WELCOME TO MY MOST AMBITIOUS WEEKLY BLOG TO DATE. PREVIOUSLY I HAVE ONLY TOLD FICTIONALIZED STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE BROUGHT TOGETHER UNDER COMPELLING CIRCUMSTANCES AND SEEKING TO REINVENT THEMSELVES. THIS TIME I OFFER A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE TENACIOUS, CREATIVE AND DIFFICULT WORK REQUIRED OF A WRITER-PRODUCER IN ORDER TO GET HIS INDEPENDENT, FEATURE-LENGTH FILM MADE AND SHOWN TO AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE. THE BLOG WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW ONE CREATES SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING - OR BUST.
IN THE BLOG THE FILM IS THE PROTAGONIST. THE STORY I WILL TELL IS ACTUALLY TWO STORIES IN ONE: THE STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED AND THE STORY OF WHAT APPEARS TO HAVE HAPPENED. IN THE FILM, AIMEE'S STORY IS ABOUT THE INFLUENTIAL ROLE SHE PLAYED DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY'S "SECOND-WAVE" EXPANSION OF THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT ON THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO. THE ANTAGONIST IS BOTH THE BLOG AND THE FILM IS THE ANCIENT, MALE DOMINATED WORLD OF MARITIME COMMERCE
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 10 of 10
A fan of my blog (as well as a tax-deductible donor to the film itself) recently tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "How does the process of film-making resemble in any way, shape or form the title of this series "Conception and the Importance of Foreplay." What is the metaphor, pray tell?"
First, we must share a common definition of conception. It is quite simple. Conception is the moment of fertilization. A biologist might very well say that it is the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism - or in our case, to produce a new idea, we like to think, whose time has come.
However before that moment in time a great deal is necessarily going on. Such as, an introduction to a potential donor, or as in our case, a non-profit called the San Francisco Film Society. The political flirtation begins. If there is no chemistry the relationship goes no further. That is to say when you present your film project in its best light to the right person, that person will scrutinize you and your project and indicate if any further contact is desired. And make no mistake about it, 'desired' is the operational word here.
Can you guess that this critical period is called ovulation and union? Who calls it that? Me. I do. This is the foreplay and is the politics.
It's now ranked as a love affair between idea sources and the result can be a perfect child manifested, in our case, as a beautifully and well told story that inspires audiences.
I'm meeting with the "right" person tomorrow. There is chemistry.
Copyright 2011 G. Leo Maselli
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Showing posts with label The Making of "Crossing the Bar". Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Making of "Crossing the Bar". Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 9 of 10
Last time I spoke of my distribution and marketing strategy for getting "Crossing the Bar" out into the world. Let's go a little deeper.
Distributors
During production process relationships will be nurtured with the targeted distributors listed below. Rough edits of the film will be made available to the same targeted distributors in a public relations campaign that will contribute in a large way with the raising of completion funds (music, final edit, polish). The targeted distributors specialize in the rental and sale of DVDs to universities, schools, museums, community groups and businesses such as airlines and the Internet, i.e. Electonix Arts Intermix, Miracle Pictures, Red Distributions, Apollo Cinema, White Star Video, Nova Pictures, Omni Films, Filmmakers Library, On Deck Home Entertainment and Indieflex.
World Wide Ocean Film Festivals
"Crossing the Bar" will be submitted to the world's ten identified film festivals that have ocean themes. The producer has been invited to have the film's world premiere at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. The other ocean-themed festivals include The Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival, The Alaska Oceans Film Festival, The Savannah Ocean Film Festival, The Connecticut Ocean Planet Film Festival, Alabama's George Lindsay Film Festival, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Film Festival, Rhode Island's Footprint Film Festival, Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific Meridian Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival and The Festival of Maritime Film in Toulon, France.
International, National and Regional Historical and Maritime Preservation Societies and Museums, and Maritime Academies
Open screenings, regional shows, traveling tours, retrospectives and multi-media exhibits access an audience that possesses one perpetual characteristic, namely they are drawn to history and the romance of the water. The intended audiences care about the sustainability of the nearest large body of water that speaks to them, gives them civic pride, a sense of community and in many cases a livelihood. The core audience is represented by 3,500 identified U.S. preservation organizations, societies and programs, 24 major maritime museums around the world and 250 prestigious international maritime academies.
FUNDING PLAN
FIRST STEP: Generate donations in the amount of $60,000. When documentation of fiscal sponsorship status is in hand the first step will be to announce the tax status to the public by a focused public relations campaign using print and the Internet. This effort combines the fundraising Website IndieGoGo's suite of online fundraising and a professional fund raiser on the team that will connect the project to people who will provide the film project with essential opportunities to get funded, made and seen.
Second and third steps to follow next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Last time I spoke of my distribution and marketing strategy for getting "Crossing the Bar" out into the world. Let's go a little deeper.
Distributors
During production process relationships will be nurtured with the targeted distributors listed below. Rough edits of the film will be made available to the same targeted distributors in a public relations campaign that will contribute in a large way with the raising of completion funds (music, final edit, polish). The targeted distributors specialize in the rental and sale of DVDs to universities, schools, museums, community groups and businesses such as airlines and the Internet, i.e. Electonix Arts Intermix, Miracle Pictures, Red Distributions, Apollo Cinema, White Star Video, Nova Pictures, Omni Films, Filmmakers Library, On Deck Home Entertainment and Indieflex.
World Wide Ocean Film Festivals
"Crossing the Bar" will be submitted to the world's ten identified film festivals that have ocean themes. The producer has been invited to have the film's world premiere at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. The other ocean-themed festivals include The Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival, The Alaska Oceans Film Festival, The Savannah Ocean Film Festival, The Connecticut Ocean Planet Film Festival, Alabama's George Lindsay Film Festival, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Film Festival, Rhode Island's Footprint Film Festival, Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific Meridian Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival and The Festival of Maritime Film in Toulon, France.
International, National and Regional Historical and Maritime Preservation Societies and Museums, and Maritime Academies
Open screenings, regional shows, traveling tours, retrospectives and multi-media exhibits access an audience that possesses one perpetual characteristic, namely they are drawn to history and the romance of the water. The intended audiences care about the sustainability of the nearest large body of water that speaks to them, gives them civic pride, a sense of community and in many cases a livelihood. The core audience is represented by 3,500 identified U.S. preservation organizations, societies and programs, 24 major maritime museums around the world and 250 prestigious international maritime academies.
FUNDING PLAN
FIRST STEP: Generate donations in the amount of $60,000. When documentation of fiscal sponsorship status is in hand the first step will be to announce the tax status to the public by a focused public relations campaign using print and the Internet. This effort combines the fundraising Website IndieGoGo's suite of online fundraising and a professional fund raiser on the team that will connect the project to people who will provide the film project with essential opportunities to get funded, made and seen.
Second and third steps to follow next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Monday, November 8, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 8 of 10
Since my last entry the first “defeat” has come and gone.
Through the San Francisco Film Society I applied last September for a $15,000 screenwriting grant from the Hearst Foundation. I anticipated the funds could be used, to a large degree, to fund my basic living expenses (room and board) during the eight to ten weeks required to successfully adapt the existing treatment into a completed first draft of the screenplay for “Crossing the Bar”. By some careful financial planning the grant could also cover the cost of a local script analyst (Jennine Lanouette), as well as to facilitate the formation of a small core team of three individuals that would put into motion our initial fund-raising efforts with the previously established partnership and assistance of IndieGoGo.com, a fundraising web site. When I learned that "Crossing the Bar" did not even make it to the short list of finalists, my first response was to question the viability of the project and the intelligence of continuing on. After all, wasn’t it true that I’d been unable to find the time to complete the '"Olive Us Olive U" script or its first 20-page adaptation into a novel? Now I have the time. This setback is a good thing.
However, after careful consideration the plan is to carry-on with "Crossing the Bar". After all, this is Show Business. At the moment only one unresolved item is left in the hands of the San Francisco Film Society. Back when "Crossing the Bar" was called "Pilots of the Golden Gate", the Film Society fiscally sponsored the project as a historical documentary. Now it is reinvented into a film that portrays the fictionalized biography of Aimée Tanneur and the influential role she played during the Twentieth Century’s “second- wave” expansion of the Feminist Movement on the Bay of San Francisco. I await the Film Society’s decision whether or not to extend a non-profit status to the film’s new persona. I will keep you informed as things progress along this path.
Meantime, let’s get on with it by beginning a conversation about distribution strategy to achieve worldwide distribution of this film. All my efforts are currently directed into three inter-related marketing areas. First, simultaneously with the start of production, a public relations campaign is initiated to develop ongoing liaisons with cherry-picked list of distributors and specialized online bloggers, newspapers, and newsletter editors. Second, upon completion of post-production audiences will access the program in a variety of film festival formats, such as thematic series and juried shows; and the film will gain high visibility in public venues, exhibits and websites created especially for those who have a keen interest in the subject matter. Third, International, National and Regional Historical and Maritime Preservation Societies and Museums, and Maritime Academies. This will create opportunities for open screenings, regional shows, traveling tours, retrospectives and multi-media exhibits.
But I hear the voices, “Haven’t you forgotten full use of the Internet? No, no. I get into that next time. The paradigm is changing and I am being vigilant.
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
Since my last entry the first “defeat” has come and gone.
Through the San Francisco Film Society I applied last September for a $15,000 screenwriting grant from the Hearst Foundation. I anticipated the funds could be used, to a large degree, to fund my basic living expenses (room and board) during the eight to ten weeks required to successfully adapt the existing treatment into a completed first draft of the screenplay for “Crossing the Bar”. By some careful financial planning the grant could also cover the cost of a local script analyst (Jennine Lanouette), as well as to facilitate the formation of a small core team of three individuals that would put into motion our initial fund-raising efforts with the previously established partnership and assistance of IndieGoGo.com, a fundraising web site. When I learned that "Crossing the Bar" did not even make it to the short list of finalists, my first response was to question the viability of the project and the intelligence of continuing on. After all, wasn’t it true that I’d been unable to find the time to complete the '"Olive Us Olive U" script or its first 20-page adaptation into a novel? Now I have the time. This setback is a good thing.
However, after careful consideration the plan is to carry-on with "Crossing the Bar". After all, this is Show Business. At the moment only one unresolved item is left in the hands of the San Francisco Film Society. Back when "Crossing the Bar" was called "Pilots of the Golden Gate", the Film Society fiscally sponsored the project as a historical documentary. Now it is reinvented into a film that portrays the fictionalized biography of Aimée Tanneur and the influential role she played during the Twentieth Century’s “second- wave” expansion of the Feminist Movement on the Bay of San Francisco. I await the Film Society’s decision whether or not to extend a non-profit status to the film’s new persona. I will keep you informed as things progress along this path.
Meantime, let’s get on with it by beginning a conversation about distribution strategy to achieve worldwide distribution of this film. All my efforts are currently directed into three inter-related marketing areas. First, simultaneously with the start of production, a public relations campaign is initiated to develop ongoing liaisons with cherry-picked list of distributors and specialized online bloggers, newspapers, and newsletter editors. Second, upon completion of post-production audiences will access the program in a variety of film festival formats, such as thematic series and juried shows; and the film will gain high visibility in public venues, exhibits and websites created especially for those who have a keen interest in the subject matter. Third, International, National and Regional Historical and Maritime Preservation Societies and Museums, and Maritime Academies. This will create opportunities for open screenings, regional shows, traveling tours, retrospectives and multi-media exhibits.
But I hear the voices, “Haven’t you forgotten full use of the Internet? No, no. I get into that next time. The paradigm is changing and I am being vigilant.
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
Friday, October 22, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY
Conclusion of the Treatment
Amy has, for the first time in her life, lost heart. She travels to Tahiti to be with her estranged mother. The emotional cost of her life choice has been great.
That's when she receives an urgent call from her Marine Academy classmate, Ella. Ella was on-board the Exxon Valdez when the oil spill of all oil spills took place in Alaska's Prince William Sound. As a result, Ella's career is at risk and she could even face prison time. Amy rushes to her side. Playing tit-for-tat, she and Ella get political with a vengeance during the Congressional hearings in Washington D.C. The two of them appear before several committees of the House and the Senate where their perceptions of the catastrophe and the possibilities of future such events are eagerly noted. Amy's brilliant career as mariner has placed her high in public view much to the displeasure of her employer. She is told she risks dismissal if she persist. Ella is not as confident and crumbles under the pressure and retires from maritime commerce all together.
Not to be beaten, Amy makes the decision to begin accepting the many invitations she's previously avoided to speak before women's colleges and international feminist organizations around the world. Her political status grants her continued employment
with Chevron but is treated with disdain by upper-management. That is precisely when she once again applies to become a member of the San Francisco Bar Pilots. They can hardly deny her a shot at their big prize this go-round. Her two-year training period is difficult, with little or no support from the other pilots. Despite this, she becomes the first female to be a certified pilot on the Bay of San Francisco. She is 35 years old.
In the last scenes to the film we watch her being forced to deal with rumors that she is secretly married to one of the 59 other pilots. It is a charge that, if proved, would expel both she and her husband from the roles of the SF Bar Pilots.
In the last scene we see Amy smiling as she steps out of the con and into a storm at sea. We watch her climb down a rope ladder in great peril. She hoots like a girl on a bucking bronco. (The End.)
The Audience
The world-wide core audience is best described as well-educated, avid readers and collectors with a strong interest in maritime heritage, including members of maritime museums and historical societies and the captains and crews of sail training vessels. A well-defined and targeted international audience will be enthusiastically engaged, educated and entertained on the subjects of commercial maritime history and women's relationship to business practices within the great harbors of the world. Via international public broadcast systems and cable television, maritime academies, societies, learning centers and museums, the goal is that the world's populations gain awareness that commercial success on the sea not be allowed to ignore the inevitable third and fourth waves of feminism.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Conclusion of the Treatment
Amy has, for the first time in her life, lost heart. She travels to Tahiti to be with her estranged mother. The emotional cost of her life choice has been great.
That's when she receives an urgent call from her Marine Academy classmate, Ella. Ella was on-board the Exxon Valdez when the oil spill of all oil spills took place in Alaska's Prince William Sound. As a result, Ella's career is at risk and she could even face prison time. Amy rushes to her side. Playing tit-for-tat, she and Ella get political with a vengeance during the Congressional hearings in Washington D.C. The two of them appear before several committees of the House and the Senate where their perceptions of the catastrophe and the possibilities of future such events are eagerly noted. Amy's brilliant career as mariner has placed her high in public view much to the displeasure of her employer. She is told she risks dismissal if she persist. Ella is not as confident and crumbles under the pressure and retires from maritime commerce all together.
Not to be beaten, Amy makes the decision to begin accepting the many invitations she's previously avoided to speak before women's colleges and international feminist organizations around the world. Her political status grants her continued employment
with Chevron but is treated with disdain by upper-management. That is precisely when she once again applies to become a member of the San Francisco Bar Pilots. They can hardly deny her a shot at their big prize this go-round. Her two-year training period is difficult, with little or no support from the other pilots. Despite this, she becomes the first female to be a certified pilot on the Bay of San Francisco. She is 35 years old.
In the last scenes to the film we watch her being forced to deal with rumors that she is secretly married to one of the 59 other pilots. It is a charge that, if proved, would expel both she and her husband from the roles of the SF Bar Pilots.
In the last scene we see Amy smiling as she steps out of the con and into a storm at sea. We watch her climb down a rope ladder in great peril. She hoots like a girl on a bucking bronco. (The End.)
The Audience
The world-wide core audience is best described as well-educated, avid readers and collectors with a strong interest in maritime heritage, including members of maritime museums and historical societies and the captains and crews of sail training vessels. A well-defined and targeted international audience will be enthusiastically engaged, educated and entertained on the subjects of commercial maritime history and women's relationship to business practices within the great harbors of the world. Via international public broadcast systems and cable television, maritime academies, societies, learning centers and museums, the goal is that the world's populations gain awareness that commercial success on the sea not be allowed to ignore the inevitable third and fourth waves of feminism.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Saturday, October 9, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 6 of 10
The film portrays the fictionalized biography of Aimee Tanneur and the influential role she played during the Twentieth Century's "second-wave" expansion of the Feminist Movement on the Bay of San Francisco
The film's Treatment continues:
Aimee (now know as Amy to her friends) and her closest friend Ella are in their final year at the California Maritime Academy and are both at the top of their class. And yet they are learning that success in their chosen profession may well be determined by patriarchal men.
After a long day in class, Amy and Ella discuss what should be their strategy for success in this environment. They have each followed their passion to become mariners and now swear a vow to support each other in achieving every ambitious goal they have set for themselves. They are well aware that they face an all-male dominated, gender barrier that is pervasive in the world of maritime commerce. It appears that there is nothing but "white water" ahead for any female wanting to go to sea. That's when Amy's father dies and her mother instructs her to return to Port Revel or the family risks loosing the contract to operate the facility. Amy refuses to leave her career path despite the knowledge of the possible consequences, including her mother's loss of income and by necessity her return to Polynesia. In her anger at her daughter's arrogance, the mother refuses to pay any future tuition or living expenses in or out of her higher education. Amy is on her own.
Amy struggles on but upon graduating she is saddened when her mother refuses to attend the ceremonies. Amy takes a long shot my applying to join the Chevron Oil fleet, the world's largest, and is granted her wish. Ella signs on with Exxon. For the next ten years Amy overcomes countless trials and tribulations as a woman at sea, but the greatest danger comes at the hands of opium smoking pirates encountered off the coast of Africa. For her exceptional ability to negotiate with the pirates as well as her bravery under the most difficult situation when she calls in commandos at the peril of her self and her crew, the episode brings her once again into national view. Eventually she captains Chevron's biggest ships, traveling to all the deep water ports of the world. It is during this period of her remarkable career that she becomes involved in a huge explosion that throws her Antagonist, Captain Harl Buckridge, into the cold waters of San Francisco Bay where he must fight for his life. Amy dives into the water and saves his life and wins his everlasting support. Or so he claims.
Based on all that Amy has seen and experienced, she remains convinced that she can achieve every goal she sets for herself. Until, that is, she confronts the male dominated world that was, at the time, a fact of maritime life here in our bay. Through all the proper channels she has asked to be allowed to earn a position as a San Francisco Bar Pilot. Her multiple bids to even apply have been rejected three years running when her so-called guardian angels (the original eight SF pilots she met as a kid) are forced by political circumstances to betray her. And then when her first romantic relationship that she was certain would last forever falls apart because of her feminist attitudes, she loses heart and escapes to be with her estranged mother in Bora Bora. The emotional cost of her life choices has been great and for the first time in her life she feels defeated.
The final section of the Treatment will be continued next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
The film portrays the fictionalized biography of Aimee Tanneur and the influential role she played during the Twentieth Century's "second-wave" expansion of the Feminist Movement on the Bay of San Francisco
The film's Treatment continues:
Aimee (now know as Amy to her friends) and her closest friend Ella are in their final year at the California Maritime Academy and are both at the top of their class. And yet they are learning that success in their chosen profession may well be determined by patriarchal men.
After a long day in class, Amy and Ella discuss what should be their strategy for success in this environment. They have each followed their passion to become mariners and now swear a vow to support each other in achieving every ambitious goal they have set for themselves. They are well aware that they face an all-male dominated, gender barrier that is pervasive in the world of maritime commerce. It appears that there is nothing but "white water" ahead for any female wanting to go to sea. That's when Amy's father dies and her mother instructs her to return to Port Revel or the family risks loosing the contract to operate the facility. Amy refuses to leave her career path despite the knowledge of the possible consequences, including her mother's loss of income and by necessity her return to Polynesia. In her anger at her daughter's arrogance, the mother refuses to pay any future tuition or living expenses in or out of her higher education. Amy is on her own.
Amy struggles on but upon graduating she is saddened when her mother refuses to attend the ceremonies. Amy takes a long shot my applying to join the Chevron Oil fleet, the world's largest, and is granted her wish. Ella signs on with Exxon. For the next ten years Amy overcomes countless trials and tribulations as a woman at sea, but the greatest danger comes at the hands of opium smoking pirates encountered off the coast of Africa. For her exceptional ability to negotiate with the pirates as well as her bravery under the most difficult situation when she calls in commandos at the peril of her self and her crew, the episode brings her once again into national view. Eventually she captains Chevron's biggest ships, traveling to all the deep water ports of the world. It is during this period of her remarkable career that she becomes involved in a huge explosion that throws her Antagonist, Captain Harl Buckridge, into the cold waters of San Francisco Bay where he must fight for his life. Amy dives into the water and saves his life and wins his everlasting support. Or so he claims.
Based on all that Amy has seen and experienced, she remains convinced that she can achieve every goal she sets for herself. Until, that is, she confronts the male dominated world that was, at the time, a fact of maritime life here in our bay. Through all the proper channels she has asked to be allowed to earn a position as a San Francisco Bar Pilot. Her multiple bids to even apply have been rejected three years running when her so-called guardian angels (the original eight SF pilots she met as a kid) are forced by political circumstances to betray her. And then when her first romantic relationship that she was certain would last forever falls apart because of her feminist attitudes, she loses heart and escapes to be with her estranged mother in Bora Bora. The emotional cost of her life choices has been great and for the first time in her life she feels defeated.
The final section of the Treatment will be continued next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Thursday, September 30, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 5 of 10
The Film's Treatment Continued
The dashing ship pilots from the Bay of San Francisco have just arrived for their twelve days of advanced training at The Port Revel Centre in Viriville, France. After watching them celebrate their arrival with too many bottles of red wine and all the carousing they can muster, they are harshly reminded that this is not at all a holiday they're on. Classes begin early the next morning and continue 24-hours a day no matter the weather conditions. Each day becomes endless hard work followed by constant proficiency testing. Their days become all about stern and rigorous instructions, hustle, hustle, with very early morning sit-ups, running and rowing.
During their two-week training (interspersed with a long weekend of R&R in Paris) the pilots have a chance to work along side Aimee and the rest of the first-rate staff of instructors and crew. They are particularly impressed how Aimee totally loses what is taken to be her shyness when she's at the con of a ship. She handles boats like a master. Their admiration grows until on the third day they make her their mascot because she is always in high spirits and amazingly talented at moving heavy objects through the water safely and with ease. It's suggested that she has a great career ahead of her piloting ships. However not everyone is on board with that notion. San Francisco Bar Pilot, Captain Buckridge actually lobbies his fellow pilots to leave the girls alone and, rather, encourage her to avoid anything maritime and instead to seek her parent's goal of becoming a doctor. Buckridge admonishes, "The sea is no place for woman."
During the two-weeks of training, Aimee has many occasions to sit outside the men's circle and listen to the pilots and her father as they enjoy after dinner cigars and brandy, and speak philosophically of a life at sea. From time to time the conversations touches on the historical record of sexism in the Navy.
The night before the pilot's farewell breakfast, she dreams that she is a working ship pilot mounting a rope ladder up the side of a mammoth ship during a storm. When she awakens she makes a decision that will change her life. At breakfast that morning she proudly and confidently announces to the SF pilots that she will be the first female ship pilot on the Bay - and that she will achieve it more quickly than any man ever has. And finally, to her parent's surprise she adds, "Will you please support me in my goal by donating to my maritime academy tuition fund that I am establishing here this morning?" Nearly all the pilots stand to cheer and applaud her. Many checks are written that morning. With these eight men acting as her guardian angels it would seem that her future is assured. And yet her father along with Captain Buckridge suggest that she must forget such goals, "For two hundred years the pilots on the Bay of San Francisco have always been men. And before that, for thousands of years."
The film then cuts to the California Maritime Academy. We meet again Aimee at age twenty and now referred to as Lieutenant Amy Tanny at the prestigious maritime academy in Vallejo. Ranked first in the her class set to graduate in just two months, she stands before 199 male and other female cadet dressed in their formal whites and commands them to dig deep to strive for honor and country. She reads aloud a poem by George Bernard Shaw: "This is the true joy life. The being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one." The cadets respond with tears and cheers. Later, she is in the dinning hall that has become a set for her first television interview which is to be broadcast nationally as part of a story on the international expansion of feminism. Her unconventional responses revolve around the subject of maritime commerce from the woman's angle and the reality of choosing it as a viable career choice.
The Treatment will be continued next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
The Film's Treatment Continued
The dashing ship pilots from the Bay of San Francisco have just arrived for their twelve days of advanced training at The Port Revel Centre in Viriville, France. After watching them celebrate their arrival with too many bottles of red wine and all the carousing they can muster, they are harshly reminded that this is not at all a holiday they're on. Classes begin early the next morning and continue 24-hours a day no matter the weather conditions. Each day becomes endless hard work followed by constant proficiency testing. Their days become all about stern and rigorous instructions, hustle, hustle, with very early morning sit-ups, running and rowing.
During their two-week training (interspersed with a long weekend of R&R in Paris) the pilots have a chance to work along side Aimee and the rest of the first-rate staff of instructors and crew. They are particularly impressed how Aimee totally loses what is taken to be her shyness when she's at the con of a ship. She handles boats like a master. Their admiration grows until on the third day they make her their mascot because she is always in high spirits and amazingly talented at moving heavy objects through the water safely and with ease. It's suggested that she has a great career ahead of her piloting ships. However not everyone is on board with that notion. San Francisco Bar Pilot, Captain Buckridge actually lobbies his fellow pilots to leave the girls alone and, rather, encourage her to avoid anything maritime and instead to seek her parent's goal of becoming a doctor. Buckridge admonishes, "The sea is no place for woman."
During the two-weeks of training, Aimee has many occasions to sit outside the men's circle and listen to the pilots and her father as they enjoy after dinner cigars and brandy, and speak philosophically of a life at sea. From time to time the conversations touches on the historical record of sexism in the Navy.
The night before the pilot's farewell breakfast, she dreams that she is a working ship pilot mounting a rope ladder up the side of a mammoth ship during a storm. When she awakens she makes a decision that will change her life. At breakfast that morning she proudly and confidently announces to the SF pilots that she will be the first female ship pilot on the Bay - and that she will achieve it more quickly than any man ever has. And finally, to her parent's surprise she adds, "Will you please support me in my goal by donating to my maritime academy tuition fund that I am establishing here this morning?" Nearly all the pilots stand to cheer and applaud her. Many checks are written that morning. With these eight men acting as her guardian angels it would seem that her future is assured. And yet her father along with Captain Buckridge suggest that she must forget such goals, "For two hundred years the pilots on the Bay of San Francisco have always been men. And before that, for thousands of years."
The film then cuts to the California Maritime Academy. We meet again Aimee at age twenty and now referred to as Lieutenant Amy Tanny at the prestigious maritime academy in Vallejo. Ranked first in the her class set to graduate in just two months, she stands before 199 male and other female cadet dressed in their formal whites and commands them to dig deep to strive for honor and country. She reads aloud a poem by George Bernard Shaw: "This is the true joy life. The being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one." The cadets respond with tears and cheers. Later, she is in the dinning hall that has become a set for her first television interview which is to be broadcast nationally as part of a story on the international expansion of feminism. Her unconventional responses revolve around the subject of maritime commerce from the woman's angle and the reality of choosing it as a viable career choice.
The Treatment will be continued next time.
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Sunday, September 19, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 4 of 10
The Treatment
Did I hear, "What's a Treatment?" For sure it's an important part of the process (the making of). The textbook definition describes it as a narrative, abridged script consisting of each major scene, descriptions of significant characters and may include snippets of dialogue. It reads like a short story.
"Crossing the Bar" opens to reveal a 1946 South Pacific military supply base that is preparing to close now that World War II has ended. Located on Bora Bora, the base of nine ships and nearly 5,000 men is under the command of Rear Admiral Bernard Tanneur. When we first encounter Admiral Tanneur we hear him reciting marriage vows with his beloved Polynesian wife, even as she is giving birth to their first child. Despite pressure from the military to avoid such cross-cultural commitments, he takes his new daughter, Aimée, into his arms and tells how much he loves the island and the people so much that he will retire from the Navy and find a new career piloting freighters throughout the South Pacific.
The film then cuts to The Port Revel Centre, Ship Pilot’s Advanced Training Facility in Viriville, France during the mid-fifties. Adjacent to the facility’s large lake is a spacious villa dating back to the middle ages and the highly rated Hotel Bonnoit. This is where we meet the girl named Aimée at age ten. She is tall and gangling for her age, and in her demeanor we immediately observe that she is an inward looking young woman as she rides a horse bareback across the rolling green hills towards the lake where her father is now the Commandant of Port Revel. Under his command are a dozen young seaman and sea scouts who make up the Operations Team of Port Revel.
Aimée works along side the operations team as an equal as they rebuild ship engines for the manned scale model ships used for training at the facility. Her father reminds her that their most prestigious clients will be arriving the next morning and that they must likely work well after dark or all night if necessary to be prepared. She assists the team launching the ships and tugs. She and a young seaman, who will remain a life long friend, test the wind, wave and fog systems. Before collapsing into bed, she stoically finds the energy to assist her mother in programming the curriculum. Besides being brilliant, handsome and athletically built, she’s a genius with organizing and operating things. She comes across as an amazing young woman which often results in making her seem scarcely approachable. One thing seems clear; she appears destined to excel no matter what path in life she may follow. We already have great expectations for her.
For this reason alone, it is somewhat difficult to watch as she gets an innocent school girl crush on all eight of the good-looking and dashing ship pilots from the Bay of San Francisco in for their 12-day training session. They arrive in the early morning in three, large black, SUVs speeding onto the property. They roar along the dirt road in tight formation. They roll to a full stop in front of the hotel. When the dust clears the all-American, all male team of ship pilots exits the SUVs. In swagger they resemble the likes of Russell Crowe, Matthew McConaughey and Ashton Kutcher: white, macho, almost certainly, pathetically sexist, albeit charmingly roguish and romantic to boot. They shake hands with male staff and hug, rather too playfully, all the female staff who greet them from the Hotel – kitchen help, chefs, servers, hotel maids, gardeners and the like. One of the pilots speaks Japanese to the gardeners. Another speaks Spanish to the kitchen help. It should be noted that the parts of each of the eight ship pilots are written to represents one of the eight primary characteristics or personality traits of the featured mariners the writer-producer encountered during his time with the pilots, specifically heroic, charismatic, intelligent, brave, educated, wise, fearless, and archetypical American.
Treatment to be continued.
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
The Treatment
Did I hear, "What's a Treatment?" For sure it's an important part of the process (the making of). The textbook definition describes it as a narrative, abridged script consisting of each major scene, descriptions of significant characters and may include snippets of dialogue. It reads like a short story.
"Crossing the Bar" opens to reveal a 1946 South Pacific military supply base that is preparing to close now that World War II has ended. Located on Bora Bora, the base of nine ships and nearly 5,000 men is under the command of Rear Admiral Bernard Tanneur. When we first encounter Admiral Tanneur we hear him reciting marriage vows with his beloved Polynesian wife, even as she is giving birth to their first child. Despite pressure from the military to avoid such cross-cultural commitments, he takes his new daughter, Aimée, into his arms and tells how much he loves the island and the people so much that he will retire from the Navy and find a new career piloting freighters throughout the South Pacific.
The film then cuts to The Port Revel Centre, Ship Pilot’s Advanced Training Facility in Viriville, France during the mid-fifties. Adjacent to the facility’s large lake is a spacious villa dating back to the middle ages and the highly rated Hotel Bonnoit. This is where we meet the girl named Aimée at age ten. She is tall and gangling for her age, and in her demeanor we immediately observe that she is an inward looking young woman as she rides a horse bareback across the rolling green hills towards the lake where her father is now the Commandant of Port Revel. Under his command are a dozen young seaman and sea scouts who make up the Operations Team of Port Revel.
Aimée works along side the operations team as an equal as they rebuild ship engines for the manned scale model ships used for training at the facility. Her father reminds her that their most prestigious clients will be arriving the next morning and that they must likely work well after dark or all night if necessary to be prepared. She assists the team launching the ships and tugs. She and a young seaman, who will remain a life long friend, test the wind, wave and fog systems. Before collapsing into bed, she stoically finds the energy to assist her mother in programming the curriculum. Besides being brilliant, handsome and athletically built, she’s a genius with organizing and operating things. She comes across as an amazing young woman which often results in making her seem scarcely approachable. One thing seems clear; she appears destined to excel no matter what path in life she may follow. We already have great expectations for her.
For this reason alone, it is somewhat difficult to watch as she gets an innocent school girl crush on all eight of the good-looking and dashing ship pilots from the Bay of San Francisco in for their 12-day training session. They arrive in the early morning in three, large black, SUVs speeding onto the property. They roar along the dirt road in tight formation. They roll to a full stop in front of the hotel. When the dust clears the all-American, all male team of ship pilots exits the SUVs. In swagger they resemble the likes of Russell Crowe, Matthew McConaughey and Ashton Kutcher: white, macho, almost certainly, pathetically sexist, albeit charmingly roguish and romantic to boot. They shake hands with male staff and hug, rather too playfully, all the female staff who greet them from the Hotel – kitchen help, chefs, servers, hotel maids, gardeners and the like. One of the pilots speaks Japanese to the gardeners. Another speaks Spanish to the kitchen help. It should be noted that the parts of each of the eight ship pilots are written to represents one of the eight primary characteristics or personality traits of the featured mariners the writer-producer encountered during his time with the pilots, specifically heroic, charismatic, intelligent, brave, educated, wise, fearless, and archetypical American.
Treatment to be continued.
Copyright 2010 G.Leo Maselli
Thursday, September 9, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 3 of 10
A Mine Field Revealed
My on-going studies of the vast and prickly topic of feminism has lead me to conclude that I am technically a humanist, not a feminist. With that in mind, let's plunge-in.
Feminist scholars have found it useful to think of the woman's movement in the U.S. as occurring in "waves." The history of the modern feminist movement is divided into three "waves," each describing different aspects of the same feminist issues. The First Wave refers to the movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries which concerned itself mainly with suffrage. The Second Wave occurred from the 1960s and ran well into the 1980s. This is the period in which "Crossing the Bar" is set. This wave dealt with the inequality of laws, beyond the early quest for political rights, to fight for greater equality across the board, e.g. in education, at home and in the work place. Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave.
The female protagonist in "Crossing the Bar" encounters a world in which women actually lost ground. Despite the gains made by women over the first half of the 20th century, the essential problems of discrimination, inequality, and limited opportunities reappeared after World War II ended and men returning from combat re-established their previous positions. Consequently, the gradual emergence of a new feminism after World War II was referred to a Second Wave feminism, to reflect the hiatus the war had created and the new directions taken following women's experiences during and after that war.
Historical Importance of a Ship Pilot
The value of a ship pilot is well understood by those who own and operate the ships that have always been considered massive over each maritime generation and borne her increasingly valuable cargos. Key to this understanding is to grasp the fact that a ship is always safer at sea than she is when near or surrounded by land.
The film's audience will experience this dramatically as a vessel gets close to land and see the story change before their eyes. The story now become one about the mounting risk to the cargo, vessel, crew and environment (in that order of importance). Where 98 disastrous shipwrecks have occurred on the Bay of San Francisco over the last 150 years, the pilots have to contend with narrow channels, sharp turns, strong tidal currents, reefs and shoals. A watchful pilot instinctively grasps that quarters are close and there is no time to think or consider action to be taken. Solutions must be instant and intuitive. Traffic may come from all directions and a moment's delay may court disaster. The audience will witness times of poor visibility when all the radar blips must be correctly interpreted and proper decisions made immediately. Only an expert can properly cope with the drama of these dangerous variables. The ship pilots of the Bay are such experts. To this filmmaker "Crossing the Bar" represents not only the outward appearance of Bay Area ship pilots, but also the inward significance of all ship pilots, both male and female, on the great upwelling of commerce in North American harbors that continues today.
Synopsis
This is the moralistic story of Aimee who journeys from Tahiti where she was born as World War II ended, to France where she grew up on a ship pilots training facility operated by her parents, to the Bay Area at age 20 to attend Vallejo's California Maritime Academy. Only with unyielding persistence and unexpected bravery is she able to forge a brilliant career and ultimately pierce into an elite, male clan of mariners as California's first state-certified ship pilot.
By the way, a local newspaper has contacted me with an offer to publish a column on the subject of local feminism. Think I should do it?
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
A Mine Field Revealed
My on-going studies of the vast and prickly topic of feminism has lead me to conclude that I am technically a humanist, not a feminist. With that in mind, let's plunge-in.
Feminist scholars have found it useful to think of the woman's movement in the U.S. as occurring in "waves." The history of the modern feminist movement is divided into three "waves," each describing different aspects of the same feminist issues. The First Wave refers to the movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries which concerned itself mainly with suffrage. The Second Wave occurred from the 1960s and ran well into the 1980s. This is the period in which "Crossing the Bar" is set. This wave dealt with the inequality of laws, beyond the early quest for political rights, to fight for greater equality across the board, e.g. in education, at home and in the work place. Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave.
The female protagonist in "Crossing the Bar" encounters a world in which women actually lost ground. Despite the gains made by women over the first half of the 20th century, the essential problems of discrimination, inequality, and limited opportunities reappeared after World War II ended and men returning from combat re-established their previous positions. Consequently, the gradual emergence of a new feminism after World War II was referred to a Second Wave feminism, to reflect the hiatus the war had created and the new directions taken following women's experiences during and after that war.
Historical Importance of a Ship Pilot
The value of a ship pilot is well understood by those who own and operate the ships that have always been considered massive over each maritime generation and borne her increasingly valuable cargos. Key to this understanding is to grasp the fact that a ship is always safer at sea than she is when near or surrounded by land.
The film's audience will experience this dramatically as a vessel gets close to land and see the story change before their eyes. The story now become one about the mounting risk to the cargo, vessel, crew and environment (in that order of importance). Where 98 disastrous shipwrecks have occurred on the Bay of San Francisco over the last 150 years, the pilots have to contend with narrow channels, sharp turns, strong tidal currents, reefs and shoals. A watchful pilot instinctively grasps that quarters are close and there is no time to think or consider action to be taken. Solutions must be instant and intuitive. Traffic may come from all directions and a moment's delay may court disaster. The audience will witness times of poor visibility when all the radar blips must be correctly interpreted and proper decisions made immediately. Only an expert can properly cope with the drama of these dangerous variables. The ship pilots of the Bay are such experts. To this filmmaker "Crossing the Bar" represents not only the outward appearance of Bay Area ship pilots, but also the inward significance of all ship pilots, both male and female, on the great upwelling of commerce in North American harbors that continues today.
Synopsis
This is the moralistic story of Aimee who journeys from Tahiti where she was born as World War II ended, to France where she grew up on a ship pilots training facility operated by her parents, to the Bay Area at age 20 to attend Vallejo's California Maritime Academy. Only with unyielding persistence and unexpected bravery is she able to forge a brilliant career and ultimately pierce into an elite, male clan of mariners as California's first state-certified ship pilot.
By the way, a local newspaper has contacted me with an offer to publish a column on the subject of local feminism. Think I should do it?
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
Sunday, August 29, 2010
THE MAKING OF "CROSSING THE BAR"
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
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
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
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