A lot going on at Netflix for the indie filmmaker and distribution...Businessweek ArticleHollywood ReporterDeepstructure BlogFrom Deepstructure...listen to ted sarandos, netflix's chief content officer in charge of all dvd purchases and overseer of an $100 million annual budget: "eventually we'll be coming to sundance and saying, 'we can buy everything.' there's a deal for every film."damn. that's quite a statement. but it gets better. netflix ceo, reed hastings wants to take things one step further:...
First, we continue to make good progress on the finishing touches for "Killing Down".This past weekend we got the sound mixed up to just over the 1 hour mark. Not bad. We've got roughly 45 minutes of the movie left to go. And, on the color correction side of things - we have set looks for just about every major scene. Now, we have to go in and cut and paste the looks throughout the film and then tweak the individual shots as needed. I'd say we're roughly half-way done with this.So, if all goes...
Just found a Yahoo News story about Warner Bros. starting a new division called Warner Premiere that will produce 15 or so movies a year that are Direct-to-DVD instead of for the theatrical market. Sounds interesting that a big player would do this. I mean, this is what everyone else ends up having to do in most cases - we don't necessarily set out to only be on DVD. Funny too, for some reason "Direct-to-DVD" sounds better than just "Direct-to-Video"? Kind of like saying "pre-owned" versus "used"...
As I'm finishing "Killing Down" I'm also beginning to develop my next project. I've made minor mentions of this in previous post, but now things are starting to move forward.The project is a biopic on a famous Texas family (of which we've secured a Life Story option). Can't give away any details just yet, but we are starting the interview process this weekend and from that we will write the script. Tentative plan is to have script finished by the New Year (or shortly thereafter) and shoot in...
Barry Green from DVXuser.com has a really interesting rant about current and future distribution trends for Hollywood and indies alike...So, indies dream of the day that theaters will be equipped with digital projectors, when satellites will be beaming content directly to the theaters, and when ticket buyers will be lined up around the block to see their latest opus. Ain't gonna happen. Can't happen. You wouldn't go to the theater now to see a film you haven't heard of, would you? I mean, maybe...
Interesting article from the NY Times about problems in Hollywood - but it's more than that - it's problems in moviemaking and marketing period, including indies.I've copied the entire article here for ease of reading...--------------------------------------------------Caught on Film: A Growing Unease in HollywoodBy LAURA M. HOLSONLOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 — For many here, Stacey Snider was the Hollywood executive who had it all. As chairwoman of Universal Pictures, she hobnobbed with celebrities at...
It's Sunday night. I spent this weekend focused on finishing "Killing Down" (of course I've spent the last 8 months trying to do this too). :)Saturday we did the final mix on the first 30 minutes of the movie. It sounds reallly, really good (thanks Roy!). We plan on hopefully mixing another night this week and then again next Saturday as well. Today I worked on the color correction. We got about 6 hours worth of time in on the DaVinci 2K. We're having to work on weekends and off hours since...
A great actor Bruno Kirby died 3 days ago. Not sure how widely reported this was... but he was one of my favorite character actors with great roles as Billy Crystal's best friend in "When Harry Met Sally" and "City Slickers". He also played a gangster in "The Godfather II", had a very funny role in "This Is Spinal Tap", among many other great performances (including a recent stint on the current HBO hit "Entourage").
I highly suggest going back and watching "City Slickers" and "This Is Spinal Tap". These were both great roles and he created very interesting characters. You might be saying to yourself, "I don't really remember him in "Spinal Tap"? And if you do recall him, you're thinking he was only in the film for a few minutes? All I can say is watch the extras on the DVD. He plays the limo driver that picks up the group at the airport with a sign that says "Spinal Pap". But on the DVD extras his characeter goes up and parties with them in the hotel. It's some funny, funny stuff.
Anyway, it's sad news to report, but I'm glad he gave us many great performances to remember him by.
-Blake
Started the new-new final-final color correction today on "Killing Down". Things are going pretty smoothly so far... got a lot done today (and will continue this week).Only issue was the color correction box is having a problem reading the EDL. For some reason it has offset things by 3 frames and is adding random edit points for dissolves, etc. This is not a major thing thank goodness, although we do want the EDL to work properly in the end.We were able to set up various looks and save them, but...
This Sunday we're starting up with our new Plan B color correction for "Killing Down" at Video Post & Transfer. I can't wait to get going on this... and get finished!Time is ticking away and due to issues out of my control the final completed movie is taking a lot longer than hoped. In the end though we should have a really kick-ass looking movie. :)I'll update the progress as it happens...-Bla...
A fellow Texas filmmaker Jon Keeyes is directing a new film in North Carolina (starring Dominique Swain) and he's doing a great job documenting his experience via his blog. I highly suggest reading it. The new film is going back to the genre that got him started... horror. I think he has a really good grasp of that genre and I look forward to seeing the end result. I also look forward to seeing his last film "Living & Dying" (and action/thriller starring Michael Madsen and Edward Furlong)...
To be successful as an indie filmmaker I believe you need to be both a creative person and a technically-minded one.Can you be successful without knowing the technical side of things? Sure. Are you limiting yourself to being very dependent on others if you don't understand this stuff? Absolutely.This is one reason I really like Robert Rodriguez. He has honed both his creative abilities and his technical filmmaking craft to very high levels (like his films or not).Now understand of course, I'm not...
If you read my previous post you know we've had an issue with the color correction. We no longer are working with the company in Austin to complete the work. It's a long story, but suffice it to say it didn't work out.So I have to THANK the great folks at Video Post & Transfer in Dallas, Texas (specifically Peggy) for coming through for me in the 11th hour here. I've used VP&T for all my past color correction work, but wanted to try a new method using a "desktop D.I." - which by the...
