From Script to Screen

I'm deep in casting, locations scouting and figuring out the shot selections for Raspberry Magic. It's all very exciting! I've learned so much about writing from actually making the film, here are a few things:

1. Don't waste too much time with pointless details of the setting. By "pointless", I mean, there is no need to give tons of ambiance and details, unless it very directly motivates the story or there is action around something. I spent too much time in my script describing the exteriors of the school, and it proved to be silly. I mean, middle school is middle school, right? The main thing is that it looks like that, a middle school.

2. Define spatial relationships, but keep them as simple as possible. Again, once you start scouting, you'll have to deal with how locations relate from one to another. In other words, how do we move from the house to the forest? It's good to set up the sense of place as clearly as possible in the script, so that when you start thinking about locations, it makes sense. On the other hand, it's good to be a bit flexible, too, because you never know how you'll have to cheat the locations.

3. Every, single role in the screenplay matters, because if you make the film, you'll have to cast someone for every role. To that effect, you want to think through each part--do you truly need it? What does it add to the story? In RM, we recently read for parts like the judges, cops, etc and though the parts seem small, they really do matter.

4. Every, single line of dialogue in the screenplay matters. This is the beauty of being a screenwriter vs. being a novelist. Someone is going to bring your character to life, and that someone will want to how, what's my motivation? How am I feeling? What am I thinking? Sometimes, when you create someone on the page, you don't think about these things. But then, you are asked these questions and you suddenly have to. It's a good thing, but unexpected as a writer!

5. I know writers shouldn't really worry about budgets when they create their work, but if you want to write a story that's meant to be shot as a low budget project, then keep things simple and low budget. I have a few tricky effects in my story that have been causing me a lot of stress. I can't take them out because they are central to the story, but geez, it's certainly a bit tricky!

Storyboarding and Directing

I'm pretty deeply involved with making the film now, and the pressure is certainly on. We've been having some really great casting sessions with both child and adult actors, and it's been quite promising. I'm excited and anxious at the same time about the prospects! In terms of the directing, for some time, I 've been a bit nervous about preparing for directing the film. For me, this movie is all about emotion and subtext, so the performances really do have to pop. I've always been unsure of how much storyboards help with directing, but my husband has been storyboarding the key scenes out for me, and I have to say, it's been so, so helpful in terms of seeing the movie. Not only that, but it also forces me to think about actors' actions, motivation and overall story flow. The thing with storyboarding is that it would be immensely difficult to draw out all of the coverage for each scene, but what we're doing is laying out a general look/feel of the scene, then from THAT, I'll actually figure out the coverage. My method is to use storyboards and photos of the locations to then come up with a floor plan and a coverage list. I used to feel a bit ambiguous about this process before, but now I get it. Basically, the boards and locations photos help me think about defining space, defining space then helps me think about motivation and action, which then in turn creates story flow. This process helps me basically conceptualize the general ideas, then I can get more specific from there. A lot of the specifics will change as we get to the set, at least I have some rough idea of what I want. The boards are also super helpful in terms of communicating with the DP, Production Designer, gaffer and other key crew folks.

Scouting in Oakland

Casting/Locations

I've been pretty deep in casting sessions for a number of different roles. This is the fun stuff, especially after you've spent so many years writing something. I love how actors come to the table with their own, fresh perspective on the material. It's so great when they come in and read the character in a way you never imagined. Reading kids has also been very interesting, there are so many talented kids out there, and I'm amazed by how so many have agents and have been working at it for so long. What's made this process pleasurable is working with a casting director. Basically, she filters through all of the noise, and brings us the best folks. Our casting director is really great, and I believe she really gets the overall vision of the film. On another note, I spent the weekend in SF scouting several locations. Things are really coming together, I can't believe we're shooting so soon!

Just Because We're not Big Budget

I firmly believe that just because we're small and "low budget," it doesn't mean we have to appear that way. I mean this in every sense of the word, too, because there are so many ways to do a lot with a little, especially these days. For example, you can start with a business card. It goes without saying that if you work in visual media, you better have a good looking card. It's sort of the first "impression" of what your work looks like. You can do a fairly good looking card with services like vistaprint.com and others out there. The trick is getting some help from a designer or someone with a keen eye for design and layout. Then, getting some help from someone who knows Photoshop well and can show you how to properly upload the artwork so it looks great. We're lucky because I was a web designer before I got into film, and my husband is a wonderful illustrator, so that helped. But paying attention to all of the details, even the presentation layout is a good idea, as well. Megha and I spent a lot of time putting together the look/feel of our presentation, using images we went out and took, then spending quite a bit of time to pick out a color scheme, the proper folders and other materials. As we're moving ahead, we're using this same strategy for the movie. I am working on thinking through all of the details, like the specific shot compositions, and using small, inexpensive ways to make them visually innovative. For me, this goes back to the basic framing and how I can add depth of field and texture to each shot. We can't afford fancy cranes and tons of movement, but that's okay with me, it's much more about emotion and context for me in this film...

Ebb and Flow

With the economy falling apart and times just being incredibly unstable, it feels a bit strange to carry on with something as seemingly trite as making an indie film. There have been a few moments over the past few weeks when I've really felt a little lost with the economy going to shit, people losing their jobs left and right and things just being generally weird. But last week, when I felt a particular moment of anxiety, my husband and I took a walk on the beach. We were walking close to the waves, watching the water wash upon the shore. Watching wave after wave roll through and gently break into the sad, it made me realize, that no matter what is happening in the world of human beings, life carries on, nature continues its course and things simply move ahead whether we like it or not. Watching television or the news, we are constantly inundated with images of turmoil, craziness and fright. The images and the headlines really, really get to me, and I feel this dull ache in the pit of my stomach as I see it all happening. Then I take a step outside and I remember the waves. Not that any of this makes things easier, but I try to constantly remind myself that there is an ebb and flow to life, that what comes up must come down and vice versa. So yes, making an indie film probably is trite in this moment of strife when people are losing their homes and jobs, but I believe that if we all shut down and stop doing what we're supposed to be doing, then we are somehow giving in to this natural movement and flow. As I've mentioned before, maybe it really is in times like these that we need art, beauty and hope. I know I could use all of those things.

Production Design

Production Design and "the creation of the world" in RM is fairly straight forward in that it is def. middle America, with a small hint of Indian flavor. I like quirky elements like weird mismatched glasses, table settings and home layouts that aren't perfect and things as such. I do have a production designer in mind and am super excited to work with her. The tricky part of this movie are two elements in terms of the production design: the first is the science fair. This is challenging first of all because we have to create posters, artwork and other elements that make the fair feel like a real fair. The other tricky part is, of course, getting extras, never an easy task, especially on a low budget. Filmmaking may seem glamorous to those who sign on as extras, but doing the same thing over and over again for 8 to 10 hours gets old real quick. So yes, finding the extras, especially the kids will be a challenge. The other tricky as aspect of making this movie is the opening scene, which involved a kitchen pipe bursting. The production designer I've been talking to is fairly confident about this opening, but I'm still slightly nervous about it. I mean, we'll have to do it in a place where we can, of course, have a pipe blowing up, then fuse it together with other scenes of the kitchen, not exactly the easiest task. Other than those two scenes, I believe the PD will be fairly straight forward. It's exciting, moving ahead with the vision.

Preparing for the Shoot

Now that I'm about seven weeks out from directing this movie, there is so much that has to happen. But the nice part at this stage is that we have other people helping us out. Until now, it's mostly been Megha and I doing everything. Now, we have a casting director and a line producer on which is super exciting, and we are moving ahead with a production designer and AD very soon. All of these things help. Now, I can focus on the job of directing, which is exciting. For me, the performances are crucial to this movie, because it's such a small and personal film. So, once we have everyone cast, it'll really be about working with the actors to get the performances I want. I know how I'm going to approach this, in the sense that I want to rehearse the actors for blocking and some movement, but I don't want to over rehearse them in terms of the performances, especially the kids. I am also starting to work on some shot lists and story boards. Story boards are helpful, but I also don't want to get too bogged down in them because I want the freedom to move in the moment. I want to create a look that has a bit of a surreal/dreaminess to the forest, and generally use some interesting movements to visually explore Monica's relationship to the plants. I have a lot of ideas visually in terms of how Monica's relationship to her plants will be shown/externalized, but of course, you'll have to see the movie to check those out! For me, this script is much more about the visuals and the way that the characters' relationships change to them than anything else...

Are you doing it, or not?

There is a really great interview with Peter Sollet, the director of "Raising Victor Vargas" that really summed up where I'm at and what I've been going through, so I thought I would post it. For the whole interview, here's the link to Filmmaker Magazine, but here's the part I liked:

Filmmaker: If you could do it all over again, what would you change?

Sollett: I would say yes more often. I think that it would widen me. I have a tendency to not try new things when I should, but if you don't go, you'll never know. I'm trying to say yes as often as I can now and I think that is ultimately the key to continuing to make films. It's just never the perfect time – it's like having a kid, you know what I mean? [laughs] It's never the right time, the script's never just right, the edit is never just right, so it's always a leap of faith. For me, it's a question of training myself to take bigger leaps of faith. Dave Eggers wrote this essay, maybe in McSweeney's, and one of the sentences was “No is for pussies.” Now, Dave is not afraid to say no [laughs] – I've gotten to know him a little bit – and he may have been talking to himself a little bit in that piece, but I kind of agree.

Filmmaker: Which phrase best describes your philosophy on life?

Sollett: I don't have a [phrase that describes my] life philosophy, but I can start off with a movie philosophy. My favorite Cassavetes quote – here it is, very simple. He said, “You're either going to make the movie, or not make the movie.” What he meant by that was we're never going to have the money we need or the time we need or the help we need, but in spite of that we need to make a choice. Are we going to or are we not going to do this? I definitely apply that to my life too. It's always going to be kind of a mess, but either we're going to trudge forward and do this, or we're not. And to choose not to do it is no way to live. That's been a helpful quote from John for me. [laughs]

Cinematography

I am super stoked as the various pieces of the movie come together. I'm working with my long time friend and collaborator, Jeffrey Chu, a brilliant cinematographer. I first met him many years ago when I was working as a production coordinator on a feature called, Happily Even After. Working on that film was a life changing experience, and it made me realize I wanted to be in narrative film. Anyway, Jeffrey shot This Moment, as well, and we had a good time doing it, so now he's back. We've been going back and forth on the look for RM, and I put together a "look book" so we could have a point of reference. I'm prob also working with the same gaffer as a did with This Moment. It's nice to work with some familiar folks, and very exciting to move ahead on everything!

Casting!

It is exciting, we're now working with a casting director, Emily Schweber. She came highly recommended through a number of folks in mine and Megha's circle, and we're super stoked about working with her. She will be a huge help in casting all of the children and some of the other roles, especially the teacher and publisher. For the mother and father roles, we are working with the ever talented Meera Simhan (Date Movie) and Ravi Kapoor (Crossing Jordan). Then for the janitor, we've cast James Morrison (24, Jarhead)--we are very excited to be working with these talented actors!

Where We're At

Making a feature film is already a highly complicated undertaking, and in times like these it becomes even more tough. Over the past few months, we watched the economic situation go from bad to horrible. This means it's that much more tough for us to raise money. I think folks who would have put in without any issues a few years back are now hesitant. What does this mean for us? Well, it's sort of tricky because we've raised quite a chunk (I think) to do something, but not all that we want. I've gone in huge circles over the past few months and been stressed about what to do. We decided back on Sept. 1 to proceed--simply make the film. It's been good since we made that decision. We've been working super hard--put out some calls for locations, and folks have responded. We're talked to a great casting director, and she has been responsive. But I do feel a constant sense of angst about this whole money thing. In other words, will we be okay? What will happen to us, making a feature at such a low budget? I mean, in moments when I really stress, I remind myself that all of my shorts were basically made for no budget (well, a couple thousand dollars and a credit card), and I still managed to make something, get it into festivals and even win a few awards. On the bright side, since the economy is so bad and production is slow even here in LA, there may be a chance to get some deals, which we are presently hustling. It isn't easy, but we def. having film and it's def. coming together.

McCain is Afraid

Yes, that's my basic assessment of the situation, because we all know McCain has been MIA, not voting on jack shit for at least the past year. So why the rush to get back to "the people's business"? The first theory is that he's just plain afraid to debate Obama, because he knows his ass will get waxed. It's probably also a ploy to knock the dates for the VP debates out of whack, so maybe by some slim chance, Palin doesn't have to get her ass up there. Or most importantly, maybe McCain needs to get back to the "people's" business to bail his banking cronies out of the hole, to get his CEO homies the multi-million dollar severance packages they want. It's pretty fucking outrageous, for real. Get your ass up there and debate fool, it's an election!

The Plot Thickens

A tumbling economy, a massive bailout financed by the taxpayers, a candidate who wants to pull of out of the debates, Bush inviting both McCain and Obama to discuss the situation... The plot just gets deeper and deeper, and honestly, it's all starting to sound like a... A movie!! Fiction really couldn't really make it any more interesting!!

Rallying a Team

So, there is this whole process in filmmaking, particularly in Hollywood, where before you actually get a work made, you send your material (screenplay) out to managers, producers, agents and other people to get a team around you and actually make a movie. What happens is that you mostly get rejected. A lot of people tell you they're not interested, a lot of other people say it's not the right project, and others just don't respond. It takes a long time, and in some cases years, for this process to go through it's rightful cycle, and then you finally, finally you meet someone who really likes your work. Then slowly, that person brings in more people and so on. For some writers/filmmakers, it just happens quicker, maybe because the work was highly commercial or a very powerful person gravitated toward it. I used to think that that's how things worked, in general, like something would happen in an instant, but now I see that it really takes time. The whole thing, too, is that even when you start getting people in your corner, not everyone else is going to believe in the work. But what's really important is that you have that core team who believes in the work, so it doesn't really matter who else rejects you. With Raspberry Magic, I had a producer like the script, and then a manager. That manager hooked me up with talent, who in turn liked the script. That talent was able to bring on more talent, and with the producer, we were able to get a few investors. With those investors came more investors. Slowly but surely, we have made Raspberry Magic into a real, living/breathing entity. It's a long process, but I understand now how that process comes to fruition...

Dark Times

It's hard to stay positive in these really difficult times, when basic things are a huge question mark. I mean, the fact that we can no longer completely trust the banks is a very scary thing. I went ahead and broke up the accounts for the Raspberry Magic, just to be safe. The whole economy and everything has got me feeling very restless and very uneasy about everything. While on a day to day basis everything is generally fine on my end, these are certainly very tough times to be an indie filmmaker. Money is tight and people who might ordinarily write a check without hesitation are now understandably nervous. On top of that, there have been incredibly bleak forecasts for selling indie films, as well. All of this has me feeling heavy, very heavy. But what do we do in times like these? Stop? Give up? forget about our aspirations? Seems like maybe that's the answer, and trust me, I have felt that way in many fleeting moments over the past couple of months. As corny as it sounds, though, these are truly the times when we have to simply do what we always do, and move forward. Especially as artists, now is a time when people need beauty, they need something that gives them hope and joy. For me, art has always played this role, and I feel more resolve than ever to keep going. In terms of making my film, we are basically there, all we need is $70K more to really be okay. Maybe it's not all of the money we originally wanted, and maybe there are compromises that will have to be made. But isn't this the nature of indie filmmaking? Shit, isn't this the nature of existing? And yes, there are many naysayers about indie film right now, but in reality, I think that once things settle down, the market for indie film is going to be much, much better than it ever was before, I think this could happen over the next few months, too. The current business model for indie filmmaking basically sucks. You make a movie, and then you basically stand on a street corner and beg someone to pay you for it. Megha and I have always been very clear that our strategy to bring RM to market will be much more comprehensive than just getting picked up at a festival. In our business plan, it is outlined much like the way Peter Broderick recently described on indie wire, in his new model for selling movies. His approach is what we have taken all along, to break up the distribution among many entities so that we have control. And, we've been exploring some very new and exciting places that are dying for content like ours, a family film. On some level, even though things are tough right now, it feels like the right/perfect time to make Raspberry Magic. I mean, it's a story about a family falling apart due to debt and the father's job loss, and a girl trying to figure out how to handle it. I personally went through this a few times when I was growing up, I mean, my dad losing his job and being nervous/confused about it, so I can relate to all of you out there dealing with tough times. That's really the essence of RM, and that's why I have to get it out there.

F*****ing Keynote!

So, Megha and I are doing an audio pitch of our presentation to a group of people up in the Bay which is great, it really is, but the problem is, we've had so many issues in Keynote, I'm about to go nuts. Basically, we have a beautiful presentation we do for people, usually in person. This time, we wanted to add narration over then export it. No big deal, right??? Especially since the latest version of Keynote promises this feature. As if it isn't already hard to enough to record the talk in one, long take, the other issue is that we had to cut it way, way down. Finally, after getting it just right, we learned that there is a major, major glitch in the audio output of Keynote. Basically, the sound either does not make it out at all, or when it does come out, it's totally and completely choppy. I thought I could bring it all into Final Cut Pro and fix it up pretty easily, but no, of course not. After many long hours of tinkering and outputting then re-outputting, I came up with the following solution: I imported the audio into iMovie, then exported it as a .aiff. Then, I basically timed all of the slides in Keynote, then recorded them to that time using a damn stopwatch, yes, a stopwatch. This is because there is no timeline function in Keynote that really makes this work. Then, like some people on the boards mentioned, I outputted using the Apple Codec--this is the key to getting rid of that choppy ass audio. I believe that Keynote outputs audio to QT in some strange way which causes all the issues. Finally, I joined the two tracks right in Quicktime. The Apple discussion board was so, so helpful, a savior, really. Next time around, I would just record the audio in GarageBand, then put it under Keynote... Now, I've just got to burn/label the DVDs and I'll be good to go...........

Hectic but moving...

It's been super hectic lately with my semester of teaching starting and the movie ramping up. I also made it through the first round of the Sundance labs, so I finally turned in my script last week, which was good, but a crazy taxi driver hit me on the way over, go figure (long story). Anyway, since we made the decision to shoot Dec. 1, things have been moving forward at full speed. We've been going back and forth in terms of what camera to shoot on, but we finally decided--The Red. Megha and I were undecided before, only because we've heard about some difficulties in post. But we met with a good colorist and generally technical guy last week who went through the process with us and assured us that it would be fine. My DP is on the wait list for the camera, so I hope he gets it soon, else we'll have to rent it. But I'm excited about shooting on it, only because the depth and color range is pretty wide, and once we put some 35mm lens on it, the images will look stunning, especially the forest. We are also going to be working with a really good casting director, which will make things a lot easier in terms of finding the right kids. We have some great leads on the adults, but the kids are a little harder. Now comes the fun part for me, as well, finally, after all of this raising money (which still isn't over), I will be directing. Yes, what I set out to do in the first place, direct a movie. So, I'm already thinking a bit about different elements (have been forever), but now, I will start thinking about setups, in terms of each scene. Before I do that, I plan to go through the screenplay and look at each scene for subtext, motivation and deeper visual undertones. I know it seems weird to do this, especially since I'm the one who wrote it, but I now want to put my director hat on and start thinking about the movie visually. It's pretty exciting, but I'll feel a little better about it all once we get more team members on board and some of the logistical elements come together!

Time to step up...

Watching the political debates this time around has been fascinating. Palin coming out of wood work, the first black president, etc. Even though I was pretty put off by Palin's background (just imagine if Obama had a pregnant teen-aged daughter, he would have been out of there a long, long time ago!!), I have to say that she carried herself very well in her speech. She came off as being, well, an ordinary American poised to do extraordinary things (I'm sure a presidential bid is in her future). But I couldn't help but feel disgusted the entire time, especially with all of the fierce and harsh attacks against Obama and the same fear-based rhetoric about terrorism. The Republicans have done a damn good job of painting Obama as a candidate with little substance and thin experience. Now, the Dems really, really need to step up their game. It's time to really push the facts: the economy has been miserable under the Republicans, the Republicans have very little or new ideas for a greener future. (Drill, baby, drill? What the??) For the past few days, we've been inundated with Palin. Now it's time for the Dems to come back and hit hard. Obama shouldn't hold back. He has got to respond to Giuliani's mean spirited attacks, and really play into his strengths. He has got to nail it to McCain voters--McCain's time has come and gone. He is nothing short of washed up and really and truly has no new policy agenda except the same, old crap.

Raspberry Magic Update

Okay, so my producing partner and I have spent the past two years working really hard to raise money for our indie feature. Between the two us of, we have a pretty great roster of contacts. We've pitched to some angel investors, a number of high net worth individuals, and even a few production companies. It's a tough, tough game, especially for a first time director/producer team. What I hate most the anticipation of talking to someone, then all of the waiting. And then of course, the rejection is always a bit tough, too. Despite all of the "no's", we've gotten quite a few "yes's," and while we still have a few more checks to go, we have done what we needed to do a long time ago: set a steadfast date.

We are shooting this movie Dec. 1, and that's just it. It sounds crazy, but with a clear date, so many things have come together, I can't even explain fully how much lighter I'm feeling. We are shooting the film in the Bay area, specifically, in the Montclair region on Oakland. There's an awesome forest, school and even a few great homes there. We also have a lot of help in terms of crew up there. Now, we are working on putting the deals together. Our budget is small, so every single dollar counts. But this is what filmmaking is all about, and it feels really good to be moving forward... Stay tuned.