stop time

The film seems to be moving ahead without me- we shoot in 7 weeks and I still have to find 3 more actors, an art director, gaffer, permission to shoot in lost-and-found, a bolex to sneak into the catacombs and a green screen. I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all- especially since I've had a yucky cold all week. Paris is so cold and rainy that I just get sick every 3rd week...though perhaps I caught this cold in snowy italy. Yesterday, my assistant director and I went to Eclair- one of France's biggest labs. We negotiated a 50% discount on their 200% over-inflated prices...winding up around a sort of half-way point between Fotokem and Monaco labs. In France it appears you have to stick with one lab from beginning to end- not like the states where you can piece together labs for processing, telecine, blowup, etc... Well, the whole thing is quite stressful because I really need to choose a lab that my school will approve and pay for, as well as choose a pathway to go from my super-16mm film to a final print and/or video...it's all very complicated and I have a million prices swirling in my head and it is not always evident which route to follow.

In other news, French olyimpic coverage is so wierd. I was all happy to be watching figure skating and drinking my tea. They were playing it live, not cutting for commercials and not doing any stupid biopic things...but then after 15 minutes, before any of the top skaters had gone, they just stopped- end of show. Time for the news- which plays on like 50 channels and is endlessly boringly chatting about the bird flu...arghh. Where is my toe-to-toe ice queen cut-throat competition? Where is the tear-stained sequined russian princess? Where are the flowers falling on the ice? ah non, c'est l'heure du journal, patinage est fini apres 15 minutes, tant pis pour vous...
zut.

okay...it's later this evening and I would like to make a withdrawal of previous statement- my ice skating will be on in 5 minutes and you can ignore my previous complaining. Except I would like to add that I am not as wierd and obsessed than this may seem. I'm quite focused on my filmmaking and this is just my guilty pleasure since i"m sick and my boyfriend went to a bachelor party and i'm alone drinking tea. bonne nuit.

labo et filles et bureaus

Finding out information in france can be slower than a train ticket queue in India. It has taken over 3 weeks to get exact pricing information at one of France's top film labs, Eclair. impossible to get an appointment. Finally they sent a detailed spreadsheet that mysteriously totalled 8,600 Euros (in lab fees, including a "generous" 30% reduction). Now, in the US labs come in wide range of prices, but they don't usually charge things like 90 euros for "flexfile disks" (essentially, a file they can email), an extra 150 euros for wetgating, 33 euros for testing their own chemicals...and so on. Well, it's frusterating and I am trying 4 other labs to get pricing info, but everyone takes this slow relationship that I don't have the time to build...

then more bad news, the lost and found said "no" to our scene in their office...our 10 people was too many for the shoot (4 actors, 6 crew)...now I'm going to have to beg them or something else.

I found a pregant woman willing to pose nude.

And...yeah! I have chosen my little girl! She is extremely cute. I'm terrified about working with a 5 year old but i'm going to do the best i can in the 2 months I have to prepare her. Any tips about very very young actresses will be accepted.
This week, more casting and more locations and more friends visiting and more missing my brit.

Strange times

I'm having a few problems:

First, I am addicted to the internet and seeking treatment. Seriously, I do not need to check the news that often, nor browse eBay for antique rings, scan craigslist for future jobs, read film gossip about sundance and other film festivals that I fear I will never get into, spend hours booking travel or thinking about it, search paris vendu for 80 square meter dream homes to buy in the 5th...this has got to stop. I have new rules in place and will be systematically reducing my internet junkie habits. Starting now.

Second, time seems to be passing too fast (in terms of when I will shoot my movie), too slow (in terms of when my boyfriend will be back and town), and distances seem to be loosing shape too- I feel a million miles from the U.S. when I learn our Supreme Court is now stocked with pro-lifers, but I feel Australia is a step away from Paris as my friends are visiting next week. Time-space is all out of whack. Can anyone fix it?

and now, your favorite section...Reports from the French bureaucracy:
I finally went in to enroll in French social security (cool, I get this number that'll last me forever apparently) and the lady said all my papers were fine except I was missing my "authorization de travail" (which was not on the list of required documents) and to come back. So, I went back the next day, to the VERY SAME lady, with my correct document. Now apparently the photocopy of my visa in my passport was too faint and she couldn't make out the dates. "C'est impossible!" I will need to get new passport/visa all worked out before registering, this will take several months...but wait, will this scrap of a photocopy of my visa that I have in my wallet do for you? It is minutely more legible...why, yes this is fine! Amazing. French people basically decide very arbitrarily when they want to be nice to you. When they are in a "yes" mood everything is quite good and all the doors open beautifully, when they are in a "no" mood it is very hard to even find the door.