The miracle birth of the movie schedule

I'm as blown away as an emergency worker on the TC road commission this winter.  Have you seen the film schedule insert?  Fabulous changes afoot.  Movies on a boat?

If I remember right, the first film schedule was a rather thin handout, easily maneuvered--no problem.  Over ten years it has grown into the movie New York Times, and that takes a strategy.  My crew is a fine-tuned machine.  Colleen takes the "first blush" position and cherry picks her favorites.  The first go-around film itinerary is now in, and phase two of our program planning in underway.  It's a yea or nay to the first draft, then we add movies, take out movies, switch the venue, time, or day to make it fit the master plan--not as complex as Argo, but close.  And lordy how are we going to do fifteen movies with no room for lunch or dinner breaks? One cannot live on popcorn alone. (The concession prices are dirt
cheap, so maybe we will survive for another festival.)

Don't get me wrong, Traverse City is movie-friendly with the food.  As we rush to our next line, we can visit food trucks, do quick takeout, or pick up a brown-bag lunch.  It's okay to eat a piece of cherry pie or an entire meal in the movie lines.  We're all in this together.

I'm determined to make time for lunch or dinner at an outside table in one of our fabulous downtown restaurants, sip a glass of wine, and see if we can spot any celebrities. Okay, I admit I was rattled in the first year (or maybe it was the second) when I saw Matthew Modine looking at hats on the sidewalk sale--Remember? Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket.  Never know, this year I may see Matthew McConaughey.