Pre-Thanksgiving

Hooray for friends!

Karen and Kat being total weirdos and pretending to fly in Ryan's livingroom. I'm copying Karen's earlier post for those of you who've already seen our stunning flying photos. And no, these are not stunt people.

Michael Pitt - Actor Crush

Speaking of crushes, my husband knows that there's only one actor that leaves me weak. That I'd kill to work with. (Besides Kate Winslet)

Yeah, it probably started because of the resemblance to River Phoenix. I had a mad crush on Mr. Phoenix back in the day. Still do. I took notice of Michael Pitt's quiet, boyish charm and subtle acting chops in Dawson's Creek long ago. And then Hedwig and the Angry Inch came along. That sealed the deal. And then Bully, Murder By Numbers, The Dreamers, Last Days and now Funny Games. The list of directors he's worked with is basically all of the living greats. He's smart. He's got crazy talent and he's smart about the choices he makes. I had a goal to work with River Phoenix in a movie before he died. It'd be pretty awesome to someday work with Mr. Pitt.

Buffy Sightings

I'm sitting here watching some cop/detective/murder myster show half heartedly while I work and there's James Marsters, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh, Spike. I had such a crush on the bad boy vampire in the last season of Buffy.

I just recently began revisiting Buffy. I love it so much. I miss the Scooby gang. I used to follow them everywhere they went.

Sundance Kids

Congrats to all of the kids heading to Park City this year. A special congrats to the Duplass Brothers for Baghead, the Zellner Brothers for Goliath, Jen, Reuben and Alan for Half Life and Ms. Brown for The Order of Myths.

The Orphanage Trailer

I'm very, very, very, very excited.

Ola Podrida Music Videos by David Lowery and Todd Rohal

Click on the picture for David Lowery's take on Ola Podrida's Eastbound.

Here's a link to Todd Rohal's take on Ola Podrida's Lost and Found.

Lastly, I can't go without plugging the Zellners video for The Octopus Project.

Here's to the indie world of music videos!

Joe O'Connell and Gary Kent in Taylor

What: The film RAINY DAY FRIENDS with writer/director Gary Kent and star Chuck Bail (The Big Valley, Beverly Hillbillies, Baywatch Nights, The Stuntman) in attendance. The film stars Bail and Esai Morales as two cancer patients who break out of the hospital and learn from each other. It's funny, heartwarming and has one of the best stunts ever.

A brief reading from Taylor resident Joe O'Connell's novel set in a hospice, EVACUATION PLAN, which was recently the No. 1 bestseller at Austin's BookPeople.

Music by Gilbert Wildin (this is the correct spelling) of the Austin Blues Daddies.

When: Sunday, Dec. 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the Howard Theater in Taylor

Why: To benefit Hospice Austin's Williamson County branch. Faye Wright, the nurse who started the branch, died just two weeks ago herself in hospice care. Gary Kent's wife Tomi Barrett, who coproduced his film and stars as a nurse in it, died in hospice care two years ago. Joe O'Connell's novel is loosely inspired by time spent volunteering for Hospice Austin.

What hospice does: Provides comfort in final days and puts the dying in charge of the end of their lives, while allowing them to say a proper goodbye.

Suggested donation: $15 which includes a copy of the novel (cover price $13.95). The theater is also offering a $2 special for a popcorn and a soft drink.

Spiders in Tubs, Spring Break Shenanigans

I've been doing another rewrite of SITB for the past week. I was up way late last night talking the whole thing out loud and probably annoying the hell out of Mark. I like where it's at now. There's more meaning and reasoning behind it. We're doing a casual read through with friends on Friday to get last minute feedback before we put together the budget and work on the casting. We're moving forward on this one. Started some conversations, making some moves. Crazy, cool, old school Michael Jackson moves.

Had a good meeting with Christian this morning. Storie's teaming up with the Austin Film Society to do a Kid's Spring Break Film Camp. Have I mentioned before how much I love Christian. He's the man when it comes to film youth education. He helped me put together my whole Ann Richards Film Club. I think he rules. We have other schemes underway as well.

In other news ... FOA is coming along. We have some meetings with alternative schools and want to have it in full force by the end of January.

Our Austin School of Film students are kicking ass in post production right now. They're embracing the editing process and feedback. I love watching their projects grow. And how excited they get. It's awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing my Ann Richards girls tomorrow. Only silly fun to come.

Too much food.

Project Runway and America's Next Top Model Reruns

Playing in the magical forest and finding magical seeds with Bella (my BFF).

The Mist = yeah, not so good. I love the idea of it (minus the other dimension), but the execution isn't so great.

No Country for Old Men = Not as good as the book, but definitely one of my top 5 of the year.

Experimental Aircraft - Symphony

We used Experimental Aircraft's song Symphony in jumping off bridges. In a note from Rachel Staggs:

After 10 years of being a band (10 years last month!), Experimental Aircraft is 1 of 10 nominees for Best Video on Austin's new Music Network, ME Television. The video is for Symphony - directed by Nicole Barnette! We are ONE of TEN nominees for BEST VIDEO!

Check the video out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLxssyCZyXM

PLEASE VOTE for our video!!!!!! http://www.metelevision.com/awards/

Austin Spring Film Classes

SPRING SCRIPT TO SCREEN WORKSHOP
Starts January 22nd - April 21st
Tuesdays, 6:30pm - 9:00p
FINAL SCREENING - April 26th

SPRING TEEN FILMMAKING WORKSHOP
Starts January 21st - April 20th
Mondays, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
FINAL SCREENING - April 26th

The Austin School of Film
(906 E. 5th Street, Suite 106)
Tuition - $550
For more information: www.storieproductions.com or www.austinfilmschool.org
To register, go here.

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
These hands-on courses will take you through the process of making a short film from script to screen . Learn everything you need to know from screenwriting, shooting, scheduling, marketing, sound, directing, festivals ... Each class will be broken into small filmmaking teams. Each team will produce a short film using digital video technology. The classes will feature guest speakers from the Austin Film Community on cameras, lighting and other elements of filmmaking.

The Worker - Stills (courtesy of Ms. Schoolfield)

Here are a bunch of stills from the set of The Worker. It's currently in post production being pieced together. Stacy took all of these. Kinda gives a little glimpse into our days on set.

Anne Nabors as The Worker - Day 1

The Worker - Day 2

The Worker - Day 3

The Worker - Day 3

The Worker - Day 5

The Worker - Day 5

Shooting Anne throwing paper in the air.

Tai and Kat framing up a shot.

Greg and Kat figuring out a shot.

Scott, we're so glad we found you!

Our snow tearing committee ... Alexis, David Lowery, Mark and Nisha.

Alexis prepping the set for Day 5.

Snow Patrol = Nisha and Gina. We'll be adding more paper snow in post production.

Gina, the best paper thrower ever!

Meg, script supervisor extraordinaire.

Mr. Chris Mass gets ready to play The Boss.

Shooting through a transparency. We'll see how it works.

Our freestanding window. We learned a lot about shooting through windows. I love that window so much.

This weird shot we did with the clock floating in the air. I like our taped contraption.

Nisha standing in.

And me standing in.

Family, Big Love and Dan in Real Life

I spent most of the weekend with family. And most of the weekend watching movies and television about family. I've been a bit of a hermit lately. I think I'm having major social phobias for some weirdo reason. It's funny because that's normally Mark's issue. And now it's mine. Huh.

So I spent much of Saturday with my niece, nephew, sister and brother in law, hanging from trees, playing Ring Around the Rosy, watching Ratatouille and listening to Bella get scolded for putting popcorn kernels up her nose. Noah's getting so big and is starting to stand on his own. It's been cool watching the major accomplishments of the little ones. Noah standing, Theo walking. Sunday I spent the afternoon with my other sister in law at the movies. We caught Dan in Real Life. I really liked it. Cried, laughed, drank too much soda and had to miss 5 minutes (I hate that). It's not a perfect movie. It's pretty predictable and I'm not the biggest Dane Cooke fan in the world. But it's sweet. And I've been a big fan of Peter Hedges since What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Amy and I chatted afterwards about how we wish the holidays were here already so we could hang out with our families. The older I get, the more important it becomes.

Oh yeah, and I watched a bunch of Big Love. Family .... well, a different kind of family, but family nonetheless.

Ann Richard's School Girls ...

... rule! Natalie and Christian came to help out today. Jessica started editing The Bloody Tale with Natalie's help, while the rest of the gang including 4 newbies shot the Untitled Imaginary Animal Project. They're silly and goofy and man, oh man are they fun. So today involved fainting, lots of extras and pen stabbing. Allison took the helm as director and little Rina took charge with the camera. We only got through about 1/3 of the film. We'll have to pick it up after Thanksgiving. I can't wait.

New Day Films - Check #2

We got our October check from New Day Films. Woohoo! We only sold 5 copies, but at $100 - $250 each, it was a nice check. We have yet to do any advertising or major publicity pushes. Our brochures our printed, but we're waiting until January to send them out. We're holding off until after the holidays. So that money goes toward paying off more debt. We're chiseling away at it. Little by little.

So yeah, if you're a university professor or know professors, ask them to request a copy of the film through their library. Every little bit helps.

We're headed to West Palm Beach on December 5th. Stacy and I will be there for 24 hours. Long enough to introduce the film, do a Q&A and hopefully sell some DVDs.

Back in the office, back in the classes, back in the game.

Girl's Weekend Photos

The Little Man.

Ama, Kelly Rae and Maya.

Amasita and the luscious Tanya Barr.

We randomly took a photo on Carrie Bradshaw's stoop. We didn't realize until an hour later when a huge line had formed to take a photo on that very stoop. Weird.

Dear Karen, how hard must I try to convince you to move back to Austin?

Kelly Rae, Amasita, Karen, Me and Clare at Clare's kick ass apartment.

Strolling through the West Village.

All the ladies (and the little man).

I'm home. Things are good.

NYC - Day 6, Day 7, My Birthday

Today's my birthday. I turn 33. I can't remember if that's a good year or not. Kurt and Karen devised some system to figure out which years were the good ones long ago. 27 was supposed to be a good one. And 23, I think too. So yeah, crossing my fingers for 33. Karen and Ralph are asleep as I sit here in their Brooklyn apartment writing, pondering. Clare, Kelly and Ama are in the West Village headed to Whole Foods to grab some grub for brunch. I'm not anxious to get home today. I want to see my boy and my PC, but there are things that I'd rather continue to escape from up here rather than facing down there.

I've spent the last day and a half dancing at 2 in the morning to Ride, Adorable, Dinosaur Jr ... reminiscing, hugging on my girls, talking about life and love and children. Getting to see Maya and Tanya Barr, crying because I miss them, because I miss all of my girls. I miss the days of simplicity and silliness. As the years have gone by and we grow older and more complicated, so do our relationships and our friendships. Sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. It bums me out. I guess that's what happens. It's strange because my 30s have been wonderful and all, but I feel like the older I get, the more tangled things become. Maybe not everyone's like that. But then they'd be liars. I wish I could sit in the livingroom chatting with my girls over DDP and DC way more often than we get to. Our friendships run deep. Since junior high. But sadly we're literally all over the edges of the country. And in all honesty, I'm terrible with the phone.

I wish I weren't going home today. I wish I could spend the day in Central Park with everybody. But then Kelly goes home tomorrow and then Ama and things will go back to normal. But for me, normal has to change a little. I've got to make a few tweaks.

So yeah, today's my birthday. I'm feeling a little low. A bit sad. I want to hop on the L train to Clare's house and get some much needed hugs. Right now, this whole week has very much felt like home to me.

NYC - Day 5 1/2 (Late Night Silliness)

Karen says that these photos need no explanation.