weekend twenty: a nice round number named 'fin'

Somewhere on a rather insignificant scrap of paper stuffed into a jacket pocket or perhaps patiently waiting on the edge of a table are the child-like scrawls that represent an end-date. I loosely remember swallowing reasonably cool gulps of beer in a Bartlett, TN garage and packing up a few items of camera gear when Brad Alsobrook casually said, "We'll have to write down the time." The statement seemed to dance through the uncomfortable silence that comes at the end of a day when all of the "work" has been finished and the toys have to be placed back into their boxes. The words poured over me with little response but it would seem that "we" have made a business habit out of marking down these random times of day and night that serve as mile markers. I was too elated to burn the numerical time of evening into the back of my permanent memory. The smile stretched across my face displayed the joy of being able revel in the simplicity of the moment. The never-ending weekend shoots, the stress of juggling actor's availability, and the wonders of troubleshooting every possible hurdle that could shipwreck our voyage could now be put to rest. There was a weight lifted from my heavy head and heart, for the months of throwing my back out trying to lift the damn things were now over. We finished shooting Divine Manipulation of the Threads sometime before 6pm on Saturday January 21st 2006. I'm sure somewhere around the July entries of this "blog" there is a mention of when we started shooting production on this Indie film. Yes, it took us long enough... but you should try making a feature length film with over 30 leading and/or featured characters with no money and spare time. Shit ain't easy (to put it mildly).
My odd change of appearance marked the final shots of the film production. I walked around for a week with a platinum "match-top" head that attracted a barrage of comment. Anything from "What color is that Brokeback Blonde?" to "I looked outside... it seems to be a nice day for a White Wedding." At least, those were the most creative of the comments placed in my memory banks. However, the dark roots are pushing through my scalp and I've got a nice little dirty-blonde thing happening that occasionally looks Green. It's also nice to have the option to do what the hell I want with my hair. Maybe I'll go silver next.
Back to the point. We went through the rather relaxed motions of a final day of filming. You can see the anguish in Anthony's face. It's either anguish, elation, or someone ate cabbage for dinner.
The day started at a bank that chooses to remain nameless (though I would love to thank them for every large portion of assistance they provided in allowing us a great location), traveled back across Memphis proper to our location at Cafe' Francisco on Main St., and finally ending the day in Bartlett. The bank shoot had to be finished quickly... within two hours anyway. It was probably more fun for me than anyone else. I added a little something to my character that I'm hoping comes off well. I haven't looked at the tapes yet (the day job has been keeping me more than busy as of late). Luckily we noticed that a key prop was missing before we landed too many takes. You see, our script supervisor/producer/continuity supervisor was a little under the weather this weekend. Some kind of bug got under her skin on Friday and refused to let go. C. Marie Connolly (as we'll have to credit her) was a real trooper... as was our lead actress, who amazingly enough was also sick as a dog. I would normally make light of such a situation but there were very serious threats of vomit. Thank you for not puking on the set... or on me. Jen Weatherford pulled through for us, which shows the level of commitment that everyone involved in this project has. Thank you. Lisa Sanchez joined us for a quick cameo at the cafe' and Joe squirted half and half all over himself. He gets excited easily.
So at the end of the day we picked up a "missing voice over" (something that I thought I loaded into the computer but couldn't find... I've got 19 tapes worth of material to fish through... give me a f-ing break) and celebrated with a few members of the cast and crew with an impromptu beer drinking session. It wasn't an "official wrap party" perse... moreso a "wrap for the day party" with a side car of "what a long strange trip it's been." The official wrap party will come sometime in the near future and we'll let all of the appropriate people know of the time and place (but if you know a little about the people involved you can pretty much guess where the festivities will be held). I'll continue to update these pages as I press along with editing. The release date for the film is somewhere just over the horizon (we're thinking somewhere around the end of February or the beginning of March). So, I'll continue editing the rough-cut of the film during evenings and put in extensive hours of frontal lobe scorching, weekend-long editing sessions until we've got something polished and pretty enough to put in front of a test audience. Then the real cutting will start. You can't please everyone... but I don't think that we'll have too many problems softening the stiff upper lips of those that get to see the "first cut." It's a funny film... probably more amusing than we had anticipated.
The future? We'll run it through the gauntlet of film festivals and search for someone out there willing to distribute it. I'm not looking to get rich (even though that would be nice... which reminds me that I still have to check my powerball tickets)... I merely want people to share the joy in watching the film. I know that at some time, the money will eventually be there. We still need some cash to get the thing pressed to DVD. Anyone got a few extra bucks? I'll put together a coffee can beggar's cup and start collecting donations... want me to dance a gig?... I'll sing you a Bob Dylan song if you like...
Update when I can...

HERE ARE YOUR THREADS FOR THE WEEK:

BEVAN: Why pay five cups for a buck of coffee...
-- I know how to screw up lines.
ANTHONY: Look, I'm trying to get it up.
--as funny as it might sound he was actually talking about a computer.

-B