Writing is Hard

1230 AM in Los Angeles.

It's actually raining, and the high tomorrow is not even going to reach 60. Because it is simply different, a change from the 80 degree sunny weather that fills our days, the rain is actually somewhat appealing.

Danny and I are sitting in my apartment writing. Well, technically I'm blogging, which does not officially count as writing. Instead, it counts as something I do much more often: procrastinating.

When my life is in disarray, I only need to sit down to write. I find that, within a couple hours, bills are paid, the desk is organized, the to-do list is typed, errands are run. I run through all my sports and news articles online, and I even check out the latest television show I would normally have no interest in. Finally, when all possible distractions have been eliminated and I'm full of frustration at my lack of progress and the self-loathing that goes along with it, I dive in and try to write.

But then it's probably time to go.

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We're working on our next project now, which will be one of two scripts we've been developing since a summer sojourn to New York City. Manhattan was an incredible inspiration. We wrote every day, spent time with good friends, and literally found that writer's block could often be cured with a simple walk around the block -- the sights and sounds and people of the city still provide creative fodder just as they have for so many years, and for so many writers.

It reminds me that we first began writing HUMBOLDT COUNTY over four years ago while spending a month in Shelter Cove, a beautiful ocean town west of Garberville in southern Humboldt. It was there that we first conceived of the characters, the story and the themes we wanted to explore in this film that, in a few short days, we will finally see projected on 35mm.

It's funny to return, now, to the writing process.

I've often heard filmmakers lament the compromised vision that is the final product. While there are certainly aspects of our film that are different from our initial conception, and while we had to make many concessions due to budget or time constraints, in the end we've made a film that I feel proud of. We've made a film that I think people will enjoy.

It's rewarding to see interest building on this blog, as we begin the next step of this process: exhibition. It will be exciting for you all to see this film we've put so much into. Soon, we will show you our work and then it will no longer be ours alone. It will belong to you and your friends and anyone who sees it. You will have opinions and feelings about it, and they will be as valid as the ones we had while making it. So as we approach the time of actually letting this film go, I feel both fear and exhilaration. But mostly, I feel proud. And I feel eager to begin the process again.


So I guess I better get to writing.

-Darren

p.s. I had the good pleasure of seeing JUNO last night, a wonderful film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman. It's hysterically funny and also full of complex, well-rounded characters and is about as worth seeing as any film I've seen this year. If you get the chance, check it out because movies like this need to make money so that they can continue to be made (hopefully some of them, by us).

p.p.s. Regarding the issue brought up in the previous post, Danny if you were a better speller, maybe HUMBOLDT COUNTY would have been better. Oh well. There's always the next one.