In the meantime, I was surprised and flattered by my friend Beryl, who asked me to direct her upcoming music video. Wha wha what? I mean, ok, I guess I just directed the TMP, and I’ve certainly worked on music videos before, and she’s even thinking of including puppets…but that’s all been my own stuff! I don’t know if I should be allowed to execute someone else’s vision.

But then she offered me pizza and beer, so I said yes.

Here’s the storyboard she and teen movie DP Jonathan put together. Good stuff, right?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, David sat in front of his laptop, headphones on, recording the “Elizabeth’s Flowers” songs for the soundtrack.

Here is some relationship advice: pick the person who will spend his entire day off learning how to cover 90s songs for a movie project that maybe a dozen people will ever see. That one is a keeper.

In other news, Star Wars Uncut has finally been released! And I was thrilled to discover that both of the scenes that Rhonda and I submitted made it in to the director’s cut. You can watch the whole thing below, or skip to 20:56 and 1:58:57 to see our cameos. Sweet!

Exhibit A: The Entourage Video

At my work, there’s a little-known program called Entourage that I happen to administer. Being the marketing department and all, we decided to raise its profile with a little informative video. Nothing special, just something visual we could use to draw a bit of attention.

Somehow it became this:

Yes, that’s Rita Moreno in that video. Winner of the Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and two Emmys. And that’s me, winner of the “Most Dramatic” award (Santa Teresa High School yearbook, 2002) which is…not quite the same thing. I wrote that script in about 15 minutes and the whole thing was terrifying. I wrote about it on the Berkeley Rep blog here.

Exhibit B: The Teen Movie Project

I don’t know how we did it, but somehow we did it. It’s over.

It took a month of filming and countless hours of scheduling, prop-making, costume-fitting, and hair-pulling, but yesterday we wrapped on production. Which is, I don’t know, liberating? Terrifying? Now that it’s done, there are no more chances to fix things or insert new great ideas, and it means I have to start the epic chore of editing this entire thing into one cohesive narrative. Although, to be honest, I’m really looking forward to that part. Because I was in almost every scene, I didn’t have a lot of chances to really direct the thing. Fortunately, I had an amazing DP, who made it easy to let go and rely on his talent. I know he got some amazing shots–probably way better than if I’d told him what to do, anyway–and I’m looking forward to standing on his shoulders and making a movie out of his images.

And now it’s finally time to relax. Haha, just kidding! I’m flying to England on Saturday and not coming back for two weeks.

Maybe next year I’ll take a nap or something.

I have no idea what how this film is going to turn out in the end, but I know I can’t wait to see it.

Only twelve and a half years behind schedule, we started filming the still-untitled teen movie on Saturday. It was a big 12-hour day, which included such highlights as being pushed into an unheated pool, turning a bakery into a teen dance club, and trying to say the line “You couldn’t resist leaving me out of your witch-hunt, too” without laughing. (Sunday was shorter and less difficult, although I was sprayed down with a hose. Twice.)

David took some wonderful photographs, which I’ll share as soon as he’s done post-processing. In the meantime, here’s a short highlights reel that our phenomenally talented DP, Jonathan Potter, put together for us.

There just aren’t enough words to express how grateful I am to everyone who’s helped out on this project. Can you even get over how awesome this is? I can’t. And I can’t wait to get back to filming in a week and a half.

Anyway, since tomorrow is officially the end of pre-production–yes, that means production starts on Saturday!–I thought I’d show you the insanity that is my living room and ten-pound binder right now.

Note to self: shoot iPhone videos horizontally next time.

Anyone who tells you artists aren’t crazy is lying to you.

Jen

Elizabeth

Tommy

Which means that I had to make a stack of homework, plan a partner project, and write a book report. (Ok, I just wrote the title page.)

Movies: unexpectedly time-consuming!

I guess there’s a reason film crews tend to be large. One person is not enough to be writer, director, costume designer, location scout, propmaster, and producer all on her own. And yet…!

Things are coming along, but every chore checked off the list begets ten new ones. Rhonda and I went costume shopping on Monday, for example, and while we got 75% of the wardrobe settled in one evening (and for under $200!), the not-quite-right bowling shirt necessitated half an hour of looking for a patch I bought in the eighth grade to dress it up. Today, I spent a giddy half an hour unboxing a slew of new toys (lighting equipment! Slate and clapboard!), followed by five hours of down-the-rabbit-hole rummaging for half-remembered items from my teen years. (“Oh, my X-Files calendar from 1999! A spiral notebook! Butterfly clips! Spice Girls lollipop!*”) Did I spent 20 minutes painting band logos on a camo-print backpack with a whiteout pen? You bet I did. When my new fuzzy purple picture frame was too small for any of my photos, did I give up? No, I found an old magazine clipping of Taylor Hanson and stuck it in there. Is anyone going to notice this stuff in the final film except for me? (Is this film ever going to get made if I die of exhaustion first?) No and no.

But even though I’m bone-tired, I’m having a lot of fun. I think I reached a turning point today when suddenly my living room looked more 1999 than 2011. There are bucket hats and checkered Vans all over the floor. The coffee table has issues of Teen with the Backstreet Boys on the cover, and I seem to have rediscovered an affinity for Eagle-Eye Cherry.

This is going to be awesome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to cover my biology book (i.e. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes) with a brown paper jacket before Mr. Anderson’s class tomorrow.

*No, I did not make that up.