Blast from the Past - Hungryland

This photo was taken while I was acting as Second Unit Director for "Hungryland" in January 2016. I was primarily the SPFX Supervisor for the film, but also directed scenes with a lot of FX and stunts.

This is also where I first met two of the young actors I cast in "The Family Way: Coming Home", Kinsey Krutzler (little girl) and Blayze Hippensteel (boy on left).

Girls in charge

Photo of me with my producer and dear friend, Lowrie Fawley.

Lowrie is another one of those first-time film actors working for me as a first-time director in Predatory Moon. Over the years we've developed both a professional and personal friendship.

While she's gone on to work on some television shows that you may have actually heard of, she still has enough faith in me to let me direct the films she produces. (Well, as long as she gets to be on cast for them too... as if I'd have it any other way!)

I love kids!

On the set of "The Family Way: Coming Home" with two of my favourite young actors - Nick Trivisonno and Kinsey Krutzler.

Screenplay contest

Duckie and I just got this from the Cannes Screenplay Contest.

You can learn more about the story and the project now in development at http://www.familywayfilm.com

Actors and Auditions

Me with actor Emre Orun, one of the few who followed directions and landed the role of "Aaron" in the film I directed, "Coming Home".

Just a quick rant for aspiring actors...

In early December I cast my next film project “Coming Home”. Although I hate not holding live auditions, I know that “video auditions” are becoming more common so I went that route.

Pretty simple, actually. Applicants contact me to audition for a role, sending me their headshots, demo reels, resumes, etc... Then if they aren't completely unsuitable for the role in question I send them a portion of the script involving that character and ask them to send me a video of them performing the piece. I don't care about film quality, so this can even be done using a phone. I just need to see if they can act.

I had roughly five dozen people submit their resumes and/or headshots to be considered. Very few had an actual demo reel, which I don't count against them because I know how difficult it is wrangling demo footage from a production no matter if it was a perk offered by the producer/director. (Hell, I'm still waiting for demo footage that was shot 4 years ago!) Those who did send me a demo video gave me a good idea of their acting range and in some cases I didn't even need to have them audition since what I was looking for was already on their reel.

Want to know how many people sent in the video audition? Five. (well, eight if I count the three who submitted a few days after the deadline, which by then I'd already made my casting choices.)

That's right. Out of dozens of applicants only five people bothered to follow the instructions. So I made my casting selections from a small pool consisting of people who sent in their taped auditions and those whose demo reels worked fine as a substitute. All the other applicants got tossed.

So far I've had six actors write me to ask me why they never heard back from me. I tell them all the same thing... they didn't send in the audition I required so I assumed they were not interested in the part.

One actor asked if I'd meet him in person, a request made after the deadline. Not happening.

One actress was quite upset as she was so certain that because she looked the part that I'd hire her based on her photo. The thing is, I know a lot of really beautiful people, but most of them can't act their way out of a paper bag.

I can change your looks. I can't change your ability to follow directions. If you can't send me requested materials by a deadline, how can I count on you to be punctual on call time and be off-script to boot?

And here's one other little tip I got from a dear friend of mine who is a professional (and working) actress. She was told by a casting agent that when calls go out for video auditions you have to be on that ASAP. The reason being that chances are that if you wait until the last minute, that role has long since been cast.

The Family Way - More news!

So the feature screenplay that Duckie and I wrote has been doing well in script competitions and gained a lot of attention from other folks in the industry. Enough to put it into development to become a feature film.

Back in December I directed a short film called "The Family Way: Coming Home" in order to raise some interest in the story and its unique characters.  A clip from the first scene of that film is featured in the just-launched Indiegogo campaign for The Family Way.

Check out the campaign page to see the video and learn all about the feature film project that I'll be directing.

Memory Lane - Real People

My third time directing something... filmed in 2016.

DVD cover art for Predatory Moon

As far as I know, this painting by my friend Daniel Byrd will be the cover for the DVD of Predatory Moon.

 I have no idea when the film will be released, but I expect it will be sometime this year.

Siren Productions Media on YouTube

The official YouTube channel for the production company I'm a member of.

Siren Productions Media YouTube Channel

The Blood Artist

A painting prop I made for "The Family Way: Coming Home". 

The MO of the killer is to leave behind pieces of artwork done in the blood of his victims. This sounds great, but in reality it would really suck.

I used blood dye mixed with acrylic paint and I was still having a hard time painting on plywood.  Then again, fine art painting has never been in my skill sets.  Fortunately for me, the killer is young so I didn't have to pull off any Rembrandt calibre stuff!