Contemplate THIS!

THE MADNESS internet issue v.1.1.b	The Ocxim
January, 2004 vol.2.0.2004 Apologia ------------------------------------------------------ The majority of this second newsletter seems a bit dried and stale to me, but maybe you can squeeze a bit of interest out of it. Recently -- News ------------------------------------------------------ BRING IT ON AGAIN is being released on VHS/DVD on January 13th (that's Tuesday, tomorrow) of this year. Exciting. I'm anxious to see if any changes have been implemented since the cast and crew screening nearly a year ago. Though most of my work was offscreen, there may be a glimpse of me in one or two of the outdoor stadium crowd scenes. They go by quickly, though, because there were so many cardboard audience members. Anyhow, I suggest it as at least a rental, but that's based upon my one viewing thus far, which was lightheartedly enjoyable. Also, I'm not sure if my viewing pleasure was amplified due to having been a part of the crew. Anyhow, I'll be checking it out, again, to relive the fond memories of those bygone days. Wow. How's that for news? My video rental habits. The Madness section of my website has been updated with video clips from my Comicon speech (and a rough transcription, if you missed the first newsletter), which leave a lot to the imagination, due to their brevity. It's a rumor that Jonah Weiland at Comic Book Resurces has a video of the speech in its entirety, but he hasn't returned any of my queries. Anyhow, the clips are in the "not shiga" link of the Madness section. The update also includes the addition of a "reels" link in the Madness section, with two pieces which many of you reading this have already seen ad nauseam. But if you haven't seen "Dance, Voldo, Dance" or "Do You Pay Your Taxes?", yet, you may eke some pleasure out of these. http://www.bainst.com Recently -- Jobs ------------------------------------------------------ Well, this will be a mess, since it's been over six months since my last missive, but let's take a stab at it, eh? Currently, I'm doing the storyboards for HEART OF THE BEHOLDER, a low-budget film that I was on hold for two years ago, and finally came through with a budget. It's scheduled to begin shooting in April, and if any of you folks are interested in trying to get some work on it, the production company is http://catchlightfilms.com . I'd guess you could just write or call them with your info; I don't know if they have a full crew or not. ====================================================== MOVIE EXTRAS NEEDED If you live or will be in the Los Angeles area in April of 2004, HEART OF THE BEHOLDER will be looking for non-paid extras to play the roles of protesters, anti-protesters, soccer fans, award dinner patrons, and other assorted extra roles. If you are interested, please send Darlene Lieblich a brief email with your contact information, at Producer@Beholder.com ====================================================== Backtracking a bit, from late September through the end of October I was in Las Vegas working on a Hungarian film titled GETNO, which was a grueling experience. I was hired as the 2nd Assistant Director (2nd A.D.), but had some personality conflicts with the Line Producer, and was demoted to 2nd 2nd A.D. at the start of the 2nd week. This wasn't a bad thing, as so many things went wrong during the course of the shoot, that not being in a position of responsibility kept me from acquiring my first ulcer (which, up until my demotion, had been developing quite nicely). Highlights of the job: 1. At the end of the first week, there was a break-in at our hotel (The Budget Suites), and our Producer's room was ransacked. At the end of the process of moving out of his ground floor "suite" and into a third floor room, he was attacked, thrown to the ground, and mugged by three men with knives. He survived with a few welts and nicks, but it was too serious an occurrence to let a little thing like survival ease any fears; the entire crew was moved the very next day to new digs in under two hours, from notification of the move to last vehicle out of the lion's den. Lesson learned: don't base a location's safety on its appearance during daylight hours; once night fell, The Budget Suites became one of the scariest places I've ever been, even though it's less than a mile from the safety of The Strip. 2. There was animal talent on the movie, scheduled for six of our 28 day shoot, in the form of a small mutt named Emma. The trainer had several months to prepare the beast for simple actions such as "run forward", or "play ball", or "lie still", or "enjoy being held", but apparently Emma suffered from some bizzare Canine Attention Deficit Disorder. Either that, or the trainer was a moron, because the dog could do absolutely none of the things required of it. What it could do, and very well, was bite. On its first day, the shaggy creature left puncture wounds in the breast of one of the lead actresses (a compounded complication, because this same actress was to appear in a topless scene the following day), and later bit the same actress in a "playing" scene. After a second actor was bitten (the third incident), the trainer and his animal were not invited back for their remaining shoot days. After each bite, the trainer would act as if nothing serious had occurred, and after each take of the dog's non-performance, the man would act as if the dog had just sat up and sang The Star Spangled Banner. Lesson learned: a former assistant to a lion tamer is not the equivalent to a dog trainer; if you ever meet a Karl Mitchell from Nevada, quietly, yet briskly, back away. Anyhow, off the Strip, Las Vegas is a very different place. All of the locals we dealt with were a little "off", and creepy in a very Twilight Zone sort of way, but maybe that's just due to the nature of low budget film making. In the first week of November, I picked up two days of work as a background extra the U.S. remake of a French movie titled TAXI, starring Queen Latifa, Jimmy Valens, and Jennifer Esposito. I played one of Jeff Gordon's pit crew in what I assume was one of the closing scenes. If you ever see the "film", and notice a guy in the background placing a toolbox on an oil drum...that's me. The highlight was on the first day, when Ms. Latifa walked by, looked me up and down, and said "those boys look good in those pit crew outfits". Recently -- Comics ------------------------------------------------------ The first week in September was spent back in Maryland, at the Small Press Expo (people were calling it both The EXPO and SPX, this year, so I don't know what to think, anymore) selling comics at a shared table with John Larrey and Jason Sholtis of Dimension Z Comics (purveyors of the fine Gurnalon series, Detective Jigsaw, and an assortment of other cartoon books). Actually, I apologize for even bringing it up, because although it was a very nice trip, and there was some cool work on display, and I got to hang out with old pals, and meet and great with some new folks, there weren't really any stories to come out of the weekend, except maybe a follow-up to last newsletter, in that Jason Shiga won another award (but I, thankfully, was not asked to accept; there would have been too much pressure to match my Comicon performance). At the risk of boring you further, there was also the SuperMarket convention in Los Angeles, at which I spent a blissful two hours; blissful, because it was the first time in several years sitting at a table without the pressure of "having" to be there, and knowing that I wasn't going to make enough to pay for the cost of the show. Sharing the table were the usual rag-tag gang of Jesse Reklaw, Andrice Arp, Trevor Alixopulos, and probably a one or a few other folks whom I'm embarrassedly forgetting at the moment. The highlight, though, was the preceding night, attending the MiniMart art show, featuring work by Jesse, Andrice, Lark Pien, David Lasky, some other people you and I have never heard of, and the guy that put it all together, Tom Neely. I think most of the dozen or so per artist paintings sold, which counts as a successful and noteworthy event, even though you probably don't know these names...yet. Coming Soon -- Projects ------------------------------------------------------ Projects have been put on hold due to an overwhelming workload of paying jobs, but they're still on my mind. I'm still reworking "Angie's World" and "Far Flung" for submission to publishers, and this work will probably extend through the year, though I hope to have a completed issue of each as samples, by Comicon (this summer) at the latest. The Science Fiction/Action comic called "Ristorante Paradiso" I mentioned in the last newsletter is back in rewrites, and has been expanded into an epic trilogy, so artwork development has been placed on "hold". I've completed storyboards for my spec commercial, and am currently looking for parties interested in helping to produce the piece. Ditto with my five minute short film. Anyone interested in boards and scripts of these pieces, let me know, and I'll send them your way, along with a list of what I need for each, in the hopes that you're willing and able to help get them off the ground. As ever, if you are uninterested in receiving emails of this nature from me, just respond to this with some sort of indication for your desire to be removed from "the list", and I'll honor it without taking offense. I hate reading most newsletters, myself. You could just send a "remove" in the subject line, or send a detailed and expletive laden rant, and you won't have to worry about any further disturbance of this impersonal nature. And so, faithful interestoid, I leave you with a tip o' the hat, rakish smile, and jaunty "cheerio!", FC Brandt Want to receive this crap in your email inbox? Send me a note...