Journal Entry 7/16/97 - Wednesday - 12:42am
I called the Hudson Valley Film Commission today. They're sending a list of local crew members up where I'll be shooting. Using locals will be only fair, will save me money because I won't have to commute people from the city or put them up somewhere, and it will be good for PR. Hopefully I can get the Poughkeepsie Journal in on the action.
I talked to my friend Brooks Elms and asked him if he wanted to co-produce the film with me (he directed & co-produced Snapshots From a .500 Season a film I worked on as co-Production Manager a few years ago). He declined because he's got another project on the cooker (which sounds real good) and is still shopping around Snapshots. He mentioned that Chris Kelley, his co-producer on Snapshots is back from his year-long sabattical in Asia. Chris, Brooks & I all lived together the year after making the film. I gotta call Chris soon. See what he's up to. Maybe he can work on the film.
I called Dianne Collins, the woman working with me on Strangers in a Car. We have a meeting Thursday morning. If she's free and can give me the time maybe she'll co-produce this one.
I made up a flyer to bring to NYU to post up for low-cost crew members. College students are a good crew supply when it comes to independent filmmaking because they are willing to work for free in exchange for the experience of working in positions they normally cannot get (yet).
I'm editing up a tape for The Wall Street Journal Report tomorrow for my old boss. He had me work a little on it monday and tomorrow I'm finishing it for him. It's just an example of all the computer graphics Dow Jones has done domestically and in Europe & Asia. Simple job. And he's giving me a consulting fee of $500 for producing it for him. That'll help.
My Uncle Jo-Jo, a notorious movie fan who somehow finds a reason to knock most of the films he sees, loved my script. I was very excited and honored by that. My cousin Joey is reading it now also and said he can't put it down. Joey says he can visualize everything in the script (especially the "sick" stuff). I told him that's because I've been using him as a guinea pig in most of my home-made for years and he knows exactly what I'm talking about. Joey & I and now my cousin Nicky make a short movie on video every Halloween. Last year we actually made too. All of them really "sick."
Anyway maybe my Uncle can work on spec as my financial advisor. He's a fantastic money saver. If I ever hit it big I would hire him to run my affairs. That would be great. I'd have my whole family working for me if I could. And all my friends... ah, to dream.
Gotta go to sleep but to finish up I want to say that I talked to my special fx guy who is breaking down the scenes I gave him to see if I'm still within his budget. He said we'll work something out with the insurance. Very excited. I called Karen Oberlin and I'm going to get a script to her next week (didn't talk to her but she called back and left a message). I'm going to mail Derek Hartley (the guy whose house we're shooting at and owns the three pigs who'll star in the movie) a check tomorrow for $100 to keep the pigs alive until we shoot. At the moment they're 300 pounds each and ready to be killed. It's sad but only my film is keeping them alive now. After that it'll be "No animals were harmed in the making of this film, however, we all enjoyed eating Corky at the Wrap Party shortly after shooting." Sad but true.
But the film is happening. Still much to do but it'll all happen somehow. I realized that completely today. So I guess it's now official... Red light, Green Light... One, Two, Three... (I hope)