What's in My Manvelope?

CERISE: Day by Day, What I've Learned, & What's Next

2010-05-23T15:56:00.018-04:00

This week, I wrapped up principal photography for my short film Cerise on a $15K budget (most DIY filmmakers can easily produce a feature-length film on this budget). I did this mainly so I would get the picture and audio quality I sometimes find lacking in other short films made for $500 - $5,000. All I have to say is that this short was worth every cent saved and raised.

Here's a recap of my week-long shoot, what I've learned as a result, and what's next.

A Look Behind: The Week in Review
Day One: 5/16/10: Our first day of shooting was fairly easy. We shot in the auditorium of the New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts in Bloomfield from 1pm to 6pm, and had a great dinner courtesy of Two Guys Pizza & Grill (my brother Walter's restaurant).

Directing Young Josh (played by Evan Smith)

Day Two: 5/17/10: After a very successful day shooting very Glass Menagerie-esque memory scenes, we unloaded our lighting and camera equipment into the Josh Kermes's pad (the apartment of Vincent D'Onofrio, colleague, playwright, and friend of mine) that night, and after breakfast on the hood of one of our PA's cars, we shot all day Monday canning all the scenes of Josh in his dark, nostalgia-ridden apartment by about 9pm.

Production Team Cerise in the cramped apartment of Josh Kermes.

Day Three: 5/18/10: On Tuesday, Production Team Cerise shot at The Warehouse Café, a quaint little spot in the historic Powerhouse Art District in Downtown Jersey City. This location and its charming decor further enhanced the masterful camerawork of DP Alain Aguilar and his AC Erik Kandefer (working side-by-side with the Sony EX1 with Letus 35mm adapter). The Warehouse was an especially important location because the final scene of the Cerise happens there (I'm a sucker for a good café scene despite all the taboos). By the fifth or sixth take of Josh and C.J.'s closeup, a tiny tear glassed my eyes and a smile bloomed like none before, and I knew then I'd struck a moment that would not soon be forgotten. The day was topped off with a couple bottles of pink Korbel courtesy of Warehouse Café owners Ian Hinonangan and Julius Torres.

Shooting inside the fabulous Warehouse Café in Downtown Jersey City.

Day Four: 5/19/10: Wednesday and Thursday proved a true test to not only myself, but to everyone on the crew of Cerise––from our clock-keeping AD Corey McArdle to our wardrobe mistress. We shot both days at my alma mater, New Jersey City University. Wednesday was a grueling day both physically and emotionally; we unfortunately had to lose a few shots (nothing too integral to the story, but it's never fun killing one's own babies), and I could feel my exasperation welling up after lunch. We made it through, however, with minimal scars.

Readying Josh Kermes's cubicle for the ensuing battle with the clock.

Day Five: 5/20/10: Then came Thursday, and we had 14 hours to shoot ten pages of the script! With Corey calculating and Alain practically painting a new magnum opus with every shot; with our production designer, makeup artist and hairstylist brushing and dabbing from 60 to sonic boom; with our tireless PAs scrambling to and fro for this or that, we were (somehow) able to pull it all together and churn out a product like some oily piston-pumping machine...but I gotta tell you, it was crazy!

My frustration did boil over at a pivotal point early on Thursday because my crew and myself were making some really careless errors. When a Kino suddenly dimmed, I took that as a sign and called for an immediate forum. My disappointment manifested into something I'd hoped would resemble a great battle speech (ala Braveheart, perhaps?), but instead, it emerged as more heartfelt as my mouth let go of the words; my honesty spilled out, as often it does, and I let everyone know first how appreciative I was of them, but also that now is the time we have to step up our energy and abilities to a level unseen prior to Thursday's shoot, if we are to get these last ten pages in the can.

After the peroration of my little discourse, we all began to move as one organism again, and I was once again able to focus the bulk of my attention and energy on the 17-inch monitor in front of me.

Today: What I've Learned
Despite the fact that I had a very large crew of about 20 skilled people, and two very competent producers, Camiren Romero and Kejal Kothari, Cerise was still a fairly difficult film to shoot in only five days.

So what did I learn?

First and foremost, I learned (or reaffirmed, rather) that filmmaking is a war.

Second, no matter how detailed a director and his or her crew thinks they are, there's always Murphy's Law, and one has to be prepared for anything that might go wrong. Because it will go wrong.

Third, quick thinking is a major criteria before entering the foray. In my case, I had a very loose shot list, no storyboards, and a time crunch. I also rewrote the script a week before the shoot! However, I also had Corey and Alain and a powerful core of soldiers by my side who were driven to achieve the best product possible. And, of course, I had my own strong vision of the film which demanded attention to detail and design.

Fourth, as a director specifically, I again learned that one will get frustrated, either with him- or herself, with his or her crew (whether it's five or fifty people strong) or both.

Fifth, it's alright to get a little emotional on either extreme of the "love/fear" spectrum; and it's alright to let it out, but only in a way that is proactive and inspires the crew rather than leaves them defeated on the battlefront.

I also learned that to prepare for a film shoot, one should not only peruse Chris Jones's The Guerilla Film Makers Pocketbook, but one should also be well-versed in Sun Tzu's The Art of War as well.

A Glimpse Ahead: What's Next for Cerise?
Initially, I wanted to have Raffi Asdourian, a great filmmaker and editor, do the picture edit for Cerise. I've since reconsidered only because during shooting, the script was somewhat compromised due to the shots and a few whole scenes we were forced to omit because of time constraints. Rather than rewrite the script according to those cuts, I figured I'd just piece the film together myself, like I did with all my prior films, since I've yet to get a film that matches even 80% of the original script.

I'm hoping to have a (very) rough cut by the end of June to show at a sort of "wrap party" as a kind of test screening for the cast and crew. After that, I'll be tweaking the picture edit a bit more extensively, and then I'll send the edit off to my trusted Symphonist of Sound Design Oles Protsidym for audio and music mixing, and we'll take it from there.

All in All...
The Taoist deep within me tells me not to worry about the lost shots or the cut scenes; it tells me to trust in what I've got, and to know that what I've got is the film that was meant to be. All I have to do it piece it together accordingly, and all will be perfect. And after watching the dailies, this is $15,000 very well spent!

A very big thank you to Production Team Cerise!

And thanks again to all our backers who've made this short quirky dramedy possible!

New Script, New Updates: 4 Days to CERISE

2010-05-09T14:54:00.004-04:00

We're only four short days away from the first day of principle photography on Cerise, my latest short film project about Josh Kermes, a former spelling bee champion who, 20 years later, is haunted by the word that took him down.

This Script Spells S-U-C-C-E-S-S
As many of you already may know, I've been hunched over a somewhat major rewrite of the screenplay, which had been running away from me at 30 pages (pretty long for a short!) For over two months. many fellow writers and filmmakers had expressed concern about the script's length, especially since it's primarily a festival piece. I'd brushed off this advice until a week ago, when my good friend and fellow filmmaker Troy Romeo, who's recent short film 2095 has screened at various film festivals across the world, graciously gave me the honor of his eyes and insight on two drafts (so far) of the script and helped me bring the length down to 24 pages. Thanks again for all the help, Troy! What a difference!

One thing I usually forget to mention to people who read my scripts is that I'm a vertical screenwriter––every line of action is a shot (as opposed to the "three lines per paragraph" paradigm.) If I'd written Cerise in that more traditional style, the script would clock in at 20 minutes max.

Cerise FTW
I thought I'd share my three goals for Cerise once it's edited and out in the festival circuit ('cause once you put it in writing, you're bound by those words.)

(1) Cerise will screen at and win festivals, and someone may ask me to make this into a feature-length film.

(2) Cerise will screen at and win festivals, and someone (a producer looking for his big break) will ask "so, you got a feature?" and I can pull out the latest draft of my vampire feature A Beautiful Unlife and we can finally be on the long overdue campaign to save the America vampire film from its apparent Twilight.

(3) Cerise will win a "Best of category" award at one (or more) Academy Award qualifying festivals, and hopefully that nomination will lead to either (1) or (2). (Best Case Scenario!)

Six Days Till Action from The CERISE Spelling Vlog on Vimeo.

Winning Words
Things are going exceptionally well on the production side of Cerise. My producers Camiren and Kejal have been a great help, pushing the bulk of the production boulder uphill so I can focus on the current rewrite and rehearsals. There's a good amount of our crew that I haven't even met yet, so it'll be exciting to work with some new film warriors as well as some Iron Men of Trigonian short cinema––namely our DP Alain Aguilar and our Sorcerer of Sound Oles Protsidym, one whom I trust completely with telling the most compelling visual story as possible, the other whom I'm sure will get me Hollywood-quality sound at used car costs.

Remember to keep up with all the latest on Cerise via our Cerise Movie Facebook page, as well as our Cerise Spelling Vlog on Vimeo for continuous updates before, during and after production. Marinell Montales is the social media powerhouse behind the majority of the updates and maintenance of these pages and their content. And for further insight into the look and feel of Cerise, be sure to subscribe to Alain's blog "My Weekly Dose of DOF" to see what's shaping up within his inner lenses.

CERISE Update: From Location Scouting to Storyboarding

2010-04-22T19:29:00.016-04:00

Since it's been a while since I blogged about Cerise, I thought I'd give you all an extensive update on how preproduction is going. But first...

Follow CERISE's progress on FB!
If you haven't done so already, please be sure to become a fan of (whoops! Pardon me, I mean "Like") the Cerise Movie page on Facebook. Currently, you can see our full cast (and what a beautiful and talented cast we have!)

Now, the best part about the fan page is that all you have to do to get there is go to www.cerisemovie.com. That's right, we've got a domain name! Ben Gerber, one of our totally awesome backers, graciously donated it to us. So for now, we've linked it to our fan page until we can find someone who'd be willing to make a website for us. Thanks again, Ben! Your generosity deserves praise beyond the limitations of even my best verse.

And...

There's a New Blogger in Town
For all you visioneers out there, be sure to check out Alain Aguilar's blog My Weekly Dose of DOF on Tumblr. He's going to be blogging about various visual concepts from classics like Touch of Evil to modern day epics like Avatar (and let me tell you, this brother know his stuff! I think the man breathes at 24 fps!) From deep to flat space, between affinity and contrast, this blog spans everything image-related for the professional DP to the kid picking up his first HD camera.

Alain will also be writing about some of the visual elements he intends to employ on Cerise (but don't worry, he won't give anything away... I hope!)

Now, the Cerise updates:

Better Than Zero and Gene!
Cerise has scored two awesome producers––Camiren Romero and Kejal Kothari. They're currently handling the bulk of the production details so I can ween myself off of those duties and focus on storyboarding, rehearsing and, ultimately, directing.

We've also been gradually bringing together other great crew members to the Team––Lisa Sever, our production designer, Oles Protsidym doing audio/sound recording (and who expertly handled audio on my last short film Perfekt, Darylanna Benavidez as our 1st (and 2nd) AD, Albert Phaneuf as our Key Grip, and a dynamic duo for hair and make-up, Michelle Ernest and Adam Ramos.

Locations Scouted and Secured (& Some Unsecured)
Alain and I spent the the entire day this past Tuesday scouting our locations and taking picture upon picture (which I'm basing my storyboards on).

So far we've secured a quaint little café in Downtown Jersey City called The Warehouse for our final scene and Josh's apartment thanks to a generous colleague of mine.

Troubled Waters Ahead...?
As you all may or may not know, DIY filmmaking is full of mines and pitfalls that try to thwart would-be filmmakers from success. Well, Team Cerise hit our very first troubled spot this past week, but we weren't caught for long between this possible Scylla and Charybdis.

The short of the long is that we were able to work out an agreement with a location which was proving difficult to secure. However, there are certain provisions, mainly that we shoot around their schedule, not ours. But the location is absolutely perfect! Check out the pics below of Josh Kermes' workplace––the Tutoring Center at N. E. Given University:

My producers and I are now in the process of rearranging the shooting schedule (which has been set for over a month now!), and, luckily, it seems that our cast and crew are being very accommodating. We should be well on our way past this tiny whirlpool within the next few days thanks to the awesome people who will be bringing Cerise into full bloom this May.

I Used to Want to Be a Comic Book Artist...
BACKSTORY (cue Glass Menagerie lighting; some strings by Mozart) ...When I was little, my first passion was drawing. I'd draw everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to my own mythological beasts and the heroes who'd fight them. I'd even sell my recreations of Batman and Superman comic book covers to extended family members, and after an arduous month of saving up a whopping $15, I was able to buy myself The Real Ghostbusters Ghost Trap, which I thought was just the coolest thing at the time (still do, actually!)

My passion for drawing and comic book art lasted all the way up until freshman year of college when it was unexpectedly drowned in a four hour long Drawing and Composition I course that started at 9am on Fridays (to this day, I still won't work on Fridays). But I still read comic books to this day, and I still have a passion for great art.

FLASHFORWARD: Storyboarding is the graphic novel version of a screenplay. That said, the storyboards for Cerise are going very well, but as I mentioned in a recent status update, six pages of the script took me two hours to storyboard in pencil because I simply can't settle for stick figures. I've got to be somewhat detailed. It's borderline obsessive-compulsive behavior, I know.

Now granted, the above storyboard is no Picasso, but going at this current rate, I'd be drawing until well after the film's edited and screened at Aspen (here's hoping, anyway :-) So to speed up the process, and thanks to another awesome Team Cerise member, I'm thinking of giving the Hitchcock storyboard app for my iPhone a go and see if that can speed up the process some. I've watched the demo about six times, and it looks easy, but all demos look easy 'cause the object is to get you to lay down your hard earned bills and buy it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, that's the inside scoop on Cerise for now. I'll be back with another update real soon. In the meantime, keep up to date with us on Facebook and check out Alain Aguilar's blog for more Cerise goodness!

Filmmakers Get Social: A Short Recap of What I Already Knew

2010-04-18T23:21:00.003-04:00

Filmmakers Get Social - A Recap
Last Wednesday I attended the Filmmakers Get Social event (thanks to a sweet discount courtesy of reading Erin Crumpacker's blog Briefly Noted) at the Roger Smith Hotel. It was a spirited evening of short film, panel discussion, and free Ultimat vodka (and the bartender knows how to pour!)

The Films
Among the films shown were Crooked Lane (dir. Chase Bailey), Tony and Cal (dir. Ryan Gielen), and Power (dir. Ari Gold). Nailing Jello, the film for which funds were raised, was never shown due of DVD difficulties (hmm, old tech on the way out: an appropriate segue...)

The Panel
The panel that followed was comprised of a diverse group of content producers. Leslie Poston, co-author of Twitter for Dummies, had some interesting things to say, as did Michelle DeForest of Next New Networks which puts out all The Key of Awesome videos (see the hilarious "Lady Gaga Beyonce Telephone Parody" below!), and John Knowles of Panman Productions.

What I Walked Away With
I walked away from the gorgeous Roger Smith Hotel with a few new nuggets of insight like

It's still about quality over quantity
Tumblr is an awesome way to share "snackable content" (so now I've got one)
Crowdsource for content
Use www.search.twitter.com to find your audience.

There was also a refresher course of sorts on things I know very well (or learned from attending DIY Days a few weeks prior), such as

Actual filmmakers prefer Vimeo over YouTube for easier access to quality content
Make everything about the audience
The "Law of Least Effort," or posting content on sites that integrates with other social networking sites
Be open to experimentation in everything you do
Never be on more than five platforms
A transparency of process builds anticipation and a fan base for a film.

And, of course, there were things that I didn't agree with, primarily

Scheduing tweets and Facebook status updates via Hootsuite and other clients
Keeping a content calendar

A Note on Community
I was reminded of an article that appeared on Indiewire called "The Take-Back Manifesto" which outlined a cessation of all discussion about social media, DIY marketing and new distribution models (and one could infer a deadening of any form of progressive thinking while we're at it!) when talking, writing, or blogging about anything film-related. This, of course, goes completely against the natural Tao of the universe, so it's no wonder why the majority of the people I've met think this is the sorriest excuse for a manifesto ever. Above all, however, this idea goes against the idea of community.

As a community, we owe it to ourselves to go to events that will offer us even the slightest shard of new information that might help us fit the puzzle together, to help us better comprehend the chaos swirling around us. This way, when it all comes to a halt and decides on a form or forms (and hopefully not some Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man!), we will be able to be among the first to fully make use of its endless possibilities. And we will have done it together.

The Best & Not-So-Best of DIY Days

2010-04-06T13:56:00.013-04:00

I'm still reeling with all the sagely advice and newfangled insights I walked away with after leaving DIY Days in NYC this past weekend. I wanted to mention some of the best and not-so-best moments of the event (of the seminars and workshops I attended).

Biggest Highlight: The OpenIndie Revolution
From the moment Arin Crumley commanded the stage to the minute he left behind his imprint in our minds as he walked off, I was captivated by this energetic DIY entrepreneur's skill with words, images, ability to instill power into his audience. I felt as if I was listening to Henry V's St. Crispen's Day speech –– I was that fueled with a desire to get out of the New School and do something! An especially awesome highlight was hearing a roomful of filmmakers, producers, screenwriters, and the motley rest of us chanting at the top of our lungs the ol' Network mantra "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Truly empowering! The only downside (perhaps of the entire event) was that Arin's presentation should have been the last one of the day; you just can't top a presentation of that caliber.

On Being Yourself
I walked out of Michael Margolis' workshop "The Real You: Personal Branding, Social Media, and Storytelling" a changed man. Not only is Michael's advice sagely and practical, but his delivery was filled with hype and energy. My only beef? The workshop was too darn short! On the upside, I just downloaded a copy of Michael's book Believe Me: Why Your Vision, Brand and Leadership Need a Bigger Story and am looking forward to absorbing more insight about how important it is to be comfortable with who you are and what you're doing before you can feel comfortable presenting it to the world.

From Reminiscence to Results
At first, I was like, "why is this guy spending 60% of his talk relaying all these specific details of his past?" and I slowly realized that it's because Jeff Gomez was building up a character with an unbelievable arc without putting pen to page, because he was the character. Mixing his traumatic childhood and inability to expound upon the terrors harbored in his mind, haunting his days and nights to being saved by an obscure 1970s Japanese manga hero though print, serial and cinematic experiences, Jeff kept me captivated for his entire 30 minute presentation on "Transmedia Storytelling: Creating Blockbuster Worlds." Jeff definitely enlightened me to all the amazing new things that are happening now regarding the myriad platforms and possibilities for DIY filmmaking and distribution, many of which are not all that new.

Showbiz 101: A Simplified Pedagogy
Although I was a bit befuddled during Brian Chirls' workshop "Who Does Business This Way?!" I was engaged from beginning to end and felt that this presentation, like Michael's, should have been longer. I got a kick out of Brian's pie charts and practical analogies about how business is done in the real world (using the steel industry as his paradigm) versus how it's done in the movie industry (back asswards, apparently!), and it proved very helpful for someone like me, who has no background in business whatsoever.

There's No Such Thing as Original...Or Is There?
Brian Newman's talk on "Reinventing Innovation" was also an eye opener for me. Blending both the serious with the comedic elements of the ever-changing DIY cosmos, the presentation was well-done, tight and comprehensible. And although Brian didn't offer up any concrete answers (since there really aren't many actual answers out there) to the inquisitive comets swarming all our minds, he did a terrific job detailing every layer of this Jupiter-sized onion so that it doesn't seem so overwhelming anymore. It now seems explorable though the possibilities are seemingly endless.

The Secrets of Serialized Content...Kept Secret!
Admittedly, I'm not the most up-to-date filmmaker out there (heck, I just watched Logorama!), I have to say, I was impressed by the innovation and storytelling present in the übersuccessful webseries Radar. But I took the workshop "Creating a Brand Through Serialized Content" because I wanted to learn how to, well, create a brand through serialized content. And that was the one thing that was never addressed. As impressed I was by the success of Alex Johnson, Janine Saunders, and Josh Cramer, I walked away from this workshop completely unworked and with absolutely no newfound knowledge to keep in my manvelope (except for the knowledge that Radar exists.) This felt like one giant plug for Radar and Babelgum.

Keynote Speaker Not so Key to Me
I'm probably one of the only DIY Days attendees (if not the only!) who was not at all moved by keynote speaker Ted Hope's talk about community building, helping one another out, and coming together as filmmakers. Don't get me wrong, now––I believe in every one of those elements and think that each is integral to the success of indie filmmakers at the DIY level (I especially believe this now, given Cerise's recent crowdfunding success on IndieGoGo); and of course I'm aware that Ted is an awesome guy (see "Side Note" below) and an even more awesome blogger, offering up tons of great advice himself and by way of guest bloggers; and I am a fan of (some of) his films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind remains my all time favorite film. Ever!); and perhaps it was just the fact that he was unprepared, but there was simply no passion, no urgency behind his words, and, quite frankly, I just didn't believe him.

Side Note: This was my second time listening to Ted Hope speak. Last year I attended quite an expensive finance seminar hosted by The School of Visual Arts. Ted was part of a panel of four, and was the only speaker who instilled a sense of hope in the audience, while Larry Meistrich, producer of Sling Blade, unlatched all the evils in Pandora's chest and sought only to grind us down into fine pulp to discard our filmic endeavors to the wind. Ted was the voice of reason in the room, something that I will always appreciate.

All in All...
DIY Days was an exceptional event, and I give props to Lance Weiler for putting it all together and offering this event for free, which is something I think more people should do; after all, information should be free for the public, for those who want it.

Follow 'Em on Twitter!
And if you're not already doing so, be sure to follow @arincrumley @openindie @getstoried @Jeff_Gomez @bchirls @bnewman01 @alexjohnson_ @janinesaunders and @TedHope.

IndieGoGoal!

2010-04-05T09:54:00.008-04:00

Well, it has certainly been one heck of an awesome journey and we've reached the destination! Cerise has surpassed its IndieGoGoal of $5,000!

Not only did we raise the funds we needed, but Marinell, Alain, and myself have met so many big-hearted people, fellow indie filmmakers, and talented actors, which, in all sincerity, is the greatest perk for all the labors of love my crew and I have undergone during this campaign.

I've been listening to this song called "The Chariot" by my favorite band of Aussie independents, The Cat Empire. The chorus goes something like "Our weapons were our instruments/Made from our timber and steel/We never yielded to conformity but stood like kings/In a chariot that's riding on our record wheels." Aside from being an upbeat anthem about making love, not war, it's also a mantra for friendship and the importance of community.

In our case, this "king" riding in this chariot is Cerise. I could never have pulled such an ambitious weight (raising $5K) at such a rapid pace (less than two months) without the Herculean might and ardent belief fueling all of the kind and generous people pulling right alongside me. Together, I'm sure we'll be able to pull Cerise to even further distances, from festival wins to international screenings!

So thank you all for helping make Cerise's IndieGoGo campaign a success, whether it was through a contribution, through constant support and encouragement, or by simply spreading the word about Cerise. And most of all, thank you for making my enthusiasm for this short film your enthusiasm as well.

What's Next for Cerise?
I'm currently casting for the film. So far, we've secured two actors, Stewart Schneck (playing Jack Parsons, Josh's boss), who will also be appearing in The Taming of the Shrew for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, and Yan Xi (playing C.J. Shuriko, Josh's love interest), whose credits include Brooklyn's Finest, She's Out of My League, and Sundance "Official Selection" Children of Invention. We've got one more set of auditions this week, and hopefully I'll have all four of my principals roles cast. Exciting stuff!

Join the Cerise Movie Fan Page
If you haven't done so already, please be sure to join the Cerise fan page. Everyone will be kept in the loop with all things Cerise via the fan page. We hope to continue to amass a wide audience for the film in the next months during all stages of production. We've also got lots of innovative things planned for our supporters as well, so continue showing your true color by recommending it to your friends and stay tuned!

There's plenty more happening in the next few weeks, from crew meetings to interviews, so I'll keep you informed about what's in my manvelope, including my #FollowFriday list (yes, still in the works!), thoughts on this past weekend's DIY Days, and plenty more!

"See maybe if the world contained more people like these,/Then the news would not be telling me 'bout all that warfare endlessly." ~ The Cat Empire, "The Chariot"

CERISE Casting: Character Specs/Descriptions

2010-03-12T19:58:00.009-05:00

Welcome to the Cerise Casting Call! What follows is a list of characters, specifications, and descriptions of the characters I'm currently seeking for my off-beat short screenplay.

ACTORS & ACTRESSES

Please read the descriptions and send an email to cerisemovie@gmail.com with (1) your headshot, (2) your resume, (3) a link to your reel, and (4) which character(s) you would like to audition for.

I will contact you to have you come to the auditions; they will be help outdoors, most likely at Washington Square Park, NYC. Date and time TBA.

Principles

Josh Kermes (Caucasian male, 28 – 35) The protagonist of Cerise. He feels that he has all he wants in life, though everything in his life boxes him in. Josh has become complacent in his job as sole writing tutor at the Tutoring Center of N.E. Given University. For years he’s been okay with this, until recently, when that which kept him down all these years rears its ugly head once more.

Supporting

Shivam Shah (Indian/Middle Eastern male, 28 – 35) The antagonist for the first half of Cerise. Very “Mac Guy” in personality, Shivam is cool, calm, collected. To him, a job is just that; whereas Josh is a great writing tutor, Shivam simply plays the part of a great writing tutor (and gets away with the charade). He throws Josh’s world into disorder because he is also the person who cost Josh his seventh National Spelling Bee championship.

Other Characters

Sam White (Caucasian male, 30 – 40) Josh’s other coworker and math tutor. (Speaking)

Young Josh (Caucasian male, 15) Josh as a young boy. (Speaking)

(NOTE: Because Young Josh needs to look somewhat like the actor playing Josh, I must cast Josh before I can cast Young Josh, so please be patient in waiting for a reply to audition. Thank you.)

Josh’s Mother (Caucasian female, 35 – 40) A brief role. (Speaking)

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (Any, 28 – 32) Two brief comic characters. (Speaking)

Little Girl (Any, 12 – 15 years) A girl in a spelling bee. (Speaking)

(NOTE: This role will be shot prior to principle photography on Cerise.)

Man (Any, 30 – 35) A masked samurai figure that haunts Josh's dreams. (Non-speaking)

(NOTE: Samurai sword skills and/or experience in samurai films preferred.)

Barista (Any, 22 – 28) A brief role. (Speaking)

Receptionist (Caucasian, 40 – 50) A brief comic character. (Speaking)

Students (Ages 18 – 22; speaking)

Sascha (Hispanic)

Cory (African-American)

Kwame (African-American)

Student #1 (Brief)

Student #2 (Brief)

Update: Team Cerise, Art Eat Up, and More

2010-02-28T12:01:00.012-05:00

February's been an awesome month! And not just because of a wonderful Valentines Day, an awesome Tweet up at Cinekink, my jazzy birthday gathering in NYC, but also because Cerise went from $0 to $2,100 in just 28 days! I'm excited to see how March is going to fare!

Thank You Team Cerise!
Some thanks are in order to all those most recent contributors to Cerise. Thanks so much:

Nancy Taylor
Jason Williams
Kim Garland (@KageyNYC)
Aziz Mamur
Ariel Gasperini
Jose Felix
Lauren Harris
Charlene Otero
Denise Bartone-Pollack
Rachelle Brown (@Stellar143)
Lauren Clemente
Jeanne Vaillette Bowerman (@jeannevb)
Film Courage (@filmcourage) = David Branin (@davidbranin) & Karen Worden (@KarenWorden)
Michelle Morel
Evelyn Ramos
Rohit Venkat
Stephanie Faith Scott
John Paul Rice (@NoRestrictions)
Sangita Patel
Michael Gamba
Alex Wilson
Sheinder Brun (@cherryBr)
Rich Fuchs (@richiefuchs)
Gabriel Zudeck
Carol Jimenez
Ed Melendez
Slava Rubin (@GoGoSlava)
Mattson Tomlin (@wackeychan)
Giselle Del Oro
Steve Gal
Andrew Phillips
Marinell Montales's (@Merrynell) parents, Engracia and Paquito Montales
Patrice Stercks
Glenn Ramirez
Various "Anonymous" contributors (some of whom have proven to be quite generous!)

And an extra special thanks goes out to:

Ryan Ronning, for being our first extremely big-hearted repeat contributor!

Thanks again, everyone! You're all part of Team Cerise, helping make strides that will lead Cerise to a bright and successful future!

The Next Goal for Cerise
Because I'm a literary guy, Cerise's next funding goal will be to reach at least $2.5K (50% funded!) by this Friday, the "Ides of March," when Julius Caesar was murdered on the steps of the Roman Senate. So please keep showing your unbridled support by making a contribution, by retweeting and sharing the IndieGoGo link on Facebook, sending out emails, and simply by spreading the word that haunts Josh Kermes!

Art Eat Up, Jersey City
On Saturday, March 13th from 6pm until 9pm, Pro Arts Jersey City will be hosting an Art Eat Up in which you get to indulge in a delicious meal and then cast a vote for your favorite art proposal of the evening. I will be one of a handful of fine local artists presenting a project; mine is a short film called Café Mnemosyne. The suggested donation for the event is $20, and 100% of the profits made from that night go to the artist to realize his or her vision. If you can, please check it out!

No Bite! A Beautiful Unlife on Hold
With all the work I've been doing on the rewrite for Cerise (which will go under the intense scrutiny of my red pen starting March 1st), I've had no time to even think about my next rewrite of my vamp script A Beautiful Unlife. It stakes me to have to say this, but a final draft of the script that will eventually save us from the Twi-hard nation will have to lay in its coffin until Cerise is a little more packaged and produced.

Coming Soon: Who's In My Manvelope? A #FF List
I've been inspired by people like @grking and @jeannevb who have lists of people they follow on Twitter. It's more practical (you can say why they should be followed in more than 140 characters, if needed) and time-saving (You don't have to type in all the handles after #FF and have fifty tweets all in red!) Because I've been spending so much time online in the last two or three months, I feel a list like this would be beneficial to my writing productivity in between my work schedule.

So, for the next couple of weeks I'll be working on my very own #FollowFriday list for my blog, which I'll update every so often when I discover some new tweeps who have cool and interesting things to tweet. Once it's up and running, I'll let you know!

Alright everyone, thanks for reading the update, and keep on trucking!

Fandependence: An Opinion in Brief

2010-02-16T22:34:00.007-05:00

As a poet, by nature I'm a man of few words, so this will be brief.

For me, the term "fandependent" (beautifully coined by @Merrynell) dictates an intrinsic bond between filmmaker and film fan. A collaboration. A symbiotic relationship.

I applaud Ben Hicks for having the stones to propose a novel (though impractical for some) solution in this ever-shifting distribution landscape that's all a-quake with new possibilities for allowing truly independent filmmakers the same opportunities as studio independents who've made a monopoly of such capstones as Sundance and Tribeca.

Am I ready to join in on this Fandependent Movement? No. I think the manifesto itself needs a rewrite, much like all the great manifestos in the world. I think Sheri Candler didn't poke any holes into Ben's idea, but simply pointed them out, specifically regarding marketing. The good thing is that now he's got something to think about. This is collaboration. If the manifesto has inspired some and enraged others, then it's done its job.

Update: The Rewrite and One More Bite

2010-02-10T00:34:00.009-05:00

Man, it's been quite a week!

First, I want to once more offer my deepest gratitude to all those who contributed to Cerise, my next short film project about a former spelling bee champion who, 24 years later, is still haunted by the word that took him down.

Thank you once more:

Larry (Dean) Wilson
David L. Ulery (@davidlulery)
Alain Aguilar (@Alain_Aguilar)
Gary King (@grking)
Cielito Pascual (@cielitopascual)
Sheri Candler (@Shericand)
Walter Enders
Lucy Ann Philips
Larry Goodman
Frank Guzman Jr.
Jessica King &
Julie Keck (@kingisafink)
Chrissy Zurawski
Jon Crefeld
Daniel Arol Jahns
Pamela Craig
Ray Addas
Mohamed Elmaksoud
CineKink (@Cinekink)

Your support and contributions are going to make Cerise the best it can be!

Cerise Pitch from John Trigonis on Vimeo.

Cerise Sees Red: The Rewrite
Regarding my rewrite for Cerise, I've been working on tweaking the first act so that I know how to play my second act to its utmost potential. Today I made some excellent progress, and I should be moving on to finish up the polishing of acts two and three sometime next week. I'll keep you posted.

A Beautiful Unlife: One More Bite!
I got my feature-length script A Beautiful Unlife back from my script analyst Michael Ray Brown (@MichaelRayBrown) and it looks like my timeless vampire movie is one last polish away from being ready to hit the studios one more time.

More Ideas, But Where Does the Time Go?
Time is always the thing there never seems to be enough of in a single day. I've got so many ideas, some stashed away in the leather folds of my manvelope, others plugged not-so-neatly into the Notes of my iPhone, and still others that I've lost touch with; they live in the lines of retired writing tablets, journals that are overstuffed, and random Dunkin' Donuts napkins that have managed to avoid the trash can.

I've managed to pull one short film idea out of my phone this past weekend and I started brainstorming. I've got a very loose storyline, but one with lots of promise. There are some interesting characters, too, and soon I'll write up a basic screenplay for this intriguing little Twilight Zonish tale about a small place called the Mnemosyne Café.

That's it for now. Check back next time for another peek inside my manvelope! In the meantime, please check out Cerise on IndieGoGo and show your support.

So Just What IS in My Manvelope?

2010-02-01T19:43:00.015-05:00

The question is frequently asked:

"What's in the bag?" (it's so not a bag) or "...folder?" (it folds but it's not a folder) or "...manpurse?" (really?)

I prefer the term "manvelope" and yes, there are tons of things squirming about inside my manvelope just aching for release (so much, in fact, that it warranted the title of this blog.)

This particular manvelope started out as a caravan for fresh photocopies of my poetry which would be recited at spoken word and open mic events back in my Bukowski days when you could find me curled up on the #2 piecing together my master's thesis. Now it's home to ideas inked out on Starbucks napkins, script pages reddened by the scars of revision, film reviews still in the fetal stage, random copies of CREATIVE SCREENWRITING or THE NEW YORKER, a Moleskine notebook (of course), and a surfeit of other concepts fresher than most of the food in my fridge, from short film blurbs and one-minute sketches to feature-length script ideas.

The latest projects to emerge from the innards of my manvelope are CERISE, a short film about a former spelling bee champ haunted by the word that took him down, and A BEAUTIFUL UNLIFE, a feature about a vampire from the future who travels back in time to 2010 hoping to find a cure for his ills and during his stay gets a job answering a suicide prevention hotline (all the better to find fresh blood) and falls in love with a cynical young actress whom he eventually learns is his own mother.

CERISE now has a project profile on IndieGoGo where I'm hoping to raise an extra $5,000 from fans like you to add to the $10,000 I've saved up myself so that I can make CERISE the best it can be.

A BEAUTIFUL UNLIFE (currently in its sixth draft) is currently on the desk of noted script analyst Michael Ray Brown. Once I receive the new coverage, it'll be time to begin the resubmission process and hopefully snag a nice one-step deal and save the world from the shimmery of the Twi-Hards!

As my days change, so do the contents of my manvelope, so be sure to subscribe and keep up with what white rabbits and sacred dragons I pull from my magic hat!

Star-struck a Second Time: Denys Arcand's STARDOM

2010-01-23T02:27:00.001-05:00

I just watched the film Stardom for the second time last night and man, what an honest work of art. Director Denys Arcand shows us that he is a true master of visual storytelling. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

In brief, Stardom tells the rags-to-riches story of a young girl who skyrockets to the top tier of the modeling industry with the aid of prominent individuals (mostly men with whom she intimately involves herself) throughout her climb. For me, the most interesting aspect of the film has to be the way the story is told through various camera lenses, from TV sitcoms and talk shows, which range from a Canadian Jerry Springer to a more traditional Late Late Show host, to the black and white voyeuristic docudrama of Bruce Taylor (wonderfully portrayed by Robert LePage, who also directed an excellent film called Far Side of the Moon back in 2003.) The diversity of color footage, which illustrates Tina Menzhal's (Jessica Paré) life as a model as glamorous, idyllic and lush with color sharply contrasts with the darker, almost hidden truth that her life is only filled in by dominant blacks, shades of gray and the slightest hope of white. That is absolutely brilliant filmmaking.

And if you enjoy Stardom, be sure to check out Arcand's other films of note, namely The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and its sequel The Barbarian Invasions (2003). Oldies but goodies, guaranteed!

What Being a Writer Really Means

2010-01-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

It's the same every semester. I teach college writing across NJ, and every semester without fail, a student will come up to me after I've just finished a discussion on rhetorical principles like narration or description and ask something like "How can I get a book published?" or the even more nebulous "How do I become a Writer."

So I give the student the Spark Notes version of my spiel, about how the Writer's life is a lonely, oftentimes empty one; how a Writer must be dedicated and faithful to the written words he or she presses down on the page, clicks onto the computer screen; how in times of even the thickest "Writer's Block" the Writer will hammer the heaviest of leaden words into the wall until it cracks enough so this Writer-Warrior can crash through it with the power of a freight train hauling "boxcars, boxcars, boxcars" of new and fresh messages that must reach the destination of a published book, newspaper headline, or movie theater's marquis.

For any student who hasn't thrown on his or her coat by now and left tracks leading to the classroom door, I belt out a harangue about how arduous a task it is to find a publisher who'll look at his or her foot any differently than the 12 other pairs of feet keeping the door ajar with late night manuscripts; how a Writer's shoes can't be fitted like Bobo's or Bill Gates', but must glow like an alien from the 11th dimension, its foot colored by shoes that show off all the individuality in each of its seventeen toes, plus the rhyme and reason behind each and every toenail; how there's the possibility of self-publication through myriad websites like CreateSpace, and how that's all fine and good, but how that option also comes with it own set of perils. "Nice book, John," critics and colleagues will snicker and sip their cocktails, "but it's not a real book!"

Being a Writer is hard. Writers know this. People who want to be Writers don't. The problem is that the students who want to be writers are the same students whose pages I slash up with scratches of blue ink because despite the quality of the content, they are a toxic ocean of textspeak, a wasteland of grammatical errors and sentence fragments where modifiers dangle around like half-chopped heads in a Rob Zombie picture. Don't even get me started on the amount of comma traffic. And apostrophes? They seem to being going the way of dodo.

These are the ones who want to publish a book. Who want to be Writers. But in all sincerity, they probably won't. Why? It's pretty simple: They don't enjoy writing enough to learn the craft of writing. Most of these students may dabble in poetry or have written a short story once; some even maintain blogs which many times have as many grammatical problems as they do subscribers. A Writer is a different species altogether. Whether it's a single poem or a ten page essay on global warming from a Neo-Marxist standpoint, a Writer must immerse him- or herself in the work; he or she must enjoy jotting down those first words that will be replaced later by two even more accurate words that say the same thing more effectively or poetically, and perhaps in fewer words. This is the Writer's life.

Case in point: My creative writing courses teem with some similar students, those who want to be Writers. But then there are those in class who actually are Writers. Here's the difference: The Writers realize that to be Writers, they have to constantly practice. They have to write. They accept the fact that they have to make writing a habit and nurture it. They see truth in my analogy "Writing is to the Writer as junk is to William S. Burroughs" (who, coincidentally, was also addicted to writing.) Writing is a drug, so that when Writers don't do it, they can't function properly, go through withdrawals, even start doubting themselves. Without pen pressed to page, the Writer falls to pieces bit by bit. None of these students ever ask me "How do I publish a book" or "How do I become a Writer?" They're already on the path. They walk into the classroom and I teach them about craft, and they use that honed skill to mold their content more effectively and make it sing. They already carry journals where ever they go, unafraid to fire off a few rounds of verbal ammunition into it or explode a few thought-bombs here and there; they know it's target practice. They know the more they get, the better their aim will become so that when they're face to face with a publisher, their manuscript will shine. They are the ones who will be published, guaranteed.

And when the publishers ask the Writer to rewrite or polish up the draft he or she had submitted, or suggests they add this or take out that, the Writer will smirk, go home, and continue where they left off, already halfway through the rewrite. The Writer never stops writing.

So if you want to publish a book or be a Writer, my advice to you is simple and straightforward: Just Write.

Dark Fantasies Brought to Light

2010-01-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL journeys into a different corner of the dark basement world of prostitution, the sexless realm of fantasy fulfillment. It is stunningly shot with a beautiful mélange of color that externalize the inner conflicts Brandi/Becky battles with throughout the film. It’s a raw and oftentimes sweetly disturbing picture; at one moment we witness Brandi fulfilling the overtly Freudian desires of Roger; at other times we fall at ease when she spends time with Bobby, her seeming savior. The twist in the film is unpredictable, and was probably what I enjoyed most about the film.

Although ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL was superbly shot by cinematographer Rush Hamden, the film fell somewhat flat for me where the overlapping storylines are concerned. Some elements just didn't add up, specifically the very loose subplot which takes place in a diner. I get what those scenes are trying to accomplish, but I don't see how it fits seamlessly with the context of the story’s main plot. The ending, I thought, could have come much sooner than it did, and I feel that more could have been done to expound on Becky’s desire to work a job in real estate so that the ending wouldn’t have appeared so arbitrary.

I saw many similarities between ONE HOUR FANTASY GIRL and THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (and while I appreciate the premise in the former much more than in Soderbergh’s film, I did feel more empathy for Sasha Grey’s Chelsea than I did for Kelly-Ann Tursi’s Brandi), but writer/director Edgar Michael Bravo offers up an intriguing alternate take on the “dark damsel in distress” motif and gives the audience a worthwhile ride.

Trig's Top Ten of the Decade

2009-12-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

Some of this list is based on Film Comment's "150 Best Films of the Decade" list (http://www.filmlinc.com/b/?p=1490), but a few are of my own liking. Here it goes!

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004; Michel Gondry)

2. Donnie Darko (2001; dir. Richard Kelly)

3. No Country for Old Men (2007; Joel and Ethan Coen)

4. Old Boy (2003; Chan-wook Park)

5. I Heart Huckabees (2004; David O. Russell)

6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007; Julian Schnabel)

7. The Saddest Music in the World (2003; Guy Maddin)

8. In the Mood for Love (2000; Wong Kar Wai)

9. Stardom (2000; Denys Arcand)

10. World's Greatest Dad (2009; Bobcat Goldthwait)

There are way too many honorable mentions to put down, but I'll just add in the following ten off the top of my head:

Cowards Bend the Knee (2003; Guy Maddin)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002; Paul Thomas Anderson)

Far Side of the Moon (2003; Robert Lapage)

Thirst (2009; Chan-wook Park)

2046 (2004; Wong Kar Wai)

Red Cliff (2008/2009; John Woo)

Lost in Translation (2003; Sofia Coppola)

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003; Jim Jarmusch)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001; Wes Anderson)

Requiem for a Dream (2000; Darren Aronofsky)