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.

Book Club #16 Update

For those of you who don't know, Mongrel isn't just about cool progressive HD cinema, we're also very interested in literature, and music, and basically anything that has anything to do with art and communication and outsiders and absurdity (theater of the absurd).

Literature is changing, like everything else. It's been changing for a while, but most people don't know that because they've remained enslaved by the walls of academia and mass market publishing. With the internet, thank goodness, these walls have crumbled. Comic books, genre books, cult books, true crime, memoirs. The playing field is so much less vertical and more horizontal - the way it should be. Good writing is stimulating and challenging and entertaining - doesn't matter what the forms or formulas or journals say. Because of the internet, and sharing and community people are now forced to think for themselves and be proactive about what their aesthetic/intellectual/sensual jujus really are.

The book in paper form isn't dead, yet. It's still great technology that hasn't been much improved on. At Mongrel we read books and we share ideas and we talk. This is the Mongrel bookclub. We've been doing it for over a year and half. We pick outsider writers who are cool and controversial. We meet about once a month and talk shit and usually drink stout, or hard cider, or beer, or whatever. Anyone can join the group at anytime for any reason. Past members have been actors, writers, artists, teachers, and psychobilly musicians. I love this group because I always come away with insights and inspiration I totally would not get if I was just reading and drinking stout in my office and talking to my wall.

This month we're reading Valis by Philip K. Dick. We'll be meeting around the first week of April at the Barbarella Bar in L.A. Yes, I know, L.A. - people do actually read in L.A. For those of you who live outside the center of the center, we're trying to set up a videopodcast and encourage those in the sticks to read and post comments. This is fun and it's free and it's all for you.

Please post a comment if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks.

red Hands diary

Here's the hot trailer we cooked up, in case you haven't seen it yet.

Red HANDS DIARY

Did the party at the location. Was perfect. Most of the cast and crew showed. Lots of other cool people arrived, thanks to our amazing AD. The location is like the Disneyland that exists in my mind. I got to see the basement -- I didn't even know basements existed in L.A. county. People were rowdy and drinks were spilled.

Ed, our director, has his own version of our first two scenes that he's cooking up and he's convinced they're like a million times better than what our editor Bob and me came up with. Ha! As if. I challenged him to a smackdown and like a fool he agreed. In about a month we're gonna hit some night spot over on the Westside of L.A. and show both versions and get in a fist fight and let the assembled mongrels and civs vote to decide what they like better. Should be a hoot. I'll also unvail the next Mongrel Movie Project which will be really cool and fun and most important FREE; something to tide us over until we get the cash to finish Red Hands.

If you missed this first party you really don't wanna miss the second, or the third, or the...