Best of Texas Movies

Don Graham's book about Texas Movies

Here's a fun article from Texas Monthly on making movies in Texas that I just stumbled across.  A "panel of experts" (WTF that means, I'm not sure) decides the Top Ten Movies ever Made in Texas.  I'm not big on "top 10" lists about pop culture, but the article is interesting more for the details you learn about the particular films, and of course, the predispositions about the people naming them, which may serve some of you aspiring filmmakers well, especially those in our Texas Film Scene community.

While the article is from June 2011, the content is evergreen, and I think you'll get a kick out of it.  Enjoy!

$50 horror flick 'Colin' takes Cannes by storm

Well, actually it was fifty pounds (Sterling), but I don't have the British keyboard settings enabled. Still, pretty cheap.

Colin is a no-budget movie by London director Marc Price, which tells the story from the zombie's perspective. A nice twist, playing on the American Werewolf theme.

Price took 18 months to organize (and write?) the project, cast and staffed entirely with volunteers from his Facebook group. The project garnered acceptance to Cannes, and awards at many smaller festivals worldwide. It has done so well, in fact, that it has an extensive theatrical release schedule! Not bad for fifty bucks.

No doubt many in Hollywood will trash the movie, and call attention to all it's low-budget production faults, instead of focusing on what a determined young director was able to do with no money. Smart studios will see this as a great way to mitigate their risk. As with Texas' own Pink: The Series, and the recent Uruguayan director who made a 5-minute version of War of the Worlds for $500, studios are making big offers to small indy filmmakers who prove that they can attract eyeballs in the vast Internet wasteland, and proving once again that it doesn't have to cost millions of dollars to make good movies; Hollywood just doesn't know any other way.

Indie Film Fissure Starts its Texas Screening Tour

A shameless plug for my fellow Texas filmmaker Russ Pond.

The Award-Winning, Indie Film Fissure Starts its Texas Screening Tour

Indigenous Film Works and Top Pup Media invite you and your guests to a free preview screening of FISSURE in Dallas on July 21st, Houston on July 22nd and Austin on July 23rd. Showtime is 7:30 PM. Doors open at 6:30pm. The screening is free, so seating is first come, first serve.

Fissure star James Macdonald and producer/director Russ Pond will be attending all three screenings. Please join us for a night of mystery and indie filmmaking.

Details about the screenings can be found here: http://fissure.tv/screenings

You can register for the Facebook events at the following links:

Dallas Screening - Tuesday, July 21: http://bit.ly/fissure-dallas
Houston Screening - Wednesday, July 22: http://bit.ly/fissure-houston
Austin Screening - Thursday, July 23: http://bit.ly/fissure-austin

Synopsis: Detective Paul Grunning is trying to piece together his fractured life. When a routine disturbance at the Ulster House turns into an unexplainable death, all he has worked for will be tested. James McDonald is Grunning, an ailing, addicted cop, haunted by his own bad choices. He investigates the mysterious house, only to find shifting testimonies and perplexing new clues in every room. Sifting through the erratic claims of Emma, the victim’s wife, Rachel, the seductive grad student, and Andrew, a bitterly resentful son, Grunning uncovers motives, but no real answers. Ultimately, Grunning must navigate a fractured reality and his own insecurities to find what's real.

Fissure Trailer: http://www.fissure.tv/fissure-trailer

$4.5 million gross profit on indie feature

Yeah, that got my attention, too.

My friend Joe McReynolds hipped me to Lance Weiler's feature film site. I had heard of Lance's Workbook Project, but hadn't put his face to the films. Weiler claims to have made $4.5 million from self-distribution of his first feature, The Last Broadcast. His Workbook Project is wildly popular, and has returned him more money than a book advance he turned down to start it.

DIY DAYS LA - When the Audience Takes Control - panel

MPAA says show biz creates jobs

No surprise, the lobby industry for Hollywood published an "impact report" that says show business is good for the economy.

In fact, it says the average salary for "core production staff" (whatever that means) is almost $75,000, over 20% higher than the national average for other jobs. It also points out all the tax money the industry brings to the coffers of state governments.

I certainly don't think the movie industry is bad for any state's economy, and it definitely helps put food on the table of people who work in that industry. But the numbers in this report appear skewed:

Most people (including most actors) involved in the making of any movie, even $20 million-plus films, make nowhere near $75,000. They are paid a decent, but not exorbitant daily rate. For example, most extras on a film set (who arguably have the worst job on set), are paid around $75 for a 12-14 hour day. In non-union states (like Texas), that might be as low as $50 per day.

The "average" salary is highly inflated, both by the grossly large salaries of a few key stars, and a few key studio executives, while those on the front lines do OK during the three months of a shoot, but then are left wondering when and where their next job will come.

Some argue that this is the reason why we need greater union participation. Others argue that stronger unions will only serve to drive up production costs, and make filmmaking a more risky and less profitable business.

My take is that the MPAA is talking out of both sides of its mouth. When it serves the industry, the MPAA will talk about how much money it loses to piracy, star actor profit participation, union demands, and state taxes. But on the other hand, this report touts how much money the industry makes and generates for it's workers and host states.

Any veteran of the music industry will instantly recognize this sort of rhetoric- the same type of stuff the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) spouts. It serves to remind us that Hollywood is big business, no different than Enron or AIG. And we all know how great those companies were for the economy.

Look, movies are business, period. If you make movies to make money, learn the game. As with most industries stiffled by large oligopolies, it helps to look at what innovators like Blake Calhoun and Mike Maden, Robert Rodriguez, Trent Haaga, and others are doing. Just make your own damn movie.

NEW! Texas Film Scene site now open!

I have thrown open the doors, ready or not, to the Texas Film Scene social network.  In 24 hours, almost 30 members have joined, formed two sub-groups within the network, and are adding content and traffic like crazy.

It's free to join, and there are tons of good tools for networking and publicizing your own events and work.  Plus, it will be a great place to meet other filmmakers without all the "noise" of Facebook or MySpace.

Pop over and see what you think!

Take me to your NEW podcast, Earthling!

Latest Texas Film Scene podcast is up. Interview with Clay Liford, writer/director/producer of the new indie sci-fi film Earthling. Bonus interview with Austin actress Amelia Turner, and Clay's dogs. Lots of fun, this one.

Clay's got two entries in SXSW, so check out the podcast, then check out his films.

Breaking news

TV news report about The Vern.

;-)

Director Jon Keeyes interview on iTunes

My recent interview is now up. You can download it directly, or subscribe in iTunes. Both are free to you. 

From the show notes:

Jon Keeyes left Hollywood so that he could become a filmmaker. His "American Nightmare" is a fixture in the cult horror scene, and in "Living and Dying" (released by HBO), he directed top actors like Edward Furlong, Michael Madsen, Jordana Spiro, Arnold Vosloo, Trent Haaga, and yours truly. Now a staple of independent Texas productions, ranging from $50,000 to $1.2 million, and most recently a new media venture for Warner Brothers, Jon's is a true Cinderella story. 

Enjoy!

Sonny Castillo gets busy, 02-style

Love this clip from my friend Sonny, who was one of the thugs menacing my character in Kat Candler's Ninja James and the Beast Boy shoot. Funny stuff!

Ben Taylor on latest Texas Film Scene podcast

Just posted a fresh episode of my Texas Film Scene podcast. This week, I interview produced writer/producer/actor/director/teacher Ben Taylor. I've known Ben for about four years, taken his classes, and only just this weekend learned about his storied and accomplished career. Good stories and good advice from a Hollywood veteran.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or directly from Libsyn.

That's a wrap!

Director Kat Candler declared a wrap on the shooting of Ninja James & The Beast Boy yesterday, and producer Leslie Langee celebrates here by popping open champagne (a surprise gift from Scott Colquitt).

The day started cold as Hades, about 30' Farenheit, from the 6 a.m. call time until about 8 a.m. But by noon it was a beautiful, cool, sunny, fall day, perfect for filming. The sun fell pretty quickly starting about 4:00 p.m., but by that time, we were all done except for some quick audio and close-ups of Savanah's character, my wife "Jane".  The cast and crew have been absolutely fabulous. Everybody worked so hard to make this a success.  

There is still the grueling post-production 

remaining, but from my vantage point, it 

was waaaaay smooth. I am sure that it was not that smooth from Kat and Leslie's view, but that's what makes them pros: they kept all that hidden from us meat puppets. 

There was absolutely no whining on this set at all (except maybe by me, when I was freezing my nipples off!). It was a wonderful esprit de corps, and my hat is off to the entire cast and crew, 

starting with Kat.

I hope to work with these talented filmmakers again.

Photo by Larry Furnace