Juggling Act

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks+ since I've written. Time is just flying, but that is because I've been super-busy shoring things up. Had the first round of casting calls Monday and Tuesday, they went very well. Found a lot of good people that I will be calling back for round two, but I need to watch the video-taped auditions over again before making any decisions. The camera sees things the eyes don't.

Also close to hammering out a deal with the person I want as my Director of Photography. That is a major key to the whole she-bang and I will feel more grounded when that and our filming schedule is set in stone, or at least wet cement.

Received and deposited my first investor's check a few days ago. I've never held a check that big in my hands before - $10,000. That's a lot of zeros. And a lot of responsibility. But I'm up for it.

People continue to surprise me by offering their services and resources. A neighbor of mine who does hair (though he is devoid of any himself :)) is interested in working on the set, and another neighbor has a collection of classic cars that I am definitely going to take advantage of, including a 1969 Lincoln-Continental Lehman-Petersen Limousine with suicide doors that will be PERFECT in one of the scenes. Just thinking of the production value that these cars will lend the film has me drooling.

Unfortunately, I have to go to Pennsylvania this weekend for a friend's funeral. But after dealing with that I am going to drive to the Poconos and stay a night at my friend Mikey's cabin to clear my head and do some more work on the script. I was up there last week and got boatloads of work done, and took a first pass at breaking the script down into shooting days. Now that in my head, pages = $$$, I am finding it a lot easier to slash and burn unnecessary dialogue that I once was in love with. I need to lop another 10 to 15 pages outta there.

Also have to figure out when and where the callbacks for casting will take place. It is a lot of balls to keep in the air. But I'm really loving it.