Chad Hartigan

I make movies and videos.
www.chadhartigan.com

Best of 2011



Happy New Year everyone! I had a blast last night and I hope you did too.

This is a blog entry and list where, at the end of every year, I like to look back and recap my favorite events or happenings as a way of motivating myself and focusing on the positive. It’s a tradition dating back to 2005 and feel free to check out previous lists, although some of them link to my old MySpace blog- 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.

All in all, 2011 will be defined by me quitting my cozy box office job of five years and moving to Reno in an attempt to get my second feature off the ground. It was my New Year’s goal to get that movie made in both 2010 and 2011 so having it finally in the can is truly special. But there were plenty of other highs and lows throughout the twelve months.

2011 was the first calendar year since 1992 that I didn’t spend any time at all on the East Coast and the first full calendar year since 1998 that I wasn’t at least partly in either one of my two epic relationships! Ridiculous.

The year can only be as good as the people that populate it and 2011 was another banner one for wonderful new company to keep. In big ways or small, the friendships made with Kristin Slaysman, Josh Crockett, Bryan Sheffield, Jehan Hindo, Courtney Yingling, Aaron Schnobrich, Cassady O’Neal, Jarrett DePasquale, Maggie Kaiser, Sam Buchanan, Lauren Smitelli, Erika Paget, Adi Goodrich, Jimmy Marble, Carolyn Sams, Mariana Blanco, Sara Dosa and Sara McCleskey have made my year such a blast. And you old friends are great too!

But anyway, here we go….

10. Man-Dates
Every couple months, I’d get together with some combination of Matt Goldberg, Brendan McFadden, Alex Bickel and Sean McElwee for some nice dinner (usually courtesy of Bickel) and some nice conversation. The older and further away from college we get, the harder it is to spend quality time together (especially since three of them got married or engaged in 2011) and these nights were a nice reminder of how much I love those guys.

9. Robbie Keane’s MLS Debut
Being half Irish and growing up in Europe, soccer is a part of my blood and I’m a die-hard supporter of Ireland and the LA Galaxy. Keane has been an Irish legend ever since this and for him to now play for my club team is huge so Sean and I had to be at his first game. Of course, he scored, because THAT’S WHAT ROBBIE KEANE DOES and we all went bananas. Later in the year, Ireland qualified for their first major tournament in 10 years and the Galaxy won MLS Cup and I missed both while shooting the movie so it was nice to at least have been present for this magical moment.

8. Aaron Katz Visit/Cold Weather Theatrical Release
Katz’s third feature was the first to finally book some LA dates and he flew out to do some Q&As at the Sunset 5. He came a week early and stayed on our couch and we had a blast. Seeing his film with all of the old friends that came out to support was great and the timing of the visit was nice because he was around for our Valentine’s Day party and to briefly help out on a music video shoot I was directing. Love that dude and I hope I can visit him in Pittsburgh soon.

7. This is Martin Bonner Pre-Production
Truth be told, this was not that fun of a time. In September, I moved to Reno hoping to sort of will my second feature into existence and for two months, all I did was try to make that happen. Cherie Saulter showed up in October and with her help, we made it. But those two months involved lots of Casino diner food, unreturned e-mails and phone calls, and quiet, lonely nights. But it’s on this list because we did it. We dropped our lives, showed up in a weird town, unsure if making the movie was gonna possible and exceeded all expectations. 2011 life lesson- if you want something, make it happen.

6. 29th Birthday/Going Away Party
My birthday happened to coincide with when I quit my job and moved to Reno so I was determined to have a blowout. Everyone I love and care about showed up, including out-of-towners Keegan DeWitt and Marc Ripper and the party was a huge success. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is because I stupidly spent the whole night on the dance floor and didn’t really take advantage of the chance to spend time with so many great people that I don’t often see. Bonehead move, but the eight hour party playlist I made WAS sick!

5. San Francisco Trip
In the middle of the summer, I really felt like I needed to recharge my batteries so I drove up to San Francisco to spend a couple days by myself. I had never really been to that city besides passing through so I spent most of the time walking around, seeing sights, reading books in the park and eating good food. But I also managed to see a Roman Candle show and hang with my new friend Sara Dosa, who was kind enough to show me some cool Mission bars. On the down side, my car got towed and I may or may not have gotten bed bugs from my hostel.

4. Gonot/Matheny Joint Birthday Party
Bona fide rager. Party of the year no doubt. Jon Hill swung from the rafters, some lobsters were boiled alive, Chad and Juan had an impromptu concert, Adelaida made out with everybody, and I could just plop into my bed upstairs at the end of the night. I already miss that house but epic memories like this night will live forever.

3. Sean and Tarah’s Wedding
I flew straight from Austin to New Orleans in order to make it for Sean and Tarah’s big day. This was the first wedding I’ve been to where both the bride and groom were my good friends and it was a pretty emotional scene. Great wedding, great reception and we spent the other two nights tearing up the French Quarter with Jeff Ruggles, Keegan, Lydia Hyslop and other assorted derelicts.

2. SXSW
Always the best time. Got to see Cherie premiere her movie, see Keegan play three amazing shows, see old friends, make new friends, see great movies, see great bands, get another tattoo, eat way too much Mexican food, participate in the Michael Tully invitational ping-pong tournament, be there when Keegan got engaged. The list goes on.

1. This is Martin Bonner production
What else could it be? The 20 days I spent in production on my second feature film were the most amazing/exhilarating/depressing/frustrating/beautiful/terrifying of the year. I first blogged about an idea for a new film on July 2, 2008 and finished the first draft ten months later. Now it’s a movie and it’s thanks to the amazing people in the photo above, all of whom I adore. I sincerely hope they had as much fun making it as I did and that there are good things in store for the product in 2012 and beyond.

That’s it. I turn 30 in 2012 so bring it on!
  1. everydayjonhill said: I hope you and I swing from the rafters of 2012.
  2. chadhartigan posted this