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

Oops.

The script for “Spirits” is almost exactly two pages long.  The rule of thumb in “the industry” states that a page of script equals approximately one minute of screen time.  So great, I thought, a two-minute movie — something short and sweet to contrast with the long-and-sweet “Proposal.”  Maybe, when all was said and done, it would wind up being closer to three minutes; after all, the page-a-minute rule is just a rough guideline.  Three minutes, then — still brief, still punchy.  God knows I don’t want to bore people with a silent film that goes on forever.  Just get in, tell the story, and get out.

This was a really long movie.

But you see, my dear friends, I’ve never directed a film without dialogue before.  And as it turns out, one page of action takes up a lot more time than one page of talk.  How much more time, you ask?  Well, I’ve got a rough cut of most of the movie right now, and it’s currently running six minutes and twenty-four seconds.  That’s without the montage and a good chunk of the last scene.

Then again, so was this.

Let this be a lesson to all you aspiring filmmakers out there: Keith Boynton is a moron.  Never listen to a word he says.

Posted, paradoxically, by Keith

“Spirits,” a.k.a. Film #8, will be posted on Friday, July 31st.