Just got word from composer Rich King that The Familiar will be playing his hometown festival Feb 7th. We are preceding another Canadian flick "65 Red Roses" on the festival's last day: http://www.spokanefilmfestival.org/schedule.html#7
Sounds great to me!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Los Angeles Experience
So this is coming real late. But better late than never. I suppose.
Here I am to talk about the incredible experience that was Screamfest LA and Los Angeles in general.
We (and by we, I mean producer Riley Walsh and co-producer Jen Nick) started our trip off at the great Vancouver International Airport, although it is situated in the not-so-great city of Richmond. Go figure. At any rate, along the "show your passport" line, Jen declared that she had a grapefruit on her, even though she ticked off the "no-citrus-is-on-my-persons" check on her declaration, so she got carted off by US customs officials, only to be returned later just slightly bruised. It is my belief that she actually enjoyed the experience.
We got on the plane after that without further incident -- Jen had been our sacrificial lamb for any more problems to come. The last time I was in LA was when I was like 7 or 8, and never by airplane. The place sprawls like some parking lot. Just squares and squares of gray and concrete everywhere. All I thought of was what it would look like if some zombie-plague had infested the city, or the wave of nuclear fire from "Terminator 2." I come from Vancouver -- city of mountains, grass and trees, a complete dichotomy from the City of Angels. I was in love at first sight.
We found our way to the Magic Castle Hotel, a renovated apartment complex from the '50s or '60s. It was here I realized I made my first miscalculation. This was late October, back home it was raining, back home it was getting cold. I packed nothing but pants, some long sleeves and a jacket. It was fucking HOT there. Like air-conditioner or die hot. Riley, bless his soul, offered to get me some shorts, but a man must have his pride.
"The Familiar" was playing at the Grauman Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. That place was crazy -- filled with make-shift actors wearing make-shift costumes. The Blvd itself goes on forever, the names on the ground endless. I wondered if any of them ever hit an identity crisis and would go look at their star or their feet and hand prints just to remind themselves where they were. I doubt it.
Our band of travelers was increased by my pal/composer Rich King and we all watched "The Tournament" on Friday night -- a nice direct-to-video action film starring Kelly Hu, Robert Patrick and Michael Clarke Duncan. I liked it when heads explode, and this one had some pretty good head 'splodin up. Afterward, we hit a club (have no freaking clue what it was called), but it had a Japanese pop singers serenading fashion show models that reminded me of a Brian DePalma set piece. Somewhere, during all this controlled chaos, someone was getting murdered giallo style.
Saturday was our day as "The Familiar" got a most awesome reaction from the crowd. After the first joke, the audience knew what kind of film this was and digged it. We were one of the only films to get two rounds of applause after it screened, which made me feel pretty damned awesome. Writing, directing, editing almost every day for a year straight -- the sprint of shooting turned into a post-production marathon, which finally became a successful screening. All those headaches of figuring out proper aspect ratios and rendering set-ups were in the past and well worth it. It was great to see Torrance and Paul Hubbard (Sam and Bolivar) get to see the flick with an appreciative audience. Paul even got scooped away by a couple of German gals who wanted their picture with him.
We met a lot of great filmmakers there. Antony Webb and Alex von Hoffman our Australian pals from "Tinglewood"; Jamison Stern, producer of "Forget Me Not;" Xavier Hibon, director of "Bad Mistake;" Carmen Mitchell and Craig "Master Karoke" Oullette of "Rations;" French director Thibault Emin of "Else" and Meredith Berg, director of "Void."
One of the best things about the LA trip was the places we saw. My pal Rick Orner got us into Dreamworks Studios where director Mike Mitchell spent some time talking about making "Shrek 4." We went to Universal Studios and the Jay Leno Show (which sucked by the way). We went to Musso and Frank's, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, and met Ray Bradbury.
We got home to some great reviews and interviews. All in all, an awesome experience.
Here I am to talk about the incredible experience that was Screamfest LA and Los Angeles in general.
We (and by we, I mean producer Riley Walsh and co-producer Jen Nick) started our trip off at the great Vancouver International Airport, although it is situated in the not-so-great city of Richmond. Go figure. At any rate, along the "show your passport" line, Jen declared that she had a grapefruit on her, even though she ticked off the "no-citrus-is-on-my-persons" check on her declaration, so she got carted off by US customs officials, only to be returned later just slightly bruised. It is my belief that she actually enjoyed the experience.
We got on the plane after that without further incident -- Jen had been our sacrificial lamb for any more problems to come. The last time I was in LA was when I was like 7 or 8, and never by airplane. The place sprawls like some parking lot. Just squares and squares of gray and concrete everywhere. All I thought of was what it would look like if some zombie-plague had infested the city, or the wave of nuclear fire from "Terminator 2." I come from Vancouver -- city of mountains, grass and trees, a complete dichotomy from the City of Angels. I was in love at first sight.
We found our way to the Magic Castle Hotel, a renovated apartment complex from the '50s or '60s. It was here I realized I made my first miscalculation. This was late October, back home it was raining, back home it was getting cold. I packed nothing but pants, some long sleeves and a jacket. It was fucking HOT there. Like air-conditioner or die hot. Riley, bless his soul, offered to get me some shorts, but a man must have his pride.
"The Familiar" was playing at the Grauman Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. That place was crazy -- filled with make-shift actors wearing make-shift costumes. The Blvd itself goes on forever, the names on the ground endless. I wondered if any of them ever hit an identity crisis and would go look at their star or their feet and hand prints just to remind themselves where they were. I doubt it.
Our band of travelers was increased by my pal/composer Rich King and we all watched "The Tournament" on Friday night -- a nice direct-to-video action film starring Kelly Hu, Robert Patrick and Michael Clarke Duncan. I liked it when heads explode, and this one had some pretty good head 'splodin up. Afterward, we hit a club (have no freaking clue what it was called), but it had a Japanese pop singers serenading fashion show models that reminded me of a Brian DePalma set piece. Somewhere, during all this controlled chaos, someone was getting murdered giallo style.
Saturday was our day as "The Familiar" got a most awesome reaction from the crowd. After the first joke, the audience knew what kind of film this was and digged it. We were one of the only films to get two rounds of applause after it screened, which made me feel pretty damned awesome. Writing, directing, editing almost every day for a year straight -- the sprint of shooting turned into a post-production marathon, which finally became a successful screening. All those headaches of figuring out proper aspect ratios and rendering set-ups were in the past and well worth it. It was great to see Torrance and Paul Hubbard (Sam and Bolivar) get to see the flick with an appreciative audience. Paul even got scooped away by a couple of German gals who wanted their picture with him.
We met a lot of great filmmakers there. Antony Webb and Alex von Hoffman our Australian pals from "Tinglewood"; Jamison Stern, producer of "Forget Me Not;" Xavier Hibon, director of "Bad Mistake;" Carmen Mitchell and Craig "Master Karoke" Oullette of "Rations;" French director Thibault Emin of "Else" and Meredith Berg, director of "Void."
One of the best things about the LA trip was the places we saw. My pal Rick Orner got us into Dreamworks Studios where director Mike Mitchell spent some time talking about making "Shrek 4." We went to Universal Studios and the Jay Leno Show (which sucked by the way). We went to Musso and Frank's, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, and met Ray Bradbury.
We got home to some great reviews and interviews. All in all, an awesome experience.
Monday, October 5, 2009
October 17!
The Familiar will be playing at 5 pm on October 17th at the Grauman Chinese Theater in downtown Hollywood.
Coming down (besides myself) will be producer Riley Walsh and co-producer Jen Nick.
Hey, I'm just happy that I'm going to be staying at the Magic Castle Hotel. Since I was a kid, I loved stage magic -- watching Tony Curtis play Houdini and then stealing several books on the subject from my small town library.
It's gonna be a great time.
Coming down (besides myself) will be producer Riley Walsh and co-producer Jen Nick.
Hey, I'm just happy that I'm going to be staying at the Magic Castle Hotel. Since I was a kid, I loved stage magic -- watching Tony Curtis play Houdini and then stealing several books on the subject from my small town library.
It's gonna be a great time.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
THE FAMILIAR accepted at Screamfest
My short film — the Familiar — has been accepted to the 2009 Screamfest L.A. Film Festival in October. Everyone who knows me, knows me as a HUGE horror fan and this is known as “The Sundance of Horror.”
What’s best, the film will be playing at the Famous Grauman’s Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, in a venue that is supported by Wes “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Craven, Clive “Hellraiser” Barker, Eli “Cabin Fever” Roth, Tobe “Poltergeist” Hooper, and John “American Werewolf in London” Landis.
Thanks everyone for your continued support!
About Screamfest LA:
The Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the “Sundance of Horror.” The festival is now held annually at the prestigious Grauman’s Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood. Screamfest premieres and showcases new work from American and international independent horror filmmakers. Film entries are accepted in the categories of Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects and Musical Score. In addition, there are special categories for Best Animation, Best Short, Best Documentary and Best Student Film.
The largest film festival held in Los Angeles, Screamfest is an internationally recognized showcase for independent filmmakers and writers of the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.
Screamfest was formed in August 2001 to give filmmakers and writers in the horror/sci-fi genres a venue to have their work showcased to people in the industry. The majority of the films showcased in the past now have distribution.
The festival has hosted many famous filmmakers and actors as guests, including Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Eli Roth, James Wan, Rob Zombie, Mike Mendez, Clive Barker, Lin Shaye, Robert Englund, Tobe Hooper, James Gunn, Zack Snyder, Stan Winston, Sean Cunningham and John Landis.
Screamfest has also introduced some major horror films onto the world, including Hatchet, Behind the Mask, Wolf Creek, The Lost, 28 Days Later, Dog Soldiers, Wrong Turn and many more.
While the horor boom continues to show no signs of slowing down, Screamfest continues to grow at an alarming rate. Annually Screamfest holds a private party at the Sundance Film Festival and has many exclusive engagements in Los Angeles and Hollywood throughout the year. The festival has been featured on Craig Ferguson and Entertainment Tonight and in Variety, Time magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, NY Times and other major online and print publications.
What’s best, the film will be playing at the Famous Grauman’s Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, in a venue that is supported by Wes “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Craven, Clive “Hellraiser” Barker, Eli “Cabin Fever” Roth, Tobe “Poltergeist” Hooper, and John “American Werewolf in London” Landis.
Thanks everyone for your continued support!
About Screamfest LA:
The Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the “Sundance of Horror.” The festival is now held annually at the prestigious Grauman’s Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood. Screamfest premieres and showcases new work from American and international independent horror filmmakers. Film entries are accepted in the categories of Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects and Musical Score. In addition, there are special categories for Best Animation, Best Short, Best Documentary and Best Student Film.
The largest film festival held in Los Angeles, Screamfest is an internationally recognized showcase for independent filmmakers and writers of the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.
Screamfest was formed in August 2001 to give filmmakers and writers in the horror/sci-fi genres a venue to have their work showcased to people in the industry. The majority of the films showcased in the past now have distribution.
The festival has hosted many famous filmmakers and actors as guests, including Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Eli Roth, James Wan, Rob Zombie, Mike Mendez, Clive Barker, Lin Shaye, Robert Englund, Tobe Hooper, James Gunn, Zack Snyder, Stan Winston, Sean Cunningham and John Landis.
Screamfest has also introduced some major horror films onto the world, including Hatchet, Behind the Mask, Wolf Creek, The Lost, 28 Days Later, Dog Soldiers, Wrong Turn and many more.
While the horor boom continues to show no signs of slowing down, Screamfest continues to grow at an alarming rate. Annually Screamfest holds a private party at the Sundance Film Festival and has many exclusive engagements in Los Angeles and Hollywood throughout the year. The festival has been featured on Craig Ferguson and Entertainment Tonight and in Variety, Time magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, NY Times and other major online and print publications.
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