Little Miss Sunshine II

Posted on October 22, 2008

A couple of weeks after I did Clip This! for the 48-Hour Film Project, I attended a coffee talk hosted by casting director Beth Sepko. I happened to sit next to Charley Devaney, one of the partners in Burning Ranch Productions, who directed one of the top ten films in that competition, Delivery. We started talking, and a couple of weeks later I was co-starring in Burning Ranch production called Little Miss Horsesh*t, their entry into Filmmaking Frenzy’s Unnecessary Sequels competition. I wish all my networking worked out like that.

Anyway, we shot this short over the course of a weekend. There were seemingly insurmountable hurdles, like always (among them were a shy child and an unwilling horse), but the dedicated cast and crew somehow surmounted them, like always. We actually shot enough footage for a 10-minute short, so Gregg Moore (camera guy/editor) made a trailer for the competition and a full short just for fun. Charley then organized a screening in a room at the Austin Film Society and invited a bunch of colleagues and decision-makers in Austin’s film scene. The screening featured both versions of Little Miss Horsesh*t and included other shorts that members of the cast and crew worked on.

To top that off, Charley actually mailed me a DVD of the finished product(s), something that always promised and rarely fulfilled. The film is of a quality that you would expect from this sort of competition, and on a par with the best of the entries. All in all, a good experience.

Chute!

Posted on October 14, 2008

Over the past two years, I’ve written three short scripts that were actually produced as films: Live People, Clip This!, and now Chute. It’s odd, but of the three, Live People actually turned out closest to the way I envisioned it, and it is by far my least favorite

I grew quite frustrated at times during the production of Clip This!. No one seemed to fully understand the story I was trying to tell. I even got a little upset when I finally saw the finished product because it included a scene I hadn’t written and would never have approved if my opinion had been asked. After I got over that, however, I saw that the film that made it to the screen was actually much more than what I had envisioned. There were so many nice touches and nuances that were added by the cast and crew—especially the editors—that the experience of watching it was like seeing it with fresh eyes. I watched it probably ten times in the first week it was posted, and each time I noticed something new about it.

Chute is a video I wrote for my church to be used as a sermon illustration. Justin Girdler (who also directed Clip This!) came up with the concept, then directed and edited the final product. If you’re interested, you can compare the video (above) with the script. There were definitely some frustrations with this production, but they were mostly out of anyone’s control. We didn’t have time to shoot at two separate locations, so the prayer at the beginning happened in the office instead of a bedroom. Some miscommunications between the producers and the cast meant that I ended up playing the lead, and some other parts were shifted around. The conversation in the kitchen was nothing at all like I had envisioned simply because of the location’s space constraints. I brought a bunch of wardrobe options with me to the shoot, but forgot nice shoes, so I’m wearing white tennis shoes with my slacks. Some acting mistakes (mine) and some camera weirdness resulted in a couple of continuity issues. In the end, none of that seems to have mattered much.

When I wrote the script, I meant for it to be funny. On paper, it was only theoretically funny. A guy getting messages from God via a teller tube is kind of a funny concept. Anyone getting hit in the head with something is also inherently funny. But it just didn’t seem funny to me when I read it. Even when I saw the rough cut, I thought it was only so-so funny. The final cut, though, with the music and sound effects was almost magical. With every production I work on, I realize anew what a collaborative art form film is.

Chute played in church this morning, and got a great response. It also made a great illustration for the sermon, which was the whole point. All-in-all, a successful production.

Homeless George

Posted on October 10, 2008

A few weeks ago I acted in two videos for some guys (Chris Little, Shannon Cook, and Chris Landa) trying to start up a web series called Back Alley: Life on the Street. The idea behind the series is to parody popular sitcoms by populating their episodes with homeless characters. We shot an episode based on Seinfeld’s soup nazi in which I play (against type) George. Technically, the part I play was filled by Newman in the actual show, but they went ahead and called me George in order to have some continuity with future episodes.

I was concerned at first that the drug content and stereotypes would be offensive. The producers and I exchanged e-mails and had a good conversation about it. They were really receptive to my concerns and addressed them respectfully. Shannon (who wrote and directed the episode) had some pretty good points, and I felt good about proceeding. I think the final product is pretty much what Shannon said it would be: a kind of satire based on exaggeration of stereotypes, and not offensive at all.

We also shot an episode based on The Office in which I played Dwight. I like to think that’s against type, but whenever I tell my friends, “I played Dwight,” they all say, “Yeah, I can totally see that.” That hasn’t been posted yet, but I’ll embed it here once it’s up. In any case, both episodes were a blast to do. I hope we get to do more.

Finally

Posted on October 9, 2008

My friend Rey, of Multifacted Design, did me the huge favor of giving this web site an actual sense of design that goes nicely with my resume and business cards. And now, I finally have some content to fill it out.