A metaphor for life in Los Angeles
It started with the re-shooting of my short film. What a bloody nightmare that was. Not for any reason other than we no longer had one of our locations available for the re-shoot, thus I was forced to try and get exactly the same shot...but six months later and in a completely different place. At the equipment rental shop (www.indierentals.com) I even scoffed when they warned me that sometimes re-shooting scenes after the fact is an impossible task. Impossible you say? I laughed. I say balls to impossible, for I am a genius who knows everything there is to know about re-shoots, despite never having done one in my life.
Of course, they were right. I was wrong. Still, the good news is that despite my blunderings we managed to get just enough to be able to blag it to the finish line. That finish line however, seems to keep getting further away. Editing is almost finished, we've still got lots of work to do on the sound though. Then comes the matter of clearing the music. Then getting it out to festivals and getting it on imdb and etc etc etc. I'll be glad when the sodding thing is over to be perfectly honest. When it is finished though and it's doing the "Ooo! Ooo! Pick me. Pick me" rounds on the festival circuit, I have decided to use the finished product to attempt to raise funds for an entire re-shoot, yes an entire re-shoot, hopefully using 35mm, a full crew, and some decent locations. I honestly believe that it's a solid little number that plays very well and with some time and a budget (as in, more time than two days, and more money than 500 dollars) we could have quite a gem on our hands. Watch this space.
In other news, I have spent the past couple of weeks meeting with various Directors of Photography with the aim of securing a long-time collaborator. This entire process has been nothing short of revelatory. I can't begin to explain how refreshing it is to meet so many talented, creative and hungry people. Apparently not everyone in LA is a trumpet-blowing, self-involved wanker. Hoorah! After meeting many people, seeing many reels and thinking long and hard about the whole thing I settled on someone and we will be shooting my latest script in the next few weeks. Of course, between now and then I'm liable to have a nervous breakdown scouting locations, running lighting tests, rehearsing with actors and generally trying to avoid all the mistakes I made last time, but such is life in the film biz I suppose.
On top of that I have been on an absolute writing tear the past month or so. I now have four shorts completed, another feature length almost completed and, after being universally rejected by London publishers/literary agents, have set about the task of re-writing my book. So there is lots of stuff being stuffed in the old proverbial back pocket.
However the reason for the opening sentence of this article is that, being the type of impatient swine I am, when I write something, particularly something for the screen, I don't want to spend weeks reading it and fine-tuning it and all that palaver, I want to get out and film it. Now! God damnit! It's like being a Daddy Long Legs - sitting on the most poisionous venom on earth, but with no means to distribute it. Or so legend would have it anyway. As a matter of fact, when I think about it, whenever I do anything that requires effort, I expect instant gratification. I don't want to build a foundation, I want the bloody castle done immediately! This might explain why I am yet to make it in the industry.
I suppose that's exactly why the saying goes "Patience is a virtue".
Peace,
John.
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