John Q. Phats Entertainment

A lot of people have asked me what’s going on with Red Hood.  Well, I got to page 72 about three days ago, but got there via a shitty scene that I’m more then likely going to delete.  This was very frustrating and still is.  So, rather then correcting the problem I’ve been avoiding the script all together, because I’m regretting having to highlight three and a half pages and hitting the delete key.  It just sucks to leave a script on a bad note.  I should have just not slept that night and rewrote it right then and there.  Rather then just leaving it because I was pissed that I wrote a terrible scene.  I’m curious to know how other writers deal with writing something they aren’t happy with.  They probably have a much better process then me.  Any other writers out there have any tips or advice of what to do when you write a scene or anything that you really aren’t happy with?  Comment below. 

Me and Caine have split up the workflow rather nicely.  I have an extremely specific vision in mind.  Here’s the problem though, I’ve really only envisioned the cool shit.  The kill scenes, the action sequences, the dark monologues, and the ending.  Everything in between?  Total blank.  No clue what is going on or even what I’m doing.  So, I stumble through some of the build up and set up.  Caine on the other hand seems to have a crystal clear vision of all the gaps in my story.  I’m not sure how, but he just seems to get it.  He’s written the stuff that makes me stare at my monitor with a “not so bright” look on my face for twenty minutes at a time.  I think that’s working out quite nicely. 

You could say that writing this is part of getting over the discomfort of the task at hand.  I’ll go home tonight, delete the scene and move on.  Mainly because I’ve now looked at the positive and it really doesn’t seem that bad. 

Other then this minor setback, it’s going fairly well.  I’m not thrilled with every scene, but it just a first draft.  My goal for the month is to have the first draft completed.  I think I can pull this off.    

Photograph taken and edited by awesome Alyssa Tucker.

I’m pretty sure we are done with Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  Not really though.  All I have to do is get the final from Gabe and add the credits.  I think what Gabe has to do is just put everything together.  It’s kind of hard to explain.  Right now, the color correction and transitions are on two different files.  I have no clue how he puts the two together, but apparently it will only take him like 5 minutes.  I’ve already finished the credits. 
The other day I heard that a friend of a friend absolutely hated Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  She thought it was offensive and depicted women as shallow.  I’m not going to lie, that’s a possibility.  I personally thought that the men were depicted just as shallow as the women.  If not more so.  Caine’s character is the absolute epitome of a sex crazed male idiot.  I more thought of it as a “what a stupid world” type of a statement.  Still, I’m always curious what other people think.  The other day someone told me that they liked Censored, but they didn’t consider it a comedy at all.  They considered it a bold statement on how censorship can strip everything human away from us.  How, if you censor us, there’s nothing left.  I thought that was really interesting.  She was absolutely shocked that I didn’t make that statement on purpose.  It was kind of an after thought, but when I sat down to write Censored, I wasn’t thinking that at all.  I told her friend to e-mail me.  I’m really curious what she thinks.  Everyone interprets things differently and I think I should take all those interpretations  in to consideration. 
So, I’ve finally started messing around with Adobe After Effects.  That is possibly the coolest program I’ve ever worked with.  I’m going to throw this link up here again because I absolutely love this web site:
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/
I have no clue why this guy posts all these tutorials for free, but holy hell does this guy know his stuff.  On top of that, he’s great at walking you through step by step and explaining things.  I’ve started doing some work for a guy who does video game videos and I made this intro using one of the tutorials on Video Copilot.  Check it out:
http://www.vimeo.com/7013250
I thought about posting something like that here, but I don’t really think it would fit in the shorts section.

Censored is back up in the shorts section.  Along with its fancy new laurels.  I think the Censored festival run is over.  It had a good run.  I would have really liked for it to screen out of the country.  Of course, I didn’t really submit to any festivals in other countries.  But I at least would have like to get it out of state.  That’s all right.  Maybe Do Nice Guys Finish Last will break the California borders.  We’ll see.
Being a programmer for a film festival, I have a whole new outlook on how to submit.  When submitting Censored I made one mistake, which actually is forgivable.  I showed the name of my company before the film started.  The blunt truth is that when watching short films as a programmer, I don’t really care what the name of the company who made it is.  I’ve never heard of this company and there’s a 99.999999% chance that I’m going to forget it 3 seconds in to the film.  I read a lot of books on how to submit to a film festival and I was happy to realize that I got everything else right.  My festival ID # was always clearly displayed on the both the DVD and the DVD case.  Along with the run time of the short film, the DVD region, the name of the film, and my name.  Also, my film didn’t have a DVD menu with only one option.  You put it in to the DVD player and it starts.  After programming I can also see why I got some rejection letters.  It’s good to see the other side of everything and it gives me an opportunity to correct some of the mistakes I’ve made.  After all this programming, it’s become even more apparent that it’s all about the story.  If the story sucks, the short film sucks.  You can have Oscar winning actors and jaw dropping cinematography, but if the story is some rehash of an idea that’s been done a million times or it’s just a shitty story, I’m unimpressed and so are other people.  This next bit is a little random.  Please, for the love of God, don’t start your horror short film with the killer or crazy person or whatever making a montage of pictures they’ve taken of their next victim or their victims.  In fact, avoid the making of the picture montage scene all together.  It’s been done about a gajillion times and it’s sort of lost it’s shock value at this point.  I’m sure you can come up with something much better anyway.

I think we are done with Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  Finally, right?  I say “think” because we may still have a little bit more work to do on it.  I’m still not sure though.  I tried to stick with that amateur film maker style and make the transitions simplistic.  They were simplistic, yet thought out.  I really liked it.  That short film has sort of grown on me.  I wasn’t really all that crazy about it when we had the first couple of edits, but I think it’s a funny short film.  I think I can get it in at least 1 festival. 
I’m reading a new book, A TV Writer’s Workbook by Ellen Sandler.  I haven’t really read that much of it, but I have to say, it’s extremely entertaining thus far.  I probably shouldn’t have expected anything less from an experienced writer.  She has all these great stories about her experience in the industry.  I’m going to do the exercises in the book.  I have a really hard time writing sometimes.  Plus I haven’t read a single book on it, so this works. 
I watched the first episode of Dexter, season 4 last night.  I wish I could have caught it on Sunday when it first aired.  That first episode was awesome.  That part where they altered the intro was great.  
Censored will be available in the Shorts section for viewing soon.  I figure it’s done with its festival run, so we can post it now.

Sorry about not posting yesterday, I was in a Benadryl induced haze.  It’s actually kind of fun being in that state of mind at work, makes the day fly by.  Some stuff to talk about, not much but a little.  The whole healing of my leg thing isn’t really going so great.  I thought I would be able to make it to the SoCal Film Festival last night, but my leg was killing me, so I decided to stay home.  I’ll probably have to stay home tonight too.  Sorry for everyone that looked for me on Tuesday.  As punishment, I’ll tell you the story of how I actually injured my leg.  It really does a good job of highlighting my stupidity.  On Saturday, I decided for the first time in over two years to drink.  This wasn’t really a planned out endeavor.  They were playing beer pong and it looked like fun.  So, I lost at beer pong.  Since I haven’t drank in over 2 years, I had the tolerance of an 11 year old girl.  I ended up getting trashed.  Apparently I stepped on my friends girlfriends face and somehow ended up on the roof of the house I was drinking at.  I wouldn’t have believed them if they hadn’t shown me pictures of both.  I also left a message that a lot of people laughed at on a co workers cell phone.  I actually found that kind if hilarious myself.  At one point, I get the brilliant idea to give a friend of mine a piggy back ride. 
“I’m drunk!  I can do anything! :flex:”
So, he gets on my back, he’s much bigger then me, which isn’t saying much, I weigh like 155.  So, then I get the idea that I’m going to run with him on my back.  I get up to a good speed and then I’m laying on the ground.  That’s how I hurt my leg.  I tore a muscle in my hip region so now I look really funny when I walk.  This wouldn’t suck so much if every 5 seconds someone at work didn’t say “O my God!  What happened to your leg?!”
I’ve been just saying “It’s a long story.  I hurt my leg.”  
They keep bugging me for details.  Maybe I should just make something up that makes them uncomfortable so they won’t ask for details.  Maybe:
“Vibrator malfunction”
would work.  It’s simple, could work.  Anyway, on with the show.
Do Nice Guys Finish Last is so close to being done.  The file is huge.  It’s like 25 gigs.  After Effects really added all of that.  I think it’s all the filters and effects we used for color correction.  Either way, we can deal with it.  We are so close to being done.  All we need is transitions and that’s it.  I already finished the credits.  Everything is all set.  It’s frustrating to be this close.  I still want to submit to Sundance. 
Every once in awhile YouTube has something of value to offer.  Not always, in fact almost never.  Most of it is some emo kid sitting in front of a web cam talking about Kanye West or Brittney Spears.  I found this great channel that has all sort so of film making tips and tricks.
http://www.youtube.com/user/videomaker
I’m actually kind of amazed that these are free.  Seriously, if these were available on DVD, I would probably buy them.  No bullshit, just straight up “You want to do this?  Here’s how you do it.”
I also found:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Mr360Games
Nothing really film maker wise, but I’m impressed with the video quality of his stuff.  For video game footage, that’s awesome.  Most of the time, especially on YouTube, it’s just a camcorder propped up in front of a television.  Lame.  This is actually high quality stuff.
I’ve also never mentioned this before, but being such a hockey fan this is probably my favorite web site:
http://www.battleofcali.com/
All those writers are hilarious.  They should write a hockey based script.  Seriously, they really seem to have a good grip on hockey culture.  I could see them writting something like the original Slapshot.  Vulgar as hell, but entertaining and awesome.

I know I promised this to you guys yesterday, but things got a little crazy yesterday.  First off, I think I seriously injured my leg.  That’s ok though, because I had a good time doing it.  I won’t go in to the story so lets just get right in to what I thought of the festival.
It was cool.
Moving along. 
|Just kidding.  The festival was great.  I had a good time and Censored got a great reaction from the crowd.  I always get nervous right before I watch my own short film at a festival.  When I did the Q & A at the Action on Film Festival, I was not nervous at all.  But before my short film actually showed, I think I was shaking.  I can talk about the short film in front of a crowd, no problem.  I don’t know what the deal with that is.  I have to say, I was much less nervous sitting in the audience this time around.  The other films were great.  Some the favorites of the night from the group I went with were 9mm Brush, How to Train Your Pet, Special Delivery, & The Family.  This is not saying that the other films weren’t good, these were just some of our favorites.  I feel like I should mention Couched, just because for a low budget short film, the effects were amazing.  I personally really liked The Family.  The festival is still going on until Wednesday.  I’m giving my leg a day to heal, but I think I’ll probably limp my way over there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

This will be purley a plug post.  Tomorrow I’ll talk about how it all went and what I thought of Alls Faire in Love(I saw the world premier last night at the festival).  Censored is playing tonight at the SoCal Film Festival.  Program 10- Off The Beaten Path.  You can buy tickets here:
http://www.socalfilmfest.com/tickets.aspx
Say hello if you see me there.
It’s playing at the Huntington Beach Library and Cultural Center at this address:
7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach 92648
My film is playing at 7:20 PM.

I’m still figuring out this whole Twitter thing.  People that are really in to it put “twe” in front of almost everything they say.  For example their Twitter Friends become their “Twepole.”  First off, this is confusing and unnecessary.  Second of all, these people are Twetarted.  I think the whole concept of Twitter is kind of hilarious.  Nobody on the planet really needs to know what someone is doing that much.  Unless of course you’re a celebrity, then I absolutely want to know that you are “walking the dog” or “watching 24″ or “taking a shower.”  Louis C.K. (http://twitter.com/louis_ck) is one of my favorite comedians.  His one and only entry is “Sucking Dicks.”  He made this tweet roughly 3 months ago.  My response a month ago was “Wow, you’ve been sucking dicks for two months? That’s impressive.”  I also follow Kevin Smith on Twitter.  He usually talks about events that he’s attending or stuff that he’s working on.  I read his tweets, the only time I don’t is when he goes absolutely nuts and posts like 100 tweets in 10 minutes.  I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but whatever.  Occasionally, you’ll get something random.  For example today he mentioned how he was excited to get NHL10.  I am not going to lie, I so want to play him.  It’s a little tough to get through to him though.  I imagine since he has like over a million followers he probably got about 100,000 responses to that.  Overall Twitter is amusing.  I’m never really sure what to write though.  I try to keep it kind of general, that way I can let it sit there for like 3 days.  If you want to follow me, my web address is:
http://twitter.com/JohnQPhats
I’m pretty sure I’m going to head to the SoCal Film Festival tonight to watch some more short films.  Say hello if you happen to see me there. 
You can buy tickets here:
http://www.socalfilmfest.com/tickets.aspx
Censored is playing tomorrow at 7:20 in Program 10.

Last night I went to the SoCal Film Festival to check out some of the other films.  There was the usual mix of the amazing and not so amazing.  With one “What the hell?” thrown in the mix for good measure.  It seems like whenever you watch 5 or more short films there’s always one that makes you think “What the hell was that even about?”  It’s always a welcomed feeling.  I can respect someone who does something different.  I’m not exaggerating when I say this.  Last night, I probably saw the best short film I’ve ever seen at any film festival.  It was called A New Color.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any of the actors or film makers there at the end of the event and I couldn’t find anything about it on the Internet.  The main actor in that, nailed it.  It was probably some of the best acting I’ve seen in a short film.  I don’t want to talk about what it was about in case you can catch it at another film festival, but if you have the opportunity, go and see it.  I really probably should attend more festivals.  I enjoy them.  I spent a good three hours at the SoCal Film Festival last night and I had a great time.  I have to say, so far, I am impressed with what I’ve seen.  There was some really good stuff there.  Cheesy as it may sound, the Huntington Beach Library has an awesome theater in it.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but when I got there, I was really impressed. 
What I’ve come to realize though, is that anyone could probably sneak in to any film festival.  The security isn’t exactly top notch at any of these festivals.  All you would really have to do is show up and say that you got a ticket online.  They would probably say that you weren’t on the list, then you could just say “Well, I bought a ticket…..”  Throw some sad puppy dog eyes at them and my guess is they would probably fold.  If I were running a festival, I know I would.  The more, the merrier, right?
Today, I turn in some more short films and hopefully get some new ones.  I can tell that I’m still trying to find my scale.  What I mean by that is, I’m still trying to figure out the difference between a short film that is absolutely amazing and one that is just good.  On the other side of that is trying to figure out if a short film is an absolute failure or just bad.  My first batch, I think I had a tougher curve, this last batch, I think I lightened up a bit.  I’m asking myself a lot of questions with this now.  Does the specific type of film the festival is looking for factor in to the curve?  How much of an impact on the score does the production value have on it?  How much of an impact does the acting have?  The cinematography?  Do I just go off of straight up entertainment value?  These are all things that I’m figuring out as I go.  I’ll be honest, I’m not all that happy with the scores of my last batch.  I think I was too easy on a lot of films.  It’s all part of the process I think.  I’ll figure it out.
Last night I found another one of my short film pet peeves.  I hate it when short films rip off music from movies.  Unless you’re doing a spoof of that movie, that’s bullshit.  Composers work really hard on those songs and to blatantly rip them off is like an insult to not only them, but to the audience as well.  Am I over reacting?  Probably, but it’s one of my pet peeves. 
So, the festival last night was fun, but I still can’t wait for Friday.  That’s the day that Censored plays in the SoCal Film Festival.  I’m not only excited to see it, but to see some of the other stuff that the festival has to offer.  I was totally impressed last night and I’m honored to be playing with such high caliber films.  Again, you can buy tickets here:
http://www.socalfilmfest.com/tickets.aspx
Censored is playing in Program 10- Off the Beaten Path.
Hope to see you guys there.

I know, I’m sort of beating this in to the ground but it’s very exciting for me.  Again, just a reminder, the SoCal Film Festival is this Friday.  Again, you can buy tickets here:
http://www.socalfilmfest.com/tickets.aspx
Censored is playing on Friday at 7:20PM in Program 10 (Off The Beaten Path).  The address of the place is:
Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center
7111 Talbert Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Tickets are $4.00 each.
Hope to see you there.  I should be heading down there tonight actually to check out some of the other short films.  If you see a goofy looking guy wearing grey pants with black pin stripes, that’s me.  Come on over and say hello.  Or tell me to go to hell.  Which ever you prefer.