WORKS IN PROGRESS
We all know that film is a collaborative art, but it is also true that those responsibile for creating films are not always willing to take reasonible feedback. That is why I like rehearsed readings of scripts, where the writer is iling to take feedback from both the actors and the audience' and, I am a fan of rough cut screenings open to the public, witha q &a with both the director and the editor.
In the past week I have had three encounters with filmmakers who have gone through the process, as patience-trying as that process might be. The first, Steven Croke's THE BUSKER, I have already blogged about. With two editors, one for first cut, another for fine cut, the film has been submitted to the Boston Independent Film Festival for a rough cut screening. In so doing, it does not prohibit its chances for Sundance, and a further cut could still be shown in Woods Hole this summer. The audience there is always astute, and the creative team could make a final determinatin of a film festival strategy.
The same is true for Joe Gotta's NUMBER 2 PENCIL, which in its latest cut, with the inclusion of animation and some tightening of the narrative, seems much more surreal, demented and Twight Zone-y. It also seems more approprite for the Boston Underground Film Festival whan before. And there it will have a rough cut screening, after which its producers, among whom is Local Sightings graduate Carey Zolper, will plan for the future.
Finally, there is DIXIE STORMS, a script by Christy Scott Cashman about the relatioship between two women from the South, one who has stayed in the small Bible-belt southern town, the other who has fled to Memphis, where she runs a blues club. The script has been almost four years in development, and the draft I read last week has gone through at least four revisions with the help of others, including ON GOLDEN POND's Ernest Thompson. Not only is the script vastly do-able, but with the right talent both in front and behind the camera, it could make a very affecting movie. But what most impressed me, when I met with Christy and talked about my own reactions, she quickly went to her office, brough out a piece of paper, and wrote down my comments, ready to consider and possibly implement some of the suggestions I had made.
In each of these instances, the filmmakers have put aside their own egos and have listened. In commerciial films, this process often leads to projects that are compromised;; in indepedent films, it more often leads to quality films that reflect the initial inspiration for the creators.
In the past week I have had three encounters with filmmakers who have gone through the process, as patience-trying as that process might be. The first, Steven Croke's THE BUSKER, I have already blogged about. With two editors, one for first cut, another for fine cut, the film has been submitted to the Boston Independent Film Festival for a rough cut screening. In so doing, it does not prohibit its chances for Sundance, and a further cut could still be shown in Woods Hole this summer. The audience there is always astute, and the creative team could make a final determinatin of a film festival strategy.
The same is true for Joe Gotta's NUMBER 2 PENCIL, which in its latest cut, with the inclusion of animation and some tightening of the narrative, seems much more surreal, demented and Twight Zone-y. It also seems more approprite for the Boston Underground Film Festival whan before. And there it will have a rough cut screening, after which its producers, among whom is Local Sightings graduate Carey Zolper, will plan for the future.
Finally, there is DIXIE STORMS, a script by Christy Scott Cashman about the relatioship between two women from the South, one who has stayed in the small Bible-belt southern town, the other who has fled to Memphis, where she runs a blues club. The script has been almost four years in development, and the draft I read last week has gone through at least four revisions with the help of others, including ON GOLDEN POND's Ernest Thompson. Not only is the script vastly do-able, but with the right talent both in front and behind the camera, it could make a very affecting movie. But what most impressed me, when I met with Christy and talked about my own reactions, she quickly went to her office, brough out a piece of paper, and wrote down my comments, ready to consider and possibly implement some of the suggestions I had made.
In each of these instances, the filmmakers have put aside their own egos and have listened. In commerciial films, this process often leads to projects that are compromised;; in indepedent films, it more often leads to quality films that reflect the initial inspiration for the creators.
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