On July 2nd, I sent my writing and directing partner an idea for what would become Bokeh. We had worked on various scripts, treatments, ideas, but nothing became more than the words on paper. We were pursuing a couple of documentary ideas, but again, we were relying on other people's permission to make something. You can get addicted to waiting for other people to get back to you, it makes it seem like there is progress, that there is potential, but usually a maybe is just a delayed no and a lack of response is just a lack of interest.
The idea for Bokeh came from constraints. A lot of people think they work better in complete freedom, but many of us need some form of boundaries to find focus. For Bokeh, we had a small budget, a small window to make the film, a small number of roles to cast, and a small crew, these limitations helped us develop the story. Each wall we ran into made the story better. I tend to like BBC shows over many American shows for several key reasons: their budgets are much smaller, their warehouses look like warehouses, their limitations enable agility, they don't have as many coincidences because they strive to protect the small ideas. A model that we not only admire, but are choosing to follow.
When asked to describe Bokeh in a sentence, we respond with this: Bokeh is the story of two people who are defined not just by what they focus on, but what they choose to blur.
That description works for how Geoff and I found our film as well.
Andy