A Dull but Overdue Post - Back in Austin for Friday Night Lights season 3

I'm tired tonight, but here is the jist of what's going on with us.

After spending five months in New Orleans while Ryan did back to back movies there, we came back to Austin (late July) so that he could work on the third season of Friday Night Lights. Here we are in mid-october and the show will wrap up for the season around mid-December. We'll head off to Florida for a week or so and then up to Wisconsin to see my Mom and Stepdad. Then we'll be off to Louisiana again so that Ryan can do a film or two before FNL starts again for a fourth season (fingers crossed).

We bought a cool little camper called the Fleetwood Evolution E2. It's really adorable. It has a toy hauler on the front so that we can haul the bikes. A shower, potty, fridge, indoor stove, outdoor stove, hot water heater, air conditioner, furnace, everything is included in this thing. It's built to go off-road. Fun! We are looking forward to hauling it all over the country to see the sites in our off time. We'll also use it sometimes when we work on location. We might be doing a film in Traverse County Michigan in the summer and it would be really great to have there. We sure could have used this while filming in Marfa!

Keeping it short and boring for now. But that's the news from here, folks!

Photos from West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee Parishes

Ahhhh...sweet green Louisiana on the banks of the Mississippi in the Springtime. I can smell the sweet olive and the lemon blossoms just thinking about it! How we love it!!!! Here are some photos I took with my cell phone while we were in West Feliciana (St. Francisville) and Pointe Coupee (New Roads) Parishes in Louisiana. Many of them were taken at our friend Chris's house.

We moved to the Gorgeous Garden District in wonderful New Orleans!

It's been a long time since we've posted anything. The last time we posted, we were waiting for a start date on "The Tree of Life". We opted not to wait any longer for a start date on that and opted instead for New Orleans!!! The writer's strike was hell for those of us non-writers who work in the business. It cost us over $30,000! However, the strike did end and all in all it was a pretty good year. "There Will be Blood" was nominated for several Oscars, including one for Production Design. It won at least one, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, the other(s) I can't remember. I guess I should, huh. Anyway,that was exciting. Everybody who works in this business dreams of being part of that and Ryan has now, so yay! Then, we chose to move to wonderful, gorgeous New Orleans which was a fabulous move! We are hooked!!!! As usual, we are very, very happy and very much in love with one another and with our lives. We feel very lucky.

Last year, we fell in love with New Orleans and Louisiana in general, when we went there to worked on the pilot episode of K-Ville for FOX. After the pilot, we went to this beautiful little town called St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish so that Ryan could work on a Horror movie (yikes!). After that, we returned to Austin for the second season of Friday Night Lights. We couldn't wait to get back to NOLA. In March we moved there and got the prettiest little apartment in a historic building in the Garden District. It would be difficult to describe the natural beauty, architecture and culture of this wonderful city. Most of the press is dedicated to New Orleans problems, but believe me, there is still so much to see, do and hear (Jazz) in this wonderful city! What a wonderful mixture of cultures has influenced New Orleans food, music, architecture and way of life. It really feels like home to us. We almost wonder if we lived there together in a past life. Anyway, Ryan has done two movies in New Orleans in the last three months. One is about Chess Records, the record company founded by Leonard and Phil Chess which became one of the major blues labels of the 50's and 60's. Artists who were recorded and produced on the Chess Records label include Muddy Waters, Chuck Barry, Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon, among others. The other one is a Lifetime movie, starring Harry Connick Jr. and produced by Renee Zellweger. It's called "Living Proof", at least that is the working title and it was created to bring awareness to the fight against breast cancer, specifically, the work of one Dr. Salamon. I guess that's spelled right.

At the moment, we are in Austin, working on Season 3 of Friday Night Lights. After that, we may take a trip up to Traverse City, Michigan to work on a kid's movie based on "The Great Escape", which I have never seen. For the most part, however, we plan to work in New Orleans and Louisiana in general. The State of Louisiana has been very aggressive in attracting film productions and according to our union local, IATSE 478, we are expecting 40 more already. Texas just has not been competitive. So they are losing many of their very qualified film professionals to the states that are!

I am adding a few pictures of our little place in the Garden District. It's small, about 800 square feet and shotgun style. But it is really beautiful and in the most gorgeous neighborhood where everything. I mean everything you need or want is within walking distance. The streets are tree lined and smell of plants and blossoms all the time. The houses are spectacular in their charm and beauty. I love the way that New Orleans has preserved those fabulous structures. I love living in a building that has so much history. I love New Orleans!