Oligarchy in the UK

And the past comes back to haunt me again. HORRORS OF WAR, my first feature film to the uninitiated, has just been released in the UK on DVD as ZOMBIES OF WAR. I sure wish someone had told me. I’m only the co-director, producer, co-editor, and co-writer of the movie. It's always a surreal experience when your movie comes out in the UK and no one thought to tell the producers, directors, or anyone involved...

Also, yet again I cannot stress to them that the blue cover with armies of zombies looks cool, but is horribly wrong for our movie. The old way of getting their money for the rental and laughing to the bank doesn't work in the information age of the Internet. Every new UK review says they feel ripped off by the cover, thus letting people know, not endearing the public towards the movie, and creating bad buzz. That’s not good business by my definition. It’s a low budget B-Movie with the Grindhouse feel. If they marketed as such, we’d be targeting the right audience AND not alienating buyers.

Changing the name to "ZOMBIES OF WAR" makes sense. They are cashing in on ZOMBIELAND, etc. and the zombie film movement, even though it is more of what Quentin Tarantino referred to as the Italian filmmaking "Infected People" syndrome, not zombies as he so eloquently describes in the Japanese DVD extras for GRINDHOUSE (thanks McGraner!).

I am not thrilled, but at least it's out in another country! Getting the movie out there is always a good thing. Oh well, yet another DVD version of my movie for my collection. I have 3 copies coming from England already. I keep one sealed, one to open, and one to give away.

Kevin Smith's Big Business

I am a fan of Kevin Smith, the filmmaker not the dead actor from Xena Warrior Princess. His story of making CLERKS was inspirational for an entire generation of filmmakers, me included. The legend of making a film for $26,976 on credit cards lives on, but of course I have never used credit cards to make a film.

Kevin Smith’s rise to fame (at least with fan boys) happened in an era of the 1990’s where those circumstances do not exist today. There are so few movies with no name stars and the ability to look past surface to find substance is practically nonexistent, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY notwithstanding, as in those odds are so astronomically against repeating versus the annual sales and eventual theatrical release of no name star movies from Sundance every year during the 1990’s.

Now, Kevin Smith is about to release his first feature film from a major studio outside of one owned by the Weinstein’s since the 1995 release of MALLRATS, which was released by GRAMMERCY PICTURES, and indie division of UNIVERSAL, and sadly, as great as that movie was, it bombed at the box office.

I have a hypothesis as to why Kevin Smith is directing a movie called COP OUTwith Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan without his consistent producer Scott Mosier and without having written the script himself. He has to, if he wants longevity. The percentage of people who know who Jay & Silent Bob is pretty low compared to Bruce Willis and John McClane. A Hollywood movie reaches more people than a typical Kevin Smith movie, as much as the circle of friends I know are well versed in Askew language arts.

First off, given Kevin Smith’s penchant for being open and honest, especially on the college lecture circuit, this is apparently considered a crime in Hollywood. No one tells secrets, and even fewer tell the truth. The way he told stories of Prince, Jon Peters, Die Hard 4, Ben Affleck, and Tim Burton have probably made him a high risk to work with on bigger budgeted movies. Hollywood movies have sunk on bad press or any kind of negativity, and heads have rolled. Given the podcasts (or smodcasts if you prefer), Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace updates, not even taking into account his own site(s), Kevin Smith has very few secrets. This is the bane of a Hollywood Studio’s marketing department. They want total control over the films they produce and pay for. Kevin Smith has been unbelievably quiet about anything to do with his current feature, as in no dirt of any kind. Someone wants to play nice with the big studios, and that’s NOT a bad thing or a slam.



Secondly, after the financial loss of MALLRATS at the box office (even though it has more than made up for that via home video/DVD sales in every form), no other studio by Miramax (under the Weinstein’s) and the Weinstein Company (also under the Weinstein’s) would touch him. Bob and Harvey saw the potential in a long term relationship with Kevin Smith. They also saw a cult following which equated to a high profit, low investment opportunity in most of his films.

The downside is that given the circumstances, Kevin was locked into a near permanent situation with the Weinstein’s. Other companies are too afraid to take a chance on him both because of his honesty and volume, and the box office take on his last several movies. Even Clerks II made a profit, but the big studios want more than a profit ratio; they want to make tens of millions in profit. So that left Kevin Smith in a situation where if Bob and/or Harvey Weinstein didn’t like a movie he wanted to make, it probably wouldn’t get made.



After acting in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, and earning favor with Bruce Willis, combined with The Weinstein Company’s major decline in cash and production, these circumstances opened the door for COP OUT (formerly titled A COUPLE OF DICKS). Working with a more typical Hollywood budget, a lot less creative control, and yet with all the responsibility if it doesn't do well, Kevin Smith is now working for WARNER BROTHERS, and depending on the box office, may or may not get to continue making movies.

It’s my guess that this is Kevin Smith’s chance to get out from under the thumb of the Weinstein’s and insure he has a filmmaking future beyond View Askew, and might never have to be Silent Bob ever again…

But it is use a hypothesis. I will keep any opinion I have over the trailer to myself. I’m not a film critic.

The State of the Union of Columbus Film

I pay attention to the constantly evolving, ever changing Columbus film scene. I have read recently several people’s points of view of what they think is going on, and most of them seemed uninformed as to what is actually happening and what people are making TODAY, as opposed to 2-3 years ago. In my opinion, you need to see more than just a trailer from 2007 to make any real judgment of where we are at as a community. I make this state of the union as an observer, not a president or leader. I am not a leader and do not seek to be one.

I respect all forms of filmmaking, whether it’s commercial production, art films, drama, comedy, sci fi, action, horror, whatever. Everyone has the right to create whatever they want and do it however they want. I may not like it, but I respect their right to do what they feel like doing. I’m not in a position to dictate what anyone else should make, as I’m not that arrogant to think I know what is best for anyone other than me.

With the 2nd annual 48 HOUR FILM PROJECT, we saw a very high increase in quality films. Last year’s 2008 had about 4-5 exceptional films, and this year there were 9-10, and not everyone who participated last year did a movie this time. Between the initial screening and the BEST OF COLUMBUS, awards show, more of the movies showed that Columbus is getting better quality and seeing these movies on the big screen simply showed that off. Even the least polished movies of 2009 were better than the same level of 2008.

Several new players have entered the field in the last two years. With RAVE, VITAL FILMWORKS, and a few others moving to town and creating commercial and film work, a pretty high bar has been set. People working in broadcast and production like John Jackson, Tim Baldwin, and Bryan Michael Block all entering the fray of indie filmmaking, we’re seeing even more high quality work like AIDAN 5 hit the web and festivals.

We’re seeing a lot more crossover from the professional film & video realm into indie filmmaking with Greg Sabo/Sabostudios and Scott Handel/Ohio HD Video getting more involved in the guerilla filmmakers, offering discounts or special indie packages. DP’s like Al Laus and Alex Esber doing indie films when they work on such high end projects demonstrates the lines blurring from professional to indie.

From the nearly 10 year old guard we are seeing dramatically increased quality too. John Whitney’s MEASURED SACRIFICE helped define what is possible with the 35mm film adaptors (D.P. Gil Whitney) and a somewhat unique storytelling. Anyone claiming John makes typical Hollywood fare simply isn’t watching the movies, but making assumptions. You actually have to see the movies to judge without being ignorant. Louie Cowan has made TWO DOORS DOWN, a web series sitcom.

With cinematographers like Gil Whitney, TJ Hellmuth, Mike McNeese, and Howard Newstate demonstrating the shallow Depth of Field in their work, using either higher end cameras or the 35mm adaptors, we are seeing a much more cinematic style permeate Ohio filmmaking.

In terms of HORROR, a genre with legs still, Bo Buckley & Fearmaker Studios have returned to Columbus. Their latest movies look to be of a very high quality and shot with significant budgets and done professionally. Cut Throat Entertainment had a very successful premiere this week at Studio 35 for their HORROR short film. Not necessarily HORROR, but William Lee, by far and away the longest running Columbus filmmaker, continues to make William Lee features, and has been getting distribution and TV deals cut for his movies. No one can deny the perseverance and never ending dedication William Lee has for his craft.

Matt Meindl, Sean McHenry, Jennifer Deafenbaugh, and Sam Javor have spun off a pop-art scene almost of their own. Mixing experimental filmmaking with sometimes pop aesthetics, these guys are working their own magic in their own way.

Ohio State’s REEL BUCKEYE group seems to have gone somewhat dormant without the strong leadership of someone like Amira Soloman, but several students in the Film Studies program continue to make movies. Some of the former Reel Buckeye students, now graduates, continue to work in film and video making movies of their own, like Ruth Lang.

Columbus State and other schools have multimedia programs and are getting into film & video production classes. More and more people are finding their outlet for creation in the moving picture and sound via basic classes at their school.

The Columbus International Film Festival has taken an interesting turn. They are one of the oldest film festivals in the country, but only this past year have they started to really reach out to the local filmmaking community. With lower submission fees and more unique programming, they are evolving.

If this year’s Cowtown Film Series, I am bias here, indicates the direction of Columbus Film, then I couldn’t be happier. Over 2 and a half hours of new short films, none of which were from the local 48 Hour Film Projects, and demonstrated a variety of styles and genres. From subject matter including a Holocaust documentary to science fiction to relationships to intense dramas, we had some of the best films I’ve ever seen Ohio produce. For the few that cast stones that Columbus filmmakers don’t make movies about anything important, I can only think they are sadly misinformed or just not going to see the movies being made. Not a single generic horror movie in the line up this year. Columbus has already begun to branch out into new areas and tackle more important subjects, and they are doing it well. Anyone watching would see this.

There are pockets of the Do-It-Yourself filmmakers still out there, unconnected to others, that get seen or bump into each other on the web. YouTube often directs me to the work of other filmmakers who happen to be in our area. As is always the case, there is a lot of untapped potential or undirected, growing talent. Whether by choice or a lack of knowledge of the groups that exists to unite filmmakers, they are still out there, doing what they do, at various levels of skills and talent.

INDIECLUB COLUMBUS has changed management. From the well intentioned J. Michael Lewis, INDIECLUB is now in the hands of Max Groah and Bryan Arnold. Still meeting once a month at the Landmark Gateway theater where they screen movies, finished or not, and discussions and occasional guest speakers, INDIECLUB continues to offer an outlet and meeting place. In 2010, I’d like to see the group cater to a more educational, yet informal, format. Things like test screenings of shorts and features, demos of high end cameras and software are what INDIECLUB can excel at. It can still draw in the professionals, but cater to the beginners and hobbyists.

MOFA, the Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association has been a breath of fresh air. Its function has been mostly to provide a social outlet for people interested in filmmaking in Central Ohio. As with any organization, it cannot go without its controversies and opinions. From whatever bar they choose to meet at to how the group doesn’t do enough to create opportunities for actors, I don’t think any of that matters. MOFA’s primary function is to facilitate a social gathering for the purposes of networking for film professionals. I don’t care if we meet in a gay strip club, as long as there are film people present, I’ll most likely go and it makes no significant difference as to location.

As with MOFA, and the film community as a whole, there are criticisms as to the state of the union of filmmaking in our city. I can only give the same opinion every time. The film community is what you make out of it. If you don’t like it, work to make a change, either within the systems there or on your own. Don’t like MOFA or the way it’s run? Make your own group. Don’t like the movies being made here? Then make your own better movies.

Jeremy Henthorn has taken over as the Director of the Ohio Film Office after graduating from USC for screenwriting. Gail Mezey has still valiantly ran the Columbus Film Commission, securing work for local craftspeople with little or no financial help from the city or state. A film commission’s purpose is NOT to assist local filmmakers, but to bring in outside productions to the city or state. Anyone expecting something else is uneducated as to the purpose of these offices.

If the film commissions bring in more paid work, we can train and have more full time craftspeople for our homegrown shoots. We can have actors who work on larger scale productions and learn set etiquette, raising the overall bar of professionalism brought to more sets. That’s one of the misconceptions of the newbies and the ignorant. The work done at MILLS JAMES as compared to LUCASFILM is 98% the same. One has a name, the other is local. Other than George Lucas, they do almost identical work with the same hardware and software. Similarly, a local commercial shoot is virtually identical to feature film and sitcom work in LA. For the craftspeople like gaffers, grips, hair and makeup, etc. there is no difference in their job except geography. To disrespect local professionals is nothing short of ignorance because these people have never set foot on any real set here or in LA to know the subtle differences.

If we are to make the film community “better”, whatever that really means, what I think we need is to keep improving on our own movies. I personally don’t thrive or improve with a sense of competition, but others do. I can’t say that competition is bad in general, only it’s not productive to myself. For other people, competition makes them excel to much greater heights, so more power to them. Whatever makes you do better, do it.

I like strength in numbers. As an example, I think you get more people to a screening if several filmmakers share their audiences and movies. The cast and crew of 3 movies sharing a venue, and their friends and families create potentially new fans for movies they otherwise might not have seen. By drawing in the general public, we can legitimize our movement to have Columbus filmmaking taken seriously, as a real industry, not a bunch of hobbyists with camcorders.

There is the attitude of some that their way of helping the community as a whole is to be the first one to truly succeed and pave the way. There is NOTHING wrong with that attitude. I may not agree with it, but it is not morally or ethically bad either. This doesn’t hurt anyone. Everyone has their own path to success, and if they want to go at it alone, then I wish them Godspeed, my friends. We are brothers and sisters on a similar journey and I cannot behoove them finding their own way.

The reality is that we are all still somewhat competitors. We are vying for the same market share of precious few investor prospects, screen time, and to be the first break out filmmakers to find the success of the Hollywood industry. Even with the most civil of friendships, every director wants to be the first one to get to the goal line and we are not always thinking the best thoughts for someone else’s success because somehow that will take away from our own, which is rubbish. If my worst enemy gets a 3 picture deal or gets into Sundance before I do, I will be elated because I can use that as examples to how a Columbus Filmmaker CAN succeed, and I will parlay their successes into my own. I have no ill will at anyone else because a win for one, is a win for all to me.

Overall, most filmmakers put the rivalries and pettiness aside and work together to make the community as a whole better. As anything in life, a film community is what YOU make of it. You can bitch and moan or you can actively work to make it better.

I see where we are now and where we were 10 years ago, and I can say that the future of Columbus film looks brighter than it ever has. If you actually look at what’s going on, what people are making now, and how we’re now being viewed by the press and public, you can clearly see a much better stasis than ever before.

I’ve never been this proud or happy with Columbus Film. I salute one and all for their efforts. May we all find the success and artistic satisfaction we all deserve.

People have the right to oppose my optimistic point of view on the state of Columbus filmmaking, but some out there have not been to screenings and are speaking about the state of affairs without actually knowing what they are. Similarly, people criticize the groups without actually attending them, and these people should simply be ignored because they are ignorant, speaking out of turn without any facts.

Also, there are many individuals not mentioned specifically in this, but are not any less worthy of mention. This was more of a stream of consciousness. Producers like Phil Garrett, Dino Tripodis, Mike McGraner, Gil Whitney, Victor Matkovitch, Mike McNeese, Michael Evanichko, Scott Spears, and so many others (apparently most of them named Mike) I’d be writing a phone book. My apologies to anyone who feels left out, but we are all in this together.

Peace my brothers and sisters.

Peter John Ross

Hot Love on the Hot Love Highway

I survived the Indie Gathering yet again this year. I was on 5 panels for indie filmmaking with some of the usual suspects and some new filmmakers. It seems this year had the widest reach in terms of the number of people from all over the country. I met some filmmakers from Houston Texas with dirt on Robert Rodriguez and a guy from Florida whose movie looked fantastic via the trailer, so I'm hoping to get a copy in the mail.

I was actually asked to watch a movie so that they can use my quote. He said, "Everybody knows Sonnyboo" and that was a staggering moment for me. I wore my "Sonnyboo" hat more out of a need to use hair gel and less about promotion, so this brought me recognition unexpected. Even as My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- and I were leaving, someone asked me if I was that guy from the Sonnyboo website and said thank you for all the forms on the site. That felt great. I enjoy giving out the free stuff. Sure, it's a promotion to get people on the site, recognize the name, but then again I don't really ask for anything in return, so I feel just fine. I just remember needing things like location agreements, actor contracts, storyboard templates, and stuff like that when I first started and there wasn't anything like that, so I am providing for other filmmakers what I always wished for myself.



In terms of sales, I sold a few books, including a couple of the Horrors of War Illustrated Screenplay. I think it's really groovy. It's not only a promotional item, it has some educational elements to it, dealing with screenplay development and pre-production, as well as post production and editing effects on the screenplay. It will sell better once the movie comes out on DVD… whenever that might be. I got a few compliments on innovative marketing techniques for my films.

I don't really enjoy the panels too much. They tend to be about the filmmakers themselves and not filmmaking/general topics. I always try to maintain a difference between facts and my personal opinion. I put out a disclaimer that "this is my personal preference, not a law". The editing panel was interesting because everyone seemed to want to know about editing in general, so I showed clips from my editing class DVD instead of things from my movies. I had more offers to buy my Editing Class DVD than the Sonnyboo short film DVD.



Johnny Wu is the greatest, there's no 2 ways about it. He is the godfather of cinema in Cleveland, regardless of any film czars or friends of executive producers of the Lord of the Rings. Johnny Wu knows everyone and most people love him. Even though he may or may not be my illegitimate father, I think he's got it going on.

I am incredibly sentimental about my youth in a small town called Wadsworth, Ohio, home of the blue tip matches. It seems every small town has some claim to fame, theirs is being the original home of the blue tip matches, and they continue to have a blue tip parade every summer even though the factory moved to some other city nearly 30 years ago. I lived there from age 5 to 12 and my time there remains the best in my life.

I make a trek to Wadsworth about once a year. Usually en route to or from Cleveland, I make the side step over to Wadsworth off of I-76. After the Indie Gathering, I made it a point to go to Marie's Pizza with My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- so we scheduled our return home with dinner. When I was a kid we had Marie's Pizza in Wadsworth all the time.

Marie's Pizza is a small mom & pop restaurant in downtown Wadsworth, off the beaten path. It had maybe 12 tables and one of the reasons I adore this place, aside from great pizza, is that it seemed untouched by the hand of time. Their menu had only changed once in 30 years and that was directly due to my friend Maurice. They had chocolate pudding listed as a dessert and every time he ordered it, they would tell them they don't have it anymore and his response was that, "it's on the menu!" so at some point right after that, they removed the pudding from the menu, but everything else remained the same. If you read my blogs, I have mentioned this place at least 5-6 times. I ate there en route to Manhattan to meet with investors; I ate there after numerous trips to Cleveland.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- and I head out from Cleveland and arrive in Wadsworth at about 3:45PM. I drive through the downtown area of Wadsworth, passing the Lutheran church I attended as a boy with it's large spires puncturing the sky. The old downtown remains very similar to how it always has, and we drive up to the little restaurant and there is a giant sign on the door reading "Business For Sale". The place was dark inside and there was no sign of anything in there. My heart was crushed. I had a flurry of emotions from anger, to disappointment, to hunger, and near depression. The anger was at how it seemed that the giant mega-corporations took down a small business, and I was depressed because a part of my youth just died before my eyes. We pulled out of the parking lot and decided to look for alternate food, but in my mind all I could think was no matter what I eat at that moment, it wasn't going to satisfy me.

We drove back north towards I-76 where the newer section of town was in search of alternate dining. There was an Applebee's on the left… God that sounded awful, but what else was there? As I get in the turn lane, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- says, "Isn't that a Marie's right there?" and I thought it was just some kind of coincidence. Then my eyes spot the same logo of a woman from the 1970's holding a pizza over her head. It was like a mirage, so I pull out of the turn lane and go to this strange site. It was the same logo. The stand alone building looked brand new and it was huge, I mean bigger than most places.

We go in and it is the exact same layout as the old place, but greatly increased in size. There's still a pickup window in front of the kitchen for carry out, and they even have a pinball machine and 2 arcade games. Then the actual restaurant has a bar now and probably 100 tables now. At 4:00PM on a Sunday, they were packed to the hilt. Our server was a 7 year veteran, unusual since everyone else looked like they were 16 years old, and she said they moved to this location in January, and the menu (which was brand new and 6 pages long now) was very different, but the pizza was the same. We ordered a large pep, and tried it out. It was the same, meaning it was excellent.



I was floored by everything. Normally, I would hate change, but this was a nice place. It was still a small business, but they were contending with the big corporations and kicking their asses. Not only that, but at its core, it's still the same food and that's more important than the geographical location. I had a broad range of strange emotions in a 10 minute period in that I felt my childhood got killed in some small way, only to see that it grew up & moved away.

I ate my leftover pizza this morning right before typing this up. I am already full again, and they say that your sense of taste and smell are the ones most tied to memory because sight and sound are used more often, so when you taste something you remember, it's more powerful to the memories, and never is that more true for me than with Marie's Pizza and my years as a rambunctious youth in Wadsworth Ohio. I think the reason I make a trek there and eat this cholesterol grenade of grease and tomato is because it reminds me of happy times and a more naïve mindset I once had.

Well, I'm off to edit some TV spots of the Family Channel. Yeeeee hhaaaaaawwww!

- Peter John Ross