Tuesday 3-23-99

Someone from the Next Wave office called today asking for a mailing address. Sounds to me like they need to know where to send the polite rejection letter. But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me.

I think I landed two jobs today. The first one is a recruiting video for a computer company. I got this job through Viet and we’re going to shoot it and edit it as a team. The second job is shooting a promo video for a gun dealer that Rob Gasper works for on occasion. I’m basically covering my expenses and getting paid with a Navy Seal style sawed off shotgun.

Friday APRIL 2, 1999

No surprises from Next Wave. They sent a polite hand written rejection letter (it’s the new thing in rejection letters, Barna informs me).

Barna’s been talking with Richard Linklater about helping us find a rep for the film, it looks like he’s going to help us out. He recommends John Pierson. Speaking of, John called in reply to the email I sent him that contained some of the good reviews we’d gotten and he wants to see the film.

The number one objective for us right now is finding a rep for Rock Opera. We’re making a shitload of tapes and press/information folders with bios, the reviews and other such propaganda.

Another possible option we’re looking at is to screen Rock Opera at the either the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema or the Dobie Theater in the near future. The Alamo has beer, but the Dobie has better projection. Who knows if Landmark, the new owners of the Dobie will even give a shit.

Projection issues and timing led Barna to arranged a meeting with Scott Dinger, the long-time owner who’d recently sold the theater to Landmark and still acts as manager (at least for another two weeks). We figured that if we have any chance of the Dobie, it’ll have to be through Scott. So we met and talked and Scott sounds interested, but he no longer makes those decisions. The folks out in LA LA land call those shots, however Scott does have a certain level of influence considering that he’s run that theater for one hell of a long time.

I’m back in the editing room. After the three South by South Test-screenings I found some things I would like to change. I want to speed some thing up and make it a bit more snappy. I also found a bunch of ways to make it more tense. I’d like to cut out at least seven minutes, but I think I can chop out more. Maybe cut out the crap that’s not relative to the plot, in the interest of getting the ball rolling sooner. So, for the next few days, I’ll be tightening up a bit (at least I didn’t spend the cash to cut the negative yet).

Whenever I get finished cutting Rock Opera, I’m gunna make the Fuckemos a video with the movie footage and the super 8 stuff I shot of them back in October. I think I’ll do one for Voltage too. I have some super 8 footage of them from the biker fest and some from Bates Motel.

Tuesday, April 6, 1999

Talked to Scott Dinger at the Dobie about screening Rock Opera there in the summer. He’s going to look over the tape and propaganda and see if wants to push it on those who make the calls.

We got our first bad review courtesy of Film Threat:

Of course, the first thing I did was get all pissed off at the shitty review. After all, it ragged on me personally for the first half the write up. Any way, the timing is good, seeing as that’s what in the process of fixing right now.

Saturday, april 17, 1999

Well I took a while off from editing to let myself forget what I did. I cut seven minutes out of the film and hadn’t seen it since. I watched it today and I really like what I did. The film was so much tighter and it got me excited again. I noticed that some of the stuff I thought was pretty good, now seems slow. So I found a bunch of new ways to fix it up and 86 some more of the slow spots.

I met up with Tim League from the Alamo Draft House Cinema the other day. He’s the owner of the joint. Tim saw Rock Opera at the SXSW screening and really liked it and has been wanting to screen it at the Alamo ever since. We finally sat down and talked over some issues and agreed to give it an unlimited theatrical run at his theater. Basically, it’ll screen as long as it’s supported. We’re planning a big two day opening with a band playing before each screening on Friday August 27^th and Saturday the 28^th. I figure The Fuckemos, Voltage, Pocket FishRmen, and 16 Deluxe would work pretty good. In the mean time we’re going to sticker up the town.

On an unrelated note, a while back I entered this contest where you write up a one minute commercial for the local beer company Celis. They pick three winners to make their scripts into commercials and throw a budget of ten grand at you with stipulation that winner keeps what cash isn’t spent.

For my entry, I basically re-worked the Six Pack of Whup Ass film that I never finished making into a Celis commercial. Four guys drinking a six pack and kung fu fighting for the last two beers. I think the "no gratuitous violence" clause in the rules didn’t help my case. Needless to say, I didn’t win. But I landed a job as DP on one of the spots that did win. Apparently the guys who were sort of pre-judging the entries liked my the footage that I showed them as a sample of my work and they talked me up real good to one of the fellas that did win..

I meet up with the guys running the show, Mike Hamm the writer-director of the spot, "Dirty Bob and Me" and Dave Bennett the producer, I gave them a tape and hired on as the DP and camera operator and later as the editor. I convinced them to save money and edit at Barna’s suite and let me cut it. They saw something else that they liked off my reel as well, Jerry. They asked "Who is that guy you use in all your movies? He’s great." "Oh, Jerry, Yeah he’s bad ass, He’s a great actor……" A few days and a casting call later, Jerry’s selling Celis along side Dirty Bob, his cat. We start shooting on Monday.

Oh Yeah, I think now I’ll use the Six Pack of Whup Ass idea for a Squat Thrust music video. A big dorky fight to the tune of "You Like Karate."

Thursday, april 29, 1999

The Chronicle has finally posted the post SXSW review on their web site:

Tuesday, May 25, 1999

We finished the Celis spot. I was the cinematographer, camera man, gaffer, grip, editor, and depending on who you ask, the director too. That’s all I have to say about that.

I’m back in the edit room after another few weeks away from it. I still haven’t been able to do all the re-cutting that I wanted to since the SXSW screening. I come in late at night when possible, staying until 4 or 5 A.M. Tonight I went in to edit and the computer system crashed six times in two hours. I finally threw in the towel and decided to give it another shot tomorrow.

I’m about two-thirds of the way finished with the re-edit and the film is now a tight ass 83 minutes long. I’m going to do a few more experiments, but I don’t think it’ll get much shorter.

I re-cut the trailer and gave a copy to Tim at the Alamo. He’s been screening it with the other trailers.

Mireille Fornego, a fellow Cinemaker Co-op member and a U.T. film student made a 10 minute "Making of Rock Opera" documentary. It’s really good. I’m going to send a copy to John Pierson and see if he’ll play it on Split Screen.

Saturday, june 19, 1999

Me and Jerry took a trip down to San Antonio. John Pierson was in town promoting Split Screen and the Independent Film Channel. He harassed me for not yet sending him a tape of the Rock Opera. I told him it wasn’t finished, but I’d send him a copy when I got back to Austin. I introduced Jerry and John says "I liked your acting in Sweetroll’s." Jerry’s head swelled. After screening some Split Screen segments John did a little Q&A and even plugged Rock Opera. Jerry asked him about his bad experience repping Rob Weiss (read John’s book for more info) and John summed it up with "Rob Weiss is a putz."

The Celis spot has been showing during the NBA and NHL playoffs. All kinds of folks are congratulating Jerry and myself.

I’m not sure Jerry can handle people telling him that he’s good. Despite his attempted modesty, I think he might be turning into an egomaniacal Frankenstein’s monster. Most notable when he’s drunk. His motivation is to be able to drink free beer in any bar in town and have everyone kiss his ass after Rock Opera shows at the Alamo.

I mailed out a tape to Pierson. No news yet.

I also entered Rock Opera into the Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM). I talked to Rick Linklater and John Pierson about whether it was worth the upwards of $500 entry fee. The both were straddling the fence on the issue. But leaning to the "I guess so" side. So I bit the bullet and charged up the credit card.

On Tuesday, I went in to lock the picture and the computer started acting up again.

I’m kind of glad that the computer fucked up because I having a hard time deciding whether or not to leave the Drag Race in the film. It’s not in the current version and it doesn’t seem to be missed. I think the scene is kind of interesting and funny, but it has nothing to do with the plot. Maybe I’ll shorten it up, stick it back in and see how it works.

Tim at the Alamo has been playing the Rock Opera trailer and says the response has been good.

Sergio Alcocer, the head honcho over at Latin Works ad agency (the folks in charge of the Celis commercials), has offered to design a poster for Rock Opera.

I’ve been working as a bouncer at Stubb’s in order to make ends meet. Speaking of jobs, Jerry finally got one. He’s selling reptiles and other exotic pets at Zoo Keeper. He’s perfectly suited for it too. He used to have a bunch of snakes and is really into that kind of stuff.

A friend and fellow filmmaker, Viet was planning on shooting his first feature in July (with me as DP), but he’s decided to push back to the fall. He wants to fine tune the script.