Vindication

Martin Scorsese has finally won an Oscar!!!! I was nearly at the brink of tears watching him step up there and hold the statue in his hand.

If it hadn't been for the fact that I was at work, I would have cried. I still may.

My wife called me as Marty took the stage.

TONYA: Are you watching?
ME: Yes.
TONYA: When I heard them say his name, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's going to be so excited.'

And I was. I am.

And while I know that it wasn't an Oscar for Gangs of New York, Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver or any of the other wonderful films this man has given to the world, the Oscar is well deserved.

If they had tried to play him off stage, I would have been forced to catch a red eye down to LA and personally beat the crap out of every one of the musicians in the orchestra pit. But I think Jack Nicholson, MarkWahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio would have already jumped in there to defend Marty's honor.

I'll post a picture of Marty with his Oscar just as soon as I can. I know it will be around the net, but damn it, it's gonna be on my blog!!!

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Get Busy

The Lot project taught me something important about telling a story. Especially with it being under 5 minutes. Be quick about it. I guess that's the thing about editing that I'm still getting use to. I get lots of coverage for safety's sake, but I don't have to use every bleedin' second of it. Sometimes less is more. Particularly when you're shackled by time constraints.

Thankfully, the project I'm returning to, my "road" picture, leaves me some room to breathe. I think the weather will cooperate well enough for me to start back up with production. We don't have a great deal more to shoot for that project, so I'm hoping to be done with it in a couple of weeks. I say "couple of weeks" meaning four days tops.

My brother is working on a Motion version of the production company logo. An animated version of the atom above the company name. I think what I have is actually not bad, but I'd love to have a spicy version of for subsequent films.

I'm also working on a script that one of my other brothers, Lyon, and I had spun while we were at the Austin Film Festival a few years ago. It a comedy about the film business that we started brainstorming on one night. I've been working on it now for three years and I think it's come into fruition. I'm hoping to have it ready for contest in October for submission at the Austin Film Festival.

There are so many other projects that I have lined up after I finish this next film. One I wrote with hopes to enter it The Lot and another that my buddy, Greg, is working on. The Greg collaboration has such great potential; it's a drama about the Iraq war. Greg really has a good handle on dialogue and description that I feel we can really sink our teeth into that one and make it strong.

I'm trying my best to keep my momentum going from film to film. With my new schedule coming up next week, it will be interesting to see just how I'm gonna get it all done.

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Last Minute

I'm way behind. I should have gotten that damn short for The Lot done a long time ago.

I helped Hank get his entry onto DVD on Tuesday night. It was edited, but he needed to get his intro dumped into my machine and he wanted my opinion on the two clips he had for submission.

I had already seen both of them at a small film viewing that my friend Eric had put on at a local pizza place. I don't think I knew they were Hank's clips. Both are part of a larger work he said he sort of slapped togehter.

I should have started this short sooner. I've been going through a few more films on The Lot and I have to say, they have far greater production value. At least they seem to. There was a guy who only had one set, if I'm not mistaken. It was shot nicely, but it was missing something.

Ugh, I'm getting off track. I'm going to sit down tonight, a big bottle of water by the trackball and my new Sony headphones strapped to my head to finish this off and upload it to the site. Then I've got to get my paperwork done, burn the DVD and sent it all in.

I know I don't stand a chance in Hell, but I'm gonna try it. This will mark my second film contest. IFMASA's film showcase last year was my first. This, however, is something of greater proportions.

As soon as this is in the can, off we go, back to the film I was making before all this madness began. On the road again.

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A Lot of Feelings about The Lot

I've viewed a few entries on The Lot's website. I have to say, some of them are high quality. By that I mean that they've spent a few dollars on equipment and their production value is high. I've seen others that are just as good and they seem to have almost no budget.

While I don't have a doubt about how talented some of these higher end indie filmmakers are, their films lead me to one question: how underdog are these contestants for this reality TV show going to be?

I mean, if you've got the ability to not only come up with recognizable film props (one film used the DeLorean from Back To The Future), does that make you a more viable candidate for the show? Or are they looking to see if you can make do with almost nothing and turn that raw talent into a film? I definitely have the latter. I've got all kinds of ideas that I think would make great shorts and can pull them off on a zero budget. Well, almost zero, but you get the idea.

I'm worried that projects like mine will be overshadowed by outfits who have great cameras and great sets and a sharper look and feel. Still, I think that with the great performances we have and the fairly decent story, it might fair up well.

Taking a positive approach to all this is definitely the way I need to go. Regardless of how I fair up, I've done a great job and I feel great about it. My skills will only improve and one day I'll be playing in the major leagues. That's all there is to it.

Right now, my other thought about The Lot is whether or not I'll have time to shoot another project. One of the three projects that I wrote for The Lot is a cast intensive one that could, potentially, be shot in one evening. Sixteen people with a line or three in one house.

I've spoken to my wife, Hank and a few others about the possibility of trying to shoot this script Saturday night. But I have my reservations about it. I have to cast sixteen parts tomorrow and film the next day. Sounds tough, doesn't it? I could be. Or it could be the greatest film ever made. Well, okay, maybe it's just a tough shoot.

I guess we'll find out tonight when I begin editing the first short. I hope we can pull the second film off.

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The Lot Shoot, Day 2: A Quiet Evening At Home

I like shooting in closed sets. The controlled atmosphere gives me a little more room to think.

We shot last night at Christopher & Monica's apartment. Monica, Chris' girlfriend, played the part of his...girlfriend. Yes, it was a stretch for her.

We had only planned on shooting a couple of hours, but it quickly stretched to about four hours and change. I enjoy working with Hank, my DP, for several reasons. One, he's really good about working on the fly. With no storyboards or pre-visualizations, we can usually end up on the same page as far as the look and feel of a shot. Two, he's doesn't take the first shot he frames up. He likes to move around and look at the shot from all angles. He's a joy to work with.

Given that the shoot was so impromptu, Monica had a little trouble getting started. I had cast Christopher a while back and he's usually really good about learning his lines. Her role was up in the air for a while, so it was natural for her to stumble a little through the lines. To her credit, she did a great job of getting through it. Looking at the script last night, I kinda made a few sections a bit harder than they should have been. Some parts seemed to be similar and I think that's what caused the problem. But she was impressive in her delivery, especially at the part of the script where she had to be more expressive with her body language and her eyes.

I realized when I got home that we missed one shot, but I don't think it's going to hurt the finished product. If nothing else, it will give me a little extra time I can use to make it really pop.

I begin editing tonight and will look for music as well. Another Chris, a friend from Arkansas, gave me permission to use his band's music for another project, so I may look through the material he's given me to see if it's possible to use one of Blind Punch's songs for the end credits.

I feel good about this shoot. I think it's got a lot of potential. I need to be mindful of letting it lag too much, a mistake that I made with my first offering, "A Matter of Time."

This project has unexpectedly become my sophomore offering, so I have to be sure it's not just gonna cut the mustard for The Lot, but that it shows I'm not a complete hack.

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New Shoot, Day 1: I Can See For Miles and Miles and Miles...

ITS WHO YOU KNOW
My buddy Theo knows a few people in town. So I asked him to help me find a building we could use for my TheLot.com project. He came through with flying colors.

I was put in contact with a guy named Laurence, who is part of a real estate brokerage firm here in San Antonio. His firm has quite a few buildings in the downtown area and agreed to let us come on one of their properties to film our movie. At first, we assumed that it would be like pulling teeth to get access to a rooftop in downtown San Antonio, but Laurence was incredibly helpful and worked well with us.

We had originally selected a more modern building adjacent to the property management company's offices, but when we met with Laurence, he gave us a tour of his building. It worked out much better than I had thought it would. So we signed off on the liability release and set up a time to come shoot.

UP UP IN THE SKY
We got there a bit early to block the shots and to make sure that we gave the crew the same safety precautions that Laurence had given Hank and I.

We had scheduled a block of 4 hours to shoot and managed to finish with 45 minutes to spare. Hank makes my job so much easier. He's been my DP for the last 2 films. We work well together. Admittedly, I'm not as knowledgeable as I should be about f-stops and camera tech. Hank doesn't mind answering my questions. He's full of great ideas too.

The actor, Christopher, is also working on another film with me. I've posted stuff about it on this blog. He's very professional and insightful. He likes to explore stuff about his character and takes direction very well. I enjoy working with him.

Along with some last minute crew, my son, Terrance, another actor, Raven & Christopher's girlfriend, Monica, we went through and knocked out the shoot with very few problems.

On one of the last shots of the day, we had to walk over to Travis Park and film our actor from the ground. It was about a block away and we'd watch him looking over the edge of our building. While we were standing there, setting up, a guy walked up to us and looking for another production company. Turns out another indie film group shooting a love story in the park that day, not too far from where we were. Their director, Greg, came over to say hello when they saw Hank.

After we walked by to the building, we set up our last shot and wrapped for the day.

It was a fun shoot and it seemed to go by very fast. I love this job.

Our next shoot will wrap this movie and we'll move on to the second project for TheLot.com. I can't wait.

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A New Year

Well, it's been some time since my last post, so I guess I better get on with it.

ALMOST GOT IT
The Bar Trilogy, that ever present script in the back of my head, is still far from my grasp.

I don't know what it is about that storyline that just evades capture. I started casting and before I knew it, I turned to find the movies had escaped. Its a hard bunch of movies to cast, not just in terms of volume, but of the types of characters I want. I have to find very specific personalities. The format for each film has also been troubling. My 30 minute films turned into 45 and then into 90 before the first script had even reached 20 pages. Now I'm dabbling with the idea of making them all 25 minutes a piece and piecing together some segue to make them all one, feature length movie.

Either way, I don't think we'll see these fully realized for some time. It makes me sad, but I'm also happy I didn't compromise myself just to get them out.

ROLLING THUNDER
The film I started in December is still in production. I just edited the first four minutes and it shows a lot of promise. I think when we finally finish it, it's going to be very good. I've got two great actors who are doing such a good job that it can't go wrong.

We put the breaks on production for the holidays and after that, the weather decided to have some fun with us. I think we'll end up finishing it late in February. Fortunately, it won't be too late for some local film festivals. And it will definitely be ready for some later festivals this year.

SWEET SIXTEEN
I've registered with The Lot and hope to put up a good couple of projects. You can click on the link to see more, but in case you just want the lowdown. Fox is putting together a reality-type show where 16 underdog filmmakers compete for a million dollar development deal with Dreamworks. Steven Spielberg is involved and its very exciting.

I've spun two new projects special for the contest. Two five minute shorts that will hopefully showcase a little of what I've learned. One is kind of a dark love story and the other is a big ensemble piece featuring a nasty habit. What am I talking about? You'll see.

I've been watching some offerings on the site and am a little nervous. Some of these people have gigantic crews and all kinds of expensive props and equipment. Not to mention special effects and all sorts of eye candy. What I have noticed is that some of these directors aren't really playing with their real talents. I mean, there's some great stuff out there, really original stuff. But some of these guys are just regurgitating what so many others have spit up before them. I know some of my ideas aren't 100% original, but I think that I've got something real to offer. Something that was born of a love that has never been compromised and has never faltered. I love movies. And all I want is to make one kid, just one kid, feel the same way I did when I was a youngster, digging myself into a movie seat hoping to get lost for a couple of hours. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they all feel the same way. Maybe I'm not the only one. But sometimes you can tell from what you're watching that there's skill, lots of talent, but lack of love.

I'll be shooting this weekend and next weekend and editing and scoring in between. Here goes nothing.

PARTNERS IN CRIME
I've recently started another collaboration. I had started writing a script with a fellow director, Eric, whom I haven't really spoken to in a while. I've still got the script in working condition, but I've been so busy with other stuff that I haven't gotten back at it.

When I decided to throw my hat in the ring for The Lot, I called on a fellow writer, Greg, to help me with an idea I had planned to shoot for The Lot. It was a short about a kid going to Iraq. I thought it would be timely and powerful, but feared I was biting off more than I could chew by writing four shorts. So I handed it off to Greg and he ran with it. What resulted was better than I could have imagined. He wrote a story with great characters, detailed scenes and real feeling. I told him to keep writing, even if it went past five pages. I feel like it's gonna be something good. Something that will not just showcase his writing ability, but that I can sink my teeth into as a director. We're gonna sit down again when he's gotten more writing in, but what he's got right now is gold. I hope we can get it done in April, it won't take us long. One set and a handful of actors. I think he's definitely got talent. He let me read a few of his other works and they're just as good. I don't think he sees it, though. But I hope I can help him in any way I can.

I'd been reticent about getting into collaborations, but I feel like the people I've gotten to work with are genuine and more importantly, friends. I hope I don't get proven wrong. I'm just trying to be a realist about it all.

GUTS
I've got a lot of scripts planned for this year. I made it my New Years resolution to sell one. Just one. I figure that if I write my ass off this year, I can sell just one. I'm not going to quit my job and start planning my Oscar speech if I do, but I'll certainly write more.

I'm at a point in my life, with this, that I want more than anything to finally do all those things I swore I would do when I was 20. I want to write movies. I want to direct them. I think I've started to succeed already. I can call myself a director. I can call myself a writer. I've got one project out there with my name plastered on it that proves I've got the mettle. Now I just have to finish what I started. I'll be honest. I'm scared. But I've been told I've got talent and I know I have heart.

This is my year. Hope you come along for the ride.

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