Snip, Snip, Cut, Cut

Back to Matthew's last night to edit some more. The majority of the living room scene with Shane, Dustin, Cali & Jim is gone. The majority of the limo scene is gone too, we left a quickie 15 seconds, maybe less. Added an additional 30 seconds scene to the photo shoot. We managed to trim down a good chunk, hoping to make the final time about 23 minutes.

We were done around midnight, I have to be at work at 7am. Somehow, I got up earlier than I needed. I think at this point my body is functioning on internal caffeine. I found a missing patch of hair in the back of my head. That tends to happen when I'm stressed out. Now I have to make an appointment with my dermatologist and she'll inject about 20 shots of cortizone which makes the hair grow back, she'll probably try to sell me some botox! Yeah, welcome to filmmaking with no $$.

Lucy

Another Song Cleared

I just heard back from Martin Walker letting me use his song "Fools" for Love Song. Matt and I are back at work on the rough cut and we stopped editing on the spot where that song goes (it was already 1:30am and I had to be at work at 8:30am the next day). I was praying that I'd hear back before Matt and I meet today. So on to finishing the cut.

xoxo,

Lucy

When Drummers Sing

A drummer is often overlooked. They sit in the background, propelling the rhythm, beat and movement. The singer and the guitar player have the spotlight and the drummer and the bass player usually get left behind.

A magical thing happens when the drummer moves up front to the mike. You get Dave Grohl, Don Henley, Phill Collins, Ringo anyone? Anymore out there? Yes, my myspace friend Mark Pickerel.

Mark used to drum for the Screaming Trees, the Seattle band that came up with the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam & Alice in Chains to name a few. By the time the Screaming Trees reached their pinnacle with the song “I Nearly Lost You” featured on the Singles soundtrack, Mark had already left the band to follow the beat of his own drum.

I had the privilege of finding his music when I was looking for songs for my film. I fell in love with “I’ll Wait” and I’m hoping that he lets me use the song for the film. He sent me a message saying that if I came to his show and bought him a drink he’ll give me a great deal on the songJ

So I urge all of you to please support Mark at the Knitting Factory on 1/24. He’s from Seattle and needs all the LA Love we can give. If you can’t make it, then please forward this to the music lovers in your life.

The best way to describe Mark’s music is melancholic rockabilly but that’s just me. Take a listen & enjoy.
http://www.myspace.com/markpickerelandhisprayinghands

In no particular order these are my favorites, why? Because I feel like he wrote them all for me, that's the magic of a great song, when you feel like it belongs to you and you alone.
I’ll Wait
Cherokee Grove
Graffiti Girl
Let Me Down Easy

Lucy

When asked whom he makes films for, Mr. Eastwood said, “You’re looking at him.”

The title of this blog comes from a quote in a recent NY Times article on the film Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood.

It made me wonder, is this why he’s such a successful director? His films connect with audiences and critics alike. He’s a gifted actor/director who despite his politics makes films that manage to land themselves as Oscar contenders and do well at the box office (which must make his financiers happy).

He’s an actor’s dream. In Mystic River he directs Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, two actors that are pretty far from the Clint Eastwood political spectrum. In a town where someone can easily get blacklisted for their political/religious views, Clint Eastwood takes risks (his run in with Spike Lee) and even in the current film where he plays a bigot (I have not seen it, but from what I hear, he does not sugar coat the language to make things politically correct).

So he takes risks and makes movies for himself. Is that the key to being a good director? A respected director? A successful director?

When I wrote Love Song, I have to honestly say that I wrote it for me first, my sister second and never gave much thought to the audience. Of course we have a target audience but I was not thinking of the audience when I wrote and cast the film. It was easy for me to do that because at the end of the day, it was my own hard earned $$.

I wrote the film for myself and for my sister; for me - I wanted to see a film with commercial appeal where Latinos play the lead, where race is a fact not a plot point. For my sister – because while as an actress she has been extremely lucky to consistently work, the characters she plays tend to consistently focus on race and/or ethnicity. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but I’ve seen enough of that to last a lifetime. I wanted a pretty film that felt like a slow paced music video and I wanted it to have heart. That’s exactly what I got. I made a film that I can watch time and time again and hopefully enough people will feel that way about it.

I poured my heart and soul into Love Song and dedicated a strong part of the last four years of my life to create the feature film Love 10 to 1. I hope that this is the first of many; I was recently told that “at your age, you are pursuing the dreams of a 20 year old” this was followed by a comment about family/kids not fitting into my directing life. OUCH! If I didn’t have to work full time (to pay for the film and to support myself) in conjunction with being a full time filmmaker, I would be able to make time for the kids.

No one ever said that following your dreams was easy. For me, the payoff would be to get paid to direct so that I can have my cake and eat it too. Some would say this is self indulgent but at least I’ve worked hard to indulge myself and pursue my dreams.

xoxo,
Lucy

PS
In case you are new to the blog, Onahoua Rodriguez is my sister and she plays Shane.

PPS
Read the NY Times article about Mr. Eastwood's new film - He Rocks
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/movies/14head.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Staying True To Your Vision

I have so many things to blog about; I promise to catch up soon. I wanted to share my excitement with you all. I’ve been watching the footage and it looks amazing. Matt, Brian and the rest of the crew did a great job and the cast was phenomenal. I am so blessed, grateful and thankful that the images I’m looking at belong to the film I set out to make.

In my journey making this film I’ve learned so much, I’ve had both good and bad experiences. The most frustrating thing I’ve gone through was watching the footage I shot last November and just saying “What the F*ck”. I shot scenes that shared the same locations as Christine’s and Laura’s, I’m glad I did not shoot anything else because the images I was looking at were not what I envisioned. That footage will end up on the deleted section of the DVD. It’s not to say that the footage wasn’t shot well (with the exception of the frame rate issue) the footage looks good but it’s not my vision. Ultimately, I hold myself responsible because I was the director, I should have said something.

The most powerful lesson I learned is that when you see something that’s not going the way you envisioned it, speak up. Once that day is over you most likely won’t be able to go back to that location. The same goes for the people you are working with; if someone is not working out, or if someone does not deliver or make good on what they said they were going to do, it’s ok to fire them.

Fast forward 7 months later and I love every frame we shot. Matthew (Matt) Boyd the cinematographer never questioned what I wanted but he came with suggestions that improved my vision. We work well together, we like a lot of the same music and that helped. We never watched movies for references but we listened to a lot of music, I explained my vision of what I wanted through songs, particularly The Fabulous Miss Wendy’s (because she’s pretty much letting me use all her songs). I would tell Matt, this song will go on this scene and we would start from there.

As I watched the footage, I laughed and almost shed a tear – I tried to contain myself because I did not want my mascara and eyeliner to run (I went to a networking event so I had to get dolled up and I did not want raccoon eyes). The clip that almost made me cry was of Shane and Dustin walking on the beach at sunset, they were shot in a beautiful silhouette against the Santa Monica Mountains as the sun was setting. I remember when we shot that scene, so many things were going through my mind, particularly the hundreds of hikes I’ve taken on those mountains thinking about that very moment. I remember saying Thank You God. Shooting it was magical but watching it back was indescribable. I LOVED IT. I was so excited I could have burst.

The mistake I made the last time was that I watched a lot of films with Leah (the other dp). I’m sure that works for other people but in retrospect, that didn’t work for me and maybe that’s why I didn’t feel that the November footage was my vision.

As a filmmaker you need to figure out what works for you and what works for your particular project.

The next film I shoot with Matt may have us watching some shows on The Food Network because the story deals with food or maybe I’ll take a cooking class, who knows.

Stay true to your vision and figure out a way to get it; that usually starts with a kick ass team who can bring it!

xoxo,
Lucy

IT'S A WRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I will need to blog in more details, I'm still on production schedule and only got a few hours of sleep. Here's the great news - I CAME IN UNDER BUDGET (ok, only by about $50) AND ON TIME.

I'm pretty much done, I need to get the opening montage which is the band hanging out in various parts of Venice. Scheduling the actors was a total nightmare so knowing their busy schedules it'll probably be sometime in July. I needed to manage the time as efficiently as possible because I only had 5 days to shoot and I wanted to get EVERYTHING. The band in venice is something I can get anytime because that location is always there. I needed to get all the scenes in the house (about 65% of the film done in 3 days).

The crew was tiny, I had worked with all those guys on the last round of production and I also PAd on a film that they all worked on. Carrie and Ray - our sound mixer (Carrie) and boom op (Ray) from the last round were unavailable so Carrie hooked me up with Jarred (sound mixer) and Ian (boom op) - Matt (DP) has worked with them a lot - if I'm not mistaken, I believe they all came from the Brian Sorbo school of sound training. So even though I had never met Jarred and Ian, they immediately became part of the family. You should see how cute they are, I call them the kids because they are so young, passionate and so efficient. Because the crew was so teeny tiny, Jarred and Ian (as did all of us at one point) helped move lights, they did slate, helped move stuff - really, this film was made in true indie style.

Then, there's Suzie and Natasha - Suzie did make up for us on the last round and when I called her offering her way less than her going rate (everybody on the crew worked for way less than their going rate), like the rest of the guys, Suzie came on board with love and a smile. Natasha came via Craigslist. One of the scenes in the film is the band's photo shoot. I tried reaching out to a couple of local designers but like Laura said on her last post, it's hard to get people to donate stuff. No one wanted to lend me their clothes, mostly, they didn't know who I was. I told Laura to put an ad on Craigslist. When I was talking to Matt about the look of the photo shoot, I told him it needed to be like a post apocalyptic fairy tale, think Disney after the world blows up and starts again. We came up with a Mad Maxx meets Sleeping Beauty theme - we didn't quite get there but I love the results we got. For the Craigslist ad, I told Laura that I needed a cross between Galliano and Gaultier. When Natasha replied, so eager and sweetly I was taken by her, then I saw her designs, OMG, it's like she read my mind - there it was, Mad Max meets Sleeping Beauty. The only problem was that she lives in Canada. That didn't stop me from getting what I what I wanted. Natasha was willing to ship me her stuff, but to ship it back and forth was going to cost almost $1,000 - for half of that I bought her a plane ticket and in exchange she brought EVERYTHING and was a HUGE help on the set. Did I mention she's 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then there's the actors - I don't think I've seen an indie movie with as many beautiful people (and they can act, actually, they are exceptional, I predict big things for all of them) - I will blog about this as well because casting your actors is KEY.

I had a few friends come and help a day here and a day there, I am so grateful that they did because the crew was so small -
here's a breakdown;

Cinematographer (Matt)
Gaffer (Brian)
Cinematographer's other "right hand" and P2 downloader (Frederic)
Grip/A.D. (Casey Slade) (he was there the first 3 days)
Grip/Still Photgrapher (Lynn)
On day 3 & 4 we had a lot to do, and with Casey gone we needed additional help
Grip - Jeff (aka Sid Vicious)
Grip - John
Grip - Stephanie
Script Supervisor - Declan
Producer - Meagan Watts

Then there were the people who came to help:
Tony, Mak, Mike, Kevin (Brian's buddy and owner of the 5 ton grip truck - Oh yes, the same 5 ton truck from Laura's Cerrito's pool scene. If you go back and read about our first day of production in Cerritos, you'll read about the heart attack Christine and I got when this monstrous truck was parked outside the Cerritos Swim Center - fast forward 7 months later to a tiny, one way street in Venice with this crazy truck and I almost got an anurism as Brian was trying to park it and almost chopped off the top of a beautiful tree. I thought for sure the neighbors were going to kill me if anything happened to that tree, yes people, this is Venice and in the west side of Lala land we take our trees very seriously - no worries, tree was fine). Then, there's my friend Declan who I met at a class two weeks ago. He's from Europe and came to LA to take the Acting for Director's class and somehow, he ended up staying and became my script supervisor and grip! I also met Mak in that class.

So that was the crew - really, that was it! We shot for 3 days in a lovely home in Venice - that's another blog's worth, I promise I'll write about it once I catch up w/my sleep. I'm averaging 3 hours a night!

I wore many hats as well - director, producer, PA, production designer (I'll share that with Matt, we made the nice house look fantastic) - between the two of us we redecorated the house with colorful artwork, candles, curtains etc. Two nights before filming I went to Kmart, Ross and Bed Bath and Beyond - I spent about $800 (most of the stuff is being returnend in the next few days), but we made that house look AMAZING.

I really wanted to get this as real as possible - I wanted Shane and Dustin to live in Venice and shoot in Venice. Everything, except the photo shoot and Jim's apartment was shot in Venice. The scene in Jim's apt. was shot as an exterior in my apartment complex's swiming pool and the photo studio was on melrose.

I set out to make a movie about a girl from Venice Beach who sings in a band and has a crush on her roommate. The film was inspired by my love of music, the ocean and the RHCP - I know I'm about to give Christine a heart attack, but there's a scene of Shane reading Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis - hey, worse case scenario, we can blurr it in post. I hired Matt as my DP because he got my vision. When I gave him the script I told him to listen to RHCP and then read it, I told him what I wanted and he didn't second guess me when I said that basically, I wanted a 35 minute music video. He didn't try to disuade me, he didn't try to recreate my script, he just got it and we ROCKED IT! I'm really proud of the results we got.

As we were setting up the 2nd scene on the 1st day, Brian and I were standing in front of the monitor and I told Brian that he did a great job because what we were looking at on the monitor was Entourage/Californication quality. Here's how that exchange went.

Brian adds a gel to a light, and tells one of the guys to move something to get rid of a shadow - as I look at the monitor I'm amazed at what this tweak did for the scene

Lucy
Brian that looks great, thank you.

Brian
It's a team effort Lucy, it takes a village and you're welcome.

Lucy
Yeah, well in this case, we're just a little hut in the village.

That's how I think of this whole production, there weren't enough of us for it to be a village, we were just a small family in a little hut working our asses off.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

XOXO,

LUCY

Vagina Music

I've been very busy and have had little time to blog. Between pre-production on Love Song, working on Movies by Women, life and the curves it throws your way, blogging has not been a top priority.

Christine sure found a way to get me here. It's what I call Lilith Fair crap or Vagina music. She told me of the songs that she has playing here and that I should listen to them. I had a cringe fest - that girly stuff really makes me go into convulsions. I LOVE female singers and female rockers, I like them when they are melancholic and when they rock out, I also like good pop female singers. I don't like them when they whine, bitch and complain. I like my women musicians/singers/songwriters the way I like my friends; talented, cool & low maintenance.

I love Fiona Apple, Hole (Live Through This), Stevie Nicks & Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, Dusty Springfield, Dione Worwick, The Supremes, Joan Jett, Heart, Bananarama, Patsy Cline, Mazzy Star, Peaches, Shocking Blue, Ladytron, Janis Joplin,K.D. Lang, The Poppy Family etc. - so you see, it's not that I don't like women singers, I like my vagina music to have some balls (sorry to be crass but that's the best way to describe it).

Some local acts that I LOVE - LA based The Fabulous Miss Wendy and Seattle's Mono in VCF.

Coming up with music for the film has been one of the most fun and creative parts of the project for me. The music in my portion of the film is not just part of the soundtrack, the music itself is one of my characters. Before I started writing, I came up with a kick ass soundtrack that included a lot of the music from the aformentioned artists. I wrote a blog about how music inspires me a few years ago. It's one of the earlier blogs and it's titled Thank You For The Music if you're so inclined to go back and read it.

I will blog more often, and I'll definitely write about my upcoming location scout w/my kick ass dp - we're going on a bike ride in Venice. The creative juices never stop flowing.

xoxo,
Lucy

I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, or is it the Blahs?

There are so many hurdles and hoops one has to jump to get a film made. I've jumped the hoops, I've faced the road blocks and yet, my film still needs to be shot. I could have shot the film back in November but the film would have SUCKED. I wasn't happy with the direction the script had taken, you ask people for opinions and you'll get them good and bad - unfortunately, I listened to the bad ones. I've remedied that situation and I'm happy with the script.

There are three things that are making this harder and more challenging for me:

1. My mom's cancer which was in remission for the last 14 years decided to rear it's ugly head in December of 2006. My mom was in and out of the hospital - I say in and out because she got chemo from January - March and in April the cancer was gone - then in July it was back and she had to go for more chemo, and in November it was gone. When she went for her next check up in February of 2008, the Pet Scan showed that the cancer is back and bigger than the original. When she went to get the cat scan, the insurance denied it and the hospital sent her home. My mom was upsed and she's been through so much that she didn't feel like fighting or arguing with the hospital. My sister Onahoua was the first to hear about the incident and she took it upon herself to go to war with the insurance and the hospital. Seeing how she's been dealing with all the beaurocracy and bullshit while performing 8 shows a week in a very emotionally charged play, earned her my deepest, utmost respect. I'm glad she took over because I'm so sick of hospitals, illness, insurance etc. The first time my mom had cancer I was the one who went to all the radiation treatments and the experience left me numb. We're still waiting to hear if the cat scan got approved. Regardless, my mom's appointment for the cat scan is for this Friday and if the insurance doesn't approve it, the procedure costs $15,000 and that's not including all the additional fees that go with walking into a hospital. The insurance doesn't feel that the cat scan is a necessary procedure, they have approved both procedures in the past. It's frustrating dealing with this and trying to make a movie on top of it.

I'll leave reasons 2 & 3 for another blog, I've shared too much personal stuff already. If you read the blog I Could Never Be Your Woman, you'll understand why I related to Amy Heckerling's woes.

Hearing about the problem with the frame rate and how much it's going to cost to fix it didn't help. I took the advise of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and got a mani/pedi after work. I told Christine I'd buy a lottery ticket because the the jackpot is at 220M but my manicurist took so long to get to me and I missed buying the ticket - Darn.

Hopefully this sadness and blahness I'm going through will be over soon.

I'm going to Denver this weekend to see Onahoua perform. The people who have seen it say it's her best work yet. I can't wait to see the play but I'm looking forward to seeing her play Shane.

xoxo,
Lucy

Happy Valentine's Day from Dirty Virgin

SAG

I'm happy to report that last week I got my SAG contract for Love Song signed by my SAG rep and they sent me my copy in the mail.

HOORAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!


xoxo,

Lucy

In the Spirit of Good Karma

Please take some time to read the article below. I cringed as I read it (and I know Christine and Laura will too). In a much smaller, minute, miniscule, itty bitty scale (our budget was nowhere near what this was) it hit very close to home for different reasons.

This blog was supposed to be an honest account of the making of Love 10 to 1. In the last four years (it took about two to write, with writers and directors coming and going) we've endured a lot of hardships and met a lot of scummy people. In the spirit of Good Karma, we've refrained from blogging about certain experiences.

Christine, Laura and I got together last week and I urged them to blog. The subject of what should/shouldn't we blog about came up. Again, we decided that certain things should be kept private. Christine said her blogging would discourage other filmmakers, but we agreed that we should all blog about the unpleasant situations we've encountered. I'm just not there yet.

I promise that at some point, maybe when the film is completed, we will each take the time to share those experiences with our readers. We are not interested in discouraging anyone's dreams, just giving you a reality check on what it takes to put your money where your dreams are in order to make them come true.

With all of that said, we have also met AMAZING people along the way and collected an enormous amount of experience and resources.

At the end of the day I am grateful for it all.

xoxo,

Lucy

Don't F*CK w/SAG

My Sag rep almost gave me a heart attack the other day because he has not received my SAG paper work for the two days of shooting for Love Song. We played phone tag for about a 2 weeks. It was very hard getting through to him on the phone and the last message that he left me said something along the lines of being fined and getting an injunction put on the film EEEEEEEEEEEK!

This is the last thing any filmmaker wants to hear. I sent him an email letting him know that I had sent the paperwork and had the tracking number from the post office. I told him I had copies I could send him. The email was followed by another two calls and finally, on Monday we spoke.

All is good now, I can breathe again. He said I can send him the copies but I need to sign a few documents that they need originals of.

The almost heart attack is over and I'm grateful to my SAG rep for following up on the status of the project. So to all your actors out there, your union does work for you:-)

I love my actors and I would never mess with their union. Despite what Christine may have said on one of the earlier blogs, WE LOVE SAG.

xoxo,
Lucy

Our Cast - Part II - Love Song (Dirty Virgin's Gig)

Onahoua & The Fabulous Miss Wendy

Onahoua, The Fabulous Miss Wendy & Gerry - Where's Justin??

Onahoua & The Fabulous Miss Wendy

Onahoua


We are waiting on additional pics because apparently someone has all the pics of David Villar (Dustin). You can scroll down and see him with ME. Yes, I know, I'm the envy of all the girls but if you ask nicely, he'll hug you & pose for a picture with you too:-)

I have a hot pic of Justin taking his shirt off but I should ask him if it's ok to post yet another picture of him w/out a shirt - what do you say Justin?

xoxo,
Lucy

Greetings Folks & Welcome to 2008

I’m very excited at the possibilities this year holds for me. Love Song will finally see the light of day. I’m so excited about that, I’ve lived with these characters for so long and it will be such a relief to FINALLY bring them to life. My actors are AMAZING and I deeply love and appreciate their contribution. Onahoua Rodriguez, David Villar, Justin Klosky, Daniella Alonso and Mari Marks are wonderful people and I am so blessed that they are still with me despite the length of time it’s taken.

During the last round of production I made a lot changes to the script. Changes that were not in the best interest of the story. After the first round of production, I went through a period of hibernation. I’ve seen Christine and Laura three times since November. Most of that time was spent getting my energy back and enjoying the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.

In early December I re-read the script and IT SUCKED. I went back to the version that I intended on shooting and changed one of the scenes that took place in Dustin’s office. That scene now takes place at Shane and Dustin’s house. The day we had the office, I was not able to shoot my scenes and we were not going to be able to go back to that location. I guess things happen for a reason because the story is where I need it to be and having that scene take place in the house makes more sense.

Our production guru Brian Sorbo gave me a great piece of advice. He told me that “You never get to go back to your projects...time pushes on relentlessly. What you do now you live with for the rest of your life, so it is imperative that you speak with your true voice. You must live your life and create your projects from your heart. Nothing else will survive. The things that you do from your heart will feed you throughout your life.” He’s right. I will carry this with me forever because it’s so true.

I got swept up in the momentum of certain situations and I lost sight and sound of my voice. With so many people telling you so many different ways to do something you sometimes forget to ask yourself how to get it done. You should listen to the advice of others but you must trust your instincts and follow your heart and mind. The best way to sum it up is to heed Polonius' advice to his son Laertes in Hamlet; “This above all: to thine own self be true”.

I am also super excited because I heard the song that The Fabulous Miss Wendy wants me to shoot a video for. In exchange for using her song in my film, I told her I’d shoot a video for one of the songs on her upcoming album. The song is called “Jailbait”. I’ll let you know when it’s on iTunes. I sent her two treatments and I’ll see which one she likes. Jenna Edwards is going to produce that for me. Jenna and I want to shoot 3-4 videos for bands we know and use that to generate work directing and producing music videos.

I did not make any resolutions this year, except to keep on working towards my goals.

I hope 2008 proves to be a successful year for all. Onward & Upwards

xoxo,

Lucy

Who Cares How Much It Costs!

“Who cares how much it costs, you’re doing it Lucy, this is something you’ve been trying to get off the ground for years” a quote from my friend Bob (an actor and future director). This was his reply to my bitching about how much $$ I’ve spent to shoot two days of my film. He’s right though. I’m so grateful that I’m one of the lucky few who actually gets to pursue their dreams. Christine and I have had this conversation before, usually after we bitch about $$. This is how we justify all the money we are spending on following our dreams and achieving our goals.



I need to come up with the rest of my funding to finish shooting in March. I’ll also need money for post, traveling to festivals, and of course marketing. However, for right now I’ll be happy to get money to finish shooting in March. I need to have ½ the money by mid January and then the other half by mid February. I want to have all my $$ in the bank by mid February in order to shoot in March. There’s no way I’m going at it not knowing where the money is coming from like this last round. The funny thing is that the money came, very last minute but it came. I will spare myself that headache. I do want to have the film shot by mid April and then it’s off to editing.

Speaking of editing, we’ve been having a hard time finding someone good to work within our budget. We can’t afford one editor to do all three shorts. Laura was going to ask for a favor from an editor friends and see if he could give her a somewhat affordable rate. That hasn’t panned out too well so at this point, at least Laura and I are planning on doing our own rough cuts and then handing that to an editor to polish.

My good friend Tara Veneruso who runs MoviesByWomen and The Edit Studio is kind enough to let me use her space in her spare time so I can learn to edit. It’s something I’ve been putting off for a while but I feel strongly that directors should learn to edit. Not that they should edit their own films but it’s a skill you should have.

I’ll be at the mercy of my friends and family again and hopefully they’ll be as generous as they were the last time.

Maybe I should buy a money tree. Here’s to fundraising and learning to edit.

Lucy

A forward motion...

Although there is a lot of work to be done on the film, I feel a sense of forward motion and completion.

I have now had the chance to work with all three, amazing, creative, smart, talented, fun, but very different directors. We have shot almost all but 30 percent of the film from my understanding (I could be wrong) but that's what it feels like. I have gone through an experience that has changed my perspective on film making and acting as a whole.

All three of these ladies have a very specific idea of what they want and I think they are going about it in such a positive and collective manner. It can not be easy to constantly get what you want but whether or not Christine, Lucy and Laura are they are making the cast, crew and entire production team, in my opinion, feel like that is the case.

I am excited to see what comes of the footage we have shot thus far and eager to start work again in March. Until then...happy and healthy holidays.

JBK

I Wonder If They Would Have Sued Me?!?!

I LOVE the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They are one of my favorite bands. The original title for Love Song was Californication. I wanted to pay homage to the group, but also, Cali, is the character who tries to come between Shane & Dustin.

The day I saw the billboards all over Sunset Blvd. announcing the new Showtime series I was pissed. I kept thinking, if only I could have gotten my act together sooner and done my film. My other thoughts were mean; I hope it sucks, I hope no body watches etc. Then I decided to change the name to Love Song because there are two songs in the film with the same title. One is by The Fabulous Miss Wendy and the other one is by J.K. Music (Love Song, Yo!).

I have to say that I was shocked when I saw the article below. I figured that I could get away with naming my short Californication because the reality is that my film would never be competition for the band or take away from their earnings. I do agree that the title/name Californication was made famous by the band regardless of what the show's creator says.

I don't disagree with the band's action, particularly because it sounds like they were never consulted and the Showtime series has referred to Dani's character as Dani California on a number of occasions. I do like the show, it's well written and well acted. I'm surprised that Showtime or the show's creator never bothered to consult the band. They seem like pretty cool guys and if approached properly, they probably would have been on board.

My next film will probably be the short version of Take The A Train - I took the title from a song by Charles Mingus. The film takes place in Washington Heights where the A train is the iron horse of choice. I hope his estate does not put an injunction on my film!

I love music and everything I've written has been named after a song. Am I in trouble?

What do you think?

Lucy




The Red Hot Chili Peppers sue Showtime

By the Associated Press
November 20, 2007
The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Monday sued Showtime Networks over the name of the television series "Californication," which is also the name of the band's 1999 album and a single on it.

The lawsuit alleges unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name and unjust enrichment, claiming the title is "inherently distinctive, famous ... and immediately associated in the mind of the consumer" with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"Californication is the signature CD, video and song of the band's career, and for some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right," said the band's lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, in a statement.

The television series stars David Duchovny as a novelist suffering from writers' block and a mid-life crisis.

The show features a character named "Dani California," which is also the title of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song released in 2006, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also names the show's creator and executive producer, Tom Kapinos, and two production companies, Twilight Time Films and Aggressive Mediocrity, Inc.

A call Monday to an attorney for Showtime was not immediately returned. Attempts to find a listing for Kapinos were not successful.

The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Showtime and the other defendants from using the title "Californication" for the show, damages and restitution and disgorgement of all profits derived by the defendants.

In July 2007, Kapinos told reporters at a Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills that he first heard the term in reference to Oregon.

"Apparently in the '70s there were bumper stickers that said 'Don't Californicate Oregon,' because Californians were coming up there, and I just thought it was a great, great title for this show," said Kapinos.