On Saturday, I helped out the Dark Embrace Film team with the production of The Short Con, written and directed by Elvis Diaz, a resident of New London. This weekend marked the second week of production for the cast and crew. Initially, I was suppose to show-up Friday night, but Lawrence, founder and one of the producers of The Short Con, forgot to send me the location information. It worked out in the end, I was physically spent and needed to go home to recouperate. I haven't gotten much sleep this week, I've had rehearsals for a play, a staged reading (which I had to learn an African accent for, I was a refugee from Darfur), and had to set-up a pre-production meeting for the film I plan to shoot in November - all this plus my nine to five. It was a lot.

After the staged reading, I called Lawrence to remind him that he forgot to send me the information and that I couldn't make it to the shoot. I told him that I could be there most of the day on Saturday and he was cool with that. It was going to be a 8:30 a.m. crew call in New London, Connecticut. I was not looking forward to the drive, but since I'm also a producer on the film I wanted to be there to show my support to Elvis and help out.

When I spoke to Lawrence, he said things went pretty well the weekend before, there were a few issues, but those issues were dealt with. I still had my reservations about the day and didn't know what to expect. I just hoped I wasn't walking into a production train wreck. I did not, Elvis ran a tight ship. The cast and crew were great. Elvis hired a few student filmmakers, who came to the set with heart and professionalism. This is a blessing, especially when it's an ultra low-budget and you can't afford to pay most of the crew. Everyone did a stellar job including the actors. At the end of the night I didn't want to leave, but I had to tend to other plans I made.

There were moments when I can look back and know a few things could have been better organized, there was to much down time at times, we didn't have a needed prop (luckily they were able to use my purse), or no special effects make-up to create a scar and bruises when we needed it. But that can happen when you shoot on an ultra-low budget and don't cross all your T's or dot all your I's. These mistakes help everyone to learn and hopefully that won't happen a second time around. If the crew is good and takes notes it usually doesn't.

There was also some icing on the cake. I had planned on leaving at six due to dinner plans, but those plans were cancelled at the last minute and it was to my benefit. I'm glad I stuck around to meet Michael Naughton, a staff writer from The Day, a New London newspaper and Tim Martin, a staff photojournalist. Tim and Michael were great. Both men came to capture the story of a writer/director who is trying to live his dream. They spent a good deal of time talking to Elvis, Lawrence, and other crew members including myself. Earlier today, I made sure to thank them via email for their time (note: always thank people for their time, it's the curtious thing to do and people remember it.)

I'm really excited because this will be a great addition to the press kit when we begin submitting The Short Con to film festivals. This is just the beginning. I can't wait to see a rough cut of the film. We get better with each film we do and that gives me hope for when I direct After the Headlines. Right now I'm going crazy trying to secure some locations and crew, luckily I have my actors (all of whom I worked with before, YEAH).

The story should be out later this week. It will be interesting to see how Michael shapes the piece. I'm looking forward to it no matter how big or small, after all this is free publicity. I consider the whole cast and crew lucky to have received this opportunity.

In the meantime, I keep chasing my dreams.

http://thoth-amon.blogspot.com/

INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT

Karen sits at the computer reading the lousy screenplay with numerous slugline errors.

KAREN: What the hell was this person thinking?

GOD (OS): The same thing you were, when you wrote your screenplay.

I spent the last two years making a movie from a screenplay I had written on Final Draft. Here's something I barely thought about while writing, but when it came time to plan the shooting schedule I wanted to kick my own ass. As you probably or should know if you have ten scenes in Karen's BASEMENT within a 100 page screenplay, six are day and four are night, you're going to want to shoot them all at the same time. So, the scheduler, costumer and everyone else working pre-shoot needs to know this information. If you're actually shooting in a basement with a window, you'll want to shoot the day time shots during the day and the night time shots when sunlight isn't flooding the room. Even if there is no window, time consuming lighting needs to be set. No one starts at page 1 and hand writes a list of INT BASEMENT DAY, page 2 EXT HOUSE NIGHT. It's all done through the program.
So, here's what you HAVE TO DO. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! INT. EXT. If a character is INT and they step EXT to light a cigarette, There has to be a new slugline for that "lighting a cigarette" shot. IT'S A SHOT THAT NEEDS TO BE FILMED. LOCATION If you have a list of rooms - KAREN'S BEDROOM KAREN'S LIVING ROOM KAREN'S BATHROOM KAREN'S KITCHEN Always write it this way. It's not KAREN'S BEDROOM for one scene and BEDROOM for another. Even if the action is continuous from one room to another, the person making the list is going by what the program tells them. They are not reading the script, they're reading the slugline. So KAREN'S BEDROOM and BEDROOM are NOT the same room. DAY/NIGHT If you are INT. DAY and you go to another room, you still have to put DAY. There is never CONTINUOUS, or MORNING or DUSK or MIDNIGHT or AM or PM. The person creating the schedule needs to know precisely what's going on. If you don't write it, they have to dig into the script to find the answers. This may sound like something small and petty, BUT IT'S NOT. Trust me, I worked through this on my own screenplay, and had I written it correctly, what should have taken minutes, took hours (if not days) to correct. If your sluglines are wrong or incomplete, a reader will probably toss your script no matter how good the actual story is. I'm reading a script now where the father and son are in a room. The son goes screaming to his sister in another room, and the sister yells at him from OS. Where's the shot? The father or the son? Did the camera leave the room? Not according to this writer. Yet the father is not reacting to the son. So basically you have a shot of the wall. Here's an example from my own script, that would have destroyed the shooting. When the editor was putting the movie together an entire shot would have been missing. INT. TIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Tim paces. Mom tries the door, but it's locked. MOM (OS) Tim let me in now. TIM: Go away mommy. MOM (OS) Timmy open this door. Tim opens the door, slams Mom up against the hallway wall. He grabs her by the throat. The scene left the bedroom. But, I didn't signify it with a new slugline, because it's one simple line. If the hallway scenes were already shot everything would have to be set-up, re-lit, recostumed to complete the scene. I have one scene in my movie where a woman's house is in 3 different states. How messed up would it have been to miss some shots? If it's INT. KAREN'S BASEMENT - NIGHT on page 1 at there's another scene at the same location on page 37, the slugline better be EXACTLY the same. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!! Until you've actually sat down and figured out a shooting schedule you don't think about this simple line. It's SO IMPORTANT.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Rhode Island International Film Festival.  RIIFF is a very laid back yet important festival as it is one of only 61 festivals that can recommend short films for Oscar nomination.

As for the films, most were average, but there were a few that stood out from the rest.  "Gone Fishing" won the award for best short, it is definitely worth a view if it comes around to a festival near you.
Check out the winners here.

During the festival, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel discussion regarding online distribution.  Panel members were myself, Scott Kirsner, Stephanie Budiman, and Rhonda Moskowitz.  The discussion was lively as most filmmakers are still apprehensive when it comes to online distribution.  The main point most would take away is that you have to become an internet marketing maniac.  In order to find your audience, you have to learn how to promote yourself via the web.  Once you have the audience, you must stay in contact with them as they will be more eager to see your next film and see your career take off.

Scott wrote an excellent blog about how to get your film on iTunes, check it out here.

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