So Much To Do - So Little Time

Mmm... Jim is on his way out to pick up Chinese from the Wok Out restaurant next door. Or is it Wok In? I can never remember. Either way, he's gonna wok over there and pick it up. We haven't really celebrated yesterday's little milestone yet... well, not that yesterday was actually a milestone... I think we're just looking for any excuse to pig out on Chinese food and cheesecake and not feel guilty about it.

Anyhow, yesterday our producers came to town, allowing us to have a meeting face-to-face. I still can't believe that they drove for 4 hours from Vancover to Kelowna, just for a three hour meeting, and then drove the 4 hours home again. I guess if it proves anything at all, it shows that they're serious, which is awesome.

I've met T a handful of times before. He's a super laid-back, really down-to-earth nice guy. Neither of us had met A before.

Oh, wait... Maybe I'm going to have to change their initials, because I don't want all my future film posts referring to T & A! What kind of movie are we making here!? Okay, let's just call 'em TC and AS instead. There that's better!

Why not use their full names, you ask? Because this is my blog, and so it's my prerogative if I want to keep some things vague or private. ;)

Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yes... so Jim n' I had never met AS before, but she seemed very friendly and nice. She really loved the script, which is good and obviously important. I guess if she didn't enjoy it, she wouldn't be getting involved now, would she? (Or at least I would hope not.)

So during our meeting we discussed the main structure/story changes we want to tackle.

Remember what I was saying in my last post about Maggie's fella, Jason, getting the ax? Well, we've since decided that he's back, baby! Now with a bigger role than ever before. Lucky him!

Basically what we're doing right now is a preliminary edit before we submit our script to Telefilm and request additionally funding for even further rewrites, etc. Yes, further rewrites... That's what development is all about. But like they say, "writing is rewriting" (and rewriting and rewriting....) And don't we know it!

So yeah, we discussed a bunch of main structure changes n' stuff, and then a little later on our executive producer/investor, who I'll call MM, managed to join us. There's only one word to describe MM, and that's "totalsweetheart". He really is. You can't just call him a sweetheart. He is a totalsweetheart. To the core.

This was his first time meeting TC & AS. Everyone seemed to mesh really well. I cannot even begin to tell you how absolutely BEYOND grateful we are to be working with such a wonderful team of people.

So far on this journey, we've encountered the odd sleazebag here or there. Meanwhile, an acquaintance of ours suggested that "sometimes you want a sleazebag on your side."

Well, I'm telling you -- NO, YOU DON'T! A pompous asshole who lacks integrity and talks poorly of others, is not the sort of person you want standing behind you when you're trying to pull off the biggest project of your life. They're not going to go to bat for you, and will only hang around while the getting is good and there's money to be made. Not to mention, who wants to spend over a year working alongside someone who makes their skin crawl?!

I really believe that 'like attracts like'. And because we're good people and have been putting our positive energy out there, we've managed to attract this stellar team of individuals who want to support us. I feel like we've won the lottery.

So anyhow, now we gotta get down to business. Jim n' I felt it was feasible to get our first edit done by the end of August. We received a lot of really helpful feedback and so we're ready to jump in and incorporate those changes to make our story stronger than before.

Although this is exciting, the truth is the last time we did a major rewrite, it took about three months. We now want to accomplish this same task in about three weeks.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I've still got a bunch of contract work to wrap up? I did manage to put a bit of a dent in it today, so that's good. I just gotta get this stuff off my plate ASAP. I feel kinda bad that I won't be able to help out any more... but obviously the script has to take top priority. I suppose it's not my fault the company never bothered to hire another writer after I quit a year ago.

But THAT, my friends, is another story...