John Q. Phats Entertainment

For those of you that went to the movie thing last night in Huntington, you may have not seen me.  I had a bit of an emergency that I had to deal with so I couldn’t make it.  Sorry if you showed up to say hello and I wasn’t there. 
Last night in being a programmer I got to the good stuff.  These are the films that make me look at my work and think to myself “What the hell am I doing?”  Two especially absolutely amazed me.  There is some great stuff out there.  I already knew that, but I always welcome a good reminder.
I’ve been working on my resume to look for work on a film crew.  Of course, me being a graphic designer I have to make it incredibly complicated and fancy.  What actually started as a work project has evolved in to part of my resume.  I’ll post it when I’m done with it for you guys to check out.  It should be quite glorious.  I’ve also been hard at work on the press kit for Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  It’s kind of fun.  Right now I’m just trying to get the information down, when I’m done with that, I’ll make it fancy.  I’m very tempted to design it like it’s a bunch of scrap paper Chris (main character) scribbled his ideas on.  Why not, right?  I think it would work.
The deadline for Sundance is coming up.  I’m probably going to enter Censored.  Will it get in?  Probably not, but what the hell, right?  If I can get Do Nice Guys Finished Last done on time, I’ll enter that as well.  My hopes are, that Do Nice Guys Finish Last is much better then I think it is.  Not that I think it’s bad.  In fact, I love that short film, I just don’t think it’s all that festival appropriate.  Hopefully, I’m wrong, festivals love it, and audiences laugh so hard, their stomachs hurt.  As I’ve figured out though, it’s very easy to become delusional about how funny something you and your friends think something is vs what the public thinks is funny.  Often times, something you and your friends think is funny, isn’t really all that funny to other people.  Many groups of people I’ve met have told me that I could just put a camera on their friends and have comedic gold.  Have you ever told a really funny story, only to have the person you’re telling it to stare at you with a blank stare?  It usually ends with you saying “Well, I guess you had to be there.”  It’s kind of like that.   
I still haven’t seen Inglorious Bastards.  I want to see that movie so badly.  Maybe I’ll check it out tonight.  Right now, I’m going through all of the movies that I should have seen already, but haven’t for some stupid reason.  For example, I just watched The Shining last week.  Jack Nicholson was a creepy looking bastard.  Even in the beginning, when he’s acting all normal, he’s freaky looking.  With age, I think he became less creepy.  In As Good As it Gets he wasn’t all that menacing.  His character was kind of a prick and he sort of looked the part.  Maybe he’s just that amazing of an actor.  His actual demeanor alters his appearance.  Or does he just pick roles that fit his look at the time?  It’s tough to say.  Either way, the guy is an amazing actor and often times, I’ll watch a movie just because he’s in it.  I always thought Keanu Reeves was good at picking his parts.  He’s not an amazing actor, but the roles he picks fit him so well, he can almost pull it off.  For example, The Matrix.  Could you think of anyone, who could have played Neo better then him?  I think he was absolutely perfect for that role and it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t the first choice to play that character.  Think about it?  Lonely computer hacker, limited social skills, finds comfort with computers, not sure of anything really.  He pulled it off.  Same with The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Devils Advocate.  Again, not really an amazing actor, but all of those roles fit him very well.  It works for me. 
I went off on a bit of a tangent there.  I tend to do that.  I could probably spend days talking about movies and once I get going it’s tough to shut me up.  Anyway, sorry again for not showing up at the SoCal Film Fest Movies by the pier thing, I’ll be sure to make it out to the next one.

Last night, I went to the SAG building in LA to watch Strictly Background.  It’s a documentary on extras.  I didn’t know this before, but people make a living by just working as extras.  This movie is about 10 extras trying to get by.  First off it was an unbelievable documentary.  I really enjoyed it.  I don’t think I’ll ever look at extras the same again.  I suppose you lose sight of it sometimes, but those people in the background moving around are actually people.  The documentary was kind of a jolt of a reminder of that.  I was just surprised that this sort of thing was a full time job.  I had no idea.  Some people are in it just because they love to be extras, others are in it because they want to be actors and they want something more out of it.  It was all really entertaining, funny at times, and emotional at others.  Afterwards there was a QA with the cast and crew. 
I thought that was awesome, aside from the mouthy bitch in the audience that would not shut the hell up and kept asking bullshit questions that nobody else cared about.  There always has to be one, doesn’t there?  After her third question I thought about smacking her in the back of the head with a chair or something.  Anything to shut her the hell up.  At one point she tried arguing with a casting director about how to make it in the industry.  Uhmmmmm, what?  He’s a been a casting director for 10+ years and you’re some mouthy bitch who can’t even get extra work.  Who do you think is going to win that battle?  That would be like me and Neil Armstrong sitting in a space ship and me looking over at him and saying
“No offense Neil.  But you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” 
Anyway, you can Netflix it or buy it on DVD.  I would high recommend it, it’s an awesome documentary.  It’s very well done.  I actually took a friend with me that usually hates Documentaries and he even said it was really good.  It’s won 6 best documentary awards at various festivals.  Seriously, there’s no reason not to check it out.  You can check out the web site here.  There’s a link there to buy it on DVD.  For those aspiring film makers out there, it’s a good side view of the industry. 
After the viewing they let everyone mingle with the cast and crew.  For some reason, if I see someone on screen, no matter how big or small the movie or short film is, I am insanely nerveous when I meet that person.  My mind goes blank and all I can do is smile and tell them how awesome I thought they were.  They all probably thought I was on prozac or something.  I met the director and producer, I was fine.  Told him it was an awesome documentary, we talked a bit.  I met the extras that were featured in the film and it was all smiles and blankness.  It must be like a mental thing.  I think if I keep going to these film festivals and expose myself to it more and more I’ll probably eventually get used to it.
One of my many goals is to get on the set of a short film or film by a film maker that’s way better then me just to see how they do it.  Even if I’m just standing there with my thumb up my ass starring at everybody, I think it will give me good insight on how everything is supposed to work.

My trip to NYFA was nice.  The tour is a lot like the Universal Studios tour only without the shark popping out of the water and all of that.  But, they literally drive on the same road as the Universal Studios tram does.  It’s free and at the end you get a free New York Film Academy t-shirt.  NYFA is impressive to say the least.  They are hooked up with Universal, so they get pretty special treatment.  They get access to the Edith Head wardrobe and prop department which is basically Universals wardrobe and prop department.  They get to shoot on some of the Universal back lots for student projects and they have all the standard camera equipment that you would find at an actual studio free for students to check out.  I got my first look at the infamous Red camera.  It doesn’t really look all that impressive without the lenses and everything attached to it, but it’s probably the closest digital has come to film.  Their library has the entire Criteron Collection available for professors only.  They also have somewhere around 1,200 DVD’s and screen plays that students can check out for free whenever they want.  Seriously, New York Film Academy is on top of their shit.  It seems like a great school and tuition is very reasonable.  I actually took a 12 week course there and the instructors were all awesome as well.
Only thing is, I don’t know what it will get me.  The guy who runs the masters program told me that it would get my foot in the door.  Are there any other ways of getting my foot in the door?  Probably.  Don’t get me wrong, New York Film Academy sounds amazing, but I think I’m going to explore other options first.  I’m going to keep trying this rogue film making thing for another year.  Only I’m going to try and get my name out there more.  I’ll enter more film festivals.  If I’m nowhere after that, I’ll apply for the masters program at New York Film Academy.

We shot the restaurant scenes for Nice Guys Finish Last and here’s what I have to say about that:
Thank fucking Christ they are done. 
There was so much prep work, planning, and organization involved and just about everything went wrong up to the point of the shoot.  Here’s a list of mishaps:
1. The first time I was supposed to shoot it, I fucked up and forgot to call people…..  By people, I mean everyone.  Opps.
2.  The second time we were supposed to film it, the owner of the restaurant was going out of town for something.  It turned out that we could still use it after all, so it worked out.
3. Extras cancelled on me, either three hours before the shoot or the night before.  One persons excuse was that the gas would cost too much.  Gabe says for this reason, I should start a black list, then when I’m famous and they call me to see if they can come to my release party, I can open up my black book and say “Say, you remember that time you were supposed to be an extra in my short film and said that the gas was too much the night before the shoot?  Well, good news, you can save gas again and go fuck yourself in the process.  Peace, bitch.”  Of course there is a possibility this will never happen, but it does make me smile to think about it.  Another person, after I shot a giagantic hole in they’re first excuse just said “……………….Yeah, I’m not going to make it.”  Wow, they didn’t even hide the fact that they were telling me to go fuck myself.  They may as well have said “Listen man, your piddly shit little short film doesn’t really interest me and in all honesty I just said I would do it, so I wouldn’t have to talk to you anymore over the phone when you asked me a week ago.  The fact that you’re fucked now doesn’t really concern me because I’m lazy and you can choke on a dick.”  I actually probably would have appreciated that more in all honesty.  From now on, when looking for extras I’m going to say this “Listen, if you can’t make it or don’t want to go, let me know, because if you bail out at the last minute, it’s going to fuck me.  It’s cool if you don’t want to go, just let me know, so I can get someone else if you’re not going to go.”  Simple, honest, to the point.  In the end this all worked out.  I’m not sure how.  All I know is, is that I had enough people for both scenes.  Through some act of God, that worked out.  Because I had like 6 people cancel on me. 
5. One of the actresses playing a waitress lost her voice and literally couldn’t talk.  She thought she would be unable to deliver her lines.  Her voice came back and she was able to deliver dialogue, but even when her voice returned she had already committed to not showing up.  I guilted her in to it.  She’s not on my black list.
6. The other actress playing a waitress got stung in the eye by some sort of killer death bug 4 days before the shoot.  Her eye swelled shut.  It was swollen one day prior to the shoot.  She didn’t think she was going to make it.
7. One of my camera men and two of my extras got lost on the way there. 
8. My boom mic operator had to drive somewhere else last minute due to a medical emergency.  So he was late as well.  Luckily, Kenny was able to fill in until he got there.
9. Two of my other extras got there too late to be in the first scene and had to leave too early to be in the second one we shot.  At least they showed up.  I felt really bad, but what are you going to do?
10. Fucking Chris forgot the Clapper.

So, how do I feel now that it’s over?  Like I just gave birth.  I’m so glad it’s done.  I looked at some of the footage yesterday and it came out really nice.  I really am proud of these scenes.  It was a lot of shit to pull together.  I think if we can pull this off, we’re capable of so much more.  It was sort of a benchmark for us.  In fact, I think NGFL will be a benchmark for us.  This thing is no joke.  It’s a 17 page script with a lot going on.  If we stay the same course, we’ll probably end up with the most polished and elaborate short film we’ve ever made.
I’m visiting my Dad all next week, so we all have a big break to let everything settle.  When I get back, we’ll be getting right back to it.  I want to finish up the other scenes ASAP.

I’m currently trying to gather up 16 extras for a Nice Guys Finish Last scene this Sunday.  I called pretty much everyone in my phone last night and we’ve been sending out E-Mails to a list that I came up with roughly a week ago.  It’s going to be in Arcadia, California in a restaurant on Sunday from 2-6.  E-Mail me if you’re interested. 
In other news it appears the web site has gotten quite a few visitors recently.  I’ve been getting tons of spam comments.  I wish they were at least amusing spam.  I once got an E-Mail that’s subject was “Destroy her pussy with a bigger love rocket!”  I thought it was hysterical, so I saved it for months.  But no, this is bullshit spam where there is just a BS link to God knows where.  Where the hell is the originality in that?
I want these restaurant scenes to be over with.  I keep stressing about it.  Once these two scenes are done though, I can shoot the rest of the film with a three person crew.  Two camera men and a boom mic operator.  That’s really all I need.  Of course it makes life easier if I have an extra set of hands available to me too, but I can get by with just three crew members.