Smoking While Editing

EXT. MALIBU - DAY - FLASHBACK

A couple of months ago, I spent a relaxing three day weekend down in Malibu with my wife, Don and his girlfriend. We were able to stay at this great beach townhouse in Point Dume right along the PCH Highway 1 near the beach. Over the course of the weekend, we did the beach, bar-b-q, Guinness, wine and the whole R&R deal. It couldn't have happened at a better time. We were even able to see the famous Castle Kashan for the first time as we were driving around. Prior to the trip, the stress levels were pushing a yellow to red on the frustration meter. Bleh.

The weeks prior to the little trip, we were dealing with the launch of the revamped "Why Go To Film School?" site while simultaneously editing the early rough cuts of the film. And as you may know... once you get going in a productive state of mind, it's tough to get yourself to stop. So...the weekend was able to tear us away from all the filmmaking stress, work and everything else in order for us to just spend time together and enjoy ourselves. Otherwise...what good is it all, right? One of the highlights - Jumping into the freezing ocean at 6am right after sunrise and being pushed by the waves. That was fun.


INT. EDITING ROOM - DAY - PRESENT

Hard at working tweaking the latest rough version of the Shiro's Head edit after cutting to a potentially great soundtrack (which I'll talk about in a later post). My brother Don comes in to tell me that Malibu is on fire and that the Castle Kashan has burnt to the ground! Whoah.

Turned on the news and there it was...Malibu is going up in flames. And right along the Point Dume area as well. Apparently, as close as the blaze was to the resident's homes, no one was reported to be injured. And the flames were close - right next to the roadside.

To give you an idea of the scope of this fire - now...Malibu is about a 25-35 min. drive from where we're located. From the time that Don told me about the Malibu fire news to about an hour later, we started smelling the smoke and ash that was coming from the flames at the coastline. From the time the smoke and ash arrived, to about thirty minutes later, the sky in our neighborhood turned dark orange. I mean eclipse style. It was nuts. BUT coming from Guam where we have our share of typhoons and earthquakes; I'm familiar with the occasional hiccups in mother nature's breath.

So, not thinking too much about it...I just kept right along editing the movie, keeping up to date with the news on the Malibu fires. But from time to time I found myself going back to the picture perfect weekend in Point Dume and remembering the castle on the hill, the beach and how lucky we were to experience it all when we did - reminded once again about just how fast things can change.