"How I Got Lost" & where it left me

Welcome to the new Blatantly Subtle blog! Screw the message board! This blog is for the detailed nuance of life in Los Angeles and New York trying to make movies without losing your mind. It will dwell on personal details, small logistics, attacks, ironic stories that never mention the word "irony," and questions that stick.

I hope it isn't too self-indulgent.

My name is Joe Leonard. I am one of the founders of Blatantly Subtle Productions, a small production company that has produced short films and held screenings in New York over the last two years. I recently moved to Los Angeles, where I am living alone in a house in Burbank, struggling to finish a movie, rewrite a script, look for a job, meet people and make friends, and in general figure out what the hell I am going to do with the next five years of my life.

Right now my goal is to get a dog. But that's far off, honestly.

My last movie, "How I Got Lost," has been used for the web address for this blog. That's because it is as good a haiku as any for the last few years of my life. I am still looking for ways to find things new, and wandering off is one way to do that. That's part of how I ended up in LA.

"How I Got Lost" is my current project, which will be finished this summer and screened in New York this fall -- along with "Sell Out," Sam Mestman's film, "A Love Thing," Bryan Friedman's film, and hopefully even "Homo Erectus Erectus," Gabriella Dentamaro's film. Many of the entries will relate to these projects and this screening, and the progress getting there.

There will also be some stories from LA about looking for work in the film industry, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other unrelated items.