Lunch out with the Girl

Met with HP, one of the TC investors today. She took me out for lunch, and I really appreciated that. We're so broke that it was my only meal. I stuffed myself on bread and sucked every last fishbone dry. It was awesome. She gave me 150 quid to get my visa. I am truly looked after, and I am thankful.

Zygmunt Bauman

Met up with Ben, who is an independent producer. He's acting as a sounding board. I babble about what the film is about, and he plays devil's advocate.

I've also been calling all of my contacts in Tokyo trying to get money to finish the film. No luck yet. I've made a list, and I'm calling round every day.

There's a guy called Zygmunt Bauman. He's a professor at Leeds Univ., and he's written loads of books on postmodernism. My library is the Boarders on Charring Cross Road. There's a coffee bar there, and they don't mind if you bring their books in. So, I use it as a library. I must remember to thank Borders in the credits of the film. That's also where I did all of the research for the film. And, of course, that's where I discovered Bauman.

Francois' Birthday

Francois' birthday. We got too drunk and stuffed our faces on Claire's free food. It was the only meal we had today, and the only beer we've had for ages. But it cost us 4 quid to get the bus there, and that was a hit. We rented the sound equipment out to F & D for 25 quid. That will last us three days of food and travel. Today, color me thankful.

Cancer of the Knee

Patrick does not have cancer of the knee. He does, however, have oesto-arthritus. The good news is that we'll be able to tell the weather by his knee. So, he was shooting for 6 weeks, walking up and down stairs and humping all of that equipment with arthritus. He's a saint...an angel sent from heaven.

Simon the Composer

Met with Simon Rogers. He was something that dropped out of the sky. I put an ad on shooting people looking for a mentor. Three people responded--a producer, an editor and Simon. Simon is a composer and has been in the business for a long time. He sent me a CD last week, and I really liked his stuff. I went by his studio today, and we talked about him scoring TC. Some of my ideas were to sample cowboy voices with different strains of music to create a theme for each one of them. I'd also like to keep it Western as this is western. Some of my references are Dead Man, Zatoichi and Rabbit Proof Fence. Dead Man because of the Western themes only replacing some of the traditional western instruments with Japanese ones. That's where Zatoichi comes in. The music was amazing. Then, in Rabbit Proof Fence, Peter Gabriel used a lot of sounds from the desert landscape. I told Simon that I'd like to use sounds from the urban landscape to make up the layers of the score. It was a good meeting, and Simon is coming on board.

This is Simon in his Studio, which happens to be in his back garden!

WIIF

Went to the Women in Independent Film networking party tonight. First of all, I think it's funny how the English refer to it as a networking "party." The English network in a different way to the Japanese. The English get drunk, then they can network. I guess we got drunk in Japan as well, but there seemed to be more networking and less drinking. Anyway, there were about 150 young desperate women filmmakers, me included. Is that what it is to be a woman in independent film? Most everyone was a director looking for a producer, which means, they were looking for someone to find them money. The producers were mobbed. In any case, it's good to go to these things. It's good to keep up the skill of networking.

Rage

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light..." not Suzuki.

Looking for an editor. This could go on for ages. But, the thing is that we can't start editing until we get the funding. But, I guess I'm not ready to start editing yet. I have to have a paper edit. I have to review footage. There is a lot to do. So the fact that we don't have the money is not such a bad thing. Trying to write what I see in my mind's eye.