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June 29, 2005

The Hook…

To all you writers out there, I’m going to give you a gift… yep, a free gift… a perfect hook for you New York story! I came across this article a couple days ago and I’m giving it to YOU...

As a filmmaker, I’m always on the look out for interesting stories or facts or themes that could possibly be fashioned into a fictional story that I would enjoy telling… and that article is one… a good one.

The article is a great example of the types of things that I look for and save for potential material down the road. The article specifically mentions the story of a woman searching for an apartment who was duped by another woman in New York acting as an apartment’s lease holder. The supposed lease holder met and took first and last month’s deposits from about 20 people and then high tailed it out of the county to Germany with about $60,000 of other people’s money. Now what makes this story interesting is that 1. It isn’t the only time that New York City apartment searchers have been duped by such a scam and 2. The woman who is recounting her story for the Village Voice ended up meeting a number of different people who were duped just like she was… and that’s the interesting part.

When I read this story, I thought how great an opening that would be if two, four or more people all met at the police station as they are all filing reports about this fraudulent supposed lease holder that took advantage of all of them (not to mention their money). That’s a great HOOK for the first act of a screenplay! The options are endless and that hook gives outsiders looking in a real feel for how cut throat the real estate market really is on this island we call Manhattan.

So with that, I offer you this gift… this hook if you will. Take that opening, fashion it to your story and run with it… no payment necessary, just a special thanks in the end credits when they roll. EB

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June 27, 2005

I’m a HUGE fan of Jeff Buckley’s so…

When I saw this article about a screenplay adaptation for Jeff Buckley and his father’s biography, “Dream Brother”, I was both excited and disappointed at the same time…

...it was supposed to be ME who got to tell his story. In all seriousness though, Jeff Buckley was an amazing musician who continues to influence musicians today... unfortunately, like other genius musicians before him, he died too young. This project has been bopping around Hollywood with notables such as Brad Pitt attached as a producer… but now, hopefully, Train Houston (can’t find a link for him), will bring this project to life. EB

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June 24, 2005

“The Abbey Singer” & “The Martini”

As I explained other film terms used on set here and here, it is only fitting that I conclude these two posts with a third one about “The Abbey Singer” and “The Martini”...

“The Abbey Singer” is a term used by the assistant director to signal the second to last shot for a day of shooting to the crew. The term “Abbey Singer” came about because an assistant director, Abbey Singer, would always call “The Martini” (see below) and then proceed to ask for another take, thus extending the day for cast and crew.

“The Martini” is a term used to signal the last shot/take of the day. As you can probably imagine, its meaning comes from the fact that after this shot, the crew can go have themselves a cocktail.

If you’re fortunate enough to see either of these two terms in use, you’ll notice an extra spring in their step as the crew begins to wrap their equipment for the day. They’re ready to head off and have that martini! Cheers, EB

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June 21, 2005

"Turning Around", "Moving On" & "That's a wrap!"

In addition to seeing blocking, lighting, rehearsing or shooting if you happen to stumble across a film set, you might also catch a glimpse of “Turning Around”, “Moving On” or “Wrapping”.

Since a film is usually shot with one camera, you have to shoot one actor from one direction and then when the director, actor and DP feel that they got what they need, you’ll hear “Turning around” come out of the Assistant Director’s (AD’s) mouth.

This means that they have to move the camera to the opposite side and adjust the lighting so they can shoot the other actor’s reactions and lines for the same scene. When this is complete you have coverage (the different shots for one scene) of each actor for the entire scene.

After “turning around” and getting all the coverage that the director and DP feel is needed, you’ll hear “Moving on” come out of the AD’s mouth. This either means that you’re moving on to the next scene in the same location or that it’s a “company move” and the entire crew has to move to a different location to finish out that day’s shooting. If the next scene is at the same location, they start from the beginning again with blocking as explained in this previous post.

Lastly, “That’s a wrap!”, is an expression that is used for a number of different situations. First and most though, it means the end of shooting for that particular day or “That’s a production wrap” for the end of shooting principle photography. However it can also mean a “wrap” for an actor or department such as, “That’s a wrap on steadycam” or “That’s a production wrap for John Smith” at which point the crew claps and counts the minutes till they hear those words for their own department. Before a “wrap”, the crew is also listening for two other terms to come out of the AD’s mouth signaling a beginning to the end of shooting for the day… “The Abbey Singer” and “The Martini”… I’ll explain those in another post so for now, “That’s a wrap!” EB

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June 17, 2005

Filmmakers writing blogs... I'm not the only one!

Came across this article, about how film directors like Peter Jackson (King Kong) and Bryan Singer (Superman) are using video blogs to communicate with their fans. The article goes on to say how fans and film aficionados want more information about the “behind the scenes” of filmmaking and are being drawn to these on-line communities to get those stories and experiences.

As Mr. Singer says…

"There's a kind of theater that occurs during the making of a movie that's unique to each production," Singer said. "If you're willing to expose yourself a bit, it can be a wonderful method of getting the word out and sharing that experience with the people who are most interested -- the fans." I can tell you from my own “on set” experience that when you make a film with 30, 50 or 100 crew members, by the end of shooting, you’re family. The highs and the lows turn into incredible respect for everyone involved in the production process for having completed such a difficult task. Why wouldn’t filmmakers around the world like to share that experience via a blog? I think they do.

While Mr. Jackson and Mr. Singer are already established filmmakers with an established fan base using video blogs to further their marketing efforts for their respective projects, it is my intention to use blogging from the other direction. What I mean by that is I want to create brand awareness for CREATEABULL FILMS LLC in addition to an interest in filmmaking and more specifically to document the process of taking “Produced By Jimmy Wade” from inception through its premiere. As awareness spreads and interest in our “behind the scenes” story grows, we will be able to point to online traffic numbers when negotiating with a distributor to show built in awareness and interest in our project... if traditional distribution is the way we decide to go.

To be honest, I don’t know where this blog will end up but if you like what you’re reading so far, pass it on and maybe someday, I’ll be blogging from New Zealand on the set of our $100 million dollar epic film. No sense being in this business if you’re not a dreamer, right? EB

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June 15, 2005

Taking notes... and re-writing...

Before I go and budget out a draft of “Produced By Jimmy Wade”, I needed to have it read by a reader who is not my mother or girlfriend… someone who is in the industry and reads a lot of indie scripts. In other words, it’s their job. Jamie, being a top reader for Sundance, fit the bill.

The thing about creative people is that we are all very sensitive when dealing with criticism. Whether you’re a musician, filmmaker, painter, photographer or whatever, criticism is never easy to take. The trick for someone giving criticism is to have tact in how they present it. As a director working on set with an actor, I never want to say, “That was wrong let’s try it again” but rather something like, “Interesting choice but how about trying THIS being your motivation instead.”

I’ve used three readers in the past for two of my previous scripts and I feel like their feedback was a mixed bag… on the one hand, you want a reader to be very critical of your work and point out ways to improve it while on the other hand you need encouragement that what you’ve written wasn’t a waste of time and that the overall story entertained them. In terms of the second hand, getting the encouragement to re-write, I’d say one out of the three of my previous readers accomplished that. The other two offered no encouragement at all and seemed to relish telling me that I was a hack with a long way to go.

As I waited for my scheduled time to call Jamie and take my medicine regarding “Produced By Jimmy Wade”, I was a nervous wreck. Based on this up-coming phone call, I could be in for a six month page one re-write or, less likely, he could have loved it and just a polish was in order. Luckily, Jamie’s criticism was somewhere in between but leaned more towards the polish than the page one re-write… phew.

Now, where does that leave me? There were a couple of things Jamie said that stuck out. First, once I informed him that I was conscientious about wanting to keep the rating of the film “PG-13”, Jamie said that he felt that I was holding back and that this story is for adults or teenagers entering adulthood so I shouldn’t hold back and make it an “R” rating… pull back later if I need to. This is the right way to go, it just took someone saying that for me to realize.

Secondly, Jamie wanted me to infuse many more specifics in the story. His point was that the audience relates to stories through the specifics… infuse the script with more of “me” in it, the specifics, and they’ll be along for the ride.

Thirdly, Jamie felt that more of the theme, the thin line between passion and addiction, could be added throughout the entire piece to give it more cohesion from start to finish. I knew this was my theme from the beginning but Jamie showed me spots in the story where I could add more of it.

Lastly, Jamie was very encouraging about the story and my writing ability… double phew. He also felt that my knowledge about the music recording industry and singing in general held the story together while keeping it interesting for someone not familiar with that world… Note to self, don’t lose that in the re-write.

Giving me this encouragement last, after spending over two hours on the phone, is the tact that readers, directors and producers need to have when dealing with “sensitive artists”, always begin and end criticism with “the good”… thanks Jamie.

So far, the work is going well. A lot of new ideas have been born and I’m excited to see where the next draft ends up… hopefully in a couple weeks. I’ll report back and let you know how it’s going but in the mean time, you can click here and here for more on the art of re-writing. EB

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June 10, 2005

Bobby Newmyer, putting his money...

...where his mouth is.

I read this article from the New York Times magazine section and was intrigued seeing as the first movie I ever worked on was "Addicted To Love" which happened to be produced by Mr. Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver and their Outlaw Productions.

What is so intriguing about this story is that Bobby would break the rule of NOT putting your own money into the movies that you make…

...and I think he's in a better spot now because of it. As the article in the Times says, Bobby rarely is "on-set" for the movies that Outlaw produces… by the time that shooting on such and such a film starts, Mr. Newmyer is off trying to find the funding and recourses for the next project. I got a sense of this when I was working in the production office for "Addicted To Love" and had a chance to meet Bobby. He was in New York City for the final pre-production meeting but after filming started, he was back on the west coast… I'm sure, lining up the next project. For the record, he was also very down to earth, not your typical Hollywood producer.

But with "Phat Girlz", when all the other studios and financiers backed out on him, he had enough faith in the project to sell stocks and mortgage his two homes to get the film made. This at a time when "black" films weren't fairing well at the box office. But as luck would have it, "black" films are now in vogue again (everything is cyclical), which gives Bobby the upper hand when cutting a deal with his future distributor, whoever that may be.

I find this story particularly interesting since we're in the process of raising money for my feature debut. While we're not asking a single investor to fund the entire production or anything close to it, like Bobby is, any investment in film is risky no matter how much you invest. However seeing a seasoned producer put his neck and own money on the line for a passion project inspires us to keep up the fight and get our film made. EB

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June 08, 2005

The Spark… the first and most important step.

Whenever I tell someone that I’m a filmmaker, that I’m writing a script and what the script is about, the inevitable question of “How did you come up with that story?” follows. I like to say that story ideas are a dime a dozen… they come and go as they please and some stay longer than others. That’s also why whenever I’m in one of those conversations I also always get, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea for a movie too!”. What differentiates stories that I write into scripts and eventually want to make into films versus the ones that don’t is… the SPARK.

Since filmmaking is such a long and intense process, I have to know in my true heart of hearts that the story I’m about to write and eventually shoot has a big enough spark that I can always pinpoint and remember that feeling of excitement/passion. I make a specific point of always remembering when and how I first thought of the idea, the spark, so that when the struggle of writing the story eventually hits, and it always does, I have that memory to re-ignite my own fire for the story.

Sometimes I think that I’ve found the idea for the next story and it hangs around for a couple days or even a few weeks but eventually fades away… The true sparks, for me, never go away, are always there and can always lead me back to the keyboard to push through the struggles of getting the story on the page. Find your sparks and make sure they’re bright enough to pull you through your first draft, it’ll save you lots of heart aches and head aches in the end, promise. EB

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June 07, 2005

Breaking the Mold… indie film distribution…

I’ve been paying close attention to a couple of moves within the indie film distribution world that for filmmakers like us out there, are very significant…

First came the formation of Picturehouse… Picturehouse is a brand new mini-major film distribution company recently formed by HBO and New Line along with Bob Berney and his team from Newmarket Films. Now it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that now is the right time to form such a company if you have the resources that those three parties have… but what I find interesting is that with HBO in the fold, they are able to pick and chose which films go theatrical and which get shown on HBO… or even both… and possibly at the same time…

And then I saw this…

The idea that Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner hired Steven Soderbergh to direct six films on average budgets of 3-5 million dollars and then distribute them SIMUALTANEOUSLY in their theatres (Landmark Theatres), through their distribution company (Magnolia Pictures), on their tv station (HDNET) and on DVDs (Company TBD, possibly Lion's Gate?) SHATTERS THE DISTRIBUTION MOLD as it is known today. Now what does that mean for us indie folks?… well, right from the start, you get economies of scale when it comes to publicity and advertising which is huge when you’re counting your pennies trying to go up against the big boys with a small film. The jury is still out on if this will work or not but as the window between theatrical release and DVD release shrinks, this is where we’re headed… and with Soderbergh’s talent and Cuban’s money, I wouldn’t bet against ‘em.

I guess my point is that when we talk to investors about our project and how we plan to distribute it, to make their investment back, we make them aware that the indie distribution landscape is changing and that we’ve got be keep our minds open to new and different options when shopping for a distributor for our film.

For another article relating to the changes in indie film distribution go here. EB

Posted by ethan at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2005

Block, Light, Rehearse, Shoot

If you happen to have the chance to watch a film being shot, maybe like this, it might look as if you’re watching paint dry… but in fact there are any number of things going on, and if you don’t know what to look for, you could miss it. If you look closely, you could see blocking, lighting, rehearsing, shooting, “turning around”, “moving on” or wrapping… but in this post, I’m going to focus on blocking, lighting, rehearsing and shooting… the foundation that makes up a working film set.

Orchestrating all of the different people and departments that it takes to make a film is very difficult work. The grips, electrics and set dressers don’t want to get in the way of the actors, make-up and hair people and vice versa. That being said, the protocol of “Block, Light, Rehearse, Shoot” helps to keep this orchestration flowing.

Blocking

Blocking happens when the director, actors and DP (Director of Photography) first enter a location or stage. As a director, I want my actors to inhabit the space, make it their own and find their “business” that they are going to perform during the scene. Based on their decisions and blocking, I decide where I want to put the camera and how I want the composition of the shot to look. Once this is decided, the actors leave the set and…

Lighting

…we then move on to lighting. This is when the DP tells his Gaffer (in charge of lighting and power distribution) and Key Grip (in charge of safety, rigging and shading) where he wants the camera and how he wants to light the scene. Sometimes lighting a scene can take two, three, four hours or more depending on the complexity of the shot… thus when non-film people watch filming, it can look like watching paint dry. Also during this time, set dressers move all of the pieces of furniture on the set to match what is being shot and the continuity of what was shot before. This is the labor intensive part of shooting. From here…

Rehearsing

…when the lighting, set dressing and camera position are set, the actors come back onto set to rehearse the scene. The rehearsals are not only for the actors but for the boom operator, focus puller, dolly grip, DP and others to get their movement down to pull off what is required in this specific shot. When everyone is pleased with their respective roles and all issues have been resolved…

Shooting

…we shoot. This is when you see the slate move in front of the camera and the director yelling “action” and “cut”… the fun part… actually, it’s all fun, you just need to know what to look for.

I am grateful for the DP that explained this format to me as it helps immensely when orchestrating, there’s that word again, all of the moving parts that make up a film set. No matter if you’re shooting a no budget indie or a blockbuster… work like the pros… Block then Light then Rehearse then Shoot… your crew will thank you for it and believe that you know what you’re doing. EB

Posted by ethan at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)