I'm back from Knoxville, where I just spent the last month prepping and then shooting a new project. I'm way too close to things to say much about it -- what it is, how it went, and so on -- right now. As it gets closer to completion I will talk more about it, no doubt. Aside from not having any distance on the thing, the fact is that I'm just generally reluctant to talk about works-in-progress. This probably seems like an odd trait for a "film blogger" to have. If so, hey, guilty as charged. That fact remains that the only thing I like less than talking about a film I've just shot (but not edited) is a film I'm in the process of writing. I don't have a problem talking about the project with collaborators -- that would be counter-productive (and very frustrating for others, I'm sure). Mainly, it's just a reluctance for me to attempt to define a creative project for others before it has defined itself to me.
The reluctance is also based in superstition. It seems like every time I say something semi-definitively about a film I'm making (especially during production) I'm eating my words within minutes. (A recent example: "I'm glad we've now decided which camera we're renting and we can move onto other things!")
On the flip side, I have certain rituals that I need to do before writing a project. And there are lucky objects: a brand of pens, old t-shirts, baseball caps.
I know I'm not alone. A lot of artists (filmmakers, writers, choreographers, etc.) that I've known are superstitious people -- practically as superstitious as baseball players. The cinematographer of a couple of films I made always wore the same t-shirt on the first day of filming. It was a promotional film from a successfuly 90s indie comedy (which shall remain nameless). He loathed the film, actually, but he wore the t-shirt because he figured it would remind him that no matter what, we could make something better.
But enough about me. What about you? Drop a comment if you have superstitions when writing, prepping, filming, or finishing a project -- or if you know a good story about someone that does.