THE LAST STORYBOARD POST OF THE YEAR

This year is over. Get use to it.  Actually, don’t. As you read this, there will be one more day to kick 2008 around, and then that will be that. As it stands right now, you have one more day to whine about this year or scream about how great it was.

To me, it ended well because my wife, son and family are well. Most of my friends are alright, too.

I did a lot of feature work in the first half of the year and then virtually none in the second half. That’s how the industry went. It blew.

I got a lot of writing done. One script is going “out” do to a manager digging it. I am up for some features as a storyboard artist and I will have to compete with my equally out of work friends and colleagues.

Hopefully, January will be huge, there will be no SAG strike, and most of us (it’s never ALL of us) will be working.

I would like to give a special shout out to my friend Lili Bernard. She does not to boards. She is a wife, mother of six and a fantastic painter.  Artists MAKE time to do art, you see…  I think you should all check out her site http://www.lilibernard.com and see something removed from the film world that will just make you think and go …”wow”.

 Check out her site. As I say “Happy New Year” feel free to look at my own site (under the picture, y’all).

 I’ll really be able to brag about my wife, Betty in 2009!  Things are cookin’.

Until we weep again… Smile, will you?!!

YULETIDE STORYBOARD THOUGHTS

Here we are at perhaps my last blog of the year. Not with a bang or with a whimper.  To some it up, the year was financially disappointing as the feature market dropped out, but it was still personally fulfilling I got a number of screenplays written or improved upon, and one of them is being sent out next month by a literary manager.

In the feature world of storyboards, there was very little work to be found by the summer. The A TEAM film I was working on with John Singleton went the way of the dinosaur (scientists have proven the T-Rex and the like were killed in “Development Hell”) and I really had to scramble.

I was shown that unlike politicians and characters on Melrose Place, storyboard artists look out for each other. Dave Lowery, Darrin Denlinger, Darryl Henley, Josh Sheppard and Jim Magdaleno all gave me leads for work. Some panned out, some didn’t and some will be revealed once the Holidays are over, but at least these people tried to help.  Union 790(Illustrators) “merged” into the Union 800 (Art Directors) and we’ll see how that goes.  Was not a “easy” transition to be sure.

Commercials ended up saving me. Old friends/ director clients like Maurice Marable, Malcolm Lee, Bennett Miller,  John Singleton, Erik White and Hank Perlman, all gave me multiple gigs which really came in handy.

I started learning the STORYBOARD PRO software and it is quite good, it’s just taken me a while to learn and to have time to practice, as I write so often in my “spare time”.  I did not want to “learn” while doing a gotta-have-it-now job.

I got into the connection sites LINKEDIN (great for business contacts) through my pal Lawrence “The Dark Knight” Christmas, and FACE BOOK….well because I kept getting invited to Facebook.  I have been able to connect with old friends I haven’t seen for years like Mark A. Davis, whom I worked with at Bloomingdales 15 years ago, and who was a talented young artist. I’ll find out how his art is going soon. I also hooked back up with my old pal Darryl Barnes (Hip Hop’s “Smooth B” of the duo “Nice & Smooth”) who is just as cool and down to earth as he was when we last saw each other in NYC in the late 90’s.

My wife Betty K. Bynum’s singing, acting and writing talent stretched into designing handbags, and she made her first sale TODAY!!

Our son Joshua turned 13, and is my pride and joy. Good kid, good looking like his mother, and he’s getting better at studying his schoolwork.

Mom turned 85 and what can I say after that?

My wife and I will both sell screenplays next year, God willing, and then we will start taking names.

Bless you all for now.

A few STORYBOARD GIGS before Christmas

I’m going to try to actually get a blog in on time this week. Last week was quite congested and full, as I’ve been working on two gigs at once.

One spot is a promo for the Academy Awards. The other is a Walmart commercial. Both spots are being directed by friends of mine (or are also mutual friends), which usually works out fine as you know what the other needs ad thinks.

The Academy job has lots of filters to go through, with the Oscar folk, ABC and the production team. I get told what to draw and I do it. No creativity on my part, and it’s not needed as they have a clear vision of what they want.

The Walmart job will probably come out during Black History Month (February, people) as it shows a traveling exhibition of African American history (it’s in an 18 wheeler) and it will also show (without hitting you over the head) a few every day inventions by African Americans.

Otherwise, I’ve squeezed out a little writing time while also preparing for the Holidays. I managed to wear myself a little thin and my body paid the price. Headaches and much needed naps.

I still await news on a couple of features that I am in the running for. Tense times, as we all need a job. Even trough all this, I have good friends and colleagues like Jim Magdaleno and Darryl Henly who will put the word out for me if they can’t do a job. They are both quality artists and better friends.

Oh, really liked the X MEN ORIGINS:WOLVERINE trailer. I sooooooo hope this flick is good.  Yea, it’s yet another super-hero film. I’m not bored with them yet. I used to know someone named Tiger Ouderkirk and I said “wow, that’s a unique nick-name to go by”.  Ten years later, a kid named Eldrick “Tiger” Woods pops up and sets the world on fire.

Same nick-name, a million times the impact.  It’s all how you do it.  Let’s hope WOLVERINE is better than ELECTRA… 

THE STORYBOARD ARTIST STRIKES BACK

I’m doing three commercials this week! A Mcdonald’s job, a promo for The Academy Awards, and a Panasonic gig. It’s been a good week. I missed getting a dance movie at SONY. I sent some killer samples, too. Their loss. I am still up for a couple of features. Totally, unrelated, my son Joshua got an excellent character report from one of his teachers, who feels Josh is very smart and well behaved. Always good for a parent to hear.  Running to an Visual FX meeting after today’s gig.  Trying to get phone time with a manager who actually liked one of my scripts and wants to discuss it. We will see. It’s been a busy week.

THE STORYBOARD ARTIST STRIKES BACK

I’m doing three commercials this week! A Mcdonald’s job, a promo for The Academy Awards, and a Panasonic gig. It’s been a good week. I missed getting a dance movie at SONY. I sent some killer samples, too. Their loss. I am still up for a couple of features. Totally, unrelated, my son Joshua got an excellent character report from one of his teachers, who feels Josh is very smart and well behaved. Always good for a parent to hear.  Running to an Visual FX meeting after today’s gig.  Trying to get phone time with a manager who actually liked one of my scripts and wants to discuss it. We will see. It’s been a busy week.