Project Updates

Three Women and a Possible Fire Next Door - Short Film - Festival Run

Three Women was recently selected for its second festival, the Olympia Film Society’s Locals Only Film Festival. It’s a one day festival that takes place this Saturday April 26th at the Capitol Theater. Unfortunately I will not be in attendance but I know the lineup is great and well worth your time. The screening is free to attend. Details can be found here.  

A-Frame - Short Film - Preproduction

 We’re still (privately) raising funding for this project and have a few irons in the fire production-wise. It’s the first time I’ve raised money for a project so it’s definitely been a learning experience. Planning to go before cameras with this film in/around September. 

Untitled Writer’s Retreat Movie - Feature - Writing

I’ve been hard at work finishing the second draft of this, which I finally knocked out the other week and sent out to some close friends/collaborators for notes. The premise is loosely based on the Book of Job and much of the second draft has been about figuring out how much of that to keep/adapt and how much to stray. Like most second drafts, it’s got some good pieces and some bad pieces and generally doesn’t work, but it does exist, which is what matters. I’m gonna take some time away from this script and focus on a catching up on a few odds and end before diving into another feature script, likely in June.

Watching/Reading/Listening

Watching

Yeast (2008) - Feature - Dir. Mary Bronstein 

I’m kind of fascinated by Mary Bronstein’s misery-laden mumblecore debut. I have a soft spot for films with unlikable leads, but not only does this film push that concept to the absolute limit, it does so in a way that feels like it's doing everything it can to get the audience to turn this movie off. Bronstein is coming back to cinemas this fall with her A24 pic If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You and I’m very curious as to what her next outing will look and feel like. The film played Sundance in January to positive reviews (with special notices for a career-best performance by Rose Byrne).

Yeast is essentially out of print, but can be viewed in full via the Internet Archive.

Reading

“Brand New Tour, Same Old Question” - Article - Lindsey Adler

There’s a specific knot to loving/having loved the work of an artist who turns out to be a bad person. As someone who grew up obsessively listening to Brand New and decided to put them down when the allegation against Jesse Lacey came out, the announcement of their new tour has left me with mixed feelings to say the least. In macro, it feels like yet another signal that any progress the #Metoo movement made is being violently erased. In micro, it leaves me feeling gross about having been part of a ravenous fanbase who have seemingly returned to the band’s side without lending the choice an ounce of critical thought. Adler’s piece grapples with these feelings (as well as what it means to do so as a female fan of the band) in a way the effectively encapsulates how it feels to love a canceled artist:

The full piece can be read here.

Listening

Sable, Fable - Album - Bon Iver

I usually tend to listen to singles over full albums, but Bon Iver is an exception to that rule. I’ve been a fan since his Grammy-winning second album (and more specifically since his cover of Bonnie Raitt’s all time heartbreaker “I Can’t Make You Love Me”) tore through my tumblr timeline in 2013. I had mixed feelings on i,i but his new one feels like a return to form; a mixture of all the things that make his first three albums classics. It’s no “Beth/Rest”, nor does it hold a candle to even the 2016 Live at Eau Claire debut of 22, A Million, but what does? It’s good music from one of our best living musicians.

Got a question or comment? Shoot me an email at [email protected].