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