The Ian Report #508 - Good News & Bad News

So. So so so so. Good news and bad news.

Phil, Nathan, and I watched the new edit of the film last Saturday, and all got pretty pumped. I know I've said it (several times) before, but it's an entirely different film now. I'll admit; the previous versions of the film I was actually rawther embarrassed to have people see; there were lots of plot holes, boring bits, and cringe-inducing lines (and a few parts that were just tellingly jeuvenile (I mean, I know it's a story about aliens and robots and stuff... but-)). The actual story was lost under a sea of tangents and subplots and the like.

What's amazing to me is how easy it was to cut all that stuff out of the film. It was like a scab that was just ready to fall off. Clean slice. It's a new version of the film that I'm actually really pumped for people to see. The story just moves now. It still has good dynamics, fast parts and slow parts, but not the booooring parts.

Now, I have to say this, because it's totally true, and I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea; this isn't because of anyone's performance or anything—it's entirely the fault of the original script, and I'm bummed about that. I've done tons of studying and analysis of story and film in the 3 years since we shot, and there's always that sense of, "oh man, I wish I knew then what I know now". But that's a dumb sense. Or at least a pointless sense to dwell on.

Now the bad news: We had a showing scheduled for last Saturday, but after working dawn to dusk the entire week, it became woefully evident that there's still a bit of troubleshooting left to do with our edit system! We just can't export the movie! Phil literally poured a week into solving this problem, trying myriads of brilliant possible fixes, and we're still empty handed.

So we had to cancel the screening, which is a huge bummer (and embarrassing). But! Phil's totally on top of talking with folks and figuring out a solution to this most emasculating of all possible problems. So! We'll see how quickly this is all resolved, and get a new screening scheduled!

Ian Hubert
Writer Director

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