LOTR

Just finished watching the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. That's what I do when life starts to feel uncertain, when my way seems directionless, when I'm not really sure what the heck I'm doing anymore. Watching the LOTR trilogy sort of hits my RESET button.

I feel sort of renewed...

...and reminded...

...reminded why I wanted to make movies to begin with.

Aragorn and Farmair have always been my favorite characters, but with this viewing, it was Gandalf who really struck a chord with me. It's one thing to want to be the mighty warrior, it's another to want to be a person of great wisdom. Gandalf is both.

Wathcing LOTRs is like going through an intense, week-long discipleship programs. so much better than most of the sugary sermons I get on Sunday mornings.

I'm still not sure what it is that God has me on this planet to do, but at the moment, filmmaking remains strongly on my heart. It seems like such a lesser calling in light of the dark realities present in the world. But I've tried to walk away many times, and every time... I wasn't allowed to.

So, for the time being... FILMMAKING it is... I have to keep pressing forward.

I've got a goal... much bigger than the goal of completing VACANT HOUSE, but completing VH is step one. So as tiresome, overwhelming and daunting completing VH might seem, it is the crucial, unavoidable step necessary to make it to PHASE #2.

Okay, enough personal pep talk... time to go edit.

95%

I keep telling everyone that I'm 95% done with shooting the film. But maybe I'm closer than I think. I've got to get this project manageable or I'll never finish!

So, here's the plan. I'm going to cut the film together with what I have in the can so far. I'm going to do my damnedest to make it work with what I have. Whatever we shoot from this point on will only be the ABSOLUTELY crucial stuff.

The point of this project is to shoot a feature. That's it! It was never my goal to make THIS film my life's work. I want to move on so that, hopefully, this project will open up doors for FUTURE projects.

Gotta get this thing done!

Right now I'm having trouble getting everyone's schedules to align to finish this shoot. The earliest we could do pickups is June 22nd I believe. So until then, I'll be working overtime to edit this film into some sort of cohesive story!