(Amazing view from the waiting area on the airport, it’s far away but the Empire State Building is so much higher than the rest)
Honestly what can you write after a post like the last one.
It’s far from as interesting, but this is the best I could come up with.
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Life has its funny ways.
Just in case you thought I am going through this whole make-a-film-process with 2 fingers in my nose having nothing to worry about – it is not like that. It’s tough, it’s difficult, it’s hard work and some days I want to give up. Today is one of those days.
Did I write that my script was ready to shoot yesterday? I take that back.
No they are not really pink! But they have been read out aloud by two actors. It went well. Apart from some minor changes and a change to the opening scene, the script is ready for the shoot.
A script supervisor and a potential (not confirmed yet – but award winning!) DOP attended too. If this sounds like things are taken very seriously then I can only agree. That’s what happens when you are lucky enough to get a person like M to produce your film. Me – I am trying to just follow along while all those things are happening.
We are seriously working on getting a cast on board now, which is a bit of a challenge. Mostly because we are trying to get some people who are a bit known.
Next production meeting is tomorrow in Notting Hill. Yes there are a lot of meetings, but there is a lot to organize. There are a lot of balls in the air at the moment, and we hope that we can catch some of them so things start to fall into place. End October/Beginning of November shoot is still on. It’s a busy time.
If you can’t stand reading about my short film you are going to have a tough time, it will probably be the most written about subject here, mostly because I want to document for my self how this all came about. If I don’t write it down now, I will forget how things went. So bear with me if you want to read about other things, November might be a good time to come back.
But: Things are really starting to happen now.
Apart from my next meeting with M on Saturday morning, I now also have a script readthrough appointment on Tuesday.
M has invited two professional actors over who are going to read the script out loud. There are two reasons why we need to do this:
So that is all very exiting.
Just as exciting is that I have my first cast member confirmed! It’s for one of the minor roles but he is very experienced, he has done a lot of film and tv work and he is very, erhm, handsome! So all good news!
I have long struggled taking this decision. I was jumping between the following two options:
No! No! No! Don’t be bloody ridiculous. Are you insane? Don’t do it. He will think you are stupid. It’s just not done. You can’t do things like that. Do-no-do-it. No! Don’t!! You will be doomed forever and he will never ever want to hear from you again.
and
OK. What have I got to lose? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life thinking: why did I not at least give it a try? What is the worst that can happen? That I don’t hear anything in return? Or that I get an angry letter from his agent telling me to bugger off, or saying “How dare you! Who do you think you are?”. Would that weigh up against the fact that I then don’t have to wonder about it the rest of my life?
Thoughts like these have played ping-pong in my head for a long time. I think the thing that eventually made me make my decision was the fact that all the people I have met the last couple of weeks, the very experienced producers (who are used to reading scripts) and the casting director: they all loved the script. It gave me confidence.
So last week I decided to risk it. I sat down, wrote a letter and posted it. Today I got the answer from his agent, and this is what it literally said – *he* would *love* to read the script. Shall I repeat that – *HE* WOULD *LOVE* TO READ THE SCRIPT! No I don’t quite believe it either.
Now *HE* is also a very busy man, so it surely won’t get any further than him reading the script. But bloody hell – *he* (the best actor in the world) is going to read my script!
(I won’t mention his name here, but people knowing me just a little, know who *he* is)
Oh and one more thing: there will 24 actors coming for audition tomorrow. 24!! I just checked a few of them and these are people that have been in things like Dr. Who and James Bond movies. I think I am going to pack my bag and run away now, this is becoming way too scary! Scaring the willies out of me this is!
2009 however will be an amazing year with no less than 4 Bill films coming out! (G-Force, Underworld: Rise of the lycans, Valkyrie and The Boat That Rocked). I can’t wait!
And for the record – he is not “just” an actor.
I am prepared for the gap that will appear in front of me, now that it is (temporarily) off the list of “Things I want to do in my life”. I have enjoyed writing it though. Will it ever be turned into a movie? I couldn’t tell – chances are not high, but where would we be without hope. And imagination.
Last Monday I put my teeth in it, it was quite heavy to chew and it took a couple of days to get back into the writing groove. But I am in it, and spend most of the weekend in a cafe in Fulham, together with Billy, Milky Way Tea, the soundtrack of DIRL and the will power and persistence to finish this script.
I had several problems to solve in the script and it felt like an impossible task, something like climbing the Mt. Everest. This weekend I was relaxed enough to take one step at the time, and it is very close now, actually, it is so close that I dare to say that it will be finished this week.
Now “finished” sounds very final but scripts never are. With finished I mean that it will be in a state of which I am happy enough to send it to some friends to read. To get some comments from the real world.
So that’s how I have spend my weekend: writing in a cafe. There isn’t much I’d rather do.
5 tips from a girl who desperately tries not to go insane while slowly moving towards the actual production of her 10 minutes short film.
And 4 tips to get you started.
I hate long posts on blogs, I seldom read them, they put me off. But I know that I too often write them myself. There is a lot to say, but I will keep it as short as possible. I promise. There is some bad news and there is some, erhm, news.
