Racking Up the Credits

[Mikey's cabin in the Poconos, the location of my next short film, being shot later this month.]

How did I get so busy? Ya know, I have to stop asking myself that. I accepted a long time ago that at this point in my life there is really no such thing as "down time." If I am NOT busy, then I am in trouble...

Earlier this year, though don't ask me to pinpoint exactly when, I decided that, in addition to pushing "Smalltimore" at any festivals I could get it into (3 so far, all of which I attended this summer, one at which I won "Best Director"), I decided that I would dedicate the rest of this year to working on other people's projects in order to bulk up my resume with screen credits. Well, I got my wish. And no, I am not going to say, "Be careful what you wish for," because I am very glad to have gotten my wish, even though every moment that I take to breathe these days leaves me feeling a little guilty that I am not busy working on something.

So, what have I been up to? Well, you already know about my short, "The Red-Headed Menace," that we filmed in July and won the Judith Reinart Independent Spirit Award for in August, at the 29 Days Later Film Festival. "TRHM" screened again this past Monday at the Creative Alliance at the monthly Cinelounge meeting. That was really fun. Great turnout, loads of great feedback. After we screened, along with 2nd ("Tiny") and 3rd ("Apnea") place winners from 29 Days Later, I had to go up to the stage with the other two filmmakers for a short Q & A. It was only later that I realized that not only was this the first time I went up to a stage for something like this without my heart beating faster in a bad way, but I actually felt very comfortable and really enjoyed it. I never thought I would get to the point in my life when public speaking did not terrify me, but here I am.

Along those lines, but skipping ahead, this weekend I am preparing to speak at a class at UMBC next Tuesday taught by Kimberly Moffitt on the subject of Film in Baltimore. She is giving them the link to this blog today so thought I'd give them a little shout out. Look forward to meeting you guys! Last year Kimberly found me after reading something about "Smalltimore" online, and asked me to speak at her class last December. That was pretty nerve-wracking at first, but it turned out that I really enjoyed it. When I left that day, which was their last class before final exams, she told me that some questions on their final would be about my presentation. How cool is that? I was glad to get another call from her this year, looking forward to it. There was a time when I would have only thought of standing in front of a class like that to be pure torture, and here I am wishing I could do it more often. That is the beauty of filmmaking. You can't even imagine all the amazing lessons and personal growth that come with putting yourself out there like that until you actually do it.

But, as usual, I digress.

So, to update you on the other projects I have my hands in: last weekend I got back to work on the feature, "The Rosens," with Director Steve Yeager, though this time in addition to being Assistant Director I have also taken on the responsibility of Co-Producer, which basically means I do a bit more leg work in between filming days to help find locations, props, personnel, etc., that make the operation run more smoothly. Such as, I got Regina Guy on board to do Craft Services during the weekend shoot. Always great working with her, and partaking of her famous homemade chili :)

You already heard about "Please God, Someone Normal," so I won't recap that again. Other projects I have been asked to participate in but as they are still in early pre-production I have yet to get my hands very dirty, but will before year's end: one of my Production Assistant interns from "Smalltimore", Shernay Williams, is producing a short with her writer/director brother, and I will be doing some consulting with them next week and possibly through the length of the project, due to be shot in November. Another PA intern, but this one from "Ju-Ju: The Witch Doctor Chronicles,", Li Zhu, who also served as Assistant Camera on "The Red-Headed Menace" is preparing to shoot her thesis piece for Stevenson University and I will be doing some consulting and likely some production work for her. Normally, I would not be excited about working on a student film, but Li is such a perfectionist and I know that she has such a sharp eye that she will make certain that her piece is flawless, and I know the final product will be something that I would be happy to have my name associated with. Shernay's project as well. I read her brother's script and I think it has great potential.

So, there are a couple more screen credits. I wouldn't do just anything for screen credits, though, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't let my name be put on something unless I was proud to be a part of it. Another project that is very early in the works is an untitled short by Craig Herron. It will be heavy on the computer-generated effects and I haven't worked on anything like that before and I am looking forward to that getting off the ground. I will likely help with the script and on the production side.

Production isn't really what I want to get into, but I am good at it and there is a demand for those who are. It is problem-solving, creative thinking, event planning, and putting out fires. Pretty much exactly what I have been doing in hotel management for the last 20 years.

And finally, once again I am creating my own slew of screen credits by writing, producing, and directing another short, tentatively titled, "Skeletons." Michelle Farrell and I are teaming up again to shoot this at my friend (and one of my Executive Producers from "Smalltimore") Mikey's cabin (above photo) in the Poconos. "Skeletons," is a very heavy, dramatic piece with only two actors, so it will be very different from my previous work. I am looking forward to the challenge, and to challenging Michelle (i.e., driving her crazy) to make this no-budget short look like a million bucks.

On top of all that, I have been writing up proposals and filling out applications for a couple of local fellowships that could, if they so choose, award me with film gear and work space. Don't want to go too far into that and jinx it, so I'll let you know the outcome.

But the thing about those fellowships, and about the big hopes I have for what will be going on in my life a year from now (more on that after January, don't want to jinx that either), is this: bottom line is, it doesn't matter. I want these things, I really want them, I feel I deserve them and I could do justice to the people who might award me these things by giving back to them a quality product which is really their goal, to help an artist to do exactly that, and they would make meeting my own goals a whole lot easier, but the bottom line is: I will do it with or without them.

I am not saying that in a way to thumb my nose at anyone, that is not what I mean. What I mean is that, if you are going to do something like this, you just have to freaking do it, and you can't depend on anyone to help you get it done. I spent over a year, after deciding to make "Smalltimore" a reality on screen, thinking that I was dependent on other people who knew more than I did helping me to get it done. It was not until several people along the way did not live up to my (possibly ridiculous) expectations did I say to myself, screw this, I AM getting this done, one way or another. And I did.

Once I did that, as I have talked about before, other people that I had not expected to help me stepped forward and gave me support that I could not have dreamed of asking for. That's the way it goes. But you can't count on that either. You just have to move forward. None of this is brain surgery. All of it is hard work, and getting your hands dirty. The trick is to be above nothing. That is what gets people's attention, and respect.

Heart Attack Averted

Good lord... went to make some changes to the movie yesterday, and I COULDN"T FIND THE FILE. Somehow I had accidentally moved the master file to the TRASH! Thank goodness I hadn't emptied it! I think I was trying to get rid of old versions that were taking up a lot of space but I knew I wouldn't use again. Seriously, I was almost in tears, because the only full version I had left was the latest DVD version, which is somehow all squished because I must have done something wrong when rendering and burning it to DVD. I am still having palpitations just re-living the moment. Ack.

I am about 1/3 of the way through the movie, making some tiny changes here and there, tightening up a few pauses and even cutting down a few more lines. Anyone who has seen the movie will probably be happy to know that I have cut the Golden Twat line from the sushi scene. I still think it was funny, but nobody else seemed to, and I'll admit it makes the scene more palatable to a wider audience. I also swapped some things around in the first few scenes to step up the pace. There is more I would have liked to cut, but since I did not do a great job during production of making sure I had enough cutaways (little snippets to cut to, a hand on a bottle of beer, a close-up of someone's wrist as they look at their watch, etc), to cut the lines I wanted to cut would screw up continuity, which I have worked VERY hard to make as perfect as possible. Also I now open directly with the first scene, THEN to the opening credits with the song "Bohemia" by Niki Lee. That is something Eric suggested a long time ago, and it definitely works better, plus then people are paying attention by then instead of talking through the credits, and I think the song is very pertinent to the movie, which is more obvious after you watch the first scene.

I am so excited to be heading to England on Saturday, though I really have no idea what to expect. I have booked my reservations in a sweet little B & B called The Peel Hotel, which apparently is anywhere from one to ten minutes walking to anyplace in town I would possibly need to be. Rest assured I will be making mental and physical notes throughout the trip, as I have the feeling that the entire experience has "screenplay" written all over it. When I made my reservations at the hotel for an entire week, the kind lady I spoke to told me that after I had seen the sights in town, that it would be easy to take a train to Birmingham, a larger city, and from there I can go to anywhere in England quite easily. The way she said it was almost as if she had said "after you have seen the sights in town - which should take all of about five minutes..."

Though it may happen, I have no intention of leaving Tamworth that week. As stated, my goal the first few days is to meet as many people as possible and invite them to the screening. I also intend to get some writing done, and RELAX. I do my best writing and relaxing when I am VERY far away from home and have absolutely no daily responsibilities and limited internet access. Plus, though the pound is a lot weaker against the dollar than it has been in recent years, it is still not in my favor, and I see no point in wasting valuable pub money on train travel.

I am also so psyched about going to Philly later this month! I was starting to panic that "Smalltimore" would not get into any domestic festivals, though I have only been turned down by a few so far, and those were mostly long shots. There are some other festivals I will be hearing back from soon that I think the film is more suited to, so fingers crossed. I'd really like at least one more, so when the time comes to package the DVD I can have at least three lovely laurels to display on the cover!