Answers to absences and answers to questions...

Cole here...

First off, I need to apologize for the delay! John, Jeremy, and I looked at each other and took a deep breath, deciding that three updates a week, although eventually routine, would be a little hefty so soon in the process. We decided to set up a time to keep it frequent but not overwhelming. Not a few days after this decision was made, we all became swamped, gleefully in our position...

You see, Jeremy is the playwright in residence at Theatre Daedalus where he mounted a 24 hour playwrights project. He and two of his colleagues literally stayed awake for over 35 hours, writing scripts. rehearsing, and producing a show with the head of the writing department at Kent State.

From the sound of things, the energy was fantastic at this show, and people are eagerly looking forward to the next production which, again, might be a full-length Sony experience.

My excuse? I was amidst week two of The Internationalist with Available Light Theatre in Columbus. In many ways, one of the greatest experiences I’ve had acting in Columbus. Professional troupe (lauded by American Theatre Magazine as one of the hippest companies in the country) and great work done in the shortest rehearsal time I’ve ever experienced. 11 days by opening night... The reviews were wonderful, and the show did exactly as we set out to achieve.

And lastly, but certainly not least... John Klein, our producer, was in Oklahoma for the Trail Dance Film Festival, ranked one of the top 25 festivals in the country. There, Glass City was nominated for best drama, best director, best actress, best actor, and best in festival.

As if that weren’t enough, our short, Rendezvous, was also selected to compete and was VERY well received with wonderful feedback, a gasp at the end, and many filmmakers saying we should make a feature out of it. 

Oh, and Glass City took best drama.

So there we are. Guilty. Our writer being overly in-demand as a writer. Our director finishing up a wonderful experience downtown at the Riffe Center. And our producer, seeing our major vehicle to awards and accolades, and bringing the name of Glass City Films to filmmakers across the country. 

I can’t exactly say we’re sorry for the absence. Just the 24 hour days being so numbered.

But a question was volleyed... in my direction is would seem.

Writers and directors. Directors and writers.

There is a naive notion, it would seem, that writers hand their script off to directors and wave goodbye. The notion is also that the director is handed a script and tells people where to stand, where to set up, and how to say it right.

Any famous play or movie you see comes to you with the finished touches. It has the by line: writer. And the picture line: director. It carries the fact that the production has compartmentalized craft. But along with that, it carries that stigma that it has compartmentalized the responsibilities. 

When the reality is they bleed into each other.

These first revisions of the screenplay involved Jeremy trimming and tightening. Put simply, Jeremy did what he could to subtract. He cut the fat from the muscle. Now that the film is a lot leaner, although still rich, we can see what it’s true strengths are. I developed a concept over a few days last week, which was sent to John as a producer and DP and to Jeremy as a writer. The concept basically focuses the part of the script that I think holds the real story. The strongest part of the animal. The concept can be answered with two things:

A) Complete agreement, where Jeremy would love how I see the piece being stronger, and he would write to enhance those qualities. Here, in essence, he would be adding instead of subtracting.

B) Or he could disagree. At least in part. And I couldn’t hope for anything better.

And that is where the responsibility is shared. Yes, it’s my picture. Yes, it’s Jeremy’s screen-play. But it is our responsibility. And as I tell him to add and subtract to his side of the fulcrum, he will ask me to do the same. And seeing the metaphor all the way through: we achieve a balance. A film that is not too heavy in either way. Where the director does more than tell the DP to his record and tell the actors say the words, but also where the words tell a beautiful story and the director is able to get out of the way and stay behind the camera.

And the beauty of this system is that we can repeat (B) until (A) happens. But that’s where collaboration gets tricky. It is utterly impossible to be objective and fresh in your art unless you come across (B). Otherwise, it’s heavy handed in one way or another. But once you find someone to disagree with you, you need to respect each other enough to achieve (A) before the principal photography. Otherwise, it’s a tug-of-war and nothing can grow out of it.

So...it’s like math. 

Let D = director. Let C=concept. Let W= writer. Let S=script. Let A= agree. and let B=disagree.

C(D+S)= (+or-)S(C+W) 

You just have to balance the equation.

Then mutiply by (A) or divide by (B) depending on how you work together.

Jeremy, would you like to explain it better?