Cut There

It's over. We finished shooting Dangerous Writing. I'll be working on writing the sequel, Dangerouser Writing, instead of editing this one. Seriously though folks, it is over and I'm a bit sad. Exhausted and relieved, but somber. It feels done. I don't have any strong urges to rethink anything. Not to say I won't curse myself during editing, but ultimately I've always been in touch with making this film from where I'm at. I'm not trying to reinvent myself or jumpstart my career. I had an idea for a film and I shot it. We didn't have a lot of money, so some of it is going to be less polished or elegant than other parts of it. It isn't an exercise, that wouldn't be fair to the many people that came to work on a film that they hope to see and feel proud to have been involved. But I wasn't trying to make a masterpiece. Well, that sounds like a qualification. What I mean to say is hindsight is going to rear its ugly head and I'm getting ready to let my film off its deadly hooks by accepting that we all did the very best we could at the time.
We have mucho work to do, but for now I'm going to enjoy what we've accomplished. In the meantime, we have our wrap party tonight. I'm looking forward to basking in the aura of good feelings that have always been a part of making this movie. Last night's shoot couldn't have been a better way to end things. The day started with recording the phone converstations that Ezra has with his ex-wife that bookend the film. Cecily Overman plays Jo, one of Ezra's ex-wives that still speaks to him. She and David and I had a fun afternoon with that. We found some things that I was hoping to find for the ending. Then we shot a couple of individual scenes, one for Gish first and another for Miranda later on. They were simple scenes that we took extra time to light and to art direct. We took a break between the two set ups and had a meal together. There were a few days on the film that we were able to slow down. I like working that way whenever possible. I enjoyed the experience of shooting in Old Town the other night, but it kicked my ass to be awake for twenty-six hours. After a night like that, my insane appetite for shooting has finally been sated. I'm so glad we had one more day after the Voodoo Doughnuts scenes. It was nice to be able to finish the film on a more serene note.
There were so many awesome people that helped us out on this. Filmmaking provides really wonderful opportunities to get to know people intimately and to be part of a little tribe. It's like going to sleepaway camp, which as the child of single mom working for minimum wage it was a very rare privelege. Thank goodness I get to go so often as an adult.

Contentedly Exhausted,
Signore Direttore