George Lucas Junior

With all that I’ve got going on, do I really need to look into the past and re-visit a 10 year old short film? Apparently, yes I do. I was in the shower, naked as I usually am, and it occurred to me that yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of shooting my short film BITTER OLD MAN, a harsh take on racism. I thought about how in the last 10 years I have advanced quite a bit with FX work and how the FX in this film, particularly the greenscreen work, was pretty dated and horrible.

The problem is that I did not have the master files anymore. They have been deleted for 9 years or so. At the time that I edited this film, we shot in true 16x9 widescreen, but my master copy was a letterboxed version of that in 4:3 which does not look good uprezzed to HD (or even SD). The project files are so old and using proprietary codecs and hardware that are not remotely usable by today’s standards. Why on earth would anyone want to have an anamorphic widescreen version of the movie? It's not like TV's will be rectangular in the future, or a 16x9 aspect ratio....

16x9 originated standard definition uprezzes so much better to HD than 4:3 (old TV shaped material) that it is almost worthwhile to re-do this edit just for that, but what I am capable of today with greenscreen and visual FX far surpasses what I could do 10 years ago. Armed with tutorials and product from VIDEOCOPILOT.NET and we have the makings of an epic DO OVER.

It also doesn’t hurt to have an Intern to digitize the footage and the mandate to re-edit the short from scratch. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, as it is a 10 year old movie. I just think that if I modernized the FX for the end sequence, it might find a new life. It’s an important work to me.

Bitter Old Man is about a more modern racist, someone who doesn’t mind his son dating an African American woman, but it somehow crosses a line to marry one, has current overtones. It is especially relevant in the Obama years, where old prejudices seem to have been reignited. I did NOT base this on my own father at all. He’s not racist. I based it on a friend I knew after High School in that other worldly time before going to college, a guy we nicknamed “Skid”. I took several real life conversations we had and morphed it into this script. I felt a father-son relationship was more interesting to explore dramatically. Movies aren’t real life. Shocking, but true. I like nudging something real into the realm of fiction. It just makes for better storytelling.

So between finishing 6 more episodes of Framelines for a deadline, a shoot in San Diego, on top of whatever commercial work finds its way in front of me, I have decided THIS is how I should spend my free time. I need to go to the GEORGE LUCAS SUPPORT GROUP and stop tinkering with my old movies.

A Dogmatic View of the Red State of Distribution

Kevin Smith announced his retirement from directing at Sundance this past Sunday night after screening his latest movie, a horror film called RED STATE. He has one more film to shoot, but then he intends to “retire”. He has decided to self distribute RED STATE and do a roadshow tour of the film, selling himself and a Q&A as a part of the ticket price. There’s also a promise to help promote and distribute fresh filmmaking talent.

This move was unexpected on one hand, but unsurprising on the other. It makes sense. His last several movies have bombed at the box office. As I described in a previous blog, COP OUT was a chance to get out from under the thumb of the Weinsteins, and that ploy failed. Kevin Smith lived (and died) by the Weinsteins. If they didn't like the project he was going to make, there was nowhere else to go. He tried MALLRATS (Grammercy/Universal), and more recently COP OUT (Warner Bros) out from under the Weinsteins, and both bombed at the box office. Now he's been consistently losing box office for the Weinsteins. Looking at his career purely from a mathematical standpoint, he's a risk to invest in. The costs of his film go up and their return on investment goes down. In other words, he's paying the price for being unconventional.

Self distribution for Kevin Smith makes sense. He has an enormous fan base… by the standard of indie film, but apparently has not been able to cross over into the Studio System’s definition. Almost always profitable, but the studios want more than to spend $9 million and make $30 million. They want to safely invest $50 million and make back $120 million or more. Except the Weinstein’s because that kind of gamble could sink them like New Line or MGM did. So what is a modestly successful, very notorious filmmaker to do? Put the movie out his own self.

What a lot of Kevin Smith fans don't realize is that his bold statements and total transparency on sets, as well has incredibly scathing and detailed descriptions of Hollywood in his podcasts/college speaking/DVD's are NOT appealing to their productions. When the big studios sink millions of dollars into a movie, they want control of every part of how that movie is leaked to the public. Kevin Smith tells everyone everything. Combine that with stories like he did of head of Warner Bros. and Tim Burton on Superman Lives, and you have the makings of a Hollywood Pariah and hero to the underdog.

We all related to Kevin Smith because he represents a generation and a movement in indie film, but his actual success within the industry is not very high. He never scraped out of the indie cult hero and into mainstream with a crossover hit. It's hard for our perception to see that since he has successes that most of us dream about; works with actors that win Oscars, etc.

Now he’s in that purgatory between famous and infamous. He has the time to interact directly with fans via TWITTER and FACEBOOK, but can’t really relate to their lives, struggles, or concerns. It’s not as easy to make pop culture references when you are one. Maybe most of the early devotees related more to the author when the guy writing characters talking about Star Wars wasn’t going to Skywalker Ranch to mix his movies.

As a fanatic for his movies in the 1990's, I can say without a doubt the last 10 years have yielded only a single movie I liked, CLERKS 2. I hated JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, JERSEY GIRL, ZACK & MIRI, and even the CLERKS ANIMATED SERIES.

Some of this “retirement” might be coming from Kevin Smith’s issues with reviewers. When COP OUT received bad reviews, Kevin Smith went on a tirade about how it’s unfair because reviewers see the movie for free. Whilst I agree in principal that you have a radically different view of a movie when paying (I disliked TRON LEGACY more because it wasn’t worth $31 for 2 people), that’s not the same as accepting that many people may not like the movies he makes.

The Semi Annual Birthday Blog

Another year come and gone. So far, 2011 looks like a good year. We’re barely into the year and a lot of good things are coming down the pike, and I’m not even a fish, nor do I live near a river. I’m working on so many projects at the moment that I’m frying my brain. I hear the sizzle of my noodle in the frying pan right now.

FRAMELINES, our PBS show about filmmakers is taking off. Two episodes complete and another 6 on the board being completed steadily. I love this show and what we’re doing. We premiere in North Eastern Ohio on Feb 26th, and roll out steadily in the rest of the state. WOSU in Columbus won’t start airing until April sometime, and even then not in primetime. In the age of DVR’s, that won’t be a problem. I like the 2nd episode a lot. We’ve got a new template for the show and the transitions et al. The rest of the shows should be a little easier to finish now that some of the “creative” is done.

ACCIDENTAL ART continues to push its way into the world. Investors have started to put money forth slowly, but most certainly. This OPENFILM.COM contest has started the whole “online cheating” that I mentioned in a previous blog. Someone is logging in and voting the exact same 8 movies, 7 with 1 star and 1 with 5 stars, all inside of the same few minutes and from accounts with derivatives of the same name. EG jgreen, jgreen2, jaredgreen, etc. (actual accounts doing this). At least we’re still in the Top Ten so far with only a week to go.

HORRORS OF WAR still manages to invade my life as we got released in several European countries without anyone telling us. Or paying us. Distributors are criminals. No exceptions. Never trust anyone in the film selling and buying business. At least there is some new poster art coming from this. In some countries the title is now “NAZI ZOMBIES”.

The cats continue to perturb and cause trouble. Mister “V” has grown quite large and plump to boot. He burrowed in a hole in the side of the couch, which now has become his new fort. He sleeps on my head like a Russian hat, keeping us both warm in the winter months.

I’ve got a music video shoot in San Diego coming up next month, so more on that later.

The Return of Horrors of War II : the Wrath of Hitler’s Finger

It seems I can never escape my first film. HORRORS OF WAR just popped up in Sweden. All new DVD art, and without any notice to the producers, directors, or anyone else. The new cover art is obviously inspired by Inglourious Basterds, but pretty darn cool. SEE PIC BELOW

Along with this surprise DVD release that no one thought to tell me about, I also received an email from someone in the UK who bought the DVD. Now this became interesting if for no other reason than the interesting content of the note.


I live in the U.K and films are my life. I own over 500 dvds and still have over 300 vhs video tapes stored away in a cupboard. I love any kind of film from comedys,action,thrillers,mysterys,sci-fi and horror films are my favorite.My wife brought me this film for my birthday last year but it was titled Zombies of War and when I opened it I could not wait to watch it as I love zombie films.That night we watched it together and to be honest we both thought it was a pretty bad movie, the sound and picture was bad and the story kinda jumped from one thing to another. I didn’t really get it and the film felt like it went on forever.

Now I have not sent you an email to bash the film,quite the opposite. Im sending you this to say well done.

I have read all the posts about this film on IMDB and while I agree with most I was really surprised to see that you were on there responding to the messages.

I have never seen that from a director,actor or producer before and I have to say it was pleasing to see that you and the people who worked on the film went on there to not only defend the film but not to get all shitty about the negative response from the posters. You answered all the posts with a very positive attitude and I salute you and your crew for that.I can imagine how hard it is to make a film with all the time and effort and money that goes into it all and if you don’t make a great movie then you can still hold your head up high knowing that they are selling and renting copies of the film around the world and you can say I MADE THAT.Not many people can say they have made a film and had it released on dvd so well done to you. I will continue to follow your work and hope that one day you will have a blockbuster on your hands.Im sure if you keep working hard it will happen for you.As I say movies are my life so I will give anything a watch and if you ever do any filming in the U.K and need any extras I would love to help.

Much like the mixed signals in the email, I have mixed emotions. I am quite proud of the movie HORRORS OF WAR, but it also resides as a perpetual pain in my ass. I failed critically and artistically with my own intentions for the film. We did better than 95% of indie films made in that we got distribution and my feature film is available at Blockbuster, Netflix, and Amazon.com as well as in over a dozen countries. We put money back into the investor’s hands, which even fewer independent films ever do.

As for IMDB, I’m not famous or even infamous. I have the time to go and respond to my critics on the Internet Movie Database. Being polite and respectful of dissenting opinions is just a common courtesy. Grown ups realize that not everyone will like your work and you have to accept that and learn to live with it.

I respect this guy's opinions and criticisms, even the ones I don't agree with. If by some miracle I shoot a movie in the UK (very unlikely), then he's more than welcome to take part.

Accidental Art

Accidental Art: "This is the short film ACCIDENTAL ART, which is itself the first 5 minutes of an upcoming feature film. The story revolves around Becca, a frustrated artist living in suburbia who is having a creative block and turns to the repairman Jack. Her affair has an unexpected affect on her artwork..."

Compensable Competition

I have entered Accidental Art into this competition online from Openfilm.com called “Get It Made”. Basically, after the one month voting period, they select the top ten films based on votes and the editors picks and then an “advisory board”, which includes Robert Duvall, James Caan, Mark Rydell, and Scott Caan, select the grand prize winner. The grand prize includes a $500,000 financing “package”, that I can assume is part cash and part in kind services and equipment rental donations from sponsors. I put Accidental Art into the fray to see what happens.

I’m a big believer in math. Simple math cannot be refuted. There are a little over 100 entries in this contest. Already, a 1 in 100 chance is better than most film festivals or contests, but take into account that several of the entries are not going to be on the same level of cinematography or story, and the odds get better. Also factoring in that the subtle rule of the contest states that the short film itself has to be expandable into a feature film, and Accidental Art fits in like a glove, whereas many of the best entries are not really adaptable into features.

I am hopeful, but there are always X-factors. In virtually ALL internet based contests there is a degree of cheating or at the least highly unethical means of trying to win. I abhor these acts and will not lower myself to do things like vote down all the movies with 1 star whilst giving my own 5 stars. It’s already happened with this contest where I noticed that my film suddenly dropped in status and with all my marketing, I have only just recovered with over 50 people I personally know genuinely going out there and voting my movie up.

There are of course the enemies. People who have had issues with me in the past who are more than happy to go out and vote my movie down, not because of any artistic merit, but simply out of pettiness and jealousy. Again, it’s all in the math. The good votes will outweigh the bad, and I have to accept the causality; I made mistakes and have to pay for them.

Part of my marketing strategy entails adding the links to all my Sonnyboo.com downloads pages (check), posting on film related websites (check), and emailing family and friends (check). I have to find some other ways to promote at the end of the month as the competition wraps up, but I’m also in heavy post production on the TV series FRAMELINES for PBS as well as day job work. Time is not my friend.
http://www.openfilm.com/videos/accidental-art

Sedintary Streak

Today we shot the intros for 7 episodes of Framelines, plus an interview for another “On Location” segment. We have a deadline staring down at us and a ton more work than I thought. I made a board with an index card for each segment, listing who is in it, what part of Ohio the story pertains to, and then line them up with the type of segment it gets categorized to. I wanted to see where we were at with everything we’ve shot so far.

This made for an easy viewing for organization. If I wanted to make sure we didn’t have two Cleveland stories up against each other, or we didn’t want to see any one person in two concurrent episodes, we could simply re-arrange the cards before we even get into editing.

We have 3 people editing on the show between myself, Scott, and Alex the Intern. Usually Alex does a first pass, then Scott does a B-Roll pass, then I clean it all up and setup a whole show. We’re preparing 8 episodes running 26 minutes and 46 seconds each. That’s like 2-3 documentary feature films we have to edit in less than 7 weeks for delivery. And we haven’t finished shooting the roundtables discussions and featured filmmakers for these episodes. Today was a milestone because we did get the Host, Dino Tripodis, on tape in front of Ye Olde Green Screen for making the introductions for each segment and episode.

I am sooooo glad we tested the pilot episode with audiences at things like INDIECLUB in Columbus and Cleveland. Tiffany Arnold had the best suggestion and we are including clips from the movies we are featuring to make it more palatable for the general audiences. We need to help let the audience know more about the material we are featuring.

I also re-edited the pilot episode today to include the newly recorded theme music from Parker Wiksell, which fits like a glove. I will replace the VIMEO video tomorrow with the new music so people can give it a whirl.

I foresee mucho stress over the next 2 months. Goodbye weekends!

Editorial Bliss

Should you edit your own movie? This is a question I think needs to be asked more often. Some of the great directors never edit their own films and others do. Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez famously edit their own material, as does James Cameron, but he usually is on a team of editors with him. Steven Spielberg never edits his own films and relies on Michael Kahn as he has for 35 years with only 2 exceptions in his feature film career. Why would you want to work with an editor?


I cite as an example a single scene from Star Wars A New Hope from 1977. The scene where Luke and the droids are sitting with Ben Kenobi in his house. In the script and in the shoot, the scene started with R2D2 showing off the hologram of Princess Leia saying “Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi” and then they talk about the Clone Wars. Do you remember this scene?
During post production, editor Paul Hirsch looked at this and told George “I don’t think this is right. You have the princess begging for help and saying her ship was under attack, and THEN you have Ben and Luke talking casually about his father and going on about historical things. I think we need to reverse this because once you see this hologram, they need to be in a hurry and get on with the story…” and George agreed. As a writer/director, sometimes you are so close to the material you lose sight of how the audience will view it. Simple mistakes like this might slip past the goalie if you are creating in a vacuum.

Paul Hirsch won an Oscar ™ for Star Wars by the way…

Editing is the process of possibly fixing mistakes and re-motivating characters. It’s a 3rd chance, after the script (1st) and the shoot (2nd). They call editing the Final Re-Write for a reason.