I'm Back (for now, anyway).

I have decided to revive this blog for a little while. I've been unemployed since December 23, 2008, and I'm ready to find a new job. I'm doing what I can to find one, but I think that resurrecting this blog intermittently might accelerate the process. Once I get a new job (or get bored with it again, whatever comes first), I'm done with this blog for good.

Truth be told, I've really enjoyed my year off. It stinks that I have a big gap in my resume (and I have a couple already), but I've had a real opportunity to explore other options and have new experiences. Last August, I traveled to Chicago for a few days. I traveled to Woodstock, New York Twice: Once to meet a potential documentary subject, then to attend the 2009 Woodstock Film Festival. I'm even thinking about making a movie there. In my absence from this blog, I've had a chance to do some serious soul searching.

I gave serious thought to returning to school, thinking about acquiring both either a second bachelor's, a masters, or both. At one point, I was considering getting a Masters In Human Sexuality. (That is, until I found out that the school was not accredited.) While I don't rule out returning to school down the line, I don't believe I'm ready to commit to a degree right now.

Right now, I'm taking a self-directed course in Copy Editing through MediaBistro.com. It's not a great time to be a journalist, but there are plenty of other places to secure copy editing jobs. I also may take another course in Medical Transcription (not offered by MediaBistro) down the line. I really don't want to do Customer Service the rest of my life. If my next job is indeed more customer service, I want to know that I can opt out for something else. I've also been trying to land freelance writing gigs, but that's been tough going. Six weeks ago, I had another reading with a psychic, and she suggested that it is time for me to get out of dodge. I'm looking at a few places, and if I am to leave, I want to confident that I can support myself.

Unfortunately, I'm not attending SXSW this year, which is going on as I post this. If the recently passed unemployment extension does apply to me, I may attend Tribeca this year. I'm also thinking about starting a new blog devoted to the writing process of Independent film.

But more than anything, I'm ready to work on resolving unemployment.

House of the Devil Trailer

AWESOME!

'The Devil' and Ti West

Ti West was interviewed by Karina Longworth on Spout.com this past Monday. In the interview, he discussed his two most recent projects: the Cabin Fever sequel which has been shelved, and House of the Devil, which is premiering at Tribeca Saturday Night.

In it, he talks of the frustrations he's had crossing over into more mainstream fare, such as Dark Sky cutting a crucial four minutes of House. West says that in spite of trying to mainstream himself for his larger efforts, his financiers still weren't satisfied. Longworth writes:

In the case of Devil, West says, the money guys knew what they were getting into when they hired him, and didn’t seem to have a problem with what they got until recently.

Then adds:

West says the producers test screened his cut without his knowledge, and then showed him response cards. The audience’s answers to the leading questions along the lines of “Were you bored by anything in the house?” were presented as evidence that the audience asked for the specific cuts that Dark Sky eventually mandated. That he had made a film that was even subject to last minute revision based on testing came as a surprise to the director.

“It was in the rough cut, it was in the fine cut, it was in the final cut it was in the sound edit — it’s never changed, and it was always boring the whole time. It’s this whole last minute fear.”

I've seen Trigger Man. I'll be honest--it was a little slow for my tastes, but I really wanted to see House of the Devil. It was the one movie I really would've definitely seen had I gave in and gone to Tribeca this year. Ti makes an important point here:

I feel there’s some value to people knowing that if they go see this movie on Saturday night at Tribeca, and you think you’re at an independent film festival seeing an independent film, you should know that this movie was market researched like a new flavor of Pepsi. Nobody thinks about that, that they’d go see a low budget movie, and that’s the process it’s gone through to get to a film festival. And it’s a bummer.

I don't think people who see indie films in mainstream theaters realize that "indie" films (or as others call them, "Indiewood") are often just as market researched as their bigger budget counterparts. Many "indie" producers keep marketability in mind when packaging their movies.

Go, Ti! I'll be seeing House of the Devil when I get a chance.

Disappointments & Tribulations

It's 35 degrees and very, very windy, so I spent today hibernating. Hopefully, it'll be the last time I'll have to do that for awhile, since it's going to be in the 50s tomorrow.

I scheduled one more interview today for the DVD. I'm particularly excited about this interviewee, since I got more responses about him than anyone else I interviewed, and frankly, of all the interviewees, I had the most fun interviewing him. It will be my first interview after I get to Binghamton Friday Morning. I literally just got off the phone with the mayor's office, and I have that interview set for 2:30.

Later, I got a message in my inbox from someone who had solicited me to do website design for them saying that she decided to "go forward with another designer". It's disappointing, of course. Between this, and the "cease-and-desist" letter I recieved last week, I'm thinking that maybe now isn't the time to be too preoccupied with entreprenurial endeavors. It takes up a lot of energy. There are web languages and programs that I would have to learn to gain enough confidence to pursue design work. I will continue to look for work, though.

Earlier this year, I had Brian obtain a press pass for me for this year's Tribeca--that was before I knew I was going to SXSW. For awhile, I had been leaning toward no, because of SXSW and needing to see how unemployment would work out. But now as the date looms closer, I'm giving serious thought to going. If I go, I'll only go for the weekend--leave on a Thursday, return Sunday or Monday. I'll see where I'm at with the DVD, the job search, and I have the Neko Case concert coming up that week, too before I make any final decision. It would sure be nice to jump back into the festival circuit before long...

2008: Year In Review, and Hopes & Goals for 2009

In spite of some bad things that happened to me this year, I have to say that 2008 was a very good year for me. In fact, this is probably the first time I've been able to look back and say I've had a really good year.

I attended two festivals this year--South By Southwest, and the Woodstock Film Festival. I also took an improv 101 class at UCB Theater in New York. I'd like to do 201 at some point, but right now, I have other things to focus on. For six weeks, I got to work at a job I actually liked.

Goals for 2009

Get the DVD done. It's actually the priority for me right now, other than continuing to look for new work. The sooner the DVD gets done, the sooner it gets out there. The sooner it gets out there, the sooner I can move on to future projects.

The Next Movie. Realizing that the scope of the DVD, it's priority has receded, but still really important. I have an idea and some locations where I want to shoot, but that's about it at this point.

Keep On Working, Hopefully In Jobs That Don't Suck. The last job, I liked. Unfortunately, economic conditions forced me out of that situation. As I have mentioned, I'm working on a stopgap measure, but it would be nice to continue to have a job (or jobs) that I like. When my old supervisor returns from vacation, he's going to appeal to the corporate office to get an extension on the project. But returning there is more of a "no" than a "yes" at this point.

Go To Tribeca & Take Improv 201 at the UCB Theater. This is a longshot at this point, but I'm interested in going. It's all going to depend on my employment situation, and whether or not I can make the time to go. If so, I'd like to do both about the same time.

I have two New Year's Resolutions: To keep losing weight, and make The Bondy Blog regular reading. I've been trying to become fluent in French for a couple of years now, and If I can make a habit of reading the blog, I'll master the language.

Hope 2009 will be a good year for you as well.