I got an email from Michael Bates, who plays J in Derelict, the other day, just to confirm he was coming to the premiere. I realised I hadn't been in touch with Michael very much over the past few months, and since Derelict was shot he's been off doing a bunch of other stuff - several plays, a couple of other films, as have all the cast in fact and I've been here, sitting where I am now, for a year, millimeter by millimeter, crawling my way to the end of this film... and I'm still not there yet!
Right now, we're looking at the sound again. Starting from scratch really, one week from the Premiere! You'd think I liked stress! Rocci Barrett is on board to put a basic mix together for the screening. I think I mentioned this before, unfortunately it wont be where I want it, especially for the world premiere, but dem's the breaks! It'll be good, and had I not mentioned it I don't think anyone would notice. But we will have to open the film up again and go back in to build the sound scape I was after, which of course means more time, and more money.
When you set out on these things, no matter how many times you've been through it, it's always a surprise how long it takes, especially when you're working on low, and no, budget with no real financial support. I'm sure when there's money there, and you can pay professionals to do the job right and get it done when they say they're going to get it done, it doesn't take years. Which this has, three years!
So I've been banging on about this film for three years now. I'm sure everyone is fed up of hearing about it. It's probably gotten to the stage were people are are thinking, "I don't even want to see it anymore!" (hopefully not though!) Believe me, I'd rather be finished. I'd rather it was out and I was onto the next project. But it has to be finished, and it has to be finished right, to honour the work everyone has put in and to honour the film itself.
If you're a first time filmmaker and you're reading this, getting ready to set out on your first film, I would suggest you ignore what I've just said, erase it from your mind. Because if you think that the film you want to shoot next week and have out in three months is actually going to take you three or four years, you may change you mind and not make it. But you have to make it. You have to go on this journey. Because you will learn so much.
It wont just be about the film, but the journey you will take. For a while, it will define you, and shape your life. But that's what life is all about, the unexpectedness of it all! Enjoy it. Take every ounce with an open mind and a passionate heart and be true to the vision you had in the beginning. If it's enough to see you through many years more than you thought it would, then maybe it's strong enough to see you through many more to come, maybe it's strong enough to succeed. And even if this one doesn't, now you know you have the stamina it takes to endure. Because the bigger things get, the more you will have to endure, and you need to know you can handle it.
At least, after all I've had to do and put up with, I know that much.
September 16th, Dun Loaghaire, Royal Marine Hotel, 9pm, come and see what I've been banging on about for 3 years! It's a little film called Derelict, made for not much money over a long period of time and I'm quite proud of it.
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