Feels like the Holidays

On Tuesday of this week, the Sundance Institute had its holiday party at the Salt Lake Arts Center. It was a little challenging to get there, as many people living in Park City choose to do so because they don’t have a car in Utah, but it all worked out, and it was a really fun time. It was also nice to see the center, as many of the New Frontier artists from the festival, will be moving their exhibits to the center for a few weeks following the fest, so Salt Lake locals will have more of a chance to see them. New Frontier is an art-focused section of the festival, celebrating artists who use the moving picture in their work.

After the party, a number of us spent a few extra hours in Salt Lake, as since half of our co-workers live in the city, we don’t often have the opportunity where we can all hang out at night (this changes for the festival, when everyone moves to Park City for two weeks). On our way to places, we visited the Mormon Temple, which was right near the Arts Center, to see how it had been decorated for the holidays. It was all lit up, and the surrounding gardens covered in lights, which was very beautiful.

Also this week, we took our office photo for the catalog (there’s always one for the LA office and one for the Park City office). Our photographer turned out to be Sandy, a fellow, former Racquet Club Theatre volunteer. Following the photo, we spent some time catching up, talking about mutual friends who would be returning to the fest this year. Sandy has been involved with the festival as a photographer since 1982, a period I’ve done a lot of research on, so we also talked a bit about those early days, and the need for a more comprehensive book to be written about the festival history.

On Friday, our building had a Secret Santa exchange. The person I had pulled for works in the main box office, so I bought her a gift card for my favorite deli, which happens to be in the same building. The person that had pulled me happened to be a talented knitter, so she made me a silk headband, which I really loved. It was also an ugly sweater day, which brought out some really humorous homemade creations.

I saw a number of movies this week, the first being Becloud, a Mexican film that was from the Global Lens Series, which is part of the Global Film Initiative. The GFI is a non-profit film organization that supports cinematic works from developing nations and promotes cross-cultural understanding. It was an interesting film, with a really intriguing play with time and way of weaving different stories together. There were a few sound issues, and it dragged at parts, but overall I enjoyed it- plus it was a free screening, which is always nice.

Next, I saw The Fighter, which I enjoyed, and was humored by how much the Boston accents reminded me of my grad school days, in dealing with UMass undergrads. I should note that half of our group really enjoyed this movie, and the other half didn’t. Ultimately, I guess it comes down to what expectations you went in with, and whether you wanted a serious fight movie. The final film I saw was yesterday at the library, which was Bran Nue Dae. It’s an Australian movie, and an adaptation of a 1990 musical, and it was good fun.

In continuing what I started last week in naming a place in Park City that I like to spend a lot of time, this week I’ll talk about the library. The Park City Library is home to the Park City Film Series, which I attend at least once a week. It is run by a real great group of people, who offer discounted admission to Sundance employees, and it has a very impressive popcorn bar with unlimited refills. This is also one of the theaters used by Sundance during the festival, and since the Racquet Club is under construction this year, it is now the second largest venue in Park City, and will host a number of premieres. 

The downstairs library portion is a place where I go often to check email and get some writing done. It’s quiet, but not too quiet (there’s always a little bit of rustle), and the upper level has Starbucks coffee available, with the suggested donation of a quarter. Now, in mentioning writing, you might be wondering “what writing?” as I haven’t posted an article online in a while. In truth, I am writing an article, and should finish and post it soon, but a lot of my energy has been directed to a bigger project.

This past summer, on my birthday, I had the privilege of having dinner with Dennis Lehane (author of Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, etc.), along with some other friends. During this evening, he mentioned that he had written a number of film scripts, which had been purchased, but nothing had been done with them. This made me think of all the friends I have who spend years working on scripts, hoping it will lead to their big breaks, and how futile that notion seems. He also described how one goes about writing, and how one must work on it every single day. It was very much in line with the 10,000-hour rule, in that one must spend 10,000 hours on a craft to become a master at it.

This dinner, along with other dinners with other authors that summer, led me to decide to attempt writing a novel. It seemed like a safe venture, as it wouldn’t cost me anything except time to do it, and in the end if it was horrible, no one would have to read it, and I would have all the benefits of the experience of having done it. Those who have read my non-fiction film article know that I have a love of history, going back and looking at archives to pick something apart, trying to understand what motivated movements and filmmakers in a time. For this reason, I decided my story would be one of historical fiction, were I would immerse my fictional character in real-life historical events.

I spent the fall in the Newtown library, collecting a variety of sources, and literally can to Utah with a suitcase full of organized binders. Since then, I’ve completed a twenty-five page story outline, and begun writing the initial chapters. It’s amazing how long writing takes, as initially I thought I could have half of the word count done by the end of November, working off of selected writing prompts from the outline. Then, when that didn’t happen, I thought I could get 25% of it written by Christmas, which would essentially be the completed first act. That’s not going to happen- in reality, when I get on the plane to go home at the end of the week, I’ll have completed only just over 10%, and will be somewhere in the fourth chapter. It’s a very slow process, and that takes both self-forgiveness, but also perseverance to keep going. Those who know me well know that I have a habit of starting creative projects, and then talking forever to complete them. I am determined for that not to be the case, and will finish the first draft within 2011.

I’m not sharing the plot of the book until it is completed (so don’t ask or pry), but I’ll shared this much: it involves a young boy from Chicago, who ends up in Los Angeles from 1916 to 1937, and involves a number of historical figures and events. That’s all you’ll get.

That’s all for now. For this next week, I’m looking forward to going home at the end of the week, and celebrating Christmas with my family. It was hard not being there for Thanksgiving and my mom’s birthday, so I can tell you that even though it will be a very short visit, it is completely worth the time and cost to get there- worth it 100%.