THE NIGHT BEFORE
Sunday, August 09, 1998

Seattle - The Whitman House
10:34 pm
Todd Howard, Producer

I sit here, tired from a year of pre-production (ok, ok... nine months of pre-production and three months of total mayhem) on the eve of the first day of shooting principal photography for my first feature film.

How can I explain this feeling? Perhaps I'll quote one of my favorite lines from the movie that started it all for me - Star Wars - "This will be a day long remembered..." My brother Jesse, the director and writer of our film, and I sat in a theater together at the ages of 5 and 7 respectively, and our jaws they did hangeth. Lucas' vision of a long forgotten time of rebellion and intergalactic fights for freedom and spiritual understanding was impressed into my heart and onto the screen of my mind so firmly that I not only remember that day fondly but I return to it every six months or so when I revisit the exploits of C-3PO and R2-D2 in letterbox and THX sound.

I have wished for many years that I would one day have the opportunity to tell a story on the big screen that people could share in. A tale that would capture a part of someone and never quite let go of them. The same way that Star Wars did for me. Granted, George Lucas had a $10,000,000 budget and a major studio ready to distribute the film once completed - we have an $18,000 budget (for production only) and will be using the fruits of this month's shooting to gather a completion budget. THE LAST the end may never reach as many people as did Lucas' epic, but if just a single person out there sees our movie and is moved, impressed upon or in the extreme, inspired, then I will have achieved success. If I never earn a dime in return on this project and that scenario goes down, I will feel accomplishment.

THE LAST the end is a good story. In fact, I love it. I think it's one of the best screenplays I have ever read or seen on screen. I hope that we can translate it to the screen the way it is in our heads. The art of translation is a miraculous thing. One year ago myself, Jesse, Kate, Paul, Jesse Moore - we had nothing. No money, no finished script, no cast, no equipment... we only had the desire to make this movie. Most of us, all we knew was that Jesse Howard had this great idea for a story, and that the outline was really good... but for him, he had a world of characters and situations that were bursting at his seams, wanting to be brought to life. Well, the actors in this film have done that - and with bells on. We made it happen. Only us. We brought together a large group of amazing people that would help us to realize this dream. At this point, there isn't a single one of the folks involved that we could possibly do without. Each member of this cast and crew are so very crucial. I thank them all, sincerely, for helping to make my brother's story a reality, and for helping me realize my dream. To make a film.

I told Jesse a year ago that I was going to do everything within my power to make it so that he could concentrate on directing a great film, and that promise dictates that I hit the sack running - and now. So farewell for now, when I next write in this production journal I will have lived a day on the set of a truly independent movie set, working with the best people I could ever imagine collaborating with. I an truly thankful.

Tomorrow comes early.

-Todd

Seattle - The Farm House
11:45 pm
Jesse Howard, Director/Writer

Well this stands to be quite a birthday gift. Todd's Birthday was yesterday, Paul's a few before, and mine on Wednesday. It is only once in a life that you can be perched on the eve of your first feature film shoot. I am excited, but calm. We're as ready as we're ready to be and too much more prep might have been stifling. Got a nice monkey-head haircut from Jesse Moore tonight. Ten years ago he and I became close friends and dreamed up this whole crazy filmmaking idea. Kate and I have wanted to make a film for 8 years, Todd and I have since we were 8 years old. It's an old thing, us wanting to do this together.

A matrix was set and we've been filling in the blanks since then. Moviemaking is like being a child. When you break it down, you realized that you learned it all as a child, in a simpler form. Going around to businesses to raise money? Glorified Trick or Treat, As Grace Cornell 13 yr. old Documentarian pointed out. Location Scouting? Hide and Go Seek with cars. Directing a film? It's like follow the leader for the cast, Monkey in The Middle for me (especially with my new primate look.) I told everyone that we've laid the groundwork, we've planned, set the marks we need to hit, and now it's just big people's Connect The Dots.

Gotta think like a kid. They know how...to NOT need to know how!

May the blessings be!!

JPH

[ HOME | BACK TO THE TOP | NEXT DAY ]