THE STORYBOARD GIG

Listen folks, there are no “small jobs”, just smaller amounts of money you can have in your bank account.

Last week, I explained how bad work was the last two months, but that I just got a little gig that was “small”.

Okay, when you get used to doing features, a commercial is “small”. Not in stature, as commercials pay better on a day by day basis, but I’m usually done on a commercial in a day or two, when a feature can last weeks or months.

When one has bills to pay, MONTHS sounds better.

The upshot on this job, was that I got to work with a very talented director whom I am honored to call a friend.

Bennett Miller, has done a number of commercials you may have seen, but he is known in the film world for deciding for his first film to do a story about Truman Capote.

For those of you lucky enough to have scene “CAPOTE”, it should have knocked your socks off. If you have not seen it, go to the video store now.

As I chide the choices for most film debuts of directors from other mediums (horror, “hood” films and comedies are a reliable choice), Bennett did a very studied film about one of the great writers of the 20^th Century. He also made it funny, even as it touched you.

Bennett and I have always gotten along well, as we share a sense of sarcasm and wit in our daily observations. Plus, we just respect what the other does.

The spot was for Nikon, featuring Ashton Kutcher, who has done a number of spots for this company.

This job could have been for can openers, as it always great to work with Bennett, where we can trade quips and stories. The job went longer than we thought, but it got done. The money I made will do well to pay for some bills, and I met some very nice people at the production company as well as hopefully making some connections.

Yes, enough “small” jobs can work out quite nicely. 

NEW STORYBOARD JOB…THOUGH, A SMALL ONE

Well, boys and girls, I have a gig, finally.  Not a feature, but it is a day of work at a new commercial production company that a known director friend recently signed with.I only work with one company on a halfway steady basis, so I need to expand my client list. So, I am doing this gig on Friday, and maybe Saturday, and that will be that. Hopefully, I will such a great job that all of the directors at the company will want to work with me.This week is the San Diego Comic Con, but I have to be responsible as work is still deathly slow and rent is coming up. One can’t be stupid. I still do have irons in the fire, but the irons need to be taken out and USED. Pending film projects, but nothing with a start date. That is what sucks as a freelancer. The waiting.The waiting for something that should happen to hurry up and happen. The waiting for the phone to ring it hasn’t rung in the last few days (weeks) so you know that are do for something.If I was boarding a show, I’d have a steady gig, but I will simply build from here and put it out that it is time to work. I’ve had enough down time.

THE ZOHAN:COMMERCIAL WITHIN THE FILM

 

 

 

Working on YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN enabled me to work on a number of scenes as well as subject matter.

As stated in the previous blog on making this movie, when I started it, I had dreams of making the great American martial arts film. But, as it turns out, the action would be non-specific to any genre. The note was to make the film “non Kung Fu”.

Comedy was the top priority, to say the least. One of the scenes that I drew was a commercial within the film itself. Zohan’s arch nemesis, the Phantom, has opened up a chain of fast food restaurants, which he even appears in as himself. Like the old McDonald’s commercials, The Phantom’s restaurant, “PHANTOM MUCHENTUCHEN” even has action figures of the Phantom defeating Zohan.

When Dennis Dugan asked me to do the boards for the scene to him plan things out, I was able to draw upon my experience of drawing well over a hundred commercials. After working out the basics with Dennis, I had to think as if this was a real product in a wacky world.

OUT OF WORK

Okay, I’ve had a pretty good run this passed year, as I was working on a feature film since last December.The problem is, as things go, NOTHING lasts forever.  The movie I was on has gone through certain “changes” and I have been without a gig for over a month.That, is why my young artists and film folks is why you save your money as you never can judge the future. Unless, your name is Kreskin, of course.In the meanwhile, I have been trying to link back up with the commercial world. When I am on a feature, I never have enough time in the week to also fit in a commercial storyboard gig. It would be crazy time-wise to try to add a storyboarding gig on top of a ten hour day.Plus, commercial companies generally want you in their offices as you work for them. “Double Dipping” works only on a weekend or if your film job does not take a Monday through Friday schedule. What is frustrating is when I have a gig, but I get calls for two more gigs. You know you can’t do all the jobs, but you still want them.So, in this current downtime, I am sending out the samples and looking for work I both features and commercials.I had a commercial gig set up for tomorrow, but it has gone away through a small budget.  Just got the call this morning.The director and producer have decided to use “photo-boards” to save money. Meaning, they go around the set, or a representation of such and take still pictures of the environment as they would for the commercial, using the same angles and using any crew members as stand-ins for the actors.Photo-boards work… FOR THE COMMERCIAL COMPANY… Nice and cheap.Me, I have to look for a job.

YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE DUGAN

  Last year I worked on a movie called YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN. It was my fourth collaboration with director, Dennis Dugan, and likewise my fourth film starring or produced by Adam Sandler. Dennis and I practically worked back to back as we finished I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY just six months earlier. In film time, that’s a quick turn around when working with the same people, let alone the same director.

I worked on Zohan between April and very early October of last year, taking off time when the show shot in New York for a month.  It’s always ironic for me to be a native New Yorker, who lives in LA, and then I can’t be in New York when they film there. I could have seen a Mets game!! What was cool though was that my niece, Malaika Johnson was a location scout on the New York turn. Someday, we hope to work on the same film on the same coast.

It was a very fun gig as Dennis keeps things loose, giving digs as well as he takes them. I still joke with him about his acting days as my being a film geek, I remembered his recurring character on THE ROCKFORD FILES or that he mercy killed DEE WALLACE STONE in THE HOWLING.

Anyway, the basic feel for the movie was shaped after the hilarious and glorious film KUNG FU HUSTLE, which was directed by and starred Stephen Chow, a filmmaker/martial artist who is as big of a fan of Bruce Lee as myself. Lots of Bruce in-jokes in that movie as well as his previous SHAOLIN SOCCER. Dennis wanted to keep the zaniness of Chow’s film as well as have some nice action.

I was able to lend Dennis some of my Hong Kong films as well as even getting my friend and “Sifu” (Kung Fu instructor) Linton Alfred to lend Dennis some DVD’s once the show filmed in New York. The difference is that in Hong Kong and the Far East, directors get weeks or months to shoot action sequences while Dennis got two days at a clip. More on the process, later.