The Actor - OSCAR GOLD AND GLAMOUR
February 18, 2009
Another Wednesday has rolled around, and each week I wonder how it has caught up to me, yet again, making it feel as though time is simply flying by! Although I don’t really have much to report on the acting front this week, I am keeping super busy and really trying to make the most of each day! All this while I am looking forward to a few things, about which the outcome is unsure, something an actor is quite familiar with, as well.
Despite the acting front being rather uneventful for me, as of now, Hollywood is revving up for its big night of gold, The 81st Annual Academy Awards! This Sunday evening, A-list actors will gather inside the Kodak Theatre to acknowledge the excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. Those winning in each category will get to take Oscar, the industry’s highest honor, home with them as a memento of their work, after the ceremony and celebrations have ended.
I have watched the Academy Awards every year since I was a little girl, and my extraordinary parents always make it a special night by putting together some fun appetizers and Mexican layered dip to go along with champagne for the adults and sparkling cider for those underage. To this day, whenever I am back east, I still watch with them in that same style, but when I don’t have the pleasure of being in their company, I still watch, while thinking of them, and the great time we always have on that night when we are together.
This year, since I am in LA, I will be watching without them, but am lucky enough to get to watch with a wonderful group of people. I am attending a fun and fabulous Oscar party hosted by a good friend of mine, which is sure to be a gathering nothing short of classy, since he tends to think of every last elegant detail to make it simply perfect! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he rolls out a radiant red carpet!
The Oscars are a fancy night. Therefore, I plan to dress up, something I tend to do on a daily basis. Plus any excuse to add a little sparkle is good enough for me and is something I jump at the chance to do! I am looking forward to being among some great friends and even meeting some new ones while we enjoy the festivities in between plenty of entertainment and lots of good laughs, I am sure!
I hope that wherever you find yourself, be it at home or from inside the Kodak Theatre, each of you will have fun watching, and that some, if not all, of your choices win! I am willing to bet there will be a few surprises too! Regardless, it is sure to be an evening of Oscar gold and glamour!
“There are a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven’t. You just do the best you can.” – Clint Eastwood
Tags: Movie, Movie, Actor, , Film Industry
The Business Affairs Assistant - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
February 18, 2009
Long ago, I worked on the lot where Benjamin Button was being filmed. I took special notice of it because most of the movies that were being filmed there were things like Quarantine and Sex Drive, so it was a nice change of pace to suddenly see signs with a …
Tags: Movie Theatre, Hollywood, Film Industry, Movie Blog, Movie
The Business Affairs Assistant - Badly Needed Reforms for the Office—P2
February 17, 2009
As I mentioned in last week’s post, there are some things in the office that do not function as well as they could. And when your brain has nothing better to do, it sometimes whirrs on how these things could be improved. The following is the result of …
Tags: Filmmaker, Movie Blog, Actor, Movie Theatre, Oscars
The Storyboard Artist - CAPTAIN FREELANCE
February 16, 2009
Well, the good thing is that I am not broke anymore.
I haven’t even got all of my checks yet from my freelancing the last two weeks, but I feel OHHHHHHHHHHHHH so much better than I have recently.
As many of you may know, my freelancing was in the crapper. There was no work and I as the head of the household only had a few grand left in the bank.
My wife prayed. I prayed. February came in to shake off the wicked January doldrums and the work stated coming in. For the most part these were old clients and friends I have worked for at different companies who remembered me in their current ones.
I worked for old friends, directors Hype Williams and David Shane. Both of their jobs were over-nighters.
Props go out to my man Bennett Miller who got me into a long campaign he is directing for AT&T. As a matter of fact, I was working from Sunday night until about eight AM Monday morning doing finishes on one of the spots.
That is as hard as I care to work. Twelve hours plus straight into the next morning. DAYLIGHT!!! Not that an almost broke man is complaining. I had a ton of sketched frames to bring to finish.
I couldn’t get the right line quality on my STORYBOARD PRO program (still figuring things out), so I downloaded my sketches into Photoshop and finished the boards that way.
Thankfully, my buddy Todd Harris took some of the burden as I emailed him six frames to digitally ink for me, while telling him to keep the style similar to my own. It’s important to at least learn Photoshop if not also have a hand in Painter. Files can be converted from one program to another if you use J-Pegs as the key.
That is the good thing about computers. I email a friend work that he can help on and then he emails it back. Nothing is lost in the translation. Todd also helped to keep me awake, by talking to me on SKYPE until around 2 or so in the morning. For the rest of the time I watched BURN NOTICE and LIFE episodes on Hulu.com. I love those shows. Hulu even has I SPY and HAWAII FIVE-O!!
The main thing is that Bennett was pleased with the outcome. It was a very, very tough spot conceptually. Not the usual simple selling of a product. It got a little dicey. But, that was merely temporary.
In about a week, I should be starting on another feature that I’ve signed on for. More about that next week.
Keep the faith.
Tags: Director, Oscars, Film Blog, Television, Movie
The Standby Painter - A Blind Date with Bruce Willis at the Center of the Earth
February 16, 2009
A Blind Date with Bruce Willis at the Center of the Earth
NOTE: My curious friend from last week has emailed me with some more questions about Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, and an obscure film version of Journey to the Center of the Earth (a strange, hybrid …
Tags: Film Blog, Movie Theatre, Oscars, Movie, Actor
The Hollywood Career Coach - I CHALLENGE YOU, HOLLYWOOD FILM-MAKERS!
February 16, 2009
To motivate and get you thinking and shifting your paradigms I have two challenges for you.
1) What creative project will you complete this year (as in, before Dec 31st, 2009) whether you get paid or not?
It might be shooting a short, finishing a script, editing something in progress. it’s got to be something fairly big and pretty important. ideally it will show you at your best and most creative and bring forth more of what your unique gift is to the world (you know you have one)
2) What shift in attitude will you take towards paid work this year, that you probably wouldn’t have considered last year at this time, but that might be essential right now?
Maybe it’s time to get a day job, maybe it’s shooting when you’d rather be directing. maybe it’s teaching when you’d rather be shooting. Maybe it’s working at Whole Foods when you’re rather be writing. (Or maybe working at Whole Foods will help you to write.)
If you’re willing, post your projects, ideas or inspirations in the comments section below. And if you need help or collaborators why not post it there too?
Stimulate yourself and our industry by doing some creative thinking, some networking, some collaborating and the sacred art of making a living by any means necessary.
But don’t let the fear win.
See you next week.
-db
Tags: Television, Movie Theatre, Film, Film Blog, Actor
The Reality TV Producer - Network with your Network
February 15, 2009
The most difficult thing to quantify is the time and money you’ll spend meeting and greeting the producers and executives you’re going to be working with.
My parterns in my company certainly don’t have the same appreciation for it that I do - but then again, I’m usually the one who …
Tags: Filmmaker, , Filmmaking, Television, Actor
The Independent Filmmaker - That’s a wrap!
February 15, 2009
Last night I had a nightmare. Here’s what it was…
I was sleeping and it was the day of the first night shoot of my film. I was awakened by what seemed like my entire crew wanting to have a production meeting in my living room. I got up and joined them. My team and I talked through the shoot during an endless stream of crew walking in and out bringing and taking who knows what.
A woman who morphed back and forth between crew positions expressed her concern that my lead’s performance might look too much like Joaquin Phoenix’s and that it needed urgently to be addressed. I listened to her and asked her what film I should watch to see his performance so I could compare it. She listed off five films, all of which I clearly could not see before the shoot that evening. I thought, “This is ridiculous. What does she want?” I told her I didn’t have time watch all those films but that I would certainly keep an eye out while we shot and at this point we just needed to buckle down and shoot. I told her not to worry, I’d take care of everything on set. But she wasn’t comfortable with this and insisted that the performance was doomed. There was nothing I could say to console her. She was bent on believing the film was ruined. Seeing this, I fired her.
At that point I woke up, annoyed that I had to spend my day finding a new crew member. Then I groggily realized I already shot the film this past weekend and a feeling of victory overcame me for not being foiled by that irritating woman in my dreams.
Here’s the thing. When you’re making a film all sorts of complications, problems, obstacles come up. Some of them are solvable, some are not and some have absolutely nothing to do with you or your film.
On this last film we had trouble locking down our location because of our small budget, our second lead dropped out at the last minute because she didn’t want to do a night shoot, and all the regular low-budget short film problems caused much of my energy to be spent goading and cheerleading rather than focusing one hundred percent on making my film. One thing no one tells you - in the beginning when you’re building your career you will be making films under the most challenging circumstances of it. But there’s nothing you can do about it so you’ve just got to man or woman up and get it done.
On the upside, the cast I ended up with was brilliant, we got the location we wanted and the crew I worked with was amazing. The film looks beautiful.
All those problems that came up early on don’t matter a single bit because they didn’t have an effect on the finished film. That is the only thing I care about when I’m trying to make my movie. And fortunately I work with a rock star team who all feel the same way so in the end we always make it happen.
Also in the end, when the film is good, all the lame stuff is quickly forgotten. Just like my bad dream.
Tags: Movie, Movie Blog, Film Blog, Movie Theatre, Movie Bloggers
The Casting Director - Practice makes perfect…
February 14, 2009
This week I have had to do some more auditions for one of the roles in “Polish Bar.” The film starts shooting in Chicago on the 2nd and I need back-up ideas for one of the roles, just in case I don’t find someone in Chicago for it. The role is very specific. Here is the breakdown:
[SLOBODANKI KOWALSKI] Male, a 40-60 year old Polish immigrant, Slobodanki is a gay man who is the emcee/comedian at the strip club; he wears a bad toupee and just enough eyeliner and rouge not to offend the blue-collar crowd at the Polish Bar. He also is a general employee, moving liquor and cleaning up — but when he gets flirty with Tommy, he’s asking for a beating, and he gets one…SUPPORTING
Ideally I am looking for a Polish actor (with working papers) for this part. He has to sing and speak in Polish, but more importantly he has to feel like he could inhabit the Polish immigrant world of Chicago. He has to be flamboyant, charming and tragic all at the same time. The one actor I like, Carlos Leal (www.carlosl.com) who is not Polish but speaks five languages, gave an outstanding audition, unfortunately for me he booked a television series in Spain, so he is no longer available in March. I held auditions on Friday and there were maybe two contenders but neither of them had the creativity that Carlos put into his audition.
Out of the 10 actors who were booked in for the audition (I called in 25 actors), all of them came in telling me how difficult the material is and that they didn’t have enough time with the material. I booked these actors in for the casting last week. They all had the script and sides, how much time do they need? I know the sides are hard, but I also know that I had an actor do an amazing audition, nail the character and he never complained that the material was difficult.
This illustrates something that I tell actors all of the time: PRACTICE! When you think you have practiced enough, DO IT AGAIN! Do not come into a casting office complaining that you did not have time or that you are not prepared. How do you think that makes me think of you? Do I want to recommend an actor who did not prepare or makes excuses? I want you to come in do the best you can, be polite, thank us for the audition and seem like you are enjoying the experience. If you put me at ease, I will feel more compelled to find out more about you, even if the audition is not that great, if I see potential, I can ask you to come back with the notes I give to you. However, if I see disinterest or sense that you are not capable of sustaining a performance then most likely you will not be getting the role.
Also, in general, actors whose second language is English, must practice 100 times more than an English speaking actor. I have to know that a foreign speaker of English understands the material or else emotionally they will not read on screen.
Tags: Director, Filmmaker, Movie, Film Industry, Movie Bloggers
The First Assistant Director - And The Oscar for Best Assistant Directing goes to…
February 14, 2009
I think there’s a better chance Octo-Mom wins “Parent Of The Year” or they create a “Bernie Madoff Day” Holiday in New York complete with ticker tape parade and key to the City before we hear about an Oscar for Assistant Directing - but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be …
Tags: , Movie Bloggers, Movie, Filmmaking, Director
