White House Beer

Whether it's served at The White House or served at the pub down the street, and whether it's shared with The President or the local bartender - is it really going to change things? Race relations or rather lack of relations is still as prevalent as its ever been. When we made The Tested we knew it was a hot button topic but the button seems to get hotter by the minute. Issues of race are still issues and the conversations are getting louder. Our film seems to fall directly in line with our culture and what's happening in our society. But do we get the credit? Or is it simply an issue that doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon and will continue to have a constant relevance every minute of every day.

Picture Lock

We've officially locked picture. And we're clocked in at a solid 99 minutes.

Those Damn Index Cards

The closer we get to picture locking, the more we start to scrutinize the film. Do we need this scene? How does it move the story along? Is this take the best performance? It's amazing when you think you've addressed the pages and pages of notes, then you say okay, we'll screen it one more time. still more notes. I am of two minds. When you watch your material you get way too close and lose perspective. But sometimes when you know it so well, you can lose yourself in it and find clarity - like those paintings where you can see the rocket ship if you squint. I never saw any damn rocket ships. But the edit process really does start with the index cards. Just the excercise of making them and affixing them to the wall familiarizes you with the story you set out to tell, and it also becomes glaring what scenes can go. We're close, I can feel it, and we're lighter and leaner.

20 Minutes

We went through an interesting process during the lab, where we only saw 20 minutes of each other's films. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get a grasp on the flavor of each. What I discovered was two fold. Not only can you really get a handle on the artistry and story telling from these clips, but you have to. In most cases, that's what people are going to get. It's similar to the first 10 pages of a script. If you don't grab them then, you're a goner. So, what did I see in these nine other films? I saw in The Mythe of Time: Innovation, Au Pair, Kansas: Wit, Phasma Ex Machina: Curiousity, Perfection: Pain, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!: Aesthetic, Stranger Things: Intimacy, City on a Hill: Vision, Postales: Culture, Wanderlost: Richness.

What emerged from this exercise was a clarity of how different we all were from each other and how clear that was in only 20 mintues.

IFP Lab - DAY 5

Today's workshops were held at the American Can Company, somewhere in Brooklyn. Got lost on the way, If someone asked us to find it again - not sure that we could. Were again exposed to some great speakers ranging from Galt Niederhoffer of Plum Pictures, to Todd Sklar of Range Life Entertainment.

We then came back to good 'ole Manhattan to meet with Jonathan Gray of Gray Krauss who basically told us our sh-t better be buttoned up if we expect to deliver our film to a distributor.

The IFP Lab is a scared straight, tell it like it is, reality check... INSPIRATION! We left feeling exhilaratingly exhausted but completely supported. We now feel like there's a group of people out there looking out for us who have our best interest in mind.

The Tested is coming at you so stay tuned for the next chapter.

IFP Lab - DAY 4

Gears shifted a bit today. Seems like we're all starting to think about the next phase and how we'll be able to apply this whole experience to our films. We've now got our eyes towards Independent Week. Day went by quick though. Maybe cause we covered so much: music rights & composition, color correction, sound design, & drinks.

The highlight of the day was hearing that our film made one of the lab leaders cry!

Bring on the tears I say!

IFP Lab - DAY 3

The interesting thing about this experience is the more time we spend with all the other filmmakers, the more we feel the mutual experience. For some reason we keep thinking about rushing a fraternity. It's that intense and we've found ourselves "protecting the shield". There's something that has happened between day one and day three. Where at once we were sizing each other up and trying to find our pecking order - we have started to let our guard down and genuinely support each other and truly want good things to happen to each other's films.

Somehow this psychological aspect has been very much as part of this lab as the actual invaluable information and case studies.

Today we talked about deliverables and heard from a film that went through the lab last year. We were scared straight but in a good way if that's possible.

I suspect we may all burst into tears on day 5, again, but in a good way.

IFP Lab - DAY 2

Editing sessions today. Unbelievable mentors, still a bit in awe. Editors from some of the best films in the last 10 years, "The Savages", "Boys Don't Cry, "Maria Full of Grace", "Requiem for a Dream", and "Frozen River". After awaiting our turn to take the stage and hit the hot seat (we were the last to go so it was an anxious wait!) we were SO excited to get to talk to our mentor Sam Pollard. The Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning, frequent Spike Lee collaborator passionately discussed our film, telling the room it's a must-see! His feedback was specific and insightful. And when he said "The Tested is real" it blew our heads off! So happy he dug it.

IFP Lab - DAY 1

Much meeting and greeting today and getting a chance to meet the fabulous programmers at ifp and particularly enjoyed the "tell it like it is" attitude of deputy director Amy Dotson and lab leader Gretchen McGowan for her genuine spirit. I have to say, we've had about a half dozen screenings of "The Tested" so far, and they've all been nerve-wrackingly exhaustive (in a good way!) but there's nothing quite like playing in front of a group of fellow filmmakers and IFPers. Luckily we screened early in the day so we were able to relax and digest our lunch properly. Our stuff played well, nice compliments on the film, the writing and the acting. And then we sat in the hot seat while we fielded questions about our goals for the film. We discussed running time, publicity, and music. And the all important festival circuit. But it was particularly nice to have Scott Macaulay tell us he really liked the film. Been reading Filmmaker Magazine for years, and am a daily reader of his blog so that was pretty cool. We ended with a summer camp group photo and are gearing up for Day 2 - the Editing Sessions!

Official Presidential Business!

We never thought our film would ever cross paths with THE President of the United States but somehow that's exactly what's happening. As everyone has already read, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had date night yesterday in NYC. They went to dinner and took in a Broadway show, not bad for a Saturday night. The show they chose was none other than Joe Turner's Come and Gone with a wonderful ensemble cast including our lead actress Aunjanue Ellis.


Now, we don't need a President to tell us she's great but it sure helps!