Another week has gone by and it appears that my email to the television series production office passed from my friend’s hands straight into the art department Maelstrom of the Lost.  Things will get crazy over there and everyone will need help and they’ll all have to work overtime, and …

Tags: Hollywood, Filmmaking, , Film Industry, Movie

Times are tough for background actors right now. Production is down all around. More regular shows than usual have shut down production early and pilots didn’t kick in the last week of February as we’d hoped. But nearly into what looks to be the first real pilot season in three …

Tags: Movie Bloggers, Actor, Movie Theatre, Film Blog, Filmmaker

Tags: Hollywood, Filmmaker, Television, Film Industry, Movie Bloggers

Very few directors have final cut. It’s great that Kathryn Bigelow protected her vision by demanding and receiving the coverted I Did It My Way.

THE HURT LOCKER tensely depicts the heroism of a bomb squad and through it reveals our adrenaline fueled addiction to war. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s film must surely joins the ranks of Best Modern Combat Movies of all time. The first to set a standard was ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was a  ground-breaking addition, which should have won Best Picture. And contending at this year’s Oscars is INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino’s extraordinary alternative universe homage to World War Two movies. (See…Cinema can end wars.)

However for each of the iconic titles there would be a dozen others that never got the attention they deserved. Feisty B movies that were taut, hard hitting, with a big look despite slender resources. Like THE SECRET INVASION, Roger Corman’s low budget GUNS OF NAVARONE/DIRTY DOZEN precursor shot in Yugoslavia. Or George Montgomery’s WARKILL shot in the Philippines, directed by Ferde Grofe Jr. No poster is available which makes me worry that the film may be lost. George Montgomery made several WW2 movies in the PI during the sixties. A lesser one was THE STEEL CLAW. We all have our lists of neglected gems. Of the 5 war themed movies I have made, my personal favorite is  THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA. Doesn’t hold a candle to HURT LOCKER, but I’m fond of it for the adventure of its shoot, the scale of it for $1.6M, and the things it has to say.

Namely: wars are fought by brave, well intentioned people on both sides. Politicians always betray soldiers. But the principle theme of the picture - war and reconciliation - was subjected to marketing department censorship. My director’s cut - in the version currently available - was in fact a flashback between two bookends - set 15 years later. We see desperate boat people sighting land at last, one older man in particular. We hear R. Lee Ermey commence the story’s narration: “They won the war, but they sure as hell lost the peace…” We discover Lee, the now retired Sgt. Major Haffner, working at the UN Refugee Processing Centre at the Manila docks. We learn from his voice over as he surveys the latest group to arrive, that he could not handle life back in the US as a civilian. Asia was the only place he felt real. Haffner spots a face in the crowd that he dimly recognizes. His expression clouds as memories flood back. The movie you see carries on from there. Where the film currently ends, I cut back to the Refugee Processing Centre. Haffner walks through the crowd towards the man we now know led the Viet Cong forces against his firebase during the 1968 Tet Offensive, a battle in which Haffner lost his closest friend.

We also know that the two men recognize each other. Will Haffner give in to anger? No, he says “welcome” in Vietnamese, and extends his hand. The final image was of the handshake, one forearm bronzed, the other displaying a marine tattoo. OK. Subtlety is not my strong point. But somehow, in context, the moment worked emotionally. It was cathartic for the audience after the relentless slaughter to feel a glimmer of hope. But the marketing department decided that there was too much emphasis on ” the gooks”, reconciliation and forgiveness were not patriotic, the American audience just wanted to see the heroism and sacrifice of the Americans. They were very happy with the rest of the film but they demanded the bookends be cut. This was a blow. But, as I was in LA doing the extensive looping when the axe fell, I was able to expand Lee Ermey’s voice over with additional material like “I guess we’d do the same if Charlie invaded South Carolina.”

These additions to the soundtrack, after the picture was locked, went some way towards supporting the concept of reconciliation. My changes were discovered too late to be removed. Ha! Nice to get the last word. FIREBASE has amassed some fans, particularly among veterans, since its original token 1989 theatrical release - in LA, as the bottom half of a drive in double with RED SCORPION. LA Times critic Michael Wilmington said it should have been the top of the bill. It has never been released on DVD, except as grainy bootlegs from the VHS, without subtitles for the Vietnamese dialogue. Horrible. Perhaps the eventual inheritors of the MGM library will see the profit potential of releasing a DVD with cast interviews and commentary from Lee Ermey and myself. Every marine would buy a copy.

However, in the interim for fans in the US, a beautifully remastered SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA is available streaming from NETFLIX. FIREBASE is not perfect - HURT LOCKER is perfect - but remains 22 years later an interesting genre cocktail. My inspirations were BEACH BED, THE ALAMO, and ZULU. There’s an earlier blog of reminiscences in the archives.

The stills for this blog were all taken by Mark Neely, who played Murphy. Still an excellent actor, Mark remains my friend despite my having him bayoneted to death in FIREBASE, and having his severed head grouch at Christine Taylor from a toilet bowl in NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2. The things we do for art…How many Oscars THE HURT LOCKER will receive remains to be seen. But would a marketing department-controlled film have been so insightfull and garnered so many nominations and awards?

 Vietcong on a lunch break

Tags: Movie, Film Industry, Filmmaking, Oscars, Movie

Tags: Film, , Filmmaker, Director, Television

Time’s running out!  Don’t delay another second.

RSVP NOW: http://ah-feb10.eventbee.com

“Makin’ It!” - A Special Awards Season Panel
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Maggiano’s Little Italy
3rd & Fairfax (189 The Grove Drive)
Hollywood, CA 90036

RSVP NOW: http://ah-feb10.eventbee.com

Join us in welcoming:

Romell Foster-Owens, Award winning Producer-Director (Moderator)
Millicent Shelton, Award winning Director
Forrest Murray, Award winning Producer
Richard Kiratsoulis, Film Finance Consultant

A Networking Reception will immediately follow panel presentation

RSVP NOW: http://ah-feb10.eventbee.com

**Use Discount Code “Affiliate” to receive a $5 discount off your pre-confirmed ticket.

Tags: Filmmaking, Filmmaker, Movie, Movie Theatre, Oscars

Tags: , Movie, Movie Bloggers, Director, Film Blog

Maybe… but I guess it is good to know exactly what it is before you agree to give away a percentage of your funds raised to do it.

One company that offers this program explains it this way…

Fiscal Sponsorship is a financial and legal system by which a legally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity (such as Fractured Atlas) provides limited financial and legal oversight for a project initiated independently by an artist. Once sponsored in this way, the project is eligible to solicit and receive grants and tax-deductible contributions that are normally available only to 501(c)(3) organizations.

Great, just what you needed to jump start your film into fundraising mode. It is a nightmare for an individual company or film to get their 501(c)(3) status which is why companies such as Fractured Atlas, or the company I have the privilege of working for, the IDA, offer this to “artists”.

So here is how it works. You find an organization that matches your needs and fill out an application. Most will have an application fee that goes with that.  Then, once you are in start raising funds. Now know that these companies are not out there doing this for free. They will take between 5% and 9% of the money you raise to do this.

Then, if you are collecting money through paypal or facebook causes you must know that there is an additional fee that will come off of that - somewhere between 3% and 4%. So right off the bat, you can write off about 9% of your raised money.

Don’t let these fees discourage you. If you are with the right fiscal sponsorship program, you will have many other benefits that go with that.Your money will be collected by the sponsor and redistributed to you once the fees have been withdrawn. You, the filmmaker, cannot collect the monies yourself or you are putting yourself in high IRS risk. These programs are carefully monitored, therefore, you must be very accurate in your books. You are still wholly responsible for your film.

Grandmom can’t write you a check for $10,000 for your “film” so she may receive the tax breaks and then no film be done, if you know what I mean.

So do your research and know what non profit you are getting involved with.  And start raising the funds. Know the money is out there and many films are benefiting from this kind of relationship.

Now… BE WARNED… you cannot be a fiscally sponsored film that is collecting other monies for profit.

Stay tuned.

Tags: Filmmaking, Television, Hollywood, Oscars,

Tags: Filmmaking, Movie, Film Industry, Film Blog, Movie Bloggers

When you freelance as a storyboard artist your client will frequently ask you, “how fast are you?”

This goes into how many frames can you do in “X” amount of time. You’ll only really find this answer after actually being in the field and doing different types of jobs.

Storyboards that are mostly “talking heads” or dialogue are a lot easier to do than an assignment consisting of camera moves, lots of characters and action.

Feature boards are something that you can work yourself into a rhythm. Commercial and music video boards are always on a strict deadline. They usually shoot within days of the completion of your work.

Feature films can have their own restrictions. A scene may have extreme pressure on getting done do to filming schedule or that the director just wants to keep a brisk pace of getting scenes done so they are prepared as possible upon filming.

While being honest with yourself, how fast are you? I say, when pressed on to can you get the job done, say “yes”, unless you are sure you can’t do it. If you are a little bit behind, the director will usually be all right with knowing the boards are on the way to being done. Note, I say this for a long term job. Commercial people will cut your throat if you make them miss the next days’ pre-pro meeting.

I am saying, if you think you can push yourself, and you need that gig, take the job and get it done!!!

I just did a week long job and busted my ^%$ dong detailed drawings and working ten to twelve hour days. The last day was about sixteen hours or so, but I got it done and made people smile.

Often, an intense gig will make you work more quickly and economically than you ever thought you could. I had to do a “steam punk” work and distinct body armor and clothes. I was tired, but my mind was racing in ways of getting the work to look nice and clear.

I made sure to spot blacks to add weight to the art and to add a healthy dose of direction arrows for screen direction. I “dutched” angles and added mang style speed lines to increase the arts’ energy. I guess it worked. My client was very happy with my storyboards.

Tags: Film Industry, Oscars, Movie Bloggers, Hollywood, Film Blog