I have met a boatload of female filmmakers in the last year, the Film Fatales. It has been so amazing to find a community of like-minded people. Truly mind-blowing and inspiring on so many levels. From that group, Kim Spurlock and I created a writing group. We meet monthly at the Writers Guild and turn in 60 pages every other month. There are 12 members, each incredibly smart, insightful, funny and warm. I have a deadline with my script and a real community. We had the first of what will hopefully be many writing retreats this September on Shelter Island. We did writing exercises, yoga, read excerpts from Save the Cat, wrote, cooked, ate, drank, walked, biked, swam, talked, talked some more, and laughed. I am so grateful for this community.
I also recently met another group which is an offshoot of the Fim Fatales, the Documamas (not all documentarians :)) They also meet monthly. It has been difficult for me to make those meetings, as many of them are in the evenings and my husband works 5 nights a week. They recently did a daytime workshop in collaboration with Chicken & Egg Pictures. It was called Balancing Motherhood and Filmmaking. There were about 25 of us there, all in the same boat. Amazing. A woman named Amy Hilbrich Davis who has a company called Family Life Success, and also has 7 kids, spoke to us about putting our family first, and how that success will translate over into every area of our lives. There are several cornerstones of family success. The first is personal well-being. The second is our relationship with our partner. She said these first 2 are more important to the happiness of our kids than any of the other cornerstones. Mind-blowing, right? She also talked about our job as parents. It is to keep our kids happy, healthy, safe and cozy. I love the simplicity of this. There were so many more amazing things she shared, and I am still processing them and integrating them into my life. It is a mind-shift. It was a gift to be there, and I am again so grateful.
The next step for me is to make my first feature. Between my husband and me (me being DEEPLY involved in each project), we have made 4 shorts. We have ideas for web series, etc., and will work towards making these happen. But in the meantime, I am singlemindedly focused on my feature Gun Club Road. I have just completed my third draft. Now it is time to go in for the dirty work - tightening dialogue / making it more specific with each character one by one; putting more New Mexico, 1980's and South Valley references into the script; strengthening each a and b storyline; outlining the script (ack! something I have always avoided!); putting in all the little idiosyncratic thoughts I've had about this script which will make it unique; etc. etc. etc.
The idea is to shoot this next October. In less than a year. I have to think big - that's the only way I know how to make things happen.
I have another film which is close to my heart which I want to make, but it is a larger budget film. I started daydreaming about films with lower budgets and Gun Club Road has overtaken my mind and heart at the moment. One day I will make Buckle My Soul. I must spend time each day that is devoted to these dreams. I truly believe in making dreams reality. I believe in prayer. I believe in hard work. I believe in willing something into existence through a combination of both.
It has taken me all this time to figure out a way to work every day. Last year was Miranda's first year of full time school and it took me the whole year to figure out how to harness the time. Perhaps I was tired and needed to catch up on my sleep. I was also helping make MUCK, which definitely took hours of each day. Post on MUCK has just been completed and I think it has an exciting future ahead. A lot of talent surrounding that project from the acting to the producing to the cinematography and beyond. During that time I also worked on a few different writing projects of my own, finally coming to Gun Club Road with a first draft literally flying off my fingers.
That is all for now. I will try and post more regularly.
I will leave you with an image of the true life inspiration of GUN CLUB ROAD. My sister Cassie Goodluck and myself.
With love,
Emilie Blythe (but you can call me Blythe)
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