I've spent the past ten days in the US, going back to New York and L.A. -- both places where I've studied film in America -- so I thought that would be as good as any other subject to use to start this blog.
First off: there is absolutely no question why the US is a much, much more powerful country than any other European country, or Europe as a whole for that matter. I've been here in the UK for six months, and have really really struggled to achieve most of the goals I set myself. Everything is slow, everything has to be done three to four times, everything is swamped in hours and hours and hours of admin papers...excuse my French, but it's a fucking nightmare. In contrast, I've been in the US ten days, including 26hrs on planes -- and within that time frame, I've worked on the development of two scripts, had business cards done, did my Christmas shopping, re-set up my editing equipment, networked quite a bit, visited friends, studied all our visa opportunities for moving back, worked on what I'd like to do next, set up a goals and deadlines plan for 2007, read every single trade paper and entertainment magazine published in the English language in the past two months, visited the Scrubs set (and saw John C. McGinley -- some things in life are just plain cool)... And that's just the start of it -- AND those ten days were supposed to be a holiday.
Second off: what makes a trip amazing really boils down to the people you meet and hang out with. This trip, in that regard, has been fantastic. I spent some time with a friend called Tina, who's absolutely brilliant and is working to break into documentary filmmaking; with these friends of Mary's called Marla (a production designer & art director, who's worked on and prod-designed Fighting Tommy Reilly) and Blake (an actor from New York, who studied Meisner technique in L.A.); another friend called Charles Vaughan, who's working seriously at becoming a screenwriter (I have one of his pieces to read over the holidays); and spent an hour or so with the terrific Albert Maysles (director of docs Gimme Shelter, Salesman, Grey Gardens, The Beatles' First U.S. Visit and Meet Marlon Brando), all of which were amazing experiences -- and in the end, that's what made the trip what it was -- a blast.
One of the things people always deplore about the film business is how many people are trying to break into it. I've always seen that as a good thing -- you can always tell the phonies, who don't deserve either attention or respect, from miles away; and the truly passionate people, instead of being enemies or competition, I always see as an inspiration. If you recognize those people, work with them, and try and put their energies together -- that's the challenge. That's what's attractive in being a producer -- you find the right material, and then you have to find the right creative forces to combine on it, and then create the right environment for all of it to grow into its full potential. It's like a crossword, in the sense that you not only need to find the right words, but also the ones that fit with each other -- and I think in any creative business, when you can start to feel that a crossword grid is slowly filling up in your mind, that's when you really start having fun.
A great strength of trips like these is that they help you focus on what you need to do now, as opposed to all those ideas and concepts and plans that float in your head without being specific enough to actually sit down and work on yet.
Right now, I'm trying to finish my short film, tentatively titled Love In Sound, a quirky comedy about the guy who does the voice for movie trailer voice-overs, and the girl who does the voice for phone voicemail services, and how they meet and fall in love (I shot it in late February 2006, and I'm still in post-production on it -- more on that some other day).
I'm also working on raising financing and casting for this feature film a friend of mine called Trevor John wrote and is planning on directing. The script is titled Tweaky Bird, and it's about this meth dealer in Tacoma, Washington, who, after being shot in a drug deal gone wrong, tries to get out of the business -- and of course, complications ensue. I'm an executive producer on that, which is my first feature film producing credit -- obviously exciting -- and I think is really really worth the time and trouble. The script is great, twisted, dark and unique -- grim, despairing and slightly hallucinatory -- and Trevor, being from NY and having been trained as an artist and painter, is also the perfect person to direct. We need $200,000 or so (still in the specific budgeting process, trying to keep the budget down obviously), and already have $77,000 -- so if you have some savings, please, consider us. What we have is like Reservoir Dogs meets Trainspotting -- hopefully not too shabby.
And finally, I'm working on my follow-ups. :) I want to follow Love In Sound (do you like that title? I'm not sure about that title) with a few other shorts, so I'm trying to pick two or three to develop; and I'm also working on a feature script. I wrote a first draft of it about a year ago, called it Three Days (And 67 Cents), loved it, put it away in a drawer...and am now sitting down and destroying it, trying to just take the very tiny fragments of it that might be usable. It's one of those scripts you love writing, think is genius the first couple times you read it, and then after some time away from it, you realize the plot is a little shabby, the dialogue is crap, the rhythm is terrible and, you know...it's not really about anything. I've figured out what I'm trying to say with it -- it's a crime film, kind of Elmore Leonard-ish in the sense that it's more about the characters than the (still very cool) caper itself, about American and family values --so I'm tearing it down to the ground and building it back up, as something to have under my elbow if any opportunities come up.
Anyway -- I do promise these posts will get more focused as we go. In any case, let me inaugurate a tradition: every time I see a movie, I'll slap a short review on the bottom of my day's post, along with the film's Rottentomatoes and Metacritic ratings. So let's start with today's film...
HAPPY FEET (dir. George Miller, w/ Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams...) -- One of the best films I've seen all year, and definitely best animated film. The film tells the story of a young penguin named Mumble (Elijah Wood), who lives in a narrow-minded penguin society in which singing is the only accepted form of emotional expression and whose members struggle to survive due to lack of fish. Mumble, born with no singing talents but with mad tap dancing skills, finds himself ridiculed and outcast by his peers -- and sets out on a journey to be accepted. The film boasts great musical pieces (the "Kiss"/"Heartbreak Hotel" and "Somebody To Love" ones being highlights), really stunning animation and great voice performances (most of all by Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, who sound like Elvis and Marilyn respectively, and show off their amazing singing voices; and Robin Williams, who voices 2 supporting characters and is the funniest thing about the film). More than that, the film's extremely cleverly written, starting off as a metaphor for social rigidity, difference and acceptance, and builds into a great environmental piece -- one which might seem a tad simplistic to adult audiences, but, in my opinion, is pitch-perfectly measured to make a strong, intelligent impression on kids and teens. Great film -- definitely recommending it. (76% fresh on RottenTomatoes, 77% rating on Metacritic.com)
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