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.

Yesterday, while delivering something for work, I saw a sign that said “Dexter” with an arrow on it pointing in the direction I was going.  I stayed on course and just kept going.  Then I had to make a right and there was another sign, right before my turn with an arrow pointing to the right.  I still just kept going.  Then I saw an arrow leading in to a parking lot that said “Dexter Crew.”  My first thought was “no freaking way.”  On my way back from my delivery I stopped off in the parking lot just to see it was true or not.  Low and behold, there were several wardrobe and equipment trucks parked near the back.  I didn’t run on set or anything or even get out of my car.  I just wanted to confirm that they were shooting my favorite TV show of all time a stones throw from where I was.  I drove back to work and then went back to the place again on my lunch break this time determined to talk to someone.  The first person I saw was a security guard.  I asked him if they needed any extras, or extra crew or anything.  He said no, so I got in my car and went back to my stupid job.  So many thoughts went through my head before I approached that security guard.  What would I have done if he said yes?  Would I have called my job and told them I wasn’t coming back from lunch?  Absolutely.  What if they had said that I couldn’t do that?  Would I have let them fire me?  Probably.  After my conversation with the guard, a million other thoughts hit me.  Why am I not applying to work on crews on weekends?  What the hell am I doing here?  Here’s where it gets a bit stalkerish.  On my way home from work, there were basically two routes I could take.  One that drove me right past the Dexter shoot and one that didn’t.  I fully intended to just go home, but something made me drive by one more time.  I wanted to give my card to somebody.  Even if it was just the security guard.  So, I approached the same security guard once again and after telling him I was sorry for bothering him handed him my card and asked if he could please hand it off to someone.  He told me he would.  Several things could have happened here.  The most likely is that it went to the security guards pocket and that’s where it stayed.  It will be there until the security guard either washes his pants or empties his pockets and throws it out along with some gum wrappers and receipts.  Another possibility is that he did actually hand it off to someone.  Where it’s now sitting in their pocket until they wash their pants or throw it out along with some gum wrappers and receipts.  This is pretty likely as well.  The unlikeliest of scenarios is that he did hand it off, the person he gave it to looked at it and thought to themselves “Maybe I’ll give this guy a call.”  Or maybe they took that card and filled it under “P” for Psycho.  I have to say, going there for the third time did make me feel a little bit like a stalker.  I wasn’t disruptive or anything though.  I didn’t try to break on to the set or talk my way in.  I wasn’t trying to steal any wardrobe, I was really just looking for an opportunity.  An opportunity to see how a big time production operates and to help out with that.  Dexter is my favorite show, of course I would take any long shot chance presented to me to work on it.  On my way to the Dexter shoot after work, I couldn’t help but think that it was fate.  That maybe something would come out of it.  It doesn’t end with that security guard though.  I think this was a wake up call, that what I want to do is right in my backyard and all I have to do is try.  What are the odds that I would have to do a delivery that day and that my delivery would pass right by a shoot of one of my favorite shows of all time?  Fate or not, it was a wake up call for me.
On to other things though, right?  Just because I passed by a Dexter shoot in my car doesn’t mean my world stops.  Last night I was up pretty late getting some screen shots from Do Nice Guys Finish Last.  I’m trying to put a press kit together.  I got about 40 screen captures for it.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Keep in mind that these are pre color correction:
       
I think they look pretty good.  I really like that behind the scenes one with the clacker.  I just think that’s a really cool picture.  The press kit is well on its way.
An update on the Censored showing at the SoCal Film Festival.  The festival has an updated list of which program has the best ticket sales.  Censored is in Program 10 and Program 10 is listed as third.  Clearly that’s all because of me.  The six or seven visitors my site gets must have gone to town on those tickets sales.  Again, here is the info of where you can buy tickets:
SoCal Film Fest Tickets
Censored is playing in Program 10 on Friday 9/18/2009 at 7:20 PM.  It should be a good time.  There are lots of other short films playing there.  I’ll definitely be there. 
Sooner then that though, I’ll be down near the Huntington Beach Pier this Thursday to watch Finding Nemo at the SoCal Movies by the pier event.  Partially to try to get people to see Censored, but mainly because that event sounds kind of awesome.  Stop by and say hello if you’re in the area.