Aerie Productions

Blogging elsewhere

2010-10-17T23:05:00.000-07:00

This blog has remained a little dormant, but that doesn't mean that my online activities have. Of course much of the day to day stuff has moved to social networking, but the current things that I'm writing about online are located in other places. Here's an overview of my activities if you'd like to keep reading more from me.

1. The Man Who Was Thursday, with occasional blog posts chronicling the recording and ideas behind my new audio play based on the well known book by G.K. Chesterton. The project is a no-budget experiment, and will take a long time to complete, but I'm enjoying it immensely.

2. Downey Arts Coalition, news in the hyper-local world of supporting the arts in the city of Downey where I live. There is a small group of arts advocates that I've met, but we lack focus and organization. Lana and I are attempting, in our own small ways, to insert ourselves wherever we can. I've started a website and social following, that I hope will soon branch into monthly meetings.

3. Local Hero Post, my new workplace, and a job that is right up my alley-- post production for feature films. I know online I try to project an image of a creative writer & director, but at heart I'm at least 75% a tech nerd. I love the details of digital cinema and how movies come together from camera up through the screen. Local Hero is involved in advanced DI color correction for feature films, as well as visual effects, mastering, and many other project such as 3D broadcast. I'm the chief technologist and also leading the charge into social media and semi-regular blogging.

So to follow me, check out those blogs for now, until things start to end up back here. And of course, there's also twitter. I don't tweet much, but I do promote when I've written a blog post.

On a personal note, Lana and I have a baby due very soon, so beware a flood of new family pictures.

Theatre History in Downey, CA

2010-02-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

I recently had some interesting conversations with a couple folks from the John Hume Performing Arts Foundation. Pauline Hume is the widow of John Hume, who was asked by the city to start the first production of what became the Downey Children's Theatre in 1955, starting at Rio Hondo Elementary school's auditorium. His successful programs then became the catalyst for the city building the Downey Civic Theatre in 1970. The theatre expanded widely into many different programs, including legitimate adult theatre, experimental theatre, marionette and musicals with what is now the Downey Civic Light Opera. With the passage of Prop 13 in 1978, the city was forced to withdraw funding for the theatre programs, which all but shut down all operations except for the profitable CLO. More of that history can be read at this link.

On Downey Avenue, the 800 seat Avenue Theatre began it's life in the 20's as a legitimate theatre before it became a movie house. It has a full proscenium, fly system and dressing rooms in the basement. It was also home to a ballet school for awhile.

Apparently next door, there was a store-front theatre run by a John Williams that put on shows like "Harvey," and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," from around 1954 to 1958. Larry Dusich, who has spent some time compiling the history of theatre in Downey, performed there as a kid. He remembers getting dressed in the back of the store, then heading out to the alley between the stores and the Avenue, walking around the corner of 3rd and Downey, past the entrance to the Avenue, and then enter the stage from the front, where they performed with their backs to Downey Avenue.

South of there, past 2nd Street, was a another small theatre that some have labeled the "El Teatro." It was in the building now occupied by the former Popcorn video and a beauty supply store. The space was divided up, but remnants of the original roof, skylights, and front office remain, apparently. I'm not sure what it was used for.

I'd love to see some version of a 99-seat equity waiver or store-front theatre back in Downey, putting on legitimate plays, both modern classics and "classic" classics like Shakespeare. Truth is that the Downey Civic Theatre, and the Avenue for that matter, are both too big to launch a small theatre company that wants to keep its costs down, its quality high, and hedge against the inherent risks. A smaller space, ideally on Downey Avenue or equally central to the city could find a regular audience, build a subscriber base, and then maybe eventually move into a bigger space.

The Man Who Was Thursday Audio Play

2010-01-18T00:30:00.001-08:00

So my focus has changed for the new year, 2010. The project on the front burner is an audio-only production, a radio play adaptation of The Man Who Was Thursday, which is a classic mystery-thriller by G.K. Chesterton, published about 1907. I wrote the script, taking a couple liberties, but ultimately staying pretty close to the script.

My roommate-collaborators are Ben & David Stanton, musicians, composers and audio experts. Also on board the producing team is Ananda Dillon and handling casting, my wife Lana Joy. We're in the casting process right now, which so far has consisted of recruiting some wonderfully talented actors that we've met over the years, some that Lana has worked with, and one especially powerful actor that we saw at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I can't name any names, because nothing is done or set in stone. All I can say is I'm extremely excited about them.

The first casting session will be January 30th-- it'll be a protracted process, because of my fulltime job and the difficulty of scheduling busy people.

I'm also intimidated by the sound editing & sound effects process. There is a lot of stuff, the book is incredibly visual, and all that has to be translated into exciting sound and music.

The word is spreading, and the social networking has started. First of all, the traditional website is http://www.manwhowasthursday.com, then on facebook the updates have so far mostly been quotes from my script, at http://www.facebook.com/ManWhoWasThursday. 83 followers as of this writing. I also just linked a twitter account, http://www.twitter.com/TMWWThursday.

So follow, fan, and stay-tuned. There's an email list starting on the website, as well as a link where you can donate funds to the project. We're doing this on our own, with our own pocket-books. Anyone who donates will get access to the podcasts early, or special edition CDs of the finished product. We'll need to purchase some recording equipment, some sound effects, and food for the days we're in production.

The Association has been a little back-burner for a little while, looking for some traction there. I have a new producer to collaborate with, so we're in discussions on how to get the ball rolling on a micro-budget film.

Also, check out The Jingle Boys, a house music project and super-sized Christmas card that our friends have all worked hard on the past couple months. You can listen to the album on the website.

Peer goes to work

2009-09-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we moved, finally-- after nine years in our faithful Downey one-bedroom apartment. It's confirmed, it was awesome for a one bedroom, or so agrees the complex's new managers when they looked at it. They suspect it was originally intended as the apartment manager's apartment (#101), but was abandoned because it wasn't centrally located to the rest of the units.

We're now renting a house not 1/2 mile away, a four bedroom that we're sharing with 2 other roommates. We have the upstairs. It'll be nice to have a backyard for Peer to play in. Our habit at the apartment was to wander around the complex grounds, which was essentially one big backyard to play in. He likes to collect pine cones, rocks, sticks, pine noodles (needles)... and he especially liked throwing things in the pool. Which, after letting him for awhile because it was cute, decided to stop that habit before the managers came after us.

So by way of saluting the Brookshire Apartments and our many great memories there, Peer and I went on another photo journey. For his 2nd birthday, he got an awesome little suitcase from Gma and Gpa, which he immediately started carrying everywhere he went. So on this day back in August, Peer ceremonially announced his intention to go outside. "Where are you going?" I asked. "Werk," he said. "Really? I didn't know you worked. What do you do?" "Rocks." Ah, yes. His favorite pastime.

Here we go, out the front door to work! Bye bye!

Let's go in the main part of the apartment complex, just through these double-doors. Come on, Daddy!

"Broken Fountain!" He loves fountains, and recently the new managers have been giving our trusty fountain a little cleaning and re-painting.

Out the other doors and back out on the street. There's Daddy's car on the right.

"Walk," is what he says to demand that we let him out of our arms.

Ooh, look at the fancy animation that Daddy made! Cool.

Ah hah! A rock. Now we're getting somewhere.

Here you go, Daddy! This one's for you.

Ooh! More rocks.

I'll put this one in my suitcase.

There goes Daddy showing off again!

Ah, here's the back door to the apartment complex. Let's go in.

We like to call this little planter full of rocks the "coffin" because of its suspicious shape.

We have a lot of big panels of glass around.

And there's the pool! If Daddy didn't stop me I'd throw rocks in there all day. Even when there are people in there.

Hmm... anything here?

Let's go back this way!

Ahah! A pine cone! Originally known as a "Dee-joo."

Rest stop.

"Daddy! Sit." (as he pats the seat with his right hand)

Picture time!

I'm ready for my close-up!

Let's head back toward the exit.

A quick stop to climb these stairs. It's lots of fun counting stairs!

And back down again!

Sit for a second...

And now run!!!

Here's the main entrance.

And the mail boxes (ours was the upper left).

Contemplate the broken fountain again. It's not as fun throwing pieces of bark in there when it's empty.

And back home!

But first, a quick rest stop on the porch. Daddy! Sit!

Picture time again!

Mama! I'm home from work! Look at all the cool rocks I found!

So there it is. Thanks for watching!

1 year's difference -- part 2

2009-03-14T22:57:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd finally post something here, with a revisit to an earlier motif, of matching up pictures from one year ago to their current counterpart. It's amazing how things change (and a little how they don't).

First, our 2nd annual Christmas ginger bread house kit from TJ's.

2008:

2009:

And now, USC playing in the Rose Bowl-- the only time of the year we watch football.

2008:

2009:

With special appearance by Elmo... as you can see, Peer has developed a nice football slouch.

And as a special bonus, another paid I decided to add last minute, playing the piano:

2008:

2009:

He's just about ready to start writing his own compositions.

For the latest commercials that I've been putting out for the LA Times, check out my YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/awahlquist/

Peer's Guided Tour of Tech Rehearsal

2008-12-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Peer! I'm going to take you on a tour of the First Baptist Church of Downey during the tech rehearsal for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" that my mommy is directing.

This is Mommy. I say hi to her first, every time. I love her!

There's lots of interesting things to see up on the stage.

It's very exciting.

Let's stop and steal a water from the tech team's secret stash.

This is a door stop. It goes up and down.

Hurry up! This way!

Everybody likes to watch me instead of pay attention to what's going on.

Here are some mic cables, ready to be set up.

Okay, here's one of the windows to the decorative garden on the side.

Oh, everybody's clapping!

I want to clap too!

Okay, let's go back this way...

This door goes to the bathroom area.

Oh wait, I think I see something in the trash can.

Nevermind. Come on, what are you waiting for!?

This is the drinking fountain. Here's how it works.

This door goes to the outside. It's closed right now.

Okay, let's go back this way.

This is the Narthex. Hurry up!

Everybody is on stage listening to notes. Come on down!

Cool stuff, huh?

This is Marsha-- she painted the set and made the stained glass.

This is the piano where Mr. David plays sometimes.

Hey Rob, what's up?

Hm, everyone here seems to be busy.

I'll play a little Hammond B3 organ. Yeah, groovy.

Mr. Ben and Mr. David are smiling because I made a loud noise at the perfect moment. Ha ha, Mommy, I distract everyone from what you're saying!

Okay, back to Mommy. Goodnight everyone! Thanks for playing with me!

Peer is 1 today!

2008-08-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

After work Lana's parents and sister paid a visit (the arm in the background).

He loves to stand on his own, just to show off.

We went to Downey's Wednesday Night Summer Concert Series and heart the Side Street Strutters play some dixieland jazz, along side a picnic of sandwiches.

20sec LA Times Commercial

2008-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

This week my new 20 second length of the commercials I've made for the LA Times debuted on KTLA. It's promoting our investigation on wildfires running this week. It's designed to change out the content easily and promote a different feature each week, and now it has voice-over which we recorded at the Times as well. Here is what it looks like (try to watch it in "high quality" mode).

It's all put together in After Effects, using graphic elements from the archives of the print and web editions of the LA Times.

Here is the 10 second version I uploaded not long ago... also can watch in "high quality" on YouTube:

Then and Now

2008-07-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Then...

Now...

He's just a little bigger.

Father's Day the First

2008-06-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Like Mother's Day before it, Father's Day was spent as our family 1-2-3, exploring El Dorado Nature Center. Peer slept most of the 2-mile hike, and enjoyed playing in the museum.

A Couple Firsts for Peer

2008-06-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here are couple videos illustrating Peer's current state of mobility. He's on the cusp of being a crawler, but first he figured out how to pull himself up on furniture and do a little cruising. He can start at one point in the room and make it all the way to his favorite electronic "not a toy" that he wants to bite (remote control, cell phone, computer, camera), but not by straight crawling, just sort of thrusting, climbing and rolling towards it.

April 27th

Here is the video of the first time he pulled himself up. We weren't even expecting it, but just had the video camera on him. So you can see his full effort start to finish-- takes him awhile, but he gets there triumphantly. Oh the drama!

June 6th - Peer's 10 monthaversary

I pulled out the camera again and realized that he wants to grab it so badly that it may finally be enough motivation for him to crawl forward (he's already been crawling backwards into a sitting position). Our apartment doesn't have a lot of wide open spaces, so if he wants to get somewhere, crawling isn't his only option since he can climb various pieces of furniture to get somewhere. This is a compilation of his latest moves.

Rylee enters the World

2008-05-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

My sister in law, Jennifer and her husband Darrin just gave birth to their new baby girl... Rylee Angelica. 6 lb 12 oz, 19 3/4 in, 7:25PM May 29th.

Congratulations to the happy new family!

From Rylee Enters ...

Note: You'll notice from the comments that I did it again-- anytime I see a dog or a baby I call it a boy by default. So it's probably a good thing that Peer was a boy, saves him from the gender confusion. Sorry! Fixed now.

Mother's Day at Shoreline Village

2008-05-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Danny Pebbles

2008-05-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

A few months back, as we were talking with people about our movie about Homeowners Associations, we came across an interesting personality, a national speaker and authority on the subject of community conflict resolution, Danny Pebbles. He's a funny guy, and really has a heart for helping people who are faced with some common and not-so-common abuses that often are found in private neighborhoods with Homeowners Associations.

So Jonathan Wilson and myself decided to partner up with Danny and create a video series, staring him. Kind of a "self help" DVD series for homeowners trying to live a happy peaceful life in an Association. We're also developing a website for Danny to help him gain some publicity for his work on the speaking circuit. He flies around the country talking with different HOAs around, inspiring them to be the great communities that they can be.

So here are some pictures from our first video shoot with Danny. Check them out at

LA Times Video - Reporting on the Wildfires

2008-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a whole lot to do with creating this video, but I wanted to let people know that it's online, and it's a pretty cool video showing a bit behind the scenes of how the LA Times works right now. It was made for employee recognition week, and includes a good overview of the newspaper process. At work I'm trying to re-create the video in HD and give it some good color correction.

Check it out here.

or at YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPCgnEeBk2I

Peer at 8 months

2008-04-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Learning how best to sprawl on the couch with Dad.

Happy Boy @ 7 months

2008-03-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hand Jive

2008-01-31T21:53:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we were given a little video camera-- which I of course promptly returned to the store so that I could find the video camera that i really wanted. Okay, I couldn't get that one since I don't have thousands of dollars. But I did find interesting the Aiptek Go-HD, a little thing that records on SD cards in HD 1280x720 video as H.264 Quicktimes. About 2 hours of HD video fits on a 4 gig SD card. Turns out I love this little camera-- so small and portable, and no silly tape to deal with. If only one of our laptops was fast enough to play the videos back.... though they play back great on our (also new) HDTV.

Here is one of the first videos we took. We discovered that when Lana does the Hand Jive (a Grease reference that I was clueless about until now), Peer laughs up a storm. Well, just that night. Our efforts to repeat the occurrence have since been fruitless.

Enjoy:

Fatherhood smacks me upside the head

2008-01-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

So if you've ever wondered if you can continue to pursue filmmaking while working full time and being the father of an almost-six-month-old, let me share, and you may decide for yourself... Part of new parenthood is a bit of grasping at the lost straws of the non-parenthood life you used to know, where doing things was a lot less complicated.

During the fall/holiday season Lana (with my enthusiastic support) took on the directing of FBCD's Christmas program, which was a huge time commitment and made me her baby-sitting sidekick (Peer and I went to almost all the rehearsals with her, Peer making baby noises and me whispering unnecessary comments in Lana's ear). Looking back, I think that all made me jealous, which is why I inflicted very last minute on Lana that I wanted to shoot a 10 minute short film that I had written a few years ago. Oh, and that certain scenes had to be shot while we could still find a local Christmas Tree lot. I knew it was crazy going in, which made it all the more appealing.

So the result is this: Accidentally scheduling a 11-hour shoot day, in our set-decorated apartment, on our Anniversary, January 12th, with a tiny crew-- half of which (1 person) got sick and had to leave mid-way. Here's a picture to illustrate:

That's me holding Peer in the Moby wrap, holding the mic boom, watching a 7" monitor of the camera feed, and trying to somehow call this all "directing."

Now my version of "editing" is borrowing time for an hour after work maybe 2-3 times a week at our video editing computers, then running home to give mommy her much-needed evening break.

But in other news, our new nephew/cousin was just born, Kevin James Wahlquist, just this morning at 7:30AM-ish! More details to come on that later.

Happy B-day Gma Smith

2007-10-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Today is my Grandma Peg Smith's birthday, in her memory at least. She passed away the day that Peer was born. I was running out to the car to grab something, when I passed my mom in the hospital hallway. She and my brother Ben had just arrived, and were really excited to come see Peer. When I came back from the car, my mom was on the cell phone. "Grandma Smith passed away," my brother whispered to me. Quite a shock to feel these two emotions in one day, all within the same hour.

Apparently Grandpa gave her the message that baby Peer was on his way, and Lana and I were at the hospital. He went in to check on her later, and she was gone. She never quite heard that Peer was out in the world and a beautiful, healthy baby, but I'm pretty sure she knew. I like to think that she was considering her options for how to go see her new great grandchild. She's been pretty weak lately, and wouldn't be up for a car ride. Maybe there's a way to just float over and take a peek?

From other people I've told this story to, I think it's not an uncommon occurrence-- having a birth and death in the family on the same day. Part of the natural cycle of life, I'm sure.

Here's some pictures to keep things updated:

Two months old!! And a happy boy!

We love taking pictures of our happy boy... 23 1/2 inches, 11 1/2 lbs.

Ta da!

Now if he'd only sleep through the night, then we'd be sitting pretty.

7 Weeks Old

2007-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Preppy boy

Dino boy

Peer and Dad like to hang out outside our apartment and look at the neighborhood.

Limited text in this one because I'm typing one-handed and holding a baby on my lap. Yeah, I love being a Dad.

Peer John Wahlquist

2007-08-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

I admit, my head's been in a different place recently. Time for baby coming has been drawing near, and it's time to get serious. I took a full time job at the Los Angeles Times, which has been great so far. It's given me the benefits I need for the birth, and the finances we need for Lana to be able to stay home with the baby for now. All we needed was for the baby to come.... and here he is, two and a half weeks early!

Peer John Wahlquist, born August 6th, 2007 at 9:40AM. 6 lbs, 2 oz. 18 inches long. He's happy, healthy and handsome. Mommy is doing well, though she'll have a long recovery. We had a drug-free birth (up until he was out), and it was a confusing, exciting, bizarre, and wonderful experience. Enjoy the pictures!

This last one is my favorite picture of the whole bunch (There are more at my myspace page). We were driving away from the hospital-- with Lana telling me to stop taking pictures while at the wheel (we were stopped, don't worry). She looked down at our new son, thinking about how we were taking him home for the first time, and just started weeping with joy. It's been such a huge, overwhelming experience-- definitely the biggest of our entire lives. God has been amazingly gracious to us, and our son Peer is absolutely the best!

Table Reading

2007-05-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a great time reading aloud my screenplay The Association. It was meant as an informal gathering of actor friends to read and filmmaker friends to listen, with the intent that hearing it aloud would illuminate how the comedy was/wasn't working and to discuss any tweaks that could be fixed in the next draft. It really was a lot of fun, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Here, as a taste, I'll post an audio clip of the reading.

Dave attends his first resistance meeting, Helen names him as her successor.

Voices are Michael Hitchcock (Dave), Deborah Strang (Helen), Mark Bramhall (Mr. Chen), Sarah Rush (Linda), Jemuel Morris (Blake), Steve Kaplan (George).

Special thanks to the cast above and the rest of our reading/listening crew: Claudia DiMartino, Dynette Streich, Sarah Rufenacht, Keith, Jeff, Matt, Julia and Jonathan. Everyone was super-talented and helped us out in immeasurable ways.

Blogs about Blogging

2007-05-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Ever get annoyed by non-blogs? The kind of post where all someone says is, "hey sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but there's not much to report." Well, that's what I'm worried this one is. But I'll try and spice it up with some pictures.

The job situation needs prayer and some potential reinventing at this point. The Association is coming along, with a fresh new business plan and approach, assisted by three new people on our team, Aimee Flaherty (line producer), Richard Hooker (marketing guru) and Elsa Ramo (entertainment attorney). Reactions to the script are positive, so I think the future for it looks bright. Also, special thanks to a Hiltonhead, SC couple, Dwight & Judy for some generous help in getting us started. Keep them in your prayers, for their daughter is now in heaven due to some health problems that finally caught up with her. Also also, we're having an informal table reading tomorrow morning with some actors reading the script for me. That should be fun!

Here's us visiting Biola friends Kelly & Timothy, with Tidus and Tristan. Too long between visits!

This is Lana from last week at our friend's graduation party, newly christened as "Dr. Jen Burpo, DVM." Next week baby Wahlquist will be officially in his Third Trimester (yikes, nervous).

Friend babies Ella Batstone and Lorelei Hart, who aren't so small any more!

And Jeremy aka Happy Baby... can't forget him! He'll be almost 2 by the time his new cousin is born in August.

CAI Magazine

2007-03-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey, I figured out how to stop the video below from playing automatically! That's good news because I'm sure it could get annoying really fast.

The latest publicity for The Association has been in the form of a mini 5-Questions interview in Common Ground magazine, the trade publication for Homeowners Associations published by CAI. CAI is a large organization the promotes HOA's and mostly thinks the so-called HOA abuses that the "fringe" complains about don't really exist in any significant fashion. They also say that 90% of all homeowners in an Association are very or extremely happy with their HOA.

Hopefully when the movie comes out they'll make a big stink against the film-- No, HOA's aren't like that! Lies, Lies!

Read the article by clicking HERE.

The day job is going well, the baby is now 17 weeks (!!!), and nothing concrete to report on the film getting made yet-- but hopefully soon. We now have 110 members of our Email list for people interested in seeing the future film... and 90% of those are people I haven't met in person, but came across the website.

Live On the Commons

2007-01-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a few updates from the past couple months...

First off, I was live on the radio in Virginia area WEBR public radio where they have a weekly show documenting the latest news of Homeowners Associations called "On the Commons". The host, Shu, got wind of my upcoming film that we're working on, and wanted to interview me about it. I'm not an experienced interviewee, as you know, but I enjoyed doing it! You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

How that all happened is a little story: About a year ago I contacted Evan MacKenzie, a professor who keeps a blog about Privatopia and the phenomenom that is HOAs, and asked if he would read and advise me on my screenplay, which he graciously did. About a month ago I contacted him again to tell him about the website and the teaser/trailer we put together for the film. Evan posted about the movie on his blog, which was then seen by many other activists working to change the laws regarding HOAs. I've had fun these past couple weeks talking with a few of them, getting encouraged by their enthusiasm, which then lead to this interview.

News on the movie is basically that I'm now working with a Partner, Jonathan Wilson, as well as his partner Welborn Ferrene who are excited about the film and would like to help me get it off the ground this year. We're having lots of conversations about the need for well done family films in the marketplace, and we have a similar heart for our vision in the industry. There's not a whole lot of news right now, more than just a more dedicated turn toward a solid production plan.

In job news, I've worked for a week now with two great guys who have started an independent post company for digital intermediates, Local Hero. All my technical knowledge so far has translated pretty well into what their doing, which is essentially coloring and polishing the finished products for indie feature films. It's good clean fun!

And in other news...

Yes, it's true. Lana and I are both really excited. Check out her blog for the current picture.

Association Trailer

2006-11-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the initiative of my DP Tom McCarty, and the donation of the time and services of editor John Brookbank from Rebel Ion Post, I now have a two minute trailer for "The Association" based on the footage we shot for the development teaser.

As always, visit www.AssociationMovie.com to check it out.

In other news, I'm working on a drastic re-edit of the teaser based on some good notes that I've gathered from my fellow colleagues. The script is out there trying to garner support, though I hope to ramp up my efforts to get the full movie produced as soon as I'm done with the presentation package. I also did some revisions on the script that I think are a good improvement.

WIND IT UP online

2006-10-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

The Barenaked Ladies music video I produced with Jeff Edwards, Josh Forbes (director), Leah Benson (UPM) and Marc Ritzema (DP) is online at Yahoo Music and YouTube.

For YouTube click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGvRWVF6P3k

For a great quality Quicktime, click here:
http://www.winchandpulley.com/index.php?page=bnl

For Yahoo Click on the band page, and then look for "Wind It Up" under the Music Videos section.
Barenaked Ladies @ Yahoo Music

Lot's of fun air-guitar madness!

Managers

2006-10-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't really quite know what to expect, once the list of quarter and semi-finalists came out for the Nicholl Fellowship. I didn't even really know when it would... until I got a call from a colleague of mine from my days at Phoenix Pictures. "Hey, Congratulations... have I read this one yet?" No, you haven't, and I explained to him what the project was about. It was a nice call, but someone that I would normally be pretty surprised if he was thought of me out of the blue.

After this, the emails started rolling in-- and by rolling, I mean a few here, a few there. But significant companies, and mostly literary managers. Some of them are clearly mass-emails to the entire list of finalists (probably 250 or so). Others tried to be more personal, which was nice. All in all, the responses are positive-- but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'll be going on a few meetings soon... I always enjoy meeting new industry people over coffee.

Having played on the other side, I know what to expect, which I'm sure is much different than the brand new writer who is just now getting his first script read by Hollywood-- the sweaty palms, and the worries about whether this is the beginning of a career or the final nail in the coffin. My goal is to make fans of my work, and if I can find an advocate that can help me along the way, even better.

Happy Birthday Jer-Bear!

2006-09-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's my only nephew's first birthday, and the party was tonight. He's been walking about a week now, and is pretty good at it.

Update since last time... I went back to the Cimarron Group a week later for a second mini-directing gig. This time we did a bunch of green screen work right there in the office. We set up a 12x12 green screen in their screening room, and mimic'd a car commercial with a bunch of employees pretending to be Honda owners. Apparently both pieces came out pretty well, as if they were expensive, but in the end Cimarron lost the Honda account... which is sad, because there may have been more work in it for me. Alas, I'm a features guy, not a commercials guy.

"Wind it Up" the video for Barenaked Ladies, is now completed and hopefully ready to make it's internet debut. As soon as I find it out in the www, I'll let you know.

The Association didn't make it to the Semi-finals of the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. So I've accepted settling in the top 5% of today's screenplay market. Still not bad for a comedy/satire. I've sent out copies ot the Teaser DVD to my cast, and they've enjoyed it. Crew copies coming soon (I hope)!

Out of the DVDs came a call from the father of one of the actors. He's been out in LA helping his kids get acting jobs, and also networking with potential investors who want to fund movies. He loves The Association and wants to help me drum up the financing for the film, which is pretty exciting. If it comes together, then it'll be one of those "fall in my lap" situations that everyone dreams about. I have yet to really take the time and cold-submit the project out to the four corners of the producing/financing world, which takes forever and I'd be happy to skip.

If you have a favorite name actor (other than those that make more than 10 million per movie) that you think should be in the movie, then let me know!

ajw

Wind It Up Pictures

2006-09-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Some overdue pictures of "Wind It Up" the music video I co-produced with Winch & Pulley (Josh Forbes, director and Jeff Edwards, producer) a couple weekends ago. The concept was an air guitar champion heading off to win a competition aptly named "Air Guitarmaggedon."

All air guitarists live in the trailer park.

And of course they dress like 80's rockers, with a fanny pack.

And drive crappy '73 mustangs.

It's not easy rigging that camera there... but I wasn't there that day.

I don't have pictures, but we had a great time filling up Chain Reaction in Anaheim with extras-- okay, only about 40, but it looked good. We staged the competition there, and had appearances by actual air guitar competition winners, like The Rockness Monster.

Special thanks to Leah Benson (Forsythe) another Biola colleague who came out of the woodwork that I haven't seen in years. She was an amazing production manager! Also thanks to Nate Bell, another Biola alum, who helped us out in the A.D. way. There was many other wonderful crew members-- new faces and old, including Karen Del Rio and Andy Jagerson who always come through, and even a cameo appearance by the selfless Scott Visser. Also a shout out to Matt Warren for lending us his time code slate. It was a fun new tech toy for me to mess around with.

The Cimarron Group

2006-08-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I spent the day strapped to a video camera and a battery belt. The job was to shoot the VP of a large ad agency The Cimarron Group as he guided us through a tour of their facility. The video was to be shown to some potential clients that weren't able to make it in person. I got the job through a producer that I met through the wonderful LAProducers Yahoo group that connects many of us to other producer types in the industry. It was a very last minute, thrown together, run and gun shoot. If my whole body wasn't sore, then I'd say it was a ton of fun.

In the meantime, I'm helping out on Winch & Pulley's (Josh Forbes & Jeff Edwards) music video "Wind It Up" for Bare Naked Ladies (The Band), which shoots this weekend. The band won't be in the video, but it'll be a lot of fun running around shooting an Air Guitarist who attempts to win the championship.

Lots of Pictures

2006-08-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

Couple things... we wrapped the bulk of our photography for GROWING OUT last Saturday. We have two more days to shoot this Saturday and Sunday, for a couple days we missed because of a sidewalk disaster (more on that later). I shot some pictures, so check out the link below.

Last Friday, my sister in law, Jenn got married to her long time boyfriend Darrin. It was a beautiful wedding, with the highlight being my beautiful wife Lana in her bridesmaid dress. It's not proper for the sister of the bride to look more gorgeous than the bride, but alas, what could she do?

Behind the Scenes photographs from the set of "Growing Out" can be found HERE.

The pictures I took from Jenn & Darrin's wedding can be found HERE.

Disaster(s) strike(s)

2006-08-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun disaster stories from the set of "Growing Out" that I was production managing. Here are a few fun ones.

We selected a location in Echo Park on Carroll Street of a nice little victorian style house. It was scheduled, locked, and permitted. We were all set to go, when a week before we heard that the city came in and decided to rip out the sidewalks and replace them. If we were to shoot on our original days, we would have large dirt holes where the sidewalks were supposed to be. Were they re-doing the sidewalks in the whole neighborhood? No. Just on Carroll Street, and just on the one block where we had wanted to shoot. And now the permit office wants us to pay full price for another permit for our reshoots! We're still negotiating on that.

The director and production designer had selected a beautiful large tree in La Mirada Regional Park to shoot some pivotal scenes that take place in a park. It's the first time the lead character sees the leading lady, so it needed to be beautiful and romantic. It was perfect, we went ahead and got the permit and paid the park to shoot for the day. A week later a huge section/branch snapped and fell off the tree. Then a week before our scheduled shoot, the park service came through and cut down the tree, and then ground up the stump. There was nothing left of it, save for a pile of sawdust. Needless to say we had to find another tree at the park, which eventually worked out okay.

Another day, we noticed a large spec of dust had gotten onto our PS Technik mini35 Adapter. The way the adapter works, it has a ground glass that oscillates and acts as a viewing plane to be able to use professional style 35mm motion picture lenses (that is, it makes your video look really awesome like film). So Nikki, our substitute Assistant Camera started taking it apart to clean it (with our permission). We pulled off some screws on the back and cleaned it. Didn't get the spec. We pulled out screws from the front, and cleaned that-- which worked. Then as we tried to screw it back together, a screw snapped off in the worst possible place. The adapter was useless. We had to take it back to the rental shop and replace it. But they didn't have any more that would be available for the weekend! We had no idea if we would be able to shoot for the next few days while it got fixed. After a day of driving and trying to fix it with the help of Eric at IndieRentals, finally we got it to work. At the end, we lost about 3/4 of a day to this problem.

So there's a sampling of just a few of the fun problems we faced on set. As I think of more, I'll put them up here.

Nicholls Quarter Finalist!!

2006-08-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

The Nicholls Screenwriting Fellowship is the most prestigious and well-known screenwriting competition in the English speaking world. This year 4899 scripts were submitted. Of those, 245 scripts have just advanced into the Quarter-Finalist round. That's the top 5% for those of you into the math. The Association is now one of those scripts. (Note: At first I thought .05% but alas, I haven't had math for awhile... so sue me, I'm not as special as I originally thought.) Either way, this is a super competative competition.

Needless to say, I'm very excited.

Half of these scripts then become semi-finalists, and eventually only a few scripts are chosen to receive a fellowship grant to enable you to write another screenplay over the course of a year. Even if the script continues no further, it's still a lot of bragging rights.

About the competition

Busy Production Managing

2006-07-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

My life is really busy right now, and really it all started way back in my sophomore year at Biola, taking "Intro to TV & Film." One of the good things about taking, as a sophomore, an intro class that is commonly filled with eager freshmen, is that you get to be an expert (something I try to do more often than I should). Our "5 minute drama" for the final project was a 20+ minute epic about the underground swing dancing movement at Biola. But as P.A.'s (production assistants) on my film, we had Sunny and Shari, a funny pair of freshman who were wonderful help. We all stayed friends after that, then 3 years later Shari was an accomplished student Production Designer. I directed her senior project, a 10-minute civil war short film that was set in a cave she built in the Biola sound stage.

Like the rest of us, Shari struggled after graduation to find Art department jobs here and there, with some "normal" jobs interspersed to fill in the gaps. Lately she's been working as an art department coordinator on the every-record breaking Pirates of the Carribean 2, which you've probably seen by now. Then she met another art department guy, named Graham Ratliff, a filmmaker out of UC Santa Cruz. They were married this past year, and now are working on their first collaboration as a director/production designer/producer team (like Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin).

The film is called "Growing Out," about a guy who finds a human hand growing out of the basement. The hand becomes an arm and a talking head, where a friendship is formed and personal turmoil begins. Shari and Graham helped me on "The Association" teaser as my production design department, so we began talking about this feature they were planning. I enjoyed the script and naturally offered my help in some vague, undefined way. My job is pretty flexible, so I can usually work into my life a project here and there. Little did I know how it would consume my life for the next couple months. I'm now the Production Manager and virtually one of the only coordinators on the film. I get help from Robert Ferguson (a biola grad I hired) as our 2nd AD, and Grahams mom Donna, who is doing executive producer dutis side by side with PA duties.

We're having lots of good times (read: disasters), which I'll share in my next update. And I want to find some pictures to share. But virtually between my job and this I have 14-16 hour days a head of me for the next few weeks.

Poster courtesy of Gary

2006-06-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

My brother Gary works for Rigel Entertainment, and they are often marketing their films at various film festivals and markets around the world to get distributors to buy them. Often it's all about the poster... so for fun, Gary made this mock-up for of The Association as a horror film in the style of American Haunting

I love stuff like this.

Without-a-Box "Audience" community

2006-05-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I created a filmmaker page at Without-a-Box Audience, which is a new community designed to help filmmakers promote their work as it trolls the festivals of the world, gathering fans, film buffs, and relationships with other filmmakers. You can check it out here, at http://audience.withoutabox.com/users/andrewjwahlquist.

Without-a-Box started back in 2001 as a service that would make it easier to submit your film to tons of film festivals, without having to duplicate all your application information over and over. It's a wonderful idea, and seems to have really taken off. I've submitted through them a couple times, but ugh-- if only it weren't so expensive to submit to film festivals. It can range from 30 to 60 bucks depending on the festival. After about 20 festival submissions, you could have paid for an entire new short film!

Teaser Weekend

2006-05-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

In the silence since the last post, I became a director again. Last weekend I directed a few scenes from my feature script "The Association." It was a blast-- I'm very happy about it. Hopefully I'll be able to talk it through on the blog here, for kicks and giggles.

The cast was amazing, and I love hearing how impressed the crew was with them. We held auditions for all the roles (8), except for the lead Dave, who was played by Michael Hitchcock. Mike I met when I worked for a few weeks with his manager at AMG. He's read the feature a couple times, and has given me some great suggestions, as he's dealt with HOA's in a condo he used to own. I asked if he would play the lead, and he agreed! We had Lori Hammel as Cara, his wife. Barbara Passolt and Patrick O'Connor as the co-presidents of the HOA, Larry and Yvonne Ratcliffe.

I also broke two low-budget rules-- kids and dogs. We had four kids... Katie Cecil (12), Ellington Ratliff (13), Christopher Ausburn (6), and Kendall Sanders (8). These kids were total pros, and a lot of fun. Thanks to pilot season, a few of them who are out of state, are here in LA to pursue television opportunities. 6 of our actors (all but the two youngest) were SAG, so I don't know what we'd do without the SAG short film agreement, which allows them to work for deferred pay (free, essentially) on little projects like this. Jake the dog was played byt the Schroyer's dog Corkey.
We shot on the JVC HD100U with the P+S Technik Mini35 Adapter which allowed us to put prime 35mm film lenses on the front of our mini HD camera. The look is greatly improved from the sharp, deep focus pictures that we're used to on video. Biola colleague Tom McCarty was the D.P., with a crew including Jon Bradaric, Geoff Stevenson, Adam Lutz, Karen Chow (Biola), Stan Garber, and Andy Jagerson (Biola too). The shots came together suburbly, and all these top-notch crew members donated their time for free.

Rachel Stevens, who was our dedicated production manager on Kevin Willson's commercials, also served as UPM/Co-producer for me. Her help was invaluable. Kevin himself came on Sunday and made things run a lot smoother. My wife Lana worked tirelessly handling the food, crafty, and a bit of make-up. Shari Ratliff (Karstensen), who produced and built the elaborate cave for "Hide & Seek" was Production Designer, handling art duties that reared their ugly head all weekend. She and her husband Graham destroyed our prop television antenna, among other things. Rounding out the crew were Biola fellows Mark Del Rio, helping with some supervisor tasks, and Josh Mwangi who joined us as production audio for a bit. And don't forget Scott Smyser, who provided my first collaboration with a storyboard artist. An experience I'll definitely want to repeat. Sorry, Scott, for handing you the boom pole when we needed the extra hand...

I hope it comes across how grateful I am to everyone who helped out and donated their time and resources. An extra special thank you to both my parents and Lana's parents. My parents donated food, meals, and many other resources. Lana's parents opened up their home to us as the location for the film, allowing a small army of filmmakers to track through, move furniture, and ding the walls. They were around for most of the time helping put together the food, and fending off any potential complaining neighbors (luckily none).

I wish I had some cool disaster stories to tell you-- okay maybe I don't wish. The only big thing that went wrong was that I told all the cast and crew the wrong number to dial at the gate that would call the house and allow us to beep them through. Some other poor homeowner received several 7:30AM calls from people trying to get into the gated community... sorry!

The easy part about directing again, is getting into that "mode" where I'm constantly on the go, making decisions, and leading a cast and crew forward through the day. I realized Saturday that I really did need an Assistant Director, and Kev provided that on Sunday. Since I did a lot of the producing for the project, it was tough to put that hat aside and just focus on being creative. The most difficult part of directing is knowing what to say to your actors, and when, and then when to know you got what you need for the editing room. I also struggle with trying to exhude confidence and encouragement toward the cast and crew. I know that I need to constantly affirm them when things are going well-- but my mind gets bogged down with things like "we're two hours behind."

I also realize that I struggle with asking people for help-- especially if I feel like I'm putting them out. I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable or do things that they may want to complain about. But, that's the reality of things sometimes, when you're doing a project like this. The cast and crew wouldn't be there if they didn't want to be-- but they were there, and were incredibly supportive and encouraging to what I'm trying to do, even if it meant a thirteen hour day for them, and an hour and a half trip from LA to La Mirada where our location was. Again, super grateful I am.

I'm ankle-deep in the editing right now, digitizing and what-not. I'll be back soon with more updates on the progress.

Be well, and beware the Association!

Email works now

2006-03-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

By the way, our normal email is working just fine now. We ended up switching to a new host, at GoDaddy.com, which gives us a ton more space, too. I could upload a whole video archive of my past filmmaking life... but then there'd be no hiding my lack of actual talent.

About a month ago I finished what I would call my "second" draft of The Association. I use quotes because there have been countless intermediate drafts. I had a wonderful afternoon of coffee, iced tea, and script notes with Mike, a friend in the industry (actor/writer) who has been very generous with his time. His notes have been the most helpful in this process because he's been so thorough, very mentor-like. I hope I can keep him involved as the project progresses, as he's very talented.

Also, for fun, I sent a copy of the script to Evan McKenzie, a professor of PoliSci at University of Illinois at Chicago, who keeps one of the definitive blogs on America's privatization of government in the form of Homeowners Associations. He enjoyed the script, and made a few suggestions to bring out some of the hot-button issues that Association dwellers face today. Check him out at privatopia.blogspot.com. Special thanks to him for taking the time to encourage and help a little filmmaker like me!

I am making plans to produce a 5 minute teaser/test for the film, to serve to purposes-- promotion of the film, and a technical test of different potential formats to iron out my production/post work flow. The only problem now is getting people involved to help me. Fellow Biola grad Tom McCarty has agreed to shoot it, my wife Lana will be the casting director, and long-time friend and artist Scott Smyser is working on some storyboards and concept art. But so far no producer... hmm, it's been eight years, but is there the possibility of recruiting from my days as a student filmmaker and "ACÂ² Entertainment"? Stay tuned.

Email is currently down

2006-02-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

Our email is currently being bounced-- I think due somewhat to our hosting company's computer is maxed out on the hard drive space. It's been out since Friday morning at 1AM. If you need to send me an email, use awahlquist*AT*verizon*DOT*net, or for Lana use lanajoy*AT*verizon*DOT*net.

It's rather frustrating when you have an email problem-- particularly when things you are subscribed to by email all of a sudden assume you died or something, then want to unsubscribe you. Is that all it takes these days, for people to assume the worst?

September in Playa Vista

2006-02-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

As part of the locations site coordinating job that I do on occasion, for the past couple weeks I've been the evening shift stage manager at the Stages at Playa Vista, which is the biggest indoor stage space available outside of the Downey studios, just 5 minutes south of where I live. I'm temporarily filling in for a guy who got a new job suddenly. Most of what I do is supervise the goings-on here, and make sure that the production doesn't have any problems with the stages, and vice versa.

For the past couple months, the production that has taken over the stages here is Oliver Stone's as yet untitled World Trade Center 9/11 project, currently known as September. Yes, just a few minutes from the beach off the little known 90 freeway is a miniature set of ground zero, built out of steel cargo containers. I walked around in it's network of tunnels, stairs, and disguised walkways and it's an amazing site to behold.

It's hard to be affected emotionally, because you can't look anywhere without being fully reminded that this is a movie set. When you see the film, no doubt it will look much bigger than it is-- especially the interior, which is little more than a bunch of hanging blobs of junk that they move around to look like various areas of destruction. Once you've seen part of a destroyed high rise, you've seen it all.

The stages here were originally built by Howard Hughes during WWII to build his airplanes, and eventually housed the operation to build the spruce goose. Steel was restricted in those days, so the whole thing is made out of wood-- in fact it is the first big building to use the pressed wood technique to make the huge beams that hold this place together. Before being used for the movies, it was abandoned sometime in the late 80s-- there is even some old union flyers posted in one of the hallways. Owls and raccoons are regular visitors here. The office building where Hughes had his corner office is currently condemned, and sits locked up and empty. Another building houses the guy who's job it is to repaint the murals on the 101 freeway everytime they get graffitti'd.

I like the sense of history here. I did a little exploring through the empty rooms. There's a center section that is divided into three stories of offices. The 4th story is little more than a bunch of makeshift wooden walkways between the electrical and air conditioning systems. Amazingly, there are offices up here made of little more than a few 2x4s and chicken wire walls. The names of the former engineers still hang over their flimsy doorways. I also found the hatch that lets out onto the roof, which is easily pushed to the side. Last week I climbed through it and stood on the roof and looked around. Did I mention I like old buildings?

As to how potentially controversial the movie will be, I don't really know. I don't think it's your typical Stone expose, but more of a documentation of one of the more hairy rescue operations and the firemen involved in it. Nicholas Cage stars.

Deep thoughts on creativity...

2006-01-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

I read this back in '04, and it came up in my thoughts again recently, so I had to share it with anyone who might pass through...

Hugh MacLoad is an advertising guy, with a passion for doodling on business cards in his spare time. He wrote some thoughts on what it means to lead a life persuing creativity, and the guidelines you should follow. To me, it's a ground-breaking breath of fresh air when compared to the glut of people like myself who blindly insist they can beat all the odds and become a successful artist/writer/filmmaker/musician/etc.

The Gaping Void

Plus, the cartoons are really good.

My favorite Sonora picture

2005-12-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

I usually don't like the way my smile looks, but this one I like. Thanks to digital wizardry, I edited out the little "The Grudge" patch that was on that jacket. It's a great, warm down jacket that I got as a crew gift when the movie wrapped, except for the fact that I have to advertise the film when I wear it.

Merry Holidays Emails

2005-12-31T16:10:00.000-08:00

Usually at this time of the year I've reserved a few holiday cards to mail out to friends and acquaintances that I like to keep in contact with, mostly people that I've worked with during my tenure as an assistant in the motion picture world.

You end up meeting a lot of fellow assistants that eventually get promoted (if they don't move back home). I've met some great people during those few years, and have tried to meet them at times for lunch or "drinks." It's fun to chat about movies and how crazy the industry. It's this network of people that becomes vital to your success in the industry, and sometimes you become vital to their success, as everyone's in it with the same vision and ambition. You do a favor for someone, and hopefully they'll do you a favor as well.

I didn't have time for paper cards this year, and I've never been that crazy about them, because it's so hard to respond when you get it. It's also hard to sign them with your contact information so they can remember how to get ahold of you. So this year, I decided to individually email the people I want to keep up with-- one by one. Mass email stinks, and doesn't force you to think specifically about your relationship with that person and where you left it off. So it was A through Z in my contacts, one at a time. It actually took quite a while, but now that I'm done, I think it was worth it. I love saying hi to people out of the blue, and wishing them well for the new year, and it's fun to get some of the responses too.

Family and close friends still got paper cards, of course, but from Lana and a family letter that I wrote. If you're reading this and I forgot to email you, then send me a strongly worded email!

First two pages

2005-12-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

Last week I rushed to finish my rewrite of "The Association" so that I could enter it into the prestigious Director's Lab program run by Film Independent. Once you're in, they help you workshop your script and practice your skills by sketching out a few scenes on video under the mentorship of experienced directors. Cool stuff.

Anyway, I knew I would have to send it in before being able to do the final proofing that I like to do, which usually entails printing it out and combing it over with a red pen. Scripts look vastly different on paper than on screen, so it's easier to see mistakes. I figured it wouldn't be too bad, since I'd read over the beginning of my script several times during the rewrite process, and already caught a bunch of things.

So last night as Lana was dozing off next to me, I pulled the script over and an orange pen (since I couldn't find red). The amount of things I scribbled to change on the first two pages was pretty disheartening. Not all typos, but bad phrasing and stupid dialog things. Ouch-- and to think these pages are the first impression. Maybe this is always the case with the first two pages-- they end up being the most brutally scrutinized by the writer, because they know how much is riding on them.

$100 Million Dollar Budgets

2005-12-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

I received this question from a screenwriter in Sweden, so I thought I'd post my answer here as well:

Q: Let's say you read a script that is really good. I mean, you almost know for sure that it's going to sell. The only problem is that it is a 100+ million dollar budget movie the script is written for. What do you do?

A: It's a tough question, for sure. As you know, I could count the number of people on my right hand that have the ability to pull the trigger on a $100 million dollar movie. If someone has a wonderful script that requires a budget like that, all they can do is try and give it to another person who might be one step closer to those top people. Hollywood is set up like a giant ladder, with new writers and other inexperienced aspiring filmmakers at the bottom, all the way up to those five or so at the top. Everyone's project has to climb that ladder, and depending on how expensive your movie is defines on how high it has to climb before it can get made. I, myself, am not very high up that ladder, but I'm a couple rungs up because I have access to friends and former colleagues who are one or two rungs above me. They then have access to a rung or two above them.

As with anything, the best way you get someone to pay attention to a product (i.e. your script) is by personal recommendation. Really excellent scripts are extremely rare in hollywood, and once they catch on, they get passed around to everyone. Fairly good scripts are pretty common, and they get passed around somewhat to people that might be interested. Solid (yet not particularly groundbreaking) scripts are a dime a dozen, and for every movie that gets made there are 30 others that could have easily took it's place. They get peddled by people, but nobody will pass them around out of a love for the script. (Then of course, horrible scripts are like the haystack to the solid script's needle.)

The good news is that everyone is looking for that excellent script, the kind that everyone passes along to their friends because of how brilliant it is. If you happened to have that excellent script, no matter how far down the ladder you are, then it's pretty easy to get the top of the hollywood pyramid to take notice, because of how fast it gets passed around. The bad news is that writing that excellent (and wide-appeal) script is one of the most difficult tasks on the planet. And knowing if your own writing qualifies is even tougher.

I'm a writer myself, and I kind of gauge like this-- I give my script to about 25 people who have hollywood access (but aren't big decision makers), and see who wants to pass it along to their friends. Film is a subjective medium, so you'll always get a percentage of people who didn't get, nor care for your script. The real telling ratio is, of the people that tell you the script is really good, how many ask if they can pass it along to a friend? If that's a high percentage, then you've got a wonderful script on your hands-- so keep sending it out. If that's a low percentage, then you better start your rewrite.

So the short answer to your question is this-- what would I do? The only thing anyone in the business can do-- Recommend it to a friend who is a couple rungs up, hope they like it as much as I did and help push it up the ladder.

Then the corrollary-- when you're a writer who doesn't know anyone, start sending your queries and scripts to the bottom rung of the ladder, not the top rung. It's easier to climb than to jump.

Lana in Charlie's Aunt

2005-12-13T22:57:00.000-08:00

That stupid look on my face is because of the LIBF caused by the beautiful dress that she wears in Act 3.

See?

Pictures from the Spec commercials

2005-12-13T22:53:00.000-08:00

Kevin Willson with his actors in fast food costumes.

The cast & crew of Kevin's commercials

Looks like the Hot Dog is more Manly than the Chicken...

2005-12-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

At the behest of my wife, here is an update, and it just might get long. The past few weeks I've been running myself into the ground with three things-- my job at FBCD where I was in charge of all things technical for our Christmas program, co-producing a series of spec commercials for my Biola rival/buddy Kevin Willson, and running up and down California to be with my wife while she's doing a show in Sonora. The last of the three ends this weekend, so normalcy shall return after the holidays.

Kevin and I grew up in the class of 2000 at Biola, both as directors, both directing another colleague Jamie Alexander in comedy films for Biola's annual sponsored production. Kevin was much more outgoing than I was, but I was always much more of a tech geek than he was. Luckily friendship wins out over rivalry, and we've kept in touch along the way. He's been pursuing commercial directing, so it was my pleasure to jump aboard his latest foray into 30-second comedy. He had a series of spec commercials he wanted to direct on his own dime, and he asked me to help him produce them.

"Producer" is a very vague term that could mean any number of things-- essentially I had to define for myself what my duties and boundaries were going to be. I didn't have time to deal with nuts and bolts of calling lots of people and running around, but I wanted to be in charge of the people who would be doing that. I like to think of my position on this project as being 1) an advocate for Kevin and his work-- giving him the best working environment possible, and 2) being in charge of the production team so Kevin wouldn't have to worry (as much) about it. My strengths lie in making a logistical mess more organized and manageable, and also thinking of logical ways to tackle problems.

The person who really made my life easy was Rachel Stevens, who was our line producer. She did a lot more of the legwork and details, and she did an amazing job. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Rachel and Kevin, working through what I saw as our tasks that needed to be tackled, and advising as we went a long. I also handled SAG, production insurance, paperwork, legalaties, and half of the locaton permit debacle (oh yeah, and driving the truck, which was more related to living not too far away from the location). Rachel was very open to learning as she goes, even though it turns out she was more experienced than her modesty led me to believe. I helped her outline what she was to be working on, but she had a good handle on it herself.

Sometimes you feel a bit lazy as a producer on set, because you do a lot of standing around, watching, and eating crafty (the food). If your prep period did it's job, then standing around is a good sign that you've already covered everything before hand. Everyone on set has pre-defined jobs, and in the professional realm you're not supposed to cross those lines. In the unpaid realm, however, you're all technically on the same level, so everyone should be a grunt. I pitch in where it seems appropriate, but I really don't like moving heavy equipment, so I mostly stay out of the way and eat. I also carried around my paperwork, including SAG agreements and personal releases that I had people sign, so that makes me look busy.

We had 5 separate commercials planned-- two for Wienerschnitzel and three anti-drunk driving PSAs. In my favorite one, two little league kids start arguing on the field, saying "your dad's a chicken!" "well, your dad's a wiener!" swish-pan to: Dad in a hot dog costume tackles the other dad who is in a chicken leg costume. Silly stuff, but large fast food costumes are funny. One of the PSAs included throwing lawn darts in a physically irresponsible way, so I had fun throwing the lawn darts off to the side-- something I haven't done since being a kid.

I had a lot of fun playing producer, and I love being on set. I really didn't have time for it at all, due to all my other pressures and responsibilities, but this was one of those times that you just ignore your better judgement and do something for free and for fun with very little return on your time investment, other than just helping out a good friend.

I leave Friday to see Lana again and take her back home after the show closes. Very excited about that-- it's been lonely this past week and a half. I really should be getting more work done on my screenplay The Association, but I'm so close to being finished with my second rewrite that it's easy to procrastinate.

The very best to everyone this Christmas season!

ajw

Dinner and a Movie

2005-11-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with my old friend Chris on Saturday, whom I began my filmmaking career with in high school making shamefully bad (yet, kind of good) films on video.

We were the main two minds behind a 75 minute epic student feature "The Face in the Frame", along with our other friend coincidentally named Chris. Of course we started shamelessly reminiscing.... Little known is the story of how a zany detective spoof story called "Dinner and a Movie" became a serious film noir Chinatown knock-off drama.

One of the earliest films we helped on was a film high-on-the-cheese-scale called "Space City" later renamed "Global Data." Well, for some reason we were (and still are) haunted by that film in a way that we need to redeem ourselves somehow to feel clean again. We started a more realistic rip-off of that film (with no city in space whatsoever), but borrowed a couple corporate bad guys known as William DeVoir and Vladamir Fraun who used a powerful crystal in a Pringles can that made a death-star type weapon possible. The heros, including the inventor of the crystal, were supposed to stop them from destroying cities. That script was called "Dementia, Inc." and never made it off the page.

We scrapped the idea, but wanted to expand on a scene Chris wrote in that script about a man running from a terrorist organization known as T.H.E.M. (Terrorists for wHole Earth Manipulation-- yes, we know whole is spelled with a "W"). He came into the office of a private eye and for a few minutes tried to explain why THEM was after him. (You mean "they," right? No, THEM are after me.)

Soon Chris started a new script called "Dinner and a Movie" which was essentially a big case of mistaken identity (like the beginning of North by Northwest). We had a character (originally to be played by Matt Dodd) who was casually dining at a restaurant on a date going poorly, when he spills ketchup all over himself. When he goes to clean it up in the bathroom, he finds a man who has just been stabbed to death. Holding the knife and with ketchup all over his shirt, someone comes in and screams. Matt runs off with the girl and must avoid both the police and THEM who are out to get him. He enlists the help of our detective Hank Ingalls.

Chris, unsure of his screenwriting skills, enlisted the help of a fellow USC student and amateur screenwriter for some advice. The rewrites came back with the Matt character completely gone, the humor gone, but a more straight ahead, clear story line. It was good, don't get me wrong, but it was very different from where we began. We loved the idea of Hank being haunted by his past-- some unnamed incident with another woman named Andrea, someone who he still keeps a picture of hidden in his desk.

The "Dinner and a Movie" script still exists, and as long as it does, so will the haunting memory of what could have been. Will the ketchup scene and ultimately the THEM/they scene finally reappear in a film that I make? ...that's yet to be seen.

I really enjoyed being a young, naive, know-it-all filmmaker back then. What was great about it was having two friends that you could dream and plan with. Unfortunately time and life gets in the way of all that.

Film Independent Producers Series

2005-11-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

For the last three and upcoming two wednesdays I've been attending the Film Independent series on Independent Producing. Film Independent is the new name of IFP/West, though everything else is the same. I joined because I wanted to feel a part of a larger community of independent filmmakers struggling to put together their films.

I've never been much of a seminar attender, least of which the kind that you have to pay for. There is a lot of good information getting fed to you during these panel discussions, but honestly, it's nothing you can't figure out by reading a lot. I read a ton of stuff about filmmaking all the time-- to where it ventures on too much. Sometimes I feel like I read more about screenwriting, filmmaking, and motion picture technology more than I work on my own writing. The craft is endlessly fascinating to me. Everyone's story is unique in ways, and in others very universal.

It's actually a bit comforting to not learn something radically different than I already know. Really, what it takes is a lot of hard work doing the same things that you've been doing, remaining persistent, and figuring out how to make the same old system work for you.

The other thing I'm interested in is meeting independent-minded producers who don't want to be writer-directors themselves. I'd like to find some people to work with that have skills and a passion toward producing in a way that I don't. I actually like producing a lot, but more in the "executive" sense where you help people but don't get your hands very dirty.

Thursday I see my wife again! hurray!

Separation Anxiety

2005-10-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have never been apart for more than a couple nights, but starting tomorrow I'll be without her for two weeks. In her first role at a regional theatre, Lana will be in the play Charlie's Aunt at the Sierra Repertory Theatre up in Sonora, CA northwest of Yosemite. Over the eight-week rehearsal & performance period we have a little travel schedule worked out, but this will be a unique time for us. I think this feeling is called separation anxiety.

On the one hand I will have more time to devote to writing and other career-related business, but on the other hand, it's no fun to work hard if you have nobody around to be with after you're tired. I sometimes question the effect of cell phones on our society, but now am thankful for unlimited nationwide "in" calling.

Flashback to Po' Folks

2005-09-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

If you're ever feeling Po' and want some fried chicken and ribs, there's no better place than Po' Folks on Beach Blvd. just north of Knotts Berry Farm.

As a flashback to high school/college days, we invited some friends to the family-style restaurant to celebrate my birthday. Years ago they took me there by surprise-- I thought we were driving home, but was distracted by trying to fix something on a laptop computer. I didn't even notice we drove 20 minutes on the freeway-- that's the way I get with fixing a problem, particularly a technology oriented one.

Good food, but be prepared to feel heavy when you leave.

Computers vs. Physical Labor

2005-09-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's a good feeling to work on something physical-- something that makes you get away from your desk and that time-suck called a computer. You can look at it, and say-- yeah, I accomplished that. Then for some reason you aren't in as much of a bad mood after work. Sometimes working through documents, spreadsheets, emails, schedules and such, you try to remember what you did during the day, and you honestly can't remember what you did-- or if it even means anything in the grand scheme of things.

Perhaps if I was working all day with back-breaking work it would get old pretty fast and I'd think my life sucked-- but luckily I don't have to do that, so I'll take what I have and enjoy the days that are a little more fun than others.

Along the same lines about the little time-suck I'm currently typing on: How does two to three hours of clear writing time quickly turn into "dang it, I'm late for work and I haven't even opened my screenplay yet"?

Proof

2005-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

We saw PROOF on Saturday, and an interesting thing happened. Usually Lana and I aren't allowed to discuss what we thought of a movie until at least we've left the theater and are approaching the car. This time, however, we stated how much we loved it right there in our seats as the credits rolled. Amazing performances, great writing, great directing and a simple story that keeps you entirely engaged.

David Auburn won a pulitzer prize for the original two-act play a couple years ago. He went on to write the adapted screenplay for The Hours. Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller's daughter, adapted his play into a screenplay. John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) directed. The story is about a young woman grappling with her father's recent death. He was a famous, genius mathmetician and she wonders if she'll ever be as great as him, or inherit the mental disease that plagued him for twenty years-- interrupted by a young post graduate student and her well-meaning but clueless sister.

Taking a cue from my dad, Lana got the play and made sure she read it first before seeing the film. It's interesting the type of short, simple, heart-felt plays that are coming out these days. This and W;t we feel are in the same genre, both simple personal stories, both adapted into award-winning films, both pulitzer prize winners. I've since cracked the play and am 2/3s through it as well. Very faithful adaptation.

Special thanks to RickShaw for making the evening possible.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

2005-09-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Scott Derrickson graduated from Biola as a humanities major, then went on to get a graduate film degree from the USC School of Cinema-Television. The year before I came to Biola, in 1995, Scott directed a short film using Biola students as crew for his USC thesis film Love in the Ruins about angels and demons in spiritual warfare with humans at a gas station.

The film was well received and got him attention from agents in Hollywood. He began writing scripts with his partner Paul Harris Boardman and became fairly successful at it, especially in the horror genre. He directed a low budget direct to video feature in the Hellraiser series called Inferno.

Because of the Biola connection, I was familiar with his work, and was able to connect with him when his agent David McIlvain became a manager at AMG, where I was working. We kept in occasional contact until his name came up again while I was working at Senator International. There was some interest in Scott and Paul to work on a project there, but then at the same time they came out with a spec screenplay they had written called The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel.

Anneliese was a German college student who allegedly became possessed by demons, and in 1976 the Catholic Dioscese officially granted permission to a priest to perform an exorcism on Anneliese. She dies shortly thereafter, and the priest was arrested for negligent homicide, due to the fact that the scientific community believed Anneliese had psychotic epilepsy and died because the priest refused to get her proper medical treatment. The script was half horror and half courtroom drama. Compelling stuff.

Senator liked it but didn't make a play for the script. Soon it was set up at Sony ScreenGems and Lakeshore Entertainment, who were going to make it in the 10 million dollar range. Eventually they got Tom Wilkenson and Laura Linney, and they shot in Canada last year. This is all very exciting, because Scott counts as the first major motion picture director to come out of Biola, even though he didn't major in film.

The completed film is called The Exorcism of Emily Rose (based on a true story), and comes out this Friday. Lana and I saw a preview screening of the film on Tuesday night at the Arclight, and we both agreed that it was excellent. Well made, powerful themes, creepy as hell, tenser than you can handle, and questions that will keep you talking.

Since then Lana has waken up twice in the night at 3:00AM thinking creepy things.... the reference will ellude you unless you see the film!

Andy

New Orleans meets Katrina

2005-09-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

My aunt and uncle, Joy and Dave Johnson live on the west bank about a block away from the Mississippi River in New Orleans. They evacuated before the hurricane, but are now among the half a million drifters from that area. Turns out their house survived and was not flooded, which we are all thankful for. However, without food, water and electricity they decided to drive from their motel in Houston to a vacant house on their daugher Jenny and husband Gabe's property. They arrived safely yesterday and are doing fine. Sounds like Dave wants to go back to camp out in their house to continue his business down there, but we'll see if he's successful at that. My cousin Daniel has down syndrome, so he doesn't react well to change. We're praying for them.

Rest in Peace, Adrian

2005-08-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday I attended the funeral service for a colleague of mine, Adrian Loudermilk. Adrian died in a car accident a couple weeks ago in San Diego while attending ComicCon. He was 30.

I met Adrian when he was an assistant at AMG (Artists Management Group), and I was a mere floating assistant. He was energetic, funny, and went out of his way to make people feel welcome. When I left AMG he made sure to say goodbye. I moved on to other companies, and eventually Adrian became a manager in his own right. He had created his own company and had several successful clients and projects.

Later we met again, only this time under a potential client-manager relationships. Adrian read three of my screenplays, two of them at the suggestion of a mutual friend. We met for coffee, talked about notes on my project Hogan's Alley, which he wanted to show people at the appropriate time. The last we spoke he was waiting for me to send him my first draft of The Association, which I would be doing about now.

It's difficult to stare mortality in the face. Adrian was young, ambitious, and seemingly had the whole world at his doorstep. He'll be deeply missed.

What did come out of it was a mini-reunion for those of us who had moved on from AMG. It was fun to see some faces I haven't seen in a while. If only I were less shy.

Trying not to take life for granted...

ajw

Slapped in the Face with the Structure Fish

2005-07-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

I'm nearing my first draft of The Association, a new comedy about an obsessive Homeowners Association and the one man who decides he isn't going to take it anymore.

I sent a "pre-draft" to a few writer friends last week, and got the first response back, hence my slapping encounter with the fish. I thought I would be good at receiving criticism, since I've given and have been given plenty. Not so.

Every screenwriting guru will tell you exact page numbers that certain story plot points/twists should occur in order to have a strong script. The other school of thought is that gurus are full of it and you should just write something good.

In the past I've been a good structuralist... I start with a blank paper, divide it by 4, then graph plot points and page numbers. Usually I do this before the outline is done, then fill in items here and there until I'm stuck with no ending and a really dull Act 2. Then I stare at it a lot, and no solutions present themselves.

Structure is vital, however it can be limiting. When you try to write-by-numbers into a pre-ordained structure, it ends up being an academic exercise rather than intuitive (i.e. less room for creativity).

With The Association I wanted to put structure out of my mind and just sit down and tell a story. I started with a half-finished outline, then got impatient and started scripting characters and dialog to see where it would take me. After 45 pages I had a huge meandering mess, so I went back and finished my outline with a vague ending. I then rewrote the script from the ground up and was able to figure out the ending along the way.

When finished, I was proud to have skipped the story graph headache. I read it through with Lana, thought it was fun, worked a little more and was feeling good. Shipped it out to readers, and the first thing back is "I'm sending Syd Field to your house to smack you around." Ouch.

What about story instincts and intuition? Is the Charlie Kaufman character in Adaptation supposed to bow down to his brother the hack? I made some weak attempts at justifying myself, but the truth is, structure cannot be ignored or it will come back to haunt you.

So on Monday I drew my first graph of The Association and could see that Act 1 was about 16 pages too long, though Act 3 was pretty close. Hmm... reshuffle, reshuffle, reshuffle... okay now I think I fixed it. Hmm, I like this better... grumble, grumble, he was right, grumble.

Thank you criticism, for your help. I may whine and complain, but ultimately I take every piece of advice to heart in some way.

Threw out my back last week

2005-07-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last Monday when I got up to try and do some minor exercising, I thought I'd be clever and stretch by touching my right hand to my left toe... with knees locked. For anybody familiar with proper stretching for anyone over the age of 18, this is a bad idea. Sharp pain ran up through my back and laid me out flat on the ground.

So Lana convinced me to go see the voodoo doctor chiropractor... he twisted me around and cracked my back, then grabbed my neck, twisted it and cracked that too. It's a very odd sensation to trust your spine to an unfamiliar person-- even if he took x-rays first to show you what he was going to do. He really could have just finished me off then and there, if he wanted.

Alas, it seems to have helped, as a few days later I can walk around as if everything's normal... until I try to sit up too quickly.

started a blog

2005-06-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, just because I started a blog doesn't mean I'm going to update it very often... or ever. But blogging is the thing to do, so I had to try it out, of course.

Does that mean I'm a follower who only adopts new trends after the masses have already adopted them? Hmm....

Or perhaps I wish I was cool enough to join in with the latest trends, but I really don't want to make the effort.