Toni Braxon New Lifetime Movie

Kudos to Toni Braxton http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/toni-braxton-will-be-half-of-an-interracial-couple-in-new-lifetime-original-movie-a-narrow-bridge Lifetime seems to be making a lot of movies with black people in them now. Hopefully the keep this up.

The Memo that Changed Hollywood and Inspired Jerry Maguire

I was searching for the Kazenberg Memo and low and behold I found it. http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/tag/memo
http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/12/how-20-year-old-katzenberg-memo-changed
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/11/some-thoughts-on-our-business.html (the whole memo)
http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2011/11/read-the-jeffrey-katzenberg-memo-that-inspired-the-jerry-maguire-memo

Now as producers, writers etc. this is a must read. He basically said that Disney was headed away from their original vision, because of their success.

You can be hurt by your own success. Disney when it first started had limited budget, resources, and respect. So they used those limited budgets, and resource, and created well told stories. The thing is their own success while helping them get on their feet also hurt them. Because of their success they started making movies with bigger budgets. That’s not bad, but then budgets started getting bigger, the use of star power over story started to become king instead of story.

I loved how he mentioned the cycle of Hollywood going back to spiraling budgets that happened in the 50′s/60′s and how it nearly destroyed Hollywood. But you can also say that because of this we got the black film movement now known as blaxploitation, hixploitation etc. This gave rise to the independents. But eventually they got their act together. Then in the 80′s/90′s the same thing started to happen. And of course today. The bigger the company became or a company becomes the crazier spending can rise.

People talk about Old Hollywood. And yes you had folks who would go overboard, and spend like crazy, but that’s why they had the producer who would knuckle down and say NO! I think that’s what Hollywood needs again. Hollywood needs new Thalbergs. Yes the Old Studio system is no more, but there was some good and effective things that could and should be used by Hollywood today.

Hell those things might be good for independents to use. This kind of thing can easily happen to independents. Just because you are small using no-low-budges, no star, minor stars etc. doesn’t mean that you won’t or can’t get to this point.

The thing is staying true to your vision, and while everyone else is going 2012, Avatar, , cgi, spectacle crazy you are making My Big Fat Greek Wedding, It Happened One Night The More the Merrier, Palm Beach story (yeah I know three old films, but so what. They are more relevant today than most films made today. LOL) maybe even a Serenity (cheaper than most movies) Not saying don’t do big budget movies, or not to have mega stars, but don’t rely on big budgets, mega stars, big fx etc. The idea/story is king.

Black Filmmakers Need to Diversify! Please! I’m Begging you DIVERSIFY!

Now I know the previous post was talking about bp not complaining about media images if we aren’t doing anything or going to do anything about it. Well me I am. Even if it’s not at the moment as I am studying filmmaking. But best believe I have a plan. BET Study: Black Moviegoers Don’t Watch Just Black Films No shit Sherlock! Really No shit! Wait black people like to watch genres such as romances as much as white or other non-black people do? No shit! Excuse the language, but seriously everybody and they mama knows that. Hell, just go to the movie theater and look at who’s in line. This is one of the reasons that the blaxploitation movement ended. Studio execs. realized that just like black people were going to see movies like Abby (blaxploitation version of The Exorcist) or Black Ceasar they were equally going to see The Exorcist or The Godfather and many of other movies. The thing that annoys me with many black filmmakers is this ignoring of this. Why not make the types of movies that many bp enjoy. If black people like Runaway Bride, Two Weeks Notice etc. then why not make movies similar that many black audiences would enjoy? I have nothing against drama slice of life etc., but even white people have a hard time with the. Yes comedies as well as dramas are a hard sell when you start to look overseas especially the fact that every culture has it’s own since of humor. Hell even cultures within the same country have different since of humor.

Another thing is we have to learn to stop trying so hard to make movies about or focusing on black love. Why can’t the two love interest just happen to be black? It’s like black people have to make some hit over your head statement to show you that these two black people represent black love. Filmmakers try way to hard to show black love as something different than the way other groups love. Seriously! We are people. We are not some other and need to stop othering ourselves. Case in point the movie Deliver Us From Eva was deliberately written like it was a Julia Robert’s movie. I think that’s what makes it enjoyable. Not saying making it a race thing btw! Just that the writer wanted black audiences to see the type of movie they tend to enjoy from Julia or any other actress. Like I said before too many black filmmakers (U. S. American) work hard to make a movie black or feel black. Whatever that is. So in a since it’s us making it into a race thing without even realizing it.

Another thing I’ve seen and that annoys me is that we have too many movies like The Best Man don’t get me wrong while I love this movie there are just to many movies with bp and countless baby mama drama going on. I was recently watching a movie called Kiss the Bride where a groom drops an F(literaly)*bomb on his soon to be bride. Even black folks on Amazon were like WTH is up with our love stories. Now I know that white people and other groups have drama and conflict like this in their movies all the time. But see they have something that we African American’s don’t have. It’s called VARIETY! White Hollywood, Indies can get away with an Undercover Brother, because there is also A Beautiful Mind just around the corner. But we have Kiss the Bride, Outrighteous about two women competing over a dude. Seriously!

A friend said this in a discussion on a post from Clutch about Nollywood “I first began looking at Indian programming while visiting the Hookah bar…Everyone is filmed surrounded by grand homes and other beautiful scenery ….The women are glamorized and not sexified…… You actually want to be there…Of course we know reality for all is not that grandiose, but their best foot is put forward ….”

Yes Nollywood, Gollywood and other woods in the big A have crazy high drama. Seriously. I mean check out movies like Beyonce Presidents Daughter which reminds you more of soaps. Plastic surgery, really! LOL or Princess Tyra , Op! Let’s not forget Beyonce and Rihaana but again unlike AA’s they can do this, because while there is Osuofia in London , there are movies like Sitanda , My Idol , White Waters , The Picture Perfect , A sting in A Tale etc. Did anyone know there is a Nollywood version of Cinderella called Cinderella . There are others of course, but this one I am speaking of stars Desmond Elliot who directed a movie I’ll Take My Chances which is beautifully shot Jeta Amata made a beautiful movie Amazing Grace , Stephanie Okereke a big star in Nollywood went to the New York Film Academy and then went to make her first feature film Through the Glass where she cast herself as lead because well she can do that, being that she’s the freaking producer and has control of her image. Hmmm. Maybe something we as AA’s need to learn. Stephanie O even got a NYFA Program in Nigeria so ha!

Okay so them’s a lot of pics. LOL but they are there because hint hint, I want folks to look for them and check them out. Not saying they are perfect, but they have something to improve upon while we are still looking for others to do for us and then either complaining when they don’t or when they don’t show us in the light we want to be seen. Well that’s not others job. It’s ours. We need to control our image. Stop giving others the power to control something that they shouldn’t be in charge of anyway.

So while we have and need movies that show the bad Precious etc. we need movies that show the good Deliver Us From Eva. We need our own The Prince and Me, Pride and Prejudice, Runaway Bride, Casablanca, Palm Beach Story, Diwale Dulhania Le Jeyenge, Kabhi Kabhi Khushi Gham, Dil to Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Krrish (Sequel to koi mil Gaya. Plus I gotta throw in the superheroes LOL) etc.

Black filmmakers everywhere why not do like Nollywood, Gollywood etc. and distribute straight to video or even online? Why not look to black owned stores to see if they will sell products. I know it won’t be easy, but who knows. That’s how Tyler Perry grew that following. Black store owners sold those video plays, and I believe some promoted his plays, but it’s a been a while. Don’t know if many did this, but it did help to grow his following. Why not try that. Even if the movies are low-bud and look a hot mess it’s better than not trying anything and never getting anything done to improve upon!

Complaining Isn’t as Effective As Doing

Sorry for not posting in a long while. I will try when I can.

I was reading a post at What About Our Daughters (Fantastic blog btw!) and came upon a post from Clutch magazine.
Mad at the Media: Cheap Complainers Get No Sympathy

TV Makes It To the Web Through Independent Filmmakers

There are some pretty sweet web series that I definitely want to mention.

7 Cities

They even have it on TV

Facebook

Dirty South

The Same people who made Dirty South have Kissing Frogs

They also have a website/channel called Milestone Television

Pilot for (not sure if they are still going to have it be a web series or not)

The Endz

Here is another pilot of the Endz

The New York Television Film Festival is a festival for Pilots.

Here are a few

Red Hook High

Cast and Crew

Teachers

Another pilot made for the festival. Don’t know if it got in or not, but it was pretty good.

Which Way

Not a pilot for a festival, but for a class project. Either way it’s pretty cool cute kids show.

Mosquito

Pilot for proposed series
Dirty Rich

you can also view the pilot here Same ep just info on how much production cost, tech specs etc.

Last, but not least is a web series and a damn good one.

Pioneer One Everyone should most definitely check this web series out.

Also Pioneer One’s YT Channel Facebook of course their website

We Don’t Want to Be Left Behind!

I know this was an earlier video than the others, but I wanted to focus on the first two more than the other two.

I just found this dudes vids at YT. Love him. His name is Adam Daniel Mezei He does reviews at Film Courage an Check out PMD-For-Hire

I ended up watching his vids until like 4 in the morning. LOL

Also a discussion even though the thread starter actually isn’t against prosumer cameras just it’s misuse The Prosumer Myth is bad

Indie Distribution Network

Want to learn about film production etc.
DVXUser
Student Films
Student Filmmakers
Indie Talk
Cinematography
Filmmaking.net
DV Info
Indie Club
Indy Mogul
Production Forums

Where ever you go just remember not to get caught up in camera hype and other crap!

Scriptwriting

Wordplayer
Scriptwriting Goldmine
Zoetrope
Done Deal
Matt Hawkins

We should definitely use this open window before it closes. Get started in low in comsumer/prosumer and then move on to high end professional video cams as well as film like super 8 16mm etc. then up to 35mm. If we don’t hurry our time will be up! We will have missed our chance. I won’t be surprised in a few years if YT starts charging to put videos on (which would make sense, have you gone through the search lately. Whew!) Vimeo. There is actually a video sharing start up working on just that. There are some that won’t to go back to Ifilm style where it’s like a festival and the videos have to be approved etc. That means they filter out the crap. I also won’t be surprised when YT starts charging period! Same with other sites. I mean YT now has a form of rental like Netflix. Even if they stay free do people really think that the internet or internet video etc. will always stay wild like the wild west? Even the wild west eventually got tamed. People really think these businesses won’t catch up and on and be a head in the game again. Okay so TIVO, YT etc. through them for a loop, but whose to say it will always be that way?

We Have No Excuse!

The creators of Emperor explain how they came up with the idea about making the movie. For a while you could check the movie out at Vodo by downloading the movie through BitTorrents or UTorrents etc. The movie is free to watch such as Pioneer One that premiered there as well.

My New Youtube Page

Why I hate the Indie vs. Independent And other Film Wars

http://my.spill.com/forum/topics/independent-films-dying-breed
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail203.html This is too funny. I do remember a film professional mentioning something like this. He stated that many so called no-bud/micro-bud movies or uknown filmmakers (who end up with hit no bud movies in theaters or film fests) have a producer family member/friend, friend of family backing them. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it does make you think when you hear these hyped up stories.

Anyways during your entry into filmmaking you may come across a war going on (that personally gets on my nerves) which is the indie vs. independent war or debate . Also indie vs. independent vs. Genre vs. whatever. To me it’s the most silly debate I have ever seen.

All “indie” is, is a shorter version of independent which means independent of the studio. It was financed (some say a small portion of finance might come from a studio, but the majority from funding outside of the studio system.) That means an independent film is no less independent, because it was distributed by a major studio. Like what was stated in the above video many indie or independent films are more like b-films. B-films aren’t bad. That’s not what the b in bfilm stands for. It stand for budget. Having a low-budget, b actors as in not a list. Also what most say as indie (as in no budget or low budget) could also be categorized as micro-budget filmmaking.

Having no, low-budget, no stars, quircky stories etc. is just a by product, because many indies filmmakers have limited funds not because they are independent. An independent filmmaker could have access to a lot of funds as well as other resources.

You can have a high budget, high concept film and be indie (Star Wars anyone), you can have stars. You can also have a low-budget high concept film as well. I remember someone asking why would Hollywood actors want to do an indie film when they make a lot of money in HWood. I was like duh could it be because they are actors? So they want to-well- act.

DVXUSER “Honestly most of my friends wouldn’t even watch indie movies. I can’t say I blame them. I don’t watch indie movies either. Not true indie movies, anyway. Sure, I watch indie movies that were made for $7, $8 million, but how indie is that honestly? The rest of us making real indie movies are never given budgets like that.” (P.6) What is a true indie film? How is some one with 7 or 8mill less indie? How is someone with stars or known people in their films less indie? (wasn’t mentioned, but I think this needs to be asked)

High Concept according to Blake Snyder “The term was made famous by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner in their heyday as young gurus running Disney. To them it meant just what we’ve been discussing here– making the movie easier to see– and they came up with a long run of successful high concept movies. All you had to do was look at the one-sheet (another name for the poster) and you know “What is it?? for Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, and Down and Out in Beverly Hills.” (P. 15)

Just yahoo, google etc. the Katzenberg 28-page memo.

It seems like people have to try to make categories or labels that weren’t there in order to film better about themselves, because another filmmaker or whatever did something they didn’t think of and succeeded. It never occurs to many who do this that independent/indie is going to be different to different people. Just focus on the main definition of an indie/independent film and the rest is personal. Instead just worry about making films. I also think that many get so focused on themselves they forget about the audience. The audience don’t care about all the labels. They just want to see a damn film.

I remember reading where a filmmaker blasted Robert Rodriguez for El Mariachi saying that it wasn’t a true indie film (LOL) because it was an action film like Hollywood etc. LOL I mean seriously how is it not indie/independent. He made it on no-budget (remember that’s true indie), he even sold his body to science (we have a lot of these trials mostly targeted at students in Austin. Especially UT students) His stars were unknowns, he wrote the script based on what he had, he wore all hats etc. So how was it not indie/independent?

What I don’t get is how many of these filmmakers (ones who like to start this type of drama) love to bring up how with indie films you can have your creative vision (as if a big budget indie couldn’t) or tell stories Hollywood wouldn’t tell etc., but are just as likely or scared to have movies featuring black characters as with mumblecore. Like I said these filmmakers don’t owe us anything, but they can’t diss out other indies for budgets or Hollywood studio features for not being daring or having different characters, races, stories etc. when most of them don’t do so as well.

Please! Filmmakers don’t get into this indie vs. independent vs. genre vs. studio vs. anything debate. Just make your films. Yeah there are stinkers in Hollywood as there are in independent or Bollywood, Nollywood or any other industry. Even old Hollywood had the stinkers along with the most loved classics (which sometimes during their own times weren’t loved at all)

Works Cited

“Anyone Made A $250,000 Film?.” DVXUSER. 08-02-2008 03:14 AM, 2008. Web.
20 Oct. 2008. .

Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. 1st.
Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2005. Print.

Cockney Trek

Funny Trek Parody