Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Family/Film Balance - from Director Dana Glazer

The weather was perfect, the crew assembled, the stars seemingly in alignment for filming on-the-street interviews today. But then...the fateful call from our sitter. She had food poisoning and wasn't going to be able to make it. Given my wife's strained back there was no other option but to postpone filming.

Such is the nature of shooting a film about involved fatherhood while being an involved father. Sometimes it's an integrated affair and sometimes.... Filmmaking, by its nature, is an all consuming affair. The good news is that there couldn't be a more integrative project than this one, but reality sometimes butts heads with one's desire to be productive.

This was a point of frustration this morning but then I reflected on one of the major themes of the film: that our culture is too geared toward maximizing production and efficiency to the detriment of dads (as well as the rest of the family.)

Wasn't my frustration just another manifestation of this?

The answer lies somewhere in figuring out a balance between family and work - one of the toughest things to do. Certainly, my intention is to get this film done as effectively and quickly as I can - but not when it's to the detriment of family. So, filming will wait. My elder son and I will go out to the park where he will dance through the sprinklers with the world's largest smile; and at the end of the day, isn't that what this film is truly about anyway?

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