The first setback

I suppose it was optimism that led me to believe that Ashio was going to be smooth sailing from one end to the other. I will admit, the gloss and glory of taking a dive off the deep end into a pool where foreign waters and languages flow freely is quite a captivating dream and at this point, makes me realize that that was a dream. No matter what, this isn’t a dream. this isn’t play time. This is a job and there is a lot of work that goes into something like this. I should have learned my lesson on Cold Winter, when the stars aligned and I made mountains out of snowballs. The work involved in this is going to be as much as Cold Winter, and even more.

At about 4am I received noticed that my project was not accepted into the Tokyo project Gathering portion of the Tiffcom market we are attending. That was a stretch and was one of the big high hopes phases of this process so far. The TPG selects a handful of projects submitted and essentially highlights them and tailor makes your Tiffcom experience to get you prime location, prime meetings. Everything a small picture like mine needs. It was a big leap and a big hope. I have never had to make a presentation on paper such as I had with this application, so it was a bit difficult for me. Many projects are semi-on their way into production, where I am strongly at the disadvantage of not being budgeted. Not having actors attached. Not having a foreign or domestic foothold. BIG things that would have helped push us over the top to get us a seat at TPG. I had never had to write up an application such as this one. I was nervous about my synopsis. Perhaps I rushed the application. It was rough.

No time to worry about that though. If there were mistakes made, it doesn’t matter now. The picture will shine through. The salesman in me will have to get to work and get down to business in the land of the rising.

Like I said before, last week we held the first production team meeting. From there the demands for artists went out. The call for actors also went out. The call for actors has not turned up so much, since I was looking locally, for actors that really don’t exist in this area. Last night I took a walk down to my waterfalls and the movie started to form around me. I saw visions of things I haven’t seen before on this film. Thanks to my cat, who after 12 years of being a house cat deciddd that she wanted to take a step outside and become an outdoor cat to see what the wild wilderness held for her. I think she had been spoiled by the capture and torture of two known rodent related bypasses, inside the house and decided it was time to up her game. Funny thing, when the sun went down and it got dark, she got hungry and prowled her way back to the dish of food we had set out for her.

In my search for her, I crawled down the treacherous cliff side slope and even though I have been down there tens of times already since we moved in, I began to see the area in cinescope and let the world flow around me. I should have taken my gut and followed it and grabbed the camera to film it. The only problem was, I had no actors to fill the roles of the echoes and shadows that danced through the green mosses and weeds of the murky water and dried up stream. So, soon, that will happen. Whether I can find the appropriate actors or not. Even if I have people in silhouette clothes and push them to re-enact my vision from a distance.

With that, will be the beginning of my presentation and teaser. Test footage. That’s how I started Cold Winter. That’s how this will begin as well. I have no choice. it’s the only way I can make this happen the right way.