The business side of making a film

is the worst part about making a film. Technically, we should have insurance and all that jazz, getting permits, etc. But we don't have the financial means to do so. Fuck it, this shit is underground, it's nouvelle vague, it's independent of all that jazz. Anyway, because we don't have insurance and the Sperry's building is currently insured as a vacant building, they can't let us in to use it unless we have our own insurance. And while I understand liabilities and all that nonsense, sometimes a handshake and someone's word ought to be good enough. That's just not the world we live in anymore though.

I'm getting ready for the scene tonight with Ole Anderson and Nick Adams. I wasn't able to get to Pontiac to pickup Chad's "Last Supper" painting and he wasn't able to drive to PH to drop it off to me, even though he had the day off and I've done similiar treks to help him out from PH to Pontiac or Ferndale or Royal Oak or whatever. Anyway, now I'm scurrying to find one and we've got 4 hours to do so. Bah.

I'm still having some of that second guessing, doubting tomas nonsense going on over some of the shots we got the other day. I forgot about how you can't cross over that imaginary line in between cuts and there's also some funkiness of cutting from a shot with Max on the left of the screen to one where he's on the right of the screen. It's imperative that I think that kind of stuff through and not waste any more days of shooting. I think we can fix most of it with an intermediary shot, so we'll see.

The biggest thing that I've learned through all of this, is that there's so much more for me to learn. I feel pretty confident with most of the cinematic ideas I have, it's just the execution of them where I find I'm struggling to trust myself. An excellent DP and Cinematographer, on a real set, would alleviate a lot of the burden, and if it weren't for Todd, who's been busting his ass to fill both roles, I think I'd be a bit overwhelmed by it all.

Here's hoping we get some great stuff tonight. If that happens, all of that questioning, doubting, stress, etc. will fall back in line, I think. We'll see.