WAIT: An Update on My First Feature Film

I haven’t written about my first feature film, Wait, in nearly eight months, and I’d finally like to tell you why. For the past two and a half years, this film has occupied my nearly every waking moment. What began as an incessant idea filled with stark images of dark bedrooms, chance scenes of melancholy, and sharp lines of dialogue, turned into the best script I’ve written. Once I moved to L.A., I fast tracked the film into production. Auditions, location scouting, props, schedules – everything rolled smoothly. When I began shooting the film, I started and ended each day high on creative inspiration. The first few days of shooting went better than I could’ve dreamed (there were a lot of sleepless nights leading up to filming), but about a week into shooting, production began incurring problems that I wasn’t sure the film, or myself, could overcome.

In my second post about the film, I detailed the production’s first big issue, in which a location manager failed to show up on set. Sadly, that was a trip to Disneyland compared to what followed. I don’t have the energy (and trust me, you don’t have the patience) to fully explain all the problems this film experienced, but at the end of every day of filming, I had to ask myself if I could financially and emotionally keep Wait going. My days were filled with smiles and lies – my best attempts to shield the cast and crew from the behind-the-scenes problems. But my nights were plagued with self-doubt and regret.

This isn’t a cry for your sympathy. Not at all. But rather, an explanation as to why I haven’t written about the film in so long. Basically, after struggling through production on a daily basis, the last thing I wanted to do was come home and write about the movie. If I did blog about Wait, then there were two options: maintain my lies in print, or complain about the production. Neither interested me, so I chose to remain silent. All told, it was a wise choice for me, and here’s why. Last week, I watched the fine cut of Wait, and when it ended, I felt great about what I had made. I’ve always been in love with the performances, the original score, and the film’s set pieces, but this was the first time I found myself appreciating the entire thing.

This might sound strange to some of you; you might think that someone who creates should always be proud of what they create. That’s never been the case for me. I’ve always been my harshest critic – in writing, filmmaking, everything. I have a great bullshit detector, especially when it comes to bullshit I’ve made. But when I watched that fine cut, I didn’t see bullshit. I didn’t see sleepless nights and production problems. I saw the film that I set out to make, and I couldn’t be happier.

Catherine Warner in Wait

Three people have seen the latest cut of Wait: myself, my girlfriend, Julie, and my sound mixer, John. John’s responsible for heightening the atmosphere of the film with a mix of subtle and sometimes blatant sounds. When I sent John the cut of the film, he said he’d watch it that evening and get right back to me. Three days later, I got nervous. I thought he had watched the film, hated it, and was looking for a way to get out of working on it. Later that day, I got an e-mail from him, and I’d like to share some of it with you here:

“Alex, sorry for the late response. I’ve been trying to think of the best way to say this, but, you’re movie really fucked me up. I had no idea it would hit me on such a personal and emotional level. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to work on a film, I know I can do some great stuff with it.”

That was that last thing I expected him to say, but the best thing he possibly could’ve said. A great little boost to take into the final leg of post-production.

When you make a movie, no matter what phase of the process you’re in, the first question people ask is when will the film be released. A difficult question to answer, because when isn’t exactly up to me. I’m going to hit the festival circuit with Wait, but I’ve been involved with enough films to know that festivals are as much of a gamble as they are a game, so I’m planning on letting that aspect of distribution play out as the world sees fit. Either way, festival attention or not, I hope to have the film online in the next few months. Until then, I’m going to be writing about Wait much more often. The posts will mainly consistent of interesting and manageable filmmaking tips I’ve picked up along the way, and how I applied them to the production and post-production of this film.

To all of you who have asked about the film on this blog or via social media, your interest and support mean the world to me. I’m so eager to share Wait with the world as soon as I possibly can. Stay tuned.

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