Adventures of an Indie Film Producer

Adventures in Gotham aka "HOLY SH*T, WE WON!"

2011-12-02T13:34:00.001-08:00

As most of you know by now, our film GIRLFRIEND, (after a successful run of collecting Audience Awards at various festivals in the US and abroad), became eligible for the Festival Genius Award at the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards...

In case you don't follow me on Twitter, here's how it works: After selecting 29 films, the IFP website opened the first round of voting. From those 29 films, the nominees were cut down to the top 5.

After making the first cut, we were officially invited, as nominees, to attend the show at New York's famed Cipriani Restaurant and the after-party at Andaz.

Our competition was pretty fierce... BEING ELMO, THE FIRST GRADER, BUCK and WILD HORSE, WILD RIDE were all extremely well-liked films.

To be quite honest, despite the groundswell of support from the Twitterverse, fans of 100 Monkeys, fans of Shannon Woodward (even a tweet of support by Katy Perry, herself, Shannon's good friend)... even after all of that, I still didn't think we'd win. Or perhaps that was just my way of tempering expectations.

Well. We won.

I'll back up just a bit now. Justin and I met up in Brooklyn an hour or two before the event.

We were almost headed out when Justin's wonderful girlfriend Sarah realized that his slacks didn't exactly match his sport-coat (I'm not ratting him out here, he admitted this to an interviewer from Style on the red carpet). Fortunately, he had the correct pair.

Sarah snapped this pic of us before we headed out:

Evan and Kristina would be arriving separately and so Justin and I headed for Wall Street. The event coordinators had told us to allow for significant delays due to the Occupy Movement nearby.

This was actually my first time in the financial district. The area was packed. People everywhere. We ended up there a bit early and decided to walk around for a while. Justin wanted to check out Zuccotti Park to see how packed it was. The idea made me a little nervous because, well, frankly, we were in costume as the 1% that night - no matter how far from it we actually are as indie filmmakers.

In the end, we didn't end up finding the park and we had to get back to Cipriani to meet our new Publicist Sarah (taking over for the fabulous Corie Chu who is out of the country).

We quickly met up with Sarah, Evan, Kristina and her father who Kristina kindly brought as her +1 since her hubby (producer/actor/composer) Jerad Anderson is touring Europe with the 100 Monkeys.

Sarah had all of our invitations and, before we knew it, it was time to head to the red carpet.

This, boys and girls, is truly an insane experience. Here's how it worked: Sarah walks first, ahead of Justin and Evan. She holds up two sheets of paper which read: "Justin Lerner, Nominee, Audience Award, Writer/Director, 'Girlfriend'" and "Evan Sneider, Nominee, Audience Award, Lead Actor, 'Girlfriend.'" As soon as she passes, the guys start their walk and the flash bulbs begin to go off. I had always joked with my wife that if I was afforded the opportunity to be one of the people who the papp's wanted a photo of, I'd probably have to wear sunglasses to avoid having a migraine... or worse, some sort of seizure. On this night, I realized, I needn't worry.

Kristina and I went next. Sarah did the info paper thing for us and, just as with Justin and Evan, we were blinded by a strobe of lights - "Over here! Shaun, Kristina! Look over here, please!" "Kristina! Right here! Look here in the middle!" "This way, guys, this way!"

It's pretty wild. These videos don't begin to do it justice... it's a bit of sensory overload, in reality... but have a look:

We were followed up the carpet by Evan Glodell, director of BELLFLOWER and a very attractive young woman who, I believe, is one of his cast members from the film. Behind them was Beau Bridges who, along with the lovely and talented Shailene Woodley and the great Robert Forster, was there to represent THE DESCENDANTS with filmmaker Alexander Payne.

Near the end of the red carpet, Justin was interviewed by the IFP... In the background, you can see me shooting (with my iPhone) the videos above.

Once we had made our way through the phalanx of reporters and photogs, Sarah guided is to the bar. From there, we wandered the room saying hello to people and talking with other filmmakers for about 40 minutes. The room had giant tv screens at either end as well as in the upper lounge area, and every so often, you'd hear the volume level rise to a fever pitch, look up at the screen and see Charlize Theron or Tilda Swinton... pretty cool.

Finally, they made the announcement that everyone should find their seats.

HOUSE LEFT SIDE - CIPRIANI

I started the evening at a different table than the GIRLFRIEND crew and was seated with my friend at table 41 with the good people from RBC Bank, a co-sponsor of the event.

This is the view from my seat:


RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF IT ALL.

EVAN, PRE-SHOW.

DURING THE SHOW.

My friend, who I was seated with, is a well-known and extremely well-respected filmmaker, in addition to being a former Gotham Award nominee himself (not to mention Oscar© nominee!) He was, most assuredly the reason I had such a great seat. In fact, he had served on one of the Jury's for the awards that very night. As actors Oliver Platt and Edie Falco began the festivities, he was feeling quite confident that the award would be ours. As I mentioned, I wasn't. Still, I was enjoying it all.

As it turns out, ours was the first award of the night! I actually hadn't looked at the program for the evening, so I had no idea that it would happen so fast!

When Zachary Quinto (who I'm a huge fan of) and Sarah Paulson (also a big fan of) took to the stage to introduce the nominated films and the short clip package, well... I got nervous. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to win. My friend put his hand on my shoulder. "You guys are going to win it. I can feel it," he said.

I should mention at this point that my friend had no access to results other than in his own category (Ensemble), so he really was just being hopeful and supportive...

We watched the clip reel with that amazing audience and fellow nominees. Finally, the moment arrived...

"...the Audience Award goes to... 'GIRLFRIEND'!"

I couldn't believe it! I looked at my friend who had let out a huge roar when they said "Girlfriend"... He smiled a huge smile and said, "Get up there, man! Get your coat and get up there!"

I could kind of hear Zachary Quinto calling out names... I know I heard Justin's, but that was it. Only later did I find out that he said all of the producers names as well.

I stood up, shaking my head in disbelief as I put on my coat. What you can't tell from the live feed is that there were more than 800 guests at the event slotted into gigantic round tables of 8 people each. I scanned the crowd toward Table 8, where Justin, Evan and Kristina were seated and watched as they made their way through the crowd with the same stunned expression I had on.

We reached the stage. Here's how it looked as it happened.

As we walked off, I shook Zachary's hand and Sarah Paulson's, thanking them. I was still in shock, but I did find a moment to be amused that I had just done what I had seen so many other winners do on various award shows - look around after the speech and be confused as to which way to walk off-stage!!!

I realized that I had left my phone at the table and was SO BUMMED because we got taken immediately upstairs to the press room for the post-win interviews which meant that I wouldn't be able to take the calls that I knew were practically blowing up my phone just then.

A funny thing happened on the way to the press room - our IFP chaperone was leading us upstairs when a very large Secret Service type tried to block our entry! Our chaperone assured the man that we had won and, after a moment of consideration, he finally allowed us to pass.

We took photos backstage with a couple of gorgeous Russian girls who were repping Standard Vodka - another of the evening's sponsors - while Evan signed some autographs and took some pictures. Justin got whisked away to do an interview with Filmmaker Magazine and then, while we waited, we helped ourselves to some more drinks and snacks - Being the first award, we were missing dinner!

Once we had completed our interviews, we headed back to our seats. A short time later, I joined the team at Table 8, where I was introduced to the very gracious producers of the other nominated films in our category.

The rest of the night was pretty great, I gotta tell ya. We talked with the other filmmakers, watched as Gary Oldman and Charlize Theron got their tribute awards... laughed at Patton Oswalt's hilarious conversation with her - she made him stay on stage with her while she gave her speech - and generally just enjoyed the night.

When the event came to a close, we milled about for a while talking to various celebs - Felicity Jones (winner for Breakthrough Performance for LIKE CRAZY and the one serious upset of the night), John Hawkes, Alexander Payne, Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg, Elizabeth Olsen...

Evan had his eye on two or three people he really wanted to speak with though, and he got them both:

Evan and Christopher Plummer.


Evan and Stanley Tucci (Sorry it's hard to see!)

I walked over as Evan was wrapping up (what I'm told was about) a 10 minute conversation with Mr. Tucci - the man was soooo nice and so kind.

Finally, we made our way over to Andaz for the after-party.

No pictures from that. What happens at Andaz stays at Andaz. : )

In all seriousness, it was amazing. We got to talk to a ton of celebs, including an actor who gave one of my favorite supporting performances this year (and who got nominated for a Spirit Award the next morning!). It was an amazing night!

Evan headed out as things began to wind down and Justin and I headed for SoHo to an after-after-party.

That night, when I arrived at my friends' home in Brooklyn (where I was staying), I found signs his kids had drawn tacked to the front door - "Congratulations!" "Winner!" - and the next morning, woke up to a flurry of articles about our win... a few of which even mentioned my name!

Here are a few of them:

(When you've been reading the Hollywood Reporter since about age 11, seeing your name in that thing is quite a win!)

Love what they say about Evan here.

So that's basically it. My adventure at the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards!

I'll close with this... (posted to my Facebook status after I got home from the parties that night):

"Tonight, we won a Gotham Award... but we were only able to stand up there on that stage because of YOU: Our cast, crew, family and friends. Your unwavering support of us and our film has been nothing short of extraordinary, and your votes made it happen... so thank you. You made our day/night/week/month/year. You rock." - Shaun O'Banion

Ok. So... I lied.

2011-11-17T14:53:00.001-08:00

At the end of my last post, I mentioned an idea that I had while walking around the city - specifically, I mentioned that I would tell anyone who's reading this about that idea.

As it turns out, I have decided not to share that idea. Instead, I'll tell you another one that's equally enjoyable should you find yourself in New York in the hopes that you'll forgive me for not sharing the other idea... Here it is:

Buy one of those small Moleskin notebooks. Go to New York. Go to Manhattan. Ride the subway. Walk through Central Park. Walk the High Line in SoHo. Walk through Times Square.

Every time you hear an interesting snippet of conversation, write it down. Here are some examples (things I actually heard during a few of my New York adventures):

Brooklyn. 7am. Man in suit, walking while chatting on his cell phone: "You tell that guy, if he tries that with me again, I'll shove a Chalupa up his ass - sideways."

Manhattan. Subway. 4pm. Two young girls talking to one another: "I slept with him." "You did?? Oh! I'm so happy for you!!" "It wasn't my first time..."

Brooklyn. Subway. 8pm. A Puerto Rican man sits across from me. He is listening to music on those odd sort of wraparound Bluetooth headphones. To his left is a pretty redhead. He glances over at her continually in that way that let's me (and the redhead girl) know that he wants her to glance back. She doesn't. Occasionally, feeling his gaze, the redhead glances at me with that look that says, "Ugh." After a few stops, she finally gets up and exits the train. He waits a beat, then, over the persistent blast of music in his headphones, shouts this to me: "Did you see that?! She couldn't look at me! I was too attractive for her (pronounced 'ha')! On account of my Puerto Rican-ness."

I just smiled and nodded. Oh, and for the record? Not an attractive guy.

Anyway! Just some fun examples of the crazy shit you hear in New York.

So. Where was I before?

Yes. New York. I'm obsessed.

I spent a few days walking around the city where I encountered so many amazing things and people. I shared a lunch table with a Lawyer from DC and a Doctor from Jersey at

If you haven't been? You haven't lived.

Them later that same day, I had a meal with an elderly couple from Trinidad and Tobago... (the most beautiful, lyrical accents.)

I met an actress on the subway, and an art professor from Paris. I spoke with an art student from Seattle and her friend who she often paints as a subject. I admired the extraordinary architecture and marveled at amount of people on the street... I walked around for hours with my friend Lynn, talked with strangers, admired, well, everything... and just had a stunning time.

Even the view from my room was incredible!

Here are some more pictures from my adventures:

Can't wait to go again. And share the new adventure with you.

To Mill Valley... And beyond! (PT. 1)

2011-11-11T14:49:00.001-08:00

Justin and Evan got invited to the Mill Valley Film Festival and Justin was kind enough to see to it that I also got to attend.

Despite having been to San Francisco and even living in Northern California for a lot of my childhood, I had never been to Mill Valley. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. It's a very romantic and magical place. You might compare it to Carmel (if you've ever been), only it's a little less, um, sleepy. In other words, you can still get dinner at 11pm if you want.

The Festival has a lot of support behind it (Lucasfilm, AMPAS [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences], Whole Foods), and because of their generous sponsors, they are able to really take care of their filmmakers. We were nominated for, and later won, the Best US Feature Audience Award (shared with the stunning PARIAH).

While we were there, I got to see BUTTER which had a stellar cast and was a pretty funny (thinly veiled political parody) film. I also ran into Michelle Yeoh, who I've known for years, whose film THE LADY received very strong word of mouth and also won an award at the Fest.

GIRLFRIEND played its first (sold out) showing across a bridge and down the road a bit in San Rafael, Ca. at the Rafael Theatre. San Rafael doesn't have the quaint, village-like feel of Mill Valley proper... it somehow feels like a cleaner version of Haight Ashbury... at least the part that I saw, which was a four block stretch of 4th Street.

Our next showing was in Mill Valley, but neither Justin nor I could be there, so Evan did the Q & A himself. I hear it was a great success.

After a great two days in the Bay Area, we drove home to LA before Justin went off to the Festival in Ghent and I headed for North Carolina to make a little money on the Disney film I'm working on.

North Carolina, while beautiful (see below), is not a place I will necessarily be rushing back to. Truth to tell, I'm not much for nature - and there's lots of it there. Lots and lots of it. We were shooting additional photography on the Biltmore Estate. 80,000 acres of stunning foliage. The first day, it poured rain on us, but the second day was pleasant enough.

During that first week in North Carolina, I found out I would going to New York for the weekend. Friday, I'd be helping out during ADR for the Disney film and maybe have some free time in the city before flying back out on Sunday.

I arrived into JFK and, while waiting for my bags, met a very nice woman from San Francisco (but who is Malaysian). She is an architect and was in New York to see a performance by her favorite dance troupe.

Since she needed to get into Manhattan and my cab was being paid for by Disney, I offered to share the cab to my hotel, after which, she could continue on (for far less money) to her destination.

We talked all the way into the city and when we arrived at my hotel, exchanged cards. It was just the beginning of what was going to be a great weekend... and the beginning of e new idea I will tell you about in the next blog.

This has been a short(er) blog than usual, but the next will be coming soon!

Thanks for reading!

S

Hell's Half Mile and Beyond...

2011-10-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Michigan for the Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival and, along with filmmakers Rider and Shiloh Strong & Alexandra Barreto, we were driven from the airport into Bay City, where the festival takes place.

Bay City is a sleepy town on the Saginaw River that has a rich and storied history - in addition to being a fascinating area from a historical standpoint, it's also a place that's ripe for film crews... it's a very picturesque town and no matter where you stand, you can envision any variety of scenes. The one that kept coming up in my brain was a zombie flick - odd since I'm not a huge horror fan. But yeah. Zombie apocalypse. You're probably thinking: "Why zombies?" Well.

Here's a picture of Bay City at around 2pm in the afternoon:

Here's another:

Curious what Bay City looks like at night?

So, yeah. Not much different. Now, to be fair, there is a thriving bar scene just across the River, but in general, Bay City proper, looks pretty much like these photos.

Anyway. The Strong Bros., Rider's girlfriend Alexandra (herself a filmmaker with a short in the Fest) and I got into town just in time for the opening night party...

Festival Director Alan LaFave and I at

the Opening Night Party.

The next few days were pretty great. I got to see a stunningly beautiful film by writer-director Jasmine McGlade Chazelle called MARIA MY LOVE based on an extremely personal story by her friend (and now my friend) Lauren Fales, who also co-stars in the film.

I also became fast friends with Rider, Shiloh and Alexandra.

Rider, Shiloh and Alex had three short films in the Fest that they had either written, directed, produced, or acted in. In a few cases, they had done all three.

The shorts all played together as part of a Shorts program and, when viewed as a whole, demonstrate a fascinating amount skill, creativity and talent... the first film in the series is called IRISH TWINS and was very impressive both in it's storytelling and tone. It's a drama that comes together very quickly and goes somewhere you didn't expect.

The next short is called THE DUNGEONMASTER, which, not surprisingly, has garnered the brother interest in expanding the short into a feature. A unique and funny story that is well told and, again, impressive - especially when you know how low-budget it was.

Finally, I saw Alexandra's short METHOD about an actress who goes to some pretty extraordinary lengths to inhabit a role. If you know the film business and you know actors, it's pretty hilarious.

Living in LA and being in the indie film business can sometimes be a kind of soul-crushing affair. You love movies and telling stories, but the "business" end of "show business" is so often stifling... and trying to find money, particularly in this economy, is just hellish. Trying to shepherd a project through the development phase can take years, and that's just to get a script or property to a place where you feel comfortable taking it out to find funding. Funny thing is, these days, it's not too different in the big budget industry. The studios don't seem to have any interest in telling unusual stories or in creating challenging material - oh, sure, they'll do one or two a year to be able to champion during Oscar season, but by and large it's up to the indies to tell stories that don't have massive explosions or men with guns.

Sorry. Went off on a tangent there.

Going to Festivals is great because it offers you a lift - it reminds you that there are other people out there just like you, which as strange as it sounds, you can kind of forget.

Anyway. I was surrounded by inspiration at HHM. Since I had been at the Festival before, in a way, there was a "coming home" element for me. Alan LaFave (the Festival Director) and I had become friends in the years that followed my last trip and so, when someone else fell out, Alan asked (on short notice) if I would be willing to moderate the panel on "Acting in Film." I was a little freaked out (not a fan of public speaking), but figured I could get by since the panelists would do most of the heavy lifting.

I raced back to my room and pulled up IMDB to get a better idea of everyone's work. It should be mentioned that, for a panel of people who are all younger than I am, they are a particularly accomplished group.

The panelists were: Rider Strong, Alexandra Barreto and Shiloh Strong (of the above mentioned short films), Lauren Fales and Brian Rieger of MARIA MY LOVE and Lynn Mancinelli who had appeared in a film which had played in an earlier year at the festival and who, in fact, was shooting a film in town while the Festival was going on! (She's fantastic, by the way!)

Me. Moderating the f*ck out of the "Acting in Film" Panel.

Shiloh Strong (L.) Lynn Mancinelli (C.) Brian Rieger (R.)

Rider Strong & Alex Barreto

(Thanks to Kari Maples for these shots)

After moderating the panel, we all hung out some more. And again the next day. And the next. We went to a few parties and had a really nice time. Somewhere, within those few days, GIRLFRIEND screened. I was really nervous, especially since I was the only person who worked on the film present and I knew I had to do the Q & A after... something I actually like to do, but get incredibly uncomfortable doing, nonetheless.

Everyone else had already screened their projects (and they were uniformly good) which only added to my stress level. Don't get me wrong, I know GIRLFRIEND is a good film... what I didn't know was how it might play in Michigan. And since film is a subjective medium, one never knows how it will hit an individual. You'd be surprised at the range of reactions we've gotten in the past year! The end of the film is particularly polarizing, as you might imagine. Would my new friends, my peers, like it? Would they be moved? Or would it not work for them?

Lauren Fales, as it turned out, would end up being my cheerleader. A little ways into the screening, she grabbed my arm, looked at me and gave the most reassuring smile... "It's really good," she seemed to be saying. It instantly calmed me down.

After, at the Q & A, my new friends got the ball rolling by asking some questions (something we had done at their screenings) and ... it was just a great experience.

Since I've been back, I've spoken either by phone or email to all of them - emailed some scripts back and forth with a few of them and hung out with two of them... I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more and, hopefully, working with them.

So, uh, thanks HHM!

Well. I feel like I've written 47 pages and whoever is reading this probably got bored 9 paragraphs ago... so, I'll continue next time. A bit about the fabulous Mill Valley Film Festival and then on to a brief stop in North Carolina before heading on to New York.

Thanks for reading.

Having A Wander...

2011-10-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

In recent months, I've had the great opportunity and good fortune to do quite a bit of traveling - first with (and on behalf of) the filmmaking team who created GIRLFRIEND and then along with writer-director Peter Hedges during the post-production process for the new Disney production of THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN.

What follows is the tale of my latest adventures...

This little travelogue begins this past July, when GIRLFRIEND opened theatrically at the QUAD CINEMA in New York, just a few blocks from Union Square.

The Quad is an old-school art house theater. As you can see in the photo below, our film was playing opposite an Oscar nominated foreign film, and an indie directed by John Turturro among a few others. Initially, GIRLFRIEND was only booked for a one week run, but after our receipts were higher than all of the other films that week, the theater decided to hold us over for an additional week... a phenomenon which has continued at recent venues.

I flew out for the opening weekend and grabbed this video on the night of the premiere...

We had a great showing - continuing our streak of sold out screenings going back to our premiere at Toronto in 2010.

Here's an unusual artsy photo I took of our one-sheet in the "Now Showing" case at the Quad:

After the July showing in New York, I returned to Los Angeles and, with bills mounting, took a job... a job that would turn out to be one of the best of my career in the big-budget film biz...

The reason I would say it has been one of, if not the best experience I've had in the business, is because I began working, as I mentioned above, for writer-director Peter Hedges. Peter is an extraordinarily generous, kind and talented man. I have had the good fortune to learn a great deal from him during the process and I am proud to have been a part of his latest film. I will honestly be quite sad when it comes to an end in just a few weeks.

In the midst of post production on Peter's film, I also took on an additional job working for the lovely and talented Ms. Anne Hathaway on THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. I'd say more on that topic, but I'm afraid the Warner Bros. security detail would come smashing through my windows and cart me away only to lock me in the water tower with the Animaniacs. Not that that wouldn't be fun...

During these months, GIRLFRIEND began adding awards to our mantle...

We picked up the Audience Award for Best Feature at Woods Hole Film Fest as well as the Jury Award for Best Feature Drama.

Evan Sneider was there to collect the Award.

A short time later, the film screened at the White Sands International Film Festival, where we picked up Best Director and the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature...

Anne finally had a weekend where she wasn't scheduled to work on DKR, and I headed off to Michigan to the Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival, where only a few years earlier, DAKOTA SKYE had picked up the Fest Best Award.

Taking GIRLFRIEND there would turn out to be an amazing experience - not only for the reception the film received, but also because of the people I would end up meeting. A group of amazingly talented filmmakers with such unique and exciting creative voices that I left feeling truly inspired.

Check back for the next installment!

Brushes With Greatness

2011-07-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I've been extremely fortunate to have worked with some of the film industry's best and brightest both in front of, and behind the camera... I've studied them, learned from them and, on occasion, spoken with them.

The other night, I had the opportunity to speak with one of my cinematic heroes - Academy Award winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Now, though he's certainly one of only a small handful of "marquee" composers in the business, the average film-goer may not know the name... but you absolutely know his music. The self-proclaimed "procrastinator" has scored over 100 films going back nearly 25 years!

Have kids? You may know this one. Like sweeping epic Oscar winning films? Maybe this is one you'll recognize. More into romantic comedy? Try this. Or, maybe you're an action junkie... Go here. Here or here. DARK KNIGHT. DRIVING MISS DAISY. RAIN MAN. THE ROCK. The list goes on.

In short, he's absolutely brilliant and he's in my top 5.

So, last night (as I begin to write this), I got to meet him. Not just meet him, actually. We sat and talked... and he offered to get me some of his unreleased stuff. This was, in a word, amazing.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the opportunities I've gotten in my life to meet some of my childhood heroes and, in a few cases, talk with them like I did with Mr. Zimmer.

I suppose the biggest one was when I got to talk with Steven Spielberg about filmmaking. Just him and me. I'll start with that story and circle back around.

I had been working on AVATAR foe several weeks with the exceptional Zoe Saldana (who was so kind to me, by the way) when I head the door to "the volume" (the name James Cameron gave to the Performance Capture stage) open. I heard Cameron talking as he came through the door and myself and everyone else on that stage were well trained to recognize that when "Jim" stepped in, we all snapped to attention.

I looked over and nearly collapsed. Behind him were two more cinematic titans... Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. James announced to the crew that he was going to give the actors several days off so that he could "loan" the stage to Spielberg and Jackson so that they could test drive the technology - it seems that the two director's were toying with the idea of filming a new joint venture with Cameron's Performance Capture technology and they even wanted to use a good friend of Jackson's - a man with previous Performance Capture experience. You can see the results of this test here.

Well. Even though Zoe would be off the next day, you could be damned sure I wasn't going to sit at home.

I showed up the next morning at about 8am and made my way onto the lot at Playa Vista Studios (where Howard Hughes built the famed 'Spruce Goose') and walked through the door to find Spielberg already in the volume. He was running around like a kid in a candy store, holding this kind of steering-wheel looking thing that Cameron and his team of geniuses had created. Spielberg was, for all intents and purposes, operating his own camera... even though it wasn't actually a camera.

To get a sense of what the volume is and how Performance Capture works, check out these two clips (one and two). Anyway. I watched for several hours as Spielberg. Jackson and Cameron ran around shooting tests. On the big screen (a very large television just off the stage floor), you could see a sort of rudimentary example of what your final shot would look like... as you shoot it! Cameron asked his team to set up a 50' crane move for Spielberg who then moved the steering-wheel rig in an arc motion from above his head down to his knees... on screen, the image showed a 50' crane shot that came down to reveal his actor on a tramp steamer of some sort. The image on screen showed a rough sketch of the TINTIN character who would be played in the film by Andy Serkis - and whaddaya know... there, on the volume, was Andy Serkis.

I hung out the entire day, watching them play, experiment, talk and troubleshoot. It was literally watching two of the greatest living filmmakers teach their equal how to use a new toy... and they all became kids again. It was stunning to witness.

Around lunch time, I was standing by craft service. The stage was empty and I thought I was alone. I was just waiting for everyone to come back in... when suddenly, someone was standing next to me. I look up and there he is: the guy who is absolutely the reason I got into film... Steven F'ing Spielberg. I looked around. It was just him and me.

"How ya doin'?" he asked.

I managed to choke out, "Good. Good."

"So... what do you think about all of this?" he asked as he turned to face the volume. I turned around to look at what he was looking at... a big grey stage full of nothing. "Are you learning it all? Do you like it?" He went on.

What do I say? Do I say I love it even though I don't? Gotta say something... anything, for God's sake!

Finally, I answered:

"Well... to be honest, I'm not learning much about it because with Jim, none of these guys have the time to explain anything to me. Besides, I'm not a techie. It's all a foreign language to me..."

"Mmm." He nodded.

"And, uh, do I like it? Uh... no. Not really."

He turned to me. "No? Why not?"

"I'm a kid of the 70's. I grew up on your movies. On sets, props, models and not cg... I even named my company after a character in one of your films..."

"Oh, yeah?" He asked. "Which one?"

"My company is called 'Ravenwood Films,' " I told him. He smiled.

"From RAIDERS," he chuckled... "That's very kind of you."

"Yeah, well. You're the reason I'm in this business..."

We both looked out at the stage... empty. Silent.

"I'm the guy who nearly cried when I heard they were dumping the ILM Model shop, so yeah... I don't really care for all of this stuff. Set extensions... no costumes... "

Silence again.

Then he looked at me. "Well. You know... guys like you will keep all of that alive. Look at me... George has been on me for years to shoot digital, cut digital... but I don't. I mean, this little experiment aside, I'm a purist so... yeah. We'll keep that around. There's room for all of it. That's the good thing."

I then pressed him for info about another INDIANA JONES, to which he just smiled. "We'll see," he said. "We'll see." That's when the crew started to file back in and my hero went on to play some more in Cameron's sandbox.

I surreptitiously snapped a camera phone pic (came out blurry) of the three guys chatting, but I've since upgraded my phone and so that image lives on my old phone in a drawer.

Months later, I would find myself standing on a massive stage at Downey Studios watching Harrison Ford, in full Indy regalia, leading Russian soldiers through the Warehouse from the end of RAIDERS, with Spielberg calling the shots.

Back to Zimmer.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I mentioned talking with him was like getting a free Master Class... and it was.

We talked about how he started. We talked about how he created the score for RAIN MAN in director Barry Levinson's cutting room (!) We spoke briefly of Christopher Nolan and their working relationship.

In the end, I geeked out a bit in front of him. I showed him my computer which contains about 11 1/2 hours of his music and I told him I'd love to get more - especially the unreleased stuff.

2 days later, I received all of his masters for RAIN MAN (of which only two cues were ever released), THELMA & LOUISE (of which only one cue was ever released, and about 34 cues from THE HOLIDAY including some tests with Imogen Heap (an artist I love) who did vocals for the score.

It's rare that anyone in this business keep their word. The fact that he did is huge for me.

S

The Next Thing...

2011-06-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

With so many projects in various stages, it's always dificult to tell which one might get to the starting line first... but one project has emerged as the front-runner... and while I'll be preforming producing duties on a micro-budget legal thriller this summer, the one that is the closest to my heart... and something I've been developing, will be the next official project for Ravenwood Films as well as my feature directorial debut. The film is called IN THE SACK and was written by Arthur Tiersky.

SACK, which Ravenwood Films optioned this May, is an offbeat, edgy comedy-drama about a lonely, curmudgeonly bachelor who gets so fed up with disappointments in life and love that he decides to wear a black sack over his body everywhere he goes. His entire body. The intent is to automatically repel people and, in particular, women so as to kill all his hopes and thus all chance of disappointment, but gradually, the sack has the opposite effect, making him a source of intrigue and fascination for others as well as changing his personality. Freed of his usual anxieties and fears, he becomes much more relaxed, out-going, friendly and most of all, confident. He is convinced that the sack has solved all his problems, but of course, he eventually comes to realize that it's only a temporary fix, a shortcut around the real issues he has to deal with. The script is a penetrating, funny and brutally honest portrait of the fears that can cause loneliness and vice versa, and the right and wrong ways to go about facing them.

So there you go. We're talking to various investors as well as considering crowd-sourcing options and hope to have that together in the near future.

Stay tuned!

An Update From Toronto!

2011-05-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

Click
HERE to view a short interview with Evan Sneider (and Justin Lerner) regarding their recent trip to Toronto on behalf of "Girlfriend."

EVAN'S BLOG - PART V

2011-04-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

ON ACTING

I have always loved acting since I was very young. The very first time I acted was in a recreational program's production of Delia Ephron's "How to Eat Like a Child". I still remember that I had so much fun. I continued to act in every school play possible and also in a youth summer theater program, Weston Drama Workshop in plays like "The Philadelphia Story," "Carousel" and "Camelot." My director from "The Philadelphia Story" asked me if I would like to be her assistant director on a middle school's production of "The Music Man." I enjoyed this experience and learned a lot and loved working with this director, but I knew that acting was what I liked to do most.

After post-graduation studies, besides working, I began auditioning for community theaters. So far I've been cast in more than 20 productions! Since I'm I'm a huge Stephen Sondheim fan, two of my favorites have been "Into the Woods" with the F.U.D.G.E. Theater Company and "Assassins" with The Lexington Players. When I was still in school, I was also cast as Doc's assistant in "West Side Story."

Before filming began on GIRLFRIEND, I was in "The Sound of Music" by Stephen Sondheim's mentor (Oscar Hammerstein and his partner Richard Rogers). I've also performed in "Annie Get Your Gun" whose music and lyrics were by Irving Berlin, but was originally produced by Rogers and Hammerstein. I've also appeared in Rogers and Hammersteins's "Cinderella" and "Carousel."

During my filming on THE REPLACEMENT CHILD and GIRLFRIEND I've learned that acting in film is very different than acting in theater. Justin explained it to me by saying acting in theater is 'big' and acting in film is 'small' and more true to real life. There are other differences in theater and film work too. When you are in a play you perform the same story from beginning to end at every performance. When you act in a film you usually prepare for different scenes of the story each day. This was really fun and great for me. I'd get a Call Sheet the night before so I could study the script and be prepared for the scenes we'd be shooting the next day.

Some nights after shooting Justin and I would talk on the phone in case I had any questions or concerns or in case he wanted to talk some things over with me. I think these talks were helpful to both of us.

Another difference between theater and film is the time you work. Plays I've been in have performances mostly at night with a couple of daytime matinees. On a film shoot you might have to work during the day and on other shooting days you might have to stay up all night to shoot night time scenes. As I mentioned earlier, while filming GIRLFRIEND I learned that in film you usually shoot scenes out of order, because of different actor's schedules and availability to work. I usually didn't have a problem with this except on one occasion. I had shot an emotional scene at the the start of filming, but the scene that made me feel emotional was shot much later. I had a hard time when the later scene was shot because I felt my character should respond emotionally. Justin talked me through it, reminding me that when the film was edited together, the way I felt my character should respond is exactly what would be seen. This was a learning experience for me.

I love both theater and film and hope to have the opportunity to do all kinds of acting. I'd like to do more film, television and theater work. I'd like to perform in dramas, comedies, romantic comedies or maybe even a soap opera like "Days of Our Lives"! I'd even like to do commercials and voice-over work!

CLOSING

I am so glad and so lucky that Justin's family moved to Wayland in our junior year of high school and that we became friends. It touches my heart so much that Jerad, Kristina, Justin and everyone that worked on GIRLFRIEND had belief in me and gave me this amazing opportunity. The entire experience of making GIRLFRIEND has been an amazing, incredible fun experience. I loved being able to act every day, to learn so many things and to get to work with everybody who worked on the film, in front of and behind the camera! Many of them are now dear friends to me that I love very much. I have so many wonderful memories of this amazing experience, acting in what I hope is only my first feature length film.

WRAP-UP. A MESSAGE FROM EVAN:

To Our Supporters, Fans, Family and Friends:

I'm looking forward to all the fun stuff that can happen for our film GIRLFRIEND. I want to thank every single person who has donated to Indiegogo to help get our wonderful film out to as large an audience as possible. Everyone who worked on the film put a lot of effort and love into it. Each of your donations will help spread the love and help us reach our goal. Please continue to tell about GIRLFRIEND and our Indiegogo campaign. "Like" GIRLFRIEND on Facebook and post the Girlfriend-Indiegogo link (www.indiegogo.com/girlfriend-2) there too! Spread the love by continuing to get the word out to family and friends. Every little bit helps and counts.

Again, thank you all so very much for your help and generosity to help GIRLFRIEND be released in as many theaters as possible.

Remember to keep checking in here on Shaun's blog and GIRLFRIEND's official site for updates.

EVAN'S BLOG - PART IV

2011-03-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

After work on GIRLFRIEND was complete, and a little waiting time, you can imagine how excited everyone from the film was to learn that GIRLFRIEND was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival!!!

But before I write about TIFF I want to tell you a story about a hard time for me.

SHAUN (my man) AND ALOT OF REALLY NICE PEOPLE

Long after filming ended, when the GIRLFRIEND trailer was first up on YouTube, I read some very nice comments and some not very nice comments about me. One night after seeing a lot of only mean comments I called Shaun O'Banion (my man) because I was very upset by these mean comments about me. We had a long talk on the phone and Shaun helped me so much. After I spoke to Shaun I felt much better. I also spoke to Jeff Castelluccio (my friend) who made me feel better too. I feel very close to both of them. They are such good friends to me. This time was very difficult for me, but I learned that with friends like Shaun, Jeff, Justin, other people from the film, friends and family that were loving kind and supportive to me, I know I can get through times like this. But even more kindness was coming my way.

After this experience, Shaun spread the word about what I went through reading the mean comments about me on YouTube, and took the time to collect encouraging loving messages from around the world (some from many of you) and created an amazing scrapbook for me. Shaun wrote me a letter that I treasure, and filled this scrapbook with the wonderful messages he collected from so many kind and loving people, complete strangers and family and friends. I even got a message from Sylvester Stallone!

Shaun also included photos from filming and all kinds of scrapbook film decorations. He never told me about this because he wanted it to be a surprise. Late one afternoon, when we were all in Toronto, resting up before one of our screenings, Shaun called to see if he and Justin could come to our room because they had something for me. That's when Shaun gave me the amazing scrapbook (and one of the movie's posters!). Shaun told me he wanted to use the same internet that caused me pain to help make me feel better. I thank Shaun so much and want to thank all the people who took the time and sent wonderful comments to me. It really means so much to me and helped me so much. I treasure the scrapbook and Shaun's and everyone's kindness. This experience taught me that although there are many mean people in this world, there are many more nice people. I just wish everyone would be kind to each other.

TORONTO AND TIFF

All I can tell you about Toronto and TIFF is that it was AMAZING! If you haven't read Shaun's 3 part blog about this experience yet, please read it. You will get to see and read about what a wonderful fun time it was in Toronto. If you go to his September 2010 archives Shaun does a wonderful job telling a lot more details (like when I met Harvey Weinstein!) and has photos you won't see anywhere else.

Besides all the interviews, photo shoots, parties and of course the 3 screenings, it was so much fun to get to see so many people I had worked with on GIRLFRIEND again. It was such a fun reunion with everyone. I also met new friends Jeremy and Judd who worked on PR for the film. Of course I loved being so busy with so many interviews and all the attention, but the reason we were at TIFF was for GIRLFRIEND's premiere.

All three screenings were SOLD OUT, we got standing ovations, and positive reviews. How perfect is that?! It was a lot of fun doing the Q&As after the screenings too. I loved when I made people laugh. It was a long but really fun day when reporter Steve Pond, from 'The Wrap' entertainment website, followed me throughout my day. He also interviewed me and called me "TIFF's New Star!" He is a really nice guy.

It was so hard for me to leave Toronto, but I think it was hard for everyone. We all had such a wonderful time and everyone loved our movie.

CHECK BACK SOON FOR PART V!

S

EVAN'S BLOG - PART III

2011-03-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

It was so very much fun working on GIRLFRIEND.

I've learned so much from this experience and working with the other actors. In my first film with Justin, THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, I really liked the other actors and others who worked on the film too, but I didn't get to be with them as much as I was with everyone from GIRLFRIEND since my part was very small. Working on GIRLFRIEND on our 20 day shoot, I felt more connected to my co-stars and everyone else on the film and had the chance to learn so much from them.

"THAT'S A WRAP," THE PARTY AND SAYING GOODBYE

The day came when the final scene was filmed and Justin said "That's a wrap!". It was fun to celebrate with everyone later that night at the wrap party, but I was also sad for it to end and to have to say goodbye to everyone. (Of course I didn't know then that I'd get to see a lot of these people later at TIFF).

Since then I've learned there was more to come, and not just Toronto. This is the 'after filming ends' work that I talked about.

I did know that Justin would be back in California with the film's editor, Jeff Castelluccio (who I hadn't met yet), editing the film. I understood that this was going to take some time, but I didn't know that I'd still have some fun stuff to do.

OUR TRIP TO NEW YORK (BROOKLYN), LOOPING/ADR

A few months later Justin called me and said he and I would need to travel to New York for some ADR (that stands for additional dialogue recording) or looping.

Boy was that a fun experience for me, and I learned a lot! Justin and I left Boston very early one morning, drove to New York and drove home later that same night.

In New York that day I was so happy to see my dear friend Shaun (my man!) again. Shaun introduced me to the film's editor Jeff Castelluccio (my friend) for the first time. Then I met Daniel Perlin from Perlin Studios where we would be working. Daniel is a very nice guy. Besides working with me on ADR he showed me and taught me a lot, also letting me hear how things would finally sound.

Our amazingly talented editor Jeff Castelluccio and I became fast and close friends. (Jeff and Shaun have been good friends for awhile). Jeff said he felt like he kind of knew me because he had been watching footage of me for months while editing. He is such a talented and gifted editor. He lives in L.A. now, but was originally from New York. He is a super friendly and funny guy. We have continued our friendship and still keep in touch. We have a lot of private jokes together. Jeff has the best laugh and I love to make him laugh (no matter what......!!!!) Sorry, private joke. I couldn't resist. If Jeff is reading this right now he's laughing A LOT!

After we finished our work at Perlin Studios, Justin, Shaun, Jeff and I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant (I love Italian food and Mexican food). Craig Divino (my acting coach) who was living in N.Y. joined us for dinner when our work was done.

Later for dessert we went to another place and a longtime friend of mine and Justin's, Dan Zaitchik joined us. Dan, a Wayland classmate of ours, is pursuing his music career, living in New York now. It was such an incredibly fun day. Just like I was sad for filming to end, I wished this day didn't have to end. But, on the ride home Justin had a surprise in store for me.

First Justin and I spoke on the phone to producers Jerad and Kristina Anderson which was fun. Then Justin said he had to make another call. Justin knows that I am a huge fan and regular viewer of the soap opera 'Days of Our Lives' and that I was very familiar with two actors who had been on the show that Justin happened to know...

After Justin talked for a little while he said "There's someone here who wants to say hello to you." It was Rachel Melvin who had played the character Chelsea Brady! I was so excited to get to talk to her! It was a dream come true! We talked for 20-25 minutes and Rachel is so very nice. She and Blake Berris (who played the character Nick Fallon on DOOL) actually did voice-over work as soap opera actors on GIRLFRIEND. Since I'm a DOOL fan, that's really fun for me.

Since then, Rachel, Blake and I have emailed back and forth a few times. When Rachel first emailed me and said "I am very familiar with who you are.", I was so excited. Of course I was very familiar with who she and Blake are! They are both very nice people.

After arriving home from New York late that night, it was time to be patient again, or as Jerad and I always say, it was time to "Go with the flow!"

Check back soon for the next part of EVAN'S BLOG.

S

EVAN'S BLOG - PART II

2011-03-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

FILMING BEGINS

Finally the exciting day arrived in September 2009. The first person from the film that I met is my now wonderful friend Shaun O'Banion (my man!). Shaun and I had a few days to get to know each other before filming started which was fun.

Amanda Plummer came a couple of days before we started filming so we could get to know each other better. We had costume fittings, and just spent time together in town and at our hotel. She is an amazing actress who knew from her experience that this would be very important. I am so grateful and think she was wonderful to take that extra time for us to get to know each other better so we would be better prepared and natural as mother and son when filming started. I am so lucky for all she taught me, but also because now I consider her a good friend.

Working with Jackson Rathbone was so much fun! He came to Boston to film GIRLFRIEND when he was also filming ECLIPSE in Vancouver, so he was on a plane flying back and forth ALOT. He is one busy guy!

The first day Jackson arrived to begin filming his role of Russ was very exciting for me. I actually called it "Rathbone Day!". He worked very hard since he had a lot to do on the days he could be in Boston. I think his performance in GIRLFRIEND is amazing. His character Russ can be a jerk, but in real life Jackson is a really nice and friendly guy, and now I think of him like a brother. I loved working with him. I've also had alot of fun when Jackson and our wonderful producer Jerad Anderson have had me introduce their amazing band '100 Monkeys', who play wonderful, fun music. (They also scored GIRLFRIEND!) I am so glad and grateful that Jackson put so much time and energy into GIRLFRIEND. I know he had to drink a lot of coffee to do it and had to get his sleep on the airplane trips to Vancouver and back to Boston too.

Shannon Woodward is a person with a good heart and is also a talented young woman.

Shannon arrived a day or two after Amanda, so we had a little time to spend together also, so we could get to know each other a little bit, like going out to breakfast with Amanda and to Dunkin Donuts alone. During filming, before our scenes together, Shannon would talk with me about how her character, Candy, was feeling in the scene, in general and also her feeling toward my character, Evan Grey. This was helpful to me when I was acting in the scene with her. I wish her the best on her new show, RAISING HOPE, and on any other future projects too.

The night before filming began, Justin and his family hosted a dinner where all the people who would be working together on GIRLFRIEND got to meet each other. The dinner was so much fun and everyone was so nice. Boy, was I excited for the next day, when filming of GIRLFRIEND was actually going to start!

ACTION!!!

The first day arrived and I was driven to the set, went to see June Suepunpuck for my costume and then Jill Sanders for my makeup (Jill had also done my makeup on THE REPLACEMENT CHILD). I was prepared for my scenes and I couldn't wait to get started. Every day was so much fun. Everyone works very hard when you make a film. Sometimes the days can be long and the weather can be bad, but I don't mind it at all because I love acting so much! I loved the experience no matter how long the days were or how bad the weather was.

I would like to talk about some of the other actors I enjoyed working with very much, besides my co-stars.

First, in a smaller role as a friend of Evan Grey's named Andy, is my lifelong friend in real life, Dan Turnbull. Dan and I met each other in kindergarten and he has been such a wonderful friend who has done so much for me in my life. I value his friendship very very much. Another actor in a small role has been my friend in real life since 5th grade. That is Darren McDonald who plays Andy's brother, Darren. He's a great guy and a good friend too. I think Dan and Darren did amazing work in GIRLFRIEND. Their roles may be small, but there is a saying in acting..."there are no small parts, only small actors". They were so good together. I don't want to give too many details to spoil it, but I know people will see what I mean when they see the movie.

I also got to work with Dan's real life dad, Joe Turnbull again. Joe actually played my dad and boss in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD. I think Joe did a wonderful job in both films. It was very comfortable for me to work with Joe since I've known him in real life for a long time.

Playing the role of my Uncle Jeremy in GIRLFRIEND is Seth Chatfield. It was fun working with Seth. He is such an amazing and kind person. Besides acting, Seth is a talented musician and singer. He was also the Production Designer for GIRLFRIEND.

I first met Harrison Lees, who plays my boss in GIRLFRIEND when I acted in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, where he was the Production Designer. As my boss in GIRLFRIEND he is not very nice, but in real life Harrison is a very nice person.

Then of course there is Nate Krawshuk who played Simon, Candy's son. I first met Nate when I came to read with the different children who were auditioning for the part of Simon. Everyone did a good job, but I was very happy that Nate was cast. Nate did a great job as Simon and was very well behaved and professional on the set. He is a sweet little boy. We got to know each other a little more in makeup. I learned he likes to play Star Wars and other games as well. Nate and his family are all very nice.

Making a movie takes a lot of people, not just actors. Some people work on a film way before filming starts, a lot of people during filming and others once filming is done. Everyone's job is important, so I wanted to mention some of the other talented people who worked on GIRLFRIEND. Of course there is my friend from junior year of high school, the talented director, Justin Lerner. Our wonderful producers Jerad and Kristina Anderson, and Shaun O'Banion, and Co-Producers Sarah Steinberg Heller and Jackson Rathbone. Associate Producer Scott Kirkley, but there are so many others too. Sweet and loving June Suepunpuck (costumes); wonderful Jill Sanders (makeup); nice and amazingly talented Cinematographer Quyen Tran; Sound Mixer, Eric Bautista who had worked on Steve Carrell's 'Evan Almighty' and was so funny because he'd call me Evan Almighty on the set; 1st Assistant Director Mike Whitecar who I would call Dr. Whitecar because when I had a cold he made sure to get my medicine; gaffer, Tom Clancy who is a really nice guy and would joke with me asking me to sing the morning song ("Oh What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma); sweet and caring Nicole Rivera and Cecilia Chapman; and of course wonderful Kathy Conzen, Kristina Anderson's mom who was in charge of craft services. Not only did Kathy make sure I had nice warm drinks and warm noodle soup on cold days on the set, she became like a surrogate mom to me on set, making sure I got my cold medicine on time. She worked hard and took such good care of everyone.

When filming wrapped there were more people who helped make GIRLFRIEND, like our amazing editor Jeff Castelluccio; Daniel Perlin who did our Sound Design and Mixing in Brooklyn. He also did ADR with me and of course the 100 Monkeys wonderful music. There are so many more people who helped too. Too many to list. I just think I am so very lucky because everyone was so very nice.

Check back for Part III.

Something Very Cool Starts Now.

2011-03-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone who reads this blog. Today is the start of something very special.

A few weeks ago, I asked my good friend Evan Sneider if he would consider blogging about his experiences working as the star of GIRLFRIEND. Lucky for all of us, he accepted.

He has a lot to say and so I've decided to tease all of you and break it up into installments, the first of which will begin right now. So, without further ado, I turn it over to Mr. Sneider. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

AN INTRODUCTION

Shaun O'Banion (my man!) asked me if I would write something for his blog telling about my experience acting in and working on my first feature film. I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you for making this offer to me, Shaun. You're such a dear friend.

I've loved every minute of GIRLFRIEND.

Before acting in GIRLFRIEND, my first film work was in Justin Lerner's thesis film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD. Before that, my acting experience was in theater, but I'll tell you more about that later.

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. I've learned that it is the same when a movie is made. It takes a lot of people to "put it together" (a lyric from my favorite composer, Stephen Sondheim). Some people work on a movie way before filming starts, alot of people work during filming, and some others after filming ends, but first you need a script. I thought I'd start by telling you my experience of the start of GIRLFRIEND..

THE BEGINNING

One day I had plans to go to lunch with my friends Justin Lerner and Dan Turnbull. During lunch Justin and Dan started talking with me about doing a film that I would have a starring role in and wanted to know how I would feel about that. This touched my heart SO much and it was a real WOW moment for me. I was SO excited to think I would have this kind of opportunity. I loved acting in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, so to have the chance to act again with a really big role was SO incredible. I told them that I would LOVE IT, and I couldn't wait to get started!

A funny thing happened later that night. I was telling my Mom about my lunchtime conversation. Knowing how the thought of starring in a movie would be a dream come true for me, and how unlikely things like that happen, she thought possibly I was doing some wishful thinking, or had misunderstood. She quickly learned it was really true.

But first, Justin had to write a script. The story of GIRLFRIEND. or more the character of Evan Grey is based on me, but GIRLFRIEND. is a work of fiction, not my true life story. I have some things in common with my character, but many differences too.

After some script revisions Justin and others were busy with casting director Brad Gilmore, auditioning people and making many decisions. More planning began with many people doing many things, more than I totally understand, but I know producers were busy needing to get $$$ and make alot of other arrangements and decisions, hiring many talented people so GIRLFRIEND. could actually be filmed. It takes alot of people, not just actors to make a movie.

I was so excited and looking forward to getting to work on the film. To get to act and to get to meet and work with alot of new people.
I was very happy when I found out that I would actually have some things to do before filming began. One was to help for casting and one was to help me prepare for my role.

CASTING

Justin called me one day to tell me they were going to be looking for the right person to play Simon and a few other roles too and were holding auditions. Justin was flying east with producers Jerad and Krstina Anderson and our script supervisor Giulia Setembrino. Our east coast producer Sarah Steinberg Heller would also be at the auditions. They wanted me to come to the auditions to help by "reading" with the children auditioning for the part of Simon. They also wanted me to "read" with Seth Chatfield who they wanted for the part of Jeremy, Joe Turnbull who they wanted for the role of Willie Jones and Darren McDonald who they wanted for the role of Darren Jones, Willie's son.

It was so much fun helping with the auditions. It was such a fun day also because it was the first day that I met Jerad, Kristina, Sarah and Seth who have become such dear friends to me. (I had already been good friends with Joe and Darren for a long time.) Since Sarah and Seth live on the east coast, we've been able to see each other even after filming wrapped. Everyone has been so wonderful to me. I couldn't wait for the day when we'd be working together on the film. On another day, I drove around with Justin and he showed me houses and other places in the area where we'd be shooting the film. That was fun too. On a seperate trip back to Wayland, Justin introduced me to Craig Divino, who was a friend of Justin's from Cornell. Craig is a talented actor, but Justin wanted us to meet ahead of time because Craig was going to be my acting coach. (Craig had also worked as the fight co-ordinator on Justin's film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD). We got to talk a little bit about relaxation exercises he wanted to teach me and also talked about what to expect when we started filming. Craig was very helpful and I learned alot from him. Craig and I have also talked with each other about our acting and theater work.

Check back for PART TWO: FILMiNG BEGINS.

Re: GIRLFRIEND MEETS INDIEGOGO.

2011-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

Some of you have been wondering why, at this stage, we need to raise funding for GIRLFRIEND...

This may give you some indication: Kevin Smith revealed at Sundance last week that, due to the costs of marketing and publicity, it took 7 years for his first film (CLERKS) to get out of the red and into profit. That film cost, in total, $27,575.00. Think about that. A film which cost under thirty thousand dollars took SEVEN YEARS to turn a profit.

I bring up profit for only one reason: Because the costs of setting bookings, getting prints made, placing ads in local newspapers, buying ad time on tv, cutting a new trailer and making new versions of the poster... are in many cases more expensive than making the actual film.

Those of us who make indie films are used to the numbers that Kevin Smith spoke about. DAKOTA SKYE is not in profit yet. Hell, Paramount would have you believe they only recently broke into profit on TITANIC – a film which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide!

Profits, obviously, are what repay the costs I mentioned earlier. But, if you can’t get into enough theaters and DVD ends up your only option, the idea of repaying those costs virtually disintegrates.

So we had to think very carefully about what to do next.

We could have sat back and hoped that, in our initial playdates and cities, we'd make enough of a splash to prove that there is an audience for this film – an eager fanbase hungry for a story that is not a sequel or a set-up for a franchise; That there is still an interest in indie art-films, Jackson Rathbone’s career or even a film which offers a role to someone with a developmental disability in which he isn't playing just a character with a single line, but is, in fact, the star. We could've done that… waited patiently, holding our breath… but we didn't. We couldn't.

We want to share the film with you, the audience, and allow as many people to see it on a big screen as possible – to hold off the inevitable journey to DVD so that the film can be experienced, the way it was meant to be – in a darkened theater with a bucket of popcorn.

So wait, what does this mean? Basically, it means that your donation allows us to immediately confront the costs involved with marketing, publicity and preparing the film for release.

In the last few years, the film markets (like others) have turned, and getting your film out into the world got a lot more difficult. The model for how to do it has changed – but there isn’t really a new model to follow. It’s just kind of like, “hey, kid, figure out what you think works best for your film.”

Kevin Smith (who I mentioned earlier) is distributing his own film, charging $68.25 for nosebleed seats and up to $142.70 for a screening of RED STATE at Radio City Music Hall… and he’s not doing any publicity beyond Twitter - that's how much prints, marketing and publicity costs! To recoup the budget of his film (a little under $4 million), plus prints and a road trip, he needs to charge those prices for a venue with 5,931 seats (according to Wikipedia).

Our method, after a lot of thought and discussion was to come to you, our supporters – people who have been contacting us constantly to ask when and where they can see the film.

You are, arguably, a smaller group than, say, Kevin Smith’s View Askew fanbase, but no less mobilized. And so we have now partnered with IndieGoGo, one of the premiere crowd-sourcing sites on the web.

Believe me, I can see how this may have seemed odd to you at first, but with Sundance recently announcing a strategic partnership with Kickstarter and crowd-sourcing quickly becoming a great avenue for financing projects, we felt like there was no longer a stigma attached.

So there you have it. If you want to see the film, and you believe in what you’ve heard and seen in the trailer and online reviews… if you want to support as a fan of the various cast, or you just believe that Justin Lerner may be a filmmaker to keep your eye on… then do what feels right. If you’re flat broke, don’t feel bad. We understand… we’re indie filmmakers, remember?

Even if you can’t support the film monetarily, you can still help by spreading the word. If you send enough people this link, IndieGoGo or you paste the widget from the site into your email and your friends or family each make a small contribution, the movie may just come to your town anyway! And, in case you’ve forgotten, once we reach our goal, we hope to make a shared contribution to NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) and NDSC (National Down Syndrome Congress).

In closing I’ll just say thank you again… for your support and your belief in us and the film. The film is for you. We can't wait for you to see it.

Shaun

Re: Support GIRLFRIEND and Help Get The Film Out There!

2011-01-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

Re: GIRLFRIEND NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

2011-01-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

Hey, guys. Been a while. Sorry I've been away, but trying to mount new projects is a time consuming process!

I'm back today to ask for your support. As you may or nay not know, our film GIRLFRIEND played to sold out capacity crowds at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. We got rave reviews and Evan was a huge hit at the after-party's... but now that we've had our Festival Premiere, we need to get the film out to you, the audience, in as many places as we can. To do that, we're going to need your help.

Don't be alarmed. We do, in fact, have a great distributor in New York who are 100% behind us and the film we're all so proud of. Where IndieGoGo comes into play is in helping us to reach the widest possible audience by (hopefully) coming to more cities before eventually heading to streaming, home video and VOD.

To that end, we are partnering with the distributor to help facilitate our distribution strategy so we can reach our goals. All we need are the financial means to pull the trigger so we can make it happen.

Our goal is to raise 100k to promote and release the film theatrically, get into more festivals, print and sell DVD’s and build a website to stream the film online.

Anything we raise beyond that will be used to bring the film to more cities.

Hitting our goal means we'll be able to do more to get the film out there and in front of your eyes. The cool thing is, we've pulled together some really great incentives - and you'll be supporting us and the film.

Think of this like Paramount's campaign for the first "Paranormal Activity" where they asked YOU, the audience, to "demand" the film in your city, only without the big studio and without demands.

So get involved! Hit up IndieGoGo and make a contribution. You may just win something! But more importantly, you'll be helping us deliver this great film.

Thanks in advance.

Shaun

Re: The Toronto International Film Festival Pt. 3

2010-10-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Where did I leave off. Oh. Right. Press day. So, here's a couple videos from the Press Day - Thanks to luckyj525 for posting these.

As we completed our Press Day at the InterContinental, we noticed a group of paparazzi waiting outside the hotel. Jackson and Evan went out ahead of us. This is one of the shots:

Evan finally finished his Press commitment back at our hotel room doing a phone interview with ArtistsOnDemand. After that, we told him to get some rest. It was going to be a loooong night.

The plan was for everyone to meet up in our hotel lobby at 6:45pm before heading over to Scotiabank.

Once everyone was in the lobby (or, mostly everyone) I gathered people together for a couple photos.

In the first photo (L-R) Harrison Lees (Production Designer/Cast Member), Justin Lerner (Writer/Director/Producer), Dan Turnbull (Cast), Evan Sneider (Cast), Joe Turnbull (Cast/Production Supervisor), Me, Jeff Castelluccio (Editor/Post Producer) and Craig Wesley Divino (Mr. Sneider's Acting Coach/Cast).

In the second photo: (L-R) Cecelia Chapman (Production Assistant), June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer), Leah Cooper (Unit Photographer), Jackie Lerner (Mother of the Director) and Nicole Rivera (Production Assistant and my cousin).

And, because I know Evan will check out this blog...

And because she wasn't in the other shots...

(L-R) June Suepunpuck (Costume Designer) and Quyen Tran (Director of Photography).

Finally, the time had come. We all walked over to the Scotiabank and headed into the theater. We had sold out again (which, of course, feels really good).

For me, this was the best screening we had at the Festival. When the lights came up at the end, the audience gave us a sustained applause that continued as Justin invited the cast and key crew members up onto the stage. When Justin announced Evan, the entire audience got to their feet - and it lasted, I would guess, about two minutes.

Here is a good portion of the Q & A. (Thanks to Jaime Mosher for posting this!)

After the screening, Evan stepped out into the theatre lobby to a crowd of fans. He spent a good thirty minutes signing autographs and taking photos with people who were so happy to congratulate him on his extraordinary performance...

I think, for me personally though, the best part of the experience was that there were a number of Down Syndrome people in the audience (as well as parents of children with Down Syndrome) and Justin, Evan and I had a great opportunity to meet them and to hear their stories.

People with learning disabilities are so often undervalued in our society, or lumped together as a group that is only capable of a certain contribution to the world - Evan breaks those barriers and his performance in the film is proof positive that even those who may be viewed as "different" are capable of so much more than they are often given credit for... and it goes beyond the Special Olympics campaign.

Evan is defiant. He is strong and he is, above all, talented. An artist. So, if any of you are reading this who came out to see the film and either have Down Syndrome or any other learning disability (or maybe are a parent, relative or friend of someone like Evan), I hope that he (and the film) are able to help you in the future - to realize that anything is possible.

After the screening, we all walked back over to our hotel, where the plan was to reconvene before heading over to the after party at the Brant House.

TIFF was providing us with several Audi vehicles for the party, so I loaded Evan into one, Justin and the lovely Sarah Carter (an actress friend of ours who happened to be shooting a new Spielberg produced series in town) in another, Shannon and actor Andrew Garfield in the third and finally the members of 100 Monkeys into a stretch limo before leading the rest of our group over on foot. Funnily enough, the traffic was so thick that those of us who walked ended up getting there before the cars!

Once the cars arrived, we all made our way down the red carpet where the media had set up. Here are a couple (brief) clips I made of the interviews:

Some of you may be wondering why I am not in any interviews... or maybe not? Well. I'll explain anyway.

There are certain celebrity producers. The Wachowski's (formerly The Wachowski Brothers), Joel Silver, (the aforementioned) Harvey Weinstein, Steven Spielberg, Scott Rudin... but with the exception of Silver, Rudin and Weinstein the others were known first for their directing or writing. Rudin and Silver are known (aside from their impressive resume) for their tantrums and screaming. But you see, producing is the hidden art. Most people don't really know what it is a producer does. If you've read this site in previous posts, I tried to paint a picture of what the job is, but even in describing it, it can be... nebulous. That's partly because the dynamics of the job can change dramatically from project to project. All of this is to say that, for the most part, the only place you'll see a producer talk is on DVD Special Features. And at the Oscar podium for Best Picture, where it is the producer who accepts the statue.

Inside, the Brant House is pretty great. It's a huge venue and has an upstairs area reserved as the "VIP" section. We had an open bar all night and the staff there was great.

Couple more pics. In the first, we have (L-R) Jackson, Evan, Justin and Shannon.

In the next one (L-R) we have Jackson, June and Jason Olivier, our Executive Producer and founder of Make It So Productions.

It was such a great experience. Some of us were able to have our family there (mine, unfortunately, couldn't make it) and we even had fans there who had paid to get in (in the form of a donation to the Special Olympics).

A few of us basically closed the place out and finally, when we headed back to the hotel... well, suffice it to say that we were all extremely happy. It was a great night.

The next couple of days were all about meeting people, talking to other filmmakers and seeing movies! We did, however have one more awesome thing happen. And just in time before Evan and his mother had to leave.

During the next day, we hung out. Justin, Evan and I saw a couple of films and hung out at the TIFF Filmmaker Lounge.

That night, we figured that even though we were all wiped out, we ought to try and make an appearance at some of the parties going on around the Fest. We were going to hit The People Magazine Party, but we ended up getting lost on our way over and instead, found ourselves at the In Style party. Well. We weren't on the invite list... but as it turns out, we were supposed to be. A woman named Susie (who ran the party) was waiting outside with a group of security and staff. I didn't know her, but she was the first one to step away from the group. By this time, someone in the Press Corps had spotted Evan and so Justin and Jerad began to walk the press line with him. He signed a few more autographs and took a ton of pictures.

Meanwhile, I pounced on Susie... but in truth, I didn't have to say much. In point of fact, all I got out was "My name's Shaun O'Banion. I'm a producer on a film called 'Girlfriend,' and - " She cut me off right there. "Is he here?" she asked? For a second, I thought she might be referring to Jackson (who had caught a bad cold and wasn't with us)... "Evan?" I replied, "Yes. He's over by the media."

And that was it. She walked over with me, stamped our hands and we walked into the party past all of the security who, only moments earlier, had frozen us out.

Inside the lavishly decorated building, some of today's hottest celebs were mingling and partying. I ran into old friend (and recent Emmy winner) Aaron Paul, we saw the stunningly gorgeous Maggie Q and the cast of the new series' NIKITA. Evan talked with (and danced with) Missy Peregrym (star of the hit series ROOKIE BLUE) and we ran into Tiffany Hines (super sexy co-star on NIKITA) who also happens to be a friend of Justin's. Justin, it should be noted, knows everyone.

There were amazing deserts, jars full of candy with little bags and twisty-ties so you could take some home with you(!) and of course, all the free drinks you could handle.

Evan found some willing dance partners and the rest of us really just had fun watching Evan work the room.

Here's a shot of (L-R) Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I...

When the party was over (and believe me, we nearly closed out this one too), we all made our way back to the hotel. The next day, Evan would be leaving (which we all knew would be tough)... but we also had good news. A distributor had stepped up with an offer on the film. We were having to keep things quiet (even from the rest of the cast and crew!) but we had good reason to believe that a sale was coming.

I'll leave the closing day and post-TIFF "What's Happening Next" for another post.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave some comments! Ask questions! Let's get a little interaction going.

Thanks for reading.

S

Re: The Toronto International Film Festival Pt. 2

2010-10-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

I doubt that any of us slept much.

Probably a combination of the high from the first screening and the knowledge that a bunch more of the cast and crew would be arriving the morning of the 13th.

We began the packed day by cabbing over to the Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street, where a day of press had been set up by Jeremy Walker and Associates (our publicists for the Festival). It was definitely an odd feeling to be sitting in this chic hotel on a secured floor where actors like Jim Broadbent, Bruce Greenwood and the lovely Gemma Arterton were wandering back and forth doing press. Of course, they were surrounded by an army of publicists, assistants and make-up people. We were a bit more... contained.

If you've never been around a Press Junket, well. I'll go ahead and give you a sense of what it's like. They're all pretty much the same. Generally, the cast and director will check into a suite at the hotel where the junket is to take place. You're given a calendar of events for the day. Then, it'll either be one of two things: You cast and filmmaker will walk from room to room, with each room representing a different media outlet, or the cast and filmmaker will go to a single room with a camera already set up. The media people then come into the room, pop a tape into the camera, sit their on-air talent down opposite the star or cast member and they get about 5-10 minutes worth of questions. Quite often, your poster is set up on an easel. Sometimes, you're in front of a green screen.

For our press day, Evan was set to do a ton of press along with Jackson and Shannon. In our case, they would move from room to room.

Here is the actual interview with ET Canada (thanks to JrathboneInfo for posting):

Evan was handling everything amazingly well. It may seem like it would be easy, but it becomes exhausting and monotonous - mostly because the questions tend to be very similar, if not exactly the same. The media need "sound bites" they can use to tease the story, and then they'll only use a small portion of the actual interview. After a while, everything gets hazy. I once worked with someone (who shall remain nameless) who thought it might be fun to play a bit of a game with the press. In between each interview, he'd ask me for a word... any word, which he would then have to try to slip into the interview, no matter how awkward. I think one of the words I gave him was Asparagus. (He did it, by the way.)

Anyway. Evan was running (like most of us) on little to no sleep, but he was amazing. He had poise and charisma and everything you expect of a star. At lunch the group of us (Justin, Evan, Jerad, Kristina and I) walked over to the Four Seasons where Wayne/Lauren Film Company had set up a casual lunch. At this point, we were being trailed by columnist Steve Pond, who writes for The Wrap and was doing a story on Evan which you can find Here.

During the lunch, Evan spoke with Harvey Weinstein the fabled former head and founder of Miramax who now runs The Weinstein Company. Weinstein hadn't seen GIRLFRIEND, but they have a mutual friend in Amanda Plummer. Since Weinstein was sitting only a table away, Justin thought it might be cool if Evan introduced himself. Harvey seemed surprised by the occurrence, but we thought it was great. Near the end of lunch, Evan did another interview (for print) before we headed out for a few more on camera interviews. You can find those here and here (special thanks for luckyj525 for the links).

Finally, with interviews done (and with a few swag bags now attached to us), we headed down to the cast lounge in the lobby for our final publicity stop of the day. The TIFF Photocall. You know about this. Every year, Entertainment Weekly does nearly an entire issue on Sundance Film Festival Photo Calls. The video from this particular shoot was covered by The Wrap and Steve Pond.

Here are some of the great photos from the GIRLFRIEND press junket:

By that time, we had been running from hotel to hotel doing press for about 9 hours. It was time to head back to our hotel where Evan and Justin would do one final "phoner" or phone interview , before we'd get a proper meal (they only have hors d'oeuvres for the most part at the press junkets), have a little nap if we could and finally, get ready for the big night. Our second screening and our official Red Carpet After-Party.

Check back in for Pt. 3! More pictures! More video! More excitement!

S

Re: The Toronto Experience Pt. 1

2010-09-28T00:45:00.000-07:00

I got into Pearson airport at about 7am on the 12th after a great trip with Virgin America, my personal favorite and the chosen airline of our production thanks to, um... me. This was my first trip to Canada, so I was already excited, but to get off the plane knowing that I was headed to the Toronto International Film Festival with a buzzed about film, was more than I could've dreamed at that particular moment in time.

Jeff Castelluccio, my best friend (more like a brother, really) and I flew out with Donal Logue and Abigail Breslin, so we were in good film-making company. Jeff, if you don't know, is the editor on both of the films I've produced. He's kind of like my good-luck charm. I try to bring him on anything I do. Fortunately for me, he's talented in addition to being a good guy. Justin flew out with Sasha Grey... also on Virgin... As he so delicately put it, "irony."

The perfect start to my week at TIFF began with my bag being the first off at baggage claim. I was staying longer than Jeff, so I had to check a suitcase - something I'm normally loathe to do. Jeff had only his carry-on.

We grabbed the Airport Express and headed for our hotels. That night was going to be our World Premiere screening, though we were treating the screening on Monday the 13th as the real deal, since it would be attended by a large number of the crew who worked on the film and because we were being provided a Red Carpet After-Party by the great people at Tribute Events. The hotel was literally half a block from most of the events and right away I found myself in the mix. It had been nearly a year since the shoot and so this was already feeling like a bit of a reunion. Most of the cast and crew who were coming in would arrive the next day, but a few were already there. Jeff and I met up right away with Evan, Jason Olivier (Exec. Producer), Joe Turnbull (Cast), Darren MacDonald (Cast), Dan Turnbull (Cast), Seth Chatfield (Production Designer/Actor), Sarah Steinberg Heller (Co-Producer) and Jeff's parents who flew in especially for the event. We had a great lunch after Evan had introduced the 100 Monkeys at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Block Party. It was great to see everyone.

By the time it was 3pm on the 12th, I figured that I'd already been up for 32 hours. That's when I stopped counting.

The first night, you could feel the pressure. It was the first official public screening anywhere in the world. I may have been alone here, but my heart was pounding. My stomach was doing flips - of course, as a producer, I was covering it pretty well.

It's a complicated film and we knew that it could polarize an audience. Knowing that and trying not to worry about it though are two very different things. Justin spent a bit of time thinking about what to say when he introduced the film. He ran some ideas past me and settled on being brief as the best policy. After the screening, there would be a Q & A. I was not going to go on stage for this one. It seemed the film would be best served by having a minimal amount of people up there - meaning Justin, Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward and, of course, Evan Sneider.

We sold out that first night and the audience was a crowd spread across all age groups with a heavy helping of TWILIGHT and 100 Monkeys fans who'd made the trek. After the first screening, I think we all felt that, while still overwhelmingly positive, it was a bit of a mixed bag. It seemed like they (the audience) were... maybe in a bit of shock as the credits rolled. When the Q & A began, there wasn't a single question... so our moderator, Lynne (who it must be said is stunningly beautiful) had to sort of take the lead. She did great getting the ball rolling and things went smoothly after that.

I kind of felt as though I was sleep walking through the whole experience that night. Seeing the film projected on that huge screen at the Scotiabank Theater was so incredible. We were playing in of the largest theaters they have, and knowing that your film has people standing in the rush line in the hopes of getting in is pretty humbling. Special mention should be made of Jane Schoettle here, our programmer for the TIFF Discovery section, who's efforts on behalf of our film were tireless and for which we are all so grateful.

Our Executive Producer had set up a dinner for the core creative team (aided by Co-Producer Sarah Steinberg Heller) and once the screening was done, we all headed over to a fantastic little place called Bistro 990 , where we had a private room reserved upstairs. The attendees were: Jerad Anderson, Kristina Anderson, Jason Olivier, Patch Cutler (Jackson's manager and Co-Producer on the film), Seth Chatfield, Sarah Steinberg Heller, Jackson Rathbone, Evan Sneider, Shannon Woodward, Quyen Tran (our amazing Director of Photography), Sam Reigel (Q's hilarious husband), Erin McPherson (Production Attorney), Justin Lerner and myself. It was a great night full of many toasts (most of them by Evan) and a few by the rest of us. After that, we all needed to head back to our hotels.

The next day was going to be pretty interesting as it would be the first Press Junket day.

Check back for Part II: The Toronto Experience and "Look, Ma! My name's in the Trades!"

Re: The Cast

2010-09-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

I've done a post about the experience of working with Evan Sneider, so I thought I might write a bit about working with the other members of the cast of GIRLFRIEND.

When I first came on board the project, I was told that one actor was already attached... that actor was Jackson Rathbone. At the time, to be honest, the name didn't mean much to me. I hadn't seen TWILIGHT, nor any of his other work for that matter. I went out that night to rent the first film in the saga.

It didn't change my perception of him. In fact, it didn't do much for me at all, really... but then, I'm not the core audience for the film. What I knew of him after watching the film was that he was (possibly) a good looking guy. I say possibly because you can't really get a sense of him either physically or otherwise by watching the first TWILIGHT film. He comes off as a new-age Johnny Depp. A vampire Edward Scissorhands with frosted tips... still, you'd be crazy not to acknowledge that he has charisma. With maybe only two lines in the first film, I was still intrigued. Anyway, it wouldn't much matter what I thought either way. He was going to be in the film. I just hoped he could actually act. Like with Evan, I was in for a surprise.

Early on in the process, Jackson came in to Brad Gilmore's L.A. office for *chemistry reads with a variety of actresses. It was during this process that all of my concerns related to Jackson playing "Russ" were put to rest. In the room, he was magnetic. His "Russ" was a man to be feared. He wa tortured. Dangerous. Crushed under the weight of a reality he may not want to acknowledge. In short, he was fantastic. This was only the beginning though. We would have a great many hurdles to jump through together - not the least of which was his schedule with the third TWILIGHT... which was already threatening to wreak havoc with my initial schedule for our film. Not to mention the budget.

For weeks, I tried to negotiate with the powers that be at Summit and for weeks, they held us off. They tried to tell me they had no schedule only weeks out from their start date (yeah, sure). I even generated inside sources in their office in Vancouver - hoping that I might get enough info to lock in our schedule. On our end, we were fighting several other issues. Weather in Massachusetts was going to be a huge factor. We had to shoot at a certain time to maximize the beauty of the changing season's, something which was very important to Justin, and we also had to begin at a certain time to create a window of time with which we'd be able to have the amazing Amanda Plummer in our film.

Fortunately, we had Jackson on our side. Jackson, when he signed on, had indicated that he was very interested in the behind-the-camera aspects of film-making as well. He wanted to come on as a co-producer, which meant that I'd have an ally when it came to scheduling him around his vampire adventures... in the end though, the only way to make our film work for him, was to bridge our shoot across weekends. He'd shoot all day Friday in Vancouver, then hop a red-eye to Boston, which would put him into Logan Airport around 8am. He'd brave morning traffic in the back seat of a Production Assistant's car, change into his wardrobe on the way, arrive at set to literally jump in front of camera (thanks to our crack AD staff who had the days scheduled down to the minute and really saved us several times during the shoot) and that'd be it. By Sunday evening, he'd be back on a plane and headed back to the wardrobe of "Jasper."

In short, he didn't sleep for about three weeks. His commitment to the shoot, the character and the crew literally changed the polarity of the set. When Rathbone showed up for the first "Rathbone Day" as Evan called it, everyone suddenly came alive again. We had spent several weeks with only Shannon and Evan, and to see Jackson and Shannon perform together and, in fact, Evan and Jackson... well. The movie really came together on those days.

I mentioned Amanda Plummer above. This is a woman who, above all, loves the craft of acting. When she's "in it," she is totally invested. Each take brings with it a totally organic quality.

I remember one take that was so great that it transcended what Justin had written. It just became something else. It became a living thing in Amanda and Evan's capable hands. Once we had cut, Justin ran over to Amanda and said, "That was brilliant! Can you do another one just like that?" Amanda surprised Justin and the crew when she gave her answer. "No," she said. "I can give you something else, but not that because I don't know what I did." In other words, she wasn't Amanda the actress playing the scene... like Evan, who's genius is that for him, there was no divide between "Evan Grey" and Evan Sneider during the scenes, Amanda ceased being Amanda in front of the camera. She was "Celeste." She went to great lengths to ensure that the transformation would envelope Evan as well - she even came out to Massachusetts early to spend time with Evan on her own. Doing this ensured that they didn't seem like they were "playing" mother and son, but that they had spent time off camera building a relationship for real. When the camera rolled, it wasn't capturing performance, it was capturing natural behavior... and it was beautiful.

Next, I come to Shannon Woodward. Again, being honest, she wasn't what I had pictured in the role. When she came in to read, she projected a natural strength I felt was wrong for the part. But when the scene began, it melted away. She became troubled. Weak and laid bare by the turn of events in her life. A desperate young girl forced to be an adult for the sake of her child. In other words, she became our "Candy." It's one of those Hollywood cliche's, right? An actor comes in and isn't at all what you thought you wanted... but they simply cannot be denied. He or she just becomes the only person for the role. Sometimes you even try to fight it. You say to yourself, "No. Let's keep looking," but in your mind, you keep coming back to them. Sometimes, it keeps you up at night. In the end though, there's no denying it. The part dictates what it needs just as in editorial, the film begins to tell you what should stay and what should go. It happened to us on DAKOTA SKYE, and it happened again here.

Shannon is a fantastic actress, and her work with Evan was really extraordinary to watch on set - sometimes, subtly directing Evan or providing cues from within a scene to help get him to a certain place or past a block. In many ways, Shannon's work was key to Justin and Craig Divino's work with Evan. Shannon and Evan are in virtually every scene of the film together and the tenderness, confusion and realization she brings to their scenes together are the perfect counter-point to her scenes with Jackson. Where Shannon and Jackson have this feeling of two caged animals trying to determine what to make of each other, Shannon and Evan give the feeling of two people who have come to depend on each others love - even if they can't understand how or why. By the way: Shannon has a new show on called RAISING HOPE that is supposed to be hilarious, and as of right now, you can check out the pilot for the series for free on iTunes, so go check it out!

There are bunch of other actors in the film who turn in wonderful and varied performances and who, many of them having little or no acting experience before, are stand-outs. Seth Chatfield, Dan Turnbull, Joe Turnbull, Darren MacDonald, Harrison Lees, Carole Helman and of course young Nate Krawshuk all leave strong impressions in the world of the film. They are each a testament to Justin's ability to work with non-professionals and to create and craft strong and memorable characters.

For those of you who had a chance to see the film in Toronto, I'm sure you'd agree. This film doesn't work if you don't care about the people in it. From the smallest part to the biggest, they need to make you feel something. They are your connection as the audience and your eyes into the world. If you don't get "Candy" and her decisions, or why "Evan" feels the way he does for her... or why "Russ" seems so completely crushed by the things he's seen or the scenarios he suspects, it all falls apart.

Post Toronto, the general consensus seems to be that the film is strong. In fact, only yesterday, we announced that we have been picked up for distribution by indie label Hannover House, to whom we are all so thankful for recognizing the potential in the film.

If the film works at all, it is all down to collaboration - to the cast and crew and to Justin's vision... I cannot wait until you can see the film for yourself.

S

(Toronto Blog coming soon!)

*Chemistry Reads: This is the process in which actors are paired together in the audition process to see if they have chemistry on screen.

GIRLFRIEND Official Trailer

2010-09-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Re: The R-Word

2010-08-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

The following is a message by actor John C. McGinley who you may know from such films as POINT BREAK, THE ROCK,
OFFICE SPACE, SEVEN and of course SCRUBS. He has an important message. As a producer on a film which stars an actor with Down Syndrome, I urge all of you to watch and help SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE R-WORD.

RE: OUR TIFF DESCRIPTION

2010-08-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

A really nice description of our film by Jane Schoettle, who is a big supporter of ours at TIFF:

Justin Lerner’s first feature film skilfully sets a traditional theme – a relationship between two people that seem an unlikely match – within unconventional circumstances. The result is Girlfriend, a gentle yet complex exploration of the nature of love.

Evan (Evan Sneider) is a young man with Down Syndrome who lives with his mother Celeste (played by the ever-commanding Amanda Plummer) in a working-class town hard hit by the recession. Evan holds down a job and has a circle of neighbourhood friends. Although he is completely self-sufficient, he and Celeste enjoy a close relationship with shared evenings in front of their favourite television shows.

Then, unexpectedly, Evan comes into a large amount of money and, rather than do anything for himself, he decides to use his new wealth to pursue Candy (Shannon Woodward), a local girl that he’s been in love with since high school. Since then, Candy has made some bad decisions. She is now a single parent with huge debts, who cannot shake the attentions of her volatile ex-boyfriend, Russ (Jackson Rathbone of the Twilight films). Knowing full well that money always complicates things, Candy nevertheless accepts Evan’s offer of financial help, leading to an intricate tangle of emotions, expectations and secrets between Candy, Evan and Russ.

In his first feature film role, Evan Sneider is pitch-perfect as a young man in pursuit of his heart’s desire and as the moral centre of the story. Evan’s pureness of intent only serves to highlight the mercurial, self-interested and often cruel motives of Russ, played with a fiery, danger-ridden intensity by Rathbone. This is not lost on Candy, who knows she doesn’t deserve Russ’s abuse, yet doesn’t feel worthy of Evan’s unfettered compassion.

Making excellent use of its pastoral setting as counterpoint to volatile human emotions, Girlfriend gathers power as it unfolds, leaving the viewer with a thump to the heart that will linger long after the lights come up.

TO THE CAST AND CREW OF GIRLFRIEND...

2010-08-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

A message to everyone who gave their time, their energy, their heart and spirit to make Justin Lerner's vision for GIRLFRIEND come to life:

"Thank you. Sincerely. From the bottom of my heart."

GIRLFRIEND is a testament not only to the beauty of Justin's script and the depth and strength of Evan Sneider's extraordinary performance... but to the commitment and talent of a small group of people willing to sacrifice so much in the hope that their work will pay off. With the announcement of our selection at Toronto, it has.

Not a day has passed that I haven't thought back, remembered little moments, thought of the tough days and the great days, and smiled.

Today, I went through photos from the shoot and was filled with emotion. Every single person on the film did such an amazing job - sunshine, rain or snow... and I cannot thank you enough. If you were all here with me now, I'd hug you... but unfortunately, we're all a bit spread out.

For those of you who will be coming to TIFF, I am so looking forward to a little reunion. To those who can't make it... well, you'll be missed, but we will make you proud, as you have made me proud to have worked with you.

If this is all a bit sappy, well... that's me. But I really just wanted to thank you.

This film will exist forever... and all of your efforts to bring every shot to life on screen along with it.

Every film that gets made (even the bad ones), are a miracle. This film, is a very, very good miracle. This is your miracle. This is our miracle.

Congratulations.

S

Re: Two Left Feet and Getting An Education...

2010-07-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

Many of you now know (by following me on Twitter, (@shaun_obanion) that I have become quite close with Evan Sneider, the star of our film and as we head to the Toronto International Film Fest this week, I thought I'd do a blog about Mr. Sneider and my experience with him on the film. Here it goes.

PS: It's a long one.

There were many questions during Prep on GIRLFRIEND. How long would our schedule be? (pretty short by feature film standards). Would there be rehearsals? (yes, but very informal). Would our DP even be available for the first few days of the shoot? (after a difficult negotiation with another production, thankfully, yes). Would anyone from Summit return our calls? (a very emphatic no). What the hell do you do when you lose your First AD three days before a Location Scout that everyone's flying in for? (...get lucky and find a better one, who also happens to be an old friend.)... I mean... there were a lot of questions... though nothing new for an indie film.

For a lot of indies, the biggest question is often: where is the money going to come from? We didn't have that problem. The Anderson's of Wayne/Lauren Film Co., had already secured the full budget, so everyone was basically waiting on Justin and our excellent casting director Brad Gilmore to cast the film, Justin and I to crew the film and for me to create the initial schedule and early budget drafts... but the one thing that was nagging at me was how we were going to pull this thing off. For me, there were a whole different set of questions in addition to the normal ones I'd be asking (and getting asked) on a shoot.

I had never really been around a person with Down Syndrome before, much less had to count on one to convincingly do what we were going to ask him to do, not to mention all of the possible technical issues:

If you've never done any acting, well, it's not as easy as it looks - believe me, I ended up in the film when an actor could no longer accommodate our schedule.

Actors, particularly film actors, have to be aware of so many things. Not only things like motivation and character, but knowing that (for example) we're shooting Scene 25 which is an interior, where the character comes into a room. 25 follows 24 in the script (logically) only, due to the availability of locations, or other shooting necessity, we shot 24 (the Exterior scene where our hero arrives at the building and enters) maybe, three weeks earlier and now we're shooting the room he walks into... so the actor has to approximate what head-space he or she (as the character) was in three weeks ago when we shot the entrance. By the way, I fortunately only had one scene and limited dialogue, so I didn't have to be too concerned.

Things like blocking. Matching... knowing that he picks up the cup of coffee on a specific line so that in the coverage(I) he does it at the same time for every take and every shot. Remembering where to stand at a given moment. When to move, so that the focus puller(II) [ours was Alex Cason, and she is, quite simply, a badass] knows the distance the actor will be from the lens. Then, maybe the other actor moves. He or she takes something down from a shelf. In the other shot, did he use his left hand even though he's right handed so that he wouldn't flag(III) the other actors light?

Take Down Syndrome out of the equation and it's a lot to think about for anyone... now an army of film personnel and actors were going to be dependent on an actor doing his first film in the lead role, not only being aware of these technical things, but of his performance at the same time!

Early on, Justin (the Director) and I had many conversations about this. Justin, it should be stated, never doubted for even a second that Evan could pull it off. Well. If he did, he never let on. He had written the piece with Evan in mind (he'd even named the character after him) and had worked with him before on his excellent short film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD ( )... but, as a Producer, I still had to wonder... would we be able to keep our schedule? Could Evan Sneider actually do all that would be asked of him?

I was about to get an education.

Evan isn't you're typical guy. He's extremely high functioning. In fact, what I came to discover is that Evan, like many people, really likes to break down barriers. He likes to play with people's perception of him, and above all, he's re-defining what you and I might call "special." What actually makes Evan special is his ability to be un-special. Don't get me wrong, he's a very special person... but he has this disarming quality that just makes you deal with him as though he didn't have Down's.

Evan's brilliance is in his ability to overcome his "handicap." Above all, Evan is... just a guy. He's smart. Funny. Sweet. Kind. Curious. Emotional. Whimsical. And sometimes devious. He knows what he wants and he'll do what he needs to do to get it. In other words, he's pretty much just like you, me or anyone you know.

What I had to learn was to get over my bias. To forget whatever I thought I knew about Down's; Forget what I saw in RAIN MAN or some Farrelly Brothers' movie and just come to deal with Evan as a man... which, ultimately, is what he deserves.

Evan's been performing in the theater for years. He has a nearly photographic memory and he is the most feeling individuals I've ever met. He exists on purely emotional terms. He's both Method(IV) and Sense Memory(V) at the same time. He doesn't play the character, he becomes the character. It's really amazing to watch unfold in front of your eyes and believe me, it translates on screen. Evan is, without a doubt, the beating heart of the film.

These are all things I had to figure out. When we started, my own misconceptions about people with Down Syndrome led me to feel "off" when dealing with him... and since I was often the guy who often had to deliver news about changes being made on set, we didn't get along that well in the beginning. In fact, I told his mother at one point that I just didn't know how to communicate with Evan... I told her I felt as though I had "two left feet."

Evan, for his part, never changed. He knows exactly who he is and, unlike myself and most people I know, he never seemed to be wracked with doubt. He displays a high level of confidence, not only in what he's doing, but in the manner in which he does it. Maybe it's from his stage training. He'd often be heard telling Justin, "I know the drill."

As the shoot went on, my friendship with Evan grew and my understanding of him deepened. As that happened, my desire for what the film could or would do out in the world changed. I hoped (and hope) the audiences perception of what Down Syndrome is would change - as Evan had changed my perception. What I learned was that Down Syndrome is really just a term; A way for the rest of us to deal with that missing chromosome. A way to classify something... but that's all. It can only define the affected person if he or she lets it. And Evan refuses to let it define him. It absolutely does not define him. Just like you and anyone else you know, Evan is unique. A true original. To compare him to anyone else who has Down Syndrome would be like telling you that

you are like everyone else... and you aren't, are you?

I soon realized that what I wanted, by the end of the film, was for the audience to see 'Evan Grey,' the character he plays in the film, not as a man who has Down Syndrome, but as a man.

If even one person leaves the theater thinking that way, then I'll be happy. I know it's a tall order, but not out of the realm of possibility. It, of course, doesn't determine the success of the film for me, but it would be a great bonus.

It should also be mentioned that Justin, who cared for and nurtured this film beginning with some notes scribbled on a few scraps of paper a little over a year ago, would never tell you how he wished for the film to be received. Justin Lerner does not make "message" movies. The film is purely subjective. It isn't meant to educate you. It's art. It's storytelling. And I agree. It is. But I still have that wish in my heart - for Evan.

I should also mention that the credit for Evan's choices and abilities cannot be given to Evan alone. His mother has instilled in him a lot of ideas... He was taught that there are no limits to what he can do, and throughout his life, whenever someone placed a wall in their way, she and Evan would simply find a way over or around it.

Here's an example: when the Massachusetts School Board told them that Evan would have to ride the short bus and attend school with other "special needs" kids, they fought... and they won. Evan didn't go to school in classes with other Down's kids. He went to regular classes. Just like everyone else. And why shouldn't he have? As it turns out, that would prove a fortuitous decision... Evan met Justin in High School.

There were a couple more people who brought Evan to this point as an actor... When we were almost ready to shoot, Evan began rehearsing with Amanda Plummer. She came out early to spend time with him and to build a history together. They walked around town. They did their Wardrobe fittings together. The ate together. By the time they got to set, Amanda had really become like a second mother to Evan... and their scenes together are really lovely. Amanda, as many of you know, is an artist in the truest sense of the word. She's a total professional and is just lovely in the film. Justin's handling of the scenes between Evan and Amanda (aided by the stunning photography of Quyen Tran and the skillful editing of Jeff Castelluccio) create some really beautiful moments on screen.

Another ally in Evan's cinematic journey: A fantastic young New York actor named Craig Divino. Divino had also worked carefully with Evan to make sure that he understood all of the emotional beats in the story. He designed breathing exercises and physical movements to loosen Evan up before a scene and had taken time out of pursuing his own career to be present and available on set whenever Evan needed him. Evan also asked a lot of questions. He and Justin had many conversations about his character. He also wanted to understand the other characters in the film. He wanted to know about their choices and how what they did would affect his character.

So, after working with Justin, Craig and Amanda, Evan came to set and was one of the most professional actors I've ever had the pleasure to work with. He was obsessive about referring to the script. He knew it front to back and back to front. He understood where he had been and where he was going. He felt the emotions of a scene.

There was a day on set where he literally had the cast, crew and background in tears. It was a hugely triumphant moment and at the end, everyone broke into applause. He blew us away, time and again. Now, I don't want to completely sugar coat things and say that there were no issues... no tough moments, but by and large, things were very smooth and working with Evan was really, really wonderful. Justin and I had dinner recently with our Casting Director Brad Gilmore and we talked about how we'd like to work with Evan again. That says a lot about the experience. He was, and is, nothing short of extraordinary.

I can't wait for you to see him.

S

(I) Refers to shooting a scene from a variety of angles and distances so you will have the raw material necessary to edit the scene together into an interesting visual and emotional experience for the audience. Each of the shots, or individual angles, requires a different setup.

(II) In cinematography, a focus puller or first assistant camera (1st AC) is a member of a film crew's camera department who is responsible for keeping the camera properly focused during each shot so that the Camera Operator is able to focus on the Camera movement.

(III) Blocking a light with ones body or using a Grip tool designed to block the light.

(IV) An acting technique introduced by Stanislavsky in which the actor recalls emotions or reactions from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed. This allows the actor to experience emotion in the moment, as the character would.

(V) Sense memory is reliving sensations that were experienced through the five senses.

BLOG ABOUT WORKING WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CAST COMING SOON.

Re: The Abstract World of Producing...

2010-07-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

So what the hell is a producer anyway?

According to , a producer is "a person responsible for the financial and administrative aspects of a stage, film, television, or radio production; the person who exercises general supervision of a production and is responsible chiefly for raising money, hiring technicians and artists, etc., required to stage a play, make a motion picture, or the like."

describes it like this: "Although often under appreciated, the Producer's work is so crucial that on a big budget production, there may be a whole team of people - the Production Team - performing the Producer's various jobs. To fully grasp the all-encompassing nature of the Producer's responsibilities, it's helpful to divide the job description into sections and relate commonly used job titles to their counterparts in the business world.
Producer

On an small indie project, one very busy Producer might manage every aspect of the production. This would be like the Sole Proprietor of a small business doing everything necessary to make it run. On larger scale productions however, the job is simply too much for one person to handle. In this case, the Producer works within a Production Team."

"If you think of the Production Team as a company, the Producer is the Chief Executive Officer, or CEO. Just as the first CEO in a corporation is often the founder, the Producer is often the main driving creative force behind a film or TV production. (S)he may have played a role marrying the script with an Executive Producer, or attaching a well known Director or Actor to a screenplay to attract financing. Thus from the very inception of a production, the Producer plays a vital role. During production, the Director and Line Producer work with or report to the Producer to ensure the creative vision is being executed - similar to the way Managers answer to a CEO. However, even the Producer is beholden to the financing, which is represented by the Executive Producer."

So. Yeah. We do... a lot of different stuff. It's a daunting job. In addition to just the day to day keeping track of things (budget, schedule, cast, crew), there's also being able to keep in mind the overall reason everyone is there... the script. As someone who, from time to time thinks "hey, maybe I'll get back to that script I started writing..." I have to tell you, writing is crazy. I don't know about you, but for me, discipline is tough. This blog is kind of a way to get me back into the habit of writing something - anything - on a semi-regular basis and yes, I know, I'm not so good at the "semi-regular basis" part. Focus, for me, can be a problem as well. My rapidly increasing level of ADD is a bit overwhelming.

On a set, as a Producer, ADD can actually work to my benefit. There are always multiple "fires" to put out. What one then has to do is prioritize. Which item is the most pressing? Or maybe the question is: Which problem can be solved the fastest.

Sometimes, a snap decision is the best. On a recent production, we had gotten into the rainy season and showed up one day to find our set nearly washed away, but we had actors on loan from another production and our schedule was such that it would be impossible to re-shoot the scene. Meanwhile, our Gaffer(I) was telling the Director that there wasn't enough light to shoot - the cloud cover making our location (at 10am) look more like 7pm. Now usually you would go to what's called a Cover Set(II). This is like your weather contingency. Rain? Snow? Hail? Ok. Move the company indoors. Problem was we were a small shoot on a tight budget with a tight schedule and were nearing the end of production, so we had already shot out our cover sets earlier on when the weather had turned bad. In other words, what to do? Well. After consulting with the director and my First Assistant Director, we informed the cast and crew that light or no light, rain or shine, we were going to stay on the location and shoot the damned scene. And you know what? It worked. After some subtle manipulation in Post Production to brighten things up a bit (and considerable ADR [III]), we got the scene and it's in the film.

But I digress. Script. Keeping the goal in mind. What is the story we're trying to tell here? Because, as anyone who has studied film or made a film will tell you, things change once you're on set. That old famous quote that goes something like, "A film is written three times: First, by the Screenwriter, alone in his room. Next, on the set, when the Director has to make different decisions based on a variety of elements and challenges, and finally in the Edit, when the filmmakers begin to assemble not necessarily the film they set out to make, but the film they have."

Another job which is key: shielding your Director from all manner of issues. If you're a Creative Producer, this job can last for a year or more. You're usually one of the first people on a film and the last off. You could think of a film as being like a train. The Screenwriter creates the script (builds the train). The Producer finds the engineer (Director), or, sometimes the Screenwriter will also direct his or her script, in which case the Producer has begun to lay down the track and add cars. Into those cars, he or she will bring the crew and the Director (with the Producer and the Casting Director offering counsel) will bring on the talent. On and on until the train is moving safely down the track.

Protecting your Director allows him or her to focus on things like story, performance and "making the day"(IV) rather than the minutia of everyday normal movie shoot problems. You have to be sort of like a therapist, priest, confidante and, above all, protector. This part of the job you do get to hand-off from time to time. Occasionally, you ask your AD to handle these positions while you deal with other issues. In Post, your Editor carries the weight of these duties as he or she and your Director sit locked in a room for hours on end slaving under a delivery deadline.

Before you get to any of the stuff above, there's also the development process - a frustratingly slow, incredibly expensive part of the process in which a Producer finds a screenplay, options (V) the property, engages the screenwriter (if necessary) in a series of re-writes based on notes and then tries to get the film made by then seeking out people who have money or connections to money - all before the option runs out. To give you an example, I have (currently) options on two screenplays and a film from 1978. So far, I haven't found anyone who's ready to make them... but, ah, if you know anyone who's eager to get into show biz, send them my way.

So it's an interesting gig, to be sure. By the way, there are probably only ever about three people reading this blog, but if you ever have questions about anything, I'm happy to answer. Just put them in the comments section and, I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks for reading. 'til next time.

S

PS - Below, you'll find a list referencing some terms I used in this blog. Within the text, I placed Roman numerals, so if you'll check below, you'll find definitions.

I - The person who, under the DP or Director of Photography, is responsible for the lighting of the film.

II - A backup set the company can move to in the event of inclement weather or other issue which may cause a set to be unavailable for shooting.

III - Additional Dialogue Recording or Automated Dialogue Replacement. This is where an actor stands in a recording booth and re-records dialogue, sounds or audio which was unable to be recorded without interference during production. Voice Over narration, new dialogue embedded in a scene or, simply, sounds (grunting, kissing) may also be done here.

IV - Literally making (or, completing) all of the scenes, shots or set-ups that were scheduled on a given day.

V - Optioning a script is the process in which an agreed upon amount of money is paid to a screenwriter to, essentially, take his or her screenplay off the market for a set period of time. The option, in effect, states that the Producer has reserved the screenplay in an attempt to get it made into a film. The option will also have terms which will state that if a Producer or Studio does not come on board to make a film within the stipulated time period, the rights will revert back to the writer who may then offer it to the producer to be re-optioned (for an additional fee) or taken elsewhere.

Re: Development, Shooting, Festivals and Getting A Film Out There.

2010-07-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

I've been in the business almost 17 years now. Right from the beginning, I always knew what I wanted to be. What I wanted to do. It was only a matter of how to do it. I worked with a ton of great people (and some not so great people as well). I learned a lot, and while it took me a lot of time and the assistance of some friends, I finally got to move up.

The process of working with my friend John Humber on DAKOTA SKYE was what opened up the possibilities for me. Like most of my friends, I was (and had been) hovering around the fringe of the industry for too long. The beauty of a film industry education is that you make a lot of friends who will come out to support you later - the only downside is that they are what we call "working crew." If you're in the trenches with them, you aren't really going to meet the people who control the money, which is to say that when you're ready to make your film, you need to search for those people or know the people who know them.

A few days ago, DAKOTA SKYE had it's one year anniversary of being available for rental and purchase. It's a big deal. We worked so hard on that little film and, even now, when I do a Twitter search for the movie and see how people are finding it and being moved by it, it's still a great lift to my day... to my confidence. Good review, bad review... Doesn't matter. What's important is that it's making people feel something. That's magical.

So anyway, that anniversary has me doing a bit of reflection on the process as I await the fate of my new production, GIRLFRIEND.

Dakota had an interesting development process in that, there wasn't really a process. John Humber and his family were going to invest in the film. We had a great script by Chad J. Shonk, another good friend of ours, and John and I simply set about lining up the elements to make the film. When you have a tiny budget and no access to further funding, it's simply a matter of backing the numbers into the total. Not unlike squeezing a car into a tight parking spot with cars on either side. You only have the space that exists, so you just make it work... and hope you have enough room to get out once you've parked.

Having limited funds means you don't have a lot of the toys that big movies do. This forces creativity. Ingenuity. How can we get this moment across with just a subtle camera move instead of a crane? (We did have a crane on Dakota, but not the kind films usually use). How can we get a school to let us shoot on their property when our story is loaded with language, sex and "drug" use? (Yeah, finding a school was a big problem).

All of these little hurdles we survived make that film what it is. And believe me, John, Chad and I would be the first to admit to you that it's faaaaaar from perfect... but the beauty of the film is that maybe to you, the audience member, it may be just what you needed on a Friday night. It just may be perfect.

John, Chad and I had years of experience under our belts by the time we shot Dakota. We knew what needed to happen on a set. We understood the elements. It was only a matter of getting it done. And we did. The shoot was, for all we had to deal with, relatively simple. There really weren't any major problems. Sure, we had arguments. Yes, there were tons of small fires to put out, but we had a great team of people - all of whom were (and are) friends. That made the shoot pleasant.

On GIRLFRIEND, it was a different team. I was brought in by Jerad and Kristina Anderson of Wayne/Lauren Film Company. They had already attached Justin Lerner to direct and had optioned his script. The nice thing, for me, was that the script was still being re-written and, as a producer, I got to submit notes. Justin and I ended up working very closely together throughout the process and, on GIRLFRIEND, there was a 6 month period of Pre-Production and development during which Wayne/Lauren, Justin and I set everything in motion.

Wayne/Lauren had the investor in place and we knew that the film was going. We had to cast the film, set the budget, work out the schedule (tough to do when one of our leads was currently locked in to shoot the third film in one of the largest franchises in modern film history at the same time!) and find the production team.

On this film, we had a stellar group from the word "go." Justin set the pace and Brad Gilmore was the first on. As our Casting Director, he was going to bring us some of the best young actresses out there. We searched New York, we searched L.A. We even saw a few Aussies. In the end, Shannon Woodward became the one to beat and she nabbed the role. Justin wrote a very difficult part. The character is one that people are, I think, going to have very strong opinions about. Shannon made her character real. She was scared and strong at the same time, it's a complicated role... and she's just phenomenal. I really can't wait for people to see her work in the film.

Jackson came on early through his relationship with Wayne/Lauren, so we knew that our 'Russ' would be volatile. Dangerous. I had only seen him in the Twilight films and so, for me, seeing him even in the casting period (when he did chemistry reads with various actresses), was an eye opener. Nobody quite knows what he's capable of yet and we get to put him out there. I think people will be surprised.

Ultimately, what the film would come down to though, is the performance of one person: Evan Sneider, an actor from the Boston area who has Downs Syndrome. If Evan's performance didn't work, we'd all be sunk. Well. Evan's performance in the film is extraordinary. He's stunning. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. And the guy has a smile that will melt your heart.

After casting was completed, the rest of the Pre-Production period was great. We had plenty of time, we "crewed up" with a fantastic team of people and by the time we got out to Boston, we were ready for anything.

Now, like on Dakota, we wait to see how we do on the Festival circuit. We won a handful of awards with Dakota... a few Audience Awards and though we didn't play any of the big Festivals (Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Telluride), it was still a great ride - though, as a producer, it can be a bittersweet ride as well: Nobody really knows what a producer does these days, and since there are usually quite a few producers (8 credited, in various capacities on GIRLFRIEND), it tends to water down the title a bit and confuse the uninformed. Compound this with the fact that most Festivals are only interested in Directors, Writers and Cast, and it can be an odd experience for a producer on the circuit.

The Phoenix International Film Festival was an eye-opener for me. DAKOTA SKYE was one of the big hits there. We were selling out every screening. For our final screening, the Fire Marshall allowed the theater venue to bring in folding chairs and place them in the Handicapped area and along the front row.

The movie played amazingly in every screening. And yet, to a certain extent, there was an element that made me feel out of place. Only the Director, Writer and talent got the coveted "Filmmaker" badges - and you might think, ok... so what? But that pass means that you get into the VIP areas (where the other filmmakers are) and you are always recognized as someone who made one of the films as opposed to anyone else at the Festival. So, yeah. It can be weird.

Going into the Fall Festival season with GIRLFRIEND, I'll be curious to see how it goes.

Regardless of all of that, the end goal is to get the film sold and out there in the world. SpyFilmz repped Dakota and we ended up selling to E1 Entertainment. E1 is the largest Home Video distributor in North America and produces the HBO series HUNG, so we're in good company. The release was small, but we're out there.

As we wait to see what trajectory GIRLFRIEND ends up taking, I'm so excited to be at this stage again, regardless of what happens, waiting to take the ride... and waiting for an audience to see the film.

S

Re: The Process.

2010-06-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Trying to get a film made is... difficult. Actually, to call it difficult is to put it mildly.

The fact that I have two feature films to my credit is kind of a miracle in the indie world. I was incredibly fortunate to have been invited by a close friend to become a part of "Dakota Skye." The film came together quickly because the films director (John Humber) and his family paid for it. There was no hunt for money. No need for multiple investors. In short, we just set out to make the film. Our collective filmmaking knowledge is what made it work.

For the next film, "Girlfriend," I was brought on by the Wayne/Lauren Film Co. after meeting with Justin Lerner and his team. Again, financing was already in place.

I just finished watching "Crazy Heart," the film for which Jeff Bridges won the Oscar for Best Actor. During the end titles, I noticed a laundry list of producers including cast members Robert Duvall and Bridges himself. This most likely means that, at some point, the film ran into financing trouble and was bailed out by members of the cast. I don't know this for sure, but it's a likely scenario.

Last week I had a very good meeting for another project that seems a long way off, but could very well end up being my third film as producer and may lead to a long term relationship with a well respected production company... Something I really hope goes through. At the same time, I continue to develop my own projects in the hope that I'll be able to get them made.

For indies, having a great script is hurdle number one. I have managed to find several now, and currently am working to make what I think is a good script (mine) into a great one. This too is difficult.

Hurdle number two, is finding the money. Something I'm working on.

But it feels like it's getting easier.

Wish me luck.

Re: "The Goonies"

2010-06-05T22:15:00.001-07:00

This Monday, June 7th 2010 will be the 25th Anniversary of “The Goonies,” so I thought I might briefly talk about the film.

Anyone who was young enough when it came out (at least the people I’ve met), remember the film as a fond reminder of their childhood.

I can remember the theater I saw it in (Saddleback Cinema on El Toro Road in Laguna, Ca.), who took me (my grandmother) and how amazing the film was as an experience. I think, at the time, what was kind of mind blowing was that it was a film starring kids and about kids that never seemed to treat its actors or its audience like kids. There were, to borrow from an old 40’s one sheet, “thrills!” “chills” and “adventure!”

The film gave me everything I was hoping for in a movie. It was, in a word, perfect. I mean, who didn’t want to ride down that water slide at the end and climb onto ‘One-Eyed Willy’s’ ship?

I hear that on certain anniversary’s, the people of Astoria, Oregon (where the film was shot and takes place) have events and welcome members of the cast. Wish I could go this year. Maybe someday I’ll get up there… but for now I’ll simply say:

I am a Goonie.

Thanks to Richard Donner, Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg for the great film.

The Return of the GIRLFRIEND One Sheet!

2010-05-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

The other day, I posted the first official one-sheet (odd industry term for a poster) for GIRLFRIEND, but quickly had to take it down... Today, I get to put the "poster" back up.

The image is actually taken directly from the RED Camera we used to shoot the film, so credit must be given to not only our director (Justin Lerner), but to our phenomenally gifted director of photography Quyen Tran.

Hope you like it... Again.

S

New Production Still!

2010-05-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well. After posting (and then removing) the Festival one sheet for GIRLFRIEND yesterday, I am proud to present a new production still from the film featuring Evan Sneider and Jackson Rathbone.

Hopefully this one'll stay up for a while.

Hope you like it!

You may have noticed -

2010-05-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I went ahead and posted the new one sheet for GIRLFRIEND.

Unfortunately, I had to take it down.

More news soon.

S

On Actors, Inspiration and the Pursuit of Dreams...

2010-03-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

I was thinking recently about some of my favorite actors… Top-tier people like Gary Oldman, Russell Crowe, Sean Penn, Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet… and those are the names you recognize. but there are so many more whose work I really enjoy. Who, time and again, turn in solid work. The people you see and say, “I love this guy!” or “She’s great.” And while I know their names, you may not.

People like Catherine Keener, Bruce McGill, Carla Gugino, Elias Koteas, John Carroll Lynch, Ted Levine, Kevin Dunne, Emily Mortimer, John Slattery, John Hawkes, John Ortiz, John Ashton, Joe Pantoliano and the late great JT Walsh. Look any of them up and I guarantee you’ll have seen them and appreciated something they’ve done over the years.

Thinking about this made me realize how much I love actors in general. Not just their work, but being around them. The energy that surrounds them is, to me, like a drug. By being around them and talking with them, it makes me want to create. It reinvigorates me!

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with 6 up and coming actors (I've left out the names to protect the innocent) and it was literally the highlight of my week. The experience reminded me of the scene in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, where Richard Dreyfuss as 'Roy Neary’ becomes aware that he was invited to take part in the events which had been unfolding around him. This wasn’t chance. It was destiny. His destiny. Something had been calling him. Something told him that he needed to solve a mystery – he simply had to find out about that mysterious shape that had been haunting him… and once he knew, he had no choice but to go there. To find it. No matter what the challenges. No matter the odds. These six people were on a similar journey. They were pulled. Drawn to acting, as if by some unseen force – some from what seems like a million miles away! And despite the odds (like, for instance the fact that only 1% of the Screen Actors Guild is working in film at any given time), they refuse to quit.

In the group was a handsome young guy from Germany who grew up with the Wall dividing his country making it a "dark and grey place," and who flew across the world to follow his heart. There was a spunky, adorable Australian girl who, when she found out she could afford to come to Hollywood, literally packed her bag and flew the next day. There was a handsome Puerto Rican/Italian guy who gave up a six figure salary to chase his dream and follow in the footsteps of his uncle (a working actor). There was the stunningly beautiful blonde girl who decided that despite the abundance of pretty blonde girls in L.A., she simply had to take the chance – in fairness, she’s not your typical blonde (not by a longshot). There’s the guy who grew up on a farm in Oregon and found a way to become an actor, first on a local level, (by driving to “town”), and who then decided the time had come to head to L.A. Finally, a girl from Chicago, the child of a Detective and a classical musician who has been modeling and acting since before she could talk.

We hung out and talked to each other for nearly five hours! We laughed, we told stories and I found out so much about who they are and what they intend to accomplish.

Since my father passed away three years ago, I have become acutely aware of time – and more importantly, how quickly it passes. I mean, I feel like we just passed Christmas and we’re already hitting April! The summer movie season is about to start (what the hell???!!!) Anyway. As I sat there, listening to their stories, telling some of my own, and just sort of feeling these people and learning about their infinitely interesting lives, time (for me), literally melted away. Their commitment to their craft. To their dream. It was… well… inspiring.

This couldn’t have happened at a better time for me. Having been back in L.A. for several weeks, and with GIRLFRIEND winding down, (at least, the production end), I had found myself somewhat deflated.

In New York, there are people everywhere. Fascinating stories. Snippets of conversation on the subway. It’s constant. A truly a magical city. In L.A., here I was again… driving around in my car. By myself. Isolated. Missing out on life! Feeling the inevitable breakdown which usually hits me after I complete a project. But in an instant, that all changed.

Let me back up a bit.

I have known Bobbie Chance, an acting coach in the Los Angeles valley, for 23 years. As a kid, I studied with her (yes, at one point, acting was my aspiration). Last year, I looked her up to see if she was still teaching and happily found that she was. I began going to her Thursday night Showcase – not as a student, but as a professional filmmaker, and out of those Thursday nights I have made a ton of new friends, and even added a few members to the class.

The last time I produced a short for a friend, I cast two roles out of Bobbie’s classes and sent our lead actress to study there!

So in a way, being allowed the opportunity to go in from time to time and watch these people perform, is mutually beneficial. I get to watch good work and from it, I refill my, um, creative juices (for lack of a better term) and they have a forum to meet people who may, at some point, be in a position to change their lives because, as I often say, "films, for the people who make them, are kind of like a lottery ticket - you only need one to take off and your life will be completely different."

To see the sheer amount of undiscovered talent out there makes one feel like, even though the movies I’ve made are small (so far), that they are worth the effort… worth the pain. Because if these actors can strip themselves bare and leave every ounce of themselves on the stage in just a classroom setting, then I have no excuse but to pursue this showbiz dream with every single beat of my heart.

So if any of you read this thing, and I know I’ve said it in person, but again, “thank you.” You guys inspire me.

I was once asked by a class of high school drama students what advice I might offer them as far as getting into the acting world in L.A.

My response? “Don’t.”

I watched as they all looked at me quizzically. Their faces fell. Then, after a moment, I continued:

“Unless… Unless you have no choice in the matter. If performing… interpreting a script. Creating a character… expressing yourself through art… If doing that, to you, is like breathing and to do anything else would be like literally killing your soul… then fight for it. Fight for it with everything you’ve got because it’s a long, hard road and no one is going to hand it to you.”

I looked around the room and I could see a few of them brighten. In that moment, I recognized the ones who would fight. The kids whose need, not for attention, not for stardom, but for a forum for creative expression and for art, would never stop. And that too was inspiring.

If you happoen to read this blog and acting or film is not your thing, you can still use this. Whatever it is that you want. Whatever inspires you. Hold onto to it. I’ve been working in film for 16 years and I’ll turn 35 this year – I’m now on my second feature film as producer with more in the works, and the only reason I’m still here is simply that I refused to give up. I refused to hear “no.” …Not that I haven’t thought of throwing in the towel (I have… more than once). But in the end, as I said, to do so… to… admit defeat would have been something akin to dying. It would mean letting that flame that has burned in me since I was a child in that first screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” go out. And in the end, I could never do it.

Best regards. ‘Til next time. Thanks for reading.

Re: This Odd Business I'm In...

2010-02-23T22:33:00.001-08:00

First off, thanks to those of you who are following this blog... It's nice to know you guys care even if I can't really detail the GIRLFRIEND process right now. At some point, hopefully, I'll be freed up to blog more about the experience on the film, but for now, I have to keep it low profile. It has been decided, after much consideration, that it is in the best interest of the movie to play things close to the vest.

I noticed a few of you left some comments, so I'll answer those before I jump into my latest blog.

First, to Wendy at TeamJAction - maybe it would be good if you could pull down anything that relates directly to the film. Anything that is general film related stuff, is fine to leave up. Thank you for asking and for your help.

Next, to Mandolinaes - Nothing wrong with GIRLFRIEND, quite the opposite everything is going very well. We've just decided to go "radio silent" for a bit as we're closing in on the finish line and don't want to jeopardize any aspect of the next steps in the process. Rest assured, when there's good news, we'll make announcements!

Last, but certainly not least, to Ali (Word Ninja) - I have definitely not grown tired of you (nor anyone else who bothers to follow me, for that matter!) And in answer to your question (the importance of which is not lost on me), yes... I do happen to think that "Shaun of the Dead" is one of the best movies ever. Not just because they chose to spell the lead characters name the way I spell mine, either! The film manages to maintain an amazing balance between the absolutely hilarious and actual creepy, gory horror. In fact, I got the opportunity (not too long ago, in fact) to talk with Edgar Wright (who you can follow on Twitter, by the way) and tell him how much I enjoyed the film. I'm very excited for his next film too.

Oh, I added something new and cool to this blog: In addition to being able to leave comments, you can now check these little boxes at the end of the blog to give me a quick assessment of how you feel about the topic or what's been included... it's a little like in High School ("if you like me, check this box") but I thought it would be kinda fun, so I've added it. Anyway. Give it a shot. No hard feelings either way... Promise. Oh, and: If you like the posts so far, tell your friends about the blog. I'm having a nice time interacting with the few of you who are (admitting) that you're readers, so pass it along! I'd really appreciate it!

I thought about it for a bit before I began to write this blog and I decided, since one of the words in the title of this blog is "Adventures," I figured I'd post a bit of what I've been up to here in the amazing city of New York.

It shouldn't surprise anyone to know by now that since I'm a complete movie geek, I've decided to seek out some New York landmarks during my time out here, and fortunately for you (or unfortunately, depending on how you feel), I brought along my camera. While walking around, I have focused on one of my favorites of all time: GHOSTBUSTERS.

This first image is of the entrance to Dana Barrett's apartment. My Post-Producer and I found it while walking around Central Park. A quick web-search determined that it was, in fact, "Spook Central."

Being the giant dork that I am, I sat on a bench across from the building and from my mp3 player, played a selection from the great Elmer Bernstein's score from the film. From Central Park, Jeff and I walked into Times Square so he could show me a building he hung off a beam from back when he was a New York City Iron Worker. He has an insane picture of it. After that, we took the subway:

To Canal Street:

From there we walked into the heart of Tribeca and literally without looking for it, we walked right into this:

Well. Having found the Firehouse from GHOSTBUSTERS, and despite the fact that I am often displeased with photographs of myself, I had Jeff take a shot of me out front.

Finally, we walked a bit further and I settled on a building that I will live in when this whole Producer thing begins to become financially, um, lucrative. I have taken a photograph for your approval.

My home will be one of the ones with the rounded windows. What do you think? I figure you can't go wrong with the Tribeca neighborhood. Maybe Bob DeNiro and I will meet up at the local market?

You never know.

More soon.

S

If you've been following Ravenwood Films on Twitter...

2010-02-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I've pulled down the Twitter feed for @RavenwoodFilms... This will only be temporary and, for now, you may ask questions here if you'd like, through the comments section. I've also pulled down all "Girlfriend" related blogs on this site. (for those who were reading them, I apologize but at this point, it's in the best interest of the film.)

Rest assured, I will continue my Twitter feed as "Ravenwood Films" at a later date. For now, you can find me by searching @shaun_obanion on Twitter. I won't be posting anything about my current film project at his time though.

So, if you're still here, thanks for following!

Shaun

FAVORITE FILMS...

2010-01-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was asked by a dear friend of mine to compile a list of some of my favorite films to be used for her artist collective Veaux in a project called "The Hungry Artist." Veaux is, according to their website (Veaux.org), "an online talent market that helps fresh creatives sell themselves, and picky buyers find the choicest cut of artistic goodness around."

In other words, they connect new artists with the people who can support their art. It's a great site and worth a look, if only to see what creative people are doing.

Anyway. Here's my list with the intro I gave "The Hungry Artist."

At any given moment, these change… Some go up, some move down - others drop off entirely, and that’s not to mention the fact that at any given time I may have a top ten list related to a specific genre of film. That said, my tastes are fairly big budget and not far of from the average film-goer. I am definitely not considered nearly as high-brow or “film-snob”(ish) as many of my peers, but here goes: My Top 10 Films.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - This film changed my life. I was about four months from my sixth birthday when this film came out in 1981. I remember, quite vividly, leaping over the armrest and into the lap of my grandmother when the spears shot out from the wall with “Satipo” (the great Alfred Molina) impaled on them in the amazing opening of this film, and in that moment, I realized that someone had done that on purpose! They wanted me to leap from my seat! It was thrilling, expertly done and completely successful and I became determined to find out who it was and how they’d done it. The orchestrator of that high adventure was, of course, Steven Spielberg with an incredible script by Lawrence Kasdan. I knew then that I wanted to be a filmmaker. Today, I run a production company named after one of the lead characters in the film – Ravenwood.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – One year later, Spielberg would again create such a stunning work that I decided then and there that he was the “greatest director ever.” (There’s 8mm film of me declaring this to my father). E.T. touched me in a completely different way – where the daring archaeologist Indiana Jones made me cheer and leap around in a theater seat, E.T. was all at once frightening, magical and hugely emotional. I saw the film no less than 7 times in the theater and to this day, I still get misty-eyed when E.T. “dies” in the triage tent – 27 years later! And I know he comes back to life! For me, this film is also one of the closest experiences I ever shared with my father: One Thanksgiving, the film was on TNT and as E.T. was slipping away and Elliott is screaming, “No! You’re hurting him!” I looked over and my father (a man who never cried) was weeping. He looked at me and said, without a hint of embarrassment, “fu*kin’ movie gets to you, huh?”

Casablanca – A film that, on every level, never ceases to amaze me. I recently picked the film up on Blu-Ray (replacing my nearly burned out Standard-Def DVD) and literally fell in love all over again. The script (by the Epstein Brothers with Howard Koch) remains, to this day, one of the best screenplays ever written – unequalled in it’s set-up of the perfect anti-hero in Humphrey Bogarts’ “Rick.” It’s no surprise that the film won Best Picture, Screenplay and Director (Michael Curtiz). Among the greatest lines in movie history (and about 20 are in this film!) most people go with “Play it again, Sam” as their favorite line (which, curiously, is never actually spoken in the film), or “Here’s looking at you, kid,” but for me, it’s the following line in response to Ilsa’s “…but of course, that was the day the Germans marched in to Paris.” Rick says, “I remember every detail. The Germans wore grey, you wore blue.”

The Shawshank Redemption – Yes, this is a film about prison and some of the awful things that go on in those places, but this film (based on a short story by Stephen King) is also about friendship and above all, hope. The film didn’t do well in the theaters… Some people thought it was the title. Some people skipped it because they didn’t really know who Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman were. In fact, I never saw it in the theater (a fact I am loathe to admit), but I will always remember the day my father called me up having borrowed an Oscar Screener from someone and said, “If you’re not working, you need to drop what you’re doing right now and come borrow this movie.” I did, I watched and I was, am, and forever will be in awe. This film is perfection.

The Godfather Part II – The film by Francis Ford Coppola is widely regarded as one of the best of all time, and for very good reason… as the middle part of an epic saga, the film completely envelopes you in the world of Michael Corleone. Another film shown to me by my father, this movie is so profoundly moving, me and the other wacky film fanatics will often make a trip to a movie palace to see the latest restored version (even though we own it on Blu-Ray). Another movie that hits perfection right between the eyes… if there’s a flaw in this film, I have yet to find it.

Ghostbusters/Fletch – I had to cheat and pick a tie here. Both of these are quintessential 80’s comedies and both are near and dear to me. Ghostbusters is Ivan Reitman’s pinnacle and features so many actors working at the top of their game that it’s hard to imagine any other film even coming close. For me, Fletch (Directed by the late Michael Ritchie) manages, in my estimation, laughs on par with the level of Ghostbusters, but delivered solely by Mr. Chevy Chase. Fletch was the last film I ever saw with my Grandpa and that memory will never die. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone laugh as hard as when Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as “Gail Stanwyck” asks who is at the door and Chase replies, “It’s, uh, John… John Cock…toast…oen.” Interestingly, while a lot of Fletch is quotable, it doesn’t touch Ghostbusters in that arena – I know a lot of people who can literally speak every word of dialogue from the film. “When someone asks you if you’re a God, you say, ‘YES’!”

Dog Day Afternoon – Everything about Sidney Lumet’s film blows me away. Though based on the list so far you’d never know it, I’m a sucker for true stories and this film has an amazing one. A man (Al Pacino) and his partners try to rob a bank in Brooklyn. Standard stuff, right? Wrong. Pacino’s “Sonny,” who is married with kids, is robbing the place to get money to pay for his lovers sex change operation (if that’s not interesting enough, the lover is played by Chris Sarandon). Problem is, the bank doesn’t have very much money (it had been picked up that day) and now he’s stuck inside with his not-too-bright partner (the truly wonderful and sadly missed John Cazale who also plays “Fredo” in the Godfather films) and the cops outside (headed by Charles Durning). By the time I get to the end, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but it’s an amzing ride.

Tootsie – I can’t begin to tell you how many people (younger than I am) that have never heard of this film. If they haven’t, I simply tell them that I can’t speak to them again until they’ve watched it… It should be required viewing for anyone who loves film and for actors, in particular. I recently had an opportunity to see the film at the Arclight Cinema in Los Angeles and Dustin Hoffman shared some stories with the crowd before the screening. He was really wonderful and told some great behind-the-scenes anecdotes… But the best part was watching the movie in a packed house. The movie, directed by (again, the late) Sydney Pollack and written by (sadly, the late) Larry Gelbart is pure genius. When Hoffman, dressed in “Dorothy Michaels” costume first steps on the set of the Soap Opera he’s been hired on, the director (the great, and still working Dabney Coleman) asks a cameraman how far he can “pull back”? The cameraman responds, “How do you feel about Cleveland?” The crowd went nuts. 26 years after the film was first released, the crowd laughed like it was a brand new film. That’s magical.

Back to the Future – I come back to this film again and again and every single time I’m completely transported. I was born in 1975, but watching this film, I completely feel like I understand 1955… at least Hill Valley in 1955. I want to drive the DeLorean! I want to flick the little window of the Flux Capacitor! This movie, under the expert guidance of Robert Zemeckis (and producer Steven Spielberg) still holds up today – and for that, you can point squarely at the amazing sceenplay (by Zemeckis and Bob Gale)… without a doubt, one of the best and tightest scripts ever written. Try to find one thing they set up in the beginning of the film that doesn’t get paid off. Go ahead… try! I dare ya! (Or don’t… because there isn’t one). Brilliant.

Wow. I’ve reached my final entry. I’m going to have to cheat again. I give a tie to Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Again, I go back to Spielberg… the man is, undoubtedly, the author of my youth. In Jaws, he did for the ocean what Hitchcock did for showers. I couldn’t even go to the deep end of the swimming pool after seeing this for fear that Jaws would swallow me whole! For me, perhaps one of the best scenes in cinema history, is when Robert Shaw as “Quint” tells the story about the USS Indianapolis – the story inspired me to look at history and to read about our country. And CE3K (for us geeks), well… as a kid, one of the houses we lived in had a heater in the floor. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more terrified in a film than watching those little screws come undone one… by… one and then the covering blow off. Or the monkey with the cymbals that comes on by itself! I had one of those! I kept waiting for the night it would start clanging those damn cymbals together and the aliens would take me away! For me, Richard Dreyfuss in these two films is stunning. Completely different people. I don’t think I realized for years that it was the same actor. His “Roy Neary” in Close Encounters is a perfectly executed portrayal of a man driven mad by visions that he simply must see come true, and John Williams’ extraordinary use of ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ is, frankly, beautiful.
There are my top ten.

Honorable Mention (These are the ones that regularly climb up the list):

Guess I’m definitely a child of the 80’s. But I’ll leave with a quote from the 70’s…

QUINT
(Singing)
Farewell and adieu to you fair
Spanish ladies… Farewell and
adieu to you ladies of Spain…

Until next time.

Shaun

A Visit to Pandora...

2009-12-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

Today, my wife and I went to see "Avatar."

Having stood in what they call the "volume" during some of the performance capture (not 'motion capture,' mind you... "performance capture," as coined by Mr. Cameron), I had an idea of what to expect. After all, even during that part of the process, on stage at the former Howard Hughes plant in Playa Del Rey, anyone on the film could see what things were going to eventually look like - sure they all had rough edges and looked a bit flat somehow, not unlike video game characters - but you could see what Neytiri was going to be. You could even see a rough version of what the background might be. When my friend Zoe would move in the volume, not ten feet from me, and Cameron or his First AD/Co-Producer Josh McLaglen would yell "Fire!" to the techies, I could look at the big screen tv off to the side and not see Zoe in her dive suit, but the character as it would one day exist in the film.

None of this prepared me for what I would see on screen today. For the first time ever, I stopped seeing CG. What I saw were living, breathing creatures. The Navi, as rendered by a team of artists (and I include Zoe in that description), were... are... living breathing things.

There was a small boy sitting next to me in the theater. Maybe... 6 years-old. He was there with his dad. Before the film started, the kid was a bit fidgety and all I could think was "this is going to be terrible. This kid is going to drive me crazy." But when the film started, something magical happened. This little boy got lost in the film. He was literally transported. He spent the majority of the films nearly 3 hour running time literally on the edge of his seat! When things would pop out at us, the kid would jump. When those little floaty, jelly-fish-like things from the "home tree" appeared, he'd try to touch them. He was completely immersed in Cameron's wonderful world. In fact, the boy not only didn't bother me once, but actually became just as fun to watch as the film! Watching this boy, I couldn't help but feel in awe. This little boy, taken to the movies by his young father, was probably feeling something akin to what I felt as a kid seeing the "Star Wars" films. This astounding leap forward by James Cameron, was changing this kid's life... right there. In that moment.

Now, for me, while I enjoyed the film and am planning to see it again, I still had some problems overall - like James Horner's score for one... A few beautiful pieces marred by the man's typical ripping off of his own previous work (in this case, "Glory" and "Willow"). But, that said, I'm still amazed by the achievement here.

I recall standing on the volume one day while Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson dropped in. They wanted to talk to Cameron about the process and were studying up a bit on how they intended to use the technology for "Tintin." At one point, Spielberg asked me if I was learning from the experience. He asked if I was enjoying watching the process. I had to answer him honestly. "No," I said. "I miss the props. I miss the sets. Costumes... all of it." I told him I had nearly cried when I found out ILM was dismantling their model shop... "As good as this could be," I said, "it'll never have the texture, the weight, of real actors moving in real rooms carrying real props."

(For the record? Yeah. I was wrong.)

"That's ok," Mr. Spielberg told me, "guys like you will keep that stuff around." I smiled. "Look at me," he continued, "George [Lucas] has been trying to get me to go digital for years... But I won't. I'll be the last hold-out. I still cut on film!"

I took the man's compliment (I perceived it that way at least. After all, I named my company after a character in one of his films!) and watched as these three brilliant filmmakers went back to their meeting.

While the process of seeing actors stand in a real space surrounded by props and set dressing and wearing amazing costumes will probably always be the way to go for me, I must commend Mr. Cameron and his team.

Like that little boy sitting next to me in the theater, I too got lost on 'Pandora' for a while... and I too, felt a bit like a kid again.

Officially a Producer... Again; It All Begins.

2009-12-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

So there I was, in prep on Katie's Song a short film I had agreed to produce for a close friend. Satch Watanabe, the writer/director, had written an interesting piece about a young woman with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and her interaction with a man who she doesn't realize is her father... A man who abandoned her when she was just four years old.

After working on the script for several months, we had already begun the casting process. Satch had already cast the role of our lead (a fantastic young actress named Lana Shea), but we were still looking for someone to play her father as well as someone to play the role of Katie's boyfriend - a role that had been expanded at my suggestion. I reached out to an old friend of mine (a well respected acting coach) named Bobbie Chance (bobbychance.com) - I asked her if I might be able to come in and see some of her students work. My wife and I drove over to her studio in the Valley and sat in on one of the classes. The students put up their scenes in groups and by the end of the class, I had settled on a young guy I thought would work well with Lana. He was natural, never seemed to be "acting," and he was good looking.

When the class ended, he left pretty fast. I spoke quickly with my wife, getting her opinion on the young actor (as I often do about screenplays, or other things... she's a great sounding board) and with her approval of him, I basically chased him down. I caught up to him on the sidewalk and introduced myself. His name was Jerad Anderson. I told him I thought he was "very good." I asked him if he had a headshot and he said he'd get one from his car.

He came back moments later and I told him a little about the short film and what it would be. I talked about our shooting schedule and told him about what his role would be. I didn't offer the role, as I had to run it by Satch, but I was pretty sure Satch would trust my recommendation and cast him without a meeting.

A few weeks later, I was standing on the set in a loft in Santa Monica. We were shooting a key scene in which Katie and her boyfriend record a video for her website - a site to raise awareness about AML and to encourage people to sign up as Bone Marrow Donors. Satch had based the film on the discovery of a real woman named Michelle and her actual website.

Jerad had an audition that day and needed to break away, if I would let him. The short was so low-budget that I had taken on a variety of roles - one of which was First AD. I consulted with out Director of Photography, a really great guy (and super talented shooter) named Jon Edward Miller (http://www.jonedwardmiller.com/content.agent?page_name=Home) and reviewed the call sheet for the day. I estimated that Jerad could go away for about an hour. Based on our set-up time for the next shot, I knew we'd break for lunch before we completed the next scene and combining the time it would take to complete the scene, break for lunch and set-up Jerad's next shot, I figured he'd have more than enough time to make his audition and get back to set.

Things actually did time out pretty well... thanks to a bit of luck. Ian Nelson, our male lead in my last film (a great little feature called Dakota Skye) was at the same audition and after learning that Jerad was doing a project of mine, let Jerad go in ahead of him in order to help him make it back on time.

I guess Jerad was impressed with the way I ran the set. At wrap that day, he told me he had a feature he was developing and that they would have the money within the month. He asked if I'd be interested in reading the script and, perhaps, coming on as producer. I told him I'd love to read it.

Little did I know, that brief conversation would start me on a path that would carry me through the adventure of producing my second feature - a journey that began over 8 months ago and continues even as I write this... on a project called: Girlfriend

A Little Background...

2009-12-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

I have often been asked to start a blog and somehow never really felt that I had much to blog about but recently, I have been giving it more thought, and now that I'm in Post Production on my most recent production I figured it might be a cool time to do it.

To start, I'm going to re-post several pieces I wrote up and posted on other sites (like IMDB.com) so you have an idea of where I came from and how I got here.

I hope you enjoy. In the future, I hope this can become a forum for aspiring filmmakers to ask questions, seek advice and maybe find resources. I welcome all feedback.

Enjoy.

Part One. "The Sneak."

I had been living with my Dad on and off for a few years (whenever my Mom didn't move me back with her) and he lived only a couple of blocks from Universal Studios. I remember buying my first Universal Season Pass when it only cost nine bucks! I used to go up there every weekend and ride the tour. Sometime later, I heard the story of how Spielberg had snuck into the lot and set himself up in an office (true? guess we'll never really know) and found myself determined to pull off a sneak that would at least get me onto the set of my favorite show (at that time) - "Quantum Leap." I found out through the tour that they were shooting on various stages on the front lot. I made it my mission to get in there.

One day, while on summer break from school (I was 11 at the time), I walked up the hill from the Cahuenga side, caught the free tram to Lankershim Boulevard and walked up to the security guard... and then kept on walking. As a prop, I had decided to carry a coffee mug. Whether that actually helped or not, I don't know, but I didn't get stopped. My goal changed as I got into the studio. I immediately decided that I wanted to walk the nearly 420 acres of the backlot and get from the front lot mid-way through to (what was, at the time, to me) the mother of all facade sets... Hill Valley Town Square from "Back To The Future." I wanted to get there so that I could stand in the center of the grass and wave to the tram as it passed through - to all of those people sitting where I had only recently sat. I got there. I took pictures. The tram rolled by and I smiled and waved. Amazing. I continued to do this for several weeks. I'd pick a new spot on the backlot and take my own personal tour. The "Psycho" house. Amity from "Jaws." The streets from "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Munsters" (which is now Wisteria Lane from "Desperate Housewives" in case you were interested...) I'd even grab lunch at the studio commissary! One day, while walking around near what used to be the 747 stage (where they kept a full-size interior mock-up of a Boeing 747) a guy in a golf cart saw me and stopped. He asked who I was with and what I was doing down there all by myself. Without an answer or a name, he told me to get in the cart and escorted me to the security office.

Security asked how I had gotten in. They told me I was trespassing and that, being underage, my parents could be held liable for a hefty fine. They told me that no one was allowed on the lot without a proper pass and that though they would not call the police nor press charges "this time," that any such tresspasses in the future would bring stiff penalties. They took my information and a polaroid of me and escorted me off the lot. But... I hadn't gotten to do what I'd originally intended to do! There was no way they were going to keep me out. I went home and called the Main Universal Switchboard... "If I have a meeting at the commissary, will the commissary issue me a guest pass onto the lot?" I asked. "Yes," replied the switchboard operator, "I believe that if you had a reservation for a table there, that they would." That was all I needed to hear.

I proceeded to book myself lunch at the commissary several times weekly... some time later, in Junior High, I even took a "date" there once! I got my Mom in with me. I took friends. Most importantly, I spent my summer on the set of "Quantum Leap," where I watched them shoot every episode beginning with "Machiko McKenzie," and actually became quite friendly with Dean Stockwell (who told me amazing anecdotes) and Scott Bakula.

I was hooked. Smashcut to 1991. I graduate 9th grade and my Mom shows up. She was moving to Sacramento and I was going with her. That was it. Boom. Gone.

Fade out. Then... fade in.

The day before High School graduation. I inform my family and friends that Sacramento has "killed my soul," and that I'm moving to L.A. "tomorrow to follow my dream." I tell my friend's to expect a phone call from me within a year's time to tell them that I am working in the film industry.

The next day, I packed my car and drove back to L.A.

Part Two: “Getting In Again. “

I got to L.A. and lucked into finding a small single rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica, and wasted no time in crashing Universal again.

It's worth noting that the way I would get onto that Lot just isn't possibe in the post 9-11 world. There is no longer a commissary for reservations, nor can anyone just "stroll" past the security gate... These days, you're lucky if they don't search your belongings even after you have your pass. But in those days, things were much different... and wanting to test the waters further, I decided to... well, how should I put this... liberate a showcard from one of the studio trucks parked all around the lot.

For the uninformed, a showcard is cardboard or laminated paper on which either a hand-painted or printed design of a film's logo or title design and production information is represented. The transportation department will hand these out to the driver of every production vehicle (vans, trailers, stakebeds) as well as to those lucky enough to be allowed to park in the shooting company's basecamp. As you're walking around a studio lot, you'll see them all over. All I had to do was find an unoccupied vehicle and grab one out off of the windshield. Soon enough, I found one and grabbed it... though I can't recall what film or television show it was from.

My next order of business would be to tempt the fates and see if I could drive my burgundy '89 Ford Thunderbird onto the lot. I figured that I be pushing it too far by trying to cruise through the front gate, so I drove to the Barham Blvd. gate on the South East side of the studio and sure enough... the showcard worked. I barely even slowed down. The arm went up and on I went. I took a celebratory drive through all the places on the 420 acre lot I had had to walk to before and then I searched for a parking space.

Next, I made it my mission to find a job. I realized (and this is where I will date myself), that Spielberg was in production on a television series on the lot... a new sci-fi series called "SeaQuest DSV." I quickly found out (through a quick search of my trusty Tuesday edition of the Hollywood Reporter) that the series starred none other than "Chief Brody" himself, Roy Scheider. As a huge Spielberg fan, and of course "Jaws" fan, I decided rght then and there that "SeaQuest" would be my first job in the film and television industry... But what could I do? I barely knew anything about on-set jobs. It had seemed in the past that there weren't many young people running around on sets. No matter, I thought... I'll figure it out.

I walked around the lot for a while until I came upon the historical "Phantom of the Opera" stage - where back in 1925, 10 years after Universal was founded, Lon Chaney had taken on the classic role of 'The Phantom,' and where a portion of that classic film set still stands... now the home to a family of raccoons. Stage 28. Today, when you stand in line for the "Backdraft" attraction on the lower lot of the studio tour, you are directly in front of Stage 28.

28 was the home of the "Con" set or Control Room of the "SeaQuest"... The 'DSV' in the title stood for 'Deep Submergence Vehicle.'

The show actually occupied (at one point) as many as 7 stages on the lot. The sets, I would later find out were enormous. Engine rooms, Science rooms complete with tanks of actual sea life... amazing.

But it would be quite some time before I'd see any of it... Almost three months to be exact... and a bit longer before I'd get my first industry job.

Part Three: “The Hire”

I had been hanging around the Universal lot for a while and hoping I could find a way onto one of the massive soundstages to get myself a job.

I was terrified of getting kicked off the lot again and thought that if I tried to enter the stage, it would certainly happen. If only I knew then what I know now...

Anyway. There were signs on every door to the stage which stated, in big bold letters: ABSOLUTELY NO ENTRY WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE UPM! YOU MUST HAVE A BADGE TO ENTER!"

It's funny now to think the sign bothered me - it hadn't bothered me that I was (technically) trespassing already just by being on the lot in the first place - but it did. I was not going to push my luck. I basically loitered around whatever stage they happened to be shooting on and would say "hello" to people as they would come in and come out... Occasionally, I'd sneak into the lower lot and ride "E.T.," or one of the other attractions.

I was doing whatever I could to endear myself to cast and crew as they'd leave the stage and hang out around trucks and trailers... one day, I even bought Stacy Haiduk (the show's lead actress) a jump rope after I'd heard her mention that she wished she had one for all the downtime. I was just looking for a way in.

Finally, opportunity. An extra walked out of the stage to grab a smoke. "SeaQuest" liked to use the same background - since the show was set (at least in the first season) almost entirely in the submarine, it made sense that you would see the same crew people again and again. The man had seen me milling about for weeks. I guess he just figured I was the kid of a crew member. "You ought to go in and get some food at crafty," he said.

That was it. That's all I needed. I had been told I could enter the stage - didn't matter that it was only an extra that told me. If I had been caught or asked to leave, I would've easily sold him out. Finally on stage, I helped myself to the food and started talking to people. Things were going well until one day, while sitting near camera during a shot, Stephanie Beacham yelled for me to "get out of her eyeline." It wasn't a big deal though. Nobody asked me to leave or anything.

Eventually, while walking in one morning, I noticed that the Front Lot Studio Store was selling a hat which was identical to the one that had just been given to the cast and crew. I bought one. $15 dollars was a small investment to make in my future.

I strode onto the set wearing my official crew hat and did what I always did. Asked for jobs... errands... anything. I heard a lot of, "no thanks, kid." Or, "That's a union deal... can't let you."

But this particular day, almost three months to the day from when I first discovered the show, everything would change.

I had showed up early to find the company taking a late call-time. They would start the day on stage but then move to the upper lot outside what is now the Gibson Amphitheater. They had a big background call and were going to do an exterior scene about the meeting of "The United Earth Oceans Summit." As they loaded background into vans to take them to the upper lot, I jumped in. When we got to the location, I jumed out with the rest if the background and saw a man (an A.D.) being yelled at by another man (a Teamster)... I didn't know what either of these men's jobs were at the time. The Teamster was shouting, "you need to make up your mind, man! I can't do everything! So you tell me, do you wnat your trailers and picture vehicles up here, or do you want your make-up tables put in the room?" I walked up to them, raised my hand and said, "I'll do it. I'll put the make-up tables in. Where do you want 'em?"

The two men looked at me for a second. It felt like an eternity. I expected to get another "no," but instead, the A.D. ointed at me and said, "Alright. Go with him. Get the tables of the stakebed, put them down in the holding area, put the bulbs in, plug 'em in and come find me." I did exactly what he said. I put in 12 tables, put all the bulbs in and set them up and plugged them in. Then I went to find him. His name was Matt. I found him in the A.D. trailer. He handed me a walkie and a "Burger King Headset" (as we call them), and asked, "you ever ue one of these?" I shook my head. "Ok. Don't talk, just listen. Follow me." We left the trailer and he took me to a position near the set. "Stand here. When I say 'lock it up,' you don't let anyone through, understand?" He didn't wait for my response. "When you hear 'rolling,' yell it out. When you hear 'cut,' yell it out. Don't talk on this unless I call you... " Then he caught himself... "What's your name, anyway?"

I called my dad and told him that I'd be home late. "I think I just got a job."

I worked until about 3am.

At the end of the night, Matt came over to me. "You did good," he said. "I'm going to pay you on a voucher and bump it by $25 bucks, so you'll make about $70 before taxes... I want you to meet me at the production office tomorrow at 2pm. I don't know how you've been getting on the lot, but I imagine you can do it again. Go home. Get some sleep. Another long night tomorrow." I still have my pink copy of that voucher in a photo album right next to a continuity photo of Scheider.

And that was it. The next day, I crashed the lot, parked my car and became employed on the show. From there, Matt took me onto a Schwarzenegger film during hiatus, and after that I even swindled my way onto a James Cameron production (a whole other fun story)... eventually, people started calling me for jobs and I've worked ever since.

So there it is. Some ingenuity, a bit of tenacity... and a whole lot of trespassing.;)