Why I am doing five shorts this year.

Last Night a colleague of mine, Ron Borders  asked me “Instead of doing 5 shorts why not just do a feature?”  Which is a valid question, which deserves good answer.  First off I have never been to film school, so I do not have the experience of producing and making films that one who went to film school has.   For me it has all been OJT, reading and a lot of listening.  So for me, this is like a year of film school with 5 thesis projects plus a full length documentary on South Sudan.  I will make a lot of mistakes, learn a lot and at the end have a body of work to go off of.  So with that I will have a body of work that I can say to an investor “Here is what I have done, these are the awards I have gotten and yes I seem to know what I am doing. Please trust me with your money.” Also I have to think 5, 10 years down the road. What I mean is that with this year of short films it is a building block to the next level, which if you know me is all the above.  I want to produce and direct in whatever medium I can, meaning Film, TV, Web, Theater, Graphic Novel or in whatever it is.

Yes I have bitten off more than you or I can chew, but I do it knowing I can do it somehow.  I have a company I know I can grow. I have a vision for what I want kinds of material I want to produce and what kinds of people I want to work with.  I also want to be able to help other artist and filmmakers. Right now I am in Tampa and I want to help change the culture of film into something that is well respected and received.   So yes this is the year of short films but it is with a purpose.

 

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Grey Room Crowdfunding Party is 1 day away,

That is right,  tomorrow is the  Grey Room Crowdfunding Kickoff Party.  We will begin our Indiegogo campaign and you are invited.

We are having out party at The Hub. 719 N Franklin St, Tampa, Fl,  which is the greatest bar, like a real bar, in the world.  Be aware that there drinks are very strong so do not slam them.  Anyways, We are having this party to A. Bring attention to our Crowdfunding campaign B. To just give people a reason to have a good time and to bring closer our community and C. To bring attention to ourselves and build our audience and build our Brand.

We will have have the cast and crew of Grey Room: Linda Roser, John O’Keef, Leon Salem  Kathrine Michelle. Lydia Edwards, Jeannine Fiallo, Brandon Hyde,  Tony Tartaglia, Lakiasha Olds, William Wright.  They are great people who work very hard and are talented .  We will be showing our out Pitch video and trailer.

Please come out. This is our first event  and we will more.  I like getting together and hanging out with good people like you.

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You can now get paid on Vimeo

Really good news, Vimeo is going to make available to it upgraded members  a way to make money off of their content.  In a short while you can have a tip jar on your page that will allow people to donate money and soon after that they will able to charge for your content. This is a great new platform to monetize your work.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/attention-vimeo-filmmakers-make-money-on-your-films-today#.UFpVW067s_o.mailto

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I like Zombies

I am not a horror film fanatic like just about Every Single Filmmaker in Tampa is; however, I do like Zombies. I don’t know why but I am a sucker for zombie films.  I thought this pic was clever.

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I am now the Vice President at Domain Pictures.

I have been asked by Preston Walden to be the Vice President of his production company Domain Pictures.  It is an incorporated company here in Tampa, Fl and as many of you know, Preston and I have been working on Grey Room which I am producing.  We have a number of solid projects, which I will share in my next post, and are working on a strategy on how we want to proceed with these various projects. There is a logical order by which we move on various projects. That will be another post as well.

As you know we live in a different world now. We are too aware that either you change or die off.  We live in a transmedia world where we tell our stories on many different mediums on many different platforms. Preston and myself understand this and are proceeding according with our projects.

We  are really excitied about the future.  We have a lot of projects. Good projects. and we keep coming into one all the time. We have been blessed with talented upcoming writers and directors.  This year alone will make 3 to 4 shorts and a documentary.  Great times ahead.  Now lets get to work.

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Objectives for the year.

I recently wrote a post for the Slate; which is a online publication for the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association which I am a board member of.  I thought long a hard as to what I wanted to do as a board member and as a filmmaker in Tampa, Fl.  I feel it is my responsibility to my community to help advance it,  make it better and stronger.  Here is that post.

“I want to thanks those who had voted for me this year. Yay. I have given much thought to want I want to do this upcoming year.  I feel that we have much to do in order for the Tampa Bay film to be taken seriously in the film world; meaning the real film world.  I want to do my part to help us to get to that level by being proactive.  So I have identified areas that I feel will get us there.  These are projects and agendas that I personally want to work on. I believe my projects will benefit the FMPTA.

1. I want identify talented independent filmmakers that are bold, creative, fearless and take their filmmaking careers seriously. We need to find Producers, Directors, Cinematographers and Editors that have a vision and the work ethic to obtain their goals. That they understand how the world of filmmaking is changing and are willing to change with it.

2. The filmmaking paradigm has changed.  Filmmaking is changing and no one one knows where it will wind up. For those follow me and pay attention to my post understand that what worked 5 to 10 years ago does not work now. The way we consume film, engage with our audience and raise money for our films have changed. We now live in a transmedia world where we tell and sell our stories on multiple platforms. Today filmmaker have to take responsibility for engaging their audience as well as your marketing and distribution andI want to help them do that.

3.  I see a the need for acting classes sponsored by the FMPTA; seminars and workshops by renowned filmmakers; and writers, artist, photographers and other kind of creative people. It is important that filmmakers engage with other type creative people. I am already working on this now, and will have some things coming.

4. I  am going to  reach out and get businesses to be involved with our organization. Whether  it be through a business membership or as a merchant partners. I think this would be a great benefit to our organization and members.  We must expand our brand.”

I am doing this because I want to be apart of a movement in this area.  A movement of talented, fearless visionaries that take the art of filmmaking seriously.  People who see and understand the future of filmmaking and story telling.  People who want to be taken seriously in the world of film.

 

 

 

 

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New Project

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.

 

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