Red Hands DIARY

Yesterday I met with the always fabulous Neshia Brathwaite Farhangi (in the photo on the left - photo by RanRefael.com) who plays the PAROLE OFFICER in DIRTY RED HANDS to talk about putting together the upcoming party. She's got connections with promoter who could potentially really help us blow something up and have fun and get the word out there.

The party is a critical part of this "new model" process. As I was explaining and pontificating and generally hyperventilating to Neshia, the old model of selling a movie basically consists of spending TONS of money of famous actors and marketing. The actors really sell your movie; people see the name and want to see more. With the marketing you blitze out the country with your actors on billboards and TV and print and everywhere else, hoping to suck people in. Most people will go for the stars, and then you'll get the smaller amount who might dig the story, or aspects of it. This is why Hollywood movies are so goddamn generic - you want to try to cast as big a net as possible. They call it shit like "universal themes" and "accessibility". There are boring and stupid people out there who actually believe them.

With Red Hands we're not attempting any of this. This is not a STAR or traditionally MARKETED PRODUCT. Those of you who've read some of the other recent posts understand that there really isn't any traditional product being presented here at all.

So, parties are crucial. Get people together and get them liquored up and get them thinking and talking and getting excited about what we're doing. We'll show footage, or maybe even the whole guerrilla cut at the next one. This is an experience. I used to security at a nightclub to be unnamed back in Boston (for those of you in the Boston know here's a hint, in 1997 it was voted by the Herald as Boston's #1 most cultural-free zone), and never understood why everything always revolves around music and dance (and maybe some fashion) at these places. It just plain makes sense to do, because I'm already following the whole independent music model... Because I'm a film geek, I've always wanted a club I could go to where movies were the main performers. The idea is get things seriously started with this next party, and then keep it going as a monthly or bi-monthly event.

Why try to take over the whole world? If we can get enough people interested in what we're doing here in L.A. we'll have a base that'll nicely explode out on the internet and eventually provide us with money (through t-shirt and special edition DVDS and other fun shit) to keep making these cool movies, and eventually even provide full time work for those who want it. Don't be greedy. Keep your fantasies in check. Why would anyone who's a real artist want anything different?

Red Hands DIARY

I was talking with my buddy Everett Stillwell, the gonzo film critic, about Mongrel and what we're proving with RED HANDS and DIRTY RED HANDS, and he was trying to wrap his brain around it and luckily for the rest of you I was recording the whole thing on my digital recorder (podcasts are in the works, btw):

ME: I think everyone understands that the old model has broken for years, and now it's really BROKEN.
E.S.: You mean with regards to making movies...
ME: Making movies, writing books, making music, like basically anything which can be recorded digitally. All that shit. See, now that you can record everything with little ones and zeros, there's no product anymore. There's nothing you can sell. Anything you create can be instantly duplicated and downloaded, and you can play the game and try to protect it, but why bother? It doesn't exist anymore. There's no artifact.
E.S.: SO... What is there?
ME: There's experience. That's all we have left. Experience, and then of course the t-shirt you make to commemorate the experience, which itself is a copy and just falls apart after like four or five washings. It's mono no aware for the twenty-first century.
E.S.: What's that?
ME: Mono no aware is the foundation of Japanese art and philosophy. Everything is temporary, that's what makes it so sad and so vital and beautiful. The tech has finally caught up to this wisdom, proving its truth.
E.S.: I'm lost.
ME: Exactly. There's nothing to hold onto anymore.
E.S.: So what are we left with?
ME: We're left with the campfire. We're left huddling around the campfire telling stories. Stories, with different narratives attached to them. Take what we're doing with DIRTY RED HANDS. We are proving that the auteur theory is for shit. There is a story, DIRTY RED HANDS, and there are narrative interpretations of that story, we've got different director's cuts coming out, but there is not one singular "authentic" version of this story. We are also interested in having all the footage that we shot available for anyone to download and create their own narrative with. No one has ever done anything like this. Instead of trying to control and manipulate and hold on, we are respecting the campfire and the story, and the experience.
E.S.: And why exactly are you doing this?
ME: Because this is honesty. This is what you have to do if you are a 21st century creative communicator. Deny it all you want. Hide behind your castles of ego and greed. Cling to your old art and collect your paintings and other artifacts, and tell yourself you have something. You have nothing. You have dust. You have nothing but yourself and your experiences. We are trying to show you that. This is just as much your story as it is ours. This is what's real. This is all for you.
E.S.: But at the same time you're trying to sell this shit; you're trying to make money...
ME: Of course, that's why God created deluxe special collector's editions. That's why God created t-shirts.

RED HANDS diary

I was looking over some of the more recent posts and I don't think I've done a very good job of being clear on just exactly how revolutionary this project is.

I think one of the major reasons RED HANDS and DIRTY RED HANDS have been so successful is that all the players involved have all agreed on this new mindset for making movies. Collaboration. It's a word that gets thrown around a lot, but with this project it's real.

Everyone involved has been treated like an equal, because we all are. In Hollywood there's this weird hierarchy of the director and the producer. People will tell you that these guys have to be in charge because otherwise everything falls apart. I have no idea why this is valid. Maybe it's because of the French and their promotion of the auteur theory, which I think is total bullshit. It's pretty adolescent if you think about it. You could just as easily shape cinema around editors or production designers, or any of the key players. Whatever. With this project everyone understood what they were doing and were respectful to let the other people do their art. I've been the community organizer, but I'm no more the leader than anyone else.

I remember talking to one of our directors and trying to explain to him that he could do whatever he wanted with the footage once the shoot was over. Anyone can. We respect each other and share and give credit. Why does there only have to be one signature? We're a community and we're creating community property. This isn't communism, it's rationality and respect for the current technology. This is the new paradigm.

RED HANDS diary

More on the shoot.

I have been learning lots about being a line producer, and I think the biggest thing I've learned is that at this point I don't have the discipline to be a good line producer. The line producer, or production coordinator's job is to organize everything and make sure while the shoot is in progress that everything's going smoothly. Actually to be fair to myself, I was sort of doing both line producing and director's assistant work.

My biggest problem is that I get so into watching the actors create the world of my script that I lose track of my other responsibilities. And since I get so excited, I end up drinking too much booze, which further complicates matters. Maybe I should cut the booze out when I'm doing this stuff. Hmmm.

I think despite these issues things still came out okay. We got the footage we wanted and everyone seemed really into it. The real trick to producing something I've learned is to basically know the story and hire the right people for it, and then let them do their thing without much bullshit interference. For this story I knew I wanted outsiders who were hungry and dangerously artistic. Once all the players were in place it was a joy to watch them do what they do best.

Oh, right, and the producer really needs to make sure people are constantly eating donuts. Fuck craft services. Keep your actors and crew in donuts and that's most of the deal right there.

Currently my air conditioning is broken and with this heatwave it's hard for me to think too clearly so I'll have to save recounting the highlights of the second half of the shoot for a future post.

RED HANDS diary

It's done. We've shot the guerrilla version of Red Hands, known now as Dirty Reds. What an amazing experience. All we have to do now are some pick ups and then edit it. Once that's done we'll have a big party at some cool club either in Hollywood or Echo Park. Depending on what the directors decide we also may release footage onto the net to let people come up with their own versions. All this will be happening very soon. As soon as I'm more rested I'll probably post here about some highlights from the second half of the shoot.

RED HANDS diary

How to make a feature movie in 6 days for $500 with a 4 man crew.

1) come up with an idea which is too weird and too small
2) show this idea to your manager at the Pitt Group to confirm that it's too weird and too small
3) fire your manager because you no longer need his expertise
4) use craiglist to post an ad asking for visionary movie-makers and actors to come together to take advantage of new technology to create a fresh paradigm of movie making and distribution
5) meet with people who respond at the Big Foot Lodge in Atwater, because the atmosphere is very David Lynch, which creates the correct mojo
6) explain to everyone that there is no pay for this project and that whatever footage gets created becomes community property
7) shoot the movie using the "environment" methodology (i.e., instead of imposing a singular artificial vision upon an environment, use real world locations to further conceptualize the narrative
8) post pictures from the shoot onto your blog and let people know when and where they can see the movie, once it's done being edited

MONGREL PARTY #2

(PLEASE NOTE: to see more work by the amazing photographer who took these pics please go to ranrefael.com)

I was so into writing about the DIRTY RED HANDS shoot that I forgot to mention that we had our official MONGREL party #2 last Friday.

The purpose of these parties is to raise awareness about alternative methods of creating movies, music and books, and to also give mongrels a chance to hang out and freak off each other. Mongrel party #2 was highly successful in both regards.

Ed Joyce, the director of RED HANDS, and myself showed the rival footage of RED HANDS we'd cut and then I just gave up - originally I was going to arm wrestle him to see who's version made it into the final cut, but Ed's was so amazing that there was no point in getting physical. Hopefully he'll have it done soon so we can post it and you can have a look.

Then there was the jello wrestling. I've never been to a jello wrestling event before so I was surprised by how technical it really is.

Netahly Leddel

The very talented actress playing DALL in RED HANDS and DIRTY RED HANDS (who also hosted this gracious event) was the ref and got pulled into the jello herself and had to beat her way out.

We are planning MONGREL party #3 in Venice to coincide with this new mongrel movie-project me and Bryn Mooser are putting together, and then MONGREL party #4 for the end of MAY, to be hopefully held at the ECHO, where we will be celebrating and showing DIRTY RED HANDS and having a very mongrel time. Hope to see you there!

Red Hands Diary

We finished shooting the first half of DIRTY RED HANDS yesterday. I think everything went really, really well. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I was helping with the boom mic and doing extra producer duties, like wrangling the bar in downtown LA's skidrow, where we shot episode 4 (see the RED HANDS "traditional" version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYZ25di2SvI).

I went to the bar when it opened at 6AM and had much hope but no real idea if they'd let us shoot there. The experience we'd had on the city bus the night before went so well that it almost seemed like things would have to not work, just to keep the whole guerrilla cosmic balance in check.

The very friendly bartender told us we'd have to wait until 9:30AM to speak with the manager. He arrived a little after 8 and told me it was okay with him as long as we didn't bother the customers and if we did bother them to buy them a picher of beer. I bought drinks for everyone in the bar and we shot like crazy until the manager started pressuring us to get the hell out. I bought another round for everyone and then hung with the regulars, having great discussions about David Lynch and Charles Bukowski. In particular there was one very cool muscian I met there named Derrick Estrada (check out myspace.com/baseck) who I'm going to talk more with and maybe have him help collaborate some on the DIRTY RED HANDS soundtrack.

In the afternoon we shot the killing of ART episode in my garage. At this point I was completely spent. I'm not a very good producer and I'm thankful that Hector and Ed, our directors, and Steve, our actor playing the twins ART and GUY, were so professional and together, because I was not. When we resume the shooting of the traditionald RED HANDS I have to find a line producer we can afford, because at this point, with my day job as a high school English teacher, it's just too much for me to do well.

Next Saturday, Sunday, and Monday we will be shooting the rest of DIRTY RED HANDS, and should have footage of the stuff we've done already up on the web by this Friday. I'll keep you posted.

RED HANDS diary

DIRTY RED HANDS PRODUCTION - DAY TWO

This was last Sunday. Hector Mata joined Ed as co-director and I was really impressed with the way they instantly started working together. Hector is this really cool fine art/documentary/hip artist/and everything else guy (see his webpage: www.hectormata.com) and we're delighted that he agreed to join us on this project.

Remember: guerrilla movie-making on this project means NOTHING IS PAID for except food. All the actors, and the directors and producers and sound magicians are working for free because they believe in what they're doing and are interested in showing the world that you CAN make a cool movie using this alternative approach.

Damon Evans came on board and joined us to play GARCIA, the blackmailing insurance adjuster with a straight razor up his sleeve. Great stuff, and I look forward to working with him again.

After we shot our big action scene we took the shoot onto an LA city bus. This was tricky: we had two scenes to shoot on a crowded bus during rush hour and no one on the bus, including the driver had any idea who we were and what we were doing. I followed in my car and I kept expecting the team to get kicked off. I did a terrible job and now know I could never make it as a private detective; at one point in Beverly Hills I was in front of the bus in the bus-only lane. We were not kicked off and the crew road halfway across town from Santa Monica to West Hollywood. Amazingly we got everything we wanted and I guess there were crazy people who joined in the art-making. Again, I am so impressed with our actors and directors and sound magician and I can't wait to see the results!

red hands diary

Wow, I feel like I just stepped out of a tornado directed by Julian Temple! So much to report and where to begin.

Saturday we started shooting the all guerrilla version of RED HANDS which I'm calling DIRTY RED HANDS (works on a couple levels). We shot at one of the producer's apartment in Santa Monica. Lots of time was spent doing set decoration to make it really gritty and I think we created a truly magnificent place for the actors to really get into their art. For this guerrilla project I am producing, to save money, and also because even though I try to fight, that looks to be a direction I'm headed in if I want to keep doing these sorts of movies. The first day of shooting went really well. Nety and Myles and were absolutely amazing. They had two very intensely emotional scenes that they nailed. Nety in particular had to do an enormous amount of heavy psych-sexual-emotional lifting, and she really came true. You will be amazed when you see the results. Ed was working with our new sound magician, Paul Buck, and they were on it and focused.

In the afternoon Less Mahoney came by to play the OLD MAN and completely saved our lives. He agreed to come in at the very last minute our original actor for the OLD MAN had to decline due to other commitments. Less was so professional and did a fantastic job for what will become the first episode of the movie. My only regret is that I didn't get any pictures of him since the space they were shooting in was so tight. However, PLEASE go to his website and check out this super cool actor: www.lesmahoney.com

RED HANDS diary

Lot of stuff going on. Been so busy I haven't had time to bring everyone out there up to speed. Basically, it looks like we'll have the money to finish RED HANDS by the end of April, or then sometime in August.

Dandy.

But, I hate waiting for anything, so I've decided to shoot an all guerrilla version of RED HANDS called DIRTY RED HANDS. Have invited another director to jump on board. The cast will be the same except for J. Arthur Sunday who has chosen to sit this round out. We're scheduled to shoot from the 11th of this month to the 18th.

Naturally, I've gotten sick again. What else? I've found this amazing location downtown. Basically we'll be renting a room in this crackwhore hotel and shooting until we get arrested, or our cameras get taken away. Every location and shot will be stolen. We are paying for nothing, except some food. This version of the movie will look extremely different, and I think will be the BREATHLESS of the 21st century. I'm producing, since it looks like Kim Bastyr has gone on to other projects. That's okay - I knew it was bound to happen eventually.

Tomorrow the "team" is meeting at Bukowski bar in the area we'll be descending upon. We'll talk about strategy and technique. At the very least this guerrilla shoot will give the cast and crew a chance to practice for the more traditional shoot later on. I of course, think we'll also make an amazing movie.

I'll keep you posted.