Happy the Day After Thanksgiving

Well, I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. Or, if you're outside of the U.S, you've just had a fantastic Thursday and Friday. As for me, I had a really nice time down in southern NJ with family. And I got to drive a Mini Cooper that I reserved through Zipcar. That was a lot of fun. Afterwards, I met up with Steve Marcus and Mike Lippman. We hung out at Steve's house until after 1:00 a.m. I got to see his parents and his wife, and found out that they may be moving back to New Jersey and also that they're expecting another baby. And I saw photos of his brother's wedding in Bologna. Mike and his wife and I are supposed to meet for a drink tomorrow, and will be good to see them when I'm not so tired. By the time they arrived at Steve's parents' house, it was after 11:00 p.m. and I was beginning to fall into a post-Thanksgiving turkey coma. And by the time I got to bed last night, it was nearly 4:00 a.m.

In other news, I'm scheduled to meet with Marc again a week from today. We're going to discuss the script for my second feature, and do a bit of strategizing. We're also going to talk about another project that I haven't even started working on. It's very different, and in fact not a feature film. I don't want to say too much about it at this point, except that I'm excited about it. I feel like Matutinal Reverie and my most recent screenplay are very different from one another, and this third idea isn't similar to either one of them. Which makes it more interesting. I mean, who wants to do the same thing over and over again. Everything should be a challenge. And new. And slightly scary. Otherwise, what's the point?

Also, Roland is partially through reading the new script. He seems to be enjoying it, especially a music number that caught his fancy. I'm hoping that we'll get to do it as planned, although movies being what they are... who knows? From script to screen is a long, twisty process.

And as for MR, well I'm going to reconnect the hard drive(s) to my computer a bit later on today. I want to do some editing before color correction begins again in February or March, and I heard back from Bill about how to handle the editing in terms of the audio. Before I dive in again though, I promised to output the scene that Sara McGowan is in so that she can take it with her to L.A. And I have to make a DVD of the movie as it currently stands, for an application for finishing funds that I sent in to the Jerome Foundation.

Have a great rest of the holiday weekend...

Soho House is Fun

Monday afternoon was spent at Soho House with Marc Wilder. We had a fantastic meeting that went from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Most of the time was spent going over the script for my second feature. He's going to be managing me, and so we discussed various strategies and things that we need to do to get the ball rolling. All in all, it was very productive and I'm feeling extremely positive about everything. I've got a lot of rewriting to do between now and Thanksgiving weekend, so he can take the finished screenplay with him to Sundance in January and keep working up through March. I also met Kelly Poston, whom Marc describes as his "right hand woman". She took a copy of the script with her, but I don't know if she's read it yet.

And if you've never had the chicken club sandwich at Soho House, you're totally missing out. Seriously.

Other than that, I went to Broadway Video this past Friday to drop off my backup hard drive so that Gaye and Trish can output the movie to both drives so that I can take it back home with me until work begins again on the movie in March or so. I'm going to keep editing at home in the meantime. And I need to find out from Bill what the best way to handle the audio is. He replied to an email of mine, but I'm not sure I got exactly what he was saying.

What else, what else? Well, Roland has created a Myspace page for the Matutinal Reverie soundtrack. Befriend it!!

And I was supposed to meet Andy this past Friday, but I was quite busy and so couldn't swing it. We're supposed to meet this coming Friday, though. It'll be nice to see him. I did meet Dana Varon for a few drinks in the neighborhood, though. We went to Klimat, which is this very interesting Polish wine bar on 7th Street. I had pierogies and red wine. An interesting combination.

Back When I Was a Rock and Roller

No change as far as Matutinal Reverie goes. Things are still on hold with Broadway Video and the Standby Program until about February or March. In the meantime, I'm going to get the movie back from from Broadway and make those edits that I posted about last time. And I've been in touch with Bill Seery about the best way to handle the audio for those changes. I'm sure that everything will be fine, and that the movie will be much improved for the editing. I'm eager to get cracking on it again.

I had a really nice dinner with Brett so that she could tell me what she thought of my new script. It was a fun time, and as always it was good to see her. And her feedback was invaluable. Tomorrow, I'm meeting with Ella so that she and I can talk about the screenplay. As we both live in the East Village, we figured that we'd meet for brunch somewhere in the neighborhood.

And I also sent the script to the person who may be managing me. We're still talking about it, and in fact having a follow-up lunch on Monday. Which I'm looking forward to. And I think that the script is really original, and very unique. And will, of course, make a great movie. I'll be curious to see what he thinks when I see him next.

Lastly, as a special treat, here at two songs that my old high school band Insogo Six recorded in a professional studio back in 1989. We actually made five for a little demo, but I think that these two are enough to give you the idea. I suppose I can always post the others later. I made these files by importing the songs from an old cassette tape, as the original masters are long since lost. Hence, there are some pops and scratches and other unfriendly sounds. But overall, they're in pretty good shape for having spent the better part of the past 18 years in various drawers and a basement. Actually, the one called Reality is my favorite of the bunch. Mainly because of the extended guitar solo at the end, and the fact that there are five overdubbed guitar tracks on it. I played four (including the solo), and Scott Boyd played acoustic guitar as I performed my solo. Happy listening.

Take My Hand

Reality