January, we hardly knew ye
At the beginning of the year, I posted a lovely blog update that looked back at the progress we made in 2018, and mapped out the road ahead for 2019 (and beyond!). And for the most part, we’re sort-of on schedule, give or take a few weeks.
The interview transcripts and last principal interviews are being done somewhat simultaneously. Last month, we made a quick jaunt to the Bay Area to grab a few interviews and collect some old photos. One of the interviews was with Penina S. Finger, whose giant spectacles and huge talents made her a fixture on the Maryland Parkway poetry and art scene back in the day. The other was with Brian Kirsch, better known in the ’90s as “Sterling,” and more importantly to me, the bass player in my quasi-Goth band Rahne, which was basically born, lived, and died on the Parkway. As you can see in the image below, we have both aged extremely well, and have also developed soft spots for small, fluffy creatures.
Before heavy editing starts, we have one more shooting trip scheduled for the Pacific Northwest this month (and we are crossing all of our digits hoping the weather is not too wintry). At the same time, we’re working with an attorney to get all the releases and contracts in order, protect the film under the new LLC that was formed this year (more on that soon!), and help us with insurance things, and we’re continuing to gather submitted footage and music from the period, as well.
In the middle of this, we got late-breaking news that Campus Village–formerly the Promenade, once home to Cafe Espresso Roma, Guys Pies, kinko’s, and scary elevators–was finally being torn down, ostensibly to make way for an unspecified mixed-use development. We knew it was coming (and had been in touch with the owners, G2 Capital Development), but didn’t know exactly when it was going to happen. Of course, several of you in our awesome community started sending your humble director messages and tagged us in social media posts as it was happening, and then multiple parties converged to capture video and photos of the demolition for us, including Michael Willoughby, Shahab Zargari, and Johnny Bacon. All true MVPs.
As a side note, word came in just the other day that another staple, Paymon’s Mediterranean Cafe, is closing its Maryland Parkway location after 30 years in its original home at the southwest corner of Maryland and Flamingo. Thankfully, Paymon’s has two other locations for you to get your Athens Fries fix, but of course, they’re in the suburbs. Looks like the dream keeps breaking.
Funding news
Last fall, at the same time we were launching our Seed&Spark crowdfunding campaign, we also applied for a few filmmaking grants. We were delighted to find out in January that we made it to the second round of the Fall 2018 Screencraft Film Fund. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the cut to the semi-finals, but it was cool to be considered nonetheless! The money we raised through Seed&Spark was just a portion (about half) of our total budget, hence why we were looking (and still are!) for additional funding. If you still wanted to help, financially or otherwise, there’s more information on this website about that!
Speaking of Seed&Spark, if you’re one of the people who contributed to our crowdfunding campaign and want to know “where is my swag?!,” the answer is: It’s coming! Slowly. But we’re starting to get in the goodies, like (most excitedly) the Maryland Parkway street signs, which are so cool, we don’t even want to part with them. So your patience is appreciated as we get the rest of the incentives produced. Film work comes first!