“Hey, BOSS—wanna go duck hunting?” Da Boss wasn’t amused by my suggestion. “Aren’t you afraid someone will see you?” I got my spur claws ready. “What do you mean.” He sighed. “I mean one of your bird friends. You want to go duck hunting? Why? Do you even eat duck? Aren’t you against killing animals, or at least other birds?” I reminded him that I was and am not against the killing of animals for food or sport, just the species I belong to. Or genus. Whatever—don’t kill roosters, hens, “chickens.” I will cut you. We’re not a crispy hamburger. You will not make a sandwich out of me.
I reminded Da Boss that I frequently brought him caviar and pâté in the editing bay and he assiduously ignored me every time. So, I charged it to the movie account and didn’t tell him. He’ll find out long after I’m gone… to another country. Grehehehe. But we really do have fun. This week Da Boss was finishing up photography on his new short film, and we didn’t do much new work on “Time Waits for No One,” despite the screening being in less than a month. “Just give me tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll film all the projector stuff. And the panels. We have to swap that stuff out.” But that’s not in the segment we’re working on, it’s in the opening credits. What’s going on? “Okay we’ll work on that in October.”
Da Boss needs deadlines because he will BLOW right past months and years otherwise. We’ve made every date so far. But it’s always been down to the wire, with very little time to relax. I hope we’re not doing anything in November.
And then he tells me he’s starting a new film.
A feature.
Okay. A short I can handle—especially this one, which is the opposite of SATUR-19: all static wide shots, the good takes are marked, and it’s only 10 minutes long. We’ll edit that movie in a day and send it off to the colorist and the sound designer. But a new feature? Based on his 2020 short Orange You Glad I Said Banana?? I’m going to go insane. He tells me he’s going to shoot it documentary style, well DOCUMENTARIES HAVE TO BE EDITED, TOO! And apparently there’s going to be more moving camera, more dolly shots, more special effects, and, like SATUR-19, constant sound effects and stereo design. Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve such a fate from Almighty God? Maybe I scratched my husband too many times.
“Monica, I will figure it out. We haven’t had a disaster yet, have we? And we’re doing well. Our work has been accepted into a very good film festival. I’m excited. I know it’s only six minutes, but aren’t you excited?” Okay, I had to admit to him that I was a teeny-weeny-little-bit excited. But I wasn’t about to slow down just so I could celebrate.
—Follow Monica Quibbits on Twitter: @MonicaQuibbits