A little taste of Back to the Future
Posted by Jeremiah on August 28th, 2008 @ 04:47 PM | Comments (0)

I was driving to the post office to mail a DVD. The sun was shining. I was listening to my iPod. And it started to play Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. And it took me back… Back to the Future.

Let it take you back.

In this one clip, you see why I wanted to BE Marty McFly. Still do. He is AWESOME! And so is that song.

Who did you want to be growing up? And can you illustrate it with a one-minute clip on YouTube?

For Me and My Gal
Posted by Jeremiah on August 26th, 2008 @ 09:27 AM | Comments (1)

One of the speakers at the conference we recently attended talked about the how American filmmakers’ underlying assumptions have changed over time. I saw a wonderful example of this when I watched the classic film For Me and My Gal.

The film was made in 1942 and directed by Busby Berkeley. (He’s the guy behind all those wonderfully choreographed musicals with all the girls who dive into water.) I really love his films. A lot of them are soft on story but strong on music and choreography.

For Me and My Gal is strong all the way around. The movie addresses issues of patriotism and courage. Gene Kelly wrestles with dodging the draft and ultimately finds a cowardly way of staying out of the army. The guilt he feels is almost too much. This film wouldn’t be made today. By the way, the movie does end happy. Would I like it if it didn’t?

Here is a great scene - Gene Kelly and Judy Garland performing the title song. I love the guy behind the bar. He makes me laugh. I wish I could dance like Gene Kelly.

AFR Film Workshop - Trip Report
Posted by Josh on August 19th, 2008 @ 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending a filmmaker’s workshop in Los Angeles.  The workshop was put on by the American Film Renaissance.  Their mission statement:

AFR celebrates timeless American values through the production, distribution and showcasing of films that reflect the enduring and inspiring principles of individual freedom (such as free speech, free enterprise, and freedom of worship), rugged individualism and the triumph of the human spirit, and through supporting filmmakers who share our mission.

I was unfamiliar with AFR, but Dirty Harry over at Dirty Harry’s Place highly recommended applying for this workshop, so we did.  We were two of 35 participants accepted/invited to attend.  All expenses were paid, so we figured worse case we’d get a free trip to LA.

Thankfully, we got so much more than just a free trip.  AFR is a classy organization.  They brought in top notch speakers and did a wonderful job programming the weekend.  It all kicked off Friday night with writer/producer Lionel Chetwynd. Lionel has over 30 years experience in the film industry and has worked with some of the biggest names of all time.

He gave a talk warning us of some of the traps people fall into in Hollywood.  It was great advice from someone who really knows what he’s talking about, but the best part of his talk were the stories he would tell.  Real inside Hollywood type stuff.

He also talked about how the underlying context of American film changed in the 60s/70s.  Before the change, America was portrayed as basically good with occasional uprising of evil that was put down by an average Joe - think Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life.  In the 60s/70s, this changed and America has ever since been portrayed as evil with occasional uprising of good that usually fails to make any difference because the evil is so overwhelming.  It was amazing insight.

After he spoke, we had the opportunity to talk at length with him at the cocktail party that night.  He had some great advice on directing actors.  He said that he would always have the actors write down their internal monologue for each scene they were in.  Internal monologue is not what a character is saying, it’s what a character is thinking while they are saying the dialogue.  He said this is the key to making it seem like characters are saying the lines for the first time.

The rest of the weekend consisted of different speakers and panels on different topics.  One of the highlights was the writing for television panel that consisted of Daisy Gardner (South Park, 30 Rock, Californication) and Tim Minear, Exec Producer of one of my favorite shows, Firefly.  Tim also wrote for X-Files, Lois and Clark, Angel, and is the creator of several short-lived TV shows.

Daisy and Tim just answered our questions for over an hour.  With 35 people in attendance, we got a lot of interaction with them.  It was a great opportunity to quiz actual working television writers about working in television.  The both had great advice and really seem to love what they do.

After their talk, we’ve decided that we’re going to get to work on some spec TV scripts.  The feature writers that spoke all seemed a bit frustrated that they are constantly getting paid to write stuff that never gets produced.  Daisy and Tim said the best part of writing for TV is that you know your work is going to be produced and seen, and according to Tim, it’s the best way to break into directing for TV.  We also asked how it worked to be writing partners on a show.  They said that they have several writer slots to fill and that writing partners fill one slot and split the paycheck.  They said that made writing partners somewhat sought after since they get an extra person.  Good news for us.

Other highlights include getting to meet the guys who write the Dirty Harry’s Place blog.  They are super cool guys and run one of my favorite blogs.  Be sure to head over there and subscribe to it.  We also got to meet one of the writers of Liar, Liar and many other industry people with credits you’d be familiar with.

We pimped Dangerous Calling at every chance and came away with several good contacts and opportunities that we’ll be following up with beginning this week. Overall, it was an incredible weekend.  We met a lot of cool people, both attendees and speakers, and learned a lot.  Thanks so much to the American Film Renaissance for having us. It was a great experience.

AFR Film Workshop
Posted by Josh on August 14th, 2008 @ 11:44 PM | Comments (1)

We’re leaving tomorrow to go out to LA for the AFR Film Workshop.  We’ll be there through Sunday and will be blogging/twittering as much as we can.  Stay tuned for updates.