April 23, 2008 by Dave.
As a writer, part of my job is to figure out what project fits into what form. There are stories the can be told in almost any form— song, poem, short story, theatrical play, etc; and there are some stories that only work well in one form— could Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” ever survive outside of the film medium?
Last May, I was allowed to participate in a pitch session to NEHST Studios and their founder Larry Meistrich (Shooting Gallery) at Rutgers University. I pitched them my strongest script to date (about the homeless situation in NYC) in hopes to get funding for the project. It was a 2-3 minute pitch that went pretty well. However the problem was the project itself. As I was the last pitch, Mr. Meistrich talked about the new company. From what I gathered from the talk, 10 years ago my pitch would have sold an independent studio on the film. Today it is too risky a venture. In fact, the pitches that most piqued the new company’s interest were pitches for internet based ventures. Having worked on that script for a year and spending another 10 years trying to get it off the ground, I spent the first half of the drive from New Jersey pissed and depressed about the state of film today and my dwindling chances of getting my scripts produced. However because I am a writer, I spent the second half of the drive back to Boston trying to understand the format of writing for internet based productions and figuring out how to crack it.
By the time I got back to Boston, I had the strains of two different ideas in mind. One was a sitcom based on vlogs, and a drama about a soldier overseas communicating with his family back home. Nothing was firm; I just had the vaguest of ideas. I spent a good part of the summer doing some research and prep work for the sitcom idea, but I also approached a friend of mine at work, Bryan Ferreira, about working on the military drama idea together. What made the war story an interesting prospect would be that it would really use a bunch of different mediums into one. It would be done on the internet so that’s video/film production. I thought that it would work best if it was done in a split-screen “computer’s eye” view of the action format, so that was more the realm of TV/film. And I felt the best way to get that done was to do it all in one take, live to tape, so that brought in live TV and/or theater where anything could happen.
When I looked at how to do the war drama, I was torn about how to do it. Normally I’d try to get a Latino character in the lead. But if I did that, I would also have to deal with the immigration issues that were at its height in 2007. It would be hard enough to get an honest portrayal of the interpersonal dynamics of a US soldier’s family and the dynamics of pro-war and anti-war conversations, that if I had to deal with immigration on top of that I would lose my mind. So I went back and forth as to what to make the lead character: White or Black? Plus should the family be in the Boston area or somewhere else? Each posed its own problems as well as their own rewards.
What I did then was ask Bryan if the family should be White or Black and where they should be from? Of course, Bryan said they should be Latino from the Southwestern US. I was so ready to kill him at that point. However when I confronted him, he made this point about his choice: the idea is dramatic in that you’re seeing a person being sent to fight for his country when the country he’s fighting for is changing out from under him. That concept stuck with me and soon possessed me. What I thought would be a huge headache for me turned into a fascinating challenge, one that I was willing to take on.
August was spent figuring out who these characters were and creating biographies for them. While the soldier is the main character, I had to figure out the family dynamic as well and the only way I was able to do that was to figure out who the father was. Having the parents come, not from Mexico but from Nicaragua, really opened more avenues for me. We could bring in the whole US history of covert military campaigns and ways their actions destabilized countries in the past, as well as dealing with the 1987 amnesty, both during the Reagan administration, and how those actions (and the administration) reverberates within national policies today. Also we would set the story in the start of the war. This was also one of Bryan’s suggestions. The brilliance of this would be that the drama of the piece is caused by hindsight. We would look back on the way people reacted to and recounted events back then with knowledge of what has happened in the following five years of armed conflict, as well as the escalation of the anti-immigration fervor from small rumblings to a mass movement. Yet I still had to tie all this in within the microcosm of one family.
During this time, I also got back in touch with my town’s public access station, Arlington Studio. I worked with them years before and wanted to look them up to, not only see if there was any way they could help me, but to see if they were still around. At one point they were being run by Comcast and there was some discussions about not renewing the contracts with Comcast and going non-profit and independent. At the town day in Arlington, MA, I was walking around and they had a booth up. They were now officially a non-profit and doing their own thing without Comcast to serve the community. And they were an HD studio. I signed up with them a short time later and basically had an HD studio at my disposal as well as a distribution outlet (they could both help me launch it online and show it on their cable channels)—all for an annual fee of $20. When I went to the IFP conference in September, which was heavily geared towards explaining and demystifying the whole internet/DV production and distribution side, getting this series written and off the ground was all I could think about.
Once all the bios were finished, I started working out he pilot script. I kept showing the progress to Bryan, as I considered him a co-creator of the project. He gave me notes and I worked everything out. All this writing was being done while holding down a full-time job and being a father to a fussy five-year-old. I got very little sleep but it would all be worth it. By the time December rolled around, I had the pilot script ready to go. It had everything that I was hoping for. However I would discover that with all the hard work of research, creating a “bible” and a time line, this would be the easy part of the whole endeavor. My job as a writer was over and my job as a producer/director was just beginning.
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April 1, 2008 by Dave.
One of my favorite moments of the NALIP conference happened on the very last day at the very last luncheon, which was really the last thing I expected. The luncheons were held outside the main restaurant of the resort. They set up a tent overlooking the Pacific and the Laguna hills. If there is one thing I love about this conference is that it’s the one film conference I’ve ever gone to where they feed you—meals are included in the registration price! No one ever does that. I love that they go by that old film crew mantra: you don’t have to pay ’em, but you have to feed ’em. Of course it could also be a another thing: who ever heard of any Latino get together where there isn’t food?
Anyway I was hoping to sit with the other volunteers (check out my last blog to understand why), but that table was completely filled up. I looked around and sat down at a fairly empty table except for three older gentlemen sitting and finishing their meals. For the most part, I ate in silence but I could hear their conversations. The three of them were talking about acting. The first day of the conference was an actor’s fest put on by Back Stage, so every Latino actor in town was here for that, too. All three of these guys— Ramon Hilario, Henry Vega, and Louis Olivios— were busy joking about people they knew on the sets or stuff they auditioned for. They were relatively new to the acting scene. From their attitudes and conversations they were too busy living life to worry about acting until recently only being around it for, at most, the past eight years (at least on film). These guy reminded me—and almost sounded like— those older guys sitting on the stoops back in Brooklyn who drank maybe a little much, always smoked too much and always had some sort of fun and wild tale to tell to anyone who would listen. They were chatting away about acting and auditioning, when one of them mentioned an actor that guested on the TV show Cane. I thought I knew who it was that got the role but I was wrong. Still I told them what I thought and jumped headlong into their conversation. I couldn’t tell you a lot of what was said, but I was laughing most of the time.
As this was the final luncheon of the conference, the heads of the conference were up thanking everyone from the executive directors on down. Of course us volunteers were thanked as “all the volunteers who made the conference happen.” I knew the guy at the mike saying thanks to everyone that he could see, but I wasn’t going to say anything to him. The next thing I know, my name is being screamed out by Henry, Ramon and Louis behind me to the guy on stage. My friend on stage looks over to the table, says my name, and those three guys behind me start cheering and clapping—and I’m pretty sure only those three in the entire tent clapped. But that was the nicest applause I think I’ve ever received in my life. Hands down it was my favorite moment of the conference.
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March 26, 2008 by Dave.
It’s one week until we shoot the first episode of the web series and I’m liking where things are going. It’s taken a long time for things to come together and they are finally starting to. I finally have the full cast and that only happened right after I got back from LA. One of the people I auditioned for the lead role has taken the part of the younger brother. This was key as, as my screenwriting lab mentor mentioned to me, the acting has to be right on as well as the writing. I’m confident in my writing but was worried about the actors. After today’s rehearsal, I’m not so worried about any of the actors anymore. So the casting has finally come together, now if we can get rehearsals going. I still haven’t had a full rehearsal yet because of various scheduling issues. If one actor is working their job, another one is away for the weekend. It’s been piecemeal. Luckily with this script I’m able to segment it a little more and work with each actor or groups of actors separately. Once I hear everyone read it all the way through in the same room together I’ll be very happy.
One of my best friends has written theme music that is really perfect for the show. His name is Antonio Jacobs, who also works under the name Blacklieder (look on my blogroll or my homepage for a link) or with his band Jazzique, so be on the look out for him (he’s been tapped to go to a NEH summer institute in Germany to study Bach). I’m telling him to get ready to make money in ring tones. The only hurdle now is the technical stuff. I was supposed to have settled that today, but another scheduling issue messed that up. However It did give me a chance to talk with my technical director and get an idea of visually setting the stage. This however sets me back and we still don’t know exactly which cameras we’ll be using and whatnot to set the look. I have ideas but unless you have the hardware to play around with, it’s just theoretical. Next I’ve got to get the costumes and set design in order. I’m ordering some ASU stuff online, have to run to the only army surplus store I know on Newbury street to get desert camos and a Che Guevarra T-shirt, and find various things to design the interior of a Latino household in Arizona.
It’s been a challenge but I’m always one to rise to a creative challenge.
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March 20, 2008 by Dave.
On the start of the first full day of the NALIP conference, my roommate (also a volunteer for the conference) came into the room having just been downstairs in the registration area. He shakes his head and says “Man, there’s a lot of hot women down there.” I chime up and say, “It’s a Latino film conference. Of course there are hot women down there.” This would come back to haunt me later.
At the end of the conference, the other volunteers and I were in the rooms helping to break down the registration offices and get things carted away. As I’m making another run into the office, I notice two of the volunteers posing for a photo for another friend. Of course these two were the hottest of the volunteers in the office—and that’s saying something since I’d put up the plainest woman there against anyone in the surrounding OC any day. I start looking around at the volunteers. I lean over to one of my friends there and say, “We need to make a calendar with all the volunteers here. NALIP’s gone wild.” Obviously I quickly remembered what I told my roommate the first day. Still I’m surprised I was so busy working the conference that I missed all this in front of me!
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March 20, 2008 by Dave.
Funny, I usually have these numbered in a couple of other blogs that I’ve cross posted to. Anyway, this is a couple of funny exchanges with Sophia.
I was showing Sophia a panoramic photo of me taken at Grinnel Glacier in East Glacier Park, Montana. I told her where it was taken, and she said:
Sophia: Wow, Hannah Montana.
Me: Not Hannah Montana, the state Montana!
Drives me crazy when facts get jumbled like that from corporate propaganda. Sheesh!
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Sophia is really into reading and symbols on signs. She seems especially fascinated by the “no” red circle on signs (e.g. “no smoking”, etc) and usually wants to know what each one means. Usually she wants to know what the traffic signs means (e.g. “no left turns”, etc). One day we’re driving along and she sees a “no U-turn” on the street.
Sophia: Daddy, what does that sign mean?
I didn’t see the U-turn at first, so she thought to herself for a moment. Then very excited she goes…..
Sophia: I know it. No bending over!
I swear I was so glad my foot was on the brake at the time or I would have run over someone in the street.
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March 20, 2008 by Dave.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this and there were a couple that came up over the holidays. These two were seen at the Fresh Pond Cinema in Cambridge.
Enchanted Mad Money
Clover Chimpmunks
So that’s what that monster was.
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This was an interesting one in Las Vegas. It doesn’t really exist, but it’s that interesting effects of vision span on reading. The eye’s field of view is most acute in the frontal view as opposed to the peripheral view, but you can still read text with the total vision span (despite thatmost of our total vision span is peripheral vision). However how that text comes out is interesting. As me and Will were driving souoth Maryland Parkway towards his house, I saw a set of signs that individually read:
“Water”
“$5 Check Cashing”
…and something else I can’t remember.
I saw them all out of the corner of my eye, so to me it looked like it read:
“Chinese Water Torture $5″
Not that it would be surprising for Vegas, but still…
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March 15, 2008 by Dave.
Part 1: How To Network With No Voice
Even with 8 hours of sleep, I was congested the first day of the conference. And that scratching in the back opf my throat meant I was fighting another cold. There was a poolside party the first night to network with everyone. I so felt like I was in Hollywood at that point. As I was talking to a couple of friends of mine, I had to cough. It happens to me a lot at parties when I have to speak over music and other crowd conversations to be heard. However when I tried to speak again, my voice was almost gone. That never happens to me. It could have been the trip, the cold, the nighttime jaccuzi dip, the lous talking, acting as a security guard to my friend as she did a couple of tokes overlooking the sea, or a combination of all those things. Either way, I spent the next day sounding like Froggy from Our Gang.
It’s almost impossible to have a conversation when you have no voice unless you know sign language, and I don’t know enough to sustain a conversation (much like my Spanish; and since this was a Latino film conference, I was now unable to speak in three languages). I muddled through, As long as I didn’t talk too long for any one period of time, I could save my voice. If I talked longer than one minute straight, my voice squeaked to a stop. Luckily talking really wasn’t my job for the conference. Of couorse I was there to take notes and learn stuf to get my filmmaking career launched, but as a volunteer I’m there to work (at least in my mind). I was hoping to get to the fitness center of the spa at least once, but with all the running/walking from one end of the hotel to the other to get stuff and staff and do my job, who needed an eliptical rider.
Still I met a lot of great people, made some great contacts and put the word out about the web series.
Part 2: Things to Do in Vegas When You’re Sick
By the time I got to Will’s house at 1:00 am, I was pretty tired. The plumbing/water is out at his place so he put me up at a nearby hotel. However he mixed up the dates of my arrival and it’s for tomorrw, so I spent the night at Will’s place. When I woke up and tried to meet Will for lunch/breakfast near his office, I knew I had a cold. Not much I can do about it except overdose on plenty of over the counter cold medications and rest. Hell, I’m in Vegas to rest up a bit so I might as well follow my own plan–for once! I bought all my cold medicines plus a new three-subject notebook to continue writing.
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March 15, 2008 by Dave.
Part 1: Heaven (or I’ve Died and Gone to
After a 38 hour journey that really started on Wednesday morning when I woke up to take Sophia to school, I landed in Long Beach and was driven by van to the Laguna Marriott Spa and Resort at Dana Point, CA. It’s a few miles down the coast from Capistrano, though sadly I won’t be staying to see the swallows return. But it is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific and some beautiful water (although just for shits and giggles, there is a sound/inlet area that looks rather skanky and very East River/Brooklyn Piers-like; after all it’s only a Marriott) and the rooms are very welcoming. While most people like to steal towels, I want to steal the shower head. One 15-20 minute shower made me feel human again after almost no sleep in 30 hours. They also have an outdoor Jacuzzi a few yards outside our balcony area. 20 minutes there made me feel beyond human and on a 65 degree evening the wind was perfect. I don’t mind sleeping four to a room with all this around. I also made it a mission to call a bed before anyone else got to the room. Much needed rest after not resting nearly two days.
Part 2: Hell (or Another Day on the 405)
With the back of my throat itching as I got up, I knew I’d spend the day fighting a cold (and if you think it was the fault of jaunting in a Jacuzzi, then I’ll deal with the sore throat). I’m drinking tea by the truckload and trying to rest up a bit. Although that will be hard since why I’m here is to work a conference. There’s no rest for volunteers and even much less for organizers. So I get to spend the day remembering what it was like to be a PA on a film shoot. Lots of running around chasing things and putting out fires. Part of my job today was to ride shotgun for runs to the airport. There are two other area airports near
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March 15, 2008 by Dave.
Sophia was scheduled to be at Newton-Wellesley Hospital at 8:00 am Wednesday morning. They needed to put another tube in her left ear only. She had tubes put in when she was three, and they fell out as usual. But one of her ears isn’t draining well at all, so the doctor wanted to put in a new tube in. That meant getting up at 6:15 and try to get her out of the house by 6:45. No breakfast, nothing to drink but water, I had to drive her to the hospital after picking up her mom. Luckily I got to Susan’s house early because, of course, she just woke up when I got there. I still managed to get her to the hospital a little early.
They had Sophia scheduled for the procedure at 9:00 am, and we were there to fill out paperwork and get her prepped. Part of the prep was to give Sophia a sedative. The anesthesiologist told us it was to help take the edge off of kids before they get into the OR. It was a Tylenol cocktail with something else in it and cherry flavor. She said it’s basically like versed and warned us that she would seem drunk for a little bit. Honestly there are only two words in the English language to describe Sophia drunk: Jeff Conway. (Now I hate reality TV shows, and I am not promoting this show in and of itself, but you need to see the first episode of Celebrity Rehab in its entirety to fully appreciate what I’m talking about in terms of Sophia’s drunken behavior) Before the surgery she was fussy and loved everybody. After the surgery (when coming off of the anesthesia) she was fussy and belligerent. So much so that she had to be put in a separate room when she started screaming as we were supposed to leave.
Hospital regulations said she had to either be carried out or put in a wheelchair. She wanted to walk out on her own and she wasn’t allowed— mainly because she was still under the effects of the anesthesia. She had a fit when I lifted her up and then when I put her in the chair. In that small separate room, I was trying to get her coat on her when she decided to try and walk on her own, and then stumbled slamming head first into the wooden cabinets and railing. More crying and freaking out by Sophia, and even more freaking out by Susan. Susan was almost expecting Sophia to stay at the hospital overnight, and after she hitting her head, she was now insisting on it. The doctor was trying to tell her that there is no medical reason to do that and Sophia continues to scream and cry, and that she would be better off in her own home, in her own environment. I was on the doctor’s side, but it was about convincing Susan.
She thought I was going to go right home after this operation. I wasn’t going to go until I knew Sophia was all right, depending on doctor’s orders. They said it was a same day procedure, so I was taking them at their word. Susan still remembered the time when Sophia when blue after being given fentynol in post-op after the last set of tubes were put in. I of course remembered it, too, but I wasn’t trapped by it. Sophia came through it fine and only needed to let the anesthesia effects wear off. The nurses were able to calm Sophia down. One nurse gave her popsicles and crackers and talked to her to stop her crying and get her to sit still for a bit. That was enough to get Susan to think clearly, plus assuring her that I would also going to be at the house, too, helped.
We got Sophia to agree to sit in the wheelchair and not try to walk again. This however meant carrying her a bunch of times. She hated that and, of course, screamed every time I lifted her up into the car, out of the car and upstairs to the house. But like the doctor’s said, when she was home she was in much better shape. She was still pretty wobbly for most of the afternoon and still very fussy (more than usual). Putting her at the computer to play online kids games helped the process along. The one thing Susan and I agreed on was that we need to keep alcohol as far away from Sophia as possible. She doesn’t do well drunk.
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February 20, 2008 by Dave.
Looking at my counter calendar on this blog, It’s been close to a month that I’ve written anything on here. Not good. So this is a double blog entry. I’ve been so preoccupied to do anything like a blog. Read and find out why.
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2/6/08
I have been arranging two almost back-to-back auditions for my web series. The first one went pretty well, but not like I would have hoped. I still don’t have a lead—as well as three other roles. I held a second one today and I had less people as the last time. I think we have two roles cast– one white woman and the Nicaraguan mother. The other three male Latino roles are MIAs. I had one guy show up today to read for the lead but he was the ONLY ONE to show up, and I can’t make a decision on only one guy. I said this earlier: what do I have to sacrifice to what Orisha to get Latino actors to come to an audition???!??!? I’m gonna hold a third but with some slight variations since my time will be limited.
My time is limited because of a few things going on with Sophia. She needs to have surgery to put tubes in her ear again. Her left ear has fluid in it and her hearing is decreased because of it. That surgery is scheduled on the 27th. First however she needs to see a cardiologist. As the ear doctor was examining her, he detected a slight heart murmur. Her doctor confirmed it today, but it could be just an innocent murmur (e.g. when a growing child’s heart shifts around in the chest as they grow up). Either way they want to check it out before going under general anesthesia. That’s scheduled for the 19th– at 9am, which is coming off of my 1am shift. Yuk!
I did manage to get away for a bit though. Drove out to Buffalo to visit a friend. Buffalo I know is not anyone’s idea of a winter getaway (especially running straight into it), but anytime you can swim in an indoor pool while it’s flurrying outside is a good thing. A much needed rest to a busy couple of weeks. I’ll be heading out to California at the beginning of March for a film conference. I’ll be a volunteer, which is the only way I can afford to go, and I’m also hoping to have some raw footage from the series to show some people– another reason to get this thing up and running! But after the weekend conference, I’ll be driving to Vegas to see my best friend for a few days before heading home. Like I said, busy!
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2/20/08
All in all I’d much rather be writing entries that are a little more focused, but these days focused is not one of my strong suits. At least not concerning blogs.
First of all, for those keeping track, Sophia is fine. The heart murmur they found was an innocent murmur and in fact the cardiologist didn’t hear any murmur when she checked her today. So she’s all set to get a tube put in her ear on the 27th. That should solve all the ear infections and the back-up fluid.
The web series update. The auditions were okay. I have to confirm this with my co-creator, but I think we’ve got our actresses (if he ever gets around to watching the auditions). Now we still need our leads. I’m talking to a couple of actors who I think fit the role. We’ll just have to see how all this goes. I’m tired of auditioning people. Actually, no. I’m tired of scheduling auditions and trying to get people to show up and no one does. Granted I’m trying to get Latino actors in Boston to come out when the pool is not that deep. Still you’d figure they’d want to come out. It’s been a frustrating time.
Even more frustrating is that I am going to have to push back the shoot of the pilot episode. I was hoping to have it done before I went to the NALIP conference on March 6. With the leads still not cast, rehearsals not scheduled and a set not designed, that’s not going to be possible. So I’m pushing the shoot back to the end of the month, and we should premiere the show online in April. I’d rather do this right, than right now, especially since I want to make sure it’s well rehearsed. That takes time.
Other than that, not a whole hell of a lot going on.
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