D-Day

I call days like today D-Day, as in "Delivery Day" - the day when I take a finished film, stick it in a padded envelope, and ship it off to a network.

As I dropped Fields of Fear off to the local UPS store this afternoon, I felt a sense of satisfaction with a job well done, at least as far as I'm concerned. We worked on a very tight budget, but we managed to put together a good film, one that I'm happy with.

And when I say "we", I mean we.

Kudos to Fern Belzil, for trusting me with his story. I didn't just get a film - I got a friend who I like and respect, even if I may not agree with him.

Kudos to my brother Jim, who produced the film, and Christine Boss, our production manager. They kept the office running (and, somehow, the budgets more or less balanced) while I was off having fun.

Kudos to Kim McTaggart and John Rosborough for their work over the past two weeks with the video on-line and post-audio work. They're aces in my book, and John also managed to write and perform the soundtrack, which is a cool mix of Johnny Cash and U2 (or something like that).

Kudos to Findlay Muir for more top notch work as DOP. He makes me look good.

Kudos to Charlotte Engel at Space: The Imagination Station for her patience (we went well beyond our original intended delivery date), and her useful suggestions at the rough cut stage, which made for a better film in the end.

Kudos to Breandan and Brian at Wingit Digital - best opening credit sequence I've ever had in a film.

Kudos to Space: The Imagination Station, the Canadian Television Fund, and the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation for believing in the film, and fronting much of the money that financed it (the rest comes from tax credits).

In fact, kudos to everyone involved in the project, from top to bottom, and left to right. The opening credits say "A film by Paul Kimball", and perhaps that's true in some respects (i.e. the story), but at the end of the day filmmaking is truly a collaborative effort, and there's no way I could do what I do without the help and support (often for less money than they should be making) of so many talented and dedicated colleagues... and friends.

Thanks everyone! I hope you like the film, which premieres on Space: The Imagination Station on September 15th, at 10 pm EST, and repeats at 4 am EST on Saturday, September 16th (for you night owls).

Paul Kimball