In memory of a good man

The sad word came late yesterday evening that Dav Gerrells, who owned and operated Cafe 99 in Reidsville, North Carolina for many years, passed away after a brief illness over the weekend.  I used to eat at Cafe 99 when I still lived in Reidsville and Dav always made me feel welcome.  The man was a thoroughly great guy and he was an amazing cook.

Early in 2007 I entered a filmmaking competition for the Fox television reality series On The Lot.  Entrants had to make a short film and submit it for the opportunity to be a contestant on the show.  Friends and family encouraged me to take a swing at it.  It was a very trying and strenuous two weeks from initial concept to finished product but in the end "Schrödinger's Bedroom" was in the can and shipped off on DVD to Hollywood.

We filmed the first scene of the movie in Cafe 99.  It's been a very long time since I'd rewatched this.  Thought I would share it tonight, in Dav's memory.  His establishment really helped set the mood for the film.  There are quite a few people in this film who I've had the honor and privilege of knowing for a very long time, and I think that Dav makes his presence felt in it, too.

So here it is, from February 2007: "Schrödinger's Bedroom"

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The FORCERY Four, together again!

I don't know how else to put it, but there are some things that happened at Dad's funeral that despite the occasion were an amazing delight.  And I truly believe that Dad would have had no small measure of pride if he could somehow know that this celebration of his life brought so many wonderful people together to celebrate not only his own life, but also of the most precious things in all our lives.

During the service I spoke a few words about Dad and since the other ministers were sharing stories from his life, I did likewise and related some tales of how forgiving and relenting - even if he didn't understand what the heck I was doing - of the many stunts that I pulled during the life that we shared.  One of them was during the filming of Forcery: my first (and Lord willing still the first of many more to come) film project.  So there was Dad watching as we did things like setting fire to the living room floor of his house, having sledgehammers flying all over the place, "breaking" my best friend's legs etc.  Dad saw this one day and he started to leave.

"Are you headed out Dad?" I asked him.

"Uh-huh, way out," was his reply.  That got a good laugh from the very many who came to the service.

Well, as it turned out, Dad's funeral turned out to be the occasion of a reunion of sorts.  Because among those who came were Chad Austin, Ed Woody, and though it was a long drive for them Melody Hallman Daniel and her mother attended... and boy was my heart jumping for joy to see each of them!  Ten years ago we were all making Forcery.  And as things would have it, we wound up all together once again.

It hadn't been planned, but I really believe that it was something God let happen: the reunion of the Forcery Four.

So here - from left to right - are Ed, myself, Chad, and Melody (with her service dog Sasha) ten years later, just after Dad's funeral:

We don't look all that different than we did when we were making that movie, do we? :-)

And here they are, the stars of our show: Chad and Melody, AKA George Lucas and Frannie Filks:

For such a low-budget project, it is absolutely amazing where our little film has gone and has accomplished since then.  Melody shared how many of her former drama students and fellow faculty members come up to her to tell her they saw her in the Forcery footage that was featured in The People vs. George Lucas.  Chad and Melody were seen on the screens at Cannes.  Forcery was mentioned in Time and The Village Voice and a lot of other publications, and made a whole bunch of bigtime filmmaking-related websites.

I won't say that I myself am proud of Forcery.  Instead, I will say that I am proud of what we accomplished together.  We didn't become only friends because of Forcery: the four of us and others became a real family.  Chad and Ed, have long been my brothers.  Melody became as beloved to me as any sister.  And all of them brought amazing consolation to me when I needed it most.

That is what makes Forcery so special in my life... and it always will be.

But it better not be another ten years before we come together again!  We've already planned to reunite again and watch Forcery once more.  No doubt next time we will have even more family to share it with :-)

EDIT 11-27-2014 3 a.m. EST:  After attempting it multiple times and failing, I finally got Forcery, the entire movie, to upload as a single YouTube video!  No more having to jump to parts.  Here it is.  Enjoy!

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THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS hit DVD this week!

But I got to see it last month at a/perture cinema in Winston-Salem, along with Forcery co-producer Ed Woody and star Chad Austin, who appears a LOT throughout The People vs. George Lucas as, well... George Lucas!

The screening was on September 12th. Why didn't I write about it sooner? Because it still hasn't sunk in yet: that was my film Forcery, the idea for which hit just over ten years ago (I began writing the script on the night before 9/11), and my most life-long best friend playing George Lucas on the big screen as part of this multi-award winning documentary that has played at film festivals all around the world!

But as surreal as the experience was, that was mild compared to watching Melody Hallman Daniel's performance as Frannie Filks from Forcery, which The People vs. George Lucas is exceptionally peppered with! In fact, director Alexandre Philippe has told me that at every screening he has attended around the globe, that Melody's performance is a huge hit and has never failed to arouse cheering and clapping. There certainly was at the screening we attended last month! In fact, her rant about "Greedo never shot first!" even made it into the pages of Time Magazine this week!

Apart from seeing our own lil' film in it, The People vs. George Lucas is quite an intriguing work examining the Star Wars phenomenon, its creator and the love/hate relationship that Lucas has enjoyed(?) with the saga's fans (particularly since the Special Editions started the "retconning" ball rolling in 1997). Philippe doesn't take any decisive sides in his film, but rather lets the viewer decide on his or her own. As far as this viewer is concerned, I learned quite a few new things... as well as was led to consider quite a lot of what it means to be a Star Wars fan from a fresh perspective.

It's a fascinating film, and it's now available on DVD at Amazon.com and probably a few of the big box retailers. Highly recommended!

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DUKE NUKEM FOREVER is out TODAY!

Yes, it really is! I even went out late yesterday evening along with good friend/fellow blogger and Eagle Scout Steven Glaspie to be at the local GameStop for the midnight release, just to behold it with our own eyes.

But that wound up not being good enough. I had to have some tactile sensation of it as well, so I bought a copy of the standard edition.

And though I hadn't planned on it, I wound up shooting and then editing together a lil' film to document the event for posterity. This is the first time that I've ever put together a movie with an iOS device. May this be the first of many more to come :-)

Anyhoo, here is... Vaporware Nevermore!

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This week...

...we begin shooting the craziest film project that I've yet embarked upon!

How crazy? Looks like I'm gonna have to be notifying the local law enforcement agencies about it so that we won't be getting arrested during filming. Considering that we've a special guest star who's come all the way from western Europe, the last thing we want happening is our lil' movie creating an international diplomatic crisis.

Expect some production photos soon.

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An update on that new film project we're working on!

The muse of cinematography must have an ear inclined toward KWerky Productions lately because on Friday night I casually put the word out to my Facebook friends, asking if anyone had a samurai sword that could be borrowed.

As of yesterday evening I now have two such swords! Either in my actual possession or waiting to be used when time to film this bad boy comes (which Lord willing will be next month).

There is one major-ish piece of prop to secure. That will hopefully happen in the next few days, as we begin work on the costume for the main character this week.

Meanwhile, more people have joined the cast! Including one friend who's a Baptist minister and, well let's just say in a roundabout way he came up with the name of his character on his own... and I'd love to be able to pull off what he has done someday :-)

More soon. And hey, who knows: perhaps we'll even be able to come up with a teaser poster next time ;-)

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Here's an update on our latest film project from KWerky Productions

We have our snake wrangler hired and aboard for the production!

That is all for now.

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As of this evening...

I have officially begun production of my first real film project in more than three years.

And it feels great!

What's happened since Schrodinger's Bedroom in 2007? A heapin' helpin' of real life stuff, most of which I ain't even begun to intimate at on this blog. Yah, last summer we destroyed Burlington, North Carolina with giant monsters and it was a hoot. But I've been dying to do something that will engage my creative juices for more than a weekend's worth of work :-)

And there have been a lot of ideas that I want to follow through on (including Keys, the script for which has been done for quite some time now) but I'm holding off on those for the time being, for various reasons.

This one though, feels just right. For me as a person, and also as a filmmaker for the much-needed jumpstart/kick in the pants that I need.

This is probably the craziest project that I've worked on yet.

Lord willing we'll start filming later this spring. The title role has already been cast (it ain't me, and it's no one who's done a KWerky Productions film with us before). But there'll be plenty of room for involvement. So if you're in North Carolina or Virginia or thereabouts and if you can act or come up with music (especially music) or have some firearms that you can loan us, write us at kwerkyproductions@gmail.com and tell us what ya got!

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Promo video for the MONSTERPOCAPALOOZA event at HyperMind!

So for the past several days I've been engulfed in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects and whatnot. Hard at work for some good friends: HyperMind in Burlington (click here for the first write-up I did about 'em). Well, among the very popular games that HyperMind carries is Monsterpocalypse, and this summer its publisher Privateer Press is having a mondo ginormous event called Monsterpocapalooza. As part of the festivities leading up to the release of a new add-on for the game is a contest where game stores are invited to make a promo video for their Monsterpocalypse events.

So anyhoo, here is HyperMind's entry. I thought it would be neat if we spoofed Cloverfield. And it came out pretty good!

Thanks to everyone in the HyperMind extended family for making this video possible! And if you enjoyed their efforts, please feel free to give a high rating on the promo's YouTube page, 'cuz we're hoping to land a huge launch party for the upcoming Monsterpocalypse Series 4: Monsterpocalypse Now!

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Coming in 2009 from KWerky Productions...

This afternoon I finished writing the first draft of the script for the first "episode" of a project that, Lord willing, we're going to start filming in the next few months. We've already found most of the cast too.

But before that, "Weird" Ed and I may be doing something that, I like to believe it'll have some significant social relevance. At the moment I can't help but think that it'll be along the lines of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without all the drugs.

And then, at last, I hope to begin shooting Keys, which has been my pet project for going on three years now. Had real life situations not intervened it could have been made already. But in a crazy sort of way the delay has helped make it a much stronger product. I've learned things as a writer and as a film-maker that are going to be poured into it. Yah there's been other projects I've been working on in the meantime, mostly for clients: now it's time to start filming for me. This past week a much better ending presented itself too, that I feel a lot more confident about.

Stay tuned to the official KWerky Productions website as we'll soon be updating it with more about all the good stuff we're working to roll out in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Nine :-)

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Want a KWerky Productions update?

YEEEEEAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!!

So earlier tonight, this idea hit me like a bolt out of the blue. I have no idea what might have been going on in my neurobiology, the myriad of connections that led to everything "clicking" in place for this crazy notion.

Holy cow... if we can make this thing work... and I think that we can make it work...

I've already spoken to two people who would be involved. We'd have to be way careful about how we do this. But both of them believe it's feasible.

I'm working on a treatment to pitch to The Powers That Be(tm). It doesn't even have a working title yet. Maybe one will present itself in the next little while.

Hot darn, this idea has me stoked!! It's definitely in the realm of filmmaking, but it's going to be quite a few other things rolled into the package too.

Don't expect much more word about this. It'll have to be kept pretty close to vest over the next several months. But if the pitch flies and we can get our ducks in a row, I think the results will be pretty explosive.

Stay tuned :-)

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CASTING CALL: Be in a TV commercial ... and get PAID for it!

So how does the prospect of being in a television commercial that will be broadcast all across the state of North Carolina sound to you? How would you like to earn money from the gig? Well, have we got something for you!

As of tonight I'm putting the word out via this blog and a few other places that we are making a wide-spread casting call. There is a very cool project that the KWerky Productions/Knight Vision Media staff is working on right now.

And for it we need actors and actresses of all ages and all physical types. We especially need young children, from ages 5 to 12-ish, who have a bit of patience and aren't easily intimidated especially by loud noises. Good screamers are particularly needed. The child actors will be compensated also for their time.

Interested? Then you need to send me an e-mail at kwerkyproductions@gmail.com and make sure the subject line says "commercial talent" or "actor for commercial" or something like that. If you have a headshot and/or a resume, please send those too.

We are under a bit of a deadline so the sooner you can contact us about this, the better. There is a possibility that this could turn into an extended bit of work, too.

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SCHRODINGER'S BEDROOM ... now with full credits!

Over the weekend I finally, finally, found time to do an "updated" version of Schrodinger's Bedroom. This was the short film that I made last year as an entry for the short-lived Fox "reality" show On The Lot. It had already been uploaded to YouTube, but that was the version that was submitted for the competition, and unfortunately because of the limit on length that was in the rules I didn't have time to put proper credits in this film. That's always bugged me. So now I get to fix this and let it be, in my mind, a true and proper film that gives a nod toward everybody who helped make it.

So without further ado, here is Schrodinger's Bedroom starring Dawn Swartz, Chris Otto, Selassie Amana, Ed Woody, Olivia Woody, Doug Smith, Tyler Richardson, Melody Hallman Daniel, Chad Austin, Veronica Jones, and a cameo appearance by the director :-)

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What's brewing at KWerky Productions?

It's been awhile since anything's been reported here regarding KWerky Productions, the filmmaking outfit started by "Weird" Ed and me. Unfortunately events during most of the past year really took away from a lot of productive time and energy. Now that all of that is over with, it's time to turn our attention to more creative efforts.

It's funny: for over a year now I've been involved in fighting one battle after another. The thing with Viacom/YouTube was just the most recent of those. With all of them having been fought (and amazingly enough won for the most part) I'm finally looking forward to struggling for things I want to do, not necessarily because I have to do them...

Keys, our feature-length project, is still on. Obviously we weren't able to film it in the timeframe that I was hoping for. Oddly enough that may have helped things when it came time to shoot it. And it's given me time to do more research, tighten-down some elements, etc.

By the way, it turns out that there's another movie called Keys. Interestingly enough, like ours this one seems to involve a lot of music too. Here's the website for that Keys and after visiting it and seeing the trailer, I am really interested in seeing it because it looks very good.

In light of knowing that there's another movie sharing the same title as ours, I'd considered changing the title of the one we're doing. But I think it's going to be okay. The word "Keys" is something that's quite important to the story and there's really nothing else appropriate that would work. Besides, lots of different movies share the same title (no not remakes!) and that's okay. In the end there will be one Keys made by Christopher Babers and another Keys made by Christopher Knight and his will be excellent and mine will be... strange :-)

Seriously though, we wish Babers well and we look forward to seeing his Keys!

Apart from that, there are no less than two projects we're working on. One of them is already shot and all that needs to be done is to put it together. And there's an interesting idea that I'm playing around with for a short film, that in some ways would be like Schrodinger's Bedroom, although it would be much more serious and I would have plenty of time to work on it (compared to Schrodinger's Bedroom which was rushed from conception to completion in less than a month).

And then there is another project. Chad Austin is the one who came up with the idea for it and when he told me about it on Friday night (after we saw Transformers in IMAX) my brain started reeling with possibilities. This is something that we're going to be working on over the next few months and it's not only going to involve filmmaking, but some other stuff too that I think will turn out to be good for personal growth. This one is going to be absolutely hilarious!

So that's what's happening right now on the KWerky Productions front. And that's probably the last time for awhile that I'll be able to say anything about what we're doing. Because I'm seriously thinking of blogging for another few weeks and then take some time off from The Knight Shift, so that I can focus on those efforts... and other things also. But now ya know what's sorta in the pot :-)

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