The hardest and easiest thing to do is to let go of a project once it’s finally done. There will always be the year or two of blatant promotion once a film is finished but mentally it’s time to focus on blank pages again and hit the restart button. I plan to spend six months to a year thanking people. When I was checking all the names in the credits of the film I became overwhelmed by the amount of names. Over a hundred people where involved in the creation of the film ‘Drowning.’ How do you thank everyone properly? How to make sure everyone knows you’re grateful? Thanking one crew member at a time is the best way to make sure they know.
There is a moment that I used to live for. A moment that can take several years to reach depending on the project. When the film is finally finished; colour corrected with the final sound mix. That one moment where you see the final film, where the project becomes bigger than the sum of it’s parts. It’s a moment of awe where you watch the film and wonder, How did we do that? How did all these people work together and finish this film? One moment of wonder followed by the desperate need to never see the film again. It’s only natural; you’ve worked on something for so long that you only see the mistakes and the might-have-beens, that you can’t help but want to put it on the shelf and move on. That one moment though, the final viewing of the completed film where you forget all the mistakes and problems and soak in the sense of an ending. It’s worth the wait. Then you let go and run away screaming to the next project.
A blank page looks at me now. It stares at me and smiles. Letting go of a completed project used to be hard. It used to leave an empty space that needs to be filled. A blank page is the new moment I wait for. A flashing curser surrounded by an empty white screen. At this moment anything is possible and no mistakes have been made yet. I’ll hold on to the blank pages for a few more days and then eventually I’ll have to let go of that too. Finish, let go and move on. Finish, let go and move on. The more you let go of, the easier it is to move on.
Stills from the film ‘Drowning’:
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