I have a good news: I am teaming up with filmmaker Alex Alvarez on his documentary about Non Racist Skinheads from the Twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota. This project will be near and dear to my heart for a Couple reasons. One, I being a punker, and I used to hang out with the Chapel Hill Boot Crew; a non racist skinhead group out of Chapel Hill, NC. Another reason is, I too used to fight Nazi skins. If you were in the punk rock scene back in the day, you would have to at some point have deal with Nazi’ skins; I just happened to deal with them with extreme prejudice.
Alex has shot a lot of this doc and we are now talking about what we need to do to finish this film. I do know that we will be crowdfunding and will need your support. This is going to be an amazing documentary and Alex and I are going to come up with a marketing and film festival strategy. There are tons of details that we have to go over and lots to discuss, but I am confident that when it is said and done we are going to have a damn good film.
I am blessed and lucky to have good work coming my way. I am working with talented filmmakers and am building up a group of talented people to work with. Florida film has a LOOOOOONG way to go, and it is going to take talented and fearless filmmakers to get us there; however I am confident that we can get there and earn respect of our peers from around the country. I know that some toes will be stepped on and some egos crushed, but that is what it is going to take to get Tampa and Florida recognized as a place for amazing and fearless cinema.
This week has been the week of meetings. Note to yourself, do them with people you enjoy being around. Makes it fun.
So I have a ton of work and am trying to figure out where and how to start. I have a ton of research to do on a subject for a film I am producing. I am teaching myself how to write a business plan so that I can write one for my production company as well as one for a film I am producing. I need to start searching for talent and a director for that film I need to write a business plan for; and as soon as I have said business plan, talent and director I then need to go in search of the almighty investor.
Along with that, I have to do preproduction for a doc I am producing as well as do some social media for Grey Room. Do not forget we will begin Crowdfunding for it in February. I also have to come up with an article I need to write for the FMPTA news letter The Slate. Any suggestions? God knows I could use some. Also, if you want me to write about something please feel free to make suggestions. It would benefit me because I would have to go and research the topic.
Also, with that I am running for Vice President For the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association Tampa Bay Chapter. FMPTA. If you are a member please vote for me. I will be writing as to why you should vote for me.
This is where I need to learn how to plan and organize my tasks. I am starting to learn about strategic planning, something that I think you should learn if you are to be successful at filmmaking. There are proven tools that work and should be applied to your filmmaking skills.
I just wanted to give an update on what is happening to Filmmakers Speak speaking series; it will be put on hold until January 2013. I have a lot going on right and the holiday season is coming up. I am working on a wonderful line up of speakers, ones that I think will be beneficial to the Tampa Bay area film and art community.
Also during this time I will be looking for sponsors so that I can truly grow Filmmakers Speak to the level that I want it to be. I would like to bring speakers from out of town. People Like Ted Hope, Sheri Candler and Jon Reiss. However this will take money and an good infrastructure to accomplish that.
If you have any ideas for speakers,let me know. I want this to be a two way conversation.
I have some news about Grey Room. As you may or not know we have had some problems getting our crowdfunding pitch video done. We have had audio issues with the first 3 attempts and finally yesterday we shot our 4th pitch and I know we got it. I will write more in detail about that however I, as the producer, take full responsibility for the delays and the pushing back of the dates.
Here is what is happening, we are pushing the crowdfunding campaign to 15 February 2013 and we begin shooting 13 April; and here is why, we would have the pitch edited by Friday and then, depending if we need more editing, we would start next week. Add 45 days of crowdfunding and that would bring us to the beginning of December; then 2 weeks of final per-production and then we would shoot. In the middle of December, and as you know Florida winters are unpredictable; it could be amazing gorgeous or it could be brutally cold. We have a pool scene and we do not want our actresses freezing their asses off and possibly getting sick. It is just not worth it. So what we have decided to push it back. However, this in many ways this is good; by the time the film is finished it will be time to be submitting film into the major film festivals. Which is where we want to put Grey Room.
The other day I was bungee jumping with a group people, with whom I did not know, and the statement was made that “You never see enough Awesome Asian Bad Guys.”; and they couldn’t be more correct. We as a society and as a Republic we need more Awesome Asian Bad Guys. Don’t you think? It would have been refreshing to have heard at least 5 minutes of the Presidential Debates dedicated to how the two candidates would bring to our country more Awesome Asian Bad Guys; however they did not. But as fate would have it the guys from the National Film Society are doing just that.
Stephen Dypiango and Patrick Epino have developed a 5 episode series about two filmmaker who ensemble a team of Asian bad guy actors who set off to take down one of LA’s most nefarious mobsters. This of course will lead to great fun; if you’ve watched any of Stephens and Patrick’s National Film Society youtube post, then you know just how funny and creative these guys are. Plus, they are some of the most passionate filmmakers that are out there.
They have assembled some great talent: Al Leong who was in Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure; Yuji Okumoto who you seen in Karate Kid 2, Better Off Dead and Inception; The Lovely Tamlyn Tomita who was in Karate Kid 2, Joy Luck Club and Glee; Randell Park who was in The Five year Engagement, and last but not least Aaron Takahashi who you’ve seen in a ton of commercials.
Stephen Dypiangco (@dypiangco) – Creator / Director
Stephen is an independent filmmaker who writes, directs and produces narrative films, documentaries and online videos. His new media production company the National Film Society has been featured by PBS, Filmmaker Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, GigaOM and Indiewire. As a Producer of Marketing and Distribution, Stephen’s recent projects include the Oscar-winning short film God of Love and the feature documentary How To Live Forever. Stephen is an alum of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and NYU’s graduate film program.
Patrick Epino (@patrickepino) – Creator / Director
Patrick is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and co-founder of the National Film Society. He was selected by the film magazine, The Independent, as one of its “10 Filmmakers to Watch” for his first feature film, Mr. Sadman, starring Scoot McNairy and Tim Kang, about a 1990 Saddam Hussein double who loses his job and moves to Los Angeles to start his life over. Patrick is a graduate of the University of Chicago, earned his MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University and is an alumnus of the IFP Narrative Labs and Film Independent’s Project:Involve.
Yes, I totally copied and pasted that. Sue me.
Now, Stephen and Patrick have only 3 days left to raise around 16,00 dollars, and they need your help. To make all this a reality they need you t go to their Crowdfunding Campaign page and donate. They have a lot of really great premiums as thank you gifts and the full list of all the talented people that they have on this project. Also, they have a lot of entertaining videos there too. Seriously do yourself a favor and look Nation Film Society on youtube. Brilliant stuff there.
Also you can help by spreading the word; tell all your friends by posting this blog and their kickstater page on all your social media outlits. And if you support them I will save a gorilla in the wild, and if you don’t I will kill one. It is true, I will.
So today was kind of a bust. We were supposed to shoot our crowdfunding campaign pitch video however, we were going to shoot it outside and the weather did comply. This sets us back a few more days. I just want to get going with this campaign. This being my first crowdfunding campaign, so I am somewhat nervous and just want to get it going. It is kind of like when you are hooked up waiting to jump out of a plane. You are nervous, somewhat scared, and you just want the light to turn green so you can get it over with.
I have a list of stuff to accomplish. I have to write out cast and crew, I have to write my self loathing bio, I have to upload the new cut of the crowdfunding trailer which looks great. Jason Cote has done an amazing job, and I will post is here. I have to work on setting up more interviews. Yes we had one yesterday. Our first. It went well and I expect to do more.
Along with that I have to send off me notes to Semone Fournillier on her screenplay she is writing. It is brilliant and is developing well. I have begun to talk to a director who I know and is an upcoming filmmaker. I seem to surround myself with them. One of which is my director for Grey Room Preston Walden, but most of the ones I know are not here in Tampa but around the country. My goal is to catch up to them. Big goal but what the hell.
Ok I have decided to show the trailer to you all. I kind of have to if I am to show you the website that our director Preston Walden designed. The trailer for our crowdfunding campaign. As I have said before, we had a great time shooting this, and I am really pleased with the outcome.
Oh and we got our first bit of Press. The guys at Horrorbug gave us our first bit of press. It was a pleasant surprise to us and we look forward to having more.
Hey guys. Sorry for not blogging for so long. I apologize for that. Avoidance seems to effect me from time to time.
Ok so, here is what is going on. We shot the trailer, for the second time, and have it edited, scored and ready to go. I am debating to show it here now or what until the crowd funding campaign. We had a great time shooting it and I am pleased how well everyone gets along. It makes life so much easier when the troops are having fun and enjoying each others company.
Some great news about our 1st AD Semone Founillier. She was excepted into AFI”s Conservatory program for writing in California for her Masters. She is there now and will be flying back to Tampa to 1st AD Grey Room. If you remember, she is writing the film on rape for me. I have read what she has so far and it is amazing. So we are extremely proud of her.
I am happy to announce our new Script Supervisor Mike Rembis. He brings to our team a lot of experience and is taking care of our shooting schedule. Which takes a big load off my shoulders. We have a great plan set up and it will allow us to shoot very efficiently. We have a lot to cover in this film so we need to have a clear strategy to shoot it. According to Mike we can shoot this in 35 hours. I think that is a great and doable goal.
So now I am concentrating on Pre production and am beginning to research contracts. Yes we are doing contracts for a couple of reasons. One to protect all parties but also to get some experience in dealing with them. I never have had to so this is a great opportunity for me. I have one with Jason Cote. We signed it at the Grey Room Party.
Oh Speaking of Jason, He just arrived to his new home town, LA. Yes he has moved to Hollywood to take his career as an editor to a professional level. Not saying you can’t do that here in Florida, but you can’t do that here in Florida. It’s Florida.
I have been asked by Preston Walden to produce his newest film “Grey Room.”
“Grey Room” a supernatural thriller that is the prequel to a feature in the works. The thought is to make a great short film, build an audience and attract investors. We are putting a lot of work and love into this film and want you all to come along this journey with us.
The premise of the film: What if the Mayan calendar didn’t predict the end, but the beginning of the end? The short is about the lovely Susan Wilcox, who on a terrifying night alone, comes to discover who and what she really is. Follow her into the unimaginable as it unfolds.
I will be giving you updates on our progress and the methodology behind the film. We need your financial support as well your feedback on the film. Without you have no film so please spread the word. Our “Grey Room” Campaign and fundraising will kick off on the 14th of July. We will also be taking donations through CrowdFunding sources. I know you will come through for us.
My journey into film 