4 days till shoot!!!

Hello friends,

Rachael Taylor arrived in Mildura yesterday and we got straight down to business. Fresh off a flight from LA (not sure how) we dived into wardrobe and then hooked up with Alex to begin running scenes. And now I'm in heaven. Working with these guys is what I've been waiting for. Hearing some lines that were written 5 years ago -- and hearing that they WORK was just magical. The new stuff works pretty darn well too.

And so the days are extremely hectic now, every hour spoken for. Fittings, rehearsals, locations, prop selection... everyone's working around the clock. Big shout out to our production team, lead by our Prod Manager Virginia whose doing a wondrous job, and always with a SMILE, which is very important to me. Nick too, our Prod Co-ordinator, a sterling effort and awesome attitude. How ever hard, we just gotta enjoy this.

And I reckon that is the KEY. Film making once stressed me out incredibly, but I remember the moment that changed me: I was shooting a short film, filming on Super 35mm, and it was costing me a fortune. It was a big set-up day (cranes, sets, and studio time) and we were running behind time and I was worrying my head off. Greg (my then camera operator, and now DOP) came up to me with a smile and said: "Hey Richie, look around mate. Look at these sets, look at these actors. You're shooting 35mm.  If you can't enjoy this then you shouldn't be doing it bro".

SNAP. That was it. I've been smiling ever since. Not because it's not ridiculously hard anymore and not because things don't occasionally go wrong. But because we are simply very, very lucky to be doing what we're doing, and I LOVE it.

Almost six years exactly since I made that short film we're making a feature. And whatever happens, life very is good.

Ricky : )