I'm annoyed, not pissed!

Here is something that really annoys me. Why don't people you give your movies too ever respond? There are some people, like me who get so inundated with stuff from other filmmakers that we are constantly behind with our viewing.

And I admit I have a bunch of DVD's here that have fallen off my radar. I have forgotten about them. And I want to apoligize to the people out there who have sent me stuff and I haven't responded. I need to sit down and just do a marathon viewing one of these days, but you know what? My eyes get tired looking at screens all day. I know it's a lame ass excuse, but when I'm not working at my computor, I'm editing. By the end of the day I usually like to take a walk and read a book. My eyes don't want to look at another screen. So, I'm sorry. I will get to stuff, it just takes me awhile. In the mean time some of you have made new movies, had kids, sent them to college... I know, I'm bad. At least I'm sincere.

I'm talking about friends. They ask to see your stuff. You give it to them, and then you never hear anything. What is up with that! Give me a break! My world is not going to come crashing down if you don't like my work! I have been rejected by much more impressive people than you. At least would you give me the courtesy to acknowledge that you saw my work? Is that too much to ask. And if you don't like it, for God's sake, DON'T HANG ON TO IT! Send it back! Or give it to someone who might like it! Pass it around! Don't let it sit at your house for months or years and then throw it away! I make these things to be seen!

Plus, this stuff costs money! As filmmakers we raise the money to make our movies, we spend lots of our own time working on them, usually unpaid. So it's bad enough that you ask to see them for free! We love what we do, but this is also a business. And then you don't say anything and hang on to them!

Whether you like my work or not, at least show me the respect to either send it back, pass it on, or at least offer to pay us for it. I mean you buy other people's movies, right? Why are we less professional than other people? Because we're your friends? Give me a break. We deserve some respect.

Thank you.

June 25th

I am tired! I have been spending the last week working my ass off trying to get something going. What's the deal here? I have written and directed 3 features, 7 award winning short films, and some documentaries. I have directed commercials and corporate videos that have won awards, and yet once again here I sit with out any work. I am circulating what I think is a pretty good demo? I have had some meetings, but for the most part I can't even get any of my fucking phone calls returned. What is up with this?

It must be because my beard is gray, and I know what I'm doing. Or maybe it's because I intimidate people? Or maybe because it's because I have done so much that people don't think I need to eat? Or pay my mortgage? This is one part of this business I'll never understand.

I did hear from a friend of mine that he was at some professional meeting where they had guest speakers and one was Gus Van Sant. In his talk apparently he mentioned me and I guess the reference was a very nice one. Thanks Gus. It's nice to know that you still think of me, and from what my buddy says, you think highly of me. That's nice.

So I want to send a message to all of you out there who are thinking about starting your own self distribution companies. IT'S A LOT OF FUCKING WORK!

I have been self distributing my stuff for a while and it doesn't seem to get easier. It's not like you put up a web site, post your stuff and the money starts rolling in. You have to promote your site every day! You have to make phone calls. You need to push and push and push. I'm glad I'm doing it for me, but to do it for others? I don't know if I could deal with that.

Yesterday I sent out 8 more packages of material not just for my upcoming tour, but also looking for work as well. Like most small businesses I'm under funded. I send stuff out and hope for the best. And when you make those follow up phone calls don't you wish the people would just return them? If you don't want my movies, that's fine. Tell me! But please don't just not return my calls. That means I have to keep checking in when I already know that you aren't interested. I just need you to tell me you're not.

And wouldn't it be nice if some of these people would offer to return your DVD's? These things cost us money. It you aren't going to buy the work couldn't you just put it in to an envelope and send it back to us? I know I would really appreciate it!

Anyway, for those of you who responded for my calls for help about my tour, Thank You! I got a lot of emails and new contacts, and some real interest out there. So I will keep updating you as far as the booking goes. And thanks again.

Also, I am looking for an Apple G4, or even a G5. It is for my educational arm, Baltic Educational Films, which is a non-profit 501(c)3. I do my educational videos and documentaries through it, you know, the movies that aren't intended to make money. Well if any of you out there have a G4 or G5 that you're not using and would like to donate it to BEF, we would really appreciate it. We have no cash, but can give you a tax deduction for it. We need it to run Photo Shop to design stuff for fundraising for our educational videos. So please pass this on if you know of someone who can help us out. Thanks.

I promised a rave for this edition didn't I? Well here's an older one that I never got around to posting...

Rave

I saw some terrific movies at the Desert Reel Film Festival, like Spin Cycle, a short, which I enjoyed tremendously. Dirt, a really funny feature about two very bizarre brothers in Texas, and Happy Hour, a New York feature. I liked Happy Hour but they had around 5 million dollars to spend and I think they have a distributor, so if it comes out go see it. I don't want to talk too much about it, although Aaron, the Line Producer was a gas and is trying to do his own independent documentary. Go Aaron!

Dirt is a really interesting film that reminded me of early Coen Brothers work, about two brothers who are so messed up you can't help but like them. Their hearts are in the right place, God only knows where there heads are... This film has been in distribution hell for the last three years! I was talking to the Co-Writer/Director who was saying that the first two distributors who were interested in it both went under after deals were made, but before they could release the movie. They were trying to put together a cable deal, that's now on hold as well. It was made for somewhere between three and four hundred thousand dollars, and you can see the blood sweat and tears on the screen. It's another good movie that deserves to be seen, and hopefully some day it will.

Spin Cycle is a fun short. It's only 9 minutes long, totally programmable at festivals, and it had a couple of nice twists.

Hey I almost forgot the Scrabble Movie! I think it's called Word Wars. It is a documentary about 4 guys who play Scrabble at the tournament level. Wow! Intense film, intense guys, and a really different movie. Well worth seeing.

Talk later.

Where were we...

June 1 - 17 2005
First off, I need to thank every one who has written to me so far. I really appreciate it. The Fall Tour is starting to shape up. I am sending lots of stuff out to various places. I will update you all is the tour schedule progresses. Keep sending me ideas and contacts, I do want to see as many people and teach as many workshops as possible. We need to keep making more real independent movies.
I got to tell you, this self distribution is a ton of work. There's always stuff to do. And it doesn't help any that I have no money for publicity, or promotion. So let's keep doing the word of mouth thing. Tell your friends about my site.
Have you noticed that the Studios are talking about how their box office is down consistently from last year. Do you think it has anything to do with the bad movies they're putting out. It looks like even Star Wars hasn't saved them...
By the way, since I'm still debugging my site and learning how to do stuff... I'm going to include my rants and raves in the journal section. It's easier for me, and probably easier for you all to navigate.
So here is a rant I wrote the week before Star Wars came out that never got posted.
RANT
5/14/05
So listen, I know the so-called "final Star Wars episode" comes out soon. Do me a favor, if you could all wait until the following week to go see it, that would be great! Don't let that opening weekend be big, ( I know I'm dreaming), but as an audience you all deserve better than what you're getting. I'm sure the FX will be great, and I'm sure you can count on the story and the dialog to suck! You can always rely on Lucas for great FX and bad story and dialog. Go see it in a week. Make them sweat a little bit. Lucas and the Studios are all planning on you to be lemmings and spend money opening weekend. If you want to see the movie, great! Just wait a week and see what happens. If they don't make a record amount of money that first weekend they'll consider the movie a flop. Let them worry a bit...
And does anyone really believe that this is the last episode? It's bullshit! George digs the money and the power and fame. He is saying that he wants to get back to making small movies again? He said the same shit after the first series. He wanted to make the Ranch a place where his friends and other filmmakers could come together in a community and make the movies they wanted. I gotta tell you something, Saul Zaentz and the people at the Saul Zaentz Film Center did more for independent filmmakers than Lucas ever will! Those people were the best! It's too bad that the place closed up. Cheers to you Saul and Friends. Piss on you George!
And anyway, what do we get with small movies by George? We got the 26 million dollar Tucker with Francis. He called it their little independent movie! Give me a fucking break! Lucas says all of the same crap when ever he wants to look like an artist. It's not working. You've made one really great movie George, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and one really good one, the ORIGINAL Star Wars back in 1977. The rest of your out put is crap! Who can forget Howard the Duck? Or Willow? I don't know about you, but I sure wish I could.
So stay away from the "new" Star Wars episode when it opens. Wait a week. Go see a small independent movie opening weekend. No, not that other studio crap masquerading as an independent, a real independent movie, maybe made locally. Remember, if a movie has a star in it, then it's probably not a real independent, it's a "corporate independent".
Then go see the new Star Wars and see if it was worth it. Don't be a lemming....

I'll give you a new rave next time....

The New Fall Tour

The New & Improved Tour

I need your help! I am planning a long tour for the Fall of 2005. I will going from Portland, Oregon across the northern part of the United States to Boston. From Boston I will drive down the Atlantic Coast and come back to Portland via the Southern States, to LA, and then back up to Portland.

The goal of this trip is to show my newest movie Kicking Bird, and expose as many people as possible to REAL independent filmmaking. Oh yeah, I need to make some money as well...

How can you help? Glad you asked.

I need to book as many dates as possible from September 16th through November 1st 2005. I will extend the trip if I get more bookings.

Below is a tentative list of cities I will be driving through on my tour. If you live in a town where I'll be passing through and you want to book me for either a screening, or a workshop, or even just dinner, then send me an email. My rates are incredibly reasonable.

I want to fill my schedule with colleges, universities, media art centers, art house theaters, or just interested film groups.

I will be driving cross country in my 1976 BMW 2002 with my dog Moses, a 125 lb Chocolate Lab. Does it get more independent than this...

I am also always on the lookout for good independent video stores that would be interested in buying my DVDs.

My TENTATIVE travel schedule is leaving Portland, OR on Sept 15th - -

Spokane, WA - - Missoula, MT - - Billings, MT - - Rapid City, SD - - Fort Collins, CO - - Denver, CO - - Omaha, NB - - Indianapolis, IN - - Cincinnati, OH - - Columbus, OH - - Cleveland, OH - - Pittsburgh, PA - - Harrisburg, PA - - Philadelphia, PA (or Northhampton) - - Boston, MA - - Providence, Hartford, or New Haven, CT - - Baltimore, MD - - Charlotte, NC - - Columbia, SC - - Atlanta, GA - - Montgomery, AL - - Birmingham, AL - - Nashville, TN - - Memphis, TN - - Little Rock, AK - - Fayetteville, AK (October 17th) - - Tulsa, OK - - Oklahoma City - - Wichita, KS - - Lawrence, KS - - Kansas City, KS - - St. Louis, MO - - Amarillo, TX - - El Paso, TX - - Tucson, AZ - - Phoenix, AZ - - San Diego, CA - - Los Angeles, CA - - San Francisco, CA - - Portland.

Send Me An E Mail and let me know how you can help. Bookings, lodgings, meals, DVD sales, or just a friendly face... If I'm missing out on a great town, or independent film scene, let me know. It all helps.

If you're interested I'll send you an attachment that outlines the workshops and screening programs that I have.

Briefly, the work shops include: Making the Extremely Low Budget Feature, The Personal Documentary, Sound Design for Independent Films, and Guerilla Marketing and Distribution.

Let me know what you all think.

Check out the web site and then write me at Angryfilminfo@aol.com

PS. I'm going to be in Houston, Texas on July 29th doing a Sound Design Workshop for SWAMP.
(You can go to their website for details.) If you live in that area let me know and come to the workshop. Or, if you're close to Houston let me know and maybe we can put something together in your town...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Kelley

New Fall Tour

The New & Improved Tour

I need your help! I am planning a long tour for the Fall of 2005. I will going from Portland, Oregon across the northern part of the United States to Boston. From Boston I will drive down the Atlantic Coast and come back to Portland via the Southern States, to LA, and then back up to Portland.

The goal of this trip is to show my newest movie Kicking Bird, and expose as many people as possible to REAL independent filmmaking. Oh yeah, I need to make some money as well...

How can you help? Glad you asked.

I need to book as many dates as possible from September 16th through November 1st 2005. I will extend the trip if I get more bookings.

Below is a tentative list of cities I will be driving through on my tour. If you live in a town where I'll be passing through and you want to book me for either a screening, or a workshop, or even just dinner, then send me an email. My rates are incredibly reasonable.

I want to fill my schedule with colleges, universities, media art centers, art house theaters, or just interested film groups.

I will be driving cross country in my 1976 BMW 2002 with my dog Moses, a 125 lb Chocolate Lab. It doesn't get more independent than this...

I am also always on the lookout for good independent video stores that would be interested in buying my DVDs.

My TENTATIVE travel schedule is leaving Portland, OR on Sept 15th - -
Spokane, WA - - Missoula, MT - - Billings, MT - - Rapid City, SD - - Fort Collins, CO - - Denver, CO - - Omaha, NB - - Indianapolis, IN - - Cincinnati, OH - - Columbus, OH - - Cleveland, OH - - Pittsburgh, PA - - Harrisburg, PA - - Philadelphia, PA (or Northhampton) - - Boston, MA - - Providence, Hartford, or New Haven, CT - - Baltimore, MD - - Charlotte, NC - - Columbia, SC - - Atlanta, GA - - Montgomery, AL - - Birmingham, AL - - Nashville, TN - - Memphis, TN - - Little Rock, AK - - Fayetteville, AK (October 17th) - - Tulsa, OK - - Oklahoma City - - Wichita, KS - - Lawrence, KS - - Kansas City, KS - - St. Louis, MO - - Amarillo, TX - - El Paso, TX - - Tucson, AZ - - Phoenix, AZ - - San Diego, CA - - Los Angeles, CA - - San Francisco, CA - - Portland.

Send Me An E Mail and let me know how you can help. Bookings, lodgings, meals, DVD sales, or just a friendly face... If I'm missing out on a great town, or independent film scene, let me know.
It all helps.

If you're interested I'll send you an attachment that outlines the workshops and screening programs that I have.

Briefly, the work shops include: Making the Extremely Low Budget Feature, The Personal Documentary, Sound Design for Independent Films, and Guerilla Marketing and Distribution.

Let me know what you all think.

Check out the web site and then write me at Angryfilminfo@aol.com

PS. I'm going to be in Houston, Texas on July 29th doing a Sound Design Workshop for SWAMP. (You can go to their website for details.) If you live in that area let me know and come to the workshop. Or, if you're close to Houston let me know and maybe we can put something together in your town...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Kelley

Texas...

April 20th - May 2nd... TEXAS
Once again you Texans know how to show an Angry Filmmaker a good time! I knew it was going to be a good trip when I ended up selling 2 DVD's to a really nice couple from Sweetwater, TX in the baggage claim area at Midland. That was right neighborly...

Once again I was invited to the Desert Reel Film Festival in Midland-Odessa. I know what you're saying, isn't that George Bush country? It is, but there are a lot of "blue folks" living in a red state. I met a lot of people who talked openly about George's youthful indiscretions, even showed me places he used to score, and I don't mean touch downs, and I get to see where Laura ran over a guy and killed him. Now that's something you don't hear about. How come our "free press" never talks about this stuff... Most people in Midland were quite open about it.
Other than the sightseeing the festival was great once again. My hat is off to the organizers and all of the people that work so hard on that festival. You guys should be really proud. I also saw some terrific films and once again met some pretty cool filmmakers. You guys gotta check out the film festival next year. I just hope I get asked back again. (Hopefully the Hotel will forgive our party after the after party and the visit to the gay bar. We should have cleaned up, there just didn't seem to be time, I mean come on, it was 5:30 in the morning! Is it to late to apologize...)

I can't say enough goods things about Melanie and her group...
Then it was off to Houston for an AIVF Salon co-hosted by Women in Film & Television, and SWAMP. That was so much fun that I'm going back to Houston in late July to do a full blown Sound Design Workshop sponsored by SWAMP. Hey could you guys help me put together a screening for Kicking Bird while I'm there?

Houston has a great film & video community. We had a capacity crowd at the screening room, I got a lot of great questions, and the enthusiasm and great questions spilled over in to a restaurant later that night. Thanks to you all.

Ft Worth was a nice drive the next day, especially being able to go by the worlds largest statue of Sam Houston. Visible from the freeway. I didn't even have to exit. Is Texas great or what?
I had a small screening of my short films at a place called The Wreck. It was perfect!
The only down side was having to get up at 5 AM to drive to Austin the next day. I want to thank Austin and all of my hosts, Reel Women (Sherry Mills), the University (Andy Garrison), and DFRG (Krista Keyosheyan). Thank you all very much.

If you find your self in Austin you have to check out the Austin Movie Show on cable. The hosts are absolutely whacked! They have so much fun talking about movies, giving people grief, and making an Angryfilmmaker feel really welcome. Thanks. I laughed my ass off hanging with you guys.

Okay, so now that I've said my thanks and told you what I did in Texas, here's the other thing. I sold probably 50 DVD's on the road to various small video stores and many individuals. That was really great, because I depend on this stuff to keep me going. Being a true independent isn't easy and I depend on DVD and CD sales to stay in business. It's great when people support me (really great!), but it's also important to support other TRUE independents as well.

Naturally I came home to no work. Guess what, Oregon is still depressed! Actually I don't know where the news media is getting their info, but the economy still sucks, and I still have lots of friends out of work! I am getting so tired of hearing that things are getting better! They're not!
I'm also tired of all of this Blue state, Red state, "I'm more moral than you are" bullshit! Let's all face reality, our government, lobbyists and big business are immoral. It's all about money, people! If they can con us in to voting for them saying that they're more moral that the other people, mean while people are dying of "unnatural causes" all over the planet. And people are making money off of death. And let's not forget that religious leaders like Jimmy Swaggart are back on the air making millions after being caught with a prostitute in a Florida Motel room. And I'm sure he's not the only one out there with moral lapses... You know what, forget it. If I can speeding down this road I'm going to get angrier and stand on a soap box and tell every one that I know best, and then I'll be just as bad as the rest of them. I don't have all the answers, and neither do they. I just don't lie about it!

What the hell has this got to do with movies? I don't know. What I do know is that it's getting tougher and tougher to get our work out. So this weekend I'm heading to Eugene, Oregon to hand out flyers for my film and website at the Oregon State High School Track and Field Meet. I'll do just about anything to promote my work. Yes, it's come to this.

I also need to let you all know that I really appreciate it when SOME of you drop me a line. I do try and answer people's questions even if it takes me awhile. You guys need to know that for the most part I can't help you with your movies beyond offering encouragement. I got so much on my plate just trying to survive. So if it takes me awhile to respond, or if I don't at all, I'm not trying to be an asshole. (Trust me if I wanted to be an asshole that wouldn't be much of a stretch, I 've certainly worked with enough of them.) There just aren't enough hours in the day to do it all. After years of helping and supporting others, I feel like it's my turn. I'm not sorry. So I'm going back to work now...

And don't forget to visit my buddy Mark at www.runningmovies.com. He's got some cool stuff up there and in June he's featuring a movie called "Run Like A Girl". Another locally made movie, but this one is a documentary. It's good.
We'll talk later...