It's Friday The 13th and My 38th Birthday
I'm baaaaaaaaack
Listen to this or read it. And….ask questions in the comments. Or just say hi! Thank you!!!!!!
Friday the 13th. October 13th. My 38th Birthday!
I woke up at 7am like a kid on Christmas, eyes opening, mind racing…today is really the day. The excitement doesn’t have to do with my birthday at all. It has to do with a long gestating project that has taken years to finish and today I will be watching the initial rough edit at Warner Brothers Studios with my sound editor. This project took 17 days to film, in 30 locations over the course of 2 years…it could be absolute horse shit. BUT today is the day I get to see it.
The cinematographer an old roommate.
The editor a friend from college.
The sound editor one of my first friends in New York.
The producer a guy who came to the taping of my first comedy special and wanted to help me make another.
Over the past 19 yearI have been up late having drinks at some bar with every one of these people discussing film or music or plays and hoping we would get to work on a real project together one day. And that day is today, which just so happens to be my birthday.
Which brings me to another thing I would like to talk to you, the reader about…’Kevin when will start writing this newsletter again, Moral of the Story?’
No, joke, I thought that as I was writing this. That is how prone I am to project into the future or reminisce about the past. I am writing this newsletter for the first time since May. And as I am writing a post I am feeling guilty thinking, ‘I should write a post for Moral of the Story.’
I do that a lot, think about the future of something while it is happening beneath my feet. This project I am about to watch today is an adaptation of a show I did on zoom during the pandemic, then live a few times when theaters reopened, it is called Kevin James Doyle V. The City of New York. I had the bright idea of filming all the stories and jokes in the locations that they took place: bars, diners, theaters, courtrooms, Times Square, my apartment. I told my cinematographer Jeremy it would take 4 days. He said ‘Kevin. Fuck off. This will take 14-17 days, at least.' And it took 17 days to film.
Day 1 was incredible. I am making a strange unique adaption of a one man show.
Day 2-17 were stressful, tiring, angering, failure filled, sweaty and over budget.
But all those days were the thing I was dreaming about over beers with all these friends. One day I hope we get to work on something together. Then as you are working…well…it is work! Work can be hard and sweaty and tiring.
One day I had to wake up at 5am to get a shot of the sunrise over the Manhattan skyline. That was a day I knew I would get this project over the finish line because if you know me, you know there is nothing that can get me out of bed at 5am (many things that will keep me up to 5am though).
What I am watching today is a rough assembly cut and my editor warned me to not stress out, this is just the first edit before we cut and trim down from here and continue
crafting the finished product. I am sure I will wince and cringe a bit. But I hereby vow, in front of all of my readers, to enjoy watching the very rough cut no matter how rough it is. Because 15 years ago, before I was a comedian and before he was a sound editor at Warner Brothers, me and my friend were having a beer saying that ‘someday it would be cool to work on something someday.’ And that day is today. My birthday.
OK. It is now Monday morning. I watched the rough cut. It was good! It has a lot of work to go but it’ll be cool.
I was going to edit the piece above I wrote Friday and give it more of a broader point or add to it. But you know what….I think the point is….I am really excited to be working on something challenging and difficult with friends. And I am excited to share it with people when it is finished. And in the meantime, I am excited to be writing again. Thank you!
I am going to be posting more regularly here and later this week I am going to post a clip of the special I am working on V. The City of New York so you can see a little bit of what I am talking about.
If you write in the comments it always is fun to see your thoughts and answer your questions! See you soon.
Kevin
Happy birthday and congrats on the film!