It's All In The Starzzzz!

Christine is a Pisces; Lucy, Laura and about 75% of the Love 10 to 1 cast & crew are bullish (Taurus). Here's what 2008 holds for Christine, Lucy & Laura (at least according to the cosmos). Not a Pisces or a Taurus? See what the stars have in store for you in 2008. http://www.astrology.com/year/

Taurus
OVERVIEW: Grounded and practical Taurus will experience extra boosts of optimism and find time to bring creative projects to the forefront, this year. Your personal needs will be met the more you tune into your spiritual side, and your growth will be directly connected with your ability to accept your deep philosophical transformation. You will continue to work out how you can use your creative side to improve your finances.
Methodically organizing your perceptions as they come to you will enhance your career. Weighing choices carefully as they arise before making decisions will be very important, this year. Take advantage of this expansive time and act upon your desire to enroll in new classes. You could greatly benefit by finishing that degree or get that certificate you've been working on. Likewise, educational trips and romantic vacations exploring different philosophies and arts will give you insight and help you jumpstart your projects and articulate new ideas. You derive nourishment and balance taking sojourns to the mountains or lakeside retreats. You will also benefit by sharing the creative wisdom you have acquired, and see results as your ideas are folded into mainstream values.
This is a good time to follow that urge to express your deep inner changes in your personal growth and publish or write your own books. You enjoy sharing your musical talents, and creating a new musical piece is a very strong possibility. You can be very successful in expressing your higher principles, whether it is work related or community oriented. Expect monetary returns when you put your ideas into practice.

CAREER: You will spend most of this year exercising your creativity and helping others, which will bring you great financial rewards and success. A high-minded and productive energy will focus your emotional sensitivity to the needs of your co-workers and associates. Your expansive ideas will serve humanity in a bigger way through understanding your own basic needs. You find, as you channel your creative talents, you easily come upon opportunities to be of service to others.

You need to continually work on clearly communicating and promoting your ideas and surrounding yourself with a team of people to support them. You are a hard worker and expect others to help and do their share. With all of these gifts, a position or power or promotion is likely. In this leadership position, you will find a platform for teaching others how to succeed. By the end of the year, all of these changes will lead to the financial rewards you seek, leaving you in a much more secure financial position.

Pisces
OVERVIEW: Pisces thrives through creative transportation and unique social experiences. There will be changes in the way you develop your inner-self, this year. Your ability to multitask will continue, as you become involved in more humanitarian projects. You have tremendous vitality and courage, and a healthy sense of who you are. You usually put your best foot forward, and are possessed by an innate charm and magnetism. You love being physically active, usually with others. You learn to take more responsibility by being diplomatic and tactful.
Your capacity for childlike wonder is a wonderful creative outlet. Sometimes, you may feel an unconscious pull toward an objective or goal that you do not fully understand. You also may be tempted to participate in many activities just to be involved for the social aspects of being around fun-loving people. Your task is to attempt to make conscious choices in these areas, and to become more aware of your true objectives based on your own values and goals, independent from the approval of others. Find happiness by connecting with your higher self, and by helping people to move closer together.

CAREER: You are very attracted by variety in your career and enjoy having a profession in the arts. You have a natural grace and compassion working with people, and they appreciate and respect your help and wisdom. Your creative imagination needs to be indulged when you take the time to meditate and recharge your emotional energy. You love expanding your consciousness and passionately desire to bring your higher ideals and visionary philosophy to mainstream.
Travel and the exploration of your utopian ideals help to bring your vision and work to the world. You have a great passion for using your dreams to reflect truths about reality and a natural ability to teach and share with others. This year will be about learning the best ways to direct this energy to help others. Your insight is grounded in reality and you create harmony in your work, mainly because of having the same purpose and visions as those you collaborate with.
For this reason, it is important that the people you surround yourself with share a collective vision and goal. By the end of the year, you may go through many internal changes in the course of pursuing your vision. You are a real powerhouse, and enjoy being your own boss.

Confession

It's been almost a month since we wrapped Round I of production. Lucy, Laura and I met a couple weeks ago to go over the to-do's (a lot to do still), and plan on meeting again tonight. But tonight is the season finale of Tila Tequila's A Shot at Love, which I will have to TiVo and watch later. Nevermind that I have been waiting all week to see whether Tila will choose Bobby or Dani! These are the sacrifices that one must make for the production.

Ok, so it's embarrassing to admit but I have become a huge fan of this show. Now, why am I bringing this up? Because I think Tila is a marketing genius! Her claim to fame (before the show) is that she has the most "friends" on myspace (about 2 million). And she was able to parlay that into a show on MTV (the 2nd highest ranked after The Hills). How many of the presidential candidates can claim they have 2 million friends on myspace??? Say what you may about the state of our society, maybe we can all learn a thing or two from Tila.

A few weeks ago I attended a filmmaker's forum about indie film distribution. One of the panelist predicted that once there is a total convergence of our TV sets and the internet/computer, all bets are off with regards to how film will be distributed. For example, if you could stream (quickly) a feature film of your choosing off of the internet and have it play on your TV set (vs. the small computer monitor), would you still go to the theater? As it is, most films do not make their money in the theaters but rather via DVD sales. The challenge for filmmakers then, will not be in distribution, but rather, it will be in marketing. Once distribution of films via the internet becomes the norm, similar to music on iTunes, how will the audience filter through the millions of choices? Will the cream still rise to the top, or will the marketing geniuses (or both)?

Gratitude & Reflection

For me, December has always been a time for reflection and a time to write down all I am thankful for. I am grateful every day for all I have, but at Christmas I have always taken stock of my good fortune and I make an extra special effort to let the universe know how appreciative I truly am. I was raised Catholic so no pc bs from me, I LOVE CHRISTMAS and I also love St. Pattie’s day but that’s more from being a NYer and loving the color green than anything religious, oh and Halloween, those are my favorite holidays but Christmas is by far, my favorite. One of the things I’m most grateful for is the fact that we FINALLY started shooting. I am grateful for all the people who contributed to getting us here. The support of our friends and family was invaluable and our cast and crew are an amazing and talented group of people. I will forever be grateful for everybody’s support and encouragement.

So this being a blog about our film, I wanted to share with you what this film means to me, the story rather than the making of. Someone asked me what the three stories mean to me and if I can relate to the characters, especially the ones I didn’t write. The answer is yes, I can relate to Jenny as much as I can relate to Shane and as much as I can relate to Jim (Laura’s and my version of him). My friend was not surprised that I related to characters I wrote but found it odd that I would be as passionate about characters I didn’t write. I explained to her that the appeal of the film is that the characters are universal and can speak to everybody because these characters want what we want.

There are three stories that make up Love 10 to 1. The film delves into the lives of three individuals who all want the same thing, LOVE. It’s about the people they come in contact with, and the coincidences that bind them. Even though they live in this big city, they cross paths with each other, frequent the same places and on occasion, interact with the same people.



Jenny is constantly surrounded by friends, family and strangers, yet, there’s something missing. For me, this first story represents the vast world we live in and our quest for happiness.



While Shane’s life as an up and coming rock star has her interacting with a bigger world than Jenny’s, she limits her personal life to people that she trusts; her band, her manager and her roommate. It represents the smaller world we create for ourselves. This story is about realizing that sometimes, what’s missing is usually right in your own back yard.



By the time we get to the last story about Jim, Shane’s guitar player, the world is even smaller, much more personal and raw. When Jim, the groupie magnet randomly meets Jenny, the 29 year old virgin they both come to realize that while their lives and experiences are substantially different, neither can pass up what could be a rare chance for a heartfelt connection. It’s about carpe diem, seizing that moment and staying there for as long as you can.



For me, the film is about opening yourself to the possibilities that the universe sends your way. It’s about being aware of opportunities and realizing that most of the times, what you want most has always been there. It’s about accepting those rare encounters when they are presented to you and seizing that moment. People who come from a different place, physically and emotional can get along and even fall in love. A relationship with a foundation built on tolerance, compassion, and understanding can lead to a lifetime of happiness no matter what your bliss is.

So with this sappy sentiment, I hope you all have a Great Holiday, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Joyous Kwanzaa and a Fantabulous Festivus.

xoxo,
Lucy

In Case You Are Wondering What We Look Like

Christine, Lucy, Shireen & Laura

Who Cares How Much It Costs!

“Who cares how much it costs, you’re doing it Lucy, this is something you’ve been trying to get off the ground for years” a quote from my friend Bob (an actor and future director). This was his reply to my bitching about how much $$ I’ve spent to shoot two days of my film. He’s right though. I’m so grateful that I’m one of the lucky few who actually gets to pursue their dreams. Christine and I have had this conversation before, usually after we bitch about $$. This is how we justify all the money we are spending on following our dreams and achieving our goals.



I need to come up with the rest of my funding to finish shooting in March. I’ll also need money for post, traveling to festivals, and of course marketing. However, for right now I’ll be happy to get money to finish shooting in March. I need to have ½ the money by mid January and then the other half by mid February. I want to have all my $$ in the bank by mid February in order to shoot in March. There’s no way I’m going at it not knowing where the money is coming from like this last round. The funny thing is that the money came, very last minute but it came. I will spare myself that headache. I do want to have the film shot by mid April and then it’s off to editing.

Speaking of editing, we’ve been having a hard time finding someone good to work within our budget. We can’t afford one editor to do all three shorts. Laura was going to ask for a favor from an editor friends and see if he could give her a somewhat affordable rate. That hasn’t panned out too well so at this point, at least Laura and I are planning on doing our own rough cuts and then handing that to an editor to polish.

My good friend Tara Veneruso who runs MoviesByWomen and The Edit Studio is kind enough to let me use her space in her spare time so I can learn to edit. It’s something I’ve been putting off for a while but I feel strongly that directors should learn to edit. Not that they should edit their own films but it’s a skill you should have.

I’ll be at the mercy of my friends and family again and hopefully they’ll be as generous as they were the last time.

Maybe I should buy a money tree. Here’s to fundraising and learning to edit.

Lucy