Project Greenlight Episode 6

The beginning of this show started off well. John set up some rehearsals before shooting and the cast and crew were having a good time. The next day it went back to business as usual. Tensions were very high and John in frustration told the DP and the Assistant Director to do what ever they wanted. John did seem to be learning something finally. Some some jobs you do for the money. Although you can still have some fun with them I think.

John still seems to be stuck on that he's the director and he should be able to do anything he wants. He keeps complaining that they treat him like a contest winner. Actually, they treat him like a first time director. In a sense, he is just a contest winner. He has never made a feature length film before. The only job that he's been paid for is for wedding videos; that doesn't make him a director. He says that nobody trusts him. That might be true. Again, he hasn't done anything before. Trust has to be earned.

This reminds me of two things. The first is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. He wanted to make the movie his way. So he funded it himself. He was the writer, soundtrack producer, director, and the producer. When you fund your own movie you can do what ever you want.

The second is from a film class that I took. Let's say I want to make a 20 million dollar movie. To do that I need to make a 10 million dollar movie that makes money. To make a 10 million dollar movie I need to make a 5 million dollar movie that makes money. Etc. So for John to get more money (which means more time to shoot) he needs to make a smaller movie that makes money. If Feast does well then they'll trust him a bit more and he will get more.

There was one incident though that was completely uncalled for on the crew side. John wanted a certain shot and was told there wasn't enough time to do it. That's fine. John really wanted that shot and kept pushing for it but to no avail. When John decided to quit for the day and told them to shoot whatever they wanted they started to set up the same shot that John wanted. This is completely uncalled for. If there's no time then fine. It's a low budget film so some things won't get shot but don't tell the director there's no time then set it up yourself. The DP and Assistant Director are coming off like selfish brats and if they keep this up should be replaced.

Amazon/Tribeca Film Festival

There is a new film festival being put on by Amazon and the Tribeca Film Festival. The shorts have to be under 7 minutes so we have submitted 3 sketches, "Cain, the Lion Cockroach Hunter; Dresses; and Wedding." So this is how it works.

Starting April 18, the films will be presented to Amazon customers, on a random basis, in the Tribeca Screening Room at Amazon.com. Customers will be invited to rate the films, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, to determine the five finalists.

At the end of May, the five highest-rated films will each be featured on the Amazon.com welcome page over five weeks. Amazon.com customers will again be invited to rate the five finalists to determine the winner.

Unfortunatly there is no way to choose a specific short. And you can't choose a different short to look at. You have to watch and rate it to get to another short. I don't know how many shorts were entered so the odds of getting one of ours is slim but if you happen to be on Amazon.com and go to the screening room maybe you'll be able to vote one of ours into the top 5 and help us win the $50,000 prize to help fund our next project!

Project Greenlight Episode 5

So the third season of Project Greenlight is well under way and there are production problems on this season as well. The director, John Gulager, wants to get everything just right to make the best movie he can. He likes to set up shots on the fly and take the time to get it just right. This is great if you're Steven Spielberg and you have a 90 day shoot so you can take the time to shoot 1-2 pages of script a day. When you only have 26 days to shoot a 90 page (or so) script then you have to get 3 1/2 pages done a day. There isn't always enough time to get that perfect shot every time. John made his first couple of days ok, but the crew was worried that when more effect shots have to be done then they might not make it. This happened on day 5 when an actor spent an hour in the make up chair for his "face ripped off scene" and they ended up not getting to his scene and he just washed it off.

I think the directors problem can be summed up with this analogy. He wants to go to a sit down restaurant and order a double cheeseburger, cooked medium well, with no ketchup but with mayo, lettuce, tomato, no pickle, and a sourdough bun. Instead of fries he wants onion rings. Half an hour later he gets his burger and it costs him $10. But he only has $3 to spend and only 5 minutes to wait. So he has to go to a fast food place. He doesn't get it cooked the way he wants, or on a sourdough bun. Onion rings cost too much so he gets fries. It's still a double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It's not exactly what he wants but it's close and fits in his money and time constraints.

I paraphrase the Rolling Stones that I believe fits this situation very well. "You can't always get what you want. But if you try some time, you just might find, you get what you need."

I wonder if after this experience that Mr. Gulager decides he doesn't like the Hollywood constraints that are placed on him and goes back to making his home movies. Time will tell.

Annoya Wins!

Greetings to all!
I would like to thank those of you who were able to check out the premier of our sketch comedy “Annoya” on the ManiaTV Film Festival where we took 1st Place for Best Commercial Spoof. For those of you who missed it you can see it in their video on demand vault. Go to http://www.maniatv.com/. Go to Shows and CJ’s, then VOD Vault. Click on “Annoya” and enjoy!

Me

For my blog picture.

True or False DVD Available Soon!

You've all been begging for it, calling day and night, harrassing us like paparatzi on a Royal, and finally your fondest wish is coming true! True or False, the DVD will feature the Short Film True or False, along with many video extra's such as the Trailer, "True or False" the Documentary filmed and edited by Ryan Notch, the famed Horror Producer, stills from the set, and Directors Commentary! WOW!