O Snap!

I should have done this long back, so sorry about that but the address for the ILU blog has changed. Follow up on: www.fourlineilms.com/nucleus Or you can go to the FLF site and click on Production Blog. Thanks, sds

Production Phase I

Buffalo Actor Matthew Pfohl as SPANE on the first day of production of I, Love, and You.


Local Actor Carolyn Lee as LEE and NYC actor Charles Powell as PAUL in I, Love, and You.


Local Actor Eric Look plays Paul and Lee's son NEAL in I, Love, and You.

Production is all about compromising, I've been told. I wish this wasn't true. Production is one other thing: mood swings. You can go from being happy and ecstatic to being sad and mad, all in the space of 3 seconds. The same scene can look like gold to you at 10 in the morning, and that same scene can such hardcore at 2 in the afternoon. Your conception of what the film looks like could change from A - Z in 10 seconds flat. That's accelerration for you!!

So, guess my mood as I write this. Well, regular production problems continue and they always will, peppered in with moderate successes. The successes you must attribute always to the pre-production work, or tasks we completed BEFORE filming started. The problems are mostly there because we couldn't take care of evrey little last detail in pre-production.

Four more days to go before production phase I wraps, on thursday I'm headed out to the Grand Canyon to shoot... That should be interesting. I have my last shoots on the TCAT bus tonight, some more bollywood stuff to go, some stuff in Sounds Fine.. heavy long days seem to be mostly over and now I need to take some time, sift through the debris and realize exactly how far away I am from the absolutely original scrupt I saw in my head.

Then production phase II begins, and more compromises and discoveries happen....

Finally...

... Okay. So. here. we. go.

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. So I came back from Berlin with the worst news in my pocket. I dont know if I should speak of it in the past tense or present, I guess I am going to go with the past tense because I choose to put it behind me. The news was the result of something I did. I screwed up and I was made to pay for my mistake. You can't be the criminal AND the judge, so I'm going with the payment I've been asked to make for my mistake. The point is, I might have pushed myself past it. Regretfully, what happened, happened BUT thankfully, the film might push past it. Never fully, but just.

Filming starts in less than 2 days, its that time when you take that HUGE deep BREATH and dive in. Its also the most appropriate time to thank all those people who are around you. All those people who put in blood, sweat and toil to make this idea you proposed to them come to life. These guys overwhelm you because they are very selfless and committed to ideas and the love for film. Otherwise, its not easy to do. All the work that has been done has been only so the stage can be prepared: well, the stage is close to being prepared and now its time to DANCE. Actors are coming soon and the dances will begin.

As long as the story is good, and there is good acting happening, you can shoot with a broken lens... - Ive heard a lot of people say this. Let's see what happens.

A film is made because many people say YES. The world and "material reality" (like Cathy Crane says it) resists BUT you have to just ignore it and keep going. And yeah, if you can do it with some integrity and dignity, thats just the cherry on the damn cake. You know what I'm talking about..

To Berlin With Love

1. German kezboards are no fun. I am going to tzpe this post as though it were a normal kezboard and then watch what happens. All the zs are alreasz getting replaced bz ys. its ridiculous i tell zou.
2. Shot in Manhattan, almost got arrested, took 2 hour break, jumped on flight, landed in berlin, walked to house of world cultures, attended opening ceremonz, met tons of filmmakers, still going,... keep on truckin.
3. wish i had a camera.
4. get free tickets to films at berlinale rocks out.
5. everzthing is super well organiyed here. EXCEPT i smell and am tired alreadz... like i said, keep on truckin.
6. anz questions, please write to me and I can start a mad crusade, or an information quest or both.
7. Shooting is still happening in ithaca. i wonder if i screwed up bz coming here!_ who knows!
8. gotta go.. lots of people want to use this funnz imac with funnz german kezboard.

More, more, more

- John August has a fantastic post up about the life and death of his pilot, OPS, on his website. Super fantastic, highly recommended.
- Cellflix film I made, DEMOGRAPHIC, has been selected as a finalist. I'm afraid this is where my film dies out, it's probably not going to win. But, I'm really happy this happened. Good Morning America! did a piece on it, NPR piece comes out on Monday between 7-10a. WSYR Channel 9 Syracuse did a story too, I'll upload it to the Picture Hall page soon.
- Germany visa is coming along, Berlinale: here I come!
- Exteriors this weekend, casting is driving me crazy.
Rest is good, Suds

CellFlixed

Okay. Okay...okay... Lots is going on. That is always true.

Cellflix just got finished as of 2:30am last night. Doug, this awesome man from NPR just spent so much time learning about why I was making what i was making for that contest and it was very helpful to field his questions. It always cleared the clutter in my mind and helped me understand why I was making what I was making. The thing was to try and understand what this cellphone is, and why it works the way it does. Who watches it, how it is delivered, and so on and so forth. The thing I am happiest about is that i didn't make a joke film or do somethign that could have been shot on a regular video camera and projected on a big screen. I have it and in a week or so I will post it on the website.

I have been trying to move this blog to our website forever but because we have such a BAD hosting server (www.net4india.com) we have just been unsucessful! Note to self: If company puts the number "4" in company name, probably not too reliable.

Its a little overwhelming to update on what is happening on the film. Berlinale bookings are still being made, I am nervous for the semester to start. I don't know why, but I just get nervous around other filmmakers. I just feel very protective about my film. It's the competition I guess...

It's good to have collaborators. I am really greatful to these people who have come on board and started dedicating themselves to I, Love, and You. I'll get them to post to the blog and introduce themselves. I'm also trying to organize little diaries but lets see where that goes. Anyway, need to fix the script some more.

Good Bye NYC!

In the craziest 72 hours, we pulled off auditions in NYC for I, Love, and You.

Here's the deal: To want to work on this film, you have to do it for free. And you have to travel to Ithaca and support yourself there on your own. It's tough and high-expectations on the production's end, but it is the reality of the situation. This is all the budget can support. But instead of making that decision, I allowed the actors to make that decision and submisssions just poured in. I genuinely believe these parts are fantastic with great, very mature graphs and that's where I had my faith placed. If they REALLY want to engage with some dynamic material, they will come out. But who is to say for sure, there is no forcing anyone. We sent the sides, character descriptions out and boom here we were. Space was arranged, signs, videographer, appointments were made and the gruelling day began. The biggest success for the day still was the fact that we could go through with our commitment to make every single actor we invited to audition feel comfortable, not rushed, and happy at the end of that process.

The night before was Copacabana: IC's network nights program where I particularly enjoyed meeting this fantastic man from New York Times TV. Heading back to Ithaca any second now and then more Cellflix (including fielding a reality-show-type-segment from this NPR producer who is coming to town to document the process of my film - ALSO, did anyone catch me on Voice of America radio show??) and meeting more Ithaca actors and crew members for ILU.

As we always say, keep on truckin'... Comment please.