Yessiree. Cyan’s first feature, I Love Your Work, premieres tomorrow at the Toronto International Film Festival, so I’m road-tripping north – way north – to catch the screening, hobnob with movie stars, get rip-roaring drunk at industry soirees, shake hands and kiss babies, etc., etc. I’m hoping to blog away while up there (though some entries may instead appear on Cyan’s site – in which case I’ll link across); stop back in to hear about the exploits as they unfold.

Running a fast-rising indie production company, I get to meet movie stars on a fairly regular basis. And, by and large, it doesn’t faze me at all. After all, despite what Us and Entertainment Weekly might imply, even Oscar-winners are just people; granted, exceedingly talented people whose face you and millions of others have seen blown up to forty feet across and projected onto a wall. But people none the less.

Still, earlier today, I met a star who turned me instantly into a mouth-breathing, autograph-chasing, slack-jawed yokel. Today, I met none other than Wally Shawn, inimitable Sicilian of Princess Bride fame. Shaking his hand, I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from saying aloud: “inconceivable!”

Though, like most bloggers, my posts about digital media and such are largely me talking out of my ass, apparently my two cents on the matter are worth significantly more than just two cents. At least, that seems to be the conclusion of the esteemed Directors Guild of America, people who really should know better, but have none the less asked me to speak at the upcoming DGA Digital Day on digital technology in film production and distribution.

I mean, If I’m the best they can find for insight on the digital future of film, there are some hard, hard times ahead for the movie industry.

On the heels of my last Napoleon Complex post, it occurred to me that most of my readers have never met me in real life. So, a brief word of explanation: at 5’6″, I’m not terribly tall.

Which, frankly, puts me right at home here in the world of film. Earlier this week, for example, I inherited a stack of great shirts, pants and sweaters from the recently wrapped I Love Your Work’s costume wardrobe, as apparently Giovanni Ribisi and I are exactly the same size.

It took me back to a meeting Cyan had over the summer while casting Coming Down the Mountain. Caitlin Rinderer, our casting director, was singing the praises of a young actor she though would be perfect for the lead. He needed to look like a basketball player, we reminded her; was the guy tall? Well, actor tall, she replied. Actor tall? You know, she deadpanned, 5’9″, 5’10”.

After several very intensive months, Cyan’s first feature, I Love Your Work, is finally in the can. And though all of post-production (editing, sound, etc.) still lies ahead, the hardest work is done. My sleep schedule should once again be returning to some semblance of normal.

While I’m obviously thrilled, and more than somewhat relieved, I’m also a bit saddened. The crucible of a movie set is uniquely conducive to the alchemy of new friendships, and over the past month and a half of shooting, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a (by and large, at least) truly extraodinary group of people. [Point in case: Katya and Alexis, you rock the proverbial Casbah.]

I suspect over the next few months, I’ll be living a rather bicoastal lifestyle – juggling time between developing our next projects back in New York and overseeing post out West – which should give me the chance to stalk my new ILYW buddies. I just hope they’ll still talk to me when I’m no longer paying their salaries.

Producing movies isn’t for the faint of heart. At least twice a week, I’m thoroughly convinced that I Love Your Work is going to fall apart horribly, to thoroughly deconstruct. And, at least twice a week, we miraculously cobble together a solution, keep cranking ahead, and continue to create scene after scene of beautifully shot film.

Yesterday, while viewing the footage from the third week of shooting, I suddenly realized that the efforts of our phenomenal cast and crew have been paying off, as we’re making a really, really good film. And I similarly realized that I might never be able to fully enjoy it, as the mere sight of some scenes might send me flashing back on the various disasters along the way.

Films, it seems, ought to be lumped into the old adage with sausage and legislation: enjoyable in the end only so long as you never watch them being made.

Since entering the world of film, I’ve been lucky to meet a fairly wide array of stars – from those in our own film, to the cast of Lord of the Rings, with a slew in between. And none of them, none of them, have made me half as excited as Leif Tilden.

I’ve actually known Leif for about a month, as he’s the location manager on I Love Your Work. But just this evening, over drinks, I discovered that he played Donatello in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (and its sequel), as well as Robbie Sinclair in the TV series “Dinosaurs”.

Holy crap that’s cool.