Turnip July 2025 Newsletter
We wrapped photography for "Jack's Story"
As many of you know, I've been working on a film (with my sister) about our brother. Preparation has really been going on for 3 years. But in late 2024, I began ramping up to production. In January, with lots of help from actor, friend and filmmaker Larry Evans, we began casting.
This was the start of what was a "swirl" of activity which ended on July 8th. Every film project, I've realized, is its own "swirl" but this project was especially intense. One reason, of course, was the personal nature of the subject.
But there was an equally challenging production issue. As you might expect for any film project based on long ago memories, the script is almost a montage of many moments remembered. As a writing approach, I love this and I believe it will bring the audience into the story. However, wearing my producer hat, I had to deal with the fact that this short film script calls for 18 unique locations! So the shooting plan amounted to: Where can we find a place that looks like this (in 1966) and Who is in that scene and What day of the week can we get access to the space? In other words, constantly searching for anything on the list and trying to pull together the people and stuff needed. It was a swirl alright!
Now I'm taking a little "summer vacation" and post production begins after the family beach week.
Unexpected bonus: Working with Ken Peterson
I had directed a film that Ken Peterson shot for Larry Evans, but I had never worked with Ken so closely and in so many special situations before. It has proven to be not only productive and worthwhile but brought me unexpected insights.
As some of you know and appreciate, Ken has a tremendous amount of industry experience, starting with working in the camera department on the famous Miami Vice series in the late 1980s.
One simple example of an unexpected insigh. In some scenes, Ken would suggest moving the camera, even if only to follow a person moving in or out of the frame. My gut instinct was generally to leave the camera static, to let the action leave the frame or walk into the frame. But as we had discussions like this, I realized that my implicit aesthetic was the family snapshot. The snapshot is informal and also not about movement in or out (except accidentally). A person seen in a snapshot inhabits that frame, frozen in time and in space. And for this story, that was the right direction to go (most of the time). I had not consciously made that connection before, and it was a valuable insight. We had many such discussions as production unfolded and I am grateful for Ken's questions. They led me to understand myself and the film better.
Lovely But Sad: Our Link To Ed White
Part of the research I was able to do about Jack's life led me to one of his close friends in high school and in Ann Arbor: Edmund White. Ed went on to become a literary author, a strong voice in the gay community and the author of the definitive biography of Jean Genet. And Ed was a friend who attended (and wrote about) Jack's funeral.
I was able to sit down with Ed and talk about Jack and about my research last year, at Ed's home in NYC. Ed also read the script and made some useful comments. Unfortunately, as you may know, Ed died this June. I had been hoping to show him the film one day.
We need your input on the next stage of this project
There's a lot of post-production between now and the ready-to-exhibit version of this film, of course. But one idea that is lurking in the back of my mind is the idea of hosting screening events. This would be a public event in which several films with complementary themes are exhibited with the filmmaker(s) present to interact with a small audience about the issues raised by the film and about how the film works.
If you like that concept, let me know. If you think it's probably a waste of time, let me know. And if you'd like to help host or support such an event, let me know.