Behind the Curtain, Iron
This is my bedroom at the MacDowell Colony. Since I’ve been sleeping in my studio, I use the bedroom as a waystation and closet. When I first saw the room I assumed that behind the curtain was a place to … Continued
Searching for Gospel Vinyl – A Clip
Ta-da! A clip of the fourth subject, the Black Gospel Music estoration Project’s Robert Darden. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX5BN9iMrmQ[/youtube] Wolfgang Held and I followed Robert around the South Side of Chicago in August 09. Here he is looking for some rare gospel vinyl … Continued
What Are You Going to Do at This Residency?
Friday I leave for my residency at the MacDowell Colony. (Click and scroll down; I’ll be in the New Hampshire studio.) You may be saying to yourself, “Dude! You don’t have any new footage, what the heck are you going … Continued
Thank You, Timing Gods
Timing has never been my strong suit. But I must admit these last few months the timing gods have been very kind to me. November-December Edited like a lunatic. Worked intensely on the sample at VCCA, incorporating the Black Gospel … Continued
Ask the Filmmaker: How Do You Write a Documentary?
A friend asked this question: “You credit yourself as the writer and director of A Life’s Work.” Are you going to have a voice over narrator reading text you wrote? Good question. You won’t hear Liev Schreiber or Morgan Freeman … Continued
Five Documentaries That Influenced A Life’s Work
Because I have lists on the brain, here’s another: films that have had a huge impact on me in general, and on A Life’s Work in particular. Grey Gardens The first time I saw the Maysles’ Grey Gardens it made … Continued
Top Posts of 2009
What’s the point of having a blog if you don’t post lists? And what’s the point of early January if you don’t compile a “best” or “most popular” list? So, in keeping with the insular nature of this blog, here … Continued
“Will You Finish It in Your Lifetime?”
Sometime during the fourth year of production of A Life’s Work I recognized how long this film was going to take to complete and a joke was born: I’m making a film about people who may not complete their work … Continued
Prepare for Re-entry
I leave VCCA Sunday morning (weather permitting), hitching a ride back to NYC with my friend, the insanely talented writer, Jen V. Here’s what I had hoped to get done: “I plan on cutting the Robert Darden footage Wolfgang shot … Continued
Stay of Execution
If you read the “It’s Artist Residency Time” post, you’ll know what I hoped to get done during my stint here at VCCA. “So,” I can hear you ask, “how’s it going?” Slowly. My residency was scheduled for November 15 … Continued