Hiatus ends

I was on hiatus from the Fox movie for three weeks. During that time, the money got real dry, and a bunch of athletes started getting murdered. Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died the day before the lay-off. It’s been weird.

During my time I looked for work. Came up snake eyes, went camping with my son in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains (fun) and finished working on a script, which I hurriedly sent off for a friend to read.

My first week back on the movie was brief, as I started on a Tuesday, and took off the Friday to go to the San Diego Comic Con.

Per usual, we went to Carlsbad as well.

The Con was fun. I don’t pay, thankfully as I get the “professional” pass. If you have never been to the Con, it is a sight to behold. Simply thousands of people walking around and so many dealers of art, comics and sci-fi paraphernalia. Yes, this includes grown people in stormtrooper costumes, but God bless them. If you feel free enough to dress up and you are in no way harmful to others, go for it!!

I got to meet LOST IN SPACE’s Billy Mumy and ENTER THE DRAGON’s Jim Kelly.

As for boards, my job is a fun grind. The director, David Dobkin is a fun guy and smart. He really lets me come up with shots and I’ve done pretty well with him so far.

I used STORYBOARD PRO’s slideshow/Quicktime feature early on, but I’m sticking with just storyboards for now until I need otherwise. It’s enough time to arrange JPEGS in Photoshop, make a contact sheet and then make a pdf from that, then print everything for David.

That’s the hidden time killer with boards.  The presentation!!!

GOODBYE, MJ

I was in a meeting with a director when my phone went off. It was on silent, and I let it go. The director was in the bathroom. When he came back, I “wowed” him in the meeting with some animatic I made from the STORYBOARD PRO program. He was able to feel actual emotions from the characters as I can push in, tilt and pan with the program. The meeting was perfect until I saw the text on my phone as I left. It said “Michael Jackson is dead”

All of the good feelings from the meeting were gone, and I was left with a huge, “WTF???” Once confirmed and with the added news that I was being put on “hiatus” really put a damper on things.

I had just gotten two Michael Jackson CD’s for FATHER’S DAY as well.  Major bummer. Really bad timing, eh? 

 

NEW STORYBOARD JOB…THOUGH, A BIG ONE

Let me see now.

In the last week and a half, I have been hired on to do some pre-pre-production work on a film called NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH.

The director is a very cool guy named David Dobkin who did THE WEDDING CRASHERS. Everything has gone fine so far.

Once again, I can’t discuss the film as I WILL GET FIRED, but it looks to be fun.

David likes to start with thumbnails and work from there. He has a good sense of story and character arcs and is quite open to contributions. David made me feel relaxed as soon as we met, as did his assistant, Seth.

I had to go home to NYC, as my Uncle, a great man named Rueben Holder passed away. I really loved him. He married my mother’s first cousin, and we all just called him “Uncle”. The exact relation never mattered, which is just as I believe.

Family is who loves you and whom you love.

After coming back from the funeral, I am grinding away on the boards. I am very happy not to be using paper as when you work digitally, you can reuse shots and make some wider or tighter.

After approval, I can either draw on another layer or just add detail to the sketches. Tomorrow, I hope to get in a quick workout, take my son to school and start drawing. I have three scenes to do by this coming Monday.

Yes, I am having a lot of fun, I might add.

 

SPARE TIME

I just went through the always-fun interview process as I look for a new gig.  The interviewer was a very nice producer named David Crockett.

If I get the gig, I’ll give a little more detail.

Meanwhile, as work is extremely slow, I did a few “freebee” frames for a director friend and did a LOT of writing whenever I could to finish a script.

I’ve also been doing a little animation design work to flesh out a concept I might try to sell.

When work is slow, you really have to put your time to creative use, especially if you are married with a kid and you don’t know when you might have this kind of time.

Not that I love a lot of time off, as I don’t. As a freelancer, I am always in fear of not working for too long. As I am not single, I can’t piss away time. There is always something to do around the house. I actually try to straighten my home office a little. Dust is ALWAYS a problem. Always.

Many of my illustrator colleagues are looking for work. A chosen few have moved on to new features. They deserve it. I do as well, but until I land one, I must move in a forward direction.

Through Facebook, I have re-connected with a number of my HIGH SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN classmates. Some of them (yo, Terri Bracchi, Vilma Alvarez, Steve Carr etc) are still in the arts and even have there own businesses.

I’ve been working out a lot as well. I’ve always sucked at pull-ups, as I never had a chin up bar.  I bought one this spring.  Now that I have been on the PX 90 (one month in and counting) workout program, I’ve pushed myself to ten pull/chin ups. The Kempo karate dvd workout that stopped half way when I started, I can now finish.

Thankfully, I always took care of my body with weights, so my climb isn’t as massive as it could be.

If only there was a PX GET A JOB workout, too.

HUSTLE TIME

The last few weeks have been spent finishing boards on the Adam Sandler film “GROWN UPS” (the 2nd A.D. Mark just called me as I was writing this blog) as well as trying to get some writing done. The original plan for me was to do maybe 2 weeks on the show, but my friend and the movie’s director, Dennis Dugan got me a lot more work than than.”DD” or “Doogie” as he is known by many, likes to have me to bounce his visual ideas off him, and he knows I can pull some good gags and concepts out. This film has not been as stunt heavy as “YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN”, but I’ve had CGI moths, prat-falls and a  comedic impaling to illustrate. Good stuff.I have one more scene to do, but we don’t know when it has to be done, so now is the time I look for more work, as the bills never stop coming. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my dream jobs on the “GREEN HORNET” or “GREEN LANTERN” films to follow this gig up, so I better start hustling now.In the mean time, I am doing some pro bono boards for another director friend, which is not something  I usually do at all, but he isn’t rich at all, and the project isn’t back yet financially. Plus, this director was great to work with on a low budget horror film a few years ago.Again, I WILL take money if you have it. I’d love a job, so I can by more Alan Hughes sketchbooks. If only, 

Chris Rock, Dennis Dugan, Adam Sandler and My Wife, Betty K. Bynum!!!

Helloooooo….

Well, I am wrapping up work on my current Adam Sandler project (“Untitled” so far) and will be hitting the streets looking for some gigs.

The money must keep flowing.

The director, a very cool gentleman named Dennis Dugan has given me additional scenes to do than the original plan.  Thank God, as another film I had going fell apart (for the time being) and I need the income.

Dennis often has to “sell” his vision and ideas on scenes to Adam, who is a smart businessman and knows what he wants. Dennis knows how many frames he needs to sell his point.  Some people want to see a lot. Adam and his crew have so much going on that little is good and filling.

I’ve been working on boards for mostly gags.  Certain scenes in this movie have mild to mid stunts attached in addition to C.G.I. or “practical” or on the set special effects.

Just last Friday, Dennis let me sit on a meeting with he, his first A.D. and a C.G.I. company vying for a job on the show. Very informative.  The company was previously sent a copy of my boards for the scene that needs C.G.I.

From there, they can plan their bid and figure out how long the shots would take to produce.

I am still storyboarding on the STORYBOARD PRO program and then turning the frames into JPG’S.  From there, I can set the frames up as I wish, add type or any use of PHOTOSHOP or PAINTER.

If I get some more down time, I will get back to my passion, screenwriting. BIG IF. I want time, but not TOO much time.

I visited my wife, BETTY K. BYNUM on the set of my previous film, DEATH AT A FUNERAL. It stars Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracey Morgan, James Marsden, Luke Wilson and others. The director, another friend of a few years, Neil LaBute gave Betty a few lines in the film and her one day of filming turned into three.

Betty got to know Chris Rock a little and from what I have seen and heard from many, Chris is one of the NICEST and down to earth people in the business. Eats with the crew, DOESN’T cut the line, and never plays the “star” role. He, Will Smith and George Clooney probably have the best reputations in the business.

So, I must now get back to cracking.

 

Severe Storyboard Grind

Currently, I am working on a new project during the day and another during the nights and weekends. The night/weekend gig is something that doesn’t need super tight drawings, and so I can let the storytelling carry the load.

Storytelling is something that has to stay strong or else one gets fired.

When I find myself overloaded and I can’t do all the work, I do what many artists in the comic book field do .  In other words, I have to sub-contract to a trusted artist who can add some shading to my work or add a little line work.

I still have to take all meetings, do all the layouts, and make any corrects the director needs.

If you can avoid it, do DO NOT double dip, unless you are young, don’t have a wife and kid, and know just how to work it. This has only happened as one gig was looking for financing and had an approximate date. The other came into being just as I had free time before the upcoming job.

I couldn’t pass up a job, and I also didn’t know if the second gig would come through or not. Plus, both jobs had people I really wanted to work with.

It’s either feast or famine and I am very tired. But, it beats being broke.

THE AMAZING DRAWING MACHINE…

Well,I missed the last few weeks with you my friends, do to an onrush of work.

Ihad been working on the remake of DEATH AT A FUNERAL (because two years betweenversions is not too soon) for the better part of a month. It was a lot of funto work with Neil Labute, whom I’ve known about five years and the D.P. RogierStoffers, who was a joy.

Neilwas busy re-working the script and so I worked directly with Rogier (pronounced“Ro-hair”).  He likes to shot listbut he certainly gave me some creative room. Rogier very smart  and generous, and knew what shots hecould not do because of time and logistics.

Andexample would be a shot I had where a character (played by Luke Wilson) gettingout of a car. I had designed a camera pulling out of the car window. 

Well,as Rogier told me, the car would be on a rig (where the actors only pretend todrive as the car is pulled on a platform. I then redrew the frame with astationary camera and the character would move out of the camera frame, butstay on the platform.

I wrappedthat film last week, and started my fifth Adam Sandler (known for now as “THELAKEHOUSE PROJECT”) the next day! Director Dennis Dugan and I have workedtogether ever since my two day stint on “BIG DADDY”. We have developed a great shorthand in between our “playing the dozens” and generally goofing around.

Dennisalso has a baseball prodigy son named Kelly, who will be tearing up collegebaseball very, very soon.  Kelly isa nice of a young man as he is a baller.

“Doogie”doesn’t really shot list with me. We’ll discuss a scene thoroughly, and thenDennis will let me go off and do sketches. Then, a day or two later I getnotes. Then I do changes as I do finishes.

Nextweek, I’m starting yet another film. More on that…

Back for a second….

Kind readers and friends, I have been AWOL the last few weeks do to work.

I’ve been on the Chris Rock film, a remake of “DEATH AT A FUNERAL” and I’ve also been sneaking in whatever extra work I can during weekends.

I’m responsible for my wife and kid, so I have to have a steady flow of income as one never knows when things may stop.

As you all know, 2008 finished very badly for me, but 2009 is starting great. I am just extremely busy, so the blog has had to take a back seat.

But, just as my friends were there for me in getting me some work and looking out for me, I am trying to do the same for others as this country as many people out of work, including a number of colleagues.

Anyway, I have to get cracking. Thanks for your patience!!

CAPTAIN FREELANCE

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.

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