KGB Productions

So as I've been writing of late I've been in my WRITING phase, and it always never amazes me on how a story can evolve once pen is put to paper. I've mentioned that the key to writing is re-writing, but how much re-writing can one do until you begin to chase your own tail, and become unproductive. I'm half way through a script when I suddenly make changes and my story becomes something different then what I originally wanted, yet it something I that I was striving for and that is a two character piece. Cinema is a visual medium, and one that should lend itself to visuals, but dialogue and character development can not be ignored. You want the audience to identify with certain characters or their traits. It's how you get the audience involved and how you prevent them from changing the channel or worse yet press the "stop" button on their DVD players or VCR's. Usually I begin to tear up a script after completing the first draft, but here I'm tearing...

There's a great little interview done by Josh Horowitz with Whit Stillman about what Mr. Stillman has been up to since 1998. You may remember Stillman as the director of "Metropolitan" & "The Last Days of Disco" . Apparently Mr. Stillman has been living in Paris, and is writing. I always wondered what had happened to Stillman, and now know. It has always been my plan to create NOT just one film, but a body of work. I don't think I can create a film that would ever break out and create a feeding frenzy among distributors, but I do believe I have it within myself to create a body of work that has certain themes running through them. Of course this becomes harder and harder since a lot of my time is involved in ordinary mundane things as family and work. I say mundane with a wink and a nod because both have their complexity and their uniqueness. How does an artist find time to do his or her art when life keeps getting in the way. You certainly can't ...

So as I am writing the writing becomes more detailed, and the story blossoms into something bigger. I can already see where I'll cut things, and where there is room for improvement. I had originally wanted to just make a simple two character type film, and it has now mushroomed into something a bit more complex. It usually does happen that way, but when you wear more then one hat on a film lines begin to blur, and one can be in conflict with oneself when jobs begin to overlap. Hence the title of this post co-conspirators. A filmmaker is as good as his or her team is, and being one who is a team of one can be frustrating at least in the beginning phase of the filmmaking process. As I've said before I've tried to have co-conspirators in making films, but it has always not worked for me for one reason or the other. I thought the problem was me for a long time, but it wasn't. You see I have a strong passion for filmmaking, and have found few people who share that passion an...

The above picture is of Ben Rekhi , who is the director & writer of a film called "Waterborne" . It is the first feature google video is putting up on their web site for downloads of his movie. Rekhi is one of the first filmmakers to be doing this, and most likely he won't be the last. Alternative distribution for films and shorts are cropping up everyday. Technology is out pacing outmoded distribution outlets via the introduction of the i-pod, and the PS2 players. In "Waterborne", a film about a terrorist attack on LA's water supply, filmmaker Rekhi has bypassed traditional media distribution, and has put more of the power of distribution in his own hands. For awhile "Waterborne" was available for free as a downloadable movie at google's new site. It is now available as a download for $3.99, and will be released on DVD through MTI video in late February. Earlier this month Steven Soderbergh released his film "Bubble" in select ...

So as I'm writing new material my story seems to expand, and go into a different direction then I thought it would. Don't I plot out my story with outlines, and index cards as they say in upteen books on "screenwriting". Eventually I do, but not when it's the first draft. I work off some notes that I've taken, and a synopsis I''ve written. After all you do have to know where your story is going. You just can't blindly type, and expect to finish a screenplay. First drafts can be hell, and sometimes they're fun to wrestle with. Stream of consciousness can be a great aphrodisiac when the moment hits you. But sometimes it's hard because the possibilities are endless, and you need to know where the characters are going, and what will happen next. That's where I'm at now. I thought I would write about hatred, and revenge, and instead I'm writing about not only revenge, but about loss, and grief. So the screenplay opened up on me and n...