Armed to the Teeth

The result of my recent participation in the 2011 Boston 48 Hour Film Project was just posted on YouTube. This was the one that I recently live blogged about.


My contributions to the film are as follows:

• Wrote a script that they didn't use (see live blog).
• Gave comments to the guy who wrote the script, basically amounting to "This makes no actual sense. That might be a problem." I said this as constructively as possible. To his credit, the guy changed the end of the script to make everything intentionally a joke as opposed to unintentionally a joke, which was an improvement.
• Procured props and costumes and gave actresses a ride to the shooting site.
• Got pizza.

Making Bullion

"Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes." - John LeCarre


This past weekend Malarkey Films shot two days worth of The Ex Factor web series.  The script for The Ex Factor, as it stands now, is 91 pages or the equivalent of a full-length screenplay.  After the first day of filming they had filmed approximately half of it.  They expect to finish shooting next weekend.  Even though I had written the web series to be as simple to produce as possible, the efficiency of the process they've developed is kind of astonishing.

I was able to sit in on the first day of shooting, in which they shot all of the Studio scenes.  The extreme speed is made possible by how they're shooting the studio scenes.  The two actors are shot by three cameras.  They run through the scene a few times, first playing the scene as written and then a few times improv-ing their way through the beats of the script.  In the editing, they'll choose among the takes to create the full episodes.

A few days before we started filming, the lead actress asked me if I minded that the plan was to stray from the words I slaved over for so long. It's a real question.  The final result will almost assuredly not contain many of the lines that I liked, ideas that I included, things that have been important to me that I've been working on for a year.  As I sat in the back of the room watching the scenes being run, there were times that the final result resembled my script in only the most cursory ways. It brings to mind the John LeCarre quote that started this blog with.  Is this something that I can live with?

We Need You..

...to help film the pivotal scene for The Ex Factor. On Sunday, May 22nd from 10am-2pm at The Burren in Davis Square, Somerville. We're filming the climactic scene in which lots o' stuff goes down. I mean, there will be old love letters, karaoke, serenading, and drunken antics aplenty.  See it live before you see it on film.

To RSVP, go here: Evite

The Ex-Factor is ready to roll

"For three long years, Josh and Hilary dated, until they both mutually agreed that it was a terrible, terrible idea. Now these 'just friends' are back, and they're podcasting together. Look out world. This… is the Ex Factor."

Last September I convened a small group of actors and my producing partner to do a table read of a comedy web series called "The Ex-Factor".  The series is about a couple who used to date before breaking up, but who now produce a weekly comedy podcast together with predictably mixed results.  We had thought we'd be able to start filming in the fall or early winter, but then the producing partners fell through due to financial reasons, and I had to start over from scratch. 

Liveblogging the 48 Film Project

7:00 pm.  Sitting in a hotel room with my team.  We know the genre.  Detective/Cop.  Waiting on the other criteria. Some people are writing already, I want to wait for all the criteria.

7:02 pm.  Stakeout? Scene of the crime?  Anatomy of a crime syndicate?  Much will depend on the required character.  Will probably use the woodsy house that we have available to us.

7:06 pm.  Character: Uncle Hank or Aunt Henrietta
Prop: Chess Piece
Line of Dialogue: "I didn't see that coming."

Another Year, Another 48 Hours

This weekend is the latest round of the 48 Hour Film Project in Boston, and this time I'm on yet another team.  With the good people at Malarkey Films busy doing preproduction on The Ex Factor, I was left without a team.  So, I put a listing up at the volunteer for a team page on the 48 Hour Film site, thinking that it probably wouldn't pan out.  However, I soon got an email from a guy putting together a new team.  Unlike other teams I've been on, the guy heading this team is a 48 Hour rookie but has assembled what seems to be a good group of people, many with experience and others with a lot of enthusiasm.  In a little over a week the film we made will be screened at the Kendall Theatre.