The Director's Chair - July 2010

Greetings from the Motion Pictures Studios!

This past quarter saw a successful run of She Stoops to Conquer at Cascades Theatrical Company. Of the four community theater plays I have directed, this is quite possibly my most satisfying result - though the previous three came off so well also that putting any one play in First Place is a matter of inches, not yards.

If you live in the Central Oregon area and watch the cable channels, you may have seen me play an insomniac for the St. Charles Sleep Center commercial. Not having cable, I have yet to see it myself, but it's something of a hoot to be someplace and have a total stranger stare for a moment, squint, inch closer, and finally say: "Are you the sleepless guy?"

Who knew that merely acting sleepless could take three hours to capture on video? I spent an afternoon laying on a mattress at Rage Studios with a camera directly overhead. A heavy camera. Held to its mounts by zip ties. I wasn't actually nervous but if a Red Camera were to fall ten feet lens-first directly onto your face, it wouldn't be a nice afternoon.

Anyway, for three hours we tried all possible variations of sleeplessness: Dazed, staring at the ceiling, frustrated, tossing and turning, thrashing, thumping the pillow, and so on. I actually had it pretty easy: I got to lay down and get paid for it; Chris Kas had to alternately stand and squat on the cherry picker basket several feet above me that whole time.

Just a couple weeks ago I had a truly cool experience when I was a temp crew member of The Wait, an independent film being shot 20 minutes away in the town of Sisters. I was scheduled to be out of town the entire last week of their production schedule, so I reckon that is part of why I did not get a full-time position, but the two days were still very interesting.

I debated outlining it all here, but I will shortly have both days described in vivid detail on my Cinemusing blog, so I'll let interested parties dive in over there. I will say, however, that I got to sit within talking distance of Chloe Sevigney at lunch (Boys Don't Cry, Melinda and Melinda, among others), and she even spoke to me for a short while. I'm actually not into the whole "celebrity" thing, but it was a cool moment for me.

On a more personal front, I decided it was time to get in shape. (Jeremy, stop laughing.) Having tried for years to motivate myself, I think I have finally found the answer, by combining my need for better health with my love of film-making. I am documenting the 100-Day Fitness Countdown on YouTube and having a lot of fun doing it.

Well, 2010 is half over and many things remain undone. My short Mammon and the Archer and Animals still await their final and official DVD releases for cast and crew. I have not yet made a new short film, as I resolved to have done by this point. And the screenplay for Horatio sits atrophying in a corner. I know you won't believe me if I say that at least half of these things are going to be finished by the next newsletter - but if I simply refrain from sending out the next newsletter until they're finished, I end up being right. Ha!

Later, peeps! Hang loose, break for pedestrians, vote Constitutionalist, and call your mother - she's worried about you.