as predicted six months earlier
Dear Travis:
Congratulations! It is our pleasure to inform you that the Regional Arts & Culture Council is awarding funds for your Artistic Focus (AF) Project Grant proposal...
And so began the letter I got in the mail this morning, pulled from a rain-dampened mailbox as I rushed out the door, late for work and annoyed with myself (sleep, you've been more an adversary than usual lately: hard to chase down, harder to hold onto). I was awarded about 87% of what I asked for, which if I do it right (and if I remember the numbers I worked out some time back) should be plenty to finish Open "professionally." Meaning: professional sound design, color timing, transfer to HD, and distribution to festivals.
It's a lot of money, and I guess I earned it? It feels like a pretty big deal, my first grant. The ability to finish a film, my art, without having to beg, borrow, steal, or sweet-talk the parents. Go me.
However, five hours later while at work I got the following email:Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for submitting ELLIPSIS to our 2009 January Screenwriters Lab. Unfortunately, I'm writing with the disappointing news that your project was not selected for the Lab. Please be assured that the film was carefully considered by our entire team. We received many original and compelling projects to consider for very few available spaces; we had to make some difficult choices, and unfortunately your project didn’t make it into our final mix of material.
So, as predicted, I got some love for Open and no love for Ellipsis. The nice thing is, I can always quietly loudly and vehemently blame Christian Slater for ruining my shot this year, even if I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my script had copious room for improvement.
So 2009 will not see me spending time in Utah working on a script about doppelgangers, but it will see me recommitting to my last 16mm project and putting my film out into the world. Again: go me.
Tonight I'm at my parents' place for a while, winding down from an easy-but-somehow-exhausting week of work and not-sleep. Tomorrow night, Laika's Christmas party, where Melissa and I will be sharing a single date, Andy. Sunday morning, I help Andy move in to his new place in N Portland. And then, it's back to Monday.
I'm inclined to say today whizzed by, but then I'd feel obliged to point out the whole week whizzed by. At that point I'd wonder why not just say, what happened to November and October and so on. The truth is, 2008 has felt like a whirlwind. Where oh where does all that time go.
2009 is right around the corner, and I'd love by the end of it to have Open (and others?) in festivals, working actively on a feature (not just a script, in a perfect world, but [at least pre-]production), and you know what? I wouldn't mind a girlfriend, goddammit. I've been good. I deserve one of those. That's how it works, isn't it?
By 2010 I expect to have made a minimum of one feature film, live in New York or London or Shanghai or Paprotnia, drive around in a flying car, and eat all my meals in pill form.
It's like I tell people all the time: all you need are goals, and deadlines.
Congratulations! It is our pleasure to inform you that the Regional Arts & Culture Council is awarding funds for your Artistic Focus (AF) Project Grant proposal...
And so began the letter I got in the mail this morning, pulled from a rain-dampened mailbox as I rushed out the door, late for work and annoyed with myself (sleep, you've been more an adversary than usual lately: hard to chase down, harder to hold onto). I was awarded about 87% of what I asked for, which if I do it right (and if I remember the numbers I worked out some time back) should be plenty to finish Open "professionally." Meaning: professional sound design, color timing, transfer to HD, and distribution to festivals.
It's a lot of money, and I guess I earned it? It feels like a pretty big deal, my first grant. The ability to finish a film, my art, without having to beg, borrow, steal, or sweet-talk the parents. Go me.
However, five hours later while at work I got the following email:Dear Travis,
Thank you so much for submitting ELLIPSIS to our 2009 January Screenwriters Lab. Unfortunately, I'm writing with the disappointing news that your project was not selected for the Lab. Please be assured that the film was carefully considered by our entire team. We received many original and compelling projects to consider for very few available spaces; we had to make some difficult choices, and unfortunately your project didn’t make it into our final mix of material.
So, as predicted, I got some love for Open and no love for Ellipsis. The nice thing is, I can always quietly loudly and vehemently blame Christian Slater for ruining my shot this year, even if I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my script had copious room for improvement.
So 2009 will not see me spending time in Utah working on a script about doppelgangers, but it will see me recommitting to my last 16mm project and putting my film out into the world. Again: go me.
Tonight I'm at my parents' place for a while, winding down from an easy-but-somehow-exhausting week of work and not-sleep. Tomorrow night, Laika's Christmas party, where Melissa and I will be sharing a single date, Andy. Sunday morning, I help Andy move in to his new place in N Portland. And then, it's back to Monday.
I'm inclined to say today whizzed by, but then I'd feel obliged to point out the whole week whizzed by. At that point I'd wonder why not just say, what happened to November and October and so on. The truth is, 2008 has felt like a whirlwind. Where oh where does all that time go.
2009 is right around the corner, and I'd love by the end of it to have Open (and others?) in festivals, working actively on a feature (not just a script, in a perfect world, but [at least pre-]production), and you know what? I wouldn't mind a girlfriend, goddammit. I've been good. I deserve one of those. That's how it works, isn't it?
By 2010 I expect to have made a minimum of one feature film, live in New York or London or Shanghai or Paprotnia, drive around in a flying car, and eat all my meals in pill form.
It's like I tell people all the time: all you need are goals, and deadlines.