Under Water Scenes Etc.

Just talked with our DP this morning about a couple of underwater scenes that we have in Diving Lessons. Why does everything seem like it will cost at least $2K? I'm sure that every producer/director has faced this problem: cut the scene and save the money for more practical concerns, such as paying our crew, or else try to raise even more money? Art vs. commerce. What to do? I sent an email to another friend today asking her to hit up her rich friends to help a sistah out. We'll see. So far the super wealthy have kept their purse strings tight, while close friends and family have been quite generous. I don't get it. If Leona Hemsley can give $12 million to her dog, what's a measley $20K to invest in our film??? In my next life I would like to come back as a rich person's pet, I think (with the exception of Michael Vick). Though I wouldn't be able to type very well without fingers. Sorry, I digress. Money! We need a bit more to get all the cool scenes that we dreamt about. So here's to putting the law of attraction into place. Positive thoughts of money rolling in!

Christine

Progress!

Progress! We've been location scouting for various places that will agree to give indie filmmakers a break. It's been a tough ride, but we've had several HUGE breaks. We were able to secure a great location at a community pool for a reasonable price, and they've been incredibly helpful. We had scoured all of LA for a pool and this pool in Cerritos was our one and only hope. They came through for us.

The Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood gave us a great deal. They are wonderful to work with and you better believe we'll be plugging their condoms and lube whenever we can. No pun intended. :)

We were also able to secure a retirement home in they Valley. It's been fun meeting some of the residents who are very curious about our production. We met a 92 year old woman who looks like she could be 70 and had the spirit of an 18 year old. Love it!

Still working on a few more locations, so we're crossing our fingers.

Onahoua Rodriguez on Saving Grace - TNT

Onahoua Rodriguez on Saving Grace - TNT

Her episode airs next Monday 8/6.

Watch Onahoua Rodriguez (our Shane) on Saving Grace

Watch Onahoua Rodriguez (our Shane) on Saving Grace - Tonight on TNT

Publicist Lucy here again, tune in to Saving Grace tonight on TNT - check local listings for times.

The talented Onahoua Rodriguez gets to work with the amazing Holly Hunter.

Other amazing Oscar winners Ms. Ona has worked with:
1. Forest Whitaker (The Shield)
2. Glenn Close (The Shield)
3. Marcia Gay Harden (Allison Anders Project)
4. Dustin Hoffman (They worked on a scene for the film 10 Items or Less, roles went to Morgan Freeman & Paz Vega).

Wow, the girl's totally working it, you can even play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with her these days!

Tune in & spread the word.

Lucy

We Found Jim

WE FOUND HIM!

We haven't told him yet, but the moment he came through the door I knew it was him. Actually, I knew he'd be great when I saw his resume. I didn't like his headshot but the resume was impressive. He's a graduate of NYU's Tisch School and he was the lead singer in a band. I checked out his band's website and I knew he was Jim.

As soon as he walked in the door I knew he'd be great. He's a fantastic actor and knows all about being in a band. This guy totally captures Jim. He hit all the points that everyone else missed. I know Laura was in heaven because finally, someone deivered! Her wonderful story came to life right in front of our eyes.

Last week's auditions were tough, I didn't like anybody and I know Laura and Chrstine liked a couple of people. I'm usually pretty diplomatic but I was not budging on this one. They must have thought I was being too picky or even a bitch, not that they said anything to me but I could feel it, or maybe it was the fact that I felt bitchy becasue I was not going to compromise.

That's not to say that we didn't have a lot of good people audition, it's just that they were not what we were looking for. I knew that if we waited a bit longer WE would find someone WE could all agree on to play the part.

A filmmaker friend of mine thinks we are crazy to have one actor play such an important role in each of our stories. I was starting to think my friend was right, but today, when we found Jim, all my fears were put to rest.

I went down to my car to get The Fabulous Miss Wendy's cd (this is the band that's letting us use the music for Dirty Virgin), and give it to our Jim so he can learn the songs. That was my way of saying, "Dude, you're in."

Once we offer him the part and he accepts, I'll post his picture.

LUCY

Synopsis of Love 10 to 1

Synopsis of Love 10 to 1

Love 10 to 1 is a romantic comedy that explores the highs and lows of relationships and love in the city of Los Angeles. The film is told in three vignettes--each with colorful characters facing both painful and hilarious circumstances. The film circles around a report on Jackie and Jared's radio show about the men shortage in the city and the single women who outnumber them by 10 to 1. The statistic serves as a profoundly motivating factor for the characters and as a constant reminder of the harsh reality of dating in LA.

The first story explores the life of a 29-year-old virgin, Jenny, who desperately wants to lose her virginity before her 30th birthday. As she encounters one loser after another on dates, Jenny pines after her boss, Dustin. While at her grandmother’s retirement home, Jenny learns a powerful lesson from her grandmother about sex and the meaning of life.

The second story revolves around Shane, the lead singer of the L.A. rock band, Dirty Virgin. Shane has her pick of admirers but it’s her roommate Dustin she wants to be with. Shane confesses her feelings on Jackie and Jared’s show but when Dustin meets Cali, Shane’s shot at love starts to dwindle. With Dirty Virgin about to embark on a world tour, will Dustin realize that he’s the object of Shane’s affections? Will they risk their friendship to give this Love Song a chance?

The final story picks up where the first story left off, but from the perspective of Jim, the guitarist of Dirty Virgin. Jim sees Jenny at a swimming pool, trying desperately to overcome her fear of diving. In fact, he finds out that she’s making a list of everything that she’s afraid of and trying to overcome them, one by one. He is instantly smitten and tries to convince her that he’s not just a rock star who ‘loves ‘em and leaves ‘em’. Can a rock star find love with a virgin?

The tone of the film is akin to "Sex and the City" meeting "Love Actually," but with a diverse cast that truly reflects the face of Los Angeles. The project is a collaboration of three women writer/directors Christine Le, Lucy Rodriguez-Watson, and Laura Somers. The filmmakers bring together their unique experiences and perspective to tell a compelling story that is truly universal.

The Search For JIM

We had auditions for one of our leads in Love 10 to 1. Jim, will be the hardest to cast. He's in all 3 stories and Christine, Laura and I need to agree on who we get. This will be challenging because while the 3 of us see eye to eye on a lot of things, we have very different opinions on who we want in Jim. I want a sleazy rocker type, think of Slash in the early days of Guns N Roses, mixed with Jim Morrison. I think that's hard to find today, do people even know who Slash or JM are? Is this too tall an order?

I showed Christine and Laura a myspace page of a musician that I think would make a great Jim. Christine thought he was too sleazy looking and not hot. I never saw Jim as hot, but he definitely has to exude a raw sex appeal that makes women throw themselves at him. Oh, and he also has to have a kick ass body because he's a swimming instructor for little kids. So ideally, a rocker dude with a hot bod....definitely a tall order.

We saw really good actors, some better than others. We are calling 4 of them back and there was one that I was absolutely mad for, but for the role of Dustin. That's going to be another challenge. A while ago I auditioned someone that I totally loved for the part, but because this has taken us so long, I'm afraid he's no longer interested. Dustin is a story for another day.

My sister, who is cast as Shane, helped us with the reading. Thank God for small favors. Over all the auditions went well. I'm hopeful for the call backs but I think our search must continue.

I always sign my name so people know which one of us is posting - hint, hint ladies:-)

LUCY

So, if you know a Jim, please send him our way. We shoot on August 25 for 9 days and then on October 13 for another 9.

Here's to hot young studs who can act.

So I'm listening to a Wayne Dyer Podcast and how to reduce stress in our lives. Clearly the man has never produced a micro budget indie film.

This week has been a bit stressful. Countdown to production day and we're still trying to cast our lead actor. Plus we have a number of locations to secure--all of which seem to require $$$. I'm convinced that anyone can do a big budget movie. How many can squeeze a film out of a micro budget??

Positive thoughts...positive thoughts...

Tomorrow we're auditioning for our lead actor. Here's to hot young studs who can act.

Christine

Pre-Pro Baby

Yes, it's true. Planning to shoot Love 10 to 1 over two periods of time, the first in late August, and the second shoot in mid to late October. It has been a long journey but I'm sure not atypical of an indie feature where financing is hard to come by and schedules get pushed back for numerous reasons. We have been fortunate that the main cast have stuck by us from the beginning. No wonder people tell us to work on what we're passionate about--it has to be a labor of love.

So we brought on a new writer/director to take on the challenge of penning a new third story in our three-story "trilogy". She met the challenge, and it's great! The third story will be told from the perspective of "Jim", a hot, young rocker stud who is looking for love in all the wrong places--until he meets Jenny, a virgin (and our protagonist from the first story). The rest of the story--you'll have to tune in...

Auditions will be held this Sunday to cast for Jim. This will be challenging we think. Where can we find a hot stud muffin who can look good in a speedo, yet also oozes intelligence, sensitivity and charm? Ability to play the guitar would be a bonus. And of course, would need to have sizzling chemistry with our "Jenny".

We are optimistic (and crossing our fingers).

Christine

NY Times article on Mira Nair

NY Times article on Mira Nair

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/movies/11jame.html?ref=movies&pagewanted=print
The Endless Journey Home - March 11, 2007
By CARYN JAMES

MIRA NAIR’S next film will be the biggest she has ever tackled, with Johnny Depp as the lead and a budget of about $100 million. The film, “Shantaram,” which she has just agreed to direct for Warner Brothers, is based on Gregory David Roberts’s autobiographical novel about an Australian robber and drug addict who escapes from prison and reinvents himself by starting a medical clinic in the slums of Bombay.

Beneath its starry high profile, though, “Shantaram” engages issues that have obsessed Ms. Nair throughout her career. For immigrants and their children, what is home? What is family? How do you forge a new cultural identity?

“He is a man who disappears into the fabric of another place,” Ms. Nair said about the Depp character in a recent conversation. Explaining the lure of the novel, she added: “The theme I’m most interested in is, can a foreigner be a native? I’m interested in the seesaw of it, because I’m not sure that in the deepest way that’s possible. Ultimately you have to understand where you came from. Otherwise you’re lost.”

Those questions have found their richest expression so far in her beautiful, profoundly moving new film, “The Namesake,” which opened on Friday. The story moves from Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli’s arranged marriage in Calcutta, to their life in the New York suburbs, where their improbably named son, Gogol, grows to become the most contemporary and American of young men. Its source, Jhumpa Lahiri’s 2003 novel, is an ideal match for Ms. Nair’s sophisticated take on the new reality of immigration and assimilation in America, an up-to-the-minute approach too rarely seen on screen.

From the Corleone family in “The Godfather,” whose intention is to inch closer to respectability with each generation, to the Mexican nanny in “Babel,” so subservient to her American employers that she forgets the government regards her as a foreigner, the depiction of immigrants in movies is usually a story of assimilation or a sociopolitical study of the underclass. Both approaches are too limited for the world today.

Ms. Nair’s films are not about blending in but about forging a new cultural identity, one that is forward looking yet appreciates and incorporates the heritage of the past. Her immigrant and second-generation characters are doctors, professors and architects, yet they do not instantly assume that it is desirable to lose their ancestors’ traditions.

This celebration of cultural fusion reflects a late-20th-century generational shift. Ms. Nair is 49, and Ms. Lahiri a decade younger, but they are united by backgrounds, educations and cosmopolitan instincts. Ms. Nair, born in India, came to America to study at Harvard, and is now based in New York but spends months at her homes in New Delhi and Kampala, Uganda, where her husband was born. Ms. Lahiri, born in London of Indian parents, was raised in Rhode Island from the age of 3, then went to Barnard, earned advanced degrees from Boston University and now lives in New York. A distinctive mark of both Ms. Nair’s films and Ms. Lahiri’s fiction (including her Pulitzer Prize-winning story collection, “Interpreter of Maladies”) is that they are never judgmental or simplistic about characters tied to the old country or about those who choose to leave it behind.

Ms. Nair, who has exuberantly incorporated her Indian heritage in most of her films (even her last, “Vanity Fair,” which follows Becky Sharp to India) says she is now sent every book published about an immigrant as possible movie material. “They’re usually very simple tales, about brides in arranged marriages,” she said. “That’s not my world, that is not my experience. My experience of New York is about the multiplicity of the old and the very, very cutting edge.”
Ashoke in “The Namesake” is a thoughtful college teacher, hardly cutting edge, but his American-born son is as hip and accomplished as a movie hero comes. (Kal Penn, playing Gogol, displays a depth you would never guess from his role in “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.”) As a young man Gogol becomes a Manhattan architect and falls in love first with a blonde from a privileged family and then with a second-generation Indian. But even as he comes to embrace the Indian heritage he had found so amusingly old-fashioned when he was a pot-smoking teenager, he learns that his background is not the deciding factor in life or romance.
The way Gogol creates an identity that is neither purely Indian nor white-bread American may be the strongest link between “The Namesake” and Ms. Nair’s other films, but that was not what drew her to the novel. She read it soon after her beloved mother-in-law died unexpectedly, and saw a reflection of her own grief in that of the characters, who mourn a close family member. Her mother-in-law was buried during a snowstorm in a cemetery in New Jersey, in a scene that sounds as vivid as an image from one of Ms. Nair’s movies.
“A woman who lived most of her life in the red earth of East Africa was being buried in this Siberian snowstorm in Newark,” she said, recalling “the strangeness of burying a parent in a country that is not fully home.” Only on rereading the novel, “did I see the banquet of the two cities where I have lived, New York and Calcutta.”

In “The Namesake” those cities are filtered through the sumptuous visual style Ms. Nair is known for. Her characters may be displaced from their countries, but wherever they have landed she roots them in a vibrantly detailed cinematic world. In “My Own Country” (1998), made for Showtime and based on Abraham Verghese’s memoir, Naveen Andrews (from “Lost”) plays Mr. Verghese, born in Ethiopia to Indian parents and sent into exile by the government. Typically for a Nair film it is not his exile which is front and center but his medical career treating AIDS patients in Tennessee. Here the immigrant doctor is the most educated, upscale character.

And the complexities of class, culture and generational change are at the heart of her best-known film, the colorful, joy-filled “Monsoon Wedding” (2001), in which a sophisticated young woman in New Delhi leaves behind her affair with a married television talk-show host for an arranged marriage with an Indian groom from America.

It is Ms. Nair’s second feature, though, the ambitious “Mississippi Masala” (1991), that provides the most direct line to “The Namesake.” It followed her stunning first drama, “Salaam Bombay!” (1988), about street children in India, and couldn’t have been more different. The film begins in Uganda in 1972, when Indians were expelled by Idi Amin. Jay (Roshan Seth), born there of Indian parents, is forced to leave the only home he has ever known along with his wife and small daughter.

When the film leaps to Mississippi in the ’90s, Jay is working in one of the South’s many Indian-owned motels, yet he constantly looks back toward Uganda. His thoroughly assimilated grown daughter, Meena (Sarita Choudhury) shops at the Piggly Wiggly, and on her way home runs into a black man — literally runs into his car with hers — played by Denzel Washington before the name Denzel alone was enough to identify him. They soon fall in love, and into trouble with their respective families.

The idea for the film, “came from my experience of being a brown person in the middle of black and white at university here,” Ms. Nair said. “I was accessible to both communities but of neither.” And when she learned of the many Ugandan Indians who were running motels in Mississippi, she was intrigued by the idea of “African-Indians who had never known India as their home, and African-Americans who had never known Africa as their home — what would happen if there was an interracial romance?” Among other still-topical issues, the film portrays how ethnic tradition and solidarity can cross an invisible line into bigotry.
It was while researching “Mississippi Masala” that she met her husband, Mahmood Mamdani, like the hero of her film a Ugandan-born Indian and now a highly regarded author and professor of political science at Columbia University.

Other aspects of Ms. Nair’s life suggest also how swiftly cultural identity in America is changing. She recalls that when she arrived at Harvard in the late ’70s, she was one of three students from South Asia. Another was Sooni Taraporevala, who became a frequent collaborator and the writer of both “Mississippi Masala” and the graceful adaptation of “The Namesake.”
When Ms. Nair was invited back to Harvard to speak to South Asian students 10 years ago, she found a group of about 1,500, many born in the United States. During her not-so-long-ago college days, communication with India was still difficult and trips home rare, a situation that seems archaic in the age of cellphones and e-mail.

In the too-neat ending of “Mississippi Masala” Jay tells his wife, “Home is where the heart is and my heart is with you.” But Ms. Nair’s sense of the intricacies of cultural identity has grown and shifted with world events.

Her contribution to “11’09”01,” a series of 11-minute responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by filmmakers from around the world, was based on the true story of a Muslim family who had lived in Brooklyn for 20 years and whose son was suspected by the F.B.I. of being a terrorist after the attacks. He had, it turned out, died in the collapsing buildings when he ran to help. After 9/11 “the experience of those who look like us became so different,” Ms. Nair said. “Suddenly we were the others. It has abated to some extent, but at times continues to rear its jingoistic head. You realize it’s not so simple to blend in.”

Last month she made a short film in Mumbai, as Bombay is now known, as part of a project she is producing for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, called “AIDS Jaago” (roughly “AIDS Aware” in Hindi). The series of 12-minute movies, by well-known directors and Bollywood stars, will be shown in Indian theaters before Bollywood films.

But it is “Shantaram,” the future project, that makes Ms. Nair sound even more engaged than usual. “There’s something about Johnny Depp that embodies that fluidity between East and West,” she said. His character grapples with issues central to her own past and to her life today, with her husband, their 15-year-old son, Zohran, and their sense of home spread over several countries.

With a freshness and timeliness few directors match, her films reflect that multifaceted cultural identity, a fusion that is both distinctly hers and emblematic of the way American identity itself is changing. “The fact that families are so fluid today, it’s like ‘Monsoon Wedding,’ ” she said. “Fluidity, that is my anchor.”

Directing gender buzz - LA Times Article

Directing gender buzz - LA Times Article

The First Weekenders Group gets the word out about movies made by women in hopes of boosting crowds in their crucial first weekend.

By Josh Friedman
LA Times Staff Writer
February 19, 2007

Director Alexandra Lipsitz's debut feature, "Air Guitar Nation," struck the right chord with cinephiles on last year's film festival circuit.

The whimsical documentary chronicling the birth of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships, where mock rockers finger the frets and twang the strings of their invisible instruments, won audience awards in Austin, Texas, and Traverse City, Mich. Her efforts paid off when a distributor picked up the film for release next month at art house movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

But like most movies, Lipsitz's film will live or die commercially on its opening weekend ticket sales. So her friends at the First Weekenders Group are pitching in. Aiming to do what they can to help diversify Hollywood's director corps, the group goes into overdrive to get people into theaters during that crucial first weekend whenever a female filmmaker such as Lipsitz unveils a movie.

"Everything rides on those first few days," Lipsitz said. "There is just not that much support for women in the film industry, so who else are we going to turn to?"

The group now reaches just 3,500 e-mail subscribers to its free newsletter — not the kind of numbers that can make a dent in a major studio release. But it hopes to help give a boost to small female-directed movies while drawing attention to talented women directors. Last week, First Weekenders expanded its efforts by launching video podcast interviews.

"The fact that such a group needs to exist tells you that it's harder for women," said writer-director Robin Swicord, now finishing her feature directorial debut, "The Jane Austen Book Club."

The group grew out of an informal meeting in spring 2000 in Santa Barbara organized by independent film director Allison Anders ("Gas Food Lodging," "Grace of My Heart") that was aimed at helping women break through in the male-dominated business.

Anders expected half a dozen participants but said close to 200 women showed up. Two days of brainstorming led to a long list of ideas.

"Then we looked over the list again and said, 'Which of these things can we actually do something about?' " said Cari Beauchamp, author of "Without Lying Down," an account of the silent era's powerful but now forgotten women.

Soon after, filmmaker Tara Veneruso started publishing the e-mail newsletter every Thursday, promoting new theatrical releases, special screenings and DVDs from female directors. At one point during the early years, she spent a "depressing" eight weeks without finding a new release to promote — "not even at an L.A. art house."

Veneruso, who along with a handful of volunteers keeps the First Weekenders Group running, expects the subscriber base to triple as the video podcasts are shown at the group's site, MoviesByWomen.com, on YouTube and through the iTunes network. Her first interviews feature Lipsitz, "The Dead Girl" writer-director Karen Moncrieff and "The Break-Up" actress Joey Lauren Adams, who made her directing debut with "Come Early Morning."

Although women say Hollywood's past overt sexism has eased, the ranks of female directors remain thin. Of the 250 top-grossing films released last year, only about 15 were directed by women, according to the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Among the bigger titles: Anne Fletcher's "Step Up," Nancy Meyers' "The Holiday" and "Little Miss Sunshine," which was co-directed by Valerie Faris.

Catherine Hardwicke, director of "Thirteen," "Lords of Dogtown" and "The Nativity Story," said the presence of top female studio executives such as Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal has made a difference.

Scrambling and behind schedule as the "Lords of Dogtown" shooting wound down, Hardwicke said she expected to be fired. Instead, Pascal gave her five extra days on the gritty 2005 skateboarding drama.

Still, women directors have their war stories. Swicord, who wrote the screenplays for "Little Women" (1994) and "Memoirs of a Geisha," is only now getting her directing break.

"Had I been male it probably would have happened sooner," Swicord said. "Sometimes you see a male writer get a directing job and say to yourself, 'Wow, that person only has one screen credit.' "
Although the First Weekenders Group's marketing efforts are dwarfed by multimilliondollar studio campaigns, the women say they can make a difference.

That's especially true with smaller films that rely on grass-roots marketing, Veneruso said.

She pointed to Georgia Lee's drama "Red Doors," which played for five weeks last fall, and Maria and Gabrielle Burton's 2003 comedy "Manna From Heaven," which played for about a year at scattered theaters, grossing more than $500,000.

"Through sheer perseverance, Tara and her team have been so effective at getting women to the theaters," Anders said. Patricia Foulkrod, whose Iraq war documentary "The Ground Truth" came and went last fall despite critical acclaim, said she wished she had heard about the group sooner.

"So many people said to me, 'I went to go see your movie but it was gone,' " Foulkrod told a dozen others from the First Weekenders Group, gathered at a California Pizza Kitchen after a screening of the bleak mystery "The Dead Girl" at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

Friends from the group often turn Friday nights into informal events, watching a movie with a few pals and then gathering for dinner or drinks to discuss it.

Veneruso, for example, gathers friends for an outing once a month. She already has "Air Guitar Nation," which opens March 30 in West L.A. at Landmark's Nuart, marked on her calendar.

As the group notes, every ticket purchase counts — regardless of whether the buyer watches the film.

At the recent pizza gathering, Beauchamp proudly told the group that her 15-year-old son, Jake, had gotten the message.

When he and three of his buddies went to see the R-rated "Apocalypto" recently, they bought tickets to the PG-13-rated "The Holiday" before sneaking in to watch Mel Gibson's thriller.

"They could have chosen any movie at the multiplex, but he knew 'The Holiday' was directed by Nancy Meyers," Beauchamp said. "He told his friends, 'My mom will kill me if we don't pick that one.' "

josh.friedman@latimes.com

http://www.moviesbywomen.com/

Check out the new website & the 3 new podcasts.

Be on the lookout for the upcoming podcasts with Allison Anders, Maria Maggenti & Cari Beauchamp. I co-wrote and directed the Allison Anders piece and wrote the questions for Cari Beauchamp & Maria Maggenti.

Lucy

My weekend with Norma Desmond & the Paparazzi

My weekend with Norma Desmond & the Paparazzi - this happened in early November - sorry I couldn't post sooner - but check back for the latest updates on Love 10:1

I attended a filmmaking seminar the other day and had a “close encounter” with a person who at one time was the top actress in Hollywood. Let’s call her Norma Desmond. Norma Desmond and I sat next to each other and Mrs. Desmond took a liking to me and chatted me up for most of the day. At the end of the seminar I decided to ask her a question. Here’s how it went.

Lucy
Mrs. Desmond, are you working behind the camera?

Norma
Well, I’m a filmmaker now.

Lucy (in total suck up mode)
Oh Ms. Desmond, film is a collaboration, certainly an actress of your stature should consider herself a filmmaker, your body of work is impressive to say the least.

Norma
Thank you dahhhling, that’s very sweet of you.

Lucy
I work with MoviesByWomen.com

Norma Desmond cuts me off, stiffens and gives me a deathly look.

Norma
I don’t have time

Lucy
Don’t have time for what?

Norma
For whatever you’re about to ask me to do

Lucy
I’m sorry, I wasn’t going to ask you for anything, I just wanted to let you know that at MoviesByWomen we promote women directed features, so you should let us know if you plan on directing.

Norma
I don’t have time for your nonsense

Lucy
I’m sorry Ms. Desmond, it was not my intention to ask you for anything. Excuse me.

I left thinking, what a nut case!. I wish I could say that’s where it ends but then Norma Desmond taps me on the shoulder.

Norma
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, I’m just very tired.

Lucy
No worries, excuse me.

Norma gets in front of me and starts yapping away.

Norma
I don’t understand all the nonsense you started talking to me about, why would I Norma Desmond need YOU.

I was tempted to say many cruel things to Norma Desmond, but I felt embarrassed for her and bit my tongue hard. She may have been a movie star at one point, but I have ambition and a good sense of who I am on my side. I want to make films that touch people and I would never speak to someone that way. I treat everyone I meet with respect. I have never wanted fame, and if being famous turns you into a wicked and neurotic witch then fame is not for me. The next day....

I had to meet with Nick and Christine to go over some Love 10:1 items. Christine told us to meet her at toast at 4pm. The place had a B so I was reluctant to eat there but when in Rome…..

As we sat there, Christine spotted Paris Hilton in her pajamas, her sister came in looking for her and the girls headed across the street to shop. We got on with our meeting but it was hard to concentrate with all the commotion the Hilton sisters were causing outside. The paparazzi kept multiplying. It was really disturbing to see these girls getting accosted like that. I would never, ever want to be in that position.

As we are getting up to leave, the Hilton girls came in to get their car, so as we exited, they where coming in to the restaurant. The paparazzi nearly trampled us. It was hard to make our way out of there. When we got to the corner we almost got run over by an SUV driven by one of the paparazzi. It was the freakiest thing that has happened to me.

Lucy

DIY theatrical and filmmaking sustainability

DIY theatrical and filmmaking sustainability - how I released HEAD TRAUMA by Lance Weiler

The thing I find most interesting after having gone through the first couple windows of release is how broken the system is. Now I know you're probably saying no shit but I think we're at a very interesting crossroads. When something is damaged it provides new opportunities but the difficult part is identifying them. Often it seems that going in a totally different direction is an answer OR you can work the current system to your advantage. For example a theatrical release with no cash, no distributor, no booker and no publicist seems insane - and it is in the sense that it's an insane amount of work BUT it is possible.

I took on a hybrid model with the release of my newest film HEAD TRAUMA. Had a world premiere at the LA Film Fest and used it as a springboard to a platform release for HT. In other words used it to announce the project and a few weeks after was in theaters across the country. The biggest driving force for a compressed release was to maximize my limited resources and push all the press and word of mouth towards monetizing the movie. I hit 17 screens across the country by doing a bootstrapped release.

I called a number of bookers / service companies to help me with my theatrical release. I quickly discovered that there was NO way that I could afford it. So I decided to create my own model that would require little to no seed money. Here's how I released my newest feature HEAD TRAUMA http://headtraumamovie.com on 17 screens across the country.

Here's the breakdown:

Travel, lodging and some food was offset with speaking engagements at various universities and film societies. This also provided free transportation and free meals. I ended up making about $4,500 in speaking fees.

I took $1,200 from a pre-theatrical speaking engagement and applied it towards making 27 x 40 posters. I knew from past experience that posters provide a great profit margin. I got them made for a $1.40 each and then sold them for 10 to 15 dollars. To date I've sold about 300 posters and pulled in about $3,500

When it came to the screenings I found sponsors for a number of weekly city paper ads for the cities that I felt need some extra promotion. And the rest of the promotion was done via social networking sites and my mailing list / fan base from my first film. I targeted independent theaters and cold called BUT I had a pitch ready - one that explained who my audience was and how I intended to reach them. I struck a favored nations deal with all the theaters - a 50/50 split because I didn't have the cash to four wall. And I did all my own press for the release.

The main goal for the theatrical was to help with DVD sales into retail and rental outlets. My hope was to use the theatrical release as hook for a national story, to get reviews and to prevent HT from being ghettoized as a straight to video release.

Well I got a ton of press, a lot of reviews and I ended up grossing close to 15,000 dollars. I took about half of my cut of the box office and put it into online advertising for the DVD release. I also worked out deals for a number of print ads in horror publications like Rue Morgue and Fangoria.

And so far so good - the DVD just hit retail and rental outlets nationwide. In fact this coming weekend Best Buy will be doing a special national promotion. The movie can be found at Barns & Noble, Borders, Circuit City in addition to other retail outlets. Its on Netfilx and in certain Hollywood Video and Blockbuster locations. It is also in independent video stores and can be found on various online outlets such as Amazon etc.

So for me theatrical made sense, I actually made some money AND I still own the rights to my work.

Thank You For The Music

There are very few things that keep my impatience from getting the best/worst of me. I like to get things done quickly and efficiently. The lack of funds that have kept this film from getting done will be magically appearing thanks to Christine sacrificing her bohemian lifestyle. So we will be able to start production on Virgin early in the New Year.

I’ve never doubted that we will get this film done. Christine and I have kept this project alive in our imagination, in our hopes and our dreams. But, it’s been very hard waiting for Love 10 to 1 to happen. I decided to work on other people’s projects and develop a few of my own. It pays off to have a few things cooking because right now it looks like I’ll be busy with a MoviesByWomen project that we’ve been trying to get off the ground for the last year.

Love 10 to 1 looks very promising for early 2007, and I’ve been hired to write and direct an episode for an Angel Muniz project (he’s the Dominican Spielberg).

So I’m grateful and thankful for everything going on right now, but I’m most grateful for all the music that has enriched my life, from classical to opera to pop to my most loved of all Rock (all kinds, hard rock, easy rock, metal, hair metal, pop rock, power ballad, sour, dour rock – I just made that one up, punk, classic rock – you get the picture). Music really drives my life and aids my creativity.

Whenever I feel hopeless about this film all I have to do to regain my confidence and enthusiasm is listen to some of the music that’s been kindly donated by local, talented musicians. I made a CD of songs from these artists for when I need inspiration. I love playing this CD, it’s my dream soundtrack for Californication.

This morning I played my Californication soundtrack which consists of music from
The Fabulous Miss Wendy, Jason Keeton (J.K. Music) & Crash Davis.

Wendy’s music will be used for the band Dirty Virgin in Californication. Crash Davis and J.K. Music will be used as the Shane/Dustin theme songs. I haven’t made up my mind about which Crash Davis song to use yet (they have so many great ones) and Love Song Yo from J.K. Music will be the Dustin/Shane montage song. When I hear these songs I can envision my whole movie playing. It’s such a great feeling.


Check them out and show them some love….

MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/thefabulousmisswendy
MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/jasonkmusic
MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/mycrashdavis

Lucy

Features Directed by Women at AFI Fest 2006 - November 1st - 12

Features Directed by Women at AFI Fest 2006 - November 1st - 12

http://www.afi.com/onscreen/afifest/2006/

AIR GUITAR NATION Documentary. DIR Alexandra Lipsitz PROD, Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Anna Barber. USA.

COME EARLY MORNING Cast: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Tim Blake Nelson, Diane Ladd, Stacey Keach. DIR/SCR Joey Lauren Adams PROD Julie Yorn, Holly Wiersma, Ed Bass. USA.

THE DEAD GIRL (World Premiere) Cast: Josh Brolin, Rose Byrne, Toni Collette, James Franco, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Beth Hurt, Brittany Murphy, Giovanni Ribisi, Mary Steenburgen, Kerry Washington, Piper Laurie. DIR/SCR Karen Moncrieff, PROD Henry Winterstern, Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi. USA.

FISSURES (World Premiere) Cast: Emilie Dequenne, Ludmila Mikaël, Mathieu Demy, Jacques Spiesser. DIR/SCR Alanté Kavaïté PROD Antoine Simkine. France.

GRBAVICA (North American Premiere) Cast: Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic, Leon Lucev, Kenan Catic, Jasna Ornela Berry DIR/SCR Jasmila Îbaniç PROD Barbara Albert, Damir Ibrahimoviç, Bruno Wagner. Bosnia-Herzegovina/Austria/Germany/Croatia.

UNDER THE ICE (US Premiere) Cast: Bibiana Beglau, Sandra Borgmann, Dirk Borchardt, Adreian Wahlen, Nicole Merced Muller, Barbara Focke, Thorsten Merten, Susanne Lothar. DIR Aelrun Goette SCR Thomas Stiller PROD Ernest Ludwig Ganzert, Milena Maitz. Germany.

BLINDSIGHT (US Premiere) DIR Lucy Walker. PROD Sybill Robson Orr. UK/Tibet.

MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN (World Premiere) DIR Sedika Mojadidi. PROD Jenny Raskin, Catherine Gund, Sedika Mojadidi. USA.

AFTER THE WEDDING Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård. DIR Susanne Bier. SCR Ander Thomas Jensen. PROD Sisse Graum Jørgensen. Denmark.

THE LAST DAYS OF YASSER ARAFAT (North American Premiere) Documentary. DIR/SCR/PROD Sherine Salama. Australia.

SOAP Cast: Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik, Frank Thiel, Elsebeth Steentoft. DIR Pernille Fischer Christensen. SCR Kim Fupz Aakeson. PROD Lars Bredo Rahbek. Denmark.

LIFE AFTER TOMORROW Documentary featuring: Julie Stevens, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martha Byrne, Allison Smith, Danielle Brisebois. DIR/PROD, Julie Stevens, Gil Cates, Jr.

STEPHANIE DALEY Cast: Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Denis O'Hare, Melissa Leo, Jim Gaffigan. DIR/SCR Hilary Brougher, PROD Jen Roskind, Samara Koffler, Lynette Howell.

ANTONIA (US Premiere) Cast: Negra Li, Leilah Moreno, Cindy, Quelynah, Thaíde. DIR Tata Amaral, SCR Roberto Moreira, Tata Amaral, PROD Geórgia Costa Araújo, Tata Amaral. Brazil. HOW MUCH FURTHER (US Premiere) Cast: Cecilia Vallejo, Tania Martinez, Pancho Aguirre, Fausto Mino. DIR/SCR Tania Hermida, PROD Mary Palacios, Gervasio Iglesias, Tania Hermida. Ecuador.

YOUR LIFE IN 65' (North American Premiere) Cast: Javier Pereira, Marc Rodriguez, Oriol Vila, Tamara Arias, Nuria Gago, Irene Montala. DIR Maria Ripoll, SCR Albert Espinosa, PROD Francisco Ramos, Marta Esteban. Spain/Argentina/Italy.

HOW MUCH FURTHER (US Premiere) Cast: Cecilia Vallejo, Tania Martinez, Pancho Aguirre, Fausto Mino. DIR/SCR Tania Hermida, PROD Mary Palacios, Gervasio Iglesias, Tania Hermida. Ecuador.

Check them out,

Lucy

From: FILMMAKER BLOG: Jeremy Coon (producer, "Napoleon Dynamite")

http://www.filmindependent.org/forums/index.php?action=vthread&forum=1&topic=14

Based on my observations, the biggest mistake independent filmmakers make is not having a realistic strategy for the sale and distribution of their film. Plenty focus on raising money and the many physical aspects of producing their film, which are all extremely important, but they don't give enough thought to how they will present their film to the marketplace. Saying that your plan is to get into Sundance and score a distribution deal does not constitute a realistic plan, because that's what everyone says and the sobering truth is that will only be true for maybe a dozen films in any given year. We were lucky enough to have that happen on NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, but we did our homework and had contingency plans if Sundance didn't work out. The selling of a film is a very complex ordeal that involves processing a lot of information and you're competing against literally thousands of other films to catch a distributor's attention. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's not rocket science and the fact that you're reading this and attending this forum means that you're already far ahead of the curve simply by learning more about it.

Here some things that I've learned:

1. MAKE THE BEST FILM YOU CAN. This is totally obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people lose sight of that. You need to make something that's worth buying before you can sell it.

2. FILM FESTIVALS. The best way to present your film is usually on the festival circuit especially if you're a new undiscovered filmmaker. You should attend whatever festivals you can because they are fun and you can learn a lot by just watching and getting use to the hectic environment. Look at what film festivals you would like to attend and make a priority list based on the submission deadlines. The big acquisition festivals are obviously Toronto, Sundance, and SXSW, but there are many other awesome ones. Use your list as a checklist so that if you don't get into Sundance, you've already thought about what your plan B,C, D, etc is.

3. ASSEMBLE A TEAM. You should never sell your film yourself. Do yourself a favor and score a producer's rep and a lawyer. There are several top reps around town and they are constantly looking for projects. If you get accepted into Sundance, I guarantee that they'll be calling you constantly. They should be purely commission based (around 10%) and a good rep will never ask for money upfront. A publicist is also important only if you're in one of the best festivals so that your film is not lost in the shuffle.

4. SCREEN YOUR FILM VERY SELECTIVELY. The biggest ace that you have as an independent filmmaker is that you can largely control who sees your film and when. It's human nature that people want something more when they can't have it. Use this to your advantage. Don't let distributors see the film before it premieres. Tell them that it won't be completed until just before its premiere. We did this out of necessity on NAPOLEON DYNAMITE and it worked to very much to our advantage. The base case scenario is to show to the film to a room full of different distributors for the first time at once and forcing them to act quickly or risk losing it to someone else.

5. DON'T OVERHYPE. Your first instinct is probably to tell everyone who will listen about how awesome your film is, but you shouldn't. If you just hype without a plan it will likely backfire on you. This town is all about expectations and word of mouth travels fast and by the time your film actually screens people might have such high expectations that any film would be a disappointment. Your goal should be to set the lowest possible expectations, but still get the right distributors' butts in your screening.

6. TIME IS USUALLY NOT ON YOUR SIDE. If you're lucky and you get two or more distributors fighting for your film, you usually should not wait too long to make a decision or get too greedy. As quickly as a bidding war heats up, it can die out even quicker. Every situation is different, but the old cliché of strike while the iron is hot is often the way to go.


There's plenty more advice (and probably better) out there and these are just some thoughts that stick out to me at the moment. The best advice I can give is just to educate yourself the as much as you can on this topic and talk to as many people as you can with any experience in selling and releasing films. This forum should be a great foundation, so don't waste it. You'll have personal access to many industry players that would usually be next to impossible to get a meeting with. There's nothing better than face time to get your foot in the door. Like I said earlier, the fact that you're already thinking seriously about a plan of how to sell your film puts you in a better place than a lot of indie filmmakers.

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