It's Moviemaking Time!

It's been over 2 years since I've made a film. Starting a family doesn't leave much room for filmmaking, even when it's a 1 to 5 minute short. That's not to say I haven't been spending that time shooting and editing adorable videos of my daughter. My friends and family love these home movies and I love making them, but it's not the same as doing narrative filmmaking. I jumped into filmmaking head first 5 years ago by writing, directing and editing a feature length political comedy of the same name as this blog (you can watch it from the links in the left column). After moving from Washington, DC to San Francisco I joined the crew for two 48 Hour Film Projects. I also did a couple of shorts of my own. So when I saw that there was going to be a Cinemasports event as part of this year's Mill Valley Film Festival, I jumped at the chance to put together a team. Cinemasports is similar to the 48 Hour Film Project, only instead of 48 hours to make a short film, you get 10 hours. I've always found that limitations and challenges are great for forcing out creativity, so I have a good feeling about this. They call it The Iron Chef of Filmmaking as they choose "ingredients" that each film has to have, whether it be a character, bit of dialog, plotline, etc. Then each team has 10 hours to write, shoot, edit, and turn in a complete short under 4 min in length. At the 11th hour is the screening. What makes this one extra special is that it's part of the Mill Valley Film Festival. Anybody in the business who calls Northern California home will probably be there, so there's a chance that George Lucas, various members of the Copolla family, Sean Penn and others could be in the house that night. I really can't wait to do this. I have put together a talented cast and crew and I think we have the potential to make something really special. Now for your viewing pleasure, here are my last two shorts. First is A Guy Walks Into a Bar which I put together as an entry to the Radio Alice 3 Minute Film Festival. It didn't make it in that festival, but it played in the Zeitgeist International Film Festival a few months later and has screened in a few other short fests since. Next is a little one minute piece that I did for a now-defunct website: I will be sure to post the short that we do for Cinemasports here, even if it sucks (which it won't).