And So It Begins...

The 2008 San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project officially started today, and amazingly enough, I was uncharacteristically restrained. This is IDOM's sixth film together as a team, and I pretty much know what to expect, so there's really no need for the Ritalin. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited, but I've done this song and dance five times now, so I now have a little bit more control of my exuberance. That's how I see it, but my fellow IDOM'ers may see it differently!

I would bet money that lack of sleep probably contributed to my mild demeanor. I finally got to sleep at about 3am last night. I was up to the crack of donn working on my "History of IDOM" blog entry, and for this reason I was a walking zombie in the office. I was sitting in my cube when the following email popped up in my inbox at 11:06am from the San Francisco 48 Hour Film Project Producer:

"KGO wants to do a story - we are meeting at Atlas Cafe at 11:30 TODAY! Email me back if you can make it. If you can do it later today, that could work as well. Will take the first several teams that respond. Thanks!"

Talk about short notice! But I figured it was close enough to lunch time that there would be no harm in me heading down to Atlas Cafe a few blocks away. Fortunately, this did not eat up too much of my time, and I was able to get back to the office and actually do a little work before the big event. The interview went very well. The reporter, Scott Lettieri, interviewed the producer and three team leaders for about 15 minutes. The final product was whittled down to 48 seconds, which is apropo, considering that this is the 48 Hour Film Project. Here's the interview:



Two seconds of IDOM fame! In any case, at about 5:30pm, MacDiva & The Donnettes (Sig, Dinah, and myself) and one honorary Donnette (Michael Eyvazov) cruised over to Fat City to pick up our required elements. It was at that point that the excitement began to kick in. As I approached the venue, flashbacks of last year's 48 Hour Film Project hit me. You just don't forget the first time, and this event will always have a special place in my heart because it is where it all began.

The four of us entered Fat City and waited for the our turn to pick our genre out of hat. Very nerve-wracking. When the SF48HFP Producer called Group D up on to stage, the adrenaline pumped harder and harder, and the anticipation almost led me to a mild infarction. I was number seven or eight in line, and that much dreaded musical/western genre was still in there! My blood raced and my heart beat faster, and when I finally pulled that piece of paper from that hat, I let out a big sigh of relief: DETECTIVE/COP. Shortly after, I thought to myself, "aw geez, what the heck are we going to do with this genre?!?!"



Genre:
Detective/Cop

Character:
Gus or Gloria Lorenz

Prop:
A plane, train, or bus ticket.

Line of Dialog:
"Forget it. I already have."


After Fat City, IDOM followed standard operating procedures and headed over to our pre-production headquarters for some serious brainstorming. After three hours of throwing ideas back and forth, we figured out our movie. I called our talent at 11pm and went straight home to sleep.