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Winter of Discontent

As Robert Plant said, "Good Times, Bad Times, You know I've had my share..."

Good News: After a couple months of trying to get in to the top secret labratory of Creative Memories, being blown off and eventually being declined I recieved a call from Rhonda Anderson saying the Grand PooBah's met and approved my request. This is HUGE and a testament to Rhonda's tenacity and support of the project. I wrote it off a couple weeks ago and wanted to a month ago. :0)

I 've heard many people try to get a relationship going with Creative Memories because they're such a huge company and connection with their tens of thousands of consultants. I can see where'd they'd be leary of letting me in. Being outside of the loop in the scrapbooking word I certainly don't appreciate the full value of what just happened. I'm just jazzed because these guys put a million plus dollars into R&D and testing their projects every year and I want to show the huge geek factor in the technology. Example: Their promotional materials says they have "Accelerated aging chambers that simulate 10-20 years of aging in just six months to ensure long-term durability." They also do elevated humidity tests for product performance in tropical climates and have a high-intensity lights to test how well thier product resists fading. How cool is that? Not exactly what I expected for warm fuzzy scrapbook materials. Apparently they're even going to let me talk with the mad scientist that runs the show. I'm VERY excited to check it out and show people some of the technology behind this stuff.

Another big plus: News Radio's season three is out on DVD. One of the best shows ever made.

Bad News: I shoot in four weeks. I just got a crew together, need to sell my old camera gear and pick up some new stuff for the B camera work. The rest will be rented. I need to finish cleaning up the notes and convert them into a legible script so a stranger can read it and understand, add in the shot list and storyboards for Tag ( the DP ) get locations sorted out, find a memory specialist ( still a loose end ) scout interviews with a few key scrapbookers, come up with slick promo material, build a real website with cool graphics and content so when the magazine articles and Jason Davis interview hits I look like I know what I'm doing, secure loans for funding, finish a Q&A type interview for Stacey Mann @ Digital Scrapbook Pages, do an online chat ( 03/16/06 @ 9:00 pm eastern, go to their website for details ), do an email interview for Tattoo magazine, shoot pictures for that interview, buy and learn how to use the new camera ( a new Panasonic HVX200 which will let me shoot in HD and DVCPO50 like the SDX900 I'm going to rent for the shoot ), Train in my audio guy and second camera man on the new equipment, bring my production manager up to speed, repairing broken computers and equipment, yada, yada, yada. You get the idea. Doesn't seem like much to do over 3-4 weeks but thrown in with daily calls and interest in the project, more upcoming interviews plus juggling a couple other bread and butter projects ( gots 'ta get paid ) it equals no time to finish working on my bike! The weather is peeking up into the 40 degree mark here and the snow is subsiding so I'm dying to get out for lunch rides or something but am not making the time. Tough choices but all good options.

Who's not busy right? I'm VERY happy that winter in the frozen north is subsiding and I've got a juicy project to sink my teeth into. When Scrapped is in the can I will be able to spend some quality time riding cross country to film festivals to shake hands and kiss babies. SWEET.

Music of the day- Wilco: Monday, Tom Waits: Big in Japan.

posted by wes @ 8:37 AM