The Boring Bits

Now comes the not-so-sexy stuff. I have so much to learn, it is overwhelming. But it is also incredibly exciting. I can't remember the last time I felt this way. Maybe I never have.

Now I have to read, read, read, learn the lingo, the equipment, and the process from soup to nuts. I also have to cut about 20 pages out of the script, which is going to be difficult. "Be prepared to let go of your children," my friends who have been through this already keep telling me. It is not so easy. I am rather attached to some scenes that I know I am going to have to drop. But it doesn't matter how funny or poignant or visually stunning a scene is - if it doesn't move the story along, it has got to go.

The good news is, I may not be ahead of the game, but I am further along than I originally thought myself to be. The script is not finished, as I have a lot of cutting and tweaking to do, but it is completed and I feel it is solid. That is more than half the process in and of itself. The initial teaser is shot and the people who have seen it responded very positively. The casting process has begun. I know almost all the locations that I want to shoot and I think I can get most of them with little difficulty or expense.

But now I have to get into things like contracts and releases and insurance and accounting. I have a love/hate relationship with paper. This is the part that I really hate. But, it must be done. Back to the books!