DIRECTOR'S NOTES

July 27, 2008

Peter and I are close to finishing another draft of the script. This script benefited from the interviews that Peter and I conducted as Sam's Grill and will be a great improvement over the last draft. Peter has been busy bringing money and talent to the project. Peter has been meeting with Academy Award winning actor Cliff Robertson about playing Tony as well as Clarke Peters to play Sydney. Peter produced Lori Petty's directorial debut  The Pocker House which recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Peter and Lori make a strong producing duo. Lori will join Peter and myself to produce Tony's Money. Her experience and understanding of the art and business of entertainment will be invaluable. 

April 15, 2008

It's been a while since my last post. Things have been busy. We finished a cut of the film we shot in spain. I am very happy with it. Of course, I am never satisfied. There are things I wish we could have done better and  material we could have shot, but I am not sure if I will ever be satisfied. It makes me want do better next time. I always do. We cut the video at Hotbed Media and then sent the EDL down to Company 3 (Co3) in Los Angeles where it was conformed to HD and color corrected. I asked Co3 to send us back a drive with an HD Res quicktime. I am using that to place subtitles over and burn to DVD for potential investors. I performed a quick test and burned a DVD of the HD material in iDVD and then played it on my plasma TV. The new color and resolution looks absolutely unreal even though I was playing a Standard Def DVD on an HD TV. My wife and I got sucked into the film despite having watched it hundreds of times. Peter is continuing to raise money and doing a good job of it. In the meantime we've also been working on a documentary about Tony and Sam's Grill. We've interviewed a lot of the waiters and staff that were around Sam's when Tony worked there. We've uncovered some great information that will definitely influence the next draft of the script. I am currently working on the doc edit. In the end, the doc will remind people that much of our story is based on true events and characters which from my perspective makes it all the more interesting.

January 31, 2008
We are close to picture lock (at least for now) on the first 15 minutes of Tony's Money. Peter and I sat down with the cut on Tuesday and tweaked a bit but we are both feeling really good about where the cut is. Overall, I am really happy with it and we've set ourselves up to make an entertaining film. I am so close to this thing now that I have no idea how the film sits with the first time viewer. I am looking forward to finding out. So far, the few people that we have shown have responded positively. When I show people, I am not looking to hear how they might have done it, but more of what they pull from the film, how they respond to the characters, how they describe the character and story back to me. Its fascinating to see how people interpret what they see and to see how well we have communicated our intended ideas. Its addicting really. Next step will be to work out a the sound mix and the online and color correction. We will be using this cut to help us raise more money. I am dying to get back to re-writing the rest of the film.

January 22, 2008

It's hard to believe January 2008 is about to be history. The Tony's Money cut is very close to being polished. Its been a busy month on the commercial side of the business so I've had to turn more of my attention to that work. But, I still jump back onto the avid to edit TM any chance I get. I spent the majority of my time this month refining the cut. I watched every take of every scene over and over to get a sense of what takes I prefer. In the timeline I would lay down takes back to back and play them against each other in order to see the differences in the actor's deliveries. I find its very helpful to juxtapose takes in the timeline because the good and bad really stand out against each other. I can safely say that the current cut represents the best of what we shot in Spain. I am working now to fine tune the pacing and trim things down a bit. The venta scene seems to run a little long but maybe that's because I've seen it so many damn times. I'm ready to show the cut to some people and get their response and see how they react. I want to understand a viewers perception of what kind of character Nick is. Our understanding of how we have communicated Nick in the first 15 minutes of the film will be instrumental in the re-writing process for the rest of the film. I believe we've achieved our goals with the character. Now, we have an opportunity to re-write based on what we've shot. I am excited to get on with that.

December 21, 2007
Happy Holidays! I am cutting away at Hotbed. I have fine tuned the first scene on the beach and I am now working on the Venta scene. It's feeling good. We could have used more time in some locations but all in all we have great stuff to work with. The performances are great. The editing process is where the rubber meets the road and I've said this before and I'll say it again that I feel fortunate to have achieved what we did with such limited resources. I am going to jump back into the edit.

December 9, 2007
We've completed a first cut. Blake, Hotbed's current editing intern, came in and put together an initial cut and then I put the finishes touches on it. There is still much work to be done in terms of pacing, performance choices and finalizing the cut, but the signs are pointing towards a good start for Tony's Money. I'm happy with what we achieved in Spain. The performances are great. The locations look beautiful. The story is set up well and poised to be finished in San Francisco. Its amazing what we achieved with so few resources. That's really a testament to everyone that was involved. I am currently re-writing the script based on our discoveries in Spain. Its nice to have the time to write another draft after shooting has commenced. I can take the character that we've created and expand on that for the rest of the film. Peter is continuing with fundraising efforts.

November 20, 2007
Company 3 finished transferring the film to video. We have just over three hours of film. Our colorist felt we had a great negative to work with. The footage is looking great. Only a couple of issues. Its looks like there was a lab issue on one of the shots...maybe something spilled. Bummer. So, we lost two shots of the scooter driving through Cartajima. We also had one continuity issue with some sunglasses that I think we can cut around. Not too bad given our small crew and limited resources. We are digitizing in the material into Hotbed's avid. We'll be syncing this Tuesday and hopefully cutting by the end of next week.

October 25, 2007
Peter drove to LA today to drop the film off at Company 3. They will be doing our telecine. I can't wait to start cutting the footage. The airlines lost our sound recordist's gear. Jackasses. They finally found it today... over a week later. Thank God.

October 17, 2007
Fifteen thousand feet of film is heavy. Between the two of us, Peter and I carried nine reels of 35mm film on the plane ride home. I am fine with the weight because it at least feels like all of the hard work in Spain amounted to something. Its also weird to think that all of that effort is contained in these 9 reels. We have mixed emotions leaving Spain. Exhausted and missing our families we are happy to be flying home, but I also wish we were still shooting. We stopped over at Heathrow and stayed the night. I slept nearly the whole way home.

October 15, 2007
That's a wrap on Spain! We got to Bar Reinaldo this morning and shot out our dawn scene with Nick and Erika. We did some improv and it worked nicely. We had a nice tapa lunch and then head back to the mountains to shoot Nick driving his scooter up the narrow rock-lined roads to Cartajima. The crew was much smaller and we took our time finding our shots. We had 800 feet of film left so we made sure to rehearse our blocking and get it in one take. We finished the day with some tapas and beer. The shoot was at times challenging but overall its been great. Naturally, there are challenges with shooting in a foreign place with unfamiliar crews but from my perspective we succeeded in grabbing what we needed. I thank everyone who helped us put the spanish portion of Tony's Money down on film.

October 14, 2007
I woke up at 3pm today, did some much needed laundry and chilled out. Tomorrow we have to shoot the dawn scene at Reinaldos so Chad, John and I headed over to the bar and scoped our shots. I am going to bed early.

October 13, 2007

Nick, Erika and Reinaldo in The Port of Estepona

I am brain dead. Got to the beach at 6:30am. It was dark. We built the camera and prepared for the dawn shot. 8am. We got it and then rehearsed Reinaldo and Curo who will play in this scene as Reinaldo and Paco, respectively. They are not actors but they have a good look and are naturals. Reinaldo is the owner of Bar Reinaldo and a fixture in the Estepona community. We finished the beach shots and then moved to Bar Reinaldo to shoot a scene where Nick tells Reinaldo that everything has been worked out at the venta. It was a challenge because we had to shoot the scene while the bar was open. I think people got into it because they were quiet for us when we rolled camera. The scene took longer than we wanted and then all went home and slept. We had to be back at Reinaldos for the night portion of the shoot at 10pm. I slept a few hours and then went down early to check things out and get into the spirit. I was tired. Damn tired. The late night and early mornings were starting to take a toll and that's not counting the steady intake of whiskey, beer and wine at every meal. That night was no exception especially since we were shooting the bar hopping scenes where Nick encounters Erika. We kicked off the shoot with some dinner and then went to work. It was very docu-style. We were capturing a lot of what really goes on here in the Port on a saturday night. We were using an Arricam LT which is a super light 35mm package that allowed us to run and gun. As the night wore on, the port started filling up with revelers. Extras were easy to come by. We were excited with what we were getting. We ended up in a club called Atico owned by Reinaldo's daughter Lillian. We got some great stuff there. The crew worked fast and furious and we ended our night around 4:30am. I had a drink at Reinaldo's and next thing I new I was heading to a club called Plato with Chad, John, our actress Lyndsay and some other from our crew. She had a little bit to drink shooting the bar scenes so John was driving her car. It was a bit of a blur. Anna, who we had befriended at Reinaldos and had been an extra pulled some strings bypassed the long line to get in. We drank and did a bit of dancing. We called it a night at around 7am and then had some breakfast. Its 8am. The sun is rising and other than a short nap I've been up for 24 hours. Tomorrow is a day off thank God.

October 12, 2007

Visual storyboards from the venta.

I didn't sleep well. After watching the dailies I realized I was covering the venta scene all wrong. We had rushed into shooting the scene the night before and hadn't spent enough time rehearsing the blocking and coverage. We only shot three set-ups in the venta yesterday but I could see that I was setting the scene up to fail in the edit. There is a lot nuance in this scene and we have to capture it properly otherwise the nuance will be lost in the cut. I basically wanted to start over. This morning I had the crew pull out all of the equipment so that the actors would be uninhibited to find the space they wanted to work in. I believe in letting actors find their own way around the set and allowing the blocking to happen naturally. So we pulled out the camera dolly and rehearsed. Then we shot digital stills of our coverage and downloaded the files to Aperture. I then used the digital files as a visual shot list. I've never worked this way before, but for complex scenes it seems to work well. The crew worked hard and we finished our day with exterior shots of Nick entering the venta. At nightfall we all headed back down to Estepona. Peter had to drive the scooter down the hill.

October 11, 2007
First day of shooting. Peter set out at 6:30am on the scooter to climb the hill to Cartajima. Reinaldo and Curo followed him in a car. The scooter didn't fit in any of our production vans and we had to have it up there for some shots. When we arrived I was happy to see that Peter had made it. We set up in Maribel's room first. First shot up is a bedroom scene with Peter and Zoe. It was a tough one to start with as it required the actors to get undressed. It was good to finally start rolling film on Tony's Money after five years of development. At noon ,Lynn, our production manager confirmed that we could change our production schedule. We shot out Maribel's room and moved to the Venta restaurant scene late in the afternoon. We quickly set up and started shooting. The hotel owners helped us cast Maribel's father played by a local named Drunk Paco. There are a lot of Pacos in the town and the hotel owners told me that they have nicknames for them all to tell them apart. This Paco happens to drink a lot and so they call him Drunk Paco. We fed Paco some whiskey and water, his agreed upon fee, and worked well for us. Paco doesn't speak a lick of English so I had to direct in Spanish or have a translator help me. Curo was helping me for a while with Drunk Paco but then I realized that Curo didn't speak any english either and that he simply was doing a better job of decoding my bad spanish. I was tired. We only got through a couple of shots in the venta before our day ended. That night we drank wine and watched dailies in the lobby of the small hotel. We had a good dinner with avocados. I didn't know that they grow avocados in Spain.

October 10, 2007
It's a last minute frenzy to put everything together. No matter how prepared you are its the same. Film production involves a million moving parts and if one of the parts doesn't work then the film can grind to a halt. We tech scouted our Cartajima location that will play for the Venta where Maribel lives and works. We'll be shooting in and around a small a quaint hotel called Hotel Los Castanos. I hope to return and vacation some time. The owners are super nice and have gone way out of their way to help us. Not only have they provided us a location, but they've also cast our extras, fed us and procurred set dressing for us. Chad, John and I came up with a shot list and took notes for the shoot. We immediately realized that we hadn't allotted enough time for the venta in our production schedule. Chad, John and I moved things around. We have to pitch the new schedule to the producers tomorrow and see if they will go for it. Its gotta work otherwise we may not get what we need in the venta. We don't have room in the trucks for the scooter so Peter is gonna have to ride the mountainous 60 kilometers to Cartajima. Its gonna be scary.

October 9, 2007
Tuesday. My forecast was spot on. Not feeling good again. Another night in the port with Chad and John. Got a lot done though. I've spent a lot of time on story and talent and now its time to work on the photography and coverage. Scouted the beach. Talked a lot about what we are going to do. Peter's walking thank goodness. His ankle seems to be fine. Film arrived. Its okay. Lots of Tapas. The port is giving us trouble. Spent the afternoon in solitude thinking. I think I am brain dead but that's okay. We rehearsed with Zoe who will play maribel. Its great. Peter and Zoe perform well together. I am going to be bed early tonight.

October 8, 2007
It's monday and I feel better. Not sure how long that is going to last. The Cinematographer, Chad Cohlmia, and his operator, John Rutland, are flying in from Los Angeles tonight. I need to show them our night locations which means more visits to bars and clubs. You add in the celebration of their arrival and the outlook is not good for tomorrow. Today we rehearsed Reinaldo and Curo who play Reinaldo and Paco, respectively. Reinaldo and Curo are not actors, but they are good anyway. They are the real deal and its fun to watch them work. They are bringing a lot of their own ideas to script which will only make their performances feel more natural. We spent the rest of the day planning. Peter twisted his ankle on some stairs which gave us quite a scare. He's OK now and we are glad for that. Now, off to pick up Chad and John in Malaga.

October 7, 2007
Sunday. I slept in. We spent the day laying low and working on our notes for the shoot. Peter got some sun so that he can look the part of someone who hangs on the beach a lot. I stayed out of the sun because I am too far gone pale to begin a tan. I'll only be working on a burn and maybe a little cancer. We also finalized the shooting schedule. I also edited a short piece using found footage to explore the pacing and length of the montage that we'll shoot in the Port of Estepona. It's in these series of shots that Nick develops his relationship with Erika, a woman he meets at Bar Reinaldo. At the end of the montage, Nick and Erica kiss and make out which sheds light on the fact that Nick's intentions with Maribel are not consistent with what he told her. Recovering a bit from our "research" last night which involved scouting different bars and clubs.

October 6, 2007
This morning we prepped. I wrote a shooting script and refined my shot list based on all of our discovery's here in Spain. Lynn, our local production manager, naturalized our script by adding in the local lingual flavor. After much deliberation over cold fried chicken in our apartment kitchen, Peter and I chose Zoe Marmentini to play the role of Maribel. We are excited to have her on. We are still considering our choices for the role of Erika. Peter and I spent Saturday afternoon taking a little break from Tony's Money to shoot a bit of footage for a project called Blues / Jondo. The producer of that project pulled together a group of Flamenco musicians at a Venta and we captured them belting out some tunes. We were back in the port of Estepona by 10pm where we began to scout the bar scene for our night shoot which will prove to be the most challenging part of the production. The shoot is for a montage that demonstrates how dialed in Nick is in Spain. By five am and I had five whiskeys and a good plan for next saturday night.

October 5, 2007

Dawn on the beach of Estepona.

We scouted Estepona's beach at dawn. This is the location where the film with open with Nick sleeping off a big night of drinking. We found a beautiful location where the fisherman work. We have to shoot here on the weekend to avoid the noise from all of the construction going on in the area. We spent the rest of the day prepping our shot list, meeting with our art director, Antonio, and doing a bit a casting. We saw an actress for the part of Maribel. Every audition further defines the proper path our scene with Maribel should take. Today's was no exception. We ended the day with a scout and a whiskey at Reinaldo's where we are to shoot the bar scenes and pondered our actor choices. We have to make a decision by Sunday.

October 4, 2007

Cartajima, Spain

We location scouted Cartajima today. Its an unbelievably beautiful little pueblo in the mountains above La Costa Del Sol. We are filming in a small bed and breakfast called Las Castanas. They are providing us a location for the Venta, where Nick visits a girlfriend of his and convinces her to let his associated stash hash. We'll also be filming on the small roads leading up to Cartajima to create a montage of Nick riding through the countryside on this scooter.

Our goal in Cartajima will be to capture the local color. We are bringing our lead actors in but the rest of our talent will be locally casted. Today, I met the man who will play Maribel's father. He took a break from moving graves to speak with us. He said that they need to make room for more people, so they are moving the old graves out. When he says old, I think he means ancient by american standards. He told us that he has found scratch marks inside some of them, indicating that some were been buried alive.

We also auditioned a couple of possibilities for Maribel and Erika. We were happy to see that the actors had high level of skill.

We ended the day around 10pm with some tapas and beer.