LA Reflections

I've officially been living in LA for a year, which is hard to believe. I have to say, for the first year, I felt intimidated by everything here, like the films I had made didn't mean anything, like nothing was going anywhere. Maybe it was because my mother had a horrible accident right when I got here, and maybe because moving is just hard. But I think the root of my problem was figuring out what was next for me--did I spend time making yet another short, or did I move on to a feature? It's hard being here because there is so much happening, that you really have to be clear on your objectives. And, on some level, everyone is dealing with the uncertainties of this business. Last year, making a feature truly seemed overwhelming. Now, I'm in a different spot entirely. It was all a mental thing--this summer, I decided to just stop spinning my wheels and go for the feature. I worked really hard re-writing Raspberry Magic, and it's much tighter and cleaner. In fact, I now have producer on board who really believes in the script, and we're going to make it as a low budget indie. It's going to be a challenge to make it happen, but the wheels are turning, and I know it will happen, with a lot of patience and hard work! As for LA, it can be a tough place, but I love the energy here. You meet so many motivated people, people with dreams who are just going for it. It's pretty exciting.