A Fawn and a Farewell

I'm driving into Kansas City on 71 highway toward a long overdo return to movie making.
I look to my left and see a dead doe by the side of road with a young fawn trying to wake the dead deer mother with a nose. The fawn is fragile and perfect with the white spots of youth. My heart goes out to this babe by the side of the opposite direction I'm going. I could save this bit of nature only inches away from death.

Guilt swells in me as I don't turn off the off ramp at the next overpass. I have a movie to make and promises to keep.

More to come......This story takes place on August 2nd.

Sorry I'll be a while getting back to this. I'm on a short sleep vacation.

I got to the location still thinking about the fawn. As I waited to be let into the American Ice Co. building (an old ice storage building turned into offices and apartments) I saw a crippled cat that I later learned was called Tripod. The cat had a broken third leg but was well feed so he or she didn't need my help. If Bambi hadn't been my favorite movie as a child maybe I could think about the movie instead of that helpless fawn.

More to come.....

I was there early and in about a half hour David Winger showed up to let me in. David Winger is the President of the IFC (Independent Filmmakers Coalition of Kansas City) He rents a light kit to me as well as stingers (Sandbags to hold the lights down) and extension cords. He gives me access to an upstairs office that is my set as well as a way in and out of the building. Before he leaves he leans me a mic, just in case my DP forgets his.

More to come.....

Antoine calls me on my cell phone and ask if the anyone has shown up yet. I said no and told him I believed everyone would be on set soon. Everyone did show up and all went better than planed. The kissing scene between Antoine and Amanda had the passion I had hoped for.

As the production ended I said a farewell to Amanda as she was moving to Florida in two days.

Seldom do you get the cast you saw in your head when you wrote the script and a crew of two that go above and beyond the small pay they were given.

Note I made a mistake in this post as Stingers are extension cords;)

Stress

Can't sleep. Worried I don't remember how to direct a narrative movie. Keep thinking of things I need to cut out of the script. Need sleep.

Painting Exchange

Thank You JOAN COOK!

I received a painting today from England and as soon as my movie is shot I will return the favor.

I hope to have photos up soon of this wonderful gift and the creation of my gift to Joan.

Mac Daddy

I have a Mac now. I'm learning how to use it but it seems so much easier than any PC, I ever owned. I needed it to edit feature length movies in HD. It might be awhile before I start posting pictures again as I have a movie nearing production.

No Pa Pa, Superman!

I begin to write this in the final seconds of my first day of my 51 year of life in this very magical life.

I live in the Golden Age of me. I live in a time of healing. My broken mind heals and for the first time in my life I have focus. For the last few days I can't smell anything. I have lost my sense of smell. This might seem like a bad thing but I know it means my mind is rewiring and my sense of smell will return.

I live in a time when my Grandchildren are the sweetest dreams of mine every to spin into reality.
Their wonderful imaginations are in full bloom.

Last week I was with my Grand Daughter and she came into her parents living room wearing a cape made out of a yellow pillow cover. My Daughter-in-Law looked at Cordelia and said;

"Tell Grandpa who you are?"

"I'm Superman Pa Pa!"

I looked at my little Grand Daughter with a smile upon my face.

"You mean Super Girl, don't you?"

"No Pa Pa, Superman!"

She stood there with clenched fists on her hips, legs apart and her chin held high in classic Superman pose. I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair I was sitting on.

Cordelia looked a little hurt that I laughed so hard. I put my right hand on her shoulder and looked into her blue eyes.

"Grandpa will get you a Superman costume just like the one he got for your cousin Denver."

A big smile came on her face and she gave me a loving hug.

I remembered I once put a gender role on my Grandson on a family trip to the Kansas City Zoo and my son Mark got after me. For a moment I tried to do the same to my Grand daughter.
They are too young for such nonsense and I love both my little Super Grandchildren.

Storyboards

I am story boarding my 2009 version of Two Jews and a Pagan to go into a one day shooting production on August 2nd 2009. I have spent $60.00 on the production so far and still need to confirm if one of my actors can make it that day.

I have spent more money on this production than I want think about but of course there is hundreds of other productions to come. I'm thousands of dollars in debt and the money pit of production looms.

The short movie Two Jews and a Pagan cost over $600.00 to make and I fall deeper in debt to prove to myself and the world at large that I am a writer and director.

I know people that made feature length movies for half what it cost me to do this short movie but they didn't pay their cast and crew a penny.

I'm trying to create a code of conduct for myself as I make independent movies. This production proved everything I believe in when making a movie. Stay positive, turn a negative into an advantage and put actors first.

I wrote half of this post after the production was finished on August 3rd 2009. I am now moving into post production on this movie.

Moon Stupid

We went to the moon. If you think we didn't then you are the title of this post:)

I was a boy when man landed on the moon. I was on a vacation trip with my parents in Canada.
In a small cafe in Quebec I watched Neil Armstrong set his foot on the moon. The small TV was on a shelf over the pie counter. Everyone was speaking French except for three Americans.

We tried to eat what passed for a hamburger but I was too excited to eat. Moments before Neil planted his foot on another world everyone got quiet. Everything stopped in that tiny cafe.

The cook and the waitresses stopped working and watched. No one ate. We were all watching that little TV.

Don't be Moon Stupid. We went to the moon.