Self Promotion Week: Day 1

(This appeared in its original form at www.muckfuppet.com on October 25, 2005)

I have a feeling that making films turns out to be well worth the effort for some people, but to date, I’ve not made anything that I would think is worth the time and energy expended on the project.

The writing is the easy part, for me. It hits me in a flash; I put the story on paper, in some level of detail; I sit on the script for a month or so, doing my best to forget about it; and then I return to the script and make tweaks as I need to.

It’s really that simple for me. Always has been.

Making the film, though… that’s another story altogether. Reminds me of making a song that was written on acoustic guitar into a full-blown arrangement in the studio, only more torturous. There’s a billion more things to think about, it’s more expensive, it requires more people to help out and do it right…

Oh, and thinking visually is not something that comes naturally to me. Not like thinking aurally (and that’s not even something that I feel like I do well).

No, what I do is write stories. Thank god I’ve got a lot of friends and acquaintances who know all the other parts of the equation.

Today:

Looking back on this, I’m really glad — and fortunate — to know the folks that I do.  I saw the final cut last night (the edit has actually been done since March, but there were some technical issues that required going back through and replacing every shot with the same shot from a different source), and it’s really, really good.  Looks good, sounds good, flows well… Not only do Melissa and Scott and Donna do a wonderful job bringing the characters to life, but Chance and Chris somehow managed to make an 8 minute conversation in a booth at a diner look interesting.

Finally, I have something that I can feel proud of on film.

Muckfuppet is showing at the Alabama Theater at 1:30 PM, Saturday, September 23.  It’s part of the Alabama Shorts #2 Block of movies; admission is $7.  More details can be found at www.sidewalkfest.com.

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