On Janis Joplin

Love, Janis is in previews here. Finally. Some friends just saw the show in dress rehearsal, loved it. Mayor Newsom proclaimed July 7 Janis Joplin Day in San Francisco since it's here where Joplin's career exploded in 1967 down at Monterey.Big Brother played all around the Bay Area thanks to Bill Graham. They were often booked along with blues & rock legends like Muddy Waters, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and QuickSilver Messenger Service.
The first time I heard Janis Joplin was on my roommate's old "Hi Fi" in college, so it had to be awhile after Monterey when Columbia picked up Big Brother and released Cheap Thrills---I kept my vinyl: Cheap Thrills, 'Kozmic Blues', and Pearl.
What I didn't know until yesterday is that Joplin was an art major, drawing through high school and a bit at UT in Austin before dropping out to sing. The Hotel Monaco hosted an art show this weekend of her work and that of Grace Slick's. I always loved Grace Slick's singing voice, when she stopped singing, Slick picked up a paint brush. She's paid homage to her friend Janis with multiple portraits. There were wonderful vintage concert posters, album covers, the feather boas Joplin wore onstage and on the cover of Pearl. I sort of teared up when standing in front of the Cheap Thrills framed print, a feeling of nostalgia no doubt. I enjoyed reading the scribbles Joplin wrote about her subjects, she was intelligent with a great sense of humor. And some of her letter excerpts help give a perspective of a young woman who wanted to do something big---and she did. For reasons we'll never understand in the big scheme of things, living her great dream lasted only a few short years. More on Love, Janis after I see the show next week!

On Edge of Outside . . . TCM Looks at Indie Filmmakers

Turner Classic Movies presents a documentary saluting indie filmmakers who work(ed) on the edge of Hollywood. The month long festival starts today July 5th and features such film greats as Arthur Penn and John Cassavettes.

Lily Tomlin On July 4

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Lily Tomlin remains one of the most brilliant storytellers in the world, JMO. Here's a funny creative clip off her official web site. Click Here To View Video

On Lloyd Richards . . . American Theatre Pioneer

Lloyd Richards, one of the most influential pioneers and champions of American Theatre died last Thursday on his 87th birthday. Richards brought the works of unknown writers Lorraine Hansbury and August Wilson to Broadway. He nurtured Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang among others. Richards served as Dean of the Yale School of Drama, artistic director of Yale Repertory Theater and the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut. He lived his great dream doing what he loved doing and helping others realize their own great dreams. (Photo Don Hogan Charles, NY Times)

On Gone With The Wind

Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind was published by MacMillan 70 years ago today. A year later in 1937, Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize. Note: The title is taken from the 1st line, 3rd stanza of an Ernest Dowson poem."Nom sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynare": "I have forgot much Cynara! gone with the wind." I remember staying up all night reading GWTW as a kid and never wanting the story to end. Later, I attended the same college not far from Atlanta as Aunt Pitypat had---in her day, it was called LaGrange Female Academy."Mitchell sold the film rights to David O. Selznick for a reported $50,000 and later received another $50,000. Gone With The Wind premiered on December 15, 1939 in Atlanta, Mitchell attended the opening. The film won 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture. I think it was around 1998 or 99 when the film was re-released on the big screen, it is the only way to watch this epic version of an even more wonderful epic novel. In 1947, Margaret Mitchell was crossing Atlanta's Peachtree Street and fatally hit by a car. I always think of her when travelling along Peachtree Street.

Dilbert On Oprah

Click on Title Above To View Dilbert On Oprah

On Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

Find a porch, a comfortable rocker or glider, pour yourself a tall glass of ice tea with a sprig of mint in it and breeze through Fannie Flagg's new book this summer. You can always depend on Flagg to weave a wonderful story of wit and charm told through the Southern voice. From the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, and Welcome to the World, Baby Girl . . . I can't wait to get a copy of Can't Wait to Get to Heaven!

On Cinema Paradiso

Watch for the re-release of Cinema Paradiso this summer. Originally released in 1989, this version has new footage. A sweet delightful film for any movie lover with great dreams:

On An Inconvenient Truth

Thanks to producer Laurie David and company for helping Al Gore bring this message to all of us, quite simply our planet will not continue to sustain the number of people living here:

On Making Quincenera . . .2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner

A year before the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Quincenera didn't exist. It's pretty amazing what can happen in one year! Now a Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner, this small feature film makes it's theatrical release in August thanks to Sony Classic Pictures!

See the highlights below from a recent article by Peter Bowen in IFP's Filmmaker Magazine about how Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland made Quincenera.Info shared by the film's producer Anne Clements is also included. (Todd Haynes is Exec Producer by the way). All involved are experienced filmmakers who wanted to break-out and do their own indie film.

For all indie filmmakers seeking to bring-in a low-budget film shot on HD, take a look at the full article or read through the entire Spring magazine. The cover feature interview with Robert Altman is great and Altman shot A Prairie Home Companion using 3 HD cameras.

Since I am doing some early PR/communications work for filmmakers of a low-budget indie film being shot on HD with 2 cameras, I just heard about some of the behind-the-scenes production-related panic around filming in HD---the early raw footage of this particular film shoot is gorgeous, I attribute this to the cinematographer and the HD experience even though not much about HD is standard at the moment. I thought the info below might be of interest to others in your quest to make a low-budget feature under $1M.

Here's some keypoints on the filmmakers' approach to Quincenera & their production budget:

• developed a film style and language appropriate to the story & budget
• thought of movie as a doc with scripted performances
• mimicked a real home video of a quincenera shot-for-shot
  
• used the British "Kitchen Sink" drama model (poetic realism) and influence of Ozu's style
  
• wanted to shoot film fast and light with some improvisation
• made it very local - shot on location "under the radar" in Echo Park
  
• used non-union/non-professional actors, friends of cast were extras
  
• experienced the "makings" of a Quincenera through their neighbors in Echo Park
• knew investors who were likely to fund their movie - (immigrants, made their fortunes, into the family aspects of the story)
  
• got a handshake deal without a script ($300K)
  
• shooting budget $38oK
• wrote the script in 3 weeks
• completed within 1 year
  
• overall budget after: postproduction/film transfer, Sundance/Berlin festival expenses (w/cast travel) landed at $700K
  
• 60-person crew (everyone Clement's "adored") - non-union/union working outside normal classifications ---> gave more responsibility --- it was a 'young' crew
  
• Fed them well/threw great kick-off party and wrap party
• Everyone worked for $100 - $150/day
• Long shoot-days: 6-day weeks for 3 weeks
• Crew and non-Sag Actors interview process: "If you don't like the script, don't do the movie."
• Major problems/reworks with HD postproduction workflow -- find a house that has mastered the HD workflow process
• Distributors at Sundance: did not know how to market/position the film - 3 weeks after Sundance, Sony Pictures Classics bought it
• If their next film does not bring a large enough budget for them to live on, the filmmakers will probably be back making another "Kitchen Sink" movie
  

On Coming Home

It's Memorial Day. The front page of the SF Chronicle heralds Barry Bonds 715th Home Run surpassing Babe Ruth's 714th, this story pretty much consumes the entire page with a nice large color photo of Bonds. Two side story headlines read "Revering those lost to wars" and "Iraqis flee as killings increase" while a third story covers the second part in a series on school resegregation in San Francisco. Turner Classic Movies is showing a classic WWII film called The Longest Day with an all-star cast including Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Peter Lawford and a host of other top-rated actors from this generation.

In contrast, here's a trailer from Coming Home, a film that depicts the effects of another war that we did not need to fight. Released in 1978, Coming Home was produced by Jerome Hellman, directed by the late Hal Ashby with a screenplay by the once blacklisted Waldo Salt. Coming Home proved to be a labor of love by all involved in the production. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Waldo Salt (original screenplay from a story by Nancy Dowd) won Academy Awards.

On Sunset Boulevard

The first time I saw Sunset Boulevard years ago was on"Saturday Night At The Movies." It took a few more years before one of my dreams came true and I made that first drive out Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson played Norma Desmond an aging (50) and once shining star now forgotten and cast aside by the Hollywood system. Interesting that Sunset Boulevard came out in 1950 and I am pretty sure Swanson made her own brief 'comeback' with this film at the age of 50. I've always loved William Holden---never thought of him as a great actor, maybe because it came easily to him, he was a great star and enjoyable to look at on screen. Holden made some wonderful films in the 50's, among them another favorite, Born Yesterday. Take a look at the Sunset Boulevard trailer:



I loved Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Sunset and feel lucky to have seen the original London production with Patti Lupone. Lloyd Weber fired Lupone later and replaced her with Betty Buckley. Buckley must have been an amazing Norma--- on my next trip to London, I bought tickets to see it again, unfortunately Betty Buckley's stand-in played the role so I never got to see her in "Sunset." Did get to multiple Betty Buckley concerts where she performed two or three of the shows signature songs---stunning.

On Magic . . . never believe it's not so!

<----Click on the movie screen. Magic seems to be everywhere. I am constantly amazed by the creative spirit. Take a look at this Starburst comprised of 81 parachute canopies. Enjoy!

On Tap Dancing

Here's an enjoyable though fuzzy looking film clip of Eleanor Parker and Fred Astaire tap dancing in the 1940 classic Broadway Melody, just click on the movie screen to view! Introduced to tap dancing at age 5 as a "dancing buttercup" in Miss Bagley's Kindergarten Class, I soon found myself watching Shirley Temple movies on television and dreaming of learning how to tap dance like Shirley. Mama brought home Shirley Temple paper doll books for my entertainment. (Once I'd cut Shirley and her outfits out of the book, I never really enjoyed paper dolls). After the "dancing buttercup" period, Mama enrolled me in Virginia Dell's School of Dance where I remained through the third grade. I took up dancing lessons again in high school, years later while living in Washington, DC, a group of friends and I took a tap class. Honestly, I am not a very good tap dancer and usually forgot the routine steps---though I do admire and love all of my dancing heroes!

On A Prairie Home Companion

What fun! Last night the 49th SF International Film Festival closed with A Prairie Home Companion to a packed house at The Castro. You can always count on Robert Altman. With guest appearances by two members of the ensemble cast, Lily Tomlin and Virginia Madsen, the screening ended with a terrific Q&A. Lily Tomlin has been one of my heroes since the Laugh-In days and over the years I've never missed her one-woman shows--always brilliant and generous with her audience and her colleagues, last night was no exception. She and Meryl Streep play the surviving members of the singing Johnson Sisters, playing off one another and with one another throughout their scenes together, their chemistry and fun-loving spirit sparkles on screen. Tomlin told the Castro audience that she took singing lessons for several months before the shoot and still told Altman she was concerned about her singing badly, his response was something like 'then don't sing.' Kevin Kline ever splendid and funny. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly hilarious as Dusty and Lefty, two cowpoke trailhands singing every bad joke you may have heard or a few new ones written by Keillor, who also wrote the screenplay. Virginia Madsen talked about not knowing what was going to happen with her character the Angel and that she'd just walk about the set, sometimes directed by Altman and then pulled off because it wasn't working. She said she hung around the set each day sitting on the first row in the audience watching because she just couldn't leave, it was all too much fun and wonderful. A live radio show in a movie. Perfect. A Prairie Home Companion was shot on location at The Fitzgerald Theatre (the sight of the radio show). There are multiple great scenes as the action takes you on stage, backstage and down to the dressing rooms. Exceptional scenes include the ones between Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson as they sit in front of the make-up mirrors reminiscing and talking with Lola played by Lindsay Lohan ---a tribute to classic Altman filmmaking and a triumph for Streep, Tomlin, Keillor and the rest of the cast. A delight.