Once again it’s time to look back at the past year, decide what went well, what didn’t and what you would like to change. Me? I want a world where we can send our kids to school without fear, for hurricanes to cut that shit out, and the ability to run a marathon.
Lesley Chilcott producer of such powerful documentaries as An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman, both of which oddly align with two of my resolutions, has this on her mind for 2013: “I will practice my Spanish every day...at least on Sundays; I will do pull-ups, like that one time, when I could; I will avoid parabens in all products; I will eat less popcorn; I will surf.”
SNL Film Unit editor Adam Epstein, who is repped by NYC’s Hybrid Edit, wants this for work and life: “To surround myself with kind, interesting, funny people. And to continue to think about the fact that I should probably start taking vitamins.”
What about Rob Ashe, one of the editors for Conan? Well, he would like to “only create and delete four Tumblr accounts; lose 30 pounds; only buy one suite during the yearly Red Giant Software sale; lose 30 more pounds; continue to do DDPYOGA to get back to my previously girly figure; learn more about what the Red Giant Trapcode Suite can do; lose 27.5 final pounds; get more haircuts; only create and delete two Instagram accounts; resist the urge to shave because if I do my wife will proceed to divorce me; get Red Giant to pay me to fawn over them; realize I’m lucky and only deserve what I put in.”
Zero Dark Thirty DP Greig Fraser, an Aussie based in LA, was driving to the Pittsburgh set of the Steve Carell film, Foxcatcher, when we spoke. Not all that long ago, this busy man, was in the deserts of Jordan and northwest India shooting Kathryn Bigelow’s latest about the S.E.A.L. Team Six raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
You wouldn’t be surprised to hear his hope for 2013 is to maintain a level balance of life and work. “Balancing work and family is my absolute priority for the next year. Having been very busy over the last two years, everything in my life is wildly out of kilter. From the food I eat to time I spend with the family to home duties…everything.”
Fraser will soon get that wish. After a short hiatus for Christmas and New Year, he’s back on the Foxcatcher set and will complete shooting in mid-January. What then? Back to LA, where he can work on commercials while close to home.
Home is key, he says. “I just want time at home, sleeping in my own bed, driving in my own car.”
Whatever your wish is for the New Year, make it safe, and make it fun.