Attention actors! Paul Ben-Victor will be teaching his second acting workshop held by the International Academy of Film and Television. The workshop is entitled Character/Chameleon and it will be held this Saturday, July 17, in Venice, California, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It’s $99 for this workshop, and $89 for students. Well worth it, if you ask me, because you’re learning from one of the best.
If I seem to be a bit quiet lately, it’s for good reason. Last month I was in a seven-car pileup on the freeway. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, but I did end up with a mild case of whiplash. I can only imagine how painful a serious case of whiplash must be, but I can tell you that a mild case isn’t much fun either. Sleeping, or I should say trying to get sleep, has been a challenge because I wake up several times a night with something hurting and then I have to try to find a position that is more comfortable, which isn’t always possible. The past month have been filled with numerous visits to the chiropractor and massage therapist. Happily, the treatments are paying off because I am in pain less frequently than before and I’m not waking up quite as much in the middle of the night.
All of this has, of course, effected the film project because I haven’t had the time or energy to work on it. The reference guide is still sitting there waiting to be finished, but I am hoping to get back to working on it soon. Recently, however, I did manage to attend a couple of events and that’s what I want to talk to you about today.
Making Movies Throughout the Bay Area (MMTB)
Saturday before last, I spent the day at Goal Line Productions’ studio. Goal Line is owned by football legend John Madden and operated by his son Joe. The filmmaking event was put on by a filmmaking co-op group called Making Movies Throughout the Bay Area (MMTB).
If you’re not familiar with filmmaking co-ops, let me explain what they are. Briefly, they are groups of people interested in filmmaking who come together and share their time, talent, equipment, ideas, etc. to make short films. For people who are interested in filmmaking but never had a chance to go to film school, this is a great low-cost way to get involved in filmmaking and learn how it is done guerrilla style. For those who have or are currently going to film school, co-ops help you to get that much needed practice. Here is where you can learn and practice the art without worrying about mistakes derailing your career. People aren’t expecting perfection at this point in the game. That comes later.
MMTB is a very new co-op. This was only the second meeting. They have a few bugs to work out yet in how they operate, but I’m sure they will iron those out over time and turn into a smoother running organization. What I like about MMTB is the low time commitment and cost of joining. Joining is basically free. Just go to their Facebook page and join the group. If you want to attend one of their filmmaking events, however, there is a small fee that is reduced if you bring a food or drink item for the potluck lunch. Events are one day per month and they run the entire day. By the end of the day each group has finished shooting a short film and can take it with them for editing. Edited films are due by a certain date and shown at the next event where everyone who attends gets to vote on which film they like best. This is the film that won this month.
Perfect? No, but can you believe they only had two hours to come up with that concept and write and shoot it? Not bad considering the constraints. MMTB rules require directors to have their own camera equipment. If you’re a director, you’re a team leader. There are two boxes filled with slips of paper. One contains the names of the writers in the group, the other contains the names of the actors. The director chooses one writer and two actors. It’s the luck of the draw and you have no idea which group you’ll be assigned to until your name is drawn. At that point it’s a mad dash to come up with a concept that fits your group and get it shot within the allotted time. This month the teams were given four hours to shoot their films.
As a producer, I wasn’t sure what exactly I could contribute to an event such as this so I joined a sort of miscellaneous group that makes the behind-the-scenes video. I was assigned to watch the various groups and take notes for the video. I can’t say I was very successful at first. It wasn’t until I was able to watch the video for last month’s gathering that I was really able to understand what they were looking for. My note taking then improved a little bit, although I can’t say it was near as clever as what had been done before. But it was fun to watch the various filmmaking teams in action. Most of the teams did “talking heads” stories, although I did see one group shooting an action film. One advantage of shooting at a studio is getting to use some of the equipment that they have. One team was able to use some of the studio’s green screen for their indoor scenes. I’m curious as to what those scenes will look like.
For a producer, the main reason to attend an event such as this is for the contacts. You just never know if you’ll find local talent that you may wish to hire or collaborate with later. I was able to find a few contacts that day that could be promising.
Scary Cow Productions
Monday before last, I took a class on location management that was hosted by another film co-op called Scary Cow Productions. Their motto is “Make Movies. Be Scary.” If MMTB is for those who want to dip their toe into filmmaking, Scary Cow is taking it to the next level. There’s a bit more of a commitment involved to become a Scary Cow member. The membership fee is $50 per month. Participants are given four months to complete their projects, which gives them more control over the creative elements of their projects. It works like this: Once every four months members meet together for a pitching meeting. Anybody can pitch an idea. Members decide which projects will go forward by choosing the project they want to work on. At the end of the four months, films are screened in a theater which has been rented for the occasion. Members and a panel of judges vote for the best films. The winners receive a budget for their next film.
Scary Cow also hires professionals to teach classes for its members. Occasionally, they open their classes to the general public. I’ve had the privilege of taking two of their classes already. Back in December I took a casting class taught by a local casting agent; and last Monday I took a class in location management taught by a local location scout. Both were excellent classes that gave me a real feel for what their job entails; and I was able to make contact with two local professionals in their respective fields that may come in useful down the road.
Attention any actors or aspiring actors! Paul Ben-Victor will be teaching an acting master class workshop this Saturday, November 21, 2009, from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Here’s a chance to learn from someone who has worked consistently in TV and film for over 20 years. Currently, Paul appears in the hit TV series In Plain Sight, but his career boasts a long list of roles in various films and TV series including our own beloved The Invisible Man for which he won an audience award for his role as Bobby Hobbes. Paul has had the kind of career that many actors only dream about, so it would behoove you to take advantage of this opportunity to learn from one of the best!
This workshop is sponsored by the International Academy of Film and Television. The cost is $179 or $49 to audit. Click on the link below to reserve your place in the class. Space is limited!
A couple of years ago I was approached by author/journalist Mark Phillips who, along with his writing partner Frank Garcia, was writing the second in a series of books on science fiction TV series. Their first book, Science Fiction Television Series, was published in 2006 and covered TV series from 1959 to 1989. Their second book was to cover series from 1990 to 2004. So guess which series that we all know and love fits into that date range? Yep, The Invisible Man.
When Mark approached me asking for help on an Invisible Man chapter that he was writing for the book, I was happy to help. Hey, I’m a fan. How could I resist? So I provided information about the show and helped edit the chapter, as well as arranged interviews with Vince and Paul.
Now, after all this time, the book has finally been published! Mark did a really nice job with the chapter. There are maybe one or two errors that crept into the chapter, but for the most part, it’s pretty accurate.
Mark starts out with a quote from writer Leslie Stevens who said, “Invisibility sucks.” Leslie wasn’t referring to the power of invisibility but, instead, was complaining about the difficulty in creating a successful series about invisibility. Is it any wonder? Virtually every invisible man series created before our invisible man series has performed poorly. But when you consider that film is a visual medium and invisibility is, well, invisible, you can begin to see the difficulties that filmmakers have making invisibility work.
This makes me appreciate the brilliance of Matt Greenberg even more. Not only did he not skimp on the invisibility aspects, but he created a way to do invisibility that we hadn’t seen before, what with the gland and Quicksilver. However, he wisely didn’t put the focus on the invisibility. Instead, he created fun, flawed, and fascinating characters that we could fall in love with and care about. In fact, it was the “show’s emphasis on characterization” that attracted Vince to the part of Darien.
Mark writes about several of the episodes such as the pilot (good choice), “Catevari,” and “Legends.” In hindsight, I probably should have suggested that he include something about a few of the stronger episodes. I would have liked to have seen something in the chapter about “Flowers for Hobbes,” ”Brother’s Keeper,” or “The Other Invisible Man.”
Subjects Mark writes about in the chapter include the casting process, the chemistry between Vince and Paul, the visual effects, the addition of agent Alex Monroe, and the cancellation. There’s some interesting stuff there that you may or may not know about.
The book is definitely a must have for I-Man fans, as well as lovers of science fiction TV shows. You can purchase a copy for yourself by clicking on the link below. That will take you to a website filled with all kinds of information about both books as well as ordering info. (I bought my copy from Amazon.)
Note: I’m not making any money plugging this book. My only rewards have been being able to help with promoting I-Man to more people and getting a very nice acknowledgment in the Acknowledgments section of the book.
I first met Jeffrey about a year ago. We attended the same seminar given by a venture capitalist. I blogged about it in a post I wrote last March entitled Film Financing From a VC’s Perspective. For the afternoon group assignment, Jeffrey was on the same team as I was. It was great to have someone with his experience on our team. We ended up beating all the other teams with our project.
Jeffrey makes the best argument I’ve ever heard for why films are not necessarily the poor investment that they are commonly painted to be. Yes, he admits that most films don’t recoup the investor’s initial investment. However, when you compare films to the typical Silicon Valley startup, there are some noteworthy differences. Many startups have nothing to show after 18 to 24 months and, if they fail, the most that an investor can often get is whatever the fixtures sell for at auction. In other words, pretty much nothing. However, when it comes to films, if you are able to raise the full production budget, which will enable you to complete the film and get it in the can, you now have a real asset…something that is worth far more than used furniture. If the film is a big hit, there can be big rewards; but at the very least, an investor will receive back a significant portion of his or her investment. There won’t be fire sale. That can’t be said for most Silicon Valley startups. Following that line of reasoning, this makes film an investment that is very worthy of consideration.
If the business of filmmaking interests you, you might want to take the time to watch the following 41 minute preview video. In it, Jeffrey gives us small taste of his upcoming workshop.
