Pretty All the Time

Castles in the Air

In between inquiries as to whether or not I have bronchitis (dunno) (but there's both acute and chronic!, or so says Wikipedia), I've also managed to hack out some pretty spectacular castles in the air.

Last time I wrote I listed all of my ideas--some more baked than others. I'm trying to recognize when I'm pulling myself in all directions. It always ends with me staying in the same spot that I was when I started. This past week has been fairly not-so-good for things like progress with projects, what with the zombie death fugue state of last Tuesday.

(Currently watching the little black hurricane dog try to play with the cat. This frequently gets him smacked for his trouble. And then he jumps on Adam. Now he's tugging on the quilt. Oh little black hurricane dog, you are with the right people. Because he's been dumped by one family already. We're just crazy enough to want him because we know that anyone else would dump him again.)

Okay, enough inward directed nonsense for the moment. Outward directed nonsense will resume tomorrow.

Status Update

It's October. I last wrote in July? August?

Things of consequence that have happened since then:

That job that I got? Got fired in two weeks. This put me into a tail spin of something depressing, and I ended up trying to figure out what the hell was up. And I found out, weirdly enough--that stuff doesn't ever seem to happen quickly--I have ADD, inattentive type. I told friends who've known me for years and it was like, blink blink, "That makes sense!" Or possibly, "well, duh." Thanks, y'all. Future employers of the world: I am awesome, and now medicated into remembering details and focusing. Please take note!

Inspired by all of this nonsense, I wrote a script about an adorable, irritating robot who's happy all the time. Only thing is, her happiness explodes light bulbs. Which makes it hard for her to keep a job. I'm kind of in love with Kiss Robot and her friend Smitty, who's a blue dog with brown eyes and the voice of Tom Waits. (I put this intention to the universe: Tom Waits, if you'd ever like to be in a cartoon, please call me.)

I have an internship with New York Women in Film and Television. I'm halfway through, meeting people, helping out, trying to figure out who would be a good mentor for me. (You get a mentorship as part of this internship. Yay people in your corner!)

I 1st ADed a couple of projects--the first few days of a web series for Upright Citizens Brigade, and then a short called "Hanna Watches a Porno." They JUST made their Kickstarter goal, which: yaaaaay! for them!

I've got 25 pages of my next feature script written and have stalled out. Needing a kick in the pants, I'm trying to put together a writers-actors group.

Pretty All the Time: Rough cut is finished, score is done, color correct is done, and we're working on the final sound mix and the credits. When all of these pieces are complete, we'll be sending out the donor gifts (I'm shuddering as I type this--it's shameful that they're so late) with a copy of the final film.

The Pink Bicycle: Third draft to go. Vicious amounts of cutting necessary. I'm going to have to go from 120 pages to about 90. The feedback from folks who've read it is that they love the characters and that it's unfocused. I mentally circled this comment and then compared it to the ADD diagnosis above and wondered how this particular quirk of brain chemistry has influenced my life in multiple ways. I mean, I like me--but I have for years watched friends who can effortlessly focus on unpleasant or just plain boring stuff at will, and realized that I could not do that easily. It wasn't a matter of will. It just wasn't there.

Other projects: a documentary on internships. Trying to get grants as a filmmaker. A music video for a song by Marian Call (authorized but not supported by, if you get me).

Lots of stuff. Big things! Writing hopeful things in the background of Qaddafi, Occupy Wall Street, a threatened second economic calamity brought on by the Euro, and it's all--there's a reason why I'm loving writing Kiss Robot, is what I'm saying. Creating a happy thing in the midst of political catastrophe feels like holding up a light in the dark.

Rough Cut

Back in New York.

We've got 3.5 minutes of a rough cut, and I have discovered something about myself and filming. (This will be gross. You have been warned.)

When we were filming in Cleveland in May, there were some thunderstorms, which seemed about right for this ridiculous year of ridiculousness. We sighed and grumbled and complained and rearranged our schedules (which set off a whole chain of events, but that is neither here nor there for the purposes of the story).

The point is, we had outdoor scenes that we needed to shoot in the grass. Which we did, the next day, when the sky was blue and the grass was wet. Now, here is the grossness: a) I needed new shoes, because mine were canvas and two years old and had dramatically decided to die, and b) I have eczema. This translated into a wicked case of athlete's foot, and on our last day of filming which went far too long due to the aforementioned schedule juggling, I found it almost impossible to stand for any length of time.

Now, a month and a half later, all of the skin on the bottoms of my feet has...regenerated. The skin sloughed off like a snake, and here's where it gets really weird:

I feel recovered, along with my feet. The job went very very very badly, because I was hired to do a job which someone else was already doing well and I was largely not needed. And (probably) not very good at it, or at least not very happy at doing what I was doing far away from all the things that keep me centered while coming off of a really really stressful time...which translates into not good at it. Which sent me into a spiral of "What am I doing? Why am I doing this? What good am I anyway?" After all of the commuting and the death and the buses (oh god, the buses) and the filming and the disappointment, I basically crawled into a hole constructed of Angry Birds and True Blood and blankets.

But Mike, my producer and editor, has been painstakingly syncing sound and wrestling with RED software, and he came up to New York this past weekend. And he built the first 3.5 minutes of the film that I wrote and directed and co-produced. And it's good. It's sweet. You really like these kids, and you want them to figure it out.

On top of that, I just wrote a short new script making fun of libertarians and I got to use a joke about enlightened self-interest. So you know what? I'm good at writing. I'm good at directing. 

I'll take that. (Hopefully I'll figure out a way to translate that into cash, but I'll take it.)

Editing.

So in the space between when last we spoke and...well, now, I got a job. It's going to last right up to the time when the rough cut is due!

Yaaaaay!

(Sarcastic yay. By the way.)

Job is a great job, but the first rule of the Internet is that You Do Not Talk About Your Job On the Internet. It's like Fight Club, but you get paid.

But I am now going to resume my peripatetic wandering ways and head down to DC to see what in the world we actually shot. I'm...well, I'm kind of terrified, actually. Happy! But terrified.

Wish me luck.

So THAT Happened...

We wrapped last night.

...We wrapped.

Last night. Last night we wrapped.

We struggled with weather, college administrators (everyone who was there will understand that if I go into the detail that I'd like, I might be held liable for libel. Except it's true...), labor laws, weather, logistics, missing keys, a too-small crew, a steep learning curve for the craft services department, a very sweet grip who dropped something on his foot, and weather. Weather is in there three times because we got hit up the side of the head with it three times.

Personally, I struggled with the fact that I probably should have scheduled a six day shoot instead of a five day shoot, the knowledge that another $10,000 in the budget would probably have fixed all the problems, the fact that I can't drink caffeine, a wicked sunburn, and athlete's foot.

But we did it. We made a movie together.

It could not have been pulled off without the help and perserverance and patience of the crew, the cast, the extras, the cast and extra's parents, and the donors.

This is going to happen over and over again, me thanking everyone who believed in the film enough to fund and work an insanely complicated and ambitious project because they remember being painfully 12 years old. But here's the first of many.

The Crew (in no particular order of my gratitude): Mike Hyde, Stephen Tringali, Autumn Moran, Gene Ertel, Dionna McMillian, Andrew Gorell, Lindsay Zoladz, Cherisse Datu, Charles Crouch, Ty Budde, Anthony Brenneman, Adam Bianchi, Amy Pedigo-Otto, Michaela Penn, Cleveland Grip and Electric, Jackie Adamson, Shannon Fortune, Amy Tamayo, Colton Bose, Ellie Reinbrecht, Kelly Fortune, Chris Singleton, Tim Kanieski, Mandi Wells, Taylor Trimarchi, Harold Erkins, Tyler Holzworth, Kyle Encinas, Adam Zeller, and Jen Edwards. In the future, there will be gratitude for post production people like Chris Chymiy, but we're not there yet.

The Cast: Oh my god, you guys. Please please please be aware that when you see this movie you will be blinded by the awesomeness of Grace Etzkorn, Alistair Faghani, Mason Dencker, and Natalie Welch. Their awesomeness was inherited from Carolyn Stevens, Susan Faghani, Leigh Dencker, and Brad Welch. Their awesomeness is accompanied by the further awesomeness of Soneyet Muhammad, Andrew Gorell, Sarah Nedwek, Anthony Ritz, Josh Wintner, Lily Richards, Madison Burgess, Una Hanley, Taylor Melms, Marcia Mandell, Janine Sarnowski, Kathie Dice, and Alex Potapenko.

The Locations and Stores: Baldwin Wallace, for all the problems, didn't have to help us, and they did. Phoenix Coffee let us set up in their shop when it rained like a raining raining thing. Patrick Coburn was so much more than gracious in allowing us to use his house as both a location and a place to house actors and their parents. The City of Cleveland Heights helped by letting us put flyers in the middle schools and giving us permits when we needed them. The City of Cleveland gave us a permit for shooting in the park.

The donors: First and foremost, my family. There are a million reasons why I'm entertained and sometimes enchanted by my ridiculously large clan, but their support for this movie has been steadfast. I'm going to have to do the donors in order of when they donated though, because I think I'm going to forget someone if I don't. Jen Edwards, Mariana Studart, Ellen Tripler, B Milenkovic, Jesse Schlotterbeck, Julia Negele, Beth Fienecke, Colin Foster, Eli Susser, Romain Fravien, Aaron Fracht-Monroe, Pat and Marie Coburn, Joe Frese, Susan Perry, Kevin Coburn, John and Evelyn Zeller, Peggy Spaeth, Jaimie Mayer Phinney, Sabine Pratsch, Teresa Lindsey, Robert Gump, Jim Coburn and Marty Grey, Tim Bayus, Ruthie Phillips, Nancy and Chris Coburn, Stephen Kilduff, Karen Forman, Denise Blanda, James Thatcher, Mary Ratliff, Eugenia Vainberg, Will Alexander, Kathy Monroe, Liam Dunlop, Suzanne Tishkoff, Sarah Kendall, Rosemary and Tim Kendall, Peter James, Barbara Megery, Diana Horrigan, Neil Gray, Mary Rose and Mark Sullivan, Howard and Ann Coburn, Dennis Ahmer, Shari and John Keba, Cathy and Dan Costello, C. Jai Jamison, Susan Faghani, Kate Beyer, Alex Luchinetser, Jason Fraley, William Goldstein, Becky Clark, Harper Jean Tobin, Keturah Ashfield, Nat Manista, Keleih, Mitchell Abdullah, Sandra Sands, Don Coburn, Terri Dew, and Jennifer Wintner. 

Then there's the extras. Grace, our lead, liked to call them the gravy, because extra sound like something that's not necessary and gravy is both delicious and wonderful, a lovely thing to add. Andrew Gorell, who played our Handsome Man and was also our 2nd AD, coordinated them. He went FAR above the call of duty, and he got some amazing people to help us out. Their names are going to be coming in a separate post when I check in with him to make sure I have their correct spelling! 

Guys, you are all amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love,

Annie

 

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

One unexpectedly filled with Gideon's Bible. Actually, it feels like today really started last night. I finished my shot list (rousing cheer!) and decided to go hang out with my 2nd AD (Andrew) and the guy who introduced me to my 2nd AD (Mooch). We got to talk about acting and method and Meisner and structure and film acting vs. theater acting...which oh dear. Before I knew it, it was 1 a.m. and we'd finished our bucket of beers (5 beers to a bucket at Winking Lizard, $13.99. Plus they throw in a t-shirt. And there were fried pickles. Which. I mean. Come on. There is no way to turn down that offer).

The only issue was I had an early morning meeting with my production designer to look at the locations. We met, and we looked at locations, and we talked, and we looked at more locations, and then it was 5 hours past the time I thought we would have finished. And thus it is that I am now crashed out in a motel that looks like it could be home to a trapper's convention attended by scrawny men with severe scoliosis, a rabbit for each pot and a beaver tail for every child.

Driving through the pouring rain from Cleveland to DC, it became apparent that I had to stop or some inanimate object would stop me far more quickly than I had anticipated. And then who would pick up my actress from the airport? How will the promise of this morning's discoveries of the joys of the library scene ever be fulfilled?

Anyway, I stopped. I am snuggled in the bed whose sheets smell faintly of Pinesol. I will get back to the world tomorrow.

Extra Extra!

Hello there blog! I have been sorely neglecting you of late, in the midst of commencement, bus rides (still), and the natural attrition of crew members.

We are now looking for extras!

Here's the flyer that lovely wonderful Andrew Gorell came up with:

Pretty All the Time is Cleveland Heights’ native Annie Coburn's MFA thesis film, from her award-winning script, "Pretty All the Time." It's also about a love triangle between (almost!) 13-year-olds, swords, the Princess Bride, and romance novels.

It will be filming in and around Cleveland May 18 - 22, 2011. Middle school aged children are needed as extras in group scenes. This is a chance to be part of the filmmaking process in a film where the stars are also kids. It promises to be a great experience for kids interested in acting or who just like the movies. No prior experience is required.

Please contact Andrew Gorell at pattextras@gmail.com or 347-385-2110 to be considered for this project. Parents, please include your child’s name, age and a recent picture along with the best way to get in contact with you. Kids, show this to a parent or guardian and ask them to submit you. And get your friends to apply too - it will make it more fun!

Specific Dates

- Thursday, May 19th. Afternoon and evening.

- Saturday, May 21st. All day.

- Sunday, May 22nd. Afternoon and evening.

Please be as specific as you can with availability. The more availability you have, the more scenes we can put you in!

We also need younger children (toddlers to 10 years old) as featured extras in another scene, shooting on Wednesday, May 18th in the afternoon.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on set!

Out With A Bang

I have done tooken the very last bus ride of the semester, and my god was it ever tremendous. It involved oversleeping, a taxi ride from Upstate Manhattan to mid-town, a Bolt Bus stand-in (Hello, Peter Pan!), a bus driver who'd never been to DC before, a deaf seatmate (who was super sweet), me reading the printed out directions to the bus driver, the DOOR GETTING STUCK when FIFTY FOUR PEOPLE were waiting to get out of the bus, the bus driver trying to kick the door out, me hitting the red button that the Union Station attendants were pointing out to the bus driver, and only being 10 minutes late to class!

Now I'm back in New York, submitting "The Pink Bicycle" to festivals, arranging travel for cast and crew, formally hiring a 1st AC (Autumn is Awesome Moran), completing my mise-en-scene and storyboards, finishing the last touches on insurance, and trying to aid in the location and procurement of extras. I can keep telling myself that I'm in good shape and I'm not totally sure I'll believe it until everything's done.

A Day of Momentous Magnitude

DUDES.

Today, the Kickstarter campaign ended. $5,434 raised. 56 people donated. Amazing. I ask all the people who donated to let me get through the filming before I tackle making you all buckeyes and T-shirts and formal thank you letters. I'm planning to have a kickass buckeye making party, though, seriously.

My 1st AD and I sat down and puzzled out the script schedule. We're checking on availability of one of the locations before formalizing it. But still, it's looking shockingly...doable. Not insane. (Once upon a time, a friend and I decided to try to film 11 pages in 8 hours. We were like, "it's all dialogue! It'll be FINE!" No. No, it was not fine. I have learned my lesson.)

And (drumroll)...after looking for a production designer for literally 6 months (admittedly not all day every day), I FOUND SOMEONE. Both of her references were like, "Magic erupts from her fingers. When she does jazz-hands, she cures scrofula, the paralyzed walk, and babies sing Mozart."

I think that my low-level anxiety over the past few months has simmered down. Slightly. A little. I'm still working on my Bonnie Raitt hair-streak, but seriously? I am full of yay.

 

I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You

Tomorrow is the second to last week of this...well. Quixotic? Asinine? Stubborn? Possibly praiseworthy but probably mostly dumb? All words apply equally to the strange land of the bus that I have become intimately acquainted with. The parts of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have flipped weekly between me and Adam, and I think that we both are each other's Dulcinea. (It's thoughts like these that I try to hold onto when the bus driver pulls over five times during the trip to throw up.)

Soon, the DC-NYC portion of this strange weird time will be over, and then the Cleveland part will start up. We're getting closer to a schedule, because we finally cast Terry (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!) and I think I'm going to offer someone the production designer job tomorrow. We read the script with adult actors last night in front of some friends, and I was telling them that in some ways, it will be really, really good for this whole thing to be done with at least this stage. I wrote the damn thing in 2008. It's now 2011. Like, entire tentpole blockbuster films have been made in the time that this has taken, from script to post production. Of course, they have a gazillion dollars to throw at something that will make a gazillion dollars.

Oh inevitable progession of time. I can't really do anything about you.