DAY 28
Sunday, October 18, 1998

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, Seattle, WA
12:16 AM
Todd Howard, Producer

We have worked a 17 hour day so far and let me tell you... doing these pick-up weekends are really difficult, primarily because the crew have all gone back to their regular jobs and their regular routines, and the cast (being that they are younguns) have gone back the school. Saturday morning is always a drag in terms of group momentum.

Today had to be different: We actually had about a day and a half's worth of shooting on the schedule, and we could only use this location (The Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences theatre) for a single calendar-day. To boot, we also needed to have some certain props (like an ancient Columbia Grafonola phonograph) that we could only use for the day as well. We had to work at an insane pace, and just simply get everything done that we had on the schedule, no questions asked (except maybe what's for dinner) and lots of hard work.

SOMETHING WONDERFUL HAPPENED TONIGHT!

A cameraman from Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO News 4 came to our location today, and they news program had a featured spot on us and this film project in the 6:30 news and the 11 o'clock news! Two different pieces! They were great! It was such a complete thrill to see our movie on the evening news! Paul Westfall was so excited he was literally rolling around on the floor for a full minute! We are starting to build our press package, and this will really help us out.

We hope to be featured on the evening news magazine on KING 5 called "evening," KUOW radio, a public radio affiliate is interested in doing a featured interview on the air with Jesse Howard, myself, and one of the actors. 88.5 KPLU FM - the local NPR (National Public Radio) station, carries an evening program called Marketplace, and they have expressed sincere interest in running a segment on Home Movies and THE LAST the end. This is all so great for us!

So, tired as we are good things are happening - and the shots we are getting today are simply marvelous. We are filming scenes in "Tommy's World" - a place inside that Tommy retreats to gather his wits and seek advice from a wise old man. It is a surreal Lynchian place with a much calmer, starker vibe to it. There is an old phonograph playing a scratchy record of the song Tommy has been trying to play on his harmonica throughout the whole film. There are a whole lot of dolly shots (moving camera) and one crucial scene of acting that actually brought tears to my eyes when they ran through it.

More soon - it's after 1:00 AM. Thanks for reading and supporting our endeavor.

-Todd

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