Fact Finding Friday

Went on a 12 hour tech scout today - 7a to 7p! Was up at 5:30a - but unfortunately wasn't able to go to sleep before 2am! Hard to change my night owl ways. Always takes a few days of early call times to break me in. Actually, I never get used to early mornings - even when the shoot lasts for 6 months!

Another 12 hour scout tomorrow...but its fun and the crew is very cool.

Now on the phone with a studio exec and his engineer talking about mind bending ways to shoot film differently. My brain hurts...oy.

Time to go to sleep...

Whiz Bang Wednesday

Yowza! Day before I fly - wouldn't you know I had a tooth that was killing me! Luckily the dentist was free. Better than having to find one while on location in New Mexico.

Finished packing. Had a conference call with a company in NYC. Went to the dentist. Downloaded more 2k files from london for a film I'm doing R&D on. Very cool having a nucoda 2K playback in my office!

But it's gonna go away soon. Phase one of the R&D just about done. Phase 2 to happen down the road...TBD!

Not an exciting day - just very busy!

Now time to have some of my famous chili for dinner!

Trip Planning Tuesday

So - show I'm consulting for is back on - off hold! Flying out on thursday now. So, today has been a day of packing and prep for 6 weeks away!

Not sure when I will actually be needed to fly to Taiwan for directing gig...but that can be figured out once all the paperwork on both sides is signed. No sense worrying about time tables until those pieces fall into place!

They always say as soon as possible - but as soon as possible is only relevant to the deal being done...know what I mean jelly bean?

That's all for now. Gonna go make some curry!

Monkey Business Monday!

Weird day.

First, I was told that the film I'm consulting for is on hold. And, I was also told, on the same phone cal, that it may be off hold as early as tomorrow - so I need to be ready to fly as early as wednesday...!!

Huh? Damn this town is weird! Hard to get any films going - never mind actually keep them going!

Then, the guy that called me about directing a spot in Dubai never answered my agent. He tried and tried and tried to force me to talk and commit to money over the weekend. I just kept saying that he had to deal with my agent for anything related to money and the deal terms.

So, an agent scared him off I guess! And what does that tell you about the honest intentions of someone who runs away when they find out they have to be legit and talk to an agent and deal with guarantees and up front payments, etc.?

Ha! Good to have the agent as a buffer against the shady ones out there! Mucho better not to deal with it!

Also got an email that the directing gig in Asia is a go...just nailing down the budget I guess and will be picking up where we left off with my deal again to wrap things up. At least these guys have no problems dealing with agents! :-)

Interesting day. I feel like a clap on/clap off light system. Project On! Project Off!

Oy

keg

Slacking Saturday?

No slacking on this saturday! All work work work today!

Was woken at 8am by the director of the film I'm consulting on. Just to chat about stuff. He's a cool guy. Can't wait to shoot on location with him!

Then, due to my own procrastination, I had to dive into writing my chapter on data acquisition for the VES handbook. I wrote my postvis chapter long ago - but for some reason, this second chapter kept getting put aside for other things!

So -write, write write.

Happily, I was interrupted by a phone call about my availability to direct a commercial in Dubai! Cool beans! Don't know if it will happen or when....hope it doesn't cut right into my shooting time on the other film...

Okay, then back to writing. And that is all I've been doing and am still doing. It's 5p and I will be looking to a cocktail at around 6p to ease the pain of thinking about data acquistion! Then friends over at 7p.

All good - except that means I won't finish my chapter today - and now it has to spill into sunday as it's due on monday! And once monday hits - all kinds of other "priorities" rear their ugly head!

Oy. So much for procrastination. It gets you no where!

keg

Thirsty Thursday

Was thirsty for a margarita - so I had one. And then I was thirsty for a glass of wine - so I had one...or two....

Conference call with a vendor this am about vfx breakdown. Nothing too exciting!

Lunch with a producer friend - sharing gossip and tips on upcoming films!

Then a haircut. Best to be done on weekdays if your schedule allows. Hate going on saturdays with all the ladies sitting around in curlers and tin foil and shit!

:-)

Got a deal memo for the film I'm consulting on. Need to take a look and discuss with my agent tomorrow. Pretty straightforward and basic stuff...nothing big to dwell on.

That's it. Pretty uneventful!

Waiting Wednesday

Just a lot of busy work today...and lots of waiting! That damn task list just keeps getting longer...

Reviewed 3 more reels for potential outsourcing work. Of the 5 I've checked out, only 1 company really shows some good promise. But really, all the companies will just keep getting better and better as they get more opportunities for work. All they need is a few key personnel who have been through the "ropes" before to share their failures and successes with them.

Had a good phone call about a big live action film with tons of vfx I'd like to work on! It's gearing up...soon I should get to meet with the director and producer. Already met with some of the studio peeps and they seem quite groovy...

Still waiting for the "unofficial award" to become an "official award" for the directing gig in asia...

Waiting on the rest of the bids to come in for the film I'm consulting on so we can award...

Waiting for my deal memo and pay check to arrive for same film...

Waiting on financing for 2 indies to come through that I am attached as vfx sup/co-producer

Waiting on financing for another feature animation film I would direct...

Tick Tock.

Touring Tuesday

Visited 2 more vfx houses today - always nice to find new companies to do work with!

One of the houses wins hands down for the funkiest and coolest digs! Sweet! If you gotta work, at least let it be in groovy surroundings!

Got a first bid back...and it fits within our budget. Phew!

Got an email saying that the full cg project I'm attached to direct is an "unofficial go." That's cool - but I would prefer the "official go."

:-)

But it's getting closer and looks like it might actually happen. Cool Beans!

Now home and surfing the web - all the usual suspects - facebook, imdb, hollywood reporter, variety, cnn, twitter, blogs, and on and on...what did we do with all that extra time we had before we got attached to our laptops, iphones, palm pilots, nintendo ds and playstation psp? Damn - must have had a lot of free time...seems like a long, long time ago...

Hello Monday!

Day began with an 8am conference call with the director and all heads of dept...and it lasted until 2p! My damn headset couldn't pick up everyone on such a large conference call so I had to hold the stupid phone to my ear for 6 hours! Ow! But - it was productive...just not so productive for my ear, neck and arms that had to take turns holding the phone while I attempted to type in notes on my laptop!

Then went to a really great fx house I have never visited before! I LOVE boutiques! They are so flexible and cool to work with! Went over the breakdown with these guys and we were on the same page right from the get go. Would be nice to work these guys for sure! Very nice demo reel...

Then came home and posted an updated vfx breakdown for the vendors to bid on - had the changes from this morning's conference call in it.

And, I finally made a decision about whether to use a miniature or go full CG! For this one - a miniature and some CG enhancements will serve our budget the best! Too bad - fun to blow things up in full CG! But it's also cool to blow up miniatures out in the desert! So, either way it was going to be fun!

That's about it for now!

keg

It's Friday!

Downloaded some 2k files from the UK on the nucoda in my home office for review!

Reviewed a whole lot of vfx reels for possible outsourcing options and for companies to bid on my vfx shot breakdown...

Wrapped up the vfx breakdown and will post this weekend for bidding!

A few phone calls here and there...and that's about it!

More on the great week!

Also got a LOI for an indie film that I would vfx sup/co-produce. And, the director is a friend of mine and super cool guy. Now how cool would that be?

Great Week!

Came back from a scout in Albuquerque. Shoot is 3 weeks away. Should be a blast - crew is awesome and script is f**king hysterical!

Find out in the next couple of weeks if I get to direct a full cg piece in Asia...would be rad!

Dinner with a talented group of creatives/producers...let's get a piece of that outsourcing pie! Why not? Everyone else is. It's all about globalization and since I love travel - I am happy to travel wherever the work wants to go!

Had lunch today with a really cool producer/friend. Awesome guy. Need more producers like him!

Busy wrapping up a vfx breakdown to send out for bids...and the big question...can they do the work for the money we have? Or is it the usual - our appetites are too bid for our budget! DOH! But I think we can pull this one off...

That's about it