A Summer Full of Light Bulbs

So I quit my job early. It was June already and I had to go to Jordan for my brother's graduation. Besides, it had been over a year and a half since I had woken up to that cool morning breeze that carries with it the fresh scent of Amman's five a.m.
I needed to get away from that corporate prison on the 49th floor of downtown LA. I told my boss to pull the plug. Let me go. Set me free. Fire my ass! I am ready to take that leap of faith, and jump into student life again. And I'll do it early with great pleasure as I would finally have the summer off to think, to prepare, and to rev my writing engines.

Here I am exactly two months later, and I've done a million productive things that make June seem like ten years ago.

The biggest accomplishment has been writing a major screenplay that I will keep private for now, but I hope the whole world will see it on a silver screen in a couple of years. It has something to do with sitting under a tree. It's a movie that links all the social classes we have in Amman. Laith and I started this idea on a napkin one afternoon while sitting at the Cheesecake Factory. We developed a concept, and from that point on, I spent five to six hours every morning at Starbucks writing away and obsessing about this movie's universe.

Also very exciting, was my trip to Amman where I made two shorts films, "Suffi Suffi" (Pak the Car) and "Crossroads".

You know, ideas come to us all the time. Making movies is simply figuring out how to approach communicating them, then actually putting together a game plan to execute.
for example, Suffi Suffi came about when I went to lunch with the folks at the Royal Film Commission. Pheadra (who ended up acting in the movie) was driving and all the guys in the car were suggesting how she should drive. Then when she was about to park, all the guys volunteered their opinions. And here I sat watching and remembering the million times I'd seen this happen in Amman, guys telling girls how to park. So I told them we have to make a movie out of this situation. A few days later I brought my camera over and gathered the group. I mapped out certain things on a whiteboard, then we all improvised the rest. It also helped that my brother brought his hilarious friend, Nadim Mshahwar, over. Everyone involved did a brilliant job with their own contribution.

Crossroads was a great experience also because it was a very sincere script written by Lina based on her story, and I really wanted to make a good dramatic Jordanian short without quirky comedy or Hollywood-style suspense. Working with non-actors was a great experience because I think Arabic (Jordanian especially) lends itself to natural delivery. Performances came across as very genuine and real.

Also, it was an amazing experience to have the screenings of ten of my films at the Royal Film Commission.

I got to read a couple of novels and a stack of film books. Watched a lot of old and foreign films.

I hope this blog wasn't too long. I ramble on sometimes, but the bottom line is that in two months you can get a million things done. And you can shave your head to prove it. Whatever that means.