Greetings friends,
Still rocking out during week 6 (I think?? / who can keep track / what is time) of the Wild Inside theatrical. TODAY I am going back to New Plaza (Upper West Side) for a Q&A + doing a Zoom Q&A in Minneapolis! UPCOMING Q&As are: Nitehawk (Park Slope), Syndicated (Bushwick) + MoMI (Queens); Upstate in Catskill / Chatham; + Salt Lake City. WILD INSIDE is one of the best films of the year according to IndieWire, Vulture and ArtsFuse. Here is where you can still see it on the big screen, with friends.
IN OTHER NEWS — and then I promise I’ll get to the advertised purpose of this newsletter — I announced a new film project this week!!! Obviously more on that in due course, but for now the reason we announced in the first place: WE NEED YOUR FOOTAGE/PHOTOS/STORIES of not just Happy in the Bronx Zoo — but also 6 other elephants. Collectively this group was known as “the 7 Dwarfs” at Lion Country Safari in early 1970s Florida. Then they were split up and lived all over the country at zoos, circuses and other venues. Home movies and memories of your personal encounters are both great examples of what we need! Check the website to learn more about when/where each elephant lived.
Meanwhile, in other movie-making news: after what feels like FOREVER, I recently started a new edit. HALLELUJAH!
If I don’t have an edit in progress I truly do not feel I am making a movie yet
For various quirks of my schedule / money / other pesky realities, I have not had a creative edit going for 9+ months. (By “creative edit,” I mean picture editing, as opposed to all the post work that comes later — online, sound, etc.)
Ugh! I have felt UTTERLY BEREFT AND LOST DURING THIS TIME because as much as I have learned to love production, I never feel like I’m RESOLVING anything in production. I am ONLY TRYING STUFF OUT… until it’s in the timeline.
It’s been soooooo damn long since I sat in a room with an editor squinting at index cards on the wall that I’m feeling unusually reflective on the process. So here is what I’ve learned about how to START an edit: what to do first, what to look for in that first screening pass, and how to begin turning that pile of footage into a MOVIE…