Red HANDS DIARY

Bob has finished cutting a rough pass on episode 11. Looks cool. I gave notes. Basically I don't want this movie to look conventional. Conventional is last years news. Conventional is dead. You can have a movie edited in a progressive exciting way without having it be all arty and self-conscious. I told Bob to check out the first 30 minutes of Killing Zoe, which has some fantastic "one character" editing. Really creates some cool tension and gives the scenes a very tactile feel.

Our director, Ed, doesn't seem to be happy with the choices I've made, and I totally understand that. He came up with some amazing visuals, which I now want to cut back on for the sake of character and perspective. I've suggested we cut a version off my notes and then do one from his. I think it'd be fun to then show both versions at the first official Mongrel party -- to be held at a cool bar in Silverlake -- and have the audience vote on what they respond to more. There are no problems, only opportunities.

If Bob actually watches Killing Zoe, he'll see what I mean and then everyone else will see that my version is the hot hot shit. Bob is moving super fast so I'm sure I'll get to see something again in a couple of days.

red HANDS diary

Bob has all the footage and is working like a motherfucker to get it into shape. He's posting it on a webpage so Ed and I can check it out and make notes. I just saw about two minutes of scene 11 and it's looking good, it's looking real.

Netflix has a contest right now and the first prize is like $300,000 to make a feature. I'm going to send them what we've got and let them know that for that money we can make at least 3 features and they can kiss my ass if they're more interested having more shitty super 16 indy bullshit to fill their warehouses with.

Re-watched Killing Zoe last night. Now there was a movie with balls. So economically shot and edited. Roger Avery I guess is serving life for some drunk driving manslaughter beef. Oh well, at least he got to make Killing Zoe first, a torch Red Hands will proudly grab before it hits the cold wet earth.

Just finished a couple books on Fassbinder and I think I almost understand why I've only liked a couple of his movies. It seems to be a German thing. That's groovy. I really like his appropriation of the old Hollywood studio system, how he twisted it around and used it against big money and stupidity.

Can't wait for the first official Mongrel party, probably the first week of February. Obama is in office, big stupid stores like Circuit City are going out of business, trite local bourgeoisie movie critics like Ella Taylor are getting fired, Sundance is tanking; change is in the wind and it's powering the sails of Red Hands. We're a cinematic pirate ship and if you're not down then walk the fucking plank.

Red Hands Diary

They used to say, if you build it they will come. Now that the initial shoot of Red Hands is over they will now have to say, if you write and then post an ad on craigslist they will congregate and create cool art.

The production for this movie started with an theory which was tested with an ad in craigslist asking for talented people who were interested in investigating new paradigms to come together. The rest is history, and it's still happening.


The next step is getting all the amazing footage up to Bob, our master editor up in Seattle, and then cutting the episodes together and getting them back down here so we can have a party and further slap each other on the back.

Red Hands diary

Day one of shooting is done. Shooting of episode 4 is done.

Here are the highlights from the hour by hour entries:

7AM - Wake up. No cough -- good. Pack the DayQuil and costumes. Get 6 Winchel's donuts and listen to Wilco's Being There on the drive over.

8AM - Actors and crew already up and running at the location. Actors look amazing, and of course they do; they're doing their own costumes and make up. Great hat on Wintermouth. 1st scene in bathroom where Wintermouth confronts Dall while she's trying to shit. Seems like a good place to start.

9AM - Talking shit about Michael Bay and trading obscure Mickey Rourke movies with Kim the producer. Shooting going great. I'm slamming 7UP and my cough is still manageable.

10AM - 3 7UPs done and no peeing yet. Is that bad?

11AM - Actors are getting more and more into their characters. Ed and I have split the direction so he does everything and I advocate and support the actors. My job will be easy today because they're all fantastic -- really bringing it. Ed is in his element -- this is what he's meant to be doing and I'm glad I could help make it happen.

12NOON - We've switched from the bathroom to the "diner" and have lost some time, in moving set and also lunch hasn't gotten here when expected. I finally peed and clogged the toilet -- good think I'm good with a mop. The actors are now at a bar and I'm calling it "Chickenhawks at the Diner." No one seems to get this allusion. That's OK.

1PM - Lunch was a turkey club that was more like roadkill with seared baloney. That's cool -- it's part of the environment and this is environmental movie-making. I really have very little to do. The crew is top notch and the actors are still kicking ass -- some wig issues with Dall, but nothing insane.

2PM - The Agent arrives from LAX -- in character. He's spooky. Perfect. My suit is of course too big for him -- why am I surprised? One of the PA's will let him borrow his. Looks great. Why people spend hundreds of thousands on wardrobe is beyond me.

3PM - I'm crashing big time. Doesn't matter -- the mode here is relaxed and not stressed at all. I'll go into the corner and listen to Phillip Glass and try to dig the great continuum.

4PM - Found my throat lozenges. Not like I really needed them. We're basically done. Nothing more for me to do so now I'm in the bar soaking up the local Tom Waits atmosphere and trying to convince the bartender to play the role of the desk clerk.

We ended up finishing about two hours ahead of schedule. If we had tried to go for the other scene we would have been screwed. If we were an independent movie or a Hollywood movie that's exactly what would have happened.

Tomorrow we shoot the big episode between The Agent and Dall. Should be lots of fun. This is lots of fun. I'll keep you all posted.

red hands diary

The only drawback of teaching high school English is that if you’ve got a pathetic immune system – like I do – you get sick all the time. It’s no one’s fault – I wash my hands and cover myself in Lysol every day, but still, it’s just one of those things that you deal with.

Which is to say that I have a particularly nasty flu-bug. Throat, nose, aches, pains, shivers, exhaustions. This bitch is real. It’s also the day before we start production on Red Hands. Whatever, I have my over-the-counter cheesy medications, and what’s more I have the fire, the kind Billy Joel so perfectly immortalized in that song of his. Nothing is going to stop me from helping to create cool art.

Been too sick to properly keep you faithful readers posted on all the adventures so here’s a recap. Hired an amazing actor to play GUY. Finalized the production needs and in the process hired an amazing Assistant Director who works at the location and will help us save money big time through his know-how and tenacity. The team made a decision to cut the production days from three to two and instead of shooting episodes 11, 4, and 1, we’ll now be focusing our attention on episodes 11 and 4. This is a good thing since Ed, the director, and me both think episode 1 could be beefed up to make it look less like a super cheap Indy scene, and now we’ll have the chance to investigate that. Nial Lynch, one of our chief investors really came through, and it’s thanks to him that we’ll be able to realize these next two days of shooting.

If you’re interested in viewing the script or investing please hit me up here or send me an email at pacificvagrant@gmail.com.

What else? Had a table read with the actors last night at an Indian restaurant in Atwater which went really well. They’re all money and it just goes to show you – there’s so much talent out there – thank goodness we now have tools like craigslist for reaching it, and thank the Goddess we don’t have to go through the greedy agent/manager gatekeepers!

Tomorrow is a seven AM to seven AM twelve hour day, then the same on Monday. Ed and I have clearly defined our roles as co-directors: he’s in charge of all the blocking and camera and lighting issues and all that, and I’m working with the actors and in charge of the performances. Should help us focus and keep our eyes on the prize and thinking about, why haven’t directors done this sort of thing in the past predominantly? Answer: because they want it all. Hollywood is about having it all at the cost of everything. Red Hands is about telling a story for the price of a used car. Glorious. Tuesday I’m taking the day off because I’ll probably be dead and I’ll have to have the wife get out the voodoo herbs and spices to get me back on my feet again. So be it.

red HANDS production DIARY

Last night I went to the casting I'd set up for the 18+ actors I'm interested in getting to play the BOY in episode 5 of RED HANDS. None of them showed. I was actually relieved, since I was dead tired from working all day and it meant I could get back to my wife and quality time with her. I also wasn't that surprised, to tell you the truth, since 1) with craigslist postings you really have to bulk program; as in to meet with five potential actors you have get about forty RSVPS, and I'd only found like four actors to come out, and 2) I couldn't meet with these guys at the usual tavern since they were all underage and since I wasn't about to support Starbucks I told the kids we'd do the audition at a somewhat sketchy Indian cafeteria in Atwater. Yes, I admit, if I was a young male actor this probably would have sounded, uh, sleazy, and I might have been inclined not to follow through.

But, as usual with this progressive production, everything has appeared to work out great. Tonight we had an audition for PAROLE OFFICERS for episode 6, along with OLD MEN for episode 1, and GUY, at the usual place. Kim, our amazing producer, found an actor who I think will work perfectly for the character of BOY. He's a lot older than what's in the script, but it doesn't matter because he gets the essence of the character. BOY is all about nervy weird intensity mixed with innocence -- and he's got all of that. I think we also found a great PAROLE OFFICER, and an OLD MAN. None of the GUY potentials showed up, so I'll now have to hit craigslist again as well some other contacts because we desperately need an old fat white dude who can act, ASAP. If you know anyone who fits this description and lives in LA please let me know.

After the auditions we had a mini-production meeting where we touched base with Myles Cranford (WINTERMOUTH) who was gracious enough to fight traffic and meet Kim and Ed. Bob, our editor who's down from Seattle making the scene also made an appearance and it was great to get his input on some technical angles.

The winner for the evening though had to be Kim. We decided at the tavern that job #1 is nailing down this location -- we have to get it secure before we can do anything else and man, we're running out of time. I suggested driving out there tonight and trying to tract down the lady who owns the establishment we're interested in. Ed and Kim were game so we drove out into the Inland Empire. The lady wasn't there, but Kim was able to score some serious contact intel with the place's chief manager, which should nail this location by Sunday night. Kim really stepped up with the manager and impressed the shit out of me. Had this not happened I think we very well could have been out a location which means we could have been screwed, big time. The whole transaction went down in a karaoke lounge with drunk bikers screaming Chicago ballads behind us. Kim was totally pro and locked on, and even set up a meeting with a senior bartender who's going to give us the scoop on all the details we'll need to get this production done right. Kim and I are going to meet with him tomorrow afternoon and I'm very excited to see where the adventure takes us from there.

Tonight was the first night that I felt this production was really turning into something physical, real. Up until now we've been meeting and I've been raising money. Tonight we were in the field, getting shit done, establishing boundaries and testing each other. I give everyone involved an A.

Dig it.

red hands diary

Traditional movies manipulate the environment to create an artificial one which then supposedly stands in for the real one. Thank God we have the tech now to just use the real environment around us. Thanks to HD and craigslist we no longer need the huge lights and crews and all that other nonsense. But watch out, this sort of proactive, progressive thinking is not only troublesome but down right dangerous to the traditional filmmakers out there – I should know; pretty much every craigslist ad I’ve put up, excepting those made to the actors, has been flagged, usually within an hour of my posting it. However during that hour I usually get between twenty and thirty responses.

How is the Red Hands project different from Hollywood and Independent productions? Well, what you first have to understand is that there’s only one difference between Hollywood and the “indie” world, which is money. Otherwise they’re exactly the same. But most people still don’t get – they’re exactly the same. For Hollywood, big money buys you more comfort and creates much more waste, and inflates the egos to the point of being beyond bizarre. Not having money in the Independent world means you work longer hours, and waste just as much – because you’re still following the Hollywood model – unions and permits and actual film and a huge crew, and people getting lots of cash up front and all that other atavistic nonsense – and generally the ego bullshit is just as through the roof.

What most people don’t understand is that even “indie” budgets are still in the six and seven digits. That’s like comparing the guy who drives a Bentley to the guy who drives a Mercedes – it’s ridiculous. With Red Hands we have capped the budget at $30, 000 -- a not brand new Honda Civic. You still with me? The great performance artist Chris Burden once built a car that got a hundred miles a gallon to prove that the car companies are full of shit. Mongrel is making Red Hands to shed similar light that will cut through the glamor and shadows of Hollywood and Independent filmmaking -- not to be assholes or anything, just to show that there are other avenues for artists to have fun and get shit done .

red Hands production Notes

Tomorrow I start up on the old day job again – teaching high school English to apathetic yet still impressionable 10th and 11th graders. I love it. I only do what I love, and you should too, and don’t give me that limp-ass shit that whole “it’s not so easy.” Living with passion should never, ever be easy. The trogs in "the industry" are usually amazed that I choose to work two jobs, writing professionally and teaching. Damn straight. Writing is all about me, so of course, following my Zen Buddhist misunderstandings, I have to do something where I give – otherwise no harmonious balance and all that other tasty shit. Also, I’m not a big fan right now of the big Hollywood unions, so I get dental and vision and health benefits from teaching, which are all fantastic.

Sent out the first word to potential actors who are interested in playing the characters of the BOY, and THE OLD MAN, and THE PAROLE OFFICER, that we’re auditioning this Thursday. Everything about this project has been initiated through craigslist, which is the way it should be. No more middle men. I’ve had two screenwriting managers who worked out of Beverly Hills and managed to do absolutely nothing for me when I didn’t have the current Taster’s Choice kind of hot property they thought they could clear six figures from. I realize though I could very well have a manager again – you never fully get away from the beast once you’ve tangoed with it a few times.

We’re meeting the BOY actors at an Indian restaurant and everyone else at a tavern/lounge in Atwater. We have no money for fancy production offices, nor do we want them. The Red Hands production team are not stuffed shirts, and when we talk about this production with other artists I want to have a pint of stout in my hand (unless of course it’s crunch time, when I’m abstaining.) This movie is being put together in environmenst similar to where the characters would hang out in the Red Hands story. When we interview actors and hear and watch them read in this setting we get a much better sense of how they might play when released into the real shoot.

Oh PS - I just got word that there's a slim chance THE MELVINS might want to do a cameo. Wouldn't that just the fucking tits and the tail.

red HANDS production diary

Discipline

We’re shooting this month and I’m starting work again at my day job the day after tomorrow. It’s time to get in shape – I’ll need to be really on my game and focused to deal with everything that’s going to be thrown at me. This means more spinach and no more booze until my birthday, 2.2.9, and more working out. This fall I’ve slipped into the writers cave and I need to be in better physical shape so that my brain becomes stronger too. This round of training will serve as a first step for the next, more extensive round I’ll need to get into for when my band goes to Austin for South By Southwest, and then the spoken word/performance/lecture tour after that.

I love discipline. I make myself write ten pages a day, force myself to bike over twenty miles a week, eat off a strict calorie bank. I find that discipline creates structure, boundaries, and increases creativity. That’s probably why I drifted over to Zen when I became a Buddhist. Fuck that other weak hippie shit. Also, on the more practical side, I have really bad IBS so if I'm not pretty disciplined from the ground up I'm usually rolling around in terrible gut-poison agony.

But you have to be careful. If I’m too disciplined I crank too hard and go berserk (Icarus was a pussy and all that) and then crash hard and much time and potential production gets wasted. It’s an ebb and a flow. As I up the discipline to see this section of RED HANDS get made I’ll have to up the unwinding too. This means more movies, more goofing around with the wife. If I can hit the right balance for this month I’ll have a work/lifestyle methodology I can tweak and fine tune to get me through to the end of this production, which I’m hoping will be the early part of the summer. If you want to help out, finance, share expertise, whatever (Red Hands is about COLLABORATION and COMMUNITY) then shoot me some thoughts here or at pacificvagrant@gmail.com.

Red Hands Production Diary

Wonderwall.

Had a great conversation with Kim today, basically about how Mickey Rourke is one of the most amazing actors ever. See Body Heat, see Heaven’s Gate (also one of the most amazing movies ever.) It’s so great to work with people who are actually interested in cinema – and I know for a lot of you who are outside Hollywood this sounds weird, but mark my words, people in Hollywood could really give a rat’s ass about cinema. It’s a funny complicated world for sure.

Saw Che and it was amazing. Hello world, a revolutionary movie about revolution. Not propaganda and it’s so anal that it’s about communism and was filmed with a RED camera. Draw your own conclusions. (see slightly more at my movie blog.)

Met with the potential investor tonight at a place in Silver Lake called Stinkers (not Stinkies as the well tattooed and very attendant bartender reminded me.) He’s another fantastic film person WHO GETS IT. Talked about the new Clint Eastwood movie and the future of American letters. He wants to provide money for the cause, and we talked about using it for the website of MONGREL, for the literary publication aspect of that site since MONGREL is about words as well as images.

red hands PRODUCTION Diary

Got a call last night from Kim Bastyr, our excellent producer. She’s in Chicago and has been having trouble getting touch with the lady who owns the location where we want to do our shooting later this month. We need to nail down this location, both for production concerns and because Jacob Sunday, the fantastic actor who’s playing the Agent (our male lead), has to change a plane ticket – he’s going to be flying down from Washington state. I’m going to call the lady this afternoon and if I can’t make contact that way I’ll do some field recon, drive out there and try to talk to her in person because I have good intel that she likes to oversee the running of this establishment’s lounge. Should be fun.

Off The Map -- that’s what this production is all about. We’re physically shooting outside the LA green zone so as not to get screwed by greedy locations and municipalities. Everyone in Hollywood wants to suck the bloated cash cow that modern cinema’s become; everyone’s savvy to the tit. Case in point: Glendale. Kim and I went to this crack-whore motel, complete with glass pipes and crusty panties stashed in the palm bushes out front, and politely asked the elderly Korean owners if we could shoot a few exteriors there. They demanded 3 grand a day, because they’ve had commercials and God only knows what else shot there before, and they knew they could get it. Even after we explained that on this particular shoot the ENTIRE budget we are working with is capped at 5 grand. Amazing. BTW, if you want to help out and help us raise the rest of our budget, or just offer your services for collaboration and group love please contact me here or at pacificvagrant@gmail.com.

This afternoon I’m going to see the full version of Che. It was shot with the new RED HD camera. It’ll be inspiring to see what they come up with. BTW, here are some movies that inspired the script of RED HANDS: Blood Simple, Blue Velvet, Choose Me, Angel Heart, Betty Blue, Paris Texas. Some music: This Mortal Coil (Filigree and Shadow), Tom Waits (Rain Dogs), Pylon (Volume), Wilco (So Misunderstood), Talking Heads (Slippery People), Jesus Lizard (everything).

RED HANDS Production diary

Thank you to all you good readers who let me know about how awful my color choices for this blog were. I thought red on blue looked really cool, but apparently it’s really hard to read. Wouldn’t want that!

Here’s the plot for the movie RED HANDS: A delusional young man who thinks he’s a secret agent finds himself somewhere just off of the dark side of Americana, and starts randomly stalking two old men who he doesn’t realize are committing murder and insurance fraud. At the same time the young man becomes romantically entangled with a prostitute who, as it turns out, is also attempting to blackmail the old men. Things quickly become even more sordid, twisted and ultimately violent.

RED HANDS, as I mentioned before is intentionally being made for $30,000. The point of keeping the budget so miniscule to is to prove that, given new equipment and the internet, there is now an alternative to the Hollywood and Independent film production paradigm. I’ve already raised about $5,500 which as I also mentioned we’ll spend filming three sections of the script this January, which we’ll use to help raise the rest of the budget so we can complete the rest of the movie this spring/summer. If you’re interested in helping with the financing please contact me here or at pacificvagrant@gmail.com. A minimum of $500 per financer is requested, but I’ll happily take whatever you want to contribute. Does this sound grassroots? You bet it is.

Another way I’m trying to raise money is through a spoken word/performance monologue I’ll be undertaking later this winter and spring throughout these United States. Just finished the first draft of this monologue last night. About twenty pages so far. It’s pretty good, I think – never really done anything like this before. The idea was to tell some of my personal adventures in the Hollywood/Indy world and then share some insights and information about to this new alternative movie-making paradigm. Inspire and delight and get creative folks to realize they can now make mainstream quality movies for the price of a used car. Now every city can have it’s own version of Hollywood – if they want it. I’ll need to do another pass and then hopefully the monologue will be ready to show to Kevin Stack (of Gorch Fock and many other fine bands) who’s graciously agreed to make music for the show.

I’m supposed to have drinks with another potential investor this weekend and I can’t wait. At this stage in the game I just love love love getting jazzed talking to people about RED HANDS, about what we’re trying to do. If you take large amounts of money out of the creative equation, what are you left with? Creativity. People, artists and those who support the arts are really getting it. It’s great. It’s feeling like the sort of media culture I’ve always wanted to be involved with.

Red Hands PRODUCTION Diary

The first day of the new year, of 2009. Seems like a good time to start the diary. This is about the new movie I'm making called Red Hands, which I'm hoping to use as one of the first media offered by a future website I'm called Mongrel, or Mongrel Media.

Whatever, the website is still in the conceptual phase but this movie is real, it's happening. We're going to be shooting about fifteen minutes worth during the third week of this month, then I'm going to use that footage, along with a lecture/spoken word tour later this spring, to raise the money we need to shoot the rest.

Red Hands will be shot on HD and is intentionally a very non-Hollywood, non-independent film project. The budget has been capped at $30,000.

If you're interested in looking at the script, send me a note and I'll happily email it to you. If you're interested in investing, send me a note and we'll set up a meeting to talk about it.