Tim Nm, CPA, Part I

I suppose this post could be called, Let's Go To The Video Tape, Part II. However, the project formerly known as the "Chinese Movie" now has a name. This one has seemed to stick, though I never felt very strongly about it. As strongly as I feel about this movie, and as hard as we pushed to do the impossible, and shoot this thing despite being on vacation, having limited time, having limited access to the lead actor, having no secured locations, and no script written ahead of time, the title doesn't do anything for me, one way or another.

Jeremy will be happy to see any kind of status about it. Having taken the role of actor in this film, he didn't get to see what was going on as it was being shot, and only five still pictures since. A test of edited footage was at one time uploaded for him to see, then deleted before he got the chance. Meanwhile, select others, all less related to the project but important nonetheless, have had a chance to view and comment on parts of the footage.

Mind you, this is no formal announcement that work on editing the film has begun in earnest, but pehaps Jeremy can take heart that a ", Part I" post has indeed been created. It can only bode well for what will happen in the near future. The Westerns are almost in the can, the Drama film is close at hand, and Brock has the Thriller film in the works. After that, there will be no more short filmmaking for some time, even if Screen Wars re-ups for another season, I tell you that.

On a side note, it seems that I myself may be called on to star in film about a documentary filmmaker obsessed with his subject. This film, from all I gather, will be highly improvised and shot on location where life happens. Sound familiar? Will I participate in such a project, one that so closely resembles mine, that, should it progress more rapidly that this, may, in fact, compromise the viability of the Tim Nm, CPA project? I just might, and I will thoroughly enjoy doing it.

Furthermore, as the 18 or so Tim Nm source tapes sit neatly in a row, on the extreme Southern edge of my workspace, tape log always nearby, work has begun, in all sincerity, on a sequel to this very film. In the sequel, Tim Nm takes his "masterpiece" to its logical next step, the film festival circuit. Or, perhaps it is more appropriate to say that Tim brings it, because there can be no guarantee of any takers. Our protagonist, after crashing directorial panel discussions, raiding the projection booth, and squandering all of his resources in this unlikely endeavor, finds himself without a job and without a family. Determined, he takes the Blockbuster job, as an avenue to promote his film, within the store (look for Days of Being Wrinkle Free in the foreign film section), and to promote his very own film festival, NmFest '05, featuring panel lively discussions with one Tim Nm. Poor attendence force him to reconsider his efforts, or at least to regroup. Seeking to get closer to his roots, he finds himself in Chinatown, but even this is not enough. A poor facsimile, indeed. The only logical step is to go directly to the source of his inspiration. A trip to mother China is in order, and a quest to make his next film, this time with actual Chinese, no doubt with time spent tracking down the vaunted WKW. Cut to 2055, his second film, named for fifty years hence the debut of his first. Fade to black. Roll credits. Roll credits again. The end.

That's the long way of saying that as sequels go, we have as much or more material as when we undertook the original, all in one evenings work. There are questions that remain. Shoot it in September or December? Will Jeremy participate willingly, or withhold performance in hopes of accelerating delivery of the original? Will Molly ever know that Jeremy shot a feature-length film while she was at work?

Your thoughts...