rubberblog

Separated at birth

2011-12-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

Ha, a teaser for the upcoming blog post about something special. But, seriously... this.

Money Shot

2011-04-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

I have just begun pre-production on another short entitled "Money Shot." I've created a Facebook page where I will updating the steps along the way. Like the page to keep in the loop.

Matt Wilkinson, producer of "The Bet," has agreed to help with the producing duties. Chris Smith, co-writer of "The Bet," is currently rewriting the script. Francis George is on board to serve as director of photography.

The script is based on the short story "Green Eyes" - available in the collection Suffer. The story is about a retired adult film star forced to rethink his decision to leave the porn business when a mysterious stalker attacks him with questions... and a nail gun.

The teaser poster has also been created. Click to embiggen (open a new window).

Writeaholic?

2011-03-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm 75% through Beautiful (for the second time) and revisiting Detox to see if there's a way to punch it up and get it sold. And I'm toying with an idea that could maybe be a feasible next short. And by "could" and "maybe" I mean "if I can figure out a way to do it with minimal cash investment." It technically shouldn't be much bigger of a budget than "The Bet," but I used up all my favors to get that one made. I'm gonna have to put my cash where my ideas are this time out.

Not giving up on it yet. I'll write the script while procrastinating writing (or rewriting) the others. And then, find something else to write. Lord knows there are plenty of ideas scratching to get out. Writing is, luckily, free.

Lucky number 7

2010-12-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend I got my 7th tattoo. It was a sorta last-minute thing. We had planned a weekend trip to San Francisco mainly to get away to celebrate our 15th anniversary and my two-score birthday by going to Alcatraz (fitting, i know). (side note, Mythbusters is doing Alcatraz escapes). I've been jonesing for a tattoo for the past three years or so, and my wife, when planning the SF excursion, found Black Heart tattoo and made an appointment. I'm Mr Controlling with the tattoos, but decided, after seeing the old school (Sailor Jerry-style) tats the artist I was booked with did, decided to get a very Vegas-y tattoo. Born and raised in Vegas and working in the casino industry, I thought it would be a nice marriage of career and passion by getting an old-school tattoo that might have been stabbed into some guy who just won $100 on the slots in 1958 on his way back to the military. So, I pretty much just told the artist (Nick Rodin) that I was a Vegas native, worked in Vegas-style industry and wanted old-school ink to reflect that. Dice, slots, a showgirl, whatever.

When he was done, the artist said, "bet you were thinking, 'he's trying to make it show up on the other side'" because he was pushing so hard. True. I've never had that kind of pain with a tattoo.

Ow.

It's also my first color tattoo. And I like it. Wrong dice numbering and color and all.

By the way, this was taken at the Alcatraz waiting line.

Diversity Champion

2010-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

As part of my new corporate life, I was required to attend a two-day Diversity Workshop - basically a team building leadership experience. I was, from the onset, opposed to the very idea of it. There were some comments from people that really freaked me out ("spooked the herd" as they say).

I'm not a very social person - especially in new situations. I take a long time to warm up to people - at least as far as they know. And I refuse to reveal what's inside for even longer. So, in two days...? You're getting nothing.

What sucks is that the second day, they challenged us to really give it everything we had. I was tired. I was over it. But, had I listened... I definitely would have - as they promised - gotten a lot more from it. There were so many times when my instincts (possibly persuaded by the constant mantras) were deafening in my head, but I was hesitant to act. I knew what I felt was right, but I didn't want to stand out. I now know how wrong I was to keep it inside.

Am I going to change? I can't help but. Big sweeping changes? No. But I kept a little memento as a reminder of a promise to myself (and made a promise to someone else). I made good (a bit) on the first promise. I hope to make good on the second (cos it's a lot more fun!).

Prom Night

2010-10-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

Apparently I wasn't a Jamie Lee Curtis Fan Boy. Despite my horror geekiness spawned in the mid-'80s, i'd never seen seen terror train, nor prom night - the two big post-Halloween, Curtis starrers. Well, I've finally seen Prom Night, and, well... meh. I know had I been on the bandwagon then, I'd have followed the progression, but my parents wouldn't let me watch "those movies," nor could i blame them since, at 10, these 1981 slasher films caused them as many sleepless night as i had. but this entry is, at least from a nostalgic-friendly, modern-aware review, at best, meh.

what's your favorite horror film...

2010-10-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Or horror film moment, or most terrifying moment? When, while watching a horror film did you think, "oh, crap, i can't do this anymore!" what made you jump after watching a horror film. basically, share your horror film experiences as they encroached into the real world.
For weeks after seeing The Blair Witch Project, my wife and I... hallucintated. We saw shit that wasn't there, like walking up to the house and she turned to me after i thought i'd seen something in the front window and said, "you saw it, too?"
That sort of thing.

Wicked Little Things

2010-10-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

Not a bad film. Definitely nice looking. But I can't stand Scout Taylor-Compton. Had a few decent scares, some blood. It just lacked that certain something.

budgets

2010-10-18T20:58:00.001-07:00

After Paranormal Activity (which had a budget of about $11,000) raked in over $100 million, Paramount looked into launching an indie arm to produce and distribute under-$100k films. Ummm, the sequel to PA has a budget of $2.75 million. If even the sequel to the film that started that idea doesn't fit into the plan (much like The Blair Witch Project 2), you gotta understand there's something to us "on the fringe" filmmakers. Could I make a feature for $1 million? Hell yes. Would I give up the rights to Beautiful for $1k? Nope.

Friday the 13th Part II

2010-10-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to stick with films I hadn't seen before, but Netflix is skimpy on the instant films, and I was jonesing. Plus, after watching The Prowler, this one was stuck in my head. Still one of my faves of the franchise. And this is one of the films in this year's lame Fear Fest lineup on AMC, so I figured I'd watch it (relatively) uncut rather than catch it on basic cable.

Nine Dead

2010-10-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

I should be nice, after all this had some promise. Had there not been a little-seen film called Saw, and had the actors here been convincing, this could have been a nice little thriller. All said, this film ain't horrible - the end, yes - but the rest not so bad. A bit repetitive, a bit over-dramatic, a lot overwrought (if you have 10 minutes before someone in the room dies, why the dramatic retelling of a story that helps no one but the plot?). A not-so-cheap film (IMDb gives $2,000,000 as the budget) that felt cheap. Makes me both mad and inspired. Maybe I should try my hand at the microbudget indie rather than something that'd likely cost twice what this film did.

Witchboard

2010-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

I can still remember seeing this in the theatre and it makes me kinda sad that going to see a film - especially a horror film - in the theatre is nothing like it used to be. Used to be a lot more audience participation. Now, people sit there (all 3 of them) and text. Anyway, this was one of my high school classics. It hasn't aged all that well (nor has Tawny Kitaen!), but it's a film that has a very special place in my heart.

Case 29

2010-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Ugh. What a wannabe thriller with a puffy, sweaty crack whore in the lead. She should have stuck with the level of fame Texas Chainsaw Massacre-The Next Generation would have afforded her. And Jodelle Ferland needs to leave the business altogether. A failed attempt in Silent Hill, Tideland, everything, pretty much...

Fail.

Though if spiders had come out of Bradley Cooper's eyes and ears, my ass would've been outta there.

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-10-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

Another one I've already seen, but not for a really long time. I still think it's funny that the poster gives every kill away. Not great by any means, but I have to think this is one that played on HBO back when we got HBO through an antenna because I remember having seen this one a bunch.

Dreamscape

2010-10-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

Oh, Nostalgia, you flittering tease. This was one of my go-to films as a teen. This and The Clash of the Titans were my gold statuette gods. I can still hear the HBO Feature Presentation music playing moments before this started.

I couldn't stop thinking Kate Capshaw is married to Steven Spielberg, and Dennis Quaid looks so young. Despite the really crappy FX (both visual [Peter Kuran] and makeup [Craig Reardon]) there were moments of charm and moments I cringed where it hadn't aged so well. And an (already-known) observation that Inception is a crude knockoff with better FX.

Terror Train

2010-10-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

LAME!
I can't even describe how pissed off I was at this film - another I had managed to never see, despite watching some horrocious dreck. Two words: David Copperfield. I think he still does the same lame flourishes now. I wanted to punch him the way I want to punch Criss Angel. Douche.
Besides that, I had no idea whee these people were in the train, where they were going, why the train was "checked," but they just walked past the drapped sleeping area; why the conductor had to be a magic 'tard, it all just felt so lame. I wanted to punch myself for watching it. Maybe it was good in the salad days of the slasher and Jamie Lee Curtis, but barely. If this had been my first slasher film, thing could have been a lot different.

The Prowler

2010-10-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

This is a toughy. A slow start with the newsreel footage and endless reading of the "Dear John" letter. But finally some good gore with the pitchfork kill of two young and sexy folks - which made me think, "Gee, I wish they hadn't cut down the spear to the back of the making-out couple in Friday the 13th Part 2.

Then we meet our lead, the Final Girl (obviously), and I think, "She looks so much like Amy Steel, the Final Girl, Ginni, from Friday the 13th Part 2.

Some bad acting and some good FX (thanks to Tom Savini) later, and Amy-wannabe is under a bed, hiding from the killer and a rat comes up to her (just like in Friday the 13th Part 2 - though the weeing part isn't here; makes me think a spy didn't get to see the second unit of the pee scene). Anyway, there's the obvious twist, which I still don't understand. A final showdown (with a broken pitchfork that Final Girl uses to defend herself, just like Friday the 13th Part 2). Lots of blood. And it was a great timewaster.

Survival of the Dead

2010-10-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Couldn't sleep. Decided to watch a horror film. Today's flick was Survival of the Dead, the latest George A. Romero's "of the dead" film. Some gooey effects, but not much else. It wasn't bad enough to put me back to sleep, but I wish it had. Gonna be dead tired today.

Horror Movie a Day

2010-10-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's October - the month of my favorite holiday - and i decided to watch a horror film every day, hoping to watch films i hadn't seen before or had seen once a long time ago. This is coinciding with my "wear a different horror-themed shirt to work all month" mission.

Well, I fucked up on day one and watched nothing. Day two gave me Fright Night which was a pleasant blast from the '80s - and a nice intro for my elder son who watched the scary bits from behind his hand.

Today I planned on watching Borderland, an After Dark film (and I love the After Dark films), but my computer A is too old to accept Netflix's tech, my PS3 played some random Spanish film and my laptop had a font issue. Fuck it. So I ended up watching Kalifornia, which is an old favorite though I haven't watched it for some odd years. My wife came down, and I said "What do you say?" It took a second, but finaly she recognized the film and said, "You look good with a gun, Brian!" in the best Juliette Lewis drawl. One of our catchphrases. Don't judge. I still think Bojan Bazelli is a god.

Yesterday, I was hoping to assist on a short film shoot (had helped a few weeks ago), but was doing some freelance that bled over into the shooting schedule and couldn't make it. Hoping there's at least one more day of shooting so I can get out there. Some phenomenal shot from still photog Marcus (see photo at left). Made me even more jealous I wasn't there.

So, we'll see if I can squeeze in the HMaD (Horror Movie a Day). Maybe if The Sci-Fi Center was next door, I'd be all up in some awesome horror shit. As it is, I'm getting my ass up early to watch what Netflix can play. Anyone got some interesting choices? Thank to Mat Planet & his lovely sidekick, Troll and Troll 2 are in the program as a double feature as soon as I have that much time to devote.

Another IMDb update (now with links)

2010-08-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Everyone is up (or less down) than last time. Included links to each page (opens a new window). I also "liked" each of the entries through Facebook. Except John's. I got an error. poop.

"The Bet": down 5%
Michael Dunn: up 381%
Chris Smith: down 54%
Matt Wilkinson: up 150%
Kurt Rauf: up 11%
Lou Diamond: up 17%
Courtney Gardner: down 25%
Walt Turner: up 4%
Mat Planet: down 20%
Shannon Sarver: down 40%
John McClain: up 4%
Rachel Bellinsky: up 41%
Drew Marvick: up 36%
Mike Minnick: down 42%
"An Uncommon Wager: The Making of 'The Bet'": up 42%

Feedback from Slamdance Script Competition

2010-07-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

PLEASE COMMENT!

I submitted both the short version of "Beautiful" as well as Detox to the Slamdance Script Competition. I paid for coverage on Detox and just left the "brief feedback" do for "Beautiful."

First the short (and sorta sweet) part. For "Beautiful," the one-sentence feedback was: "Interesting idea. Title really doesn’t work for me for this short, first of all. I think the first half moves a bit slower than necessary, but still interesting." Not entirely horrible. Like I told Chris, at least the one sentence wasn't: "Quit writing."

For Detox, they were more in-depth (since I paid a chunk extra, I hope so). Some highlights: "a story that at times teeters on commercial greatness." Of course, that's selective editing. The full comment is: "Inconsistent characters make for a schizophrenic tone. The ending kills a highly original concept, and a story that at times teeters on commercial greatness."

Well, there's promise there at least.

Since no one (aside from a select few) knows the details of Detox, here's their logline: "A young man kidnaps his ex-girlfriend in a demented, misguided attempt to get her off heroin." Fair enough. A few of the comments:

"Blake Snyder would call a “Monster in the House” film. As a writer, there’s nothing more challenging than filling 100 pages with a story that really only takes place in one setting. But, when done correctly, these stories are often the source of box office and critical success. Detox has the potential to garner both. The premise is highly original and so simple... Just get to that first plot point sooner."

Well, here's the thing - and I'm no expert, believe me - there are milestones in a script. you've got plot points that are supposed to hit at certain places (page 17 is a doozy). So we structured it that way. Moving that plot point up goes against the expected standard format. That'll take some thinking.

"Kidnapping an ex to get her sober is a pretty big sell to an exec, so drop a couple clearer hints about Mat’s condition at the outset."

Okay, this is helpful. Not an easy fix granted. But definitely something I can see working.

"(Basically from the beginning of the second act) the pacing is stellar. There’s literally never a dull moment. Again, crafting a compelling narrative within the confines of one setting is an extremely difficult task, but it is done to near perfection in the second act of Detox."

SCORE! So we've got the 2nd act nailed - that's 1/2 of the script. Although they had some issues with a number of elements. Julia (the girlfriend being forced to detox) hallucinates. This is supposed to create tension and give an outlet for some horror elements. They didn't like that. For example:

"I would trim the scenes in which Julia is hallucinating. While I liked the writing, and the scenes almost play as B story, ultimately the (hallucination) detracts from the credibility of your characters and story and makes for an uneven tone. I thought it clashed with the scenes in which Julia is lucid."

Question... Do you understand what they are saying? There's supposed to be a contrast. In the story she is given a sedative (used to treat both heroin withdrawal and bipolar disorder - which our lead, Mat, has) to calm her from the withdrawal. At times, he uses ketamine which is a hallucinogenic and also a stronger fix during heroin withdrawal. When she gets the ketamine, she hallucinates. Most of the scenes, she's either jonesing or hallucinating. There's really no lucidity. Which makes me wonder about the next comment:

"For the most part she’s very calm, and rational throughout the ordeal, and that’s far more endearing as she really needs something to redeem her."

This is where I heard the needle scratch across the record. Crap. She's not a redeeming character. Later, they say "Mat and Julia, are fairly unsavory characters" Zowie. The two leads are "unsavory." I think we fucked up big time. And yet, the feedback suggests it's an okay thing. That if we were to fly with that and embrace that, the script would be better for it. "It’s great to craft flawed leads, but their flaws should endear us to them, not repulse us." Not sure where to go with this.

"Reggie (who is the nosy neighbor that keeps coming over at the worst time) is a phenomenal supporting character, and such a vital cog to your story. He’s the perfect obstacle for Mat to overcome and he’s used to subtly layer in back story and advance plot. Great job."

I love Reggie. I'm glad they do, too. He grew into a major player in the last draft. At least we got something right.

"The scripts ultimate downfall is the tone. To say it’s uneven and inconsistent is a huge understatement."

This could be a factor of Chris and me tossing the thing back and forth and not sitting down and working on it together. There are definitely "me" parts - the darker stuff, and "chris" parts - the lighter stuff. They each, according to this coverage, have their merits and downfalls. And parts where I don't know where I end and he begins.

"The ending is something out of a Hallmark movie."

Ouch. The ending has gone through so much discussion and rewriting that I don't even know what the original ending was. Oh, wait, I do. Reggie was beheaded. I don't think that's the way to go.

Then, there was this comment (after calling him "unsavory"):

"Mat (the lead) is a character straight out of a Hitchcock movie. He’s wonderful because you’re always wondering is he a complete lunatic, or does he just have the biggest heart in the world? Is this a demented, misguided, self serving attempt to get back with his lost love? Or is this the ultimate act of altruism?"

I have no idea what to make of any of this. There are flaws, yes. Everything they pointed out will be thought about and talked about and addressed in some manner. But I think the stuff we think is good that they didn't like will stay... in some fashion.

David Peoples

2010-06-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Can I get a w00tw00t for this guy. I just watched for the first time (sadly) "Le Jetee" and was wow'd how 12 Monkeys spawned from that. So I look up the screenwriter for 12 Monkeys - which I love - and found out he also co-penned the screenplay for Blade Runner, oh and a spec script for some film called Unforgiven - which he wrote in 1976.

IMDb updates

2010-06-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm blogging this update because it's easy. Shut it.

The Bet: up 4%
Michael Dunn: up 119%
Chris Smith: down 64%
Matt Wilkinson: down 34%
Kurt Rauf: up 69%
Lou Diamond: down 31%
Courtney Gardner: down 40%
Walt Turner: down 82%
Mat Planet: down 59%
Shannon Sarver: down 70%
John McClain: down 57%
Rachel Bellinsky: down 21%
Drew Marvick: up 1%
Mike Minnick: down 71%

IMDb updates

2010-06-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: My bookmark to IMDb goes to The Bet's page. Why? I like to see how the fickle "MOVIEmeter" ranks the film and those associated with it. It updates every week, and I thought it would be fun to share what it says about the film (i'm sure my snooping skews the percentages) and its particpants (and other random tidbits I find).

The Bet: up 4%
Michael Dunn: up 29%
Chris Smith: up 57%
Matt Wilkinson: down 17%
Kurt Rauf: down 9%
Lou Diamond: up 58%
Courtney Gardener: up 6%
Walt Turner: down 66%
Mat Planet: down 23%
Shannon Sarver: down 41%
John McClain: down 36%
Rachel BellinskY: up 25%
Drew Marvick: up 167%
Mike Minnick: down 43

So that's who i'll be tracking. For no reason other than, um, posterity. I do, of course, also check on "An Uncommon Wager" and "Foreplay" on occasion... but we'll stick to the above.

WINNER!

2010-05-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

"Hallway," the theme from "The Bet," performed by Justine Bellinsky and written by Rachel Bellinsky, won the award for audience favorite music video at the 1st Annual PollyGrind Film Festival. How cool is that?!?!