no holiday

I had a little time to reflect over the Holidays, even with the upcoming shoot looming large and preparations monopolizing our time away from home. I thought about what I've accomplished film-wise in the last year and what I'd like to do in the coming one, but mostly I thought about how nice it would be to have an actual holiday like most people.

Our layover was longer than expected and in the airport we listened as flight after flight departing for tropical climes was announced. Montego Bay. Panama City. Santiago de Cuba. This made me wish we could just sneak onto one of those planes and leave the whole film thing behind.

That being said, I should really take the time to pause and appreciate all that I've done this year, which includes the following:

- I started this blog
- I did a one-week residency in the Wallace Stegner House, during which I wrote a treatment
- I came up with several solid feature-length ideas and wrote a short film script
- I applied for a bunch of grants and faced my rejection letters stoically
- I "finished" (in quotes because re-writing never seems to end for me) my second feature-length script, which was a semi-finalist in a prestigious US competition

...And all that while working a full-time day job. No wonder I need a holiday. 

Here is what I’d like to do in the coming year:

- Make it through the upcoming shoot (with my marriage and personal bank account intact)

- Find a producer for my screenplay (and not just any producer--hopefully a kindred spirit)

- Write the first draft of a new script or get well into two different ones

- Take in some sort of professional development

- Go on a "real" holiday (not a family visit and not a film festival) even for just one week

 

I know I’m not exactly aiming for the stars here, but my philosophy these days is to focus on attainable goals. Putting one foot in front of the other seems a lot less tiring than trying to fly to the moon right now.