Multiple Projects In Various Stages Of Development

Ha ha.
Standard Dov S-S Simens' nomenclature--
Ask any self-proclamined "Producer" what they're up to
& said title is what you get.
Something busy-bee you shout over your shoulder,
a verbal calabash you toss from your car
as you drive into the Hollywood sunshine.

Dov S-S Simens is something of an indie film guru,
weekend workshops and on-line advice columns
and "How To" filmmaking DVD's.
I TA'ed a couple of his classes when I volunteered @ BFVF
oh something like a million years ago.
Back from ignominious Chicago circa 1994
kicking around, unsure about the whole filmmaking thing.
The nuts n' bolts, the nitty-gritty...
if I had what it took.
And if I did, where did I take it?

Well, Dov's this Type A perpetual 40something
little Jewish guy. Sort of the Semitic Martin Scorsese.
Reminded me a film professor I had @ Ithaca,
the only practical guy there (oh but that's another litany).
The 2-day worshop is 16 jammed hours of "How To"
pre-production right through to distribution.
Dov refers to it many times as indie filmmaking bootcamp.
You will leave that conference room learned!

2nd weekend I TA'ed
some dodo from Friday locked the conference room door.
The clock's ticking to bright shiny 8AM
and Dov hasn't even set-up yet.
He's a pacing tiger,
on and on about how timed the class is.
Every minute of that 8 hour day counts
just like the next day and the next class etc.
He really does have it down,
there's no time for banter or informal Q&A...
when he's teaching it's like Mamet.
Each inflection, each jot of info is designated for effect...
there's no room for hour-long delay as I ring up
the Volunteer Coordinator.
I remember sweating it,
leaving voice messages for this person & that
as the "students" kept coming in,
amassing in the hall before the conference room.
And Dov popping into the front office,
checking in on me as I utilized phone & Roledex.

Finally, someone from BFVF showed up
& unlocked the door. Maybe 10-15 late start?
And Dov was off...a cannonblast of indie film logisitics.
Since I TA'ed I got to sit in for free,
maybe turn out the lights & switch on a projector...
or run for coffee.
Easy stuff. Dov didn't need much hand-holding.

That was the turning point for me. I filled
30 pages or so of notebook.
All the get-up-and-go I needed,
everything Ithaca never taught me
(oh but that's still another litany).
I left those weekends w/ another self-assurance
to chisel a chunk out of my 20's ie. "What I Did..."
I made a freakin' feature because Dov made it clear--
anyone can do this.
Seriously.
Anyone can be a director or actor or editor or
soundperson or producer.
There's no law school or medical internship
involved.
You say you're a filmmaker-- heck! you're a filmmaker
and here's how...
You're a producer? Really? What have you done?
What do you have going on?

"Multiple Projects In Various Stages of Development".

I have to remind myself of all this
with the goose egg of Sep 21st fast approaching.
The Globe even running an article on Sundance
& 75 years of film festivals last week.
A smudge in my eye, that.
But I am frantic crammed busy
just the way I like it--

cutting trailer for "AERODYNAMICS" (Sep '07)
VO recordings & 2nd Unit for "AERODYNAMICS"
(Sep '07 & Nov '07)
"Water and Wood" music video re-shoots & final edit
(Sep '07 & Oct '07)
"Sacrilege" music video pre-production & shoot
(Aug'07-Nov '07)
"Cinema Tickets" short play I'm directing for IB
(Sep '07)
website update (Oct '07)
Cast/Crew screening/"AERODYNAMICS" fundraiser
(Spring '08)

See? It's all getting done,
no one's paying me.
But I'm keeping my nose out.