September 2nd, 2010 §
While we were in Zambia, we took every opportunity to talk with the people and ask them what their lives were like. We wanted to know how they celebrated their joys and how they comforted each other in their sorrows.
We also wanted to know what their dreams were. They weren’t so different than our dreams. The difference is ours have a greater chance of coming true.
Please click to watch and listen to their hopes and dreams. Sometimes hearing others helps us realize how possible ours really are.
June 29th, 2010 §
I have many moments where I think, “what is the point”? It doesn’t matter what project I am working on, some days I wonder why I ever thought “it” was important or worth my time and energy.
Today I finished a book called THE HELP. As I came closer and closer to the end of the book I became more and more anxious because I knew it was going to end. The characters I had discovered and learned to love, or not love so much, would soon be a memory of my imagination.
However, the lessons those characters learned and by extension, I learned, are still rolling around in my head and in my heart. Ideas and thoughts and feelings have reminded me of values and ideals I value and cherish and want to embody.
How could reading or writing or painting or composing ever be a waste of time? How could I ever think creating does not have a point.
Creating IS the point.
June 23rd, 2010 §
May 4th, 2010 §
Today I was digitizing a clients HI8 video when I discovered wedding footage for another client. I let her know what I found and she rushed over to view footage she never even knew existed!
I don’t know why I get such a kick out of watching their faces relive their lives. It tickles me.
Unfortunately there is a down side. Some of their tapes are damaged from heat, time or magnet exposure. Seeing their looks of despair is not fun.
Sooooo, don’t wait any longer. Take your clips to any local digitizer and get the job done. You will be glad you did and you will have some fun family moments remembering “the good old days.”
Precious, priceless, possible.
May 3rd, 2010 §
It was March of 2008 when we started this journey with AMAI.
Today, we wrote the ending scene.
AMAZING! Now the fun begins.
Selling this puppy.
But first, I think I will sleep and eat and drink Dr. Pepper.
I hope it is a warm day tomorrow because I’m biking
and swimming and chilling for an entire day!
Want to come have fun in the Arizona sun?
Oh YEA!
January 26th, 2010 §
As I ride in the morning I often see this visually interesting shot. I want a crane to get the movement without the camera shadow. I think, movie? music video? documentary? hmmm. By the time I get to the park I pretty much have forgotten about the shot. After all by then I have moved on to movie ideas, the thought of falling into the canal, the scene re-write for the day, the man wearing a purple jogging suit (rather unattractive, shouldn’t someone tell him?) and all the little chores I am suppose to take care of that day. Day after day, except cloudy ones, I see the image again and I remember again and I begin again. That could be a great shot. The subtext. The rough gray wall, the shadow and movement. I arrive at the cement picnic table breathless because a.) I’m tired and b.) I see this. Blinded with the possibilities of this life, my life. Back on the bike. So much I want to learn and do and see. Chasing that shadow that is always a tad ahead of me. Keep pumping. Keep pumping. Keep pumping.
December 22nd, 2009 §
Wow.
Have I mentioned that writing is hard?
I should perhaps clarify.
Having someone read your work, the work you spent 6 months researching. The work you spent another month outlining. The work you spent 6 months writing only to have “people” read it and say, “nice writing, but ( I HATE that word) needs to be more dramatic.
Do you remember seeing Popeye get so mad that steam was coming out of his ears?
That would be me.
I have been reading a lovely book this month. (my Christmas gift I give to myself every year) This book was written especially for writers, BIRD BY BIRD, breaks writing down and also encourages the writer in ways that I find validating and possible. One of the chapter’s talks about letting the character tell their story. I shared this tidbit with my writing partner and while she traveled she thought about it and came up with ideas on how to improve the story mentioned above..
Of course she had to sit me down for a chat and gently explain that the story needed to be rewritten. I was stunned, hurt, disillusioned and well, frankly, I ate a lot last week.
This morning I woke up and realized that they or she or whoever was right. It does need to be more dramatic and more exciting. I know this story and I can do that and further more, I will!
Did I mention that writing is hard?
June 7th, 2009 §
The work of writing and producing is …. Hard. Wow, aren’t I eloquent?
What I wish to convey is how difficult it is for me, with my rather anal personality, to always have work in progress and rarely have work completed. I like to finish. No, I need to finish. I know, it’s a sickness. So lets review the last couple of years to help me feel better.
We wrote two screenplays, produced one full length feature and two documentaries, one art instructional dvd, a half dozen shorts for friends and family, learned about legalities, researched out three other writing products, taught 3D animation classes, created several web sites and managed to gain weight.
Now we are ready to take our screenplays to the big boys. Once they are sold will I feel that sense of doneness? (Is that a word?) Probably not because we are now in the beginning stages of another screen play and I can’t lose weight!
Today, I will finish baking Saac’s birthday cake, then we will eat it. Great, something started, completed, consumed and cleaned. It will be a lovely day.
I feel so much better, thank you.
May 7th, 2009 §
Have I mentioned before how much I love editing? Just in case anyone is confused…. I love editing. I am half way through reviewing like 50 hours of footage for one of these current projects. Some of the footage I am seeing for the first time. I found myself laughing out loud on a 4 second clip. Robby, you were tooooo funny!
I am glad that we put this footage away for a while because seeing it through seasoned eyes gives it an entirely different perspective! Unfortunately, my neck is burning big time. It happens when I edit, read, write, swim. I know… I am a pain in the neck!
All I know is I am happy when I edit. I love the creative process.
April 4th, 2009 §
Almost finished! Page 90 of a 120-page screenplay. I like it so much that I WANT others to read it. I am so close to turning it over to “the editor.” Besides finding all my grammatical errors, spelling errors, and verb tense errors, she is able to see where it is weak AND she is excellent with adding the little details … details that I assume everyone knows but it turns out that I thought about them but that they are only in my head!
Today, I found Robert Mugabe’s address and email. I am seriously going to write to him and ask for an interview. I mean why wouldn’t he want to tell the world about the first Mrs. Mugabe. She was a strong, determined force of good for the young country of Zimbabwe. I have learned it never hurts to ask! Everyone else thinks I am nuts for wanting to do it but I’ve tilted at windmills before.
So, Cyndi, Alec and I have been working on a short. I think we will shoot it soon, hopefully before she moves to Los Angeles. She’s been threatening to move for years but I think she means it this time. This last week we did a small film shoot of a Celtic Concert. It has been over six months since we were in production! We forgot how much fun it is. I spent yesterday editing. I love editing. For the last three years, she has been trying to get me to consider working on more than one project at a time. I told her I don’t work that way. So she schedules a film shoot, a meeting to pitch ideas, an editing session, a writing deadline. I find myself working on several projects at once. She has her way of getting her way. Smart girl.
It is spring when everything seems possible in spite of how it all seems so improbable. Can’t you feel it in the air? Change and hope and sunny skies and sometimes the rain to make everything grow … even me.
