There have been wars, lots of them were twenty years old’s had to fight, many of them losing limbs, emotions and life, is what I have to think of during this age of being a twenty year old with COVID 19 taxing our burning desire to succeed. I have parents and grandparents and elderly neighbors that I desperately do not want to get sick. What would I do if I lost my grandma because we were not taking precautions? But there is that part of me that really hates this and does not think it is fare. I personally have taken bigger risks than what I would take by catching the virus and if all other considerations were not in play, I would flip ‘em all off and go have a great time at the beach every week. But all other things are in play and I will have to live with it.

I started thinking about being a filmmaker when I was maybe eight years old, since my parents loved the film, and would talk rather frequently about Actors and different filmmakers. They would rent films out of blockbuster and watch them with me as something fun to do with me. Yeah, they were good parents, but I do not think they really knew the influence those films had on me. billy talks about the innovations he has seen in the film industry over his career, and mine is not nearly so much, but to me, it is a massive amount of knowledge to get one’s arms around. This is the place where over-whelming can come in and I take a step back and trust billy, not to let it rule me.

But asking me to stay home from the beach is one thing, asking me not to shoot my movie is quiet another. I mean, my grandma is not on the film set. Why should I let someone shame me out of making my movie like some of my friends and family unwisely try to do leading to, let us say, contentious moments to say the least? Even billyLAx, my editor, cautioned against it, but then he relented, knowing full and well what telling a first-time filmmaker he cannot make is movie meant. I promised him to take all the precaution’s necessary to keep everyone safe and discuss everything with him as he is very precautions being ancient, like fifty years old or something like that, and so he blessed it off, walking away muttering something like “crazy-ass kids!” When he asked if I wanted to give my perspective on this in an editorial, you bet I jumped at it. Any time you see something in writing, on your own website, you are more apt to see the other side. Funny thing is, he promises to not delete anything just because he does not like it or it is someone else’s point of view. Wait until he reads this. Laughing.

Getting billy’s permission, as well as Zalaks’ buy-in is only the first hurdle; getting the film professionals cooperation is also challenging. The nice thing about being twenty, is you have a tendency to deal with other twenty-year old’s. Since it is a low budget movie, I do not have to worry about bonding so that is one obstacle that stops the production of higher-budget Indies, that is not a concern of mine. My dad did not want to be my investor for a certain while, due to the lack of potential distribution he felt, would leave me with a movie in the can that would go nowhere. Probably if I were thinking rationally, I would agree with him, but when it comes to my movie, maybe I am not so clear-headed. After dad and I went round and round, he decided that the movie could not wait for the end of COVID 19 because there probably will not be an end of COVID 19 within the near future. His rationalized that there would be a workaround and the movies would sell through a modified or different venue.

So, after some convincing with ultra-safe COVID 19 guards put into place, the equipment people, the production people, and the actors have agreed to do the movie. We are lining up the production and I am excited. I am a bit concerned about the distribution though. Dad was right and we both know he was, but he wanted to see me put together my film as much as I did. billyLAx and Zalak have lots of connections and dad has lots of smart ideas and between the three of us, we will find a way. One idea is the revival of a few outdoor theaters. Dad came up with that and we are looking into it. We do have Espresso Films online site and we can do a virtual showcase online.