The long interruption of the holidays behind us, I checked in with Chip and the gang in Santa Cruz to see how the cut of “Arrangements” is coming along. Turns out there is lots and lots happening!

I’m going to turn it over to Chip Street for the new (and amazing) details.

Today [January 13, 2008] we viewed v2 of the rough cut, which included my notes and input from my first viewing a few days before. I was very pleased with this cut, and I’ve signed off on it as a submission version for the Santa Cruz Film Festival.

We’ve made some decisive edits… certain things that worked on paper just didn’t work on the screen. There is some dialogue that’s been entirely lost, and some that’s been added as we rewrote the final scene… but all in all everything is working very well. The funny is definitely there, yet it’s got heart and a poignant resolution.

And I’m proud to say the music is a huge win for us… our editor, Jay Kensinger, is also a musician and composer, and he’s composed an instrumental theme for each of our two main characters, Bill and Kayla. In addition, we’ve got rights to two original songs for the film — “Wrong” performed by our star Gina Marie (who plays Kayla) and her band The Gobax, and “Right Side, Wrong Bed”, a solo effort by Greg Camp of Smash Mouth fame (Greg wrote their hits “All Star” and “Walkin’ on the Sun”).

This cut of the film will be burned tonight to be submitted to the festival, and the final tweaking edits (including a few minor pickups) will take place over the next few weeks. All in all I’m really pleased… it’s a credit to the talent and resources of the Santa Cruz film community that this project came off so well, so quickly and so expertly. Thanks again to Skot for such a unique, eccentric story for us all to play on.

It’s not easy to add to that!

Yeah, the notorious writer’s ego wants to comment on the changes, so here goes. I have known for a while they rewrote the ending of “Arrangements–” but so did I, coming from a specific visual idea I had for the original version (the character’s voices going over the credits) to the shooting script version (where the scene plays out fully). As I mentioned in a previous update, and just to show I haven’t checked out on a “sold” script, I trust Chip’s sense of storytelling fully. And bonus: When I finally see it I’ll be genuinely surprised!

As I said way back in the first installment of these updates, “Arrangements” was an opportunity to experience an accelerated version of feature film production. I’m sure it’s been this way for everyone involved: The principal actors had 5 days or so of calls, and everyone else had less: The editing took days rather than months, etc.

For me, it was equally accelerated: The script won in September, went in front of the cameras in November, and is essentially completed in January. It’s going to be edited and tinkered with from now probably until the premiere in May, but that is a completely normal process for most films. But it’s for the most part in the can, on time and on budget– An excellent outcome that is not merely a product of a short script. This has everything to do with the professionalism and talent of the principals. It is their collective vision and dedication that kept things on track and got it done.

There are just too many ways even a modest production can go over the falls, and Chip and company avoided them all. Hell, they’re not avoiding, they’re soaring: judging from the remarkable developments in the music department I’m getting the strong impression the production is indeed touching Greatness.

A short film with a soundtrack album? The way things sound, not out of the question.

–Skot C.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 9:17 pm and is filed under General, Hosts, Motion Pictures, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.