What's Next?

I've been working on a romantic comedy take on "Talk Me To Death." It's slow going, mainly because I'm not just making a bigger version of the short. I've got to go deeper into the characters, and right now, they're not talking much. Maybe my brain wants a rest.

I am eager to do a director's cut on TMTD. I want to add more cohesive music underneath, and use a few takes that I know are better than the one's we went with.
Time didn't allow us to scout about for them. We finished with only a few minutes to spare. It was a thrill to see it screened. At first I was anxious that we went on first, but later took it as a sign that the festival folks saw it as a good way to get the the Gala started.

Some screenwriting since I've been back, but mostly, I've been putting time into revamping my novel. I sent 80 pages to an agent, and she's shown some initial interest. It's been seven years on this project, most of them during the three years I spent at Sarah Lawrence getting the MFA. I would love to let it go out into the world and move on to the next book. That novel in the drawer thing... I don't recommend it.

Ah the life of a freelance writer. Sometimes I wish I just had a regular job.

I miss Albuquerque.

Still Awake


For one reason or another, i'm still going. I guess I'm still on a high from getting the film done, and then the anticipation of seeing it on the big screen. Tonight at the gala, our Hari won best editor, and the film, itself, won the audience award. I know it was our acting that help put us over the top, that and best use of a cell phone in a short. There was that.

Twas very cool to have my mom fly in and share this with me. I got very lucky in the parents department. Mom is here with me; Dad is back in Long Beach, minding my unruly dog, Dixie. Being here in ABQ, amidst all this talent, makes me want to go back home, get to writing immediately and return to shoot something else. With the preparation for the festival, it's been hard to hang out in a creative space. But I look forward to returning with new material.

In the meantime, I'm going to get "Talk Me To Death" in as many places as will have it. I think people will be open and welcoming to it because nearly all of us endure someone's annoying, TMI cell phone conversation daily.

Still Awake


For one reason or another, i'm still going. I guess I'm still on a high from getting the film done, and then the anticipation of seeing it on the big screen. Tonight at the gala, our Hari won best editor, and the film, itself, won the audience award. I know it was our acting that help put us over the top, that and best use of a cell phone in a short. There was that.

Twas very cool to have my mom fly in and share this with me. I got very lucky in the parents department. Mom is here with me; Dad is back in Long Beach, minding my unruly dog, Dixie. Being here in ABQ, amidst all this talent, makes me want to go back home, get to writing immediately and return to shoot something else. With the preparation for the festival, it's been hard to hang out in a creative space. But I look forward to returning with new material.

In the meantime, I'm going to get "Talk Me To Death" in as many places as will have it. I think people will be open and welcoming to it because nearly all of us endure someone's annoying, TMI cell phone conversation daily.

Still Awake


For one reason or another, i'm still going. I guess I'm still on a high from getting the film done, and then the anticipation of seeing it on the big screen. Tonight at the gala, our Hari won best editor, and the film, itself, won the audience award. I know it was our acting that help put us over the top, that and best use of a cell phone in a short. There was that.

Twas very cool to have my mom fly in and share this with me. I got very lucky in the parents department. Mom is here with me; Dad is back in Long Beach, minding my unruly dog, Dixie. Being here in ABQ, amidst all this talent, makes me want to go back home, get to writing immediately and return to shoot something else. With the preparation for the festival, it's been hard to hang out in a creative space. But I look forward to returning with new material.

In the meantime, I'm going to get "Talk Me To Death" in as many places as will have it. I think people will be open and welcoming to it because nearly all of us endure someone's annoying, TMI cell phone conversation daily.

Still Awake


For one reason or another, i'm still going. I guess I'm still on a high from getting the film done, and then the anticipation of seeing it on the big screen. Tonight at the gala, our Hari won best editor, and the film, itself, won the audience award. I know it was our acting that help put us over the top, that and best use of a cell phone in a short. There was that.

Twas very cool to have my mom fly in and share this with me. I got very lucky in the parents department. Mom is here with me; Dad is back in Long Beach, minding my unruly dog, Dixie. Being here in ABQ, amidst all this talent, makes me want to go back home, get to writing immediately and return to shoot something else. With the preparation for the festival, it's been hard to hang out in a creative space. But I look forward to returning with new material.

In the meantime, I'm going to get "Talk Me To Death" in as many places as will have it. I think people will be open and welcoming to it because nearly all of us endure someone's annoying, TMI cell phone conversation daily.

Still Awake


For one reason or another, i'm still going. I guess I'm still on a high from getting the film done, and then the anticipation of seeing it on the big screen. Tonight at the gala, our Hari won best editor, and the film, itself, won the audience award. I know it was our acting that help put us over the top, that and best use of a cell phone in a short. There was that.

Twas very cool to have my mom fly in and share this with me. I got very lucky in the parents department. Mom is here with me; Dad is back in Long Beach, minding my unruly dog, Dixie. Being here in ABQ, amidst all this talent, makes me want to go back home, get to writing immediately and return to shoot something else. With the preparation for the festival, it's been hard to hang out in a creative space. But I look forward to returning with new material.

In the meantime, I'm going to get "Talk Me To Death" in as many places as will have it. I think people will be open and welcoming to it because nearly all of us endure someone's annoying, TMI cell phone conversation daily.

Wrapper's Delight

We turned the film in little more than half hour ago. And I figure while I have a minute I'll just upload a brief post, because the rest of the day, I'll probably be stumbling around, looking half coherent. I've been at this edit suite for nearly 24 hours (our outstanding editors, Hari and Monte, many more hours than that). Then I'm supposed to be somewhere at noon for the official "hand off" of the film, even though we already handed it off, and I've had no sleep. (Feel free to rethink that one, DFI.)

So I'm off to take a shower, so I don't offend anyone as I go about my appointed rounds. My mom flies in this afternoon. I feel like a kid with a school play, only this time I'm playing a really good part.

I'm proud of the movie we made. The performances exceeded my expectations, and the crew really hustled to make each day as productive as possible. The impeccable Michael Kamins even took time away from KNME and his dog-horse George, to make sure we had the best mentoring at all levels.

Good night and good morning...

Pamela

Women In Film

Just attended the special panel on women in film (it probably had a flashier title than that), but hey, you get the gist. The participants made me feel encouraged, especially the two were documentarians, since I've had a documentary brewing in my brain for several months.

Beyond that panel and the Duke City Shootout, it's heartening to see N.M. cultivate a new industry. Watching filmmaking opportunities come alive here reminds me of when the Women's Basketball Association started. I remember seeing little girls dribbling basketballs with new determination in their faces.

Funny, I just looked back through my blog and saw that five people responded to my Kinda Racy blog, but a couple of them erased their posts. Too bad. I would have loved to hear what you had to say, even if I didn't like what you had to say. Dialogue is better than monologue--unless you're Shakespeare or August Wilson.

Post

I'm hanging in the freshly opened Insomnia Lounge, which must have a gazillion dollars worth of technology all firing off at once, including techno funk flaring in my ears.

We wrapped last night at 6:30. I even got in a shot I thought I'd have to trash. I called the actor, David House, who had always agreed to dash over within a half hour, and we shot a little scene with him that I hated to lose. Minutes before, I got tremendous performances out of two actors that I'd been working with all week in rehearsal. Up to then, the chemistry had not come alive. But maybe the roles had sunk into their bones, and maybe in a few-days time I had become a better director. I could see early on that their parts were the most underwritten. So those were the two that I had worked on the most, and the ones that eventually evolved the most.

It's been a tricky week. Nights of waking up at 3 in the morning, freaked the hell out about one thing or another. Making lists, and then getting to the set and trying to get to the items on the list, while keeping it moving. Directing a set and maintaining and even keel took all I had. But I'm happy to say I never bitch-slapped anyone.

On Monday morning I was thrilled that my reverend read some pages I'd written to create an audio bed, and then, when he ran out of pages, I just let him go, and he delivered the best performance he'd given, and they'd already been quite high level. That matches with how I feel about the parts of this process as a whole. It's exceeded my expectations in many ways. Can't wait to sit in the Kiva and see the opening credits roll.

11:59


Line the babies up. It's time to kill them. Meaning some scenes I wanted, like really bad. I'm like, not getting them. Oh well. But at least I can see there will be a movie. Not the one in my mind, but what's that saying? There's the movie you wanted to make and the one you actually make. The real saying is more poetic than that. But I'm way past poetry at this point.

Kinda Racy


1) On the set yesterday, one young woman put on a big hat (if it's one thing our set's got, it's hats). So I sez ta huh, you could do a Mexican hat dance. And she sez ta me, I'M not Mexican. So then a second young woman says, "HEY, you make it sound like being Mexican is something bad... I'm Mexican." The first young woman didn't say anything. I think it was too hard to talk with her foot in her mouth.

2) I ask for black extras for the movie, and get volunteered to call all the people I know to bring them out. While I do that, maybe the person booking the extras can do my rewrites and direct.

3) I'm driving up Lead/Coal and I see a billboard for the New Mexico National Guard: Protecting Your Future. It's a picture of a white guard with what appear to be two white kids and two Latino kids. I'm thinking, who's going to protect the Asian kid's futures, or the Black kid's, or the Native American's, and how about those Biracial kids? Do they even have a shot?

4) I'm staying in the Hyatt downtown, and I pass Glenna (?) Goodrich's sculpture of the people of Albuquerque, and she's worked in that tricultural theme. As a resident, I remember thinking. Tricultural is a cool place to be from, but why do they keep going there? It makes everybody who's not in the clique feel like fringe. I think it adds to the tensions, if anybody wants to know what I think.

5. I don't know why I added a number five. I guess I just like the number five. And maybe this last thought is that: We sure ain't finished with this race stuff. For those of you in search of a happy ending, try Snow White. I think things turned out pretty decent for her.