I'm Still Writing

This past week, I met some film financiers and people with access to money who are potentially very interested in my second feature. I don't want to say much more than that (lest I jinx anything), but there was some real enthusiasm for the movie when I pitched it informally. And I mentioned that I'd have the script done by the end of September. Which is certainly realistic. But it's going to take a lot of work. In fact, this weekend I was basically a shut in and got a lot done on the screenplay. In fact, the only social thing that I really did was to meet a friend and another friend of hers for an early dinner in the West Village. Still, it was a lot of fun. And today, after I post this entry, I'm going to continue writing (or, rather, editing) again.

The only other thing of note to mention is that I ran into my old friend Jen Dubz as I was walking back to my apartment early this afternoon after picking up some food. I haven't seen her in a year or two. Not since the last time I ran into her on the street. We talked about people from our old crowd, almost all of whom are in the film industry. Everybody seems to be doing quite well. Working at production/distribution/etc./etc. companies. Financing movies. Optioning books. And blah, blah, blah. Other than Jen, running into Pauline Piechota on the street a few months ago and Lauren Purcell, I haven't seen any of those people in ages. Time flies, I guess.

Color Correction is Well Underway

So, obviously I haven't posted in a while. It's been a few weeks, actually. I had a family crisis (still not resolved, but looking slightly hopefully), some personal drama (I'm not going to even touch this with a ten foot pole here other than to say that I'm still kind of in what the fuck? mode) and was out of town for a week (related to the familial situation).

Anyway, as concerns the movie let me just say that we're right in the thick of color correction and it's coming along beautifully. I couldn't be more excited about how things are going. Gaye Lirot over at Broadway Video has been extremely nice and helpful, and editor Trish Conte has been a joy to work with. We've had two sessions so far, and I'm going to call over there on Monday to set up a third for sometime in early September. We're at the last two thirds of the movie, and it already looks so, so, so, so much better. One thing I'm really excited about is that we've done most of the work needed on the middle third, which (if you know anything about Matutinal Reverie) is an extended flashback sequence. When people would watch it while I was editing, it was hard to tell where the time shifts occurred. But Trish and I desaturated the colors and then tinted everything blue, and in addition to looking gorgeous it's now 100% clear when the flashback begins and ends.

One thing that's going to be necessary is to utilize their Smoke system in order to fix the problem in Scene 3. This scene, which is a long walking and talking sequence between Barnard and Madeleine, is problematical because it begins during dusk. Then, suddenly, it cuts to a shot and it's totally dark out. With no gradual change. Just, boom. Night. Trish and I spent a lot of time fiddling with this, but couldn't fix it. So, rather than live with it and be disappointed, we're going to utilize Smoke to fix it. Which will be expensive. And add a bit of time to the completion of the movie. But, hopefully not a lot. We'll see. Either way, it'll be worth it in the end to have done it. The only other solution was one Paul came up with that I didn't like, which was to insert a time lapse sequence of a setting sun someplace in that scene.

And that's it, really. We've been rejected from some festivals, but there's also some tentative distributor interest in the movie. And there's also some interest in the script that I'm currently writing. And I'm finally going away to play, which I haven't done at all this summer. Yes, that's right. I'm getting out of town for Labor Day to visit some old friends whom I haven't seen in about three years. And I'll be driving my father's sweet red Mustang. Hot damn. Can't wait to drive that puppy. Upstate New York, be on your guard. I speed like nobody's business.