Retreat, re-group, re-write...

Say it with me: THANK GOD the holidays are over! Don't get me wrong, both Christmas and New Year's were pretty darn good, spent with my family and friends having a good time, attending and throwing good parties and collecting some Christmas loot along the way. But I am just anxious to get down to business.

Had lunch today with Director Sean, hereafter known as Consultant Sean. I always look forward to our meetings, though by the time the check arrives, I often feel like my head is going to explode. I mean that in the best possible way. There is just so much information to absorb and it is usually coming at me at high velocity.

I have loads of research to do, but my top priority at the moment is a good overhaul of the script. It has already been through four or five rewrites, plus a lot of tweaking along the way, snippets here and there. But now I have to make some tough decisions, and cut it down by twenty to thirty pages. Some entire scenes and possibly a couple characters are going to be unceremoniously tossed. It is difficult, but it is either do it now, or have the same scenes and characters hit the cutting room floor, after wasting time, money, and film shooting them, when I know they won't make the final cut anyway. Or worse, these superfluous scenes and characters bog down my script as it is read by potential investors or producers, making it even more difficult to get off the ground because it takes too long to get to the meat of the story.

So I am heading this weekend, dogs in tow, to my friend Mikey's cabin in the Poconos. Hopefully the pipes won't be frozen, but I'll be loading up the trunk of my car with gallon jugs of water just in case. It is very peaceful there at Lake Harmony (even sounds peaceful, doesn't it?) and that should lend itself to focusing on the task at hand. So much of producing a film is about what you can beg, borrow, or barter yourself into or out of. Having a good friend who allows you access-at-will to his adorable little cabin in the middle of nowhere so you can get away from the distractions of the city is invaluable. Provided, of course, that no birds of prey snatch Timmy and Max (my Yorkies) from the back yard!