Crossroads
One thing’s for sure. I’ve grown. Controversies abound with the local filmmaker wannabe’s and I won’t make a peep. There’s more drama than a high school play and I have little or nothing to do with it and I will NOT participate. I have far more important things on my plate. I have choices; I can either work hard on my new script or get into it with talk-a-lot blowhards. I think I’d rather write. I can comment on the sexual preferences of a well known local actor or I can do an interview about HORRORS OF WAR. I think it best to do the Interview. Did this actress have an affair with a married local actor, thus ending a 5 and half year marriage or should we discuss the merits of shooting HD over film?
One of my most avid readers of this blog asked me how life after HORRORS OF WAR is and I said I had an Interview with Markee magazine on Monday and a Horror magazine on Wednesday. Let’s just say it’s not easy to put it behind me when there’s so much left to do and no one to do it.
We’re getting solicited to submit to film festivals. Just this week I’ve fielded offers from a festival in Toronto Canada and another in Phoenix Arizona. Entry fees get waived, and I drop the packages quickly in the post. I think once we get formal announcements, we’ll do the festival run through November of this year, then shift focus to the DVD release in North America. Yes, that’s right – HORRORS OF WAR on DVD this year, at least as it stands now. Things may change, the release might get bumped back, but I think it’s going to hit on schedule this fall.
As I think about it, it was one year ago today we were on set and I was directing on HORRORS OF WAR. Consulting my shooting schedule, we were in Mechanicsburg shooting the Chateau exteriors, where we shot & killed Brandy at least 8 times in a row. It doesn’t feel like a year ago, but it was.
Since my last blog, I was on set at Johnny Wu’s feature shoot for THE RAPTURE. Johnny Wu is a talented guy who surrounds himself with good people. The crew, unlike many Columbus shoots, is not half-assing it waiting for their turn to direct, convinced they could do it better.
Other than that, it was a wonder to see Brandy acting in the film, especially in very very provocative outfits that reveal much and hid little. Gee, thanks Christine for making my girlfriend the object of attention for every erect penis in the state of Ohio for 2 weeks. Actually, yet again, I don’t experience jealousy. I don’t mind because it’s me she’s coming home to, so there’s no bother. I trust her implicitly, no matter whom the guys are and how much they try.
I worked with actors ever so briefly on the movie and found that I still have this burning desire to work with actors all the time. Finding ways to deliver lines differently and that director/actor relationship that I’ve learned to cultivate, even quickly. The real truth is I hate being a director on someone else’s set. All I want to do is get the hell out of there because I feel this conflict of interest being there with no real job duties to perform. If I were a grip or a camera operator or anything, it wouldn’t be bad, but I detest being asked to “help” on a movie and have no real function.
I’m certain Johnny Wu will edit together something really nice from the piece. He’s a master at culling together footage & making magic from it. I find him to be one of the most capable filmmakers in the state.
Writer’s block sucks. I hate losing the ability put thoughts on paper and the aimless floating from one menial task to another while awaiting inspiration to kick in. At least at this phase in my life, I can find something productive to do in the mean time. I always fill in that time with hard core marketing.
I just got on YOUTUBE.COM after spending a year aware of it, but not being too excited to add yet another video site to my resume. I also joined METACAFE.COM
. I split my efforts between the 5 best short films I feel I have and 5 video clips regarding HORRORS OF WAR. I’ve spent over a year promoting nothing but HORRORS OF WAR and not focusing on my singular directing career and short films. Since it was just a few minutes work, I put forth only the works I feel best represent me and put those out there, plus the best material for HORRORS OF WAR as a whole.
I’m not too excited because every year short film and video sites come up and go down. It could be a full time job riding the trends and keeping up. I rode the first wave of sites in 1999-2000 and only 3 sites still stand – Ifilm.com, AtomFilms.com, and Undergroundfilm.org. Even sites like Pop.com from Steven Spielberg & Ron Howard never lasted. FilmFilm.com from Nora Ephron closed its virtual doors. I have not been keeping up on the trends and newer sites. It’s too much work to be 1 in several thousand. I’ve done enough with the short films and I want to keep my focus sharply towards feature filmmaking endeavors for now. This little diversion into YOUTUBE.COM is not a lasting thing.
I’m going to be writing not only dialogue polishes on my next feature script, but I’m trying to hammer out a longer article that I’ve had in mind, but not written for over a year. A follow up to the ever popular FILM FLAMS & SCAMS, as part of the INDIE FILM CLICHÉ series of articles I wrote will be cathartic to write.
That’s all for now folks. I must keep typing and on things other than a Blog. Plus I just picked up Steven Spielberg’s AMAZING STORIES season one DVD set and can’t wait to get 23 minute nuggets of great entertainment.
Good Night and Good Suck,
Peter John Ross, evil boss of John Fromes, now a documentarian under my thumb
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