I pulled this article fromt the LA Times. A good read re: Web TV Series...

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Eisner wants 90 seconds from you
The former Disney chief's super-short format soap 'Prom Queen' gets the hits.
By Margaret Wappler, Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2007

"PROM QUEEN," a flashy teen-aimed soap opera, wouldn't be out of place on the CW or MTV. Tribes of teens trade quips and barbs at their lockers. Snatches of rock or hip-hop underscore most of the drama, and there's a blink-of-an-eye edit about every three seconds.

But "Prom Queen" is an Internet show that according to Media Week has gotten nearly 3.7 million views on MySpace, the show's leading distributor. With 80 episodes, each clocking in at a lean 90 seconds, and a new episode airing every day until the show's finale June 14, "Prom Queen" shrinks and shellacs high-concept drama for the text-messaging-while-driving-and-eating-a-burger attention span. Episodes can also be downloaded to a video player or watched at Veoh, sponsor ElleGirl and old reliable YouTube.

What separates "Prom Queen" from scores of similar click-hungry projects is, of course, its financing, which comes courtesy of Michael Eisner's Internet production company, Vuguru.

Eisner was burned by Web-based entertainment during his tenure as chief executive at Disney — the company's disastrous Go Network was shut down in 2001 after losing millions — but those were different days. Speaking on a cellphone from a Manhattan sidewalk between meetings, the 65-year-old executive, who started his investment firm Tornante Co. in 2005, said that for the first year or so, the rewards would "be more in education than economic." The money, he hopes, will come later.

Eisner waved away any distinctions between Old Hollywood and New Media. "Old Hollywood at one point meant motion pictures, and then Old Hollywood had Jack Warner and Leonard Goldstein to make the first deal for Old Hollywood to make broadcast television. Old Hollywood and New Hollywood became one.

"It's simply new ways of doing things…. Old media, new media, it's just labels put on older people and young people. I don't think it really means there's a fine division."

Big Fantastic, the Santa Monica-based Internet video collective behind "Prom Queen," first caught Eisner's attention with their self-funded video podcast "Sam Has 7 Friends," the flagship vehicle for their 80-episode, 90-second format. The Valley-based murder mystery about a struggling actress finished with a strategically open-ended resolution in December.

"Like a lot of things in my life, I was attracted to the content," Eisner said. Internet entertainment, he finds, "is not that different than the beginnings of the Movie of the Week that Barry Diller and I were toying with in the '60s…. We were dealing with a new form in an old platform. Here's a new form in a new platform."

As technological hurdles are cleared, Eisner thinks the Internet will become a primary platform.

"Actors realize they can get discovered here," he said. "Is it better to do off-Broadway theater in New York or an Internet show based in L.A. that gets 8, 12 million views and opens the eyes of agents and TV producers?"

Although the financing for "Prom Queen" is fancy, you wouldn't know it from visiting the set at Valencia's College of the Canyons. On a Saturday in April, the shoot buzzed with the scrappy, hustler energy of a low-budget student movie. Production designer Helen Harwell's appropriately cheesed-out prom set with silver drapes, balloons and a disco ball was cobbled together from loans from vendors Harwell knows in the industry, she said. The nonunion actors, palpably giddy about being on a set — any set — joked around in tuxes and strappy dresses.

Big Fantastic's four director-writer-editor hybrids, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise and Douglas Cheney, all in their late 20s and early 30s, were multitasking to the extreme. Wise and his assistant director lighted the next scene, the crowning of the prom queen. Hampel and McCaleb, former assistant editors for "Miami Vice" director Michael Mann, were outside shooting video for one of the character's MySpace blogs. Cheney, tucked away in a classroom piled with clothes and makeup, was editing an episode on his Mac using Final Cut Pro.

Working with a 10-person skeleton crew, "Prom Queen" is all about running fast. The shoot knocked out four episodes in 12 hours. Filming from a 1 1/2 -page script per episode (whittled from a whopping three to four pages), they often take an episode from script to screen in five to six days, Hampel said. Each of the Big Fantastic members, who met at Washington State University, write and direct 20 episodes and maintain several MySpace pages for the characters.

"We want messages left from character to character on MySpace. We want to hit that viral energy," Hampel said. "It's about what we like to see on the Internet…. YouTube is filled with images like skateboards to the face, girls jumping on their beds. We want things to pop to the camera."

"Prom Queen" is loaded with of-the-minute high school behavior gleaned from Hampel's recordings of his teen brothers and their friends. Plots are heavy on texting, instant-messaging, updating MySpace pages, and recording video diaries with a hand-held recorder.

As an artistic experience, "Prom Queen" doesn't break many rules. The dialogue runs from smartly glib to perfunctory. The displayed rebellion is safe enough for Hot Topic. But to the show's credit, "Prom Queen" doesn't run from teen sex, though it's mostly rendered in soapy, steamy overtones.

BUT for all the tech savvy, mall-princess mentality and backseat relations, "Prom Queen" is still concerned with story continuity and character development. And perhaps surprisingly, it decently hangs together as a feature, bound by its dedication to the cliffhanger-a-minute style.

"You have to get people to watch more than one episode, so it's important that it works as a whole," Eisner said. "You start to understand the characters with the accumulation."

Hampel won't divulge how much Eisner invested in "Prom Queen," but he'll play ballpark: " 'Sam' was done for a little less than $50,000. We got more than that, but not much more."

"These guys are the most fiscally responsible people I've ever worked with," Eisner said. "We're going to make at least one or two more shows with them."

Eisner's support of Big Fantastic officially qualifies as a big break, but so far, Hampel said, "no one's upgraded their lives. We're just paying our rent."

-----------------------------------------

The show I'm developing we're looking at roughly 3 min. webisodes. 90 seconds almost seems TOO fast. Of course I realize that length is really for cell phone users since Verizon is a sponsor of the show.

And if Verizon wants to sponsor my show I'll make 90 second webisodes too. :)

-Blake

In between everything else I have going on I'm now developing a new web TV series.

Hold on, let me back up.

We just finished the screenplay for my next feature film and are just about to start sending the script out to actors, etc. And, we're of course fundraising.

Also, I'm continuing to deal with the foreign ditribution of my latest feature "Killing Down", and we're still shopping the movie for a domestic deal.

And of course I'm still doing my bread and butter corporate and commercial video projects.

So anyway, yes, I am going to tackle developing a new web series. I have a good idea. Have some cast in mind. Already working with a writer. Even have a mock-up poster design done (yeah, I really do - on almost all my features I typically work on a poster look way before the movie even exist - helps me be creative).

Why am I doing this? Do I really think it can be successful?

I get wrestless if I'm not working on some kind of narrative project. "Killing Down" has been done for nine months. The next movie (we hope) will shoot in the fall. I need something to do now.

Can it be a success? Have no idea. Odds are definitely stacked against it, but I'm willing to try.

I really like the idea of the Internet allowing fimmakers to be their "own distributor". I also like the idea of keeping control. And keeping costs down.

So we'll see. Right now we haven't even written word one on the page. We've been bouncing ideas off each other and thinking of show titles, etc.

All I'll say now is if it goes as planned it will not be your "typical" web based fare.

Well on second thought, it will have sex and guns, so maybe it will? ;)

-Blake

Found this cool little company called Cinetactics. They make very affordable matte boxes and LCD screen hoods for video cameras (mainly the medium to smaller sized ones).

I bought a screen hood from them and it's pretty impressive. I will likely be buying a matte box too.

Great stuff for the budget minded indie filmmakers out there...

Check them out!
www.cinetactics.com

-Blake

I'm talking the Movie AND the Dallas Mavericks.

Last night's game was awful. I can't believe the way the overall team performed, but especially Dirk. He choked big time. Not sure what the deal was? But yes, the Mavericks definitely looked "dazed and confused". And so did Mark Cuban.

Speaking of the Movie... I watched "Dazed and Confused" two nights ago and forgot how much I like that film. It's one of Linklater's best movies in my opinion. It has that "Slacker" feel of no real story, but somehow it moves forward and you care about the characters and "the story" - even though there isn't one per se.

Seems everytime I watch it too I notice another familiar face that wasn't familiar when the film came out in 1993. On this viewing I realized Cole Hauser played the bully opposite Ben Afleck. Never realized Cole was in the film. First few times I watched it I didn't realize Afleck was in the movie. All the actors just looked so different - partly because of their real age at the time (very young), and partly (or mainly) because of the time period of the film being set in 1976 (and their costumes/looks).

At any rate, I really like the movie and it reminds me a lot of my high school daze, or days. ;)

-Blake

P.S. Of course I graduated a decade later in the 1980s, but we still listened to a lot of the same tunes from Boston, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, etc. and a lot of us still dressed the same as they did...

So I'm sitting here right now watching the Dallas Mavericks play in Game 5 of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs (behind in the series 3-1). At one point we had a 21 point lead in the game. Now, we're behind by 6 points with only a few minutes left to play. I can't stand to watch. I've actually hit pause on the "Tivo" (satellite DVR). I'm debating on going to bed (it's almost 11:30pm anyway). Or, maybe I'll fast forward through the end. Can we pull it out? Not sure. I am pissed off for sure at how the Mavs are playing.

How does this post relate to filmmaking? Mark Cuban of course. He owns the Mavericks and HDNet, and HDNet Films, and 2929 Entertainment (with Todd Wagner). I'm watching this game in HD on TNT.

So there. I'm not completley off topic. I just had to vent. :)

-Blake

UPDATE: Well, we won! Yeah, I went ahead and hit play on the Tivo. We'll see you in Oakland...

This is a slighly off topic, but not really...

Spinal Tap is REUNITING for the Live Earth concert in London on July 7th. That's right, all the original members too... Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls. All together once again.

And, with a new song for the event - "Warmer Than Hell".

"This is Spinal Tap" is one of my favorite all time movies. And the director Rob Reiner will also be at the reuninon show in London. AND, the coolest part, he's directed a new short film about the band and what they've been up to recently. The film is actually going to premiere next week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Al Gore (of course, who else?) will be hosting the opening night events at Tribeca.

Read the full story at Yahoo!

I hope the new film goes to 11. ;)

-Blake

Okay, so I went to NAB in Vegas this year really to check out HD cameras and some accessories. I was very impressed with everything I saw from the prosumer models...

1. Canon HDV - I like the XH-A1
2. Sony HDV and their new XDCAM EX (competition for Panasonic's HVX)
3. JVC HDV - I like the HD110U

And all the way up the line...

1. Dalsa 4K
2. ARRI D-2
3. Grass Vally Viper
4. And of course RED ONE

I have been very skeptical of RED since it was announced last year. Why? I'm really not sure. It just seemed too good to be true that you could buy a 4K camera for $17,500. As it turns out, it was, for the price anyway. The body does only cost $17K, but then you need a hard drive, a viewfinder, an LCD monitor, a lense, etc., etc. - so really the $17K camera will end up costing around $35K - $40K. So, that does kinda suck. Well, not really.

You're still getting a 4K camera - a complete camera package - for the price of an old broadcast Betacam rig.

While it will knock a few indie folks out at this price point, the majority of people who understand what high-end stuff cost will be all over this thing.

Onto the RED booth at NAB... I mentioned I was skeptical, and I was - until I went to the NAB booth. My filmmaker friend David Maddox is a reservation holder (#600 something). He plopped down $1000 last year to pre-order an unknown, not yet even built camera. I wouldn't have done that. But he did, and I'm now very glad he did.

The line to just GET IN the RED booth was about an hour wait. It was busy to say the least. We waited and got inside and first thing we were shuttled into a theater. It seated about 40 people and had a 20 ft. or so wide screen. Everyone sat down and then Jim Jannard (the founder of RED and of course Oakley Sunglasses) introduced the screening and in no uncertain terms said that if anyone taped what we were about to see on a cell phone (or whatever) and posted it on YouTube they would get the "shit" beat out of them. So I calmly and every so quietly put my Razor phone back in my pocket... Jim is a pretty big dude.

The lights go dark and up pops a logo for "Wingnut Films" in New Zealand. I'm like, "What?". I thought this was "test footage". Well, as it turns out the "test footage" was a 12-minute short film directed by PETER JACKSON. Yeah, THE Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame, etc. He evidentally asked Jim if he could shoot some footage and as it turns out it was an entire short film set during WWI with tanks, explosions, tons of gunfire, aerial shots of old bi-planes, etc. Think of the opening to "Saving Private Ryan" (without the shutter angle and all the blood) and that's how parts of it felt. It was GOOD. Oh, and it looked even better.

I was amazed at what I saw. This from a partially working set of "Alpha" cameras. The theater was projecting on a Sony 4K projector. It looked like Super 35mm film without the grain. I was impressed to say the least. VERY impressed.

On a side note, we ran into Shane Caruth at the booth too. If you don't know Shane, he directed the indie feature "Primer", which WON Sundance in 2004. If you haven't seen his movie definitely check it out. It's not for everyone, but it is good. And, it was shot in Dallas and he still lives in Dallas (gotta get those Texas plugs in you know). Shane is also a reservation holder. He's 200 or so behind my friend David. Shane set next to me and my other filmmaker friend Cliff, at the screening. I can only assume he has a project in mind for RED too?

Anyway, after the screening we checked out several "working" models and I was very surprised at the size of the fully loaded camera (see photo in previous post). It is BIG. Reminds me of a 35mm rig in many ways. This is not a small "run and gun" camera. But that is good. It looks and feels very sturdy. My feeling is it will stand up to the hard work of feature filmmaking duties.

David's RED camera is supposed to ship in August or September. I am planning to shoot a new feature this fall and I'm producing another one. I'm now highly considering shooting both of them with the RED camera.

Like I said, I'm now a true believer. Long live RED. :)

-Blake

P.S. Soon I'll post about Apple's new toys released at NAB. Very cool stuff AND they are working with RED as well.

I just got back from NAB and will soon post some commentary on the RED camera and also the Apple announcements. All very cool things for indie filmmakers!

-Blake

News from Hector Garcia, TXMPA President:

HB 1634 passed today unanimously. We are so thankful to Representative Dawnna Dukes and the co-sponsors of the bill. Next, the companion bill, SB 782, will be heard in the Senate. We will send updates on SB 782 as soon as those details are available.

So, what does this mean? Read the following piece from the Dallas Morning News...

------------------------------

Action, lights, cameras?

TV/MOVIES: House OKs bill that would fund incentives to bring
productions to state

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, April 12, 2007

By KAREN BROOKS / The Dallas Morning News
kmbrooks@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – After a cliffhanger in the Capitol last week led to a shaky premiere for Texas movie incentives, the House approved legislation Wednesday that would shore up an incentive program to bring films and TV productions to the state.

The idea of helping Texas compete with other states to bring star-studded, multimillion-dollar productions and cutting-edge video-game projects is popular, so it was never a question that lawmakers would eventually create the program.

The nail-biter was whether it would be funded.

But this year, the House budget includes $20 million in incentives for a program advocates say will cement the state's status as one of the best filming locations in the country.

Not to mention, supporters say, stop thousands of production jobs from moving to other states every year.

The bill, endorsed by the House on Wednesday on a voice vote with no objection, would let producers apply for reimbursements for a percentage of the money they spend in the state if they use mostly Texas crews and can illustrate, after the production has wrapped, what kind of economic benefit the project had for Texas.

"The movies that are being shot in Shreveport that are about Dallas, or in Manitoba that are about South Texas, or in New Mexico that are about El Paso – we will be able to bring all those productions back home," said Rep. Dawnna Dukes, the Austin Democrat who sponsored the bill.

After a final procedural vote today, the bill heads to the Senate, where an identical measure is awaiting a hearing in a committee.

Texas' TV, film and video production industry employs about 18,000 people each year but has lost 4,500 jobs to states with incentive programs. About $700 million in production budgets have gone somewhere else, and in the nearly five years since states began creating incentives to lure productions – some tax breaks, others reimbursements – Texas' share of the regional production market went from 85 percent
to 18 percent.

The incentive program was created in 2005 by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Rep. Peggy Hamric, R-Houston, and originally promised to reimburse up to 20 percent of wages paid during a production.

The program had plenty of fans, and it won legislative approval two years ago with no objection. But lawmakers provided no money. Gov. Rick Perry's office was pushing for $30 million in incentives to fund it but met resistance from budget writers who were trying to find a way to fund the state's public-school system and had local priorities they were trying to pay for.

Ms. Dukes' bill changed the existing, unfunded program to base it more on how much money the production brings into the state – forcing filmmakers to prove, after production wraps, that they had a positive impact on the state's economy before they can get any money from the program.

The change of heart in funding came when lawmakers began to realize that movies, TV shows and commercials want to come to Texas but can't always afford it. And that spending money to bring Texas to the silver screen – instead of New Mexico or Louisiana or any of the other nearly 40 states with incentive programs – wasn't a job welfare program.

But a political dispute threatened to hold the bill up last week. Once it was resolved, lawmakers agreed to provide $20 million for the program, with the assumption it can be expanded later.

The new, performance-based approach "is changing legislators' minds about the value of the industry to state coffers," said Austin lobbyist Lawrence Collins, a former budget director in the Capitol who is pushing for the program to be funded.

"The industry will have to perform," he said. "We've made no bones about that."

-----------------------------

Good stuff.

-Blake

Seems the Canon HV20 camera I bought is already starting to get some buzz.

Check out this link at DVInfo...
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?p=657950

A DP out in LA rigged the camera with a Redrock M2 lens adaptor. He has some stills posted of the footage he shot in 1080p24.

I just can't overstate how impressive this is for an $1100 camera!

-Blake

I recently bought a new "consumer" HD camcorder. I put consumer in quotes because while yes, it is a one-chip camera, and no, it doesn't have XLR audio inputs or an HD-SDI connection - but the features it does have and the images it produces are up there with cameras many more times expensive than it - so I'd call it a "prosumer" camera for a "consumer" price.

The camera is the brand new Canon HV20. Click here for a link to the Canon website.

The main thing (for me anyway) that sets the camera apart from anything else remotely close to it is the 24p capabilities. This is the first camera in this price range offering TRUE 1080p24. This is not some "cinemode" or frame blending technique. This is real 24 frames per second. And I must say, it looks really, really good.

The camera also offers a myriad of other "pro" features like manual white balance, manual focus, manual audio adjustment, and manual exposure.

In the 24p mode (or even in the interlaced mode) you can switch between several different gamma settings to achieve a more "filmic" look. This again is very nice and has never been available on this level of camera. The 1080i video looks great too. Especially in bright sunshine.

Earlier I mentioned the camera only has one-chip. And this is true. But, don't think that means bad image quality. The chip is CMOS instead of a CCD. I won't get into the technical mumbo jumbo here, but I will say that all the major high-end HD cameras like the Viper use ONE-CHIP CMOS setups. The Viper was used most recently to shoot David Fincher's "Zodiac". Now I'm not saying my HV20 can produce those kinds of images. Not at all. What I am saying though is that one-chip cameras are a lot different than they used to be.

A few weeks ago I was in Mexico on a corporate shoot and our crew was shooting at the Pyramids at Tulum (near Playa Del Carmen). We had a JVC HD100 HDV camcorder and couldn't take that in (too big), so we had a second, smaller camera - a Sony VX2100. The officials at Tulum let us bring that in (for a $35 fee), but as we were shooting a security guard approached and said the camera was "too professional" (we had put a wireless mic on it) and they confiscated the tape. We fought it, but as of this writing it has not been returned (even though it was supposed to have been).

So why am I telling you this story? Well, obviously I wish I'd had my new Canon HV20. There were many tourist there with small palm sized cameras and NO ONE said a word to them. EVEN THOUGH the HDV ones will shoot a better image than most of the mid-sized SD cameras.

I personally own a JVC DV500 camera. I bought it in 2000. It has been a GREAT camera for corporate style work (and I shot my second feature on it too). The camera has three 1/2" chips. So it produces nice images. But I gotta tell you, I shot some test footage with the HV20 and I think it looks better. Of course it's HDV and not standard def DV, but the clarity, etc. was just plain better.

The JVC costs me roughly $6500 and the new Canon cost only $1100. Crazy.

Of course understand that I'm not planning on using this new Canon for my main camera on my pro gigs. I mainly bought it for scouting locations, shooting behind-the-scenes footage, and for cast/crew interviews for DVD extras, etc. I also might use it as a "B Camera" on a shoot or two to match in with my main camera.

I'm attending NAB next week looking for a new primary HD camera. I plan on taking the HV20 along to shoot some footage in Las Vegas. Maybe I'll shoot some HD video of my new HD camera? Isn't technology great? :)

-Blake

As mentioned in several earlier post, I am developing a New Movie and it's going pretty darn well I must say.

Tonight, the writer I've hired and working with on the screenplay, is flying in from LA (to Dallas) to meet with me and our Life Story person (we optioned the Life Story from someone to write this movie). The meeting is tomorrow night and hopefully it should be our last one before the final screenplay is done. Our goal is to have the script finished by May 1st. And we are on target.

Next up, we'll start sending it around to a few select actors and gauge their interest in the project. Would love to make an offer to a couple of folks we have in mind almost right away.

Other main thing we're going to do is have a big "fundraising party" and make an announcement (to the press) about the actual project. We've kept it pretty quiet thus far. Our development money has been secured (that's how we hired the writer, etc.), but our main finances are still being worked on.

IF, and that's a big IF things go well I'd love to be shooting in the early fall. We'll see though. This one is going to be a tough one to cast. You'll understand once you find out the subject matter. :)

-Blake

Finally saw "Borat" last night on DVD. Funny movie for sure, but I also think it's a tad too mean spirited for my taste. Now, some of you who know me might think this an odd statement coming from my smartass mouth, but I did find some of the situations hard to watch (knowing the people he was interviewing weren't in on the joke). I much prefer mockumentaries like "This Is Spinal Tap" or even my film "Hit" where the main characters make fun of themselves - NOT other people.

But, all-in-all it was a very funny movie.

One really interesting thing to me as a filmmaker was the fact that the "film" was shot on HD video using the Panasonic Varicam. The HD was then transferred to film and I thought it looked great (we shot "Killing Down" on the Varicam). You could really see the difference when they'd cut to some of their "B" camera angles that were shot on smaller, consumer grade interlaced cameras and also when they showed the actual news cast footage that was also shot on interlaced video.

Panasonic didn't really promote the fact that the movie was shot on their camera I think partly due to the controversy surrounding it. Again, I thought it looked great and no one would know it didn't originate on film.

Check it out if you haven't seen it - and the DVD extras are good too - A LOT of deleted scenes that didn't make the final cut of the film.

-Blake

I'm in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico on a corporate editing gig. It's tough work, but someone's got to do it... :) See my edit setup below...




My laptop Avid is near the balcony so I can see view of ocean, etc.





A wide screen LCD TV was in room, so I'm using it as an edit monitor (nice!).






And just in case my back gets sore I'm 3 feet away from a jumbo jacuzzi spa.




I'll be back in the States next week and focusing on my movies, but for now I'll enjoy Mexico and this "tough" editing gig. :)

-Blake

In the last few weeks I've been to Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Rico, Chicago and in about a week I go to Cancun, Mexico - then a few weeks later to Las Vegas. All these have been or are corporate video gigs. The Vegas trip is for NAB (National Association of Broadcasters). Why am I detailing this? Well, I haven't had much time to work on The Movie side of my life. Been trying to "make a living". :)

But, this weekend I have been able to work on the screenplay for my Next Movie. I've mentioned it a few times here, but still can't give aways too much info. I will soon - when the script is done. I can say it is going VERY WELL. I really like where the script is headed. The writer recently gave me the Final Draft file (been reading PDFs), so I've been tweaking and playing with it some. I find this easier sometimes. Just do it yourself instead of giving pages of notes. It's been a great collaboration and I think it's going to be really good.

If all goes well I hope to shoot in late summer or early fall. We'll see. Things take time and cost money. Time I have...

-Blake

Click link below for the latest TXMPA Newsletter:
http://www.txmpa.org/newsletters/February_2007_TXMPA_Issue_3.pdf

Did you know?

• The current number one at the box
office, Ghost Rider, takes place in
Texas, but was shot in Australia.

• “The business is leaving Texas for
other states.” Lt. Gov. David
Dewhurst

• New Mexico’s incentive program was
worth about $8 million four years ago.
Now, it’s in excess of $450 million.

-Blake

Here's a link to a PDF of the film schedule on the AFI Dallas website:

http://www.afidallas.com/docs/Final_AFIDIFF_QG_07.pdf

This looks to be a well organized, well thought out, and well, a nice looking event. I have several filmmaker friends with films in the festival.

David Maddox - "The Box" - screenings March 30 and 31
Bill Sebastian - "Midilothia" - screenings March 26 and 30
Jon Keeyes - "Living & Dying" screening March 27 and 31
Chris Hansen - "The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah" - screenings March 24 and 25

For more details about these screening and others please check out the schedule.

-Blake

Is this Iraq? Nope. It's Dallas. We had a major dust storm a few days ago. Eerie, eerie shots...

-Blake

Interesting and funny interview with David Mamet about his new book (about the movie business) called "Bambi Vs. Godzilla".

Here's an excerpt...

Warner: You love movies but seem to hate the movie business.

Mamet: I don't hate the movie business. I'm fascinated by the movie business. It's the only absolutely essential intersection in the history of mankind between art and commerce. You could paint the picture and sell it or not. You can put on plays in your backyard. But you have to have a distribution process for movies.

Warner: You have a special contempt for producers. What makes them so despicable?

Mamet: Everybody is a producer in Hollywood, and there are a lot of people who produce nothing.

Warner: Screenwriters seem to be dispensable in Hollywood, or even interchangeable. Why is there so little regard for them?

Mamet: A lot of people in the business end loathe screenwriters because it looks like they aren't doing much of anything. And if they do it well, it looks like anybody can do it.

Definitely check it out. I'm planning on buying the book too.

-Blake

In relation to viral video success (from the Cinematech blog)...

"Anybody can become famous for 15 megabytes."

-Blake

Filmmaker Magazine has a good article in their "Industry Beat" section about the status of no-budget filmmaking...

Congrats to Matt Tompkins (the star of Killing Down) who just landed a co-starring role opposite Dolph Lundgren (pictured left) in the new Sony Pictures film Missionary Man.

I'd been looking forward to seeing the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". Heard good things about it. Rented it from Netflix about two weeks ago, and it had been sitting around unwatched until last night.

Kinda wished it had stayed that way.

Well, maybe not. I'm glad I saw it to see what folks have been talking about. Of course I don't understand the praise. And BTW, I'm not talking politics here at all. Purely filmmaking.

This movie was a SNOOZE FEST. As boring of a film as I can honestly recall. My wife actually wanted to turn it off - but I rarely will do that - if ever. Once I start a movie I finish it.

If you haven't seen the film it shows Al Gore giving his "slide show" (his words, not mine) in front of a live audience. Then, inner cut throughout segments are these little "transitional pieces" of Al walking through airports, driving his car, sitting at his desk, etc. - all with voice over from Al. Is this supposed to be interesting or even remotely entertaining?

The subject of global warming is undoubtedly interesting. But could they have presented it in a more boring way? Come on. This is a MOVIE. Please make it visually interesting and at least partially entertaining. To me the best documentaries do just that. While I do not agree with much of what Michael Moore has to say, I do find him a good storyteller and filmmaker. He's stuff is at the very least presented in an entertaining way. Or take Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me". Again, a very engaging and interesting documentary that also entertained. Of course my favorite documentary filmmaker is Errol Morris. ALL of his films are very well done on every level. They are MOVIES. Anyone ever thinking of making a documentary should go a rent one of Errol's films ("The Fog of War", "Mr. Death", "The Thin Blue Line", etc.).

"An Inconvenient Truth" was just dull. I mean any Discovery Channel doc is better. Imagine listening to your 8th grade science teacher give a lecture and that's what this movie feels like.

My only guess as to why this film is getting lots of attention are the following:

1. Al Gore
2. The subject matter
3. Politics

Let's take them one at a time:

1. Al Gore should be renamed Al Bore. How can a man who has been in politics his entire life be such a boring and uninspiring public speaker? Now I really know why he lost the presidential race in 2000. At least Bush has a personality whether you agree with his politics or not. But Hollywood and the American left can't let go of his loss. And they want to honor him in any way they can. This is ironic of course. Remember oh, 20 years ago or so? Tipper Gore? Remember the recording industry's vitriol towards her (for the "censorship" labels on CDs) and indirectly at Al? Funny how things turn around. While I do think his intentions for this project are VERY NOBLE, I again just think it was a very failed attempt as a film (the director's fault).

2. Global warming is real. I do not doubt this at all. It's a good topic for a doc. And, I think this is a great thing to discuss and get solved. But, this movie does not do that. Sure, it shows lots of stuff that has happened over time - and it projects things that might happen in the future. But what this film does not do is tell us WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP. In the ending credits it lists a handful of elementary things we can do to stop or reduce global warming. This list could have been created by a kindergarten kid. This is a huge filmmaking flaw on the director's part. Tell us what's happened; what's possibly going to happen if we don't fix things; and then tell us HOW to fix the problems (or at least what they think we should do).

3. This is a political hot potato, and really I don't think it should be. But it is nonetheless. So my belief is Hollywood will reward this film (and has been cheer leading it along the way) at the Oscars. This film in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM deserves to be an Oscar contender. But it's a film that has political clout - especially on the left. And as most folks know Hollywood is very left leaning. And BTW, I have no problem with this at all. For me take politics completely out of the picture - this is just not a good movie. And should not be up for Oscar contention.

The best thing about this movie is that is has reignited the debate on global warming and hopefully our government and others around the world (it's not just us remember) will take action. This summer Al Gore is putting on a global concert to raise awareness on the topic - supposedly U2 will head line. Sounds kinda like a "Live Aid" concert. I'm sure every band will want to lend their talents to the event. I think this is a good idea.

My only hope is they keep Al behind the curtain so the show can somewhat entertaining.

-Blake

There's a piece on Killing Down in the new issue of Indie Slate...

I've been helping consult on a indie film shooting in Dallas called Fissure. It's being directed by Russ Pond. They're first day of shooting they were visited by the local FOX affiliate for a story on Texas filmmaking and the lack of tax incentives (to help bring more productions here).

This article concerns my first job using P2 with me as producer/director/editor. I have worked on one other shoot as a shooter, but it wasn't my project - I was a hired gun - and all I did was shoot. I did not handle the P2 aspects involved.

If you don't know what P2 is then this info will likely not do much for you. But, if you're a filmmaker and been thinking about shooting P2 or been reading about it then my experience will be worth the read.

P2 of course is the new solid state recording format (fairly new anyway - been around just over a year or so) introduced by Panasonic. P2 is not tape. It is a memory card that replaces tape and allows instant access to recorded footage. The most common camera that shoots P2 is the HVX200, although there are several others now. The HVX is the $6000 "do anything" camera. It shoots virtually all flavors of video including 720p HD, 1080p HD, DVCPRO 50, and even Mini DV.

The biggest knock on P2 is that the largest capacity card is only 8GB. And they cost $1200 each. And they did cost $2000 when they first hit the market. Supposedly 16GB cards will come out at NAB this year (in April). This will be a good thing. Of course there are a few hard disk recorders available that offer plenty of room, but they do make the rig bulkier, etc.

8GB cards will give you 30 minutes of DV recording, 16 minutes of DVCPRO 50 recording (at 24p), and around the same for 720p HD (in the native 24p mode). There are obviously a lot of technical aspects that go into shooting with the HVX, and a lot of choices - but this article is reallly more about P2 - so that's where I am going to focus.

My two main concerns with P2 were and still are:

1. Shooting capacity
2. Archiving

The recent shoot I utilized P2 on was for a LASIK surgeon in Florida. My company was hired to produce two patient information videos and four 60 second TV spots. The patient info videos are mainly the doctor talking into the camera using teleprompter. Both these videos will be around 20 minutes long. Of course this means shooting probably two to three times that much footage (with flubs and redos, etc.).

For the patient videos we actually decided NOT to shoot on P2. The HVX will also record Mini DV to tape and due to the long running times we opted to go this route (and I'm very glad we did).

For the TV spots we shot on P2. These spots were made up of the doctor on camera and 12 different testimonials (that will pick soundbites from). We shot this stuff on P2 in 24p DVCPRO 50 (standard def). We decided to go SD instead of HD for post-production reasons.

As I mentioned earlier, you get 16 minutes of 24p DVCPRO 50 on a single card. So once that card is full you take it to the "download station" we created. This was made up of the Panasonic 60 gig P2 Store and a Mac G4 laptop with a 160GB external Lacie firewire drive.

We'd copy it to the Lacie drive first. This took just under one minute per gig - so about 7 minutes or so to copy. Then, we'd do a back-up copy to the P2 Store - this took about 10-12 minutes. So the total copy time was just shy of 20 minutes. We had two P2 cards. We really needed three. The overlap of copying and shooting caught up with us once or twice during the testimonial interviews. One person had to wait about 10 minutes while we copied the data.

But we had to do this. We had to make back-ups. This is vital and worth making someone wait. Remember, we're talking data here. If something goes wrong with the drive it is gone.

Other than those few instances the card swapping went well. The client very much enjoyed being able to play back a clip instantly. Then I enjoyed not having to worry about recording over something (if I forgot to cue the tape back up). No worries like that with P2.

In the end we shot around 70 gigs of footage. The shoot went well. I'd do it again. I've actually been considering a P2 camera or the Sony XDCAM HD setup. I like the idea of going tapeless, although it is a different way of thinking. So this was a good test (on someone else's dime too - can't beat that). :)

Now I'm starting my first post-production session with P2 using Avid Xpress Pro. Not sure the post side of things is going as well as the shoot. I'll report back soon with the results.

-Blake

I've mentioned here in the past a couple New Projects that I'm working on and one of them is coming together very well. The other one is moving forward, but there has been the usual hiccups along the way.

I don't want to give away too many details at this stage, mainly because if you're at all familiar with the film business you know everything can (and often does) fall apart.

I can say on New Project #1 (the one that is going very well) we have a first draft of the script done and we're now working on a 2nd pass. I'm very excited about the script (working with a good writer based in LA). All the content is there. This is the project that I optioned the Life Story Rights to a member of a famous Texas family. That's all I can say about that. So, again, the content is there... we're just trying to figure out the structure of the script. We do not want this to be a typical "boring" biopic: Hero is born, Hero lives and does something good/bad/crazy/exciting, then Hero dies, blah, blah, blah.

We want this to be interesting, emotional, engaging, and above all entertaining.

If all goes well I'd love to shoot this project in late summer or early fall. We'll see...

The second New Project is actually being financed by another production company. They are (potentially) hiring me to direct a script I've written. At one point about two months ago I almost had the greenlight. Then, things changed, and they wanted to produced a different project. One that fit thier "slate of films" better. So, that project (an action-comedy-heist script) got put on hold. But, they like another project of mine and we're now talking about doing it.

This one is an action-police-drama. I actually do not have a full script done - just a detailed treatment. So, I'm working on this script to submit to their production execs soon. They definitely are interested in producing it, but of course they'll need to approve the final screenplay.

This will be my first real "Hollywood" experience. Even though they are an indie production company, they run it like a studio. So, in other words, they call all the shots because they're paying the tab. Should be an interesting experience. It will definitely be nice to not worry about raising the funds to make a film. I'll actually be able to simply concentrate on directing. What a concept? :)

-Blake

Same content. Same writer. Different name.

For 2007 I've decided to at least be clever if nothing else. ;)

And for those "non-filmmakers" out there a Martini Shot is the last shot of the day on a film shoot. Of course often times it turns out not to be the last shot (someone will think of something else to shoot, usually after the lights, etc. have been struck) and then you do the "real" Martini Shot.

Happy reading. :)

-Blake

Been busy this week, so I'm just now having a chance to talk about the TXMPA event from last weekend...

The event went very well.

It was an all emcompassing look at what is going on with the organization, the State of Texas, and the film industry within the state.

I had the pleasure of speaking along side the president of TXMPA, the head of the Dallas Producer's Association, the director of the Texas Film Commission, the director of the Dallas Film Commission, and the producer of the FOX Network TV show Prison Break (Gary Brown). I was there representing the independent side of things.

The event was covered by a few media outlets and I was interviewed on camera. As soon as I find out if or when the video will be online I'll post it here.

Go to the TXMPA website to see more about what they/we are trying to accomplish. But in a nutshell, TXMPA is trying to get legislation passed to create Tax Incentives for production companies producing films in Texas - thus bringing more business to the state. It's a win-win for everyone involved, so hopefully something good will happen this session.

At the event I played the movie trailer for Killing Down (the movie was produced in Dallas) and then spoke of the film industry infrastructure that exist in Texas, and more specifically Dallas.

Many folks do not realize you can pretty much turn-key a feature film in Texas. We have just about every possible part of the equation covered:

- Acting Talent
- Production Talent (i.e. crew)
- Equipment Rental Houses (we have a Panavision office in town)
- Only Film Lab in Texas (Video Post & Transfer)
- Literally hundreds of post houses for editing
- Many Effects Houses for CGI, etc.
- Several great audio post houses covering all aspects
- High-end color correction on DaVinci 2K, etc.

Really the only thing we don't have at the moment is a facility doing high-end DI (Digital Intermediate). Video Post soon will be offering DI via DaVinci Resolve - but only for short form projects (i.e. TV spots).

So a production company could come to Texas and produce their project from start to finish. That was my message, and that's what I have been doing since 1997 (three feature films now completed).

Of course, big Hollywood productons could come here just to shoot and that is fine too. We just want to keep the Texas film industry clicking, and I'm doing my part to make sure this happens.

-Blake

I will be speaking on a panel this Saturday for the TXMPA (Texas Motion Picture Alliance) at the SMU campus. I will be "interviewed" along with Gary Brown the producer of the FOX Network show "Prison Break". I will be representing the independent filmmaking side of things. Please come to the event if you can!

The event is a fundraiser and networking opportunity for anyone and everyone involved in the TV and Film industry in Texas.

Who is TXMPA?

The TXMPA is an organization of organizations from all over the state of Texas dedicated to significantly bolstering and expanding the existing infrastructure of the film/video/interactive media and video game production industry in the State of Texas. Its purpose is to support the creation of financial incentives to producers of all such media both from within and outside of the state.

Their main goal right now is to raise funds (to pay a new lobbying firm recently hired) to push legislation though that will create new Tax Incentives for outside production companies (i.e. Hollywood) so they will produce more films here.

Because of production incentives offered by other states, including New Mexico and Louisiana, the Texas production industry has been devastated over the last several years as companies have closed, crew has relocated to other states, and invaluable production infrastructure has begun to erode.

In just three (3) short years of incentives, Louisiana increased motion picture production from $20 million per year to an astounding $350 million per year. Right now Texas’ film/TV and commercial production industry has dropped to $200 million per year.

Conservative estimates project that in the first year of a competitive incentive program, Texas would realize an increase in production revenue of $300 million! Money that WILL be spent by the entertainment industry somewhere one way or another. This would bring the total production related revenue to $1 BILLION over a two year period.

If you can't make the event it will be streamed live on the web. Go to the TXMPA home page 30 minutes prior to the show (noon CST) and select "Attend Event".

Thanks for the support!
-Blake

I finally got the online shopping section of my Loud Pictures website up and running (used to have it on my old site, but that was a while ago)...

So now you can support indie filmmaking at its purest by purchasing the Loud Shorts Volume 1 DVD for only $12.00 plus $3.95 for shipping. You get five kick-ass short films for under $16 bucks! And these are all high quality, award winning projects shot on film. Yes, you heard it. All these shorts were actually shot on film (16mm and 35mm). Not that I'm being a film snob or anything, but it is rare these days to see shorts shot on film.

FILMTHREAT.com reviewed the DVD and gave it "3 1/2 Stars"!

Here's the list of titles (and directors) on the DVD:

1. 6:30 - directed by Blake Calhoun (that's me)
2. A Day at the Office - directed by David Maddox
3. Burning the Grump - directed by David Ahearn
4. Hero - directed by Cliff Richhart
5. Summer Job - directed by Greg Biggerstaff

Go check it out. You know you want to. There's even a sample clip to view too!

Also, while I'm shamelessly plugging things here... Coming soon too is the DVD release of my previous feature film Hit. This DVD will be available to buy later this spring. It will be sold on my website and on Amazon.com (and possibly a few other outlets). Believe me, I'll let everyone know when it's available, so please stay tuned... :)

Thanks for your support!

-Blake

Check this out from Popular Mechanics...
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4206967.html

While it is subjective, I don't disagree with many of their picks.

-Blake

Happy New Year to everyone...

2006 was a really good year for me in my personal life and my business life, and if things go as hoped 2007 should be even better.

Here's my list of Resolutions (on the business side) to make this happen:

1. Stop procrastinating on finishing the Hit DVD (my previous feature film) - I've had this in the works for over a year and a half. Part of the reason for the delay is I had two potential home video deals fall through and haven't been happy with anything else that's come along. So, I'm likely going to do DIY self-distribution through Amazon.com selling the DVD and a digital downloadable version through their new Unboxed program. All I'm really trying to do here is get the movie out so people can see it. Hit is a funny movie. It got really positive reviews and deserves to be seen.

2. Get at least one, but very likely two new feature projects in the can this year. It took me 2 years to do my first film. Three years to do my second. And just shy of two years to finish Killing Down. So yeah, getting two films done this year might seem like a stretch (and it kinda is). BUT, I'm doing things a bit differently now. First off, on one of the projects I've hired a writer to write the script. It's going well too. Hope to have a first draft in the next 4 to 6 weeks. This project I'd like to shoot in July. For the other project, I'm likely using a preexisting script (that I've written), AND, the biggest thing - someone else is financing the film (and paying me to direct it). This is huge and one of the main reasons I feel I can get two projects done this year. In a perfect world, we'd shoot the first project in late February to March and then roll into the next project shooting in July or maybe August (probably overlapping the post schedule from the first a tad). The second project I'm producing and raising the financing, so it's definitely tougher. Of course in this business everything can (and often does) fall apart. So we'll see what happens. But these are Resolutions, so I'm going to stay positive. :)

3. Keeping #2 in mind... I plan to migrate into narrative feature filmmaking full-time. Like a lot of folks, especially outside Hollywood - but inside too, I make a living as a producer, director and editor of ALL kinds of media. I've made three feature films, but my main revenue source comes from corporate video and TV commercials. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with my corporate and ad agency clients (especially if you're reading this), but my goal is to make a living off my feature film work. That's not saying I won't still dabble in the other stuff - and I'll likely still service my various clients using freelancers, etc. - but full-time feature work is my plan (and with my recent sell of the foreign rights to Killing Down things are looking pretty good).

4. Keeping #2 and #3 in mind... I would like to get an agent or manager to rep me as a director-for-hire (or as a writer-director of my own work). This is not easy. A lot of my actor friends living in Dallas and LA had a hard time (and still do sometimes) finding a good agent or one at all. So finding an agent to rep an unknown director (that's me) is not going to be easy. My entertainment attorney Mark Litwak has said he will help refer me based on my previous feature work and mainly on Killing Down. It's ALL about WHO YOU KNOW to get your foot in the door, then talent and a lot of luck come into play.

5. Make a domestic distribution deal for Killing Down. We've sold our foreign rights, but our domestic (U.S. and Canada) are still available. We've got some interests, but no deal yet. I'm fairly confident something will happen in the next couple months. This sale could definitely help my prospect of finding an agent since having a film in Blockbuster is not a bad thing for the resume'.

There are of course other things I'm hoping/planning/thinking about doing to make 2007 a good year, but these are the primary ones.

We'll see if I can stick to them...

Bad thing is on my personal Resolutions I've already broken pretty much all of them and it's only January 4th. ;)

-Blake

First teaser trailer is out for "Grindhouse" the new Rodriquez/Tarantino films that will be released in April (as a double feature).

Pretty cool - very much a throwback look to the 70's. I'm sure Rodriguez's film was shot on HD. Not sure about Tarantino's though...

-Blake

Our last round of QC was successful. We got the "Approved" stamp on the QC Report and made all our necessary dubs. And today, we're sending off the last of the required paperwork, etc. including our E&O Insurance Certificate to our distributor.

What a relief.

Delivering a movie is quite a challenge. This is my second time to do it, but my first time at this level. The first time around was NOT NEAR as "picky", time consuming or expensive. This one was tough (but not out of the ordinary).

Check out the next issue of Indie Slate Magazine when it hits news stands in January (I think it'll be January). There will be a piece on "Killing Down" and the delivery process we just went through. Hopefully it will be interesting.

So, that's that. Now we await payment from the distributor. Should be here pretty soon, and if so, will definitely make for a very Merry Christmas! :)

-Blake

We've made the recommended fixes to "Kiling Down" via the QC Report from Modern VideoFilm in Burbank. We now await the final report and will then make the appropriate dubs for our distributor.

What are these dubs?

An NTSC DigiBeta 16x9 letterbox, an NTSC DigiBeta 4x3 full frame, and the same but in the PAL format (for European territories). These PAL dubs are ultra expensive - the way we're going to do them anyway. Tried just doing a strait conversion from 29.97 to 25 fps, but the dubs sucked. They were roughly $300 each. The better way (and they way we're proceeding) is to dub them through a Teranex box. The Teranex is an incredible device. I have used it on occasion to do up and down converts for HD... I've never used it to do PAL conversions though. The kicker is due to the running time of the movie these dubs are going to be about $750 a piece. That's a chunk of change - especially for an SD dub. I'm hoping to get a deal on them, but either way it's expensive!!!

Once these dubs are done we'll deliver to New Film International (our foreign distributor) and we should be off to the races. What do I mean by that? Well, we start getting paid finally. :)

ALSO, the movie will be available and seen throughout the world (excluding the U.S. and Canada). We're still working on a domestic deal and will hopefully be announcing some good news there after the first of the New Year.

Oh, and one last thing... in the very near future we'll be uploading the first 8-minutes of "Killing Down" to YouTube. We'll post here when the footage is live.

-Blake

I'm deep into the "QC" process of my deliverables for "Killing Down". That's Quality Control (I guess you call it that). And I must say it's tough, tough stuff.

I've been involved with the QC process before, but from afar. Not directly responsible for the technical issues nor for the expense. On this run I'm responsible for both. Everything. And it's really becoming costly in both time and money.

Not that there is much wrong with the film, it's just that the QC process is EXTREMELY picky, and often it's WRONG TOO. What do I mean by that?

Well, for instance...

I have a fair amount of subtitles for some Spanish parts in the film. However, there is some Spanish that is spoken and I purposely did NOT WANT SUBTITLES THERE. It's a creative choice. But on the report I got the dreaded "3", meaning it doesn't pass. Of course I'll work this out with the QC facility and ultimately the distributor, but it kinda sucks having to go through this...

Or, I have some sound effects that cut in and out (purposely) and on the report they failed. But again, it was a creative choice...

I also have several issues with my titles (and subtitles) not being in the Title Safe Area. This is quite bizarre and I'm waiting to see exactly how far off they are. We did our HD online on an Avid DS Nitris (one of the highest-end of highest-end editing system there is) and I can't imagine the titles being positioned wrong. I'm going to verify this later this week.

Anyway, long story short... this stuff is not fun. I can't wait to get back to MAKING another film and leaving this "business side" behind - I mean 14 hour days, no sleep, and little food actually sound pretty good right now. :)

-Blake

I finally saw "The Departed" this weekend. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about the new Scorsese film, and I will say it was very well done and entertaining.

But, I must also say that most folks who have been raving (critics and film fans alike) probably have not seen the original movie. That's right, if you didn't know, "The Departed" is a remake. It's a remake of a very, very good Hong Kong film called "Infernal Affairs" (it's English title).

"Infernal Affairs" was much more of an emotional film for me. "The Departed" was a tad too glossy and commercial in it's approach and I didn't feel for the characters as much as I did in the original (mainly the DiCaprio and Damon characters). Their Asian counterparts brought a much deeper emotional feel to the roles.

I'm sure part of the reason I didn't "love it" was that I was so familiar with the original. I knew what was coming in the twists and turns. The Scorsese film sticks to the original pretty closely. Although the ending is slightly different (and not as good).

The best thing about "The Departed" for me was Leo DiCaprio's performance and to a lesser extent Mark Wahlberg's. Mark wasn't in the film that much, but when he was it was good. Also, Alec Baldwin did a nice turn as a police commander. This could (finally) be the movie that Leo gets an Oscar. We'll see.

Scorsese is among my favorite filmmakers ("Goodfellas" is my all time favorite film). He's doing very innovative stuff here too - especially for being 65 years old. So, don't take my review here the wrong way. I would definitely recommend the movie. I just wasn't blown away by it like a lot of people.

Go check it out though if you haven't. And if you don't mind subtitles (or an English dubbed version) check out "Infernal Affairs" first - then compare the two and see if you agree with me.

-Blake

Actually sunny and 89 degrees today... where? I'm in LA on business talking to the new distributors about "Killing Down", and also meeting with some producers about a New Project - and meeting with the writer working on the Other New Project.

We're slowly but surely getting all the "Killing Down" deliverables prepared for our December 1st deadline, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine if we'll have everything ready. There's a lot to do, and with the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, it's slowing things down.

Did I mention it was almost 90 degrees here today? I mean, it's November 20th. Thanksgiving is this week. Happy Holidays from LA. Is the weather ever bad Out Here?

-Blake

Good article by Scott Kirshner at the Hollywood Reporter...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003381488

The pros and cons from different filmmakers about digital production through distribution.

-Blake

Everything about the film business is tough. Everything.

Writing a script is tough. Finding money to make a movie is tough. Making the movie is tough. Selling the movie (if it actually got made) is tough. And even once you do sell it... yep you guessed it, it's still tough.

Why is it tough even when you sell the film? One word: DELIVERABLES

You may not be familiar with this term if you haven't sold a film or been involved with the sale of a film. It's not an everyday word, but if you're a filmmaker and have a hope to sell your film please take note of this frustrating word.

Basically it means what it says... "You deliver the movie". But, what the actually "deliverables" are is where it gets tough and VERY expensive.

Here are the items I'm dealing with right now since we sold the foreign rights to "Killing Down"...

Final D5-HD master, only requires “access to”
Audio stems, only requires “access to”
Production Audio, only requires “access to”
DAT of film score and songs
HD footage of deletions, etc., only requires “access to”
HD title materials of all credits, only requires “access to”
NTSC DigiBeta 4x3 full frame with M&E
NTSC DigiBeta 16x9 letterbox with M&E
PAL DigiBeta 4x3 full frame with M&E
PAL DigiBeta 16x9 letterbox with M&E
NTSC DA88 of feature with M&E
PAL DA88 of feature with M&E
NTSC DA88 of 5.1 mix
PAL DA88 of 5.1 mix
“TV Version” of stereo mix
NTSC DigiBeta of TV Version
PAL DigiBeta of TV Version
TEXTLESS MATERIAL – attach to NTSC and PAL version of film, both theatrical and TV, one-minute after finish
QC report of NTSC DigiBeta Master
QC report of D5-HD Master
NTSC DigiBeta of original trailer
NTSC DA88 of trailer
(1) Dialogue/Action Continuity & Spotting List
All Production Notes/Papers from SAG, Camera Reports, etc.
100 Color Production Stills
Key Artwork
Presskit
Cast/Crew Interview footage and behind-the-scenes footage
(2) Copies of the Music Cue Sheet
(2) Copies of Composer Agreement
(10) Copies of Certificate of Origin
(10) Copies of Certificate of Authorship from each credited writer
(1) Copyright Certificate
Credit Obligations
Thomson Title Research Report
Thomson Copyright Search Report
(1) Copy of Screenplay
E&O Insurance Certificate
Characteristics of Picture
Chain of Title

As you can see this is A LOT of stuff, and as I said... A LOT OF EXPENDITURES to actually deliver the movie. I figure a rough estimate here is around $15K to get all this done. Maybe more. Not sure yet. And, we have to have all this delivered by December 1st. That's just over three weeks from now. Did I mention this is going to be tough?

For non-filmmakers reading this I'm sure many of the terms in the delivery list above do not ring a bell. A lot of it is film jargon and/or technical stuff. But, suffice it to say it is all very important and required to sell the movie and to GET PAID. That's right. We do not get paid untill we delivery all this. The next three weeks will be very, very busy for me.

So, filmmakers selling your movie... just be prepared for these costs when or if you get to this point. Like me, I'm sure most of you will be completely out of money and having to beg, borrow and steal to get the deliverables delivered.

I do find it quite ironic when you actually sell your film you still have to go into more debt. But nothing in life is easy... as a matter of fact it's all really pretty tough.

-Blake

Our foreign distribution deal is done. The film was bought by New Films International. Thank you to my attorney Mark Litwak for negotiating the deal.

It's kind of ironic really because New Films actually works with several other Texas filmmakers, and they are NOT a Texas company or have any ties to Texas. As a matter of fact, their owner is from Turkey!

New Films works with director Jon Keeyes (from Fort Worth) and has produced two films with him - Living & Dying and Fall Down Dead. They bought the rights to the film The Prodigy, which was shot in Denton and made by local filmmakers (including Lawrence Varnado who has a role in "Killing Down"). Another Texas connection for a film they rep is Dirty Work. This film was not made in Texas, but was shot by a well-known Dallas DP, David Blood (film was produced in Chicago). And now, New Films has bought my film Killing Down, which was completely produced in Dallas, Texas.

A lot of good independent filmmaking going on in Texas (specifically Dallas)!!!

So, if you happen to be attending AFM this year go by and check out New Films booth at the Loews Santa Monica. They're in rooms #632, #634 and #636.

And here's a direct link to their website, which now has some Killing Down marketing info on there: http://www.newfilmsint.com/

-Blake

Check out this really good article on Martin Scorsese and his process of making "The Departed".

While he's definitely an old school filmmaker, he is starting to embrace a lot of modern technology like HD dailies and Digital Intermediates. Very good read, although it is fairly technical, it's still very interesting and informative for most folks interested in making films - especially at this level.

There's also a link to a Podcast with him, so check that out too.

BTW, I have not seen "The Departed" yet (or really any new movies recently to be honest), but I plan to very soon.

-Blake

I'm back in town and back to work. Survived the Hawaiian Earthquake and now concentrating on finalizing the deal for foreign distribution of "Killing Down". Actually, my attorney is doing most of the finalizing, but I'm closely monitoring the negotiations.

As soon as everything is inked I'll disclose the details.

In the meantime, we're talking to a few companies about domestic distribution and I'm working on putting together my New Project (things are moving along nicely on that front too).

Oh, and I'm trying to get my previous movie "Hit" out on DVD by Christmas. Should be an interesting next several months...

-Blake

I don't normally post too much personal stuff on this blog. I try to stick to the film business, but today I have to say I AM IN HAWAII AND EARLIER TODAY I WAS IN MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE. A 6.5 magnitude... there hasn't been an earthquake this big in Hawaii since 1983! Crazy stuff.

After it happened my first concern was a tsunami. Very scary - especially after seeing what happened in Indonesia a couple years ago. But, thank goodness there were no tsunami warnings or any sign of one.

So what happened?

Christine (my wife) and I woke up early and she went on a snorkeling trip. I stayed at the hotel to watch football (yeah I know, I'm in Hawaii and I'm staying in to watch football? I'm a big Cowboys fan what can I say...). Anyway, she left and I just started watching the game around 7am local Hawaii time (5 hours behind Dallas) and next thing you know I hear this sound like - and I hate to say it because it sounds cliche' - A FREIGHT TRAIN. Just a very loud rumbling sound.

At first I thought it was a bell cart in the hallway. Then I noticed the bed shaking and the floor starting to wave. Next the table in the room started to violently shake. My computer shook and almost fell on the floor. My iPod did take a tumble to the ground (but it's okay, I know you were worried).

Keep in mind, I'm from Dallas, Texas. We don't have earthquakes there. We have tornados and I will take one of them anytime over this. At least with a tornado you have some advanced warning.

So back to the event. I'm running around the room like your dog or cat does when you turn on the vacuum. I honestly had NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. Being from Texas I had no training on what you should do. So, I looked for my shoes and ran out in the hallway. Bad thing is I'm on the 7th floor of the hotel. No real good place to go. As I got into the hallway many of the other guests were out there and they told me to stand in the doorway. I later learned that is what you should do - OR just get out of the building.

Oh yeah, back to Christine. I mentioned she was going snorkeling... and she did. She was driving to meet the chartered boat and didn't even feel the quake. I called her and she wondered why there were rocks all over the road. She ended up going on the trip, but in the end she wished she hadn't. Although there were no tsunami issues, the seas were very high and she got sea sick on the trip out to the reef. Just nasea luckily, but it was not good. She did end up enjoying the fish and coral, but the trips there and back were brutal.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel... I had no idea what was going on with her. The phones and electricity were out. My mobile phone would work here and there - but I only got her voicemail (I learned later she was okay minus being sea sick).

In the end we're okay, but I have to say it was one of the scariest-natural-disaster-type-events I've ever been in. It was over in a flash, but the unknowns were (and are) difficult to think about.

I'll be back in Texas later this week (looking forward to it too), and will be back to talking film. A lot of cool stuff going on with "Killing Down". :)

-Blake

Quick update...

SOLD FORIEGN RIGHTS to film. Deal just closed. Details to follow soon.

-Blake

Things have been pretty crazy this week. We've entertained several offers to buy the foreign rights to "Killing Down". This is GREAT news! Now we're in the midst of deciding which company to go with. Pretty sure we'll have a deal done by the end of today. Can't wait to get this done and then look forward to AFM in just over three weeks.

Of course, next we work on selling the domestic rights - oh, and we start working on the new project very, very soon. Like I said in the title to this entry... definitely "wheelin' & dealin'.

-Blake

The DVD screeners we're shipped out this week to potential distrubutors. Hopefully we'll start getting some responses early next week.

So far, I've had two meetings with companies regarding domestic DVD. Both are interested in the film. However, my domestic deal I'm not as concerned about right now. With AFM right around the corner we need a good foriegn sales agent first.

A lot of companies will try to buy "worldwide rights" that covers, well, everything. I'm not particularly interested in a deal like this unless it's a REALLY good deal. My best bet is we'll end up doing separate deals for domestic and foreign.

-Blake

We started sending out email query letters to distributors today regarding "Killing Down". So far we've had a positive response... of course they haven't seen the movie yet, just the new poster artwork and a synopsis - but, I think most will like the film.

Next week we'll send out DVD screeners to the interested folks and to various other distributors that Mark Litwak (our producer's rep) has a relationship with.

Things are definitely in motion.

-Blake

Here's the new poster without the orange/warm wash on it... we're playing with both looks for different uses.

-Blake

I've had very little time to blog lately. Between finishing the color correction (it's done), the sound mix (it's done), and working on NEW artwork (again) for the movie - I've been busy as all get out. Not to mention I was in Vegas on a corporate shoot early last week, and then back in Dallas later in the week directing a TV spot for an alarm company... it's been crazy!

But, things are looking good on the "Killing Down" front. As I've said many times, it's taken A LOT longer than planned, but it's almost done and will be worth the wait.

Here's a mock-up of the "new and improved" artwork:


This will be the front of the one-sheet that will help sell the movie to potential distributors. Hope to find a good foriegn sales agent in the next two weeks or less to rep the film at AFM.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Working with producer's rep and attorney Mark Litwak again. So, we'll see what offers come our way.

Stay tuned...

-Blake

I didn't realize the hard drive was 50 years old. Pretty wild if you think about it. I found an interesting article on Yahoo! about it, from the article...

"In 1956, the first hard drive was two refrigerators wide and stored the equivalent of one MP3 song."

"Today, on 2.5-inch platters we have 15,000 times the capacity of the original IBM RAMAC... the advancement is startling when compared to the pace of other industries: In the auto industry, to keep that same pace, they'd have gone from fitting five people in the car in 1956, to fitting 160,000 people in that car; or, from getting 25 miles per gallon to 62,500 miles per gallon."

So how do you ask does this matter to filmmaking or distribution? It's probably one of the single most important things there is (besides a good movie!).

- Right now movies are being shot on cameras that record to hard drives - NO film or tape
- Virtually every movie is edited on a computer using tons of hard drive space - even if it was shot on film - that film is scanned into computers
- One of the hottest sites on the Internet is YouTube - a place where video clips, short films, etc. are stored on hard drives for the masses to watch (a.k.a. distribution albeit for free)
- And of course the future of feature film distribution (Hollywood and indie alike) is directly linked to digital downloading of movies to computer hard drives

So you see? Hard drives and technology go hand-in-hand with filmmaking and distribution.

I've talked before about how being a filmmaker today it is really beneficial to be technically-minded as well as creative. The best folks in my opinion are both!

Click here to read the entire article.

-Blake

This is interesting to me (being from Dallas)... not sure if it's good or bad? I'd say probably good, but there are just SO MANY film festivals these days that they all get a bit watered down. Are any of them really that important?

I mean, stats show only one in ten "Sundance" films even get distribution...

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS CBS 11 News has learned the City of Dallas has landed a major international film festival. After a year of negotiations, the American Film Institute has signed on to help run the festival.

For years Dallas has been home to several small film festivals. The city however has lacked a major international event; the type to draw world-wide attention… starting in the spring of 2007 that may change.

Cities such as Park City, Utah, Toronto and Austin have greatly benefited from high-profile film festivals. Now the City of Dallas is hoping to join that elite group with a new international film festival.CBS 11 News has learned that the Dallas Film Society has signed a deal with the American Film Institute or AFI.

According to the three-year agreement obtained by CBS 11 News AFI will provide use of its name and will help run the festival. In return, AFI will be paid $836,000.

The event will be called the Dallas/AFI International Film Festival and is scheduled to run in the spring of each year, beginning in 2007.

Although organizers declined to comment, an office for the AFI festival is already up and running in the ‘W’ building. Sources say the W Hotel will be a major sponsor.

Films are likely to be screened at the Magnolia, the Angelika and the Inwood Theaters, to name a few.

The new agreement will likely have an affect on other Dallas film festivals. While the Deep Ellum Film Festival will likely to go away, organizers from there will help run the new festival. As for the USA Film Festival, the director tells CBS 11 News that event is, “here to stay."

Bart Weiss is director of the Dallas Video Festival. He fears the new festival will be one where style wins over substance.

“It's a big festival. We’re afraid it is going to do a poor job and go out of business... and because they go out of business, it will make it difficult for all of us ‘mom and pop’ shops to keep doing what we do well, because we'll have this black mark on us."

Sources say the goal is to make the Dallas-AFI event a top 20 festival by drawing thousands of film fans, ‘a-list’ movie stars, and millions of dollars to the city.

The proposed budget for the new festival is roughly 2.3 million dollars for a 10-day event, with the money likely coming from corporate sponsorship.

Again, I do think this is good news for Dallas and film in general, but I'm just hesitant on the idea of another film festival. I think they grow on trees.

-Blake

"Killing Down" is almost ready to be screened for potential buyers. We're working feverishly to ready it for the American Film Market (AFM) in November - actually we're working feverishly to ready it to screen for foriegn sales agents that will then rep it at AFM.

What that means though is we don't have much time.

Today is September 2nd and the market is only two months away. Most buyers want their films 30 days out from the event. So, that means we have roughly 30 days to finish the film, finalize our new artwork for the one-sheet, set up a screening and/or send out DVD screeners, and make a deal. That's a lot, but it can be done and I am confident we can make it happen.

If you are a buyer interested in the rights to the film please send an email to info@loudpictures.com and we can arrange a screener.

Otherwise please contact our Producer's Rep:

Mark Litwak
433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 1010
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310-859-9595
Law2@marklitwak.com

We will be having an LA "industry" screening too - not sure of the date yet though. We're making arrangements for this and will post information soon.

-Blake