"Regret"

It has been a week since we wrapped Regret, and already that seems like a lifetime ago. We reached our goal on our Seed & Spark campaign, raising $12,001, and received multiple additional donations and discounts from local businesses for gear, supplies, and services.

“Regret” was the fourth adaptation of a Kate Chopin story that Ripe Figs, LLC has done, and while I have been privileged to write the screenplays for each of them, I was especially thrilled to be directing this one. Of course, when we began day 1 by shooting the biggest scene in the script - a 6 1/2 page scene with 8 speaking characters, 4 of whom are minors (and 2 of those 8 years old) - I had to remind myself that I had made those challenges for myself! But I was supported by some of the best indie filmmakers in New Orleans, some of them taking a few days away from their studio gigs (and studio paychecks) to help out.

Shooting in November means 10 hours of daylight - if you’re lucky enough to have clear skies. Minors work shorter days. Setting your story in rural Louisiana means crew and cast have to drive an hour to set. We shot the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (a half-day, at least) before Thanksgiving, and then I and my cinematographer got out on Friday and shot B-roll. We shot all 27 pages of our script, and didn’t drop a thing, and that is totally due to the dedication of every cast and crew member. Everyone did more than one job, and they did it with a passion for filmmaking.

We still have a long way to go to finish this project: editing, music, color and post-audio. We hope to start submitting to festivals around the time we end “Ripe Figs” and “Dr. Chevalier’s Lie” ‘s festival runs in January. I’ll be posting more about “Regret” - thoughts on adapting Chopin’s work to screenplay, missives on the amazing locations we found, all hidden jewels people should know about for other reasons, working with children - but for now I just wanted to say how grateful I am to have been given this chance to write and direct this short film, and for the people who worked on it with me.