Watching the sun rise from a rice field.

In many ways, I believe I was undone by Glass City.

Let me explain. For the two or three of you reading this blog who might not know, I started a theatre company some years ago called Still Waiting Productions, a charity troupe of young artists that put on a show every summer, even for a couple of years after I left the company to manage itself. The best summer of my life, coined The Five-Year Summer once upon a time, directly belonged to that company and to its members, many of whom I now call my closest friends. That summer inspired Glass City, the first feature film I ever wrote, shot or produced. I wrote a budget, I assembled a crew helmed by director - and future best man - Cole Simon, and I had the best filmmaking experience of my life. Nothing has ever remotely come close to toppling it.

I couldn't begin to tell you why. I've worked with better and more experienced crews since. I've accomplished far greater projects. I've been to Bangladesh and back, I've shot a six-figure film, I've directed and produced a SAG feature, and I've survived and thrived as a freelance artist in a bustling city. Why does a film like that hold such weight for me? It's flawed, it represents everything a beginner filmmaker does - that is, cobble together all their influences into one generally unoriginal piece - and not a single shot from it exists on my demo reel today.

I remember Dostoyevsky. "Something that made us, for a time, better perhaps than we are." I've come to realize in the wake of the past projects I've tackled that nothing will ever eclipse that good and true feeling I felt each day I was on that set. The feeling of crafting that first film. The joy of knowing that, for better or worse, I was with my friends every step of the way and they were with me right back.

And it's not that these past projects haven't had that last bit. I wouldn't trade a single person on these crews for anyone. But, as a producer, I don't think I've ever felt more alone. And, even as I acknowledge the immensely wondrous job Justin's done on Separation Anxiety - in my mind, there's no one else better, even me - I don't have the buoyancy of cinematography to keep me from getting down each day.

For two years and change now, I have been trying to replicate a feeling and a time that cannot be replicated. I can't keep putting myself in that. I don't want to. I remember the last time I felt lighter than air shooting a film: in Bangladesh, sitting in the middle of a rice field with an HD camera the size of my fist, capturing the most majestic sunset I've ever experienced. That was the moment I realized I was doing something no one in the world had ever done. And that was the reason watching Strong Bodies Fight last weekend moved me to tears. It reminded me, for that brief moment, why I chose this life.

I want to be reminded again.

CALL FOR EXTRAS - Separation Anxiety

Friends:

We're over halfway through production on Separation Anxiety, and the last five days will definitely be the most challenging for us, so we need all the help we can get!

If you're interested and able, we're looking for extras to serve as airline customers at the Toledo Express Airport from 8:00am-5:00pm Tuesday thru Saturday, Nov. 17-21. PAs are also definitely needed!

PLEASE send an email to glasscityfilms@gmail.com with your full name and contact information (address, email, phone) if you can make it out! We need specific dates, times, and information for airport security reasons. Food and snacks will be provided, along with IMDB credit once the film's out.

Come out and be a part of the biggest Glass City Films production yet!

Cheers,
John Klein
Producer, Separation Anxiety