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Hello again, friends! Whew, it's been a while, hey? So much has happened in the past few days that it'll be tough to update you in one blog post. So I'll stick with the big news. Last week we submitted a rough cut of Abandoned Allies to its first film festival!

This is a huge milestone because we've been in post-production for about two years. This also means we're on the fast track to have it totally finished by the end of February. What a wonderful feeling to be this close to finishing the film. There's still a significant amount of tweaking left, but we are on our way now.

The team of folks who helped us submit the film is absolutely wonderful. There are so many thank yous to write. I do want to quickly thank Surry, Annie Beth, Kyle, Chris, Zach, Patrick, Drew, Steve, Sally, Adger, and my parents for being such solid forms of support during these past few weeks. They really stepped up to help make things come together (and keep me sane). I'm so appreciative of all the people who have helped make this film. It's a wild adventure, and I have to pinch myself regularly because I feel so lucky to be doing this work.

While working on the film, I have been dog-tired.
Even my pup was wiped out. Don't know why he
sleeps with his tongue sticking out, though.

That said, the past few weeks have been even more intense than usual. I've neglected some important things while trying to make the film ready for its submission, and that hurts me deeply. The list of stuff that's been neglected is probably longer than our credits.

So I'm thinking through ways to improve efficiency for the next film. How can I improve as a producer/director? What can I do to help my team (work better, stay happy, do amazing things, etc.)? What tasks are distracting to me, and who can I find to do those tasks so I can stay focused? My mind works over time on these things so I can make the next film better and more quickly. I can't stop looking back and analyzing it, so that I can make the next film faster and better.

This form of "debriefing" after a period of intensity is probably instilled in me from my days at Camp Don Lee. We'd go on sailing trips, and almost immediately debrief after we returned. It's a good practice, and one I hope to take with me throughout my career. I'm lucky to work with people who are honest and unafraid to give feedback on the process, so I hope to debrief with them next year when we finish the film.

Equally important, though, is a bit of R&R after a period of such intensity. I hope my teammates are resting up. I've already given myself some small rewards: a chocolate chip / peppermint milkshake, two new pairs of jeans (bought on black Friday for 50% off, of course), three days of sleeping in, about five hours of cooking/baking, a night cuddled up with my dog on the couch watching delightfully mindless TV, an hour playing the guitar for the first time in years, and some serious quality time with family and friends that I've missed terribly over the past few weeks. There are a few more rewards on my list, and I plan on checking them off soon.

While there's much more work ahead of us, I'm feeling like a huge weight has lifted. In fact, the other night I was just describing how I feel like a fog has lifted. I can see the future of this film much more clearly now, and I look forward to seeing what happens in the coming years. It's a lot of hard work, but I see it already bringing awareness to this important segment of U.S. history and how it relates to today. So, cheers, to that.

Get Fired Up

Illustration by Camden Watts

With the news that I won the shovemedia contest, I have been so thrilled about the reality of finishing Abandoned Allies.  This office space, deadline and encouragement is exactly what I needed--without even knowing it.  I'm so fired up about wrapping up the film and showing it to people that I can hardly sleep at night.  There's so much work to do, and very little time to finish it.

We have only about five weeks before Thanksgiving, which is when I hope to have the film completed. 

The Full Frame film fest submission deadline is November 30th, and I want Abandoned Allies to be entered.  That means we could, hopefully, show the film at the festival in April 2011.  (Hopefully!)  This would then, in turn, give us enough time to prepare for our own premiere event to take place weeks after the festival (more on that in future posts).

While April 2011 feels very far away, Thanksgiving feels like it's just around the corner.  This is both thrilling and terrifying for me, because I so desperately want to finish the film before the holidays. 

It's my belief that our volunteers shouldn't feel stress about working on Abanadoned Allies during the holidays.  It's time they might otherwise be spending with family, resting from being so busy, or working on their own projects.  So I hope we can hustle and have the film in tip top shape and submitted to the festival before Thanksgiving gets here.

That said, it's time to get fired up!  There's not much time, and we have lots of work left to do on the:

• Opening segment
• Narration
• Motion graphics
• End credits
• Music selection / composition
• Branding
• Marketing and communications

Over the course of these next few weeks, with the help of my very talented crew, this little film will start to feel much more like a Film (with a capital F).  We'll be adding the final finesse, finally!  I'm beyond thrilled.