APRIL 3, 1998

Today is the first day of the final draft of Rock Opera. Ha!

Tomorrow I pitch and putt with Ted and we read over his part in the film, the part of Ned. Monday I dive into storyboarding, rehearsals, scouting locations, building as much of the equipment as I can, securing the camera and other equipment that I can’t build.

I think the script is ready to shoot. I realize that small things will change in the rehearsals and storyboarding process. I’m fine with that, but I think that the basic story is complete. Now comes the real work, organizing the shoot and working with the cast and crew. Writing is so personal and intimate and you are in complete control. You only have to consider what you can and can’t accomplish in the production process, working within your limitations in regard to what you have access to. I think I have done that.

Some of my major concerns at this point are of course the money, but also the actors. I wrote the script with my friends in mind, a lot of the same people that I had worked with in the past. In mostly silent films. Some aspects of the film were inspired from the real life actions of these same people and I figured that they could play themselves basically. An exaggerated form of themselves put into a situation and watching them deal with it in some demented way. Even so, I am a bit worried that everyone can pull it off. I feel that they can, or else I wouldn’t have written them into the story and asked them to act.

I need to feel more confident about my ability as a DP, since I am going to shoot this thing myself (at least that’s the plan as of now). I know what I want everything to look like it’s just a matter of getting that on film. My experience with lights is limited. But I’m sure I can create some interesting visuals. I just need to boost my confidence with some practice and experimentation. The other option is to bring a DP on board and free up my time to work with the actors. This is not a bad idea and it would speed up the production process. The leaders in the DP race are Marc Wiskeman, a great cinematographer and a hell of a nice guy and the DP who replaced him when his tour of duty expired on the three month shoot of the feature Sweet Thing, Leevy Castleberry. I met Leevy and talked with him briefly and he seems real laid back. His weakness is experience, but his strong point is that he can relate to the script in a way that most other DP’s can’t.

Building my own equipment and practicing with it will help. As it stands I think I can build a dolly, a jib arm. flags, apple boxes, nets, sandbags, and maybe even a steady-cam. I’m not sure if I can build a thing like a c-stand, but I might as well give it a try. If I own all the equipment I need then I can fiddle and feel comfortable with it.

Also I need to complete the cast and crew. I don’t even want to get into that right now. I think I shall storyboard some tonight.

APRIL 18, 1998

Okay, I’m back. I have a pile of storyboards and I will get back to work on them tonight. The pre-production phase is moving along just fine. Barna has found us a camera to use, it’s an Eclair NPR, we’re still looking at all our options at this point. He’s also working on finding the lighting and grip equipment, organizing a crew and casting calls, getting us the best price for labs and film stock and breaking down the script. He is most definitely an asset to the production.

The Texas Poor Man’s Cinema Fund held a benefit show called Hollywood Hoot Night on Wednesday at the Hole in the Wall. The show featuring Brown Whorenet, Voltage, El Kabong, The Peenbeets, and a new band featuring members of Gomez doing songs featured in movies. Some of the highlights for me were Voltage’s rendition of the thermos song from The Jerk, and El Kabong doing Eastbound and Down from Smoky and the Bandit. All the bands did a great job and everyone had a great time. The Texas Poor Man’s Cinema Fund is organizing Hollywood Hoot Night Two; The Sequel in a month or so at the Hole in the Wall and the Pocket FishRmen have promised to get involved this time around. So far, The Texas Poor Man’s Cinema Fund has raised $415 for the production of Rock Opera.

The cast is nearly complete. I have confirmed all my actors with the exception of the parts of Jarvis and Paco. We are holding a casting call on April 27 and hope to fill these positions then. Another concern is getting Nashville Pussy to participate. I know Jeremy is down for it, but I have yet to talk with the rest of the band. It looks like they will be in town around July 10^th, and that would be toward the end of the shoot, so hopefully we can shoot their scene then. I’ll need to hunt them down on the road and confirm all this.

Barna is going through the pile of resumes that we received from the Texas Film Commission Hotline listing. We have collected tons of them and are trying to form a crew that will work for free. We will have a crew call on May first.

The first day of shooting is going to be on July 18^th and we will shoot from Thursday through Sunday for six weeks. Jerry Clark (Toe) is taking a leave of absence from his work on those dates and there is no turning back now.

MAY 1, 1998

So, on Monday, April 27^th we had a casting call. Rebecca Dodd , Jeff Britt, and Tony Linder helped me audition eight actors. Through the process, I think we found a perfect match for Paco in an actor named Luis Olmeda. We will have a second casting call on Monday the 4^th of May and then a third on the following Monday. Tonight is our crew call. Barna has phoned a bunch of people who had sent in their resumes and hopefully we can complete a crew with whoever shows up tomorrow.

On Wednesday Barna and I met with Jackson Saunders, a DP that Barna knows and is relocating to Austin from Arizona. We hit it off nicely and I liked what I saw on the reel. He’s enthusiastic about the shoot and comes with a bad ass camera (an Arri SR) and a lot of experience. We all went and saw Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angel and talked about the movie and how we want Rock Opera to look. Afterwards, we hired him.

Also on Wednesday, I received two terrific pieces of mail., the current issue of American Cinematographer featuring an article on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I’m a BIG fan of both Hunter Thompson and Terry Gilliam and can’t wait to see the movie. The other parcel was the current issue of Persistence of Vision, the Austin Film Society newsletter that has an article about the Split Screen show that features Austin filmmakers Elisabeth Sikes, Kyle Henry & Spenser Parsons, and myself, including the screening of Sweet Sweetroll’s BaadAsssss Spin. The article has a nice still from the film featuring Jerry’s face. And on top of that, it even mentions Rock Opera.

MAY 25,1998

Well, I just recently found out that the fifteen grand that I was promised is not coming in. The entire production was set up around this cash. We hired Jackson with the promise of pay that would come from the same pile of cash, not to mention the grip truck, film stock, processing, and everything else. There is still a remote chance that we will get some of it but there are no promises. In fact, when I finally set up the LLC with some of my living cash ($210) and then tried to secure the cash from the investor he freaked because his financial situation had changed. He was irate and short tempered, even saying that he never promised me the whole fifteen grand despite our handshake agreement on it only a month or so prior.

So I freaked. I was ready to shoot this bastard El Mariachi style. I wrote it with the intention of shooting that way, it was only after the promise of cash that I decided to hire a DP with the hopes that production would flow more smoothly. I would have more time to concentrate with the actors and not have to worry about exposures.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to DP, but I figured that if I had to spend time setting lights, camera, etc. then work with the actors, that would take three times as long. I also really like Jackson. He seems excited about the script. The big problem is how to pay him. He is cutting us a deal that’s hard to refuse. And he comes with a nice camera package, an Arri SR with five Zeiss lenses and all the accessories. We would have to settle for a far inferior camera package and still spend a lot of cash if we weren’t to use Jackson.

On the bright side, the investor in question said that they would try to come through with some of the cash. Obviously, I’m not holding my breath.

Our options are to continue as if we had the cash. Nicole has credit cards that we can put the raw stock and processing on, we only need cash for Jackson and the grip truck. Kurtis will continue to hold benefits for the production, that will net some cash, but I doubt it will be enough. Barna has a couple of investors lined up and I know a guy or two that we can hit up. I think we could pull it off with around five to seven grand (and the credit cards).

So, there we have it, three and a half weeks to find some cash. We will shoot on June 18^th.

Tonight, I’m doing more storyboards. Tomorrow we meet with a grip truck, interview Gonzo for the 1^st AC job, and look at more locations. Wednesday we have the callbacks and hopefully we can complete the cast this week and have a script reading on Sunday the 31^st. On June 2^nd Nicole and I, along with Tony and Shannon and a posse of Austin folks will trek down to San Antonio for the Nashville Pussy show. We’ll hang out with old friends Jeremy, Scott and Jerry and talk a little business too. Thursday the 4^th Jesus Lizard plays and then on Saturday the 6^th Voltage is playing at some Harley Davidson fest at the Exposition Center. I will be shooting footage for the Voltage music video. I think Barna, Jackson, and Richard McIntosh will join me and film some stuff for the video too.

Oh yeah, I saw Fear and Loathing on Saturday, and my expectations might have been too high, but I wasn’t impressed. I thought there were some funny parts and it stuck to the book for the most part. I guess I expected more from Terry Gilliam , but my biggest disappointment was Johnny Depp. I think he is a fantastic actor and I’ve always liked his work, but I though he was way over the top, more like Jerry Lewis than what I think of as Hunter Thompson (but apparently he hung out with Hunter, so maybe I’m wrong). I always saw HST as a man who knew the limits and boundaries and pushed them intentionally, not as some bumbling fool prat falling his way through life. But, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

JUNE 5, 1998

Less than two weeks until production. Here’s a quick run down of what’s been going on. Tony has gathered a bunch of props and just got a warehouse. Jeff Britt has got some free food, Thai Passion has promised to feed twenty people, once a week for seven weeks. Jeff also got Lone Star Beer to donate five cases of tallboys to the cause. Casting is complete, we went with Luis Olmeda for Paco and Paul Wright as Jarvis. Barna is confirming these guys.

Nashville Pussy canceled their San Antonio show and decided to vacation here in Austin instead. I talked with Jeremy extensively and he is going to persuade Blaine and Ruyter to be in the film. Corri seems excited about the project and was ready to shoot it while she was in town. They will be back in July and that is when we will shoot their scene, assuming that Blaine & Ruyter don’t object, or they sign that million dollar contract and can’t do it for some reason, or some other crap that will fuck me up.

No sign of the cash, the fifteen grand. But I’m told it will be here before the first day of shooting and to proceed as if I have the cash. We’ll see what happens. Maybe nothing. Maybe we’ll be shut down before we shoot a frame of film. I will try to be optimistic about everything and continue to work my ass off to make this the best film possible. Despite all the distractions and bullshit, I’m sure this is all normal procedure for first time filmmakers, and being a first timer, I can only assume that this is true. Maybe I don’t make sense?

We had a reading of the principal actors and I learned a lot. Chad, Jerry, Ted and most everyone else are going to be great, but there were a few problems. Steve was loaded on GHB and was a little nervous. He’ll need some rehearsing. Russell was also a bit uptight. It seems as if he were mocking his lines and rightfully so if he was. Here’s the deal; Russell said he was nervous and shy about acting, he feels like a dork while acting. So I dumbed down all his lines. Basically all he said was "Yeah… Uh-hu… What?… No… Yep… Sure…" etc. My mistake. This is the easy way out, and not the better choice. I need to work with him to get him feeling good and confident about his role, not reduce him to a moron. We talked and that is the new plan. I’ll let you know how it works out. Or maybe you’ll let me know.

Here’s what’s coming up: we have an investor call, if you will, set for the 14^th of June. Hopefully we can raise some cash. Tomorrow I shoot some live footage of Voltage playing at the big Harley Davidson rally. Richard McIntosh will join me. Later that day is the Cinemaker BBQ at Richard’s house. Monday we shoot the test rolls. Tuesday a group from the Co-op will have a meeting with the suits at GSD&M. Friday I’ll be live on Austin Access’s show Austin Film Viewpoint, a half hour show that interviews filmmakers and people involved with the film community in Austin. Not to mention the day to day activities like rehearsals, location scouting, shot lists & storyboards, scheduling, bullshitting, swindling, fine tuning, tweaking and what not…

More immediately, I must sleep.

JUNE 11, 1998

Exactly one week until shooting begins. Things are coming along. I’m trying not to stress out over the details on the behind the scenes stuff. I think my energy is best spent rehearsing the actors. That leaves a lot of responsibility on Barna. He is a champ. If this film is a success it is due a great deal to all his work.

The schedule is in and we are confirming all the locations. I rehearsed with Luis Olmeda and Rob Gasper (Paco & Lupe) and they are going to be great. Luis is amazing and Rob is doing an excellent job as well. Luis is not afraid to get physical and I think he helped Rob to be more comfortable as an actor. They will work great as a pair.

Later, I rehearsed with Ted Jarrell, Kurtis Machler, and Dillon Griffith (Ned, Burtis, and Chicken). I was laughing so hard I was crying. This rehearsal reinsured the idea that Rock Opera is going to be fun. We made some dialog changes that are ten times better than what I had written. I did my best to capture their characteristics in the script, but nothing is better than the original. These guys are characters. They too will be fine actors.

A great deal of worrying was done on using my friends as actors. Their characters are based on themselves, so I figured that they would work. But when I started writing the script it was with the intention of shooting it myself, a la El Mariachi. Somehow things spiraled out of control and landed me in the situation I’m in now. Working with a DP (Jackson Saunders), a professional sound guy (Denis Meehan) and a really nice three ton grip truck (Tom Kobflesh). I was worried that with so much more riding on the project now, that maybe the acting was the weakest link. Fortunately, through rehearsals, I am learning that everyone I chose to be a character in the script can act. At least they can act more-or-less like themselves. Of course, the real test will be when the crew is staring at them and a camera is jammed in their faces. Then we’ll see how they do. But for now, at least, I feel a lot better about the situation.

The camera test came in today and maybe it’s just me, but I can’t tell a whole hell of a lot of difference from the Kodak Vision 500 stock and the Fuji F Series 500. Maybe it’s because I’m looking at them on a 20" monitor, or maybe because they are both on the same tape and we can’t watch them simultaneously. The main difference I can see is the $2000 we’d save by using Fuji. Barna thinks that Jackson is sold on the Kodak, but Barna isn’t sure why. It might be technical or maybe just that he feels comfortable with Kodak, or maybe it’s a pride thing. I haven’t talked with Jackson about it, but I’m sure we’ll talk tomorrow. We need to decide and order film soon. All the effects shots we tried in the camera test came out great. I now have a large pallet of drug scene textures and effects to choose from. It’s only a matter of applying them in the proper places and taking full advantage of their looks and feels.

On the cash side of things, the money is still not in the bank, but I still have faith. At least we have a bank account (with $1200 of my survival money). I’m the optimistic type and I (perhaps foolishly) think the cash will come in. I did meet some more potential investors recently, so maybe something good will still happen.

The shot list is complete. Twenty-five pages worth.

Kurtis is teaching Ned the Witchbanger song. It’s a song about getting high that sounds like a stoned ninth grader wrote the lyrics. Pretty funny stuff.

I talked with Dave Prewitt and he’s going to do the film. That means all the CapZeyeZ footage will be in the film. Dave has done Austin music a great service by playing music videos by local artists for around ten years and still going strong. His show is great and I’m proud to have it in the film. We will shoot his scene on Wednesday. And we can use the in-studio version of "Do You Wanna Dance" by the Fuckemos.

Speaking of Austin Access, the TV show I was going to be on is canceled. Dave Daneheim won’t be doing Austin Film Viewpoint any longer. He did say that maybe we could do some print stuff for Indie Slate Magazine.

Still no word from Jeremy about whether Nashville Pussy will do the film, but Corri Parks and Jeremy Thompson are both good to go. Jeremy was going to talk with Blaine and Ruyter about doing it. I call him every day, but so far I haven’t been able to catch him at home. He will be in town on July 18^th, the first day of production. I hope he doesn’t throw a wrench into my shooting schedule with his rock star antics and relentless partying. Commandeering my friends/actors for his wild shenanigans for wild drug fueled mayhem.

Must sleep now.