Tuesday afternoon at about 5pm, we stepped at last over the finish line. We couldn’t believe that after months of a combination of editing, screenings and weather-induced hiatus, we had finally locked picture.

It has been a long road, but a very satisfying one. We have seen the film change shape many times and find a form that is in some ways superficially different from the script we shot, but feels to all of us that it hews very closely to the spirit of the script and Craig’s germinal ideas about the film.

Perhaps the most instructive part of the process for me, at least, has been the screenings themselves and thus the usefulness of screenings in general as a film moves through the editing process. We screened the film five times total, beginning quite early in the process, for audiences ranging in size from just a handful to forty people. Each time, we gave them feedback forms to fill out, which they worked through before we opened the floor for general discussion. We collected the feedback forms and always read through them, though my real reason for continuing to use them was to ensure the audiences had time to digest the film before starting to talk about it.

The audiences went from clear consensus in what they thought we should change (unanimous shows of hands were not uncommon in those early screenings) to what amounted to personal, though sometimes impassioned, opinion by the end, with little commonality about anything except that we had a strong, entertaining, moving film on our hands.

When we first showed the film to an audience, we were looking for fresh input on where to take the film next. That first audience knew what we had to change (boy, did they ever) and the screenings and shows of hands Jenny elicited in moderating the discussions afterwards became our most useful tool in learning about the film we were shaping – both its weaknesses and its strengths.

The most frustrating aspect of the post-production process so far has definitely been the multi-month hiatus we had to take from the point when we were essentially done editing the film to the point where we could shoot and incorporate the final pieces of footage that would allow us to achieve the right rhythm to the ebb and flow of the story. Mother Nature was responsible for this wrinkle: since all of our pick-up shots were exteriors, we literally found ourselves in the position of waiting for grass to grow before we could shoot anything that matched the lush August landscapes captured in principal photography. Early attempts at pick-ups were snowed out not once, but TWICE.

The silver lining to this obstacle was that it allowed us walk away from the film for all that time and to regain a freshness with which to approach it one last time. In an industry where every move costs money, this kind of grace is a rare privilege.

As I type this, the camera negative is moving physically from Seattle to Los Angeles (driven in a car by Laurie and Sean), where it will be scanned, uploaded to an FTP server, and then downloaded for color correcting in NYC. We are working with Peter Bavaro and the stellar, creative and accommodating team at Post Logic NY to achieve what, on our budget, we have no right to hope for: a true, 2K scan of our negative.

Now, we move on to sound design in earnest (with Britt Myers and the terrific team at Great City Productions, as we continue to lock down our music licenses (with the help of Light in the Attic’s Sandy Wilson) and finalize our agreement with our composer.

At any rate, True Believers, we’re getting there. We appreciate your patience through the lengthy process and thank you for your enthusiasm and support. We now know for sure what a beautiful little film we have on our hands and we cannot wait to share it with you.