I'm younger than that now...

February 27th, 1963 - Ash Wednesday. My birthday.

When you add up the numbers (I'm not going to do that for you, I have to support the education system and make you actually use math every now and then) It's been pretty good. I've done a lot in my life. Accomplished some goals. Missed a few others.

One thing I can say is - it hasn't been boring.

Seven years ago, my girlfriend and I broke up and I moved to Los Angeles as a result. I had a car, dog and about $100 cash. No real friends here, just some acquaintances. Previously, I had been working in movies and commercials in SC as a grip - electrician. Figured I could do the same here. Get in the union (eventually) and live a SoCal life.

But really, what I wanted to do was write. [that's how naive I was].

So, I started over. Got a job for minimal wage and maximum pain at a foreign sales/ production company - Omega Entertainment. Lots of running around. Lots of busy errands. Lots of things for me to get my hands dirty in the "business" of film. I was taking meetings, reading scripts, trading emails, running all over town to get that right croissant for the boss, Nico Mastorakis (Claufoutis on Sunset plaza has the best croissants by the way). Opportunity disguised as hard work. Opportunity to learn. Opportunity to grow.

All the while I was jotting down ideas, bits of dialogue. Looking at posters at the AFM and wondering which movies were selling. Eventually this whirlwind of activity and doggedness led to my producing (co-producing to be precise) the $2.5M thriller .COM FOR MURDER.

Then it was time for me to go. I had writing to do.

I went to Writer's Boot Camp. Wrote a script.

Wrote another. And another.

I needed another 'contact job' in the industry so I went to work at York Entertainment and learned the DVD industry. Worked my ass off there. Produced, wrote, developed, created, marketed, copy wrote, art-directed, learned. Opportunity disguised as overwork.

Which brings me to now (and the future)...

- I'm moving out of my original Hollywood apartment into something new and different.

- I have a short story coming out in a couple of months from Black Coat Press.

- I am finishing a script that I was hired to write.

- I am embarking on a new script (details sketchy, but superhero fans won't be disappointed) that has some interest from a production company.

- I am also going to be writing a TV series pilot / a comic book/ and another pulpy short story featuring a character I worked on with Black Coat.

Things are still tough. Making a living is always hard.

But it's never boring. It's what keeps me young.

Stay tuned

Thinking out loud...pt.1

Remember music singles? 45's? CD singles?

Used to be a valuable format. People would buy the single they heard on the radio, then later buy the album.
But the single was quick and easy, cheap to produce. Great for the jukebox.

Parties were made for 45's stacked in the stereo. The best songs one after another.

So i'm thinking...what about singles for DVD?

30 minute bursts of content in a DVD3. A sitcom? A 30 minute cartoon? A serial?

DVD comic books? serialized then later collected? Sold like cd singles near the p-o-p displays at the cash register.

Sold like baseball cards?

hmmm...

That's what I'm talking about!

If the new Transformers live action movie doesn't look at LEAST as cool and fun as this - then forget it:

http://www.apple.com/jp/quicktime/trailers/shochiku/
tetsujin28_large.html

Yes it's a kids movie, but it has some really cool stuff in it to satisfy us "adults". Someone should be buying this movie's DVD rights for the U.S.
for when the Transformers movie does come out. You heard it here. If you don't do it - I will say, "I told you so".

How come we don't see cool movies like this anymore? When I was a kid the local theater had a bunch of european and asian movies that were ripe for an audience - INFRA MAN, THE THREE AMAZING SUPERMEN, THE HERCULES MOVIES, STARCRASH....

stay tuned...

I've been sick

Saturday afternoon I came down with this damnable 'cold/flu/pneumonia/debilitating disease' again that has plagued LA these past months. I was sick when I was writing the DVDX Awards two weeks ago, and I haven't shaken the damn thing. All I've been good for lately is sleeping.

Can't even watch DVD's. That's how sick I am.

Evil, evil sickness...

Anchor Bay Ads

Woke up this morning to the sounds of talk radio. Where Howard Stern usually filled my ears, I suddenly heard the sounds of a commercial for THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO DVD box set.

Sounds like Anchor Bay is investing a lot in this set. Which is a good thing because the indies need to compete with the studios every which way they can, and if radio helps, it helps. It's good thinking. The kind of thinking that says, "How can I maximize the value of an asset? Or, how can we do something new?"

This is the first time I've heard an indie DVD commercial. If the studios did this sort of marketing properly, they'd be unstoppable. But let's face the fact they can never decide on anything. They change their minds because they're worried about making a decision and sticking to it. So let's just let them go their merry way, and throw money at their problems shall we? We know they're not going to do anything "new".

Let the indies lead the way with more web presence, phone broadcasts, radio, etc...

It's a small industry, but it makes a lot of money...

if it can think outside the box. Or think across the airwaves. Or just think independently.

In the beginning...

So here I am, a D2DVD writer/producer/raconteur. Those of you who know me, or have worked with me know that I am a pulp guy - fast, entertaining, lurid.

Same goes for my taste (or lack thereof depending upon your pov). Point of this introduction is that I am not subtle. I don't take prisoners. I don't worry about the industry politics. I love what I do, and I love DVD (and comics, books, movies, illustration and pulp).

So that's what this blog is going to be about. My pulpy work in DVD and comics, etc...(I gotta make a living).

I have over seven years of insight into this industry and I want to share.

And I want you to share too.

Because I don't want this medium to go stale. Or safe. I don't want this medium to just be the thing that 'replaced video'. There's too much potential still left in the ole girl. New formats, techniques, storytelling, marketing, distribution - you name it, there's room for improvement.

Same goes for this blog. It'll change, morph, become...

anything but subtle.


Stay tuned.