Director's Weekly Post Production Blog Weeks 1 - 2

WEEK 1 Friday November 09th... 6.25pm

On a train to Devon and Cornwall, a journey that used to inspire and excite me in equal measure. I have to see a writer down there. He is the opposite of Jonnie. After having developed his script for four years, made it into something that works, all he thinks about now is how much money he will make out of it, not about making the film to tell the story that MUST be told.

I don't have any real patience with that stance at the moment. After DEP, how can I?

One additional strain of sadness is that I have discovered that something I had revealed in private in Broceliande to someone has been passed to someone else. Initially, I felt it was a kind of betrayal of that sacred bond between a director and his cast and crew. Many cast and crew members have told me many many many things in secret on this film, personal things, and I have not disclosed a word of them to anyone. How could I? It would be immoral to do so.

As a director you are like a priest at confession. Every actor or actress I have ever worked with, for instance, has told me many things about themselves or if not told, has revealed them. I never discuss those things with anyone. I have no right to. It is my duty to take them to the grave.

At the wrap party Jonnie told people about the child he and Stephanie are expecting. Of course, I had been the first to know but had kept it to myself until he was ready to tell anyone. It is that fact which had the extra significance for him in the final scene at the lake.

In the last week I have had a chance to sleep, to eat properly, to see a film, to read. In the last 6 weeks I had not read a word. I even took Bresson's "Notes on a cinematographer" to the forest to no avail. I didn't read a word of it. Now I am reading it thoroughly.

I feel now how I did after "Boston Kickout"'s shoot. Not sad, but happy, proud. In 1997 "Raving Beauties", a long cherished project, was nearly shot but folded 8 days before shooting. I was devastated after that experience. In 2003 after "The Poet" I was so angry at the stupid compromises that had been made in what could, I felt, have been a masterpiece. Compromises in the script, the shooting and ultimately the editing. The film I envisaged was destroyed. I was devastated again. Like Peckinpah's "Colonel Dundee", for me, it is a shadow of what it could have been, should have been.

With DEP I am satisfied with what we have done, like I was on "Boston Kickout". Maybe I haven't been this happy since 1995 to 1997!

Last Saturday I met Marc. I gave him an elephant stone cast & crew present as he missed the wrap party. He bought me lunch, signed his contract and then gave me a new wallet! He told me he was more pleased creatively with the Sunday (day 28) we shot than any other day he has EVER worked as an actor. We shot 9 scenes that day and all were crammed full of creativity. I agree. Although we had some great days on BKO also!

On Monday we started clearing the office, slowly giving Jonnie back his flat. There is still loads of stuff to be reclaimed and also lots of stuff we will need to sell on ebay. We did manage to sell the clock that features in the office scenes to Julia Main and an umbrella to Matt Hymen.

We also tried to fill in the blanks contract-wise, those that are still unsigned. We continued that Thursday and today also. It was back to me, Jonnie, Williams and Sarah. The original four. Eventually it will be down to two again before we expand again for the final parts of post-production.

The main problem this week has been trying to discern how much over budget we are. Williams doesn't have a final figure yet. In any event, we need some more investment I know but when we get the money from the VAT back it should ease the situation somewhat. A lot of people are owed money. I just hope they have patience. We will get there eventually!

Some of the film is finally synced up. The first 135 slates out of 590! Caroline, having given up on Sonrisa, is doing it herself. The editing process is 5 weeks behind I estimate now! Hopefully we will regain some of that time.

There is no point seeing Caroline until it is all synced up. Then we can go through the the takes, looking at the ones selected and deciding which moments to use. Then I will leave her to do an assembly, a first version of the film with absolutely EVERYTHING in it, nothing trimmed, shortened or excised. Then the work will really start.

Again, though, after viewing the assembly and passing judgment, I will leave her. I could, of course, put together the film myself, how I conceived it, but then what's the point of having an editor? When I was young I edited all my own stuff. Indeed right up to The Frontline I did that. Now I would never dream of it. If I want I can always have my own way in the cutting room. I need an editor to explore other ways, to see if they are better. If they are then that is an improvement. Any director would be stupid not to embrace that possibility, no?

Earlier today I got a call from Marcel Barsotti who has been following the blog. He composed the beautiful music score for "The Poet", the only area of that film without compromise. I told him I wanted him to do the score for DEP. I think he is perfect for it as he will give the film heart to complement the soul that we found in the forest. Also he is perfect for the Breton and indeed Arabic undertones in the film as he loves ethnic instrumentation. His house is full of a diverse number of instruments.

Anyway, my hope for next week is that the rushes are finally all synced up and that I can go through it all with Caroline. Let's see what happens!

WEEK 2 Saturday November 17th 10.36am

On a plane to Mallorca. I'm spending a couple of days with Neil Harris, one of the Executive Producers who is providing post production facilities for the film. We did a handshake deal before the film started shooting and haven't actually worked out all the details yet let alone put them in writing. I'm sure we will do that over the weekend.

Last night was the reunion crew poker tournament. Marina won although I can certainly claim a good bad beat story from my finish on the bubble! Jonnie had a shocking game yet again, with what I can imagine was no cards whatsoever.

The trip to visit the writer in Cornwall last weekend was amazingly perfect in more ways than one. A script that I have spent four years on will now be finally finished. That is the third one this year that I have overseen completion on. Development, unlike shooting, goes on forever and there are rarely any highs to counterbalance the lows.

The trip was punctuated with a number of Eureka moments. Misunderstandings were banished and everything is wonderful now. When some things are working well, everything is working well...

It even dawned on me on the train back that Cornwall and Brittany were both originally populated by Celts and that the languages are the closest on earth. It was right that I should have to visit Cornwall straight after Brittany. The Bretons are descended from Cornish people who traveled across the English Channel. Unfortunately the Cornish langaige is nearly extinct while Breton lives on, just...

Last week I called Jeff Gross, another writer I have collaborated with, to tell him I was sorry for being angry with him. I hadn't spoken to him since Cannes. Five and a half months ago. The five and a half months, of course, since I said to Jonnie "Let's make it". It came to me that I should call him and say sorry. I have been close to him since 1993.

The reason for the disagreement was that I didn't think he cared about a project I'd brought to him. Anyway, that is forgotten. Especially as I can see his point of view now and thus actually resigned from that project yesterday! Why? Nothing has happened on it for ages. The producer who brought it to me, is lacking in time and seemingly in commitment to it too. Also she is the only writer or producer I am currently working with or have worked with who couldn't be bothered to at least send me a good luck text or e mail when I started shooting DEP or even to congratulate me on the completion of filming. Some did both. Her insensitivity is staggering!

Also I need to streamline my existence, cut the fat, concentrate on finishing DEP and getting my next project into production. I couldn't see that one happening. It had become just unneeded inertia.

On Wednesday I met Grace Vallorani for lunch to talk about the post production schedule, how we will divide up the different jobs that need to be done as well as talking about future collaborations. She will take on the Film Festival liaison task as well as other things as our plan is to premier the film at the best film festival possible.

A little more investment trickled in on Monday allowing us to write some cheques to pay more pressing things, if the meeting with Williams doesn't keep getting postponed that is! Then on Thursday morning something amazing happened. A card arrived with handwriting on the envelope that I recognised immediately. I opened it to find in addition to a card congratulating me on finishing shooting, a cheque for £500 from my old English Teacher, Margaret Fisher. The generosity of people never ceases to astound me. Now Margaret is retired, living on a pension. She is not wealthy. Not at all. A cheque for £100 would have been surprising but for £500 is utterly utterly astounding!

When I was at school I had the most sadistic English teacher imaginable. He wouldn't let me progress from set 4 no matter how hard I worked. He hated me, just like he did with all the working class oinks that populated his class. When I wrote a 37 page essay on something where 1 page would have sufficed he gave me a C-. That's it. Not just a C, a C minus! Talk about discouraging...

Because of my low set I was excluded from English literature and couldn't even take an O level, just a CSE. After leaving school, at age 18, I decided to jump straight to A level English Lit in a one year evening course. Enter Margaret Fisher, one of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my whole life. Apart from introducing me to Joyce, Hardy, Proust, Mayakovsky and Leonard Cohen (!) amongst others, she inspired me beyond belief and gave me real confidence. She was also, I feel, truly, the first person who ever believed in me. That is a huge thing. HUGE! Everyone needs that person in their lives when they are young but not all find them. Thankfully I did. Now she has sent a cheque for £500, an investment in the film. I am humbled by her generosity.

After two weeks of post and five weeks of filming we are currently about four weeks behind schedule (an improvement of one week from last Friday). All the rushes still aren't synced up. Sonrisa has finally been elbowed and Caroline is doing them herself. It is a laborious task, especially when there is so much to do. She is up to slate 200 out of 590, so just over a third of the way through. The holdup now is that not all the sound has been transferred yet. She seems to be able to sync up about 40-50 slates a day so by this time next week hopefully it will finally be all synced up and thus we will only then be two weeks behind schedule - let's see if that happens!

Next week we should also have even more investment I hope. Two new investors are interested and not insubstantial amounts either.

Anyway, the plane is still in flight to Mallorca. I look forward to pulpo a la galega, peus de porc and the local speciality of Ensaimadas, and indeed a little sleep as I am still far from recovered from the shoot...

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