2009 May 12 « 12 Films. 12 Weeks. There are worse ways to spend a summer.

A “V” in NYC

May 12, 2009 at 9:58 am | Posted in Mike Lavoie | Leave a comment

Slava, our waiter at Il Bastardo, apologetically kicked us out at 11:45PM. The NYC Film Race Awards were to go up at midnight so Keith and I loitered outside, figuring if we were to win anything we should be together for the news. I called James Creque (“Black James”), who was in Brooklyn with internet and he promised to call if we won anything. I called him at 12:15AM and he said the results were still not up. Keith and I went our separate ways, I got on my bike, he descended to the 1 train. At 20th and 7th, my cell phone buzzed away. I skidded to a stop at the next corner; it was James Fauvell (“White James”) and he told me the news.

Flying downhill on 7th Ave in New York, happy as a wet dog, my bike lights flashing wildly off of taxis and bodega windows, the city cold and dark around me, was absolutely thrilling.

In a business that rarely gives you reasons to keep on going, you have to celebrate the victories, no matter how small.

Posted by Mike

Scheduling, Part 1

May 12, 2009 at 1:22 am | Posted in Keith Boynton | 2 Comments

Had a great meeting with Mike at Il Bastardo tonight. He was there having dinner with his friend Caitlin FitzGerald; I barged in (fully invited) with my laptop under my arm and a sheaf of newly-scribbled pages in my hand, and within minutes turned their friendly dinner into a full-fledged production meeting. We read each other’s scripts, listened to each other’s half-assed ideas, and engaged in a general frenzy of excited planning. The waitstaff ignored us completely, which was great, because we were definitely squatting in their restaurant.

Going into the meeting, I was ashamed at how little I’d written, and worried about coming up with enough scripts in time. A short ways into the meeting, I realized we were going to have WAY more scripts and ideas than we knew what to do with. It was great to have Caitlin there; she’s an actress and a short-film enthusiast, and her input was a welcome relief from the insularity of the usual Keith-and-Mike bull session. Plus, she liked a script I’d written about a one-night stand, and that reassured me that I hadn’t written it from a narrowly male perspective. In fact, if the current plan holds, that script will be the first one we film …

So now we have a rough schedule for the first six weeks of production. Not all the scripts are fully written, and the schedule is bound to change, but it’s something to go on, and much much more than we had before. If there’s a lesson here, it’s this: a production meeting over a bottle of white wine can, in fact, be productive.

Leaving the meeting, I was feeling pretty jazzed. Half an hour later, I got home to find that “The Queen Bee of Mushroomtown” had cleaned up at the New York Film Race awards – winning best film, best actor, best direction (tie), best cinematography, best ensemble, and the online audience award.

It’s been a really good night.

Posted by Keith