Aniya Update: 15months old

So Aniya is already 15 months old!
She is now 31 inches long and 20 lbs. 8 oz.

Sean Bell FIlm Project

The Sean Bell Film Project is a series of short films inspired by and/or about the brutal and tragic death of Sean Bell at the hands of New York's elite police officers.

It is once again organized by ED DURANTE, and he has come up with even more rules which must be incorporated into the film. I think they are: only 2 speaking characters, one location, one day shoot, delivery within 7 days of shooting, and a maximum length of 3 minutes. Due Date is sometime in Septemeber. I am sure there are more rules, but those are the general guidelines.

So what will my film be about? At the moment, I am thinking of using my 13 month old daugher, Aniya, as the star. I might have many more characters, but none of them will speak. How about a busy children's playground in Prospect Park.. water throwing, slides- the general rough housing.. the police are outside the park, all shot in slo-mo, laughing as they load their weapons, a kid points his finger at Aniya and says "BANG BANG"... in response the police let out a reign of gun fire.. blackness and earth shattering silence.. and an empty swing swaying... an empty jungle gym, an empty sand box, the water sprays, but no kids can be heard.. THE END.

I know this will be highly effective, moving and disturbing- but do I really want to go there? To that deep dark spot.. to elicit a guaranteed response? I am still trying to figure it out.

Film Update

This is to update the status of my last two films, and to announce my upcoming film project.

Pilferer has gone Ofor (has not gotten into any festivals).. I am not sure how many festivals I applied to- but it was at least in the 15-20 range. I guess I made a really bad flick.

Happy Sauce has also gone 0for, probably been rejected by about 20 festivals, with another 5 or 6 pending. On the plus side, I am waiting to blur the Maker's Mark logo's in the film and will give the rights to the film to the distribution company Ouat Media, based in Canada, to exploit the film for 4 years. I am hoping that they will have better luck. If I make even 5 dollars on the film, I think it will be a success.

Regarding the blurring of the logo- yes, the film was made for Maker's Mark, but at the end of the day, the company's legal dept. refuses to give me a release to use their logo for commercial purposes due to the children's nature of the film. That is, a mans' liking to drink Maker's Mark out of a baby's bottle. GO FIGURE.

WELCOME TO THE FILM & TELEVISION INDUSTRY- THE BIRTHPLACE OF HYPOCRASY(spell check please).

To end one of my few posts about film in the past year, I am pleased to announce the SEAN BELL FILM PROJECT, organized by none other than my good friend ED DURANTE.

Zeus with Aniya

ZEUS SEN

Our beloved cat, Zeus, tragically and unexpectedly, passed away this morning. We found him on the stairs, unable to breathe and we were unable to save him. The Dr. believes he had heart disease, and has told us there is very little we could have done.

Zeus was an aloof cat, who liked to do only what he liked to do. That made us love him even more. He loved chasing any insect and anything else that moved that he could find. He was a hunter who loved the outdoors. If I had known his condition, there were so many things I would have wanted to say to him- how I thought he was silly, and loved the softness of his fur, and most importantly, that I love him.

First Projects

There are four initial projects I am attempting, in addition to working 5-6 edit shifts to bring home the bread for the family. My plan is to committ at least ninety minutes every night to the writing/creating process. After that, I can surf the net and play penny poker online.

First, I want to finish a feature script that explores another aspect of how machines will one day rule the world. I have had the first 40 pages done for years but have always stumbled trying to figure out the perfect way for man to overthrow the machines.

Second, adapt "Bunny Rabbit", a short film script whose filming was interrupted by 9/11 itself, into a feature film starring an Indian woman who wakes up one day and thinks she is a rabbit.

Third, figure out a television series involving a cast of Indian characters in America that can be sold to cable networks in India.

Finally, try and assist a friend from work who is pitching a dramatic series to the networks.

Film/TV Project

Not sure what my next project is about, but I really need to make it happen. ASAP. One of my friends from undergrad film school recently contacted me and mentioned how she liked my blog. While the comment was very nice, I think I have only done 3-4 posts in the past year - but I did feel my blog was good and helpful to me as I was finishing and conceiving HAPPY SAUCE. So, I am going to try and figure out a new film project in the blog. If someone steals it, well, then, I guess they steal it.

HAPPY SAUCE, by the way, has been rejected by many many festivals. Probably 10 or 12, with another 10 or 12 more rejections pending. There are two companies that are interested in acquiring the rights for distribution though. No cash will be transferred until the distributor makes some sales and some cash themselves, so basically, it is just another way to get the filmut there. The festival route is definitely not helping.

Now, film/tv projects. First of all, any project I do will have an Indian theme to it. Time to suck it up and really sell myself out as an Indian American film maker. At least, that is a very basic way to differentiate myself from other film makers in NYC. It could be a new start.

Aniya update

Life is growing and changing quicker than you can imagine. Aniya is now waving and clapping, and still walking everywhere like no tomorrow. She really likes the slide at the playground but is now somewhat afraid of the swing (she liked the swing when she was younger). She is growing new teeth, I think her molars, and we think that she is teething and in some pain as she now yells out every hour or so in the middle of the night and then falls back asleep just as quickly.

The biggest difference is that is she is now eating all sorts of food, from baby food and apple cinnamon purees to pieces of meat, veggies, crackers, and one of her favorites, ice cream.

We are also starting to see the first words out of her mouth. Ka, Da Da, Ma ma, and Na na.. she is slowly starting to associate us with the sounds, though I have no idea what Ka refers to.

Aniya update

So I guess a blog a month is a decent goal to try and maintain. I would like to do more, but things just aren't as simple as I would like. After working all day and then trying to help the wife with dinner and Aniya I just don't have any energy left once they go to bed. I am very good about staring at useless bank account information and g checking and re-checking the spam that my email addresss invites, but writing, whether a script or in the blog is really difficult. There have been some work happenings that will hopefully motivate me, but you'll hear about those if I can properly motivate.

Now, to the real reason I am writing.. Aniya. I feel like I have missed out on so many details that will forever be forgotten between my wife and I. We are pretty sure she started crawling in her 5th month of October and was doing a full crawl all over the house in November. She started walking between the couch and the ottoman or her exersaucer 3-4 feet away in December/ January. And now, she has really started walking everywhere the beggining of the February, so at around 9 months old. Nothing to be ashamed about as a parent.

She was able to say dada a month or two ago, although she was never able to associate me with the word. She does say mama a lot these days, and although it is not 100 percent, I am pretty sure her mama sound is for her real mom. She changes a little bit everyday. Totally amazing.

Last day in India

It is the middle of the night right now in New Delhi. We have spent the last two weeks here and things have been relatively good. I would, however, never recommend flying anywhere for 16 hours with an 8 month old baby. Aniya is a good traveler but she is into anything and everything! Allison also has been sick the past 4 days with a horrible stomach virus that doesnt seem to go away so the return trip back to NYC is not looking very appealing right now.

I initially had the intention of making a short film of sorts while I was here, but realized within the first few days that with an eight month old baby any film would be impossible. More importantly, I have come up with several ideas that will hopefully better direct my feature film effort and possibly even turn into a TV show.

Happy Sauce Update

So Happy Sauce has joined Pilferer in the universally rejected from film festivals category. The Sauce has been rejected from relatively big festivals- Slamdance, South by Southwest, Clermont-Ferrand, Cinequest and probably a few others, but I really thought it would get in to one of the big ones. I knew PILFERER was not my best work, but I was positive that the SAUCE, being short, funny, and unusual, would get into a lot of festivals.

I initially send the SAUCE only to the biggest festivals at the start of 08, but with it's failure, the new directive is to send it to any festival, big or small, and pray that someone somewhere wants to screen it.

If I am going to make a successful feature, I am going to need a lot of help.

A new Year

I keep saying that I am going to do it, and this time I really mean it!
More posts, more everything in 08, and most importantly, time to finish writing the feature!
What is the feature about?.. I am still trying to figure it out, but that's where the blog comes in real handy- it acts like a draft as opposed to lines and thoughts and doodles on random pieces of paper, different notebooks and the worst place of all: my head.

I am in India right now for another night, and have been amazed by the huge number of cable channels that are now available.. and I think I might even have a TV idea somewhere in the back of my head, but time to get it all on paper.