Life of Kyle Prohaska

Today was the first time in a number of years that I spoke in front of people.  I had been planned to speak at AMOC’s Niagara Bible Conference today.  (http://www.amoc-nbc.com/)  AMOC stands for the American Mission for Opening Churches.  I wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest.  They’re involved in many different things, but most notably they have a camp there.  I went to AMOC as a kid and have many good and bad memories there.  When I showed up last week to meet with Tom who runs things there, I found it weird seeing the place after so many years.  Now it’s funny that after all that time, to be back there, and speaking in the Chapel on a sunday night.  I wasn’t there to give a sermon really, but instead talk about STANDING FIRM, testify to some of the things that God did, and share with those there about the church screenings and how they can be utilized in their ministries.  The folks who show up to this are from lots of other churches locally.  Some pastors, some elders/deacons, and a handful of normal church folks.  I would say maybe 50-60 were there.

My hands were shaking, I was sweating terribly, and I was waiting for everything to start.  I was wearing a suit and such which is something I almost never wear, and just baked inside of it.  Having worn flip flops and shorts for the last year and only having a suit on a few times, my body wasn’t having much fun.  I kept running through what I was going to say in my head and didn’t have anything to start off my speaking with.  I didn’t know how to start things off in a non-awkward manner.  I was really nervous to say something foolish or dumb, or crack a joke that would fall flat, and I didn’t really know where anyone there fell theologically so where I touched in areas there I wasn’t sure about.  STANDING FIRM could be slightly controversial because of the truth it presents, and I wasn’t sure if any backlash could come of that.  So when I got up there I just went for it, and probably repeated myself a time or two but I think things went well.  I probably wasn’t the most cheerful speaker they’ve ever heard, but it had it’s light moments of laughter.  I was pretty serious up there speaking to everyone, and brought up some very uncomfortable issues in the church (specifically the American Church) and spoke a bit about the state of the church as well.  I had all that rolling around in my head and wasn’t sure if there would be a good spot to fit it in, but I think it worked.  I basically went towards making a few comments like that because the issue of suffering in the film is so different from some of the namby pamby fluffy hug a teddy bear type Christianity that’s rampant out there.  Death, suffering, financial woes, etc. none of it is fun to talk about.  But I think everyone understood where I was coming from, and hopefully it made sense in that the film tackles a lot of issues that is rarely preached or taught.

Afterwards I shook many hands and had copies for sale.  Out of the folks who were there, I got rid of a ton of copies, some buying 2 or even 4.  I had a sign up sheet for the church screenings so I could send the folks more information.  I hope I get a few signups from this, because that would be great.  I also talked to a Pastor directly who already knows when he would want to do a screening so we’re going to work on that.  It was great to see the positive reaction after it was over.  My hands were shaking anymore, and I was able to just breath and talk to folks.  Turns out one of the women there has her entire family in Brazil and they would probably be interested in doing a screening or two down there.  I’ve already had a church in Brazil interested in a screening, so this could mean more!  Pretty crazy the kinds of foreign folks who know about the film and have requested it.  Pray for distribution in the Portuguese market, because it’s sorta on hold at the moment.

So overall a great night, and I was glad to see it over with.  I’ve had barely any sleep lately and I need to catch up.  There’s only 16 days until STANDING FIRM comes out, incredible!  I think I’ve only caught a glimpse of what God is going to do with this film, and I can’t wait to see…

I got an email today that really encouraged me too.  David Evans (Writer/Director/Producer of THE GRACE CARD, recently picked up by Provident Films/Sony) dropped me an email to say he’s excited to see the film and can’t wait to share TGC when it’s done.  Last year while I was in LA he called me one day asking questions about filmmaking and who he might call and whether or not I knew anyone he could contact.  Through some emails and phone calls I was able to help him which was great.  I helped him get his AD (Justin Tolley from Fireproof/Courageous/Letters to God), and Michael Joiner (the lead in the film).  It was great being able to help and then for a time I went down to Memphis to help do a little location scouting and a few other things, then I went home before production actually started.  David’s email was very encouraging as I hadn’t heard from him for some time and I had actually just thought of how he was doing on my way to church this morning.  God is good

A very good day, and filled with Blessings.  Looking forward to a good night sleep and then a busy work week to follow.  Lots of things to do!  The posters for the church screenings should arrive today (it’s monday already) and then I’ll be all set to send the church screenings.  If I can get all the packages weighed and ready I can start shipping them much earlier than I originally thought, so WOOT!

Till next time…

Today was a great day.  I went through the script for The Grace Card and made some notes to share with David later on.  Some dialog smoothing and just other random things that makes the scenes flow a bit better.  I was really looking forward to sharing it later on…

I worked on the Grace Card website a little bit and not much else.  Sunday I’m going to spend all day on the Standing Firm edit until the college group meets.  I need a solid day to go through it and fix some things and just hit render.  I hope I can get it in the mail beginning of next week if not a few days in.  I need to depart with it.  I’ll still need to work on it a lot even if it gets picked up because it needs a sound mix, a score, and I know they’ll be other small edit changes and such by whoever picks the film up in the end…but I need to take that first step.  Any good distributor will know if it’s something they want right away, it doesn’t have to be done 100%.  I’m hoping for good things, as I really want to have it distributed next spring/summer.  God didn’t bring us this far to just stop here, I won’t believe that for a moment.

There is some news I got today that threw me for a loop, but I can’t share it until tomorrow when we make the official announcement.  It’s really big.  Lets just say this doesn’t happen to someone who is 21 and only on his second film ever…it just doesn’t.  I’m incredibly humbled and felt queezy when I found out it was official and you’ll know why tomorrow.

Me and David sat down for the first time today as Directors and got to work.  We ran from page 1 and started moving through the script.  I went through my notes which David was right on board with and we made our changes.  We’re going to work so well together, I know it.  We’re like one head a lot of the time.  Getting into the script is what I really love, and visualizing the scenes so they’re straight in my head.  That gets me very excited.  We have some excellent scenes in this film I can’t wait to do.

Overall the day was really good.  I’m just overwhelmed with what God is doing…I can’t really articulate how I feel about all this going on.  I’ll share more tomorrow, and it’s a big day.  Lots to do!

So…today not much happened.  I didn’t go scouting, I didn’t have any meetings…etc.  Today was more of a stay at home and work day.  I did some website duties, made a few phone calls, and start going through the script making notes.  That’s all I did most of the day until about 6:30 where I was supposed to meet with David but that fell through so I headed over to the college group at Calvary.  I was sorta glad I got to do that as I have a habit of neglecting my social health when I have a project going on…

It was a fun time, I think I’ll make some good friends here before I leave (if I leave, lol).  It was more conversation and joking around, talking about the Word and all that jazz  Some folks were heading to Kirks grandmas house to swim, so I tagged along.  I didn’t swim though, I couldn’t take my shirt off, haha.  I’m still a bit too chunky…

It was fun times though just laughing and talking.  We did find out that Rob Erickson looks like spock…which was hilarious.  I’ll post a pic next post or whatever maybe.

Just a relaxing day overall.

I spent most of the day today thinking.  Thinking about where I might be going, sending out emails to folks in Nashville and elsewhere, talking to other folks online, etc.  I keep staring at the edit for Standing Firm and not doing much.  I need to finish up the last few things needed before mailing this thing off.  I think I need a boost.  I need to send the thing out and just be done with that part of things.  Only until I get (or don’t get) a phone call will I be able to move forward.  I think it’s just time to get it in the mail and part with it.  Close a chapter and HOPEFULLY open a new one if we get a good response.  It’s going right to a VP of a companies house, not a giant pile on a desk somewhere in the back of an office.  We’ll see…

We had a production meeting for The Grace Card later in the evening.  I love getting these out of the way because I keep sensing folks being more and more comfortable with their involvement.  The more we meet and just talk about things that need to be done, the stronger as a team we get and the better we become at communicating.  This friday is going to be an interesting time as we have Michael Joiner coming in to do a free comedy show at Calvary Church, and we introduce the film more officially to people.  It’s going to be an interesting weekend I think, and plenty to do in just a few days.  I can’t wait for it to be over already, lol.

The more I think about where I’ll settle, the more I realize I don’t need to be anywhere in particular.  You can make movies anywhere, because odds are you’ll travel where you make them.  You can do web design, graphic work, etc. anywhere because it’s all internet based.  You can write from anywhere because email and phone is really the only thing you need to accomplish delivery.  The only thing I’m missing that I really need is a team of people to plug into or start with someone.  NY is just a crappy place to do that and nobody else is there really.  I don’t want to travel 9 months out of the year.  I want to make movies yes but I don’t want to be alone where I am either.  If I go to Nashville I have this feeling that on most nights I’ll be completely alone, just sitting there.  It’s just a delicate decision because I DO NOT want to spend a bunch of money going somewhere and getting an apartment only to go “oops.”  I need to be careful and make sure I go where God wants me to be…so it’s just a long period of asking and waiting.

That’s about all I can think of to say for now…g’night.

Today I went scouting for more locations.  I needed to gather photos and get a sense of the floor layout of some of our possible shooting areas.  My first stop was a Bagel Shop on Poplar Ave. near the Hospital.  It was a great place…lots of character in there.  You can tell it’s been there for a while, and the folks were extremely nice.  I must have looked a bit odd to the customers though, some guy coming in a bagel shop of all things, asking questions about the times they close/open, and snapping photos.  ”WEIRDO!”  Anyways, I got the pictures I needed and headed to location number two, which was the most important if not the most important place to check out…the police station.  We have a decent amount of things to do here and we need full support of the station, which we’ve been able to get.  I had a guy show me around to each little spot in the building we knew we would need to be in, wrote down the times it would be available and snapped some photos.

The location should work out just fine, with a few challenges here and there.  One thing that really interested me was the folks at the desk of the station.  Before I left I got talking about what the movie was about and mentioned the racism element.  Immediately they started opening up and telling me things that they’ve seen that were an eye opener, even within their own department.  I also noticed pulling in earlier and leaving that the station was surrounded by a lot of lower class beaten up homes and project type houses.  You can tell this area of Memphis isn’t the greatest place to be…and here in the middle is this police station.

Afterwards I checked out another home that could possibly work for Sam’s but it won’t…too nice looking, lol.  On the way home I got some Arby’s, and LOVED eating it, ha ha.  Later on in the day I got a phone call I wish I could tell you about but I can’t at the moment.  Hopefully we’ll know more soon but the phone call did make me a tad queezy.  It’s very humbling and to a degree…sickening to be given some opportunities that I’ve been given in the past 4 years of my life.  Sometimes I just don’t know what to say to folks or how to react when I hear of something cool possibly in the works.  That’s just God Blessing me I guess.  Why me?  I don’t know…I’m nothing special.  Just a 20 something nobody from a town with one stop light in the sticks of NY, with no fancy shmancy degree, etc.  I’ll talk about this more later when/if what the phone call was about actually happens.

Later on I met with David and his wife Esther for dinner and headed back to his house to work on a few things.  They’re such great folks…I get closer to them each time we visit.  I think we’ll work together again on something, and we have barely gotten started on the first project.  It just seems like a friendship that’ll last a long time…

All in all a pretty good day.  It was odd driving around and intruding on people with a camera and a notebook…but that’s ok.  It’s all part of the job

I went to Niagara Frontier Bible Church back home since birth, so I’m pretty used to the way things go over there.  Moving to LA back in May was odd because I knew I would be going to a new church, new congregation, new teaching, new everything.  I didn’t end up staying there and had moved back home as most of you know, but now I’m in Memphis for The Grace Card and have yet again another church to call home.  It was just as weird as my first day at Reality LA (church in Hollywood).  I stood around without much to do since I didn’t know anybody.  I said hi to a few folks I had met but for the most part it was awkward.  An usher came up to me and we chatted for a while which was nice.

There were a lot of folks looking at me I think, lol.  No matter, I eventually went to go sit with Joyce (Bradshaw) where she normally sits, the front row…ugh.  Of course I was on the end so your just wide open on the right for people to see you.  I’m still dealing with a lot of paranoia stuff from childhood and it sucks sometimes because I can’t always enjoy myself.  The worship was fun and the message was solid.  I think I’ll like going here until the filming is over.  Afterwards I saw David walking around and talked with him for a moment.  There was a college aged group they have that meets on Sundays so I headed home to just hang out until then.  I was one of the first folks there when I arrived and just played ping pong by myself until folks showed up, lol.  In case your wondering how that’s possible you push the table against a wall

Rob Erickson showed up and we played each other until things started.  He’ll be playing Blake in The Grace Card so it’s nice to start building a friendship there as we’ll be working together a lot in the coming months.  The time with the group was nice as well, just light conversation and laughs as we spoke about the message from the morning.  Afterwards folks were going to play Ultimate Frisbee outside and I didn’t have shoes or anything so I ran to go get them back home.  We didn’t play long but that didn’t mean I wasn’t sweaty.  Running back and forth down a field for 20 minutes will get me going, lol.  Folks were heading to Rob’s house because I guess they all had some trip to go on tomorrow.  Little did I know what everyone was in for.  There was a concrete fireplace that they were going to use all the guys to get off the trailer and setup in the backyard.  Before all that though we were all in Robs kitchen and most folks weren’t there yet so we were just talking.  They asked me questions about what I was doing in Memphis, where I might be going, how I got started in stuff, I showed them pieces of Standing Firm (which they really liked), and talked about the last 2 years or so of my life.  Robs mom was a little upset hearing about the deaths that happened so recently but she was ok

When everyone showed up they started working on this fireplace.  These concrete slabs were hundreds of pounds, with the large enclosure piece of it easily 1000+.  It was hilarious as we slowly figured out how to move this thing and get it where it needed to be.  This was a memory building experience for sure, something I’ll remember for a while, ha ha.

I headed out soon after (it took well over an hour to get that thing put together…and it was only two pieces) and took a shower.  I had powder and crap all over me from the concrete.  I think it’s safe to say I made a lot of friends tonight, which is a good sign.

I wonder where God will want me at the end of the year.  I want to find somewhere I can settle and call home.  Somewhere I can get work and if need be travel from project to project but I still want a home somewhere.  My parents sounded pretty sure that in the next few years or so they’ll probably end up down in GA to live.  They’ll keep the house in NY but my mom will probably head down to Georgia for good sometime in the future.  Nashville wouldn’t be such a crappy place to stay I think.  Odds are most of the work I get will be internet based, or project to project, but it’ll be nice to have a place to come home to that I can call my own.

I was trying to figure out with Kevin (co-owner Praise Pictures Inc., and Co writer/producer of Standing Firm) what we might do for the business.  I have other revenue streams I want to start throwing into a company name but Praise Pictures is in NY and all sorta of other annoying things.  I’ll have to figure all this out soon so I can get start being smarter about where my money goes and why.  It’s tough because I don’t want to leave NY, I love the people there.  There just aren’t any jobs up there…not for someone like me.  Even if I travel for some jobs, I’ll be so much farther away up there.  I have a better shot at getting jobs more local in Nashville than I do back home.  Thousands of people leave the Buffalo area per year, and that makes a lot of sense.  I’ll miss everyone a lot  I don’t know, just trying to figure out where God wants me to go more permanently.  I don’t want to be packing my car every few months for very much longer, it’s a really crappy way to live.  Your never somewhere long enough to invest in people very much.  I’ll certainly never get to date anybody if I plan on leaving a month after I arrive somewhere, right?  We’ll see what happens in the next few months, I’ll get an answer sometime.

David, Howie, and John discuss the Hospital Exterior

I woke up earlier than usual today, to make sure I got out of the house around 9:30am or so.  I was meeting David and John at David’s eye-care office to go location scouting most of the day.  The first stop was the St. Francis Hospital just across the street.  It’s a pretty big place, a lot bigger than I thought.  We met with who I understood to be one of the administrators of the facility and another man who I can’t recall the name of.  We spoke about the film and what we were looking for and the rest of our time spent there was with the man we met with showing us the different places within the hospital we needed to film in.  The support we’ve been able to get from this hospital is very remarkable.  Pretty much nothing was turned down, and we got everything we needed.  We spend quite a bit of time in this place so it’s very crucial we have their full support, and I’m glad to report we do.  Towards the tail end we met Howie Klausner who revised the script from David’s original.  He’s a cool guy, I was glad to meet him.

We all went off to lunch at some chinese place and I got some Sesame Chicken with fried rice.  I love flavored chicken and rice, I don’t even care what flavor, it’s all good stuff.  The conversation went well, it was light and Howie and John shared some stories from past movies and such.  I guess they laughed at the fact both of them had played George Clooney (who John has worked with on many occasions) in basketball sometime in the past.  I must say its still a bit odd to be sitting in the company of guys like John or Howie.  I mean John just got off George’s last film The Men Who Stare At Goats with Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, J.K. Simmons, Robert Patrick, etc.  I’m still a nobody, lol.  I’ve had two people congratulate me on getting this job having “nothing to show for myself.”  While it’s a compliment it’s also a bit daunting to hear.  I really don’t have anything to show for myself.  I think to some degree I do, but in my own mind I’m not anything at all until I can sell at least one film and get it on a shelf somewhere.  Then I’ll feel I’ve accomplished something.  Thousands have had a film 99% complete and never sold it.  I’m in the same boat.  That makes me no different than anyone else.  Until I sell one and have something distributed, I’m no further along than I was last year (career wise).  I’m really Blessed to have gotten this opportunity, and I get to work with some really awesome and experienced people.  It’s an honor really, nothing short of that.

Bedroom of the home we looked at today...(love this room)

I went home for a little over an hour before I had to meet with David again for another scout.  There was a lot of thinking to do during that time.  Making a film isn’t easy.  It’s fun, but to me that fun is balanced with headache.  It’s rewarding and backstabbing at the same time.  Directing/Producing a film is one million decisions, all made under pressure most of the time, with limited budgets and big ideas, with lots of people standing around waiting for A or B, 1 or 2.  It’s not all fun, that’s for sure.  I’m really glad that this time around I get to just Direct and help Produce.  On Standing Firm it was such a nightmare on many levels.  When your unpacking all your gear in the beginning of the day, setting up your sticks, trying to find your blocking and framing, direct your actors, operate your camera, keep and eye on sound, keep track of wardrobe and continuity, etc. it becomes utter insanity.  No way did Standing Firm get shot with anything less than God’s hand on the project.  It was his direction and mercy on the project that helped it roll forward.  When I fell over, He picked me up, and when I didn’t think I could handle another day…He gave me the strength to go on.

Briarcrest Christian School (School Location)

This time around on The Grace Card I have many new things to deal with.  We have police involvement from cars, to the station, to guns, we have the ER and hospital rooms, we have more locations, more characters, stunts involving cars, etc…way more than Standing Firm could shake a stick at, lol.  The scope of the film is pretty ambitious compared to a simple family drama, and with the budget we have it’s even more ambitious.  I think with proper planning and knowhow we can pull it off, but we need to get cracking…

The second scout landed us at a hopeful home for one of the leads families.  It works really well and I’m hoping it works out.  The design of the house was very cohesive and proper for the characters.  I loved how it photographed just in natural light let along if we had lit it up on a shooting day.

Overall today was a successful day of scouting and we made some great progress.  I’m looking forward tomorrow not because I have a meeting or some work to do, but because I get to see my parents.  They’re coming in from Georgia where my mom has been visiting my dad for the summer.  My dad works down there and she went down with the dog just after I left for California this past May.  I can’t wait to see them and give’em a hug.  Seeing my dog won’t hurt either.

G’night folks…

Like the title?  Today was sorta like that.  I got a bunch of little things done but most of the day was just…blah.  I slept in way too long because my alarm wasn’t set the night before (doh!).  Today was yet again a lot of emails, a phone call or two, script notes, editing some of Standing Firm, etc.  I’ve noticed my email inbox and Facebook inbox explode in the last month or so.  I spoke with Jimmy Broyden on the phone today who I met last January at SAICFF.  Jimmy will be our Stunt Coordinator it looks like.  I can’t tell you the context in which these things happen in the film, but the stunts primarily revolve around car skids, a smash or two, and taking our a mailbox.  Beyond that my lips are sealed.  It should be a great thing to shoot, my first stunt sequence

It looks like tomorrow will be a full location scouting day.  I’ll be taking a zillion photos to keep on file for reference, creation of shot-lists, and to send to our DP who can’t be here at the current time.  I’ll post a few that I take tomorrow.  Our first visit of the day is at St. Francis Hospital that is graciously giving us an entire floor to use for quite a few days of filming.

Tomorrow should be a fun day of Pre-Production!  I gotta say it’s still a little cool to know that I’ll be meeting with a guy who’s written a Clint Eastwood movie, and scouting with a guy who’s been a 2nd AD on films featuring almost every Hollywood A-Lister possible.  I still feel a tad out of place, ha ha.  Should be a good time, till next time folks.

Today was a very productive day.  I spent most of the morning answering and sending emails.  I did a conference call with the Leclerc Brothers who had watched Cut #2 of Standing Firm and shared their comments.  Things were once again positive with little negative comments to speak of.  I’m a bit surprised at the comments in regards to the acting in the film.  Not that I thought our acting was awful, but I certainly didn’t expect the warm comments we’ve received in this amount.  That’s all a good sign I think…

I updated The Grace Card website today with a new register page so we can start building an email list.  I also sent off some information to a friend at ChristianCinema.com who was very quick to post an article (thanks Angela!)

New Christian Movie from Writer of “Space Cowboys”
http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=1114

That’s our first official article regarding the film with it’s official team assembled.  I had some great conversations with Torry Martin today as well.  He’s such a great guy, and so supportive of me.  The fact I spent barely two days with the guy and he’s such a support says something of his character.  I’m not sure what makes me so special but thanks Torry for all the encouragement!

Later on in the day I met with David at Calvary Church to go over some important issues and hammer out some things.  The meeting was very successful and I think we’re growing closer each time we sit down to talk.  There are some things we’re just trusting the Lord to work out and given all the things that have happened since this project got started, I’m confident things will be just fine.

This week seems to be flying by very fast already.  It’s funny how well I’ve adjusted to the new environment since I got here.  My room feels very comfortable and I’ve been sleeping well which is a good thing.  Having indoor AC helps a lot…that’s for sure.

I’m looking forward to this weekend and seeing my parents for the first time since the end of May, as well as my dog.  I miss them all!

Who knows where I’m going to be at the end of the year.  I’m hoping Standing Firm will have found distribution by then and I can hopefully move to Nashville and dig my claws in the ground.  We’ll see…

I woke up around 10am or so today, after sleeping really well.  I had to run to the store to grab a new toothbrush and some mouth wash before I did anything in the morning.  There is a Walgreens down the street that I went to and grabbed the stuff I needed.

On my way back I called David to get Joyce’s number because her keys weren’t working.  Her dad pulled into the driveway just in time for me to get in the house.  I guess the keys were new and I needed to pull them out a tad to get them to work.  David and I were going to go to lunch to meet Stephen Dervan (Actor in Fireproof), and talk about his role in The Grace Card.  There is a hilarious part of the script I just want wait for him to do, and after hearing what it entailed he seemed to be excited.  I had the opportunity to show him the first five minutes of Standing Firm which he really enjoyed.  Most of the comments were in regards to the camera work and quality we achieved with the budget we had.  We were just talking about Flywheel previous to me showing him so it was a good time to show him what we were able to pull off.

Back at David’s office we just hammered out some details and emails we needed to send, and hopefully nailed down our sound man.  Rob Whitehurst is someone I’ve spoken with a time or two and he’s such an awesome guy.  Very helpful, willing to lend advice, and knows what he’s doing.  I’m looking forward to working with him if things work out (which it seems they should).  After that our crew will be pretty well off, just a few loose ends to tie up from here on out…very exciting.  The same goes for our Editor who I hope we’ll settle on very soon.

Afterwards I headed back to the Bradshaw’s to look at a thing or two then went to David’s church which I had not visited before.  Mark Hodge brought me inside and gave me a tour of the place.  What a great setup they have there.  Besides a few quibbles that Mark has explained the rest was golden.  The strongest portion of the building was no doubt the children and teen ministry areas.  What an amazing place they have setup for those little kids.  The teen room was equally impressive with all sorts of games and a nice kitchen area, little area for music, etc.  I was impressed to say the least, thinking about all the stuff we could do with a space like that back home at NFBC.  Afterwards we sorta settled back into Mark’s office and spent the next hour or more chatting.  I told him about my past and how I ended up doing what I do, how I got started at NFBC on staff, how Pastor Billy came around, how I dropped out of college, Standing Firm and that getting started, and all sorts of other things.  He told me about their church, how he ended up in Memphis, the area itself, the church and his roles in it, etc.  Overall it was great conversation and I think I got to know him a lot better today.  Mark is a very warm and positive guy, funny too which is a plus.  I met others at the church as well that work in their offices so it was nice to be introduced and get my feet wet.

Mark had to head home for a bit so for the next hour I just sorta walked around and relaxed a bit waiting for our production meeting at 7pm.  Lots of people eventually showed and the meeting was very productive.  We went over the current team, what positions are left, logistics of locations, where to delegate certain tasks among everyone, etc.  It felt good to have other brains in the room helping figure out things because having done it alone for the last 2 years has been really crappy.  I love that we have people to fill other major positions, it’s an absolute relief.  I think I’ll be able to do my job so much better having a lot less to do than before.  The movie is so much bigger than Standing Firm as well, so it would be impossible to wear anymore than two hats on this film…there’s just too much.  I think we’re on the right track, and will only progress more as time goes on.  A big priority right now is finding locations and I need to get cracking on that as David isn’t available all the time.  I’ll be getting photos and all sorts of things to share with folks, send to our DP for comments, etc.  We’ll be starting to make notes on our scripts, working with the actors well in advance, story-boarding and preparing the shot-lists, etc.  There is a lot to do in the next month and a half so we better get cracking!

On the way home it was raining insanely hard, with tons of lightning.  It was hard to see most of the time, but I found my way.  GPS is the best invention ever, without a doubt.

Rich Peluso also sent me the address of where to send in Standing Firm when it’s ready so we’re getting close to that time.  I’m going to be extremely nervous putting that thing in the mail slot when the time comes, but I think I’m getting more and more calm about it as time goes.  Yes it’ll be nerve-wracking waiting for a hopeful email or phone call, but God has control over it all.  I have this odd feeling that everything is OK.  I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I know God can…and he’s directing everything behind the scenes.  It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the next 2 months especially leading up to The Grace Card’s starting production time, and Standing Firm in the distribution side of things.  Is it possible I could have two distributed films under my belt before 22 years old?  It’s looking that way, and I’m pinching myself every day.  Stuff like that doesn’t really happen very often, and I feel extremely Blessed for that kind of reality to even be possible.  Time will tell…God’s timing that is.

I’m also looking forward to seeing my parents this weekend, so that’ll be a good time.  I miss my dog too, seeing him will be a thrill.  That’s all for now, peace out.