit.ly/IqAc85
I was very fortunate to work with Eric on Micah Moore’s film, “Dogs of Chinatown.” We immediately bonded because he is an action hero and I’m a…nice guy?!! Eric was awesome to work with but more than that he is an amazing stuntman and Independent Hong Kong action star. Eric has produced some of the best low budget action films around. All I have to say is Contour.
Talk about Death Grip, ask about it, create a buzz and request it. It needs to be sold in the US!
This is a story about a coworker’s dog named Jade. I first came across her story when I found a flyer in the company’s break room. It immediately touched me and I wanted to share her story with the world.
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Luca Visual FX has a treat for anyone with a throwback style. I absolutely love this video generator. The effect is a damaged film leader, why you would use it? Perfect to start a music video or a transition into old footage or a great effect to overlay on top of your video footage and give it some style.
It has incredible customization which is a huge plus. You can select the font, size, aspect, stroke, color background and control the texture. Or, you can clear the text and have the leaders by itself. The amount of presets that come with Luca Visual FX Leaders is fantastic. They give you so many variations of presets and within those presets they have 6 more presets of the background and text, what a wealth of film leaders that come with this package. The great thing about this plug-in is how easy it is to customize the generator and create your own preset for later use…you just have to make sure you save it. Film Leaders is an exciting addition to anyone’s plug-in library.
This is priced right at $99. I know Indie filmmakers will be jumping all over this.
Award-winning short film written, directed and edited by Scott Rice. Nominated for a Student Oscar in 2005. Film legend Roger Corman called the film “A remarkable tour de force.”
FCProducer (archive) 