Well it’s getting close to finish for the trailer. The hardest part has been choosing which funny scenes NOT to include. I can’t wait to get this film out there. It’s such a fun project. The rough cut is even funny! Usually directors want to commit suicide after viewing a rough cut but on this project it was pretty cool. We still have some work to do and a few inserts shots to shoot but overall… wow!

We just wrapped a new teen comedy called High
Schoolers Guide to College Parties. So far everything is looking great. We are in post doing the editing and it’s cutting together nicely. 2010 is off to an awesome start! I’ll post some pics and more info shortly.

Too shocking for shockerfest?

Well let me start this by saying that riverbank California has to be the ballsack of northern California. Not the top of the sack which by sheer proxcimity to the cock at least gets to see some action. No riverbankis down around the back side of the sack hugging the taint region.  The place is a god foresaken almond infested backwater filled with some of the most unattractive people I have ever seen. Seriously.  Its as if the place has an ugly law. I imagine a rusty sign in the outskirts town reads “attractive people don’t let then set on your back!” either that or almond trees put out some strange M Night gas that just makes living near them turn you ugly. Okay

Before anyone gets offended I wil admit I didn’t go door to door performing an uglyness census so if I didn’t actually meet you feel free to consider yourself the lone attractive exception to almond gas. Yes this is a bitter diatribe fueled by our treatment at the festival so don’t take it personally.

Okay so call me shallow.

Food in this ugly grove was another nightmare. Assuming that the offering of artery clogging fast food chains and local dives I experienced was the best one could expect. I feel confident that it was since the plump towns folk all seemed well versed in said cuisine as they woddled about the town doing what ever it is people in ballsack do- I presume it deals with some form of almond molestation.

The luxurious Hampton Inn was the visiting filmmaker residence hall for the weekend. It was here chad the producer and myself arrived with blazing accuracy in our fine 6 cylinder Detroit BMW the ford Fusion. Having wikkied the area before our arrival I was privied to the fact that aside from almond molestation the locals also busied themselves stealing cars. The area is considered the car theft capital of the USA. I would imagine this a desperate effort of people trying to get the fuck out. This caused great anxiety for the Fusion.

Once inside the Hampton we were ushered ( by hand drawn signs) to a small conference room. The epicenter of shockerfest party central. A quaint little room more akin to AA meetings than Hollywood glamour but it was the first day and we still had an optimistic hope it was going to be alright.

It was there amongst the folding tables and plastic cup served wine that we first encountered him.

There sitting at the table closest to the wine service was a grotesque jabba the hut like figure of a man George the festival director.

Okay a quick side bar here. I know the jabba the hut reference is a bit cliché in describing a morbidly obesse person but since George lucals hails from these parts, its entirely possible that this fat bastard was the actual inspiration for the character. I’m just saying…

George the film festival fat bastard was not exactly warm and receptive to us. At first I found this to be a relief since the guy is kinda creepy and sorta freaked me out. His hamper fresh tent sized clothes, greasy unkempt hair and sloth like manner summond images of possible 12 year old boys,  a damp basement and promises of “our little secret”. But you can’t judge a book by its cover so I’m sure its all good. Any how I now realize his contempt for us stemmed from having to screen our movie. I have a theory on that.

I guess I should explain my theory. You see the DVD screener we submitted didnt play all the way through. So fat bastard couldn’t finish it. He accepted the film based on the very first and admittedly tame 30 minutes.  So by the time he recieved the actual theatrical screener and saw to his horror how the film ends it was too late to pull it.

The festival films i saw were all pretty bad with only a few exceptions. Some were so bad that i swore i would riot if they recieved any type of award. Look I’m not saying we arrived with Gone with the Wind but these other films were hand held DV badly lit derivative garbage with bad ideas.

The opening film was a low budget sci-fi picture about a space ship crew that picks up some fairly unattractive fat chics and for reasons known only to the director, turned into zombies and attacked each other. It was slow and predictable and the acting was sub par melodrama. The crew banged around a cheap space ship set with wobbly sliding doors and I kid you not, milk crate walls.

Also, I don’t understand how a film could be produced in L.A. and yet have such ugly girls in it. Strippers in Dallas are prettier than the actresses in this piece of shit. Pass up the second fucking helpings girls I mean you chose to be actors you didn’t get drafted!

Don’t think that they were hired for their acting chops either! They were all over the place with their stiff performances and over the top melodrama. I know the shitty direction was part of the blame but still they should have some instincts. Hmmmm zobies in space what the fuck? None of the mythology of how and why they would or should turn into zombies just an excuse to show some blood and latex foam. Unfortunately no nudity. Maybe some chubby chick titties would have made the thing bearable.

Okay so this was the best feature in the fat bastards opinion? Seriously? To make matters worse the director producer husband and wife team were total douche bags. They talked some serious shit and totally thought they had a great film. Self awareness was apparently not part of their scene.

One high light was meeting the team who did the short Excision. A well made short about surgery fetished school girl and the resulting carnage. NIce.

They also pretty cool and laid back guys. Their only short comings being they partied like fiends and were totally wrong about the distance from their 3rd floor window to the pool. The pussies didn’t think a person could leap from the window and reach the pool. I drew a diagram and enlisted my geometry and calculus but alas they were unconvinced.

Sure you would break you legs since the pool was only 5 feet deep but you could clearly make the deep end and not end up tangled on the fence as they concluded with their drug damaged little brains. Sadly I was never able to prove my theory or convince them to send the TV out  the window as an proof of concept. I would have made the jump but I forgot to pack swim trunks.

We also met some twisted chicks MIchelle Fatale and Shannon Lark from Chainsaw Mafia. com True horror lovers.

And hanging out with Wez (Vernon Wells) from Mad Max 2 the Road Warrior. In the movie he is a mohawked, leather-clad biker who serves as Humungus’ lieutenant in the gang, leading groups of the warrior-bikers in several battles. A New York Times reviewer called the Wez character the “most evil of the Humungus’s followers…[a] huge brute who rides around on his bike, snarling psychotically, with his pretty blonde boyfriend hanging onto his waist. Which is funny since he swears it was not his boyfriend just a guy who rode around with his character. Sweet. I am working on a post-apocalypse script and it was fun talking to someone who was involved in the movie that really did set the standard for the genre.

The actual screening of CRUSHED was a bittersweet event. First of all they pushed us to the very last screening of the festival. 5:30 on Sunday. Not exactly the most ideal spot for a grizzly and twisted horror. And if that wasn’t bad enough they actually screened some after school special piece of shit about an old man going senile rambling around a park quoting Abe Lincoln.

Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of gauntie old Abe but who needs to see this shit? It wasn’t even horror… well the horror of getting old and being an Abe Lincoln fan I suppose. Fuck me! I wanted to leave so of course a good portion of the crowd left. I wasn’t a scheduled film so no one knew how long the pain would last. A few returned during the CRUSHED screening though. Better late than never, right? Word.

The next issue was the fucking audio, The god damned sound was too fucking low. When I accosted a festival lacky about possibly turning up the sound he just look at me perplexed and mumbled something incoherent through certainly stupid. Eventually the frustration became too much and I just went into the projection booth myself too try and fix the problem. To my surprise there was no one on duty. While I have no experience in projection I do know what a volume control nob looks like so I figured I could find a way to crank the fucking sound. I found a level nob and turned the fucker to 10 from a 6. Figured if I blew shit up I couldn’t be pinned since nobody had seen me enter. That being said I looked around for shit to steal but there was nothing worth taking. Figures.

The screening itself was fun. The picture looked great and with the volume back up it really played awesome. The film really plays well on the big screen. We used enough wide shots to give the screen some breathing room. The intensity level was way up. The carnage really pops off the screen. Once people realized it was okay to laugh at the sick humor it really got things going.

The Q&A after the films as great. As Chad and myself walked up I could see the look of shock and confusion and nervous smiles on the crowds faces. People had really been through an experience. That is what movie going is suppose to be about! People didn’t really know where to begin to ask questions. Finally a few brave patrons mustered up the courage to ask some questions and the audience warmed up. Again, awesome. I would have to say it was a success for those who attended.

I think the reason we were the last screening was to keep people from comparing our film to the other crappy films that filled most of the festival lineup. The Awards were given to some really lame features and clearly it was a fatbastard influenced selection. They had an audience award yet never asked the audience to vote. So there you have the integrity of the process. Nicely played Fatman. Nicely played.

So overall it was a bust. Zooming through the almond groves in the fusion to see badly made low budget movies without stories or plots. But they do give you free almond samples at the Blue Diamond plant. Peace.

Once again I found myself in the audience watching a group of “Hollywood Gate Keepers” tell it like it is. Most of the time these panels are played too close to vest to be of any real use. Nobody wants to say anything that will get them in trouble. This is where a good moderator can really pay off. A good moderator can set the tone and make the panelist feel at ease. Soon they are saying stuff that really is insider. This Panel was pretty laid back and Robert Wilonsky as moderator set an eased tone that pried loose some gold nuggets from the wall of panelist.

The Panel included Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, a high pitched energetic man who seems to tell it like he sees it. Steve Rothenberg, president of Domestic distribution Lionsgate Entertainment, a tall easy going guy eased into giving up some good insider info. Bic Tran and agent at ICM independent division, she didn’t have much to say. Mary Aloe, producer Proud Mary Entertainment, she had the financing and producing insight.

So as you can see these were some really good people to listen to. They represented a good section of the industry that would be of interest to indie film producers.

Interesting tidbits of note-

Lionsgate is such a huge machine that just starting the machine up takes a great deal of capital and overhead. As such they can’t justify getting involved in a film unless it’s potential downside is big enough to pay for the machine. Yes I said downside. The upside of best case scenario can be a lot bigger bigger but if the down side is too low they don’t bother. So a great movie that can’t hit the numbers based on a calculation system they created inhouse, will not be picked up. It’s just not worth the time. They only have so many slots to fill in any given year it seems and they have to make as much money as possible within those slots. Interesting also is the output deals they have with Cable and pay TV. The films they pick up have to be viable in those areas also because a big chunk of the profit formula involves TV. Figure in DVD and the demographics all have to hold up. Documentaries apparently don’t sell well on DVD. Interesting as Red Envelope claimed NETFLIX rents these the most. I guess it’s about numbers.

Magnolia has a much smaller machine and can take more chances but even they play it safe. They discussed an Iraq war doc they picked up and how much money it made. It didn’t do great apparently. The Lionsgate guy mentioned that Lionsgate had passed on the doc even though they all liked it. He asked Magnolia how much the film made. Magnolia claimed it was like 1.3 million total and Lionsgate guy said the number they figured using their inhouse formula was 1.5 million which is why they turned it down. So it would seem the formula is pretty accurate. Bastards!

Magnolia talked about three films directly. “The Host” a Korean monster movie that got tons of buzz but only did a few hundred thousand box office for them. Luckily it went on to great DVD with over 500k units sold and selling. “The Signal” a big buzz horror film from Sundance last year. It has underperformed but mostly due to the drop in Horror film interest in the box office in general. It appears that horror is back to being a niche market again and gone are the 150 million dollar days. Lionsgate agreed as Hostel II under performed as did several other horror films at it appears THE RUINES did crap this weekend also. Franchise films are such as SAW series seem to keep an audience. Who knows why cuz that shit sucks balls. Bad writting, bad acting and plot holes the size of supertankers.

A side note to the SIGNAL discussion was why it took Magnolia so long to get the film out. It seems there was a Lou Reed song that wasn’t cleared and that held up the release and then the buzz was gone and horror film demand waned etc. So get all your music cleared people!

The third Magnolia film discussed was the Mike Cain, Demi “I date Ashton” Moore film Flawless. It was released as VOD prior to the Theatrical. It was also shown on Mark Cubans HDNET movies prior to Theatrical. It still seemed to do well on the big screen though. Not great but that was due in part to the fact that it wasn’t hugely advertised and it could not go “wide” because every theater chain in the country refuses to show any movie that has screened on TV, VOD or DVD prior to the theatrical window. The chains also demand at least a 3 month window after the theatrical before any other form of screening. Magnolia owns the Magnolia theater and Landmark theater chain so they could at least get the film into all major markets if only on limited screens. Lionsgate said they would never try to do anything like that because of that very reason. So don’t expect same day VOD and Theatrical any time soon. Foolish old fashioned theater chain mentality will cost them just like it did the music industry. Accepting the new form of democracy afforded by the audience people! It’s 2008.

So bottom line it seems is that unless your film has wide commercial appeal and great critical support you don’t stand a chance getting picked up for theatrical distribution. Hard to watch personal movies that make you think too much are not sought after. People don’t want to see arguments or real conflict on the screen right now. Too much of it on TV and on the internet. People want movies to help them escape from the confines of reality not enforce it. This is the thinking. Not sure if it’s exactly true but it’s what you are up against.

On the finance front it’s all about foreign sales! Secure as much money as you can from investors, get a star attached, go get foreign sales guarantees and debt finance using the sales as collateral. It is expensive form of money and you better move fast through post to keep the interest amounts from killing you. You need a foreign money maker star also. Do your research and find actors that have that value. Domestic values vs. Foreign values are not the same. Hollywood reporter for instance does a Star value every year. Check it out. There are also publications that put dollar amounts against star names.

It was advised that the studio system should be avoided at all cost. Getting stuck in development for years then losing the deal through some random faultless event such as a studio head leaving is all too common. You do a lot of work for nothing. Studios are not interested in indie films anyway. They don’t make money. The best they can do is get lots of awards. It’s all franchise films and sequels right now. Proven product from books, comics etc.

“There will be blood” is a great film but reality is it will lose money and while it may pay off eventually in long term title ownership the upfront return is not there. Same goes for “No Country for Old Men” it is going to be a struggle for it to break even. Why? Because box office was not very high and the cost of promoting those movies to win Oscars was huge. It cost a minimum of 20 million to get into the Oscar race. You need high profile and lots of promotions. Add that to low box office and average DVD sales and you’re not looking at a huge windfall for the studio. They are public companies with investors to answer to. They need quarterly earnings and all that nonsense.

The over all message was optimistic and depressing all at once. Sure you can pull a rabbit out of the hat and get a movie into theatrical on an indie budget but it’s lightning strike odds. Times have changed. Movies that did well in the past wouldn’t even get picked up let alone a theatrical in most cases. A case in point is the large number of movies with big name stars that premiered at sundance and were not bought. Even when the films are purchased the numbers are really low.

Direct to DVD is one of the few places where interesting and challenging movies are getting through. Maybe the Direct to DVD stigma will wash away and as VOD becomes more common and it will be the cool place/way to see movies. Theaters will be seen for what they are, a venue for safe family fair policed by a bunch of old ladies at the MPAA. I know I don’t listen to the radio to find cool music anymore nor do I expect to hear any. Your Mom shouldn’t recognize the band name on your T-shirt nor should your boss. No offense mom.

I will try not to ramble and get at the best bits-

Mr. Tambor is a great character actor who has been in some great movies and held his own against some of the top actors working today. This is his insight working with directors. I say his insight but it’s really what I heard so it may not totally reflect 100% but it should be a close interpretation.

Rehearsal- When rehearsing you don’t want to over do it. You want to let the actors find their characters and feel each other out. This is where as a director you gently nudge them into the best version of what they are doing. In other words, the actors should be a bit scattered trying different ideas and working out things. As an observer the director helps sort out the stuff that is working. The director shouldn’t try to “direct” this process and force his or her ideas onto the cast.

This makes sense. Hopefully if the casting was done right the talent will not need to be “directed” they will only need to be encouraged. This is really contingent on the actors taking on the massive responsibility of learning the story and their character and having total understanding of that character and back story. If the actors are really green and or are not up to the task then problems will arise at this point.

Once on set there is no time or place for rehearsal. There is time for warming up and getting into character but this is different than actually working out a character. Tambor advises that the set is cleared of all crew for the first walk through so there are no distractions and the actors don’t feel a need to perform for anyone. Tambor feels that it is of upmost importance that the Director makes the actors feel safe. Safe meaning that the director will not let them fail on camera so they are free to try anything. If it’s not working the director is has their back and will make sure a good take is found. They actor must never feel as though failing is a negative thing. In a creative environment people must not fear failure or they will hold back. Holding back kills creativity.

Based on this notion, the director should never call an actor out in front of others. If there is an issue it should be addressed discreetly. No reason to make an actor feel bad in front of their peers as it will only create tension.

Control the set. Don’t allow crew to distract the actors. Help keep the actors in the moment and demand the crew show respect and consideration to the art of performance.

Avoid getting caught up looking at the monitor. Look at the live performance. Stand next to the camera. Feel the energy.

Don’t turn the camera off too fast. Some of the best performances can come after cut.

Don’t be afraid to force some surprises onto the actors. Ask for an action that may create some interesting or awkward reactions.

Most of this stuff is old news. Seeing Tambor in action on the stage working with two actors pulled from the audience showed how to put this stuff into practice made it make more sense. I guess the most important thing i learned was not to get in the way.

The Trailer Panel
Here is something that every film producer has to deal with no matter the genre or the length the TRAILER! SXSW had a panel with some of the top trailer cutters in the business and they let us into their secrets and the process inside the art of cutting a story down to two minutes of general audience joy.

The panelist were all very top game guys but not only did they do big studio stuff they also did some “indie” stuff. Okay they did “hollywood indie” meaning they worked for Miramax, Focus, and the like. So the budgets were still very high and they were movies with big talent and strong stories. Although one guy did do “THE SIGNAL” trailer which had no stars and a Canon XL 1 budget.

The most surprising thing I heard them say was the cost and time it takes to make a trailer. They can take up to SIX MONTHS and cost upwards of $300 THOUSAND SMACKARILLOS. GeezUs Cristo on a popsicle stick. That is more time and money than a 99% of the indie films out there ( except mine which cost just under 1 million dollars god damnit! ). Okay before you freak the fuck out about the budget, to be fair, those films are on 35mm and they have to do a film edit and print plus a full 5.1 mix and maybe some graphics ect. So the low end budgets are about 50k for a trailer. These guys aren’t just cranking out cheap DV cuts on FCP in their mothers basement it’s a full on theatrical dealio so cost will creep.

I loved to hear that it takes so long to crack the story sometimes as long as six months! See this helps me justify my slacker slow ass taking so long to do any editing. I hate it when people crank out edits in a few days. That kills my confidence man! I mean people knocking out a film and getting it edited in three months while I languish alone in the dark for almost two years cobbling CRUSHED together… I mean it can bring a brutha down. I feel retarded enough as it is I don’t need that kind of pressure mind fucking my existence and choice of artistic expression. Some times shit just takes a while to get right damnit! So if you are cutting your trailer and it’s taking a fuckload of time… don’t get uptight cuz doing it right takes some time.

MUSIC- Music was one of the biggest choices and editor makes or gets made for him. Could be the studio or the director has a song they really want, if so that is the point in which to start. Songs can really make a impact on tone and timing. They showed a trailer for Little Children that had no music just the sound of a train getting louder. They worked hard to get a SOUND OF SILENCE for the trailer and once they got it cleared…. they decide the train worked better. So don’t think it has to be a song to make your trailer great just get the right tone.

Next issue is how to show enough of the story but not give it all away. The trick it seems, is to find the heart of the story and sell it along with the tone. Don’t worry about getting every subplot or beat just the main theme. Next pick all the best shots. The ones that really wow you. Figure out how to tell your story using all those shots if at all possible. Same idea is to find those trailer moments that really kick ass. Every film should have several really great moments. Make sure you use those moments ( if your film doesn’t have any really kick ass trailer moments… what the fuck were you doing making a movie without really good trailer moments you fuck! You gotta have trailer moments!) even if they don’t really move the story as much as they should. If the moments move the audience then you gotta get them in. This is where you have to remove yourself from the directors brain and into the trailer editors brain. You can make a scene seem funnier or cooler by cutting two reactions or bits of dialogue from different scenes in such a way that it seems to actually be one really clever, funny or cool scene. Don’t let some bullshit idea of ethics prevent you from cutting the trailer that rocks. Use out takes, different takes, unused scenes what ever you got at your disposal. You are trying to sell the fucker so pull out all stops. Seems obvious but it’s often missed by indies who do everything themselves.

Now consider if you want a REDBAND or GREENBAND trailer. Red is for R audience viewing with cursing and nudity what ever you got in the film. Green is for General audience so you gotta keep out all the witty FUCKS, flying cocks, coke sniffing, whore slapping and even smoking. You may want to make this version so you can show it off any place. I know the teaser I have for CRUSHED is made for showing to Distributors so it’s chocked full of flying cocks, coke sniffing and whore slapping… none of which is in the actual movie but it makes for one hell of a trailer! Problem is trying to show it off for friends and what not in mixed company… most people can’t handle that kind of pure artistic truth and vomit a little in their mouths upon seeing a toe being severed. Whachagunnado?

Oh and lest I forget the most important thing I took from the panel was this “NO USE OF VOICE OVER GUY!!!” The “IN A WORLD…” type shit is long since it’s sell by date of freshness and reeks like a strip club carpet. Avoid it’s use unless you are trying to be IRONIC and let’s face it… you’re probably not… I hear you whining “What do I do my fucked up story needs some kind of narration cuz it’s so fucking complex and full of subtly and subtext that you won’t get in a 2 min trailer using the dialogue cuz we only had three words in the whole film and it was a inuit dialect known only to three people one of whom has died since the film was made and the artistic poetry and pain can’t be felt in 2 minutes… blah blah blah… Well if you must use some kind of dialogue to tie your masterpiece together and you can’t use dialogue from the actual film to work… get your main character do do the voice over and make it seem like it’s dialogue from the film. Yup I’m asking you to fake it again. God damn me and my lack of ethics but it has to be done people. You’ll see it’s not really about your film soon enough. Drink the fucking kool aid and conform. So cut your trailer then write a script to tie it all together… and be clever don’t fuck around make it seem like parts of scenes… and get your talent to come back in and record it. You can do the VO type narrative like Good Fellas’ but chances are your not as good as Marty so give yourself some way out.

Cool graphics and quotes from critics can be used to great effect to make the film seem more accessible. A film like FULL NELSON needs something to convince the audience they want to see some fucked up movie about a teacher that smokes crack and gets too close to a female student… oh yeah and don’t show him smoking crack cuz that’s a real buzz kill…. See what I mean?

So go cut the muthufukerist of all muthafuking trailers now that you have the inside knowledge from some of the shit I saw at the PANEL. I promise I didn’t embellish or add my own opinions in to the mix… well not on purpose anyway. Think of it as a guideline more than a rule just in case.

Okay the one thing that really sucks about a big festival is the feeling that no matter what you are doing you are missing something else. You never feel fully satisfied that you are on to the right thing. There are soooooo many movies and most of them you have never heard of and the descriptions never sound interesting and all seem to blur together. So once you do decide on a course of action you always fear you are missing the really cool party, screening or panel. But you have to accept this fate and move forward unabated by fear and paranoia.

Part of the reason we went was to network and get a feel for the climate. We decided early on that we would not give screeners to any distributors at this time. We just wanted to feel them out and set the ground work for future dealings. Our reasoning was that a film like CRUSHED needs to be supported by fans of the genre in the form of reviews and genre festival screenings before just handing it off to a distributor. A distributor may not know what to think but if we had some good reviews from genre fans such as Harry Knowles or the like, we might be viewed in a different light. Hey hope springs eternal right? We passed on a chance to screen it for two big distributors at a private showcase because it felt premature and the whole first impressions thing. We want to come out of the gate strong and create a perceived value for the film first. We showed a teaser and told them the final sound mix was not finished but would get them a screener when we were finished.

I have a screener on my iPhone I can show. So when we want to freak people out rather than explain the film we just pull out the phone and let the images do the talking. In one loud location I narrated the teaser for the viewer which was actually pretty effective. This person turned out to be a Korean Film producer. This kicks ass because our film was heavily influenced by Korea and Japanese directors. Talk about a lucky meeting. The best part! The producer actually knows the director Park Chan-Wook who was a huge inspiration to when making CRUSHED.

Apparently in Korea Park is not as appreciated as he is in the West. Korea film critics seem to love arthouse movies not genre movies… sounds familiar. The producer offered to help us get Park a screener because he is so flattered we would be influenced to make a movie. Hopefully we will get a bit of feedback and a quote. Even if he hates it, it’s pretty fucking cool that he will see it! Best part is, if doesn’t speak english…. his brilliant mind may create a better version in his head! Booya! Win, Win.

About some films! Screenings are great but if you want to see a buzz movie you need to get in line at least one hour early maybe even earlier. Of course this means you are going to miss a good 3.5 hours of drinking and general slacking off in the bars. Very annoying.

The first screening we went to held great promise. It was for the film 21. “21″ is based on the book bringing down the house and also an article in wired magazine. Not sure if the article was first or the book. I read the article back in the day and I really thought to myself “wow! this would make a really cool movie”. Of course that’s all I could do because I am not in the system. The director of the movie saw the same article and thought the same thing. He however, tried to option the story. Unfortunately Hollywood already beat him to the punch. Kevin Spacey’s Production Company seems got it.

Well as time and luck would have it the director went on to make a few romcoms. Legally Blonde and some shit. Well when he heard that the movie was being put together he fought hard and won the slot as director on the project. As for me I was obviously passed over and forced to continue working on my low budget indies.

Okay, what’s with all this fucking jabbering and yet I still haven’t mentioned what the movie is about? Fine, the movie is about how a group of MIT students who used their clever math brains and high intellect to beat Vegas at blackjack by counting cards. Kinda cool no? Unfortunately the movie… not so much.

But what’s really interesting about this film to me is that fact I had already thought about how I would have made it as a movie. Now I was going to get a chance to see how somebody else made it. Even better than that, the lead character from the film was based on a real person and THAT person was at the screening and talked after the film was shown!

From the opening scene you knew the film was made by a RomCom guy. There was the flying camera with the happy music as the protagonist rides his bike through an idealic Boston campus. Followed by some cheeky humor and the fat best friend with a heart of gold bullshitola. Soon we are introduced to the love interest as our nerdy protagonist pines away from afar. The lead is a real meek fellow and the story really crams the love interest on us. Now Kate Bosworth is hot as fuck to be sure, but this movie needed to be edgy and clever not watered down and Legally Blonde.

The story is about some kids cracking fucking Vegas man! In the book and article you get the subtext of sinister underpinnings that are Vegas. You got some MIT kids rocking the tables and pulling in mucho cash you know know the drugs and whores flowed like water. These were college kids for christ’s sake. They were snorting coke off strippers asses and banging three “model hot” chicks at a time! It’s fucking Vegas. The idiot kids from MTV’s Real World got into more trouble than the characters in this half-assed romcom after school special version of the story. Kevin Spacey was good but seemed a bit light. Where was the dark son of bitch from Hurly Burly Kevin Spacey? That fucker at least knew how to have a good time and be dark and bitter about it.

The really frustrating part was when the guy who the movie was based on came on stage. He was sharp as a fucking tack. That guys brain fires on all cylinders you could tell. He was quick and funny and charismatic and a bit cocky. Cocky like anyone who is way better than the rest of us at something tends to be without really trying. Not a fake cockyness just a matter of fact “I’m fucking Smart what can I say?” kinda cocky. Where was that guy in the movie? The character in the movie never struck me as smart, witty or charismatic.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not a movie critic here I’m just pointing out the way a director can really influence the tone of a film. The movie may be a perfectly fine movie and find a big audience who knows. What I do know is that I got a better idea of how a film like this gets made and why it turns out like it does. My dark version may not sell any tickets but in my head it was a much better film, that’s all I’m sayin.

None of this experience would have been as rich had I not seen the film at the festival and heard the director, the cast and the real character speak. So that was pretty cool.

NEXT INSTALLMENT – DIRECTING ACTORS WORKSHOP WITH JEFFERY TAMBOR, INTERNET MARKETING YOUR FILM, AND YOUTUBE IS THE ANTICHRIST.

Okay so we went down to Austin to check out the film festival and hit some of the panels. We didn’t have CRUSHED finished in time to submit it to the festival so it wasn’t even an option to get into the festival.

None the less we decided to go down and mingle with the film / festival crowd to get a feel for the current film making climate and generally get ridiculed for making a genre film in a sea of heart felt “issue” oriented indie movie snobbery.  Good times.  

Okay so the passes for the festival were $350 because as usual I fucked around until it was way past the discount purchase period.  This is a common thread in my life. I don’t have a good excuse. 

So what does $350 buy ya? Here is what I found- 

PANELS. For those not familiar with the festival scene, a panel is basically a group of noteworthy people talking about some film related subject in front of an audience.Topics like DISTRIBUTION, EDITING, DIRECTING ACTORS, WRITING etc. These discussions can get you great insight into specifics often hard to research unless you have access to the right people. These are hopefully those people. You gotta do your research and make sure the person on the panel really is an authority though. Being on a panel certainly lends a lot of cache to the panelist but sometimes they are just some local rube with very little actual experience at any level higher than yourself. They mix in with the legit panelist and usually talk the most. Trust no one. 

The first panel we saw was the HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY panel. Basically it was the the two main stars Harold and Kumar, the writers, and of course NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. It was a pretty lively discussion and provided a look at how the original film was made, how it did terrible, how DVD sales drove the studio to make a sequel. So we learned that the writers got to direct the second film and the budget was really low( in double digit millions no doubt though). They talked about how they came up with ideas, how they worked with the actors, how they are some lucky fucking bastards and how I now hate them. 

Apparently the original idea was to go to Amsterdam and do a EUROTRIP type movie but then EUROTRIP ruined that. Hence the reference to EUROTRIP in HAKEFGB.  Good panel to be sure but we didn’t learn anything much more than some magazine article would tell us.Audience questions were uninspired and boring except we did learn that the actor who plays KUMAR doesn’t really smoke weed and the original HAKGTWC pretty much made all their careers and got Neil his gig on How I Met Your Mother the TV series in which as best as I can tell he plays a watered down version of the same character from HAK movies.  

Next we had our MENTOR SESSION. The mentor session is a chance to have a one on one with a panelist on a particular subject.  You have to wait in line for about an hour to sign up. You get a 15 minute time slot if there is time available with your person. They usually each see about 5 or 6 people. There are usually 4 MENTORS.We chose a DISTRIBUTION mentor session and waited in line.

It’s always fun at festivals to meet other film makers… unless you make GENRE FILMS. The guy in line in front of us was very nice. He told us all about this great doc he made. It was about a doctor in India with use of only one arm and no larynx who has saved thousands of kids from horrible disfigurement causing afflictions with marathon operation sessions. SOON he asks about our film… FUCK ME! Oh yeah… our film… well it’s about a girl who goes crazy and drills holes in peoples heads! Jesus we sounded like that fucking Nazi doctor Mengele compared to this guy. Sure we tried to put an Arthouse spin on the plot, obviously, but how far can you spin a film like ours.

The guy was definitely happy to have his name called to go meet with his MENTOR and escape from our vicinity before the stench of GENRE violated his person.  

The MENTOR we signed up to see was with RED ENVELOPE the NETFLIX people. Seemed like a good idea, I like me some NETFLIX and have always been curious of how the process with them works. I couldn’t wait to dazzle him with the fact we already had a film on NETFLIX. This meeting was going to make up for the shame we endured in line! 

Our allotted time arrives, my name is called and we are ushered toward a gentleman at the back corner table. Okay, for starters,  this poor bastard looked about as excited to be there as those prisoners in the ABU GHRAIB photos. Not a great start. Undeterred we sit down eager to discuss or film and ask him what type of movies RED ENVELOPE is looking for. He musters all the faux enthusiasm he can manage and destroys our hopes with one word… DOCUMENTARIES!!!!! Docu-fucking-mentaries. Oh and ones with a Political theme to be even more painfully precise.

Oh it gets better when he asks about our movie and I’m sure it was more a courtesy than real curiosity on his part. Once we tell him what the movie is about though, he doesn’t even try to hide his distain.  He is quickly informs us that he doesn’t even watch those type of movies god forbid entertain the notion of acquiring them.  Oh yeah and we still have a good 10 minutes o mentor time left on the clock. Sweet.   

Not to be bitter but I think the guy was on steroids or something. He seemed too big for his skin. Puffy like a balloon animal/man thing. I was concerned he may go into some “roid rage” at any moment. This concern caused me to glance around to see what type of security the festival had to offer should I need to seek refuge from this Documentary loving roid monster as he subcombed to “juice”.

I imagined myself running though the convention center in terror as this Genre hating beast lumbered behind me smashing through the under nourished pale vitamin D deficient film crowd. A crowd whom I noticed, has traded black for OLIVE DRAB GREEN as a uniform color of non-conformity.  NEXT INSTALLMENT THE NIGHT LIFE and a few more panels. 

Okay so it’s been a full year in post to get CRUSHED finished. Waaaaaay tooooo Long. We are at the very end of the road now though. It is down to the last two sound reels of foley Music and FX.

It has been slow going because I have had to do most of the crap involved with finishing the movie myself. I don’t have a big team of people taking care if it for me. I am putting in every sound, foot step, key jangle and bump on top off all the sound design. Serge did a great job with the music but I still have to lay it all in place.

Hopefully on the next project our budget will allow for us to hire out a lot of these tasks. But for now it’s an Army of One, and the one is some what of an idiot. Fear not though the film is coming soon!