After 2 years of directing my first feature documentary called “Funny Pains,” we have arrived at the stage in which all the hard work comes together, we sit down and start making some tough decisions about how the story will be told, what makes sense, what does not and the hardest part for me, what to take out even though I feel it should be there.

This is very new to me, usually with commercial work and short documentary-like pieces I can easily decide what is really needed in the story, what is going to engage the viewer, what needs to stay and what needs to go, and most importantly how the pacing will help me communicate what I want. In this case, it’s harder for me, not because of the amount of footage we shot on this 2-year journey, but scenes that I’ve come to find out, are important to me at a personal level, and that’s the tricky part for me, being able to maintain a distance from those feelings.

You’re probably thinking “hey, have someone else edit the doc”, but that responsibility lies on me for many reasons and I’m the kind of person that will not stop working, will not rest until I conquer my dreams and challenges. This is a big challenge and I believe in myself, and at the end of the post-production, we’ll have a powerful, inspiring and raw story that needs to be shared.

Oh yes, of course, I’m crapping my pants, it’s a big responsibility, a lot is riding on my shoulders and I need to deliver at a top level, but I don’t give myself the option to fail on this one, no sir, this is the last stage of a long and rough production, paid out-of-pocket, so I look forward to finishing the edit and I’m sitting down with my DoP, my protagonist Wendi Starling (the star!) and my sales producer Princeton Holt (the man!) with a case– I mean, a bottle of wine and watch the story we have in our hands.

“Funny Pains” comes out early next year, and went it does I predict a lot of crying from my part, pure tears of happiness.