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

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.