CloseUp: 'The Dogs Of Kings' in development

Tomato Production's latest film is current in development. The preliminary budget and schedule are being revised, locations are being scouted, and investors are being contacted.

After years of hiding and rebuilding their lives, a ring of thieves reunite when a crime boss uses one of them to find the group and retrieve a stolen artifact. On the cracked backroads of the desert, friendships are tested, loyalties are broken, and the true nature of the boss's power is revealed.

"The Dogs of Kings" is a low-budget feature-length ensemble crime story. It was written by Lynn Harrod and is currently being packaged for production. To inquire, please contact us at one of the email addresses below, or visit www.tomatoproductions.com.

Lynn Harrod - lynn@tomatoproductions.com
Olga Matlin - olga@tomatoproductions.com
Nathan McCoy - mccoy@tomatoproductions.com

All About the Oscars

By Lynn Harrod

The Oscars (the Academy Awards) are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence in the film industry. For those of you in film that may not know, the award ceremony is one of the most watched awards ceremonies in the world. Here are some tidbits you might not know about the Oscars. For more information, visit www.oscars.org.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in May 1929 at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. It was hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director
William C. DeMille. The latest (80th) ceremony was held February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. It was hosted by comedian Jon
Stewart. Despite the valuable screen time, movie studios are strictly prohibited from advertising films during the broadcast.

THE ACADEMY

Founded in May 1927 in Los Angeles, California, AMPAS is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy is composed of over 6,000 motion picture professionals, including filmmakers from 36 countries around the world.

In addition to the Oscars, the Academy gives Student Academy Awards to filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level, and awards up to five Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting annually.

LIBRARY AND STUDY

AMPAS operates the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California, one of the world's most extensive and comprehensive research collections on motion pictures. The library holds more than 32,000 books, 1,800 titles of periodicals, 60,000 screenplays, 200,000 clipping files, 30,000 posters, and various advertising, including over 8 million photographs, sheet music, music scores, sound recordings, production and costume sketches, artifacts, and oral histories.

The Academy also runs the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood, California which will expand to include The Museum of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to open in 2012. The collection includes over 100,000 items, covering some 70,000 individual titles.

ACADEMY MEMBERSHIP

All AMPAS members must be invited to join. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees. Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination or a member may submit a name based on other significant contribution to the field of motion pictures. Although winning an Academy Award usually results in an invitation to join, membership is not automatic.

New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does not publicly disclose its membership, although past press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join.

Academy membership is divided into 15 Branches, representing different disciplines in motion pictures. Members may not belong to more than one Branch. Members whose work does not fall within one of the Branches may belong to a group known as "Members At Large."

Academy Branches

* Actors
* Art Directors
* Cinematographers
* Directors
* Documentary
* Executives
* Film Editors
* Makeup
* Music
* Producers
* Public Relations
* Short Films and Feature Animation
* Sound
* Visual Effects
* Writers


THE STATUETTE

The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit. Made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg) and depicts a knight holding a sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians.

OWNERSHIP OF OSCAR STATUETTES

Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for $1.00. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. This rule is highly controversial, since it implies that the winner does not own the award.

OSCAR CONSIDERATION

Today, according to official Academy Awards Rules, a film must open in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles County, California, to qualify. The film must be "feature-length", a minimum of 40 minutes, except for short subject awards,
and it must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print or on 24 fps or 48 fps progressive scan digital film print with native resolution not less than 1280x720.

The members of the various branches nominate those in their respective fields while all members may submit nominees for Best Picture. The winners are then determined by a second round of voting in which all members are then allowed to vote in most categories, including Best Picture.

[www.oscars.org]

CloseUp: Mindfill Entertainment

Mindfill Entertainment is a company devoted to the San Diego arts community with an emphasis on Film and Music production. Our intention is to create a strong, lucrative industry locally by networking artists and their services.

We hold events, showcases, talent shows, art exhibits and live performances at various venues throughout Southern California.

Currently Mindfill is teaming up with Mario Ortiz of Cinema Verde, Ryan Norr of San Diego Audio Visual (SDAV), San Diego Film Makers Group, Kristina Meek of The A-List, Barrie Kaufman of Cornfed, Daniel Jaure of 7/7 Photo, and North Park's The Ritual Tavern to help create and promote a strong united creative community.

Contact
http://web.mac.com/wilson1122/
www.myspace.com/mindfillent

ARTWIST EVENT


"DAY AFTER THE REVOLUTION"
Commercial for feature film


"INFATUATION"
A short film by William C. Wilson, Jr.

Getting an Actor, Manager and Agent to all work together

By Brent Mather

Can you explain how an actor, manger and agent all work together?

First let me preface my remarks: I am not a lawyer and all my comments are from my experience as a SAG Talent Agent, from what I know of entertainment law and practices. Some of the information is fact and some is informed opinion.

To answer this question let me first define each role. I’ll skip to the agent first:

A Theatrical Talent Agent (booking agent) takes bookings for entertainment industry jobs; primarily union affiliated productions. Their primary job is to receive casting calls for the actor and to make sure the actor gets the information they need to arrive at their auditions. Additionally, it is the agent’s privilege to facilitate the signing of union contracts between the production company and actor or in depended lawyer or on the actor’s behalf. By law talent agents are bound to a 10% commission on a union job. Strictly speaking, it is not their job to solicit work for, or to educate their clients or to develop an actor’s career. Agent's cannot produce productions and are not supposed to manage their clients. Agents will bend those rules if their client is making a significant amount of money for them.

Agents would love to do nothing more than sign contracts all day because that’s all they get paid for. But that is not reality. Agents mostly do submissions all day and coordinate phone calls and auditions. As a rule, agents don’t like managers because, generally a manager’s influence overrides theirs with the actor.

The key is that any agent will sign a working actor when there is a deal on the table. The reason people feel that it’s hard to find an agent is because they don’t need one, and don’t understand what an agent does. Finding an agent is the easiest thing in the world if you have a deal.

Agents don’t like explaining these roles to actors. In my experience, this lack of communication causes serious expectation problems between agent's and their clients.

For non-union work agents are not needed. As I have discussed more work is going non-union with the decline of SAG this redoubles the tension between managers and agents because non-union work is up for grabs between them.

What qualifies as non-union? Anything that is not affiliated with SAG or AFTRA, meaning most work on commercials and music videos.

A Talent Manager’s job is to take raw talent and turn that person's aspirations and turn them into a successful career both artistically and economically. Managers are prohibited from “acting as a Talent Agent”. Managers are not bound to a specific union and therefore are not bound to a set of rules or laws. Managers can produce, educate, coach and promote their clients. They typically settle for 15% but some go to a much higher percentage, especially for new talent.

Finally, actors go without saying. So how does the actor get the deal? Well, that’s the trick.

1) An actor builds a career through commercials
2) They get lucky and meet the right person on the street (or a relative)
3) They make a move from another career, ex. Modeling/Sports
4) They get a manager who tells the right things to do to promote their career and helps them and educates them.
5) A student filmmaker does something unique with them…

Then they have a deal and they get an agent. Eventually, the actor will move on to a larger agency and do another deal etc…

So, how do they all work together? There is not a clear cut answer to that. Traditional arrangements are changing and the older institutions don’t have the same validity as they did in the past. Right now, it’s not clear that there will be a union industry here in Los Angeles at all in the future. Or more likely, it will adapt somehow. The actual arrangement that people come to today generally depends on the personalities involved and the types of jobs that are in the offing. Ideally managers do what agents cannot and agents do what managers cannot.

[Brent Mather Swan may be contacted at http://brentswan.com scriptmonkey@earthlink.net. Brent Mather Swan is one of the most innovative producers working in Hollywood today. He is applying the accumulated knowledge of a Screenwriter, a SAG Talent Agent and a Talent Manager in his current project The Stardust Film Festival.]

15 Must-Have Freeware Programs for Filmmakers

With all the pricey cameras and equipment, filmmaking isn't exactly a hobby that screams "cheap." Lucky for all you free stuff-loving geeks, there are some options available that can help you make the most of your creative impulses.

Many shareware and freeware programs for film editing, screenwriting, sound editing and storyboarding are available for minimal or no cost on the Internet as alternatives to more expensive programs that might do damage to your budget. Here are a few freeware and shareware programs to help you save a few bucks and still make a film that can "wow".... [continue]

CloseUp: Overlooked Productions

Though Overlooked Productions is based in Kansas City, Missouri, much of their work is done in the L.A. area. They specialize in film and video production. What sets Overlooked apart from other companies is their start-to-finish production capabilities, with an emphasis on pre-production to create a mental picture of the overall production. No detail is overlooked.

Overlooked Productions was founded by Chris and Ryan Knitter, brothers who have grown up in Southern K.C. all their life. Chris graduated from the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood, California in the Spring of 2003 with a concentration in Cinematography and minor in Editing. Ryan is finishing his undergraduate studies at Central Missouri State University, where he majors in business. Both Chris and Ryan have worked in film and video production for over 10 years and plan to continue for many more years to come.

For more information, photo galleries, and a look at their short films and music videos, visit www.overlookedproductions.com

Below is their music video, "Blackberry Pie," for the Los Angeles band, Wall Of Tom.

Creativity is King in the World of Independent Film Production

By Michael P. Connelly

A creative mind is a low budget filmmaker's most valuable tool. It all starts with an original thought; from there it is all about nurturing that thought until it grows to be a brilliant idea. After that it is a matter of getting that idea made into a movie using every ounce of energy and resources you can possibly muster up.

Most of the successful films that are showing at film festivals these days are movies that were made at a fraction of the cost that it takes to make a major Hollywood studio film. Advances in technology have made it so that just about anyone can make a movie. Film cameras, video cameras, sound recording equipment, and just about any other kind of equipment that one needs to make a movie can be purchased at very affordable prices these days. The equipment that is available these days can provide a very low budget movie with a production value that looks like James Cameron had something to do with the project. This professional look coupled with a unique story can help any film's chances at being accepted into film festivals like Houston Worldfest, Cannes, Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, etc...

Try as they might, the major Hollywood film studios will never have a monopoly on creativity. They spend millions of dollars on marketing research in an effort to figure out just what it is that the film-going audiences of the world look for when they go to the movies. Despite all of this effort, they still have not come up with a formula. The tastes of people who go to the movies are as hard to predict as an earthquake is, for the pattern changes all the time. Because of this fact, the door is left wide open for the creative types of the world to enter the game. All they need to do is come up with a unique idea that they can transform into a movie, enter their film in festivals like Sundance and then let the judges decide. While the big studios have tried to take over the film festival circuit in recent years, it is still the little guys with the small, yet creative films that are King in that realm.

It does not cost as much as you would think to make a movie that can be entered in contests like the Sundance Film Festival. Sony is about to release a line of High Definition camcorders that are perfect for anyone who wants to make movies on a shoestring budget. While movies made with these cameras will not be shot on "film" (like movies have been since the beginning), they will (almost) look like they were. These new cameras will be able to give a high quality image that is comparable to the image that film provides. The two camcorders are the PDW-F330 and the PDW-F350, and they offer all sorts of film production features that even the most film-loyal professional filmmaker must respect. Both cameras offer true 24P recording in both SD and HD, interval recording, and slow shutter recording to name a few. The F350 model also offers true variable frame rate recording capabilities which are also referred to as the "slow motion/fast motion" features.

Features like these are very valuable to anyone making a low budget movie for it allows them to include motion effects in their films without the use of an expensive film camera or a high priced film lab. Both of these cameras will be on the market in March of 2006. The F350 will cost about twenty five thousand, while the F330 model will only cost about sixteen thousand dollars. A PDW-F30 deck will be available in June for about nine thousand. These are small prices to pay to be a self-sufficient independent filmmaker.

A low budget filmmaker can invest in a relatively low-cost HD camcorder and deck and have everything they need to make as many movies as their mind and body can crank out. All they will need after that is a creative mind, a few thousand dollars, a few ambitious friends for their actors and crew, some script writing software like Final Draft, and an iron resolve to make a movie. They do not have to worry about the high costs of film stock, film processing, or film-to-DVD transfers. All they will need is their camera and a $30 disc (23.3GB) and they will be set to film an entire movie. Buying discs for a camera is a lot cheaper than buying film and all the financial baggage that comes with it.

Once they shoot their movie with one of these cameras, a low budget filmmaker can go right to their computer with the disc and start editing it using one of the many affordable editing programs that are available these days such as Final Cut Pro. They can do all of the post production work for their movie on their home computer, as long as they are willing to shoulder a mother load of work responsibilities.

Technology has allowed independent filmmakers to bypass many expensive steps in the filmmaking process. Instead of paying a bunch of people hundreds of dollars an hour for film services that are only available in cities like Hollywood and New York, they can now do all of these steps in the comfort of their own home on their own computer.

For anyone who has ever had a dream of making their own movie, there is no better time than now to make it happen. The playing field has been leveled in terms of technology, but you still need a creative story to get anywhere on the film festival circuit. The affordable equipment can get you on the field, but you must bring a good game to win. A creative mind is your best player in this game, so if you have that part taken care of you are halfway to making your film vision a reality. Nurture your creative idea until it becomes a unique script and then dedicate your life to making this script into a movie.

If your idea is as good as you think it is you will do quite well on the film festival circuit. If this happens it could lead to a decent distribution deal for your movie. If you stick with it and continue to make films you may even find that you have made yourself a career as a professional artist who makes independent films, and that dreams really can become reality.

[Michael P. Connelly]