Get 'er done

Ack! It happened!! I promised I’d be updating more regularly and it’s been two months!! 

(Slaps wrist). What excuse could I possibly have for taking so long??!

How about finishing the assembly cut of the movie?

About two weeks after my last post, a friend reminded me that IFP (an association for independent filmmakers in NYC)  had an April 17th deadline coming up for their annual rough cut lab. Even though at that point I was only halfway through the assembly cut, I couldn’t pass up a chance to be a part of that amazing program. Plus, truth be told, I was way behind our original post schedule.

So I set that date in my sights and went to work. I remember one particular night editing upstairs in my office until 5am while my wife and her work friends partied downstairs the night before her birthday. They drank beer and danced. I drank tea and edited.

Then, at 2am the night before I had to FedEx the DVD to NYC to make the deadline, after a mammoth day of editing, I finished the assembly cut of the film.

We still have a LOT of work left to do. But at long last, after three years of dreaming, I can sit down and hit play and watch a version of the movie from start to finish. And that’s something. Something wonderful, in fact.

So now I’m working my way through the film again and making the rough cut. I’ll cut out about 12-15 minutes from assembly to rough, mostly just from tweaking moments and layering the dialogue (i.e. tightening up the dialogue scenes so the lines almost overlap). And yes, I’m also working on that ever elusive trailer.

In other recent news, I’ve met with our post-production houses for picture and sound to prep once we’ve locked picture this summer.  I’ve also started to circulate the assembly cut to a few friends to get notes. It’s a real pleasure to start sharing the film with people.

I also went up to NYC to see Samantha in 33 Variations on Broadway. I enjoyed it very much – it’s a seemingly intellectual exercise that was surprisingly emotional and features some great performances by both Samantha and some people who didn’t star in our movie. It only plays for a few more weeks, but I would encourage people to see it before it’s too late. It’s refreshing to see something brand new on Broadway and was just nominated for some Tonys.

If you have any good vibes to send, please send them our way and hope we get into the IFP lab…

And if you want to see a movie now b/c you’re sick of waiting for Lebanon, see Star Trek. It rocked.

Cheers,

Ben