Today, Eric and I sat down for a few hours and had a fantastic talk about the state of our company 17 West Productions.

It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you’re having fun.

First on the list was to go over the latest cut of The Climb and talk about the direction our newest short film is heading.  It was really great to see someone else react to the many changes I’ve made over the last few weeks. The film has a different style than even I expected but it’s coming together nicely and I’m really happy with it.

XTRA: How A Dialogue Heavy Script Became A Quiet Movie

I’m fired up more than ever to get the film done. From here, I plan to finish a viewable cut of the film by the end of May with a trailer online in June.  Look for more updates as we inch closer to our planned release this fall.

In other ‘Climb’ related news, I’ve started the sound design process as well as testing various music styles.  It’s so much fun to bring a movie together and I’m loving it.  This will be the first short film I’ve mixed on my own beyond balancing levels and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Click here for more on The Climb.

Business was next as we talked about all of our projects and the state of our company as a whole.  We went through our past projects and planned where to take Playing Through next.  The film has completed it’s festival run and is currently being played online (in Canada) as part of the NSI Online Short Film Festival.  We talked a lot about what to do with the film next including it’s eventual release online for everyone to see.  Stay tuned for more.

Pitching Screenplays

Next up was a discussion about NEW projects! Always the best part of our meetings.  I started and pitched him about 3 or 4 ideas.  One of which I’m writing now that’s set in 1994 and one of the strangest and unique concepts I’ve come up with lately (I think at least). The other ideas are still in the early stages of development and I’ve learned that I still get nervous when I pitch new ideas.

There was a time when I was too self conscious to talk about any new ideas until they were fully developed.  Over the last few years, I’ve grown to love the process.  You can’t be afraid.  Bouncing ideas of someone is a great way to sort out the ideas with promise and the ones that need more work.  Needless to say, I can’t wait to crack open Final Draft and complete the first draft of my new script.

We then moved on to an idea Eric has mentioned several times and really went in depth with the characters and the story.  It’s a pretty dark tale and I’m actually pumped to see how it develops in the coming weeks.

Until then, it’s all about writing new screenplays and editing the short film. Lots to look forward to.