Bone Chillin Night Terrors
One of the reasons for writing this blog is to let people know about the process of making a film. I've been working on the first Zambian feature, BAD TIMING since January. In many ways, it has been the most fantastic and unbelievable experience of my life. There has been so much support and interest in the U.S. and Zambia.
Last night, however, I had my first serious case of Bone Chillin' Night Terrors (BCNT). For the last five months, I've been going along like the Pied Piper, leading this band of enthusiastic filmmakers into this African adventure. Suddenly, I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong.
(A friend suggested that I should write about this because, perhaps, all producers go through this phase at some time during the production. When we watched Project Greenlight, there were certainly discussions between the producers about problems and challenges. I keep telling myself this is normal and healthy.)
There were the fears about something happening to someone — you know, getting sick, getting lost, getting hurt, getting in trouble. But, there was the whole new crop of production related fears. What if we don't have enough power, enough lights, enough tapes, enough money, enough actors, enough support? What if it doesn't look good, sound good, cut together right, feel like a compelling story?
I reminded myself that Jabbes had produced over 1000 radio and TV dramas in Zambia. He knows the issues we'll encounter. He knows the actors. Then, a peace started to settle over me again. I remembered that we were going there to help him tell a Zambian story to the world. The BCNT are useful because they encourage me to think everything through. I just need to keep my eyes on the goals and let it keep unfolding.
