Alex Drecun finished the online edit of “The Hate” over the weekend, and I rushed to finish up the credit sequence. Last-minute changes are always hard, but I think everything worked out smoothly. It became difficult for us to work long-distance since I had to make the change, then render the video, then upload it to my server, then have Alex download it. With the project wrapping up, I eventually just started e-mailing the Motion project files to Alex, then he would render them himself wherever he was. It streamlined the process on my end, and I think Alex was able to easily tweak just a few specifics himself. It made for quite a few over-the-phone support calls, but I hear everything turned out well and I’m happy to be attached to such a promising project.
Since Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana, I’ve been spending my time with friends in Austin, scoping out jobs. Ivan kept me here for a few days longer, since all the signs on the highways say “DO NOT GO TO HOUSTON OR BEAUMONT”. The local production companies have been much more receptive and responsive to me. I usually hear “we’re not hiring right now, but we’ll give you freelance work whenever we have something.” It’s not a job, but at least they are courteous enough to respond to me.
I’ve met with the weekly Meetup for Austin Filmmakers. They’re a great group who really try to accomplish something rather than discuss the state of the industry. It’s very refreshing, and there are some great ideas and projects in the works.
Today I met with a group that is working on a startup. I’m usually hesitant to get involved with people without an established workflow (ie “Private Eye’s Tail”), but the people are involved already have a successful startup, so I trust their ability to run a project of this scope. I was happy to hear them say that they would like to keep me in Austin so they can take advantage of my talent. The project sounds like a great idea, and I’m excited to get started once it’s off the ground.