Film Independent’s Project:Involve

So I FINALLY got in, I’m so happy…..

http://www.filmindependent.org/index.php/diversity/project%3Ainvolve


Lucy

Be Ware of the “Wanna B” Producer

Be Ware of the “Wanna B” Producer

We’ve met with a few producers, below are the top
reasons why they have passed on Love 10 t0 1:

• Our micro budget
• This is our first project
• It’s an ethnic cast
• Our actors are unknown
• It’s digital

These are valid reasons, I won’t begrudge someone not
funding us if they have their reasons and let us know
what their reasons are.

I have a problem with the “Wanna B” Producer. This is
someone who constantly brags about how much money they
have and how they can’t wait for a good project to
come their way so they can fund it. This is the trick
that the “producer” uses to get filmmakers to like
them. In reality, this “producer” only wants to hang
out with directors, writers and actors so they can
feel validated in some way. This person will set up
camp, usually at Starbucks, and talk about their
“potential projects” loud enough for all to hear.

This person will waste the time of anyone they meet.
They brag about this connection or that project
he/she’s about to fund, and that’s what gets the
novice writer, director, actor hooked into spending
time with this person. Depending how nice or desperate
said writer, director, actor is, they can waste a lot
of time trying to appeal to the “Wanna B”. After one
horrendous experience with a “Wanna B” myself, I say
to all BEWARE & RUN!

My friend Karina said that any producer worthy of your
time will at least pay for your first meal and in her
experience they always pay. Come to think of it,
producers we’ve met have paid for our meal or drinks,
except of course the “Wanna B”.

Other signs that should make you run and not look back:

• “producer” wears a baseball cap that says PRODUCER bought at a tourist shop
• “producer” has not read your script and tells you so only after you’ve spent weeks with them
• “producer” wants a personal budget equal to your post budget


Lucy

Living the Creative Life and Integrity Pt. II

First off, I found this excerpt from Susan Sontag's journal entries very interesting. Partially published in NY Times and will be published as a book in a couple years. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/magazine/10sontag.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin ...

She wrote, "Nothing prevents me from being a writer except laziness. A good writer." Ha!

How very true. Laziness and perhaps fear as well. Or is laziness a by-product of fear?

So here we are. A good two plus years into the process of getting Love 10 to 1 made. In Hollywood time, I do not think this is a long time. We have learned lots along the way, but I am at the point where I just want to get the thing made already! Subjecting myself to medical experiments and prostitution crossed my mind as creative financing techniques. Imagine sitting at a panel during a film festival and asked, so how did you raise financing for your film? Oh, I slept with _____ rich people. Imagine what I would do to get distribution.

Which brings us to the topic of integrity. How much of your soul would you sell to get your vision/dreams realized? I think we all have a price point at which this will occur. Some at higher price points than others. Does integrity mean not selling yourself at any cost, or does integrity mean sticking by your vision, no matter the cost?

Christine

On august 13th we held auditions for the 3rd installment of Love 10 to 1, “Addict”.

So we put an advertisement on breakdownexpress.com.

Here are the breakdowns:

Caitlin
Mid-20's (all ethnicities please apply) - A lesbian sex addict who has finally attained the stable and loving relationship she has always wanted, but tempting groupies force her to struggle for control of her addiction and risk the only woman she has ever loved. Eventually she must choose between addiction and love, and then deal with the ramifications of her choices. Caitlin plays bass in a local rock band. Must be able to look like you play in a rock band - think Shakira, Courtney Love during the early days, a female Lenni Kravitz - you get the idea. Your headshot does not need to reflect this, but please only submit if you can be the rock star. This character requires being very comfortable portraying a lesbian and kissing another woman. Partial nudity is involved, but not gratuitous (the tone of the film is a dramedy).

Sarah
Mid-20's (all ethnicities please apply) - Feisty, lesbian, sharp, yet forgiving girlfriend of the bass player of a local rock band. Very intelligent (med student) and very cute, but her trust and want for a good relationship clouds her to the fact that her sex addict girlfriend is not in control of her addiction. Her world and her ideals come apart as she comes to grips with the fact that her girlfriend has been cheating on her.

We got 408 submissions for Caitlin and 743 for Sarah. Even though it clearly says mid 20s, there are a lot of actors out there who are pushing 40 and think they can pass for mid 20s. I understand that there are not a lot of good roles for women in their late 30s, because let’s face it, in Hollywood 30 is over the hill. Christine and I want to continue writing for women and yes, this is our first project but once we get our feet wet we will write roles for all women. Our cast does include older women, a grandma & a mother (Virgin), a very cool band manager (Californication), and the part of Caitlin’s group therapist (Addict).

So we picked a total of about 17 people to see for both roles, I think only 6 showed up, and out of those, most of them came in late. I hate actor time! I think that breakdownexpress.com should let casting directors give feedback on actors, think of it as Ebay’s positive/negative feedback.

The other thing that baffles me is how people post headshots that are very old. So that by the time you see a person you chose from breakdownexpress.com, they look nothing like the headshot they submitted. People please, update your headshots regularly.

We found one girl for Sarah that Christine and I really liked. There’s another girl I’d also like to see but I don’t think Christine was that impressed with her. No one really floored us for Caitlin but there was one person that I liked but Nick and Christine were not impressed by her. She definitely looked the part, and gave a new interpretation of Caitlin that I had not seen before.

All in all, this has been a slow and sometimes painful process. For the next film, I will hire a casting director to audition people for me.

Lucy

INTEGRITY

pic of Dorothy Arzner - directing
"When I went to work in a studio, I took my pride and made a nice little ball of it and threw it right out the window." This quote is taken from a 1933 Silver Screen article written by Arzner's friend Adela Rogers St. John


INTEGRITY

Hold on to it for as long as you can, and if you must sacrifice it don't do it on your first project. Like your virginity, once you give it up, there's no way to get it back. I've come to the conclusion that my integrity is not worth any amount of money and I will try, for as long as I live to never let go of it.

Lucy



in‧teg‧ri‧ty  –noun
1.adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2.the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
3.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.

[Origin: 1400–50; late ME integrite < L integritās. See INTEGER, -ITY]

—Synonyms 1. rectitude, probity, virtue. See HONOR.
—Antonyms 1. dishonesty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Getting this movie out of pre-production has been one long and winding road. Christine and I attended a breakfast back in March hosted by The Producer's Guild of America. It was a great networking event. The panel consisted of the producers from Crash, Broke Back Mountain, Capote and Walk The Line (hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone). All those films spent years (7 for Crash) in pre-production. It gave us hope that our little micro budget, digital film with no recognizable actors could one day see the light of day, make its way to a few prestigious festivals and maybe, just maybe get nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

We have a pool of very talented actors, a great cinematographer, Leah Anova, and a ton of friends who've offered to be part of the crew. We have so many people rooting for us, and that makes me determined to make Love 10 to 1. BUT, we have no $$$.

Christine and I have bonded a great deal thanks to our hiking group, The Canyon Nymphs. It's basically a small group of women who take to the mountains on the weekend. Kristina, Karen & karina are also regular members. Those hikes inspire me to visualize my dreams as I struggle to climb up. The thing that keeps me going is thinking happy thoughts about our little movie.

On Saturday, I'm spending the day with a potential producer, we'll see how that goes. In the mean time, keep sending good thoughts, wishes and karma our way.

Lucy