Charlotte forwarded to me this extremely interesting article about women filmmakers and the perpetual glass ceiling that floats just above them, still. The topic is, as you can imagine, very relevant to me and a lot of my talented female friends.
When was the last time you watched a film by a female director? Can you recall a single female director off the top of your head? How about after thinking for a bit? Are you resorting to google at this point?
Something to think about...
Filmmaker Ela Thier
Excerpt:
"Twenty years later, I sit to write this letter, facing two shelves filled with over twenty screenplays. Modesty aside, I would need many pages to recount even a portion of the positive feedback that I've received over the years; the enthusiastic phone calls, the awards, the requests for meetings. A judge at the IFP Market told me that of the 150 scripts she read that summer, mine ranked among her top three favorites; another judge resigned in protest after the jury didn't select my script as one of their five finalists; a manager called to say that he couldn't get my script out of his head; an agent told me that my script had her laughing out loud; a producer of hit movies implored me not to revise my script because it was perfect. When I began to direct short projects, the response was the same: "Shorts this perfect are so rare, I just want to weep" was a comment I received from a festival director.
And yet, the past years were marked with tears and heartaches. One enthusiastic response after another would lead me to hope and end with a bout of weeping on my husband's shoulder. No matter how familiar and by now, routine, the disappointments would be, the tears would come each time. And after a good cry, or two, or several, I would get up, wipe my knees, and keep going.
I often tell other filmmakers who lose heart: when it comes to pass letters, you're in great company, from Van Gogh to the Beatles to Stephen King to J.K. Rowlings.
But the million dollar question remains, as one of my writing students asked after reading two of my scripts: "Why are these scripts not made? What better scripts could people possibly be reading?"
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Eagle Creek
Hello, again!
Last week I learned that my knee was finally fit to use for adventuring, once again. Immediately I rang up my best hiking buddy, Theresa, and we made plans for a low-key hike out to Eagle Creek.
The weather called for rain showers and clouds but we trusted our hiking weather juju and sure enough, bright sunshine, warm breezes and cloudless skies greeted us at the trail head.
Sunshine plus blooming flowers equals butterflies! Why hello there, Senor Butterfly. Do you enjoy my macro settings? You are fuzzy! Whoa!
Shortly after we began our hike, we noticed this elaborate cairn in a dry creek bed off the trail. I'm not sure if it's supposed to signify anything specifically and research is not turning up interesting details. So, we'll assume it's an example of Oregonians being creative.
Of course it wouldn't be a hike in Oregon without some sort of waterfall along the trail! Stay tuned for more...
Another cairn along the trail. Imposing from this angle, no? It was actually only a few inches off the ground. This is an example of my artsy skillz! I fooled you, didn't I?!?
Parts of the trail were a bit desert-like. I love this picture because you can see the beams of filtered sunlight peeking in at the top-right corner. Pretty!
The trail was a bit treacherous if you're not a fan of heights and dizzying cliff drops. Theresa stands with her feet firmly planted along the rock wall. I take a different approach.
OMG another waterfall! Check out that picturesque setting. Oregon is really beautiful, did you know that?
Yo, Theresa!
The work of a very creative caterpillar or amusing hikers? You decide!
To cross the stream to get to Grandma's house, you have to jump from chocolate chip cookie to chocolate chip cookie. Where's the toll house? Ha!
A few miles in, we took a lunch break on the banks of the stream and contemplated dipping our toes in the water. Look how cool and sparkly that water is!
Someone created a little path of rocks out to the middle of the stream so that you could peek around the cliff for a waterfall surprise without getting your feet wet. How thoughtful! Check me out, I walk on water, did you know?
So does Theresa. Theresa, why aren't you smiling? I swear she had a good time!
Ah ok, there's her smile. This is our new hang out, we've decided. Did you know that boulders actually take pretty good pictures?
On our way back up to the trail. We pause for a breath and because these flowers are too pretty not to document.
This is Theresa, looking a little hot from all the hiking. Hey Theresa, how about you scramble up some of the rocks along the creek to cool off a bit in the spray? I'll stay back here to document your journey.
Theresa: "That sounds like a good idea. Hmm, let's see how to do this.." hop.. hop..
Hop-WHOOAAAA!! *splash*
Well, that's one way to cool off, I guess! Do you like how I took a picture at the exact moment things went wrong? I take pics first, ask if you're OK later! (She was fine, btw.)
Let's consult the judges on that graceful mid-air 180 maneuver that resulted in drenching our friend:
Judge number one liked it! Look at that score!
Ooh not so much love from judge number two. It's going to be hard to compensate for those thumbs down in the next round. Can judge number three save her score?
Hmm, perhaps not. That's a bit on the low side for what we'd expect. Better luck next year, Theresa!
Ok, enough fooling around! Wring out your jacket and let's get back to hiking!
Quite a bit later we're still laughing as we encounter a change in the trail that nearly gave us vertigo!
But there were lovely little cacti blooming among the rock slides! This is where we turned around as planned - the trail changed from an "easy" rating to "moderate" and I didn't want to push my knee too much (also Theresa's socks were squishy.)
Nearly back to the trail head, I paused to cool off in a little spring. So refreshing!
Along the road back to the car - such pretty flowers!
All together we hiked about 6 miles. Not too shabby!
The End.
Last week I learned that my knee was finally fit to use for adventuring, once again. Immediately I rang up my best hiking buddy, Theresa, and we made plans for a low-key hike out to Eagle Creek.
The weather called for rain showers and clouds but we trusted our hiking weather juju and sure enough, bright sunshine, warm breezes and cloudless skies greeted us at the trail head.
Sunshine plus blooming flowers equals butterflies! Why hello there, Senor Butterfly. Do you enjoy my macro settings? You are fuzzy! Whoa!
Shortly after we began our hike, we noticed this elaborate cairn in a dry creek bed off the trail. I'm not sure if it's supposed to signify anything specifically and research is not turning up interesting details. So, we'll assume it's an example of Oregonians being creative.
Of course it wouldn't be a hike in Oregon without some sort of waterfall along the trail! Stay tuned for more...
Another cairn along the trail. Imposing from this angle, no? It was actually only a few inches off the ground. This is an example of my artsy skillz! I fooled you, didn't I?!?
Parts of the trail were a bit desert-like. I love this picture because you can see the beams of filtered sunlight peeking in at the top-right corner. Pretty!
The trail was a bit treacherous if you're not a fan of heights and dizzying cliff drops. Theresa stands with her feet firmly planted along the rock wall. I take a different approach.
OMG another waterfall! Check out that picturesque setting. Oregon is really beautiful, did you know that?
Yo, Theresa!
The work of a very creative caterpillar or amusing hikers? You decide!
To cross the stream to get to Grandma's house, you have to jump from chocolate chip cookie to chocolate chip cookie. Where's the toll house? Ha!
A few miles in, we took a lunch break on the banks of the stream and contemplated dipping our toes in the water. Look how cool and sparkly that water is!
Someone created a little path of rocks out to the middle of the stream so that you could peek around the cliff for a waterfall surprise without getting your feet wet. How thoughtful! Check me out, I walk on water, did you know?
So does Theresa. Theresa, why aren't you smiling? I swear she had a good time!
Ah ok, there's her smile. This is our new hang out, we've decided. Did you know that boulders actually take pretty good pictures?
On our way back up to the trail. We pause for a breath and because these flowers are too pretty not to document.
This is Theresa, looking a little hot from all the hiking. Hey Theresa, how about you scramble up some of the rocks along the creek to cool off a bit in the spray? I'll stay back here to document your journey.
Theresa: "That sounds like a good idea. Hmm, let's see how to do this.." hop.. hop..
Hop-WHOOAAAA!! *splash*
Well, that's one way to cool off, I guess! Do you like how I took a picture at the exact moment things went wrong? I take pics first, ask if you're OK later! (She was fine, btw.)
Let's consult the judges on that graceful mid-air 180 maneuver that resulted in drenching our friend:
Judge number one liked it! Look at that score!
Ooh not so much love from judge number two. It's going to be hard to compensate for those thumbs down in the next round. Can judge number three save her score?
Hmm, perhaps not. That's a bit on the low side for what we'd expect. Better luck next year, Theresa!
Ok, enough fooling around! Wring out your jacket and let's get back to hiking!
Quite a bit later we're still laughing as we encounter a change in the trail that nearly gave us vertigo!
But there were lovely little cacti blooming among the rock slides! This is where we turned around as planned - the trail changed from an "easy" rating to "moderate" and I didn't want to push my knee too much (also Theresa's socks were squishy.)
Nearly back to the trail head, I paused to cool off in a little spring. So refreshing!
Along the road back to the car - such pretty flowers!All together we hiked about 6 miles. Not too shabby!
The End.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
American Gothic
Over Memorial Day weekend, Kenneth and I drove out to Ft. Stevens near Astoria. Scroll back a few entries for pictures of Ft. Stevens, itself! We hit the beach for a bit in attempts to stage a modern take on American Gothic (without the frowny faces). Normally gloomy, the coast turned out to be experiencing an early summer preview and we had lots of sunshine - great for morale, not so great for portraits. We'll go back on a cloudy day but in the meantime please enjoy our "first draft" portrait, complete with shadows (somewhat removed in Photoshop) and squinty eyes.
Hello, again.
Sorry I've been away for a bit! I haven't been hiking at all in the past month or so as I injured my knee (from TOO much hiking, go figure.)
In the meantime, here is an at-home project I worked on. Being out of work really gives you a lot of time for such things.
Check out our new kitchen!
Before:
We think the previous owners went to a bargain paint sale and picked up the $1 per gallon junk because this color is just hideous. I don't even think hospitals would want to use it! Is it green? Brown? Yellow? Who knows?
After:
Pretty much any color would be an improvement but I'm very happy with how this turned out.
In the meantime, here is an at-home project I worked on. Being out of work really gives you a lot of time for such things.
Check out our new kitchen!
Before:
We think the previous owners went to a bargain paint sale and picked up the $1 per gallon junk because this color is just hideous. I don't even think hospitals would want to use it! Is it green? Brown? Yellow? Who knows?
After:
Pretty much any color would be an improvement but I'm very happy with how this turned out.
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