Producing: Part I - The Moment Man

Planning's everything.

Right around November it occurred to me that I haven't been on a set in a while. Luckily, James and Ernie happened to have a semi-finished project they needed a little help on. "The Moment Man" was maybe 90% complete when we called the cast, crew and a couple of locations to finsh her up. I have to admit, I had forgotten how much fun just being a producer can be.

So this was a student project for James Vincent, my preminent editor, and lord knows I owed him a favor, so I said "sure". Turns out, the female lead, Belinda Purdum, had been recommended to the project originally by me last year, so getting in touch was easy. We really lucked out in being able to get back in touch with the original cast members, though it was a bummer that my favorite DP, Cris Olariu, had since moved to la-la land. I sat down with the boys and determined we needed exactly two scenes and several green-screen shots to lay over some plates that had been shot back in '07. The script called for a backyard BBQ and an art studio. As I got working on this, it occurred to me, this might be the perfect time to start my series on producing. So here we go - Part I: The Moment Man.

We set a date first, then backed into the locations. I've found that when your production budget is little more than a theory, it's best to set a date, then secure the talent, and finally, the location. I think from an artistic standpoint, it's a bass-ackward way of doing things, but availability of everything you have to ask for is the key. Cameras are borrowed, lights and equipment are always available from a rental house. Talent is either available on that date or not, so they should make the commitment when the dates are offered.

Locations are another matter. OK, if you need to shoot a basement apartment, we can go all New Wave and just use a friend's house, but when you're ever so ambitious and need a restaurant, bar, shopping mall, grocery store, office building, anything that requires "permission", I think setting a date is your first order of business. Usually the owners of these fine establishments will want to know (for some reason) when you want to shoot there, assuming they've already agreed in principle to let you do so. Coming back with a "Ummm...sometime next month..." doesn't give them a lot of confidence. Besides, if your dream location says "no", what's the problem? Find another location - it might not have the cool reflective neon lighting you were so dreaming of, but it's better to have an option on the location than the date.

So how about your talent, crew and equipment? What if they're unavailable on the date you chose?

Well, this is where long forecasting comes into play. I don't know how other nolo/indies do it, but when I cast, I give a shooting "range" and ask the actors to state their availability in that range. I'm a spreadsheet guy, so I take all the unavailable dates, drop them into a little schedule, and plan the shoot, in general around that. I know, I know, it adds a nice complexity to an already complex problem, but I believe engaging your team leads to an engaged team, and if you show a little sympathy for their lives outside the free work they are doing on your film, you get a bit more commitment and less chance an actor will just decide the dictator (director) is not worth it.

Now one caveat - if you, like me, are no camera guy and don't own one, you're either renting or borrowing. Renting, if you live near a major metropolitian area with a good equipment house, is normally not a problem. Even if you're out in the sticks, many of the bigger houses will ship (at an additional cost, of course) your rented camera and glass. But if you've decided to borrow a camera, I think the availability of the camera takes precedence. If you have your heart set on a Saturday morning shoot but the camera's owner is already committed to videograph a wedding that day (he's got to pay for that camera somehow), sorry, he wins. You can either rent or reschedule - and I hate paying for anything that has the possibility of being free. Even renting you run the risk of not being able to get the same camera/lens package as you've been shooting on and your stock won't match.

To me, and I know a lot of filmmakers won't agree with this, but in my opinion, in nolo (no pay, low pay) world, a producer has to be strong, prepared, flexible, committed, a great organizer and above all else - nice. I can't tell you how many sets I have seen cast and crew abandon because a producer/director took the old addage "you've got to be a little bit selfish" too far. It's true, you need a shot, the light is fading, your cast has to go, everyone's hungry, tired and you've been shooting for 18 hours, but you have to appreciate your people as people - and that means as much as they sacrifice for you, you have to sacrifice for them. Plan ahead, communicate the plan, get agreement, but flex with your cast and crew and borrowed-equipment-owner's schedules. Get agreements, but make agreements also. Your cast agreed to a 12-hour shooting day and suddenly it looks like you need 14 hours? Ask them. Don't command. But I can't stress enough, you would never find yourself in that situation if you just plan ahead. Know your shots, know your crew, know your setup time and stick to the schedule.

But even the best planning can't account for the unexpected. I'll hit that one next time.

Good article on Storyboards

Sorry, all, been away for a while - thanks for all the Holiday sales, though!

Great article on Storyboarding (and a shout out to my boys over at Wildsound!)

http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/storyboards.html

First Draft!

Finished the first draft of the "Look Forward to a Bright New Past...Financing Available." film within a film script! I've got a good feeling, guys.

It's been a while...

...I feel like humming a Staind song..."Oh it's been a while..." Great. Now I can't get the image from that God-awful Kucher flick out of my head. Thanks.

NYC was great. Toronto was great. Details later.

Four new products up on Strikeset, and a ton of hits from our dear friends over at stumbleupon.

Also heard Bill Rowley's CD this week, good stuff. Cover art by his dear Sara Langer Rowley.

New Prez. Woo-hoo.

Bloggers rule!

Here's to my new favorite blog - "Hollywood as I Live and Work" who picked up the Strikeset story. Ya'll rule. Good posts too...everyone check it out!

Last count, Strikeset had been picked up by some 28 sources around the Web including Yahoo! Movies- Denver Business Daily also posted the press release.

New shirts going up on the Zazzle site today, nothing new to the Strikeset site, but I fell behind on my Zazzle updating...


Oh, and finally started the script. Thoughts on that later.

Off to work now...remember. Shoot film, not people.

A light strikes my head -

No, I didn't clothesline a 1K, it occurred to me today (after getting about 200 e-mails to this effect), that the journey to make "Look Forward" and all the hooplah I'm going through with the Strikeset Filmmaker Gear site has the makings for a really cool diary - how to make the short film! Having done this a few times (but by no means an expert), I have collected quite the library of books, articles and links - this is stuff that you guys can use.

So that's it. In addition to keeping you all updated on the progress of the film, and pimping the Strikeset site, I have decided to make this blog a source for funding and releasing your short film.

So today's topic, the basics of story...just kidding! If you're to this point, you have probabaly read Syd Field a thousand times and have a properly formatted script in hand. Who needs another lesson on short film structure (though I'll admit I just picked up a copy of Writing the Short Film by Pat Cooper and Ken Dancyger - you can get it used on Amazon for cheap, cheap).

First, a quick pimp of the site - been a good first month of business, and as always, the surprises continue to, well, surprise..."Fix It In Post" still the bestseller, with "Director's Know What We're Doing" a close second tied with "Writer. Director. Barista." But the surprise to me is the success of my newest entries, "I Got My Start In Television" and "I Love Indie Film" both off to a good start, and we also had our biggest single sale, huzzah to the kind patron who purchased a 100-pack of magnets! To think, I was going to yank those down...one kicker, I believe they ordered them before the final design was published, so the printing may be skewed. Dear customer, if you read this and you're not happy, please send them back, we offer a money back guarantee, and re-order, everything in the store is awesome and well printed now! Thanks for the business!!

Oh, and here's to good friends also picking up shirts here and there. Besides my own collection, Julie grabbed a "C-47 Brand" tee and it was so cool to see the printing on another person!

Next topic...Producing...

New Stuff!

With all the excitement, I forgot to mention the new products!

Already moved some of these "I got my start in television" t-shirts - to television grips, no less! Also sold our first mug with this design.

Links, Links, Links!!!

Thank you, FilmStew! Your write up on Strikeset Brand Filmmaker Gear was picked up by Yahoo! Movies this week, a host of RSS's and I'm counting over twenty mentions (Though I gotta love the title they assigned me, "Would-be filmmaker Thomas J. Chavez". Dang. I did a Heinz commercial!

But props, props. You guys are my new favorite film news site. Right up there with Variety (Anne Thompson, can you see this? We're connected on LinkedIn! Give me a mention! I love you!) Aintitcool, Joblo and THR.

Now the keyword of the day is traffic, traffic, traffic...

Back from the Bay and sellin' stuff!

Just got back from San Francisco last weekend where I attended a seminar by the IIFF - good stuff, though I was a little dissapointed (I think many of the participants were) that the topics weren't a little more "film-focused" (The seminar was the "One Day MBA for Film Entreprenuers", after all). The seminar was given by a VC (Dr. Frank Greene, bio.) who had some good advice - and a lot of it really hit home - but the details as it came to motion picture projects were a bit slim. I'm really starting to think that film finance is an inexact (is that a word?) science.

anyway, despite a total of fifteen (yep, you heard me right) hours of delay and getting bumped from flights (thank you, United - friendly skies indeed. George Gershwin is rolling over in his grave!), I had a chance to check the site and lo! Sales! After a painfully slow roll out, we had our first sales! IMDB'd a couple of the buyers, and I'm pleased to say Strikeset Brand Filmmaker Gear will be sported this fall on the sets of some of cable's most popular programs! Thank you early adopters - you guys rock!

Stayed with a couple of old friends in Oakland - Bill Rowley produced my directing efforts "Low Flying Clouds" for Born in the Flood (I heard they just landed a deal) and "The Proposal", and his wife, Sara, was the art director on "Proposal". I couldn't help but enjoy the irony - I made a film about entreprenuers trying to pitch venture capitalists, and I was in Cali learning how to pitch...venture capitalists. (Michele tells me she now works for a VC firm - after playing a character who works for a VC firm in TP. Irony. It's hot. [ooh! New T-shirt]).

Oh, while I'm jabbering about VCs, props to my La-La land based homegirl Heidi Bramlet for her recent roll-out of the Idealab-funded Perfect Market (http://www.perfectmarket.com/). Check them out, some good Silicon Valley folks involved - archived search technology. Heidi's always been an adventurer at heart, she looooves this stuff. Great work, kids!

Also had a chance to run (literally) through Ikea and pick up some lamps, napkins and finger puppets. Hmm. I wonder if carrying a freakin' floor lamp onboard a cross-country flight might have been the reason TSA selected me for the new naked scanner? Geez we really need an Ikea in Colorado. Hey, anybody who wants to make a fortune, let me know, we'll work out the logistics and franchise that mofo. Coloradans will eat it up. Trust me, easy fifty million. Missed Trader Joes, nothing quite as fun a carrying $2.00 worth of wine 967 miles.

Sorry I missed La-La land (Los Angeles) this trip - missed the earthquake too. Hopefully I'll get back out there before AFM in November. Cris, Jackie, Henry, Heidi, Cris...all the rest - keep the faith!

Write up!

Wanna give a shout out to the folks over at Film Stew who gave us our first honest-to-god write-up! Check out the news on Filmmakergear here.

Cheeky. Awesome.

Also, loved the description of "Look Forward to a Bright New Past" - Set in 2018, against a global Apartheid scenario outlawing ethnicities of all kinds, it tells the story of a 17-year-old African-American track star willing to resort to desperate measures to fit in.

Saweet! Media coverage!

Da, da, da DAAA!

We're live!

Check out the Strikeset Brand Filmmaker Gear Website here!

Whew. Now I'm off to camping. (Old tradition - finish a project, go away for a couple of days. George Lucas' idea. No, I never met him, I just read about it...)

And the world sighs...

Lookin' for links-

As the rest of the layout comes together, I am considering what links to put where.

Just using other teeshirt sites as a guide, I have compiled a short list.

Also, looking at my intro blip, I don't even mention "film t-shirts". Hmm. Sounds like someone needs to review SEO...

Starting to get hits!

Our First Press Release!

Here it is! I'm not sure if it'll get picked up, but I think it's a cool release -and I got some help from a couple of studio PR guys I know (who shall remain nameless, out of respect)...

I'm still not crazy about the title, for someone who takes the greatest of pride in his title-writing abilities, this one is a bit bland, but I'll take suggestions!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Despite Obstacles, New Filmmakers Find Unique Ways to Keep Productions Stateside

Denver, CO, (7/10/2008): For many new filmmakers, the hardest part of making a movie is paying for it. Many rely on friends, family and grants to bring their visions to the screen. Denver-based filmmaker Thomas J. Chavez did the next best thing – he started a business.

Strikeset Brand Clothing was conceived of by Chavez as a way of funding his next film and shooting it here in the U.S. Strikeset makes T-shirts and other clothing with a humorous cinema theme. The profits will be used to pay the production and distribution costs for the film.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize what an important step these films can be for filmmakers,” says Chavez, “for a lot of us, it’s the first professional experience we get, and every penny we spend on production goes right back into the economy.” In addition to equipment rental, each film employs a virtual army of artists, actors, extras, designers, laborers, security personnel and coordinators who must be fed and housed. Set materials must be purchased from local suppliers, transportation arranged, actors clothed and tools purchased. It is estimated that for every $1.00 spent on film production, the local economy will see net income of $1.30[1].

“I just saw this as a way to help my cast and crew get their start, and bring a great film to the public.”

Chavez designed the entire line of shirts with his fellow filmmakers in mind. With shirts featuring such sayings as “I Dream in 1080p” and “Writer. Director. Barista.”, both film professionals and movie fans will find a sense of exclusivity in Strikeset shirts. “With the profits being used to put over eighty young filmmakers, artists and actors to work, I’m hoping this is something the film community as well as the public can embrace.”

Chavez is not alone in wanting to engage the community. The American film industry in 2005 was responsible for the employment of over 1.3 million Americans[2] and over $60.4 billion in output to the U.S. economy. The resulting $9.5 billion trade surplus is one of the few industries the U.S. can claim a surplus in. For many of those professionals, the entry point to this industry is through not-for-profit short films like Chavez’.

Though high labor and production costs represent a significant challenge to shooting in the U.S., many filmmakers are making a concerted effort to film American. Several state governments have also recognized the potential to the economy and have enacted legislation that provides tax incentives to entice films to shoot in their state. To Chavez, Strikeset represents another opportunity to keep the work stateside. “Starting off, you always work within a relatively small budget, but I am hopeful that with the success of this site, we can realize another chance to keep the work American, and continue to build an industry that has been a bright spot in recent times.”

Strikeset Brand Clothing features t-shirts and printed gifts with a cinema theme and can be found at http://www.filmmakergear.com/.

###

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas J. Chavez
Director
sales@filmmakergear.com


[1] Moore School of Business, Division of Research. (2008). Evaluating the Economic Impact of Film Production Incentives in South Carolina. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina

[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics

Help for Tom?

I now have a domain!

I started the site with a simple, (but overly complicated) domain name of filmmakergear.com - nothing quite like a domain consisting of not one, not two but three individual terms (film, maker and gear). Ah, I'm flashing back to the dot-com daze...such wonderful stock options...

Well, after the G1 site went up for beta testing, I immediately hated it. It was black, had a boring logo and just looked bad. Probably when sitting in my orange-themed living room did I come up with the idea for the new Strikeset design. (It didn't hurt that I just happened to be taking a class called "Business Storytelling and Brand Development". So I started with the logo and kind of went from there.

When it came to a name, I was having less success. Obeying the rules of brand development, I wanted a name that was a proper noun, a word evocative of filmmaking, film sets and film makers, and something that demanded action - oh, and the domain had to be available - it seems that's always the stumbling block nowadays. Here were the open names:

Followshot Clothing

Zip Pan Clothing

Strikeset Clothing

Slowzoom Clothing

Matteshot Clothing

I did a little market research (I interviewed ten of my film school and pro cinema buddies) and Strikeset was the clear winner, followed closely by...filmmakergear. Slowzoom was another popular choice, but I don't like the word "slow" in there (though I like the dichotomy of the "slow" and the speed of the word "zoom"). Zip Pan became "Zippin'" when said too fast and would be hard for someone who heard the name (as opposed to reading it) to find online. Similar problems on "Matteshot", which is a cool film term, but sounds like "Matt's Hot!". Ditto for "Followshot" (Follows Hot!). Strikeset, on the other hand sounds fast - "Strikes it!". So with my two choices in hand, I did the next best thing to picking one, I kept the filmmakegear domain and added strikeset. One forwarding to another, and so the world turns.

The logo was a lot of fun to design too. Of course, the film can reels to the left are an obvious symbol for the cinema, and since I was going with a classic, aged look for this line, the old can-style 35mm reels were a better choice than say, a video camera. The font was downloded (I didn't build it), with a slight drop shadow and a twisted slash which is evocative of a film strip shooting off the reel. I gave the logotype a fading perspective and added the subtitle to the lower right to create the pleasing "panoramic rectangle" so favored by Graphic Designers these days.

I also added Google Analytics to the front page (since so much of this page is built with a script, I'm not sure if Google will index, but CPShop has a nice little tracking feature I can use to trend). I also threw on a down and dirty search function, but I am not pleased with it. I'll play with the Google search a bit and see if I can get that to work for me.

I also drafted a final "To-Do" list of little items I need to add or correct. Other than the sidebar and footer links, probably the hardest are to get the desctiptions and keywords working in CafePress and finish the thumbnail tables (and if anyone knows a way to dynamically generate those, shoot me an email, that would save me a few hours).

I have started to get hits on the filmmakergear site though we're still not live. I have dedicated all of Saturday to get this mofo off the ground and am hoping to get the first ads placed and the first press releases out by Monday. I'll tell you how that goes!

And the winner is...

I finnally have enough sales to declare a "bestseller". Oh happy day!

And the winner is - a tie!

"Writer, Director, Barista" and "Fix It In Post!" are both tied for the most sales so far - with "DollyGrip" a close second. Even with almost five years of t-shirt expertise behind me, I am still not sure about what people like. Maybe it's all the concerts and theatre work, but I prefer black shirts with white designs. They're stark, but the colorful shirts are taking off too.

I've also begun to notice an interesting trend, my "Fix It In Post!" design suddenly has a few imitators. Check this one out.

I'll give this guy credit, though, he has a cool design. Every night I work a few more hours on the beast - I'm still aiming for this weekend to get everything done, and go live. OOoooooh. Soon I get to actually begin writing a script!

Nearly Live!

Well, it's been more than three months in the making, but the Strikeset website is almost live! Thanks to Marty at CPShop for all the help! After getting the CafePress functionality integrated into the site, I had to deal with a testy little problem of awesome blue halos surrounding my PNGs in IE 5.5 and 6.0, and she's nearly ready...

My girlfriend was marvelling at the amount of code writing and design that went into what is, in actuality, a tertiary fundraising channel - I can't help but get over the fact that to make a 22 minute film, I have had to build a product line, website, learn PERL, write press releases...

More to come. I am estimating about 17 hours of labor left on this MoFo. The filmmaking t-shirt industry will never be the same!

Dr. Parnassus LIVES!

http://www.doctorparnassus.com/

There's a site, and there's rumor that Heath's death can be worked around...

Poor Gilliam has the worst freakin' luck! Did he piss off Poseidon or something? No more completion bonds, EVER!

Good luck Terry, we all loves ya.

Parties, Shorts, oh my…

Well, an eventful weekend, and week…

One thing I love about the Denver Film scene is the fact that it is still small enough that you can really branch out and meet a lot of people, but diverse enough that every event is just a little different. Went to Aaron Delgrosso’s B-Day party this past Saturday, and it was great to see so many of the folks from CFS in attendance. Bumped into Anthony Cafaro, I haven’t seen him since the Matson Jones video, what was that, 2004?

(I hear Matson Jones is long broken up, anyone know?)

Got to see the trailer for “The Moment Man”, which was James Vincent’s last short, great shots. I don’t know where he is going to premier it. Ditto with Delgrosso’s last, “Donnie’s Inferno”. Both shot on the HVX - P2. I have to say, I'm getting sick of that HVX look, it's too, how do you say it, HVXy. I need a decent camera package. I know, I know - everyone wants the "filmic" look for next-to nothing. But isn't there an alternative? The Sony XDCAM EX1 has been getting some great reviews (cheap CineAlta? Huh?) and Sony fans are raving, but to me, the lens is still an issue. The HVX and EX1 both wear an 82mm perma-mount, which is decent enough for general videographers and quick-fire shooting, but I am really feeling the need for a decent film-glass mount. I’ve been following the HPX500, or splurge for the HVX2000 with some decent Canon glass. (honestly, I’m terrified of focus problems with that Redrock, but who knows…if cost becomes an issue, I can’t ignore the tests I’ve seen with it here. As far as lighting goes, “Look Forward” doesn’t have any night shots, so we can work with that.)

I've even flirted with the idea of going 35MM on this one...Hmm. Pricey. I think the problem lies with trying to trick the viewer into thinking what they are watching is film, rather than trying to push HD into it's own look. Michael Mann did a great job of that on Miami Vice (though the film itself was a bit of a disappointment). I don't think anyone else has really given that push...everything is either super-soft or super crisp...

In other news, I dropped a couple of new shirts into the Zazzle site, fun graphics, something a little different than the single-color punch-line designs I’m used to. Tell me what you think:




I did have one design pulled, featuring a copyrighted image of Che, sorry. Just to be safe, I wrote a nice letter to Best Buy letting them know about this shirt in advance. I would definitely classify this design as a “parody”, and I don’t think in any way would this bring discredit to the Best Buy name, but better safe than sorry. I’ll let you all know how that turns out.

Jumping into a new class also, Business Storytelling and Brand Development. No rest for the weary. Still haven’s had time to work on the script or storyboards, let alone the Website(s).

Oh, and had some nice calls from some of my la-la (L.A.) land friends too, more on that later.

Cloverfield and Che!

Hmm...According to Aintitcool, we got a new Cloverfield on the way. Blair Witch 2 anyone?

From the Funding Front...

From the funding front…

It’s the only logical way to go, don’t you think?

Step 1) Get idea for short film.
Step 2) Design line of T-shirts.

OK, it’s boggling, I agree, but we all are constantly looking for ways to fund the unfundable. Believe it or not, I think this would be easier if I were making a limited release feature, because at least there, I can make an argument that someone, somewhere will get some of his/her money back. But noooo. I have to make a short film.

Anyways, even though I had a lot of fun penny pinching on “Proposal” (hey, that’s alliterative!) , I made the early decision that “Look Forward” had to be well capitalized. Now don’t get me wrong, the cast and crew for “Proposal” were damn fun to work with, did damn good work and did it for free. I also got some bad-ass sponsorship from my dear friends at (plug) Tokyo Joe’s, Strings Restaurant, The Skylark Lounge, Centex Homes, Educational Sales Management and The Karma Company (Oh, and for Alan’s 48-hour project, Noodles & Co. hooked us up too!). I love you all!

It’s a question of production value. I am sometimes humbled by the work I see coming out of film schools – but then again I’m not. I went to film school – they have equipment! CFS has a freakin’ $62k Fisher – of course they have smooth shots! We scraped together a Matthews Doorway (untracked), some 300W studio hot lamps and mic’d into the camera…the SteadiCam-mounted camera! I considered going back to school just to get my hands on some equipment, but when I thought back on all the forms and ass kissing you had to do, and the limits…grr! It’s a state-funded school, they probably won’t be too pleased with the nude scenes in “Look Forward”.

Anyway, I’m not knocking film school. They rock. I wish I were in a financial position that would allow me to go to undergrad full time (I blew my degree on Marketing). I’m also not knocking the technical aspects of “Proposal” – fact was we had a tight crew. My boy Cris and Alan Dague-Greene, probably the best Steadi-Op in Denver, gave me some sweet shots, and everyone was blown away by the performances (Ah, thank you – years of Theatre directors are calling out to me from the tomb!)…but we could do more. We could do better. I want a proper post that won’t force me to chop up my script. I want real costumes, real makeup. I want decent depth of field without having to set my little HVX200 twenty feet away for a damn MCU. I…I…I…

Kind of selfish, huh?

Well, that’s the me part. But I’ve always said, I think the real gift with filmmaking is not what I, the director, can take from it, but what you can give with it. I recently blasted through Dale Carnegie again, he makes the excellent point that (paraphrasing here) – you need to be genuinely interested in other people. You can’t fake it, you can’t force a smile. If you want people to love you, you have to love them. Hokey, right? Maybe not.

Truth is, I like the people I meet, the people I choose to work with. Granted, I want something from them, and they from me, so professional relationships must come first. But knowing that they are taking something from the film, be it good reel footage (check out Cris and Alan’s reels, they both use “Proposal” footage!), friendships, relationships or even a good time…then the project was a success.

Gotta love people. Gotta respect people. If you don’t respect them, why did you hire them? If you don’t love them, why are you working with them?

And yes, that translates to the audience. It really, really translates to the audience. More on that later.

But back to fundraising…so it was an interesting week. Step one, I decided, when figuring the cost of doing this film properly, was to raise money. I have several different plans I’ve got in motion right now, but the most exciting is FMG. Having spent a couple of years designing for The Karma Company, I realized that for as much as filmmakers love their craft, there really aren’t many good filmmaker t-shirts out there. Oh, sure…there are single-font text prints like “Director”, or “Grips Do It All”. Which are funny, but a little too simple for my tastes. So I bought a bunch of nice clip art and took my own reel of photos and got to work on Filmmaker Gear, my own line of t-shirts for filmmakers, by filmmakers.

Well, it’s been slow going…the first gen Website didn’t really blow me away, and truth be told, Web design is not my specialty…but I’m learning. So I had to scrap that and go back to a blank page. In the meantime, I uploaded the first set of designs to Zazzle. Check out this neat little gallery they gave me!



Well, no sooner had I posted those than one actually sold! C-47’s…guess they use that term all over! Well whoever you are who bought my shirt, THANKS! You’ve out my fundraising drive into the black and I have barely just begun!

Truth be told, this is kind of an experiment…I don’t know what kind of volume to expect from a niche brand like this. Also, I don’t know if I should tell customers why I am doing this. Yes, I want to raise money for my film, but I don’t see why I should have nothing to give back when you contribute…then again, it might cheapen the brand to say “this is a fundraiser”.

The good news is I’ve already received an offer for the copyright on one of the designs. Only sold one shirt as of today, but the site isn’t up yet and I haven’t even begun to promote yet, so I think I’ll hold off.

So check us out if you get the chance…you’ll be feeding hungry filmmakers, and with WGA seeming to have no end, they need it!

(Oh, and the shirts are badass!)

Well, more developments.

I’ve been in the process of delivering the Cast & Crew DVDs for “The Proposal”, and I’ve been taking the opportunity to reconnect with some of the cast and crew members, maybe discuss the possibility of working on “Look Forward”.

Of course, some of my guys are gone, I mean it’s been a year almost since we wrapped. Bill (Rowley, Co-Producer) and Sara (Langer, now Rowley, they got married) my Art Director are in Oakland now, he got a perm job and he seems to be doing OK. Chance (Jason Chance, 1st AD) was also out in L.A., but I just found out he’s on his way to Branson, MO…seems the strike has slowed work down to almost nothing in La-La land (Los Angeles to you and me). DP Cris Olariu also moved out there back in October…he popped back to Denver in November to DP for James Vincent, my Editor and Color Correctionist. We all went out for ‘Tinis, he’s a good guy, I hope he does OK. Kind of wish I was out there working on J.J. Abrams new Trek – why are they making us wait a year for that?

Anyways, James’ short wrapped OK, it sounds like. He called me back in November about getting in touch with Michele Wright, one of my leads in “The Proposal”, but bad luck, she happened to be out of the country when I was trying to get a hold of her. I recommended another actress from Ft. Collins, Belinda Purdum, who had auditioned for “Proposal”, (she and I ended up working together on the Heinz Commercial). Glad I could help. Haven’t seen the rough cut yet, but the idea was sweet and James sent me a couple of stills – he’s got a freakin’ Unicorn in it! Hot!

So I got together with James and Aaron DelGrosso, Audio Engineer for drinks at this little (and I mean little) Cherry Creek hotspot (Bar Luxe) for happy hour ‘Tinis. Damn it was great to talk with those two. James is a bit hard to read, but he knows his stuff. Aaron and I spent a lot of time together getting the final mixdown on “Proposal”, and I can’t help but like him. He wrapped his last short a couple of months ago, I still haven’t seen it. I do remember, though, he did the coolest animatic pre-viz with Final Cut Pro and Photoshop…I thought the animation alone was cool, I can’t wait to see the live film.

So it sounds like they’re onboard. James does pro work from time to time, so scheduling him might be tight. Aaron’s still at Base 2, and they’re both in school at CFS. Missed the CFVA Schmoozer in January- turns out James ended up going after I suggested it! He called me, I wasn't there! Just got a little backed up with school and work, not to mention the Websites and the prep on “Look Forward”. Felt kind of bad about that, after I had asked James and Aaron if they were going…I got a call from James – who was at the Schmoozer! Sorry bud!

I also got a cup of joe with Amy Mann, 2nd AD on “Proposal” and PM on the Heinz commercial. She suggested Paris on the Platte – dang! I haven’t been there in a couple of years! I used to have a table practically reserved for Tamaan and I to smoke cloves and drink Mexicanos. Great place, check it out if you’re in town. Hasn’t changed much (well, the front room anyways – the back room became a wine bar a couple of years back), the area has though. I’ve had my car broken into in the bum-hangout lot across the street back in the day (so did The Man), but yuppieville crept north of LoDo, so it’s actually a bunch of day spas and snowboard shops now. Kind of safe, except for Hickenlooper’s unholy army of metermaids…free parking my ass!

Well, the real plus, is they still allow smoking! Hu-rah! (thanks, Pacino). Amy was upbeat as always. She’s kicking around a production company of her own – sounds like a sweet idea, which is kind of proprietary, so I won’t mention it here. She’ll consider line producing “Look Forward” and had some great thoughts, but she has a tight schedule…we’ll see.

So that’s three. I learned so much from “Proposal”, most notably, how to edit in FCPHD, how to author in DVDSP, and why to put location audio and post FIRST in the budget. More on that sad tale later.

Also shipped off DVDs for Cris, Chance, Bill and Sara. Sent one more festival submission in too – Oxford International in Ohio. Hope it makes it before 2/1-the cutoff.

We’ll talk about festivals later.

Oh, and I got my business cards back from VistaPrint. No, I didn’t get the free ones, I actually wanted to design them. They look cool, but I was miffed that they only glossed up the front, I wanted (and thought I’d paid for) gloss on both sides. To their credit, they gave me a credit for the entire purchase price. I love good customer service. I’ll order from them again.

Wanna see it? Here’s the back…


Got a project due in Project Management this weekend and the super bowl, and Aaron’s got a party going on as well. Finished Carnegie last weekend, kind of old fashioned, but I can’t wait to put some of his lessons into practice.

More to follow.

"The Plan", the movie.

No, the movie's not called "The Plan". I did do a film once called "The Proposal", but that seems like forever ago (ah, to 2007, where are you now?), and IMDB still hasn't posted it!

No, this is the actual plan, and I think I'm typing it as much for myself as anyone. I'm in the middle of a course right now on Project Management, and to paraphrase ole' Socrates, the more I learn, the stupider I get. I always thought I had good organizational skills, but geez! Any Project Managers out there want to give a holla? (Do it in acronyms, please: LS, CEV, TS...)

Anyway, the reason I mention this is I learned all about Baseline Plans, the blueprints for getting big projects off the ground. I was busy drawing one out for this little film of mine (God Bless you, Omniplan!) when it came to me, filmmaking is more than just a shooting schedule, a post and a release. More than prep and preproduction. For the indie, it starts before the script and before the pitch...

Right now, I've got an idea.

"So what?" say you. I've got an idea for a controversial short film about racism. Who doesn't? The key here, is the project itself. This whole thing is a test, a test to see if I can not only make a movie (I can, trust me...it's been done.) but if I can create a project, from conception through distribution, and everything in between.

Well, there is a lot to be done.

So I've got the idea, and I've got the story (and I have the script...wait! No I don't. The script is coming, I promise). So what's the natural next step? I drafted the key art.
OK follow me here.

I want "Look Forward" (shortened form, I chose a damn long title. Won't fit on a marquee, love!) to be a little better than your run-of-the-mill student piece. True, it's a short subject, true it is based on a high concept, but I want the film to have a feeling. I want people to glance at the art and immediately get a reaction. If I can achieve that with a simple little piece of art, it will guide every aspect of the film itself, from the camera to the audio, even to the script, the marketing campaign, the performances, the title design. LF is about a world, and the first glimpse we have into this world, is this:
I call it, "The Eyes".

So what do we really have here? The basis for a poster? a logo design that makes its way into the film, maybe?

Call me the optimist, I see a lot more than that. Squint a little, cross your eyes...I see a visual fabric, I see a story, and I see an image that right off the bat, may draw some criticism.

I hope so. That means I'm on the right path.

Two Hundred and Ten Days to the Can...

It begins...

I'm not 100% sure why I decided to do this.
There's just no profit in short film.
None.

Well, actually, that's not true. In fact, short films are the most profitable. We see them everyday, jammed in between segments of our favorite shows...streaming in front of the news clip we are trying to download...

30 seconds to tell a story, to make you smile and buy a car. Commercial spots are the best known short films. In fact, I could argue that it is short films that make television possible, through the revenue they generate.

But let's face it, I am not making a commercial film. I am making about the furthest thing from a commercial film that exists. The dreaded, the loved, the festival short.

And just to make things better, I've decided to pick one that, if successful, will prove offensive, angering and controversial.

This is the story of "Look Forward to a Bright New Past...Financing Available." the film.

I won't bore you with plot details, self-congradulatory anecdotes (well, maybe a few), bragging or pimping...I just thought, that on the off chance any of the Denver-area filmmakers out there, (or anywhere, really) decided to take a look here, they would realize that they are not alone.

I've done this before, I know it is a tough journey.

Dear God, I love it so. I live for this stuff!

Welcome to the adventure, my friends. Day 1, 210 to go...