The L.A. Dime

I’ve told the story of my filmmaking dream often, but never here, and never with such urgency. Next week, the state government of Kentucky will vote on House Bills 530 and 290, which could effectively nullify all of the progress that was made less than a year ago when the state passed its first film incentive package. Granted, that package was not nearly up to snuff in competing with competitive film states, but it did provide enough to draw Disney to the Commonwealth so it could film parts of Secretariat, and positively impact Kentucky’s economy for over three weeks. It was a good start. Four other films are slated to begin production in the state this year and next, but without even our base incentive package, they would have no reason to come. My producing partner and I were considering rewriting my Florida-based script to be shot in Kentucky, but now it wouldn’t be worth the effort to relocate. The repeal of our incentives will be retroactive to 2009, so the business Disney did in our state will no longer be eligible for its benefit. How does that make us look?

When I was a student at the University of Kentucky, there was no film program in place; and today, at our Commonwealth’s flagship institution of higher learning, there still isn’t. I cobbled together what I could out of several different schools and departments to prepare myself as best I could to begin a career in film and media arts. Ultimately, I had to leave the state to study my craft, spend my money elsewhere, and apply my talent, energy and drive to bettering the California economy in pursuit of my interests. Since then, movies I’ve written have filmed in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Atlanta. I’m still in the west, because as a writer, filmmaker, and educator, the prospects for work in Kentucky are so sparse that it doesn’t make sense to move home. This effect is called “brain drain.” Our best and brightest artists (not that I consider myself to be one) often leave the Bluegrass and never come back because there are no opportunities for them to work here. Last year’s film incentive package was a first step toward clogging that drain and keeping our talent in state. The Bluegrass Technical and Community College, EKU, NKU, WKU, Spalding, and Asbury College now offer film production courses. U of L is developing a continuing education and magnet program for film, reaching from middle school through college. The goal: to create a film literate and work capable crew base to attract productions to our state and get our citizens jobs. Efforts by these institutions and the Kentucky Film Commission, of which I’m a member, are necessary first steps toward changes that can make a huge difference to the Commonwealth’s economy long-term, but rescinding our incentive package next week will quash them.

Film production provides hundreds of jobs across a vast array of fields. Construction, transportation, carpentry, electric, grounds keeping, computer science, accounting, legal, food services and lodging are but a few fields of service that people don’t often consider when thinking about how people make movies. Hundreds of men and women work on a movie at any one time. They must eat, sleep, and be transported. Sets must be built. Costumes created. Bills paid. Food, fuel, and equipment bought. Each movie that comes to our state is a huge chunk of business, but Kentucky’s government is prepared to raze our fields before they’ve even had a chance to sprout. Don’t let it happen. Please, contact your state reps and let them know how you feel about protecting and nurturing a film economy in the Commonwealth. Louisiana, New Mexico, Florida, West Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, and Georgia are all doing it, so why can’t we?

Let’s develop the talent within our state, keep it at home, and profit from it. I want to come home!

Find your Representative: www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm>

Conference Committee members:

Senate Members:

David Williams <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S016.htm>
Katie Kratz Stine <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S024.htm>
Robert Stivers <mailto:Robert.Stivers@lrc.ky.gov>
Ed Worley <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S034.htm>
Dan Seum <mailto:Dan.Seum@lrc.ky.gov>
Johnny Ray Turner <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S029.htm>
Carroll Gibson <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S005.htm>
Jerry P. Rhoads <jehttp://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S006.htm>

House Members:

Gregory Stumbo <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H095.htm>
Larry Clark <mailto:Larry.Clark@lrc.ky.gov>
Rocky Adkins <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H099.htm>
Jeff Hoover <mailto:Jeff.Hoover@lrc.ky.gov>
Robert Damron <mailto:Robert.Damron@lrc.ky.gov>
Bob DeWeese <mailto:Bob.DeWeese@lrc.ky.gov>
John Will Stacy <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H071.htm>
David Floyd <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H050.htm>

Call your Representative: 502/564-8100

One of Sophie’s favorite past-times is dancing, especially with her Dada. I love watching the two of them sing and dance — Brad shows her new moves, she happily follows his lead and it always ends up with her laying on his shoulder as he sways her back and forth.

Another favorite playtime activity of hers is making us oatmeal, milk and hamburgers in her kitchen. She likes to line us and her bears or dolls up in a row, give us each a bowl & spoon and then fill the bowls up with “home-cooked goodness”. Aunt Mandee added a lovely apron and chef’s hat to the kitchen accessories this past Christmas.

Trying to continuously make progress in preparing Sophie for the transition of becoming a big sister as well as trying to get our house ready for Baby Riddell, we spent this past weekend switching the office/guest room and Sophie’s room. The “new kids room” now holds all of Sophie’s toys, the crib (waiting for the new arrival in July) and Sophie’s new bed. She seemed very excited about her “pink, big girl bed” in the store but we weren’t sure if she’d like sleeping (and staying) in it once we got it home. It’s been about 4 days now and even though she’s gotten up a few times to check on us and in the mornings we tend to find an extra bear or doll in bed with her, she seems to be adjusting ok.

When Brad and I started talking about having kids, we decided it would be wise to pick a name first. We figured that if we could get through the incredibly difficult decision of finding a name that we both liked, couldn’t be turned into some bad joke and would be easy to pronounce in both English and German, we figured having the actual kid to go with the name would be a breeze. Once we settled on a boy and girl name we both liked, we got pregnant.

2.5 years later we are now faced with the same decision, except that we’re already 5.5 months pregnant. We’ve gone through a couple of names that we both thought we were very happy with, only to find a few weeks later to not like them anymore. We’ve searched the baby names websites and are constantly asking each other: “Do you like ____” or “What do you think of _____”.

Well beloved blog-readers, we need your help? What should we name this next Baby Riddell? We didn’t (and aren’t planning to ) find out the sex so suggestions for either would be great!!

I hit my 20th week of pregnancy yesterday and am feeling pretty good. The nausea is gone and although I get tired pretty easily, I am now able to really enjoy this pregnancy. Our little person is quite active, especially at night. It’s not yet hard enough for Brad to feel the kicks or movements on the outside but he does talk to the belly often. Even though we’d decided on some names, we now seem to be back to square one on that but luckily there are still a few months left. If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them along! We (well, really it was me and Brad seems to have given in) decided to not find out the sex of the baby. We originally wanted to do that with Sophie as well but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we did find out and Brad really enjoyed knowing that this little person I was carrying, was now someone he could start to call by name and form an even closer bond with, even outside of the womb. This time though, we are going to wait to hear our dear friend and wonderful doc Karyn call out: “It’s a _____” sometime in the middle of July. I feel like it’ll be a really nice surprise after the work of bringing her or him into the world.

This weekend we are planning to make a big push on starting the room switch/transition. Brad is going to move into what is currently Sophie’s room and we are going to turn the current office/guest room into the kids room. Our plan is to have Sophie get used to her new room (and new twin bed which we picked up this past weekend but have yet to put together) for the next few months before the baby arrives. We are doing all we can to not make her feel like the baby is going to take over all of her things and she’s being pushed to the side (one of my biggest fears but more on that later). Our pediatrician even recommended covering up the crib so when the baby starts to sleep in it, it’ll seem like it’s brand-new and not Sophie’s old bed. We’re not going to go that far but are planning on having the baby either sleep in the crib in the office (at least at night when Brad’s not working) or in a basinet in our room until it sleeps through the night, and doesn’t disturb Sophie. At some point though, hopefully sooner rather than later, they will share a room.

Lots of you have asked us what Sophie thinks about getting a baby sister or brother but we are not sure yet she fully grasps what’s going to happen. She seems to know that I have a baby in my belly and “it’s not time yet” for it to come out and meet us. She goes back and forth on wanting a brother or sister but does seem to get excited when I tell her that she’ll be able to help me take care of the baby and that the baby is going to stay with us. She is a very caring and loving little girl – just tonight she was feeding her bears a home-cooked meal from her kitchen, changed them, let them watch a little tv and then put them down for naps – so we hope that she’ll share that love and attention with her little sibling once he or she joins us sometime in July.

Below are some belly shots for those of you wanting to take a peek at my ever-expanding waist line:)

Every two years, our household experiences a 2-week window of extreme “country rivalry” and competitive comments made about anything and everything we can think of to make our own native homelands sound, look or seem better. This year’s winter Olympics was no different. During the opening ceremonies, while I was utterly embarrassed by the horrible color choices and outfits of the German athletes making their way into the stadium (seriously?!?!??!), Brad suggested we have a bet on total medal count at the end of the games. Thinking that I should have a fairly decent shot, considering that winter sports are a major past-time of many Germans, I took the bet and announced my reward to be a week’s worth of back massages from Brad. Brad ended up never coming up with what his prize should be in the case he won, but we immediately started tracking the daily metal counts, poking fun of each other and cringing every time the others’ country won. Well, for those of you who followed the games, you now know that I lost. It’s disappointing yes, but then again, considering how much larger this country is in both population and space, not sure it was a fair bet to take on after all.

More importantly that our bet though, I wanted to write this post to say  a few things about “national pride” and what these Olympics once again reminded me of. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am deeply ashamed by my country’s history and tend to avoid the topic of our past as much as I can. I don’t even watch movies that have to do with our history, the Nazi regime or the wars – I by no means want to push what we did under the rug or believe that we shouldn’t learn from those mistakes, but continuing to bring it to the forefront through movies or tv shows, I simply can’t bring myself to support those efforts. At the same time of feeling this guilt, I am also quite protective and proud of the great accomplishments in science, technology and environmental advances we’ve made. I have not and don’t ever plan to give up my German citizenship. I speak to my daughter in German and am committed to not only teaching her the language but also about its culture and traditions. I plan on taking her for visits as often as feasible to stay connected with her German relatives and experience the country first-hand. She has a German (and American) passport.

“National pride” is something that most Germans today don’t feel or ever show. We know better.  We simply can’t. You would be hard pressed to find a German flag, t-shirt or coffee mug with the German flag on it (even as a souvenir). Watching the German athletes these past 18 days however – seeing how they came together as a team, as a competitor, as a country – I couldn’t help but feel excited for them; to feel like their hard work put into excelling at their craft was ok to be shown to the world and it was ok to cheer them on and maybe even be proud of. I can’t help where I was born. I can’t change the past. I have wonderful parents who taught me to see the good in everyone, to forgive mistakes and to focus on what each of us can do to make this world better.  I try to live with one foot planted firmly in where I come from, not ever forgetting that part of my upbringing and how that’s made me who I am today, but also with one foot in the future where I have the opportunity to make good choices, raise thoughtful & caring individuals and find a way to have a positive impact.

So, to wrap up – congrats to the US for winning the medal count. Congrats to Canada for putting on a fabulous Olympics. And Congrats to all athletes who worked incredibly hard to even make it to this level of competition – medal or not, your dedication and commitment to being the best you can be is certainly an inspiration to me.