The Price of Glee documentary was released on ID on January 16, 2023. Last year, someone associated with it contacted me about a video I’d posted on YouTube. They wanted my permission to use the footage I shot of Cory Monteith’s memorial outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel where he died.
They didn’t tell me the name of the project. Just that it was about Glee. They may have also mentioned that 2023 would mark 10 years since Monteith died. But I’m not sure about that.
Anyway, they also requested the original file if possible. I scrounged it up, watched it, and cringed. So shaky! Really? Could it actually be useful?
Apparently, it was. Something I would’ve known six months ago if I’d watched when the Glee documentary was first released.
But I didn’t.
I think part of me didn’t want to be disappointed if my footage turned out not to be useful.
But curiosity finally got the better of me, so the other day at lunch, I started watching. I skipped ahead to episode 2, “The Show Must Go On.” The description made me think that’s where I might find it.
With the chilling tales about the dark side of fame and fortune, friends and researchers reveal “Glee” star Cory Monteith’s final moments.
Nope.
For a moment my fears were confirmed. But then I tried the first episode. Bingo!
I was quite chuffed about it all because I think secretly (well, the secret’s out now) that I’d like to make a documentary someday. But I never imagined something I documented during a vacation would be included in a doc. An ID one no less!
Which, as exciting as it is, is also sad in this case. Watching The Price of Glee is a gut-wrenching reminder that fame isn’t always the happily ever after that people think it will be.