AFM 2000 - Day 4

AFM – Day 4
2/25/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

I woke up around 7:00 a.m. and started working on the script. The only thing I had to do today (besides finish the rewrite of the script) was have lunch with a dear old college friend, Jennifer. So, in the morning I worked on the re-write while Jenni tried to schedule a meeting with the foreign investor, Showcase, our Casting Director and her and Jeff. I finished the re-write around 10:30 a.m. It did what we needed it to do and Jenni would have the rest of the weekend to tweak it more before giving it to the investor on Sunday.

Jenni and Jeff, needing to run some errands (or just get away from me – I'm not sure which) and they dropped me off at the SAG building where I was to meet my friend Jennifer for lunch. I had tried to contact some other college friends, Dave and Sunday, but their phone number was now some auto place or something. So, I made my way up to the eighth floor (eighth floor again… hmmm) and Jennifer greeted me with a big hug. She looked exactly the same. I looked fat. She had told me that she had been exercising a lot and had actually lost weight. I silently blamed her for my weight gain since our college days, knowing deep down that her fat had been mysteriously transferred to my body over the last 12 years.

We went next door and ate at Koo Koo Roos. I offered to pay (I'm serious... you can ask her) but she insisted on paying for it herself. I realized I just may get through this trip with cash to spare! But, dinner still awaited. Jennifer and I spent lunch catching up on the past twelve years of our lives, talking about writing, the film industry, family and goals for the next 10 years. It was a great lunch and I wished we hadn't waited so long to get together.

You can see the effects of
prednisone on my cheeks.
Thank goodness for Remicade.

Jenni and Jeff picked me up and we headed back to the AFM so they could meet about casting. With Adrenaline, there's a basic cost of making the film, let's say $2 million or something like that and depending on what actors you get, the budget will be effected. So, they wanted to meet to determine what actors would fit into the fictional $2 million dollar budget, which actors would bump it up another million or so, and what actors would bump it up yet another million and so on. This is all part of the plan in determining funding and budgetary needs.

So, we arrived at the AFM and I got to meet our Casting Director Harriet Greenspan, who read Adrenaline and had LOVED it! She told me that it was one of the only scripts she had ever read where she couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting. Granted, she could have been bold-face lying to me, but she seemed like a very sincere, genuine person (yes, there are some of them in Hollywood) so I believed her. This probably makes me a sucker.

While they all met, I again strolled the halls of the AFM, taking more pictures, checking out which old TV star was starring a new disaster flick headed for Asia. As the evening wore on, we all ended up back in the lobby of the hotel. Bill Suchy, a fellow Floridian filmmaker, had flown in that morning and was going to take my bedroom/editing suite for the rest of the festival. While we waited for the meeting to adjourn on the eighth floor we talked a lot about writing, experimenting and using Digital Video as a low cost way to test our writing and directing abilities. It occurred to me, as the evening continued, that there were about five people in this entire room that were cloned to make the hundreds of people around me. There were the tall blondes with large breasts. The short brunettes with large breasts (I see a trend forming). The X-File look alikes. The hippie/European long haired guys. And the old guys who've been in the business so long they don't give a crap what they look like.

We finally all headed to Arnold S.'s restaurant, Shlotzies (or something like that), for dinner. Knowing that I'd been a total mooch since arriving and also knowing that my paycheck would have direct deposited by now, I insisted on paying for Jenni and Jeff's dinner. After we all induldged in some seriously good and expensive food, the bill came. But, it was all on one bill, I would have to charge it since I only had $4.87 cash on me, I couldn't afford to pay for EVERYone's meal and Jeff wouldn't let me pay for his and Jenni's anyway! So, I opened my wallet and threw the remaining four dollars I had onto the table as part of the tip and walked away feeling like week old pond scum.

We hurried out of the restaurant at around 9:15 p.m. My flight started boarding at 10:00 p.m. and was to leave at 10:30 p.m. Traffic was tight, I was tense and I REALLY didn't want to miss my flight home. Just when all seemed lost and the traffic was a near standstill, Jenni did some industrial strength thinking and drove around a parking structure, by-passing a ton of traffic, and exited right into the loading area for my airline. I gave her a quick hug and rushed into the airport. Jeff followed me up to the gate. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for all of his generosity. It was really great to see them after all this time. My trip into the world of filmdom was coming to an end and I appreciated the detour away from my everyday.

Flight 96, non-stop to Tampa started boarding and I was surprised how full the plane was. Every row had at least two people in it, so no one could stretch out on all of the three seats. I had a window seat, which I thought was a good idea, but I just couldn't enter that blissful slumber. Part of the problem was that I couldn't get comfortable… another was that I was anxious to get home and see my wife and kids… and another was that this small oriental gentleman seated directly in front of me continually passed gas in his sleep. Toxic gas. Intrusive, oppressive, oh-my-God-I'm-going-to-die gas. But, the guy was unconscious… what could I do? So, I turned my head and tried not to breath too deeply for the four hour trip home.

My wife and children waited for me at the airport baggage area. It was 5:45 a.m. and my loving wife pulled our kids out of bed just to pick me up. They were all glad to see me and I was thrilled to see them. On the drive home I recapped the trip with my wife as my kids fell back to sleep in the back seat. When I got home I plopped the remaining $.87 onto my dresser before diving into my familiar, comfortable bed and slept one of the deepest sleeps of my life.

I guess if there's one thing I learned during this trip is that, no matter what stage of the process you're in (pre-production, production, post, distribution, etc.), you are still your best salesman. You are still the one who has more passion and belief in your project than anyone else. You still have to keep working the film, making sure the distribution company is on the same page you are, pushing them, networking, making contacts... it doesn't appear that there is ever a stage in the process when you simply let go of the project. It's always yours. That's why it's so important that your first feature be something you are passionate about because you are going to live with it for a very long time.

Remaining Cash: $.87

Until next time...

AFM 2000 - Day 3

AFM – Day 3
2/24/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

It was Thursday and a big day for us. First, we had the RWA screening at a local AMC theater at 1:00 p.m. Second, we got a call that morning that we were to meet with the foreign investors that afternoon after the screening. But, first, we had to get there. And on the way down the interstate we ran into one of those classic L.A. traffic jams. Fortunately for us, there is a carpool lane, which was completely empty. Apparently we were the only people in the state that actually drove WITH someone else in the car.

On the way into the hotel entrance we passed the Troma people singing and dancing and making a lot of noise. They were dressed in their Troma character costumes (Kabuki Kop, Toxic Avenger, etc.) grooving to accordion music. Only in California can you see a man dressed up in a Kabuki outfit bump and grind to a Lawrence Welk-ish tune with a mal-formed melon head and a scream queen.

We arrived at the AFM around 10:30 to meet up with some people who were going to join us at the screening. Grady Bishop, our stunt coordinator on RWA, got in contact with some of the great women from the Stuntwoman's Association of Motion Pictures and they agreed to come out and help push the film. Nancy Thurston, Elle Alexander, and Cheryl Bermeo were all there to help us out. Originally they had planned to recreate the wheelchair down the cable stunt outside the AMC theater where the screening was to be held, but due to nearby construction, this had to be called off. I asked Nancy why they were willing to assist us and she said, "The more advertisement for women, stunt women, women directors, any woman in any part of the industry, we love to support." She also stated that it's hard enough for women in the entertainment industry and that they need to help each other out as much as possible. Their generosity and time were greatly appreciated. They were going to take our poster and postcards and hand them out in the front of the AMC, so, they donned some RWA t-shirts and headed for the theater.

Before they left, however, security had come to us twice about our RWA poster. Trying to enforce the "don't flaunt your stuff" policy, they told us we had to turn our poster toward the wall or else they would confiscate the goods. We tried to explain that we were handing it to these women to take with them (which was true), but they didn't buy it. We knew they were only doing their job, but we didn't see them stop the Troma people from dancing and singing through the lobby or tell some woman with a pet monster to take it outside. The best we could figure out was that you weren't allowed to display your film (i.e. large poster), but if you dressed up wacky and people initiated conversation, then you were then allowed to hand them a postcard and flaunt your film to your hearts content. A gray area, sure, but life's full of 'em.

Chris Templeton, RWA's lead actress, arrived and we then all headed to the theater. We got there a little early. We checked in with the stunt-women who were busily handing out postcards to anyone who walked by. Jeff and I then took a stroll down the main street and headed to Borders bookstore. On the way there we ran into a little guy (a friend of the stunt women) who handed us an RWA postcard and said "hey, you wanna see a great action movie?" Jeff kindly pointed out that he produced it and I pointed out that I co-wrote it. He smiled and walked on, going up to the next person.

After a stroll through the extensive film book collection in Borders, we continued down the walk and ran into Gregory Von Hausch, who is President of the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival. For those of you who missed that episode, the RWA showed at the '98 Ft. Lauderdale Film Fest and won the Sunshine Celluloid Award. Gregory said that some little guy pushed an RWA postcard in his hand and asked if he wanted to see a great action film. Gregory said he tried to explain to him that he showed the film at his festival last year… he was certain the guy didn't believe him. You gotta love the little guy's enthusiasm for a film he's NEVER seen!

It neared lunch and Tracy, Olga, Chris and I headed across the street from the theater to Lago's for some lunch. The menu said they had pasta and a salad bar, but after seeing the meals, I wasn't too sure what they were serving. The ladies all got the "salad" bar, which was really like some food freak show with unpronounceable names and weird tastes. I tried to order a simple dish, fettuccini and chicken, but it came out looking different and tasting slightly off. I ate it anyway because I was starving.

Our lunch was interrupted by a parade of picketing janitors fighting for the right to higher wages. Thankfully there was no mop-water spilled or stain remover shed… it was a peaceful demonstration. Tracy and Chris had to leave early because a TV crew showed up at the theater, so Olga and I had a nice meal discussing many things. It was a pleasant lunch. I tried to pay (no, really) but Olga said Jeff insisted he pay for the meal.

The screening finally neared and we made our way to the theater. Outside the Mulder and Scully buyers approached, exiting an AFM shuttle bus dressed like attendees at an FBI convention. Postcards were given out aplenty. The little guy (I really have to get his name) wanted to know if he could sit on the shuttle bus and hand out the postcards to the buyers as they entered/exited (I LOVE his enthusiasm!). We thought that may be a bit intrusive, but we agreed he could hang out where they dump the X-File look-a-likes out and pummel them with advertising.

Ned McLeod, our handy-dandy entertainment lawyer, and John and Susie Millonig some of our executive producers, were in town and showed up for the screening. It was good to meet John and Susie. They are really great people. They've spent the last 12 years building a missionary in a village down in Honduras. They are almost complete and will move to a new village and start again. Great people.

We made our way into the theater and I was deeply disappointed to find out that Snowcaps were not sold in this theater. A movie without Snowcaps? What is this, Russia? Disappointed, I continued on, chocolate-less, and sat in the back of the theater. The way these screenings work is like this… there are about 10 movie theaters that are showing AFM films during the week. Each of the films the distributors want to show gets one, MAYBE two screenings during the AFM. So, during our screening there were other AFM films showing on each of the other screens in our theater… and there are also AFM films at all of the other screens at all of the other theaters all at the same time. So, we were pleased to have about 50 people attend the screening. It's not uncommon to have people come and go during these screenings. Some may spend 10 minutes in one film, 15 in another and 30 in yet another, getting a feel for if the film could sell in their territory. If they want to view the entire film they can always get video copies from the distributor later. We were very happy to have only two people leave after the first ½ hour and the rest stayed through to the end. That was very encouraging.

After the screening the rest of the people were now hungry, so we headed back over to Lago's for some post-screening feeding. Those of us who had lunch earlier indulged in some serious desserts while the rest of them played mystery-food roulette with the menu. This was the first time I was able to meet Isaac, who plays Mo in RWA. He had just finished a gig on the new Charlie's Angels film (like society needs THAT to be a feature film). I asked him what type of roles he's been getting and he stated most of his characters were morally challenged (i.e., bad guys). We joked that, someday, he could get a role where his character yearns to cuddle.

Also, during lunch, dinner or whatever this was, I got to meet and talk with Scott Dobbie, a director who's interested in directing a script I wrote called One View Only. Jenni ran into Scott a while back at a DGA event. Scott said he was looking for a script like Silence of the Lambs… Jenni immediately thought of One View Only, sent him a copy and he loved it! He's working on getting financing and all of the other stuff that goes into getting a film made. Jenni and Jeff will produce the film if he gets the cash in place. I tried to pay at this meal too (stop snickering, I'm serious), but Jeff insisted on paying for this meal too.

After eating we headed back to the AFM and met with our would-be foreign investor who, at this point, will remain nameless. First off, you don't want to jinx a thing like multi-million dollar financing and Second, you don't want to risk pissing off a guy who may invest in your film and Third, it's just not kosher in filmdom. So, we had a good meeting with them and Showcase. They stated that they needed the re-written Adrenaline to review with his people when he goes back home and we agreed to meet the next day with our casting director to discuss possible directions we want to go in casting.

On the drive home we got stuck in traffic again. The half-hour drive took about an hour and a half. On the way home Jeff cracked the whip and said that we should work on the script changes that night so we can make sure and get him a finished re-write before the guy goes back to their country. We didn't want to delay the process of getting financing at all. We also needed to do it before I left for home, Friday night.

So, Jenni and I stayed up as late as we could and worked our way through about 1/3 of the script. Before going to bed, I got on the computer and entered the changes, then crashed.

Remaining Cash: $4.87

AFM 2000 - Day 2

AFM – Day 2
2/23/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

My mind tried to wake me up at about 3:30 a.m. PST, thinking I was back home in my own bed, ready to go to work. However, it didn't take long to convince my body that a couple of hours more sleep would do me good. I knew these next few days would be packed with events, so I took every opportunity to rest up.

I finally awoke around 9:00 a.m. and found the rest of the house still asleep. Along with Jenni and Jeff, Olga, Jenni's mother and Tracy, who worked with us on RWA, also lived in the house. I would soon learn that, in L.A., no one gets up very early and everyone stays up very late. So, I started to search the kitchen for some breakfast fixings, but didn't feel comfortable rifling through their stuff, so I plopped on the comfy couch and watched Sportscenter.

After a little while, Jeff awoke and we combined to make some delicious eggs and potatoes for breakfast. I then filled my time taking a tutorial on Final Cut Pro on their new Apple G3 machine. By 11:00 a.m. Jenni and I were out the door and heading to the AFM. Jeff would catch up with us later.


The first stop was the Directors Guild of America so Jenni could pay her dues and drop off some tickets for a Guild party. Inside I attempted to take some pics, but the Guard quickly informed me that "taking pics inside the DGA without approval was strictly verboten." The lobby of the DGA has three theaters (Video Theater, Theater One and Theater Two) and I was only able to snap a pic of the outside of the Video Theater. Even though the Guard was distracted by some workers setting up for a Showtime party in the lobby, I didn't want to get Jenni in trouble, so I put the camera away and we headed upstairs to accounting.

We left the DGA and headed, through town (not via highway) to Santa Monica, where the AFM was being held. On the way there, my EST stomach started to growl and Jenni pulled into a McDonalds so I could feed the beast. I was left with four dollars and some change. One more meal like that and I was headed to the ATM.

The sun finally broke through the clouds as we arrived at Loews Hotel about two blocks from the Santa Monica Pier. After some haggling with the valets, we were allowed to park the van ourselves and we headed into the hotel. When you enter the lobby you are accosted by people hawking industry rags (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc.) There are tables and tables of free industry publications that are yours for the taking. We made our way past the publication gauntlet and entered the lobby, where I felt like I had entered an X-Files convention. Everyone (distributors and buyers alike) was dressed in black, wearing long black trench coats and talking continuously on cell-phones. Mulder and Scully could have been standing right next to me and I wouldn't have noticed. Having been born without the hip gene, I was wearing color (green and tan), which made me look like a tourist. I didn't realize I should have dressed for a funeral. This is an important tip to would-be filmmakers. At ALL social events, wear black… you can't go wrong with black.

One of the first people we met was Mark Bruder from Bruder Releasing, Inc. (BRI), a domestic distributor. He had contacts with getting films into the Blockbuster chain, HBO, Lifetime, etc. We talked about the niche appeal this film has with handicapped viewers and he already knew the numbers, which was impressive. He took a copy of the film and told Jenni that they'd meet at the end of the market.

In the lobby we also hooked up with Dan Murphy, who is good friends with the Farley brothers (Something About Mary) and Jenni. He agreed to help us spread the RWA word and hand out postcards with RWAs poster on the front and a synopsis and screening times on the back. We would later learn that such overt advertising at the AFM is a faux paus. But, ignorance (no matter how temporary) is bliss, so we handed him a pack of cards and he headed into the thick lobby crowd while Jenni and I headed up to the eighth floor to meet with Showcase. In order to enter any of the floors where the distributors are located you have to have a badge with your picture (I think they cost around $400 each!) The blue badges mean you're a distributor (ours was from Showcase) and the green badges mean you're a buyer. Thankfully, I look enough like Jeff's little photo to get away with using his badge… now I'm not sure if Jeff should be offended by that or whether I should.

Every U.S. based international distributor takes one of the hotel rooms, sets up shop and the buyers strolls from one room to the other, watch videos, dvds, listen to pitches and determines what they think they can sell back in their territories. Jenni and I made our way up to 807, this weeks temporary home for Showcase, where we met with David Jackson, president of Showcase. He was a very nice, straightforward man. We talked about RWA and Adrenaline and tried to finalize a meeting with the foreign investors. He said he was having dinner with them that evening and would try to finalize a meeting with us then. He then went on to describe some of the humorous film investment schemes he had heard (diamonds for collateral, bad escrow deals, etc.) The funniest story was of a director who met with some middle-eastern "investors" who would only fund the film if they could put life insurance on the director. The director declined their offer and ran as fast as he could.

Jenni spent the rest of the afternoon up at Showcase while I strolled the halls checking out all of the distributors and films. It was amazing to see how many films were made that no one in the U.S. will probably ever see. It occurred to me that known to semi-known actors work a lot more than we realize. There were hundreds of films that fall into many of the standard formulas (action, blow 'em-up flicks and sci-fi alien-esque thrillers, sexy soft porn and horror/satanic themed films) that the average U.S. film fan will never see.

Distributors ranked from the ultra small (offering only one movie full of no-names, which were probably friends and local actors) to more "legitimate" distributors, like New Line and Miramax. And some celebrities came to push their films as well. There were a lot of actors that fit into that "oh, I know them from something somewhere but have no clue what their name is" category, a few that you knew well, but still didn't know their names (like the black guy who played assistant DA in the early years of Law and Order and the main hunk on the new Baywatch Hawaii). Then there were the ones you knew like Gene Simmons of KISS (pushing Detroit Rock City) and Jean Claude Van Damme (pushing a tender love story between a man and his injured puppy – yeah right, he was there pushing some action flick with a numeral at the end).

Other sights of interest were the plethora of silicon enhanced mammories, the hosts of calogen filled lips and the sad sight of the aging Hollywood insiders who try so desperately to look 20 and are failing miserably. The last group was truly sad and made me glad that most of the people in Florida let gravity take its course and look the better for it.

That night we drove home, slightly frustrated that we weren't able to nail down a meeting with the foreign investors, and finished the evening by eating some delicious beef stroganoff prepared so expertly by Jeff and Olga.

Remaining Cash: $4.87

AFM 2000 - Day 1

Back in 2000 I had co-written a screenplay for Jenni Gold called Ready, Willing & Able. When the low-budget film was completed we tried to sell it at the famed American Film Market, where distributors from across the world would come to see what was available for distribution in their areas and countries. I wrote a journal of the odd and memorable experience. Over the next four days, I'll share that journal.

*****

AFM – Day 1
2/22/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

Ten bucks, two carry-ons and an e-ticket were all I had as I entered the airport for my 8:17 p.m. flight en route to California. I had 13 dollars when I got there, but my wife took three of them in order to pay for the privilege to leave the Tampa International Airport parking garage. The ten left wasn't enough to survive the next three days in L.A., but was all I had, since I had remembered getting everything for this trip, except cash! I decided to see how long I could stretch out the 10 bucks before succumbing to an ATM and their exorbitant fees.

About three weeks ago, Jenni and Jeff called me and asked if I would be available to come out to L.A. in order to attend to the American Film Market (AFM) and meet with some potential foreign investors about some re-writes they wanted to make to Adrenaline. After securing some vacation time from work and some understanding from my wife, they booked me on a flight out there. This year the AFM runs from 2/23/00 to 3/1/00. Due to some family obligations, I could only make it Wednesday thru Friday, so, in order to maximize my time out there we agreed to give me the red-eyes to and from L.A.

So, Tuesday night at 8:17 p.m. I took flight 1249 to Chicago. I arrived at O'Hare airport with just enough time to board flight 127 out to L.A. The flight from Chicago to L.A. was mostly empty, which allowed me to take the entire row of seats and attempt to sleep while trying to ignore the metal seatbelts digging into my back. I arrived at LAX at about 12:30 a.m. PST, which was 3:30 a.m. my time. I was exhausted, yet excited to be there. I knew this trip would allow me to forget the daily grind I left back in Florida and play filmmaker for a couple of days. It's these little moments of indulgence of doing what I want to do (filmmaking) that allow me to do what I have to do (my real job) without going creatively postal.

Jenni and Jeff got there about 10 minutes after I arrived. I was surprised to find it rainy and cold. This was L.A. after all, where it never rains, supposedly. Unprepared and without a coat, I shivered until I spotted Jenni's van approaching. Jeff was exhausted from working the past 36 hours straight finalizing a post-production gig, so he hopped in back and attempted to snooze on the ½ hour trip back to their house. Jenni and I caught up on everything and set out our plan for the week.

The primary goal of the trip was to finalize, as much as possible, the foreign investor's concerns about script changes needed to Adrenaline. Their original notes wanted a past love interest added from one of the existing characters. After some thought and a re-read of the script, I believed that this change would actually benefit the script. Jenni was more skeptical. She kept asking me "well, if they don't end up funding the film, would you still keep the changes?" I kept saying "yes" because it added a sense of normality to the group of characters and gave a more satisfying conclusion to the story.

I could tell she wasn't completely convinced, however she trusted me and we talked about our secondary goal, getting RWA sold to foreign markets at the AFM. The AFM is basically a market of middlemen. U.S. based international distributors (i.e., Showcase, New Concorde, New Line, etc.) meet with foreign-based distributors (or buyers). These foreign distributors buy the rights to the U.S. films and then try to sell it to their markets (t.v., theatrical, etc.) in their territories. RWA had a screening scheduled for Thursday at around 1:00 p.m. so our goal was to get as many buyers as we could to attend the screening.

We got back to the house after 1:00 a.m. PST, but I was feeling the 4:00 a.m. EST in me screaming to get out. After a quick tour of the house, Jeff pulled out the sleeper in a small sofa located in their front room, which doubles as an editing suite. After unpacking, I collapsed onto the bed.

Remaining Cash: $10.00

A Prediction?

During the latest debacle that is the Bucs season, my family and I were lamenting how bad they were playing. We were all feeling hopeless.

We mused that if they had to put the Bucs season on a single picture, it would be a take off of Obama's famous Hope picture.

Personally, I like Raheem Morris a lot. I think his intentions are pure and he is doing the best he can. I do question whether or not he was the right guy at the right time.

No matter who they would have hired, it would have been a tough season. Gruden left the team cupboards barren of talent. Gruden/Allen drafted horribly and Gruden didn't have the patience to develop young talent. Allen's picks were under performers or pure busts (Gaines Adams, Dexter Jackson). Plus, the Glazers appear to be in a credit/cash crunch since leveraging themselves to the moon and back to buy the Manchester United... BEFORE the economy took a dump.

We knew we were all in for a rebuilding process anyway... we just felt the new regime would have some sort of plan.

I hope Raheem and the team succeed. But, this level of play sure is a reminder of the Richard Williamson school of football. And that ain't pretty.

Microcinema Flashback - The Last Broadcast Revisited (2001)

From February 2001 I discuss how the film The Last Broadcast was a much better no-budget film than the financially successful Blair Witch Project. Since this article, I have actually been in email communication with Lance Weiler, who started a website called the Workbook Project. The WP is an "open source" website for do-it-yourself filmmakers. Lance, who has always been on the forefront of the evolving independent distribution model, used the WP website to share all of the information he and others have collected on how to best get your indy film out there.

*****

The Last Broadcast - REvisited
By Pete Bauer

This past Monday afternoon, as I recovered from an all night drive from a family event in Atlanta, I sat on my couch and watched The Last Broadcast on HBO. This film was made back in 1998 by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler and is an example of all that is potentially right with amateur, ultra low-budget film making.

I remember reading about it and visiting their website when the film was first completed. I remember that they spent only $900 on the film and used this new, cool technology called Digital Video. I remember reading that they were the first film digitally distributed, via satellite, to a few select art film houses across the U.S., including the Enzian in Orlando, Florida. Then, life went on and the dreaded Blair Witch Project reared it's ugly head. At first I thought it was The Last Broadcast renamed. But, later I fell for the hype and build-up of the Blair Witch Project only to go away from the theater thinking it was one of the most overly-hyped ineffective uses of my time, exceeded only by another pathetic little film known as The Phantom Menace. But I digress...

The Last Broadcast was not so effective because of its use of DV or Adobe Photoshop or any technical wizardry. It succeeded because it had a great story and they used their financial limitations as creative solutions instead of artistic excuses. There's a quote from Robert Rodriguez that goes something like this... "You're gonna come up with problems everyday on your set. You can get rid of the problem one of two ways - you can do it creatively or you can wash it away with the money hose. You got no money, you got no hose." And Avalos and Weiler formatted their film to fit their limitations. Their idea was to shoot a fake documentary... which, by now, has become all too common. But, what was so effective about it was the way they let the story unfold.

Unlike "Bore Witch," this story had a plot and every character in the film was believable and convincing. Broadcast succeeded because it treated the documentary like a mystery. If you've ever watched Nova or Front Line (yes, that means you'd have to be watching PBS), then you would see the best documentaries made today, because they don't bore you with fact after fact, they give you the problem or task of the documentary and lead you down a path that unfolds like an Sherlock Holmes tale. I mean, if Front Line can make an hour-long documentary on mathematical proofs interesting, they can do anything! And the guys from Broadcast used the same technique. They give you the end of the story, then relay the beginning, unraveling the plot slowly and effectively, leading you down one path, only to change courses and go down another, and so on.

Unfortunately, the brain trusts behind Hollywood did not deem Avalos and Weiler worthy to grace them with the winning indy film lottery ticket which, instead, went to Blair Witch. And because of the similarities of the stories and the "controversy" behind which film came out first (for the record, Broadcast came out first), these two vastly different film watching experiences will be forever linked. As a matter of fact, you can get a new DVD 2-pack with both Blair Witch and Last Broadcast!

Lucky for Avalos and Weiler, this tactic may finally expose which are the better filmmakers. I've never understood why the makers of BW have ever received accolades... I mean if the dialogue was improvised and the camera work was done by the actors then what exactly did the "directors" of this film do? But, I digress... again. My point of this rant is this, we should watch Broadcast to see what is possible with very little. It's a perfect example of how, above all else, a quality story and effective use of limited resources can create a compelling and believable film. And perhaps those Witchidiots who purchase the 2-pack will stumble across Broadcast and realize that the "B-side" is the vastly better film.

I visited the Internet Movie Database before writing this rant to discover that Avalos and Weiler have done nothing since Broadcast. I hope that, when we create something so effective out of virtually nothing, that we are treated better by those in "the know." I know most of us live in a world where we feel that if we're just given a chance to show our talent, that we'll be able to make a living at this whole movie making thing.

However, if you compare the way Broadcast and Blair Witch have been treated, you'll have to come to the unsettling realization that, though it may take talent to make your mark, you'll need a lot more than talent in order to do this for a living.