Reasons to be Pretty Reading

Well, today was an important day. It's Sunday at Connecticut College, which means a few things: 1. the campus is mostly hungover. 2. the students, of which whom are hungover, have to start their work which they didn't do. but for me it means 3. today we have a reading of the most updated shooting script for my upcoming film Reasons to be Pretty, an acid-tongued, romantic comedy drama. When I say romantic comedy, I don't mean that Garry Marshall "Valentine's Day" or "Pretty Woman" kind of bullshit. I'm trying to create my own tone for this film here, even though I've adapted it from Neil LaBute's play.

I had my reading with my four-person cast: Will Brown, Elizabeth Krieg, Stew Steele, and Kristin Hutchins. Everyone was amazing in their roles today. It was Will's first day and he read the part spectacularly. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out with him since I cast him on sort of a random impulse last semester, but he is and will always remain my first choice for the role - he embodied the character very well with a sense of honesty/tenderness, and at the same time conveyed great humor.

Krieg was born to do the role I cast her in and she knows that, she HATES when I say that because she feels that brings pressure, but she knows this is the case, and Stew and Kristin were even more brilliant this time around then they were before.

The script we read this time around (this was our second reading) was cut down to 19 pages, which means we run at 19 minutes. Ideally, we want to get it down to 15, and I think it will probably be at about 15:55 by the time all is said and done.

There are some mishaps in the script. The thing that is troubling most involved right now is the ending - I find it to be polarizing which is part of the intention. In fact, my whole cast sort of ganged up on me telling me how I should change it - oh actors. They did offer clever advice between the four of them, but I did explain to them that I am the captain of the ship, I am the director and that this is my movie and I also promised not to let them down - so I have to make sure that's a promise I keep.

The ending we have, I'd rather not give away on my blog because I'd rather people see my movie in its full essence when it's completed. I'm using this blog more as a way to keep track of production mentally, as a journal if you will. It did piss some people off today at the reading, but one of my most trusted colleagues also told me it was brilliant even though it needs some dialogue repair. My movies, or my work for lack of better word, generally tends to part seas in audiences...so I don't intend for Reasons to be Pretty to be any different in that regard. As long as I'm making something of quality and interest to people...

Up here I will have festival lists, submissions, shooting days/schedules, reports/thoughts/commentaries. If you would like to read a script and give me thoughtful advice, I'd be happy to get you involved.

We will be shooting all interior scenes on the college campus for convenience. Other scenes will be done in and around the New London area.

Starting a new film is like a brand new adventure. I haven't directed anything (worked on multiple projects since, just not in the director's chair) since my last film Twenty-Four-Hundred in 2007 when I was a senior in high school. Directing is an adrenaline rush for me...I need it. I need to be on a set manning a camera, taking a shot, guiding actors into thoughts and dialogue, and finally putting it together as an artistic pastiche. It completes a part of me, it's a passion that I can't describe not in words or in acting, it's just something in my blood and my head - I would say from my heart too because it does come from there, but I definitely feel it the most in the blood.