sophomore jinx

It's barely a month before the scheduled shoot of my second film Cartas de la Soledad, but everything is still a blur. One, we haven't found the right location yet. A concrete house (circa 1950s) with a large garden and patio bordered by high walls like the one below from Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men.

Two, we don't have a sound man/ editor yet with a high level of skill, discipline and artistry that the film requires. Three, we haven't found the two boys in the supporting role. I'm wary about the third one because I'm not really fond of working with children as they need special attention. I am overly dependent on my assistant director to make this work.

For now my main concern is the house. It is the most crucial, determining factor in the film. I'm scouring Davao, Cotabato and Marawi cities for possible options. The houses that I've seen so far, those that fit the visual requirements of the film, pose a live sound recording nightmare.

I'm trying to get in touch with the artist who did the sound of my first film Limbunan, who eventually got the Urian nod for best sound, but he has not replied to my messages yet. (Mansur, I'm so sorry for being an asshole.)

So far, the only accomplishments that I'm proud of are coming up with a good script (eight revisions) with 90 percent of the dialogue in Maguindanaon, deciding not to shoot with a Canon Mark II 5D, and casting local actors Perry Dizon, Alexis Libres, Bambi Beltran and Mayka Lintongan.

My cousin Philip says that this is called sophomore jinx although I'm inclined to believe that anything sophomore works fine to me. I did great on my second year in high school. But I'm ridiculously superstitious and freaked out by this suggestion.

God, aliens, anyone out there, please show me the way.