The Standby Painter - A Wing and a Prayer While Waiting to Start
October 13, 2009
Still waiting to start on the Gus Van Sant film, which should happen in the next day or three, and from then on it will be Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride until the day we wrap. But I live for this kind of high riding excitement and thrill-a-minute work under the …
Tags: , Television, Actor, Hollywood, Film
The Manager - The Do-It-Yourself Ethos of Hollywood
October 9, 2009
It’s a crazy time in Hollywood: You could be the head of a studio one day and out of a job the next. In fact, a lot of my friends are scared about their jobs (because if your boss gets canned, most likely you are soon to follow).
And on top of this, studios are making less and less movies, and if they do make movies it is usually a sequel, prequel, or some sort of re-do.
So how do you break in?
Now is a great time to embrace the DIY model. In fact, right now there is a great success story in theaters of filmmakers who did not wait for a studio to greenlight their movie but went out and did it themselves — and it resulted in a huge success for them!
The film PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was made for $11,000, and it was picked up by Paramount for a very limited release. However, the film generated such great response and word of mouth that it quickly expanded to a wide release and is doing incredibly well.
Another example can be found in the two webisodes that David and Ian Purchase made for a total of $500. (See the link http://tinyurl.com/ykfpfbp)
These webisodes were filmed guerrilla style with no crew; they were made as a spec “advertainment” for the filmmakers’ demo reel. The webisodes garnered 1.5 million hits in three days and launched the brothers’ careers. Now they are working on a feature film with a major producer.
This is clear proof that you don’t need a lot of money to go out and make something. You can do it yourself.
That being said, make sure that you can make the movie you want to make for the budget that you have. In other words, know your limitations, know what works on a low budget and what doesn’t.
There is nothing worse than watching a a bad movie that just looks cheap and is done poorly. And there is nothing better than watching a great movie and then going back and realizing how little it was actually made for.
Take destiny into your own hands and follow the DIY ethos of Hollywood!
Tags: Television, Filmmaking, Actor, Hollywood, Movie
The Production Manager - Something to believe it
October 6, 2009
I’m going to write this quickly before I go to bed. I know you guys deserve better but this is an oddly busy week!
I’ve just come from a super shmoozy event – the PGA (producers Guild of America) East in conjunction with the Mayor’s office held an event sponsored by HSBC in midtown and all the hoi polloi were there. From models turned producer to… actors turned producer, sorry I jest (but I did meet both these people tonight).
I also met a lot of other people in the industry including publicists, other line producers, financiers, exec producers who I worked with in the past and everyone in between.
To be honest, it was a fairly nice event with people I knew and people I didn’t know and I think I’ve finally found a way to come to terms with my lack of work status. It probably helped that I met a lot of other people who had up until recently had thriving careers.
I chose to take a friend to this event because I always like to share the free cocktail and canapés with the people who are the most fun, not to mention people who can benefit from meeting fellow production folk. In this instance I took a senior producer from a facilities company I know and not only did she make great contacts, she also won an iPod touch in a raffle. Technically I own ten percent of that device so I got a couple of pictures taken with it by the Chrysler building and we’re quits J
What made today a really enjoyable day is I taught a class at the Mayor’s Office Made in New York PA Program. The class was on the production office and I’m hoping I was able to impart valuable and useful information. But more than that it reminded me what I love about working production, before the cynicism and the blame gaming and scapegoating – the enthusiasm is what drove us all to get into TV, to stay in TV when the chips are down and ultimately what I believe will bring me back to TV.
Having time off from the grind has given me a chance to give something back to the production community and giving something to the production community has in turn given something back to me…hope for the future.
I hope I can inspire you out there to think about what you can give back because I’ll bet you have a lot more to offer than you can begin to imagine.
Tags: Filmmaking, Television, Oscars, , Film Blog
The Standby Painter - Mission Accomplished—Or at Least Begun
October 5, 2009
Here’s how it all went down, Dear Readers. I am now going to work on the latest Gus Van Sant show as their standby painter, because they did have a budget for me, after all. I am also assisting the lead scenic, who is away on vacation right now until …
Tags: Movie Blog, Film Blog, Director, Movie, Movie Theatre
The Casting Director - A RECENT FACEBOOK CONVERSATION
October 2, 2009
Matthew Lessall okay, I may have to rethink my life…
James Franco joining ‘General Hospital’
Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com
NEW YORK — James Franco will guest star on ABC’s “General Hospital” for a lengthy story arc in the fall.The “Pineapple Express” and “Spider-Man” actor will play a mystery person who comes to the soap opera’s town of Port Charles. …
9 hours ago · Comment · Like / Unlike · View Feedback (11)Hide Feedback (11) · Share
NiNo Alicea (Actor)
damn, too bad “passions” is canceled…
8 hours ago · Delete
Jillian Neal (Manager)
got an email in to Teschner - Can it be TRUE!?!?!
“The first thing I’ll do when I get super good job offers is go back to college, than after being in an Oscar nominated film and some blockbusters, I know, I’ll join GENERAL HOSPITAL?????????”
8 hours ago · Delete
Matthew Lessall
Bring back Sunset Beach!!
8 hours ago · Delete
Melissa Hirschenson (Agent)
Well Teschner is pretty amazing ..i think anyone would want to do it for Mark alone.
8 hours ago · Delete
Jillian Neal
Agreed - he is a class act and the best of the best! Plus, I have been watching the show for um, 30 years - yes, I was a newborn then.
8 hours ago · Delete
Taylor Loeb (Speedreels/Actor/Casting)
I have a feeling Mark will be getting QUITE a few emails today. Fuck Sunset Beach, I want Santa Barbara back.
5 hours ago · Delete
Jillian Neal
It is confirmed by Mark! WOW - and btw I vote Sunset Beach as my client “Ricardo” would be happy to do a cameo!
5 hours ago · Delete
Roz Weisberg (Producer)
don’t we all…..
4 hours ago · Delete
Amy Berman (Casting Director)
I know. I almost fell over when I read that. Huh?
3 hours ago · Delete
Jamie Sparer Roberts (Casting Director)
THE SCOOP: He is a METHOD ACTOR and is researching for a role in an upcoming feature where he plays a soap star. THAT IS THE TRUTH.
about an hour ago · Delete
Matthew Lessall
Oh thank God…I was thinking that this could be one of the signs of the Apocalypse…
5 minutes ago · Delete
Tags: Film, Film Industry, Oscars, Movie Bloggers, Filmmaking
The Production Manager - Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 3*
October 1, 2009
Hot on the heels of last week’s news of Leno stealing our jobs and the general gloomy outlook for production jobs, comes a ray of sunshine on the horizon in the form of the fall schedule.
Packed full of entertaining, well made shows the networks have stepped back from the brink to deliver shows that are not only smart but also really, really good. This pleases me not only as a TV watching shlub but also as someone who works in TV production, or did until the jobs ran out.
Now sure, the economy blows right now and it’s finally hit me that we are in a bit of a disaster zone when it comes to making ends meet on a network, production company and freelancer level. But seeing a bunch of excellent new shows grace our screen gives me a bit of optimism that maybe something good will come out of all of this. If this is the quality of programming that comes post writers strike, I have very high hopes for fall season 2010.
What also gives me reason to be cheerful is that of these shows that are new to air, there isn’t a single inane reality show among them. Hurrah! Sure that may mean less work for the likes of me, but it’s a small price to pay to be able to work in an industry you’re actually proud of.
As for me, I’m sitting out the recession doing a little of this and a little of that. Since I’m a PM extraordinaire specializing in factual programming I was born learning how to stretch a dollar to its farthest reach. After years of putting off my own interests and career development to coordinate or manage production after production with often only a weekend between projects (and sometime not even that!), I finally get a little me time. I’m trying to use the time wisely, but getting round to learn all these new fangled technologies that are not only here to stay but are likely to shape TV in the future now that everyone and their uncle can shoot cut and upload their own footage.
In exchange for helping out on some underfunded but incredibly worthy documentaries, I’m getting some serious training and access to digital resources. I start my Final Cut pro course this weekend and I am super psyched about it. Considering the last time I hands on edited was on a tape to tape linear editing machine from SVHS footage, this should be interesting to say the least. I used to love editing and hope that I enjoy it as much now as I did at college.
It feels good to be getting a new set of skills under my belt, particularly with the future so uncertain. You really never can know too much nor have too many skills to offer, although I was pretty gobsmacked to read a posting on craigslist from a ‘highly successful executive producer’ who was freelancing on the side offering networking tips to people looking for work into TV.
If you’re looking to break into TV I’ve got a little advice for you and it’s free: COME BACK NEXT YEAR!
*Please don’t ask me where Parts 1 and 2 are (google it)
Tags: , Hollywood, Movie, Film, Film Industry
