A : Have I ever been rabidly anti-Coke on this board? I don’t think so.

I like Coke – hell, who doesn’t? But do I drink Coke much? Not really. Why? Because I’m overweight, and don’t need anymore sugar than I ordinarily take in. So I drink diet Soda. And – to me – the best tasting diet soda on the market: Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi. But in a perfect world what would I rather be drinking? Coke (or Pepsi) – something sweet and syrupy (in fact, fuck the carbonated water, just give me a cup of straight Coke syrup).

But is this any reason to do a commercial? It helps that I do believe in the product to some degree, but even that’s a minor consideration (so long as I’m not making a commercial for ‘Anti-Putty’s Cat-Killing Elixir’ or an Ed Burns flick, I think my ethics are in order).

The real reason to do any job, some would argue, is what one makes to do said job. Does that factor in here? Fuck yes – let’s not be unrealistically, idealistically naive.

For my money, however, the real reason to do any job is for the experience.

One day, this well that keeps me in comics and long coats is going to dry up, and I’ll have no more stories to tell.Will I direct a feature that I didn’t write? As we’ve already established here many times – no. Might commercials be a viable form of gainful employment in my twilight years? Could be.

But in order to find out (if I like the process, if I’m any good at it), I’ve gotta try it out.

And so here we are.

The thing I enjoy about it the most so far is that the lack of authorship in the text allows me to be far more collaborative and laid back in the organization and set-up of the spot – I’m letting people do their jobs, as opposed to taking their responsibilities out of their hands as I usually try to do when making one of our flicks. I think that’s going to rub off in a positive way as we head into the flick that I’m going to have to relinquish more anal retentive control over than I’ve ever had to before (I mean, let’s be honest – I, myself, do not know how to make a CGI shit monster; someone else’s gotta take the reins on that one).

It’s a positive thing all around. I’ve been able to gainfully employ some of my people (who aren’t going to get paid boatloads of cash to work on either the Mtv shorts or ‘Dogma’). I get to stand beside DP Dave one last time before I’m made to stand beside a stranger (but don’t worry – Dave’ll be back on the flick after ‘Dogma’). And I get to watch the Superbowl for once, and actually look forward to seeing something – my commercial.

Believe me – if I ever ‘sold out’, I’d be the first to admit it (why not? I admit everything else in this forum).

But doing a commercial for Coke has not brought me to that point yet. Like those crazy kids in ‘Empire’, I’m selling records (or rather, soda), but I’m not selling out, man.