16x12 - Things are Heating Up

[bunniefuu]

[theme music playing]

-[Wes] This is the true story...
-[woman] Yee-haw.

-[Lacey] ...of seven strangers...
-[Rachel] ...picked to live in a house...

[Nehemiah] ...work together
and have their lives taped...

[Johanna] ...to find out what happens...

-[Danny] ...when people stop being polite...
-Shut up.

-[Melinda] And start getting real.
-[all laughing]

-[all] The Real World: Austin.
-[music concludes]

[upbeat music playing]

Today, we're gonna show Paul
the portraits that we put together.

I've spent more time on my assembly
than any of the other roommates.

I think that with the little time
I was given,

and with the objective that I was given,
it didn't come out too bad.

Let's talk about your projects.
Rachel, how far did you get on yours?

It's a rough draft, but it's put together
in the order I want.

[Jenn] So this is an assembly,
is what you're gonna show.

-A sequence.
-Great.

That sounds good. Nehemiah?

[Nehemiah] I got pretty far on it.

I added effects, voice-overs.
I did add titles

and things like that, so I got pretty far.

I'm selfishly annoyed that Nehemiah
did so much work on his project,

but I can't help but feel that Nehemiah
wants to be in the spotlight,

and be like,
"Look, Teach, look what I did."

Nehemiah, let's take a look
at yours first.

[Wes on video] I will classify myself
in the stereotype

of a very competitive, blunt person.

There has never been a girl
to completely break my heart, yet.

My lifelong goal is to make a checklist
of all the things possible in life

and to look back on life

and see a lot more checkmarks
than empty boxes.

There's more to Wes
than what most people think.

-[Jenn chuckles]
-What do you think?

[Paul] Not bad.

That one shot of the outside

where we're looking
over on the string was...

I was confused, but outside of that.

What I think is, and looking at this,

I see this, Nehemiah,
and all you guys, in terms of the process,

where we're trying to go from this level,

to this level, to this level.

[Melinda] Nehemiah is getting criticized
on his portrait by Paul

and I definitely can see
that Nehemiah's upset and taken aback.

I'm thinking, Nehemiah, is build on that,

and be thinking,
"Okay, what else do I have to film?"

-How do you feel about it?
-There's always room for improvement.

Paul knows a lot more in the filmmaking
than I probably will ever know,

so everything he's saying, I'm taking in.
I know my profile could have been better.

Let's take a look at
a couple more, all right?

-[Rachel laughs]
-Wait, that's on there.

That's not it. What is this?

Paul wants to watch my sequence.

I'm completely baffled at how this footage
got on the front of my tape.

-[all laugh]
-[Lacey] I was gonna say,

I don't remember ever recording this.

[all laugh]

It's hard to get me embarrassed,
and this incident with the bad dubbing

definitely embarrassed me.

[Paul] Danny, do you want
to do a portrait of somebody?

-I would like to.
-You've seen what people done.

Why don't you try to film something

-this week.
-All right.

I'm trying to learn.
I'm trying to catch up to speed

'cause I'm so far behind
everybody else, and their projects,

but I'm camcorder and computer [bleep].

[Paul] Here's our deal for next week.
Go to South by Southwest

and we're looking
at what kinds of bands they are,

how do we cast them.

Go out there, have an interesting time.
See you guys next week, okay?

-[Melinda] Thank you.
-[Lacey] Thanks.

[upbeat music playing]

[Danny] These are the bands
you guys picked?

-[laughs]
-Sick.

Rachel, Melinda,
and I went to meet with Brent

at the South by Southwest offices.

-[Nehemiah] They gave us a stereo, too?
-They gave us so much stuff.

We're supposed to listen to the CDs
and look over their profiles,

see what kind of people they are, and look
for potential of working with them

for our documentaries.

["Kanon" playing]

[Lacey] I'm interested
in doing Enon and DMBQ.

They're very different.

This band seems to be signed already.

[Lacey] Most of these are signed.
They're little labels.

[Danny] The band part of the job
and getting to know bands is...

-[music concludes]
-I'm stoked about that.

We gotta get on this.

[tense music playing]

[tense music concludes]

["Bonnie Taylor Shakedown" playing]

Hellogoodbye is a band from California.

From their profile that I read,

they seem fun, outgoing, crazy,
and I like their music.

They're just like
the All-American Rejects.

Have you ever heard
the All-American Rejects?

I like bands that play music,
not because it's the cool thing to do.

It's something
that they're inspired to do.

I'm not saying they're awful, but come on.

-[music concludes]
-Weirdo anorexic boys,

squeezing into little jeans
and getting girls' haircuts

and singing about girls.
That's just boring.

I can't lie
'cause I like some stuff like that.

I don't think Lacey's a musical elitist.

I think she tries to be.
There's those people that try

to put down music
that everybody else likes

just because they like a different sound,
and I think that's who Lacey is.

[Lacey] It's okay to like it.

Some of it's catchy. I just...

It would be sad
that we have this opportunity,

and we do the typical thing.

[Danny] I want to hear Halifax.

They're all downstairs.
They hooked it up down there.

[Danny] All righty.

[Nehemiah] I did not see
any bands I'm interested in.

I would prefer more hip-hop bands.

["Broken Glass Syndrome" playing]

[Lacey] Nobody's gonna wanna do
the bands I want,

because honestly, I live
with pretty stereotypical type of people

that are going to pick pretty
stereotypical type of music.

[music concludes]

[rock music playing]

[Danny] Describe your childhood.
What was it like?

My childhood.

It wasn't the Leave It To Beaver
type childhood.

[Danny] The rest of the roommates
did their portraits on everyone else,

and I decided to do mine on Nehemiah
because I think...

there's more to be told
than just the funny one-liners with him.

I grew up without a father,
pretty much without a mother,

so to speak,
because my mother had her drug addiction.

I've come from a lot of bad things.
I've come from drug addicts,

seeing people in the family do drugs,
drug dealers,

not many high school or college graduates.
I come from all of that.

It was hard for her
to be there 100 percent

like mothers should be there, so.

Going through what I went through
when I was younger, I have trust issues,

especially with women.
If I can't even trust my mother,

how am I supposed to trust
this girl that I just met?

[Danny] If you could change one thing,
what would it be?

If I could change one thing,

I would give myself the ability
to trust people more.

[Danny] I like to think
that me and Nehemiah

have grown a little bit
closer after the interview.

We've been through
a lot of the same situations.

Him opening up to me about his mom.
It makes me feel

like I understand what he's going through
and the hardships.

[rock music concludes]

[pop music playing]

[Paul] Why don't we listen to the music?

Danny, why don't you plug it
into the wall?

Let's go over these bands.

If you had to choose a band
that you're the most excited about,

which band do you...
Have you guys agreed on a band

that you like the most or...

-Half of us have.
-[Danny] Everybody's different.

I think a majority of people like Enon.

I like Enon because they're different.

They are artsy-fartsy, love what they do,

don't care how big they get
or how much they sell.

Is there a second-place band?

-[Johanna] I like Halifax.
-[Danny] I like Halifax.

[Lacey] I hate Halifax.

Can I throw one other band out there?

A band called Hellogoodbye.

-Oh, no.
-[Danny] That's the one I said.

-No.
-[Danny] That is the one I said.

[Wes] Lacey does not want
a band that is stereotypical,

which is fine. That's great,
but she's got that attitude

that if it comes on the radio
or it's on MTV,

then she won't like it anymore,

and I get fed up
with those kind of people.

["Shimmy Quarter Turn" playing]

I need to learn patience.
I'm good at acting patient,

but internally, I'm like,
"Oh, my God. Shut up."

[Jenn] Is there criteria
that you guys have in place

for choosing these bands?

'Cause I hear you guys saying,
"I like this band."

"I don't like this band,"
and liking their music or not

-I don't think is...
-[Paul] That's right.

[Jenn] What your number one
criteria should be.

Do you want to court
all of these guys right now?

You wanna get some sense of who they are.

What I would do is...
You guys like these five bands.

Get in contact with them immediately...

-Phone interview.
-...okay? And what Jenn just said,

"We wanna be able to talk to you
as soon as we possibly can."

-[Danny] Thank you.
-Talk to those bands,

and Lacey, I'll hear from you
on Monday, okay? Thanks.

-[upbeat music playing]
-[crowd cheering]

[Johanna] What bands do you guys like?

Halifax, Hellogoodbye, Bloc Party.

-[Wes] Bloc Party and Hellogoodbye.
-Those are my top three.

-[Wes] Yeah, I think so.
-[Melinda]

-Yeah.
-No, she didn't.

[Danny] No, and Death from Above.

-[Nehemiah] She said I like that?
-[Wes] Yeah.

[Nehemiah] She is lying. I told her...

[Danny] That's what she said.
She called it right out.

She said "No, he told me."
I had an hour conversation.

[Wes] We haven't even started
the actual filming yet,

and there's already gonna be
a big problem.

Lacey is sitting there, behind the scenes,

conniving her way
to get the band that she wants the most.

What a manipulator.

-[laughs, coughs]
-You know why she said that?

'Cause she hates Hellogoodbye.

[Danny] Lacey's so stuck on

not being cliche
that she's that cliche girl.

It's like that.

She's just like every other girl
that does that.

[upbeat music playing]

[Rachel] We have to email those bands.

I don't want to do all the work,
but I feel like...

I don't want Danny calling these people.

-Know what I mean?
-[Rachel] It's just...

"Dude, it's dope.
We're gonna do this dope documentary."

"Yeah, man, dude, sure."

I've taken charge with our job
because no one else will.

I wish Nehemiah would do more with it

because he's gonna benefit
from this greatly if it turns out good,

and I feel like he should be
working harder than all of us,

'cause if it was something to do
that would make me...

Help my career for the rest of my life,
I would be working pretty damn hard on it.

He worked so hard to put himself
through film school in Arizona,

why aren't you working hard
when we're in this situation?

Somebody's giving it to you
on a silver platter,

and you don't want to take it?

I don't understand, Nehemiah.

[rock music playing]

[Wes] I'm gonna be so Black
by the time I finish this.

-[Nehemiah] It's not possible. [laughs]
-[Wes] No, it's possible.

Me and Wes are better
than I thought we would ever be.

I can have fun with Wes.

I don't know why people think
that being in the situation that I am,

they can walk all over me.

I know! I get...
People yelling it all the time,

but don't put your hands on me.

I'm at the bar. Six guys come up to me,

push me, call me a b*tch.

-[Melinda] Come on, Nehemiah.
-[Nehemiah] Don't test me, [bleep].

-Don't test me.
-[Melinda] Nehemiah.

[Nehemiah] I will [bleep] you up, dog!

[indistinct chatter]

[Nehemiah] Let's go.

As I'm walking through the crowd,

somebody spills a drink on me.
That's when I lose it.

Just want a drink.
I will [bleep] you up, [bleep].

Just want a drink.
[bleep] all these b*tches.

-[Wes] Nehemiah, let's get...
-[Nehemiah] Let's go, [bleep].

I swear to God, straight up and down.

-[Wes] Yeah.
-[Nehemiah] I said get away from me.

-[Wes] We got to go this way, right?
-[Nehemiah] [bleep] all y'all.

-[Wes] Nehemiah, shut up.
-[Nehemiah] Don't [bleep] with me.

[Wes] The first thing
that goes through my mind

when we walk out of the bar

and I see the street
is being in that same street

with the same emotions
when Danny got really hurt.

-Stop!
-I didn't hit you, b*tch!

-Hey! Step up to me, [bleep].
-[indistinct clamoring]

-[Wes] Shut up! Stop!
-[Nehemiah] Step up!

-Shut up!
-Nehemiah!

-Hey, [bleep].
-Shut up!

-Hey!
-I said let's go home.

-[Nehemiah] Hey, b*tch. That was you?
-[rock music concludes]

[tense music playing]

Nehemiah, what the [bleep] are you doing?
Grow up and let's go.

I wanted to defend Nehemiah's honor.

I want to do
what a normal man should do

in this situation, which is fight,

but I know what happened last time.
And I see the looks on people's faces,

that they're malicious and want attention

for doing something immature.

[Nehemiah] Get off me.

-Nobody touch me right now.
-[Wes] Don't hit her.

-Don't touch me right now, Wes.
-Don't hit her.

Wes, don't touch me right now.

-[Wes] I said let's go home.
-[Nehemiah] So many cats came up,

trying to test me.
I walk away from so much bull-[bleep]

every single day,
I swallow up my pride,

and I ignore so much stuff,

but it was just something
I could not ignore.

[tense music concludes]

[Nehemiah] I called her,
she didn't pick up.

[Wes] Wren? You called her?

-Oh, yeah?
-I did.

Why, just out of curiosity,
would you want to call her?

-To apologize.
-[Wes] Did you really?

I called Lindsey to apologize to her.

I knew I was in the wrong, and...

first thing as a man is
you could admit a mistake,

and I made a mistake.

I'm not that much of an a*s.
[chuckles] Not like you.

-[laughs]
-[laughs]

It's natural for men to want to fight,
but we have to accept the consequences.

We need to start learning

and growing up as adults
and the fact that fighting

is not always gonna be the answer.

[slow music playing]

[phone line ringing]

-[Nehemiah's mother on the phone] Hello?
-Hello.

-[Nehemiah's mother] Hi.
-Hey.

-[Nehemiah's mother] Hi, baby.
-What's up?

[Nehemiah's mother] You're getting along
with people

-there now?
-[Nehemiah] Kind of.

-[Nehemiah's mother] What do you mean?
-[Nehemiah] I got some people here that...

-[chuckles]
-[Nehemiah's mother] That what?

-Huh?
-[Nehemiah's mother] Talk to me.

One of them, she's...

You know how you say I'm a manipulator?

-[Nehemiah's mother] Mm-hmm.
-[Nehemiah] She's 20 times that.

It's the type of person you can't trust.
Sit down, have a conversation with her,

you'll think she's the sweetest person.
We were talking about the bands,

and I told her the two bands I wanted.

Then she goes and tells my other roommates

the two bands that I chose
are the two that she wants to use.

[Nehemiah's mother]
It's no mistake that girl is there.

-God put people in your life for reasons.
-[Nehemiah] Mm-hm.

Like you say,
she's a manipulator, she's a liar.

Look at her.
You don't ever want to be like that.

Don't look at this with, "Man,
I can't get along with that person."

But look deeper. Maybe you can help her.

[Nehemiah] I've definitely learned
that if I'm feeling

to the point where I'm that stressed out,
that's when you surround yourself

with people that you love.

[Nehemiah's mother]
You got to deal with each person,

and look at them and don't be holding
examples against anybody.

-[Nehemiah] Yeah.
-[Nehemiah's mother] Look deeper

into that. There's probably something
about you they don't like.

[Nehemiah] I know it is. I'm mean.

-[Nehemiah's mother] You're mean?
-[Nehemiah chuckles] Yeah.

You know how it is...
Was growing up in our family,

making fun of people.

[Nehemiah's mother] We did that
because we didn't know

how to share love in our family.

-[Nehemiah] I know. [laughs]
-[Nehemiah's mother] You know,

the only way we knew how to share love
is we would defend ourselves with anger,

but don't be like that. And you aren't,
Nehemiah. You have real heart.

[Nehemiah] I talked to my mother
for the longest time today

that I've ever talked to my mother,

and in God knows how long,
you know what I'm saying?

I'm sitting here, like "Damn."
[inhales deeply]

My mother is such a dope-a*s person.

Anything I say, she had advice for me.

I was telling her about Lacey,

and she had the most positive advice ever.

[Melinda] That's good,
because that means she's taking

this going to rehab
as definitely something

that's gonna heal her,
because if she is looking at life

as something that is a good thing,
then that's beautiful.

What I'm doing right now

is gonna be the biggest thing
that anybody in my family has done,

and for one, I'm throwing it away

by [bleep] around, drinking,
going out every night.

I got an editing system in my house.

If I were to leave this house tomorrow...

I'll be in tears
'cause I'll regret so much.

Once you have no one to fall back on,

you have to buckle up,

'cause if you fall,
if you have no one to pick you up,

you're just gonna stay on the ground.
I can't just stay on the ground.

I have to rise above any objective
that's put in front of me.

Nobody will be proud of me
right now, seriously.

The people that I want to make proud,

none of them would be
proud of me right now.

[slow music concludes]

I'm editing Danny's portrait of me

because I'm seeing how stressed
Danny is with all his things,

and I wanted to omit
one last problem for Danny.

I hooked you up with a sequence.
I'm putting it to tape right now.

You serious? Thank you.

I think the way Nehemiah
stepped up, and he...

I woke up and my editing was done.

I think it says a whole hell
of a lot about him.

I think it shows how much he cares
and how much he does want to help out.

Danny, do you have
your portrait of Nehemiah?

-Want to show it to us?
-[Danny] I have some of it.

[Paul] What do we got over here?

-This is like...
-[Danny] It's a base

of what I'm gonna build off of.

I'm iffy on the editing still,

-but it's... It's definitely coming.
-[slow music playing]

[Nehemiah on video] The one thing
that I fear is being a failure,

not succeeding,

trying my hardest
to accomplish something,

and not accomplishing anything

and failing at the things
that I've tried to do most.

-[Paul] This is nice, Danny.
-[Danny] It feels good

to have Paul compliment me
on my profile on Nehemiah.

It shows my roommates that
I'm not gonna lag behind

and that I can do the work, and
it makes me feel like part of the team.

[Nehemiah on video] Favorite thing to do
that makes me happy

is putting a smile
on other people's faces.

[all laugh]

[Nehemiah on video] That makes
me happier than anything else,

whether it be film,
whether I change my mind

and want to do something else,
or whatever the case may be.

Whatever it is that I try to do,
I want to be successful in it

because I know
I'm just that type of person.

-I am Nehemiah.
-[all laugh]

-[Melinda] I hate when you make that face.
-[Lacey] I know. [laughs]

-That's very nice.
-[Wes] Yeah, really good.

[Nehemiah] Coming into the situation
was more overwhelming

than I thought,
and I've been knocked off my horse,

and now, it's time for me to get back on
because I'm gonna succeed in the end.

[Paul] This is very nice.

[slow music concludes]

This here, goes right here.

See how the arrow was pointing on it.
Try to put it on there.

[Danny] Does it go this way?

-I need to be holding the camera for that.
-[Nehemiah laughs] I need to see this.

How come you couldn't do that?

-Shut up.
-No, seriously. [chuckles]

How did you not...

-How could you not do that?
-[Danny chuckles]