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LAter
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Jan. 21st, 2011 @ 08:21 am
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In a couple hours, I'm driving out of LA to head up to Sundance for a week, then Colorado for a couple days to visit my Mom & stepdad, then eventually, finally, after 2 months being away from it, good ol' Austin, Texas. How small and unfamiliar is my house going to look when I walk in?
These weeks here have been productive - creatively, socially, spiritually. There were moments on my drive out here back in early December, as I put Austin and my regular life in the rear-view, where I would just blurt out "Fuck, yeah!" in sheer joy at facing a future, where every day would be mine to make. And, I've had plenty of "Fuck, yeah!" moments since, when this freedom lead me to some sublime experiences out here. I was able to live like an unemployed kid barely out of his twenties again. Just kinda bumming around every day - heading from a hike to lunch at a cafe to a movie to a friend's house to get stoned, etc, free from nearly all responsibilities save eating & sleeping. Of course, I didn't spend the whole time loafing - I finished the 1st act of a new script and did a page-1 rewrite on another script I really hope I'll get to direct in the near future and have been scheming to get another short off the ground in the very near future. So, I can leave town with my head held high, that I took this incredible opportunity afforded to me, and made something of it.
Fortunately, there's still plenty of freedom to enjoy at Sundance and on the road. Better start packing the car... |
Had a phenomenal trip with Kim up the Pacific Coast Highway last week. Got up as far north as the enchanting seaside town of Mendocino, after being enchanted pretty much the whole way up by the crashing surf, the dizzying cliffs, the beautiful wine country, etc. The nighttime drive back down on I-5 not so enchanting.
Now that I'm back in LA, figured I might as well get acquainted with Griffith Park since it's so close. Did a vigorous 3 1/2 hour hike all the way to the Hollywood sign on the warmest, clearest, sunniest Christmas Eve I've probably ever experienced. I'm getting it, LA, I'm getting it. |
The cat was kinda let outta the bag by this Statesman article, so I might as well open the bag wide open now. I'm taking a bit of a break from AFS to go "on sabbatical" in Los Angeles for December & January. Fortunately those are two relatively slow months in my schedule (that's when I shot LOH 2 years ago), so it kinda made sense to do it now. The fact that I work at a place that will let me take this kind of time off for my filmmaking pursuits is kind of overwhelming. As further evinced by the Spirit Award nomination for LOH that was announced on Tuesday morning, I am an incredibly fucking lucky dude sometimes.
I'll be in LA working on a couple scripts - namely a rewrite on the Mexico script and a new one for these producers I've been talking to for several months about a concept they've got for a feature. I dug it so I signed the contract to write the script for them. Even getting paid a little bit, which is huge. Plus, meetings. Those all-important meetings. I wonder if anyone's ever done a study on how many meetings it takes to get a movie made. What's the ratio?
I'm writing this from a cafe in Denton, TX, on my way to Colorado first to visit my Mom & stepdad, then I'll head west, hoping to arrive in LA around the 9th or 10th and I'll be there until about mid-January when I drive over to Utah to try to see all the movies by friends that are playing at Sundance. So fucking excited for folks like Athina Rachel Tsangari, Jeff Nichols, Joe Swanberg, Todd Rohal, Mike Tully, George Ratliff, the list goes on. Most of them will be making their first trip up there with a film in the festival. I don't envy the anxiety soup they're swimming in about now, but there's a lot of elation in that soup as well.
But of course, there are many insanely talented and deserving friends who are swimming in a more toxic anxiety soup right about now, filled with disappointment over not getting that hoped-for call last week. No way to get around how much that sucks. |
I finished a new script about a week ago. It had been over 2 years since I'd written a new, original screenplay. The last one was the first draft of LOVERS OF HATE, which I completed back in August of 2008. In that time, I'd shot that film, edited that film, premiered that film, sold it, followed it around on the festival circuit and into a handful of theaters and now I'm about to see it premiere on cable. In that time, I also lost my father and went through some of the worst bouts of depression of my life. I started seeing a therapist for the first time. I started taking herbal supplements my Mom recommended. I grappled with the idea of giving up this whole stupid filmmaking thing, as it seems to make me miserable more often than it makes me happy. But, as I wrote to myself in one tortured (non-live) journal entry months ago - "writing is going to save your life." It feels like getting through this script has.
It is about my experience down in Mexico with my sister. Heavily fictionalized, but still very much drawn from those desperate, sad, painful but ultimately cathartic days. It's an ambitious script - definitely the longest thing I've ever written - and still has some significant first-draft problems, but it finally felt like the right time to do it. The bulk of it I wrote in about a week, spending 5, 6, 7 hours a night producing 20 or so pages, after working at AFS all day, no less. The writing wasn't even that hard. I needed snacks, but not the usual couch-flops and cursing sessions to myself to come up with whatever was supposed to happen next. It just kinda flowed. It was a great week, an invigorating week. It felt like I was on a bit of a roller-coaster. And, after last Friday, when I finished, got off the roller-coaster and started walking on the ground again, it's been a bit of a let-down. But, the best part is that I don't feel let all the way down. I'm still kinda hovering. This feeling may not last, probably won't, but I'm savoring it for as long as I can. |
- Riding the Tube
- Eating beans on toast
- Watching goodbuddy Brian McGuire film ON HOLIDAY in a cinema in Picadilly Circus for the Raindance Film Festival
- Walking through Soho with 12 people trying to find an open restaurant at 10pm on a Thursday night and settling on a place in Chinatown (which is only two blocks long)
- Seeing Michael Gambon perform Sam Beckett's KRAPP'S LAST TAPE
- Wimping out on approaching Michael Gambon outside the stage door
- Riding a double-decker bus
- Learning wonderful English phrases like "Bob's your uncle" aka "piece of cake"
- Visiting the National Gallery
- Taking pictures of Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral and all the other obvious sights that any goofball tourist can't help but take pictures of
- Walking in the rain
- Running in the rain
- Complaining about the rain
What's left? |
| » In Korea, part 4 |
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I'd say we did a pretty good job making the most of our final night in Seoul. First was the oddly formal Closing Ceremony at the beautiful National Theater of Korea. Several festival higher-ups made short speeches, including a "report" on the festival from the general director. Then, a four-man a-cappella group sang several songs, including "Oh Happy Day" from Godspell, then they showed the closing night film, HOT SUMMER DAYS, by Tony Chan. An intertwined series of love stories set on the hottest day of the year in several Chinese cities, one could describe is an East Asian version of LOVE, ACTUALLY, but dripping with sweat. It was a loud, exuberant, unabashedly romantic film, definitely not what I expected from Tony, who we hung out with the night before. He's a pretty serious, reserved fellow, but the movie was anything but.
Then, it was over to a nearby luxury hotel for another oddly formal closing party. More speeches & toasts, this time with Doubek & I sitting at a table of honor up at the front of the room with the other festival guests. But, then it was time to party! As it was a Friday night, the festival staff had to reserve a room at a bar. We drank our way through several pitchers of Korean beer, along with a traditional sweet rice wine and something that tasted like tequila. I drank a lot of all three. The pub-snacks consisted of dried squid, seared tuna and dried fish, all of which was delicious.
We ended the night with a karaoke session - more drinking, singing and laughing. I unfortunately lost my voice after doing the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK." Shoulda been my closer, but instead I assisted Chris on "Take Me Home, Country Road." Everyone seemed to know that song.
Such an amazing time. Now, we're getting ready to head out. I'm sad to leave. Everyone has been so nice - the food has been incredible, the city is full of new sights & sounds and smells. Just this morning, I went out for coffee and discovered this huge open-air market just a block away from the hotel - fresh fish, squid, octopus, fruits, vegetables and meat in great mounds. Definitely not like our somewhat staid farmers' market in Austin. So much left to explore. I gotta come back. Someday.
Sep. 10th, 2010 @ 10:58 pm
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| » In Korea, part 3 |
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Turns out poop jokes totally translate! Oddly enough, those were some of the only jokes that did translate. Not a whole lot of laughing at our screening yesterday at the Chungmuro Film Festival, but I don't think that means the Korean audience didn't like it. Apparently it's a bit of a no-no to laugh loudly at a movie theater. The festival bumpers for the festival, in addition to usual requests to refrain from using your cell-phone, also warn people against making "unnecessary noises" during the film.
The Q & A was less spontaneous than usual, as each of our answers had to be translated into Korean, thereby deflating our jokes and sarcastic quips. But it was interesting that most of the questions were quite serious and probing about the intentions of the film and the characters' motivations. Not one person asked us about the budget or was camera we shot on. Refreshing!
After the screening, we went out to a bar and drank Korean beer with several staff members & volunteers, as well as the director of the closing night film, Tony Chan. His first feature, COMBINATION PLATTER, played at Sundance in 1993 and now, with his second called HOT SUMMER DAYS, he managed to put together a cast of some of the biggest actors in Asia. We're heading to the Closing Ceremony in about half an hour, after spending the day walking through the rain in search of Doubek's old house near the Han River, where he lived back in 1978. We didn't find it, but we did find the beautiful National Museum of Korea, which overwhelmed with its artifacts from 5,000 years of Korean history.
It's gonna be sad to leave this place, just as we're getting over the jet-lag. We meant to stay out later last night and party with the festival staff on the last full night of the festival, but sadly fell asleep around 9pm. So, tonight is our last opportunity to live it up, Seoul style. We're gonna do our best!
Sep. 10th, 2010 @ 04:07 am
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| » In Korea, Pt. 2 |
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Made it through most of the Wong Kar-Wai film last night but dozed off in the last 15 minutes. The jet-lag is sending us early to bed every night so far. Also didn't help that the Wong Kar-Wai film, his first, from 1988 called AS TEARS GO BY, didn't have English subtitles. But, fortunately, it wasn't too hard to follow, kind of a gangster love-story. Lots more punching and stabbing and running than his more recent films.
Before the movie we had yet another incredible meal - shabu shabu, which I think technically is Japanese, but there was kim-chee on the table, so that makes it automatically Korean. It was a huge bowl of boiling vegetables and seafood that you would just snap at with your chopsticks. Delicious.
This morning, we got up early enough to catch a shorts program, which included two Korean films. The director and a couple actors from one of them was there and Doubek & I got to sit through our first bilingual Q & A where one of the very nice volunteers sat next to us and translated the Q's and A's. Our own screening is in about 2 hours. Will be really interesting to sit through the film with a foreign audience for the first time. Will poop-jokes translate?
Sep. 9th, 2010 @ 12:58 pm
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| » In Korea, pt. 1 |
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Doubek & I are in Seoul, South Korea, attending the Chungmuro International FIlm Festival. It's a trip that was on, then off right up until maybe 2 weeks ago when it was suddenly on again. Unfortunately, the city government pulled out a big chunk of the funding for the festival and the number of movies had to be slashed in half. Nearly all of the guest invitations to people outside of Korea had to be cancelled, so as it turns out, Doubek & I are 2 of only 4 foreign guests. The first two were from Spain, who were here for the Opening Night film last week. Only realized when I got here that one of them was Eduardo Noriega, the star of Alejandro Amenabar's OPEN YOUR EYES. Would have been great to meet him, but unfortunately they left before we arrived.
We had two flights to get here - one 3-hour flight to San Francisco and an 11-hour one to Seoul. It was not as unbearably horrible as I expected - I had books to read, movies to watch, scripts to look over. Doubek slept for most of it. He's sleeping now, too, as I type this in the "VIP Lounge" where they serve you Krispy Kreme donuts and iced tea that tastes like barley (but is still good!).
Last night, we had a delicious 7-dollar dinner of cold spicy noodles with beef that is pronounced... okay, I'm not even gonna try that. Then, we went to an informal festival party where we got to meet what seemed like dozens of staff members, all of whom gave us business cards. That's how we're keeping track of who we meet. We called it an early night, as our bodies are still on Austin time. This morning, we had an incredible meal with the festival director, including bulgogi, bi bim bop and other things I'm not even gonna try to spell. The food here is incredible. The people are so disarmingly nice and are very easy to make laugh. Doubek & I have had fun showing off goofy Texas accents. They love that.
This trip is already going too fast. Why am I staring at a computer screen when I'm in an incredible place like this??
Sep. 8th, 2010 @ 06:37 pm
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| » check one, check two |
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Managed to make two of those deadlines over the last few days. Both required some writing, organizing of thoughts, budgeting, etc. You'd think I'd be better at this, or at least more responsible considering the fact that my day-job is reviewing, advising on and evaluating grant proposals. But, no, I'm just as last-minute and procrastinatory as I always have been. In an effort to purge during my recent move, I went through a bunch of old school papers and I came across an embarrassing number that were graded as "A's" but reduced to "B's" or lower for late-ness. Old habits die hard.
Also made my travel plans for Korea for myself and Chris Doubek for next month. In doing so, I discovered that North Korea is COMPLETELY BLANK on GoogleMaps. Even Iran has city names and major roads. North Korea? Nothing. Wow.
Aug. 4th, 2010 @ 01:12 pm
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