Project updates - Citizen ZED

I asked a friend of mine to read an early draft of Citizen ZED and she didn't get the ending. Which is a bummer, as the ending is what makes it dramatically satisfying. So, I'm shelving it for a little while as I work on another project. I'll come back to it shortly, probably in the next few days, hopefully rested and ready to fix the problems with it. I still love it, and I think the story works, it just needs some clarification. There's something missing and I can't quite figure out exactly what it is. One thing I'm doing, which may help, is making a slight change of the title, to The Making of Citizen ZED.

The other project I mentioned above is a short short film I'm calling "My Creature." I actually wrote a draft of the script last week but it was too long and it just didn't work. After obsessing over it all week I finally figured out the problems with it, and hopefully this current draft addresses all of them. I know I'm a lot happier with it.

The plan for the short short is for me to shoot it myself, some time down the road. I plan to play a part in it, opposite my goddaughter. I've never acted before but this role is personal for me so hopefully I can pull it off. My goddaughter is an accomplished actor already,  so I'm not worried about that role. This will be two firsts for me--as director and as actor.

Of course, this is down the road a bit. I have a personal situation involving my day job that needs to be resolved before I'll be able to devote the resources I need towards making a film, even a short one.

I'll need to hire a Director of Photography and a professional to handle sound for "My Creature," not to mention I'll probably need to rent a soundstage, and some equipment and props. And get insurance for the production. Fortunately there are a lot of local resources available as a lot of movies and TV shows are filmed in this area. Atlanta is third in the country, behind Los Angeles and New York, in that category. Plus, I'll need to arrange transportation for my co-star and her mom. Accommodations won't be a problem for them as they can stay with me, or with grandma, who lives in the area.

As for me acting in this thing--I've always heard that every director needs to act at least once to understand what actors have to do to perform their job. This is as good a shot as any for me to do that. Also, if I do it, I won't have to pay somebody else to play the role. Save money!

Of course, that's assuming I find the money to do this thing. To do it right it'll probably take at least five grand. This, for a project that'll probably be around five minutes long. Yes, filmmaking is expensive!

So, after I finish this short short I'm going to go back to the feature. Hopefully by then I will have been away from it long enough for me to see ways to address the problems with it.

Here's hoping situations resolve themselves in a way that'll help me to go forward with all these grandiose, crazy-assed plans!