Oak Street Films

Here are a few things I’ve learned during the shooting of Hell Is Other People:

• The availability of potential locations is entirely subject to the capricious whims of incommunicado sorority girls and/or of paranoid corporate legal teams (see below).
• Abandoned, isolated parking lots are apparently very dangerous places; film crews are 100% likely to wound themselves mortally (perhaps by stubbing a toe on a cracked bit of asphalt, one presumes) and then sue the owners of the lot, even if the producers and the cast have offered to sign a meticulously cautious liability waiver (see above).

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In my little rant the other day, I discussed the benefits of producing a film in a very relaxed and flexible way: one doesn’t necessarily need an overarchingly detailed script, a huge crew, or even a lot of money, in spite of what we all tend to believe.

It’s hard–if not impossible–to produce a film with zero money, however; it’s nice to be able to reimburse the cast for their fuel expenses (especially with gas prices where they are right now), and it’s only fair to buy them some lunch every once in a while. Videotape obviously still costs a few dollars, even if the expense is nowhere near that of working with film.

As small as these kinds of expenses are when compared to the bloated budgets of most films made these days, they can still at times be hard to cover when one is a struggling independent producer who has enough trouble just trying to feed oneself. That being the case, even a near-zero-budget project can require at least a little fundraising.

I am looking for small donations for Hell Is Other People–$5, $10, $20…maybe you’d like to donate a a gas card…or maybe you own a restaurant and would like to donate a lunch for three or four people. These kinds of things–while seemingly financially insignificant on an individual level–are very helpful, and can help me keep my (unpaid) cast happy. All donors will receive credits as associate producers, and in many cases we may be able to work out a way to make your donations tax-deductible.

If you’d like to help: you can donate financially via PayPal, or contact me to discuss any kind of non-financial donation you might be willing to make.

I, and my cast, thank you in advance.

The fact that most most films made today border on complete unwatchability is probably due almost entirely to rigidity; producers seem to have collectively agreed, perhaps against their better individual judgment, that the making of films is a paint-by-numbers affair, and that the only viable course of action consists of adhering to a regimented and “tested” checklist of procedures. There has to be a script. It has to be revised, gutted, and re-written by at least seventeen different people. The scripts themselves must follow a structure which is so precise that “new” scripts might as well simply be scripts from 1982 with superficial changes made to the names of the characters, the setting, and the profession of the protagonist. The script must be the ultimate “blueprint,” and changes made to it once a camera has begun taking pictures are to be frowned upon. “Small” productions must cost a minimum of $1 million, and must employ more people than an aeronautics factory. In the midst of all of this rigidity, minor common-sensical deviations are hailed as bold experimentation, and a film produced with recourse to any minuscule amount of such common sense is dubbed “an iconoclastic tour de force of free-spirited, free-wheeling creativity.” To put it differently, producers have lowered their own bar so far that they can leap balletically over it while in a coma. This makes a producer’s life easier in some ways (and harder in others). It also happens to make for terribly predictable and intellectually vacant movies.

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It’s been a very hectic couple of weeks: I’ve been bouncing between production of Hell Is Other People and the post-production phase of my fourth short documentary. It’s unfortunate that I’ve had to be so neglectful of the blog this soon after having created it, but I’m easing into a kind of rhythm with HIOP and I expect to be getting back into the swing of things.

We’ve been shooting–sporadically–for about the last week and a half, and I’m very happy with the way things are going. It’s been over two years since I began “writing” the scenario for this project, and I can’t begin to express what a relief it is to be underway after so many frustrations and false starts. We’re shooting more or less in sequence, one happy consequence of which is that I’m able to edit as we go and will end up working with an ever-lengthening contiguous chunk of the movie. So far, I’ve put together a rough cut of the first fifteen minutes.

I don’t normally like to show anyone even a part of a work in progress; I tend to take any criticism offered much too seriously and often end up feeling as if I’m letting the film be directed by a committee. That having been said, I’ve decided to post a clip in spite of myself and may end up regretting it. This will likely be the only time I’ll do so on this project, so if you’re curious you’ll get your only early peek after the jump.

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I’ve been getting a lot of responses to my casting call for Hell Is Other People since my reminder last week, but those responses have been decidedly, shall we say, young and feminine.

I do have some male parts and a more “mature” female part to cast. I don’t want to discourage anyone from getting in touch with me if interested, but I particularly need to build a list of young men and women in their late 30’s or early 40’s, and so interested parties meeting those broad criteria are especially urged to get in touch as soon as possible. I can’t schedule any auditions until I have what at least looks like a workable list for all the parts.

I’ve received a fair number of responses since my call to local actors went out a while back, but I still need to build up my list a bit more before I can make an informed decision on whom I should schedule for an audition.

Again, this call is open not only to experienced actors, but to practically anyone who thinks he or she might want to give acting a try.

For more information (including some details about the project in question, what I’m looking for, and how to proceed if you’re interested), please see this page.

When Ann Law shot me an email last Fall to ask if I’d be interested in documenting the installation of her tattoo, I had no idea that doing so would turn out to be one of the most transformative experiences of both my professional and personal lives. I knew that she had been fighting Breast Cancer, but initially I had no idea that this tattoo business was in any way related to her illness; I thought that in saying “yes,” I’d simply be doing a favor for a friend and longtime collaborator. Once she and I had talked a bit and the enormity of her choice had begun to sink in, I began to realize that this was a unique opportunity to produce a very interesting and meaningful piece of work. It was only after that film had been completed that I began to realize just how much I enjoyed making documentaries, and that I was suddenly on a new and fruitful creative path.

After several months and several more documentaries, it’s finally time to begin sharing these discoveries with an audience.

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