Every time we gain a little momentum another project rears it's head. At least this one is worth it - The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I promised myself that we would finish Neurotypical by the end of the year. We will!
Now comes the fun part (if you call sitting in front of a computer for weeks "fun")!! So far, we have accumulated approximately 80 hours of footage that needs to compressed into 90-120 minutes of solid gold. But first, the footage needs to be logged, sorted, and categorized. I have a feeling that we have A LOT more than 120 minutes of gold!
NPR has been an amazing resource for Neurotypical! I recently heard Jonathan Mooney talk about his book, the Short Bus and knew we needed to connect. Jonathan is a dyslexic writer and activist who did not learn to read until he was 12 years old. After a spirited game of phone tag, we finally were able to chat. Brilliant!
A new twist! We've been struggling to find the "glue" for the content within the film, and I think we may finally have it! Because most of our footage is in the form of interviews (amazing interviews at that), we feel it's essential for there to be a visceral "thread" to help make connections between those interviews. Something that moves (because an hour and a half of talking heads could be deadly). So... we've decided to structure the film as a triptych by following three individuals on the spectrum. Part one will focus on Violet, 3; part two, Nicholas, 14; and part three, Paula, whom we filmed earlier. Fortunately they were all willing, close by, and, guess what? We filmed them last week!
