I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

And I'll breathe in mid-July. Maybe.

Got home about 8:30pm Tuesday night. Took my neighbors who dog-sat for me out to dinner an hour later. Worked all day Wednesday, plus had fellow filmmaker Brian Morrison ("One Down") help me figure out some compression and burn (making a DVD of the movie) problems, and took him across the street to meet my friend Phil ("Mrs. Simpson" in Smalltimore). Brian is renting Philip's fabulous Corvette convertible for a music video he is shooting this weekend for Lazerbitch (who is on the Smalltimore soundtrack - click their link on the right to check them out!).

Wednesday night went to The Charles to see Steve Yeager's premiere of, "Crystal Fog." I knew Steve had won an award at Sundance for his documentary on John Waters ("Divine Trash"), but I learned something I didn't know from the woman who introduced him: Steve is still Maryland's only award winner at Sundance. Of course, Eric Thornett won an award at Slamdance, and Michelle is winning awards left and right, so I am always in good company!

"Crystal Fog," was great. I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be a very sweet and well-told story. Was NOT expecting the sweet part. Which is great, I HATE going into a movie and knowing everything that happens before it even begins.

It is the story of a drag queen (Crystal Fog) and an allegedly straight man who falls for her. The story is loosely based on a true relationship that happened to Steve's brother. I am always impressed when someone can write for a character that is very different from themselves and have the dialogue be believable, like men writing for women, crossing ethnic lines, an older person writing for a younger character, or a straight man writing for a drag queen. Steve did an amazing job, and it is an impressive tribute to his brother.

The after-party at Nick's Fish House (which was featured prominently in the film) was a great time. I ran into several of the actors and the DP that I have worked with on Steve's new feature (currently in production), "The Rosens". I spotted (actor) Johnny Alonso there near the end, but didn't have a chance to say hello. He has been in so many Baltimore productions, and mostly works in California now. I don't know him really, but met him briefly last year on the set of "Good People," which was the second time I had met Michelle but the first time I had seen her in action on a set.

Yesterday more work at the Day Job, then dropped by the Creative Alliance to pick up some DVD screeners from Kristen to review before our Members Committee meeting on Tuesday. A small panel of film-related people watch films that are in consideration for the next cycle of events. It's fun, I think, and always nice to have your opinion asked.

Today I have dreaded paperwork for the Day Job (god, I HATE paperwork! This is why I have never held a 9 to 5 job), and email/Facebook blasting about the Philly fest, and have to send some materials out to them and also try to get together a press release. That is SORT OF paperwork, but more of a creative kind and it can be emailed, so no real paper is involved and I don't mind it so much.

Tomorrow I have a small walk-on part for the Lazerbitch music video, and am going to try to catch The Degenerettes (also on my soundtrack - also click their link on the right) play a set at 8:25pm at the Pride festival stage on Eager Street (in front of the Hippo). And I know there are at least three other things I have to do tomorrow that I am forgetting about. Sunday is the second installment of my neighborhood yard sale:

Monthly Mother of All Yard Sales!
1 0 Households!
Sunday, June 21, 9:00am-2:00pm
Rear parking lot, 1125 North Calvert Street

Jewelry - glassware - antiques - oddities -
books - clothes - appliances - furniture -
decor items - dolls - kitchenware

Spread the word!!!


And then it's Monday again already? Argh!

Press/ure

[Johnny Benson, Kelly Coston, and Phil Calvert at the sold-out Smalltimore premiere at the Wind-Up Space - photo by Richard Payne, who just covered the White House Correspondents Dinner - how 'bout them apples!]

I was quoted in this month's Baltimore Magazine, along with director Steve Yeager and Steve Ruback, with whom I am currently working as Assistant Director on Steve Yeager's movie "The Rosens":

http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/article.asp?t=1&m=1&c=30&s=487&ai=82629

Currently on my plate, I have to fix some sound glitches in the movie that are still driving me crazy, correct a few titles in the credits, cut a few lines that are dragging some scenes down, and swap a few scenes to make the pace a little better. Oh, and a couple more scenes need more attention to color correction. Then I SWEAR to GOD I am going to be finished with this damn thing.

THEN I have to flesh out my pre-production class that I will be teaching on Saturday, June 6, at the Creative Alliance. If you are planning to shoot your own feature or short, I hope you'll sign up! There is SO much that I wish someone would have told me before starting all this, a lot of things that I am very glad that I did that not everyone does, and some things that I didn't do that I wish I would have. And I'll be happy to tell you all about them! Sign up here:

http://www.creativealliance.org/events/eventItem1791.html

And THEN, I have to make my travel arrangements to go to England to attend the Heart of England Film Festival where Smalltimore will be screening. Did I mention that I have to leave Saturday, June 6? So I get to teach an all-day class, run home, walk the dogs and hand them over to my neighbor, grab my suitcase and get my butt to BWI!

KFJ

That would be me - cuz I am FRIED. And yet wired! Spread myself waaaay too thin this weekend, but didn't have much of a choice in the matter. How could I resist being A.D. (Asst Director) on a Steve Yeager project? It has been a lot of fun, but there is a familiar ache in my feet. 10 hours yesterday, another 10 today, smack after getting home from Seattle. Really should not have said I could work in the morning tomorrow also, but I did, so I will. I would never back out on a commitment like that.

Two of my most FAVORITE friends from HIGH SCHOOL are on their way to my place at this very minute!!! Going out to dinner with them shortly. It really means the world to me that they are coming all the way to see me and the premiere. One of them, Shawn, was actually my prom date! I haven't seen him in (mumblemumble) years! The other, Mark, a.k.a. Acey Baby, I saw in March for the first time in almost as many years, though i did see him more recently than Shawn. It was as if no time had passed at all. Ya gotta love those kinds of friends the most.

SO looking forward to the premiere tomorrow and SO have no idea how I am going to find the time to pull it off! Somehow I always seem to manage, though. I work best with deadlines, and I am more likely to stay out of trouble when I am busy. So I certainly have nailed those two criteria this weekend!

See YOU tomorrow!!!

I Do

(picture: Orlando Gonzalez, Joyce Scott, and Cheryl Scungio share an unscripted laugh during our grueling week of rehearsals. See #7 below.)

Tom Boynton of The Remnants came over last night and watched the movie straight through with me. We are talking about him possibly scoring some of the scenes that have no music or would do better with non-lyrical music. The sound still needs a lot of work, and it is driving me crazy. At least it is leveled off now so that I don't have to watch it with remote control in hand to turn it up or down, but in many scenes I seem to have overcompensated and now the music is too low. It is different watching it on a television from the other side of the room than on a computer in front of my face. The sound is perfect there!

Dinner with Phil Calvert tonight, yay! Now I have to remember the things that I did right that I wanted to tell him about. I had a few more things for the list of what NOT to do, but I didn't write them down and now I don't remember. They will probably come to me as I write this. Oh, there's one!

1. Carefully plan your shoot according to the seasons. Since "Smalltimore" is a romantic comedy, I wanted bright, colorful outdoor scenes. We shot for 2 weeks in August, and the weather was amazingly cooperative. However, there were some scenes we didn't get to, and as I mentioned, it took me 4 months to get those actors I needed all together for those scenes - several of which were outdoors. So for the day scenes we had to make sure we didn't shoot any trees, because now they were bare, and for the night scenes my poor actors were freezing because they had to be in summer clothes with no coats. And one of the scenes was driving around with the convertible top down! So if I were shooting a comedy, in Baltimore, I would try to start production in April or May. For something that needed to be more bleak, maybe end of October.

I'm sure more things will come to me, but let's move on to what I did that I WOULD do again:

1. Join the Creative Alliance and take every film-related class you can. I'll remind you that I had NO formal training in filmmaking. Before January 2008 I had never taken a single class on the subject. I took as many classes at the Creative Alliance as I could before going into production, and I still continue to take them, they can only make me a better writer, director, and producer. Especially if you see any class taught by Michelle Farrell, Rob Pawlosky, or Steve Yeager, TAKE IT. Also Aaron Gentzler or Stacie Jones-Gentzler. I haven't had the opportunity to take their classes, but I know them and they do a great job.

2. Make contacts and keep them up constantly. The film community in Baltimore is very small, so this isn't that hard to do. Actors, producers, crew... you never know when you are going to need someone. Be respectful and even when you really want to and you know you are right, NEVER talk badly about anyone in the industry. Everyone knows everyone, you will probably have to work with them sooner or later, and it will come back to bite you in the ass. Last summer, I think before we even started production, something bad (and COMPLETELY untrue) got back to me that someone said about me, and I was barely in these circles for a minute! Luckily the person who heard this misinformation knew the truth about the situation first-hand and straightened out the third party - who I had never even met, but I had heard of him because he has produced several movies.

3. Treat actors with the same respect you treat the film crew. As a general rule, in life, I try to treat everyone the same anyway. A lot of people on the production side of things tried to convince me that actors are a dime a dozen and should be glad to take any part I threw their way, do it for free and like it. I thought this was a terrible approach, and I would never even think about an actor that way, let alone treat them like that. What good would that do anyone? That kind of attitude just breeds discontent, poison on a set. On the flip side, I have been on a set where the Director actually said to the production crew that the actor, "is God." That attitude is equally disastrous.

4. If possible, hold your auditions someplace that has a professional feel about it. I was lucky enough to be able to hold mine at Baltimore Theater Project. This, I feel, gave the project some "cred," and got the actors more excited about trying to do their best and land a role.

5. The audition process should be pretty grueling. This is not to intentionally torture anyone, this is to weed out those who aren't serious about it. Tape all auditions. Review them several times (it should be grueling for the director also, not just the actors!). Call more than one person back for each role, even if you THINK you know who you want. The second round of auditions should be extensive and tough. See who's left standing, those are the people you want.

6. Have a table read, and allow the actors some input. This is something that only made sense to me, but I found out that very few writer/directors do this. Of course I had the final say, and there were some suggestions I turned down. But for example, this process is what led to Joyce Scott completely turning the character of Mrs. Talford around. As it was originally written, she was pretty crude. Joyce helped me to find a way, simply through vocabulary, really, to make her much more endearing, intelligent, and quirky. Having this sort of input also allows the actors to really OWN their characters. It means a lot to them to be a part of the process, because they are very rarely asked their opinions. Honestly this is one of the best things I did in the whole process, and I will do it every time. The other thing that I would not skip, that many do is:

7. Have rehearsals. Since actors in low-budget indies are often doing it for cheap or free, this may seem like a lot to ask. But I believe it is exactly why the chemistry between the characters in "Smalltimore," truly comes across on screen. Because we had this time together to become at ease with each other, and work out the kinks of what I was looking for from each of them in every scene, in every page. Especially with an ensemble cast, there was so much going on. I think the whole thing would have been a holy mess if we had not put the time in together in the trenches (40 hours total) before stepping on the set.

8. Be up-front with actors from the moment you place the casting call. If you can't pay them, say so. There are still loads of actors out there who will do it, and the ones who won't will just be pissed off that you wasted their time, and they will spread the word. Have a questionnaire at the auditions, and make sure everything is clear between you and that actor before the audition is over. Will they work for what you said you can (or can't) pay them? Will they do nudity? Have a problem with playing a gay character? Have reliable transportation? Even simple questions can help you suss out the divas who are going to be a problem on the set. If they answer every question with two or three sentences instead of checking the "yes" or "no" box, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

There's loads more, but I have to get some other work done today, so time to wrap this up. If you want to know more about my personal do's and don't's... take my pre-production class at the Creative Alliance on June 6th!

Class Action

I finally figured out how to make screen grabs (stills from the movie), so now I can give you a picture with every posting. This one above was actually from a camera test when Michelle was fooling around (that's her on the bench, as "Crackhead #1"), it wasn't supposed to be in the movie. But it is my movie and it makes me laugh every time I see it! And it makes Michelle rolls her eyes every time she sees it. Which also makes me laugh. Every time.

Anyway, I have awesome news! No, haven't heard back from any film festivals yet, calm down. Actually, the news might not be as awesome to you as it is to me, but I am personally very, very, very stoked. I will be teaching my first class at the Creative Alliance on July 6th! A one-day seminar on pre-production for indie films.

Michelle has taught a bunch of different classes there in the past, actually she is just wrapping one up right now, so she will probably find my enthusiasm amusing, as it is old hat to her. But I don't care! I get to talk about something I love for 5 hours straight, and get paid for it!

I have learned so much, a lot of it through trial and error, and I can't wait to share it with people who also hope to manifest their ideas for movies into reality. One of the things I love most about traveling within circles of creative people is the opportunity to watch an idea sprout from nothing, a tiny seed of an idea, into full-scale productions, whatever that might be - a movie, a play, a song, a painting. It is simply magical. And this class will give me the opportunity to meet even more people like that.

I have been so lucky to have met some fantastic people by taking their classes at the Creative Alliance. First and foremost, of course, Michelle, but also Steve Yeager (Acting for the Camera) and Rob Pawlosky ( Screenwriting Basics), among others. And through chance and happenstance, gotten to know other people along the way who have been invaluable to "Smalltimore," names you have already heard a hundred times or more, like Sean Stanley, Eric Thornett, and Charlie Anderson. All of these people have been so generous and honest with their advice, it always amazed me, and at the same time it always kind of made me wonder, "Why are they being so nice to me? Why are they giving me so much of their time?" There have been times I felt guilty about pestering them for advice or assistance, but they never really seemed to mind. And now I better understand why.

They must have had people like themselves helping them when they were as green as I was when I met them. It is an opportunity to give back, and pay it forward. And you get to talk about something you love doing, with people who want to do it themselves someday. If champagne were thrown into the mix, it would be the perfect day. I tried sneaking bubbly into the class format, but they put the kibosh on that.

(BTW, if you are interested in taking the class yourself, the new schedule should be out around the first week of April. You can register online at www.creativealliance.org. And OF COURSE I will be reminding you about this when the time comes!)

Anyway, the blurb and itinerary for the class goes a little something like this:

Workshop blurb: There are a lot of universal truths about movie-making. One of them is, for every dime and minute you don't spend on pre-production, you will spend ten times that during production. Another is, movie-making is a ton of work, but it is not brain surgery. Save thousands of dollars (and countless headaches) by learning how to be well-prepared before ever stepping foot on the set. Jeanie Clark, founder of Steel Corset Productions and writer/director/producer of the new romantic comedy, "Smalltimore," walks you step by step through the basics, including:
- How to be open to and receive reliable critique on your script.
- The re-writing process
- Factoring in production value
- Creating an LLC
- Funding
- Networking
- Dealing with actors: auditions, call backs, contracts, rehearsals, scheduling
- Crew & gear, your biggest expense: finding a crew to suit your needs without overspending.
- Building your Production Team
- Location management
- Insurance & permits
- Breaking down the shooting schedule
- Generating buzz for your project
- Craft services
- and generally preparing to expect the unexpected.


It is a LOT to cover in one day, but I am pretty organized when it comes to stuff like this, and a lot of it is much simpler than you might expect. You probably already know this, since you are used to my writing style by now, but I wrote the introductory blurb. I wasn't sure they were going to let me keep that bit in about filmmaking not being brain surgery, but I am glad they did. I mean no disrespect towards filmmakers - it IS a lot of work. But when you break it down into the individual tasks and components, other than the actual camera work, there is no reason a person who is creative, intelligent, organized, disciplined, hard-working, honest with themselves and others, and a good leader cannot make a film. Those are the components it takes, and it does take all of them.

Some of them, you either are or you aren't and there is not much you can do about it if you aren't - like being creative, or intelligent. There is a line in "Smalltimore" that Joyce Scott delivers as Mrs. Talford,

"No one ever used to be an artist! Any more than one can aspire to be an ar-teest! You are either an artist or you are NOT."

I didn't think that much about that line when I wrote it, I was just writing from the heart, thinking how I might talk 20 or 30 years from now to a younger version of myself. And I didn't know when I wrote that line that Joyce Scott would be the one delivering it. She never said anything about it to me, so I could be wrong, but I think that is the line that may have helped her make the decision to do the film. I remember there was just something about the way she said that line at the table read that made me think, she knows that I really get that, and I know that she does, and she wants to say that line.

I digress... but that is the truth. That doesn't mean that someone who is not creative can't have a large hand in making a movie. It just means they need to get the right people to collaborate with them on the project. Even a person who has ALL of those qualities can't do it alone, so you shouldn't be afraid of the collaboration thing.

Some of the other qualities I mentioned... well, you might have them and not even know you have them. In my case, I think of, "organized, disciplined, and hard-working," specifically. At the beginning of this holy mess, I never thought in a million years that I could produce a film. Write, yes. Direct, possibly. Produce? No thanks.

I overheard Sean once say he was going to print up a T-shirt that just said, "Producing is HARD." And it is. And I didn't think I'd like it, and it is excruciating for me to try to do things I don't like, let alone be any good at them. Producing is doing a million little crappy details like setting up the LLC, bank account, locking down locations, breaking down schedules, and all the stuff mentioned in the above bullet points. I did NOT want to do all that crap! I thought if it came down to me having to do all that crap, this movie would never get made.

But in the end, on the budget I was working with, I could not in good conscience pay someone to do things I was perfectly capable of doing myself, but just didn't want to. And it all turned out just fine. I gave myself a solid six months or so of pre-production time, as I was doing almost everything myself. The next time around I will probably get a small team of people together, but I am very glad I did it all myself the first time, because now I know how to do it. I wasn't super-disciplined, in that I did the things I wanted to do first, and put off the things I didn't want to do until I had no choice but to do them. But if you look back through my blog postings at that time (from the beginning of www.charmcitythemovie.blogspot.com up until production started August 1, 2008) you will see that I just chugged steadily along, and was just happy with myself as long as I accomplished one or two little tasks every day that needed to be completed for the movie. I really surprised myself, because not only did I do it, but I actually enjoyed doing it. Sometimes the little task of the day was as simple as posting a blog entry. That might not seem very important, but think about it - I know you are going to go see my movie, aren't you?