Rosamunde Pilcher & WISDOM by Andrew Zuckerman

"I'm writing for women, basically. And a lot of women lead pretty dreary lives, and they're stuck up in a high-rise flat with a kid, or they're maybe in some lonely little farmhouse with no running water, or something miserable. They've found your book or they've bought a cheap copy in the supermarket. You want to take them on a sort of journey. You are bringing them into your own environment.

It's lovely when you're really in a good writing mood, when everything you do turns into fiction as you're doing it. It's not black-and-white photography, but really lovely color. It makes life much more interesting because all the time that you're living it, you're embroidering and turning it into something else. You go to a rather dull party and you meet a cracking character, maybe a poisonous, bad person- or a nice person- but a really good person to write about. And all of those things make life very entertaining."

- Rosamunde Pilcher, International Best-Selling Author

I came across this quote in Andrew Zuckerman's newest book, WISDOM. It is the most beautiful book I have ever been blessed enough to read. In it's pages are the wisdom of numerous men and women over the age of 70 - everyone from Clint Eastwood (cover shot) to Desmond Tutu, from Bill Withers, to Madeline Albright. Simply turning the page left me close to tears. If only we all could make 5% of the impact these men and women have made - wouldn't the world be a better place?

Do yourself a favor and get this book- there is also an amazing documentary that comes with it. You can learn more about the book here:

http://www.wisdombook.org/

And more about Andrew Zuckerman here:

http://www.andrewzuckerman.com/

I'm sitting here thinking the same question many of you are probably thinking... what does this book have to do with our feature film? I think the answer is this: inspiration comes in so many forms - and this text is something that truly inspires me to want to be a better person and use my creativity for good...

"Inspiration is for amateurs, most of us just show up and get to work." - Chuck Close

If inspiration is for amateurs then I'm the 1st grader in Quantum Physics.

Till next time,
Traci

p.s. we've set deadlines - 1st cut of the film: September 26th.

And you would think the hard part was done...

OH-MY-GOODNESS we did it!

I said this to my cast and crew as well - but I honestly cannot believe what started as a few notes in a composition book over 8 months ago and a conversation at the Clinton Hill Diner in Fort Greene (so good; so cheap awesome place for writing, FYI) has actually become a real tangible film! To be a part of this incredible process, with the best writer and director I could have ever imagined, has truly been a blessing for me.

Now the real work begins.

We have a feature to shoot ladies and gentlemen, and a lot of work still to do. I think we're going about it the right way though. We've decided between the three of us to allocate responsibilities. Jane is going to handle the festivals circuits, competition entries, and general film awareness. I'm going to be working on the business proposal - and our director is going to FINISH THE FILM (which is kind of important of course!).

The thing I'm most excited for is actually getting out there and networking with some amazing production companies and financiers. I spent a week in London at an NFTS workshop where all we did (mostly) was work on pitching exercises. I must have pitched to close to 25 people in the span of 5 days. Intense, but well worth it... hopefully I can put to good use what I learned.

Okay, I'm outtie. I'm going to leaving you with an article from Entertainment Weekly by Mark Harris (if the darn thing uploads) to keep in mind one of the focuses of this blog.

See you at the movies (I know I totally stole that.)

-Traci

Day One of Shooting!

And the short film is shot! From August 14th to the 18th, we completed principle photography on the tentatively titled "Ten Second Exposure." Four twelve hours days in which we managed to shuttle from NYC to Long Island, to farther out in Long Island, and ending up in New Jersey. Thankfully, there were no major mishaps, so we lucked out there.

Mumblecore, Alicia Keys, and the Friendship Deficit.

I'm Jane, the writer...Thanks for checking in, and joining us

in this process. 

I read once that Alicia Keys said "The key to songwriting

for me is just honesty. It resonates with people." And I  love

that, because I know that personally I can definitely sense the

difference between films written with stereotypical characters

and films that written from real experience. Specifically, I’m

talking about women’s roles. And when I find a film that 

captures a true female perspective and experience, it's rare,

unexpected and wonderful. And I think seeing the success of

films like Sex and the City proves that there's an audience

starved to see female centric films. 

In terms of stereotypes, I think of Sex and the City (and 

while, I enjoyed the movie) which definitely catered to a

particular audience, and portrayed one type of female.

Someone with whom I could not fully relate. That film seems

to make me nostalgic for a world I've never been a part of.

But that being said, it did capture some of the inner workings

of female friendship, and that was a start.

You know when you see a movie, and there's a character dealing

with something you're dealing with, and intrinsically, something

feels wrong? You feel disconnected with this character though 

you're going through the same thing?

I hate that feeling.  That was one of my main motivators in

writing this film. I was watching so many people I knew fall

into deep depressions, more than would seem average. And

then, so many of us were having problems with childhood 

friends we were becoming emotionally distant from. That’s the 

place and the emotions I wrote from.

One of the reason I fell in love the mumblecore* (shudder)

genre movies, is that sense of realness and honesty. While I 

didn't absolutely, 100% relate to these films, these characters 

were more in-line with people I knew, emotions I was

experiencing. I talk particularly of Andrew Bujalski's

Funny Ha Ha. Yes, perhaps plot is somewhat lacking,

but I overlooked that for characters that felt alive and unlike

people my age had been portrayed on screen before.

I was recently reading an article on the Huffington Post

about friendship, and the author, Irene Levine, had used the

term “Friendship Deficit” in describing our society’s friendship

habits. And it felt perfectly fitting. We seem to be starved for

meaningful, close friendship. Anyhow, it reminded me of my

daydreams of reconnecting with friends from my past

- friends who have shaped me in innumerable, inexpressible ways.

And ultimately of what I hope this film to be, a movie about

friendships, our ties to our old relationships, and the people

we become when our past can no longer anchor us.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore

The First of Many...

Hello-

For anyone who has ever visited this page you're probably wondering what its all about. I met my friend Jane (fellow blogger) when we both worked for a film studio in the city here. From there we became roommates, and the rest is history. Jane and I share the same belief that there just aren't enough film projects out there that are female-driven. There are amazing women writers (Naomi Foner, Allison Burnett, even Diablo Cody) and there are amazing female directors (Nora Ephron, Isabel Coixet, Debra Granik) but so few of them are able to break into the box office eshalons of their male counterparts (Scorcese, Speilberg, Lucas, Crowe, Scott, Nolan... this list goes on and on...). It is however, a fact that Hollywood is starting to acknowledge... but more on that later. What this blog is really about is the journey that Jane and I are taking to make a film that speaks powerfully to women of all ages while creating awareness about women in film and all that comes with that.

So here it is: TEN SECOND EXPOSURE (a working title of course) is the story of always organized, unemotional Hannah- who cruises through her monotonous life with her blackberry and her pant suit until the day she gets a call from Nancy Montgomery, the mother of her estranged childhood best friend, Jo. Hannah is invited to join Nancy and her husband John at their home in Long Island to celebrate Jo’s 28th birthday. Hannah reluctantly arrives to find that Joe has been living jobless off her parents, suffering from depression for the past nine months, and had no idea Hannah was even invited…

TEN SECOND EXPOSURE is actually a feature film script, written by Jane, that we have developed into a short film format. We're actually shooting TSE in August '08 in order to submit to festivals and secure further financing for the feature version that we aim to shoot next Summer '09 - and one of the reasons we decided to start this blog. We've got a great group of actors assembled after two weeks of some of the most grueling casting sessions - it was a tough decision but we think we found our Jo and our Hannah and are looking forward to bringing this film to fruition.

With days to go until shooting things are finally starting to fall into place. Our equipment is loaded, our locations are locked, the permits are in place, our caterers are set, the actors are excited, and the crew... well they can't believe they're doing another short film for free post-graduation!

We'll have lots of pictures to share and many stories to tell as the days of shooting go by - now for me, it's off to my parent's house to pick through my childhood memories and find those precious objects that'll bring Jo's adolescent-revisited bedroom back to life... Backstreet Boys poster here I come!

Later y'all,
Traci