The Gist 27: Bad Habits
For the love of filmmaking
In the middle of all the chaos that is running an upstart studio, especially one centered around emerging technologies, there is always something that reminds us why we do this…and this week it was Johnson City’s 52 Film Fest - a marathon event in the spirit of 48-hour Film Festival but with like…4 more hours.
52 Film Festival
Writing, editing, and producing a film in 52 hours is a marathon. It feels impossible, and yet every year, we somehow manage to pull it off. This year, I was honored to be part of the team at Wheely Good Productions led by Jordon Clem in Johnson City. Even ‘lowly’ crew positions allow us to view the art from angles we might not normally see in the editing chair or behind the camera. The reality is that every position is absolutely essential, and any failure in the chain can be catastrophic for the final product. Secondhand Habits battled impossible filming conditions (hear the audio in the first half) and a tricky runtime for the drama category, but I’m proud of what we pulled. H/T to Ash Stokes (my talented kid) for her performance that only continues to improve with every project she does.
Special shout-out to our own Joshua Lively, who does SO MUCH essential work at Gestalt Media, who served as AD on this project.
Document and Report
Self-Scare has taken a long road to get where it is, but I want to assure everyone we are still very much on track. Full transparency after viewing all of the interviews and really considering the message and how to deliver this project the most effective way, there was only one choice: rewrite the script. All of the interviews are staying; in fact, they’re so important that the framework around them had to change to give them the right light. We worked for months on getting the original style to work and just wasn’t hitting. I refuse to put out anything subpar, and the decision to keep the current edits but replace the narrator section with a live interview style to better explain the scientific portions, I feel, really elevated the material and gave it the edge it needed to be taken seriously. We are in the process of inserting those sections and getting this thing off to the presses.
For the book portion, query letters are being sent out, and I’ll be sure to update everyone with the responses we receive. Thank you for your patience. I really feel like it’s going to be more than worth it.
Lessons from Horror
If you saw the videos for the Lessons from Horror series, these will very much continue. Distilling the knowledge we learned from researching Self-Scare into actionable, relevant videos for the times we live in seems like an important and almost essential action to take right now. We are working with a proposed collaboration from a very respected press to bring that to a broader audience. As soon as I know more, I’ll share it. Until then, I will continue to post these videos on the weekly updates, which WILL be weekly from here out and on our YouTube channel in longer form for those who love the nuts and bolts of how this theory works.
Virtual Insanity
Cryptid begins shooting in May. We’re monitoring the landscape of Meta, Vive, and other VR providers as they pivot to wearables for their main focus. Gestalt Media….I am laser-focused on bringing theatrical, virtual reality film to the public. I am confident the infrastructure will be there when we arrive, even if we have to build some of it ourselves.
Stay tuned, and as always, thank you so much for your support. We’re building something great here, and that takes time.
The Gist:
52 Film Fest in the bag. A great way to experience filmmaking in fast forward.
Self-Scare: Script re-write and re-edit. Much better presentation.
Self-Scare: Book queries on their way.
Lessons from History: Launching, hoping for a very strong partnership.
VR: Ready to shoot Cryptid and make this push.
"And once you realize that you can do something, it would be difficult to live with yourself if you didn't do it." - James Baldwin
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