Matthew 13 Blog

So, last week I began to tell you, gentle reader, the tale of the first day of shooting on my latest film project "Relationship Rewind".  It was a tale of grand plans, and meticulous designs... which were abandoned almost immediately.  All my great ideas for cinematic lighting, stereophonic sound, and coverage of every scene from every angle, were jetisoned in the wake of people looking at me and waiting for me to get this proverbial show on the road.  I could handle this, I was just going to have to scale down my ideas, but I could keep moving forward.  Then I got hit again. I had just completed the first few shots of a movie I had been trying to pull together for over a year and a half.  I was happy with the footage I had gotten from this first position, and it was time to move the camera.  The camera I was using is notorious for having a less than stellar battery life, so (having planed for this) I had plugged the camera into the wall, so as not t...

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has been quoted as saying "Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face".  I'm here to tell you, it's true gentle reader.  It is true. Yesterday was the first day of principal photography on my latest film project "Relationship Rewind".  This has been a project a long time in the making.  It took a little over a year to write the script (Not because the script took that long to write, but because there were short periods of writing in between long stretches of dreaming of what it would be like to film something I had already written).  So in short, the script took a year to write because of my old friend, procrastination.  Preproduction, or getting all the pieces into place after the script had been written, has taken a little over eighteen months.  I'm sure there was some procrastination in that time table as well, but far less than when writing the script.  As I mentioned in my last post, ther...

When I was a kid, one of my least favorite activities was trying to sell things going door to door.  Whether I was trying to get sponsors for the Walk-a-ton, Read-a-ton, or Whatever-a-ton, there was just a sense of dread when I knew a particular Saturday afternoon was going to be spent trying to get sponsors.  Most likely because I have a very deep seated fear of rejection, and anyone who has ever had to go door to door knows, this activity is a virtual gold mine of rejection.  Now, some rejection is nicer than others.  A polite "No Thank-you", with an unspoken, "we don't care how many books you read to cure diseases", is certainly better than the literal door slamming in the face, but neither one feels particularly good. My dad would try and encourage me by telling me I didn't have get a certain amount of sponsors, after all the eight year old me couldn't control the universe and what other people chose to care about, but he did require that I put i...

Let me first say this, despite the title of this week's post, if your dream was to get to read two brand new Matthew 13 Blog posts in two weeks, then dream on, gentle reader, because your dream is coming true! However, not all dreams come true.  Some would say that one should be realistic about hopes and dreams, as to escape the pain of disappointment should said hopes and dreams prove to be out of reach.  I do not subscribe to that philosophy.  I think it could be just as easily argued, that the only way to accomplish great things is to have great dreams.  I do think there is a danger in dreaming, but the danger lies not in disappointment, but somewhere else. I am definitely a dreamer.  My dream is to go from being an aspiring filmmaker, to a real life, honest to goodness filmmaker.  I don't know if that dream will come true for me, or how far I will get on the journey, but having that dream is what encourages me to try.  So, you may be asking you...

Better late than never.  It's a phrase we hear all the time.  I have no idea if it's true or not, but if I had to guess, (and since I'm the one writing this, I do), I would guess that when someone says "better late than never", they are most likely trying to by pass the guilt that tells them whatever is "late" should have been done long ago.  To this sense of guilt they reply, "Look guilt, I know I didn't do what I said I was going to do, at the time I said I was going to do it.  But look here, I did do something.  Things could be worse, you know.  I could have just not done anything.  Then where would you be?  You'd have nothing.  So why don't you just back up off me".      So, the phrase is part acknowledgement of wrong doing, and part dodging responsibility by alluding to another trademark phrase, "things could be worse".  I suppose "better late than never" could be true in certain situations, and I'm ho...

It's no secret, to those who know me.  I spend some time in front of the television.  Well, maybe more than just "some".  Many people would probably look at my definition of "some" and redefine it as "a lot".  In a culture where the average person watches approximately four hours of television a day, I can honestly say, I'm above average.  Which is almost always a good thing to be able to say, right?  Truth be told, I enjoys me some TV, but I won't watch just anything.  I have to be drawn in by either the story, or by the characters.  There was one show, in particular, that drew me in.  It had all the makings of a great story.  There was a plane crash, a tropical island with polar bears, some sort of smoke monster, and people who were once in wheelchairs could walk again.  Week after week I would watch this show and get more and more drawn in, as more and more mysterious things began to happen.  After a few years there were tho...

We've all heard it before, gentle reader.  "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence".  It can't possibly be true.  It's a cliche.  But, even as I write this I am reminded of Dennis Miller's line in the workplace thriller "Disclosure" as he rebuffs a colleagues dismissal of his argument with, "Come on Hunter, how do you think a cliche becomes a cliche"?  To which, I must answer with, touche Dennis Miller.  Touche indeed. Is it possible that these phrases get tossed around with so little thought because they are so very true?  Is Dennis Miller right?  Well gentle reader, I must confess while in the process of making "Wireless", I did find that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, no matter which side I happened to be standing upon. In the previous weeks you and I have talked, (or to be more accurate, I have typed and you have read) at some length, about how much I struggled to write my first f...

Well hello there gentle reader!  It is good to see you again here on the road to honest to goodness, real live, filmmakerville.  I'm not going to lie to you, at times it is a very lonely road, so I am quite grateful for the company.  When last we met, round the ol' proverbial campfire, I spun the yarn of how I went about casting my "no budget" film.  So after getting all the casting pieces into place, it was time to get to work and start making words printed on pieces of paper into a motion picture.  The motion picture that the world will come to know as "Wireless". It seems to me, in my somewhat limited experience, that there are three main phases to getting a film made, (after the screenplay has been written).  Phase One - Pre-Production.  As near as I can tell, this is when a lot of the decisions about the film are made.  Locations are scouted and selected.  Costumes are made or purchased.  Crew is hired.  A schedule is made. ...

So, the first major milestone in my journey had been reached.  If I wanted to be a real live, honest to goodness, filmmaker, I needed a real live, honest to goodness, screenplay.  Mission accomplished.  It may have been a little shorter than I had originally dreamed of, but at least I had some words typed out on sheets of paper.  Now, to reach the next milestone in my journey, I was going to have to find some real live, honest to goodness, actors. The casting process is one that I fear I have continually underestimated.  In truth, I think I underestimate every aspect of the film making process, each and every time I film something, (yet somehow I'm always surprised).  It's not that I am unaware of the importance of the actors.  I know it is they, rather than I, who will be bringing the characters to life.  It is they, the audience will bond with, and it is they, who will bear the brunt of the storm if the audience decides they hate my work. ...

When last we met, gentle reader, I was regaling you with the tale of completing my first screenplay, in the hopes of having a film to submit to the “Big Break” film contest.  As I mentioned last time, I had given myself two weeks to complete the screenplay (which I had already started months earlier), in order to stay on target and complete the film.   Now having completed a first draft a few days ahead of schedule, I was faced with one of those, all too familiar, good news, bad news situations. The good news: I had actually sat down and completed something that a few months earlier seemed a near impossibility, shrouded in mystery.  The bad news: I wasn’t sure that the screenplay I had finished was going to count. As I have stated before, (but I will restate it again to refresh your memory, gentle reader), every screenwriting book that I have read talks about screenplay length as being one hundred and twenty pages.  The reason for this being, most movies are two ho...

I have always had a strange relationship with deadlines.  Maybe because I am a procrastinator by nature.  Especially in high school, I can remember instances where a due date for a term paper would be ever approaching on the calendar, but everything else in the world just seemed so fascinating.  Sit down and write my paper?  How could I possibly do that when my room is such a mess?  Just look at the dust that has accumulated on those base boards!  No, it’s not time to write, it’s time to clean.  Almost anything would prove to be more interesting and important than the task at hand.  Why write your paper when there is a riveting program on PBS about the manufacturing of drywall?  Given the choice, I must say, gentle reader, there is no choice at all, it’s going to be drywall.  Then there is the transition from procrastination to boredom.  Once I would finally force myself to sit down, and write the term paper, there would be that all...

Greetings, gentle reader, I trust that all is well with you and yours.  Today's post is going to be a little bit different.  Instead of continuing to catch you up on the events that transpired during my absence from the Matthew 13 Blog, I thought I would share some recent thoughts I've had on DIY distribution.  Last week as I was roaming the Inter Web I came across a blog post by independent writer, director, Mike Vogel.  If you would like to read his post please feel free to do so, you can find it HERE .  But to sum up, Mike is exploring the idea of using You Tube as the primary platform to distribute his independent film.  Now, placing films on You Tube is certainly not a new idea for me, it was something that I had always planned on doing, but only as a last resort.  My thinking about You Tube was more along the lines of, "well, if all else fails, I can always put the movie up on You Tube... to die". As I read Mike's post it changed my perspectiv...

A break.  Usually it's a good thing.  Something to be desired, unless of course, the break being discussed involves a personal appendage.  In that case most people will take a pass, unless of course the person in question happens to be an actor, and the appendage to be broken is a leg.  But, in most cases, everybody needs a break.  This includes the late Nell Carter, who would go so far as to ask for said break in no uncertain terms.  One might even say she demanded one, singing loudly "Gimme a Break" on a weekly basis for several years back in the eighties.  Now, as a person who dreams of going from an aspiring, to a real live, honest to goodness, filmmaker; I have always known that I would need some sort of "break".  How that break would come, or what form it would take has always been a mystery, but if one is going to make it in the movie biz, eventually one's work is going to need to be seen by someone else who can help the first person to be ...

So, when we were last together, gentle reader, I had fifteen pages and a severe case of writer's block, not exactly how I had hoped my first attempt at writing a feature length screenplay would wind up.  But, truth be told, it was exactly what I had always feared would happen if I made an attempt to write something other than a short.  Now that fear was proving to be a reality and every other form of fear and self doubt was beginning to find its own voice and shout from the rooftops.  It was a discouraging place to be, but all was not lost.  Help was on the way, via the United States Postal Service.  Help was also taking its sweet time in arriving due to my desire to have everything shipped to me free of charge, but it was on the way nonetheless.  One afternoon, five to nine days after I had placed my order, I was rewarded when opening my mailbox with not only two utility bills and an offer to get cheaper car insurance, but a small key.  Oh yes, Christ...

I must admit, gentle reader, I'm one of those people. When shopping at a particular online store, named after a great river and rain forest, if I happen to hit the "check out" button and receive a message informing me that I must spend just a little more of my hard earned cash to qualify for free shipping, I spend the money. I spend it each and every time. Super Saver Shipping has got to be one of the most ingenious concepts that a retailer has thought of since some baker way back when asked himself, "What if, instead of selling these huge awkward loaves, we sliced the bread?". It does not matter if I have to spend ten more dollars or ten more cents, I will spend (or if I'm real honest with you, over spend) that extra amount to qualify for the free shipping. It's not just that I need an excuse to spend money on myself, I think it actually makes some sense. I tend to look at the situation this way. I could buy one item and pay the money to have it ...