Some folks can't keep their cool.

It seems like there are a million ways a film or television project can die, but one of the saddest is Producer Meltdown.  It’s also surprisingly dangerous because it always seems to hit when success seems assured.  I’ve seen it on several projects and I’m currently witnessing it again.

Here’s how it typically works:  Over the course of months or years, a group of filmmakers get together to try to will a project to life.  People combine their contacts, resources, creativity, and good karma to build someone’s crazy idea into a project that has a chance of getting made.  It’s an amazing moment when something is on the cusp of transitioning from dream to reality.  But it’s also the time when people’s expectations, real or imaged are about to be solidified into concrete terms.

Invariably, one participant thinks he deserves a bigger piece of the pie.  Maybe the original deal terms were loose (or non-existent).  Maybe someone did a hell of a lot more work than the others involved.  Or perhaps someone’s connection to a distributor, star, or money was the lynch-pin for the project.  As a dream gets locked down on paper as who-gets-what-when-and-how, it’s pretty typical for someone to feel that their contribution is being given the short shrift.  Or maybe that person is just a douche who thinks he can grab a little more than he’s due.  The reasons vary, but the results tend to be the same…a project that was a “go” is suddenly just gone. (continue reading…)

Here’s a question I made up because I’ve never seen this issue covered:

Hey Douglas,

Amazing site!  Here’s my question:  Everybody talks about how to direct, but no one addresses the really important stuff, like what a director should wear.  Any advice?

– D.H.

Wow, what an amazingly insightful question!

For an indie director, what you wear matters, because you’re going to be in it all day.  (And possibly all night when you collapse in a stupor at the end of the day.)  It’s important to be comfortable all day long…and it’s a long day we’re talking about, especially on location shoots.  (Isn’t every independent film a location shoot?)  What I walk out the door wearing is probably what’s going to be on me all day long.  I’ve found that anything I take off during the day usually ends up lost or borrowed.  While making smart choices about what you wear on set may not seem all that crucial the first day or two of your shoot, by day 17, little choices can translate to big differences in your ability to push ahead without your body going into revolt. (continue reading…)

Want to watch Full Disclosure for free? Someone's pirating it on YouTube...if you can stand the quality.

I’m very interested in the future of in online distribution for independent films, so I’m trying a quick experiment. (This experiment isn’t pure science.  It has the potential benefit of clearing out a box of DVDs under my desk.  But mostly, it’s science.)

The other day I found a pirated version of Full Disclosure on YouTube.  It’s a really bad version shot with a camcorder off Italian television.  The sound is horrible, as is the image, (on the plus side, however, there are Italian subtitles!).  YouTube has a procedure for removing pirated content, but it’s arduous and I don’t have the time at the moment.  Besides, it’s the free availability of this pirated version that makes the experiment possible.  So for the moment, I’m going to leave it there.

There’s this theory going around that people pirate what they like but can’t buy when, how, or in the format they wish to.  Mostly, this theory comes from people trying to justify their illegal downloading of content, but it also comes from some really smart folks who think a lot about all things digital, like my friend Fred Chong Rutherford.  Personally, I have my doubts about this, theory, but hell, the only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything.  So I’m going to try an experiment. (continue reading…)

I’m on a new writing assignment.  It’s very exciting.  I sort of can’t believe my luck in getting the job….and I can’t say any more about it than that.

The project is very hush-hush at the moment.  In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that no one actually reads this blog, I wouldn’t even be mentioning it here.  Hopefully in a few weeks (months?) I can say more.  Stay tuned.

Anyone who’s interested can track the progress on the handy little “Current Writing Project” progress bar on the right side of the blog.  It’s a WordPress widget called Dave’s Whizmatronic Widgulating Calibrational Scribometer.  And that’s all I can tell you.

People are talking about Full Disclosure.

Official Best of Fest - The best movies you've never seen.

In putting up the Full Disclosure preview the other day, I was looking up links and discovered a couple interesting things.  First, someone has uploaded a pirated version onto YouTube.  So if anyone wants to watch the complete short film with horrible sound and picture and Italian subtitles, just go to YouTube.

The other, nicer thing is that a couple people wrote some very nice reviews about Full Disclosure as part of the new Official Best of Fest Sampler DVD collection that came out in December.  Full Disclosure was made years ago and didn’t get a lot of reviews at the time (no one reviews short films, it seems).  There are a few reviews floating around out there, but I’m not going to go dig them up.  But these reviews came out a little over a month ago, so I figured they’re fair game to post. (continue reading…)