One Week, One Short Film. Now What?

Yeah, we did it. I knew we would. No biggy. 😉

This morning the final cut (or… final cut for the festival) got uploaded to the 168 servers and all that was left for me to do was convince the printer to scan 26 pages of release forms for me. After a software uninstall and reinstall, we came to an understanding.

But yeah, I have another short film under my belt! In a couple of months a longer “director’s cut” will be finished and put on DVD, most likely after the festival (so we can mention what awards we won or were nominated for on the sleeve, ya know?).

Our work is not finished, though, and it’s time to answer some questions.

Will we submit it to other festivals after 168?

Will our Making Of film get finished in time for next week’s deadline?

How soon can we get a teaser online?

Where will we screen it for the cast and crew?

And what is my next project?

I’m terrible at planning, sometimes, so that last one is a big one. I sat down at my Open Office last night typing out the few goals I had. They may be few, but they sure are time consuming, so the real goal of the night was to prioritize and figure out when each one would get done. I started typing out a little calendar of events. Started being the key word. But I have a bit of a plan.

Next week I will get new photos taken and submit them to modeling agencies. It seems my best chance at earning a big chunk of change, big enough to pay for rent and some airfare. Perhaps if I really get enough work, I could even get to the 168 festival… and see my kitty.

I miss him so much.

Then I will continue working on music, with the goal of performing at least once while in Paris.

I’m also looking into a trip to Africa in August, since I have to be in Paris again at the end of September. If I go, I may direct a little short film with the children my friend works with in Ghana. I need to practice directing and editing, after all! But if Africa is too expensive, I may find another place to go when my sublet here is up at the end of July. I had planned to go back to L.A., so I didn’t make plans here. But that changed. Thank you French administration. It’s possible to go back to L.A. for a month or so, yes, and see my kittyface, but I’d prefer to save the money and go back when I know I will be settling down for a little while longer. I should use my time over here to do some traveling I perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise done. I don’t want a vacation in L.A., couch surfing and visiting my cat. When I go back, I want to set up house somehow, with my cat and my dog, and figure some things out before setting off again.

Anyway, this short film has made me even more interested in filming something in French, so I will begin work on another short film soon. This time, I will dedicate several months to the writing, and to finding locations and cast and crew, and it won’t be a rushed project. I think that would be shot around September or October.

In the meantime, I have two projects to work on over the summer. One is the interview series I might have mentioned here before. I’m making a list of interesting people who blazed their own trails to become film makers, actors, singer, etc, and my goal is to sit down and talk to them and learn about how their out of the box thinking got them to where they are now. I’m interested in learning and helping others to find success without relying on agents, casting directors, and luck.

The other project will be a collection of skits for YouTube. I’m not going to give it away here, but I think it’ll be a fun little project.

And my long term goal…. a musical comedy webseries shot in Paris. Big one. That will be slated for production in 2014.

Looking at my list of “what I want to do” before seemed daunting, overwhelming. But taking a realistic look at how I could get them done and how much time each thing would really require has helped me to prioritize.

There are still questions though… like, where will I really be in August? Or September or October? Finding a place to live in Paris is no easy task, and can easily disrupt everything else in your life. It’s hard to get much done while couch surfing and searching the classifieds for an apartment. I feel like I’ve spent much of the past year just searching for places to live, or moving from place to place, packing, unpacking… I am now finally left with no permanent address, no place to call home, and a lot of traveling and moving to do for the rest of the year. As fun as all my travel ideas sound, and will be…. I’m looking forward to getting back to my cat and creating a home base… somehow.

But now, instead of asking questions, I’m going to work on the answers and see what happens.