May 27, 2005 - The Price of Doing Business
At this stage of the game I don't remember why I decided to shoot an underwater sequence. I think at one point I wanted to show what I could do and really impress the powers that be, but right now that seems like a stupid idea. Originally, I wanted to shoot underwater because I had an underwater housing and was planning on shooting with my Sony PD150. Since I am now shooting on the Cannon XL2 and need to continue with a similar 24p format, I am now forced to rent a housing for a comperable camera.
We decided to shoot all the underwater sequences on a Panasonic 100a. It can also shoot in 24p mode, and will match what we did on the Cannon fairly closely. What I cannot believe is that no one east of the Mississippi owns a housing for that camera. The only place I can find one is Hydroflex out of L.A. The rental is $200 per day. I'm only shooting one day, but it has to be shipped across the country. They cut me a deal and are only charging me two days rental.
But today the FedEx bill arrived.
In order to only be charged two days rental, I had to overnight the package
both ways. The shipping bill came to $400. Grand total: $800. To buy a brand
new housing would cost $1,500.
Since we weren't able to get all the shots we needed, I'm going to have to go through this ritual again. Hopefully I can talk a friend into buying one before all this happens.
May 22, 2005 - Frozen
I know what you're thinking. The weather is nice, everything is warming up, spring is in the air, "Hey, it's a good time to shoot that underwater sequence we missed in December!"
Trust me. It's not warm enough.
The incredible Ben Juhl came to town to be our stunt double for the underwater
sequence and we figured the "slight chill" would be no problem
if we were wearing wet suits. We shot all night on Saturday night, and that
"slight chill" really seeps into your wetsuit by about 2 a.m.
We got some great footage, however, but we also learned a lot about how
things work underwater.
Here's the setup. Our hero gets hand cuffed to a fence gate and thrown in
the pool. The villan throws several bags of dirt on his chest to weigh him
down, and the hero sinks to the bottom of the pool. Well, boys and girls,
here's your physics tidbit for the day. . . bags of dirt like to float.
It doesn't matter how much air you squeeze out of those bags, it will still
rise to the surface like a balloon. This, of course, doesn't make for scary
video! Also, if you try to squeeze the air out of a dirt bag, the air squirts
out of every hole like a sewage fountain, thus turning the entire pool into
a nice soupy brown.
In order to make this all work, we had to empty the dirt out of the bags, wash them out, fill them with weights, and wrap them with towels. That worked! He sank like a rock!
In the end, only about half of the footage is going to work. It was a good practice run with the fence gate, but the pool wasn't deep enough. It's really not that scary if our hero can just stand up and get air. We wrapped in the wee hours of the morning and stumbled into our homes. Every one of us ended up getting sick, and Johnny had such severe cramps from shivering, that he had to lie on the floor in a fetal position until the pain went away. Ain't movie making fun?
April 30, 2005 - Isn't Prostituion Illegal?
During the rush of shooting the film, I didn't really feel the pain of it all until now. Sure, I was tired and beat up, but I really didn't have a concept of how much of a financial strain this would be. When we wrapped, it amounted to two months of work that I missed. That's a big chunk, especially since I'm not independently wealthy. Now, I'm paying off my debt to AC Inc.
The deal that I struck with Robert Costanza was that
I would pay for part of the camera rental, and I would work off the rest
of the bill. Well, the reaper has come knockin', and now I've just finished
up a week of shooting on another film, "Prisoner," directed by
Robert Lynn. It was a bit humiliating being on that set. I was sitting in
about the lowest job position possible. . . video operator. This wouldn't
have been that big of a deal, but when they stopped recording to video tape,
that put a damper on my work load.
I felt like a doorman at an automatic door company.
The best part was when I was left to coil cables during a power outage. We were shooting at a closed down prison (that's allegedly haunted) and I found myself alone, in the dark, and in front of the electric chair on death row. My only source of illumination was the mini mag light in my mouth and, of course, the bursts of lighting that would flash through the windows for dramatic effect.
That was my last day.
March 10, 2005 - When the going gets tough
My wife's mother just died and we have returned from the memorial service in Iowa. This year is starting out to be very difficult with no money and a death in the family. I've been able to pick up a job here an there, but nothing that pays much. Unfortunately it's the slow time of year.
February 10, 2005 - Will Work for Money
I'm really broke.
I've had to work catering jobs for gas money.
I'm thinking about selling my body. Or at least part
of it. . . maybe just a kidney.
I actually made the call to the Vanderbilt University research program to
see if they were buying testicles. (Apparently this is only an urban legend.)
I called and asked the guy what department I needed to talk to about selling one. He was quiet for several moments and finally asked, "Is that something that you want to do?"
"Sure, if the money is right!" I replied.
"Um. No, we are not buying testicles. . . But we do get this call quite often."
He hung up.
January 15, 2005 - The Rundown
Looking back on the last month I am truly amazed at what we were able to accomplish. We were blessed on every front from the actors to the locations to the weather. Naturally we hit a snag here and there, but it always seemed to make the project better.
We weren't able to get any of the underwater scenes because we lost our location, and Josh ended up getting the flu. I'm not sure what I was thinking anyway because who shoots outdoor underwater scenes in December? The plan is to regroup and nail it once it warms up.
We also weren't able to complete the prison shots. We shot most of the day in an abandoned office building and I'm not sure if it'll sell as the actual location. I won't know that until everything has been cut together.
I think I'm going to take some time away from the film before I dive in and start the edit. After all, I'm so far behind in the bills that I REALLY NEED TO WORK! I don't see any way I could've pulled this off if I would've had children. "The Human Trace" has become my baby.
Finally, if you have a project that you're going to shoot, please call Jerry and Amanda. They are two of the most amazing people I have ever met. If you want your project to look fantastic, then they are the people to call.
Shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you their contact info.
January 4, 2005 - Happy Birthday to me
I told myself that I wanted to complete a feature film before I turned 36.
We wrapped the last shot on my 36th birthday at 3:00 p.m.
January 3, 2005 - A Word about Michael
I don't think I can be entering this blog/diary without a word about Michael. Not Michael the archangel, Michael Jordan, Michael McDonald, Michael Mann, or George Michael. Nope. . . Michael. OUR Michael.
Michael was one of the first to join our rag-tag crew and got the job because his room mate, Roy, was working on the film. Both Roy and Michael were wet-behind-the-ears film students fresh from Full Sail in Florida. They arrived in town a few weeks before shooting with their placentas still attached, and were quickly baptized by fire. There were naysayers who mocked me for hiring film students, but I'm thankful for both of them because even though they had a lot to learn, they contributed a lot to the film. The only person on set more than these two was Steve-O.
Michael and Roy had their unique personalities, but Michael will stand out in my memory for a long time. I think the best way to describe him would be a pack mule. I don't mean that in a negative way, not a jackass, but a steady, heavy lifting, burden bearing bull. He had a pace and he stuck to it.
Oh yes, and he was clumsy.
I noticed it the first night when we he was operating the china ball. Every few minutes I would hear it crunch into something, and by the end of the night it looked like a shredded hoola skirt. He fell off ladders, slipped on the ice, bonked his head countless times, and was the first to catch the flu.
While we were shooting at the BnB, I gave him my keys so that he could run to my condo and pick up something I forgot. He came back a few minutes later with a sheepish look on his face. He thought that since I was giving him my keys, that meant he was supposed to take my car. He drove away not realizing that the dolly track and ladder weren't strapped to the roof. He made it to the first stop light and the track launched into space and skittered into the intersection in a sparking blaze.
A few nights later, we were shooting night for day inside a house and the HMI that was shinning through the window suddenly fell over. We all rushed outside to find Michael with a blank stare on his face, holding a long piece of pipe, and blinking down at the shattered light.
"Um. That light fell." Was his only response.
Apparently he pushed the light over with the pole he was carrying and didn't know it. Among other things that suffered the fate of Michaele were the $5,000 monitor he was carrying when he slipped on the ice, a plant hanger he snapped off when he fell on it, a 100 year old window he rammed with a C-Stand arm, and my brand new C-Stand. Yes, he is responsible for the picture you see above, and bending a solid steel C-Stand is a very difficult thing to do.
Don't get me wrong, I love Michael. Everytime I think about him I start laughing. He's a great guy with a big heart, and even bigger feet. Whenever any of us start talking about him we start with his signature line of, "Oh."
"Oh." Was what he would say everytime he
would trip, bonk, stumble, bumble, or fall. You would be working in a room,
here some clamor in the next room, quickly followed by, "Oh."
"There goes Michael," we would think as a smile played on our
lips.
January 1, 2005 - Say "Hello" to Hollywood
You can't help but feel like your getting dangerously close to finishing a feature when your main actor finnishes his shots, and returns to his normal life.
Josh wrapped shooting this week and returned to Chicago
to plow into the last few months of school. I feel bad for him because of
his exhastion level. Since this is his last year of school, he has multiple
papers, plays, and final projects to complete in order to graduate. The
last thing he has time for is a feature film! But, being the trooper that
he is, he stuck with it and and made it through. There's nothing harder
that trying to perform when you're completely exhausted, and I am eternally
grateful to him for all of his incredible work.
Thank you Josh Sumner!
We weren't able to get quite all of the shots that are needed, but we're going to finish out what we can and go back at it once he is out of school in the spring. It's a good thing, too, because one of the things left to shoot is an extensive underwater sequence!
Ben Juhl has come to town and is acting as stunt double for Josh. We are shooting quite a few effects shots and chase scenes, and Ben looks so much like Josh that I keep calling him by that name. Tonight we are doing some crowd scenes and precision driving. Fortunately, it's an incredibly warm day and it looks like I'll be donning the shorts!
December 28, 2004 - On a Roll
Christmas has come and gone and we're all feeling rejuvinated. Johnny is out of town for the rest of the holidays, so I'm wearing the DP hat once again. The team is working as a good, well-oiled machine at this point, even though the first day back was stressful. I was really looking forward to this day of the shoot beause of the way the set was going to look. Jerry and Amanda hung clear tarp around the interior of this house to made it look like the place was under construction. They also covered all of the furniture with white fabric so the rooms had a dead/ghostly apperance. I had an eerie blue light seeping through the tarp to give it a creepy, "Our hero shouldn't be here" kind of vibe.
In the end, everything looked great, but it was tough without a DP However, we got everything we needed, and even was able to get Josh out in time to celebrate his birthday! Success!
Today we had a lot of fun shooting cycling shots. Poor Josh has a bit of a sore crotch after relentlessly riding that bike over every concievable bit of terrain. We also hooked the bike up to Jerry's wonder machine. It's a motorcycle with a platform to one side, and a fork mount built right into the platform. We removed the front tire of the bike, locked the front forks to the platform, and away we went. It worked wonderfully!
Next, we started in on a thundering fight scene where Josh's character proceedes to get butt whipped for at least 15 pages. It looks fantastic, and hats off to Jeff Wilson who willingly did a high fall stunt with Jerry Buxbaum into a large pile of cardboard boxes.
December 23, 2004 - Don't let Roy near the van
Now that I think about it, it's funny.
We shot for three days at a creepy old house in Watertown, Tenn.
That's right, Watertown. Population 1,394.
You know, it's the place that was settled by Captain William Thompson of
North Carolina in 1780. It remained rather sleepy until the Nashville and
Knoxville Railroad came in 1885. After this the village more than doubled
in size. The depot in Watertown was the unloading place for surrounding
towns.
Anyway, the first two days went pretty good. (Except for when Jerry ran a skillsaw across this thumb.) That was a little scary, but luckily the town doctor was a good beer drinkin' buddy of Goose's. (the owner of the house). He patched Jerry up without going to the hospital.)
We finished shooting with JD Parker on the first day, nailed a major portion of the final fight on day two, and on the last we were running as fast as we could to get out of there for Christmas. As we were finishing up with Josh and Jeff Wilson, a big winter storm reared it's ugly head. We wrapped the actors and as we were getting the last of the stunt shots, Roy quietly asked if he could have the keys to the van.
I thought, "Great, he's thinking ahead. He's going to load the van so we can get out of here."
I handed him the keys and plowed on ahead. After
an hour or so, Amanda appeared behind me.
She was panting.
After a closer look I noticed that her entire body was drenched. Water drizzled
from the tips of her limp hair, and mud was splattered across the legs of
her white pants. The most obvious thing, however, was the big leaf plastered
to her right cheek. "What happend!?" I asked.
She bored through me with an icy gaze and spit out one word.
"Roy."
I rushed to the back porch and stared out through
the driving sleet. I couldn't believe what I saw. Apparently Roy, in his
willingness to help, attempted to move the van closer to the back door.
Instead of turning it around in the driveway where it was parked, he decided
to make a u-turn in the soupy field.
So, there it sat. A white dinasaur buried to it's gills and awaiting extinction.
Since it was approaching midnight I figured the best thing to do was to finish shooting. We cut at the 15th hour, and I immediately snatched several towing chains, and went spelunking. After pulling the van to freedom I pulled it around the the FRONT of the house and continued our load out.
Muddy, wet, cranky, and exhaused, we wrapped out of the house. I said goodbye to everyone, got in the van and stepped on the gas. The van roared at me, but didn't move. I tried again, with the same response. I looked underneath and to my horror saw that I had parked the van not on the street, but straddling the sidewalk. One tire in the gutter, the other in the front yard.
For the second time that night I woke Goose, crawled through the mud and hooked up the chains. Unfortunately Jerry and Amanda were no longer around to tow me out, so Goose had to do it in his bathrobe.
As I finally eased onto the road and said, "goodbye" to Watertown, the sleet was freezing on the street. I barely made it home. Merry Christmas.
December 20, 2004 - Broken
I broke my phone. Why? Because I got mad and threw it.
Why? Because my car broke down.
Thank you Doug Stephens for letting me use your van! So much for starting the week off with a bang.
December 19, 2004 - It's starting to look a lot like Christmas
This just in. Jeff Wilson has saved the day. Jeff Wilson, who has now earned himself an associate producer credit, has proven himself as not just an actor, but as a life saver. On Saturday, as we were all having a casual lunch together, I got a phone call saying that the location I had lined up for Sunday wasn't going to work.
It turns out that owner of the house didn't really think I was serious when I said I wanted to shoot a movie in his living room, and we'd be there all day. Yeah, I like to make big expensive jokes like that. So, to make a long story longer, Jeff Wilson jumped on the phone and found us a location in a record breaking 60 minutes. It turned out that this house was much better than the first.
The funny part was when we arrived at the bachelor pad at 5:00 a.m., the group of free radicals that lived there were still having a party. There were drunk bodies scattered in every room. Fortunately, the house needed to look trashed. Amanda had an easy job of set decorating.
Today was my last day with a DP. Johnny was able
to take last week off and now is leaving town for Christmas, so, I'm alone
again. Not to mention that the closer we get to Christmas, my crew will
be leaving me piece by piece like disintegrating fuselage from a crashing
airplane. We only have three days to shoot this week, and it features some
big fight scenes at the end of the film, as well as the entire opening scene.
(No pressure, right?)
Now that you know the difficulties I faced, check out the opening scene
under the "View Clips" button. It'll give you a much better appreciation.
: )
In the end, today went extremely well. We shot some great fight scenes, and as we were shooting Jeff Wilson, the sun decided to set behind him, creating some eerie rays of light around his face. It looks awesome!! Did I mention that Dave Chattam rocks?
December 18, 2004 - In Summary
Two things: First, I'm thankful that we still have a movie. Problems or no, we still manage everyday to put something in the can.
Second, Dave Chattam is an amazing person and phenomenal actor. I would recommend to everyone that they use him in any project they have.
December 14, 2004 - Dead Fall
"I'm just not very good at confrontation."
George McFly, "Back to the Future."
December 11, 2004 - One Down, Five to go
It's the end of the first week and even though I'm exhaused, I think things are going quite well. After the disasterous Monday night, Tuesday went off without a hitch, shooting with Cynthia Ganote. We wrapped a little early. The next day was our first 20+ hour day. We started with Jaimee Gray, shooting for the day in one location. We were able to wrap her out, but we were a little behind getting to our next location.
Our last part of the shoot was supposed to be a short
night shoot where the main character arrives at a house, and enters through
the back door. We set up and started to roll, but the rains showed up in
force. Rain is the biggest time killer on a shoot. (Except, of course, shooting
underwater which we'll get to later.)
Any time you're dealing with water everything slows down because now you
have to cover every light and every electrical connection with some sort
of water proofing. Everything is difficult, and it wasn't long before we
were staring down the barrel at 2:00 a.m. Fortunately, both Johnny and Josh
didn't have to be on set until 7:00 p.m. They didn't have as long of a day
as the rest of us. Myself, Steve, and Michael were the remaining few who
stuck it out for the full 20+.
December 12, 2004
Today was personally my hardest so far. I'm hammered from yesterday, and
everything was wet. I spent most of the day laying on a soaking wet dolly
and ended up just as drenched as the night before. I'm really feeling the
pressure of shooting without a DP. It's not that any of this is beyond my
ability, it's just a lot to think about as I act as the ring leader to this
circus. At one point during the day I was busily lighting a section of hallway
and I realized that I was working alone. I'm not sure how long it had been
that way, but when I went to investigate, I found the rest of the three
crew members hanging out at craft services.
The day was topped off when Steve and I were re-hanging
an expensive mirror. We gently hung it on a nail and walked away. As we
turned our backs, I heard the nail pull out with a sickening "Tink,"
followed by a hollow thud. We whirled around and saw that the mirror had
fallen six inches onto a marble table. . . cracking the table down the center.
Our budget just went up.
Friday, December 10, was actually easier even though I overslept. (Go figure.) Fortunately I didn't miss any shots because of my lazy butt. We grabbed a few pick up shots and wrapped early.
Tonight, we re-shoot the building rooftop sequence and it looks like good weather. And best of all. . . Jerry and Amanda are arriving tonight. Woohoo!
December 7, 2004 - Just Another Manic Monday
My plan, since I knew we'd be short on sleep from the weekend, was to start later in the day on Monday. The crew call time was going to be at 1:00pm in Franklin where we would dress the backyard of a friend's house with Christmas lights, and then do a short night shoot on the roof of an office building.
Ah the plans of mice and men. Suddenly a huge storm moved in and threw everything into a tailspin. None of the Christmas lights went up, instead I ran around trying pick up a 12X12 griff to cover the spot where we wanted to shoot. I went to the roof and tried to set up, but the winds were blowing so hard, nothing would stay standing.
Instead, we moved around to the side of the building and set up. This worked fine until it started to pour. We shot in the miserable rain and did the best we could, but Jeff was having a tough time getting into the character, so the whole night was a bust. I'm not going to panic just yet. We're now only one day behind.
December 5, 2004 - Off and Raining
I am now officially a feature film director.
I have to say that so far, things are going well.
I'm incredibly tired, but we're doing okay. Saturday night was a good start.
We were crammed into a little set that mimicked an attic with a slanted
roof. Josh got to crawl away from the bad guys and then fall through the
ceiling.
We lit with only two sources: A red light simulating red Christmas tree
lights, and a blue china ball that enhanced the head lamp Josh was using.
Michael was in charge of the china ball and by the end of the night it was
almost in pieces. He was carrying it on a pole and keeping it just out of
frame, but between every take he would accidentally crush it against the
wall, Josh, Johnny, the camera, or whatever else might've been standing
there. I'd be working away and I'd hear. . . crrrrrrrunch "Oops, sorry."
It gave us all a good laugh.
Johnny's headlamp was the production's first fatality. In one shot Josh had to quickly turn the light off and he accidentally crushed the ring. We swapped to an official police mini mag light and we're hoping that the audience doesn't notice.
Another funny part of the night was our lame excuse
for a smoke machine. Really, what it amounted to was a hot plate with some
sort of toxic disk in a pan. It didn't create a fog so much as it created
a light mist that drifted lazily to the ceiling. It was so hot that I can't
believe we didn't burn our set to the ground. I think I would've been better
off smoking a cigarrette.
Either way I think I'm going to get cancer.
Sunday was tiring because call time was 5:00 a.m.
I'm not sure why 5:00 a.m. seems earlier on a Sunday, but it was. We began
our day at Fido, a coffee shop in Hillsboro Village. Bob Bernstein was gracious
enough to let us in to shoot before the doors opened. We wrapped and went
across the street to Bookman Rare and Used Books where we shot a short scene
with Josh and my wife, Michaele. We were going to shoot some outside shots
with Jeff Hime, but his alarm didn't go off and he showed up extremely late.
We ended the day at Lone Wolf Tatoo, courtesy of Ben Dixon.
We are tired, but so far we're on schedule!
December 1, 2004 - PreProduction pt3
What do you get when you combine a full-length feature
film script with a crew of five?
No sleep.
Our production starts on December 4, and my body is in a constant stomach acid flush. Here's what we have so far:
Cast: Josh Sumner, Jeff Hime, Jeff Wilson, Jaimee Gray, David Chattam, Cynthia Ganote, and my wife Michaele.
Full Time Crew: Me; film students
Michael Neese, Roy Siringo, and Steve Kisling; Jerry Buxbaum, and Amanda
Steen.
Occasional crew: John D. Gerhart, JT. Sumner, and Hector
and Zach Segundo. I'm not sure about J.T., Hector, and Zach, but John says
he can be there as often as possible to serve as the Director of Photography.
We finally have Josh's schedule and he'll be coming to town tomorrow. We'll have a short rehearsal time that night, and Friday we'll pick up costumes and have police training from officer Mike Messmer of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The fun begins on Saturday night when we'll shoot at RSVP (Russ Sturgeon Video Production.) We're shooting in a set that Roy, Michael and I built out of old paneling from a previous shoot. It's an attic set and Josh will be crawling away from the bad guys. It's going to be a short night with limited camera movement, but it should introduce us to what is to come.
I have planned as extensively as possible and done the best job I could of setting everything up. If I have forgotten something. . . well, then it'll have to remain forgotten. At this point it's impossible to go back. Jerry and Amanda are making their way across the country by truck and will arrive on Thursday, December 9.
We are making a movie.
God help us all. . .
November 19, 2004- Dumpster Diving
I heard from a friend who works construction, that very often on job sites a massive amount of wood gets thrown away. He knew that I needed wood for some set building and politely pointed me to a few construction sites with big dumpsters. I just wish that someone would've been with me to shoot behind the scenes footage.
As the sun began to set, I barreled into the site, found a bus sized dumpster, and vaulted over the wall. Inside I found a nice selection of lumber. I also found a staggering amount of moldy refried beans. I threw all the wood I wanted over the side and clamoured out of the dumpster. (There are no ladders on the inside.) After I finished loading my car, I looked up to a stunned crowed of Mexican workers with mouths agape. I tossed them a sheepish wave as I peeled another plate of crusty beans from my shoe. As I drove off I swore I heard, "Gringo loco" from some of them. It was either that or, "pendejo stupido." I'm not sure which.
In my opinion, if you can get insulted by a group of Mexican migrant workers, it's good for the ego.
November 2004 - PreProduction pt2
Good news and bad news.
Jerry and Amanda are on board. I made the long trek
to Portland and met with them while they were in the middle of a fuster-cluck
film. I snuck in while they were on break and they took a look at my pre-production
book with blood shot eyes. Although I couldn't understand anything Jerry
was saying through his sleep deprived stupor, Amanda assured me that they
were on board. She even mentioned that I was more prepared for the shoot
than their current director. (I'm thinking that that's a good thing. . .
for me at least.) They were very impressed with my production book which
was as thick as a New York city Yellowpages.
(See picture below.)
I'm just hoping that it's enough to keep all the details in order.
However, I'm still not sure if I have a DP. John
D. Gerhart is so busy with work that it doesn't look good that he'll be
able to join our party. I might be able to get him for a week, or on the
occasional evening or weekend, but probably not for the whole enchilada.
So, that means I'll have to grab a fork and eat the rest myself.
I think I can deal with the heartburn, I'm just praying I don't get food
poisoning.
David Chattam is on board; Darrin Dickerson is not.
Darrin has gotten so busy with work that he won't have time to attend. (And
to think that I set the shoot date at a time when film people usually aren't
busy.) However, Jeff Wilson has agreed to play the evil Sheriff Sykes. I
haven't worked with Jeff yet, but I've seen him in other local films and
I think he'll do well with the part. He came highly reccomended from many
friends.
I have all of my locations nailed down, but I still don't know when Josh will be out of school. I'm trying not to stress to much about it yet!
I was approved for my Visa card and have a whopping
$2,000 limit!
I was also able to raise about $5,000. This sets me up for the Robert Rodriguez/Chris
Nolan tradition of extreme low budget film making.
I think I'm getting an ulcer.
September 2004 - PreProduction pt1
Things are starting to come together. . . sort of.
The biggest issue at this point is putting together an investment contract.
I cannot believe how difficult it is. I have been through six lawyers, all
of whom looked at my project, glanced at the budget, and handed my information
back to me like a dirty diaper. (I swear I could hear outbursts of laughter
coming from the behind closed conference room doors.)
I had one lawyer tell me that just to draw up the investor contract would cost $15,000. That is half of my budget. Finally, after much deliberation and many phone calls, I found an attorney willing to help, and we have a contract that will work within my meager budget. I am currently searching high and low for the funding and hoping that all of the money will fall out of the sky.
As a back up plan, I've applied for an REI Visa card.
I'm also doing everything possible for preproduction and am currently drawing storyboards for every shot in the film. It's funny to me how a film tends to grow over time. I really tried to write a "Breakfast Club" idea. You know, the character driven drama, all shot in one location? Well, apparently that isn't within my abilities. I can't seem to write anything unless it has big explosions, car chases, gunfire, or at least some sort of fantastic element. I don't think I need to explain that none of this is easy to pull together.
At this point I'm not even sure if I'll have a director of photography (DP), so I've driven to every location, measured out every room, made topo maps on grid paper with measurements, and pre-planned where all of the lights will go. I've also been talking with two of the most amazing people on the planet, Jerry Buxbaum and Amanda Steen.
Jerry and Amanda are from my home town of Portland, Oregon and they handle stunts and effects. I'm looking at everything that needs to be done and have figured out ways to do it myself, but I'm hoping they believe in the project enough to come out and work on it. They really like the script, it's just a matter of how much all of this will cost, and if we can schedule it.
The final hurdle is getting the actors together. So far Jeff Hime and Josh Sumner are on board as the two main characters. I'm hoping that Darrin Dickerson will play the antagonist, but he is unsure of his schedule at this point. A big hitch in the plan is Josh's school schedule. He doesn't know how much time he will have off for winter break. There is the possibility that he will be required to stay in Chicago and practice for a play. He is studying for his Master's in theater at Northwestern. We won't know until much later when he'll be free. That makes it hard to schedule the film.
June 2004 - Writing
"A good script is written. A great script is re-written." Anonymous
After a painful process of blood-letting and a full
dumpster of bad ideas, an idea has been born. Of course it's brand spankin'
new. The placenta is still intact and it hasn't taken a breath yet, (the
nurses are currently performing CPR,) but the idea has arrived.
(I think it's a boy. Mainly because most of the acting parts are male.)
I enlisted the help of my long time collaborator,
Rene Evans, and together we pounded out an idea. I like working with Rene
because she has no problem telling me when my ideas suck. It may sting at
the time, but I'd rather hear it then than after the film is finished and
I'm reading the review in "Premier."
". . . Jason Satterlund's film really sucked. . ."
I try to surround myself with people like that. I
firmly believe in the advice from Proverbs 15:22 "Plains fail for lack
of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
In every step of the process from writing to editing, I like to have someone
close to me who will be honest where the project fails, and I make sure
that that person isn't my mother! Sorry, Mom, but it's your job to love
everything your son does. : )
Now, the next step in this process is to send the script to trusted friends
and get feedback from several fresh perspectives.
January 2004 - The Introduction
This is how it all began. . .
When kids are asked what they want to be, they respond
wholeheartedly, whether they envision a position of grandeur, like a fireman
saving lives, or a noble job, like teaching children to read. My dream,
my passion, my vision, the only thing I ever wanted to be, is a feature
film director.
So, how does one with no friends or family in the industry become something
so grand? It’s hard just to break into the business, much less land
a job as movie CEO. And, after working in the professional filmmaking world
for over 10 years, I discovered that everyone from the actors to the doughnut
wranglers wants to direct.
Knowing this, I studied other directors and how they got their jobs. A lot of these people like Spielberg, Soderbergh, Peter Berg (and all the other bergs) started from scratch and fought their way in. They didn’t walk into a major Hollywood studio and convince the executives to take a risk on an unproven director, they proved they could direct first.
There are exceptions. Some get their starts because Daddy is the president of Universal. . . But we're not here to talk about those lucky jerks, are we?
My first attempt to tackle this monster was a film
titled "Searching for Winter." It was a feature length screenplay
I wrote, and I decided to get money from private investors so that I could
direct it. I set out to raise a mere $1 million. I developed a business
plan with a seasoned attorney, shot selected scenes from the film, and cut
them together into an intense movie trailer to give potential investors
a visual aid, and to showcase my talents as a director.
(See the trailer at www.bigpuddlefilms.com/films/winter.)
Did the investors love it? The response was disheartening. Almost everyone who watched the trailer asked the same question, “Since all movies are risky investments, why would I give a large sum of my money to someone who's never directed a feature film?” No matter how many times I showed the trailer, or how accomplished my video production demo reel was, it was to no avail. It was time to go back to the drawing board.
For two years, I bumbled around looking for a solution. I shot a short film and went to film festivals, but that didn't get me a feature film project. And then one day it hit me. . . I will never get this job unless I've got experience, and I can't get experience without a job. Yeah, I know, it was an earth shattering concept, but true nonetheless. I needed to shoot a film using resources I already had, and forget the big budget movie for now. So I sat down, turned on my creative juices, and searched myself for the ultimate low budget/high impact script.
The first step in this process was to make a list of equipment I owned or had affordable access to. For example, I own a small grip package and lighting kit, an Avid DV Express Pro edit suite, a Sony PD-150 camera, and an underwater housing. I also have great relationships with several production companies, and knew I could rent gear at reduced rates. Then I made a list of things that, because of my experience, I knew I could pull off easily and would add serious production value. For example, an underwater scene.
After accessing what I had to work with, I fashioned a script around these elements, and "The Human Trace" was born. Now, all that was left was to make thorough advance preparations, shoot the film within a limited timeframe, go for a couple of months without pay, convince my friends to do the same, and make it through post-production without going bankrupt and losing my condo. That sounds easy enough, don't you think?
That's what I thought too. . . but that was before I ended up in the hopital.
