CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - 2 OF 10
The Writer-Producer's Background
The first goal of this writer-producer is to gain the attention of the San Francisco Film Society and to be chosen as one of their fiscally sponsored film projects. It seems to me that the goal will only be attained by convincing the Society that I have found a story that (a) has never been told before, and that (b)only I am able to tell it. Such are the facts.
You see, eight years ago, after a long career in banking and securities, I left the financial services industry during the "dot-com bomb" to become a filmmaker, which had already been an avocation of mine for ten years. My initial, some say audacious, move was to position myself as closely as possible to a San Francisco based maritime organization that was founded in the early 19th century. I became a driver for a male dominated team of sixty, state commissioned ship pilots - The San Francisco Bar Pilots.
As I continued to write and produce my other film projects, what transpired was a 36-month access into their personal and professional lives that originally sparked the idea of producing a historical documentary film set in San Francisco about the little known and highly influential gang of state commissioned mariners. Even though I have now reinvented the story as a work of biographical fiction, I am no less committed to telling this story through the eyes of the ship pilots because of my strong, well-informed and opinionated connection with the subject matter. "Crossing the Bar" reveals the historical demands and consequences of a male-dominated maritime enterprise that, since its beginnings, has sought to continue its unchanged expansion.
This tale is told from the point-of-view of Aimee Tanneur who provides the film's narrative voice. She learns first hand that all the world's elite societies of bar pilots, that repeatedly reject her and her sisters inclusion into their ranks, could not be in a more powerful position to do so. The very fact that they alone are charged with getting many billions of dollars worth of cargo to the final destination as quickly as possible has given them unquestioned authority to operate with limited oversight, such as here in the backwater of California governance for over 150 years. I recognize, as do they, that things are changing - and it galls them.
Genesis of the Film's Title
For four or more years one version or another of the film had been called "Pilots of the Golden Gate." But I needed a fresh name along with the fresh, new approach. I struck pay dirt when I came upon a 1889 poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson called (begging your pardon, sir) "Crossing the Bar." Tennyson used the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death.
My film project draws upon the poem's title to describe the inexorable social change that occurred with the Second Wave of feminism. It must be noted that sand bars are a fundamental presence in the life of a pilot. In great part, sand bars are the reason ship pilots exist.
Next time we'll investigate the Second Wave of feminism. I was nearly swamped during that unrelenting surge, but rose from the depths. And I'm here write about it.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
Conception and The Importance of Foreplay - Blog 1 of 10
It's universally accepted that film production occurs in five basic stages: (1) Development - The script is written and drafted into a workable blueprint for a film; (2) Preproduction - Preparations are made for the shoot, in which a cast and crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built; (3) Production - The raw elements of the finished film are recorded; (4) Post-Production - The film is edited, production sound is edited, music tracks are composed, performed and recorded, sound effects are designed and recorded, and any computer-graphic "visual" effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed then married to the picture and the film is fully completed; and (5) Sales and Distribution - The film is screened for potential distributors, is picked up by a distributor and reaches its cinema and/or home media audience.
I'm adding a sixth-stage called Conception, and I'm adding it to the top of the list where it rightly belongs. For me the conception stage sparked somewhere in the right side of my brain as nothing more than a fanciful thought way back in 2006. It was the beginning of a chain of events that I will begin to describe in today's first edition of the new blog.
It was in June of 2007 when the now defunct San Francisco Film Arts Foundation announced its fiscal sponsorship of "Pilots of the Golden Gate," my historical documentary film about the history of ship pilots on the Bay of San Francisco. (The coveted fiscally sponsored status means that that individual filmmakers enter into an agreement to gain access to funding sources who only want to give money to organizations with tax-exempt status.) In 2008 the San Francisco Film Society assumed stewardship of my sponsored film project and brought to the program a new energy and an increased reach within the funding community and the film industry. Or so I anticipated. I naively forgot that an old institution like the San Francisco Bar Pilots does not like to be profiled, abhors change and that they have very deep pockets.
When originally conceived the film was to be an inspirational story about the unheralded heroism of ship pilots on the Bay over the better part of 200 years. But who would guess that when I took the project to the SF Bar Pilots they would stone-wall me by denying me any funding or cooperation. Because of my friendships inside the organization I remained optimistic concerning access to retired ship pilots and the organizations extensive archives. However, when the November 2007 oil spill occurred on the Bay the SF Bar Pilots organization reacted by threatening me with two lawsuits and summarily denying me any and all access to their premises, pilot boats, personnel and archives. At the time I wondered, "What on earth are they hiding and want kept secret, and how can I overcome their resistance?" Time will tell. Or rather, I will tell you over time.
Check back next week. More skulduggery will surely be afoot.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
It's universally accepted that film production occurs in five basic stages: (1) Development - The script is written and drafted into a workable blueprint for a film; (2) Preproduction - Preparations are made for the shoot, in which a cast and crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built; (3) Production - The raw elements of the finished film are recorded; (4) Post-Production - The film is edited, production sound is edited, music tracks are composed, performed and recorded, sound effects are designed and recorded, and any computer-graphic "visual" effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed then married to the picture and the film is fully completed; and (5) Sales and Distribution - The film is screened for potential distributors, is picked up by a distributor and reaches its cinema and/or home media audience.
I'm adding a sixth-stage called Conception, and I'm adding it to the top of the list where it rightly belongs. For me the conception stage sparked somewhere in the right side of my brain as nothing more than a fanciful thought way back in 2006. It was the beginning of a chain of events that I will begin to describe in today's first edition of the new blog.
It was in June of 2007 when the now defunct San Francisco Film Arts Foundation announced its fiscal sponsorship of "Pilots of the Golden Gate," my historical documentary film about the history of ship pilots on the Bay of San Francisco. (The coveted fiscally sponsored status means that that individual filmmakers enter into an agreement to gain access to funding sources who only want to give money to organizations with tax-exempt status.) In 2008 the San Francisco Film Society assumed stewardship of my sponsored film project and brought to the program a new energy and an increased reach within the funding community and the film industry. Or so I anticipated. I naively forgot that an old institution like the San Francisco Bar Pilots does not like to be profiled, abhors change and that they have very deep pockets.
When originally conceived the film was to be an inspirational story about the unheralded heroism of ship pilots on the Bay over the better part of 200 years. But who would guess that when I took the project to the SF Bar Pilots they would stone-wall me by denying me any funding or cooperation. Because of my friendships inside the organization I remained optimistic concerning access to retired ship pilots and the organizations extensive archives. However, when the November 2007 oil spill occurred on the Bay the SF Bar Pilots organization reacted by threatening me with two lawsuits and summarily denying me any and all access to their premises, pilot boats, personnel and archives. At the time I wondered, "What on earth are they hiding and want kept secret, and how can I overcome their resistance?" Time will tell. Or rather, I will tell you over time.
Check back next week. More skulduggery will surely be afoot.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Hesitant Hedonism (10 of 10)
My second series of weekly blogs is a fictionalized description of six closely linked and austere lives that come to recognize disillusionment with feeling happier and more fulfilled in their workplace than they do in their own homes. Each personality will come to terms with their feelings of guilt about whether or not they have earned the right to dip a toe into the pleasure pool for pleasure's sake alone. We will witness the large emotional stakes they wager on such an unanticipated adventure. Above all else these stories will be about reinvention, feature endearing characters and the promise of provocative endings.
The original idea for this story was to use the production of perfect olive oil as a metaphor for finding balance in life. First, I could draw upon all the memories of my father, uncles and all the gumbahs in the olive processing business that filled my world growing up. Second, I had a strong sense of the protagonist being a young woman who'd been tucked away in a French convent since adolescence, resulting in what I deemed to be a compelling virginal innocence. All I knew was that she was going to California to be reunited with her father and that she had one goal in mind on this trip. At age eighteen she wanted to have her first sexual experience.
On what turned out to be Sarah Kay's last day at the ranch, it was two o'clock in the morning before she was certain her father was asleep. She looked out her bedroom window into the backyard as she slipped on her jeans. She saw a faint light burning inside the caboose and wondered if Chuck (he of "pure pleasure is no longer my cultural paradigm" fame) really was waiting for her. She also saw that the greenhouse had a light on and that there was the movement of a shadow inside.
When she got to the backyard she peeked through the greenhouse glass and saw Squint pruning his bonsai olive trees. She tapped on the glass.
Squint was about to light his ganja pipe but politely asked if she would mind, "Not at all. Go right ahead," she said. Minutes later Squint was talking philosophically about the calming power that olive trees, even his bonsais, have always exerted on humankind. "I think of the olive as a central component of an idyllic ideal. Like wheat leading to bread, like grapes leading to wine, like the honeycomb, olives signify something of nature and human cultivation. The olive and its oil are surrounded by an aura of myth and romance. Like you, Sarah Kay, olives came as an immigrant from the old world to the new world. Its journey and your journey seem like a chance of a lifetime."
She asked, "Does that come from your head or your heart?" He pointed to his heart. Then, out of the blue he asked, "Will you have a romance with Senor Risconi tonight?"
"How do you know about that," she asked.
"When you rejected the advances of my nephew Cesar, it was then I knew," he offered. "Be on your way. The sun rise is not long from now. Enjoy the love you feel." She gave him a hug and left for the caboose.
She found Chuck waiting for her on the porch. When he stepped out of the darkness she immediately slipped into his arms before he could object. There were no words spoken. They kissed.
Suddenly her father's voice yelled, "Get away from her, you son-of-a-bitch." Jesse leaped onto the porch of the caboose, shoved Sarah Kay aside and punched Chuck hard in the nose that landed him square on his ass. "I thought you and I had an understanding."
"We do. I just... She just... We do - we do."
"Good. Sarah Kay, get him a wash cloth and see if you can stop that bloody nose and then get in the house." With that, feeling quite self-satisfied, he walked back to the house and went back to bed and fell contentedly to sleep.
What awoke him was Chuck's DeHavilland float plane as it slowly flew over the house rocking the wings as a sign of goodbye. The plane then turned and headed east into the rising sun. Jesse instinctively knew his daughter was on board. He smiled and spoke aloud the poem, "Don't be like most people who instead of searching for happiness, rather, they live avoiding the risk of unhappiness. Don't allow the fear of pain to be stronger then the delight of life you feel."
THE END
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
The original idea for this story was to use the production of perfect olive oil as a metaphor for finding balance in life. First, I could draw upon all the memories of my father, uncles and all the gumbahs in the olive processing business that filled my world growing up. Second, I had a strong sense of the protagonist being a young woman who'd been tucked away in a French convent since adolescence, resulting in what I deemed to be a compelling virginal innocence. All I knew was that she was going to California to be reunited with her father and that she had one goal in mind on this trip. At age eighteen she wanted to have her first sexual experience.
On what turned out to be Sarah Kay's last day at the ranch, it was two o'clock in the morning before she was certain her father was asleep. She looked out her bedroom window into the backyard as she slipped on her jeans. She saw a faint light burning inside the caboose and wondered if Chuck (he of "pure pleasure is no longer my cultural paradigm" fame) really was waiting for her. She also saw that the greenhouse had a light on and that there was the movement of a shadow inside.
When she got to the backyard she peeked through the greenhouse glass and saw Squint pruning his bonsai olive trees. She tapped on the glass.
Squint was about to light his ganja pipe but politely asked if she would mind, "Not at all. Go right ahead," she said. Minutes later Squint was talking philosophically about the calming power that olive trees, even his bonsais, have always exerted on humankind. "I think of the olive as a central component of an idyllic ideal. Like wheat leading to bread, like grapes leading to wine, like the honeycomb, olives signify something of nature and human cultivation. The olive and its oil are surrounded by an aura of myth and romance. Like you, Sarah Kay, olives came as an immigrant from the old world to the new world. Its journey and your journey seem like a chance of a lifetime."
She asked, "Does that come from your head or your heart?" He pointed to his heart. Then, out of the blue he asked, "Will you have a romance with Senor Risconi tonight?"
"How do you know about that," she asked.
"When you rejected the advances of my nephew Cesar, it was then I knew," he offered. "Be on your way. The sun rise is not long from now. Enjoy the love you feel." She gave him a hug and left for the caboose.
She found Chuck waiting for her on the porch. When he stepped out of the darkness she immediately slipped into his arms before he could object. There were no words spoken. They kissed.
Suddenly her father's voice yelled, "Get away from her, you son-of-a-bitch." Jesse leaped onto the porch of the caboose, shoved Sarah Kay aside and punched Chuck hard in the nose that landed him square on his ass. "I thought you and I had an understanding."
"We do. I just... She just... We do - we do."
"Good. Sarah Kay, get him a wash cloth and see if you can stop that bloody nose and then get in the house." With that, feeling quite self-satisfied, he walked back to the house and went back to bed and fell contentedly to sleep.
What awoke him was Chuck's DeHavilland float plane as it slowly flew over the house rocking the wings as a sign of goodbye. The plane then turned and headed east into the rising sun. Jesse instinctively knew his daughter was on board. He smiled and spoke aloud the poem, "Don't be like most people who instead of searching for happiness, rather, they live avoiding the risk of unhappiness. Don't allow the fear of pain to be stronger then the delight of life you feel."
THE END
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Hesitant Hedonism (9 of 10)
Unaware that a fly problem is manifesting at the ranch, Chuck and Jesse are taking a leisurely stroll through the packed Artisan Market building. When Chuck spots Lilli preparing to mount the elevated kitchen set to do her cooking show, he gives Jesse a nudge. They exchange knowing nods as Jesse heads over to say hello. After last night's rather unexpected tete-a-tete in the caboose it seems the least he should do. He'd like to see her again.
Chuck stands alone in the crowd slowly turning to see what he might see. That's when he sees Carla behind the counter of her booth that features the "Olive-U" brand of olive-oil based cosmetics. After air-kisses she invites him to come along with her to the nearby town square where she takes her cigarette breaks. He gladly joins his old high school friend who has maintained her sparkling personality, not to mention her bodacious figure, even if he is susceptible to the urges that will ensue. After all, hasn't he re-invented himself? He's trust worthy. Right?
Within minutes of hilarious conversation they discover that they have something surprising in common: each has become celibate by preference. Carla made the decision three years ago when she arrived back in Oroville. Chuck's decision was more on the order of thirty-six hours ago when his plane touched down and his resolve was immediately tested by Sarah Kay's tempting presence. Carla is surprisingly open about her history of sex addiction, "I was on an endless quest for fulfillment that took me from lover to lover, night after night. Let me tell you, there is no bleaker moment in life than when you cross the boundary between those who have not slept all night and those who are just going to work." Encouraged by her eye-opening revelation, Chuck describes his own sexual addiction that manifested in Atlanta where he became a serial dater via the Internet, averaging 38 different dates each year. They agree that their decision has brought them unexpected joy and how disappointed in themselves they would be if they didn't try something they've always admired in others: the being in control of your life, up to and including a celibate life-style.
Jesse has a front row seat at Lilli's televised cooking show. He loves what he sees: she's got an engaging personality and has obviously found a new joy and new freedom back in their hometown. Employed, gorgeous, happy and single, now that's an attractive package. It's mid-afternoon when Jesse's cell phone rings. It's Sarah Kay with a message for Chuck from his mother, "Get home as soon as possible. There's an infestation of olive flies and she needs his plane to spray the groves immediately, if not sooner."
Once back at the ranch, Squint, Cesar, Jessee and Sarah are assisting Chuck with the operation. Tanks for the fumigant have been strapped to the rear section of the aircraft and a rusty old tanker truck is transferring the spray to the tanks on the plane. Sarah Kay asks if she can ride along with Chuck. Jesse gives his permission but once out on the lake they are waved off. It's rapidly becoming too dark. It's decided that Chuck will be taking off at first light. In a private moment alone with Sarah Kay, Chuck suggests that she sneak down to the caboose as soon as her father is asleep - just so they can get a head start in the morning, of course.
We must assume, mustn't we, that Sarah Kay is bursting still with a desire for pleasure and that this invitation only fans the flames. "What evil lurks? The shadow knows."
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Chuck stands alone in the crowd slowly turning to see what he might see. That's when he sees Carla behind the counter of her booth that features the "Olive-U" brand of olive-oil based cosmetics. After air-kisses she invites him to come along with her to the nearby town square where she takes her cigarette breaks. He gladly joins his old high school friend who has maintained her sparkling personality, not to mention her bodacious figure, even if he is susceptible to the urges that will ensue. After all, hasn't he re-invented himself? He's trust worthy. Right?
Within minutes of hilarious conversation they discover that they have something surprising in common: each has become celibate by preference. Carla made the decision three years ago when she arrived back in Oroville. Chuck's decision was more on the order of thirty-six hours ago when his plane touched down and his resolve was immediately tested by Sarah Kay's tempting presence. Carla is surprisingly open about her history of sex addiction, "I was on an endless quest for fulfillment that took me from lover to lover, night after night. Let me tell you, there is no bleaker moment in life than when you cross the boundary between those who have not slept all night and those who are just going to work." Encouraged by her eye-opening revelation, Chuck describes his own sexual addiction that manifested in Atlanta where he became a serial dater via the Internet, averaging 38 different dates each year. They agree that their decision has brought them unexpected joy and how disappointed in themselves they would be if they didn't try something they've always admired in others: the being in control of your life, up to and including a celibate life-style.
Jesse has a front row seat at Lilli's televised cooking show. He loves what he sees: she's got an engaging personality and has obviously found a new joy and new freedom back in their hometown. Employed, gorgeous, happy and single, now that's an attractive package. It's mid-afternoon when Jesse's cell phone rings. It's Sarah Kay with a message for Chuck from his mother, "Get home as soon as possible. There's an infestation of olive flies and she needs his plane to spray the groves immediately, if not sooner."
Once back at the ranch, Squint, Cesar, Jessee and Sarah are assisting Chuck with the operation. Tanks for the fumigant have been strapped to the rear section of the aircraft and a rusty old tanker truck is transferring the spray to the tanks on the plane. Sarah Kay asks if she can ride along with Chuck. Jesse gives his permission but once out on the lake they are waved off. It's rapidly becoming too dark. It's decided that Chuck will be taking off at first light. In a private moment alone with Sarah Kay, Chuck suggests that she sneak down to the caboose as soon as her father is asleep - just so they can get a head start in the morning, of course.
We must assume, mustn't we, that Sarah Kay is bursting still with a desire for pleasure and that this invitation only fans the flames. "What evil lurks? The shadow knows."
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
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