TCM Continued

I purchased a few copies for friends and the packaging on the disc is superb. It folds out vertically to show a full length "Chainsaw", and it contains an "Evidence" folder, complete with blood stains.

Nice, 'Natch.

Gives a good perspective on my current forensic-styled show....

BUY THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE SPECIAL EDITION DVD!

I'm gonna milk this for all it's worth. I edited the SE DVD of TCM (2003) and it's some of my best work yet. "Chainsaw Redux: Making a Massacre" is 77 minutes of guts and glory (Germans too!), and "Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainfield" is a chilling look at the inspiration behind TCM, Silence of the Lambs and Psycho (yes, the same guy). There's also 3 commentaries and a mini-doc on deleted scenes. All in all a great disc, IMHO.

And right now, Best Buy is offering the ORIGINAL TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE DVD for FREE when you purchase the SE box. So three DVD's for 30 clams.

not bad, not bad...

Welcome the Wrath of Joe!

Amazing friend and person with a twisted view on life, welcome the rantings and raves of Joe!

Well, edits are getting better. After a horrific saturday where I did my taxes and underwent a producer's screening in one day (jackinthecrack lunch didn't help much), it's monday eve and I'm on act 4 of the changes. We're letting it breathe and gaining seconds by the..well, second. My producer is rewriting the Vo and tomorrow I should have it all in. So that gives me a wednesday?

good.

So they ship part of it to ian, and part to me. UPS screws up my delivery change request, and I find myself in downtown los angeles at 7:30am friday morning.

Where the staff cheerily informs me that they dug up an old address I used and sent the package there.

Yes, an old address. Someone actually thought that was a good idea.

So Ian picks up the ink at the other address, which is cross town from everyone, as I truck for an hour to work in the middle of morning traffic.

They sent the wrong inks. They invoiced the correct ones, but sent the wrong ones.

I am through at this point.

What a weekend. I'll begin with Friday, which actually had it's start earlier in the week.

As you may or may not know, I've been pitching an animated TV series with my partners Rafael and Ian. To maximize costs, we purchased a printer that prints both high-quality photo paper (for our characters) and DVD's. But it consumes a lot of ink.

So I order a refill pack from 4inkjets.com, the preferred provider for ian.

On the surface, it sounds great. They're local, they're cheap. Order before noon and free UPS shipping gets it to you in a day.

But it didn't work like that.

more later.

Done. And we're 4 minutes short.

ouch.

we have our work cut out for us tomorrow.

Act VI. Six, six, six.

The Final Act.

And the computer crashed again. Sigh. Final Cut Pro 4.1.1 is great on features, low on reliability. I'm just doing moves on stills! fercryinoutloud!

hopefully I didn't miss much on the autosave. ( I set mine to save every 8 minutes.)

Ok, didn't and that was good. Spend the next 20 minutes matching up Ante-mortem and Post-Mortem dental shots with the evidence, pretty compelling. If I can finish Act 6 today, that makes a smooth saturday..

Welcome Nordstrom!

Many things to blog about, so here's the quick lineup comin' up.

1. Review of Day
2. Reveiw of Cut
3. Review of Dedman's script (overdue).

1. The boss took us all out to The Cheesecake Factory (they don't need my link) for lunch and to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. If you've never been to a Cheesecake Factory, take Applebee's or Bennigan's or TGIFridays, mix in a 40 page menu from an east coast diner, add grease, cheese and sugar. You get the picture. The fellowship was nice, as was eating in the sun after a day of salt-mine cave editing, but the food less than stellar. I had a Chicken Caesar salad, and how can you mess that up? Well, cold chicken, slightly wilted-greens, and a dressing that was more vinegar with a hint of Caesar than anything else. At least the portions were huge (I had the appetizer portion and I left 1/4 of it. I shudder to think about a full sizer. Who eats that? Vegetarians the size of King Kong Bundy?)

We're also all groaning because even though a 2 hour lunch on a friday is great, it's not so great when you have to come in on Saturday as well. Luckily I'll be doing my taxes in the morning, so I'll skip the morning.

Yes, Luckily I'll be doing my taxes in the morning. I really like my accountant.

Afterwards, I fully expect to be at work till midnight. Our boss, right now next door, is going over a show cut for cut. Changing angles, extending dissolves in frame increments. Involved.

But.... Make no mistake,


It is HIS show. And he will put his stamp on it. But we all knew that when he is the Executive Producer, Director, Cameraman, and sits in the chair during screenings, running the box.

fun fun fun!!

Ahh. the wait... We've been doing rather well on this show. Our average has been one act every 2 days. Today we hit our bump. Act 4 is rather thin. Total running time for an hour-long courttv show is 42:04 (this will later be augmented with bumpers, titles, and commercials to make the one hour). Each act has averaged out between 6-7 minutes.

Act 4 is 3:45

Whoops.

Well, the story is really a 5 act story shoved into a 6. What I think we'll do is move the DNA evidence from act III (where it resides with ALL forensics) into 4, letting it breathe a bit. We would need to expand the forensics, but there is enough I'm sure.

Right now we wait for the Exec and Supervising producer to watch it. We don't want to go in any new directions without approval, and until they're done with the other show's viewing...

we wait.

looking for something to write about...

Ok, how's this.

It's amazing about the quality of scriptwriting out there. I'm associated with a group that meets every week to go over loglines. Loglines are 1 to 4 sentences describing the general story of a script. (this restriction is seldom adhered to). If we like the story, we request the script. The person in charge of the group has been collecting them since 2002, so we go through about 100 a weekend. Right now we're in April of last year.

And most of them are pretty pretty bad. I've read countless ideas that revolve around 'And then his/her ex-lover/one-night stand began to mess stuff up.' Two weeks ago there was one featuring a half-Vampire/half-elf.

At least they had the deceny to spend two lines describing the total body count of the film, in detail.

Not to make you think I'm being harsh. There are good ideas in there, and quite a few we've ordered scripts for. The only criterion is Is this a movie WE want to see?. There's just so many off ideas that I really feel better about writing in general. Cream will rise to the top.

Funny side effect of the show, everyone I passed it to are calling me up for the info, and letting me in on what they're doing. One friend is doing the DVD commentaries for the upcoming Star Wars discs!!! Dream job there (and commentaries are a bitch to do!)

I turned down a job yesterday. The 2nd time I've really done it. There's still the fear of whether or not I made the right choice, but deep down I think I have.

The project is a great one: A feature documentary sponsored by a well-known politcal action group and washington think tank about media consolidation and the influence it wields with the mind of the country. Right up my alley. But the schedule would have been 6 days a week for at least 12 hours until July. That would be perfect a few years ago, but I don't want to say goodbye to my family for 3 months just yet. Also, I have family flying in the middle of April. Wouldn't it be great to say "Hey, glad you spend $600 to come visit, here's the remote!". I didn't think so either. So I said no, passed it on to some great people and will now let life throw the next one.

Sorry, my non -readership, it's been a busy busy week. I spoke too soon concerning weekends as we're now doing saturdays as well. that plus taxes makes for a crazy week.

Ok, that hurts. I just lost my big ass post. Thanks to Zone alarm and their overprotective PC-ness.

ok, the gist was this. I like weekends.

more later.

#@$#%^$

Reflections on Overworking or
How I kept every iron in the fire:

I'm a workaholic. It took me a while to realize this because I never thought myself to be the type. I don't like work. I don't want to do it. However, I never seemed to be happy unless I was doing something. Accordingly, I would book myself solid with projects: Main editing gig (which was at least a 10 hour day), writing/producing co-productions, script talks, and a musical outlet. Ergo, I was overloaded, and had no fun. Vis a Vis, there was no time for family, as they were regulated to the 'there, but not needing time' spot.

I was wrong. As many before me, I discover that to work and only work is not the final goal but the journey. Fulfillment comes in many ways. One maxim I realized is that any career in the entertainment business is fleeting. If you give time to it, films will come and go. But family will always be there.

So I've enacted The Discipline of Three.

1. Family
2. Job (Main paying gig)
3. 1 creative outlet

Yes, one only. Because of point three, I have broken this discipline constantly, but it is a Discipline. Which can be defined as "...training, whether physical, mental, or moral." Ergo a work in progress. It used to be a rule, but I realized my fallibility.

Even though I often find myself with two or three concurrent outlets, living the discipline is helping me to be more focussed. I am learning to say no, to delegate, and most importantly, to wait: putting projects on back burners until I can give them my full attention.

This can often be infuriating as my current project, the AHS pitch, has taken 9 months to almost complete and everything else is back burnered. But, I HAVE focussed. And AHS is something I'm very proud of. And I don't think I could have achieved my part in it if I did not practice my discipline.

BTW, I will speak more on AHS once I am able. It's still a skunkworks-type project....

Great studio catered lunch again. This time roast beef au jus with shitake musroom salad.

the eclair must have 4 cows worth of butter in it.

I managed to speak with a few of the panelists afterwards and found them to be warm and engaging, surprising considering their position relative to mine. The DVD biz is doing well, and shows no signs of stopping. If anything the coming emergence of blue-ray dvd's (higher capacity) and High-Definition DVD's will only spur the market, as there will be a coming need for new special-editions and newer technologies (I'll have to buy the white album again!)

Best part of the evening was meeting with interested parties on our animation pitch. After 9 months going on 7 years of hard work, it's rewarding to feel interest and acceptance at this stage of the game. Of course if it sells, it will feel even better!

Last night was an interesting ride. I was attending a seminar on DVD production presented by the Producer's Guild of America (PGA). My producing parnter Ian is a member and serves on the board of the new media council, which DVD falls under.

After a frustrating 40min on the freeway, I arrived a fashionably 10minutes late at Theater 1 on the Universal Lot. This was my first time on the lot proper, having only glimpsed it from a ride at the adjoining theme park. It's pretty big and pretty cool I must say. I spent 3 years on the Sony Lot and the curb appeal has nothing on Universal (or Warner Bros., which is also massive and in the valley).

I wolfed down a shish-kebob and a slice of quesadilla, and, not knowing anyone really outside, went in for the show. It was fairly interesting. A mix of marketing and DVD producers from majors and independents. Good to hear nuts and bolts from the big guys perspective, also to hear how they backhandedly cut into each other, while maintaining a sheen of politeness.

back to work, more later.

mmmm! Catering Truck! These studio guys eat very very well! I got baked salmon with lemon tarragon, green beans and steamed veggies. Skipped the salad and bread, and went straight to the chocolate bread pudding with whiskey sauce. grabbed a cookie for later.

CARBOCRASH

2 coffees and an Emergen-C later, I'm back up to speed.

hmm dinner anyone?

One of the interesting views is the difference between studio and indie productions. Every producer here at my TV show is amazed at how many people 'the studio show' needs to do the job. It's true that you can accomplish great things on a small scale, but there's also the whole studio star system to take care of, unions, etc. You can argue that it's not necessary, and you might be right.

One thing that has developed is the 'price=quality' mentality. If you buy a BMW, you figure that the car, for 30-50K+ has 'got to be good, for that price'. I've seen the same with distributors. Even if your film cost $300,000 to produce, it's at least 'Under a million' in parlance, and 'under 2 million' if you have name talent attached. Some distrib's won't touch it if it's less than that, equating the total price spent with the level of quality of the film. While a total price tag is often reflected in the look of a picture (let's face it, miniDV does not compare with Panavision Super35mm Kodak), the cheapest and most vital part is the screenplay. How many 60 million + movies we've seen where we wish they spent a little more $$ on the story and not the screen!

Just saw a shot-rehearsal. Brittney Murphy looks..normal. Surprisingly so. She could've gone to one of my catholic girl schools back in NYC. Huh.

They take FOREVER to reset a shot. Studios have a small army up here..

back to work..

Skipped a day, apologies...

Welcome links from The League of Melbotis and Osakatomebaby!

Today is a busy day as we're trying to finish act 2 by friday, and Brittney Murphy's "Little Black Book" is filming reshoots in our hallway. At least they're giving us craft service in exchange for putting up with cables everywhere and overmake-up'd extras.
funfunfun

End of the day. It went pretty well. My producer and I speak the same language so we've been able to get a lot of work done. We did about 2 minutes in one day, and trust me, this is good. I've been faster, but not necessarily better. For those who think I'm crazy, try watching your favorite TV show or movie and count every time the view on the screen changes. Every one of those changes is "decided on" (Or more likely agonized over, argued, fought, and bled for.)

Taking a cue from Sheldon Kahn , I explained to my wife that since I make hundreds of decisions everyday, I really don't care what we eat for dinner!

Mundane? yes, but there's more...

I survived my first screening with the exec producer. My episode occupies an hour-long slot, which in the TV world is in reality only 44 minutes and change.

1 Hour = 44 minutes? I like that.
1/2 hour = 22. eeenteresting.

We screened the 'Radio Play'. A radio play is usually the first big step in cutting a documentary like this. I learned it cutting DVD's. You basically take all your interviews and create the basic structure and story of your piece, one talking-head at a time. No music, no photos, no Broll. Just the spine of the piece. What you get is incredibly boring, but sometimes amusing. You often edit out pauses, stutters and coughs from your interviewees, so jump cuts abound. Those slightly touched can enjoy the juxtapositions jump cuts can make.

On "Chainsaw Redux", the final total running time (TRT) was around 77minutes. My radio cut was 4 hours long. Extensive reworking and we came in at 60 minutes. Hem and haw, and we settled at 77. The process can be..excruciating. More later...

Bastards! Lost my post to a crash.

Mondays...

Still recovering somewhat from the weekend. Showing Jim around LA is exhausting. I just don't do that much going out anymore and I think I imbibed more beer in three days than I have since the new year. At least it was good beer, as we hit the King's Head and Cat n Fiddle pubs. (Good to know about Jim, British Pubs=goood).

Got too hang with my old old friend and former musical accomplice, Alistair. I had not seen him since the 20th Century, so it was great to discover that we fell right back into it. We talked music, bass, keyboards, film, more music and...music. Some things never change... :)

Hopefully he'll be a California resident soon. Maybe then I can convince him to let me sit in a few jam sessions. Long ago I realized I write hard-edged pop music: Big Al has left the troposphere for regions beyond and I'd love to listen.

More later

Ugh. Sunday comes and I'm draggin'. We hit the town in a restrained manner last night, a beer and nosh at the king's head, then walking the length and breadth of Santa Monica. Jim remarked that for me being a married guy in his late twenties, i seem to be bringing him to places filled with teenagers.

still pondering that.

Today is rough, no sleep, dropping my wife at the airport at 7am, then script chores all day. if i have a moment, I think i'll wash the car to relax.

washing the car to relax.

(sigh)

But I'm looking forward to tonight, seeing my old old keyboardist from my first band. I think we haven't seen each later since the twentieth century.

Fun.

still looking for a focus for this blog, before we go live. we'll maybe it will come soon.

-d

What a night. As Jim has been enjoying LA, I decided to show him the LA 'experience' so I called my most LA friend, Justin, to help.

And help he did. Justin is a great guy. He works in advertising, and exchanges tons of money for the economy (he makes it and spends it nearly as quickly). And I realize that when I go out with Justin, I don't need to do a thing except sit and listen. I heard stories that involved drugs, hookers, Vegas, alcohol, the MGM grand, lots of vomiting, sex and Canadian women with false teeth.

And that was one story only.

So we hit the Conga room, but there was no Salsa to be found. Instead it was Asian night, and no offense intended, there were HUNDREDS of asian boys and girls partying in the Conga. I think my group was the only group actually allowed to drink.

So we left, and went to the Rainbow room to grabs us some of that 1980's fervor. We saw Sebastian Bach from Skid Row (who was sitting with Warren DiMartini of Ratt) and Bill Maher. And we had fried cheese and milk shakes.

more later

Total Digression

One thing on my mind. I use a Mac, and everyday I read analysts and journalists predicting the demise of the company because of shrinking marketshare. What they haven't gotten yet, and what was a big lesson from the net-boom of the 90's is what defines the life and success of a company. It's not marketshare, it's profitability.

Case in point: Past internet giants like excite@home and that toys.com sock puppet at one time ruled the market they competed in. They had the most customers and the most brand awareness. I would say they had the share for their markets.

But they weren't profitable. Profitable means you earn more than you spend. The sock puppet was famous for burning through money. Other companies during the boom were similar. Apple is not going away anytime soon because no matter how little or large the marketshare grows, the company remains profitable.

They have managed to spend a lot of R&D money to innovate new products AND become a debt-free company with over 3 billion dollars CASH in the bank. Not that many others can say the same. You can argue that Gateway computers has more marketshare than Apple, but they're not profitable - they're losing money. And one day, they might have to quit.

Because they made no profit.

Got my 2nd Draft from Angie, my producer. and away we go.

JDEDMAN VISITS STATE

My old college roommate Jim Dedman, of the famous Jdedman.com blog is visiting me. How many 80's references can we copp? How many ex-girlfriends can we bring up? How many times will we conspire against Angus? How many in-jokes can I write?

Time will tell...time will tell.

I figured since he's blogging at my house, I'd return the favor. Now if I can only get a link.....

TRACE EVIDENCE

My current gig: Editing on "Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee". I've done three teasers for them, and now I'm back on my 1-hour show "Trumbull". So far, pretty good. Just finished laying out the paper cut, so my 1-hour is now 2 1/2 hours long of talking heads. It's all good, next step is to condense condense condense! at least we have a working outline, and now that it's down we can see what needs to come out.

I've been loving this job for a few simple reasons:
1. Taking a lunch is enforced
2. 10 hour days
3. They pay weekly.

This is a huge improvement over Net 30 (which turns into 45) pay, 10 hour days (which turn into 14-18-24), and working lunches because you have no time.

So far, good.

Take 2
Well, Here we go again. This time instead of random musings that go nowhere, they'll go nowhere concerning Film. It's what I do on a daily basis, and since an Editor's only friend is the screen in front of him, maybe this will let me vent before I get home- and not drive the wife nuts in the process.

I probably should've blogged my Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD experience, but you get what you get.

Testing!!!

This is being revamped