Out towards the Open Road

I feel it coming. The next great shift. My friends are all moving again, uprooting from those temporal places they found to transition from college into the beginning of adulthood. J left Poughkeepsie yesterday (or was it two days ago?) and D is also talking about going out on the open road. N passed his driver's test and has a license and will soon have a car. S will soon join J on the long road to California.
California...it is weird. I feel like there's a mass exodus of most of my friends going that way. I too am going soon. For 11 days at least. More, if I manage to get a job.
But the point is, we're all moving again. I feel that I too will soon be moving. Once the documentary has finished filming, I think I need to go and wander the world. We are all uprooting ourselves after all, looking for home. And so we travel through the world.
Hmm. I am ready.
Preparing for the open road.

Categories: california, D, film, J, M, N, S, travel

antiperigalacticon

Antiperigalacticon: the point in a star's orbit where the star is the furthest away from the center of the the galaxy.

I came across this particularly lovely word when doing some research for a screenplay I'm working on. A screenplay that recently is out of the running from the Sundance Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant. Hearing that news last night was a bit of a bummer I will admit, but I have other places and other grants I can apply for. My next upcoming deadline is Nov. 8 so I'm typing furiously any time I get the chance. You see, the thing isn't quite finished yet. But luckily for me, my creative juices are gushing (and not just flowing) out for the first time in years so I'm feeling pretty good about it. And everything that's coming out is not my usual craptastic fare, it is actually (dare I say it) ....good! That and the documentary are keeping me pretty busy lately. Add a bout of the common cold to that too...silly cold.
In any case, I'm preparing for my trip to LA too. I'm leaving next week (Ahh!) on Thursday so that's also on my mind.
Ah. And I quit that production I was working on last weekend. The director and I realized that we just couldn't work together.
Anyhoo.
Sorry my posts have been short. I'm really busy.

Categories: film, LA, Sundance

Film Rollercoaster

Making a real film really is a rollercoaster. It is exhausting, tiring, you come to points where you want to quit, you come to points where you think it'll actually work. It is an experience. We're a day away from filming and things are starting to sail smoothly again after a very hectic crazy day today. The director and I had a bit of a shouting match this afternoon and I went into a meeting at 6:30 meaning to quit and to ask for my investment back. I even called up my lawyer. That's how serious I was. Luckily I didn't. My mood lifted considerably by the time I'd talked with the director and the cinematographer for a bit. They had some beers in their system and we solved the shooting schedule thing which got us in a shouting match in the first place. Live and learn I suppose. Film is trial by fire.
To be honest, I'm looking forward to the shoot very much. But I'm also looking forward to being done with it. I am really tired. And I miss working on my own stuff. I have a video for kickstarter to work on and a screenplay to do some work on too. I've learned a lot recently though...about dealing with people and with production and with crew.
I also learned that while being the producer is a cool job, it isn't what I want to do really. I like ADing but I think my heart is really in directing at the end of the day. That's really where I want to get. Soon. The doc is a first step. A good first step.
I guess I need to get back to my film schedule.
*sigh*
Tired....

Categories: Ciudad de la Codicia, film

A Week Away from Filming

Scary, huh? I mean, thrilling, exciting beyond belief, but right now mostly nerve-racking and stressful. By all means, I shouldn't be as worried as I am. We're doing so much better than we should be doing by this point, but a lot is still sort of up in the air and there is only one more week to solve that. One. More. Week. That's insane!
I am thrilled though. I really am.
We're shooting a sort of teaser trailer thingy for our feature-length that we want to shoot in May-June. A sort of calling card for possible investors.
You see, we're going to the AFM in Santa Monica, CA, USA in early November. We're hoping to pitch the project and gather some interest. Hopefully an investor/distributor. Keep your fingers crossed.
Also, I'm supposed to hear back from the Sundance Institute in two weeks about whether or not my application for the Alfred P. Sloan Commissioning Grant went on to the second round. That has me in a bit of a bind too to tell the truth. It would be pretty sweet if I was able to get that grant. I know I'm pretty young and all, but I think my screenplay has a real chance. I hope that at least it gets to the second round...yes. I think taking it in strides is the best solution.
The other thing is...I'm still kind of broke. I mean, not really. I have some savings and I'm living with the 'rents but it doesn't look like I'll see any income anytime soon unfortunately which means my moving-out plans are somewhat delayed for the moment. Sometimes I wish I had a job that paid me...but then I think about what I'm doing and I feel infinitely happier. Of course, I wish that what I am doing would pay me...that would be perfect. It will eventually. We have high hopes for this film (if my income projections are right, we could recover 60% of the budget if we only sold 400 tickets each weekend in each of the 16 theaters in the country for 4 weekends (which means filling a single screening room once each day on Saturday and Sunday) - and that's just the first-month National sales projection).
The doc is coming along well too. It got accepted into Kickstarter so we're currently working on getting that up on the website. You should help us out and donate $5 btw! You can really help us out with as little as that! :D
Anyhoo, I guess I should get out of bed and start the day, eh? I have a ton of phone calls and paperwork too do.
Yes. I know it is Saturday.
Welcome to the world of film production.

Categories: Ciudad de la Codicia, film, Kickstarter, Me Voy A Volver, Sundance

Best Movies of All Time

Everyone makes lists of "Best Movies of All Time" and I thought that it was only appropriate that I make one too. Mind you, my list is about my favorite films...the ones I think go above and beyond anything else. And while it does include some classics, not all of them are considered cinematic masterpieces by most. Okay. So here goes:

1. Star Wars: A New Hope (George Lucas)

2. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner)

3. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)

4. Garden State (Zach Braff)

5. Hero / 英雄 (Zhang Yimou)

6. Inception (Christopher Nolan)

7. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)

8. City of God (Fernando Meirelles)

9. The Matrix (The Wachowski Brothers)

10. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)

11. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai)

12. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)

13. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)

14. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Joel Zwick)

15. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)

16. Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)

17. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)

18. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski)

19. Sleep Dealer (Diego Rivera)

20. Metropolis (Fritz Lang)

21. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)

22. The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles)

23. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

24. Toy Story (John Lasseter)

25. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

26. Sabrina (Sydney Pollack)

27. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)

28. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)

29. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)

30. The Breakfast Club (John Hughes)

31. Deep Impact (Mimi Ledger)

32. All the President's Men (Alan J. Pakula)

33. Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola)

34. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer)

35. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)

36. Spaceballs (Mel Brooks)

37. Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise)

38. Qué Tan Lejos (Tania Hermida)

39. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)

40. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)

41. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)

42. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)

43. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)

44. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)

45. E.T. (Steven Spielberg)

47. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)

48. The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan)

49. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)

50. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis)

51. The Green Mile (Frank Darabont)

52. Distict 9 (Neil Blomkamp)

53. High Noon (Fred Zinneman)

54. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)

55. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)

56. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayon, Valerie Faris)

57. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis)

58. Tesis (Pedro Almodóvar)

59. Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas)

60. Shrek (Adam Adamson, Vicky Jenson)

61. Juno (Jason Reitman)

62. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

63. Signs (M. Night Shyamalan)

I have a feeling I might have forgotten a few...oh well...

Categories: film, star wars

Full Speed Ahead

So. I'm back in Ecuador.
Yeah. I was here for that whole crazy scandal last Thursday.
Yes. I am ok. No, I things aren't crazy here. It is business as usual. The political stuff - well...it's the political stuff. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I don't care...but it's politics. I hate talking about politics.
Besides that big scare, I think things have been crazy hectic with me sort of getting things in order. We're filming a teaser trailer on Oct 22-24. That's not very far off and we're sort of piecing it together. Well...it is already pieced together. It's just the details that are sort of up in the air. Haha. Not fun. I just came back from actor rehearsal though...things bode well.
Small update I guess. I'm sort of in a hurry but it's good. I have work. Sort of.
Haha.

Categories: Ecuador, film