Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts

Monday, November 25, 2013

If I were a Monday and you were a Lady...

Burning the midnight oil, again. That being the case, my mind not might be functioning fully, but I figured I had enough of a good news update that I'd put it out there before I crash and bury myself in other stuff upon waking tomorrow. So here it is: I've finished my new feature screenplay.

It's not perfect, but, after brainstorming it and starting and stopping working on it for the last couple of months, I finished the first draft a few days ago; then I went right back and wrote a second draft, which I just finished this evening. One of the things I've had on my to-do list for the last few weeks has been to create a calendar of goals for the foreseeable future, and I managed to scribble one out in between my various gigs last week. I'm already behind schedule with the script, but I'm pretty much ready to declare that I will be beginning pre-production on the new film project within the next week with a goal of shooting in January or February. That means that things are going to start getting crazy busy for me again in the very near future.

I haven't not been busy all of this month, but all of the stuff I've been doing has been at a much more laid back pace since the madness of October (what with all of the Horror Works events I attended and wrote about). In fact, I've got another one of those tomorrow night; I'll be attending a play at the Geffen Playhouse, in Westwood, called "Play Dead". It's written by Todd Robbins and Teller (of Penn and Teller), and both friends and the media have been saying that it is a really great show. Fairly recently, I attended another play on behalf of Horror Works, which was not a "proper" horror show, but I still posted my review at Horror Works, here.

Beyond that, I've been doing my best to keep up with a fairly large backlog of content for Horror Works, which includes reviewing books and starting to profile LA horror artists; however, I have to confess, there aren't enough hours in the day. For many of the events that I cover, I take so many photos that they won't all fit with the articles that I lay out on the "official" site, so I create photo albums on the Horror Works Facebook page. And sometimes I cover events (like art shows) that I don't write articles for -- I just take photos of the artists and works of art and create albums to showcase and promote the events and artists. Within those photo albums, I try to tag as many of the people as I can, but, again, too few hours sometimes results in incomplete research and incomplete tagging. Anyway, here's a link to some of those photo albums.

All right, my brain is starting to mushify, so I'm gonna sign off now. Until we meet again, I bid you peace and good will!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Thursday, the coffee tastes good.

Hey there, kiddies!

I'm pleased to announce that there's lots going on in Dervish Land on this fine August morning. Let's start with Outtake Reel, shall we?

Not only is today the birth date of Ava Santana, star of Outtake Reel, but it is the day that The Horror Show TV announced that it has picked up the film for VOD distribution throughout the UK.

Pre-production on the musical film project The Orange Man: Adrift has been fairly intense. Regrettably, much of the content of that project is incredibly depressing material, and after having buried myself in it for several weeks, I am slowing down for the purpose of maintaining my sanity. But it's good stuff, folks!

The residual energy that I've had to dedicate to all things productive and horror has been re-routed to a couple of other things. I will be writing my second article for Fangoria on the legacy of EC Horror Comics. Russ Cochran had been working with Gemstone Publishing to re-print them in beautiful archive books, but stopped right after horror and comic book fans were sufficiently hooked. Now, Dark Horse is picking up where he left off, and I'm on the case!

The final exciting news bulletin is that after attending Scare LA, the first Halloween Convention in Los Angeles, I wrote an article and posted it on my new site, Horror Works. The site is intended to inform horror fans about the various goings-on in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Being as though there is a generous-size horror community here, I thought it was odd that there wasn't a centralized hub; so, I hastily decided that I should start one. Also, I love attending various horror events and writing about them, but sometimes the various horror magazines for which I write pass on my coverage of said events. So, through this new site, "I give them to you, the people" [spoken in a Henry Kissinger / Bane voice].

The site features a News page, with listings of various LA area activities for horror fans; an Articles page, which features -- you guessed it -- my writings about local horror events; and a Reviews page, which is currently the home of a doozer and an "under construction" sign.

Whelp, that should catch you up for now. Fare thee well, and don't forget to have a great day!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Wednesday at the end of July

And with the re-creation of the official Dervish Pictures website, I get to cross another thing off of the old "to do" list. It's not fine-tuned yet, and in fact there are some pages which I haven't tackled yet; however, it's a start!

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on new original music for my musical film project. Things are coming along very well with that. There have been some frustrations, much trial and error, and, ultimately, some significant steps forward in the project's development. The project, incidentally, will be a short, live action / animated film called The Orange Man: Adrift.

Apart from that, I will be attending and reporting on the first ScareLA convention on August 10 and 11th. The event will feature Halloween-themed artists, filmmakers, designers, panels, exhibitors, etc. And, unless one of the many horror magazines to which I am currently contributing is interested in my coverage, it will be among the exclusive articles that will grace the pages of the Dervish Pictures website for the purposes of informing and celebrating the Horror Community, of which I am a proud member.

I guess that's about it for now, so, until next time, y'all be good now, y'hear?


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Once upon a Saturday...

Ah, the things we do when we're desperate...

Because my car is dying, I just cleaned out its trunk. Within the depths of junk going back the eight years I've owned the car, I found relics from my days as a high school teacher, relics from the apartment that I'd shared with a cousin (which was back in 2002, meaning that the relics had been transferred from at least one prior car trunk [possibly two]), props from my various films, scraps of paper with sparks of ideas and jokes, dead batteries, live batteries, tools, video tapes, cups, blankets, various car fluids, a t-shirt, painting supplies, tennis rackets, rope, twine, bungee cords, etc.

In the production offices, I'm continuing work on the TITO documentary, writing articles for various horror magazines, gradually cleaning up the place (in general), and I've also managed to write some fiction that I'm planning on self-publishing through Smashwords. Finally, I'm about to submit TITO to two additional film festivals.

I guess that's about it for "feeding the blog" for now. Gotta try to keep it fresh!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Wednesday I'm back in "The Lab"

After a nice little trip to Boston, I've resumed my pre-production tasks in high gear.

While I was away, I took the opportunity to memorize the lines for my character in Tuning In, Tuning Out. I also wound up composing some additional music for the musical score I'm recording. How do I do this while on vacation with no instruments? I wake up in the middle of the night with a vision of a certain melody playing over a particular scene and I sing it into my voice note recorder.

Oh, I might as well mention that while I was on "vacation," I was also invited to contribute some more writing for the British Horror Magazine Diabolique. For those of you who don't know, this is a pretty prestigious magazine that is available at your local bookstores; the last article of mine that they published was about the making of Outtake Reel. Anyway, I am about halfway through writing my third article for them (the second is about nudity in horror films and is scheduled for publication in 2013); this article will concern children and horror movies.

Back in the lab, I've made a mold of my teeth (I was successful after two attempts) upon which I will sculpt creature teeth. Additionally, having received the postal scale that I ordered through Amazon, I was able to measure out the delicate balance of components to successfully mix up a batch of Silicone. As mentioned on the Tuning In, Tuning Out Facebook Page, the cracked plaster cast of my face needs duplication; so instead of casting my face all over again, I'm casting the cast of my face. And to do that, I needed to take safety precautions (goggles, mask) to avoid the harmful effects of the chemicals.

I've also been generally rounding up some of the miscellaneous props and supplies necessary for shooting - which starts next week!

Anyway, there's still plenty to do, so I'm gonna get back to my things before reporting to one of my "real" jobs at the tutoring center. If you haven't already done so, now would be a good time to help me out with ANY amount of donation to the project, which you can do here: DONATE

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tuesday I inserted Foreign Objects into my Body

Yes, it was a wondrous day! It was a day of joy and sorrow, but at least I got the sorrow out of the way early on. After traveling to, calling, and e-mailing four different eye-exam offices, I finally wound up going to Target's Vision Center to get sized-up for contacts.

I need a contact lens prescription in order to receive the Theatrical Contact Lenses that ExtremeSFX is donating to the production of TITO. I had never worn contacts before, and both putting them in and taking them out was very difficult. Finally, to get them out, I just thought, "Hell, if every man, woman, and child I know can do this, then so can I!" I wound up grasping onto my eyeballs and squeezing and shaking them to get the lenses off.

I also made a mold of my teeth. This is achieved by shoving a plastic tray of alginate (a goop-like substance) into one's mouth for about four minutes. I had to do the top and bottom separately; fortunately, the stuff has no taste. Right now, the dental stone, which will yield replicas of my teeth, is setting (hardening) in the kitchen.

So, first my eyes and then my mouth - two sensitive openings - were invaded by foreign objects and substances today. It's all part of the continuing adventures in making Tuning In, Tuning Out.

Coming Soon: My Fiberglass Adventure

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Tuesday, it's May...

I've been burning the midnight oil lately...mostly working on Tuning In, Tuning Out.

After finalizing a shoot date, I am pleased to announce that principal photography for my new experimental, horror, short film will take place on the first two weekends in June.

Make-Up artists Alondra Excene Shields and D'nelle Almanza came by and took a life cast of my face last week; I have just finished making the positive mold of my face, upon which I will sculpt the various appliances that will eventually wind up transforming my character into a frightening creature.

Images of this process, as well as the headshots of several cast members have been added to the Facebook Page that I started for this project.

I have also been working on creating a video to generate interest and donations for the production. It is a very unique presentation, insofar as such things go, and I hope that it allows me to raise the modest sum that I will require to make this project possible.

It should be done in a few days, so stay tuned!

Monday, February 28, 2011

And then it was Monday

One fine Monday morning, a filmmaker in the process of going through a divorce wakes up, looks around, and moans, "Ahh...here we go again." Yes folks, it's kinda like that. Regardless, the heart is still beating, so...

I'll post another classic Far Side cartoon for y'all, I'll pay my bills, I'll send out more Outtake Reel screeners, I'll take a walk, and I'll make a few tuna salad wraps for lunch.

Still waiting to hear if Outtake Reel got into Tromadance, still waiting on a decent amount of good reviews before I submit them (along with a screener) to various horror distribution companies, still waiting to "clean up" on Outtake Reel before beginning production on the next one...

Enjoy the day...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

About time, it's Saturday

Yes, comes a time, sluggish goes the way of postings... But here we are.

Yesterday my waiting finally ended - received a batch of the latest "master" of the Outtake Reel DVD from Jeffry, and I immediately mailed off 4 packages to various horror and cult reviewers. There are three more on deck, that I just need to package up, and they'll be good to go. Then one more to Lloyd Kaufman, for his Tromadance Film Festival (the only festival that I know of that doesn't charge an admission fee).

I also polished the latest draft of my newest script. I think it's a doosy! Thriller / horror is the genre, again. This is the one I wanted to be producing...well, heck, at this very moment, but other things delayed that. Still, I maintain enthusiasm that I will be able to produce it as my final attempt to make a zero budget horror film on the Left Coast.