Glenn Kulka Documentary Journal

So what is it about good friends that they seem to have such a profound effect on the way our lives go?  I can’t tell you the number of people who have supported this film about Glenn, but I can tell you that without all of them… this film doesn’t get done.

Jay, Alison and their daughter Kate live in Toronto.  Staying with them allowed me to get several interviews in the city without having to shell out the exorbitant hotel prices.  It also allowed me special insight into their lives as (relatively) new parents and (so far) survivors of the recent financial industry fiasco.  They both work in the industry and owe much of what they’ve built to a mutual love of business and the firm stance of integrity with which they hold their dreams aloft.

But it’s not easy.

Like Glenn, they struggle with the idea of the daily requirements of what they do, the overall worth of it, and the constant pressure to morally compromise.

Glenn beats people up.

Jay offers training packages to investment firms.

Alison provides insurance to corporations.

These professions, within the public view, could be seen as ranging from; at best self indulgent, and at worst as akin to providing sharks the tools to sharpen their own teeth.

It’s fun, isn’t it, being the public?  We get to offer opinions, educated or not, without looking in the mirror first.  We are accountable to no one, and yet the press and the politicians pander to our every whim.

Let’s change that;  before we judge Glenn, Jay and Alison on what they do, let’s take a look at how and why they do it.  And then let’s take a close look in the mirror and see if we hold up under scrutiny.

I work in the entertainment business.  That should be enough to never allow me to pass judgement on anyone ever again.  As a matter of fact, I’ll take a business consultant, insurance analyst or an MMA fighter over a film producer any day of the week… most days anyway.  ( All apologies and exceptions to my producer friends who are most obviously exceptions to my gross overstatement!)

Here’s what counts, during the mist of our economic uncertainty, and the massive pressures that are on Jay and Alison right now, they took me in, fed me, gave me a great place to sleep and work, and shared the sunshine joy of their daughter with me.

It’s not what you do, it’s how and why you do it.  Jay and Alison do what they do and all they do with love… that’s integrity.

Last Sunday night my producer Charlene Blaine-Schulenburg (one of the good ones) called me from the Arrowhead Film Festival awards ceremony in California to tell me that the film I wrote, and Char produced, last year, REACH FOR ME, won Best Feature and Best of Festival.  Before I hung up, and had a little ‘overcome with joy’ moment, as Jay placed a glass of champagne in my hand and toasted me.  He had been there from the start; when I began writing, when I struggled with the business of it, when REACH FOR ME had it’s LA premiere… Jay was there.  It’s only fitting that I should be staying at his house when I hear this news.

I wish Dawn was there at that moment, but we spoke on the phone… and she knows.  Without her, none of this happens, she is my partner in all things, she is my perfect partner.

And later when I talked to Glenn on the phone and filled him in on the news to celebrate with him, his joy was sincere.  As was his voice when he told me that Laura and Jaxson, his kids, missed me.

It’s how and why we do it.

I’m not sure if the world needs another filmmaker, business consultant, insurer or a fighter, but the world does need people who do whatever they do with love and integrity.

Thank you Jay, Alison and Glenn.

Yesterday was the end of my time with Glenn, Mariko and the kids.  I leave with my energy on empty, but my heart well full.  What a gift this time they have given me, I depart enriched.

I am excited to start cutting this footage.  While most of the events weren’t exactly what I thought I’d be shooting, the footage is better than I could have hoped for, and will serve the truth of Glenn’s story in ways I could never have imagined.

With all that has happened, I wonder if Glenn feels as good about our time as I do.  I can’t imagine how, considering I’ve rammed a camera up his life for the past month, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was moved in some way.

But I guess the reality is, for him, those kinds of thoughts just aren’t important right now.  What is important is that yesterday was Parent/Teacher day, where the kids got to show all the work they had done this semester to Mom & Dad.

Yesterday, it seems, was a day of joyful tears and much laughter… yesterday was perfect.

And all this from a family whose father lost a big fight last weekend… would have devastated some… would have devastated the Kulka’s of old.

You want to really know how Glenn took the loss?

On Monday morning after the fight he opened his radio show by instructing his listeners to open their morning papers to page 41 in the sports section.  There they would find on the top left hand corner of the page a color photo of Glenn at the fight… flat on his back unconscious.

“That’s about how my weekend went… how was yours?” Glenn asked.

And then he laughed.