Insanity, it's business!

One of the best days on any shoot I have been on ever! Last night was so amazing. We didn't get started until after 10pm and then we shot a bunch of footage until after 2am. I didn't get home to sleep until after 3:45 am. Then up again at 6:35 to see that Rob left my coach and got to his day job on time(he's awesome after everything last night he wakes up and drives an hour and a half to get yelled at all day in the photo-lab at Wally World. AKA Wal-mart.

The shoot started out normal and we where getting the shots we wanted. The only bad part is that it was freezing cold. So we decide to try and find a place that was open and try to thaw out while planning what we would shoot next. Then Spiro suggests that we go a friend of his place called "the Joint" and we decide to check it out.

At first it seems like the guy at the door is not going to let us in then he finally gives in and as soon as we get in the place Spiro goes straight to the back and right up to the owner, who when he seems him gives him a hug like a long lost relative and Rob and I are introduced to Stan and his associate Paulie. The nicest guys in the world, Stan grabs us a couple of beers and we go to separate lounge so we can hear each other over the band.

For the next 20 minutes the four of us talk shop about the site, Stan of course understands the merit of what we are doing and starts telling us of all of these other events that he would like us to film that he is apart of.

We tell him our going rate $$$ and he likes the price. At this point Rob and I are really pumped, it's just par-for-the-course for Spiro and Stan.

The next thing you know we're are filming in the bar! Stan gives us the green light to film some raw footage for our opening for the whole show right then and there! So of course we put Stan in the shot next to the best looking blond in the room!

I know I am forgetting stuff but it was all good and a crazy gorilla shoot. We had the band get in on it "Vangando" that's there name. They we're really good to work with and some of the other patrons of the bar to fill up the shot. By the end of it I am getting handed business cards and shaking hands(getting um....very affectionate hugs from some of the women). As it turns out one of the cards I got was from the General Manager of the biggest night club/bar in the city. He handed me his card between takes and was like "We should talk, we gotta work something out" and began selling me on how great his club was.

I can't believe it, earlier that day we had tried to deal with the business office of a well known but smaller club and they sent me a curt email stating that they where "not interested".
Now usually I am not offended by rejection emails, but this one was really cold. Then the same day we get a Club that is so big I had not tried them yet because they are so intimating, and then they came to us.

It would seem that the moral of this story is that no matter what happens keep shooting. If you keep at it, and you have the right team together. Eventually they will come to you.

I should say that by "keep at it", I mean all of it. Specifically shooting though. Rob said something on the way back to my place that struck me as very profound.

He said "I love working with you" and I of course tried to respond with a similar platitude, but Rob being the mind that he is took it a level deeper and explained further.

He said "I love working with you because things get done. I worked with a way bigger company, more people and it was a whole lot of talk."

Rob explained that the ratio of talk to actual filming for the resources they had was ridiculous.
Something that both he and I learned early is that if you want to find success you have to keep filming, you have get on a set or whatever in pre-prod. Most important is to keep shooting, that's it.

FINAL THOUGHTS: on last nights shoot

I am sitting here in my apartment, with no real good prospect for what I am going to eat today. Not a whole lot of hope that I will be able to pay rent (and I am 1 month behind) this week. I can't seem to go back to sleep so I am tired. Most of all I am content, it's strange, it's some kind of strange monster but it is mine.

Many of you may not know this but I am a man of a certain faith, I've prayed about this specifically the night before. This was more then I asked for and more then I dared hope for, but I had faith that it would be taken care of. Do what you want with that, to me it's just giving credit where it's do without shouting about it in the courtyard of some church/synagogue/mosk/temple. He gives to me and I am grateful.

Hmmm, I wonder-maybe now I can sleep.

The first shoot for "aroundchicagonow.com"

Getting ready to shoot downtown. Just got off work and am scrambling to get all of the prep done. Had a location shoot me down as though I was a pest and in reality we where doing them a favor. It's OK though, when they come to us after they realize that they need the press we will charge them a little extra.

Also lost a crew member to "the motivation monster", that is when somebody for what ever reason looses their juice. They are not excited about shooting anything and everything. It happens to everybody even me.

Projects

Currently I am working on:

1. Feature length documentary; that I am primarily producing and directing. It is related to some work that I have been doing on a case through a non-profit organization that I am a consultant for. The non-profit is Families In Crisis Support Programs or F.I.C. Support Programs. The title of the documentary is TBA.
2. A web-site; The site is (www.aroundchicagonow.com). If you go to the site you can enter your email and be on our mailing list. The site is basically going to be about different current events that are happening in Chicago. Our first show will be about New Years, and what parties are where and why people are going to them. We will try to do a video every week. Spiro Fentzas and Rob Rhodes are my business partners in this venture and we have the ball rolling in many ways.
   
3. Flashpoint; by far the best film environment I have ever been in. Wait, it's the greatest creative environment I have ever been in. My goal is to go to that school no matter what. At any point in my career if I went there it would not be a waste of the two years. For sure I will graduate from that school and my career will have gone to another level no matter how much success I have had previously.
   

Also it is worth mentioning that my current job is working at a gas station. I have only been there for a week and a couple of days so I don't even have my first paycheck but I am already hearing people mention that I may be promoted to manage the station in February.

What about the pitch to the studio? Great question, it's gotta wait. It's been pitched, Rob and I have basically done as much as we can at this point. Now if we bugged them too much it might be detrimental. Timing really is everything, and in my last conversation with my contact in the production office I was told that they would not even be ready to work with the concepts Rob and I pitched until April. It is almost guaranteed that a publicity piece will be done on Rob and I to bolster box-office sales after the films release. The unique way in which we got onto the film, has gotten around some in the industry and would probably boost sales. This is what the PR department of the Studio believes and who am I to argue with that?!

My short, "No Picket Fence". Well to sum it up it's dead. I had some creative differences with some of the talent and could not move forward on the project. It's sad, but that is the way things go. I wish everyone on that project the best and hope that they have amazing careers.

Moving on...

The current living situation is still really good. Am scrambling a bit financially but I should be in way better shape by the end of the month.

I hope to post specific blogs about each of the current projects soon.