I haven’t posted to this blog in a year. But I think the site’s recent revamp as more of a lifestream will keep that from happening again. Much has changed in a year. My debut feature, HEART OF NOW, has picture lock at 89 minutes and is getting state of the art sound design and mixing at SNAP SOUND. I directed an upcoming episode of RADAR for WBP Labs. I’m still editor at the NEW BREED. I’m an ambassador for INDIEFLIX, and a moderator at DVXuser and have a hand in coordinating the annual DVXfest short film screening. I’ve spoken on two panels this year about creative collaboration at DIY Days and about casting at the San Diego Film Festival. most recently, I’ve contributed two articles to the Filmmaker Magazine blog.

Right now, I’m focused on work with sound designers Zach Seivers and J.M. Davey. Over the next three weeks we will bring HEART OF NOW to a close. It has been a long fruitful road with plenty of valuable lessons learned along the way. In addition, I’m producing DEKLUN’s next album as well as a prequel comic called THE VERY HEART OF NOW by cartoonist Chuck McBuck

As we head into the final months of 2009, I can say it has been a transformative year for me and only the beginning for Sabi Pictures.

After a little persuasion, I convinced Jamie to sit down and discuss some recent structural changes she’s made to Heart of Now. In the following video podcast, she shares some insight into the re-arranging and elimination of certain scenes, guided by her ambition to preserve the integrity of the characters’ emotional continuity. In other words, she’s making the rest of us look good.

Next week, we will begin broadcasting a live webcam feed from the edit bay where Jamie Cobb is cutting Heart of Now. This is a pretty unique opportunity to witness a process that is often a mystery to audiences and fans. You are encouraged to watch, comment and ask questions. Both Jamie and I will be there to interact with you. So remember, next week, after we return from the Sacramento Film & Music Festival… stay tuned.

This past Saturday we were at a festival for IFHY. Because the short uses the F-Word a few times it was paired with other “R” rated films which just happened to be the most ultra violent, misogynistic, offensive, racist, and insensitive films I have ever seen together. By the time that our film finally screened after sitting through 2 hours of this, I was left feeling really angry at what I had just experienced and even more enraged about how mis-programmed our short was.

All of the films leading up to ours were not only the antithesis of IFHY but pretty much go against what Sabi is all about, not to mention common decency. The audience was confused during IFHY because the previous 2 hours had desensitized everyone and trained them not to trust what they were watching.

So I have been trying to shake these negative feelings and just move forward and dive back into Heart of Now. I got to the office early this morning and Zak informed me that he wanted to try broadcasting from the bay, an idea I was not crazy about. A few minutes after the camera went live in the bay I read a message from a poster talking about strippers. Given the weekend I had just experienced I was not in the mood for that kind of commentary, but tried to forget about it and focus on the film. Then a half an hour later an anonymous poster asked Zak why he would let a woman cut his film.

At first I ignored it, not wanting to feed into the poster’s neanderthal ignorance, but eventually it seeped in and affected me. Then Zak read the comment, and thankfully that was the end of the outside world’s view into the bay.

From a young age we are taught to look for similarities and differences (one of these things is not like the others). So I guess it should not be as surprising to me that some people still discriminate by class, race, and gender. But that by no means makes it right. And whether the poster was looking for a cheap laugh, or actually believes that a female is incapable of editing a film I don’t really care. But I am hurt, disappointed, and drained. I was hoping that by the end of this entry I would feel better and be over it, but I gotta say I still feel blah. At least through all of this Zak managed to maintain a clear head and reply to the poster why he in fact specifically chose to have a woman cut this film. By being a female I have more insight, skill, and yes sensitivity, in telling the story of a young woman than any man could, and I will support that kind of gender discrimination and discernment any day of the week.