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

A Rehearsal, an Ill-Timed Vacation

Great “Old Love” rehearsal tonight at my apartment with Mike and Elia.  A little heavy on the abstract discussion, perhaps, but when you’ve got two hours to get through an eight-page script, you can afford to indulge yourself a little.  The important thing is, the scenes themselves are in good shape – already accumulating layers of nuance and tension and heartache.  Most of this happened without my having to say anything, which is great; sometimes the director’s job is just to get out of the way.  In fact, it was a little eerie sometimes, the way the actors would incorporate my notes before I’d even given them.  That’s a credit to their talent, but it also testifies to the strength of the script.  I tell ya, this “Lavoie” feller is one to watch out for …

I finished a script of my own yesterday – a wordless little confection with no decent working title.  The leads need to have a certain very specialized skill (he said, mysteriously), so it may be a little difficult to cast, but I’m pleased with it and hoping we can use it.  Working in my favor: the “silent film” concept finished a solid third place in our blog poll (“What kind of film would YOU like to see?”), with five out of twenty-two votes.  Tied for first place, with six votes each: “romance” (which we already have pretty well covered) and “one-take” – for which we don’t even have a pitch, much less a script.  I guess that’s my new assignment!

(Man, I love assignments.)

Inconveniently, I’m flying out to LA in about nine hours, and I won’t be back until late Wednesday night.  I could hardly have picked a worse time for a vacation, and I hope Mike doesn’t feel too abandoned, but this trip was a pre-existing family obligation (and plus, it’s going to be loads of fun).  On the positive side, it may be good for me and Mike to have a break from each other before this thing kicks off in earnest.  We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, in very close quarters, under stressful circumstances, and if we can still stand one another by the end of the summer, we should probably get married.

Also: I owe Mike five more finished scripts by the time I return.  I am saying this on the Internet, so now it has to happen.

Posted by Keith