January
A blur of post-production. I don’t remember much except watching Relationshit at least 85 times. I also took Eli to Austria (his 4th country, nbd) to romp around in the snow. He was so happy I cried.
February
More post-production and then the payoff: Relationshit premiere! I wrote about it here. That night is one of my favourite memories ever, and I frequently think back to it when I need an energy boost.
March
This month was devoted to distributing Relationshit to festivals and lining up some marketing stuff. I also gave my first ever radio interview, for a London station.
April
Maybe you know I run a production company that makes branded content. While I already had a team in place, April marked the first time I sent a team on a shoot without attending it myself. It went great and I was very proud!
May
I submitted an application to Sundance Development Lab and to something else secret.
I was a guest on Mentorless podcast, recording a 90 minute episode about the making of Relationshit. Highly recommended!
And I spoke to students at Raindance Film School about, guess what, yep.
Eli made two absolute BFFs in the forest, and they all cry every time they see each other.
June
Turned 27, rode a horse, directed a commercial in London.
July
Accepted an 11 week gig on a production in Germany, looked extremely good doing it.
August
Worked all week on the above gig, took Eli to the lake on the weekend.
September
Wrapped up the gig, started preparing pitches and other materials for two things I had been accepted into: Reykjavik Film Festival’s Talent Lab, and ITVfest’s Network Notes track. Which meant six international flights in three weeks.
Oh, and Eli and I made it into a magazine?
October
October was THE BEST. Of course the experience of RIFF Talent Lab itself was great: Drinking champagne with the president of Iceland at his residence and talking about my work with Shailene Woodley, whose work I adore, was pretty dope. Sitting in a hot tub overlooking the city of Reykjavik also didn’t hurt. But the best part was making some immediately super close friendships – throwing around I love yous on the 4th day of even knowing each other kind of friendships! We still all talk!
Then I flew to Detroit, where I had a 22 hour layover and got to stay at Drew Philp’s house. I had devoured and admired the hell out of his book, A $500 House in Detroit, and it felt surreal that being friends with that caliber of people is apparently my life now?
From Detroit, I flew to ITVfest in Vermont. I mean, hanging out with executives from HBO, Netflix and agencies I’d been wanting to pitch was cool and all but the best part was I got to karaoke Macklemore on stage!!! I can rap Can’t Hold Us perfectly, everyone agrees.
A twenty minute drive from ITVfest was Cold Antler Farm, and I got to stay at Jenna’s for two nights (ugh I love my life) get to know her better (she’s very cool, obviously), snuggle her dogs, go hunting with her hawk (!!!), go logging with her pony, and have dinner with her & her wonderful friends at Livingston Farm.
Maybe you know a little about my complex food ethics, and this trip contributed to adding even more nuance to my views.
Then I had to fly in an 8-seater through turbulence and nearly passed out, only to arrive in Boston to a cancelled flight back home, stranding me for two nights. Silver lining: I asked on the socials if I knew anybody in Boston, and indeed I headed out for lunch with an old internet friend the very next day. I’ve wanted to be the person who has friends in every major city, and I felt super cool knowing that I have become that! Also, Boston is gorgeous and I love it.
November
Cried into my feature film script, Crème Brûlée, and finished it ahead of schedule. Then I sent it out into the world for feedback.
Finally took a Canine First Aid course.
Also, some client work.
December
Finished the client work. Started thoroughly planning 2019. Cast my next short film. Prepped two upcoming shoots. Started getting up at 5am in order to make my time feel more expansive, as I get some important-but-not-urgent work done before thinking I need to be available to others. Screenwriting by candlelight as the sun rises is pretty magical.
2019, watch the roof come off.