Tuesday 22 February 2011

Dude, I have not seen you in, like, years. Dude, where the fuck have you been?

Bloggers that write, "It's been a while" are useless. So I'm going to say, I've been busy. Which is probably more annoying, but better than, "I've been at Daddy's place in St Barth's and skiing a lot with my new billionaire boyfriend" - which I haven't.

Where is Mission to Lars at?

Yesterday we sent the film to New York for consideration for the Tribeca Film Festival. Hoping, willing, some kind of decent sort of selection that might enable us to put one of them laurel leaf thingies on the bottom of our film poster.

It seems this, along with a microscopic cinema release, is what all the right documentaries wear these days. I heard a story recently about a low budget documentary maker who was a hit at the film festivals who didnt go home for a year. He just hoofed around the world as the guest of various film festivals, which is nice work if you haven't got any other work to do.

I'd be happy with one nod of recognition (preferably a bit more than a nod, a festival equivalent of a high five would be nice, because i'd prefer not to have to pay my own air fare and, frankly, i need the encouragement) from a good film festival and best of all, a proper good airing on the tellybox.

Mission to Lars is near enough to its final edit now, its about 80 minutes long and its funny and its sad and its got twists n shit. it's good. It's got this really specific ambient pace that we nearly lost but got it back because its so key to the story, because this is Tom's pace of life, not manic mine or Will's. In the final cut Tom leads the film, and that's as it should be. He's by far the funnier sibling of the three of us. A year ago I might have said that in a patronising hands between my knees sort of a way, but this time, I mean it.

Tom has genius comic timing. One scientist told me this was in part due to f-x syndrome.

I've been trying to get some money from a grant fund to finish the last bits of film. Documentaries rarely make much dough, and the more investors we have the less we'll get. So far we've given all our time and everything for free, James, Will and I. My accounts came in from the accountant recently and I was a little alarmed at how little money I'd made this last tax year. Penny dropped though, and I forgave myself when I realised how much time I'd put into the Mission. Will and James (james especially) have spent hundreds of hours on it.

It is appropriate that the brilliant Passion Pictures are giving us some informal executive assistance, because passion is what you get paid in it seems.

All's well though and something more and more like a proper film is taking shape. So at the moment I am out pimping for money for titles, credit and music. Mike Lindsay from Tunng did the score and he gave us cool mates rates, but he ain't working for passion. The title sequence needs to explain the F-X thing, so we don't get too bogged down in it during the journey, so I went to a well known scientific philanthropic concern to try and beg some money but you need a special sized brain qualification to fill out application forms for free money/grants and I don't know that i have it.

I am better at putting on parties and going to People With Money and opening my eyes really really wide while putting my hand out in a begging action. Though not very better. I'll never be a Weinstein, that's fo sho.

Way back, just before we went to Sheffield Documentary Festival (which is dead good) in November, the photographer Chris Floyd came to stay with the entire family in Cornwall and take some photos of us three for some promo flyers. Chris is an excellent dude who walks alone, a singular chap and a real spade caller (meaning he is honest, not that he is racist).

He was the first person outside of me, Will n James to see the film and this was a bowel loosening thought. When Chris liked it I sort of knew we were going to be OK. I didn't know how OK and I still don't but I realised that this crazy little plan had exceeded what I dreamt and hoped of it already.

Here are some of Chris' pictures from that day in Boobies Bay
Boobies Bay is a small rocky beach with a good right hander at low tide. We didn't surf much this holiday, there was a lot of demotivational drinking, my family's other team game - it can put you off family sometimes, the drinking thing
Tom's pretty smart with the drinking, he tends to know his limits, and only pretends to have a hangover. When he pretends to have a hangover he stays in bed til lunchtime and then eats a fry up and a hearty lunch in quick succession.
What else is there to say? Masses, like the editor we used who had worked regular like with Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan, and who trumped all the others in the frame because she 'got it'. Like the fact that Tom has a stack of flyers with that image above on the front, which he signs for all and sundry. The fact that at Christmas Will, his wife Tiff, me, my new fella Wolfie, and Tombo, all sat round the dining room table on New Years Eve and had a right funny banter about Mission to Lars and that lead on to funny banter about stuff in general and that warmed my cockles to a good heat.

If nothing else, Mission to Lars has changed our relationship with Tom and his with us. We've all got a shared experience now, one that crosses the divide of our life circumstance and allows us to chat and laugh together. The three of us, and in a secondary way, the whole family, have been on a crazy adventure together. Its stuff like this that makes relationships and are the foundations of bonding n shit. (I wrote n shit because I am starting to feel slightly awkward about the sentimentality).

Moving on.

I should do some work now. If you want to know more, there is so much to tell, do give me a sign and let me know I am not howling into the wind like a lonely blogger with an arse of cottage cheese and no friends, let me know I am not a female Comic Store Guy from the Simpsons. And please, if you can be arsed, say a tiny prayer to the Gods of getting on telly and being liked by festivals.

You rock for reading this, thanks.

Love from Kate

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't have any money to offer, or many skills other than rudimentary but enthusiastic camera skills, but since starting to read this blog, I have been so interested in the progress of your documentary and so hoping that you would achieve what you want to with it.
So I'm praying to the tv gods for you, hope you hear back from the film festival, and if you need any sort of help, even if it's with flyering or something, let me know.

GeorgieSpice said...

"he tends to know his limits, and only pretends to have a hangover. When he pretends to have a hangover he stays in bed til lunchtime and then eats a fry up and a hearty lunch in quick succession." Just luff it :)