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.

First the meeting with Charles. Mostly I was wanting to determine the whole LA/Sydney/no internships at all question. Because if the answer was LA then I needed to drop all my classes, get my money back for this term, and then have my 4th semester next fall in LA. We talked a lot about how to get to where I want to be - teaching, preferably sooner rather than later - and whether or not internships in LA would affect my chances at that one way or the other. Basically we ended with it wouldn't hurt to do them if that's what I want, but if I have no particular desire to have a first hand glimpse of life in LA it's unlikely to hurt my professional development to skip it. And it could always happen later while on sabbatical or whatever. We didn't talk about Sydney; I already know his opinion on that. And frankly, if LA isn't helpful then Sydney wouldn't be helpful, it would just be fun.

But here's what he said for getting a teaching job: finish the film. Do whatever you need to to keep a roof over your head. Do the work that it takes to get it into as many festivals as possible. Travel to every festival you can manage. While you're there, network. And not just at the festival. But if you're at a festival in a town with potential schools you could teach at then get in touch, offer to be a guest speaker at a class, or just meet with people. He also suggested going to this summer's conference for film and video educators. So I don't really have to decide until March, but I think I won't do Sydney. That's $12k that would be better spent on the film and then the marketing and distribution of the film and myself after.

Linda said something great over Christmas. Don't think of it as picking between LA or Sydney or nothing. Think of it as LA, Sydney or Cape Cod. Because right now Darrell's rent is covering my mortgage so until I get a job again if I've got a free place to stay I should use it to concentrate on getting that job. You know, the one that I gave up everything else to become qualified for.

So then I caught up with Aaron for a few minutes. Our class is down to just him and me now. (Don't ask.) With only two films to make, and each of us with scripts that we can really put our hearts into, and with it being the two of us specifically, we are going to make two kickass films. We're going to have dinner tomorrow to go over the calendar for the next six months and start figuring it out in broad strokes. I think he's going to be a great partner to work with.

I let myself have a very lazy week last week because I knew I wouldn't get another week with nothing to do until at least August. But you know what? I am refreshed and ready to go.