My Experience Working for RiffTrax
Added 2022-11-08 13:34:57 +0000 UTCHowdy, patrons! Here's the video I promised about my time as a RiffTrax contributor. It's not particularly salacious but I hope it's of some interest.
Thanks for coming along on this new journey with me! And for those who are eagerly waiting for more shorts, I'm recording a new one this very week. Stay tuned!
Comments
Annnnd I just finished watching this video. Fun! Informative! I'm really happy that you had such good experiences, and that the reason you didn't stay is that you're too much for them (which means you're just right for my tastes, and anti=depression needs). I loved the Prisoner of Askaban riffs! I had no idea you had so much to do with so much content. And I'm glad you're finally able to sit back and enjoy MST3K again, with your daughter. :)
Bill Lemmond
2022-12-22 00:55:02 +0000 UTCI only mind when the riffers (I'm talking to you, Mike, Kevin and Bill, who kept me from hearing how bad "guy from Harlem" was.) talk over the movie. I love Incognito Cinema Warriors, who have been called "the speed metal of riffing." I'm expecting that, now, so passages of any length, with no words, feel like dead air.
Bill Lemmond
2022-12-20 00:04:23 +0000 UTCSo glad to hear your story about how you worked and interacted with the Rifftrax guys. I knew that most of the writers were given chunks of the movies, but didn't realize how much of the movie was given out to each individual writer. I figured that they were smaller pieces .. though it does make sense, as there are a few instances where it seems like the tone does switch now and again over the course of a longer movie. From what I can cobble together from the old Drip and now Patreon, Mike and Conor seem to be the Head Editors that gets the material from the writers, figures out what needs to be changed / adapted / fixed, and adds continuity and callbacks, Sean seems to be the 1st screener / acquisitions of films and shorts. Kevin does the production and recording of the riffs themselves from his home studio for both MK&B as well as Mary Jo and Bridget. Bill seems to do more social media, interviews and other promotional branding. I like the rhythm of riffing that you do for your projects. Often there is a ton of dead space, lack of film score, or other things that lend themselves nicely to your "Wall of Riffs" style. When you were a part of Rifftrax back 11-13 years ago, they were doing more blockbusters and modern films due to the mp3 format. I wonder if the VOD releases they've been doing the last few years are more up your alley once again. No matter what, I'm sure that it was a great experience for you, and you can certainly be proud of what you contributed to the riffing genre of comedy!
Derek Levesque
2022-11-15 05:13:16 +0000 UTCNot that you need me to tell you this, heh, but maybe other patrons will indulge me for an anecdote. Based on my experience riffing for the fan project Mystery Fandom Theater 3000, riff writing can indeed be quite tedious. It is also fun, especially the first couple of passes where people are just tossing out anything that comes to mind and we're getting it all down. But then it can kind of turn into a slog when you have to watch and rewatch and rewatch, getting the pacing right (too many/not enough in a span of time), choosing one riff over another, timecode notes... all that. And there were like six of us working simultaneously (all doing the whole thing at once, rather than dividing it up), so there were a lot of brains to draw on. Doing it alone... wow. And that urge to fill every single gap or opportunity and not let the film breathe is too real, heh. (I think the first Netflix season of MST3K slipped on that one pretty hard. I'm glad they've relaxed since then.)
arcanetrivia
2022-11-10 19:41:54 +0000 UTCNo offense taken, and you were clearly on to something! :)
Josh Way
2022-11-08 17:16:57 +0000 UTCAlthough this history does explain why Rifftrax started up iRiffs in the first place. At the time I thought they just had the totally altruistic goal of providing a platform for other people who might be good at riffing, but it looks like they were also searching for some part-time writers!
Garance A Drosehn
2022-11-08 16:08:25 +0000 UTCHeh. Minor trivia: When iRiffs started up I used to make a point of buying riffs from many different riffers, and then writing reviews. I wanted to help along the people who were doing the best job at it (because I knew I couldn't have written a full-length riff — not even for a short!). I'm pretty sure the first time I reviewed a Josh-Riff, I said something like "I think this has too *many* riffs in it, although most of them are pretty good so I can't think of much that I'd want to remove". I must admit that when I re-read that review much later I felt it came across more negative than I had intended when I wrote it.
Garance A Drosehn
2022-11-08 16:05:26 +0000 UTC
