My wife and I are packing things up and getting ready for our next big move. I accepted a position in the IT department at “Truman State University”:http://www.truman.edu in Kirksville, MO. Kirksville is special to us because we both went to school there. It’s where we met and where we got married. We already know a lot of folks in the community — former coworkers, friends, etc — from my days of working in the Truman PR office and as a news reporter for three radio stations in town.

It’s also the place where we shot our first movie, Dumping Jenny, back in the summer of 2000. One of the biggest reasons we decided to take the job and uproot ourselves is the promise of a steady paycheck and a straight 8-5 weekday job. That leaves lots of time on the weekends and in the evenings to tap the eager student population for another film project. With a few scripts in the works, it’s likely to happen sooner than later. Just give me some time to get adjusted…

We’re also plunging into home ownership, which has been a dream of ours for a while. Bich and I have felt like transients for a while now, and even when we moved back to the States we lost some of the privacy we enjoyed in our Japanese apartment. The Kirksville housing market is…um…interesting, but it only took a day of searching for us to find the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood at the perfect price. Apparently, the buyers thought so too, as we signed the contract on Sunday. Now the real fun begins.

By the way, if you haven’t already, be sure to sign on to “triggerstreet.com”:http://www.triggerstreet.com and check out our Breakups With Guns short featurette. It’s quite a bit different from anything else we’ve done, and it’s been entertaining to read the wide range of feedback we’ve gotten so far. After you watch it, be sure to write a review if the spirit moves you.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about an amazing chance encounter I had today and the Hollywood connection behind it…

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The Artists’ Essentials DVDs are now available at a special pre-order price.

Go to the “Artists’ Essentials website”:http://www.artistsessentials.com to place your secure order with any major credit card.

When the DVDs are released — in about a month — you will receive the first-edition copies.

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I just received word today from our actress Yukiko Ito, who played Hitomi in Rock Paper Scissors. She’s very involved in stage work, and recently played in an historical drama. Here’s a picture of her in full costume:

p=. !/images/67.jpg (Yukiko Ito in period costume)!

We loved having Yukiko on the set. We couldn’t have asked for a better actress and person. One of the challenges of filming a movie in Japan is overcoming the language barrier. Yukiko’s english is extremely limited, yet she worked hard to understand and learn her lines to deliver them convincingly. She basically needed no direction. I don’t know how or where she figured it out, but she got the nuances of her lines, facial expressions, body language, etc, even more naturally than many English-speaking thespians I’ve worked with.

p=. !/images/63.jpg (Hitomi with Jason scene)! … !/images/64.jpg (Hitomi looks pensive)!

And we really asked a lot of her. Attached with only a rope and in an uncomfortable (and scary) position, she flung herself “over” a waterfall again and again, mocking hitting her head on a rock, until we got the take right. And, although we took the utmost safety precautions, it was still a bit scary filming on the edge of a very dangerous waterfall in the middle of the woods, with all the physical activity that was required. But she tackled it enthusiastically, never complaining or showing concern, except that she give the best performance possible.

p=. !/images/65.jpg (Behind the scenes 1)! … !/images/66.jpg (behind the scenes 2)!

One of the last scenes we shot was the opening of the movie, where she swam out in the middle of a very dirty lake in the middle of a busy public park, fully clothed, and floated for about 10 minutes while we got the shots we needed. The water was extremely cold, but again she showed no hesitation.

Thank you so much, Yukiko. Mark my words — this woman is going to go far in her acting career.

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