March | 2012 | Big Owl's Tree

0608081041b — A pic from one of our first weeks together.

Dear sons, one day, I hope you’ll look back at these posts and know what a profound impact you had on my life. Even though I was 31 when Collin was born, I didn’t really become a man until that day, and being your father has been the most important role of my existence. None of the professional accomplishments measure up to the satisfaction of those times I’ve gotten to keep you guys for a week or two at a time. To this day, my proudest achievement is the first time I kept you boys alone for that 11 or 12 day stretch, feeding you every meal, bathing you each night, and getting you to sleep. Collin, you were 4, and Finn, you were not yet 2. Being able to care for you by myself and keeping you safe and healthy for that long made me feel better about myself as a person than anything before or since.

Life without you hasn’t always been easy. When you are in Florida and we have months to go before we’ll see each other again, I miss you more than words could ever express, but all I have to do is think about the times we’ve spent together, and I smile. There’s a moment with each trip after we’ve endured the long drive and gotten settled at home, when you boys start running around and playing with all of the toys you haven’t seen in months. At some point, you both start laughing, and that sound soothes and heals me more than anything. On my hardest days, the memories of your laughter get me through the darkest moments.

My only real regret in life is that I’m not able to have you guys more often or for longer periods. So far, circumstances have prevented that from being a realistic possibility, and while I love talking to you on the phone, it isn’t a good enough substitute for holding you, hugging you, and seeing you with my own eyes. My biggest goal in life is to have more time together, and I promise that I’m working as hard as I can to make that a reality. Please, don’t ever think, even for a moment, that I don’t want to spend more time with you because there is not one second of my life that I don’t miss you boys and wish we were together. One day, you’ll be old enough to understand the logistics of making even one trip happen, but until that day, I hope you know in your hearts that Daddy would trade everything for more time with you.

I love you guys and can’t wait to see you again.

For today’s entry, I want to do something a little different: I met Frank Fradella last year at FandomFest, and not only was he the best-dressed person at the convention, he was also one helluva nice guy. Frank is working on putting together a short film to enter into a contest sponsored by Ridley Scott. Please, if you can spare $10, donate to help finance this production. I’ve used IndieGoGo myself and can personally vouch for the authenticity of the site. Signing up is easy and non-intrusive, and you can choose to make your donation anonymously if you so desire. Also, I can assure you that your contribution will be used solely for the purposes of creating this film and nothing else. Let’s help make this happen. Here’s a synopsis of the project:

The Chameleon Affair is an espionage thriller short film that’s being created for a contest sponsored by YouTube and Scott Free Productions (Ridley Scott’s production company).

The story focuses on Chameleon, a girl who was raised to be a “honey pot” by a covert organization posing as an orphanage. Two years ago she faked her own death, but when an artist’s rendering of her is good enough to run afoul of the company’s facial recognition software, they realize that she’s still alive and the chase is on.

And then there’s Bishop, the operative she seduced to help her fake her own death (and whom she subsequently abandoned), who feels very much the fool and is only too glad to be tasked with bringing her in.

Father, the head of the organization, wants her alive. Mother Superior, who is (unbeknownst to everyone but Father) actually Chameleon’s mother, wants to keep her safe.

Bishop, it seems, has other plans. The film culminates in an explosive confrontation in the Great Plains Zoo.

No. Seriously explosive. Things go boom.

It’s a very ambitious film we’re making here. We’re taking on a lot more than you’d usually see in a 15-minute short film and we’re proud of the team we’ve put together, including Bruce Hoyer and Shayna Baszler — two MMA champs — who are handling the fight choreography.

We’re trying to raise just $3000 for this production. Most of that money goes to pay our cinematographer, the award-winning DP Doug Lee, and to rent the expensive camera package we’ll need for the 4-day shoot. The rest of the money goes to paying for food, gas and lodging for the crew. None of this is frivolous or goes into our pockets.

What’s on the table if we win is a half a million dollar film deal with Ridley Scott’s production company and, if we lose, at the very least, we come away with a film we can take around to festivals.

Any help is deeply appreciated. Thank you.

Frank Fradella
Writer/Director
Paper Lantern Productions

To donate, please got to: http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Chameleon-Affair