24 Hours on Craigslist. My Martial Arts Movie Debut!

This story was originally written on Dec. 23, 2005

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When I was juuuuuuuussssssst beginning my whole Martial Arts/BJJ Academy endeavor; before we even had a NAME for the school as a matter of fact, my business partner/resident black belt, Sergio, started promoting our 'classes' by posting ads up on the www.craigslist.org message board. 
 
Had he TOLD me he was doing so, I would have most likely FREAKED. Not only did we not have insurance at that point, or even a business license...we didn’t even have MATS! Hell...what am I saying? WE DIDNT EVEN HAVE A FLOOR!!! We had only been in the space for about two days and because we also didn't have a phone yet, Serg put my cell phone number for people to call for more info. 
 
So I'm driving around one afternoon, two days after moving into my new digs, and I get a phone call... 
 
"Hi! Is this the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy that's advertised on craigslist?" 
 
Pause...

Jess thinks: 
 
Craigslist ad? Wha-??? OH... I'm gonna kill him... 
 
Ok. Don't panic. Time for the Happy Voice - Think Girl Scout troupe leader. Think Carol Channing. Think 1970's kitchen cleaner commercial. You can DO this... 
 
"Why...YES! It IS as a matter of fact! And what can I do for you 
today?" 
 
"Well...um...I'm working with the director of an independent film called 24 Hours on Craigslist, and we were hoping that we might be able to feature you, your school, and maybe even some of your students in our movie. Would that be something you would be interested in doing?" 
 
(What students?! What school!? Wait...they want us to be in a movie? )
 
"Uhhh...yeah, yeah...absolutely. Uh, we can do this....I'm mean, um...Sure, we'd LOVE to! When...ummm...I mean...what's the time frame on this?" 
 
"Oh, we wee thinking about coming by about 9:00 if that's okay with you." 
 
Pause.... 
 
"You mean 9:00 as in TONIGHT?" 
 
(Deep breaths...DEEP breaths...) 
 
"Well...yeah. Were kind of on a tight schedule. I mean...the movie is called 24 hrs on Craigslist, so we have to shoot everything the same day." 
 
"Oh. You couldn't like - cheat? I mean, who would know...? " 
 
Pause. 
 
"No...cheating would completely defeat the artistic purpose of the movie. If this doesn't work with your schedule don-" 
 
"NO! No...I was just asking...I mean...It was more of a theoretical question. 9:00 tonight will be fine. No problem. We've got some students coming over for training about that time anyway. Really." 
 
(In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth...)
 
"Great! The camera crew and I will see you there then!" 
 
Click. 
 
It was a quarter to five in the afternoon. I had my daughter in the car with me who wasn't due to be picked up until after 6, I had no idea where Sergio was or if I was even going to be able to get in touch with him AT ALL, the entire Academy area was full of boxes and about a two inch thick layer of dust, and I had no idea how I was going to supply the producer with the imaginary students I had promised to parade before the camera crew...which would be showing up in about FOUR hours. 
 
Thank GOD for cell phones. 
 
I frantically dialed Sergio and by some miracle he actually picked up. He wasn't terribly impressed with the idea of some 'supposed' independent film producer wanting to come over and film our non- existent Academy and the urgency of the situation was therefore lost on him. The way he figured it, if these people wanted to film US (and I mean come ON...we didn't even have a NAME yet...) then they must be pretty desperate for material.

Sigh. 
 
"Just humor me okay Sergio? Please?" 
 
"I dunno Jess...I dunno....Seriously....We'll see..." 
 
The next several hours were spent hauling boxes up the stairs, wiping the soot, dust and grime off of every surface we could get to. The Academy was a carpenter's workshop before we moved in, and it was FILTHY. The floor was uneven, bare, concrete - street, not foundation. At the time, there were actual railroad tracks running through one corner of the room. That was before we put the wood over everything of course. One area however, had been leveled off by the previous tenant, who had had cement poured over a 10x15 foot corner of the room. That that one area was elevated about five inches higher than the rest of the floor space. It was a pain in the ass to build around when we were putting in the wooden floor in order to have a level foundation to lay the mats on, but at the time that little corner of space was a God-send. 
 
The ceiling above the space was dark and completely unfinished, with rusty pipes, electrical wiring, and raw plywood laid bare to the world. Not what I wanted as a backdrop for our screen debut. Putting my spoiled brat Brazilian roommate to work hauling boxes; (she and her boyfriend- a former training partner of Sergio's- showed up on our doorstep less than a week previously, and as they had no place else to go, they wound up on my couch...Of course.) I gathered up all the light colored flat bed-sheets I could find, and went to work with a step ladder, a staple gun, and a couple armloads of fake foliage I'd 
picked up at Pier 1. Add some clip-on work lights, throw down the wrestling mats and POOF! Instant movie set. Not 'Gone With the Wind' mind you...but hey, it's WAS just a movie about ads on craigslist after all... 
 
Serg genuinely couldn't understand what the big deal was, or why I was making such a fuss, considering that in all likelihood no one would ever see the movie anyway. The way he figured it, the movie was probably merely a figment of some overly zealous, artistic imaginations. A movie about craigslist? Okay...maybe for a college project or something...but c'mon... It's not like anyone is ever going to go to a movie theatre to see something like that! Puh-LEEZ! 
 
Personally, I didn't think he was giving the SF art crowd enough credit, but I didn't have time to argue about it just then. I 
needed to take a shower... 
 
The film crew arrived on time, but unfortunately the friends who were coming over to pose as our 'students', had 'fire spinning practice' and wouldn't be showing up for another hour. Until then it was just me and Sergio. Truthfully, until Sergio came down stairs wearing his gi, I had no idea if he was actually going to come through or not. 
 
As it turned out, he was FANTASTIC. Funny, enthusiastic,  informative, and of course very, VERY Brazilian. In short - PERFECT. They interviewed each of us, then filmed us training with each other. Sometime during the filming, Mu, the sweetest, daintiest,  little pitbull on the planet, trotted downstairs to say 'Hi' to everyone, and as we still didn't have any students to demonstrate the moves on, I used her instead. Which is how the photo of me putting a pit-bull in a triangle choke hold, wound up as one of the main media images used to promote the craigslist movie. 
 
And now it's official; the movie is scheduled to premier at the Red Vic Theatre in San Francisco on October 7th and will be showing four times a day, for the following 11 days afterwards. So far,  every San Francisco preview showing of the film has completely sold out days, sometimes weeks, in advance. Although we attended a 'wrap- up party' for the cast well over a year ago, neither Sergio nor I have ever actually seen the movie ourselves (though I did get a phone call from Amy, a former student who trained with me for close to five years - telling me that my interview segment from the movie was being played over the house/trance music at an 'empowerment rave' she recently attended, somewhere up in the Mendocino area, so it must have been a pretty darned good interview! It's been such a long time since I did it that I can barely remember anything I said...). 
 
We've come such a long way since then. I still can't believe my nefarious plan to open a BJJ school in the Bay Area actually seems to be WORKING. We really DO have students now...Not only that, we have tournament CHAMPION students now. Our whole Academy is going on a fieldtrip on opening weekend, and we plan on trouping down to the Red Vic en masse and taking the theatre over for one of the matinee showings. The students are talking about renting a limo for everyone 
to pile into, but not only would I feel kind of silly (I mean, it is JUST a movie about craigslist after all)...I honestly don’t think 
that we'd all fit into a single limousine, even a really big one. 
 
Just the fact that I'll be watching footage taken of the Academy right at its inception - Open Door during its zygote phase - with the extended family of students that our initial dream has grown into, is so amazing to me. Every time I walk downstairs, and see the 1280 sq. ft. Academy packed so full that there's barely enough room for everyone to train at the same time, I think to myself 'Wait! This can't be right...' I mean, it's almost as if we're... (Gasp!) almost...dare I say....becoming....kind of....successful? It IS a martial arts school, so it's not like I'll ever be RICH or anything - but at the same time I'm beginning to think it might actually be possible that I'll be able to pay off the credit card debt for the damn floor some day. Now that the school is up and running, the next part of the dream is to pay off what I spent getting it off the ground in the first place. It could happen. I'm beginning to think that anything is possible...