Well, that sucked...

Trying to shoot something on our level is always something of a crap shoot. No one's getting paid so some have a tendency to not take it seriously. And especially here in ABQ, it seems like the more Hollywood comes to town, the more actors and crew here believe that working on something indie that has no promise of ever going anywhere, is simply a waste of time and energy.

Of course, there are exceptions and there are some people around town that would be committed to the project no matter what it is. Finding them, or course, is the hard part.

Yesterday was the first day of production on John's short and I can safely say, I think, that it was a complete mess. Nothing really got done and while that was truly no one's fault, it's just a reminder of how hard we all have to work. While the boons are things like smaller crews, increased mobility, and increased creativity, the huge downside is that one small hitch can shut the whole thing down.

Anyway, moving on, moving forward. Working on a short of my own now, in addition to the feature. Hopefully one of these things will catch fire.

Later Days.

And for me next trick...

So, writing project #1 has been completed and turned in. Now I’m just waiting to hear back on it and get paid. I’m not getting paid a lot, mind you, but still it’s something. It’s actually more than I got paid for that giant turd that has my name on it in Best Buy.

It’s always funny when I tell people that although I wrote a movie that is available nationwide, that I will never tell them the title and that I hope it was a colossal failure.

Also had another meeting for the short we’re shooting in April. It was a good meeting and we got a lot covered including who would win in a fight between Jack Burton and Snake Plissken. It was decided that that level of awesomeness could not be contained on celluloid and that the film would actually catch on fire when it saw those two titans together at the same time.

And that’s just science you can look that up.

And now back to focus on the personal script that I’m writing. I’m very happy to be getting back into that. I was hoping to shoot this flick in the spring but it might actually make more sense to shoot it in the fall. I want to have everything ready to go and running smooth so that we can just jump and shoot. The hardest part of filming this movie will be shooting the fight scenes (there’s three big ones and one little one), everything else is dialogue and we’re going to rehearse the shit out of those before we actually shoot anything.

The hardest part of preproduction, I can already tell, is finding actresses to play the female leads. I ask a lot of those two characters and the actresses we find are going to have to dig deep to pull off what the script asks for.

I also need a guy to play the main villain. And the character isn’t really a villain because, when you think about it, the main character, Frankie, is the villain. He’s the bad guy, but like they say, everyone’s the hero in their own story.

That’s all for now, babies.

Later Days…

James Gunn...

Check out James Gunn's wicked post about writing and film in general. It's a very worthwhile read.

http://www.jamesgunn.com/advice-blog-1-do-you-really-want-to-be-in-the-film-industry

Working away...

So toiling on two different thing at the same time can be both helpful and complicated. It's helpful because when you get stuck with one you can just jump to the other. But it can be less helpful when writing one and you start writing things for your other script and you get two or three pages in and you realize what an ass you are and you have to copy and paste and figure out what the hell you did wrong.

Ugh, sometimes I feel like I might never get where I want to go. But then I remember what the alternative is (working a dead end job, working medical insurance claims, driving a lousy car, barely able to pay all my bills and take care of my kids) and I realize that I can't fail.

So, I won't. Also, I'm going to marry Megan Fox.

And, hey, check it out, I have a 2nd follower: Hi, Lisa!!

So, not so much...

I know, I haven't kept up on this blog like I should have been but I will remedy that in the future, I swear. It's just that I've been focused on writing actual projects. So, with work, two younglings, and two different projects to write, I haven't had a lot of time to focus on the blog, but I will post more often. Promise. Okay? Is it a deal?

Good, now let's go take a shower.

I know, right?

I'm writing. Please to be going away.

Genre vs. Mainstream...

For me at least, there is a distinct desire to avoid being labeled as anything one thing when it comes to writing/acting. Judd Apatow is a great writer/director (although I do think that the majority of the best stuff in his movies comes from Rogen and the others improving) but he has strictly worked in the realm of comedy.

JJ Abrams, on the other hand, works solely in the "genre" arena.

Both of these men have made huge impacts on film recently and on me as a both a fan and a filmmaker and I would love to be in either one of their shoes in their respective genres...but the quest is: is it possible to do not only one, but both?

Could someone be the kind of writer/actor/director that could have one foot firmly in the mainstream, making comedies and heavy indie dramas while at the same time writing and producing and staring in sci fi flicks, horror movies, and the like?

Tarantino is one of those that can seemingly do it. He's made straight up crime flicks, blood soaked samurai revenge flicks, and is now making a war movie. He's yet to set his sights on anything that could be described as mainstream but still, he's one of those that can seemingly do anything they want and pull it off.

The question is: can anyone else?