Director's Cut

I am about to leave.

Are you still meeting them in 15?

Juan's always early.

No.

It's cold brew.

-What time you get off? -11.

If I'm lucky again, 11:30.

You're sweaty.

Sorry.

Don't be, I like it.

Fucking perfect timing.

It's the alarm.

Call your mom today.

Yeah.

Set it for tomorrow.

Don't kill the messenger.

This is old news.

You know, you guys should have let me mow the lawn.

A little TLC goes a long way.

Karma's a bitch.

Wait till they get the mold lawsuits.

May the judge be with you.

-Oh, hey Jay. -Sup.

What's up with this emergency meeting?

Starting to sound like a team up against Jay meet.

It is not a team up, dude.

We're just having a meeting about some offers.

What offers?

I'll let them fill you in during the meeting.

Why is everything so cryptic?

Nothing is cryptic, dude.

That's why we're having a meeting.

What's going on with getting that guy Dale to shoot our music video?

No dice. That dude is 10K, minimum. All right?

That's why AJ said we're fucking idiots

if we don't go with...that guy.

What guy?

That guy that I've been telling you about, from Instagram.

The guy with fake followers

who shoots artists I've never heard of,

never gonna happen.

Well, he fits our budget.

Yo, they're here.

We're not trying to start something with you.

So what do you want?

To play shows again?

Where? The Dutch, or Pizza Palace?

We have an in at the Stone Pony.

I thought the plan was to make new songs.

We need to play shows

or people are going to forget our band.

Then they were never our fans anyway.

We spent our life savings on these songs,

and before that, our life savings on that shitty van,

and before that, the masks.

Plus our image got fucked before we got our chance to shine.

We got fucked.

Someone fucking died, Menace.

She was our friend too.

And we went through it together,

The cops, the dirty looks from everyone we know.

We had your back.

I think that might have humbled you a little.

-Fuck you. -Fuck you.

Can we please just not fucking fight?

Agreed.

We're not here to talk about that, let's stay on point.

If there is no music video, there needs to be new songs.

The last ones were all mishandled.

They weren't mishandled, Jay.

We never marketed them properly.

You need to stop thinking that we're gonna shoot a music video

and then Sony is gonna knock on the door with a 100K,

and a tour with Panic at the Disco.

I'd think you might have some business sense?

All right, chill. We need to play shows

so we can afford a music video.

See, it's not just me.

We're all tired of being in limbo.

How is making new songs limbo?

The plan is that we're gonna get a record contract, right?

Well then we need new fucking songs.

We cannot afford to keep making

song after song with no payoff.

So, it is just everyone against Jay, then.

We are not against you, man.

Everyone in this room is on the same team, same dream.

We're not talking about playing basement shows

for beers and weed anymore.

These are good offers.

We have a solid national slot at The Chance in Poughkeepsie

and the Stone Pony summer stage with Asking Alexandria.

All we gotta do is sell tickets.

And we can totally do that.

-It's so easy. -Exactly.

Look, we print some merch,

take the cash, make new songs.

Let AJ shop the deal.

We should shoot the video for "War."

There's a guy, he wants to shoot us and his shit is good.

-What guy? -Yeah Jay, what guy?

He's been DMing us on the 'Gram.

He wants to shoot us for free.

His shit looks clean.

AJ already fucking cosigned.

I mean he thinks we're idiots if we don't do it.

Then why is this the first we're hearing about it?

Uhh, I thought it wasn't gonna be a good fit, Jay.

No, this guy is our guy.

Who is this guy?

Juan, please.

Well, this guy's been DMing us on the 'Gram.

And at first I thought he was full of shit.

But then AJ asked me if we spoke to him

because he sent him our Insta,

and he said he had like this awesome vision for "War."

Oh, and how much for his vision?

Well, he said it was free.

And then he also mentioned some record label contacts

and possible investors.

Label contacts,

investors.

Can we see his work?

Well, me and Jay were stalking his profile,

but it looks like all his followers might be fake.

Does it matter?

- Who is that, even? - Who gives a shit?

She's pretty fucking hot.

You got anything else?

Well no, because he said

he is just starting his show reel, and I--

I guess that's why he wants to do the video for free.

Seems like a total mega fan, but like a total fucking narc.

There's gotta be a catch.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

The catch is if we don't do it,

he's gonna find another band

and they are just gonna eat up our free lunch.

Okay, okay.

Juan, reach out to him.

Let him know that we have zero dollars, zero,

and if he's willing to do it for free,

I say we do it.

Worse comes to worst, we shelve it. Okay?

We still do the shows and the Stone Pony.

Let's reconnect on this as soon as we hear something.

So what happened?

They just wanna play shows.

I just don't get it, man.

We need to record new music.

It's your band, babe.

You're the idea guy and you're the fucking singer.

They need to respect your vision.

I think we're gonna record a music video.

I thought you had no money for a music video.

There's a director,

and he wants to fucking shoot us for free.

That's fucking cool.

Yeah, but it did kind of come through AJ.

He hasn't exactly been on point lately.

But you are, and I believe in you.

It's just a matter of time.

And money.

-What? -Dude, it's happening. I set up a video call.

-When? -Now, the guys are in the driveway.

Okay, meet in the garage.

Jay.

So I've been thinking about this

and I think I know what we need right now.

What?

Old Jay.

Old Jay?

Yeah, old Jay.

The energy, the ambition.

The fearless leader.

Don't fear the reaper, all that shit.

That's still me, man.

I know.

And that's why we're all here.

A little sacrifice will go a long way.

Okay?

Okay.

Yo, who's got a baggie? I'm running so low.

Yo, when's this guy calling?

Soon.

You know, I saw this thing on the internet.

It like breaks up the weed

and rolls it into joint for you, it's like the future.

That's sick, Juan.

Yo, he's calling.

Come here.

Ready?

-Hey. - What's up guys?

-How's it going? -Couldn't be better, man.

You guys ready to shoot a video or what?

-We're ready. -I love it, man. I love your songs.

We need to create the visuals now, you know?

So cool to see you without your masks.

What's your name, guy?

They call me, Mr. Director.