'You Gotta Ask yourself, “Do I Feel Lucky?" Well, do ya, Punk?'

In honor of St. Patrick’s day, this week’s blog is dedicated to LUCK.

The Irish love Jameson
and paperwork.

A few fun facts:

1. I am OFFICIALLY an Irish citizen.  Luckily, my great grandmother made it to her homeland in time to have my Grandfather back in Limerick and luckily the Irish government started a citizenship program for descendents of Irish citizens born overseas and luckily the Irish Consulate put a rush order on my application so that I could get Irish before Luna’s birth, which means she is officially Irish too. 

2. The phrase “the luck o’ the Irish” is supposed to be ironic. Think about it: the Irish have been invaded by the Vikings, the Normans, and the Tudors, they get hit by the potato famine, then they finally get to America and are treated like dirt…  the Irish are infamously UNLUCKY. 

3. I almost led this blog off with a quote from Falcor the Luck Dragon but then I realized that Dirty Harry is Irish!  His name was Harry Callahan!  When I shared this revelatory information with Brett, our conversation went like this:

Tara: “Hey, Dirty Harry was Irish!”

Brett: “Of course he’s Irish.  He’s hot headed and violent, what did you think?” 

Don’t grab your bats just yet, Irish brethren.  Brett knocking the Irish (and the Italians) and me knocking the Armenians is like the sit-com runner in our house. I often ask where he lost his goats when he migrated from Glendale and whenever I see a Kardashian on TV, I exalt to him, “Honey, your people!”

Okay, so now back to the luck. 

Today I lost my cell phone.  Or it was stolen.  Or both.  I left it on a counter at a coffee shop and some lucky guy found it, pocketed it. Buh bye, iPhone 4. Rest in some dude’s pocket.

So that was bad luck. 

R.I.P., my beloved.

So after my (what turned out to be quite expensive) morning meeting, I drove home angry.  Like a bat out of hell.  And yet, I made it home in one piece. 

So that was good luck.

In an attempt to unwind, I went for the wine and realized that we are out of wine.  Out of wine!  That has never happened in this house! 

So that was unlucky. 

But then I found some Grey Goose in the freezer. 

So that was lucky.

...The truth is, I don’t believe in luck.  Luck is for wusses.

At one point early in my career, I was at a networking event where I screened my short film SMACKERS and expressed frustration with how hard the journey was.  A bushy tailed young actress promised me that all I needed was a little luck and that it was sure to find me soon.  I told her that I’d been busting my hump for years and that when I finally “made it,” it would have absolutely nothing to do with luck.

So here I am ten years down the road of this journey.  And on this week…

I am waiting to hear back from one cable network about a feature writing gig.   I am waiting to hear back from a second cable network that may or may not purchase a script I wrote years ago.  I am waiting to hear back from our domestic sales agent on The Lake Effect to see who will be premiering the movie this year.  I am also hustling my butt through two feature scripts and a pilot that I really believe in.  Something has got to hit. If I throw this many things at the wall something is bound to hit.   Right? 

Maybe I just need a little… LUCK.

Erin go bragh, y’all! 

It's ALIVE!!!

THE LAKE EFFECT is getting out there.  And I have proof! 

Last week, for the very first time, The Lake Effect enjoyed a screening that I was not able to attend.   It took place at the Omaha Film Festival (Thanks again, Omaha!) on Thursday night.  People came, they sat in the theatre, and they watched The Lake Effect… and afterwards, two people (who are not my mom) posted on our Facebook page:  “Well done!” and “I enjoyed the film!”

I have to admit at first I was taken aback. My first thought was:  “Who are you?  And how did you get a copy of the movie?” 

And then I realized that they had seen it in Omaha, where the film was off doing its thing… without me.

It’s so cool.

Okay, so you may be thinking:  “Two guys commented on your Facebook page and you’re writing a whole blog about it?  That’s excessive.”  I was about to change my topic to “Luck and the true meaning of Mc Donald’s Shamrock Shake” but then I got an email from another viewer (again, not my mother) who enjoyed the film and that clinched it.  The film is receiving unsolicited responses from pleased viewers (plural!)

The Lake Effect screened
in a far away land, called Omaha.

I should acknowledge that THE LAKE EFFECT has been seen by other people when I was not present: festival programmers, sales agents, distributors, etc.  But that’s a little different because those are people from whom we are soliciting a response.  For better or worse, they have to respond – its their occupational obligation.  There is something special about the lovely moment when you’ve almost forgotten that you’ve created something that exists out there in the world and you hear that someone enjoyed it while you weren’t looking... and without being asked.

Once in a while, I meet a development exec at a party and they realize that they’ve read a script of mine that’s come across their desk, or I meet people who say they’ve seen Smackers.  When I was interviewing for my first job with writer/director/actor Mike Binder – he looked over my resume and saw my short film, MISS GENTILBELLE way down on the bottom and said, “You directed that?  I’ve seen that!”  I thought he was mistaken but no.  As it turns out, my Assistant Director on the film was a family friend of Mike’s and had shown him the film.  Thank god he liked it.

Still from my matricidal
student film,"Miss Gentilbelle"

It’s “so nice” (my daughter’s new catch phrase) that your work can introduce you to people before you have the chance to introduce yourself, that it can speak for you, and reach out to people you might never have the opportunity to reach out to. That’s the whole point of putting it on celluloid (er, I mean digital file) right?   

When I was in college (Go Gauchos!) and doing theatre – I directed my first one act (David Ives, anyone?) and it was sensational (or at least I thought so and some of the 200 audience members who witnessed the event were kind enough to perpetuate this belief). A week after the show closed, however, I realized with a heavy heart that that was it. The show had flashed in the pan and then it was over. This of course, is part of what makes theatre so magical.  It’s that fleeting, temporary, get it while the getting’s good nature of the beast that we love to feel a part of.

But as a director, I hated that aspect of theatre.  I wanted to create something that would stick.  Something that would last forever… So in my artistic quest for immortality, I began making movies.

Strangely, there is a side effect to making last art that I couldn’t have anticipated.  Having a film out there is almost like having a little piece of you roaming the earth unsupervised… it’s like I’m sleepwalking, going places and doing things I don’t remember… it’s just like those films where a detective is hunting down a murderer and then they discover that the murderer is them!  Alright, maybe not exactly like that.  But it can be mildly disconcerting when people know your work before they know you.  It can make you feel exposed.  It’s like they’ve read your thoughts… or your blog!

Really, though it’s still an amazing thing to think that my work is doing what it is supposed to do… getting out there, reaching out to people I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to touch.  I’m very much looking forward to this happening more once the movie is on TV, On Demand, and the internet.  I hope that more strangers will find and fall in love with THE LAKE EFFECT.

TO DO: Buy Groceries, Win Oscar.

This week’s blog is dedicated to… The Aaaaahscars.

Hello, Lover.

It’s not an infrequent thing for a family member or friend to call me around Oscar time and declare, “I can’t wait until you get your Oscar!  Are you going to thank us? Can we come?”  I would bet that almost all of my filmmaking friends have heard the same thing from their well-meaning loved ones…   No pressure. 

Of course, WIN AN OSCAR is on my short list of Things To Do.  Of course it is!  Isn’t it on everyone’s?  …No, I guess it wouldn’t be.  Honestly, though - I think “Win an Oscar” would be on my list even if I sold insurance for a living. 

I have to admit, I didn’t really get to “watch-watch” the Oscars this year.  My husband is out of town on a shoot and some friends convinced me that I could bring my delightful 19 month old to their place for a viewing party and so… when I wasn’t pulling Luna down off the coffee table, I was yanking her fingers out of someone’s 7 & 7, or prying her fingers off the volume knob on the receiver…

Despite my daughter’s lack of interest in the show, I did get to see Anne Hathaway sing (because it made Luna stop doing donuts around the coffee table and clap, “Singing!”) and Melissa Leo cuss at the crowd in the balcony.  I even got Luna home and in bed in time to see Natalie Portman gush about her newest and best role (pretty Mama) and Colin Firth do his wonderfully understated, fabulously dry British comedy thing.  

I love the Academy Awards.  I love the movie montages that remind me of what this medium is capable of, I love the appearances from the Old Guard that remind me that making movies makes us a part of history (at least Film History).   Then, in no particular order, I love the dresses, the gushing, and the crazy actors.  I don’t mean to dismiss the crazy – it’s a close bed fellow with genius and actor-crazy, specifically, is so darn fun and exuberant - unlike writer crazy which, while equally self-destructive is all defeatist and internal and not nearly as fun to watch.

I have to admit that over the past few years, my love of the Oscars has waned along with my belief that I would one day be accepting one.  “So sad!” you say!   I know.  It’s totally depressing.  I sell a script, I’m in the guild, I make a movie, I am in the industry! Amongst winners! Getting screeners of the Oscar Nominated films! I’m closer than ever and it’s almost like the Oscar is an illusion and the closer I get, the further away it seems.

Despite all this, and - let's be honest, perhaps because of all this, I'm keeping WIN AN OSCAR on my To Do List. My belief that I might actually do it is part of my director brand of crazy. Believing in the impossible and then motivating to make it real is exactly what it takes to get a movie made in the first place. And I’m a believer.  Call me a deluded dreamer, but I may just have an Oscar in me yet.  

Go Trojans!

Swag mug.  Nice.

I'm a Bruins fan by default.  My husband went to USC and my daughter was born at the UCLA medical center.  Despite this loyalty, last night, Jennifer Westin and I headed to USC on behalf of one of our THE LAKE EFFECT interns, (the very talented, very smart, very lovely) Arielle Zakowski, to speak to her film fraternity.

It was a fun, casual event that preceded their monthly meeting and served two purposes:  to inform the undergrads about what it means to be an independent filmmaker and to remind us of how good and bad and crazy and silly this roller coaster journey is.

We answered questions about a wide range of stuff - everything from international distribution to YouTube to directing and micro budget filmmaking. 

One of the most interesting moments came after a question about the path for a writer/director right out of school.  While we discussed the benefits of shooting a short film and developing a feature script, one student asked, “What did you see as the benefit of submitting your short to festivals versus just putting your short on youtube?”  I had to explain that when I shot my last short, we didn’t have YouTube!!!!  HA! 

It's amazing and exciting how quickly things are transforming.  Thanks to the internets, these guys have access to truly independent distribution.  They don't need a festival to get 90,000 people to see their movie.  That's awesome.   Things like that will determine the future of our modes of entertainment and the students we spoke to last night will determine what film will transform into in the coming years.  (When I mentioned that I'd be begging them all for jobs in ten years, they laughed because it's true!)  

The very last question of the night was:  If there is one thing that you’ve learned that you wish you knew when you started out, what would it be?

My answer was:  When an investor wants to give you a million dollars for your movie, take it – don’t haggle over a piddily script option price, just smile and nod and go get a job at Mc Donald’s if you have to support yourself during the two years you’ll be committing to making your first movie. 

I believe Jennifer's answer was:

If you already know specifically what you want to do (i.e. write half hour sit coms) be ready to be hired by graduation day.  She encouraged students to spend this time getting their feature script or their reel or their TV spec scripts ready to go.  

On our way to the car, though – we both thought of a truer answer to that question. 

I wish we had imparted to the group that there will be so many times that you feel like you are on the verge of making it.  You set bars for yourself – “If I sell a screenplay, get an agent, make a movie… then I will have made it.”  So you do it -  you sell a screenplay, you get the agent, you make a movie… and then you need to sell that movie. You need to write and sell another screenplay, you need to manage your agent (or get a bigger one), you need to finance another movie, you need to sell that movie…  In other words, you have to KEEP making it.

Despite the stories we read about someone getting their big break – those big breaks happen after years of little breaks and lots of pushing.   This might sound daunting but the challenge is part of what all filmmakers love. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  Luckily, we’re not a group that hunted down this career because it’s easy.

Thanks again to Arielle for having us out and to the great group of students who came to listen!  Hope it was as fun for you as it was for us.

For the benefit of the students, I’m re-posting my short SMACKERS, which is now on You Tube, here: 

And here’s the trailer that Arielle cut for us for THE LAKE EFFECT: 

Some good news…

The Lake Effect is screening at The Phoenix International Film Festival! 

I am really excited about this fest because: it’s is a great festival and it’s close to LA – so those Los Angelinos who are highly motivated could even DRIVE THERE!

There will be three screenings between 3/31 and 4/7 but we don’t have dates yet… you’ll know as soon as we do and then you can start planning your caravan road trip adventures!   

For more information, check out the Phoenix Film Festival here!

So, today, in honor of Phoenix and filmmakers from Arizona, I’m giving a shout out to my very talented filmmaker friend John Humber, who directed a wonderful film called DAKOTA SKYE that happened to premiere at the Phoenix Film Festival a couple of years ago.

John was such a fan of the festival, he told me that, "Out of all the festivals we took DAKOTA SKYE to, the Phoenix Film Festival was certainly the highlight.  The crowds, the staff and the fellow filmmakers combined to create an experience I'll never forget."

Just like The Lake Effect, Dakota Skye was shot on a low-budget with a minimal crew and (like the Lake Effect hopes to do) has garnered an incredible following and fan base.   And just like The Lake Effect, it was shot by my ridiculously talented husband Brett Juskalian.  

So while you’re waiting for THE LAKE EFFECT to be released, you should check out DAKOTA SKYE!  It’s is available on-line  (See, it takes a while but these movies get out there eventually… The Lake Effect will be available some day, mark my words!)

Here’s the trailer…

To find out more (like where you can see this movie, check out their facebook page!)

Lastly, I’m not kidding about the caravan thing… we hope to see you in Phoenix!

Oh and one more thing - if you were following the blogs about my week assistant directing and posting the Pioneer/Pandora spot, Pioneer has officially launched the campaign.  It's hilarious - Check it out here!

Barry.

WE'LL FIX IT IN POST.

When a script is not quite there, we say, "We'll fix it in production."  And when a production goes awry, we say, "We'll fix it in post."  I'll never forget the day that I heard a producer look at a terrible cut and say, "We'll fix it in marketing." 

One of my mentors, the late great Bruce Paltrow, once told me that control goes back and forth between the director and the network or studio on a show.  The Studio has control when you're working on the script, the director gets it back on set, and the studio gets it back in editorial... He actually told me that a smart director shoots a scene so that it can only be cut one way.  He was kind of awesome that way.

Luckily, I have never had to guard my footage or fight tooth and nail for an edit... I've always worked with collaborative producers who challenged decisions but never demanded final cut of a project.    

This weekend, I had the pleasure of helping out my good buddy Zack Mathers while he was editing the Pioneer/Pandora commercial that I assistant directed last week.  ADing and helping with editing don't usually go hand in hand but that's besides the point.  Working on this edit, I was reminded of how much I LOVE editorial.

This is actually Zack helping me out on TLE -
he would only do it if I brought Luna to visit.
Scroll down for video. 

Say cheese, Steve Edwards. 

I have fond memories of sitting with The Lake Effect's devoted editor Steve Edwards, working to juxtapose reactions and insert shots to create something evocative or funny or surprising that was nothing just a moment before.  The editing room, for me, is often where I feel the most magic.  It may be because  writing is theoretical and directing so damn tangible... Editorial is like being able to see the forest through the trees.    I often find myself in the editing room singing, "Making lo-o-ove out of nothing at all!"   Who sings that, by the way?  Is that Meatloaf?  My Dad loves that guy...

Anyway, editorial is a magical place for a director... or at least it is for me.  It's the final stage of writing, a place where you figure out what you've got and somehow manage to create what you need... because despite Bruce's old school wisdom, there is never just one way to cut something.

PS:  Here's spot 1 of 2.  

PIONEER PANDORA 2011 - 60-SEC Jogging Spot NAVI from Frequent Flyer Productions on Vimeo.

Assistant Directing, the other white meat.

Okay, so today I am on a commercial shoot for a Pioneer Electronics/Pandora spot that my good friend, the uber talented Zack Mathers is directing/producing under his banner Frequent Flyer Productions.  Three twelve-hour days on set will be a nice break from baby care and writing. 

I’ll be updating throughout the day, unless my blogging threatens to get me canned in which case I’ll be blogging at the end of the day after I’ve gotten call sheets out for tomorrow. 

Quick note about Pioneer/Pandora: Pioneer apparently has developed a sick car stereo that plays Pandora anywhere and has a screen that you can manipulate the stations just like on your computer.    For a long detailed article on that, click HERE. 


10:02 - got off a fast morning of running shots with our lead Amber - listening to Pandora on her Iphone... car dolly with steadicam op sitting in back.  beautiful light... 

Off to shoot some interior car shots - functionality of the radio. 

OKAY, lunch - made our morning.  And received a short bus that was delivered for tomorrow... 

We're shooting this whole thing on the Canon 7 D with available lights and a few reflectors/bounce cards.  It's unbelievable how good it looks.  Granted, it helps to have a crew who knows how to use it and equipment that enhances it... 

3:09 So now we're shooting all the interior car stuff - grabbing three different radios and all sorts of functionality - which is actually making me want one of these radios - you can do you tube, facebook, blue tooth, pandora.  I am a commercial for this commercial.  

7:22 - wrapped a few hours ago - went great!  and I am wiped... we made it home just in time to read the little one her bedtime stories.  It was great working with my friend Zack - a director who knows what he wants/needs and doesn't over shoot out of fear!  And of course, it's always nice working with my husband - we haven't spent this much time together in too long. 

Here's some screen grabs... 

 i'll post a link to the commercial when it's done!