Notes from NYC #3
Yesterday was the first time I’ve watched a movie with Amy and Rocco. We made a movie together and I’ve watched loads of movies on my own, hell, I screened for the Seattle Jewish Film Festival. But last night is the first time we’ve sat in a theater together.
I had a bunch of questions, things I would not have asked before embarking on this project. Why are they shooting from that angle? How can you tell it’s shot in just a few hours? Doesn’t this story need an older cast? Why did they end it there?
I was impressed by things I might not have been able to articulate before we made our film. That one had really good light. That very short story works, wow, how’d they do all that in five minutes? (Later that evening I met a filmmaker who has a two minute film and Amy and Rocco both said it was great.) Oh, gosh, that location is terrific, as is that actor. I can tell you what I liked and why, and I could find something to like about almost everything I saw.
Everything I saw made me appreciate our cast and crew even more. Everything’s a choice when you make a film and I feel like our movie is full of the absolute best choices.
And, oh, yeah, we got to see our film on a full size theater screen. My god, it looks so good, the sound track is just a whole ‘nother character, and the ending sequence, the one I thought would not work at all is just gorgeous.
We’re feeling pretty good about our odds right now, but also, I really liked one of the films we’re up against. If she takes home that top award, I won’t be mad about it.
There was a short Q&A with the filmmakers (heh, I’m a filmmaker, y’all) and a kid down in front asked what was hard about the production. Everyone had really good answers to that question; it was a top notch question from a kid who was maybe 11 years old. We had weather, one woman went h a whole new cast at the last minute, one woman had some really difficult scenes to shoot…
Our production, though, I feel like it was easy. I think everyone would agree. The cast and crew were great and I still can’t believe the generosity of friends and family who basically said “Shut up and take my money.” We had to swap out our Elvis, but our guy embodied the role the minute he put on the white jumpsuit, he was in no way a compromise.
What’s hard? This business of being done and not working on another project. We have a feature screenplay that wants making, but it’s budgeted on a whole different scale, millions not thousands. It’s hard to get the fever, head to NYC, see your film on a big screen, and then go back to a place where I’m not working on a movie.
Awards are tonight, tomorrow I fly back to Seattle, to my sweet little dog, to my day job. I have a badge, though, it says FILMMAKER and it’s got my name on it in sharpie.
//Pam