In The Reel World

I VERY frequently get asked “how do you find out about all these films you apply for and get on?”

Well, to be honest, I’m probably not the best guy to ask. I get called back from very few films I apply for, and hired for even less! But, I can, at least, tell you how you might want to try finding them!

Good places for low-budget, usually non-union shoots, are Craigslist and Mandy. Unfortunately, a lot of the things listed on these two sites end up being people who don’t have a clue what they’re doing OR are doing productions so small they don’t have money to pay (even I’ve posted cast and crew calls for unpaid short films on these). However, there are also occasionally union shoots and/or paid gigs on them as well… just less frequent.

Place number two to look is the Michigan Film Office website. They actually currently have two websites running because they haven’t transferred all the info to the new site yet. The older site (which continues to get updated for whatever reason) is www.michigan.gov/filmoffice. The new site is www.michiganfilmoffice.org. Unfortunately, the Michigan Film Office doesn’t like to give out too much information. Sometimes they simply don’t HAVE the info due to the productions not keeping everything up to date, and other times it’s because the production has actually requested that no info be given.

The third place to look is IMDBpro.com IMDBPro is a section of IMDB that is specifically for industry professionals. You can get news on all upcoming projects along with contact info. The downside? It costs a $100 a year membership fee (which may be nothing for you, but in my barely employed state it’s pretty costly).

4: Production Weekly. This is a publication that comes out once a week and lists all recently announced projects that are either a)announced, b)in development, c) in active development, d) in pre-production. It lists titles, usually start dates and locations (it has listings all over the country and in some cases foreign countries), loglines, key crew and cast (usually just director, writer, producer, cast), and contact info for the production company’s office (not production office for the film, but the company that’s producing it). The downside? This one is VERY expensive at $60 a MONTH! While it’s VERY much worth it, that may be more than you want to spend. On their website, they have archived issues to look at for free… but they’re all at least 4 months old and you really have to scour past issues for anything that might be going into production in the present. I’m lucky enough to know someone who likes me enough to send me forwards of her
subscription issues.

5) There are a couple of other trade magazines like Variety that list upcoming productions and contact info… but I neither have a subscription to this, nor have I looked into how much it costs or how helpful it is, so I can’t really say anything good or bade about these mags.

And way to find film jobs number 6 that is probably THE most helpful: Word of mouth! This really is a business that has more emphasis on who you know than what you know. It’s all about networking and getting to become chummy with people who get hired a lot and can then put in word for you, or give you advance notice about projects for you to get on board yourself. This is the way MOST people in the film industry get hired.

I hope this was at least somewhat helpful and that you can use this info to find projects to apply to. Remember to FIRST find out if it’s a union shoot. If it is, and you’re not union, you probably won’t be able to get anything higher than a PA job or maybe even just an internship. And don’t try to get a job you’re not qualified to do. If you’ve never worked a movie, chances are your degree from the Michigan College of Beauty isn’t enough to get you a Key Hair position (but you might try to be an assistant hairstylist!)

As for getting HIRED? That’s the part I can’t help with as different people look for different things. I’ve gotten some of my jobs by bugging the shit out of the people who can hire me… where as other productions have ignored me for the same reason!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages!  “In The Reel World” has returned!!!!

It’s been OVER A YEAR since the last time I have posted a blog here on “In The Reel World”.  A LOT has happened in that time both for me personally, as well as in the film industry (both in general, and for the state of michigan)!

Since May 2008 (the last time I posted on here) I have:     been on the TV show “Movie Mob” on Reelz Channel, worked at a kid’s camp, worked as a traveling tool salesman, worked as the Key Office PA for the film “All’s Faire in Love” starring- Christina Ricci, Cedric the Entertainer, Mathew Lillard, Ann Margret, Bill Engvall, Nadine Valasquez, and many others!, directed a music video for Detroit band The Next Romantic, worked as the EPK Behind-the-scenes cameraman for “Virgin On Bourbon Street” starring Rob Schneider, worked on “The Biggest Loser”, worked on an HBO special for Commedian Mike Epps, worked as Key Set PA for “Minor League: A Football Story” starring- Dustin Diamond, Robert Miano, Bone Crusher, Jason Sutton, John Alderman, Johnny Lechner, and more!, worked on “Betty Ann Waters” starring Minnie Driver and Hilary Swank, am in talks with potential investors to make my dramatic thriller “Wife:Beater”, am developing a superhero script with KineticPost animation studio in Southfield to possible turn it into a feature length animated film, am negotiating with Detroit rapper Kanglosta to direct a music video for his new single “Wanna Bet”, and just got hired to edit a new Reality show (which I can’t talk too much about due to confientiality agreements).  I’ve even joined Weight Watchers and have, so far, lost over 33 lbs.

For the film industry in the state of MI, we’ve had over 30 feature films shot here including everything from low budget indie flicks like “The Man Who Collected Food” and “Snitch City”, to Oscar Nominated films like “Gran Torino”.  We’ve housed every actor and starlette from Val Kilmer to Clint Eastwood, from Rosie O’donnell to Ann Margret.  Thousands of jobs have been created and Hundreds-of-Millions of dollars have been brought in to the economy.   Several studios have announced they’ll be creating branches of their companies in places like Allen Park!  Governor Granholm has announced great things to come to MI from the film industry thanks to incentives, and Senator Cassis has scared away many of those great things by continuing to fight the incentives tooth-and-nail (luckily, Granholm has said that if Cassis’ bill proposal lands on her desk she’ll veto it!  YAY Granholm!  I knew I liked you!)

Currently, both “Irishman” starring Christopher Walken and Val Kilmer, and “Stone” starring Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton are getting attention as they blow things up in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and surrounding areas.  Also currently?  “In The Reel World” is BACK!

So what is this reincarnation of “In The Reel World” going to be?  Well… naturally… we’re going to talk about movies!  From EVERY aspect possible (without getting sued)!  I’ll bring you movie news, movie reviews, updates with my own personal experience in the film industry, info on how you can get involved in movies (whether it be auditions or crew calls), articles about various film topics that will hopefully make you learn something useful and/or interesting, interviews with filmmakers and crew members and actors (that is if I can swing it!), links to cool videos and helpful filmsites, and anything else that either I can think up or that you can request!

Somehow, this blog has maintained such a high amount of traffic that it’s been in the top 10 blogs here on blogsmonroe.com even though it’s essentially been dead for over a year!  That’s outstanding, and I thankyou for reading!  So lets see if we can make those numbers climb by adding new content, eh?

I hope you enjoy yourself, I hope to post blogs on here often, and I hope to see you… In The Reel World!

I had to watch this one on my own as opposed to seeing it for Movie Mob.

But I don’t mind at all!

Iron Man is based on the long-running comic book series of the same title, and stars Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.

At first, I thought the actor would be an odd person to have play the infamous Tony Stark… but he was absolutely PERFECT in the role!

This movie is FANTASTIC!  Emphasis on “fan”, as I think even the hard-core fanboys of the comic series will enjoy the hell out of this film!

It’s unbelievably funny, very action packed, the acting is amazing, the cinematography is gorgeous, the CGI… So, basically, there’s noting to DISLIKE about this movie!  Sure it was over 2 hours, but it sure didn’t feel that long!

This is officially my 3rd favorite Superhero movie.  It only falls behind Batman Begins, and Spider-Man 2… but it might be tied with Spider-Man 2, actually!

SEE THIS FILM OR ELSE!  You won’t regret it!

Holy crap!  It’s already been a MONTH since my last blog?!  I am SO SORRY, everybody!

Well, here’s a very quick re-cap:

1) For the last 6 weeks, I’ve been on a show called “Movie Mob” on The Reelz Channel!  I’ve been on there doing movie reviews (hmm, sound familiar?).  Each week, the two mob members with the fewest votes gets replaced with 2 new mob members.  The show airs on Tuesdays at 7pm on Reelz Channel, and you can vote HERE from Tuesday noon until Thursday noon.

Shortened versions of those reviews is this:

“21“: Very good movie!  Had some slow parts that dragged in places, but over all it was really good and great acting!  I was interested to find out that the limo scene was lit with Christmas lights bought at Rite Aid.

“Leatherheads“: I don’t care what the critics say, this movie was great!  It was funny, it was well shot, it was interesting (and I don’t even LIKE football!).  The costumes were great too!

“Smart People“: This movie was sooooooooooo BORING!  It was totally UNfunny!  All the acting was extremely dry and dull (even Ellen Page wasn’t any good!!).  Do NOT see this movie if you don’t have to.

“88 Minutes“: This was damn good! It was very intense, Pacino was great as always, it kept you guessing the whole time.  But the ENDING?  Blah! The big reveal at the end was so out of left field that it killed the film’s credibility.

“Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantamo Bay“: DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!  Was so was completely stupid and UNFUNNY!  The guy behind me WALKED OUT!  I would have too if it weren’t for Movie Mob!  I think I smiled like once and that was it.  Maybe twice.  It was dumb.  I can’t say just how much I HATED this movie.

“Made of Honor“: This movie was really good!  I was surprised to like Patrick Dempsey so much in a role!  I always think of him as Ronald from “Can’t Buy Me Love”.   The casting was brilliant, the movie was very funny, it was extremely cute and romantic, I cried a little bit near the end.  The music was outstanding. SEE THIS FILM!!!!!

2) I have a new short film out called “Best of Friends”.  It’s currently online on a contest called The Doorpost Film Project.  for the contest, I need viewer ratings to get into the top 15 to get $10,000 to make a new short film for a chance at winning $100,000!  So please, go watch it and vote for it.  I’ve also been working on trying to get it some big-screen screenings as well.

3) Sadly, I’ve been unemployed for a couple of months now.  :(  SO, I’ve been doing a ton of job hunting.  This has included living off the money I make from being on Movie Mob and from selling some of my things (including my PS2 and all my games!:( ); working a few random odd jobs (including PA for a student film, assistant for a photoshoot, and a week in an office), and applying for OVER 100 JOBS since Feb.!!!!!  Luckily, I got hired at a summer camp and will start there next week.

4) More cool stuff has been going on with the feature film “Aisle Seats” that I’ll be directing.  We’re officially in pre-production (where as before it was like pre-pre-production), and we are hopeful to start shooting next April.

5) I had a pitch meeting with a new tv station going to be based out of Detroit.  They are considering picking up “Frankie” as a series, and my idea for a batman-esk superhero show “Vigilante” as either a mini-series or a made-for-tv-movie.

6) I have a new girlfriend.  WOOT!

7) I’m auditioning for Top Chef!

Tomorrow, “Frankie” will be screening at the Main Art Theater in Royal Oak as part of the May installment of The Mitten Movie Project, a series of fest-style screenings of short films and trailers made primarily by Michigan filmmakers.  If you can, come up tomorrow night.  Tickets are $10 and the night starts with a pre-screening gathering at 6:30pm, movies start rolling at 7pm, and there will be a post-party as well.

9) I’ve got some Music Video shoots coming up this summer, and hopefully some commercials and another short film as well!

10) I’ll be giving an interview with the Monroe Evening News tomorrow about my experience on Movie Mob and possibly some stuff about my filmmaking!  So look for that in a near-future issue of the Monroe Evening News!

I’m doing a short film for the Doorpost Film Project (you can get more information on the contest by visiting http://www.thedoorpost.com).

My film is titled “Best of Friends”.  It’s about a boy who is in love with his best friend, but can’t tell her.  On their way to prom (as a double date), there is a car accident involving their limo.  The boy leaves his own hospital bed, and goes to his friend’s.  Just before she dies, she tells him that she loves him.

The following are the roles I need to fill:

Greg—–18 year old, not INCREDIBLY nerdy, but clearly not part of the “in crowd”.  He is the lead of the movie and has the most lines.  He narrates most of the film via voice-over.

Young Greg—–11-13 years old.  This is the same character, only in junior high.  He’s a bit nerdier than his older counterpart, and is on the chess team. It is at this age that pours his heart out.

Meg—–18 years old, attractive in that “girl next door” kindof way.  She’s Greg’s best friend.  She will end up in a hospital bed after the accident, and die in the end.

Young Meg—–11-13 years old.  Same character, kindof a tom-boy at this age.  She’s on the chess team, and beats all the boys.  We’ll see her riding her bike, shopping, and playing cards.

Isaac—–18 years old, kindof jocky, model-like good looks.  He’s Meg’s boyfriend, but we see the assholeish side of him that she herself doesn’t see.

Susan—–18 years old, very pretty, a little too peppy for her own good.  She’s Greg’s date to the prom.  Think cheerleader-esk.

Mom—–40’s.  She’s Greg’s mom, and it’s her unfortunate duty to give Greg the bad news about Meg.

Doctor—–30’s-60’s.  He’s the Doctor who tells Greg a little about what’s going on after the accident.  He tries to stop Greg from leaving his room, but gets violently shoved out of the way.

Chess team—–need 4-6 boys in the age range of 11-13.  They make up the most of the chess team that Young Greg and Young Meg are on.  Meg beats them all at the game!  One of these boys will be featured as the final opponent Young Meg beats.

Orderlies—–need 2-3 adults (any age, any gender) to be smock-wearing orderlies at the hospital.

If you’d like to audition for a role, or your child would like to audition for one of the pre-teen characters, please e-mail me ASAP!!!!!

My e-mail address is flannelmann@yahoo.com  Please send me your (or your child’s) full name and age, what role you (or your child) would like to audition for, include a headshot (if you don’t have a professional headshot, then any picture with a totally visible face is visible will work, or even take a heashot with your digital camera!), a resume if you’ve got one, and an acting reel if you’ve got one.  And MOST IMPORTANT, you’re availability during the month of April!

If you (or your child) don’t have acting expierience, THAT’S OK!!!!  I will be auditioning people, and I know that just because you haven’t acted yet doesn’t mean you’re not good (I also know that you can act in tons of films and still be terrible!).

I need to fill these roles as soon as possible, as, again, my deadline to ENTER is May 1.  I’d prefer to have the finished product no later than April 25.

So again, if you or your child would like to audition, or if you have any questions about me or the project, e-mail me ASAP!

I was on The Movie Mob tonight on Reelz Channel.

Vote for me to stay on the show!

reelzchannel.com/moviemob  I’m “filmgeek”

Today was SO MUCH FUN!

I was told they would start at 11. I TRIED to get there at 10:30, but I got lost. I showed up at 10:40. Nobody was there! The first person (besides me) to show up was the sound tech, and he got there about 5 to 11.

I was SURPRISED by the predominantly female crew. The crew consisted of me, director (female), DP (female), camera operator (female), writer (female), producer (male), sound tech (male), boom operator (male), set decorator (female).

They’re using a super-16 arri! Rock on! I tried to watch how they loaded the mags and put on the focus puller… but the set decorator dragged me away to put up posters and move furniture. So sadly, I’m still clueless about how to put together a film camera.

The DP showed me how to check for flares though. Mainly because she needed me to flag them out!

They were short on extras, and the director wanted to put me in the scene, but the DP wouldn’t allow it because she needed me for other stuff. *shrugs* I don’t like to be on camera anyway.

I got sent from department to department, doing jobs for set decoration, the DP, the director, the producer… all over the place! And it was so much fun!!!!!

Things I did included:
-putting up posters and fliers as decoration
-moving furnature
-blackbagging several windows
-adjusting the tripod for the camera
-setting up lights, adjusting barndoors, putting up diffusers
-loading and unloading equipment vehicles
-flagging out flares
-bouncing light
-finding where extras ran off to
-setting up the craft service table
-doing the film log when the producer had to fill in as an extra
-being the “dummy” to hold the graycard

I even helped make the look of 2 shots better!
1) For a close-up, the DP was having some troubling lighting it. The lead’s nose kept casting a nasty shadow. So I said, “You could light her from below…” She asked me what I meant, so I said, “Turn that arri a bit, so that it comes down across the face of the camera. Put down the eyebrow to block out any flare. I can kneel down here with either a reflector or bounce board to cast the light up from below. It’ll kill that one shadow.” She asked the camera operator if she thought that would work. she said it might. They asked the director. She said sounds good. I grabbed a bounce board, the DP moved the light, and bam! They shot it how I suggested (and loved how it looked).

2) For another close-up, I noticed that there might be something missing. So I asked the camera operator, “How tight is this shot on her face?” She answered that it’s “pretty close”. I said, “Well… can you see over this shoulder at all?” Se checked the frame and said yeah. So I answered, “in the master shot of this, you had such and such standing back here…” They put the actor in place. I saved the continuity!

After the shoot was done and I helped put everything away, the director and DP praised me saying how much of a help I was and that there were certain shots they’d never have gotten right without me.

The producer asked me if I had a card (thanks guys!!!!!) and told me he’ll probably be contacting me in a few weeks with some more jobs.

Of course, it started snowing while we were shooting, and it was REALLY bad by the time I left. The one hour drive home took more than 3! And I almost had accidents a couple times (people deciding “oh I have 4-wheel drive, I can do 70 through 4 inches of snow… OOPS! What was that I almost hit? And aveo?”)… but all in all, a SUPER fun day!

Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns

Shutter

Drillbit Taylor

Boarding Gate (limited)

The Grand (limited)

Planet B-boy (limited)

Irina Palm (NY,LA)

I Am Legend

After Dark Horrorfest 2- 8 movies sold separetly or in a box set

Atonement

Enchanted 

Conspiracy

Rockaway

Sonja

Alpha Male

The Sasquatch Gang 

Doomsday

Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who

Funny Games

Never Back Down

Sleepwalking

The Hammer (NY)

Sputnik Mania (NY)

On Broadway (Boston)