Onward to the other 19

Close but no cigar. I got a call today. "It was a really difficult decision. Everyone loved your presentation and class demo. We appreciate all the effort you went to to come out here. But we've decided to go with one of the other candidates."

Sigh.

I didn't really want to live in the desert. And I was somewhat concerned that they weren't going to be able to pay me what I'm worth. But I had been hoping that it would be my decision to make.

Still, it was good practice. I feel like I did everything as well as I could. That's just how these things go.

Fingers Crossed

Definitely over thinking was not required.

Time to stop over thinking

Today I had an "interview" at Fitchburg State (in northern Massachusetts). I put it in quotes because we're still working through the bureaucracy, but they anticipate sending me a contract in a couple of weeks. Anything could happen, of course, but it was less "prove to us you can teach" and more "this is your classroom, and here's who to talk to if you ever have computer problems." They were all lovely and welcoming. Answered my questions about the class and what to expect and what they expect from me. There are three sections of the class. I'm teaching 2 and the woman who developed the class is teaching the third. She sent me her syllabus. That takes a lot of pressure off me for reinventing the wheel. She wasn't there today, but I'll catch up with her the next time I'm around.

First Campus Interview

Well this is exciting and scary. I just got my first invitation for an on campus interview. I may be asking people to help me practice again. I got my preferred date. And also have confirmation that I'll only see them on the one day, which takes some pressure off on the whole shopping thing. I'm taking the red eye back so that I can have the whole day there on Tuesday. I think I might meet with a realtor. Not that I necessarily want to buy as soon as I get out there, but it would be a good way to learn the area and also get a sense of the cost of living.

Also my first rejection

I got my first rejection today. It was for a job that was the longest of long shots, teaching in New Zealand. They've got to have people that they don't need to relocate from quite so far away. So I don't mind it at all and it's kind of good to get the first one of those out of the way. This is a process. This will not be my last rejection. And ultimately I only need one of them to say yes.

And closer yet

I had my first academic job interview. To be honest, it wasn't all that different from other job interviews I've had (or conducted) in my life. I'll jump to the end. I rocked it!!!

My future self is one step closer

So far on my Academic Job Hunt spreadsheet (yes it's color coded and organized by due date), there are 15 jobs. By the end of the season I might get up to 20. I don't know if we've peaked yet. I'm too new to the process.

Louis's first week

(Goodness I've been busy. Sorry for such a long delay between posts.)

I think by now everyone knows about Louis Armstrong. I promise I won’t bore you with every picture I’ve taken over the past 7 days, but I do have some highlights for you. I tried to put together a video, but I find it impossible to get him in frame with my phone for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

Random Acts of Kindness Day

I went to Bath, ME yesterday to go to the bank. They were having Random Acts of Kindness Day. I'm not sure why, but then I'm not sure you need a reason to have such a day.

UFVA

I wanted to write up my reactions to the conference while I'm still here and it's fresh, and sort of live. I am REALLY enjoying it. No, I'm not going to leave here with a job. The bureaucracy of university hiring means that was never going to happen. And honestly, it's not likely that someone I meet here is going to remember me when they're sifting through their stack of 80 applicants for 1 job over the winter. But it's still always good to make contacts. And it's been very good to sort of practice talking about it. What I've been doing, what my background is, what I'd like to be doing.

Not so beachy

I took a look at my map last night and saw that there is swimming near my house so I thought I'd go for an after dinner walk to the beach.

Life in Maine

I feel settled in. The job is going pretty well. People who knew the place kept saying oh, they're going to keep you really busy, but they haven't yet. I can't figure out if it's because we've had easier weeks so far, or if things are different than they used to be. I met a guy who was a staff editor here a few summers ago and he said they had 4 full time people his summer and they were always busy. There's 3 of us this summer and my intern is part time and the only time I feel like we have enough work is Fridays and I never feel "busy". I wonder if it's because I'm a faster editor than they're used to having. At this pay rate they usually only get people just out of school, which generally means inexperienced. Or it's possible that fewer classes are asking for Post support.

Behind the scenes on TvFILM

My new home, for now

So you've seen work life, now for home life. Claire found us a nice little house (see pictures below). I'm mostly unpacked, apart from the fact that half the boxes I brought up I'm not planning to unpack at all. There's no point for only 4 months. I'm not around the house all that much to be honest. Having all week day meals on campus means I wake up, take a shower, and leave in the mornings. And then dinner is 6-7 so depending on how much loitering I do after or what evening activities I attend sometimes it's 8 or 9 before I get home. It's only now, having a weekend, that I'm spending any time there. Except we haven't gotten internet for the house, so really I'm doing most of my loitering next door at the 3 Dogs Cafe where they have free (if slow) wifi.

My new job

So I am half way through my first week as the post production manager at the Maine Media Workshops. It's good. Everyone is nice, though there are an awful lot of people whose names I'm meant to remember and I'm struggling with that. I'm starting with the people who actually work in my building: Owen my staff editor who is still mostly running the place while I settle in, Sam my intern, Devon someone else's intern who sits right outside my door, Skylar who is doing marketing stuff, and Emma who I think is also doing marketing stuff. Then there's the two guys who are the TAs for the cinematography class. I should really know their names since they're coming in every late afternoon to get us to string together dailies of all their footage.

They're promoting Killer

I just have a quick update for the moment. I'll give you something all about my new job later in the week, or maybe over the weekend. In the meantime, I just noticed that they've started promoting Killer as part of "next week on TvFILM"

http://www.wmht.org/topics/arts-entertainment/tvfilm/next-tvfilm/

Heading into my last week in Boston

Shh... I'll be back.

An article I want to be able to find again

Found another good article on IndieWire

Making a Living as a Documentary Filmmaker

The short answer is: don't quit your day job.

Interesting article

Here's Why Female-Driven Films Are Important Right Now

I read this on IndieWire while I should be packing. I am so easily distracted. Anyway, an interesting and quick read.

How is it that I'm packing again?

And how is it that even after less than 2 years packing still starts with throwing shit away? I've given myself a rule that if I haven't touched it since I've been here it goes. I imagine there will be some slight exceptions, but generally it's a good plan. But after the great purge that was moving out of the house I didn't think there was any junk left in my life. Maybe it's new junk? I'm sure I'll be happy to be rid of it though when this job runs out at the end of October and I'm officially homeless.

That's a wrap, now I can rest. HA HA HA HA

Since film school isn't officially over until the finished film gets approved and they hand me the piece of paper I guess I'll keep this going for a while longer. But in terms of what I need to be in Boston for I'm pretty much done. I'm still working on Aaron's film, Move Immovable which shoots June 16-20, but that's because I can not because I have to. In terms of degree requirements I have finished all of my classes and I have directed my film. I'm done. Weird.

Waiting for the last shoot day to start

I'd go over now, but it's too early. No one would be there, including the person with the key. It's going to be a long day, I should be conserving my energy. We're likely to go 12 hours today because the rains earlier in the week wrecked the schedule and we're still trying to catch up. It has gone fast. I can't believe this is the last night. I keep thinking of things we should try to squeeze in. And also I've been closing browser tabs that I've had open for months that have been keeping track of things I no longer need to keep track of. Lists of extras, and stuff like that. It's strange. Tomorrow is going to be a day for tidying up: returning the rented lenses, returning all the school gear to FPS, returning the keys for the brownstone, returning Dan to the bus station in the afternoon. Tomorrow night I think I'm going to be at a total loss. Standing in my empty room thinking "Now what?" At least there's Aaron's film to turn my attention to. That's coming along quite nicely. We'll definitely be ready for that.

I love my team

I say that to them a lot. Whenever things click: beautiful lighting and a smooth camera move landing on just the right performance and it's all working and I can feel it, my response is always "I love you guys." I really mean it and I almost wonder if I'm saying it too often. I don't want it to lose its power. I don't want them to think that's just the thing I say. I really mean it.

This project has a certain importance for me personally, but also I like this story, I believe in this story. I believe in the message that the world is an amazing place, but if you're not paying attention you'll miss it. So to have everyone come together to help me tell that story, to really bring their A game to it, which they all have (the tech crew gave themselves a call time 2 hours earlier than mine and 5 hours earlier than they were originally slated for just so that they could play with some untested gear and be sure they could figure out all the lighting for the 4 days of night shoots that we're about to start), just makes my heart get all warm and fuzzy.

Sometimes you have to let go...

...and I'm a control freak and can find that very difficult. I have a good team for this film. They are all doing stuff. But not all of it is happening quite as quickly as I'd have wished. And the things that are getting done I still don't see in front of me. So I have to just show up on set and trust that everybody will have brought along everything that they were responsible for. To be honest, it's making me twitchy. They're a good team; it will all be fine. But it's the first time I've done a film and didn't have to pretty much do everything myself. It's very strange.

I'll be famous

Well, not really famous, but still, this morning was fun. I went into the WMHT studio and got interviewed for my spot on TvFILM. Funny being on the other side of the lights in an interview, and him giving me the please use complete sentences speech. I think it went well. He thought it went well, said he was happy with my answers. I think I was even having a good hair day.

Here's the important information: for those of you in Albany, NY the first airing will be June 30th at 7:30pm. It will repeat the following Sunday at midnight and then a few times after that. For those not in Albany, it will also be on the website for streaming in its entirety exactly as broadcast, plus extra interview stuff in the behind the scenes section. I'll add that link (to every mention of Killer anywhere ever) once it's live.

I am officially done

I just emailed in my final exam for lighting and my term paper about the Bond films for British Cinema. I need to go to one last class for Production 3 that I am a TA for this Wednesday, but it's not like I have any responsibilities other than showing up. Though there is some stuff I need to do for the Prod 3 final screening. But that's all TA stuff, which is to say, work. My student stuff is finished. All that's left is making the films. And there's plenty to do for that, but that's always been what I do for fun.

Two and a half weeks until we start shooting. There is plenty to do. Have to go to the SAG office today to start that paperwork. And tonight we're having a table read of Aaron's script. Wednesday we're having a table read/rehearsal of my script. There's a couple last locations to confirm. I fear we're going to end up using my apartment just because it's easy, but it's always so loud here.

And I need a boat load of extras. The tours, students in her class, people at the bar, people listening to the violinist on the street corner. I'm going to need extras almost every day. Sigh. I did myself no favors with that.

Ah well, onward. I might be done, but I'm never really done.

Biases in academia? What a surprise (not)

Saw this on NPR

Evidence Of Racial, Gender Biases Found In Faculty Mentoring

I've been trying to decide if I've personally encountered this. I'm not one for cold calling and it would be a different study if they were looking at how professors relate to students they know vs this where it was students they didn't know. Though I did once send an email to a random history professor trying to do research when writing Ghost Tours. And I did once send an email to a film professor at a different school asking for an opinion, though that wasn't random, I'd been given his name by someone who knew him. Neither ever responded to my emails at all much less agreed to meet. So maybe I have encountered it.

Mostly I use it as a lesson to myself not to become that person when I get my professor job.

Seriously, how is this the last week of classes?

On the one hand, I'm ready to be done with classes because even though I like both of my classes well enough, I feel like they're a distraction from getting my film done. On the other hand, these are my last classes ever. It is very unlikely I will ever be a student again. These two years flew!

Take Out World Premiere, sort of

So, how things have gone lately. On Friday I had auditions with Aaron for a couple of the smaller parts for Move Immovable. Found two people we liked, one of whom was the female lead in Take Out. That was great. When she walked into the audition neither of us was expecting the other. I gave her a big hug and got to tell her that Take Out had a screening this weekend.

Then I went down to Providence for SENE

Esther's Front Step and a new Tim

I have had a very productive day. I met with two guys to be our new Tim because Adam had to back out. I liked them both. It would have been a much harder decision, but one of them had a conflict for one of the nights and the other was available for all 4. Done.

I also did a bunch of location scouting. I met with the guy from BU who is going to get us Esther's Front Step. He showed me half a dozen places. Two weren't right. Any of the other 4 could have worked, but I had a definite favorite and when I showed the picture to Scully she liked it a lot. So yea! I also took some pictures of the classroom and hallway while I was out. I'll get some pictures of the professor's office on Tuesday. Then the only things left to find are Sarah's apartment/study and the bar.

Dolly and Jib tests

Has everyone heard by now my news about Killer getting picked up by WMHT for their program TvFILM? Very exciting.

The herring are running

I finished my application for the grad student fellowship to the University Film and Video Association annual meeting this summer. It's in Bozeman MT so really the plane ticket is going to cost three times what the meeting registration will cost, but whatever, I'll take what help I can get. Fingers crossed.

I felt so productive having done that though, that I went for a walk. It's been about a year since my Nikon DSLR died. It was 10 years old so I guess that's old these days, but I miss the days when everything in a camera was mechanical and/or chemical because those things lasted forever. Anyway, shot some pictures with my phone and it really made me miss having a good camera. That will probably be my "yay I found a permanent job" present to myself.

Not how I meant to spend my afternoon

The Celluloid Closet - Gay/Lesbian Documentary 

That link will show you the full feature length documentary, so don't do what I did, which was to think I'll watch for 10 minutes while I sort some paperwork and then get on with what I'm supposed to do. Only click if you have time.

It was interesting in a film history kind of way. And by interesting I mean depressing. But it ends kind of optimistically. Lots of nice quotes, some major key happy music, quite a bit of kissing, etc. Then I realized it's from 1995. I think the optimism might have been premature. I haven't done a survey of the last 20 years to document portrayals of gay characters in mainstream hollywood films, but off the top of my head I can't think of any. I'm not good at remembering details from films, so that doesn't mean there weren't any. But there weren't enough to make an impression on me.

That would probably be an interesting topic, but at the moment I'm meant to be watching all of (most of, some of) the Bond films to see how badly they've treated women over the last 50 years. It actually got worse in the 70s. I remember watching the Roger Moore films when I was in high school and just finding them fun and funny. I watch them now with modern eyes and think OMG how did this get made?

Busy Busy

I've been trying to think about what I've been up to in the past week that has kept me from thinky thoughts for the blog. Here's a bullet list.

Camera Tests

Scully and I went out with the camera that we'd like to use for Ghost Tours and ran some tests. In the daylight part of the video we had a 24mm lens on. I was wanting to see what it would look like if we attempted to stay on the building's path and off the public sidewalk. If we're not blocking the sidewalk the city won't care about us.

Then in the night time shots we switched to a 50mm lens. We had to jack the ISO to 3200 (which is tons, we're wanting to really shoot at about 800) and open up to f/2.0. One would expect that to be tough to keep in focus, and also grainy as hell. Actually, I'm quite happy with how it looks. If this is what we can get with just the existing light then once we bring in some lights of our own, and also find out what the color temperature is with that weird mix of light, it's going to look very cool.

Take Out and Ghost Tours both at SENE

Last year Killer played at the South East New England (SENE) Music Film and Art Festival. That's where it won the jury prize for best short short. When they were doing their call for submissions for this year I entered Take Out. Seemed like the best odds for getting Take Out a screening. And that worked. I think I've said it here already that we got in and are screening on Sunday April 27.

But I noticed when I was putting together the paperwork for it that they were also running a screen play competition this year, so I entered Ghost Tours in that. Got an email last night that there are 5 finalists in the short screenplay competition and Ghost Tours is one of them. They'll announce the winner at the awards ceremony on Saturday the 26th. So I guess I should go to the awards thing this time as I've got two things in competition and last time I didn't go at all and Killer actually won something.

Sarah's University

Ok, I need a fake name for Sarah's University. Help me brainstorm a list and then I'll pick my favorites and make a poll. If your fake school wins you get the satisfaction of seeing a bunch of extras in Sarah's classes wearing your school's gear, and after the shoot you can have one of the shirts that we make.

The location at night

I went back to the location from the last post because I wanted to do some sound tests checking for noise from the nearby highway. While I was there I shot a couple of night photos just to see what the existing light is.

More location scouting

I went out today to a road on campus that is lined with residences halls. If it's campus I won't need to get the city involved. There are nice wide sidewalks. Pretty brick buildings that could be from the right era (Karen???). We can cover the BU red building identifier squares with some fake historical markers, which we were frankly going to make anyway. Just need to figure out who to talk to about it.

Here's a few possibilities.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I just watched a really interesting movie. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Some of you would find it fascinating and others wouldn't like it at all. It was recommended, though I don't remember where. Maybe someone in my cinematography class. It was certainly very very interesting in terms of how they tackled it visually. It's a true story about a guy who was entirely paralyzed except for the ability to blink his left eye. We spend the first third to half of the movie really in his head and for a while I was thinking, "This is just weird." Eventually they break out a bit, pretty much timed to when he starts being able to communicate. I would recommend it to anyone who likes films on the quieter and slower end of the spectrum.

Location Scouting

I'll put something more formal on the official film blog, but I have a bunch of photos and thoughts and figured this audience would want the raw materials.

I almost got a job this week

The job ended up falling through, but it is still a good lesson learned. My cinematography professor, who I love, always says to the class, "Shy don't cut it."And he's right, and I know he's right. Part of why I am where I am is because of how hard it is for me to talk to strangers.

I don't know about this whole social media thing

I just realized I haven't updated the blog in a while. Then I realized it's because I updated the other blog, and facebook, and now twitter, and a new facebook page just for the film, and and and. I feel like I'm constantly shouting out to the world. Aaron is coaching me on the whole social media thing. He's very patient and didn't laugh at me when I had questions like what's the difference between # @ and RT in twitter. Frankly I don't understand the point of twitter. But generating buzz is how projects get done and distributed these days. Not just getting money to make a film, but getting people to want to see it after it's made.

There are kids these days who will graduate from COM whose first jobs will have titles like "Social Media Manager". It's all a bit cyclical, isn't it? Because that generation is on all the time they're catering to themselves. Hey, if they can get people to pay them for it, more power to them. But I just think there's so much noise in the system these days. I'm shouting into the world from every platform I can find. Everyone else is similarly shouting and it all just becomes meaningless. Or rather, the work it takes to find meaningful communication is more than I want to put into it.

But I did make my fundraising video for Ghost Tours, so that was a big deal for the week.

Endless auditions

Sometimes the process feels like it takes forever, but it's worth it because then when you find the right people it feels fantastic. This afternoon we auditioned someone for Bates for Aaron's movie that we both liked a lot. There are still a couple of other people to meet, but it was so nice to finally meet someone who really could work.

For me, I've got the first set of callbacks tonight. Here's my problem, the guy for tonight, who I've worked with before and really like, has been sick all week. We've exchanged some emails to see if he could just skip, or come in but be less prepared than he wanted. Now we're at maybe one of the Sunday guys will swap with him. But that's short notice for them. If it works that's the best solution, if it doesn't I'm not sure how tonight will play out.

It's turning into a big pain in the ass, but I think it's worth it. There's not much that people get for working on student films. If you want to work with good people it helps if you're easy to work with. Sometimes, often, you can't be accommodating. So when you can, you should. People notice and appreciate that kind of thing.

This week on British Cinema

We watched zombie movies. Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later, both films I actually own. We didn't entirely finish 28 Days Later, and apparently we may or may not finish it next week, though I hope so. We were just getting to the good bit. So, clearly I like them both even though generally speaking I'm not a fan of zombie films, and even less a fan of the horror genre as a whole. But Shaun of the Dead is as much comedy as anything else. And what's scary about 28 Days Later is not the "Infected" but the survivors.

I'll be interested to see what the professor says in the discussion next week about these films. The first part of this week we were talking about last week's film Sexy Beast which was a gangster film. It was an interesting discussion about how misogynistic British culture can be, which is a sweeping generalization as that doesn't apply to any of the British people I know. But you see it in a film like Sexy Beast where the women - of which there were only 2 out of more than a dozen speaking roles - were so oppressed that they were entirely dismissed. The heart of the film was not the actual heist that finally gets committed, but the power play between the pip-squeak, middle man crime lord and the want to be retired heavy. Can Ben Kingsley frighten Ray Winstone into returning to London for one more job? The answer is yes, but he doesn't actually win. The women barely even register.

So Sexy Beast ended up being more interesting to watch than I was expecting, but I wouldn't recommend it to you. And I was much more entertained by what we watched tonight.

Oscar Shorts

Last night I went to a screening of the Oscar nominated shorts. It was almost a private screening. A couple showed up toward the end of the first one, stayed for the second one, and left at the start of the third one. I think they just wanted to see Martin Freeman. I wanted to see the best of the genre, the thing I should be aspiring for. Here's what I learned: Even the best shorts are sometimes too long.

Putting together a team

I've had great teams when I was doing films in DC, but we all had day jobs. So while I think we did fantastic work, it was a hobby, especially for everyone else. Now I'm pretty much building a team from scratch. No one from previous Heron Media films is likely to work on Ghost Tours. But they're all in film school so this is their job, so to speak.

Guests on my fire escape

I noticed when I came back from winter break that there was a tear in my screen for the kitchen window. Over the weekend I discovered why. When I woke up there was a squirrel clinging to the screen on the inside, between the screen and the window. When I knocked on the glass he ran off to the fire escape, but then he just stat there staring me down. I went and got my phone and he just looked at me for quite a while before giving up on my letting him have the window back.

Then this morning I was making tea and heard a noise and thought the squirrel was back. It is quite possible the squirrel is now dead because what I found was a hawk. He stayed long enough for me to get a good shot too.

Job Hunting = Making Connections

We had auditions last night in a room right next to where my Thursday night editing class was last term. We kept the door propped open when we didn't have someone in just to make us easier to find for when they arrived. In the room were 3 people in their last semester of school: and undergrad senior, Aaron, a young grad student, and me, a not so young grad student. At one point we all looked at each other and had the realization that we all needed to be job hunting starting right now. Fortunately we're not really qualified for the same jobs so it's much easier to be supportive rather than competitive with each other.

Pet Peeves

Actors who send head shots and resumes with filenames like DSC_9481.jpg, and Actingresume.pdf.

That's great, so when I've got a folder full of 50 head shots and resumes I will have no idea who you are. And if you don't care I'm not sure why I should.

Actually the first round of auditions aren't going so badly.

Be careful what you wish for

For my film studies class I'm reading an article about Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, other films you've heard of even if you haven't seen them). He started his career by doing low budget gritty British films and then tried to translate that success into Hollywood.

"Boyle found that larger budgets and crews entailed creative compromises"(1) and the films that followed were flops.

An article from this year's Sundance

I've long said that it's easier than ever to make a movie, but just as hard to make a good one. This article from someone at Sundance seems to prove that out.

http://www.thewrap.com/5-cold-truths-uninspiring-sundance/

I see it as a challenge for when I really start working on Enid's Wall. Not just that there's a lot of other people making films so mine has to be better. Also, just because you can get it made you still need to be sure that it's worth anyone taking the time to see it.

Wow, it's only week 2

Making a film could be a full time job. You can laugh at that statement if you want, after all the possibility of it being a full time job is why everyone has come to school for it. However, I have 3 classes this term and all I want to do is work on my film. I'm half tempted to double my thesis credits just so I can drop one of my classes except that I like all three of them. What all three have in common is that they are taught by professors who LOVE the thing they do.

The TA's role as mentor

I often talk about the stories we tell and how disappointed I am with the stories Hollywood chooses to tell, and the lack of women and women's voices in the stories coming out of the media industry. The thing is I don't think I'm going to storm Hollywood and change the industry. But what I can do is be a mentor to the next generation of storytellers. That's part of why I want to teach, and what I enjoy about teaching. However, I don't have to wait for that elusive professor job because right now I am a TA and even when not, I'm a grad student in with a bunch of undergrads.

Hit the ground running

I am back in Boston and ready to go. I had a long meeting with Charles this afternoon and a short meeting with Aaron. I am so charged up now.

A TED talk about the stories we tell

I saw this today on youtube. He's talking about what movies he'd like his kids to watch. Or rather, what movies he'd like them to be able to watch. It's about 12 minutes. He says good stuff. 

Plays are different from movies, Part 2

So, you remember back in December I was talking about how plays are different from movies? Well, I just saw August: Osage County. It was apparently a successful play (though I'd never heard of it, but I wouldn't, so don't use me as a gauge) so someone paid the playwright to make a screenplay out of it. What we got was a play on film with a bunch of actors you recognize.

Another screening for Killer

I just found out that Killer is going to be screening at the DC Independent Film Festival the weekend of February 19th. Southwest flights that weekend are $59 each way so I'll definitely be going. If I can get a good group of people to attend - which is possible as most of my friends live in the area - I'm likely to see people that I haven't seen in more than a year and a half. I think that's going to feel very strange. In a good way, it'll be great to see everyone. It just really doesn't feel like I've been gone that long.

Movies I've seen over winter break

I try to catch up a bit when we're on break. I wonder if I can even remember them all.

Philomena
American Hustle
42 (rented)
The Hobbit (twice)
12 Years a Slave
The Book Thief

Also lots of Downton Abbey, Sherlock, and the Doctor Who Christmas special.