Election Night

I'm no politician, but I'm starting to have a better understanding for election eve and the actual election day.  The work has been done.  There's not a whole lot that he can do.  The ballots are what they're going to be.

So tomorrow, after four feature films, this fifth one is getting a real theatrical release.  It's been a real learning experience listening in our weekly teleconferences on all the things that go into it.  You've got viral marketing people, publicity, theaters and of course the distributor.  Tomorrow, we'll see how people respond.  Will they go and buy tickets in Nashville, Tulsa and Grand Rapids?  If they do, then we roll out bigger.  If they don't, it will be a short lived theatrical and we'll see how DVD does.

The trick here is time.  The stakes are high-- the distributor is putting out a lot of money.  So their patience won't be long.  This is standard in the industry.  Take the tv show shot in Dallas "Lone Star."  Critically acclaimed, but the network didn't give it much chance after the first two episodes failed to get the numbers.  Had they stuck with it, Lone Star could have done well.  But the stakes are just too high for network executives to gamble.

For instance, Arrested Development was critically acclaimed.  But like Lone Star, the numbers weren't there.  The network was going to cancel after one season but stuck with.  And then a third season.  But it never found a strong audience.

I think "Rising Stars" will have a good audience.  It's a very entertaining movie with a strong message about the dangers of competition.  The Survivor-generation is learning all about "me-first" social politics-- where to get ahead you have to beat your competition.  Rising Stars sends the message that you have a choice-- you can destroy in a dog-eat-dog manner, or you can come together and create.

So tomorrow, the ballots will be cast and on through the weekend.  There will be a conference call on Monday to see where the numbers are.  And based on that, the movie's release will grow hopefully. 

One last ditch appeal to voters-- if you know anyone in Nashville, Grand Rapids or Tulsa-- please tell them to go see Rising Stars this weekend.  Don't wait.

Click on these links for the info for each city:
Nashville
Tulsa
Grand Rapids

Rising Stars Oct. 22

It's official. We're getting a theatrical release-- albeit a small one. We are very grateful for the chance and hope that fans in these three cities will show up and sell it out. Screen Media, the distributor is using these three cities as a test to see if they'll roll it out bigger.

Here's the link: http://trailers.apple.com/
For the exclusive trailer direct link: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/risingstars/

The three cities are: Tulsa, Nashville and Grand Rapids. They wanted to do mid size markets, more conservative in demographics. It's all very calculated by a big team of people. You'd like the conference calls-- very educational. You've got the viral marketing team, the theater booking person, the radio specialist, the publicist and publicity expert.  Of course Andrew the producer, me and the people at Screen Media.

I hope if you're near or in these cities, you'll pack it out starting October 22.  We really need you.

Labor Can Be Longer Than Nine Months

My non-movie-making friends often ask about a movie we're making-- wondering why it isn't out yet and in stores.  Over ten years, I've made five films... So there's the average pace from start to finish, for me, of two years per movie.  Sure I'd like to see that shrink.

In the studios, a director can do two or three movies a year tops.  A producer can do a bunch because he's multitasking and doesn't have to be exclusive for a long time on a movie.

Once we yell "wrap," people often wonder why they don't see the movie in the theaters a few months later.  Here's what happens in the indie world.  My fastest film to distribution from wrap, was about nine months-- "A Promise Kept."  We wrapped at the end of January and it was available through the distributor by October.

The next film "Striking Range," took significantly longer.  We wrapped in early June.  By the next June we were talking with Sony, and in late November, it was released.  So wrap to shelf was 18 months-- double the time of APK.

Right now, we're coming up on the year anniversary of the shoot for "Rising Stars."  We wrapped at the very end of August.  Looks like a late September release in a few select theaters, so wrap to screen time is right in the middle of the average-- 12 to 13 months.

Why so long?  Well first, the filmmakers have to perfect the edit, and this is what can take so long.  Watching it amongst the team... focus groups with others... constantly questioning every little cut in every little scene.  Getting to the locked edit can be three or four months on average-- a lot longer other times.  Then after Lock, it will take minimum of six weeks, but more likely three or four months for sound and music, lab and color to take place.  Then you have your "screener."

So then you schedule distributor screenings and this can take a month or two.  Distributors are thinking and talking amongst themselves-- acquisitions bring it to the team, marketing watches and weighs in, then the big dog decides yes or no.  If a yes, then an offer is made.  Then there's at least a couple of weeks of going back and forth on the offer.

The distributor will need a minimum of five months or so to properly prepare a release.  If you're starting with foreign sales, then it can be the following month (hence the quickness of APK).

Now for studio films, it's different-- they're in an assembly line.  They don't have to try and get the movie picked up.  But locking can take a lot longer and various suits try to justify their studio position by weighing in on the edit.  Movie making by committee.  Ewwww.

Rising Stars

I'm excited about "Rising Stars."  We shot the movie last August and finished earlier this year.  Doberman Entertainment is nearly done with the deal for distribution and it will be exciting.  (I'll announce when they tell me I can the specifics).

We shot this movie here in the DFW area, mostly at the University of Texas at Arlington.  What's really fun about this film is the cast-- these guys across the board were awesome.  We have Kyle Riabko, who's playing on Broadway right now.  Lauren Ashley Carter-- one of the best young actor's I've ever worked with.  We've got Fisher Stevens, who just won the Academy Award (producing a documentary).  Barry Corbin... the lovely Catherine Mary Stewart... And Rebecca St. James.  Rebecca is really doing well moving from grammy award winning Christian singer to film actor.  There's Leon Thomas III who's landed a sweet role on television.  As well as Natalie Hall who's done the same.

The movie is about high schoolers caught up in a national talent search, squaring off against each other in the Finals, to see who will get the fame and fortune contract.  The two categories are Musical Acts, and Filmmakers.  Three musical acts pair up with three filmmakers for one week of collaboration and competition.  The movie is that week.

The film is targeted as a family film for the secular audience and I think there's something in there for everyone.  Premieres and dates will be forthcoming shortly.

Disc Wars

The technology in my field of choice, being electronics based, is rapidly evolving. For you consumers, if you're wondering what's the deal with DVD's, Blu-ray, and even the old VHS and why they all change, let me tell what's going on.

First, let me predict that Blu-ray will win. I just bought a Blu-ray at Walmart for a low, low price of $98. Why buy a DVD player at that price? I do believe, that Blu-ray will overtake DVD like DVD did to VHS.

Why? Let me give you some tech data... DVD's play standard definition video-- so even if you have a high def 50 inch plasma hanging on your wall, it will still play that DVD as standard def-- they might widen it, but it's still only 720 scan lines big.

Then came along the upgrade in technology and a war broke out (like the Betamax and VHS war of the early eighties). In one corner was HD-DVD and the other, Blu-ray. I guess you know who won.

The cool thing here is that Blu-ray (and HD-DVD which is over now), can give you true high def quality. To put some more math on it... your DVD movie is probably sitting on the disc at maybe 3.8 megabytes. On the Blu-ray, that same movie is maybe 22 megabytes. Seven times the quality difference.

Throughout post on "Rising Stars," I was constantly burning DVD's to check the edit, send to the producers and such. When we finally got done a few weeks ago and burned a Blu-ray... it was amazing.

So, you heard it here, kiss DVD goodbye. It's over. There's no reason to go out and buy another DVD player. Blu-ray plays both. Even the Sony Playstation 3 is a blu-ray player.

Hello Blu-ray.

That's a Wrap

Nearing 10pm last night, we got the final shot in the can of "Rising Stars." It was a bitter-sweet moment. Great to be finished and sad it's over all in the same emotion. The last shot was a wide angle of the control room for the reality show that records the finalist in the "Rising Stars" competition and included stars Fisher Stevens and Rebecca St. James.

Looking back, it was an ambitious shoot that we accomplished without going over, or compromising. If anything, the standards kept getting raised and there will be an incredible wealth of storytelling moments to work with in the editing.

Fisher was wonderful to work with. He's a great actor and well versed at improv. As a director, it was fun to watch him work. Kyle Riabko, in the words of Lauren Carter, was "perfect." Seriously. Don't know where to find any flaws in this guy. It's unreal. Lauren amazed me at her ability to go back, over and over to the well of emoting. Natalie Hall was made to dance. Leon Thomas and that voice. Jessie Payo. And all of them. Never before have I worked with a group poised on the verge of something big like this. My hat's off to the cast.

Shot Lists

So with two days left before principle photography, I am working on Shot Lists, in between a thousand meetings with the production team. These meetings cover everything from what do I see the makeup and hair looking like, treatment of music videos, special things needed from the Art Department, etc.

In the past, I do a shot list the night before the day. I use the Tech Scout to really communicate to the different departments what's needed and on the night before I do "bird's eyes" of the setups. This means I draw a bird's eye view of the set/location and I diagram the basic blocking and where the camera will be.

But on this shoot, more communication is needed, so I'm working on have a "shot list" (SL) completed before we start shooting. Then I can adjust the day before. The SL comprises a list of every single camera setup. So it might look like this:
Day 3 Sc. 153 1A Dolly master, looking towards south wall

The 1A means that it's the first setup for Camera A (this movie has two cameras so the next entry would probably have something for 1B).

I just posted location photos on my Facebook... and these I took to work from on the tech scout to better create the SL. I believe it's imperative on indie films to be as prepared as possible yet flexible enough to catch the magical, serendipitous shot that comes along. I have to fight the temptation to go "I don't need detailed shot lists-- it will box me in." Because these departments, especially Art can help the movie bunches if they have a little bit of lead time.

Which mirrors and important life lesson I've had: The "hero" is not the one who, by the seat of his pants, cleverly thinks of ways out of the mess, saving the day. The hero is the one, because he thought ahead, wasn't in the mess to begin with. Of course the other is more dramatic. But I'm hoping the drama stays in camera and not behind the scenes. Don't need drama there.

Dreams

So yesterday, I posted that during this phase of moviemaking, I'm usually wracked by dreams. Well last night was no different. At 330-ish, I woke up. I was sitting in bed answering some question by my wife-- my PDA in my hand as a flashlight on the sheets. I didn't know what was going on, so I put the PDA away and quickly dozed back off.

In the morning she told me I woke her-- I was going through the sheets with the PDA flashlight looking for "bugs." Not sure if they were the crawly kind, or maybe spy stuff... that would certainly make for better dreaming. Anyway, at least I wasn't sleep walking. This time.

So today, I worked hard on finding our campus location for Rising Stars. I can't wait on one place-- I have to go to them all and start the process. Campuses have administration, which means committees and long decision making processes. So we will see.

In addition, my DP and co-offices mate Ron Gonzalez had set up one office as a small green screen room. I took advantage of it to shoot a little standup for an exclusive Facebook video-- the Carry On Wayward Son music video. What we have found is that churches are getting the movie for their church usually based on the recommendation of a person in the congregation. So I'm thankful for all those who are doing that.

It's All Downhill, Where's The Brakes?

I remember on my third movie, Striking Range, we were a few days out from principle photography and I remembered Scorpion Hill as a kid. It was a hill in our subdivision with a road and cul de sac, but had not had any houses yet built. We took a powerless go cart to the top and rode the thing to glory down the hill. About half way down, I realized we had a serious design flaw-- no brake.

THat's what it felt like a few days before shoot. Why? Because we were cutting more corners than I had on the first two and I just knew some things were falling through the cracks. And they were. But that's okay.

So what do I feel now, four weeks out from principle photography on Rising Stars? The dreams have picked up-- just like they always do at this point. Dreams of being on the set. Some just work-type dreams, maybe a few nightmares here and there.

Usually we have an official prep that is five or six weeks. So I'm feeling uneasy about that. Spent some time on the phone today with Stewart Young, the Line Producer. I asked him point blank, are we okay with an official three week prep? He said he thinks so. Because of all the work I'm doing. Scary.

So what work am I doing? Well, we've been casting and have a significant chunk of that done. And that's a big part of prep. Thanks to Cindi Rush, Michelle, Andrew, Bill, Robert, Jeff Rodgers, Tracie Morgan... we've taken a big bite out of this.

Next is locations. I wrote the script to be mostly shot on a college campus. Today I got word that the one I wanted is a "no." Wasn't meant to be. So now I'm chasing the others we had been looking at. This is the biggest piece of the puzzle right now. I can't do housing and some other things until we know where we're going to be.

So that's the story from the director's chair on this, four weeks out and counting.

Cast Shaping Up

We have some very good actors coming aboard "Rising Stars." It was a tough audition (and maybe a few that auditioned and know about this blog can comment). Some of the roles required singing, dancing and playing guitar or piano. We saw around 150 people. There were some very, very talented people we saw that for one reason or the other, we just couldn't cast. These go into my mind vault of people to look for roles later.

The female lead of the movie is a young girl who is manipulated by her OCD mom. "Natalie" is dark and conflicted, and is led to think it was her fault her dad left them. Lauren Ashley Carter has accepted the role and we welcome her to the team. I'm real excited to see what she does with the role.

Playing the role of a young singer, half of a singing/rap duo is Leon Thomas III. He plays as "JR". Movie goers might recognize him from August Rush. My kids immediately recognized him from one episode of "ICarly." Go figure. Wait till you hear his voice.

One of the story's competitors, is a young Brittany Spears type. Just in time, we got Natalie Hall to join the cast in the role of "Brenna." Natalie has also just been cast in a Drew Barrymore movie and we were afraid we might lose her. I'm glad she's going to be a part of this movie. She's got everything-- acting, voice, dancing and the elusive "it."

I'll mention some more tomorrow or the next day.

Enter Barry Corbin

We are excited to announce Barry Corbin will be joining the cast of "Rising Stars" in the role of "Farmer." Mr. Corbin has had a wonderful career and many know him from such movies as "War Games" and more recently "No Country for Old Men." In television, Corbin was a series regular on "Northern Exposure," "The Closer," and "One Tree Hill."

Farmer is a mysterious figure in the movie "Rising Stars." He seems to be at the right place and have the right thing to say, playing the archtype wise sage.

Rising Stars shoots in August in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

Where We're At With The Imposter

As focus has been turning towards Rising Stars production, I work on something Imposter related everyday to get the movie out. While in NYC, I thought about a slight change to the distribution strategy after meeting with a tv person.

The traditional secular indie movie route is theatrical (lottery odds), followed by a video window, followed by a tv window. Because of our non-traditional distribution, I am working Imposter to get into churches for our "theatrical". I'm going to hold back video (DVD) until early 2010, and pursue the tv offers we're getting for Imposter.

So I hope to have a television premiere maybe late fall, early winter, and hit some talk shows and get the buzz continuing. Also, we've gotten GREAT feedback on the soundtrack and the Gracenotes are updated, so when you import into your ITunes library, all the info will be there.

And I hope I see some of you local Dallas-Ft Worth folks at the Borders on Saturday in Colleyville. They've asked me to speak, and I'm leaning towards a talk about acting from a director's perspective. It's from 2 to 4pm.

It will be great to get the exposure and get more people knowing and hearing about the movie. We had a steady increase of churches ordering the movie for their congregation, and hopefully we can kick that up. I believe with tv, we can also see an increase in churches ordering the movie. They can use it for outreach, fundraising, or to just minister to their congregation.

This was me right before going to NYC, when we were on "vacation" in Colorado. One of many calls I took concerning all the movies. While everyone else was sweating in the record high Texas temps, it was sleeting and we pulled the boat over so my daughter could get some pictures of a couple wayward Canadian geese.

It's All About Location(s)

Ray Crock of McDonald's fame was once heard saying that the three keys to the restaurant's success were location, location, and location. As we start to pass the hump on casting, a low budget indie film director's next big task is finding the right locations.

In big studio films, there are huge budgets for art department-- to dress up a studio exactly the way you envision it. Need an apartment? Fine, build one on the soundstage. Need a restaurant? Use the one on the backlot. This makes the shooting much easier. Sets are built for cameras to move around. Dressing rooms are a short walk away.

But the low budget filmmaker often doesn't have this option. So it's up to the director and his locations team to find high production value locations that help make the movie look like a lot more money was spent.

My DP is pitching in on locations to help because he's best friends with half of Fort Worth. For Rising Stars, I wrote it so that 90% can take place in one company location-- a college campus. A company location can contain many script locations, but means the company can park and not have to move. Like a studio or a backlot.

So we visited TCU yesterday. Now we're going to try contacting SMU. And I have my alma mater UTA. Fortunately, there's a lot of colleges and universities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

Confessions from the Audition Room, Pt. 4

Dear Actor,
We have wrapped our set of auditions in NYC. Had four days where we saw close to 40 people a day, for about 8 or 9 roles. Since some of these roles have to sing and dance, we auditioned that as well as the acting. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of singing and dancing in NYC.

There were some of you who even read this blog that came in to audition. I wish I had a part for every talented person that read. But for various reasons, many were not selected. And it's a numbers game. If we read 40 people for one role, 39 are not going to get it.

However, there were some that came and read that weren't right for the role and I've mentally logged them in-- to keep an eye out in the future for a role. This has happened several times. I've cast actors in other movies that came in to audition and didn't get the role.

We got lots of responses on my question concerning wearing the same thing to callbacks. Most of the comments on the Facebook mirror site for the blog. If you want to know my perspective to this question, and it's only one director's opinion, I would like to see a little variety. I understand if you got the callback, then you must be doing something right-- why mess with that. But most of you got to read the script-- I think you could do a good job guessing what the character might wear. Several of you went all out in audition to wear what the character might-- and it was appreciated.

And as far as callbacks, I was really surprised by a couple of things. First, one of the people who came in on the first audition and knocked our socks off was flat for the callback. And another person really shined. I didn't expect that I would change my mind, but I did. Secondly, I really enjoyed working with two and three actors and teaming them up to see the chemistry.

And there are a few roles we haven't decided yet even now. For one character, we really didn't find the right person in NYC. For another, the person we cast depends greatly on who accepts another role. The leading contender looks just like the actor we went out to for the other role and should he/she accept, then we have to go with our second choice.

Again, thank you actors for coming in to a tense situation, and leaving it all out there. I applaud your guts and determination, and your talent. I wish I had a cast of 80.

Finally, a couple of notes from a director. I'm also surprised how different some people look on tape then in person. Several of you I changed my opinion after watching tape. And by the callbacks, I had a monitor in front of me to see what it looked like on screen. I will endeavor to always now have a monitor in front of me. And, as always, I'm surprised by how much headshots can "lie" one way or the other. I understand you've got to make it beautiful, but I've gotten to the point I don't even look at the headshot anymore. I do like the multiple headshots-- especially if they represent several different looks.

Feel free to drop me a note.

Special Announcement for Rising Stars

I was approached by New York City producer Andrew van den Houten, after he watched "The Imposter" to make a similar movie for the secular high school age. A family movie, driven by music. One of the pleasures I had when making "The Imposter" was being able to combine my love of film and my love of music.

I have grown up on Christian rock. When I was five years old, the records we listened to were Love Song, 2nd Chapter of Acts and later Amy Grant, Keith Green. I listened to easy music like The Imperials and hard music like Rez Band.

So having icons like Kerry Livgren, Jeff Deyo and Kevin Max was a dream come true for me on Imposter. When Andrew basically said go make something like that and has given me a lot of room to do so, I thought it would be great to get another Christian music star to be in this movie. I had met her dad/manager in Nashville last February and he said she was doing more and more movies. So this has really worked out.

Joining our cast for "Rising Stars" is Rebecca St. James. The Australian native has won Dove Awards and has had many hits on the Christian charts. She is starring in several movies that are coming out.

For Rising Stars, she will play the role of "Kari", the dutiful assistant to an uber-agent who is running the whole Rising Stars competition. We are very excited to have her joining our shooting in Dallas-Ft. Worth in August.

What Exactly is "Rising Stars?"

"Rising Stars" (RS) is the title of my latest movie to write and direct. It is being produced by Andrew va den Houten and William Miller out of New York City. The Production Company is Doberman Entertainment, a new family films brand. Many of the same crew that helped out on "The Imposter" will be working this show. It is scheduled to shoot starting August 11 through August 30 in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

RS is the journey of some talented teens as they learn some lessons in the entertainment world. A national talent contest, "Rising Stars" is the brainchild of uberagent MO. He selects the top three musical acts and the top three teen filmmakers, partners them up and pits them against each other to see who can create the best song and the best music video. Winners gets fame and fortune. Losers enter adult life wondering what could have been.

The kids learn that the pressures grownups have heaped on them, have caused them to be "little adults" for a long time-- they've never been allowed to just "play." So in the end, they learn to play, to the angst and anger of Mo.

It's a different "talent show" kind of movie-- focusing not only on the talent of the kids involved, but on an important issue hitting our society. Children that don't learn to play grow into dysfunctional adults with dysfunctional families.

Most of the paid crew has been filled. We are looking for some volunteers, or college students looking for intern credit late this summer. If interested, contact me. We will be starting local casting right away. Please contact your DFW agent for submissions.

Playing on the Balance Beam

I had the opportunity today to go to a recital at a very prestigious New York City public school for the arts, right across from Julliard. It was an incredible display of young talent. Here are children who are really being pushed towards artistic perfection.

Which is the very thing "Rising Stars" will question. I do believe training children is excellent. But as in all things, there needs to be balance. Young girls who mess up their bodies to be Olympic gymnasts at the pressure from grown-ups, is just wrong.

I don't know if any of the parents or teachers are pushing these kids too hard-- but I hope they have balance. I hope that these children aren't spending every waking moment practicing and rehearsing. I hope these children get time to be children. To laugh. To play. To make mistakes. To grow up without the adult pressures and responsibilities inherit to grownups.

I hope parents aren't living vicariously through their children. Or pressuring them to succeed so that they'll look like better parents. And I know it's an excellent post to think about as I train my own children.

Free to play. These children grow up to be healthier adults.

Rising Stars

Some people have asked what's next, and we now have that answer. Doberman Entertainment out of New York City has asked me to write and direct a film this August, about teenagers on the verge of making it big in music and film. The movie is called "Rising Stars" and will be shot in Fort Worth, Texas.

The movie will be comparable to "The Imposter". It will be music based (but not a musical). The subject deals with the pressure kids have these days to grow up too early-- resulting in adults who don't know how to play.

Repeating their crew roles from Imposter will be: Stewart Young as our Line Producer/1st AD, Ron Gonzalez as our Director of Photography. Jeff Rodgers as Co-Producer and local casting, Courtney Price as Associate Producer, Mike Gonzalez production sound. I'm going to start working on confirming others. There won't be that many paid roles and we will be looking for volunteers.

We're close to signing on big Christian music star and we're making an offer today on a major Hollywood star. But all these have to be confirmed before we can announce it.

If you'd like to help the movie, let me know!