25 July 07
I phoned Patrick tonight. My guess is it has been more than a week since he and I last spoke. Several e-mails have been exchanged, but reading isn’t the same as hearing. I casually asked about Red 71 and how post was going. Ken had already informed me that Patrick had hired an editor and that a rough cut was expected by this Friday. Imagine how surprised I was when Patrick told me he had the rough cut in his hand! Patrick hired Jack James on Friday, July 20th, and five days later we have a rough cut. Damn. The TRT came in at :59 minutes. Patrick said that from watching Jack’s early progress, he saw that the pacing was much too quick and that rather than trimming, he was going to have to get Jack to stretch out the film. Jack obviously hasn’t seen Mercy. Some of the good things Patrick mentioned were Nathan’s performance, and the scene we shot where Ted Parks played both Charlie and Peter in the same scene. He said it wen’t together seamlessly. He also mentioned that Jack had laid down a foley track with some of the “extras” roughed in. All Good. I’m so happy with the progress. This is a full year ahead of where we were at this time on Mercy. Too cool. I requested that Patrick and Jack export something and get it online so that Ken and I can take a look. He agreed by saying, “I don’t have a clue how to do that.” He promised he’d figure it out.
