Hollywood Hotel (1937) – Wednesday 8pm EST
A small-town boy wins a Hollywood talent contest.
Cast: Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Hugh Herbert Dir: Busby Berkeley BW-110 mins, TV-G

One of the lesser Busby Berkeley films, but it has the most famous version of the song Hooray for Hollywood.

Dial M For Murder (1954) – Thursday 8:00pm EST
A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he’d hired to kill her.
Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams Dir: Alfred Hitchcock C-105 mins, TV-PG

Rear Window (1954) – Thursday 10:00pm EST
A photographer with a broken leg uncovers a murder while spying on the neighbors in a nearby apartment building.
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter Dir: Alfred Hitchcock C-114 mins, TV-PG

TCM’s Grace Kelly festival continues with two of the three films she did with Alfred Hitchcock. The quintessential Hitchcock cool blond, Kelly delivers terrific performances in both of these films which are among Hitchcock’s best.

To Catch a Thief (1955) – Friday 8:00am EST
A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style.
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams Dir: Alfred Hitchcock C-106 mins, TV-G

This is the third film Grace Kelly did with Hitch. Not nearly as good as Dial M and Rear Window, but worth seeing for the gorgeous Ms. Kelly and fabulous locations.

White Heat (1949) – Saturday 10:00am EST
A government agent infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic.
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien, Margaret Wycherly Dir: Raoul Walsh BW-114 mins, TV-PG

One of Cagney’s best performances as a gangster with mommy issues. “I’m on top of the world, ma!” Plot is a lot like Face/Off without the face swapping. Great movie.

Arsenic And Old Lace (1944) – Monday 12:00pm EST
A young man about to be married discovers the two aunts who raised him have been poisoning lonely old men.
Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson Dir: Frank Capra BW-118 mins, TV-G

Delightfully dark comedy from Frank Capra.

East Of Eden (1955) – Tuesday 8:00pm EST
Two brothers compete for their father’s approval and a woman’s love.
Cast: Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives Dir: Elia Kazan C-118 mins, TV-PG

James Dean is excellent in this his first film.

Waterloo Bridge (1940) – Thursday 9:30am EST
A ballerina turns to prostitution when her fiance is reported killed in World War I.
Cast: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field Dir: Mervyn LeRoy BW-109 mins, TV-PG

Never seen this one, but it’s got Vivien Leigh just one year after she did Gone With The Wind. That’s enough for me to check it out.

High Noon (1952) – Thursday 10:00pm EST
A retired Marshal must defend his town from a revengeful villain.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado Dir: Fred Zinnemann BW-85 mins, TV-PG

One man finds himself standing alone against evil when everyone in the town turns coward. Great film. Pastors should be able to relate to Gary Cooper’s character. Film also features a great soundtrack and the lovely and talented Grace Kelly.

There’s been quite a discussion going on over at the Cloud Ten Pictures blog. Should Christian filmmakers make horror films? Some people say yes. Some people say no. Some people think Dangerous Calling opens the door to the occult.

Now we don’t really consider Dangerous Calling a horror film. Thrillers are a very different genre. However, we do both love a good horror film, especially at this time of year.  Horror is one of the oldest genres and encompasses  a wide variety of films. Everything from Frankenstein to Saw. To say that the entire genre is evil is akin to saying all comedy is dirty. On the contrary, horror provides ample opportunities to explore the human condition and spiritual issues of sin and redemption.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of my favorite stories. I’ve seen just about every film adaptation. On the surface it’s about a man that drinks a potion and becomes a horrible monster, but at its heart it’s about a man’s battle to overcome his sin nature. Ultimately he is unable to do so illustrating that apart from Christ mankind is helpless.

Now granted, there are horror films that take sex and violence to reprehensible extremes, but you can find bad examples in every genre. Instead of avoiding genres that can and have been used inappropriately, Christian filmmakers should be encouraged to redeem them and put them to good use.

What do you think?

Hey gang! Tomorrow, I will have been living in California for 6 months. Let’s recap:

In February of this year, I had been out of film school for 4.5 years doing video work in Atlanta. My brother and I had written and directed a feature and were looking for distribution. A friend in LA asked why I didn’t move to LA. I couldn’t give him a solid answer so after much consideration, I decided it was time to head west to try and make it as a writer/director in Hollywood.

I left my home in Atlanta in early April. The drive west was spectacular.

My car broke down 80 miles outside of Los Angeles. It had to have the engine replaced – wiping out my savings. I had to borrow a friend’s car for my first week.

I lived with total strangers (who I met through a friend of a friend) for a month in Santa Clarita (30 miles north of LA.) We call this couch surfing.

I interned with Ed Saxon Productions for a month. Ed Saxon produced Silence of the Lambs, That Thing You Do, and the recent film Away We Go. (Interning is for no pay.) Ed and his team were great and I learned a lot.

In May, I moved into a friend’s garage apartment in Glendale and lived there for 2 months.

During this time, I got a job as an Assistant Editor for a reality show that airs on E! (The show is called Reality Hell.)

After my two months in the garage apartment, my cousin and his wife moved to LA from Florida and we got an apartment together in Burbank. (We’re 7 minutes away from Walt Disney Studios.)

I got an annual pass to Disneyland and have been to Disneyland more times than I can count – it’s cheaper for me to go there now than to do pretty much anything else in the area.

The feature I wrote and directed with my brother got picked up for distribution. Dangerous Calling will be released on DVD in February.

Over the last 6 months, I’ve met a ton of great people and made some great friends. I’ve learned a lot about the “industry” and about “networking.” I’ve grown as a person more than I thought I would. My job with the Reality Show has ended (the last episode of this season aired a week ago) so I’m looking for the next step in this awesome adventure. There should be some exciting things happening in the next 6 months, the biggest of which is:

My brother, Josh, is moving to California in January! He’s bringing along his wife, Becca, and his son/my nephew, Grant! I’m so excited. In January the adventure continues with both Daws Brothers taking over Hollywood!

Stay tuned for more updates about our Adventures in Filmmaking.

On July 8th, I turned 29 years old. It was the first birthday I’ve ever spent away from my family. Thankfully, the kind folks at Disneyland stepped in to help me through it. They let me in free and gave me a button announcing to the cast members and park guests that it was my birthday. Throughout the day, I had people wishing me a happy birthday. I ate lunch at my favorite restaurant in the park – The Blue Bayou – and got a special birthday desert – absolutely free.

Here is some video I took from the queue of my favorite ride – Pirates of the Carribean.

It was truly a magical day and I’ll never forget it. Everyone should take advantage of this deal and go on your birthday. Disney knows how to make you feel special. Not as special as my mom makes me feel, but pretty dang close.

You all should see

1) The Bad and the Beautiful

Here is the synopsis from Netflix: “Charismatic but ruthless film producer Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) needs a blockbuster after producing three consecutive flops and falling out of favor with the studio. To help him make a comeback, he appeals to three Hollywood heavyweights — a director (Barry Sullivan), an actress (Lana Turner) and a writer (Dick Powell) — who owe their success to Shields. Unfortunately, they all hate his guts and have vowed never to work for him again.”

This movie is awesome. It was a stark reminder to be careful out here. It’s easy to get used. But the film says even though you get used, sometimes it works out for the best. And we all know that “all things work together for good…”

2) The Orphanage -

Netflix: “Fueled by fond memories from her childhood, Laura (Belén Rueda) persuades her husband (Fernando Cayo) to help her revamp a seaside orphanage into a facility for disabled children. But soon after the couple moves in, their son, Simón (Roger Príncep), begins exhibiting disturbing behavior. As Laura tries to understand Simón’s increasingly malevolent actions, she becomes drawn into the house’s terrifying secrets in this unnerving chiller.”

This movie was amazing. One of the best scary movies I’ve ever seen. Check it out. This director knows how to scare you without gore and cheap tricks – like The Sixth Sense. And it’s not just a scary movie – its also sweet like The Sixth Sense. SEE IT.

I haven’t written anything in the blog in about a month and instead of blaming my laziness, I’m going to blame my new iPhone 3GS w/ video. I’ve been posting videos directly to my youtube account. I thought I’d share some of these posts here to catch you up with what I’ve been doing. For the most part, I’ve just been working nights. I moved to an apartment in Burbank on the 3rd of July. My friend Nate McGill came out and helped me move and then we spent a week exploring LA and the surrounding area.

Here is my first post – a view of my edit bay where I work -

Screenwriting -

Mountains –

California Driver’s Test -

Travel Town in Griffith Park –

My first Hollywood Party/Screening -

(We won the competition)

On the Fox Lot –

The Getty Center -

Malibu (Beautiful!) –

The Devil’s Punchbowl -

To continue seeing my videos, subscribe to my youtube channel here.

I flew home on Saturday for a quick trip to Florida with my family. On Sunday, I got to hear my dad preach at the church where he is serving as interim pastor. (First Baptist Dudley, Georgia.)

My dad spoke on faith. He said we all have this box around us called security – most of us stay in this box our entire lives. But we’re meant to trust God and step out of the box to follow Him, even if it doesn’t make sense to everyone around us.

He said something that struck me as really profound.

“If what you are doing in life doesn’t require faith, you’re probably out of God’s will.”

God wants us to step out boldly and follow Him. I feel like I’ve taken that first step toward a faith-driven life. But I run the risk of being stagnant. It’s not a one-time leap but a constant free-fall. I have to be careful not to grab on to something as I go. This job could really derail this faith journey – I have to remember, my security is God and not my job.

Anyway, I thought you guys might want to hear what my dad had to say. He’s a really cool guy. Not your typical pastor.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work as a PA on a music video for Disney. The artist was Demi Lovato. I could share some behind the scenes details about her and how she acted on set but I won’t.

About 7 years ago, I worked for a month on a really bad feature that was shot in Sarasota, Florida called The Bail. It is also known as Fizzy Bizness. The film never got distribution. Some poor guy is out $2 million. The good news, is I got my first IMDB credit from this film. That was awesome.

Check out the trailer here.

Anyway, this was the first time I had ever been on a film set and I was blown away. The production process is so cool. I could live on a film set. I love it.

But at the time, I didn’t love being a PA. (Who does?) I was really intimidated by the whole thing. I was only 21 so I guess that’s excusable. But I always hated the thought of having to PA again because I wasn’t very good at it.

One of the things keeping me from moving to LA was this fear. I knew if I moved to LA, I’d probably have to PA again. And I really didn’t want to. But after much prayer, God helped to to lay down my fear and pride (I’d directed a feature – PAing was beneath me – haha.) So I moved to LA and met up with a music video director who is also a pastor out here and he got me booked on this music video for Disney as a PA.

On the Disney shoot, I wasn’t the greatest PA in the world. I made mistakes. I got yelled at by the AD (it wasn’t my fault – I had a faulty radio but try telling that to an AD.) I spent half the day nervous. But by the last half of the day, I had discovered that the real key to success as a PA is just plain old hard work. Run faster. Work faster. Never take a break.

I learned that even though I’m not the best PA in the world, I could try and be the hardest working PA. So I busted my butt. There were other guys who were way better than me but I tried to work twice as hard as them. It was a great day. I was so sore the next few days but it felt so good.

I had conquered my fear. PAing still isn’t my favorite thing in the world but I’m not afraid anymore. Evening being yelled at by the AD wasn’t the worst thing in the world (I used to have nightmares about the AD who worked on The Bail.) He actually apologized for yelling at me. That guy (named Chef) broke every AD stereotype in the book by doing that.

God was good to give me closure to my “Bail” experience. I’m very grateful.

Last Friday night, I volunteered as a PA on a night shoot. I was feeling pretty comfortable as a set PA. But early on, they put me in Camera department – doing some of what a 2nd AC would do. I’d never worked in camera before so this was new. I was a little nervous but mostly excited to learn. And it was a great experience thanks to a nice bunch of camera department guys.

So that’s one more fear I faced down. Next up, I think I’ll try to watch Neverending Story with the lights off – that Gmork scares the crap out of me. I’m serious. I have nightmares about that thing.

Oh, FYI –

PA= Production Assistant
AD= Assistant Director
AC = Camera Assistant (I know the words are swapped – its just how it is)

So my car broke down, AGAIN. This time, the Radiator. Apparently, what I fixed wasn’t the problem. Haha. At least I tried. I ended up taking the car back to the people who replaced the engine. $425 later, I had a new radiator.

During this whole car thing, I was getting really low on funds and actually thought about packing it in and going back to Georgia to live with my parents. After praying and hearing from friends who encouraged me to stick it out, I realized that I was being stupid. God has called me here. If I were to leave, I’d be like Jonah from the Bible. And God would send a whale to swallow me.

A week ago, I got a call about a job. A job as an assistant editor for a reality show. The pay is great. The hours are not so much – 6pm till 4am, Monday thru Friday. But the best part is, I didn’t have to interview. A friend from college recommended me. Wow. I’ve been here two months and God has provided me with a job.

So with the money I make from this 2 month gig, I should be able to pay my bills and save a little for the lean months. This is awesome.

That’s what has been going on. Thought I’d check in.

Keep on truckin’.

Check out part 1 from yesterday.

After speaking about the first Gremlins, Joe began to speak about Gremlins 2. Joe said that Gremlins 2 is what Gremlins 1 was trying to be. He said Part 2 had way more of himself in it.

They were trying to get Rick Baker to do the Gremlins puppets for the second film but he didn’t want to because someone else had already done the first. Rick didn’t feel like there was an opportunity for him to create anything new. So Dante came up with the science lab story point about all the mutated Gremlins. Baker then agreed.

Dante pointed out that Gremlins 2 bombed because Warner Brothers waited too long to make it. It came out 6 years after the first one.

They other reason it bombed was because it was advertised to be released in May but Warner Brothers ended up delaying it till July. They wanted it to compete with Dick Tracy. Because of this, neither movie made much money.

Joe spoke of his next film. It is called The Hole. It is a 3D film shot on the RED camera. That’s kind of cool that one of my heroes is now shooting on the RED. Though kind of sad too.

Joe talked about why all of his films are ensemble films rather than films about one lead character. He said, “I like to work with lots of actors. The more actors the better.”

Someone asked about Dick Miller who played Mr. Futterman in Gremlins and has a small part in just about every film Dante has made. Joe said Dick is fine. He is semi-retired but did a cameo in The Hole. That makes me happy.

Joe was asked about working with Jerry Goldsmith, the composer of just about all of his films. He said Jerry was a genius. He initially worked with him on Twilight Zone: The Movie because Jerry had been hired before Joe came on the project. He liked Jerry so much, he used him until Jerry’s death. For his new film, he had trouble finding a composer. He ended up using the composer who worked on Pan’s Labyrinth. Joe worked with Jerry Goldsmith on more movies than any other director. (Jerry Goldsmith is my favorite composer, FYI.)

Joe mentioned a Youtube clip that he really enjoyed. Apparently some guy made his own Gremlins and put them into a series of famous movies like Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I checked it out. Amazing –

He also brought up a really clever British Telecom commercial that used Gremlins.

To finish the Q and A, he talked about the possibility of a 3rd movie. He said without a doubt there will be another movie – though it may just be a remake of the first one. He doesn’t know this for sure but said they are remaking everything now so its makes sense. He also said there is no way they’d ask him to make it. Unlike Zemeckis and Spielberg, he doesn’t command as much respect in the industry at the moment. Maybe his new film will put him where he belongs.

He did say it would be a shame to make Gremlins with CG. He pointed out that part of the charm of the first two was they were made primitively with puppets. I agree- CG gremlins would be awful.

His final comment was that he prefers the second film but he does like the first one. It was the only film he made any money on.
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After the Q and A, Joe was mobbed by a dozen fan-boys with several more waiting to pounce on him as he left the theater. I really wanted to meet him and talk to him one-on-one but I didn’t want to be just another fan-boy talking about how much his films meant to me. So, I stayed away.

I’m hoping that one day, Josh and I will be at a point in our career that we can call up these directors that have meant so much to us and schedule some time to learn from them. And possibly develop a friendship.

So that’s my Gremlins/Joe Dante experience. I hope you enjoyed it.

This past Friday night, I had a very unique experience that typically only happens in LA. Because this is a movie-lover’s town, there are dozens of opportunities to watch older movies pretty much every day of the week.

On Friday night, there was a screening of Gremlins and Gremlins 2 at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. Normally I might have passed up this opportunity but I noticed one minor detail about the screening – Joe Dante was going to be there to take part in a Q and A. So obviously, I had to attend.

Joe Dante is one of my top 5 filmmakers. He sits up there with John Ford, Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. Let me recap the movies he has directed that have made an impact on my life.

Gremlins – One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time. That opening sequence where Billy runs through town is amazing. This movie serves as a good bridge between Halloween movies and Christmas movies – as does Nightmare before Christmas.

Innerspace – I first saw this movie while my family was house-sitting for an extremely rich family. We were essentially homeless for a short time so this movie (and that amazing house) provided an escape from our present circumstances. Dennis Quaid and Martin Short = the perfect odd couple.

Explorers – the film that inspired me to dream incredible dreams… and still does. (I can excuse the sort of lame ending because the beginning is so magical.)

The Burbs – possibly my favorite comedy of all time. Tom Hanks’ finest comedy for sure.

Gremlins 2 – This is an excellent example of a director putting his entire voice into a film. It’s way more wacky than the first movie and I really like that. Still, the first one is my favorite of the two.

–
So I went to the screening and noticed immediately that the theater was filled with over a hundred fan-boys. Everyone in that theater absolutely LOVED the films of Joe Dante, just like me. So that was odd, being in a room full of my clones.

Joe took the stage and introduced the movie. He informed us that this was the preview version that he screened before the final cut. There were 6 additional minutes in the film but I’d seen all of the additional scenes on the DVD release.

Then we watched the film. After the film, Joe and Glynn Turman came on stage. Glynn Turman played Mr. Hanson, the science teacher.

Here are some of the notes I took on the Q and A.

Before he made Gremlins, Joe was at low point in his career. He had just made The Howling, which made money, but he didn’t make any because he was not in the director’s guild.

Steven Spielberg saw The Howling and contacted him about making Gremlins. Spielberg intended Gremlins to be the first film produced under his Amblin company and it was. Warner Brothers had to make the film because Spielberg wanted it made and they had a deal with him. They also wanted Joe to direct it because they wanted the film made for extremely cheap and since he still wasn’t in the DGA, they wouldn’t have to pay a lot.

The first version of the script was not a comedy. Chris Columbus (now a famous director) wrote the script as a gruesome horror film. He never intended for it to get made. He just used it as a writing sample.

Joe said, “Chris Columbus’ original script was definitely more of a horror film than what we developed Gremlins into. His original version had the monsters killing the dog and cutting off the mom’s head and tossing it down the stairs. We realized as we continued developing the project we needed to have a different tone.”

The film became a comedy as Joe started to put his touch on the film. He’s a filmmaker with a definite voice – something I strive to have.

The film ended up costing $11 million – way more than Warner Brothers wanted to pay initially. But Joe was firm that he couldn’t make the movie for less because of all the puppetry involved.

Steven Spielberg had final say on the design of Gizmo. He didn’t like any of them until they decided to color Gizmo like Spielberg’s cocker spaniel. He approved the next version.

Glynn Turman was asked about working with Mogwais. He said it was an exercise in concentration because there were so many guys operating it, it was hard to focus and forget about all those guys.

Joe was asked about the production. He said the worst part of production was after the initial production with the actors. He shot for a month and a half after everyone left with just the puppets. He said it was a nightmare.

One cool bit of movie trivia – the close-ups of Gizmo were done with a giant Gizmo head.

Glynn Turman pointed out that the script was Top Secret. Each script was given a code on each page so they’d know who leaked the script if it ever got out.

They talked about Mr. Hanson’s death. They initially shot a version where Billy finds Mr. Hanson laying on the ground with 6 needles stuck in his head. They had to use the alternate which was Mr. Hanson’s body underneath the desk.
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Come back tomorrow for part 2 and hear Joe Dante’s thoughts on the sequel.

As you may remember, my car blew an engine 7 weeks ago on my way into LA. I had to have the entire engine replaced (meaning a lot of debt.)

Last night, my car overheated. It had spewed coolant all over the place. Thankfully, it happened outside my house. After consulting SEVERAL people on Twitter and Facebook as well as talking to my father back in Georgia, I decided to try and fix it myself. The most likely problem was that the thermostat had gotten stuck closed. So I filled the radiator with water and drove to the local Napa Auto Parts.

I bought the parts and coolant I needed for $30 (PRAISE GOD) and went back to the house. I borrowed tools from the people I’m staying with and set about fixing my car. I’ve never fixed anything on an engine in my life. So this was a big deal. (I can rebuild a computer with ease but a car engine is a mystery to me.)

Two hours later, I had fixed it. (Those of you who know about replacing thermostats will understand that this was way more time than it requires. Haha. But I’m a newbie.) I watched some videos on YouTube and read a couple of how-tos online. No joke. That’s how I did it.

There was only one mishap during this process. The only container I had to catch the coolant when I drained the radiator was a pizza box. And of course, wet cardboard doesn’t contain liquid. (It wasn’t my idea – just to be clear. But I did accept it as a solution so I am equally at fault.) To sop up the coolant running everywhere on the pavement, I opened my trunk and grabbed a 12-pack of extra absorbent toilet paper. And boy did it work. Thankfully, I don’t think any neighborhood cats will be dying because of me.

The point of this story is this – I’m out here in LA essentially by myself. I don’t have my dad to fix every problem for me. God’s not going to fix every problem for me either. This whole thing is one big adventure – and from what I’ve seen in the Indiana Jones trilogy, adventures are hard and dangerous, and sometimes bad things happen.

In the end, this whole thing was an answer to prayer, although masked in a whole lot of frustration. I had prayed that God would give me strength and confidence out here. Paying a mechanic was OUT of the question – I still don’t have a job. God put me in a situation that I had to face and had no other options. And by facing it head on and trusting God to guide me through it, I now know how to replace the thermostat on my car. That gives me confidence to try some other minor fixes on the car. Confidence.

Every day is an adventure out here. I recommend it. Take a leap. Whatever your “LA” is, go for it. Life is too short to live a boring, normal life. You’ll never feel more alive. And your relationship with God will never be more sweet than when you have to rely on HIM for EVERYTHING!

I moved to LA a little over a month ago and have been living out of my car. My backseat was my closet. My passenger seat was my kitchen. My trunk was my garage. Thankfully, I never had to sleep in my car. I slept on a series of couches for about 4 weeks.

But last week, all of that changed. I now have my own room and my own bathroom. It’s a garage apartment at a friends’ house. It is only for two months but I am so thankful for it. God knew how much time I could take living out of my car and now I know – 4 weeks exactly. I was about to go crazy. Usually I am a very organized person. My room at home is always in order. But it is so tough to keep your car organized when there just isn’t enough room.

I am so thankful to have all my stuff out of my car. Its been so cool to see God provide exactly what I need when I need it. I have to move out of this place at the end of June but I know God will provide the next step.

I don’t have much to write about at the moment. I’m still interning and getting more comfortable on the phones. I’m still meeting and networking with people pretty regularly. One person of note that I met with was Gregg Bishop, director of Dance of the Dead. He’s a great guy.

It is so surreal to be here. I was at Starbucks with Gregg the other day and mid-sentence, I realized that the Warner Bros. Studio water tower was right down the street and I just had to comment about it. This place is amazing.

Hooray for Hollywood.

I recently discovered something about myself. I suck at answering phones. They call it rolling calls in LA. Basically you answer the phone, ask who is calling, and then transfer the call. And I can’t do it. It’s like finding out I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. I don’t know why it is so difficult for me but every time the phone rings, I get something wrong. I get so nervous that I find myself praying the phone doesn’t ring.

When I first started my internship, my boss asked if I had experience rolling calls. I said no but figured how hard can it be. The answer- Really freaking hard. I have a new appreciation for Pam on The Office. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it soon.

Thankfully neither of my bosses are like the lady on The Devil Wears Prada. Both are really nice guys.

I read all the email that comes into the main account at the production company where I intern. We get about 5 query letters per day by email and quite a few letters in the mail. The query letters are from people without representation (agents) who are trying to get the production company to read their scripts. These query letters represent the hopes and dreams of these screenwriters. I’ve been there. I’ve sent my share of query letters. It’s what the books tell you to do.

I’ve got news for all you hopeful screenwriters – no one reads these letters. They get ignored, deleted, or tossed in the trash. These companies have so many projects going on with people they actually know, they have no need to look at your script. Its sad but true. If you want to break in to the industry and get your script read by these people, move to LA and start networking. It’s not the news you want to hear. Its not the news I wanted to hear. But there it is.

Also, don’t try calling these places. Everyone in Hollywood has an assistant whose primary purpose is to keep you from talking to their boss. That’s part of my job. Please don’t hate me. Come out here and get to know these assistants personally and maybe they’ll let you through to their bosses. Maybe.

I’m about to finish up my fourth week in LA. Time has flown by. I’ve been extremely busy with meetings. And last week, I started an internship with a production company. I won’t say which one but the producer I work for was one of the producers on a certain movie about a certain band back in the 60’s – one of my favorite movies ever. He also produced a certain movie about a certain serial killer who likes to eat liver with wine and beans.

The way I got the internship is really awesome. My friend and I were going to see a free screening of The Soloist (LA is so cool) and we bumped into a guy who is the Director of Development for this production company. He’s a believer and a heck of a nice guy. He mentioned something about interns. I asked if he needed any more interns and he said yes – one of his current interns was leaving the following week. Such a God thing.

Now when you intern in the movie biz, you don’t get paid. The hours are long. The work is basic stuff – phones, reading scripts, making copies, etc… But this experience has been amazing – and I’ve only worked there 3 days (2 days a week.)

I’ve decided that this is the industry for me. And I want to learn everything I can and do whatever I can do to climb the ladder. I’ve bucked against this for too long. I guess it was a pride thing – I didn’t want to go to LA and do the entry level grunt work. But doing this stuff is the only way to learn how the business runs. I don’t think I’m cut out to live in the development world forever but I’m glad to have this time. My internship will last for 8 weeks – who knows where God will take me then.

Peter Pan was right – To live IS an awfully big adventure.

I went to see The Soloist a few weeks ago. It was great. It’s about a homeless guy in LA and a reporter who reached out to him to be his friend. True Story. I’ve seen so many homeless people since I’ve been here. That movie changed the way I view them. God has used it to change my heart toward these people.

I’ve actually had the opportunity to give snacks to a few homeless people. I’m not bragging about myself – I’m just telling you all what God has done in my life. I used to call them all “bums” and ignore them. Now I try to greet them and smile like I would anyone I pass on the street. They’re people. Maybe that movie resonates a little more with me because I’ve been homeless for the last 4 weeks. Thankfully, several kind people up in Santa Clarita have shown me love by allowing me to stay on their couches. The least I can do is give away some Cheetos to a hungry man.

Go see The Soloist.

I’ve been to my share of conferences, seminars, workshops, and festivals. They can be a great place to network, get inspiration, or promote your work. They are not, however, your opportunity to pitch your screenplay to that famous director, producer, studio exec, or agent.

We just recently attended the Biola Media Conference. It was a great conference for Christians in the film industry. I highly recommend attending next year. One workshop we attended had Ralph Winter (producer of the X-Men movies and this weekend’s Wolverine) on the panel.

During the Q&A at the end, one guy asked if he could pitch his project to him afterword. Ralph played it off jokingly, but as soon as the workshop ended there was a line of people waiting to meet him that ran to the back of the room.

Now I’m sure they all weren’t pitching him projects. Heck, I even shook Ralph’s hand later in the day. However, I’m sure there were several people in that line whose one goal in coming to the conference was to meet Ralph Winter and convince him of how brilliant their screenplay is. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Ralph didn’t sign onto any new projects at the conference. Not because there weren’t any brilliant scripts being passed around, but because that’s not how it works.

Any time I see this happen, I’m always reminded of a couple of verses in Proverbs.

6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
And do not stand in the place of the great;

7 For it is better that he say to you,
“Come up here,”
Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.

Proverbs 25:6-7

Now you may be asking, “How would you ever get to work with people in the Hollywood A-List if you don’t find some way to put yourself in front of them?”  Ah. I’m glad you asked. Scripture gives us the answer to that as well.

Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before unknown men.

Proverbs 22:29

There you have it.  Your goal is not to meet famous people and convince them to work with you.  Your goal is to make work so excellent that Hollywood notices and asks you to work with them. Now go enjoy your next conference without worrying about meeting that certain A-lister.  Once it’s over go home and work your butt off. Me? I’m hoping we sell so many copies of Dangerous Calling this year that we get invited to next year’s Biola Media Conference. I want Ralph to come up to us and say, “Are you the guys who directed Dangerous Calling? I LOVE your film.” Hmm.  I’d better get to work!

Any thoughts?

This is the last of the observations from my first week in LA.

I was asking myself (and God) – If my main purpose here is to be a light, how does my writing and directing fit into that? How can I allocate time to create and it still be on point with my mission here?

Maybe the work I create will open doors for me in my career which will allow me to affect more people.

I’m still thinking through this one. Post a comment and give me your thoughts.

When life seems really bad, it will pass. It will work out. God is still in control. A week ago, my car broke down. It seemed like the worst thing that could happen. But God provided. And here I am a week later and everything worked out. God is ALWAYS in control.

I’ve been able to meet some amazing Christians in California. It really puts the Bible belt to shame. From what I can tell, it’s harder to be a Christian out here because it isn’t as socially acceptable as it is in the south. So the people who profess Christ really mean it.

I’ve been prideful to think that God needs me here. He doesn’t NEED me. He has allowed me to join Him in what He is doing. If my pride is hurt to find out that I am not unique in my spiritual walk – then that’s just it – PRIDE.

I’m excited to be out here working alongside some amazing believers.

I had lunch with a Christian producer out here. He was so encouraging – in a backwards way. He said he couldn’t care less about my career – he said my presence in LA means that another crazy Christian is here to affect lives for Christ. He said I represent future changed lives. Wow.

Regarding my career – he said that I’m in a city full of people who can do what I do better than I can do it. I can’t let that intimidate me. That should inspire me to learn and to work harder than any of them. Michael Bay and Stephen Sommers don’t make the greatest films but they are the hardest workers in the industry – that’s why they keep getting to do what they do. (I wasn’t aware that Michael Bay is actually his own AD. Crazy.)

Words of wisdom.

So I have officially been an LA resident for one week. I sped right by. I had about a dozen meetings this past week. That helped a lot with the homesickness. I was just freaking busy. Driving around LA eats up a LOT of time.

I thought I’d post a series of observations/lessons I’ve learned during this first week.

Observation #1 – Don’t see a person for what they can do for you. Just see them.

It is so easy to lose focus and make this thing about my career rather than about what God has called me to do – which is be a light in the industry. I think the less I try to make something happen, the more successful I’ll be. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added. People have to be my primary focus. I tried to grasp at an opportunity – a very well connected friend. It turned out to be a dead end anyway and I feel like I did the wrong thing – and I might have hurt my witness or at least wrecked an in-road into his spiritual life. I confess it and move on. And hopefully I learn from it.

Stay tuned for more.

Hello world. This is Jeremiah reporting from Panera Bread in Los Angles, California. That’s right, I made the big plunge. I left Monday of last week with my clothes packed into my 1997 Honda Civic and made the cross-country trek out west. I saw Route 66, the Painted Desert, and visited the Grand Canyon again. It was the trip of a lifetime.

And 80 miles outside of LA, my car threw a rod (what does that mean?) and my engine was dead. I got a tow into town and am having it replaced. Thankfully, one of my friends in LA is letting me use his sweet Mini Cooper until my car gets a new engine.

Did I mention that I went out to LA without a place to live? Just a series of couches from some very nice people who go to Faith Community Church in Santa Clarita, California. I gotta mention Cory and Holly Gustke. They are great people!

So right now, I have no JOB, no APARTMENT, and no CAR. Yikes. I wrote a few years ago about my solo trip into the Grand Canyon. This is crazier than that but I must say God has shown up and I’m excited to see where it goes.

The plan is to look for an entry level job while pimping Dangerous Calling and looking for other opportunities to write and direct – all the while being a light in the industry. I’ve spent the first week meeting people like crazy.

There is definitely a cool factor. I went and hung out with some writers at a cafe where part of Casablanca was filmed. I drove to where they film The OFFICE and saw the exterior – the Scranton Business Park. Check my twitters to see pictures. And I got a tour of Marvel Animation and Rhythm & Hues (a post house currently working on Land of the Lost.) I’ve met a director for the show Family Guy. I met the sound recordist for West Wing and Studio 60. I met a writer for American Idol. A stunt guy on Indy 4. An animator on Alvin and the Chipmunks 2.

And all of this in less than a week. If anyone says, “Why should I move to LA?”, well, now you know. Cuz this is where it happens! I’ve met more people in the industry in 5 days than I have in… MY WHOLE LIFE! I’m not saying all this to brag – just making the point that if you want to succeed in an industry that requires networking – this is the way to do it. And it is much easier than I thought it would be. I’ve not once been to a bar or club. These are real people who don’t hang out with Ashton and Paris Hilton.

So that’s what is going on with me. The Daws Brothers are NOT finished, just spread apart. We’re dividing and conquering. Josh is hitting the Twitter thing really hard and making some great contacts. I’m being the face person.

Stay tuned. The adventure continues. Follow me in real time on Twitter. @jeremiahdaws – Go back and read some of the older posts from last week. They’re pretty fun.

We are getting some pretty awesome reviews of our feature film, Dangerous Calling. Check them out over at DangerousCalling.com

We’ve got some big changes coming to DawsBrothers.com. When we first began blogging in 2005, we made a decision to make the blog about filmmaking in general. We’ve done pretty well, but there are so many filmmaking blogs that we never really stood out among the crowd.

We also made the decision to not talk about our Christian faith on the blog. We didn’t want to alienate readers that didn’t share our faith. This has been problematic because our faith is such a big part of our lives. We are pastor’s kids and wrote and directed what can be described as a Christian thriller. As you can imagine, not incorporating our faith into our blogging about filmmaking has limited what we could blog about.

Starting in April, DawsBrothers.com will relaunch with a new look and a new purpose. We’ll still have the same filmmaking advice you’ve come to love, but we’ll also be talking about the intersection of faith and film. Topics will include: so-called “Christian” entertainment, finding faith in mainstream movies, the role of Christians in the film industry, and much more. But don’t worry. If you’re not a person of faith, I can promise you it’s not going to be preachy or overly Christian. You won’t find any demonizing of Hollywood or calls for boycotts.

So come back in April for the all new DawsBrothers.com! We’re also going to be blogging much more often. We’ll see you in April!

For a few weeks, I’ve been working bit by bit on a scene study of an action scene from the film 3:10 to Yuma (the remake.) I saw the remake first and really loved it. It seems to be one of those movies I watch over and over. As a matter of fact, after this scene study, I may have killed it.

I watched the original film a few weeks ago and really enjoyed that one as well. To quote Mr. Miyagi, they are “different but same.” If you haven’t seen the remake, don’t read any further. This post makes no sense if you haven’t seen the remake.

Also, see Cop Land which was meant to be a present day 3:10 to Yuma. Don’t let Stallone keep you from watching that movie. He does a good job. The remake of 3:10 and Cop Land were directed by the same guy – James Mangold. (He also directed Walk the Line, another of my favorites.)

Back to the scene study.

I always pick a scene based on a fascination with what was in the director’s mind when shooting it. I’ve never directed an intense action scene so I chose the stagecoach robbery scene. First, I counted how many shots. Then I imported the footage into Final Cut and labeled each shot with the shot order number, the shot number, and a correlating letter of the alphabet the way they do it in the movies. (Somewhat.)

If the video doesn’t show on your feed reader, click here.

The video above is the scene with the shots labeled. As you watch it, notice how certain shots are reused. And notice how quickly it cuts from one number to the next.

This scene runs 3:51 and has a total of 118 cuts in it. That tells me that each shot runs an average of 2 seconds.

So I’ve learned something right there.

When shooting an action scene, shoot a LOT of shots. (There are exceptions depending on the style of the movie but for the point of discussing bigger budget action romps, use lots of shots.)

Also, plan only to use a snippet of each one.

Elaborate camera moves that last many seconds will get cut. The camera can be moving but make sure that the shot can be used at any point in the move rather than the shot only working if you use the entire move.

From there I created a table in Excel. I recently discovered the sort-able list function in Excel and I’m making sort-able lists for everything. The headings I used were shot order, shot number, shot letter, shot type, description (what happens in the shot), camera location, and observations.

It took me a LONG time to fill out this list but in the end, it is worth it. I get a bird’s eye view of how the director shot this thing.

You can view my excel list by clicking here.

So now I can sort the list by shot number and see just how many times certain shots were used. I can also sort by location such as – show me only the shots inside the coach or up on the hill.

Once I finished the list, I copied the description column and formatted it to be in script form.

Click Here to view that document.

Now I don’t know if all this was written out in the original script. If it was, then Mangold might have just correlated a sentence with a shot. If it was more generic than this, then he created this on the fly.

For me, what I learn from seeing the script written out like this with every sentence or two corresponding to an actual shot is that the more detailed the action scene is written, the easier it is to shoot.

In the future, when I am prepping to shoot an action scene, I now know to write out EVERY little thing that I want to happen on screen. Then along with the storyboards, the script acts as a literal instruction manual on what to shoot.

It seems like a simple lesson but it took me working it out, deconstructing it, to realize that an action scene is the same as any other scene. At the very least, shoot what’s on the page.

The thing that scares me about shooting action is getting stuck without a shot. But after doing this study, I’m not as afraid any more when it comes to doing a scene like this. If I shoot what’s on the page, there’s nothing else that I’ll NEED to cut to.

After writing out what I think was the script, I evaluated the entire thing as if I were the Assistant Director and figured out what to shoot and when.

There were 89 different shots in this sequence. From what I can tell, a typical day is anywhere from 15 shots to 25. That’s dialogue. Action is probably 10 shots a day. But I’m just guessing. On Dangerous Calling, our first feature film, we were doing something like 30 shots a day but I don’t recommend such a breakneck speed. (We were attempting to shoot 5-6 pages a day. Most films shoot about 3 pages a day. Again, that’s for dialogue scenes.)

To get 89 shots shooting 10 shots a day, it would take 9 days to shoot. This is a four minute scene. This tells me only to expect half a page of action per day. So now I know how much time to budget for future projects.

To further break it down -

7 shots inside the coach
18 on the Low Hill
4 on the High Hill
60 on the trail (Only 15 of those are static. The rest are either riding on the coach or moving along side.)

You get the idea. Now take my data and make your own discoveries and send them to me or post them as a comment.

——-

It takes a lot longer to shoot action than a dialogue scene, but the principles are the same. Tell the story visually. Make sure every shot is there for a reason. If you aren’t sure, go back to the script.

Before doing this study, I probably would have shot every piece of action from every point of view and angle, sort of like coverage when shooting a dialogue scene. Now, I’m much more informed. And that’s why I do these things.

On a side note about the story – The biggest thing that hit me while watching this scene was how Ben Wade sat up on the hill watching his outlaws do the grunt work. He only got involved when he saw it wasn’t going well. Deciding to push those cattle into the path of the coach was his way of using his head rather than his gun. It SHOWS us why he is the leader of the gang. A brilliant use of action to setup his character.

PS. Check out this good article by David Bordwell (if you’ve been to film school, you’ve probably read or seen his books.) It’s all about 3:10 to Yuma – past and present.

A few weeks back we were interviewed on a radio station in New York by Dr. Rus, a movie reviewer and DJ. Check it out. It was our first live on air interview. I think we were both a little nervous but it turned out to be a really fun experience and a nice big fat plug for our film, Dangerous Calling. Thanks to Dr. Rus! Follow him on Twitter – @DrRus

Also check out his family friendly movie reviews. Frame by Frame

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and has a Happy New Year. (I got an XBox 360 for Christmas and I LOVE it! I don’t care if Microsoft made it or not. Its an awesome experience, especially with the gold account.)