So there I was last night, just rolling through the happy process of editing the final minutes of the rough cut with editor-extraordinaire Marc Alcorn when the dreaded "Oh shit!" moment happened. I suddenly realized that the current ending we shot was, of course, based on the original draft of my screenplay - something that was written long before the thought of a sequel ever crossed my mind. The scenes we shot are great...but they do nothing to set up the sequel...which is essential 'cause both the prequel - "Serenade" and sequel - "Heartlight" are slated to start preproduction early next year.
So my old nemesis, Anxiety, paid me another visit. And I was defenseless at that moment to fend him off.
The edit session the night before was pure Divine Guidance at work. I asked Marc to take a particularly critical sequence of the movie that was painstakingly edited with a great song originally planned for the film and alter it to accommodate a new song I recently found by Suncoast songwriter Dean Johanesen. Marc looked at me like I was crazy, which happens a lot. In fact, we had to edit in a total of 3 new songs that night, so it was probable that we'd have to re-edit all the targeted sequences...which would have been a huge pain.
But then the Magic happened.
Again.
The new songs not only sounded better, but the lyrics of each tune perfectly matched the action and dialogue of each scene as edited. I mean, they were a dead-on perfect match! As if they were meant to be there all along. It was just eerie...and miraculous. One of those moments when you get a chill 'cause you know that something unique happened that is unexplainable - unless of course you believe, as I do, that there are no accidents and that everything happens for a reason...
But last night it felt like the wheels had come off the wagon. I just couldn't figure out how to set up the sequel with the footage already shot. Another day of shooting more pick up scenes is problematic due to actors' availability and budget constraints - but we're up against a deadline to submit the rough cut to the spring film festivals - so I need to scramble with a cool rewrite and hope like hell my Team and I can pull together in the next week to shoot and edit a coupla key closing scenes that sets up the next movie while still maintaining the emotional punch of the current film.
Could I leave well enough alone? Yeah, I could. But I won't. I refuse to compromise. We've all come too far and worked too hard to settle for anything but the very best ending to Beautiful Noise possible and the chance to start the sequel off on the right foot. So now it's up to me to do one last rewrite of the closing moments of the film and then implore elements of my talented Team to gather one last time to bring it all home.
Stay tuned...
Steve
