4.24.26 COLBY

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I’m writing to you from the post-shoot haze of finally getting a good night’s sleep and the solitude of being alone again after sooo many weeks of being always on and always working.

I feel a bit like my feet are just now touching the ground.

It was that good.

.

I couldn’t have manifested a better team if I tried.

.

Between cast and crew, we were between 12 and 15 people, depending on the day.

To a person, every single one of them showed up with a smile and a deeply felt enthusiasm to make this film come to life in the most beautiful, thoughtful way possible.

.

Indie film shoots can be tough.

Long hours. Never as much money or time as you would like. Cold, wet days and looooong exhausting (and even colder - if you’re shooting in Maine in April) nights.

.

As a director, it always kinduv amazes me that people show up to make “my” projects come alive.

Especially if they’re happening at a microbudget level.

.

I know how deeply I care about these stories, and often I’ve spent quite a while being the only one who cares about them that much.

.

But then, as you head into production, the cast and crew rally around the script as if it’s their own.

.

I guess at that point it is.

.

It’s as much theirs as it is yours when all of you are showing up day after day, night after night, to figure out how to get what’s on the page in front of the camera.

It doesn’t matter anymore who wrote the words or who’s directing.

All that matters is how the fuck are we going to accomplish everything that we need to accomplish today?

.

All this to say, this was such a special group of creative collaborators.

.

Especially Johnny Berchtold who I wrote the script with and who stars in the film.

I’ve long had a dream of a Bailey Island Horror Movie-Making Queer (ish) Summer Camp type vibe (but in the Winter, when the rental cottages are empty and available to use for lodging and shoot locations)

.

I’m happy to report…

It’s now officially a reality.

.

I’m already thinking about what I can write to shoot here next Winter after the rush of summer rentals has ended.

.

And now that I have some time, and a bit of available brainspace, I’m catching up on my editing.

.

I shot these pictures with Colby in LA back at the beginning of December, and I’m only now doing a deep dive into the shoot.

I don’t love taking that long to edit. But I also didn’t wanna do it before I could really focus and give the shoots my full attention.

I was soooo excited to dive into these Colby images.

I’m in love with the shady, roughneck grifter type character we came up with for him. A guy who lives in a tent in the deep wilds of Ernest Debs Park (my LA local) and feels straight out of a John Rechy novel.

I’m hoping I’ll see a LOT more of him.

.

.

As usual, thanks for being here. I really do appreciate it.

x

Carter

.

.

P.S.

Just checked my Letterboxd and I haven’t watched ANYTHING in over a month. (March 21 to be exact, when I saw THE UNDERTONE) That’s a looooong time for me to go without any films or shows, but when I’m working on a project, I tend not to watch anything at all.

.

Especially since I don’t have a TV in my bedroom (because pretty much as soon as I finish each day, I end up climbing straight into bed until it’s time to do it all over again.)

.

I remember while shooting THE PASSENGER in NOLA, I would put on a SHARK TANK marathon every night in my hotel room to fall asleep to.

What have you been watching?

Movies?

Shows?

.

.

If you wanna send me a 🍌 I finally have the time to respond :)