Posts made in February, 2012

Day 41: Powerless

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Day 41:  Powerless

Day 41.  “I’m going to be late,” my friend says through the static of her headset.  “There’s so much traffic.”  “Where are you?” I ask as I distractedly check my emails and open up a file on the Avid.  “Heading downtown.”  We’ve been chatting for a while now.  I need to get back to work.  I’ve decided scene 16 is my next conquest.  I hope to be able to get it done by the end of the weekend.  After more chitchat about the shoot she’s heading to I contemplate wrapping up the call.  That’s when I hear the all too familiar screech of tires skidding.  Time slows but my heart instantly speeds up.  I hear my friend quietly say, “Oh my...

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Day 40: Done is done…or is it?

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Day 40:  Done is done…or is it?

Day 40.  After all the dramatic breakthroughs and build up, I “finish” scene 10 with a whimper not a bang.  I’m calling it “done” but it’s really only “done for now.”  Maybe that’s why I have developed a twitch in my right eye and it feels like such an anticlimactic finish.  The truth is I simply must move on.  So, I’m pawning almost an hour’s worth of a string out onto Dan the Amazing Editor Man to turn into a watchable five to ten minute scene.  Good riddance and good luck I think as I put the final touches on the SCENES FOR EDITOR bin with group and tape numbers and a very vague script attached in Word.  But I’m only fooling myself.  This is just a temporary break. ...

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Day 39: 10X

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Day 39:  10X

Day 39.  It was a documentary day.  I’m almost done with scene 10.  Yes, you read that right.  I’m almost done with scene 10.  I know, I know.  Scene 10 was supposed to be checked off shortly after my “breakthrough” five days ago.  Yeah, not so much.  I’m still “breaking it up” into smaller sections but it’s ultimately going to be a montage and I’m trying to get every possible tidbit we might want in said montage in the string out. It’s simply a tremendous amount of time consuming work.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  Please editing Gods, let me finish it tomorrow! Why is it that everything always takes so much more time, effort and work than I think it will?...

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Day 38: Dreams

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Day 38:  Dreams

Day 38.  My generous friend who bought screenwriter Monica lunch at the Four Seasons the other day has just brutally murdered the young guy I’ve got in mind to play one of the leads in the screenplay that she just delivered.  I’m not sure the type of weapon he’s used—gun, knife, sledgehammer—but he’s made quite a bloody mess.  To make matters worse, the world is apocalyptically ending and I’m trapped in a mansion with an angry mob of college kids turned zombies trying to get in and eat us.  For some reason I’m not upset about generous friend killing young guy.  Maybe young guy had turned zombie?  Or, I know I’ll just recast?  Or, more likely, I’ve got bigger fish to...

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Day 37: Script development: Heaven or Hell?

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Day 37:  Script development:  Heaven or Hell?

Day 37.  The thing that strikes me after I reach the end of the screenplay is, “wait, it’s over?  I need more!”  I think that’s a good sign.  I hope it’s a good sign because I’m moving into a new phase:  development.  I have a first draft and now it’s time to develop it into a final shooting script.  I’m excited.  I’m nervous.  A nervous excitement if you will.  There are so many choices, so many directions to go in.  Which way should I go?  Which way will I go?  Which way is right?  As my enthusiastic nerves begin to dangerously resemble anxiety, I wonder, “Is this process going to be heaven or hell?” To be coming at this strictly from a creative producer’s perspective...

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Day 36: Decompression

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Day 36:  Decompression

Day 36. It’s 2:21am.  Exhausted yet wired, I scribble in my journal, “why am I still awake?”  I review the day.  I make a list of all the things I am going to get done tomorrow, well really, today.  I contemplate opening up the PDF of the script Monica sent me.  Do I really want to read the script for the first time when I’ve been up for 20 hours after a non-stop day?  No.  The answer is no.  I jot a page worth of random notes for another hour.  Finally, I turn off the lights.  I pass out and don’t move again until 10:38am.  I feel like a train ran over me.  I weigh my options. Fire up the Avid. Print out the script. Clean the house. I choose option three.  I need a day...

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Day 35: It’s on!

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Day 35:  It’s on!

Day 35. From: Monica Subject: 1st draft Date: February 4, 2012 2:33:31 AM PST To: Kelli Bennett                       Okay, here it is! First draft! See you tomorrow (today?) at 3. My mouth drops open in shock.  She’s emailed it to me.  Wholly crapola!  For some reason I think I’ll get the script when I see her later today.  Hello.  Of course she sent it electronically.  How else am I supposed to get it on my computer and give notes?  Man, I’m freakin’ slow sometimes.  It’s already 10:38am.  I’m meeting a friend at 1pm for lunch right down the street from where I’m meeting screenwriter Monica.  I panic.  I haven’t showered, I have a call with joie de vivre friend about...

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Day 34: Duh. Break it up!

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Day 34:  Duh.  Break it up!

Day 34.  After breakfast, I walk into my office and fire up the Avid.  I had a breakthrough over my gluten free English muffin and juice on how to approach the string out of scene 10!  I’m excited.  Scene 10 has had me stumped for a couple weeks.  I keep leaving it and coming back to it.  Now I realize it’s so simple.  It’s something I already know and probably do unconsciously most of the time but for some reason it feels like a revelation this morning:  stop thinking of it in the big picture—break it up.  I just have to do one small section at a time and eventually I’ll have a full string out that Dan the amazing editor man can turn into something brilliant. As...

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Day 33: Whatever it takes…

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Day 33:  Whatever it takes…

Day 33. I eat a rather French, hearty breakfast:  a cheese plate—including a triple crème, a blue and an aged Gouda—yogurt with blueberries, ham, gluten free toast and OJ.   Why then am I pounding Kettle chips and pistachios less than two hours later?  Does anybody actually whistle while they work?  All I seem to do is eat while I edit.  It’s as if stuffing my face will help me go faster, be better, or do more. I did finish my string out for scene 14 after the snack fest.  So, who knows?  Maybe it does, I hope it does.  If I weigh 500lbs but the documentary is done, I won’t care.  I’ll just be thrilled it’s finished. Back to thinking outside the box inside the box and...

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Day 32: Islands and Elephants

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Day 32:  Islands and Elephants

Day 32.  “I’m setting the script on an island.”  I first hear it a few weeks ago.  It doesn’t really register.  At the time, I distractedly throw something out like, “oh okay, we can fake the exteriors.”   When it comes up again,  “I’m going to Catalina Island to write for the weekend as research,” the implications still go over my head.  “Oh how fun,” I reply.  But this morning, I come to a screeching halt in the middle of whipping up a wedge salad and microwaving baby potatoes for breakfast.  Wait.  An island?  WTF?  I don’t have an island!  I’m not even sure how I’d fake one.  Oh my god, I’ve got to email the screenwriter!  But I jump on the Avid instead.  By the...

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