2 Months from today....

Principal photography begins on "Things I Don't Understand" on April 3rd, 2010... a mere two months from today. With the amount of pieces falling to place and work that has to be done/supervised that will be a blink of an eye. A journey of a mere sketch of an idea in 2003 that took first shape almost three years ago during the post of "...Around"...

here's what's been going on...

1/27/11
Amidst the crazy after maths of a blizzard I hand off some bank paperwork to be filed with our producer Lee in Union Sqaure and prep for a meeting with Amy, our key make-up/fx person. Full of energy, ability and a million grand creative ideas we plot out some important elements-- Molly's make-over into Violet including hair color and tattoos, creating a realistic and appropriate cancer make-up for Grace as well as other special fx for the character. We discuss the other main characters, creating unique minute details and thematic tie-ins.

1/28/11
Do final locking down for Auditions on Sunday. Find out our amazing sound designer/mixer on "...Around" and soon to be "Things", Carlos "Storm" Martinez deserves some great props. Not only is his baby daughter crawling but a great short film he worked on "God of Love" has been nominated for an Academy Award for best short this year. If anyone in the Academy is reading this, I implore you to check out this film before you vote. Excited to work with Storm and Vita on music and sound for "Things" as unlike last time we're starting from a blank slate and live performance plays a key role in the film, as well as capturing the honesty and energy of it in NYC. Storm's main inspiration/description to me at an earlier meeting: "Purple Rain"!
His "royal badness"? Um, yes please....

1/30/11
AUDITION day. I meet with Molly to prep reading 5 talented local male actors for the role of "PARKER". Each one brings something different to the character and their own unique abilities. It's a long day and Molly is a champ, continually giving each actor the same amount of energy and life into each scene and take, supporting their every move so they can show their best. By the time the last actor has read we're both a bit wiped and proceed to grab a quick bite and chat it out. The pros and cons of each performer are there, and like many final castings it will have less to do with talent/ability then who is just right for what we are trying to do with the role. I walk her to the train, deciding to give myself some time away from it to think about the two actors that really stuck out (both very different, both equally good and right)

1/31- 02/01/11
I spent the next tow days chasing Verizon and trying to set-up the "Batcave" office with internet. I'm also fighting a horrible cold, probably brought on from being in a million places and shaking a million hands. I receive a revised budget and initial chat at 3am from Grant. We have a brief chat and decide to meet and go over key points and any errors.

02/02/11
I meet with Grant at Lyric Diner in Chelsea to go through the script and more importantly our post-sched, making sure there is enough money left over and and figuring out where deals, freebies and other cost cutting measures meet up with what we actually need to supply festivals, distributors and produce screeners. We leave with an agenda to spend the next week focusing on locking all locations, starting with the loft and then finding the other locations in the same vicinity to cut travel time/cost. I also set up a meeting with a photo studio to shoot promo shots of the actors for posters/press material.

02/03/11
Up at 6AM for a run and gym to wake myself up and spend all day prepping for a meeting with the DP tomorrow before he goes off and shoots another project. Remind myself to give an agent at ICM a call re: a cool casting addition to be locked down for the film and announced soon. Final deciding on PARKER to be figured this weekend… 2 months. The good fight!