Director Mandy Stein returns to the Tribeca Film Festival this year with her documentary Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGB, which delves deep into the mythos and reality of the legendary rock 'n' roll club. (She previously showed Too Tough To Die, which was about a tribute concert devoted to Johnny Ramone, at the '06 Festival.)

The L.A.-based filmmaker made an appearance at last month's California cocktail party for Festival friends and directors. Stein is an accomplished director with a fascinating Rolodex (Elton John is her godfather!), and we've asked her to give us a weekly blog leading up to the Festival.
 

The Road to Tribeca: Mandy Stein's Corner

A disclaimer: blogging is new to me. I'm a total virgin! I don't even tweet or give Facebook updates.

This has been a very tough week at Plain Jane Productions (PJP). It  has been a blur and complete wash. I was hit with the nastiest flu and was confined to bed for a whole six days. My fiancé Ben was generously making daily trips to our local chicken noodle joint, Victor's, to supply me with delicious “Jewish Penicillin.”  My bedside table was littered with goodies such as Theraflu, Vicks VapoRub and a roll of toilet paper because I quickly used up all the tissues.

PJP is run out of my tiny guest house in the Hollywood Hills, right under the Hollywood sign. To subsidize my film projects, I rent out the main house. Right now I’m trying to juggle three films with the budget for about half of one. So here we are, packed into a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom:  me, my germs, my fiancé, our two dogs, and my devoted editor Tony, who is desperately trying to stay focused as our Chihuahua puppy circles his ankles seeking affection.

So as I battled what felt like the bird flu, the control freak in me had to let go and for a full work week I had no contact with the film. None! Holy shit, how would it survive? We finally had to send Tony—four hard drives in hand—to his apartment in Silverlake.

A month earlier—once we got the news that we were in the Festival—I asked my editor from another project, Bad Brains: Band in DC, to switch gears and temporarily abandon the project on the seminal hardcore punk band for the next month. My heart told me this film—Burning Down the House—wasn't done, and I needed to make some major changes. Tony had his work cut out for him and worked seven days a week, twelve hours a day. It's crazy he didn't get sick. He's a God!

I just came from Silverlake to drop off some music files (and check up on Tony, of course) and he's totally almost there and ahead of schedule. I should get sick more often. I'm the luckiest girl!