New Cities/New Soviets

May 15, 2003

Godard: Plan and Schedule

You cannot possibly make your own plan if somebody else controls the schedule!

Jean-Luc Godard has taught me this, and sometimes I have to remind myself. Like this week...

So Monday rolls and I sleep in. I figure I've deserved it after alla them double shifts.

Mom calls, at noon, say, and my rest is shot. I fall backka sleep, but there is no rest left. Bad dreams call. Still, an hour is an hour -- in my business you learn that. Sunday's promise to see her Tuesday; gotta straighten out the upset from last week. But she's pushing the schedule.

Tuesday rolls and I make an effort at pushcart work. A few calls, straightening out the Health Department rules. The issue now is the commissary, where the cart is serviced and stored. I do the task but there is no planning energy. I meet with mom. OK. I cut loose a little in the evening, but I still feel behind shedule.

You cannot make a plan if somebody else controls the shedule! Interruptions set you back. Rest is easily destroyed. Ask any poet.

Wednesday rolls and there is still no rubber gripping the pavement. I sleep in 'til eleven. About 2:00 there is a break -- I realize that if every commissary is licensed, and the health department will probably give me the addresses. The beaurocracy is a mess (and the web site is worse than useless), but with a little insistance I find a woman who will read down the list of commissaries and read me the ones she thinks are on the lower east side. Good enough. I know from Emed's place that they are almost impossible to find from the street. I'm back on time.

Jean-Luc Godard taught me that it does not pay to rush into a project. It is a waste of budget, and you can't waste your buget if you want your movie to work. There must be enough time to get together the players, to figure out roles, to structure tasks.

Filmmaking is all schedual, so is poetry, so is work. The shot schedual, the speed of langauge, the timing of interruptions, the coordination of breaks.

/cut/

Posted by Sam at May 15, 2003 09:27 PM

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?