…So if you didn’t stumble across my facebook posts this past Friday, go check them out for the full effect, but in bite-size form, what happened is I took a Megabus with a truly remarkable person, whom I found out about because his habits were so strange as to be facebook-worthy. I took snipe-shots of him while he made a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich on the moving bus, produced his own half-pint of half-and-half, you know, stuff nobody ever does on the Megabus — and then eagle-eyed megafan Orli Shull recognized him as national treasure Eric Schaeffer. In the end, he tweeted a picture of me holding my iPad with one of the posts prominently displayed.
You’ve probably seen something Eric has done or been in or a part of and not even known it — for my part, I had mainlined his series “Gravity” on Netflix earlier this year, and didn’t draw the connection until after we got off our bus. He directed If Lucy Fell, Fall, Winter: After Fall, and five other features, and he has had series on both Showtime and FX. Check him out — he’s the real deal.
IRT his unorthodox habit of performing his morning PB&B ritual regardless of his surroundings: “Yes, people stare, but you know what? I have what I want, and you don’t!” I’m pretty sure my girlfriend, who brought vegetable soup to a movie at MoMA early in our relationship, would have tried to leave me for him had she been on this bus and heard that.
We got to talking about
the current project that he’s doing a crowdfunding campaign for on IndieGogo, a rom-com about a pre-op hetero trans, growing up and finding love in a (mostly) respectful Southern community. In a time of much conversation about equality among people of diverse sexual orientation, this is a largely unaddressed subject, and he’s taking it on full bore, casting an actual pre-op trans in the lead and all. It’s beautiful, what he wants to make here, and just when I was thinking that I didn’t want to ruin our conversation by plugging my music as available for licensing, he told me the name of the film:
Boy Meets Girl.
Oh, just a pic-tweet of Paul Tabachneck holding a facebook picture of Eric Schaeffer taken by Paul Tabachneck taken by Eric Schaeffer..
Out came the discs: “Here’s my album,
Boy Meets Girl! Oh, wait, and also this one, where you can actually hear the song ‘Boy Meets Girl.’ I know, it’s stupid, but that’s what’s happening.” He seemed pretty blown away by the kismet of it all, and happily accepted the albums. After our break, I grabbed his headphones and plugged them into my laptop, and said, “You need to hear this song,” because I remembered Suzanne Vega’s song “As Girls Go” from
99.9°F, and knew it would be perfect for this kind of thing. He agreed, and then asked me to let him hear “Boy Meets Girl.” Guess what? He’s gonna use it! Best Megabus trip ever!
Anyhow, please go to http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/boy-meets-girl and give what you can to help him make this movie, which is important not just to him, and now, me, but carries significant societal value alongside it.
And remember: ALWAYS TALK TO STRANGERS.
Tracy Karin Prell
Paul I enjoyed reading your story very much, especially about Eric’s unique behaviors! I think he’s a “Type A” person like me! I have quirky habits too! I wish I knew that Eric was making this movie earlier and I would have made a financial donation! I have faith and confidence in him. I am so glad of your involvement with Eric and his film! You helped make “Boy Meets Girl” a Great Success! This film has helped so many transgender people, showing them that they are not strange and not alone…they are just regular people Your musical contributions were a significant part of this film! While writing this comment, I just subscribed to your YouTube channel and will be listening and watching your wonderful music videos.. I would like Eric to involve your musical talent in his other films…I will personally let him know! Thanks again Paul for sharing your story! Love you!