Thursday Thirteen #6

Hey folks. Sorry I've been out of commission. I somehow seem to keep getting busier and busier, which is good on the one hand and creating mounds of stress on the other. So what do I do to get away from it all? You guessed it -- I put together a posting for my blog! Enjoy.

Thirteen Things I've accomplished in the past week 1. I premiered my short film, "Romey & Jules." Technically, it was just a cast/crew and family/friends screening. The official premiere will be 3/24 at the Phoenix Film Festival. There were probably 50-60 people in attendance, and it was well-received. It's hard for me to watch and enjoy, however, as I'm constantly noticing things that need to be fixed. The good thing is that we actually have an opportunity to make changes before the official premiere, now, so that's very beneficial. And truthfully, we may make some more changes after that before we start sending it out to festivals, etc. 2. I finally got to see the Behind the Scenes Making-of documentary that chronicled the making of our short. It was great to relive the moments from the movie and see everyone working again. It's a very different perspective than what I've been seeing for the past 2 months. 3. I reconnected with a long-lost best buddy of mine. He happened to be in town for a conference and I met up with him Sunday night for dinner. We ended up talking about podcasting and may come up with one of our own. He's such a great guy and it's a bummer that we've been so out of touch. 4. I celebrated my Little Brother's 18th birthday with him. This is not a real brother -- we're part of Big Brothers Big Sisters. He's been my Little for almost 6 years now. Zoinks! Where does the time go! Technically, our match ends either when he turns 18 or when he graduates. He graduated last semester but won't walk until this June, so we're officially ending it then. We'll still stay in touch, though. The good news -- he finally got a job. The frustrating news -- he's still impossible about calling me. 5. I found a new favorite TV show -- Battlestar Galactica. I watched the miniseries that started it all and was unduly impressed, and then I watched the 1st 2 episodes of Season 1. What a brilliant show. And I hear Season 2 is even better. I can't wait. (By the way -- sorry about not updating the info in my sidebar. One of these days, I'll do so.) 6. I recorded a commercial (I do some voiceover work) for a small Christian college in West Virginia. Too frequently, my VO gigs are in states other than mine so I never hear them on the radio. I assume they play because they pay me. 7. I got offered a gig to record an audio book, which I've never done before. We're still hashing out the arrangement, and I'm going in to my buddy's studio tomorrow to record a sample chapter so they can get a feel for how it would sound. 8. I found someone to design my short film's website and began compiling info for him, as well as for my Associate Producer who graciously has offered to do the content. 9. I got on a gig as Art Asst with TeeNick to do a promotional show for the upcoming movie "The Benchwarmers" and will get to work with the stars -- David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Jon Heder -- this Saturday. 10. I tried putting together the CD cover for my wife's & my annual birthday CD mix that we give to friends on their bdays, but the program is printing incorrectly and I can't figure out why, so I am stopping in frustration. This is a project I began in the fall of '05 so it'd be ready by the time '06 rolled around. If only there was more time in the day. 11. I found this incredible artist's website. http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm 12. I stepped down as President of a local writing organization that I run. I will remain on the board, but feel that I need to free up more time to accomplish the things I really want to, to find paying work, to plan for the baby, and to actually write (something I have done little of since taking over the group). 13. I began breaking down, scheduling, and budgeting 2 feature film projects that I'm involved in. So you know, the first thing that happens when a script is going to be made is the script gets broken down -- someone goes through scene by scene, determines what characters are in each scene, what props, cars, special equipment, # of locations, etc. This person looks at each scene and figures out how many pages the scene runs so they can best schedule it. Generally, a feature shoots 3-6 pages a day. So a 120 page script (2 hours -- a movie generally speaking is 1 minute of finished film for every page of script) would take 20-40 days to shoot. Some productions can be done quicker, some take even longer. It depends on the type of shoot. The 2 features I'm breaking down/scheduling are too long for the # of days we have to shoot, in my humble opinion. Do the directors listen? No. They want their whole vision. What that means is that they'll hate me on the set when I come up and tell them, "You're done w/this scene -- move on to the next," because they're behind schedule. It takes the creativity out, but that's life. It's a business and money is on the line. Anyway, enough rambling. What have you done this week? The Movie Monkey Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Kimmy at Snickerdoodles 2. Kelly at Diary of the Nello 3. Dale at Just Takes a Minute 4. My personal favorite Paisley 5. Kim at Nothing Heavy 6. Stacey at Broken Spirit

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