A nihilistic bartender cynically leads the viewer through his atypical lifestyle.

Director’s Vision for ‘The M Word’

During my time during university and along the road travelling across several countries and eventually landing in Australia, I had funded my day to day life by living and working as a bartender in small bars, fine dining venues, biergartens; you name it. It’s a wild industry filled with many colourful characters, experiences, and most of all; a surprising new found way of learning extreme patience and disciplining your reluctance to stress.

Though I learned a lot through this industry which I do now carry over to arts and my film sets, there was a particular bar I did work at with a very unique gang of employees. A crew of international expats with very distinct and unique backstories and personas but all understood each other at the end of the day. They also understood that they were indeed working for a manager who displayed a very unique personality some may compare with social disorders. While drawing my main inspiration for cast from my time at this bar, this fourth wall break to camera is a monologue piece to camera inspired from the experiences of myself, peers, and other hospitality workers, making for a relatable dark comedy short, and revolves around what working in this industry has in store for one’s mental health. It is definitely not an industry for everyone. That is for sure.

The best part about making this film is that our cast and crew was formed of current and former hospitality members coming together to poke some fun at the nature of the beast we know inside and out.

My time in hospitality has taught me many lessons including it’s not what you have, but it’s who you have and how you do it which will carry on with me for my film career.