I am not writing enough. How often have I said that?
It has been a great couple of weeks, if not the last month and a half. It has been a roller coaster, to be sure, but the downs seem to be worth the ups in the long run of it all.
So, updates to the world of people paying attention. A Deed without a Name, my short film, has been sent to a few more places. Currently, it is in consideration at Tribeca, Cannes Indie, GenArts, Breckenridge, LA International, Lake Arrowhead, and Cannes Emerging Filmmakers Showcase. What does this mean? Well, I have said it before and I will say it again. It means I filled out the form correctly, I paid the entry fee, and I delivered the DVDs to the correct address. Not the biggest accomplishment of film making, but it is the current stage at which the film is in. The festival world is what it is; the place in which you get your name out there. There are a bazillion festivals, and strategy is 9/10ths of the work. I am trying to hit some big names, if for no other reason than they are seeing my name and will again with more films. To say I was rejected by Tribeca is worth it for $50 considering that not submitting means they will never see my name or my movies. So for the price on one regular film ticket and one 3D film ticket, I made a person in NYC watch my film and judge it. I can live with being shut down for that price. I have had dates that cost me more and their judgments hurt a great deal. So Robert de Niro, feel free to shoot me down, or up. Wait, not like the drug kind of shooting up. I mean, I would totally do drugs with de Niro, and who wouldn’t, but he probably wouldn’t share with me. I meant accept my film. Not in exchange for drugs, because my film probably is only a dime bag worth, I mean let if play at Tribeca. I am going to stop before I offend Robert de Niro.
Anyway, I love the festivals, and the idea of strategy in working them. I love the idea of going to them and pimping my movie. I love the idea of going and talking about my movie. I have no issue with this process. I just wish I could afford to make more movies and get more of them out the door! Don’t we all?
So, new work. Well, let’s see, since Xmas I have had two commercials, two music videos, and a covert operation all hit the ground running. SWEET! I will link all but the secret mission videos. I wish I could talk about them but, you know…I would have to be silenced. I am at a point where I kind of dig my life enough to stick with it, so no Galaxy Sailor Productions Snuff films coming anytime soon. Of these projects, one is getting play on MTV 2 and is the first thing I have done in front of a camera as a character. A cop with a handlebar mustache and a can of mace. How did they know I always wanted to do that?
Things on the filming community front seem to be progressing along. As many of my readers know (and by many, I mean the 3 of you that make up the 5 total readers) I am always talking about the film community of Portland, what it means to me, and what it means to have an industry. I know, for the most part, that I will never ever change the status quo for those that believe in art for arts sake and being the starving artist that is all about the art of their art. I get it, and I won’t challenge you to an ideological debate, because in the end there is no debate – only two philosophies that come close to each other and never merge. Fair enough. What it means for me is that I will define, even change, the environment that I am in for myself. I will exercise my philosophy at every turn, despite what others may do.
With that said, there are a group of people who have read my recent state of the union address about the film industry, and at least in some way believe my philosophy enough to want to come together to start working on building an industry. I can’t build it alone, nor should I try, but together, people of similar desire can make something great. It will take time. It will take initiative. It will take money as well (the fact of the matter). In the end, it will be glorious. How could it be otherwise? I hope that if you are reading this, and you are in Portland, you will reach out and join us. If you are not in Portland, feel free to reach out and join us anyway!
As far as projects, I have so many I am wanting to do that I just don’t even know how I am going to get them done. Mostly because of money. Nothing else, just the dough. What’s that you say? Kickstarter? Look, I am going to do one, soonish, but I am not going to go to Kickstarter every three weeks that I have a new project. I am not going to beg for quarters that many times. As much as anything, that is part of building the industry for me – having the money coming in from commercial work or investors that allows me to create and distribute and entertain in such a way that people are getting what they want without me having to beg for it too often. Kickstarter has its place, but it is not an ATM (as near as I can tell) that has unlimited use. I want to go there once, maybe twice, and hope that the result plays out well enough to have greased a wheel that keeps spinning.
I am not sure as to how much liberty I have to discuss most projects. As for my scripts, I am about to shoot a shorty short short call Benehooy. It has to do with tunnels. That is all you are getting from me until it is done. Next up from me is Sweet Pea, the one I want a Kickstarter for. The hope is to use whatever momentum I have, coupled with the body of work I have created, to justify people giving me $7500 for the film. It is 20 minutes in length, presumably, and is something I hope is a game changer for me. The pirate documentary Part of the Ship/Part of the Crew continues among the work. As well, I am continuing work on two features. I want to talk about them but don’t know if I can. With that is a collaborative set of projects. A web series, a couple of shorts, and a couple of features, all in various stages of completion on paper. So there is no lack of stuff to do. Now to play the lottery so I can talk about how I want to win the lottery.
There is all sorts of drama stuff going on out there, too. I would write about it, even make jokes or poke fun at things. Belittle stuff. Shoot things down. It’s kind of childish to do. Dumb in fact. I have better things to do. Though it is noteworthy to say that I see it out there and I strive to be better, despite what my prehistoric male brain is asking me to do. Sometimes my desire to beat my chest, grunt loudly, and throw poo is a strong set of emotions culminating in fantasized reactions. Maybe I should just script it!
Fever – White Witches from Fever PDX on Vimeo.