El Video de Melodica

Ending Start

2012-01-27T13:37:00.000-05:00

- Metric

When I lived in Wisconsin, after graduating college, I would occasionally talk about when I would "give up" on being a filmmaker. Not by my choice, if I had my way, I would dodge that question forever. But friends would bring it up, especially with both my brother Luke and myself. When would we "get a real job" or something like that?

This is really natural in Wisconsin, a place where people really buy into the idea of a "normal" life, or a wide, but defined, correct path on which to travel. While my family never brought up this question, because they are amazing, they did still contribute to it as a natural question in a very specific way. An aunt of mine lived in Nashville for a decade with limited success as a country-western singer/songwriter. She gave herself that ten years, then said she would be done "chasing the dream."

But the dream has a funny way of sticking with you. She still writes and records songs, sells DIY CDs and keeps at it. Even if it is in a town no one has heard of about a half an hour North of Madison, Wisconsin.

I have had the answer to the opposite question for a long time. When would I consider my career successful: when I directed two funded feature films. Then I might look at doing something else, maybe think about kids, "retire" to teaching or maybe just keep making film.

The number two came from Richard Kelly, the director most well known for doing Donnie Darko. After doing a film equally ambitious as it was a failure* in Southland Tales, he said he would be fine if his career ended there. He got to make two films that were completely his vision and they floated or sank entirely on him.

That has to be one of the most measured responses to directing a big budget commercial and critical flop ever. And the reasonableness of that response resonated with me.

But what if I never even make one?

This was recently tempered by this list on Cracked about late blooming artists and Confab. The former first: the reason these stories are so interesting is because they rarely happen. While I think it's great to find inspiration in these stories, there are way more Sofia Coppolas and Joss Whedons working than Kevin Smiths.

The latter, because I recently accepted that I will likely never be able to get away from producing. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that small time filmmakers often have to wear multiple hats. Producers, the logistical captains of a production, are of far fewer numbers than directors, the artistic captain. So many directors also produce out of necessity, and such it is with Confab.

Not only do I have no interest in producing, I am terrible at it. And as we finalized some hardcore logistical stuff this last week with Confab in terms of (ugh) corporate structure, I commented off handedly that I am now thirty years old. If I were talented and lucky enough to get to a point in my career where I could not do this stuff, it would have already happened.

Then I realized how true that was.

But the dream has a funny way of sticking with you. And here I am, gearing up to shoot about 140 pages of script for a web-series.

* For the record, I loved Southland Tales. I understand it's a flawed film, but something that comes apart because of ambition and passion can still be beautiful. As opposed to another generic, done before, safety film like Avatar, which I didn't enjoy at all.

Project Mayhem

2012-01-25T14:33:00.003-05:00

- Finch

So last year, I actually blogged more than the year before, which surprises me with how much I feel off toward the end of the year. I'm trying my best not to let that keep me down.

The last post I put up of last year was some installments in Confab Confessionals, a series we're doing on the Confab web-site to help you meet our amazing cast. Well, there's two more of them. Akelah Stroud and PJ Megaw both answer some philosophical quandaries that follow around the characters of the show. Highly suggest you head to the web-site and check out their interview answers to background questions, but the videos have them doing the fun stuff, so here they are:

A Heavy Abacus

2012-01-23T12:05:00.002-05:00

- The Joy Formidable

For 2009 and 2010 I listed my top 25 played tracks of the year. I thought for a while about how to handle my top 25 tracks played in 2011 this year since my habit of listening to full albums really came through and there's basically two artists that dominate the whole list. So, instead, I'm doing another top 10 list: but it's just top 10 artists I listened to this year.

2011 was a year of transition for me in many ways. I did manage to get an IMDb credit with the short, best of Washington D.C., 48 Hour Film: Tenure. But for the most part, it was putting ducks in a row for Confab and working toward this year. I've already directed a regional (possibly national) commercial, found a great new client to help get their word out visually and Confab is rolling strong.

Plus that whole getting married thing this year.

So what, or rather who, does one listen to in a year of preparation? Here we go:

A * denotes an artist that appeared in last year's list. Listen to this playlist on Spotify if you'd like.

10. Florence and the Machine *

Most Played Track - Kiss With a Fist

Forget Adele, Gaga or whatever flavor of the month of female artist is topping charts these days, Florence is a the perfect balance of vocal and songwriting talent. Sweeping and epic music juxtaposed with deeply personal lyrics. Speaks well to the sort of pop-art type journey I'm going on with Confab. She also released a solid new album this year, making her appearance here pretty guaranteed.

9. Cold

Most Played Track - Stupid Girl

Cold is a guilty pleasure of sorts for me. Over the top melodrama and catchy, heavy riffs. I blame this entirely on how much I've been at the gym this year. Since about March, I've been a 3-7 times a week guy and I like having some really heavy, LET'S LIFT SOME FUCKING WEIGHTS music playing regardless of actually content.

8. Eve 6 *

Most Played Track - Think Twice

Pure nostalgia. That's my only excuse. I love Eve 6. They were my first real "I'm a fan" moment with a music group.

7. Incubus *

Most Played Track - Stellar

I blame this entirely on my use of iTunes Genius to build playlists for me. It believes that Incubus is the glue that holds the rest of my library together for whatever reason.

6. Metric *

Most Played Track - Help, I'm Alive

More pop-art. Great writing music, it's driving, affective and catchy without being disturbing. With all the script rewrites I've done lately, this is quite perfect. I finished a feature length, read a lot of friends scripts and, of course, Confab.

5. Trust Company

Most Played Track - Close Your Eyes ('Til It's Over)

New music from a heavy band? Yeah, their new album, Dreaming in Black and White, was on all the time at the gym. It's more of the same, but from Trust Company, that's exactly what I want. In many ways, this album is a perfection of their style of that early 00s heavy rock. I also listened to this a lot during the brief return to The World of Warcraft that my sister lead me to for a while.

4. The Kills

Most Played Track - Sour Cherry

When everyone was (is?) loving The White Stripes, I couldn't understand how such minimalist rock could find such mass appeal. Apparently all it took was a talented singer for me to see the appeal. Now, I can't stop listening to The Kills. While the next two artists on this list show my heart will always belong to far too complicated, neoprog stuff, I really enjoy The Kills.

3. The Receiving End of Sirens

Most Played Track - The War of All Against All

I missed these guys the first time around. I don't know how, because this is rock and roll as I always wanted it to be. Three vocalists, three guitars. Layers upon layers, repeating of themes that build... jeez. Once I finally went back to listen to them after being a Dear Hunter fan for years, I fell in love. These guys were on at the gym, while I was working, and (again) while on World of Warcraft. Never not a time to listen to their debut album.

2. The Dear Hunter

Most Played Track - She's Always Singing (Yellow)

Imagine one of your favorite bands put out an album in virtually every genre of rock and roll you enjoyed. You don't have to, it's precisely what The Dear Hunter did this year. The massive Color Spectrum, a collection of 9, 4 track, EPs, is that ambitious. They go further with a nice layer of concept: each EP is named after a color on the visible spectrum. The music is an attempt to make an audio version of that color. The result is as ambitious as it sounds, and equally awesome. And that's just the album they put out this year.

1. The Joy Formidable

Most Played Track - A Heavy Abacus

As the last two entries have probably shown, I love wall of noise music. When you can get that out of a power trio, well... you probably have the perfect band. Add in amazing vocals, catchy as hell epicness. Well, there's a reason I can just turn on The Joy Formidable at any time I want and be pleased. The fact that I didn't get this album until the last quarter of the year... that should tell you a lot.

Hell Of A Season

2011-12-06T19:47:00.001-05:00

- The Black Keys

I've had a lot of fun tossing together these three mini-interviews of some of our Confab cast. We plan on rolling these nice features on our lovely, in front of the camera, peoples pretty regularly on the Confab official web-site.

These are especially fun, because they're not the typical "when did you start acting" questions you see toss at fresh faces like ours. Don't get me wrong, we asked them those questions too, because it is typical for a reason: it's interesting. But the questions that we asked them for the video interview are icebreaker type questions from a retreat or the beginning of a semester in college.

And these bite sized, 45 second interviews, are based on plots from the first season of the show.

So it's a great way to meet the cast, learn more about Confab and be entertained.

I complied all the video interviews into a YouTube playlist, so you can just hit play here and watch them all. But I'd encourage you to also read the supplemental text interviews to really get the full affect.

Please Read This Before You Go To Another Hollywood Snorefest

2011-11-30T16:53:00.001-05:00

Hey there,

I'm disappointed with Hollywood factory produced films and network sanitized television shows. And I think you are too. I hear almost daily about how "Hollywood is out of ideas," or see highly up-voted posts like this on Reddit. But many weeks, intellectually bankrupt films top the box office and reality TV tops the ratings.

There's a disconnect.

As a filmmaker, I'm trying to do my part to fix that and I have a way you can help. We can work together to prop up fresh voices and ideas that weren't product tested like a soft drink or SUV. And here's how:

My new project, Confab, is written by people that didn't go to Columbia or USC, acted in by people whose parents aren't showbusiness royalty and produced by hardworking people that for whom this production is a second, third or even fourth job, but they treat it like it's their first. This collection of artists is ready to tear things up with an non-compromised, fun, well-written, quality acted, high production value project that will set the world on fire if given the opportunity.

And all we're asking from you is to be given the same opportunity as productions that have multi-million dollar advertising budgets or "know a guy" that gets them on the air.

We've only got until Christmas to raise money we need for things like craft services, equipment rentals, disposables (like gaffe tape, gels, hard drives, etc) and other production necessities.

In plain English: for the price of tickets and popcorn for you and a date to a film you barely want to see, you can buy us all the tape we'll need for the whole production. For the price of delivery pizza for your family, while you have whatever random singing people reality show on the background, you can feed our cast for a day on set.

That's seriously how easy it is to fully fund this groundbreaking project. To vote with your wallet, to make a significant gesture that you want to help the little guy, that you want to see innovation in the marketplace of ideas.

Go here, take action: http://kck.st/Confab

Thanks,

Erik Cieslewicz

Spectrum

2011-11-29T15:23:00.001-05:00

- Florence and the Machine

I'm so happy to be sharing this video with you. As you've probably heard, we had a big preview of Confab coming today. Well it's up, out and ready for you all to see! We took some of our cast down to Occupy D.C. and had them interact with real people there. Mike wrote a great outline for us to use for this, Kevin worked with the actors in what was one hell of a character exercise while Ali put everything together for us.

And, of course, our brilliant, fearless cast dove head first into this. Making it truly awesome.

I won't waste anymore words, just watch and enjoy a taste of what's coming with this series.

If you'd like to read more, you can check out our press release for this piece. Otherwise, there's even more preview footage right here.

Fighting the Gravity

2011-11-11T12:52:00.001-05:00

- Blink 182

It's not easy for me, as a midwesterner raised on a farm, to ask people for money, even during this very giving time of year. But I am going to swallow my pride a bit because I believe so much in this project and your kindness.

My new project, Confab, could use some help getting its feet off the ground to get us into production proper. Myself and the folks listed on the cast and crew page have poured hours of work and effort into this project already, but that can only get a project so far.

And while we are pursuing all avenues of revenue and have found a lot of great ways to get the resources we need in creative ways, sometimes the buck stops somewhere, and so we've set-up a Kickstarter page so that anyone can help us make this project a reality and get some sweet rewards in return. We made the bare minimum donation $1 because every dollar counts in a situation like this.

To help make this pitch, we put together a sample scene with our very talented cast for you guys to take in and see some of the work already done, check it out:

If you'd like to see that detailed pitch, just head to the Kickstarter page.

If you're unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it's a cool system that allows us to raise money for our project while offering those who give some neat rewards. So you definitely will get something if you give us some cash to make this happen. Everyone wins. Think of it like the old PBS pledge drives.

Plus you can give at any of these levels and then give your backer reward to someone else. So unique Christmas shopping opportunities await.

Here's some of my favorite rewards:

For just $10 you get a "Special Thanks" credit at the end of an episode. This alone is pretty cool, to have a credit on a motion picture project, but as all of my past projects have, this project will go up on IMDb (the Internet Movie Database). So if you don't have any credits on the world's largest film database, you can! You'll get your own IMDb page. And even if you're already on IMDb, adding yet another credit for only $10 is pretty sweet. If you want a boatload of IMDb credits, we've got "Special Thanks" at the end ever episode going for $125. Really buff that resume or have just something fun to show friends; you have a page on the biggest movie site in the world.

As a web-series, Confab will be broadcast over the net for free, but you'll want a high resolution copy of the first season. We've got those going for $50, and we'll get cast and crew to sign those copies if you go up to $100.

At $150 we have a really cool reward: name a character in the series. Throughout the series there is an unseen character dating the Deb character and he is mentioned in multiple episodes. He's a football player, a poet and all around, a real catch. Name that guy after someone you know, yourself or just bounce a name off us. Only one of these available and, as of writing this, it's still available.

Now, if you're a bit more serious about buffing your film resume, we can get serious. At $200 you can get a Producer credit, the most sought after credit in filmmaking. The producers are the ones that accept the Oscar when a film wins Best Picture. Put an awesome credit on your resume, and your IMDb page and give us a real boost. Plus you get Special Thanks on every other episode, signed physical copy of the series and a signed copy of the script of the episode you produced. Amazing.

Thanks for the time to read everything over and considering supporting this project. Film is awesome because it's an ensemble art form, I'd love to have you in our ensemble.

Made Out Of Nothing

2011-11-08T12:51:00.001-05:00

- Coheed and Cambria

And LAUNCH!

Thusly we put out Confab to the masses.

In case you missed it: Confab is my newest project and what is giving me sleepless nights followed by great moments of feeling awesome. It's a Washington, D.C. web-series without the politics. I am showrunning the first season along side Kevin Finkelstein and I'm excited to officially put this project out to everyone as a real thing that actually exists.

Rather than talk about it too much here, I'll lead you to places where you can learn more about it:

The web-site is up and the fan pages await fans. Perhaps one of the most important things for you to note, dear reader, is that I am keeping a production blog up on the site. It's the only place you'll be able to find detailed thoughts from me on various production milestones and stuff like that.

Don't worry, all the big stuff will still come here, but if you are looking for a more behind the scenes type thing, this is the place to find it.

So please, visit the web-site and check out our talent assembled for this piece. Be sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or +1 us on Google; which ever way you get your social media on, you can stay connected to Confab.

The Reaping

2011-11-04T15:44:00.002-04:00

- Coheed and Cambria

It's been a pretty big week for filmmaking peers of mine. First Virginia Ryker's announcement of Exaction and now now Wisconsin filmmaker and fellow University of Wisconsin: Oshkosh alumnus Eric Strelitzer has just put out the trailer to his first feature length that's currently rocking in post production entitled Will and Testament.

Eric's been working on this one for a long time, and I know he's poured a lot of blood and sweat into this thing. I've had a chance to read the script and I hope you'll give this trailer a watch, it seems like visually, he found the voice of his script.

Be sure to "like" their Facebook page to keep up on information, like how to see it when the final cut drops. I know I am.

The End Complete V: On the Brink

2011-11-02T10:13:00.000-04:00

- Coheed and Cambria

Forgive the sports post, but I am facing a problem that, as a lifelong Packers fan, I never had to face:

My team might move cities.

The Green Bay Packers will never move. They are a non-profit (publicly owned) company that has bylaws in place to keep them from ever moving. It's a great set-up because it's not beholden to people whose bottom line is profit, it's beholden to the community. It's really how all sports teams should be set-up.

But they are actually an anomaly, the only team of its kind in all of American professional sports. And they spoiled me rotten.

While I've been a big soccer nut for almost my entire life, being a player since I was old enough to kick a ball, I didn't follow professional soccer much for most of that time. I didn't have a local team to root for. Without a rooting interest, what's the point? Sure, I could pick a random team, but would I be a glory seeker? A band wagoner? How would I choose the team I cheered for if they had literally zero ties to my community?

So I didn't. Until I moved to Washington, D.C. Then I had a local professional club in D.C. United. And it just felt right. While they were local, did charity work in the area and provided a lot of commerce to the local economy, they also felt like the Packers. They were dominant in the early years of the league. They have more championships than any other team in the league.

The history, the passion of the fans, everything felt an awful lot like Green Bay and I became a big supporter of United. I've seen them play more matches live than any other professional sports team in my life by a huge, huge margin. I've seen the Packers twice, I've seen United over a dozen times. I've forgotten how many times I've been in the crumbling stands of RFK.

Even though this team has never made the playoffs since I've been a fan, I've even traveled all the way to Portland to watch them play.

Which leads to the point: United doesn't have much of a home in D.C. The city refuses to help with a stadium, despite building one for the hapless Nationals just a few years ago, which is now revitalizing a formerly scary, rough neighborhood. Meanwhile, the professional team with the most championships in this town, really the only one, besides the playoff imploding Caps, that has any sort of winning ways, is treated like a second class citizen.

And so, the owners of this team, who are not from D.C. and really aren't plugged in to the connection between community and team, are implying more and more they are going to take their ball someplace where they can turn more of a profit.

It's gutting to see something you are emotionally invested in be reduced to a "business" decision. Even being a filmmaker, who faces this regularly in my industry, doesn't really prepare you for it. It makes me appreciate my Packers all the more.

And it guarantees the NFL that I will be a fan of their league for life most likely. Because if MLS takes away my local rooting interest, their league isn't really that much different that EPL and Serie A. It's a league with some great players, teams and history that's not near me. The appeal of the sports team is its locality. The players are brought in from around the world, as is the staff. But its base is what gives it any sort of permanence as players come and go.

Could you imagine the NFL, if it took away the team of Nitschke, Lombardi, Hutson, Starr and Favre? While I may have moved away from Wisconsin, I still remain forever tethered to it. I was born, raised, went to college and started my professional career all in the cheese state. My parents and numerous other members of my family still live there and I visit at least twice a year.

If you follow me on Twitter, I don't shut up about D.C. United and MLS in general. I've been a pretty effective marketer for a team and league I don't get an iota of financial compensation from. This league will lose people like me, who do everything from spend money on tickets, in stadium food, merch and more to that sort of word of mouth marketing, if they move this team.

Want to lend me a hand in keeping my footie team local? I'd appreciate it. Head on over to Keep D.C. United, it's a call to action hub with lots of options to help. The biggest one is to sign the petition. Thanks. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Fate To Fatal

2011-10-31T15:58:00.000-04:00

- The Breeders

Sorry about no top 10 last week. With so few changes, it didn't seem to merit a post.

While I am working hard to web-launch Confab (hint, it's coming next week), I would be remiss if I didn't let you guys know about a new project from Hard to Be Me producer (and personal friend) Virginia Ryker. She's producing a script called Exaction that I had the privilege of reading an early draft (by talented (and fellow Sconnie) screenwriter Nick Bailey) of and I think it's going to be a great film. Also being produced by the no nonsense, results getting Tom Townsend, you're going to want to follow this one.

Be sure to give the film's Facebook page a "like" and keep up with it with minimal effort. Whether you're looking for some indie cinema to keep up with, want to support D.C. based productions, the work of another Wisconsin filmmaker or anything in between, here's your chance.

The Tank

2011-10-25T10:43:00.001-04:00

- The Dear Hunter

So I know I promised an Apple post, but I'm not going to deliver. An epiphany came to me the other day, that was spurned by the near back to back deaths of Steve Jobs and Dennis Richie. I like Apple, their products are almost exclusively what I use for any computer activity. And I'll let you know that.

But when Jobs' death cause such a vitriolic reaction from people who then days later evangelized Richie, I realized I am really done with that game. I've definitely taken a break from it, but the evangelizing of my operating system of choice, whether it be on my phone or my PC, seems such a silly enterprise. People actively patting each other on the back for choosing the same brand of phone or trying to convince sometimes almost complete strangers to "switch" is really, quite bizarre.

And I know I've engaged in it. Before I thought about it, the process felt very natural. But with even a slight amount of introspection, the whole process is silly.

I'm not going to high five you for choosing an iPhone. Or, when you complain about your computer, make a sarcastic comment about how you should be in my tribe. Posts like this one, where I talk about what makes Apple fun for me, will likely continue.

So instead of a decent post about Apple, you get this PSA. And I wonder why no one reads this blog <.<

The War Against All

2011-10-19T15:46:00.001-04:00

- The Receiving End of Sirens

Obviously, I am still listening to a lot of The Receiving End of Sirens. We'll see if things even out before the end of the year, but I am guessing not.

The writing section of Confab is done, so we are deep in pre-production now. We finished our two table reads and off basically cold reads, the actors really nailed a lot of it. We'll be refining, to be sure, but there are some things that I think I would use as is if we had to.

These last few weeks, I've been hitting the gym harder than ever. Like I said before, it's probably due to Fitocracy. So bands like Stereomud, Lifer, Cold... bands I usually don't listen to at any other time, are getting more play as they are awesome to lift to.

Other than that, after disappointing new releases from Feist and Jack's Mannequin, I've been continuing to reach back to stuff like Receiving End of Sirens. Here's the link to the Spotify playlist.

01. The War Against All - The Receiving End of Sirens (+1)
02. Planning A Prison Break - The Receiving End of Sirens (-1)
03. Help I'm Alive - Metric (+1)
04. The Rival Cycle - The Receiving End of Sirens (-1)
05. ...Then I Defy You, Stars - The Receiving End of Sirens ( - )
06. Think Twice - Eve 6 (+2)
07. Stellar - Incubus (-1)
08. The Evidence - The Receiving End of Sirens (-1)
09. Broadcast Quality - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
10. Intermission - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)

Knocked off - Close Your Eyes (Til It's Over) - TRUSTCompany, Heart in My Hands - TRUSTCompany

Decode

2011-10-15T04:33:00.000-04:00

- Paramore

So I know I said I'd do an Apple post today. That's coming, don't worry. But this is something I've wanted to write for a few weeks and so here it is.

Since the most recent Facebook update, there's been a lot of talk, especially among my friends and colleagues, over switching to G+ as the main social network of choice. There's a lot of misguided reasons for this (data is collected and sold on G+ just as much as Facebook), good reasons (Google's reputation being much better than Facebook's) and everything in between.

For me it comes down to this graph:

This is from the last 30 days of my bit.ly account. One of the great things bit.ly does, besides making sure that links don't take up a whole tweet for me, is tell me where the clicks on my links come from. I've blurred out the click count, because this is a discussion about platforms, not how few clicks anything I share over social networks get ;)

The big pie sections called t.co is my twitter traffic. Facebook is obvious, direct seems to come literally from any source as I've played with that a while ago and was able to get any traffic source come up as "direct" according to bit.ly. So it's not a perfect system. Twitter is pretty obvious as well. And what's on the bottom? Yup, Google+.

Now I social network for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is that as an indie filmmaker, it's a great marketing tool for me to get out the word about my latest project since it costs MUCH less than say an ad campaign on television. So for me, that's paramount to where I spend my time and few resources.

All of Google+, in the last month, has given me as many hits as just Facebook's mobile version (that's the other 4% part of the pie). Quite simply put, G+, for my networks and people I connect with over social media, does almost nothing in terms of driving traffic of the links I share.

This is why I'm not leaving the "evil" Facebook for, let's be honest, equally "evil" Google+. It barely merits me even participating in Google+ for the time being in terms of raw numbers.

That said, this sort of cold calculation is hardly my deciding factor on what social networks to use. I like Google+ for other, personal reasons. But if I was to "leave" any of them for any reason, right now, Google+ would be first on the chopping block.

P.S. Twitter is my favorite social network, and not just because it treats my content well.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

2011-10-14T11:07:00.000-04:00

- The Prize Fighter Inferno

This is a fitness post, so if that doesn't interest you just wait until tomorrow when I do a post about Apple.

So I've been steadily working out about 3-6 times a week since the February of this year, and aside from a lapse from November 2010 to that point, I've been exercising regularly since May of 2010. It was the first time I had done thing since a few brief stints in post college life that didn't last longer than a few months at most, since I was a high school athlete.

It's been a long road, and outside of that one big lapse, I've been pretty good about getting my ass to the gym.

Something's come along that's made me even more motivated to go to the gym. Fitocracy.

And before you ask: sorry, I'm all out of invites.

In a basic sense, Fitocracy is just another exercise logger. But seeing as how I never really had one of those to begin with, it already wins there. But it takes it a step further by making working out a bit like playing an RPG: your workouts are the grind for XP. You log your work out and are awarded XP based on the difficulty of the exercise. You gain levels, and you can even get bonus XP for completing some "quests," e.g. doing specific exercises.

But then it goes one step further than that: it's not just an RPG. It's an MMORPG. You set-up entire communities of people you follow and people can follow you back (ala Twitter). So your friends quest along side you; which also has the great motivator of knowing that you're being watched. So try to keep up, n00b, before we all level far away from you.

While, as I've said, I've found it relatively easy to get myself into the gym regularly, I find myself going there even more with Fitocracy in place because I want to grind it out. All the World of Warcraft I've played just compels me to. It's a great too in that I now have a log of my works, but also another motivational tool.

Stuck on a Wire and Out on a Fence

2011-10-13T13:13:00.001-04:00

- The Dear Hunter

A break in my regularly scheduled update to talk more about Confab, which has one part we've just had a bear of a time trying to cast. Pass this on to any D.C. metro actors you might know. We already have a fantastically gifted cast for her to work with and 13 refined, hilarious scripts of which she is featured in a handful of and appears in more.

OPEN CALL: Seeking an actress for the role of LAURA - 19, College Freshman, Sorority girl, heart of gold, rock stupid. Confab seeks an ethnically varied cast.

The Project: A multi-camera sitcom entitled Confab made for web distribution with the option of more traditional outlets such as DVD, Netflix and television broadcast. This character-based comedy can be described as Friends meets Arrested Development on a college campus. We have written a thirteen episode season with overarching plots and recurring guest characters with a healthy amount of reflexivity, intertextuality and callbacks to the continuity for humorous effect.

The Pay: Deferred compensation.

The Talent: The creator of this show and one of the showrunners for this first season is local director Erik Cieslewicz whose highlights include the Emmy nominated and Edward R. Murrow Award winning series Secrets in Shawano and award winning D.C. produced television pilot, Hard to Be Me. He developed the show in conjunction with Portland, Oregon writer Jason Kopplin, who is an award winning print journalist. Showrunning alongside Erik for the first season is Kevin Finkelstein, who is a Washington, D.C. based producer, director and actor known for his work as Executive Producer of the award-winning Frozen Penguin Productions.

The Details: To request an audition , please email your headshot, resume, confabcasting@gmail.com. You will be sent an audition side and be asked to submit a video audition no later than Friday, October 14th.

Planning a Prison Break

2011-10-12T14:00:00.000-04:00

- The Receiving End of Sirens

With an editing gig that put me in an office were things like personal blogging are frowned upon taking up the last two months of my life, I've been MIA for sure. Hopefully you're following me on twitter, which is a much better way to keep up on how things are going in short bursts.

But I do miss talking more long format here about what's happening with my projects, especially with Confab really heating up lately. I'll have more on that in another post later. Also in the pipe-line is a fitness post and a bit about Apple (nothing to do with the sad passing of Steve Jobs).

For now, here's the top ten. Changed a lot, with my addiction to The Receiving End of Sirens' debut release shining through quite a bit. While I love The Dear Hunter, my soft spot for post hardcore has me listening to this one a lot more than The Color Spectrum, which still get mucho love, just not as much. Despite both projects having Casey Crescenzo, they have very different sounds.

Because Blogger has removed the Amazon affilate stuff with their new design, no links to buy the tracks. But here's the link to the Spotify playlist.

01. Planning A Prison Break - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
02. The War Against All - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
03. The Rival Cycle - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
04. Help I'm Alive - Metric ( - )
05. ...Then I Defy You, Stars - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
06. Stellar - Incubs (-5)
07. The Evidence - The Receiving End of Sirens (new)
08. Think Twice - Eve 6 (-6)
09. Close Your Eyes (Til It's Over) - TRUSTCompany (new)
10. Heart in My Hands - TRUSTCompany (new)

Knocked off - Kiss With a Fist - Florence and the Machine, Glycerine - Bush, A Life of Possibilities - The Dismemberment Plan, I Couldn't Do It Alone - The Dear Hunter, Wish You Were Here - Incubus, Nail in My Coffin - The Kills, DNA - The Kills

Close Your Eyes ('Til It's Over)

2011-09-20T12:17:00.001-04:00

- TRUSTCompany

Casting for Confab is done! Heather Whitpan ran one hell of a tight ship and we managed to cast every character, save one supporting role, with just two days of auditions and one evening of callbacks. We had to make the best type of tough choices, as we had just some amazing talent come through the door and not enough roles for all of them.

While the finished product is still a long way out, we have a very special way we will be showing you some of the cast in action coming very soon, so stay tuned for that.

...Then I Defy You, Stars

2011-08-29T16:28:00.000-04:00

- The Receiving End of Sirens

Huge announcement:

We're casting for Confab.

Rather than mince words, here's the announcement as written up by fellow showrunner Kevin Finkelstein and casting director Heather Whitpan:

The Project: A multi-camera sitcom entitled Confab made for web distribution with the option of more traditional outlets such as DVD, Netflix and television broadcast. This character-based comedy can be described as Friends meets Arrested Development on a college campus. We have written a thirteen episode season with overarching plots and recurring guest characters with a healthy amount of reflexivity, intertextuality and callbacks to the continuity for humorous effect.

The Roles: Confab seeks an ethnically varied cast. We will be casting the following roles:

MILO (Principal): Junior in college. Kind-hearted, shy, but not quiet. Often tries to “do the right thing.” Secretly in love with Deb.

DEB (Principal): Junior in college. Practical, pragmatic artist. A feminist who isn’t vocal about it.

SANDY (Principal): Junior in college. 90% sorority girl, 10% “weird.”

FLOZE (Principal): Junior in college. Eccentric, funny, bizarre. He was “that guy” in college.

FREEGAN (Recurring): Male, 40s to 60s. A homeless man who survives off of “Urban Foraging.” Either the most sane or the most insane person we’ve ever met.

RENEE (Recurring): Female, Junior in college. Sorority girl to the toenails. Expects to be in charge of anyone around her.

BLAIRE (Featured Guest Star): Male, High school student. Over-the-top, brash high school student visiting a college campus. He’s one of the guys who would run up to you and yell “WHASSSSSUUUUUUP?!”

PROFESSOR PERKINS (Featured Guest Star): Male, 40s to 50s. Typical college professor, who just happens to teach Hydrology in a bathroom. He has a dry tone that would put Ben Stein to shame.

Other recurring or one time roles will also be cast, all within the “Junior in college” age range. Actors who may not perfectly fit one of the above characters, but also fall into this age range, are encouraged to audition.

The Pay: Deferred compensation.

The Talent: The creator of this show and one of the showrunners for this first season is local director Erik Cieslewicz whose highlights include the Emmy nominated and Edward R. Murrow Award winning series Secrets in Shawano and award winning D.C. produced television pilot, Hard to Be Me. He developed the show in conjunction with Portland, Oregon writer Jason Kopplin, who is an award winning print journalist. Showrunning alongside Erik for the first season is Kevin Finkelstein, who is a Washington, D.C. based producer, director and actor known for his work as Executive Producer of the award-winning Frozen Penguin Productions.

The Details: Auditions will be held on Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11, from 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m. If necessary, callbacks will be Wednesday evening, September 14th. Auditions are by appointment only, and will be held in the downtown DC area. To request an audition slot, please email your headshot, resume, preferred role and preferred audition time to confabcasting@gmail.com . Emails that do not include a preferred time will be assumed to have no preference. Auditions will consist of sides from the show, and those sides will be provided at the audition.

That should be all the details you need, I hope to see many familiar faces at these auditions, as well as some fresh talent. As it says above, please e-mail confabcasting@gmail.com to audition, do not leave a comment here or contact me directly, I'd love to hear from you, but we have a system in place and Heather's job is already super tough.

Excited!

Halo

2011-08-24T15:29:00.000-04:00

- Oleander

I came across a great piece from the writer of the new Conan film where he talks about what it is to be the writer behind a "flop." It's a great way to gain perspective and realize more and more that the old Chinese proverb, "Failing is not falling down, but refusing to get up," is very true. Here's a money quote, but I recommend reading the whole thing:

My father is a retired trumpet player. I remember, when I was a boy, watching him spend months preparing for an audition with a famous philharmonic. Trumpet positions in major orchestras only become available once every few years. Hundreds of world class players will fly in to try out for these positions from all over the world. I remember my dad coming home from this competition, one that he desperately wanted to win, one that he desperately needed to win because work was so hard to come by. Out of hundreds of candidates and days of auditions and callbacks, my father came in… second.

It was devastating for him. He looked completely numb. To come that close and lose tore out his heart. But the next morning, at 6:00 AM, the same way he had done every morning since the age of 12, he did his mouthpiece drills. He did his warm ups. He practiced his usual routines, the same ones he tells his students they need to play every single day. He didn’t take the morning off. He just went on. He was and is a trumpet player and that’s what trumpet players do, come success or failure.

Stellar

2011-08-20T15:34:00.000-04:00

- Incubus

Top 10 on a Saturday? Sure, why not? It's been crazy lately. I'm happy to say that Confab continues to chug along, expect a casting call in the Washington, D.C. area soon. I'll post that when it is available.

I am surprised just how few people clicked on the link for my interview in Buck on Stuff in which I revealed I'm in pre-production for my first feature film. If you missed that, here's the link to that interview again.

So with those two projects rocking out at full force, I'm already plenty busy. Add in that funding continues for Inheriting the Mushroom Kingdom and I've got another web-series in development with two super talented guys from the theater scene out here in D.C. and I'm beyond pumped for this next year. 30 is going to be a great year for me.

Before I give you the top 10, I also have to mention that I am starting a short gig with a huge production company here in D.C. on Monday as well as a preditor (producer/editor) type capacity. I've been away from production for a while, so some day in, day out work is just what the doctor ordered to kick off this year of awesomeness.

Anyway, it's been almost a month since the last top 10, so here's where everything stands now. Per usual, you can find this playlist on Spotify, if you want to listen to what I'm listening to, updated (supposedly) weekly! I've been spinning the old Receiving End of Sirens disk: Between the Heart and the Synapse along with Trust Company's most recent attempt, Dreaming in Black and White, quite a bit lately, but not enough to get any tracks into the top 10.

01. Stellar - Incubus ( - )
02. Think Twice - Eve 6 (new)
03. Kiss With a Fist - Florence and the Machine (new)
04. Help I'm Alive - Metric (new)
05. Glycerine - Bush (+4)
06. A Life of Possibilities - The Dismemberment Plan (-4)
07. I Couldn't Do It Alone (Red) - The Dear Hunter (-1)
08. Wish You Were Here - Incubus ( - )
09. Nail in My Coffin - The Kills (-6)
10. DNA - The Kills (-6)

Knocked off: This Body (Black) - The Dear Hunter , Deny It All (Red) - The Dear Hunter, Never Forgive, Never Forget (Black) - The Dear Hunter

Here it Goes Again

2011-08-16T12:43:00.000-04:00

- OK Go

So it's been a while since I've even done a top ten. Let me tell you that the last few weeks have been fantastically busy. Lots to share... soon. Unfortunately, nothing official. But I did say a little something recently to The Buck on his film and television blog in an interview:

I’ve got a lot stuff in pre-production, coming up next for me is directing a science fiction television pilot being shot as a feature film. It’s reuniting me with a lot of my favorite people from Hard to Be Me, as it is being done under the same production company. I won’t say much more than that, as we’re waiting to make a lot of official announcement on that.

Buck's a pretty interesting interviewer with some off the wall questions that keep this one from being anything like any other interview I've done so far. Check it out on his blog right over here.

I know, that's some pretty big news, my first feature film, and while the project excites the crap out of me, I'll wait to go crazy over it until we're at least shooting. Maybe.

These Are the Days

2011-07-26T16:06:00.000-04:00

- The Exies

You may remember back in June I asked for your help to get an ad campaign I worked on nominated for a Classy Award. Congrats on your great success, it was nominated. So here's a big thank you. Now for the big request: vote for it to win all the marbles.

Click here for the ballot.

There's a lot here, and feel free to vote however you would like. But I would appreciate it if when you get to the "Most Innovative Use of Social Media" you got down about a third of the way through the list and give a vote to "Family Planning Health Services Inc." They were the client I built these ads for. You don't have to vote in any other category if you don't want to, just click the "Submit My Ballot" button in the upper right corner of the page when you're done.

It will require you to either make an account there or just link your Facebook profile. It's a little bit of work, so I really appreciate you jumping through the hoops to help me out. If you forgot which ads these were or would like to see them again, here's a sample.

This is the campaign I built pretty much entirely out of found footage. More info about the creative process can be found right here.

So once again, if you'd like to help out: head to the voting site and vote for Family Planning Health Services in the Social Media category. Thanks again.

Stellar

2011-07-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

- Incubus

Well, it took about two months of not giving A Life of Possibilities a single play, but we have a new champion of the year in Incubus' Stellar. I do really love this song, I sang it when Say What Karaoke came to my campus (I just really aged myself there), but I can't say I even once chose to listen to it. It must be a sort of nexus of my musical tastes as far as Genius is concerned.

Considering Genius just made me a "Stoner Rock" mix, and my drug use does, and always has, clock in at nothing, I don't know how serious to take Genius sometimes.

As I mentioned last week, I am using Spotify. I expanded on that, in a post that was published in Electric Mohawk. Check that out for a lot of detailed information about Spotify, and stick around the site for pretty much all things music. It's being run by good friend and web-guru Brett Widmann.

Because of that, I've started to publish the top 10 as a playlist in Spotify for you all if you really want to dig into what I'm digging into at the moment. As always, I appreciate the tracks purchase from Amazon.

Here's this week's top 10, complete with new number 1 track:

01. Stellar - Incubus (+6)

02. A Life of Possibilities - The Dismemberment Plan (-1)

03. Nail in my Coffin - The Kills (-1)

04. DNA - The Kills (-1)

05. This Body (Black) - The Dear Hunter (-1)

06. I Couldn't Do It Alone (Red) - The Dear Hunter (-1)

07. Deny It All (Red) - The Dear Hunter (-1)

08. Wish You Were Here - Incubus (back)

09. Glycerine - Bush (new)

10. Never Forgive, Never Forget (Black) - The Dear Hunter (-2)

Knocked off - Take More Than you Need (Black) - The Dear Hunter, Filth and Squalor (Black) - The Dear Hunter

Kicking Your Crosses Down

2011-07-21T18:50:00.001-04:00

- Circa Survive

As I mentioned last week, my need for audio entertainment has gotten pretty huge. Another thing I've looked into is audiobooks. The problem is that I really don't want to listen to a random actor read some high fantasy to me, but the idea of an author reading their own non-fiction book very much appeals to me. Especially when that author is also an established actor. As such, the fates were conspiring for me to take in Tina Fey's Bossypants.

The book itself is a mixed bag that mostly wins. Fey is at her best when she's talking showbiz or relating a personal experience. Surprisingly, the parts of the book I found myself most disappointed in were when she was writing schtick, such as a Prayer for My Daughter or her list of Fashion and Weight Loss Tips. Fey has a lot to say that can help a person turn the world on its ear a bit and come at it fresh. No where is that better shown (or told in my case) than in her rules for improvisation. Since I've linked to the book so you can buy it, I hope no one minds if I share this small exert with you here on this blog:

The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. So if we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not a gun. It’s your finger. You’re pointing your finger at me,” our improvised scene has ground to a halt. But if I say, “Freeze, I have a gun!” and you say, “The gun I gave you for Christmas! You bastard!” then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun. Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you. As an improviser, I always find it jarring when I meet someone in real life whose first answer is no. “No, we can’t do that.” “No, that’s not in the budget.” “No, I will not hold your hand for a dollar.” What kind of way is that to live?

The second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but YES, AND. You are supposed to agree and then add something of your own. If I start a scene with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say, “Yeah…” we’re kind of at a standstill. But if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect? We’re in hell.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “Yes, this can’t be good for the wax figures.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “I told you we shouldn’t have crawled into this dog’s mouth,” now we’re getting somewhere. To me YES, AND means don’t be afraid to contribute. It’s your responsibility to contribute. Always make sure you’re adding something to the discussion. Your initiations are worthwhile.

The next rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying “Don’t ask questions all the time.” If we’re in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers. In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag. It’s usually the same person around the office who says things like “There’s no calories in it if you eat it standing up!” and “I felt menaced when Terry raised her voice.”

MAKE STATEMENTS also applies to us women: Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says, “I’m going to be your surgeon? I’m here to talk to you about your procedure? I was first in my class at Johns Hopkins, so?” Make statements, with your actions and your voice. Instead of saying “Where are we?” make a statement like “Here we are in Spain, Dracula.” Okay, “Here we are in Spain, Dracula” may seem like a terrible start to a scene, but this leads us to the best rule:

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities. If I start a scene as what I think is very clearly a cop riding a bicycle, but you think I am a hamster in a hamster wheel, guess what? Now I’m a hamster in a hamster wheel. I’m not going to stop everything to explain that it was really supposed to be a bike. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a police hamster who’s been put on “hamster wheel” duty because I’m “too much of a loose cannon” in the field. In improv there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents. And many of the world’s greatest discoveries have been by accident. I mean, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or Botox.

I was probably a sweaty mass on the elliptical when this section of the book came on, engines burned out, lungs desperate for air, a soaked towel in my hands wiping a drenched brow... but I am fairly certain that in that altered state or not, that passage really spoke to me about life and interacting with people in general.

Saying yes makes people happy, it deflates those that would try to trip you up and keeps positive energy flowing. Yes AND allows you to still keep some control of the situation and forces you to contribute instead of just being a negative abyss that projects go to die in. Make statements is something I already do often, so I liked that there it was in the middle of all this good advice. And the last one is important, if a little bit off. It works great as is for improv, but to take it to real life, the better way to say it might be: well, it happened and it's not going to unhappen, so let's deal with it instead of trying to stuff back in the bag.

I've already actively worked it into my life, including planning the wedding (did I mention I'm engaged? Well, I am), and honestly, this little passage is already changing my life. So thanks, Tina Fey.