The Cold Continues

I wish I had been more sure we would have this near week of snow.  It seemed like winter would end without it and so the movie I have been wanting to do with Ice Giants and Vikings was put off another year.  Then, boom, snow that has kept me from getting mail for three days.  Not because the whole area is snowed in.  Just the 70 or so households that live on top of the hill I live on.  About a third of us come and go in our 4x4s, but the rest of the folks just wait it out and the mail truck won't attempt the climb until the snow plows do.

That should leave me plenty of time to write, but I spent a lot of my energy clearing our driveway and trying to clear some space on the side of the road near our house for people to at least walk up and down the hill.  I did manage to get one more interview done over at the Cult Goddess Magazine blog with Serena Lorien and I wrote a movie review for the 1984 sci-fi zombie fest, Mutant.  So, you can read about the movie there and then watch it for free on our main site.  It was a pretty fun flick.

If you have a movie you'd like hosted on our site, please, contact me at hocfocprod@aol.com and send a link to a streaming version of the movie.  We'll  need to be able to embed it from YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo or the like.

Got lots of great gags planned out for Lumber vs Jack II: Jack vs Lanterns, but first we have to show that original movie and get more people talking about  it.  If you can't wait for the online screening you can buy a copy at www.hocfocprod.com/lumbervsjack

That's all for now. 

 

Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day in the Same Weekend?

Our Valentine's Day Weekend and Friday the 13th gift to you: INDISCRETIONS

It's sort of a romantic movie.  I mean, a couple is trying to fix their relationship.  A guy falls in lust.  A beautiful damsel in distress needs rescuing, or does she?  This movie has it all, except a budget.

Watch it in the Free Cinema, in the dark with someone you love.  Or, watch it alone, with a pizza, while imagining that EX you're so glad is gone.  Works either way, really.

http://www.hocfocprod.com/free_cinema
 

Reboot

I sort of let this thing go.  Partly because of a move.  Partly because, while I am still doing films, I do them less often.  As I've aged other priorities and interests have taken more time.  Not "normal" priorities like kids.  My sisters both have wonderful, smart, talented children.  They raise `em, my wife and I visit and I get to keep my own toys.  I'm more of a dog person.  Lots of fun, easy to relate to, never ask for the keys to the car or to go to college and pretty self sufficient after the first year.

Recently, however, I've been getting back into the swing of the sci-fi horror stuff.  We have a movie premiering April 24th online and hopefully in a few live venues that week.  It's a retro sci-fi piece about killer trees.  It takes a very broad stab at the problems with GMOs.  Look for it at www.hocfocprod.com/lumbervsjack .

And just this week we brought back Cult Goddess Magazine.  We're doing it as a blog this time around, but when possible the pages will be still fully laid out and the blog space will be used for clickable links.  This brings with it some improvements over the PDF format I loved so much.  It makes the interviews more accessible across platforms like phones and tablets.  No loading of giant PDF files (even when compressed they were pretty big) and the past interviews are more easily accessible and archived.

Since we post them one at a time we don't have to compile 3-5 Cult Goddesses for an issue, so we can put out interviews more often.  This month we have Monique Parent talking to us about her return to acting full time, although with the list of movies she's done the past two years, I'm not sure you call it part time.

My next biggest task is figuring out my writing schedule.  Winter has about past and I haven't finished my writing projects.  Usually, now that I'm a bit further North, I like to write when the weather is bad and then do pre-production and production during the warmer months.  Winter wasn't so bad this year though, so I'm coming up on Spring with some nice memories of going out with Nancy and Chaya, but not of lot finished scripts.

Also, trying to decide if my next book should be a collection of short stories, like "Off the Rails" is, or a full out Novelette.  Still don't think I'm ready for a Novel.  Any opinions on that are welcome, so long as you don't get insulted if I ignore them.

Keep checking this space and see if I keep up with blogging more often.  I just might since it seems to be considered a pretty old fashioned medium right now.

The Black Hole of Second Hand Goods

Haven't blogged in awhile, but need to clear my head before some editing, so I thought I'd touch on this subject.  As a very low budget movie producer I often find myself in thrift stores and Goodwill stores looking for inexpensive props.  I've been doing this kind of thing for near two decades and lately I've been noticing a trend.  There are fewer and fewer worthwhile items that fall into that "gently used" category.

It's actually a bit of a boon for me personally.  If I need a toy ray gun that we can dress up to be Colonel Onyx's next super weapon in an AV movie I can usually get one for under 2 bucks because it doesn't work.  But what about the kid whose parents are buying toys at the Goodwill because they can't afford the brand new ones in Target or Wal Mart?  (After some thought I've started testing toys I find before buying them as props.  If they work, they're usually left behind).  Furniture, again, I can paint something, prop a 2x4 behind it and keep it standing as a set piece for a scene and then use it as a shop table until it fall apart, but what about the family who is in there to furnish the kid's playroom?  A piece of presswood furniture isn't even that easy to fix.  Sanding and painting hardly do the job.

What I realized is that we're coming to a black hole of useable second hand goods.  Sure, the upper middle class can still get deals on what was once very overpriced furniture and goods that the rich owned to look at and not use, but what does the middle class pass on to the up and coming youth who are just scraping by as they start life?  Junk!  We've been buying foreign made, cheaply produced junk for YEARS.  Stuff that was never worth fixing because it was cheaper and easier to buy a new one.  Non stick pots and pans with the Teflon flaking off.  Toys with busted springs and decaying, dried plastic.  Furniture that was 30% cardboard.


So, we go back further to find our "slightly used" goods, but those are becoming antiques and we all know that antiques cost more.  

Don't even get started on electronics.  You can't pass along a computer, phone, game or even TV on anymore.  They're outdated months after you buy them.  An entire segment of industry, keeping money local by recycling quality goods that kids have grown out of or adults have upgraded, is fading away and it leaves a segment of the population with no recourse except to buy the cheap, mass produced new junk that caused the situation in the first place.

Recycle, reuse, repurpose.

Ebooks vs books vs Priority Ebooks

So, for the last 3 months or so "Off the Rails and Other Tales" has only been available in two formats, Paperback and Kindle Ebook.  Kindle made it easy to format the book for its reader, so it was a natural place to start, but I also have a PDF version, which I used to produce the final paperback and is readable on ALMOST everything can read an electronic file out there.  I'm comfortable with PDF's because it's how we brought the first two volumes of "Cult Goddess Magazine" to about a thousand online readers per month.

Kindle, however, has it's own format and by using that format I was able to offer my book for free to Kindle Owners through promotions or borrowing.  Sometimes I even got paid when people read the book for free, so it was a good deal all around.  But, my friends, as many Kindles are there are out there, they are not the only eReader in town and while you get free software on  your phone, computer, etc to read a Kindle book, some still prefer the other brands.  My Mom, for example, loves her Kobo reader.  She had her copy of the book on there before we went public with the Kindle.

Well, after 3 months our sales of that version of the Ebook, both free and paid, have dropped.  So, while it's still available on your Kindle enabled device for 99 cents, it is no longer available for free borrowing.  Time has come to launch our in house 99 cent ebook in PDF.  It's complete with the illustrations and I think the formatting is prettier.  It can also be opened on most computers, ereaders and anything that can read a PDF file, which means you need Adobe Acrobat reader.  It's a free software or app.

Of course, nothing compares to the paperback (unless we had it in hardcover).  I mean, you can't have me sign your ebook.  I guess you could, but I'm not sure where and when you're reading one of thousands of other books that would be weird.  And there's something nostalgic about the tactile contact with a paperback that I think works with the pulp style I used in many of the stories in "Off the Rails and Other Tales".

As far as supporting me, I like there to be a lot of physical copies of the book out there, but my "take home" doesn't change very much from one form to another.  Every time someone switches on a light at night because they're a bit scared due to reading one of my stories I feel richer.

As for specific e versions for other readers, vs the PDF file, they're planned, but may be awhile coming.  If I pay a service to swap them over I'll have to charge more and I want MORE people to read the stories, not fewer people to have PAY more to read them.

If  you buy the ebook and decide it's so amazing you MUST have the paperback shoot me an email for a coupon code for $1 off the paperback.

If you want the book or want to read parts of it, head over to http://www.hocfocprod.com/off_the_rails
While you're there also check out some horror books my friends wrote.

A Study in Film

So, next week I'm shooting "Onyx Origins". It's going to be a unique shoot in a few ways.

For one, the movie itself is being shot specifically for "Con 9 from Outer Space" and as such will have elements of a 50s sci-fi movie, including it's style, but being a prequel to the "Alien Vengeance" movies I can't do the Onyx Character's origin story properly set in the 50s and without a bit of violence of gore. Also, we want to have a 3D piece to show people when we restart the fundraising campaign for AV-3D later this year, SO, an alternate version is being shot, for 3D and with some effects, language and violence the 50s version will not have. It's sort of a study in the history of sci-fi evolution to see what we're allowed to do now that was too "scary" 50 or 60 years ago.

There's also the 3D element. The movie will be in B&W for the 50's version and that is likely something we'll carry over for the updated version because anaglyph 3D (the type I'm using), tends to work better in 3D, but we're shooting in color, so I can make that decision in post.

We'll also be using a combo of 2D to 3D conversion and some shots in native 3D. One of the reasons for this is to test them side by side as it will save time, and thus money, in the feature movie down the line. If it works.

So expect to see a couple of versions, maybe even one that's pretty much "kid safe" of "Onyx Origins" late in 2012.

So, you wrote a book. Now what?

No, really, what?  This isn't an instructional on how to promote or sell your book, because I have no idea.  Get an agent or publisher would probably be the best idea, but I have a long record of not playing well with others.  So, I've made movies and promoted those a bit and thought the book would be the same thing.  Send it out for reviews, take my lumps, but get the title in front of people who want to give it a look and enjoy the silly monster scariness we put out.

Not as easy with a book.  Everybody wants to sell me ad space, but reading takes a lot longer than watching a movie, especially when you're taking notes to do a review.  So, getting a book reviewed by legitimate sources is tough.  Add to that the fact that you're competing with proven publishers who have easier to find  content and things get really difficult.

What about digital formats?  With the movies it's easy.  Sort of.  I mean, at least I use digital formats for watching movies and I use Netflix streaming and YouTube, so running my movies online with Amazon rental and streaming sites that pay me per play isn't really a mystery and I can test the waters on my own to make sure things are working as they should.  With books I still read PAPER.  I like hardcovers, but often buy paperbacks, especially trade paperbacks, to save some money and make them easier to carry on trips.  Laying out the paperback and proofing it took months, but it turned out beautifully!  And it's so easy to buy.  I still haven't listed it for bookstores because, again, unproven publishers have to compete harder for shelf space so I would like some reviews under my belt first.  Getting listed in the regular channels costs money and investments are hard to make for unproven content.

So, digital books are a mystery to me.  I made a .pdf file with illustrations that worked beautifully on our Kobo Reader and my Mom's.  I think it worked on our Sony (not sure we tried it) and the Amazon app on our phones was able to read it, but when we converted that to a Kindle file to get it listed on Amazon dot com it went to pieces.  Literally.  Pieces of it turned red and others disappeared.  Anyone reading this who bought that version, with the red text, please, return to Amazon and buy or borrow the new one we've loaded.  Much nicer.  Or at least I think it is from what I can test on my computer and phone, but I can't seem to borrow it as a "Prime" member even though we're enrolled in that program because I don't own the actual Kindle.  When someone has a complaint I can't help them with it because I'm not having the same experience they are and as a guy who has controlled his content from concept to creation for so long, this makes me nuts.  I want people to be able to get the book as cheaply as possible because I want thousands, even millions of people to enjoy my scary short stories and sleep with the lights on just one night because of me.  I want women to swoon over the cowboy on the cover because darn it, I look good in that hat, from the back, but mostly I'd like people to read the paperback, not because it costs more (I get roughly the same royalty as if they borrowed it on Prime), but because it's a better looking book with a tactile feel, that I think gets the overall essence the old school stories across better.

TRIVIA: Every human image on the cover of the book is me.  We needed to create a crowd, so we used shadows, wigs and post effects to cover my identity.

Need a read?
Check out the Horror Anthology, "Off the Rails and Other Tales" from Hocus Focus Productions!