Archive Twenty-six
April 8,
2007 - Quick Hits
A laundry list of current activities ...
Getting
ready to hire my Casting Director this week, so she can start
getting the word out. Just need to finalize some paperwork
and logistics with that ...
Leaving
for Shasta on Friday to take of business up there, location work,
talking to the Forest Service, talking to locals about various
issues, some having to do with offers of lodging and such,
hopefully will be back in about 10 days ...
Narrowed
my DP candidates down to about a dozen and will meet with them
when I'm back ...
Thought I
had my Line Producer lined up, but that fell apart and will have
to revisit that. Considering using someone up north as
they'll know the crew base closer to where I'll be shooting.
Will meet with a couple when I'm up there ...
Once I'm
back down south, I'll need to be available for callbacks in the
casting sessions and making final decisions on cast, and then also
to meet with DP's and finalize that. Hopefully I'll be done
with all that by May 15th and then back up north for good, as
official prep is scheduled for June 11 ...
And I need
to start considering Production Designers real soon ...
Wow, and
things are just getting started ...
Jerry
Comments --
My new 2007 indie feature, Double Down -- 4/9
I really like your blog. I want to tell you about my new
2007 controversial indie feature film, Double Down. I wrote,
produced and directed it. Check out the trailer/site at
www.Double-Down.biz. Hope you like it and thanks for
mentioning it...I could use the help.
Neil
Comments --
New Web Pages & Articles -- 4/10
Hey Everybody,
People keep asking me what I am working on these days so... I
have added a couple new pages to my web site. Now you can find out
more about my current projects, and you can also donate to them
should you so desire. I wish I was a real non-profit so that you
could get a tax deduction on your donation, (in the last few years
I certainly haven't seen any profits and that has to count for
something...), but I am not, according to the IRS. Thanks to all
who have supported me so far!
The trip is going well. (Except for the snow and the cold
temperatures! It's supposed to be Spring isn't it?) I am getting
good audiences and great questions. I have just added 3 nights at
the Grand Rapids Micro Cinema April 11 - 13th. I will be teaching
a Sound Design Work Shop and screening BIRDDOG & Kicking Bird.
Check out
http://somethingtv.com/indexes/index_microcinema.html for
times.
Paul Hood at Pennlive just did an online article about me.
Check it out at
http://blog.pennlive.com/filmclips. Paul is a terrific
writer and an all around good guy. I also want to thank
Filmmaker Magazine for their support and their latest blog about
me,
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/2007/03/angry-filmmaker-hits-road.php.
I kind of like being referred to as a "force of nature"...
Later, Kelley
www.angryfilmmaker.com
April 15,
2007 - More Quick Hits
Just checking off my list and moving on ...
Got the
casting director going and starting the casting process, and yes
we're going non-union. We'll cast our principals and
supporting roles out of L.A., but most of our bits and extras from
northern California and southern Oregon ...
Looks like
I got me a Line Producer, who operates out of Sacramento. So
we'll probably be pulling the bulk of our crew out of there.
But we'll probably also use people from the southern Oregon area
...
Took some
more location stills and may have found some very feasible
locations in and around Mt. Shasta City. People have been
cooperative, friendly and of course, very curious ...
Getting
ready to put in a new hot tub on the outside deck. Why is
that important to the film? Well, besides giving the cast
and crew some reprieve, there's a steamy romantic scene that takes
place in it. So, we'll be dong a little set construction, as
well as home improvement ...
Just
starting my director's breakdown of the script, and wondering,
what the hell was the writer thinking when he wrote this.
Get back to you later on that, once I figure it out ...
Been
working on a visual workbook in order to better communicate the
intent of the film in a visual way. It should help the
production designer and others see where I'm coming from ...
When I get
back down south (around the 24th or 25th) I have about 6 or 7 DP's
to meet with, and figure out which one of them has the right stuff
to take this on ...
Jerry
April 22,
2007 - The Power of the Moment
Creative resistance and the fodder for failure and success ...
Past,
future, and right here and now. Do we have control of any of
this? The past is done and gone, so let it go. But
easier said than done, as it always seems to grab at our heels,
reminding of us of how we didn't quite do it the way we wanted.
The future, we try to plan for and hope we can get it the way we
want, but oh how weary are those who dream those dreams only to
find the shifting sands of illusion spilling through those
grasping, mortal hands. The here and now, the present.
Moment to moment, ticking away as we try to take hold of our
destiny, seeking, searching for the way...the way to...? ...
What does
all this mean? In filmic terms, the power of the moment
immortalized through time, creating a resonance that can be felt
long after we are gone, long after any other evidence of our
existence disappears. I feel the power and popularity of
film springs forth from this very simple truth. The power of
the moment, driven moment by moment, captured forever, the past
relived over and over into the future, a timeless pledge always
ready to be redeemed ...
What does
this have to do with anything? Film versus life, and how one
affects the other, possibly more profoundly that can be seen on
the surface. Yes, my philosophy of film moment, my film
theory minute, a tick away from life and why film has become such
a big part of our modern culture. We capture that moment,
and replay it over and over, whether the fare the industry doles
out to us, or from our own private home movies. The power of
the moment, and how the past, present and future all blend
together and become one ...
Now
whether this is a positive force or not on our psyche is probably
hard to decipher. Maybe future generations will figure that
out, maybe by how much more we become dysfunctional based on how
much media we ingest and regurgitate into our daily lives of
mortality ...
Film
moments, a road of sorts to immortality. Film moments,
revelations from the creative spirit, recreating itself moment to
moment, stretching ourselves and finding...? ...
Aahhh,
there seems to be no true answer down this path, but I wonder if
there ever was meant to be. Maybe it's only in the
consideration of such, and then maybe we can figure out where our
own individual paths go. Oh well, oh hell, leave no stone
unturned and no wing unflown, but I've most certainly babbled long
enough ...
But hey,
one last plug for DREAMS AWAKE, a tale of finding courage in a
fearful world, a story of the everlasting quest for immortality,
and a film about waking up in this dream called life to discover
your divine moment. For in the end, isn't each moment that
we experience all we really have? And isn't it only in that
moment that we have any power at all in our life? Moment by
moment? ...
Jerry
April 30,
2007 - Say What?
A
life of it's own, as momentum picks up ...
Just early
into the push towards production, and I can feel the heat.
No matter what I do and get done one day, it feels like when I
wake up I'm already more behind each day. In fact, I'm
starting to wake up at early odd hours, 3, 4 and 5 a.m. And
once I'm awake, no way I'm getting back to sleep, so I might as
well try and get something done. Just a couple days ago I
woke up and it felt like I was in the middle of some kind of panic
attack, but there was nothing in particular that I was cognizant
of that I needed to be so stressed out about. But don't tell
my body that, 'cause the stress was registering off the charts.
I just got up and sat down to meditate a bit, and within 20
minutes I was back to normal and ready to take on the day.
Hhhhmmm ...
Casting
has started and I'm heading over to Hollywood for callbacks
tomorrow to see what we've got to work with, pairing up actors and
seeing how they play off each other. Susan, our casting
director, has been fabulous, is a real dynamo and runs a tight
ship. And yes, I need to go over the sides I've given them
to make sure I remember the scenes well enough to give them some
decent direction. Hey, after all I did write them, right?
You'd think, no big deal. But breaking down a scene as a
director (in a dramatic sense) is a completely different skill-set
than writing a scene. As a writer, I may have several layers
I want to get across, but as a director I will discover nuances I
wasn't completely conscious of as the writer and also beats may
not play dramatically the way I thought they would as the writer.
Revelation. Imagination and real life collide a bit, and
clear choices have to be made as a director. Oh sure, there
may be several ways to play a scene, but maybe only one right way,
the one that really works. But until you get in that room
with a flesh and blood actor, you probably won't find out.
Should be be fun, demanding and intense. Let's go ...
Up north,
the line producer is putting together the schedule and nailing all
that down, and supposedly is going up the the Shasta house to get
his act together. All right, Brion, go for it. Get
that nuts and bolts going, so I can focus on the creative.
I'm so loving and enjoying that. At first, I had a bit of a
time letting go of the left-brain production stuff, but Brion
helped me with that and we're sailing into more clear waters, even
if they are rising. Every once in a while I have to remind
myself that is all being taken care of, and he's a godsend ...
Getting
real close to choosing a cinematographer. Again, not an easy
decision. This is how it worked. I got over 250 reels,
narrowed those down to about 50, then tried to contact about 15 of
those, and finally have interviewed 7 of those with a couple more
to see. But I think it's down to 2, possibly 3, now.
I'm setting a May 10th date to make a final decision. More
later on that, now back to work ...
Jerry
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