2010: The Year in Review

What can I say about 2010? It has probably been one of the craziest years of my life. Possibly, one of the best and most educational! Now, I know I leave my personal out of my blogs, and that isn’t about to change now, but let’s just say with my illness in February, which sucked, on the seriously bad down side, I also had a pretty damn good up side in my personal 2010.

And now, the big stuff! Looking back, I’ve worked in 4 States: Missouri, Illinois, Michigan and Louisiana. In those four states, I’ve worked on 6 Features, Reshoots for a Feature, 4 Short Films, 1 National Cable TV Program, 1 Commercial, plus produced the trailer for an up-coming Feature. Here’s the list as it breaks down:

The Frontier Boys – (Charlevoix, MI)-Grooters Productions – Feature Film – First AD
Joint Body –(Alton, IL)–40 West Productions – Feature Film – 2nd AD
Mil Mascaras: Venganza Azteca –(Columbia, MO)–Tritium Films – Feature Film –1stAD: Reshoots
Left Alone – (Chicago, IL) – Dark Yard Films – Short Film – 1st AD
All You Can Dream – (Grand Rapids, MI) – All You Can Dream, LLC – Feature Film – 1st AD
Using – (Bloomington, IL/Chicago, IL)–Phenom Features – Feature Film – Production Supervisor
The Bloodfest Club – (East Alton, IL)–Crunchy Cool Films – Short Film – 2nd AD
L’Ecole Culinaire Commercial – (St. Louis, MO)–Charter Cable – Commercial – PA
5 to Die For – (St. Louis, MO)–Food Network/Follow Productions – TV Program - PA
Witches Playground – (Alton, IL)–Dead of Night Films/ACE Films – Trailer – Producer
Zombie Hamlet – (Baton Rouge, LA)–Zombie Hamlet, LLC – Feature Film – KEY PA
The Door – (Baton Rouge, LA)–Upload/The Door Movie LLC – Feature Film – 2nd 2nd AD
Untitled Christmas Short – (St. Louis, MO)–Pascal Creative/ACE Films – Short Film – Producer, Actor
Surprise, Surprise – (St. Louis, MO)–Pascal Creative/ACE Films – Short Film – Producer

Now, I don’t believe that I left anything off, if I did I apologize and will update it IMMEDIATELY, just let me know.

I’m just so proud of the fact that I have worked so much this year. Rounding the days a little, my math puts me having worked on set or in the production office for prep or wrap over 135 Days this year. That is pretty impressive. The most I’ve ever pulled off. I really felt like my career, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, was working in film. Something I have been on the fence about for while.

Yes, I still work in the bar industry. So must give respect to my friends, the amazing staff at Bobby’s Place in Valley Park, MO. They have been amazingly understanding as I came and went this year, always being supportive of me chasing my dream, and more to the point this year, LIVING MY DREAM!

And a huge Thank You to all my friends and colleagues in the Film Industry who have shared their amazing knowledge with me, and continue to call me for work. I truly love you all. And to a special group, My Jedi Council, I thank you for referring me for jobs and giving me the chance to really prove myself even more this year. I hope I continue to make you proud, while you continue to teach me more each and every day.

Thank You Everyone for an AMAZING 2010 and I look forward to what 2011 has in store!

Thanksgiving 2010

So, what am I thankful for… Where do I start?

I am Thankful for my family who want to see me succeed, even if they don’t always know how to show me they are behind me. I am Thankful for the Friends who take the time to listen to me ramble, because God knows I do. My friends also take the time to support projects I’ve worked on, which makes me feel a LOT more important than I really am. I NEED to and could NEVER stop being Thankful for my amazing Network of Colleagues, some are closer to me as Friends and some further, but all of them have allowed me the chance to work so much this year. Which leads me to the fact that I am Supremely Thankful to be working so much, especially in such crazy economic times. Sure, I’m not going to be rich anytime soon, and need keep working to pay off what few debts I have, but I have worked more this year in my Career industry than any previous year so far. It’s hard to believe, but this year I have worked on 10 projects, in 4 different States, over the course of 9 Months, soon to be 10. I am very fortunate and Thankful for everything I’ve received this year and Grateful to those who brought me the opportunities. It sets the bar pretty high for 2011, but I’m sure this is only the beginning. Thank You All!

September Already???

Is it really September already??? Where the Hell did 2010 go? It is flying by and I’m not sure what has happened to all my time…

Well, I never planned to neglect my Blog for as long as I have. In my defense, I have been a little busy. In fact, I have been busier this year, than ever before. Let me try and catch you all up to speed with what has gone on this year so far…

Of course, January had me traveling back out to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. It’s hard to believe this was my 11^th year working Sundance. I know I posted most of my adventures, but my reviews still need to go up.

February just might have been one of the worst months I have had physically. I came down with some really bad flu bug, and was down for about two and half weeks. In that time, by laptop died, needing to be re-formatted. I had to start over and reload software. There was A LOT of catching up I had to do in order to recover from that. To round out the month, I got food poisoning which lasted the last 3 days of the month. That will teach me to eat late at night from a gas station.

Now, March came in fast and hard. With a last minute phone call, I was whisked away to Charlevoix, Michigan for the month to work on the Feature Film, ‘The Frontier Boys’. After my 11+ hour drive I jumped straight into my job as 1^st Assistant Director. It was certainly a challenge as my first day was day eight for the shoot. I had a lot of catching up to do, but we had an amazing cast and crew to help everything finish on schedule.

While in Michigan, I had a few offers come my way, but I decided to return home and work on a film shooting in Alton, Illinois, ‘Joint Body’. It was Brian Jun’s (‘Steel City’, ‘The Cover Up’) Third Feature Film. After a little crew juggling, I served as the 2^nd Assistant Director. I got to work with several friends and colleagues, and return home to sleep in my own bed every night. The down side was I had about an hour drive every day, if not longer. It was a quick, short shoot, but took me through April after a few down days.

May seemed to slip away. I had a few weeks of down time. I spent my weekend working at Bobby’s Place (my friend’s bar) and trying to regroup. I did travel to Columbia, MO to work on the re-shoots for my friend Aaron Crozier’s feature film, ‘Mil Mascaras: Aztec Revenge’. It was only a few days of shooting, but definitely fun. I served as the First AD on the re-shoots. Plus, this got me down to Columbia, MO where my brother owns a new bar, 1839 Taphouse. If you get a chance, drop in and check it out.

June took me back out of town. I started in Chicago, working as 1^st AD on the Short Film ‘Left Alone’ with Cinematographer Pete Biagi and several friends and colleagues. The shoot was predominantly nights, but a lot of fun, except for the serious storm we had to avoid getting blown away by. The day after wrapping the short, I left for Grand Rapids, Michigan to 1^st AD the Feature Film ‘All You Can Dream’ with several of my Michigan colleagues. The film was a true challenge, but I survived. All I’ll say is NO more pigs!

I made it back to St. Louis for the 4^th of July, but didn’t have much down time. Within 72 hours of getting back to St. Louis, I was off to Bloomington, Illinois to take a job as the Production Supervisor on the Feature Film ‘Using’. My Key Set PA from ‘Leading Ladies’ a year prior was serving as First AD and asked me to come help him smooth the production out. The project was built as an apprenticeship project so about 2/3 of the crew were students and recent graduates, while 1/3 of us were working professionals helping teach while we worked. I was amazed at how quickly the crew learned and how great we all worked together. Now, the shoot had a number of challenges, but we saw it through, even with two days of shooting in Lincoln, IL and a week of shooting in Chicago.

August was supposed to be a month to work on some of my own projects while regrouping and collecting myself. Well, I did get to focus on my own projects for a bit, but I did serve as Second AD on the short film ‘The Bloodfest Club’. It is the precursor to the feature of the same name, and the next major project of Crunchy Cool Films (Hooch and Daddy-O). It might have only been two day of shooting, but we all had a lot of fun. Especially for me, getting to ride a 4-wheeler almost all Sunday.

And now, we are into September! What does this month hold in store for me? I can admit I have received word of a few possibilities, but I’m still in a slight holding patter while things get worked out. And of course, if you have not heard, I am set to produce a few projects, including the werewolf Feature Film, ‘Hallow Pointe’, with Bobby Ray Akers, Jr. directing. I’ll be sure to post more often and keep you all up-to-speed with how things continue to move forward.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back for more news… The way things are shaping up, there will be some good stuff ahead…

Thank God It's March!

So, February was probably one of the worst months of my life. I won’t bore you will all the little details, but here are some of the highlights of the shenanigans:

Got back from Sundance on January 31 and by February 3 was starting to get seriously sick. I’m pretty sure it was the flu. Which one, I don’t know, but still the damn flu. And I had my flu shot.

Next, just as I recovered and was ready to get back to work, my computer decided it was finally done. After all the years of service and at least one previous owner, my poor laptop died. I was smart enough to start transferring files off as I saw the end coming, but sadly not everything was saved. In my world, even one file lost is too much. Now I did go have my laptop checked out, formatted and the operating system reloaded. It just set me back because I had to reload ALL my software, which required calling each company and having my licensing codes reset so I could reactivate all the programs… YEAH! The major fact that sucks is that I still have not managed to re-sync my iPhone to the “new” computer. I just hope I get that figured out ASAP, and without having to erase that as well. THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN!

And the last big ass kicker was ending the month with a terrible case of food poisoning. That really sucked and was incredibly painful!

Now, there were other little things throughout the month, but no need to bore you…

I know you are itching to know what I’m up to now in March. Well, aside from cranking out a few copies of a DVD for client, I have been packing all day because I’m rolling out tonight… That’s right! Michigan here I come! Over the weekend I got offered my first Feature Film of 2010, ‘Frontier Boys’. I’ll be serving as the First Assistant Director. THANK YOU AGAIN MATT CORRADO!

Now, I will be back in St. Louis at the end of the month, but for now… I have to go. A long drive awaits me! Oh yeah, and please don’t think I forgot about my Sundance wrap up blog and the reviews of the films I saw during the fest, as well as a few new sites I’m launching. Now that my computer is back and running, I will get everything caught up… But as the saying goes: When it rains, it pours! So stay tuned, everything will be going up soon!