Catherine Michaud as Young Sophie (great photo by Kristine Cofsky)

CINEMANOVEL “Prep” is actually the “Production” of 8 1/2 little “Films-Within-The-Film”

“Little,” is the wrong word, however, as these small sections may be slightly more intricate and involved, at least from a “Style” perspective as the film proper.

We need them for playback in the film proper, so we’re deep into making that happen.

Without any real prep time, I’ll be heading into a lot of the locations and scenes with some idea (hopefully!), but no clear sense of the geography of each place.

This is a challenge, but it’s one I’ve decided to embrace.

I’ve done enough of these things to know there is an immediacy and creative energy that can be inspiring and liberating when you work without a shotlist.

Deep and heartfelt THANK YOUS to Kristine, Ines, and Casey for all the INCREDIBLY hard work they continue to put into this film. Gaelle and Anna too. Whew!

During this time we’ve also been getting “In No Particular Order” ready for its VIFF premiere.

Now we’re off to shoot another little film!

I would love to work with Nicky Katt, for he is genius.

NICKY KATT in Soderbergh’s FULL FRONTAL:

In response to the quandary “we need to find a new Eva Braun”

You know what? Fuck her. And here’s why. One, anyone who’s offended by drinking blood, obviously doesn’t drink blood. Two, anyone who drinks as much blood as I do knows it has no effect. Three, there is absolutely no scientific connection between drinking a shot of blood a day and being an extraordinary actor. And four, it is impossible to prove Number Three.

Good luck over the weekend L.A. friends!

The most depressing thing about making strictly low to no budget films is the inability to license music/songs.

Everyday I wake up and think, I need to write something great, so somebody REALLY wants it, so they want it enough to let me have creative control, so I can actually use some fucking great songs.

That’s the daily plan. Write pages. Try and make it great. One day…temp songs are actually available!

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THIS

2011 has been a pretty crazy year as far as my personal screenwriting output is concerned.

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF FEATURE FILM SCRIPTS since January of this year:

A PAGE ONE rewrite.

A HEIST film.

A CRIME THRILLER.

A WESTERN.

Another ‘HIGH OCTANE’ CRIME THRILLER.

A (Psychological) HORROR film (Co-written with my friend Paul).

WHY THE SUDDEN FLURRY?

I think the cost of setting up a film means I’m not directing as much as I’d like to be.

A NIGHT FOR DYING TIGERS drained my line of credit and credit cards (which remain drained), so “self financing micro budget style” is a challenge.

My management company are an inspiration. Great notes. Great attitude. Great guys.

I’ve learned the joy of outlining.  A more holistic understanding of narrative story structure, in both commercial films and smaller personal dramas, means less time meandering and more time writing. I’m certain the end result can be the same, whether you outline in great detail or not, but, for me, I find I’m making more productive keystrokes lately, and that keeps me at the computer.

Of course, characters continue to surprise, and often refuse to go where I tell them.

Cast read through later today.

Chicken-scratched homemade stick-people storyboards.

A few roles still up in the air.

Ready to get shooting on Monday!

CASEY, TIJANA, and DAN in “VAMLET”

Thursday/Friday were spent polishing four scripts.

NOW it’s full on editing VAMLET. I’d like to get a rough assembly finished by the end of the week. SO MUCH left to slog through.

Back to it!

A little wisdom from Sandy Mackendrick

For me, this issue is a central question. My writing and filmmaking life is this constant struggle to determine exactly the right time to move the idea from my head to the page or screen. If only there were an easy answer.

Each time, by feel, one idea takes its place ahead of the others.

The idea that demands more time, then demands that those characters are given a voice.

Back to some demanding voices.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas is that time of the year when everything stops, which is actually okay this year, I think. Normally I hate it, like weekends, and other holidays when nobody is working.

Now, with so much writing and editing to do, if Christmas has to happen (and it seems to happen every year around this time), I suppose it’s a good time for it.

A good marketing slogan, I think:

“Christmas, hey, sometimes it’s not terrible.”

So, a couple of phone meetings, a lot more pages, and then the world stops for a couple of weeks. And that’s okay. This year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Kathleen and Pyper at the premiere of A NIGHT FOR DYING TIGERS at TIFF 2010.

The seemingly endless VAMLET edit continues.

It was so great to have two cameras and have Gaelle working the second camera. She did a great job, and I am using second camera footage…however…

I’m not sure about two cameras for the future. It’s A LOT of footage to slog through, and a lot to keep in your mind while editing.

It’s much easier to edit as you shoot with one camera, and editing while I’m shooting is VERY important to me.

I would have had the entire film roughly edited on the last day of shooting had I shot with one camera.

Tough call.

Using two cameras allows you to capture great improvised moments on both sides, however, if the lighting isn’t right on the other side it’s useless AND there is just so much footage!

I had one camera for a few scenes and one camera on WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD, and there were no moments/scenes where I felt I’d sacrificed quality by having one camera.

But it was great having Gaelle on set and she framed some shots so well that I just had to use them in the film.

Tough call.

I think it depends on the film. For my next film, I’m looking at a different visual style, a very cinematic, stylized camera. I’m Probably not going handheld for a while! My shoulder is still killing me from the last shoot. Tripods and Dollies!

JESSE and ROB C.

“Mist!”

Almost finished the rough edit of the GYM and the SAUNA.

Then it’s THE DRESS SHOP.

I had hoped to work quicker than one scene a day, but one scene a day seems to be the max.

It’s been interesting following Ed burns and his approach with Nice Guy Johnny. I think there may be hope for day and date VOD. I plan on targeting this type of approach with this film.

Our sales agent is hoping something will happen with A Night For Dying Tigers at AFM.

Back to work!