2009 ... Here I come!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Wow, if 2008 was a fantastic year, 2009 will be even better! Over the last 12 month I made four short films, including Trouble on a Plane, and started two internet series. I also started writing several feature scripts, which have all taken a little longer to finish than I expected, but which will be finished in the next coming months. Promise!

But 2009 will be the year of my first feature. How many times have I not written on this blog that I was done with short films and that the real work should start. I had several ideas for what would become my first feature. There is the Ghent project, but I think I'll give that one one more year. Because that film would be filmed completely in Belgium, I think we'll need way more prep time. And having a finished script for it would be a good start. Just a thought.

I was also considering shooting the comedy I had started writing. It would be do-able, but still a little too complicated for a first feature. But then again, why make is easy on myself. I think I would be able to tackle the challenge.

Then Yohei came up with a brilliant idea. Why not just turn 'Trouble On a Plane' into a feature length movie? The idea was intriguing at first but the more I was thinking about it, the more it started to make sense. Considering that every passenger on the plane has a story, why not turn these stories into their own segments. In other words, stories within a story. Stories that would become, in a sense, their own short movies. If there's three passengers and each one of their stories becomes a 20 min segment, all three stories together give us a whole hour. If the movie starts with a 15 min intro and ends with a 15 min closure, we would end up with a 90 min movie. Perfect!

I also obtained my OPT visa (Optional Practical Training) and will now be able to work and get paid! I'm concentrating on production work, so I can be an a set, meet new people, gain experience, ... With that in mind, I cut a reel for myself. Here's the result. Let me know what you think!