This is a copy of the New Year’s letter I sent to some folks today.
Happy New Year!
Apologies if I asked for your address and implied you might get a card. That project lost steam. Hang on for next year, though – because I already bought the cards.
In the meantime, here’s a little 2015 re-cap.
I am happy and grateful to report that Paul and I are doing fine. Our families are fine, our health is fine. WE are fine.
Here we are expressed as condiments.
Here we are as two of the eight-trillion people who went to see Star Wars –since we live in Los Angeles, we saw it at this fancy theater with storm troopers in the lobby.
Also as inhabitants of Los Angeles, we spent much of 2015 writing scripts and developing projects and doing stuff people do when they want to create things for a living. This is like playing a board game with many squares.
If you keep progressing one square at a time and don’t land on any shortcuts, it can take much longer to move forward than you expected, but the board is colorful and you enjoy playing the game, so it’s fun!
But also sometimes, if you keep keep moving very slowly or it feels like you’re losing your turn, it can be a little boring and frustrating.
But fun! Go, Candy Castle!
Games can be more fun with friends. Paul and I both have individual projects but also some collaborative projects with creative partners, or “spouse-away-from-spouses.”
Paul’s frequent creative spouse is his friend Max. Max lives out of town, so they talk on Skype a lot and this year they spent several weeks in Biloxi, Mississippi, working on a movie that they wrote called Precious Cargo.
I asked Paul for a picture documenting their time together and he sent me this:
Paul is wearing a neon vest and making a weird face, and Max is in the background yelling at someone. I have no idea what is happening.
My co-writer and producer Janice, finished writing a script called Lovers in Their Right Mind. After it progressed in the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition we went to Texas for the festival where we learned stuff and met nice people. Since it was over Halloween weekend, we made movie-inspired Thelma and Louise costumes. Here’s our version of the classic Poloroid selfie:
and, so you can see the full 90s-gloriousness of my denim-yoked skirt, here we are, posing with a Borg.
(Stay tuned, because in 2016 we have to raise money to make the film, after which we will look sweaty and bedraggled like this:)
A shout-out to friends I got to see on my trips to the mid-west and Texas, and to friends who visited us here in Los Angeles — whether from Australia or the San Fernando Valley. It was awesome to see old-friends…and new babies!
And another kind of shout-out to friends who have had more “eventful” years than us — who have dealt with the loss of loved ones, illnesses and hardship.
This year I’ve been more acutely aware than ever of the people everywhere who are struggling with very hard environmental, economic and social circumstances, and how by comparison my life and quest for Candy Castles happen inside a very fortunate bubble. A hope-and-prayer-filled shout out to all of the strangers with whom we share a planet.
Wishing you all kinds of PEACE and LOVE and ABUNDANCE in 2016…
Happy New Year!
Barrington and Paul