More Wrap Up

This is me on set.

I have to say I'm surprised, though I'm not sure why, that it's taking so long to wrap up this project. I'm still finishing up paperwork everyday. I think that at this point it's less about being in slow motion and more about just not realizing how much wrap I had. I spent the afternoon trying to clean up the side patio. Much to my surprise, I discovered a science experiment in the freezer of the unplugged refrigerator that's been sitting out there since easter. During the shoot we'd placed a bunch of bread in the freezer. It was turned on then. Now it was turned off. The mold was unbelievable.

So I didn't quite get through everything out there but I did make a dent.

The other day Bryan and I went with Alison to see a screening of a documentary her friend had cut. It was awesome. It's called the First Saturday in May - about the Kentucky Derby of course. It's not released yet, but it will be soon, I'm sure. And when it is you should rent it. Trust me. Or check out their website www.thefirstsaturdayinmay.com

That's it for now.

Thanks Mom

My mom came and fed the crew while we were shooting. The fact that we made it through the shoot is largely due to her tuna sandwiches. She kept the crew happy even in the middle of the night way past her usual bedtime. Our DP had his daily gallon of fresh home-brewed iced tea because of her, not to mention the hours she spent shopping and lugging groceries. So while Greg proved himself to be a good brother on set (You are too Jeff - you just happened to be on a different continent at the time) Mom proved to be the best mom ever. And dad proved to be the best dad with his dadness throughout.

That's why my family is awesome. Because even when we don't ask for it - they come and help. But that's no surprise. They are Mosers afterall.

I'm Back!

I know you all missed me terribly. And I also realize that it's been a good solid while since I've posted. In my defense, I did warn you that I was going on movie-making sabbatical. And went I did. And now I've returned to the land of blogging most days. My garden is overrun with grass and tomatoes, my files are bursting with recipes-to-try and the Lotus Festival is just next weekend. I had to come back!

So here's a recap of what you missed in my life over the past few months:

Bryan and I shot a feature film. No one died or got hurt so it was a major success. Now we're moving into post after I finish wrapping this week.

That's pretty much it, as making the movie put the rest of my life on hold.

There are a ton of pictures from the shoot, but here are a few that happened to end up on my computer. I'll post more in the future.

all hail the almighty blackberry - this is what I looked like for most of the shoot

Mel - aka Set Dog, playing with the crew

Greg lounging around on set (this may be the only picture like this because he was normally running around being pretty much the greatest brother/transpo captain/everything assistant the world has ever known

Our expressions pretty much say it all. I hadn't slept in week. Bryan was in heaven. Go figure.

This is my Melba Toast impression. It's how she looked for most of the shoot. I'm actually hiding from the crew and sleeping in the back of Greg's car while they all shoot our gun shot effects. Of course we were in the parking structure of a hospital, so I figured if something went wrong they'd know where to go.

Ah shooting. From bum fights to dinner in the stinky LA river...it's amazing we all lived to shoot another day.

Hiatus

I am back from Washington DC, and have been for weeks. The movie is overwhelming all other aspects of my life, especially blogging. So I'm taking a hiatus until we're finished shooting (end of June), that way I won't feel guilty for not writing daily. Sorry...do come back. I promise I'll have lots of fun recipes and garden pix then.

Off to DC

I leave tonight for Washington DC. And no I'm not planning a protest, though I ought to get some protesting in while I'm there...

actually I'm going to gather public domain footage from the National Archives. See you all on the flip side!

All the News...

I have been writing...just not here. Sorry. I know I haven't been very good about blogging this week. A lot of other things have been going on, I'll try to list them in order of importance.

1) We finally (FINALLY!) got enough commitments from investors to move forward with our feature film project. It's called PRESENCE. I just paid our attorney his retainer and he's drawing up the official paperwork as I write this. Needless to say, after about three years of working towards this, Bryan and I are pretty excited. This leads me to tell anyone who's interested that we'll begin blogging about our filmmaking experience. Last summer I planned to do this on our Drifter Pictures blog. The same first blog is still there. This will be updated soon.

2) I'm finally (FINALLY!) almost finished with my novel. I've been working on it since last summer and last weekend my mom came to LA to spend a couple of days editing it with me. She was incredibly helpful and I have one final polish to do, probably this weekend, before I start sending it out to agents and publishers. I know most writers would take longer on their polish but the fact is I don't sweat the small stuff. I like to move forward, and besides, it's a teen mystery novel, not exactly Graham Greene material.

3) I am an official SAT tutor. I can teach you how to take the SATs, and how to improve your score. It's taken a bit of prep time to do this, but now I'm just waiting to be assigned my first students.

4) Our neighbors are moving to Austin. While I'm sad to see Polly and Charlie go because I like them a lot, this will mean that Mel now has the backyard. She is thrilled. We had kept her somewhat confined before because we share a yard with the front house and Polly was allergic to dogs, but now, the landlord is telling all the potential tenants that Mel has free reign in the yard. It's nice when landlords are cool like that. We've really lucked out with this place.

5) I haven't been cooking or gardening lately (see #'s 1, 2 & 3) so I've been lacking in the material for this site. Things are beginning to feel like they're settling down, and finishing my novel will help, so I'm sure I'll be returning to these, or at least to cooking, very very soon.

In the indomitable spirit of the NY Times: That's all the News that's Fit to Print.

Road Trip Down Memory Highway

I haven't posted in awhile. This is not because I haven't wanted to nor that I haven't had material. I've been to Las Vegas and San Francisco, logging at least 1400 miles in the past week, and I've been trying to put together a solid schedule and budget for our new movie. So I've been a little busy. And I continue to be busy, and so I am not using this post to show you pictures of Thanksgiving, though they are fun. You'll have to wait for those.

Instead, for this post I am stealing the work of our friend Kevin Obsatz, who just posted an interview of Bryan and I on his website. Check it out...

HOCKEY MOVIE

In May he came to LA and interviewed a bunch of us kids who went to film school with him. The idea is that he's going to periodically interview us about what's going on and thus create a sort of film school version of the 7UP series.

As you will see in this video, apparently I talk a lot. My memory of the interview was not that I took over, though it's not beyond the realm of reasonable belief that I did.

Enjoy our story of how not to shoot a movie in Canada.

Scouting for Angeles

Bryan 's most recent script, the one that it's looking like we'll go into preproduction on in January, is called Presence. It's about a guy running away from his (literal) demons as he follows a path along the LA River that relates to the river he followed as a young boy with his brother when they were running away and something happened to create the demons that now plague him.

Bryan Hearts Power Lines & Telephone Poles

After seeing the movie LA PLAYS ITSELF, which is a documentary about how Los Angeles is portrayed in movies and television, Bryan decided that he wants to make the film as geographically accurate as possible. So yesterday we went on a mini scout to find the beginning of the LA River. Actually we knew where it started but didn't want to follow the main canal into the valley so instead we headed up to the Angeles National Forest, where the Tujunga Wash begins. The Tujunga Wash eventually connects to the LA River at a golf course, which we thought might be cool.

Mel appreciates the view of the Tujunga Dam

At any rate, we drove into the mountains and found the Tujunga Dam, which is a big one and we were sad to see that the road that leads to the dam is blocked off and for official trucks only.

Bryan tries to convince us the power lines are cool, Mel's not buying it

Still, the drive was lovely and we stopped many times to check out drainage pipes and power lines. Bryan loves power lines. Mel loves sticking her head out the window.

Manzanita - my favorite Cal forest plant

I've haven't spent much time in the Angeles National Forest so it was fun to just drive around and check out campsites and get a sense of the mountains. Sometimes all you need is to get above the smog line and breath some fresh air and see some native plants to make you feel better about the world.

Mel sticks her tongue out at the camera - that's my girl!

Mel loved the drive, especially after we rolled down the windows for her to stick her head out so her ears could flap in the wind. When we'd stop she'd hop out and start sniffing, but she'd stay very close to us, like she wanted to make sure we weren't tricking her and trying to release her back into the wild. I think she was a little relieved when we got home. She certainly snored like she was content.

Roots reaching out for us as we drive by

It was cold up there; low 50s, but it was that perfect crisp and sunny weather that 's my favorite. After a few hours of driving up and down dirt roads we stopped at the Hidden Vally Cafe on the side of the road for a late lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and root beer. Never had it tasted better.

The Hidden Valley Cafe

We checked out a few more roads on our way home and then got caught behind some road construction. They were laying down new asphalt so one lane was completely blocked. By the time the cars coming the other direction had passed by us there were at least 30 cars behind us. We were excited to be the first car behind the official pilot car. It's the little things in life...

We'll follow you anywhere!

We may end up shooting some of the kids scenes in the forest instead of going to another state or to the desert. The thing about the Angeles National Forest is that it literally takes 15 minutes to get there from our house. We're also talking about possibly going camping at one of the sites next weekend. It was beautiful and empty and peaceful, and the PCT passed right by it. We'll see though, thus far our record of successful camping trips has been slightly pathetic. Maybe this park will turn it around.

When I got home I was reading the LA Weekly Best of LA edition and there was our trip, laid out in a map as one of the best mini road trips you can take within LA. I felt cool, because we figured it out without their help.

I SHOT TOM PETTY

Last night Tom Petty decided that he didn't want to be filmed by us for the DVD that we're making of these concerts. So Production gave the camera guys the night off, only they needed someone to run three of the cameras for the giant video screens for the crowd.


This is me running one of those cameras.


The producers decided they'd give the PAs their time in the spotlight so here Ed (the Coordinater) and I are shooting Petty. On our headsets (cans) there's a director backstage telling us what to do and saying things like "Ready Camera 2, Go Camera 2....3 pull out for wide...1 Camera 2-shot". Everyone decided that since Petty was being lame about us filming, they'd show him by putting the least experienced people on camera and directing the show. The funny part was that the show ended up looking really good on the screens.


That's the stage in the background. 30,000 people watched as I followed Petty around. AND Stevie Nicks came out and joined him for some songs. SUCH AN AWESOME SHOW, mostly because Ed and I are such rock stars.

More about this whole thing will follow, I just wanted to get these up fast!