More On Learning Production Through Making Films

Last time I talked about preparation before stepping out on  your own to make your own movies.  There are some books out there that can help you with the legal stuff.  Don't ask me about it.  I only know enough about the law to know that I'm not qualified to give advice about it.  Do everything you can to keep yourself, other people's property, your cast and crew safe.  A lot of that has to do with common sense, like not running around in public brandishing weapons without permits to shoot and closed streets, etc.

In "Death Plots" there is a scene where a group of thugs stop my character at gun point on what looks like a public street.  It was actually a private road, well out of sight of the public that I gained access to through a regular at a bar I worked at.  He essentially owned that intersection and the surrounding area.  One of the reasons you'll want your first movies to be simple and "smaller" in scope is because of a simple rule: If you can't afford to do something safely,  you can't afford to do it.
Keep that in mind when you write something.  There are things I'd love to do with a bit more realism in my movies, but often times, safety constraints force me to make concessions.  The axe throw in "Jack vs Lanterns", for example, is a special effect instead of an actual throw.  It was  a cardboard axe, which when actually thrown flew back at me.  A heavier prop could have been dangerous, so we compromised and did the best we could.  The "speeding car" segment was shot on a public road.  There are vantage points on that road specifically intended for photography.  All we did was turn the camera around.  The car was not speeding at all.  I cranked up the speed in post and added some engine noise for effect.  The trick here was to not have any scenery or camera pans that would give away the increased footage speed.  Our pyrotechnics were all courtesy of stock footage overlays.  From muzzle flashes to explosions.  Things like that require a lot of money and expertise to be done safely.  Leave it to the experts at places like Detonation Films and use After Effects or some other program to integrate the footage safely.

In some sequences you may notice a more realistic smoke or spark from the gun. These were accomplished in "Lumber vs Jack" and "Jack vs Lanterns" by using a cap gun.  None of the guns on my sets are remotely real. They don't even fire standard blanks.

Alright, enough on the safety lecture,  you get the point.  So, write  your script to include action, but as little true danger as possible.  

Recently, even though I have been making movies for years, I find myself writing things "down".  I'll come with an idea and then start to scale it down in order to simplify it for myself and the few people I get to work with.  This is because I'm working on other things and keeping films simple allows me to have a life, but still make movies.  So, when starting out, I suggest you try to do the same.

Assume you have made the leap and at least at this point have access to a camera, a sound recording device, basic lights and either the Creative Cloud or something other prosumer video editing software.  Now, all  you need is a script and a cast, locations and time.  Maybe costumes and props.  This is where keeping it simple comes in handy.  Do you live in a basement apartment?  may I suggest that this becomes your location?  Lots of things can happen to people in their homes.  Keep it simple.


Do you have a collection of vintage dolls? Dolls can be creepy.  Maybe work with that.

Do you have a friend or three who really want to act?  Write to their strengths.  In other words, if  your friends are all 30 somethings, don't write in a 65 year old Professor or Vietnam War veteran and ask your friends to play the characters.  If they're not great with memorization try to scale down the dialogue.  Is one of them a nursing student? Great! Give her a lot of lines with medical jargon you barely understand.  It will add authenticity and she'll be able to rattle the terminology off at a speed that makes your head swim.

I would keep your first few movies down to two or three characters.  One character vs an unseen threat can be even better.  For simple shorts with small casts  check out any of the "Alien Vengeance" shorts on my Amazon Landing Page.  Actually, most of my shorts keep things pretty simple.  "Shelter" was shot in one day, as were most of the shorts on that page.  (I think "Onyx Origins" was spread out over three, but that involved two remote locations and quite a bit of chroma-key and miniature work.)

Remember, the key is keeping it simple.  In "Shelter", the action all takes place in my garage.  The same garage "Alien Vengeance: First Encounter" takes place in.  In both movies the casts were small.  The running times vary from 5 minutes to 20.  "Shelter" is a bit of a longer short, but it involves historical context, character building and an emotional edge all leading up to the kind of ending that really makes it seem like "Act I" of a feature film.

Anthology T.V. shows are  great idea generators for short sci-fi and horror movie shorts.  "The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "Monsters" and "Tales from the Darkside" all give great examples of how to build a story around scares, tension and a small cast of core characters on a budget.  Don't lift stories from them, but do watch to see how they set up characters and situations and "resolve" situations in what is often a 22 minute running time.

When you make these "limited" shorts concentrate on the things you can control.  Learn how to work with your actors to get the best performances.  Take time in setting up lighting and interesting shots.  Maybe try to work in one "spectacular" effect.  (I'm always pretty happy with the monster in "AV: First Encounter" when we finally show it.)  But most of all, hone the story telling aspect of shooting.  How do shots lead into each other.  Did  you get all of the points you wanted to across successfully to an audience that wasn't privy to what  you were trying to convey?  If not, what could you have done differently?  Can you cut exposition and get the running time down? (There are  12 and 20 minute cuts of "Onyx Origins".  Both tell a full story, but one contains less humor and set-up.)

In the end, a few of these will add up to a lot of learning and later on, these will be the "easy" productions you use to keep "fit". Sort of filmmaking workouts between features.

Now, get out there and make a movie.

BONUS: A look at a super affordable, pretty serviceable audio recorder to get you started.

Thinking of starting your own production business?

A friend of mine posted a video about what actors should consider before making the jump to L.A. and it struck me that there were some things I did before I decided to start doing my own productions more "full time".  If you follow my blog you know I've gone back to a "day job" sort of lifestyle in recent years.  It's more of another business, but something more stable and slightly more lucrative than filmmaking alone.

This is just ADVICE. Whether or not it applies to your life is up to  your best judgement.  None of it guarantees success (I mean, you're taking advice from a guy who drives a 24 year old rust heap of a Jeep), so take it or leave it at your own risk.

Anyway, it was a long time ago, but the principles will still be the same.  Really, it comes down to money.  I'd suggest making several short "weekend" films before diving into a feature. Even with those, work on making each one larger in scope before venturing into a feature movie.  If you can, start with one character and one location like we did in "X-24".  Then, still keeping the movies short, move up to more characters and perhaps more than one location.  Perhaps add outdoor and/or nighttime shots to work on your lighting.  Use these films to get a feel for what you're comfortable doing  yourself, what equipment you need to own and what  you'd like people you work with (such as a sound recordist) to bring with them.

I wouldn't suggest venturing off on your own in order to make a feature as your first film, but it might be a good time to decide to take a vacation. If you're lucky enough to be able to get everyone scheduled for the same 10 day to two week period you may be able to pull off a small opus with a bit of consistency.  Shooting most of  your days in a shorter period certainly helps with continuity and with keeping cast and crew involved.  A movie that takes six months to film can see people gain weight, change hairstyles drastically or even relocate. (Life happens.)  If you're still not comfortable doing a feature, but tired of only having short films, consider doing an anthology.  Find something that relates  your movies and either use a  host or wrap around in order to bind them together.  My first 3 larger movies were all Anthologies hosted by a character I created just for Debbie Rochon. "The Lunar Pack" was the first and it was all werewolf stories.  Then we moved on to "Death Plots", which deals with the Grim Reaper and finally "All Wrapped Up" is a group of mummy movies and incorporated Debbie's character, Misty, into a story that takes place 4000 years in the future, indicating the immortal nature of her character (established previously in "Death Plots").  These movies allowed me to make feature length presentations while keeping my casts and shoot schedules for each segment under control.  We shot most of the shorts over a two or three day period.  (The first werewolf movie we shot in two nights at two locations with only two characters.)  But we ended with movies ranging from just under 60 minutes to over 2 hours.

So, lets's say that you've decided that you do want to give making movies for yourself and others a shot.  This is where the saving, spending and planning for moving to L.A. crosses over with your business prep.  Make sure you have the basics of your equipment purchased or attainable.  Camera, audio and editing equipment should be at your fingertips.  If you're renting, be able to rent them even when clients are scarce.  Have health insurance either paid for, through a spouse or parent or planned out.  Car paid off, six months of rent and bills (including your pets' care and vet bills) set aside, demo DVDs or Blu-Rays at the ready and a marketing plan set up.  Have your website ready to go online.  A social media presence either built on your previous movies or ready to launch.  Pay off your credit cards and try not to be carrying student loans anymore. (We paid off everything but our house before Hocus Focus Productions went "full time".) I do wish I had built up a better marketing plan first.  This falls under you learning from my mistakes instead of making them yourself.

Here is the video from Michelle Tomlinson, thespian and acting coach, about prepping before taking the leap to move to L.A.

To Script or Adlib, Minisodes and YouTube

It's probably pretty obvious if you have visited my YouTube Channel or This Is Space Force, that I often adlib the shorter videos I produce.  Lots of improve and stream of consciousness going on there.

I do this for a few reasons. First, I usually have the concept for my YouTube instructionals and T.I.S.F skits living inside of my head for quite awhile.  I'm "writing" them during yardwork, eating, red lights, etc.  Of course, none of this gives me the opportunity to actually "write" anything out.  Second, I like the natural flow that stream of conscious gives my YouTube videos and I think the awkwardness adds to the humor in TISF.  ( I may be alone in that.)
 Third, I often shoot multiple videos at a time.  It's easier to shoot when I'm inspired and find a few moments if I don't have to memorize rigid scripts beforehand. My studio is usually a light change and seat movement away from being able to shoot either of these types of episodes now.  One of my small cameras lives down there. Memorizing key points, like in a speech, is much quicker than memorizing an entire script, especially when you've lived with the ideas for a few days before shooting.

The new problem I'm facing is that now I want to include other people in the T.I.S.F minisodes.  For one thing, it's making them longer, which I like.  But the other thing this will require for most of them, is a script.  The actors will need to know what they're signing up for and not everyone I'll be working with is an improv master.  In fact, I'm not.  I'm terrible it at.  The difference between adlibbing and improvisation is that with improv you need to anticipate and react to the other actor.  I can barely do this in regular conversations with real people, no less with trained professionals while trying to get a political idea to be funny.

I've been trying to script out a half dozen This Is Space Force minisodes, but they just don't read funny.  They're kind of stilted and definitely paced differently than previous episodes.  I guess with doubling the cast size, that should be expected.  So, I'll need to keep working on that.

The good news is, although we only have 99 "likes" for the page, we  have surpassed 101 "followers", so we will be launching Commander Guy Ramrod into space this week!

See you over at the page, gang.

Comment below with topics you'd like "This Is Space Force" to tackle.

Prepare or Pounce? "This Is Space Force"

Recently President Trump announced the historic creation of a sixth branch of the military, the "United States Space Force".  Naturally the kid in me was super excited to think about laser blasting space ships protecting earth from giant meteors and flesh eating aliens.  The creative in me wanted to do something with this idea.

Of course, the whole world wanted to joke about or make a movie about the idea of  "Space Force" and when I checked IMDB I had found that a TV movie had been in made in 1978 titled "Space Force" and a film was announced in development "Space Force: The Sixth Branch".

Anybody who has ever made a movie or Television show, or any performance art, really, will tell you that preparation is the number tool to get you to a great end product.  Fortunately, I sort of live this advice day to day, so that when something like this comes up I can pounce, while still being somewhat prepared.  And thus, "This Is Space Force" (T.I.S.S.) was born.

You see, I already had a space suit.  It was on sale and I worked in a Halloween store.  I had a space helmet (several) and I own blue and green screens (sort of) .  I have been collecting NASA and public domain space footage as well as shooting miniatures for "Alien Vengeance" movies FOR YEARS.

First day I had photos and a phone shot video produced.  By the third day I had a Facebook page set up to get the title name in place and three more 1 minute video skits (of varying quality) produced and scheduled to publish.  I hope to shoot two or three more this weekend.  I'm needing to squeeze these in between day job work and classes, but the time is now or never on this project.

Meanwhile, I'm setting a tone for what I hope to be a popular web series of short episodes where the space force characters actually do things.

So, I pounced.  I could have done more if I had taken time to prepare, but the "newness" of this is already wearing off.  The world moves fast nowadays. You've got to be ready.  Whatever your genres of interest are, keep a closet full of props and playthings.  I won't have to search for spaceships or aliens or monster suits to make ThisIsSpaceForce season 1 happen.  I'm hoping some of my friends will want to participate as cast members and do cameos.  We'll see how my "networking" over the course of other movies has worked. I plan a "This Is Space Force" and "The Simplest Things" crossover for the end of "The Simplest Things" 3rd season.  Meanwhile, during all of this, I still have a lot of marketing and promotion to do for "Jack vs Lanterns" in order to get that movie to pay off and justify the third and final feature.

So, please watch, share and follow "This Is Space Force", rate "Jack vs Lanterns" on Amazon Prime and give the "The Simplest Things" a watch so I can keep having an excuse to buy endless costumes and build paper spaceships.

Amazon Video Direct Channels - What Do You Need?

Basically, I started talking about Amazon Channels because someone asked me why I didn't have one.  I remembered wanting one, but there were a few reasons I don't yet have one.  I discuss the basic reason in this previous post.  After that Vlog, someone asked me more questions, so I decided to look it into more deeply and found more reasons why a "little guy" like me may not have a channel.

The requirements of 200 separate titles OR 50 seasons of a series (or multiple series) seems like a pretty goal, especially at my stage of life.  Rather than just write it all out here I made another video.  After all, you can read Amazon's guidelines is reading the basics is all you want.

Also, take a look at "Jack vs Lanterns" on Prime Video while it's still Included with your membership for summer viewing.

And search for my titles at Midnight Pulp to find out which of my movies you can see

truly FREE with that new service.

Want to learn more about indie filmmaking?  Head over to the BCinemaTV Talks Podcast to hear interviews with people in the business.

If you, or someone you represent, would like to be a guest on the Podcast

or interviewed for our Cult Goddess Magazine Blog

please contact me through our website:
http://www.hocusfocusproductions.com

Why Don't I Have An Amazon Channel?

Someone asked me the other day why I don't have an Amazon Channel.  I had planned on one.  It was a goal for awhile, but the short answer is, they keep moving the goal posts and I haven't been able to keep up.  The long answer...is in the video below.

Here is a video about the way the targets moved last time I tried to get a channel approved.

See "Jack vs Lanterns" on Amazon Prime for a limited time.
Jack vs Lanterns: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DMF2B27

When Wearing Many Hats, Life Can Get Confusing

I recently attended the wedding of an actress I have worked with a few times.  I have always considered her a friend, but mostly my wife and I only see her when we're working.  This is likely due geographical differences to a degree, but it made me hesitate when people would ask, "So how do you know the couple?"  The answer, "We're friends" didn't seem specific enough and "She was in a couple of movies I made" makes me sound like I make more well known movies than I do.

I've never been one of the great "friend makers".  With me the places I would meet people were school and later work.  When I started working mostly for  myself I didn't interact with many new people on a regular basis.  Casts and crews would come and go.  Most of those people I would consider friends, but I never know how to gauge whether that feeling is reciprocated.  And when I am friends with actors or crew members it can make it tough to know when they're helping because they like a project or when they're doing me a favor they'd rather not, like  helping me move a refrigerator.

So, those two hats, filmmaker and friend, are already a problem.  Add to that the property manager hat, podcast hat and all of the hats I have to wear to keep Hocus Focus Productions running, and at any given moment I have to decide which job I'm working and which one I'm not.  I find it easier to break it into days so that I can get a groove going, but that's not always possible.  I sort of miss having a regular "day job" (and I'm looking at remedying that) where someone else makes a schedule for me every two weeks.  I found last October, while doing retail work, that having those immoveable blocks in my schedule made me better at managing my other time.  You would think the loss of free time would make things harder, but it really just helped bring things into focus.

For instance, right now I'm writing this blog while waiting for it to be time to log onto BCinemaTV Talks and interview Thomas Ryan about "The Theater of Terror Anthology".  I also sort of "double booked" myself as I have someone coming to do work around the yard.  He's a great guy and won't ring my doorbell since he knows I record on Wednesdays, but I should have timed this better.

I have guests at the cabin, so I need to talk to them later today and right after the interview is over I'll be making copies of the "Jack vs Lanterns" DVDs for the cast, and you, if you'd like to buy one.  (Please want to buy one. )


I have to promote the upcoming landing of "Jack vs Lanterns" on Amazon Prime, shoot an informational VLOG for my YouTube channel and eventually mow my back lawn because it's starting to look like a jungle out there.  Meanwhile, I have started taking some night classes (or I tried to, but the first class was rescheduled).  I'll talk more about that if it works out, but it would be me putting an old hat back on. One which I've missed for quite awhile.

So, if at any time you talk to me and I seem out of it, please, remind me which hat I should be wearing.  Are you talking to me as a director, property manager, cleaner, landscaper, blogger, vlogger, podcaster, salesman or friend?

Thanks in advance.

Change is Not My Strong Point

A lot of people might think that my reaching the very middle of middle-aged is why I'm so much like a dinosaur that hates change, but the fact is, I have never liked change.  It takes me a long time to become comfortable with people, a situation or just about anything, except a dog.  Dogs I take to right away most of the time.  Sometimes more quickly than they would like.

But, I digress.  When it's for work and a new situation comes up I usually adapt pretty quickly, but inside I'm hating it.  And in today's climate change comes hard, fast and often.  Most recently, the very simple software I have used to print on my DVD faces for years has become obsolete in my household.  I never do fancy Disc faces from the home printer.  I leave those to the On Demand companies that will be selling the bulk of our DVD-Rs.  For my cast, crew and the few people who buy directly from me, I do a simple text on white printing.  Clean, easy to read and a bit of a collector's item if the movies ever find popularity because they'll be from the "short runs". Also, there's plenty of white space left over to autograph if you run into a cast member.

I recently had to replace my tried and true printer of many years.  Ink was becoming too difficult to get and the print head is slipping.  The new machine does so much that I find it annoying.  It's wireless, so loading it manually means I get a lot of exercise because it's in a different room.  I'm fat.  I can use the steps.  Switching trays from paper to disc is like working with Legos or some other kind of connecting building block.  But the part I really hate is that it will not recognize my old software.  All of my old disc face layouts are defunct.  I have to learn new software, which gives me less control over fonts, sizes, colors, etc and leaves me feeling "bleh" about the result.   Normally I realize that the hatred for something new is a character trait and not the actual fault of the new device or software, but in this case, I'd like to know why I had more control and options with my ten year old, outdated software than I do with this new interface.  Why am I being forced to go backwards?  Why have options been lost to me?

This happens a lot with graphics and editing software.  To make it more accessible to everyone, they take away features that only "advanced users" wanted, but there's no advanced choice that I know about here.  Normally I would be glad for things to be made easier, but this just makes them boring and makes it more difficult to match the DVD to the cover, which I'm pretty happy with, BTW.  I did have to relearn this printer's sizing idiosyncrasies for the case overlay. I always include a border to make cutting DVD covers to size easier.  On first printing, this didn't print the border at all.

Next month I get to play with all of these things for the Blu-Ray.


I'd say next week, but I have some other major life changes coming  up that I'll be looking forward to until I'm going through them.  That journey starts Tuesday, so I'm trying not t stress about it at least until then. (Not entirely working.)

This may look a bit oversaturated on your screen. 

That was an adjustment to help it print brighter.

I Admit It. I'm a Bit of a Cheap B*st*rd

There is a line in "Jack vs Lanterns" which has Jennifer Wenger's character, Jody, shouting at Jack that he's a "cheap bastard!"  When coming up with my first sale gimmick for the DVD-R of the movie, I decided to capitalize on this line, much like I did with "Stopped Dead" and Joel D. Wynkoop's recurring line that "There's a bathroom on the RV" and the "Alien Vengeance" trailer tagline, "...and Tentacles!"

I had the covers for "Lumber vs Jack" professionally printed.  This, of course, meant that buying in bulk brought the cost down.  It also left me with quite a few printed covers and posters (had them done at the same time) left over.  Once a movie is out for awhile sales shift from my website to Amazon and other platforms.  In fact, as a time saving device, I generally let DVD sales, except when I have a promotion going on, re-direct to CreateSpace or Amazon in order to save me from having to do print  on demand from my home office.  I save those DVD-Rs for appearances, which I don't do many of after a movie's first year out.

Being the "cheap bastard" that I am, I hate to waste the covers, even if they were less expensive because of how many I bought.  I also want to make sure that as many people as possible who watch "Jack vs Lanterns" do so after having seen "Lumber vs Jack".  I think the movie can stand on its own, but some of the jokes are going to land better if they have seen the first movie.

So, using that catchy line, the idea of giving away something for free, saving myself and my buyers on shipping and using the old cases to sell new product, I came up with the "Cheap Bastard Pack!"


Both features, all of their extras on two DVD-Rs, in one case for the price of one.
Available just by ordering "Lumber vs Jack" from the website while supplies last.
http://www.hocfocprod.com/lumbervsjack

Authoring and Marketing and Bears. Oh My.

Well, no, not bears.  That was "Indiscretions".  But on "Jack vs Lanterns" we're  up to the point where the movie is finally finished and I have to move in to getting it out to the public.  For a lot of filmmakers this would mean hitting festivals to try and drum up some buzz.  For me that would mean spending more money on entry fees and waiting longer for the movie to start paying off.  This movie has been in post way too long for me to wait another year to start selling it, no less adding another 25% to the budget spent on very unsure entry fees.  (It's not really a "festival baby" kind of movie.) Add to that the fact that the cast is scattered to the four corners of the country (well, three) and very busy, so lining any of us up to be present at conventions or festivals means we would have to get into some very specific shows.  If any conventions want to host us after it is available for public consumption, I'll gladly work with them the best I can, but my impatience is showing here.  I do think a panel on the still sub-$5k feature would be helpful since so many people now try to raise more than that for shorts.

So, that moves me on to getting the DVD authored, the cases designed (we usually have two separate designs), I worked on a Blu-ray version and of course we have our VOD files being reviewed.  The reason I have two DVD case designs is simple.  I go with a higher ink consumption design for the discs available through CreateSpace.  For the ones that I'll be printing on demand here and for the cast I go with a design that uses high contrast on the back. where the description is.  Also, it's easier to use CS's designs since they'll be adding graphics after the fact and inevitably it will overlap with something in my design no matter how much I follow the downloaded templates.  (I swear they move that "DVD" box every few months.)  Both versions are DVD-R, but the ones I make myself are generally only available for a limited time because I eventually get burned out on making them in small batches.

High Contrast Back panel for in-house DVD-R case.

This time around I also tried something new.  Blu-ray.  A lot of the movie is just gorgeous and I want people to be able to own it in HD, not just stream it that way.  But, up until now I have only used BD-R's for screeners.  No menus.  No extras.  So, I foolishly believed the disc could hold the 25GB advertised and that the files were the sizes they said they were.  I had the brilliant idea to fit both "Lumber vs Jack" and "Jack vs Lanterns" on one Disc.  With loads of extras.  And in the initial set up it looked to be working.  I kept track of the memory the whole time, but after the encoding, the numbers all shifted up and the disc wouldn't burn because there wasn't enough room.  I started cutting content. This took two days partially because there were a lot of menus involved and I also tried more compression on some of the extras.  In the end all I had left was "Jack vs Lanterns" and a blooper reel from "Lumber vs Jack".  I was pretty disappointed.  So, there may be a BD-R version available, but it probably won't have as many extras as the DVD, which I don't like.


Now I'm in the waiting game.  I'd love to give an official release date, but with closed captions for 1hr and 45 min of movie waiting to be proofed by Amazon and knowing that they may think my rating is "inappropriate", I don't want to give a date until all of the files are approved.  I should know more by mid-week.


My question now is, how do I get the word out?  How much do I spend and how much do I try to do with press releases and teasers?  How do I keep the message that this is a monster movie with a retro tone rather than a blood and guts gore fest or an edge of your seat horror film?  The movie is finished, but the work isn't near done.  And these aren't my favorite tasks.

Catch the original On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/v/hocusfocusproductions



Thoughts and suggestions in the comments would be great.

First Looks and Exclusives for "Jack vs Lanterns" !

It's good to get things first.  As the director and producer...and writer...actor and extras...special f/x guy and whatever else needed doing for "Jack vs Lanterns", I have access everything first and so I made some videos exclusive to places I'd like people to see them.

First, head on over to the "Jack vs Lanterns" Facebook page  to see an exclusive clip from the movie (not currently available on YouTube), featuring Karianne Nobles and an early look at one of the "monsters".

Then, point your clicker on over to BCinemaTV, where yours truly co-hosts a podcast, and scope out the first teaser trailer for the movie.  You'll find a link to their Instagram there.  Follow that to get "Jack vs Lanterns" updates and news about some new media I'll be working on the second half of 2018.

Frame capture of Karianne Nobles from "Jack of Lanterns"

Keep watching this space, gang.  DVD, Streaming and possibly Blu-ray (R) news coming soon.

New Art and Cool Actors

As a reader of this blog, especially if you've seen any of my unedited posts, you have probably noticed that I am not much at typing.  I do it all the time.  Partially for a living, some may say, and yet, I find myself having to correct a lot of mistakes.  I blame short fingers and a lack of concentration.  Largely, I get two or three words ahead of myself as I tend to compose and type as I go.  I'd blame my wrist injury from three  years ago, but that's mostly healed and I was a pretty lousy typist long before that.

Anyway, that makes me a bit leery when it comes to typing out credits.  Actors really like to have their names spelled out correctly.  I mean, for most of them, my getting their names and faces on the screen is a large portion, if not all, of their pay.  So, when the third render and export of the finished "Jack vs Lanterns" had a typo at the very end of the movie, I was a bit..."miffed".  I was  hoping to move onto the DVD Build, but that wasn't looking too promising.  It would be another few hours of rendering and exporting video and as my readers know, Spring into Summer is the busy time for my "day job".  I have a few social obligations coming  up, and as an anti-social (except when I'm standing behind a bar) kind of guy, those use up a lot of my energy.  Pushing this movie a few more weeks back after nearly two years may not seem like much, but to me it was a weight I really didn't want to deal with.

So, I emailed the actor, pled my case and within a few moments got the coolest response ever.  Read this bit of trivia that let me off the hook.  I just want to say that Micah Christein is one cool guy.  Very talented too.  He's nothing like the asshole character he plays in "Jack vs Lanterns".  In fact, I had him slated as a possible for a different role, but the fates changed that.  I guess that will be another piece of trivia down the line.

THE ART!

I'm still awaiting approval from IMDB, but I hope to have this up as our primary photo there soon.  It's a bit of a work in progress, but the layout has been in my head since the beginning (much like the "Lumber vs Jack" monster carry poster was always what I wanted to shoot).  Since this mock-up I've cleaned up quite a few things mostly only models and graphic designers will notice.  That's roughly 50% of my friends and family.  

I give you the first "poster" for "Jack vs Lanterns"! 

Rough Draft of what will likely be the Amazon Art for "Jack vs Lanterns"

There is a slight chance that I will have to make some changes for Amazon.  They don't like weapons to be the primary focus of a poster, but in general, I find that they allow a gun to be a prop like this.  Pointed straight at the camera may cause a bit of a problem. We'll see.

By the way, if it looks a bit like an  homage to a 70s TV show with a monster in the background, that's not an accident.  Jack takes a bit of a back seat in this sequel (Don't worry.  I still swing an axe here and there.)  I thought all of the phone calls and information sharing he did with the real heroes of the movie harkened back to my days of playing Bosley when the neighbor girls wanted to be the Angels.  The fact that there are three here is a happy coincidence.

I hope you're all looking forward to the movie.

Like many sequels, it's even sillier than the first, but I think a fun time.
If you haven't seen "Lumber vs Jack" yet, it's FREE until the end of May on Amazon Prime.

After June 1st you'll need to be a member or pay for it.

More on Day for Night.

If you follow my YouTube channel and the "Jack vs Lanterns" page, you've likely seen me do some talking about relighting things in post.  It's not really "easier" and it's a "digital trick" I've tried to avoid in my movies up until now in keeping with my retro style, but sometimes it's a necessity.

A shoot we did at a house once, in 3D, a camera captured some light from a room that gave away the time of day, so I added a shadow obscuring that room entirely.  It was very helpful.  You can't really use the feature to fix a scene that isn't lit at all (it can make terrible a bit better, but not good), but you can take an over lit scene and add some mood, color and depth.  It's much easier with a static camera.  When you plan for it, the post process will be time consuming, but reasonable.  I don't suggest shooting with an eye for digital lighting unless you've used it a lot and there is no way to get the lighting situation you want in camera.  Lab Day on "Jack vs Lanters" was a good example.  I lit it cleanly for the blue screen.  Adjusted lights to make sure the actors looked their best and then tweaked everything in post.  Colored gels in a small bluescreen room don't work well, so post lighting was the best choice for efficiency and effect.

We talked about that in this video.

Other situations are thrust upon  you.

Due to schedules I had ONE night at the cabin to shoot the scenes with Christina Daoust and Brewier Welch and because of the mountain location I had what is a strange situation for a filmmaker.  We weren't losing the light fast enough.  It was well past what I would consider night time, and I'm sure it was getting dark in town, but up on the mountain, it was still pretty light.  I wanted to get their two shots in before some extras arrived, so I shot as soon as the sun was basically down.

Deck Scene as shot with Fog F/X added.

I actually liked the sort of "dusky" look of it, but when cut with my footage shot at "true night" in other locations that were being intercut with this, the differences were too much.  You can see in the photo above that I used some shutter control to minimize the exposure and I added some digital fog to tie it into some studio shots, which helped with the lighting a bit (and with audio helped bridge the indoor and outdoor scenes brilliantly).  What you can't see here is that I was using a handheld camera and at one point I caught a blue sky behind the house.  That had to go.

So, I added post lighting.

Deck shot with shadows added.

If you look to their sides, you'll see tht I added some shadows.  I also then relit their faces with a bluish filtered light too cool the light of the overall scene.  The difference is subtle, but it will help with continuity.

I did all of this to the layer behind the fog, so as to not effect the fog's orange tinge, which was also accomplished using post lighting.

Overall, I'm happy I put in the effort.  This effect can be addictive and  you can definitely overuse it or depend on it too much.  I know I did in this film.  Between weather forcing us into the studio and only having limited access to some locations, the time of day we shot during wasn't always a choice or the studio lighting was just too "clean" to match with the outdoor elements of the scene.  I do encourage people to shoot some shorts, light them way too evenly and work on adding depth and mood in post just to get a feel for it. The day you need it, you'll want to know how it works.

In X-24, the ability to use negative lights to add shadows was also SUPER HELPFUL.  One shadow hides a camera that snuck into shot because we forgot to move it.

The Property Manager / Filmmaker Crossover

Those of you who make movies probably have an on set toolkit with the basics like Gaff Tape, Zip Ties and a Multi-Plier (or similar rool) to make quick repairs happen.  Over the years you've probably added some things that came in handy on a specific occasion which you can see happening again.  I keep a hot glue gun, some glue sticks and liquid latex handy on shoots involving props or monster suits. I generally carry some patch up paint too and instant glue too. Most of these things don't fix problems permanently, but they fix them for the moment.  They allow you to rig things to get through the shoot.

If "time is money", down time on a set is lost money and most films, especially indies, can't afford much of it.  The trick is to remember what needs permanent fixing later or you wind up with an on set failure  you could have avoided.  The person who can "fix anything" quickly, neatly and safely, especially in an isolated environment, is handy to have on set.

Often this person has to "think outside the box".  I know it's a tired, overused phrase, but it applies in some situations.  Way back on the set of "Hoodoo for Voodoo" ( Available Here ), we had a shot that needed a test tube.  Somehow it got broken before we got the shot.  Tight budget, so we only had the one.  I think it was a Sunday, so our resources for getting a replacement were limited.  Two production assistants were running all over town looking for a chemistry set at toy shops and Wal-Marts (You can find them at Michael's and Barnes and Nobles sometimes, FYI), but to no avail.  Finally, someone, it may have been me, thought of cigar cases.  One of the crew knew where a good tobacco shop was and they streaked over to get there before it closed.  Watch that test tube carefully.  It used to hold a pretty expensive cigar.  The shot was made and the day was saved.

Rental housing isn't too different.  Tenants, and especially vacationing guests, want things working A.S.A.P. If you can help it, you never want them to experience things broken. Sometimes you can get a pro out in time.  Sometimes you can't.  Certain things, like electrical concerns or gas heaters, have to be left to the professionals for safety's sake, but a squeaky door or stuck window can be fixed "for now" and dealt with permanently later.

Today, this was more of a home situation, but I was doing the lawn and the little guard on the side that keeps grass and rocks from ejecting and hitting me in the face, popped off.  I ran the mower about two seconds without it and decided that it wasn't a good idea. (I wear protective eyewear whenever I work outside, but I don't like to push it.) I was home, so I had my choice of wire (always keep some strong, but bendable wire with you) and zip ties.  I went with the wire, but the flexibility of the zip ties probably would have worked.  Anyway, five minutes later I was mowing again.  Not as important here as if I had driven out to the property to cut the lawn and the mower went down.  It's 20 minutes to Home Depot, then I would have to buy the new mower. I'd lose about an hour to 90 minutes of prime daylight work time.  Forget it if I had to order a part.  Two guests would be there before I could cut the lawn. The situation here though was that the weather has been unpredictable and I need to mow the lawn when I can so the HOA doesn't get made about my long grass.

Creative fixing and experience saves time and keeps things on schedule.  Schedules are hard to make and even harder if you have to keep breaking them.

So, when you meet your Mr. Fix It or Girl Friday.  Your one person who can creatively keep things moving on your set or on your property, safely, cleanly and affordably, hold on to that person.  Work with them whenever you can and learn what they have to show you, because some day, they'll move on and you'll be left with a roll of a duct tape, a coil of wire, some scissors and a rock and have to figure out how to repair that tripod someone stepped on while you were unloading the equipment truck (or your friend's Mom's station wagon).  Maybe you should add some flashlights to your handy bag.

Go watch some of my movies!

Hocus Focus Productions on Amazon Prime

The Super Hero and Sci-Fi Boom vs Indie Niche Movies

I remember, a long, long time ago, in a Borough far, far away, the Sci-Fi channel was a big deal.  And no, I didn't misspell that.  Way back then "Sci-fi" stood for science fiction, not Science Fiction and Fantasy and the channel was mostly made up of OLD shows and movies.  Super hero shows and movies like "Spider-Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" filled up Sci-Fi's broadcast hours.  It was a specialty channel for a small audience.  A niche market.

Independent filmmakers often fell into horror and monster movies for a similar reason.  Younger audiences ate up the "mindless" action, but Hollywood and major studios wanted little or no part of it because it was difficult to make a lot of money with. Then some popular "slasher" movies came along,  made a bundle and horror was big for awhile.  Independents could still get in with overt gore and truly strange storylines or offensive material, but the gap between major and minor pictures has been closing.

For awhile the F/X that digital filmmaking has allowed us to do on smaller budgets was a good thing.  It lifted the limits of doing imaginative science fiction.  No longer would we read a script and say, "We can't do that."  Rather, it was a matter of whether or not we could afford the software or stock footage to pull it off.

But now comic book movies, science fiction and horror have become super mainstream.  Any day of the week you can watch a super hero  do super things.  Most channels have something scary, creepy or suspenseful in their line up.  You're hard pressed to find shows that don't involve time travel, space, technology or someone with an uncanny ability.  Sci-fi, fantasy and horror are no longer a specialty market and therefore the smaller movies are now competing with blockbuster budgets toe to toe.  Storylines and characters have to be more compelling.  No longer are formulaic three act scenarios that people have seen over and over feeding an unquenched thirst for monsters.  Digital F/X are being used by major studios that spend $1 Million an episode and $200 Million for a feature film.  That cool fire burst you can do in After Effects isn't impressing anyone anymore.  Kids have access to CG overlays in phone apps.

Horror movies are scarier and more intense than ever and everyone wants to see them.  "Boobs and blood" is still the mantra of many, but how much longer will audiences be excited by that?  It's mostly nostalgia now, isn't it?

So, do indies bow out?  Do we admit defeat by the almighty dollar?

We can.  Or, we can go back to basics.  The things some movie makers never lost, but that nobody seemed to care about before.  It's actually cheaper to write a compelling story, look at things in a slightly different way and create characters with some emotional depth.  Your actors will appreciate the extra work they have to do to sell a character with a deep past.  I do think that this all changes the landscape a bit, but in a good way if we can keep up.

I'm working on what is likely my last "feature" for awhile.  Digital online serials are where I'm focusing after Jack vs Lanterns.  Short episodes that are as long as they need to be to tell the story and develop the character condensed into easily digestible, binge worthy watches.  I like this new format of flexible story telling.  Six episodes may add up to a feature when it's done, but the pacing can be faster while the build to the final stroke is still slow and suspenseful.

Keep the casts small, the stories tight, but the stakes high and universe big.  That's our plan.  What's yours?  How are you tackling the new horizon of horror and sci-fi being so popular that it's practically the new Western?  Will you switch genres, methods or both?  Will simple real world based dramas be something people hunger for again now that escapism has become the norm?

Syncing Audio and Video

I may have posted this one here before, but because we recently posted the recording in wind demonstration, I though following up with how to sync your audio recorder sound with your video would be helpful.  The is especially useful in noisy situations, when shooting through car windows (or windows in general) or when filming from a distance.

We used it for distance shots extensively in "X24".

My Love-Hate Relationship with Digital Media

I started this journey of independent production before digital had become nearly as accepted as film, especially for feature movies.  Even television shows were separated into the categories of "lesser" sitcoms and talk shows that used a 3 camera, shot on video, mixed "live" and tweaked in editing format vs. those that were shot on film and transferred to video for editing, more like a theatrical movie.  Usually film was reserved for serious dramas, but some notable sitcoms, such as "Cheers", were shot on celluloid for atmospheric effect. 

Especially back then, film was a much more expensive affair than video.  It not only cost more as a format, but took longer, was more "light hungry" and didn't allow for live switching from one camera to the next while recording a master tape.

Snapshot of some old film cameras given to me over the years.

Back in my day!

Even way back when I used to ride my Brontosaurus to college classes I knew that video "was the future".  I knew it would eventually rival and likely replace film as the go-to format for production.

What I didn't see coming until about sophomore year was the "digital revolution".  Someday, digital editing would make doing movie like F/X super affordable for everyone.  The 90s became a golden age of cheesy glowing visuals all over television thanks to devices like the "Video Toaster"

Chroma-key (Blue Screening and Green screening ) were put into the hands of everybody with enough cash for a fast computer or a decent home "switcher".  I had a Videonics that I used on my first few films.  I wonder what Joel Wynkoop every did with that.

The Early Days of Production.

I shot my first few films when SVHS was still the format of the masses, but finally, just before I produced "The Lunar Pack", I received my first Digital Video camera, a Sony Digital 8, as a Christmas gift from my wife.  I was AMAZED at the quality (looking back now that makes me sad) and shot with it immediately, producing two shorts and eventually the Anthology movie, "The Lunar Pack".  The first few things were still transferred to SVHS for editing, but finally, for the werewolf anthology, I sprung for a Sony VAIO with a whopping 16GB hard drive (you read that correctly) and did my first digital edit. I recently backed that entire computer up to a thumb drive I bought for about 10 bucks.

I LOVED the "lossless" video editing.  Compression was still a thing, but the idea that what I shot would look nearly the same when it got to the final tapes astounded me. (DVD was just coming around.  The laptop could burn "VCDs".)  We used to lose so much quality during edits because every effect took a "generation" of tape to get and those cost quality.

I LOVED the effects I could apply. My vampires exploding into bright white lights were certainly an improvement over my attempts at making this happen on my previous movies.

And I LOVED the ability to adjust audio levels in post, although I abused this privilege terribly at the time and clearly had no real idea of what I was doing.

What I HATED was the memory consumption.  Still do.  As memory has gotten cheaper, digital photography and video has gotten more prevalent. Quality has gone up, and so has the amount of memory needed. Everything we do now is digital and there are precious few hard copies of anything.  We live in a digital world with monthly subscriptions for "gigs".  When was the last time you looked at a "developed" photo?

Gone are the days of video tapes and rummaging through tiny little cassettes to find old masters.  Now you have to keep transferring masters to new hard drives or cloud spaces and hope they don't crash or get lost.

Which brings me to my current situation.

Kids Today.

"Jack vs Lanterns" is being composed from over 7200 files shot over the course of about 720 days. (Not nearly that many shoot days, just spread out that long.  We probably had three shoot weeks total with principal photography being about two. )  The amount of digital information is massive.

While working on it last night I noticed a lag in my laptop.  This has happened before, usually when a scan decides to start while I'm working, but a quick check showed that my operating system hard drive was filling up fast.  I had never emptied the thing.  So, now I'm sitting here waiting for the 4000 files I'm moving over in order to clear space to finish copying, so that I can delete them and get back to work, hopefully on a quicker machine.

Old guys get nostalgic.

Not seeing the physical copy of stuff I'm about to send into the ether causes me distress.  It's silly, I know, but I grew up in a tactile world of film and then video.  Neither of these were ever as "sure" or indestructible as my memory makes me imagine.  I had entire rolls of film lost to leaving them in closed cases on a window sill in college.  I remember cameras used to back up a tape about 2 to 5 seconds every time you "stopped" recording in order to keep a constant signal and so you might lose the end of a scene if you weren't careful. Magnets were terrifying and 800 ISO film was susceptible to airport X-Ray machines no matter what the TSA agents said.

Tape was far from perfect, but you could hold onto it.  Capturing footage from tape automatically backed it  up.  The tape was the original and now you had a digital copy.  It was time used to pre-edit and log footage.  The process has changed a lot, but with HD and 4K looking as good as they do, having access to DSLR cameras and affordable lens options and being able to do so many visual F/X in my home office, I wouldn't give up the advances for anything.  I feel like today's filmmakers are spoiled, but really, they're bogged down with so many options that being able to just tell a simple story and learning  how to use camera angles and music to set the mood are getting lost in the shuffle.

It's a brave new world and the people born into it will hardly notice.

Anyway, this was mostly the result of my other computer being  held up. I guess I'll catch up on some outdoor time while it finishes.

Audio on Windy Days

While editing "Jack vs Lanterns", I came across a scene we shot on a particularly windy day.  It was a tight day, so there was no rescheduling to be done.  The shoot had to happen then.

In the past I have shielded microphones from wind in some pretty creative ways, including driving my car around to the location and placing the mic and recorder inside while pointing it out the open window.  We did that for the scenes under the tree in Alien Vengeance and it was far more effective than I expected.

In this particular situation, that wasn't an option, so we handled it like this instead.

Links

The Cult Goddess Blog: http://cultgoddessmagazine.blogspot.com

The Indie Streams Reviews Blog: http://freecinemamoviereviews.blogspot.com/

Indie Streams Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IndieStreams/

Hocus Focus Productions Website: www.hocusfocusproductions.com

The BCinemaTV Talks Podcast: http://www.bcinema.tv/podcast.htm

Let's Talk About the Weather - and How That Affects Filming

This week the BCinemaTV Talks Podcast had us speaking Christian Jude Grillo.  Christian is an all around artist.  He writes, produces, directs and makes music (now under the name PuppySlut).

The Topic: As one does with many conversations, Tina begins the interview by asking Christian how he is doing and the topic of the crazy "Spring" weather the East Coast has been experiencing came up.

This strange weather is worse this year than in the past, but it's hardly new.  I find that since I've moved out of Central Florida the weather has become less and less predictable. To a filmmaker this is wrought with problems and Jack vs Lanterns ran into most of them.  To hear how the weather affected some of Christain's productions listen to the Podcast.

Was that Snow?
A lot of shooting on JvL was scheduled around when out of town talent could be here.  Anjanette Clewis had time in January.  We don't generally get a lot of snow here in January, but during her short stay we got our fair share.  I finally wrote a new scene in using the snow just so we wouldn't lose an entire shoot day. I spent that afternoon cancelling an rescheduling other talent because the drive to the house was dangerous and then shoveling the driveway in case we needed to get out for any reason.

The following day snow and ice were still a concern in nearby Asheville, but we had a location that we weren't going to get another shot at, so we HAD to shoot that day.  Fortunately, Brewier Welch has no trouble driving in the snow and GRIM got Anjanette and I around no problem.  It even hauled the equipment, which we then had to carry over ice to get into our location.  Fun!

Added sequence due to snow

Wind:

One brilliant idea I had to give a larger scope to JvL was to include a "festival".  It's a movie trope that all of these horrible things happen during a big festival in a small town.  Who am I to ignore such a tradition?  The difference here is that neither the festival nor the Gala are even under a threat of being cancelled because of the killer pumpkins.  Nobody in town knows about the trouble long enough to make a stink about it before falling victim to a gourd over the head.

My idea for the festival set was to set up tents on my cousin's land (Thanks Sprinkle Family) and film the close  ups there and then cut that in with festival stock which I already had.  It was a good plan except for one thing.  A wind storm that was blowing our tents down long before we were finished filming.  I was forced to finish the shots indoors.  Luckily, my wife had been keeping track of the weather and warned me about the impending storm.  I had shot background plates first so we were able to match things up pretty neatly.  

On Location before the windstorm hit us hard.

The Rain!

The "slight rain" we were expecting the last night of filming did not give us quite as much warning as we needed to correct that nightmare, however.  What we got instead was a near monsoon.  The rain fell so hard it washed away parts of my driveway.  When you see a bunch of disjointed, rewritten (that night) studio shots in the finale it's because we were forced to film those in studio "on the fly".  We had figured we could around a little rain, but a "little" was not what we got.
I had scheduled a pick-up day, but a cast member had been surprised with a gift for that day and it was "non-refundable".  I was left either shooting in studio or adding about 20% to my budget in order to reimburse someone for what everyone else saw as a pleasant surprise.  It was kind of like my own personal "Superman's Moustache" in "Justice League".  

So, in the end unpredictable weather can really change  your plans and if you don't have the money (and thus the time) to throw at the obstacles  you have to be creative just to finish the movie, which I haven't even accomplished with Jack vs Lanterns  yet.  I'm pretty sure I have shot everything I need, but I definitely didn't get to shoot everything I wanted.  The movie will never achieve the vision I had while putting it to paper.  Everybody complains about the weather, but only supervillains ever actually do anything about it.

There are no days off in filmmaking.

There are no days off in filmmaking.  Okay, there are, but you don't really get to plan them.  Days off are days that get canceled due to weather or when you have to not write, plan, shoot or whatever because your "day job", home or family obligations are pulling you in a different direction.

The Plan: Today I planned as a "day off" from writing, shooting and mostly editing because my wife is off and I have a  hot water tank being installed in the basement. It's right under my office, noisy work and making Chaya, my dog, crazy.  If you read my last blog, you also know it's an expense I don't need right now.

I decided I'd work outside while they work on the house, then run some errands and then have lunch with my wife, come home, maybe edit a bit, but mostly spend the day taking care of the homestead.  A cold shower this morning, which I thought I would be fine with, proved this was not a job I could put off.

How the Plan "Went South": To start things off, they arrived about 90 minutes later than I expected.  They called to tell me that they would be about 30 minutes late.  By the time they had gotten here at least half of the work outside I planned on doing while they were here was done.

Add to that the job which was done on my wife's jeep last week seems to need a bit of adjustment.  The new brakes are smelling like they're still binding a bit. Hopefully a twenty minute adjust will do it, but it will be in the middle of the day now during those errands I was hoping to run.

Finally, even the break from film wasn't meant to be.  A potential client, which I can really use right now, called just before these guys got here.  So, a return call after the house gets quiet is in order.  It's a good change in plans, but proof that planned days off don't often happen as ENTIRE days off when you're in business for yourself, especially when you run multiple businesses at a time.

Sometimes you get away with just working the morning or evening and my wife has gotten better at covering entire days for me when I have to dedicate myself to specific other jobs.

You never know: This person that called me today is someone I spoke to years ago about maybe collaborating on something or doing a project for hire.  After a few months I honestly thought he had just changed his mind.  People sometimes lose interest in projects, especially after the estimates start coming in.

But you never know.  Will this turn into something? I hope so.  Will I be the person for the job?  I'm the person for every job, except brakes and water heaters, apparently.

Meanwhile, it looks like I have this weekend off at the cabin, so I can edit, but that can change with one person deciding they need a quick get away to the mountains, so we shall see.

Bills - What a Great Motivator!

When you're a "creative", inspiration can be hard to come by or sometimes overwhelming easy.  Some days you may not have anything you feel compelled to write about, talk about, film, paint, carve, etc, etc. Other days, you may have so many ideas swimming around in  your head that you just don't know where to start.

Inspiration to focus and get moving can be difficult to summon up for any job or business in which you make all of the decisions.  Like, managing properties or a retail business.  Some days you just won't feel like doing anything and if there's no work that immediately needs to be done it's easy to say, "I think I'll take a mental health day."

But there is one great motivator to get you off your ass and hustling.  Bills.  When  you own stuff, things break.  Some of these things you will be able to fix yourself, but others will require the touch of a professional.  In fact, lots of times a pro is the cheaper, not just easier, solution.

In a situation when three or four of these instances start to pile up, and they usually do in the Spring for me, a "mental health day" is a day when business is good.  It makes the promotional and equipment spending that runs businesses even more frightening because you want that cash for paying for repairs, but it makes every sale, rental, written word, edited sequence, booked guest, etc, feel like more of a triumph than usual because you know what that money is going to accomplish.  Saving money for a "rainy day" is nice, but grabbing an umbrella just in time to divert a deluge from soaking you is priceless.

My "Check Engine" light came on yesterday after I left work at the cabin.  I haven't had a chance to run the codes yet.  I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is, and if nothing sticks too hard, I should be able to handle it myself.  Yet it looms over me while I wait to find out.  I just had two repairs done by other people on Nancy's Jeep.  Not something I like passing off, but our new mechanic is good, reasonable and these were jobs that I was not equipped to handle on my own.

A couple of other things have decided that this is the month they need a bit of "going over" and we're still waiting on bills from the Florida rental to know what insurance covered and what it didn't.

All in all, I'm inspired to work my tail off the next few days.  Right now though, I'm waiting to get our next podcast recorded. We have a pretty cool guest today, who you will be able to read about in the CGM blog later, then we're dropping off some donated furniture from the cabin to the local Pet Rescue thrift store and hopefully after that I'll know when my appointment with a repairman is to address a rather expensive home job that will likely increase the house's value by a bit.

Anyway, if you were every considering buying a poster, DVD, or my book, this wouldn't be a bad day to do it.

Now, off to look and see if I can fit in a freelance transcription or two between scheduled gigs.