Month: July 2017

If you take the time to read my daily blatherings, you will discover that I absolutely love the Princess Bride. The story is an allegory for everything in life ever. Hyperbole? Maybe, but I have found so many lessons weaved throughout the story that the author and screenwriter William Goldman is, in my opinion a prophet of biblical proportions.

For those of you NOT familiar with this story (gasp) I will explain – no there is no time, let me sum up: Inigo Montoya spends his entire life (since he was a young boy) searching for the 6 fingered man – who we discover is Count Rugen – Prince Humperdink’s toadie. Inigo studies sword fighting so that when we finally finds the Count, he can dispatch him for the murder of his beloved father, a swordmaker. Spoiler Alert: be it luck, divine intervention or Miracle Max, he finds the Count and kills him. Then he doesn’t know what to do, since revenge was his only goal. He had no plans for after he achieved his life’s quest! Here is where Inigo and I part ways.

What Is Your Freaking Point, Fitz?

I see you are impatient. You have many more posts to like or comment on, so I will try and wrap this up. Inigo Montoya is to Revenge as I am to making my first feature film: BOTTOM FEEDERS But I have a plan for after I make it: MAKE MORE MOVIES! I am not going to give up – even if I don’t know a “money guy” or any “money guys”. Even if I live paycheck to paycheck and work as many jobs as I can to support my family. I have over 1,000 “friends” on Facebook – and if each one of them loaned me $250 I could make this movie. YES! I know that is an insanely simplistic and unrealistic way to look at it, but I am just as dedicated to my goal as Inigo was to slaying his father’s murderer. I even had an idea on how I could make it worth it for the community to help. I will write about that tomorrow. But for now, I am seeking, luck, Divine intervention or maybe even Miracle Max – could that be you? 🙂 

Consider being my Miracle Max. (I’ll Pay You back and then some)

Here is what are film is about:
[vimeo 222292133 w=640 h=360]

Bottom Feeders (Teaser 2017) from Loose Screw Productions on Vimeo.

I had an interesting weekend. On Saturday, I shot some video with a guy who makes really nice ladders for cats. You can see his products here: http://catladder.com/ After that, I helped my daughter with her cookie/lemonade/bracelet stand in our driveway. The rest of my Saturday was pretty uneventful. Sunday I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Corn Hill Arts Festival in the lovely Corn Hill neighborhood of Rochester. I’ve never gone to this festival and it was chock full of cool things. We met Senator Chuck Schumer, we had delicious food and checked out some art, live music and ran into some good friends. There was one situation that really ruined the near-perfect day for us: An old curmudgeon posing as an artist. He yelled at them then yelled at me – telling me I should “Raise my kids better” or something. I don’t even want to rehash it. I immediately went on social media, calling him out. I’ve since deleted all of the posts and tweets for various reasons. One reason was I don’t want anyone seeing his name. I don’t want anyone knowing he exists. Another reason was I chose this opportunity to teach my kids about forgiveness and ignorance. I explained that we didn’t know what kind of day he’s had. We cannot know what kind of life he’s had for that matter. So although he was quick to judge us, I was not going to do the same. On-air today, I forgave him. He is a nasty old man for whatever reasons and the kids need to learn how to deal with that kind of ignorance and move on. He doesn’t deserve any space in our lives. Also, his art is terrible. 😉

I started running again yesterday. Traditionally, I really abhore running. More to the point ALMOST anything that gets my heart rate up, I’m not a huge fan of. Wink wink, nudge nudge, SAY NO MORE! Anywho – I started running yesterday morning and I ran this morning. I am actually starting to like it. I’m not sure how long it will last, but maybe I will actually get back into good shape – which will really help my self-confidence. I am horribly self-confident and timid, but last year I was in really good shape and this affected everything in my life. I lost that slowly because I fell off the happy truck into the Pit of Despair. But, that is ending.

Have you seen the teaser for our film? We shot a bunch of modified scenes from our film Bottom Feeders and cut them together like a trailer for a movie that was already produced. We’re actively seeking investors who want to be on our team and make a movie. It is a throwback/homage to the dialogue-driven films of Kevin Smith. I posted the teaser in a Facebook Group that is dedicated to Smith and it has been very well received. So, that was a real positive development. If you are interested in learning about the ROI and what we plan on doing with this film, please reach out. Tomorrow, I will write about the Catch-22 of making a movie when you are just starting out.

Today, I am climbing out of the Pit of Despair. My heart is not filled with revenge, nor do a search for my one true love. I just want to be healthy, positive and make a kick ass movie. I reference The Princess Bride (1987) very very often. Probably too often for most people. But that is because I have a passion for movies; specifically comedies. I am not a big horror guy – which is all the rage these days. Smart comedies, silly comedies, dramas and some action sprinkled in (Indiana Jones, et al.) are my jam. So, I have been wanting to make a movie since I can remember.

I saw Back to the Future and I was enamoured with Doc Brown’s JVC Camcorder. I wanted a video camera so badly I was going out of my mind. Most kids my age wanted G.I. Joe or Star Wars toys, but I wanted a video camera. (The JVC GR-C1)

My uncle Dennis had a Panasonic Video Camera that you attach to the VCR, so my filmmaking was limited to the living room of our small apartment. Well, it really consisted of stop motion-esque films of coasters moving around the table and Star Wars figures walking. Unfortunately, I had to give that camera back to my uncle and it was a while before I got another video camera. By then I had discovered girls, so yeah.

Now, skipping a LOT of time, I fast forward to this morning, July 6, 2017. I’ve been working on getting a feature film made. It was written by my friend Steve Miller and I jumped in to “help” with some of the story. We shot a teaser for about $1100.00 and are trying to raise $250,000 to make it. We can probably shoot it for considerably less, but it will not be how we want it. We want to pay people their correct rate. There are so many things we have to do to get this made and we are learning about it as we go. As a writer/director, I’ve directed about 6 or 7 short films – some of them I wrote or was on the writing team. But a feature is an entirely different breed of cat. It is a gnarly cat that lives in the woods behind my house and cries at night. It scratches at the door and leaves dead mice on the doorstep. He’s a nasty wild cat, but I have seen him be sweet from time to time…with others. With me he scratches and hisses. I believe he can be tamed. How? Perseverance.

So, over the past um – 8 months or so? Yeah, maybe longer…I’ve been very unhealthy. Not eating right, drinking too much, being lazy, etc. This has made me the weak link on my team. Those guys may not agree because they haven’t seen me be ineffective in this process, but I know I can be a better producer. So this morning I got back into the right frame of mind: lifting, running, eating right, meditation and positivity. I thought I needed to kick the evil feral cat so he wouldn’t come around crying outside my house at all hours. But now I realize, I just need to be patient and kind, feed him and make sure he safe. How is that for a terrible analogy? Well, this is a journal entry and I plan on doing this forever.

Peace be with you on your journey.