Tag Archives: Low Budget Production
Choosing The Right Director For Your Production
ve different goals with our artistic endeavors, before you begin your search you have to be clear on what you intend to accomplish with your production. The more clear you are, the easier it will be to align with the right people. Continue reading
Love It Or Leave It
Let’s face the facts: most artistic endeavours don’t lead to fame, fortune and flashy cars. A lot of the time, when it’s your first production or first mounting of a new piece of writing you’re ahead of the game if you just make it to the finish line. Continue reading
When the Big Picture Feels TOO BIG
Taking on a production of any scale can be overwhelming, be it film or theatre, especially when you are at the beginning stages of development and fundraising. Things can feel even more daunting if you are also juggling other jobs, auditions, rehearsals, family and the demands of everyday life. I have learned a few skills to keep me from getting too anxious and help me stay focused. Continue reading
Art vs Ego – Help Your Friends
I had been with a theatre company in the East Village for 2 years when the producer left the company. I was asked to step in as producer. I didn’t want to do it, I was 22 and at the … Continue reading
Process Makes Perfect
“Great scripts are not written, they are rewritten, and rewritten and rewritten” is a statement Robert Downey Jr. made at a Q&A after a screening of Sherlock Holmes at the Director’s Guild of America a while back. He was responding to the question ‘how long in advance do you start memorizing your lines’. He emphatically retorted something to the effect of ‘why would I memorize lines that I’m not going to say?’ Continue reading
When Things Go Wrong…It’s Usually Right
Over the past decade the shoot for my short film Details fell through at least six times with six different teams, with different directors, different actors and different visions. I knew I had a solid script because initially each director and actor I sent it to was immediately on board and then let’s just say ‘life got in the way.’ By the timed I decided to make the film in 2018 the piece had been showcased on stage (it was originally a one act play) several times both as a heterosexual piece and as a lesbian piece. It was exciting to play with the script through the lens of sexual fluidity of the characters. Continue reading
The Money ‘Ain’t Coming ‘Till You Get Moving!
It doesn’t cost anything to write (alone or with a partner) or to get a group of actors to read a script in a living room (or on zoom). The way I work the living room is my creative space, because although I don’t get to be on stage or in a studio every day, I do get to be creative in my living room as often as I choose. It’s also a great place to get others excited about your work, on your turf and on your terms. Continue reading
As Good As GOAL
The more specific your goals are for your film or theatre production, the more likely you are to attain them. There are many different reasons people want to mount a production: to showcase your writing or performance talents, to get representation, to establish a calling card, to get exposure, to go to festivals or tour with the project, to make a profit, and even for the sheer joy of creating something to see how it lands. Continue reading
Magic In The Living Room
learned a new kind of discipline where the most important person I needed to show up for was myself. No scene partner, no coach, no director, no audience, no one to entertain or be accountable to…except myself. While I was creating my show that was the first time I was truly fulfilled as an artist – for the first time in my career I was inspired, creating and exploring daily, pushing myself further than I had ever imagined and most importantly, I was impressing myself with the stuff I came up with. Continue reading
Tommy Wiseau – Back On Set With a Mad Genius
I first met Tommy Wiseau in 2007, my first month in Los Angeles. I submitted to a casting notice in Backstage West and was called on a series of auditions at his studio, an unassuming building on Pico Blvd. … Continue reading
MAKE YOUR OWN BREAK! 