KGB Productions

After hearing about Dance Party USA I was interested in watching it, so I ordered from the filmmaker. I like supporting other filmmakers, and am always interested in new work that seems to get noticed. Dance Party USA is about Gus (Cole Pensinger) a 17 year old who always seems to brag about sex in a graphic and misogynistic way. It isn’t until he meets Jessica (Ana Kavan) that Gus begins his transformation from crass ladykiller to sensitive boyfriend. Aaron Katz directed & wrote this film and he does have an ear for naturalistic dialogue. Dance Party occasionally has its young actors talk about life, or sometimes they don't talk about life. The film isn't afraid of long, silent takes, and maybe that’s where I had a problem with it. Dance Party captures that feeling of aimless youth wandering the landscape, but there is a fine line between naturalistic dialogue & being dull. Did I care enough about the characters to see them through the film, and I’d have to say I fast...

Joe Dante has been a favorite of mine since I was young. I loved Gremlins , and my wife is a fan of Innerspace . A favorite of mine is Matinee which I think shows a love of B-movies that only Dante could bring to the screen. Then there’s Small Soldiers which was a cute little film that my son’s really like. But what is it that makes Joe Dante that special sort of filmmaker. I do have a theory and that is Dante’s film’s have a humor about them that the audiences connect with. Mr. Dante’s films also contain a certain amount of anarchy which we all love. My first Dante film was Piranha , which was his first film he directed for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. His first film which he co-directed with Allen Arkush was Hollywood Boulevard and is legend on how it was created using stock footage from numerous films. The film is a homage/parody of ultra low budget movies, and is required viewing by filmmakers of all ages. But the one film that I went ga-ga for was Dante’s The Howling . T...

Okay two in one day, and both obits! Today America lost a great director. Robert Altman passed away Monday night in LA . What can be said about this man that hasn't been said before. He's given us such films as The Player , M*A*S*H , Gosford Park , Short Cuts , Nashville , and McCabe and Mrs. Miller . Just this year he was given a life time achievement award by the academy. His style and his love for filmmaking were unbound, and he will be sorely missed. Altman directed actors like a maestro conducts an orchestra. Everyone wanted to work with Altman, and he was in a class with such greats as John Ford , Billy Wilder & Orson Welles . My first Altman film that I ever saw was M*A*S*H, and I was hooked on it from the first frame. The darkness of the film, and yet the laughter the film gave us. You knew by watching the film you were watching something special. Altman gave us a lot of work, and thank God for that. His films will be studied, and revered forever.

Gary Graver was a cinematographer who worked on a lot of B-movies, and by doing so he worked with a lot of up and coming people such as Ron Howard, & Peter Bogdonavich in the late 60's & 70's. What Graver will probably be best known for was working with Orson Welles. Graver had tried to finish Welles last film " The Other Side of the Wind " & to this day tried to get it finished. Mr. Graver tried to raise $3.5 million he thought was necessary to piece together thefilm from Welle's script and editing notes. Welles had only shot about 40 minutes of the film before he passed away. The film is about a gifted director's artistic decline that Welles had worked on for 15 years. It starred John Huston & Peter Bogdanovich Mr Graver had shot such films as " Grand Theft Auto , Satans Sadists , Toolbox Murders , Deathsport & numerous other films. I remember a lot of his films having seen a lot of his films on late night TV. It would have been re...

Here's a link that may interest some. It's a lecture with several filmmakers who did the DIY route. The filmmakers are Lance Weiler , ( The Last Broadcast , Head Trama ), Tiffany Shlain (The Tribe), Susan Buice, Arin Crumley ( Four Eyed Monster ), David Straus (creator of Withou-a-box ). It's an interesting lecture, and a detailed look at three films that use the web to self promote. It's interesting, and pretty eye opening. I'm excited and yet frustrated all at the same time. The lecture was given by Digimart : The International Digital Cinema Market

Okay I've done enough talking about ideas, and what I need and want to do, but I do get a lot of questions from students on what they should do. What idea should they write about? I hear constantly "Mr. B I don't know what to write?" I can't say I've had this problem because as far back as I can remember I always had ideas. Comic books, sci- fi novels, and TV , and movies kept my imagination fed. Now-a-days the average adolescent is bombarded with media of all sorts and it's any wonder they can form an original idea from all the nonsense kids are hit with. What I've noticed a lot is that "gaming" is very popular, and has taken hold of this generation in a strong way. I guess I can understand this since I loved playing asteroids , or missile command when I was a teen. But compare those old arcade games to what kids are playing now, and it's like comparing the stone age with the information age. The games kids and young adults play toda...

As all of you know I've been looking around the today's film making landscape, and am trying to come up with a viable idea for another film. As to date I am writing another script, but some articles which I read on different blogs have kind of made me think. One article is of a actor who is now doing wedding's on film. I've actually toyed with this idea, and have at times when I've been filming a wedding or at an event as a guest taken along my Super-8 camera , or my old Bolex . I usually just do it for myself, and I like the experience of shooting on film. I've even taken the old Arri out, and filmed our first Thanksgiving dinner as a married couple. Sync sound and all. The only reason I did this was for doing it. I like film, and am partial to it. Video comes close now-a-days, but shooting in film feels good. Focal length, f-stop, t-stops, depth of field, and film speed are all factors that go into shooting on film, and coming from the film arena I'm c...

Sometimes what works for me is that I write my original material in notebooks hand written, and then type it out in Final draft. While I type it out I begin re-writing some scenes, and in effect I create an 2 nd draft of the script. It's frustrating, and maybe a bit time consuming, but it's how I get to the meat of the story. I have a tendency to write on, and not concentrate on what I really need as opposed to what I think I need. In film you need to get to the story quick. William Goldman said the first ten minutes (ten pages) are what you need to draw your audience in. I'm not the greatest writer, and I've worked with others and always found it difficult accommodating others styles. I'm not against writing as a group, but only when there is an agreement with everyone involved on the story. Working on sections of stories is sometimes a good way to work. But all need to agree on where the story is going, and how the character(s) will get there. But mostly writing ...

Jack Palance died yesterday at the age of 87. He was one of my favorite actors of all time, and I was glad to see him win an Oscar for " City Slickers " back in 1992. But what I remember Mr. Palance most from was such films as " The Professionals ", " Portrait of a Hitman ", " The One Man Jury ", " Revenge of the Gunfighter "" & " Vamos a matar Companeros " both directed by the Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci . It was only later in the 80's where I saw Jack Palance on the big screen in such films as " Alone in the Dark " and " Without Warning ". Most of the movies he had done were considered B-films, but man when Palance was on screen you could feel your skin crawl. His bad guys were memorable, and no one played the tortured protagonist better then Palance. In the late 60's & earlier 70's Palance played in numerous films directed by such filmmakers as: Sergio Corbucci , Freddie F...

The above photo is from when we were shooting my film " Deadly Obsessions ". It was the last day of principle photography, and I was quite relieved we were ahead of schedule, and actors had already their next gig lined up, so production was coming to an end. One of the crew made this sign to alert people that we were shooting a film. We didn't want to cause any problems with the neighbors like we did earlier in the shoot. We even had a police officer on the set to make sure that we were okay. Philadelphia now provides a police officer free of charge to a production if you request it, but back when we were shooting we had to pay for the officer. It was no big deal, but I could have put the money somewhere else had it been free. After all every dollar counts in a low-budget film. I currently find myself now in the process of writing another script. The first draft is done, and it needs some re-writing, and this picture reminded me that I should have that sign up 24/7 outsid...

So I just found out that Adrienne Shelly passed away on November 1st in her office. Ms Shelly had been best known for her parts in Hal Hartley’s film “ The Unbelievable Truth ”,which was her debut film, and “ Trust ”. She was a very interesting actress, who was lately concentrating on directing. She appeared in ” Factorum ” this year as Jerry, and has appeared in many other films. Her directorial debut was “ Sudden Manhattan ” which was made in 1996. Born in Queens and raised on Long Island, Shelly lived in Tribeca with her family and had been focusing more on writing and directing lately and caring for her daughter. Shelly recently wrote and directed a film called "Waitress," which starred Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion . Ms Shelly had just sent her most recent film, Waitress , off to the Sundance selection committee. Ms Shelly made a big impression on me when I saw her in Hartley’s film “Trust”. She brought to the role a kind of vulnerability that really made me interest...

So what’s the difference between amateur & a professional? The dictionary defines amateur as “ a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons .” While the dictionary defines professional as: “ following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain ”. The word amateur comes from the Latin word “amator”, which means lover. I kind of like the word amateur, but it’s used a lot to look down on individuals who do not do what they love full-time. What made me think about this is what is happening now in the realm of filmmaking. Digital video has made filmmaking more accessible to the masses. All you need is a computer & a camera and you can do a lot with that. Along with the Internet one can be seen by millions all at the touch of a keyboard or mouse click. Of course this flood of films has produced some interesting and some not so interesting films. But why look down at these people who do it for ...

So this week-end is the Delaware Valley Film Festival , and I’m thinking of going. I do know of someone’s short film that is in the festival and it would be great to see it. The festivals requirements were that the films budget was not over ten grand, and that’s why I never bothered to submit my film. Now you say that with just $10K or less how can a person pull off a successful film? There would be certain limitations that is for sure when you’re filming for such little money, but there are also a lot of things you can do that will make you’re film just as interesting as the ones Hollywood churns out. How? You ask. Well first you’ll be shooting in DV. Not film. No lab, and no film stock, so you can now channel some of that money into your cast & crew. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Hire REAL actors. Go out and hold auditions, or use a local casting company. Local talent is preferred. That way you don’t have to splurge on hotel rooms, and extra meals. When ...