Two and a Half Weeks Later

It's been two and a half weeks since I left the Island - and while there we got a good start on the screenplay adaptation - over 20 pages, and we've added about 6 pages since then. I had a blast with Spider and Jeanne as they hosted me in their lovely home. (That's the three of us waiting for a water taxi to take us into Vancouver to see a marvelous play called "SkyDive" - that happens to use some technology that might prove useful for our film - yes, research can be fun.)

As far as those 6 pages go we're a little behind schedule (having the stated goal of 3 to 5 pages per week) but I blame some of the slow progress to catching up on personal stuff left by the wayside while I was living on a island in Canada, though I can't rule out writer's block coupled with procrastination. I will tell you that BREAKTHROUGHS are happening in these few pages.

Other cool things happened during my "writing vacation": I got to play some tunes with Spider (he did most of the playing, but I sung along and tried to keep up on guitar...as any of you have seen Spider live can attest, he's the consummate showman, even when playing for an audience of one.) Also, we hiked out to Jeanne's Zen spot on the rocky north point of the island. But collaborating with Jeanne and getting a good deal of writing done eclipsed everything else.

Afterglow

Here at Tottering-on-the Brink, my home, Jim’s radiant light continues to remain visible even though he’s currently in midflight, on his way home to his loving family.

We shared a remarkable week -- with Stardance at its centre. Not only did the screenplay progress, but Jim and I became a solid writing team. Collaboration is an intimate act of trust, respect, generosity, and faith. By the end of our first marathon session, we knew we were a solid karass, and will be able to complete the script long distance.

We’ve mapped out a schedule to keep us on track. Feel free to ask us questions about the work or our process, and we’ll do our best to respond as time allows.

Spider spent part of the week looking over our shoulders as we worked at the kitchen table. (He took the photo that accompanies this.) A few days ago we invited him to sit down at Jim’s largescreen monitor and read the work, and he says we’re nailing it.

(Spider here: it’s way better than I could have done. I’m dead chuffed, as they say on Coronation Street. Jim isn’t just a very good screenwriter, he’s compatible with Jeanne’s mindset: they make a good team.)

Continued thanks to all of you who have helped make this wonderful process possible. It’s gonna be great….

Writing Marathon

Jim’s here! He arrived safely on the doorstep of our island cottage, Tottering-on-the-Brink, for a weeklong script conference/writing marathon. We’ve just come back from dinner at Doc Morgan’s, a local pub, and the coffee’s brewing in the background as I type this. Jim looks great, and we’re both excited about the opportunity to advance this project.

Spider will be looking over our shoulder and cheerleading, since Tor has not yet seen fit to grind out the contract for his new Orphan Stars Trilogy (check his website for details). Fortunately, the weather has finally decided to have mercy on us: it doesn’t look as though any snow or hail have been scheduled for this week. I have several “Muse-spots” on this island that I use for inspiration…and we can bring our laptops with us as long as the weather permits.

Wish us luck. I’m excited….

High Tech Collaboration

Things just keep getting better and better.

I purchased a copy of Final Draft, an amazingly powerful screenwriting program, specifically for Stardance, and it makes formatting a breeze - anticipates every keystroke....I wouldn't be surprised if it warns us of tired plot devices and filters worn-out phrases.

It get's better - I get two installations with my license - so Jeanne and I both have FinalDraft installed on our respective mac-books, and today I discovered the feature to end all features. These puppies talk to each other over the Webbernet - allowing us to open ONE document together and take turns writing on the thing IN REAL TIME. (And here I thought we would only be able to do true "lets sit down and write together" stuff with the help of an airplane.)

Add SKYPE or YIM with sound and video into the mix and we'll be practically in the same room.

We're just steps away from stepping discs, Larry. WooHoo!

Happy New Year, thanks all for your support.

Our mission – a year later

It’s the traditional time of year to look back and reflect—and we zero-G dancers are nothing if not traditional. So I’ve just finished rereading our earliest blog entries about last year’s zero-g ride on December 30th, 2007.

The entry I wrote a week later on January 6, 2007 says it best, marrying the past with the present. I’m as committed today as I was then, following our first zero-g research ride. The thrill of that gift will remain with me for lifetimes. And I have Dr. Peter Diamandis and Zero G Corp to thank for their visionary generosity in giving me and the Stardance team that extraordinary gift.

As I’ve said before, being free of falling is an unforgettable experience. For a fleeting eternity, you feel bathed in a delicious, unspeakable delight. It’s a universally familiar experience the first time it ever happens to you; one whose memory lingers. Odd, really, when you consider that not one of my evolutionary ancestors was ever in zero-G for longer than it took them to fall off a roof. (Or maybe I’m just not going far enough back into my ancestry. Spider may be right: we may all be descended from stardwellers.)

Last year on the day of our flight my Zen Calendar offered a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant party, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away."

I said it then and I’ll say it now: be assured that I won't be silent about the gifts I've been given, and they are being fully used.

The Stardance team continues on its mission of discovery to expand the vocabulary of human feeling by presenting us with something we've never experienced before. Last year's zero-g ride was a breathtakingly weightless step toward the realization of our mission.

And the year just past has been a period of long, slow reentry, which as you know is a process of building energy that only starts to seem really exciting to an observer right at the end. Jim and I are now at that stage Spider calls the most paradoxical part of writing, where we are busting our chops so hard that to a hypothetical outsider it looks as though we’re both just staring into space, doing nothing at all. Things will continue like that, Spider says, for a hundred million billion years…and then we’ll suddenly look up and realize we’re holding a completed screenplay (our third) in our hands, ready for the cameras. And meanwhile we continue to beat the bushes for our angel: the funding source who can greenlight us to make the film. Exciting, satisfying times, for Jim and I both.

(There’s an added layer of meaning for me. I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to establish telepathic communication with my first grandchild—who is, at this moment, in free fall, being a zero-G dancer…in my daughter’s womb. But more on that after I’ve seen the kid, sometime in May.)

Today, right now, Jim and I just want to honor and thank all of you who have joined the Stardance mission of discovery. We could not have come this far without you—and we’ll continue thanks to you. We’re creating a new artform together: what could be cooler than that?

That is after all (somebody once said) what it is to be human: to persist.

Happy New Year!

--Jeanne

Family Matters

Spider is celebrating his 60th cycle-around-the-sun today. Actually we’ve been celebrating for months, at any excuse. We’ve had parties in NY, MA, at home on Bowen Island, and now on-line. He says he doesn’t feel a day over 59.

In addition to our advancing ages, family news includes a story of extreme youth. Like Mike Callahan says, "Shared joy is increased." So I’d like to share the joyous news that our daughter, Terri Luanna and her husband, Heron, are pregnant! Spider and I are overjoyed, and looking forward to joining the ranks of Grandparenthood. Here’s the first sonogram of the little one, making baby Nameless even more real to us. Terri’s due date is May 11th. We plan on being in NY for the big event.


All of this happiness has made me reminisce about Terri Luanna’s childhood. Lots of great memories. When Terri and Heron got married, Spider and I posted a selection of photos with a poem to reflect where we were and what we were doing at the age she was on her wedding day. I’d like to share them with you.

Here’s another inspired reminiscence written by Spider in his Online Diary to Terri Luanna on her 28th birthday, including Terri’s response.

As for the Stardance project, Jim and I continue our efforts. He’s been busy re-designing the website to reflect our new direction. I’ve been working on updating the story. Jim will be here in January to work with me on the screenplay.

This weekend I’ll be off to Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, just north of San Francisco for the 7-day Rohatsu sesshin with Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi. At the end of his life Buddha said, "Life is very short; please investigate it closely." Sesshins are traditional Soto Zen meditation retreats that include formal zendo meals, Dharma talks, sitting and walking meditation – offering practioners like me the opportunity for true investigation and to “wake up from our dream and help our world.” This is useful even when the dream you’re waking up from is a happy one, like the past few months have been.

Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends. Heaven knows all of America (and the world) have much to be thankful for this election year.

Many bows,
Jeanne

A New Direction

When I originally approached Jeanne about creating an IMAX (or Giant Screen) version of Stardance, my strategy had to do with expanding on her short-film vision - in a kind of parallel track. Traditionally, short films don't really have markets - and with something as ambitious as Stardance, the budget would require SOME kind of market to justify it. Large format (up to this very moment, as you have read in Jeanne's recent posts) seemed a viable venue that created a market for shorter pieces - and though large format films aren't traditional big moneymakers, they nonetheless have financing opportunities beyond the traditional investor/producer relationship, be they grants or sponsorships. Sounds good, and even with the change in the industry it would still be a valid choice.

But with the giant screen choice there come limitations. The main limitation being that we have to take the TEETH out of the original award winning story to make it fit this semi-educational and agenda filled entertainment format. That's a shame, because Stardance is such a wonderful and powerful story with real conflict and heartbreak, hope and transcendence. Our newly derived story is filled with hope and transcendence, but like so many large format films the story really serves as a vehicle to get to the cool parts, the giant screen set-pieces that give the visceral thrill of immersion. But our giant-screen story doesn't really immerse the viewer in the drama - and since we've been collaborating on this new story my main cry has been "Where's The Conflict?"

The answer to this ancient question bandied about by aspiring and veteran screenwriters alike, was staring us in the face the whole time. Forget the "Stardance Experience" in IMAX, and make Stardance as a feature. The original story that caught the hearts and minds of so many, once updated beyond its prescient view from the mid 70s, has everything we need. And so much of what we have discussed and written together for this project WILL apply.

Jeanne and I are beginning the task of adapting the original story for the screen. Our primrose path has just taken a turn into the woods, and we have promises to keep (and miles to go before we sleep.)

Thank you all.