red hands diary

Having the first Mongrel party tomorrow night at the amazing location where we shot the first two episodes of Red Hands. It's pretty out of the way and I don't expect turn out to be great, but I do feel like it has to be at this location. There's just too much mojo not to. It'll be a good symbolic kick off. Hopefully the photographer will be there and maybe we'll even get some video footage. And of course it'll be great to watch everyone watch the episodes.

Three thousand per episode. This is what I think it really has to be. Kim came up with a budget for the rest of the shoot that's around eighty-grand. That's too much. If we get blessed with winning one of the contests I've entered, or get alterna blessed with a deep-pocketed investor then, like, no problem. If I have to go around raising the rest of the money myself and being totally grass roots then we have to think much smaller. Shit, I'm working for free. Ed's working for free. This isn't about work=$, this is about something else. That's the mindset. It will get figured out amongst the tribe.

It looks like I'm going to Maine to do a seminar on outlaw moviemaking in April. This is cool. I'll be at a very hip little college, and if I can get students interested I also want to make a group-movie that night with their equipment. I was telling all this to my new Hollywood writing partner and he suggested I do similar stuff out here. Why didn't I think of that. Environmental moviemaking in L.A. Right now I'm thinking I'll try stuff out in Maine and then come back here and play with what I've learned.

Speaking of Hollywood, I'm working on a new big horror thriller and will use the money I make if it every gets sold to finish doing Red Hands. How glamorous would that be?

RED hands diary

Spent the day over in the dreaded western part of L.A., showing off the amazing footage to friends in Venice and then having drinks with Nial, who suggested that we put together a holding company as the first step to getting shit seriously organized. I like that idea and will now do some research to find out exactly what that means.

For my birthday present this year I bought myself the NUGGETS and CHILDREN OF NUGGETS box sets. They're both blowing my mind. More familiar with the former and it just goes to show you that when you think you've got the whole universe comfortably figured out, if you keep exploring and remaining open you get knocked on your ass. In a good way.

Nuggets is all about the outsider art of garage rock. It's all about how the outside is the way into the core and all that happy nonsense. Really fits with my theory about where cinema is headed, that cinema, because of the tech and internet, is reaching it's "garage rock" stage, as in filmmakers can now make movies for the same price, basically, that musicians in the 60s would have payed for all their gear.

Set up the M O N G R E L group page on facebook. Check it out and join so you'll stay current with all the physical/social manifestations of this art-media-gestalt. Love that people are joining. There's nothing wrong with joining.

Red Hands DIARY

So it's been a few weeks but the Red Hands train is still chug chugging away. Bob is basically done with episode 4 and 11 and a hot little trailer that came as an unexpected happy surprise.

I've applied to the big Netflix contest and explained to them that with $350, 000 we can make 3 movies instead of the one they're supplying the money for. I feel this gives up a little competitive advantage.

I've also just finished applying to this Film Independent Fast Track market thing. Looks promising. If we're picked up then we get to meet lots of rich people who will be blown away by how creative and economical our project is.

Kim has basic production budget for the rest of the shoot and it's just under $80,000 which is double what I wanted. If we get hooked up through these markets and contests I'm entering then it'll be okay, but if we have to go to individual investors we'll have to cut $20,000, which if you think big picture outside the box, model reformation, won't be that hard.

We're planning a viewing party for around March 1st at the place we did all our shooting. It will be the first official Mongrel party and should be really, really fun. Hopefully the start of many more.

I'm playing around with this concept called "environmental movie-making." Basically the opposite of how most movies are made. This would be about working with the environment, instead of against it. Less ego and more community. More idiosyncratic regionalism. Something like that. Cool name at least.