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“I Don’t Know” Or How To Break Into The Biz

  • September 6, 2010 11:33 pm

COREY

Corey Miller has been interested in the entertainment business since he was a child, much to his mother’s (and often his own) chagrin. After holding an ungodly number of Production Assistant, Production Coordinator and then Writer’s Assistant positions, he got hired as the Assistant to the Show Runner on the television show “CSI.” After impressing his boss (i.e., bugging her until she relented), he got the chance to write a freelance episode. Later hired as a Staff Writer on “CSI: Miami,” he eventually rose the ranks to Supervising Producer. His other writing credits include the indie film “Border To Border” and episodes of the series “The Forgotten” and “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and recently sold a spec pilot to The Peter Chernin Company and Fox. He is currently a Writer and Co-Executive Producer on the upcoming ABC series “Body Of Proof.” Corey is not ashamed to admit that he is an L.A. native. He is one of the jurors for YOMYOMF’s INTERPRETATIONS Film Initiative.

As of this writing, I have almost been working towards or working in the entertainment business for half of my life. As scary as that is for me to think about, it does make me realize that I actually do know a lot about the strange machinations of the industry that has caused me to prematurely age, want to bite people, and frequently curse the fact that I am incapable of doing anything else.

So it continues to confound both myself and the usually fresh-faced writer/director/producer/actor/fill-in-the-blank industry neophyte when I am asked how to break into that same business and I answer with a very simple statement : “I don’t know.”  Read more...

cool old people

  • August 25, 2010 5:21 am

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Random Tips on Self-Distribution

  • August 16, 2010 12:01 am

QUENTIN

Quentin Lee would like to think he’s a part-time drag queen and and full-time hustler moonlighting as a filmmaker. He went to UCLA Film School with fellow Offender Justin whom he co-directed his first feature SHOPPING FOR FANGS with. Subsequently, he made DRIFT, ETHAN MAO and THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH which is currently in theaters in New York and opening in L.A. (Aug 27), San Francisco (9/3) and San Jose (9/3). He also blogs as Film Hustler. Today, Quentin gives tips on self-distributing your own movie.

For The People I’ve Slept With, I wasn’t originally planning on doing theatrical self-distribution because we have already made a basic cable sale and were on the verge of finishing up the rest of North American sales. But when the fall cable date pressed closer, I wasn’t sure that our potential North American distributor would do a theatrical so I decided to take it on as a summer job. I had originally planned only to do San Francisco, but when I got a New York date I decided to also do Los Angeles.

New York and Los Angeles are often the toughest and most expensive markets. But if you don’t show in New York, you won’t really be taken seriously. Showing in New York can also help you get into other markets.

So ultimately why theatrical distribution?  Read more...

Screenwriting is like Gambling

  • August 11, 2010 1:13 am

Since people often ask me about how I get writing gigs, I will describe the process of getting paid to write a screenplay and why it is often just like playing high stakes roulette.  As a caveat, the process I describe only pertains to film because TV is a whole different ball game.

There are basically 2 ways to go about getting paid for a screenplay – Speculative Writing (the spec script) or the Open Writing Assignment (OWA). 

A spec script is a script that you came up with on your own whether from an original idea, or perhaps you’ve actually gone out and purchased book rights or a person’s life rights. It is almost unheard of these days to pitch an idea for a script and get it sold before you write it (unless you’re a very big time writer with a proven track record).  So you go ahead and write the script on the hopes that someone will buy it after it’s finished.    Read more...

lessons all around us

  • August 10, 2010 10:23 am

I use to think that about what people around me could help me…100% of the time the results never served me,  as a person, in business, in life.  Disappointment always lead to anger and closed off eyes to the new.  Once I made the mental shift to how I may contribute to the lives of the people around me the surprising result was the people around me appeared to be a wealth of knowledge that contributed to growth personally, business, and an overall healthier way of life.  Read more...

What happens to a dream deferred?

  • August 8, 2010 12:56 am

My father says many things to me that become quotes in my impressionable mind.  When I was younger, one of my favorite father quotes was, “As long as that sun rises, there is always hope.”

But my favorite daddy quote was when I was 30 and decided I was quitting acting.  I had done my time in LA, suffered bouts of self-induced depression and self-imagined grandeur, and I was now past my twenties and still had to regulate myself to one real hair cut a year because that was all I could afford.  (I had stopped going to Super Cuts.  I could’ve placed a bowl on my head and had better styling results.  But I digress.)  So I quit.  I gathered my 15 closest friends in LA and had toasted to a good decade of LA living… onto a new life!  Read more...

Thank you, Sexless, Diaphanous Lady, for Changing my Life

  • August 6, 2010 3:35 am

It wasn’t easy telling friends and family I would be giving up a six year career in architecture to jump into the highly stable and respectable world of screenwriting.  “You sure, Alf, I mean, that sounds kinda iffy,” one friend said.  “Hollywood sucks,” said another.  “You don’t wanna be one of those guys who dreams of making it big then ends up jumping off the Hollywood sign a year later.”   Hmm, good point.  My mom, ever supportive and tactful, pursed her lips and said only, “Oh.  Okay, Chato.  If you’re sure.” 

But I wasn’t sure.  Not at all.   I’m a Virgo through and through – we don’t act capriciously.  We’re thorough, logical, and prudent. When I get gas, I wash my windows.  Front and back.  Every time.   So everyone knew there must be some kind of air tight rationale behind my move.   Read more...

family = :)

  • August 2, 2010 11:08 pm

1:45 am:

Can’t sleep, went for an easy 7 maybe longer didn’t have any gps gear.  The humidity is keeping me up at night.  I decided to put on my shoes and just go til I had to come back. Running has become my place of rest now.  My mind is  quiet when I run.  Thoughts calm to a thick and slow tempo. I got lost around mile 6- maybe. A couple of stray dogs chased me for half a block.  I’m faster than any homeless dog.  Fear also ads an urgency to ones step.  Read more...

World is For Play – Trailer

  • July 25, 2010 10:20 pm

I’ve been working countless hours on a bmx webseries project recently. I know its no excuse for my lack of blogging but my mind gets distracted easily these days when the paycheck is on the line. As I’m creating this from start to finish, I wanted to share my experience with you as this project has made me grow as a filmmaker. I’ve usually taken the role of a writer and/or producer on projects. But after I wrote and pitched the idea to the company, my producer asked me to direct it too. I figure after listening to the interpretation’s panel at the VC film fest and heard what the panel had to say, I stuck to their advice and “dared to fail”. Hopefully sharing some of these experiences of my journey will help any young filmmaker out there, especially any of you preparing to shoot their own interpretations entry.

I’ve learned that in trailers, less is more. Part of the trick, especially something like bikes and bmx, is to evoke emotion. And for a youtube video, you want it quick and fast. I didn’t have to explain the story nor did I have a deep-voiced dude saying some voice over. Instead, I turned something fast pace and high energy into something more epic and surreal. Stay tune as I’ll try to go over my journey with you from storyboarding to shooting four locations a day to the editing process as each episode launches. Here is the trailer to the 3 part webseries.

Enjoy!  Read more...

Indie Filmmaking in the Age of Terror

  • July 15, 2010 12:22 am

DOMINIC

Dominic Mah is a writer, director, and ex-professional gambler. He is currently editing a movie, a feature-length dark-comedy-type-movie. He also blogs about pop culture, girl problems, casinos, and Robotech at http://dommah.com/. Mispronounced in the right way, his name is a strong Vietnamese curse word.

I recently wrapped principal photography on a feature HD movie. Although it was exhausting, the shoot was remarkably disaster-free. So far in my filmmaking travels there’s nothing to compare to That One Time where we were almost shut down by the Department of Homeland Security (also the FBI, the LAPD, and the Fire Department). And hopefully, knock on applebox, nothing ever will. So I’m revisiting this fun and perspective-keeping story, which was chronicled previously in both my blog and an article by Offender Philip. (The very brief lesson of it is, DON’T park your unmarked white grip truck overnight next to a government facility during the Age of Terrorism, even if you have a permit to shoot there.)

MARCH 13….SEVERAL YEARS AGO.

…So it’s 6:30 AM Saturday morning and my phone’s ringing, I imagine it’s someone from cast or crew with some last minute crisis that will require solving before 8 AM calltime.

….Soooooo wrong. It’s the LAPD. An officer asks me if I’m renting a truck parked outside the Van Nuys state building (where we’re shooting this weekend). Yes, I am. We parked it there last night with all the grip gear because we thought it’d be safe. “It’s causing quite a stir,” the officer says.  Read more...

super hero

  • July 6, 2010 1:42 pm

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Making Asian American Films Is War!

  • July 5, 2010 12:39 am

Went to a couple of barbecues over the holiday weekend and it’s refreshing to be around people who have nothing to do with the industry, who know nothing about the workings of Hollywood and filmmaking, who love movies solely because they love movies and for no other reason (i.e. the partygoers loved Knight and Day because it was a fun diversion and didn’t know or give a rat’s ass that the hip thing was to hate on the movie because Tom Cruise is crazy or a Scientologist or over-the-hill or whatever negative thing he’s supposed to be).

A number of these filmmaking “civilians” were Asian American and were curious about my thoughts on the state of Asian American film. I’ve had a number of these sort of conversations in the past and what I’ve found is that the people asking the question aren’t ignorant. They know that Asian Americans face very real obstacles in this business, but I’m not sure they always understand the specific challenges in a real, non-theoretical way. So I’m always looking for the right metaphor that will help illuminate things clearly. Judging by the reactions I got this time, I think I stumbled on a pretty good metaphor so let me share it with you, our readers.

It was just something that came to me in the moment. Maybe it was because it was Independence Day and the Revolutionary War was on my mind or maybe it’s just the way industry folk love to compare filmmaking to war, but it was a war metaphor that popped into my head.  Read more...

that’s a wrap!

  • June 29, 2010 3:40 pm

5:13 am.  ”That’s a wrap!”  Last day on set feels like saying goodbye to relatives after spending a summer with them.  Indi films rarely feel like a summer vacation,  more like a suicide deployment to Afganistan.  There is a fine line between a good indi film and a horrible one.  You are at the mercy of so many things on a film, weather, locations, etc, etc.  With money you can buy your way out some problms, on a Indi film your currency goes as deep as your belief  in the film.  It’s amazing how far sincerity and belief in something goes.   However, there is a thin line between belief  and lunacy.  By the second week, people are way too tired, way under payed, way too sick.  Idealistic fervor is replaced with thoughts of regret and time waisted.  Think of it like a battalion of soldiers.  It’s nice a exciting when you start but you quickly realize the reality of not having enough of anything to fight a fair fight.  Read more...

Working with Prince

  • June 28, 2010 12:00 am

DHH

David Henry Hwang is a playwright who has been producing plays, musicals and operas for three decades. He won the Tony Award for his play M. BUTTERFLY and also writes for movies and television. After his previous blogs where he unleashed his Asian Shame and discussed his worst career moves (see here, here and here), he turns to write about something more…funky.

Growing up, I listened to lots of music, but the two artists who meant most to me were David Bowie and Prince. I discovered Prince through his 1980 album DIRTY MIND. See, back in 1980, there was black music, and there was white music. Period. I listened mostly to black artists cuz I imagined most of the white guys would just as soon beat me up as pick up their guitars. Unless they were British, in which case they might not beat me up cuz, I dunno, they had cool accents.

But Prince. DIRTY MIND. What WAS this? Kinda R&B, kinda New Wave. Kinda disco, kinda … punk? How was this guy managing to pull it off? The sound wasn’t black, wasn’t white, it was BOTH. Or neither. Whatever. It was totally new. And brilliant. So danceable. And … really nasty. I loved, loved, loved it.

From then on, I bought every Prince album the day of its release, scoured record stores for unreleased and bootleg tracks, followed each concert tour. I saw 1984’s PURPLE RAIN show in Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis — on Christmas Eve.

So imagine my groupie heart in 1989, when I opened PEOPLE Magazine to find a picture of Prince, coming out of M. BUTTERFLY, my Broadway show! Prince goes to Broadway? Who knew? He saw my play! Did he like it? How come no one told me? I could’ve been there! I could had like a … casual conversation with him. “Hey, Prince, how ya doin’?” Do people actually call him “Prince?”

Four years later, in 1993, I began hearing through my agents that Prince was interested in meeting with me. To talk about an idea for a stage musical.  Read more...

Leaving LA: An actor explores her options

  • June 26, 2010 12:05 am

I’m no longer an LA actor.  Let me share a moment with you why that is.

Waiting for your audition is like waiting for your turn at the county emergency room.

 

“What are you doing back here?”  I don’t quite know how I heard it. “What are YOU doing back here?” “What are you doing back HERE?” “What are you doing BACK here?”  All I knew was it was early 2008, the height of the Writer’s Strike, and I was sitting at yet another commercial audition waiting my turn to act the hell out of a one line double-take to camera.  Read more...

CARaoke!

  • June 25, 2010 12:56 pm

Every song brings you back to a certain memory in your life. New Edition christmas album reminds me of my childhood days. MC Hammer in middle school with my friends. Even Stevie B and the many mix tapes I would make for certain crushes in high school. But a tune or two always reminds me of certain gigs I’ve worked on in my freelancing career. I’ve had this idea brewing in my head for awhile since I love to sing in the car but we found someone who actually had it, karaoke in the car…or CARAOKE!

 Read more...

My First (and Nearly Last) Day on ‘Friends’ (Part 2)

  • June 24, 2010 12:10 am

LAUREN

Lauren Tom began her career at the age of 17 in the Broadway musical, A Chorus Line. She is best known for her roles in The Joy Luck Club, and Friends, but has also appeared in Men in Trees for ABC, and in the films Bad Santa, In Good Company, When A Man Loves a Woman, Mr. Jones, With Friends Like These, Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, and Manhood. Lauren’s voice work can be heard in the animated series, Futurama, King of the Hill, Codename: Kids Next Door, Teacher’s Pet, Rocket Power, Max Steel, Batman, Superman, Kim Possible, Baby Clifford, American Dragon, Mulan II, Penguins of Madagascar, and the upcoming Kung Fu Panda (the sequel) and Kung Fu Panda (the TV series.) Lauren is a Leo/Pig and is the mom to 2 Chewish boys (that’s Chinese and Jewish), and a Can Opener to a cat, a dog, four turtles and 13 fish.

Read Part 1 here. Part 2 begins as Lauren accompanies Michael McKean to Carrie Fisher and Penny Marshall’s big party…

As we pull up to the valet parking service in front of Carrie Fisher’s house, I hear music and laughter pouring out the front door. The house is a traditional style mansion behind a gated wall in Bel Air. Michael steadies me as I negotiate my platform heels on the uneven brick steps. At each landing, votive candles glow from inside paper bags. I take a deep breath and smell jasmine.

Michael pushes open the front door. I’m immediately surrounded by every famous person I could ever name. Waiters carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres bustle about. I look straight ahead and see Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Ben Stiller, John Lovitz, Jamie Lee Curtis. I look to my left: Martin Short, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, David Lander. Michael takes me, the invisible ant woman, by the arm, and leads me towards them.  Read more...

My First (and Nearly Last) Day on ‘Friends’ (Part 1)

  • June 21, 2010 12:23 am

LAUREN

Lauren Tom began her career at the age of 17 in the Broadway musical, A Chorus Line. She is best known for her roles in The Joy Luck Club, and Friends, but has also appeared in Men in Trees for ABC, and in the films Bad Santa, In Good Company, When A Man Loves a Woman, Mr. Jones, With Friends Like These, Catfish in Black Bean Sauce, and Manhood. Lauren’s voice work can be heard in the animated series, Futurama, King of the Hill, Codename: Kids Next Door, Teacher’s Pet, Rocket Power, Max Steel, Batman, Superman, Kim Possible, Baby Clifford, American Dragon, Mulan II, Penguins of Madagascar, and the upcoming Kung Fu Panda (the sequel) and Kung Fu Panda (the TV series.) Lauren is a Leo/Pig and is the mom to 2 Chewish boys (that’s Chinese and Jewish), and a Can Opener to a cat, a dog, four turtles and 13 fish.

It’s the summer of 1994. I am an out of work actress sitting in my home in the Hollywood Hills watching an episode of a new sit-com, Friends, on NBC. I seem to be having a mild crush on one of the characters, Ross. I distinctly remember thinking, “I’d love to work on this show. And I’d love to play my scenes with that guy. I’ll wait to see what his name is in the end credits. David Schwimmer. Got it.”

The next morning, I’m walking on my treadmill eating a Krispy Kreme at the same time, when my agent, Leslie Siebert, phones. “Lauren, I have a job offer for you.”

“A ‘what’offer?” I say, slowing down the treadmill.

“I know, it’s been awhile,” she says in a dry, flat, tone. Even when Leslie was a fledgling agent, she always sounded like she had seen it all, heard it all, and done it all before. Most people are afraid of her, including myself. “The producers of Friends want to know if you’d like to do a 6 episode arc on the show starting next week—playing Ross’s girlfriend.”  Read more...

stage fright

  • June 15, 2010 9:27 am

In fourth grade I was asked by a few friends of mine to join their break dance crew.  The crews name was the Gigolo Five.  With me we would be the Gigolo six.  Popping and breaking were at its height, movies like Breaking had come out and kids all over America had dreams of being the freshest, ill-est, dancer on the floor.

Now my moves were pretty fresh.  At least it was in my living room.  I would force my baby sister and my mom to critique my ‘Fresh’ routine nightly.  My sister thought I was Fly and my mom thought, well she felt all that spinning and centipeding on the ground wore down my clothes too fast.  It didn’t matter, if she didn’t like it, I knew it was because I was so ‘Off the hook’.  Read more...

FM’s First Offense

  • June 14, 2010 12:25 am

FAR*EAST MOVEMENT

“The Far East Movement is the name for our music, lifestyle, and our party. For the diverse music fan that hits up 3 clubs in 1 night, tuned to the racing scene and fashion, and back on the computer religiously checking blogs and sites for anything related to that.”- FM

Hello offenders! Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and DJ Virman all in front of our laptop while on the road. This will be our first offense. Good meeting y’all and happy to offend you. Wanna thank Justin, Anson and YOMYOMF for the opportunity to share our story. We’re far from professional writers so excuse the grammatical errors. Will just type how we talk and write freely to offend.

A bit about us…we grew up on anything that was on the radio or MTV ‘cuz back in the day we didn’t have blogs and torrents or access to a kick ass indie scene. Breaking into mainstream media thru music has always been our mission. We can remember back in 2002 when we first started recording and how we wanted to make music that didn’t need a statement; to us, music always felt like more than just a message, it was a feeling. But during that time there was a lot of pressure from our community to have a ‘statement’ and talk about stereotypes or social issues to the point that if you didn’t have a message, you were considered wack.

We started out by calling ourselves “Emcees Anonymous” because we didn’t want anyone to judge us for our color, “anyone” meaning all ethnicities, especially our own. But one night in our friend’s attic we recorded a song called “The Far East Movement.” It was about a new generation and lifestyle that bumped hip hop, alternative, house, pop and anything that sounded good without color lines, partied all night club hopping, and cared about cars, clothes n’ kicks. Basically, if you felt Fly like a G6, you were repping the Far East Movement.  Read more...