Thursday, July 31, 2014

Starting again - Monday



 Still gathering things; our Ghostkeeper 2 went down in flames with Canadian Telefilm support, we had hoped for a nice little bit of money from them but it never came to be.  So we're back to trying to figure out another way to get GKPR 2 going. Probably low, low budget but I don't mind.

I'm also finishing writing the actor screenplay I talked about months ago, I'm doing a rewrite and after taking a week off for the blue grass festival, I'm trying to finish the screenplay by the end of next week.

I was going to talk about the blue-grass festival but decided to give it a better look on Monday as that's when most of you seem to read, lots of great music and a lot of fun in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. The photo above gives you some idea of the whole event.

Thanks for hanging on, next week is my 5th anniversary for this blog and I still don't know how I come up with stuff to hopefully interest you; Got some good stuff coming later on.

Monday is blue-grass festival day...  drop by.

 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Back from blue-grass




Finally finished a week of shooting blue grass bands, some of which where really amazing. I was working for a week in the small town of Lyons, Colorado, right up against the Rocky Mountains. Will give you a bigger picture on Friday, which I usually post.

Selfie taken early in the morning in Lyons, that's almost the entire main street you're seeing. 

More Friday...


Monday, July 14, 2014

Bluegrass & firing screenwriters



I'm off to Colorado at the end of this week where I'll be filming video on a documentary that's based on a small Rocky Mountain town that was flooded last year. It's also the site of a blue-grass festival each year.

The doc is mostly about how the people rebuilt much of their town and especially the one
thing that brings extra money to them - namely the RockyGrass Music Festival. For those of you who in other countries, "blue grass" is a type of country music as opposed to rock and roll or hip-hop or even opera. 

It's based on farmers and ranchers and came from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England way back a few hundred years. The instruments are mostly guitars and banjos, mandolins and bass guitars and is a bit of a cousin to folk music. 

I'll be filming some of the concert and anything I can find that will look good on camera. It's been a while since I did some camerawork but once I get the camera in my hands, it all comes back from my time as a TV news soundman and cameraman.

The rest of this week will be taken up by the screenplay I'm writing for "actor" but am running into some logistic problems, which requires some thought. Very often, writers get notes from producers or directors mostly, that make no sense or can't really be done. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

So I have to work it out for myself and then approach the other parties to try and find a solution that works for everyone. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Someone asked me if writers have to write everything someone tells them. The answer is simple; NO.

Can a writer get fired if they refuse to write what the producer or director or actor want?

Simple; YES.

But more often, it's worked out to everyone's suitability and we all go merrily along. Although enemies can be made in these circumstances, one only has one thing to remember in those instances;

Writers last longer than executives.

So, I'll be running around this week trying to find a solution to the screenplay and to get stuff ready to head to Lyons, Colorado. 

BTW you can see the music as it's going to be streamed on the internet July 25-27 , just go to:

http://www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass/

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Mazursky




One of my favorite filmmakers passed away two days ago, Paul Mazursky. Someone told me that nobody makes films like Mazursky and that it's a sad thing to hear he's gone.

My first Mazursky movie was probably Bob, Carole, Ted and Alice, which was very much a satire on the California crowd in the 70's and how they were attempting to get into the sexual mores that changed so much from the 50's. 



I also liked An Unmarried Woman with Jill Clayburgh, another actress who's gone. Here's a list of a few other films I enjoyed. I also got to see him at Farmer's Market where he and other "oldtimers" would exchange stories near the legendary Bob's Donuts.

 

Bloom In Love was especially interested to me because it was around the time my ex and I split up. Mazursky's idea for this movie came to him when he was in Rome. His idea was about a guy who's in Rome and doesn't know why he's there. And the rest... as they say, follows.





Harry and Tonto is a movie I can watch over and over. It's about Art Carney who decides to go to visit his son in Los Angeles after he and his cat, Tonto, are kicked out of his New York apartment.

 

You really should try to see some of Mazursky's movies, there some not so good films but a good handful of great movies.


And have a coffee for Mazursky at Bob's.