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Showing posts from June, 2006

SAG or Non-SAG that is the question!

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So as you noticed from the ad in Backstage that I put Non-SAG actors. Why you ask? Well it was drilled into me, and I mean drilled into me that on your first movie avoid SAG . There are rules to working with SAG and the pay scale is too much for a first time producer to afford, so one should avoid working with SAG. In short order too many headaches. So what do I go and do, but use SAG actors. First of all three of my actors are SAG actors , so I had to go the SAG route. Personally I had no problem with dealing with them, and if I had to do it again I do the same. The quality of the actors I got were just amazing, and now since making my film SAG has made it more possible for independent producers to use SAG actors . What I had to do first is give SAG some money to insure that I would actually do the film. I got the money back after the production, and working with the SAG office here in Philadelphia was no problem. I even used a payroll company which they recommended which was great.

How it began....

It all started with a little advertisement in Backsatge . As you can see the ad says for a short film, and for intended purposes I was going to do a short, but after sitting in on Dov Seimens two day lecture called "Film School Crash Course" I thought differently. I had made shorts in school, and I knew how to make them, but a feature, that was the next step. So I tried my hand at creating a script with few locations, and few actors. This was key to my whole strategy in making a feature film I could realistically afford. I had been interested in crime stories, and thought that there would be some interest in my story. After all I was hoping to sell this film, so I was thinking crime drama. I had also been very interested in film-noir films of the 40's & 50's, and these films usually had few characters, and a lot of dialogue. If your in doubt take a look at "Double Indemnity" that film alone is loaded with dialogue. I tried fashioning a script with thos

A Beginning Obsession

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Okay it's been a while, so here goes the first installment of the beginning of the birth of my film Deadly Obsessions . Originally entitled "Broken Promises" the movie was written back in 1997, and finalized in 1998. I had started writing a journal of my progress in making the film back in Feb. '98. Till this day I still keep a journal and the one journal has multiplied to 16 journals. One it was to keep my sanity, and another it was to serve as a reminder of what I needed to do. Since I was extremely low budget I myself was responsible for getting things done. This helped and hurt me through the years of getting to the final print of the film. Before venturing into my feature I saw countless indie films both good and bad, and I made mental notes on how I should proceed. Back in 1998 digital video really didn't exsist. It was only AFTER that I shot my film that I the digital revolution started to happen with a vengeance. Shooting on film was my only choice back th

Obsessive: Obsessions

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Okay, so I've been mulling it over and looking around the net reading other film type blogs. I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot better blogs about films, and film reviews then mine, so why in the hell am I doing it? Maybe because I like to give props to certain films that have influenced me, and that I feel are worth mentioning. I'm not the eloquent reviewer of films that I try to be. My film studies grades way back in college can back me up there. I could never fully express or as I said bullshit my way through a review or a critical analysis of a film. I was young and full of myself, and certainly didn't have the patience back then. After all I was in school because I wanted to MAKE films, NOT review them. Of course I learned later that you can't make a GOOD film without appreciating GOOD cinema, and what better way to do that then write about them. After all the New wave started like that, so what do I want to say here? Well it's been my goal

Saturday Night Fever

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Okay, so I had the chance to watch this film again over the Memorial day week-end, and realized that I still like this movie a lot. Saturday Night Fever came out in 1977, and it single handedly gave disco a fad that was really on it's way out a reprieve. John Badham the director of the film was once quoted as saying that "we were making a small film about a fad that was slowly dying out", and he was right. Saturday Night Fever was written by Norman Wexler, but was based on an article written in a magazine entitled: "Tribal Rights of the New Saturday Night". The movie has gained legendary status through Travolta's performance on and off the dance floor. To simple write up Saturday Night Fever as just another dance movie would be doing it a big disservice. There is actually a story here, and it's about Travolta's character Tony Manero. Saturday Night Fever is about a young man and his confusion and frustration about living a life he's not happy wi