Life in the Desert

Having just returned last night from an overnight two-day shoot in the desert, I thought I would share our filming schedule. This is after I cleaned all sand from my cracks and crevices (pronounced CREE-VAH-SIS).  For the shoot, my responsibility was that of a Production Coordinator.

Tuesday May 14th

04:45 AM Wake up, shower, eat, jump in car and head out to Citrus College.

06:15 AM Arrive at Citrus College. I had to arrive early to ensure that all crew were assigned to the appropriate passenger vans and that no one was left behind.

07:15 AM Three passenger vans begin the two hour drive to set in Johnson Valley.

09:30 AM Arrive on set. Immediately put on suntan lotion. Begin production.

12:30 PM Break for lunch.

01:00 PM Back to production.

07:30 PM Wrap production. Jump in passenger van and begin 35 minute drive to dinner.

08:15 PM Eat dinner.

09:00 PM Leave for hotel.

09:15 PM Arrive at hotel. Check-in. Shower immediately. Consume alcohol with cast and/or crew.

11:00 PM Sleep.

Wednesday May 15th

06:00 AM Wake. Shit. Shower. Eat.

07:30 AM Back into vans. Leave for set.

08:45 AM Arrive on set. Put on suntan lotion. Begin production.

01:00 PM Break for lunch.

01:30 PM Back to production.

07:15 PM Even though production hasn't wrapped, a van of crew had to leave set due to AFI rules in regards to hours worked and food and such. I was on that van.

09:15 PM Arrive at Citrus College. Jump in car and head for home, stopping only to grab some crappy drive-thru fast food.

10:15 PM Arrive at home. Shower immediately. Kiss wife. Pass out.

More stories from the set to come...

Mr. Bucky Goes to the ASC

My first official foray into Hollywood was a trip to the building which houses the ASC or American Society of Cinematographers. In case you are not aware, a lot of filmmaking groups have their own secret society. There is the Director's Guild. The Screen Actor's Guild. The Writer's Guild of America. So on and so forth. All very clandestine and hush hush. In order for me to gain entrance to the ASC I had to bring half a kilo of my firstborn's hair and a box of Fruit Loops. (Actually a paid a monetary fee) Visiting the campus was incredibly exciting. Not as exciting as being invited personally, but cool nonetheless.

They do not have their own parking area, so I was instructed to park at an underground garage down the street. Being that I am not familiar with LA whatsoever, I had no idea where I was. After parking and walking out of the entrance, I walked by the Dolby Theater (where the Oscar's are held!), on to Hollywood Blvd (the Walk of Fame... stars and such!!), and past Mann's/Grauman's/TCL Chinese Theater.  Not gonna lie, I got chills seeing all of this for the first time. My pleasure was tempered a bit by the shenanigans that happen on Hollywood Blvd. You see, it's incredibly touristy which draws a lot of panhandling, characters in costumes wanting you to give them money for pixs, and people handing out mixtapes for cash. Oh well... you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have Hollywood.

Back to the ASC. They host a breakfast lecture series. Upon arrival, a really nice breakfast spread was awaiting us. There were communal tables which is nice as I look at the events as a way to both gain knowledge and gain connections. Met some really cool folks there actually and would love to work with them at some point. After a bit, we were summoned into the big house for the lecture session. The ASC will bring in a cinematographer who will discuss their career and show clips from the movies they shot, talk about said clips, and then end with a Q&A.

The lecture I attended was a look at the career of Amy Vincent. Most recently she worked on "Hustle & Flow" and "Black Snake Moan." The program was both entertaining and educational and I'm hoping to catch the next in their series. It was interesting as it was probably the most technical film Q&A that I've attended thus far. I dig it.

Greetings and Lamentations

*kicks tires... checks under hood*

Wow, this site is still up and running and shockingly not hacked by Russian Internet pirates hoping to sell you futons made out of Burmese Monkey hair. Honestly I prefer the Siberian Monkey over its Burmese cousin due to their propensity to fling less poo and such. Speaking of flinging poo, I've quit my job and moved to Hollywood! We sold our house in San Francisco after striking oil in the backyard. We made quite a bit of money off of our discovery and now live in a cozy Beverly Hills mansion. Shockingly, our neighbors don't take kindly to the nouveau rich which has led to some very very humorous situations. I may or may not be creating a sitcom about this recent period in our life.

The true Hollywood story is that we started saving up over time, sold our house and moved to LA so that I may give screenwriting/directing/filmmaking the old college try. Yes, my wife is indeed amazing. We relocated in the early part of January and I really haven't had much time to devote to writing as I played the role of Mr. Mom until we got our son enrolled in to a pre-school. Now that that has occurred, I'm balls-deep in screenwriting and such... more like ankles deep if I am to be honest. All incredibly exciting truth be told. Having started just recently, I don't have much to report gentle reader, but please keep your eye on this site as I am will be covering the following items shortly: my trip to the ASC, my 1 & 2 year plan, daily/weekly routine of a screenwriter, souffle recipes.

Oh! It was good of you to pop in. Thanks.

Film school is over... now what?!?!

Happy New Years to you and yours!

One of my big gripes about film school at SFSDF was that at no point in the curriculum did they address life post-film school. No classes on film festivals, job searches, networking etc. So I've been fumbling through the process on my own as I've intensified my focus on my film life over the last couple months. Not sure what's working and what's not working as it is still too early to tell but here is what I've been doing:

-This blog. I have made some connections through people finding my blog and it has been really nice to have a dialog with film minded people. The blog also helps me distill my thinking on goals for the future.

-Business Cards. I had a hard time referring to myself as a filmmaker as it felt poseurish and even more so with creating and ordering business cards, but I was starting to network more and I didn't want to be that guy who was ripping pages out of my moleskin with contact info on it.

-LinkedIn Account. This also felt a bit foreign creating a profile exclusively for filmmaking... but I did it anyways.

-Networking/Groups. I've found some groups through meetup.com and facebook and have started to attend those meetings. The groups tend to fall in the screenwriting and filmmaking category and are not only networking events but they do tend to help with feedback for both screenwriting and filmmaking... duh. The other events I've been attending has been... well, events. While there isn't a ton of established screenings/talk in the Bay Area, there is still enough for to me to attend in my what little spare time I have. Last year I saw Ed Burns, John August, and the cast and crew of Young Adult. Each event had a Q&A and "mingle-time" post.

-Film Festivals. This entry should and will have its own blog entry, but I've gotten to the point where I am proud enough of my work to enter it in to festivals and have gotten rejections, acceptance, and even managed to win an award. Lots of great learning and networking at festivals... and honestly they are both fun and exciting. Actually a lot of what I listed above I view as fun and exciting.

-IMDB Page. I have a fancy dancy IMDB page.

Film Society. I joined the San Francisco Film Society as there are benefits for filmmakers both in financial discounts but also in awards/grants and residency and services.

-Watch movies. Read screenplays, film theory, American Cinematographer, and film criticisms. One of my new favorite film theorists/critic has been Hulk. Serious. http://filmcrithulk.wordpress.com/

-Increase my output. I am still working the film festival circuit with my last short and editing another short and writing my next short. This is obviously the most important thing I am doing as I need the most practice here and need to increase the quality of my work. I can have all the networking connections in the world, but it wouldn't matter if I was constantly putting out crap or nothing at all.

So there it is. My plan. It definitely feels like a lot of spitballing to see what works and I will continue to talk about what area I have the most success in. If you have any tips, please send them my way!

What I've been digging as of late: Downton Abbey, Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, Undun by the Roots, How Do You Do by Mayer Hawthorne, who kill by tune-yards.

Young Adult Movie Screening

One of the amazing things about living in a big city like San Francisco is that movie studios pander to the city relatively frequently. Growing up in New Albany, Indiana you just didn't have the opportunity to see artists talk about their craft live and in person. So when that happens here, baby-sitter permitting, I jump at the chance particularly when it involves movies.

A few weeks back, the amazing Sundance Kabuki theater hosted a Pop-Up Secret Screening of the new movie Young Adult with a Q&A post with cast and crew. You weren't told what movie you were seeing until you were let in the theater which is kind of exciting but honestly kind of pointless. Cast and crew that were there included Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody, Patton Oswalt, and Charlize Theron. Jason Reitman, the director, explained that they are taking a grass-roots marketing campaign with this movie as it is going to be a tough sell to the general movie going public. It's amazing how much technology has changed in the last few years as he specifically asked the audience to talk about the movie on Twitter. They over-book these screening to ensure a packed house and we were the second to last people to be let in the door...

I agree that the movie is going to be a tough sell as the main character is completely unlikeable. In fact, during the Q&A Charlize Theron said that at one point the director told her to be more "cunt-y." She is that kind of character. The thing that really surprised me was how great Patton Oswalt is in the movie. I found myself waiting for him to show up again when he wasn't onscreen. Not surprising was how entertaining he was during the Q&A. He was incredibly funny and quick-witted.

If you are a filmmaker or a movie-nerd in general these type of events are both entertaining and educational. Lots of talk about the making of the movie and the marketing. Of course there is a lot of self-promotion but that is the point of the screening. Now if my two year old son could start watching himself, I could attend a few more of these events.

*The gorgeous poster at the top of the post was made specifically for this screening and was numbered and handed out to the audience members. Score!

What I've been digging as of late: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Community TV Show

To answer your question...

When I won the audience award (yes, I am bringing that up again) at the BHOC, I didn't realize that entitled me to screening my short again. Evidently, they ask the award winners back to screen their films and to participate in a Q&A session post. Fast forward to last Tuesday and I am on my way to standing in front of a live audience and fielding questions about filmmaking. Surprisingly I wasn't all that nervous. I contribute that to a few things: the crowd, while it was standing room only, was only about 50 deep; I had about 6-8 friends in the crowd for better or worse... ; I love talking about film. Seriously, I could and can talk about films and filmmaking for hours.

There were a total of three shorts screened but only two of the filmmakers were present. The first two screened and I brought up the rear. The big speedbump of the night is that a rough cut of my short was shown on accident. This rough cut had no music, no sound balancing, no color correction, no opening titles or closing credits, poor editing, etc. Mind you, this is a rather large speed-bump, and I'm still bothered that most people in the room were introduced to my work for the first time through this. It looked and felt amateurish. Seriously bothered by it. Woke up thinking about it the next day. Throughout the day I kept telling myself "Let it go... let it go." Hah and ugh.

After my screening, I jumped up and fielded questions. That portion went off really well! As far as I can tell... I completely forgot to ask my friends how they thought I did. Speaking of which, thanks to all that came out and supported me! I was asked questions about my film and films in general. Some lesser known filmmakers were brought up (Bertolt Brecht & Eric Rohmer anyone?!?!) which shocked me. But in hindsight, I guess it shouldn't have as this audience is the type that go to film festivals so I assume this type of film-goer would be more knowledgeable in regards to film and film history. I think my Q&A session only lasted about 10 minutes. I think.

Next up... well I am not too sure. Still waiting to hear back from some other film festival and in the meantime I am writing and editing. Both of which are incredibly solitary, but I will save that for another entry. I know you are excited about that...

What I've been digging as of late: BBC. BBC. BBC. Lots of great shows airing on BBC America right now. Downtown Abbey, The Hour, Whitechapel, Dr. Who, and I am getting ready to tackle Dead Set.

Since we last spoke....

Greetings. It's been a bit... It's nice to see you. Since my last entry, I finished the short film I was working on and started submitting it to film festivals. The first festival where it was accepted, it won an award. (Pictured above... the second picture is of all of my rad friends that came out to show their support. Thanks for being the camera-guy, Omar!) The award was the 2011 Audience Award at the Bernal Heights Outdoor Film Festival in San Francisco. It felt really good to win an award voted on by the festival attendees. A lot of hard work by a lot of people went in to the project. Therefore, this entry was written by an award winning filmmaker. Please don't look me in the eye or speak until spoken to next time you see me.

I've got the same short submitted to a few other festivals and am waiting to hear back now. The film festival process is incredibly interesting, fun, nerve-wracking, expensive, rewarding, etc... This go round with the Bernal Festival was the first screening where I invited friends and family to attend, which was great... but then a few days before it hit me. Oh shit! Everyone is going to see my short. While I'm standing next to them. I was more nervous than I thought. It wasn't just friends but folks in general. It's hard to show your project to a room full of people after you've watched it 5,000 times on your computer at home and have lost all perspective on it. Thankfully, everything worked out great, and the short played really well to the audience. However, I was glad I had a beer or two before the screening.

Once the festival was over, I was ready to jump in to another one. Navigating the submission process is new to me, as this is the first project that I've completed where I've been proud enough of it to send it out. Some festivals don't accept submissions if they have previously been online or if it premiered somewhere else or they want a disc not an online submission or they want an online submission and a disc... A learning process. So I got an withoutabox account which led me to an imdb page (I've got an imdb page!! Crazy...) and I was off and running. Even though I felt incredibly poseurish doing it, I also got business cards made up to hand out while networking at film festivals. That seemed more professional than tearing out a page from my moleskin and scribbling my contact info on it.

While waiting, I am also editing an unfinished short from film school. I want to be able to do something with that project as well, but if it looks like a step backwards creatively, I will probably pitch it and reshoot it as I am in love with the script. I've also begun writing another short film and really can't wait to get back on set. I miss filming.

Things I have been digging as of late: Drive (the movie & the soundtrack), Moneyball (the movie but loved the book as well), Wilco: The Whole Love, & Dr. Who

Moby... you are my hero.

So... Moby is doing the music to my short film!!! Kinda... Sorta... The balded-vegan-one has created a website called mobygratis for independent filmmakers, where you can choose from approximately 150 of his songs that you can apply for licensure. The best part... it's FREE!!

It was a bit of a lengthy process due to the fact that I listened to all of the music on the site. I found two songs that I thought would work for the short, then I applied. During the process, you have to let them know what your film is about and also what the scene is where you plan on using the music. There is also a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo in regards to the film being non-for-profit and not changing any of the music and such. The bottom line is that I heard back and was granted licenship on two songs. Rad.

It's pretty amazing in today's society to see an artist like Moby giving back to the creative community. Somewhat inspiring actually. Without getting all Eddie Haskell in regards to The Little Idiot (what Moby call himself), he is also responsible for one of my favorite songs from a film. The song in question is (somewhat flowery titled (similarly to the Reznor/Ross Social Network Track Hand Covers Bruise )) God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters from the flick Heat. Both tracks are worth a listen or two... or two hundred.

Thanks Sir Moby!

Lessons and Lamentations.

Things I've learned while editing my last short:

-Get a master shot of the entire scene. I have a couple scenes where I just have the master (or 2-shot) of the beginning of a conversation between two characters and not of the whole conversation. Not having that master shot has made editing the scene more problematic, particularly when the conversation picks up in pace and is a bit on the rapid-fire side.

-Wear headphones and listen to the audio.

-Use a monitor and watch the scene while filming or during playback.

-Slow down and focus on the acting and not so much on marking off the shot-list.

-Take control of the day.

These are all things I have been taught in the past, but for some reason I did not put them into play. Neat.

I have a really good rough cut assembled and I have hit the point where I feel like I have something. It doesn't always feel that way when editing. Now I need to balance sound, smooth out transitions, license and add music, and then add opening and closing credits. Then I have another short to edit... Then and only then will I allow myself to work on another script.

Things I have been digging as of late: Circuital by My Morning Jacket, Restrepo (Military Doc.), The King's Speech, Super 8, Never Let Me Go, The Killing, Game of Thrones, All Access: A Beastie Boys Megamix by Z-Trip, Hellhound Ale by Dogfish Head.

Editor's Note: Editing is a pain in the balls.

I am in the midst of editing my last short and it has been a bit trying. My first speed bump had to do with the audio. This is my first project where I've had to sync audio with video manually as we shot the short using a DSLR camera. To sych audio & video you must visually find the clapboard (see above) mark/clap and sync it with the audio mark/clap. It's incredibly tedious, especially when you have numerous takes. While doing this, I discovered we only recorded one channel of audio, which means balancing all of the audio, then merging all of the balanced & synced clips together. Literally hours of work to get this completed. I took all of my footage to a friend who is much more proficient than I, to make sure I was doing things correctly. I was indeed doing it correctly, but I discovered I was originally supposed to take all of the raw footage from the DSLR and convert it to a new format before any editing should commence. Therefore, all of the hours of work that I had completed so far was a complete waste. Neat!

What's tickled my fancy as of late: The Fighter (dir. David O. Russell), The Way Back (dir. Peter Weir), A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin ( I am currently reading book 4 of this massive series), Nine Types of Light by TV On The Radio, and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two by the Beastie Boys.

'Sup?

So... how are ya? I am currently setting up an editing system for the house. Between fatherhood and a lack of an editing system, my filmmaking has stalled. I have two projects filmed waiting for post and haven't wanted to start writing anything new until then. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

In the meantime, peep this fantastic memo from 1991. It's boss.

Pro. Gress.

I'm nearing the end of the writing phase of my short which means I am entering the ever so important phase of pre-production. During pre-pro I will need to assemble cast & crew, scout & secure a location, storyboard, rehearse, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. One of my biggest lessons in film school was, "Pre-Production is insanely important." It can truly make or break your days on set.

I've already worked ahead a bit with assembling my cast and crew. Here is my line-up thus far:

Cast/Talent

Jessica Sapick & Jonathon Musser

Crew

D.P. Sean Sullivan

A.D. Jackie Gross

Capture Tech: Nitin Veludandi

Some notes on the crew. A D.P. is a Director of Photography and/or Cinematographer. I will work with Sean to accomplish the look of the film. He will decide what camera and lenses to use along with the camera angles/movements and lighting of the scene. The Assistant Director or A.D. is essentially the foreman on the set and keeps everything running smoothly so the director can direct. We will shoot this film digitally and this is where the Capture Tech comes into play. When shooting digitally, all of your footage is captured onto cards in the camera. When said card is full, it is taken out and handed to the Capture Tech who will transfer all the data to a hard drive or multiple hard drives and then he/she will hand the empty card back to the D.P. It may sound easy but it's an insanely important job as the footage that you've worked so hard to get is in their hands. You always want at least one empty card available because if you don't the entire production will come to a screeching halt waiting for the information to be transferred onto the hard drives.

Of course, these oh-so-brief job descriptions are for a small crew indie set and are vastly different on a big budget set. I still have some other spots to fill and hope to wrap that up in the next week or two. Really excited about filming. It's getting closer...

-b

Consider my fancy tickled... 3/19

Due to it being an all around shite week I haven't done much work pushing my current project further, therefore I don't really have anything to add about my personal projects. Planning on some writing this weekend, hopefully... On to what I found interesting about film this last week.

Avatar is truly one of those rare films (Matrix, Pulp Fiction) that will change films and how we watch them for years to come. Interesting article on the negative effect of 3D and movies.

In addition to the poster mash-up at the top of this post, here is a cool Jabba The Hutt mash-up.

Normally I do not like to discuss politics, religion, or sports... but the brain-trust that is the Floridian Republican House Leaders are wanting to cut tax-incentives for movies that do not live up to their ideas of traditional family values. That means if you're making a movie about homosexuals don't bring those GAYS to the Sunshine State. Gotta love a failure of separation of church and state.... Sorry Key West!

To wrap things up, I'm actually gonna leave you with a helpful article (yes, I read other film related sites than Perez Hilton!!) on professional tips from a camera operator. I've enjoyed being a DP on friend's projects, and grabbing the camera on my own projects, but being a DP is a highly technical job and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that life-consuming undertaking. Still it's a great read...

-b

Consider my fancy tickled...

Does one have a fancy? If so, how do you go about tickling it? While you consider this deep deep ponderance, here are a few items that piqued my interest recently. This is the first of an ongoing column of film-related posts that have nothing to do with me except I curated them and presented them to you.

The above picture is a response to John Krasinski being up for the lead role in the upcoming Captain America film.

There is a special level in hell for people who talk during movies and here is an article about the shusher and shushee. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent at the Century 20 in Daly City.

Up until today, I have never heard of the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl." Wiki describes this stock character in a film as "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." Think Zooey Daschanel. Here is the AV Club's 16 Films Featuring MPDG.

For all you scriptwriters/film junkies, Rian Johnson (writer/director of Brick) posted the complete shooting script to the The Brothers Bloom online. Available FREE for download here.

Some of my friends started their own production company and have been making some gorgeous music videos as of late. Clean White Lines is the name of their joint and you'd be a fool not to follow them on their website and vimeo page. Good stuff guys... now please let me work with you! haha

-b

The first cast is stoned... or something like that.

I just finished writing a short film that happens to fall into the genre of the romantic comedy. I set out to write a story that involved two characters, one being a woman, and limiting myself to one setting/location. It's not completely finished and I'm sure there will be a couple more re-writes between now and shooting... and during shooting. However, I'm far enough along that I need to move on to the next phase of pre-production which includes location scouting and casting. Lucky for me, the lovely and talented Miss Jessica Sapick (see above) has agreed to jump aboard this lil' project of mine as the female lead. A bit about Jessica... she just got signed to an acting and modeling contract at Stars Agency (Congrats Jessica!!) and like myself is also from the Midwest. This will be my first time working with Jessica and probably her last time working with me! haha

From here I will begin looking at male actors to play opposite Jessica and start scouting video stores for a shooting location. There is a third role that needs to be filled but it is for a non-speaking part and worst comes to worst, I can just pull a Hitchcock and cast myself in the role. Not out of vanity reasons of course, but just pure necessity. Actually it's totally for vanity reasons. The only reason I am doing any of this is for fame, fortune, and glory... and world domination.

-b

Uncle Lazlo, father of Benjamin Linus...

SFSDF is the film school which I graduated from and being the kick-ass center of learning that it is, they allows students back in the door for all kinds of the things. Be it to use camera equipment, editing stations, rooms for audition/filming, etc. On top of all that goodness, they host the occasional mixer with a special guest or theme. You need a guest or a theme because drinking and talking about film just isn't enough right? WRONG! Seriously the guests and themes are amazing otherwise its just me and my friends standing around drinking beer and dropping lines from Evil Dead III: The Army of Darkness. (Give me some sugar baby!)

This last week's mixer was a conversation between John Gries and James Savoca. John had starred in a movie that James had written and directed so they were familiar with each other and their work, which was nice because it gave their conversation an open and laid-back feel. John was the "main" guest of the evening and if you aren't familiar with the name you will be with the face. Look at his IMDB page. It has ninety-five entries for acting alone! 95!! My favorite is Lazlo Hollyfield from the 80's classic Real Genius. (Side note: they wanted him to read for Kent) The focus of the night was being a character actor and the director/actor relationship. How they had the evening set up was that a clip played from a movie staring John and then discussion followed. Lots of funny hollywood anecdotes and really insightful nuggets on filmmaking.

Here is the list of notes that I scribbled down throughout the night. Sorry if they come off all stream-of-consciousness:

-During an audition, have actors read off-book.

-Move your actors around in scene. Give them action/something to do.

-After writing a character, give it to the actor and get out of the way.

-Be open to improve, but anchor the improve to the scene.

-if you learn your lines well be fore the scene, it opens you up to explore other avenues. Kinda like "know the rules before breaking them."

-If you start to fall behind, slow down!! Speeding up will only cause mistakes.

-Be economical with your camera angles.

-Find the physical truth, then the rest. How does a character walk, etc.

Great evening and left feeling rejuvenated if slightly tired as I was up past my-living-with-a-baby 8 o'clock bedtime.

-b

Is this really your final draft?

Upon my arrival home this fine San Francisco evening, my upgrade version of Final Draft was awaiting me in my mailbox. For those of you that don't know, Final Draft is the "professional scriptwriting software." Logic states that just by using it I am a professional, right? This is the program that is used by most industry professionals writing for movies and television in Hollywood today. Being that I haven't got a chance to play around with it yet, I can't tell you how much I like or dislike this version (8.0) over the previous (7.0). I just wanted to share my excitement about coming home to a new toy!!

Speaking of Final Draft, they announced this week that they are working on an application for the soon-to-be ubiquitous Ipad.

AND... speaking of screenplays, I am reading Good Will Hunting with Inglorious Basterds next on my book-shelf.

-b

It puts the pen to the paper.

When you get right down to it, I am a lazy procrastinating complacent bastard. Okay, the bastard part isn't true but the rest is. I am well past the stage of denial when it comes to this issue. This is really coming into play with life post film school. There are no deadlines or someone standing over you to make sure you continue on down this path you have chosen. That path for me is writing and directing. To partially combat this laziness o' mine, I have started a writing group of classmates and prior alumni.

The whole point of this group is to get together and work on your scripts in whatever state of completion they may be in. Be it one sentence pitch, one paragraph pitch, or final draft. You read your work in a round-robin format and then everyone tears it apart hoping to make it better. This structure helps me stay on target as I don't want to shame myself for showing up without anything new. That and it will hopefully turn my scripts from drivel to greatness. I will introduce the group to you, the reader, at a later date.

Our third meeting is this Saturday and I have a rough draft of my next short for the ready. This project is still in the gestational phase. It's all zygotes and what not. I will do a few more drafts and then move on to the next phase of pre-production, of which there are many. It's not to say I don't enjoy screenwriting. I really do. It's solitary and quite fun honestly. I need to to do it more often. For those of you that are dying to know, I use the Final Draft program on my fancy-dancy MacBook. (notice the absence of the word "pro" after Macbook) *insert sadface here*

Apart from procrastinating, I also partake in other activities while I should be working on my scripts. Activities such as this blog. And with that I am leaving you with an interesting article about screenwriting in Hollywood. It's a juicy read.
-b

Brave New World

Dear friends and family at SFSDF,

I've decided to start seeing other people. It's not you, it's me...

While maintaining the priceless relationships that I've created with both the staff and alumni from the San Francisco School for Digital Filmmaking, I've decided it would be both healthy and worthwhile to start branching out into different communities of filmmakers in and around San Francisco. Staring locally, there is a network of filmmakers in my neighborhood of Bernal Heights centered around the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. Tonight they are have a screening and meet/greet with local filmmakers at the newly renovated Bernal Heights Library. This is the first of their quarterly screenings and I am going to attend. The above flyer is for the event. After that, maybe start attending meetings for the San Francisco Film Society. Attend local film festivals. Submit my work to local film festivals. I really don't know actually. I'm just kinda making this up as I go as there really isn't a blue-print for what one should do post film school. If you know of one, please send it my way.

-b

*insert tampon joke here* -or- OMG YOU GUYS!!! THE IPAD IS COMING!!

The only thing I really know about the ipad is that I was really tired of hearing about it leading up to the announcement of it. So let's talk more about it, right? Right? Who's with me?

*crickets*

There have been some really cool filmmaking apps that have been released for the iphone, but that isn't what I am talking about now, BUT I will talk about at a later date. Excited?!?! As you should be. Both with that and my run-on sentence that started this paragraph. What I am covering today is how the ipad will help the filmmaker. Being that I still have trouble referring to myself as a filmmaker, I am going to pass the torch to to some much smarter and more experienced folks than me in the art of filmmaking and the aid of an ipad. (Yes that's correct, I am linking other blog entries to my blog. How lazy is that?)

Screenwriter extraordinaire John August on the ipad and screenwriting.

Fresh HDV and the ipad and creative types.

Enjoy.
-b