Happy Easter everyone- our Pastor said that we wont see one this early for another 270 years- it seemed weird to have it on March 23rd.
We started filming "Grandma Shoes" (pictured) this weekend. It's a short I wrote awhile ago and it's finally coming together. I'm really excited about it. That crew that you see in the picture are some of the most talented film people I know. The guy behind the camera shot a film that screened at Cinequest, the guy holding the boom mic won a Turner Classic Movie Award, and the dude in the brown shirt with the bounce card won 3rd place in a national script writing competition. They're also some of the nicest and most creative guys I know. It was the best crew I'd ever worked with. Cara and I also met with the lady we're going to have play Drake's Mom today and she read the part really well. So far I've really been enjoying directing this thing- hopefully I'll still be saying that when the week's over.
This is Drake and me, (and the grandma shoes) at the SJSU bowling alley. He's the lead in the short. He's a great kid. He's home-schooled so his schedule is flexible. This is being counted as his "drama project." His parents have been very supportive.
Attention: Cara and I are now officially riding in style. This is the new Wilsonmobile. It seats four and can haul laundry, film equipment, and camping stuff. At 34 miles per gallon, it is the perfect road trip vehicle.
Specs: 1999 Ford Escort SE Wagon 2.0 4-cyl with only 42,000 miles. We traded in our 2002 Escort ZX2 that had 62,000 miles on it and got the dealer to go from $6992 to $5,700 on the financing. Our new payment is now $139 a month, down from $158. I'm pretty happy with it- at least we're living within our means. It runs very strong and is even fun to drive. It has brand new tires and handles very well. I went 70+ all the way from Sacramento with AC on and it did just fine.
We were thinking of upgrading to something really nice, (like a Toyota Matrix or a Pontiac Vibe) but there's no real present reason to do that. We'll hang on to this one and run it into the ground- it's the perfect car to do it with.
The interview with UCLA is set for April 19th. Pray for me. I really hope all goes well. If it doesn't I've still applied to the University of British Columbia up in Vancouver and San Diego State University, the latter of which I've recently heard good things about. The camera guy on "Grandma Shoes" said they actually shoot on real film- which would be pretty cool.
Cara and I are both very tired and have been working a lot. Cara is on her last semester and is really looking forward to when it's going to be over. I've got a lot of production classes going, all of them have been a great deal of fun, but a lot of work. I'm also taking a History and English class- I wish I had time to do the readings but I really don't.
That's all for now. I'm going to bed. I love and miss you all. -phil
