The second cut of the film, clocking in at 1:32 hours, was almost like a new first cut in terms of having to completely re-envision the approach, the story, and the narrative. Let me clarify: this doesn’t mean that there’s only one character in the film at this point; in truth, there is currently one main character, Sam (known as “The Mayor” of TVN), and two featured characters, Dorothy and Ceil. In addition, plenty of other people appear in the film, and going forward, I will work to incorporate other voices into the film. It has been the right approach to try to make the film very focused, about just one man, and then to build out from that core, rather than the original approach, which was to try to include everything and everyone. Moving forward, we will try adding more voices to the core of the film. In fact, this was the overwhelming demand during the discussion at the rough cut screening. We haven’t forgotten about the other characters, it’s just that there’s so much material at hand that it would be easy to make a really diluted, topical/conversational film. But if there’s one thing I learned in film school, it’s that film’s strength is in its emotional impact. In order to carry emotional weight, to reach out and touch an audience, you have to let the audience get to know a character, get involved in their life, and go through a journey with him/her. So this is the current plan. I will continue to refine the film, probably expand it out some to more voices, and I will post more later on specific directions, characters, and scenes.

I’ll aim to have a trailer done by the end of this month that everyone can enjoy and start getting excited about. I realize that it’s been a long journey and you haven’t gotten to see any of the actual film yet, but we thank you very much for sticking around. Because there’s so much amazing material that will inevitably not make it into the film itself, we are considering releasing a lot of content online and as DVD extras. We want to get as much of this material out as possible and tell as many stories as possible; we just need to take it one step at a time. Stay tuned!

P.S. If you are interested in participating in future rough cut screenings, be they in Dallas or LA, please let us know!

As you can see, as I post this, it’s much later than 2 or 3 months after we started the entire project in late November, which would have had us finishing the project and saying goodbye in February or so. That’s how long we originally intended to work on the project. But when we first started realizing that we’d be shooting and then editing instead of both simultaneously, we shifted back our sights and told people we thought we’d screen the film at TVN (where they intend to do a big red carpet event for the whole community!) in late April, early May. This is no longer realistic either. In fact, it’s not even close, considering that it’s now August, and we’d have to time travel to make that deadline. We’re looking at December 31st, 2009 for an end-date to the creative aspects of the project. In other words, have a finished product on our hands by the end of the year, February at the latest. That’s a full year later than we originally thought. But, it’s in line with what all the pros told us: they’ve never edited a documentary in less than 6 months to a year (and that’s just editing).

Now how does that sound? Things have definitely changed, but it feels good. We both feel good about this, despite any issues or grievances that have arisen like in any relationship. We’re on course and trekking forward. Look for less frequent blog posts but more substantial ones when they come, though we’ll still give the occasional post-production status update via vlog.

Since I last began writing about The New Deal, even more has changed. Ashley’s now back in Oregon doing producing work, while I’ve stuck around in Dallas to continue editing. My goal is to have a rough cut of the film done by September 1 (may be pushed back a couple of weeks because I just got back from that long in NYC), and Ashley’s goal is to raise money for finishing funds (such as for titles, graphics, removing all those damn reflections in people’s glasses, and DVD mastering, authoring, and replication). In addition, Life’s Waltz has taken on an intern (volunteer?)! He’s already been doing a lot of assistant editing work and has even started cutting some Old Stories. Finally, to give y’all sense of direction, we received some excellent advice from Mark Harris (Producer, Darfur Now), whom we met with when we sojourned to LA a couple of months ago, to try to aim for a premiere at SXSW – South by Southwest – the now-famous Austin film and music festival. That’s in April, and submissions are likely due around the end of the year, so that puts us on an interesting and healthy timeline.

We’re excited, we think we have a much better grasp on the realities of what we’re doing, and barring unforeseen acts of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, we’re in it for good for the long haul.

Ashley gives us a producing update from Oregon!

We couldn’t help but be honest with them: the editing process will take quite a long time. But, to assuage and satiate the residents–to give them something–Jared and I decided to continue with filming more “Old Stories.” What is “Old Stories?” Old Stories started when we submitted to Project: Direct back in December 2008. Since then, the concept has grown and evolved into us literally going from apartment to apartment, filming for 20 minutes gathering up stories from someone’s past, and editing their stories into a very short, (1-2min in length), punchy, entertaining, and consumable little film. We accumulated about 15 stories for the screening, and so, we showed them to the residents! Everybody was quite pleased and we had a very strong positive reaction to the material. They even forgave us for being late (we ran into some technical obstacles at the very last minute, of course these things always happen the day of!)!

I encourage everyone to check out the Old Stories series! You can find them in the blog’s archives and on our YouTube channel — just look for the Old Stories playlist. There are some hilarious stories!

And, this is officially my last week in Texas…for a while! I am leaving on June 30 to return to my home in Bend, Oregon for producing while Jared remains in Texas to edit. It has been a incredible 7 mos. journey since my arrival last November, and it is a strange feeling to know that I am leaving behind many friends both in and out of TVN. Though, I cannot deny that a summer in Oregon will be equally fabulous for both work and play!

As we have realized that the film is going to take much longer than we initially expected, we figured it would be nice to at least screen SOMETHING at TVN in the meantime so everyone could see some of what we’ve been doing with the footage and our time. In light of that, we’re going to put together a screening of Old Stories later this month, trying to have one story from each of the main people we’ve been working with at TVN in the lineup. But luckily for all of y’all, we’re gonna post them here. Look out for a whole slough of Old Stories coming this blog’s way very shortly! We were thinking of doing a red carpet event but figured it’d be best to save that for the movie’s premiere.

By the way, if you ever find one of the videos we post to be particularly laughter-inducing or heart-melting, pass it along to your friends with the direct YouTube link. Spread the word!

After today’s filming, Jared and I both confronted the notion that there will be many heartbreaks for us both in the next couple of years.

Why? you wonder.

For the past few months and a year ago with our short film, Jared and I have been making friends with countless octogenarians and nonagenarians (80-year-olds and 90-year-olds)–many whom we have become quite close with. These interactions are remarkable: how many twenty-somethings bond with a large group of 80-somethings anyway? But, these friendships also mean that we must confront the notion that these friends will pass away in the next decade or so–at TVN alone, there have been four deaths just in this past week. For some, the idea of talking about or preparing for death is morbid, morose, and even depressing. But for Jared and I, exploring this topic is part of the path we have chosen. The immediate grief we feel from Bob’s passing is only an acknowledgment that we have lost his physical presence. I personally feel death is most certainly a part of life, not an end to life; and with that in mind, I see Life’s Waltz as a means to honor our friendship with Bob, the Talty’s lives together, and their stories and the stories of the other seniors involved. And, our current Life’s Waltz should prove a testament to the lives and stories of all of our new friends at TVN. Here’s to many more years with all of them!

All our love to the unforgettable, one-of-a-kind Bob Talty.

Jared gives a production status update for Life’s Waltz as we cap off week 8 of filming. In less than a week we’ll be done shooting principal photography. We’re stoked to begin editing!

Ashley gives us a silly update with some funny anecdotes as we round out week 6 of production on Life’s Waltz.

Jared gives an update on Week 4 of production going into week 5 on Life’s Waltz!