Back to stay (if you'll have me)

For those who care….

I find myself lost in the whirl-wind purgatory known as pre-production. The script for my new short film “The Heather Clarke Nostalgia” has been done and printed since October 15 and the cast has been assembled since pre-Thanksgiving. However, the movie itself hasn’t seemed to be able to get its feet off the ground.

Shooting was scheduled to begin on December eighth, but our cinematographer Derek was caught up in directing “A Christmas Carol” at the Sanford Maine Stage. Derek planned to send our mutual acquaintance Ben up as a replacement, but I felt uneasy. Ben is a great guy, but the original title of the film wasn’t “Heather Clarke.” It was inspired by and named for Ben’s little sister, but was hastily changed fearing accusations of slander.

Finally, production came to its grinding halt when my PowerMac refused to start up. Apparently the motherboard completely crapped out and repairs will cost me upward of $1,000. Nobody is using Final Cut on that machine anytime soon.

But all is well on the horizon. Shooting officially begins Friday January 4th, giving us plenty of time to pull the final product together for the Marshwood film festival in May.

Meanwhile I argue with folks about the worth of seeing “Alvin and the Chipmunks” this Friday. Having been a fan of the 80’s cartoon re-runs on Nickelodeon I’m really looking forward to a chipmunk’s revival. If anyone had to play a live action Dave Seville I’m thrilled that it’s Jason Lee. And to me it seems that the spirit of the original cartoon is present in the movie trailers. You can’t judge a flick solely on its gangster-rap one-sheet. But, I guess we’ll see.

Until then…

-Mike Robida