How I Got Lost

DVD available today at HOWIGOTLOST.COM!

2010-04-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Around this time in 2008, we wrapped production on "How I Got Lost." As of today, DVD copies of "How I Got Lost" have begun shipping!

Order DVD

Coupon code: AUG142003 for 20% off!

2009 Festivals and Awards - and THANK YOUs

2009-12-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

2009 has flown by, and I have gained elite frequent flier status! Though we are not done screening at festivals, it's only appropriate to take a breath at the end of this whirlwind experience and take stock. First of all, there are people to thank. Mickey Cottrell, our publicist at Inclusive PR, who helped us launch the film in Los Angeles. Leslee Scallon at Dances With Films, who has become a close friend and runs a wonderful fest. Producers Jared Parsons, Sam Mestman, and Massoumeh Emami -- who went the extra yard and travelled with me (on their own dime) to the fests. Mom and Dad, for working that St. Louis publicity! Cliff Froehlich and Chris Clark, who do an amazing job putting together one of the best festivals in the midwest -- and the other filmmakers I was lucky enough to meet in the New Filmmakers Forum. Kelly Williams at Austin Film Festival, for believing in our film. Melissa Irwin, for working with me on the design for the website and promotional materials. All of the musicians who contributed their amazing songs: Ari, Dom, Joe Stickley, and (of course) Kaki. And finally Circus Road, our sales agent -- for fighting the good fight. We hope to have good news sometime early in 2010 regarding distribution.

If you helped with this film: THANK YOU. If you helped keep me sane: THANK YOU.

AWARDS (2009):

Dances With Films - Grand Jury Award: Best Narrative Feature Honorable Mention
Oxford International Film Festival - Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker for Joe Leonard
St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase - Best Narrative Feature by St. Louis Film Critics Association
Acefest NYC - Best Feature Film
FirstGlance Philadelphia Film Festival - Best Feature Film and Best Director
Big Apple Film Festival - Emerging NY Actor Award for Aaron Stanford
Big Easy Film Festival - Jury Award: Best Drama Feature, Best Screenplay
St. Louis International Film Festival - New Filmmakers Forum finalist
Red Rock Film Festival - Grand Jury Award: Best Narrative Fiction Feature
Moondance International Film Festival - Seahorse Award for Best Narrative Feature
Columbus International Film Festival - Chris Award for Best Narrative Feature

PUBLICITY:

“Writer-director Joe Leonard aspires to make a generational statement about the young Gothamites whose dreams and illusions were dashed in the wake of 9/11. As nicely enacted by Fishel and Stanford, the relationship between the two characters has a core integrity… The visually polished pic achieves the desired contrast between the hustle-and-bustle of New York and the characters’ countryside idyll.”
–Variety 7/8/09

“This movie had us at Rosemarie DeWitt.”
–Austinist 10/26/09

“The quick, 87-minute run time makes for a seamless flow from start to finish. This is a charming, buzzworthy film that’s worth all the noise.”
–Philadelphia Citypaper 10/22/09

“Leonard puts a unique, admirably understated spin on material that could easily descend into cliché or worse. How I Got Lost’s subtle sound design, surprisingly spare dialogue and game cast (Nicole Vicius and Mad Men’s Rosemarie DeWitt co-star) give Leonard’s graceful, affecting tale an intimate quality that could only spring from personal experience.”
–Cincinnati Citybeat 7/29/09

“How I Got Lost begins with hip New York 20-somethings, sexy and stubbly in their rumpled suits, awash in ennui. They are drunken and sad and look as much like hell as possible while remaining fuckably urbane. They are burnt out. You worry for a moment that you’re about to see a movie about the bullshit worries of bullshit young people of means. But How I Got Lost is better than that. This is a film about the way life tends to rip people out of their poses, and the hip young people of How I Got Lost spend the whole movie getting ripped out of theirs.”
–Palm Beach New Times 4/21/09

“How I Got Lost is a bittersweet and intimate drama about discovering happiness in the midst of turmoil…cleverly and meaningfully book-ended by two significantly traumatic dates for New Yorkers in the aughts (September 11, 2001 and August 14, 2003).”
–Smells Like Screen Spirit 10/20/09

“Though the falling Twin Towers initiate the action in Joe Leonard’s new film, How I Got Lost, it’s not quite accurate to call it a 9/11 film; it’s more of a Northeastern blackout of 2003 film, and the resolution is brilliant.”
–St. Louis Magazine

Austin Film Festival!

2009-10-19T14:07:00.001-07:00

I am listening to "Rubber Soul" over and over -- and except for "Michelle" (too syrupy) and "What Goes On" (too twangy), it is pretty much perfect. I mean every single song makes absolute complete total sense to me, to a disturbing degree.

I am amazingly excited about going to Austin this weekend! I'll be flying in Thursday, checking in, and wandering around town and trying to make friends until our screening on Saturday at 4pm at the Texas Spirit Theatre. Believe it or not, after that I'll be winging it off to Philly for the FirstGlance Film Festival!

"How I Got Lost" at Austin Film Fest
Saturday, 4pm at Texas Spirit Theatre
Monday, 7pm at Arbor Cinema

Apple Movie Trailers - HOW I GOT LOST!

2009-08-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

Check it out! It's fun to get to see our little independent flick next to the trailer for District 9 on its opening weekend!

Apple - Movie Trailers - HOW I GOT LOST

Emerging Filmmaker Award at OIFF! Best Narrative Feature at SLFS!

2009-07-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lots of good news! First of all, many, many thanks to the Oxford International Film Festival for showing our film in Cincinnati at the Esquire Theatre. It's an amazing honor to be awarded the Emerging Filmmaker Award! (And thank you, Dad, for accepting it for me since I couldn't be there!)

For those of you who attended the St. Louis Filmmaker's Showcase, thank you thank you thank you!!! It was overwhelming to show the film back home at the Tivoli in a packed 400 seat theatre -- wow. The film has officially been invited to the St. Louis International Film Festival in November and awarded Best Narrative Feature of the showcase by the St. Louis Film Critics Association!

And in other news, we've been accepted into three festivals (so far) this fall! Moondance Film Festival in Boulder and Kansas International Film Festival in September, and FirstGlance Philadelphia in October! Hope to see some of you out at the fests!!!

How I Got Lost NYC Premiere at Acefest SOLD OUT!

2009-07-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

The New York City premiere of "How I Got Lost" on Friday, July 10 is SOLD OUT. We are very excited to screen the film in the city where the movie started.

Countless thanks and endless gratitude is due to all of the amazing NYC cast and crew. It will be terrific to see you again!

-Joe

How I Got Lost on NETFLIX!

2009-06-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

"How I Got Lost" is listed on Netflix -- click "save" to be notified when it is being released on DVD! Also, you can rate and review the film!

How I Got Lost NETFLIX page

VARIETY Review: Mixed

2009-06-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

It's not all good, not all bad. And it's *&^%ing Variety. So it's sort of a coup.

VARIETY Review: "How I Got Lost"

Los Angeles Times article

2009-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

Dances With Films: A festival that is decidedly independent
There was an article in the Los Angeles Times today about Dances With Films screening this Saturday! (9:30PM, Lammle Sunset 5)

How I Got Lost screening at the Lammle Sunset 5 on Saturday, June 6 at 9:30

2009-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

We would like to invite you to a pre-screening party at Sushi Dan (8000 W Sunset Blvd, at Crescent Heights) on June 6, 2009 at 8:30pm. There will be Sushi. There will cans of PBR.

HOW I GOT LOST will screen at 9:30pm at the Lammle Sunset 5 next door. Tickets are available at the Dances With Films website. Tickets are $10 now, $12 at the door. You can buy them in person at the Sunset 5 anytime this next week. Looks like we're gonna sell out, so don't wait too long!

Getting lost...

2009-05-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

For me, making a movie is about asking a question and then searching for it, trying to find it through the process -- learning about it through the people you work with and through the places it takes you.

On September 11, I was a senior studying film at NYU. I remember the call from my mom. I remember finding my friends. I remember shutting off my camera because the people walking uptown were looking through me. I remember that Fall, very well. For two years I didn’t want to leave -- and it was in that time that I wrote the first draft of “How I Got Lost.” I was 23 years old and living in the East Village, sitting in the Life Café heartbroken scribbling in notebooks. When the lights went out on an August afternoon in 2003, I was walking down the street. That night there was a bonfire in Tompkins Square Park – people dancing, singing, taking off their clothes. And we started over, all of us. The next day it was a different New York City.

I didn’t think I was writing about that time until five years later, on draft nine or so. Every six months I’d pull out the pages, mark them up, and write something new. I read “The Sun Also Rises” around that time, and it seemed like it had just been written. And I started collecting postcards of Edward Hopper paintings, drawn in by their loneliness and heartache.

The journey of the production was the journey of the film. We went through it as a crew. The actors went through it, working each day in a different place. My producers were my closest allies: Massoumeh Emami, Jared Parsons, Sam Mestman and Chris DeAngelis. All of us were in New York on 9/11, all about the same age, all trying to make a movie that captured what we had experienced. My director of photography Chris Chambers was my closest friend during the shoot. We lived together, walked to set together, got sick of each other, and continued each day to make lists and find inspiration.

Early on we decided that we were going to try to shoot with this new toy, the RED One camera -- a terrifying but worthwhile risk. For filmmakers like us, it was catnip. But when FedEx lost it two weeks away from principal photography, we all aged a few years. It showed up eventually, and when it did we didn’t ask questions.

After principal photography ended, my DP and I were driving through Illinois shooting highways surrounded by fields when we were suddenly pulled over by a State Trooper for driving 20 MPH on a state road with a speed limit of 60 MPH. I explained to the trooper that I had been looking at the sky.

“Lookin’ at the sky? Lookin’ at the SKY?” He stomped his feet and shook his head, and wrote me a ticket for being an insane filmmaker.

Then we wrapped.

LA Premiere!

2009-05-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

HOW I GOT LOST Los Angeles Premiere

Saturday, June 6, 2009 - 9:30pm
Lammle Sunset 5 - 8000 W. Sunset Blvd (at Fairfax)

Tickets are available at the Dances With Films website. You can also purchase them in person at the Lammle Sunset 5.

HOW I GOT LOST Trailer

2009-05-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes you have to get lost to figure out where you're going..." This is the full trailer for the upcoming independent feature film HOW I GOT LOST, shot in New York and St. Louis in 2008. Starring Aaron Stanford, Jacob Fishel, Rosemarie DeWitt, Nicole Vicius and Lily Holleman (among many others). Written and directed by Joe Leonard. Produced by Massoumeh Emami, Sam Mestman and Jared Parsons. Music by Kaki King. Trailer edited by Sam Mestman. Made possible by the NYU Richard Vague Production grant, as well as generous investors and selfless volunteers (thank you!!!). Shot on the RED One camera. Currently screening at film festivals this summer! Check howigotlost.com and join our Facebook group for screenings and updates.

In the random things category...

2009-05-10T09:21:00.001-07:00

DEATH BY..., a short documentary I made 2 years ago which played at the Austin Film Festival, is being released on DVD with the horror feature "Sick Girl." What is the connection you may ask? Leslie Andrews. I've seen the film, and in the first 10 minutes or so she kills an entire bus of Catholic schoolgirls. They totally had it coming...

Sick Girl DVD to be released in August

First Review for "How I Got Lost"!

2009-04-23T16:34:00.001-07:00

Reviewer Brandon K. Thorp reviews "How I Got Lost" and two other films for the Palm Beach International Film Festival!

Palm Beach on Film

"How I Got Lost" Festivals!!

2009-04-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

"How I Got Lost" is premiering at the Newport Beach International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 29! And we've already gotten our first review for our Palm Beach screening!

Newport Beach Film Festival
Wednesday, April 29 at 4pm at the Edwards Island Cinemas in Newport Beach, CA
For tickets, click here.

How I Got Lost TEASER

2009-01-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

St. Louis Magazine article about "How I Got Lost"

2008-12-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

During the shoot for "How I Got Lost," Stefene Russell spent a few days with us and wrote this article about the production. Thanks Stefene!

Rosemarie DeWitt is so cool.

2008-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Leslie in "How I Got Lost," has been getting terrific notices for her part in "Rachel Getting Married," Jonathan Demme's new movie. If you haven't seen it, absolutely go. It is a moving, sad and joyful movie that is just very raw and real. Anne Hathaway is great as Rosemarie's ("Rachel's") sister, who checks out of rehab for her sister's wedding. Rosemarie is absolutely the center and heart of the movie, and her relationship with her sister is moving.

So far Ro has been nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role!

Article in STLtoday

"How I Got Lost" Facebook Page

2008-11-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

Become a fan of the How I Got Lost FACEBOOK page!

"How I Got Lost" on Flickr

2008-11-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

Check out photos from the shoot to the "How I Got Lost" FLICKR page at www.flickr.com/photos/howigotlost.

Video shot by The St Louis Post-Dispatch during the shoot

2008-11-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

This recently turned up -- kind of hilarious sideways glimpse at the insanity of our production in its closing weeks. :)

St Louis Post-Dispatch Video

WIRED article on the Red Camera

2008-09-25T13:16:00.001-07:00

Cool article. This is the camera we used to shoot "How I Got Lost."

How I Got Lost submitted to Sundance

2008-09-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Kaki, and StanfordWANK

2008-07-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Kaki has mentioned her work on the score for "How I Got Lost" in a few interviews recently.
Brightest Young Things
Blackbookmag.com

And we are drawing some interesting attention in the blogosphere, courtesy of Aaron Stanford superfan Ashe:
Stanford Wank

"How I Got Lost" Feature Wraps, May 2008!

2008-05-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone in St Louis and Kirkwood, Missouri who made this shoot possible! Check out the Spring 2008 FILMMAKER magazine In Focus article by Mary Glucksman on our film.

"How I Got Lost" is currently being edited here in St Louis while the score is being recorded in New York by Kaki King.

CAST: Aaron Stanford, Jacob Fishel, Rosemarie DeWitt, Nicole Vicius, Jill Flint, Emily Wickersham, Lily Holleman, Gregory Konow, Jace McLean, Jill Frutkin, John Pierson, Peter Mayer, Samantha Sherman, Aiden Nichols
PRODUCERS: Massoumeh Emami, Jared Parsons, Sam Mestman
EXEC PRODUCERS: Matt Tauber, Danny Leiner

How I Got Lost on IMDB

Film Stew article

Kirkwood Is Backdrop for Film How I Got Lost

Independent film shoots at River City Rascals ballpark

"Sons of Liberty" in INDIE SLATE

2008-03-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ludo, you're awful, I love you!

2007-11-19T10:06:00.001-08:00

Sons of Liberty featured in Indiewire article!

2007-08-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

SONS OF LIBERTY has gotten its first publicity!

Read the Indiewire article on "Sons of Liberty" and other upcoming feature films.

Website for the feature film "How I Got Lost"

2007-08-12T09:32:00.001-07:00

Check out the new website for How I Got Lost - The Feature"! We are raising money and planning to shoot this Winter in New York City and St. Louis.

Two Events in St Louis!

2007-07-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 22 at 2pm. Location: The Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
ACTORS will screen as part of the 7th Annual St Louis Filmmakers' Showcase. Tickets are $10. The film will screen with other short films by expatriate St Louis filmmakers.

Thursday, July 28 at 6pm. Location: The Centene Arts Center, 3547 Olive St.
HOW I GOT LOST will have a reading with a St Louis cast in preparation for the Fall 2007 shoot.

Making video things for LUDO

2007-07-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

For the next few weeks I'm in St. Louis cutting TLVT: The Ludo Video Thing. It involves watching a lot of Andrew Volpe, Tim Convy, Tim Ferrell, Marshall Fanciullo and Matt Palermo record an album. I feel like I am there. But I am not. I am watching them through a computer like the guy from "The Lives of Others." Laughing with them, crying with them. Go check it out! Subscribe! You will be entertained for many weeks to come, I promise. If you don't, I will laugh sadly and move on.

Ludo's website is cool.

blatantly subtle POST opens in Hollywood

2007-04-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

Check us out at blatantlysubtlepost.com or www.subtlepost.com.

Things are just getting started but we've already cut three music videos, a short documentary and part of a feature film.

Our Mark Twain - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr RIP

2007-04-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

"When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendants and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever."

-from WAMPETERS, FOMA & GRANFALLOONS, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Bryan Friedman's "The BodyBuilder & I" premiers

2007-03-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

This looks incredible. Bryan, come to LA! (or NY)

Kaki King's video "Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers"

2007-03-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Shot and edited by Joe Leonard.

Shooting the "Spirit of 76"

2007-02-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

I met Jace McLean shooting my first student film at NYU, and we've been buddies pretty much ever since.

Jace moved to LA last summer but wouldn't tell anyone he was an actor. In the meantime he wrote a feature length screenplay, put the money together for it, and we shot it. Now he won't tell anyone he made it -- wrote, starred, co-directed and co-produced it. Either he's crazy or I am, and I don't really care which.

It was an 18-day shoot and I won't tell ya how much we did it for because I want you to think it was made for a million dollars. Never mind, I'll tell you. We shot it for a million dollars. How do you make a million dollar movie? Jace started with three distinct characters and stories and wrote them to be shot in our neighborhood. You cast actors who will kill for a part and then you make them commit homicide and come along with you on a pirate ship of a movie. You do the same for your AD, your DP, and yourself. Then you try to get some sleep. That amounts to one or two hours per day, so then you invest heavily in Rolling Rock and Costa Rican coffee beans. Pray that your girlfriend understands. If possible, cast her.

In all seriousness there was no preparing for this shoot (even though I worked on it for a month before it started) and no recovering from the heartbreak of it being over. There is no replacing the friends that are made and unmade making a movie. As a learning experience I would give it up for nothing.

Making movies is an excellent way to go for broke and end up with a hangover you feel good about.

ACTORS on Youtube

2007-02-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

ACTORS, 22 minutes, has been uploaded to Youtube.

I have to stop banging my head against the wall

2006-10-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

You would think this would be easy, but it is not.

Some highly recommended things to check out --

2006-09-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

"Half Nelson" came out last week, and it's a pretty damn great movie. In New York it's at the Angelika, in LA it's at the Sunset 5, and everywhere else hopefully it's playing somewhere within driving distance. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden are both excellent people who have always been great to us. Here is the Half Nelson website to check out --

Also, you've gotta hear Kaki King's new CD, ...until we felt red. Un-fucking-believable. She's touring the country right now and if you can get to any of her shows, do it. Here's her website with her tour info: kakiking.com. She will be in LA at the Knitting Factory on September 25.

[A la Reading Rainbow] ...But don't take my word for it:

"You can still hear Kaki King's great guitar virtuosity, but the impact of added instruments and the voice is exhilarating. It's exciting to witness the flowering of a great, new artist, and it sounds like there are great things yet to come from her." --
Ned Wharton, NPR

"[Half Nelson]...Easily the best film I've seen all year! GO out and see it right now!.”
-Kevin Smith, Guest Critic, EBERT &ROEPER

San Francisco Shorts

2006-08-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am laying in bed right now with Lily and Leslie -- aren't you jealous? We are napping after our second screening at San Fran shorts. We have stayed in a European style hotel for the last day or two and now we are living the good life out at the beach in Pacifica. San Fran shorts is an upstart festival, and we all appreciate that. It is in the Mission, which has led to several nights wandering around with parents through streets crowded with homeless people, some more interested than others in getting some spare change. Watch as you hand out quarters that will turn into a can of beer. Great coffee in great coffee shops. The films have been good, and strong in different ways. A couple of them have pissed me off, and since that is what they set out to do I guess they were a success. It's great to be involved -- and the ACTORS screenings have gone well.

Great to see Chris Chambers today, and my brother and his friends Bhi, Nick and Rachel all were great. I wished Bhi had become indignant with me for making a movie about diverse characters when I am so lily white. My prepared response would have been "it was more interesting, plus white people are boring." More than half true. Last night Jared and Sarah and their friends from Berkeley came. It's been a great trip.

Zach Evans, wherever you are, you are missed.

Vague Grant for "How I Got Lost" Announced

2006-05-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

NYU recently posted this announcement for the Vague award. I am so grateful to have been chosen, and excited about the future of "How I Got Lost."

YouTube.com is the end of the world.

2006-05-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing. Honestly, I think this is the sort of site that Blatantly Subtle was made for.

This is the trailer for ACTORS, hopefully soon starting a festival run. It was fun to make.

A day spent not thinking about winning The Vague Award

2006-05-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

It was my second year being a finalist, so I knew not to think about anything ahead of time. I kept down any lifting feeling, kept my gut tight. I was staying midtown at the Hotel Chandler, thanks to a producer and good friend of mine, and I took my time that morning shaving. I drank water from a huge bottle. I had everything I needed in my small bag: my pitch, my production book, and nothing else. I woke up early, around 5AM, knowing it was a big day. It was so early that the kitchen in the hotel wasn't open, so I had the bellhop hold my bags and left to find a diner or something.

I walked through early New York. I had been in town four days and most of the time I just wandered around quietly. This morning was special, and I took in everything I could. As I walked over past Penn Station an old woman in a walker surprised me asking for money. "I don't have any change," I said. "But a dollar --" she said knowingly. I pulled a dollar out and gave it to her, and as I stepped away someone anonymously said "You just got taken." It made me smile to be back in New York like an 18 year old from St Louis, again.

At Penn Station they were selling newspapers. Calling out for The Post and the Times and The Daily News as I descended to the A train. I had remembered where I wanted to go: La Bonboniere. My favorite diner for some reason, over on 7th Ave in the West Village. Inside the waiter remembered me and asked about Lily before getting me coffee and blueberry pancakes. I didn't even have to order and that was fine with me.

After my first cup of coffee it began to rain. I had a nice vantage point and felt comfortable inside, looking out as the umbrellas were unfolded and blown around by the wind. After I finished the paper it was pouring, and it was time to go. I walked along the buildings, getting sprinkled by windblown raindrops till I made it to a deli and bought an umbrella. The rest of the way I was fine -- protected from the downpour. I walked through Washington Square. Everything I did that morning I did with purpose, and without thought or concern for anything except showing up and talking for five minutes to five people in a room on the tenth floor.

I saw Nicholas Georgiou in the lobby. I had last seen him at Sundance, and he still seemed to be carrying that energy, of thin air and travel. He came over to say hello -- it was a relief to talk to somebody after all of that quiet. And I felt comfortable, like maybe I was ready.

Still, I hid in the hallways and stairwells of the giant building until it was five minutes before my pitch. When I showed up I waited five minutes, sitting next to someone who recognized me -- an old RA of mine named Rafael Del Toro, who was also pitching. My slot was at 10:45AM. I pitched them the story, what was going on with the project, and my plan. Pretty short and sweet, but I still was cut off at the 5 minute mark, just as I was about to say "thank you" one too many times. They asked me if I would be doing any rewrites ("yes") and if I could make the movie with the grant ("yes,but"). Then I left.

Three hours roughly till the announcement. Nick and I went to the Corner Bistro, had a burger and two beers (I did anyway). "It's one of us two," we told each other. His project sounded great -- a documentary about Cyprus, and he was planning to go to claim land taken from his father by Turkey. Still an hour and a half left. Wandered aimlessly, bought another cup of coffee. Ended up back in Washington Square and sat down to play chess with an old African-American guy. He killed me the first two times but told me what I was doing wrong, and the third time I nearly won in the first ten moves. He was nervous it would rain again, so I paid him for playing with me (technically he won it, $2/game) and went to the announcement.

Unbelievably, once I got there and once everyone was sitting down -- and after they called us up one by one and said a few words about what a difficult decision it was, they announced that I'D WON THE GRANT. Words fail. For the rest of the day I was Muhammad Ali.

It wouldn't have happened without Matt and Danny, Mark Arywitz, Bryan, Jill, Jared, Zach, Drew and everyone else who suffered through phone-call pitches. And I wouldn't have made it this far without Lily and my mom and dad.

We'll be shooting "How I Got Lost" the feature film in April 2007!

The Silverlake Diet

2006-01-27T02:00:00.000-08:00

Started a writing group in LA with Jared, Lily, Jace, Gabe and Josh. We will meet every week this month at our place. It is a funny thing to start in a way. Writing is sitting alone in a room. A writing group is really commiserating. Plus everyone has a different process and style, and their own vision of what they are writing in their head. It is just difficult enough sounding to seem like a great way to spend every Wednesday this year.

A new year. This year everything positive, building ahead. Less drinking. Or at least, rules for drinking. Only drinking this year with friends, and as little as possible. No benders. Except when warranted by visitors. These rules are made to broken, so nevermind. Less drinking in general, more writing. A good resolution.

Working on finishing up "Actors." It's been incredible working with Gabe, who I can only describe as a "real editor" because he is just a pro, and because we've been finding this project together. It's a better project than I could have hoped for, but most importantly it has been interesting every step of the way. Currently have a cut that is too long, but after a week of looking at it happily -- my director's cut -- I was happy Gabe started cutting it down. Got some music for the movie from Russell Holbrook, a guy I met at Sundance last year -- we were both volunteers. His cues are terrific. and I speak to him on the phone about them and he sends them to me on CD. It is an over-the-phone collaboration, and works just fine because we are both somehow on the same page.

I saw Kaki last week. It was incredible to see her. She played for an hour at a jazz club in West LA. She sang some, and played things that were new, and made a few things up. Afterwards I got to catch up with her. It's incredible how some people can affect you, and remind you who you were and who you are all at once.

I ran out of money this month. Too much movie spending, no income for a few months. But it's a new year. I took a job at a phone bank raising money for the DNC to supplement my random post-production pay. I am one of those people who calls and asks for money. Everyone should have to do this. It is actually tough work inconveniencing people, asking them for money. But you learn things about yourself and about the things you take for granted and make assumptions about when you're on the other end. Our call center is a beautiful thing, too. Not only because I am building character and learning about myself. I have never encountered a place that was richer in terms of material. Everyone there -- everyone -- is a character.

It's perfect because I getting into a new SIlverlake rhythm, and this year I'm writing more and drinking less.

PRESS! Action: The Independent Film Resource

2006-01-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

"Actors" short film shot in LA

2005-11-27T18:11:00.000-08:00

It started in August, going to LA's Chinatown with Zach Evans, buying sugar cane juice. The two of us had worked together on a short teaser for a horror project he is producing, and now we were talking about what project we wanted to do with all of our free time in the fall. So we wandered around Chinatown, a strange and addictive place. I had just gotten back from New York where I had worked as an assistant to my buddy Matt Tauber, who was directing his first feature film from his own script for a company called HDNet, a successor to OpenCity backed by Mark Cuban and making unique $1.5 million movies on HD back-to-back with a shooting schedule of about 20 days each. It was an intense and terrifying experience, and afterwards I was glad to be back home in LA (as strange as that sounds). I was reeling, trying to figure out where the hell I was as usual. I needed to find a house to live in, for one thing, and I needed to remember why the hell I got started on all of this to begin with.

Chinatown with Zach was a start. My girlfriend Lily saved me with the rest. First of all, she put up with me. I scribbled the script for this new movie on her kitchen table long hand, and stayed in her apartment for almost a month as I looked for a place of my own in Silverlake. She was doing incredible work on a new play and with the Groundlings, and because of that I accidentally met a few of the actors who would work in the movie. First, Jean Paul Rodriguez, from her acting class, and second, Royce Binion, a friend of a terrific actor named Simon Sorrells, a great guy and coincidentally one of Lily's best friends out here. Once I had these guys in mind, I started working on their stories.

But let me back up, because it's always a funny thing where a project comes from and what it's about. In some ways it's a total mystery. This one I called "Actors" because everyone in LA is an actor. It's a strange kind of movie, in three parts, about people who are out of their element and finding a way to move forward. And it's meant to be the exact opposite of the idea you get about LA from watching movies and television. These people define their environment, not the other way around. Jean Paul defined Hollywood, playing the game his own way. Royce was going to literally be cool in any situation, whether it was south LA by Watts where he lived, or Chinatown, where we shot his story. After living here for almost two years, I had a few stories I wanted to work on. Zach, Lily, Jean Paul, and Royce got me started.

This gave me an excuse to start talking to all the people out here who I was looking for a chance to work with. Gabe Reed, an incredible editor who went to the same highschool as I did in St. Louis. A DP named Chris Chambers that I'd heard about from Jared, my roommate from AFI. A composer in Atlanta named Russell Holbrook who I met at Sundance last year, whose stuff I thought would be perfect. Things started to fall into place.

Zach and Drew started looking for the actors I had written without anyone particular in mind, all of them hard types to pin down. The process began. We set up auditions and started scouting locations. Chris Chambers and I started hanging out at least once a week -- mainly over coffee, usually with a great deal of fruitful miscommunication. Actually, the first time we hung out it was to play tennis, and I let him win. We brought in a Production designer named Matt Hausman, who could do everything with practically nothing, and a sound guy named Zach Wrobel who was interested in working with some new equipment. And Josh Weiner, who had directed Lily in a fucking funny short called "Hy-phen," signed on as my AD. It was an incredible team.

Then we headed into the unknown. We shot for a week, hard to even remember it. We made it through. And I got this feeling in the middle, a hard sensation to forget:

Doing almost anything else, I have no idea what to do. But working on a project like this is a little like freefall, and it's like I've been wearing a parachute around to cocktail parties and laundromats. But once I was out of the plane, I knew just what to do.

I'm blogging

2005-10-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Cool to be here

Lily in "CRUMBLE (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake)"

2005-10-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! Lily has gotten her first glowing review in the LA Times for her role in "CRUMBLE" as a psychotic 11 year-old who builds a bomb. If you are in LA, definitely check this one out. It was just extended through most of November.

"How I Got Lost" announcement from Scott Macaulay's IFP Director's Lab

2005-09-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Check out the link above for a recent IFP announcement regarding "How I Got Lost" and the director's lab. It was amazing to get to participate in this program, and I am making plans to shoot the feature version of the film in Fall 2007.

Back in LA

2005-08-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

It's a helluva thing to move to LA and then go back to New York on a job for two months. It was a great experience, and an unbelievable treat to see my friends. It was also completely disorienting, but maybe I just drank too much. It's great to be back in LA and back in the swing of things. It's a sunny, hot August day and I'm working on a behind-the-scenes piece for Andrew Volpe's band LUDO. I'm also looking for a new place to live out here.

"How I Got Lost" screened in St. Louis

2005-07-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

I would just like to thank everyone who came to the Tivoli to check out "How I Got Lost" and the other terrific shorts that were shown. It always so much fun for me to come home and especially to screen movies, so I was upset that I could not make it this time. I was in New York working for Matt Tauber and HDNet films on a movie called "All Fall Down," and the screening happened in the middle of our crazy production schedule.

In any case I'm looking forward to spending more time in St. Louis this fall.

Outlier: Here I am ... wait, where am I?

2005-06-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I find myself here, in the desert somewhere outside Joshua tree, telling an actor "I'm sorry, but you have to do it again," shooting a movie called "Outlier." His shirt is already drenched in red corn syrup. So then he puts enough fake blood in his mouth to make him gag and I say "cmon goddamnit let's roll now, now!" And then it's action and he's stumbling along, falls to his knees, and then artistically spits up a mouthful of blood onto an already existing puddle from the previous takes. This time though, he really goes for it, even falls over the side from his knees, coughing and dying. It's all fairly realistic. Then it's cut, everything is done, I have fake blood on my hands and I don't remember how, and it's time to get back to the real world.

So now I'm in my apartment in Burbank with Kevin and Ivette, who sublet it to me for almost a year. We're all moving out now and the place is bare. All day the furniture sat in the front yard, like someone got confused where the walls were, where outside ended and inside began. And I'm in the empty living room and Kevin's friend is trying hard to outdrink him. The next day they're gone and I'm moving a couch and a bed into storage myself with a giant Uhaul. I go home to empty rooms and piles of paper and find a bottle of wine and get ready to find my goodbye, as Holden taught me. After awhile I find it.

So then I'm at Lily's apartment, packing for the plane. It's even later now and I'm wrapping her secret birthday presents and setting up my computer for her. She is sleeping peacefully, totally out, and I already miss her, know it's going to take a lot to get by without her, even if I'm working on a feature film in NY fulltime for the next two months.

Here I am in New York, strange to be back, great to be back. I feel like I'm in Europe for some reason, travelling light, working hard. Decided to join a gym, started using a bigger wallet... these things show that I am becoming more mature. Every day wake up with a mission, working with great people, people who make movies for a living. Ended up on a terrace with Ted Hope, the guy who made New York film happen from 1990 on. Here I am: learning everything there is to learn being in a production office three weeks away from principal photography.

Found out that I got into the IFP directing lab for emerging directors, a workshop set up for people about to make their first feature. Right place, right time. Lab starts on Tuesday.

Trenton, Richard Vague, AFI: news so subtle it's blatant

2005-04-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

Cat, Dom, Sam, my mom and dad and I screened "How I Got Lost" at the Trenton Film Festival on Saturday, April 30. There was a Q&A and Cat and I did our best to be serious and not talk ourselves seriously at the same time. Graham Hamilton and Cat Yezbak were nominated for a festival award for their work, and I received a "directing award for screenwriting in a narrative short." Which is really pretty fun.

Also, the "How I Got Lost" full screenplay was a finalist for the Richard Vague award for a first feature film by an NYU alumni!

And in other Great News: Blatantly Subtle director of photography Justina Mintz got into AFI!

I've been in New York for the past week, basically wandering around... about four years ago when I made my NYU student film "Bulletin Board," I was in love with the idea of meeting the perfect girl. This last week was the perfect week, a new idea that I am in love with.

Great New Wonderful - the first great 9/11 movie?

2005-04-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

Check out the article at the link above.

So tired I can only tell that it's been a few days because I need to shave (again). Tired like falling asleep with shoes on. Looking forward to doing laundry busy. That's what it's been like the last few weeks as Post-Production wraps up on "The Great New Wonderful," which will be screening at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22.

Many wonderful things! I'm coming to New York. I'll be there for almost three weeks as I escape the bright sleepless sun and the difficult left turn lanes for the place that used to be my home. Good old New York in the Springtime. I'm determined to make the most of it.

The first thing I'm doing is going to see "The Great New Wonderful," which I helped get through post (I was the Post-Production Coordinator, or Supervisor, one of those, anyway I worked hard on it...) I can't wait to see how it plays on the big screen. Premiere is April 22, with three other screenings. Let me know if you wanna come so I can get you a ticket.

Next on the agenda, a screening of "How I Got Lost" at the Trenton Film Festival on Saturday, April 30th at 5:30pm. Less prestigious, yes, maybe a little obscure -- sure. Regardless, this is going to be a very good thing. There will be a bus for Blatantly Subtle to attend leaving from Manhattan. Festival number one. After a meeting last week with a filmmaker advisor at IFP I'm considering chopping it down a bit for the rest of it's festival life, see if it gets a second wind.

Finally, "How I Got Lost" (the feature screenplay) is a finalist for the Richard Vague Production Fund, a $100,000 grant for NYU alumni making a first feature. So I will be pitching it to the selection committee the same week.

All of this makes me very excited to get back to New York.

There are no end products.

2005-03-01T22:55:00.000-08:00

The screening went well. I was surprised who came, to tell you the truth. The Temple Bar is really kind of a music venue/bar. Not exactly the sort of place you expect to see short films. But the place was full, and as I walked in (late) I saw four or five people to wave to. All of the people that I thought "wouldn't it be great if they came."

Visually the movies didn't look great through the video projector (it looked good enough but Justina wouldn't have been happy) but the sound blasted through the music venue speakers, and it was a wonderful thing hearing all the work that Dom and I did. All of the dog barks and subtleties. And I was really surprised. My movie showed second and after the first minute people got quiet and watched. And they laughed at Andrew and understood Jake. More or less it worked, and I felt pretty good about it. Afterwards I hung around with Lily and it was like a dream where all of the people you have met show up. That's what happened. So many of the people I have met out here in the last year went out of their way to come by to say hi and talk about the movie. Even the director of "Harold and Kumar" was there... and he liked the way it was directed and edited, said it was pretty good. Not bad.

There are no end products. Nothing that can happen at a screening or anywhere else can really live up to all of the work that goes into making a movie and all of the high hopes you experience. The work is where all of the good stuff happens, I think. That's what I was thinking the whole day before the screening, and I had a great time. I was really happy throughout the whole night. The movie screened with four other shorts at the IFP LA Cinema Lounge programmed by Julianna Brannum, who has herself gone out of the way to help me out. Things like this are very important when you're making movies and you aren't sure what to do next...

What'd you guys think of the Oscars? I didn't have too many thoughts, really. I enjoyed the show kind of mindlessly. Thought Chris Rock had some valid points and that Sean Penn looked like Bob Hope or someone standing up for Jude Law... Watched the whole show all the way through. Earlier in the week I had seen them setting it up down on Hollywood Blvd. Screwed up traffic all week... I thought that Eternal Sunshine and Sideways won for good reason -- and I always like the screenplay category. I saw Million Dollar Baby two weeks ago and it blew my fucking socks off. There are some good theatres out here for seeing movies, I must say.

And speaking of awards ceremonies, I have tell you all that my dad, who has taken up coaching hockey since my brother and I left our highschool hockey careers behind, coached his way to his first State Championship last night!!! It was my highschool's first since my brother and I were on the team. The Burroughs Bombers played at the Blues arena (they weren't using it anyway) and beat St. Charles West 4 to 1. Not bad for my dad's first year coaching highschool hockey!

It made me think, do I know anyone else who would learn how to skate and teach hockey, out of the blue? It's a good question. Would I? I gotta try to be more like that. I watched my dad talk to his little guys (he started out coaching 10-12 year olds) before a game and I saw how he did it more than once. He was pretty good at it: he would come into the lockerroom and tell them to shut up and quit calling each other gay and saying bad words to be cool and all that. And once he had their attention he gave what he called the "they hurt your dog" speech. Basically what he did was, he convinced them the other team was responsible for hurting their dog! The little kids would get psyched up and mad and run out onto the ice in their skates, ready to play. He saved it for the big game of the year... Anyway, how cool is that.

We all need a good "they hurt your dog" pep talk once in awhile, I've decided. (Maybe even one every day?)

"How I Got Lost" IFP Screening in LA

2005-02-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

how i got lost

Monday, February 28 7:30pm
The Temple Bar in Santa Monica, CA
Wilshire & 11th St.
IFP Cinema Lounge Screening

classic Blatantly Subtle on Triggerstreet.com

2005-02-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Two movies from the past -- "Bulletin Board" & "Personal Soundtrack" -- managed to make become a part of the most recent Triggerstreet online festival. If you haven't checked out this site, I'd really recommend it. If nothing else it is a great way to get kneejerk feedback.

Also, check out the responses to the films below.

Clearing the Way

2005-01-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

It's the new year. I went to the Rose Bowl yesterday and it was a pretty amazing way to start off 2005. Jared and I walked around drinking orange juice and vodka out of plastic one-litre bottles and everyone had this look on their face. Or at least it seemed like they did to me. It was the new year.

I have been burning special edition dvds for cast and crew. If you are one of the lucky few, hold onto to your copy. Someday it will be worth thousands on eBay...

I've been clearing the music for my movie, which is overwhelming and educational. So far, the Sufjan Stevens song featured at the end of the movie (from the Michigan CD) has been cleared! And all I can say is that the people at Sounds Familyre -- specifically Lenny Smith -- are terrific and I'm really grateful to have befriended them. (Lenny had 2 questions: do you need all the f words? & can you use more of the song? my answers were yes & yes). I also was lucky to get to get festival rights to use the Walkmen song "138th St" and Matt Sharp's song "Shadows."

All of this has been pretty cool. I really have to thank everyone who has dealt with me over the phone, via email, and through the bane of my existence, the fax maching... Thank you for your patience and willingness to listen to me long enough and enough times so that I either convinced you to help me out or to get rid of me.

Happy Holidays from Blatantly Subtle!

2004-12-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! It's 80 in Burbank today!

We have just produced special edition copies of the movies featured in "Love, Lost & Sold," the screening held recently in New York. There is also talk of having a screening Los Angeles this spring!

First things first -- the special edition DVD of "How I Got Lost" includes special features like a commentary with me and Dominic (the sound designer), behind the scenes footage and outtakes, a slide show, and the trailer to the movie... All of which is overwhelming I'm sure. In any case a select few have been sent out to cast and crew. Enjoy them with eggnog or hard alcohol.

Also, we are mass producing these things, so let us know if you'd like a copy -- or a bunch of copies. The more copies that are out there the
better, as far as we're concerned.

In terms of the future for "How I Got Lost": I have sent it out to several festivals, including Tribeca, Firstglance Philadelphia, Sedona and South by Southwest. And I will continue to send it out for festivals through the season. We will hear from many of these festivals in February and March. I
am optimistic about the chances of having a modest festival run, and should it get in to a few, cast and crew are certainly encouraged to attend!

Finally, some breaking news: I recently got a job out here in LA as the Post-Production Supervisor for "The Great New Wonderful," an independent feature that was shot in New York, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tony Shalhoub, Judy Greer and a few others -- so I'm going to be out here through most of Christmas and New Years, with a couple days in St. Louis. Then in January I'm going to Sundance, where I'll be directing traffic, watching movies and trying to talk to people about our movie.

If I don't get a chance to talk with you -- have a wonderful Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa season and don't get too hammered on New Year's Eve, or you'll have to do that whole "resolution" thing with a hangover, which is annoying enough on its own. On second thought, try to overdo it SO much that you will miss the ball dropping entirely. That's my technique.

Screening our movies - "how did it go?"

2004-12-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

I will do my best to remember, but honestly my memory feels spotty, and I feel like I'm trying to remember a dream now that I've woken up. Here, to the best of my memory, is an accounting of how the screening went...

I got in town a few days early. The first few days back in New York I slept on couches, stayed out late and got up early, and fought off a cold; I spent my first night in New York looking in vain for a cellphone charger. I went to see Jace in "Heartbeat of Baghdad" at the Flea. It thought it was great. I ran into my friend Kaki on the street. New York is still everything I always thought it was. At one point, on accident, I ran into Sam and Bryan on one block. Bryan came to town from Toronto with his girlfriend Janice, and showed his movie "A Quarter-Life Love." This was a very good weekend even before it got started.

The days before the screening Sam and I cold-called agencies and production companies. It was a good thing to do, since everything else was ready to go. But still, it's a terrible way to spend a day... We sent out emails and faxes of our press release and our press kit. All of this led to exactly one person showing up -- who we already knew. But then, maybe we are out of touch thinking that the film industry types would be interested in our work. Or maybe someone else is out of touch...

Regardless, we stuck to our plan and sent out our emails (and our spam emails) and called everyone we knew for the fifth time.

And then... we didn't know what to do. Honestly, every other screening we have done we have been struggling up to the last minute to finish the films. This time we had our shit together. We had made the best movies we knew how. We put months into it, and we didn't lose focus for a moment. Before the screening even happened, I was proud of us. I was proud of Sam and Jill and Justina and Jace and Bryan, and Dom and Pete and everyone else who followed through and helped finish these movies.

My big job the day before was to get red carpet. This I found in Chinatown.

Before the screening we had friends and family helping us set up. Lexi and Kate were our hot ushers, handing out programs, making signs and in general being wonderful. Sam, Bryan and Dom did the sound and picture check. Jill and I set up a table with handouts and things. And we practiced our speech, which was a very difficult thing. Jill was on fire by the way. She looked great and couldn't have been happier. Before people started walking in we took some pictures on the red carpet.

I was so happy to see the people who came: like Ian Cohen, Ishai Setton, Mark Arywitz, Barbara Malmet, Riley Gallagher, and far too many more to mention. Lily's mom, aunt, uncle and cousin Beth came. My parents were there. Remnants of the NYU hockey team showed. People I didn't know at all, reached through NYU or some other mysterious means, came out of the woodwork. The actors and their friends piled in, and before we knew it we had a completely full 300 seat theatre, and it was time to give our speech.

After that it's a little bit of a blur.

And then after the movies we hung around a little and talked to people from the cast of The Wire, who came to check out what we were up to. Then we went to a bar around the corner and stayed there until it closed down on a Sunday night. Then, I think the few people left (Sam, Jace, Kate, other people, me I suppose) went to the Blind TIger, which amazingly was still open. And then we stayed there for awhile. I just didn't want the night to end at all.

The next morning I woke up early in my parents hotel in midtown, and stayed up all day, continuing my new philosophy in New York of waking up early to beat my hangover. It was a beautiful, cold, New York day. The kind that makes you realize where you stand, what matters to you.

Today's it's raining in Burbank. My life has not changed drastically, as I imagined it might on occasion. But things are looking good. I recently got a job out here working as a Post-Production Coordinator for "The Great New Wonderful." So I'm working on that through Christmas. And I'm sending "How I Got Lost" off to festivals...

And that is how I got lost and where it left me.

Review of "Love, Lost & Sold"

2004-11-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

Check out the link above for a review by a fan who attended our screening.

Thank you everyone for attending!!!

Attention: Cast & Crew of "How I Got Lost"

2004-11-07T23:54:00.000-08:00

I doubt you've forgotten how cold it was in February when we shot this thing.

Well, it's finally time to see it. In the last month or so, Dom and I have been working on the sound design and it's been way too much fun. Most of what we did involved making noises and doing foley work (re-creating sound effects, essentially) in the sound booth, and of course drinking beer. Kevin and Graham also came in to record some stuff, and it was great to get back to working on the movie with them. I guess I've more or less lived with this movie over the summer, and I know it will be hard for me to admit that it's all done now that it's over with.

Which is why this premiere is going to be great. Everyone's going to be there.

I'm sure by now you know the details of when and where, and I hope you've gotten postcards and enough emails to clog your mailbox already. And most of all I hope you're looking forward to seeing the end result of all of that hard work -- and of course there are also two other movies to look forward to that will be shown with "How I Got Lost." Basically, there's going to be a lot of good stuff to see. Let everyone you know... know, or something. (Also, check the back of next weeks Village Voice!)

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, or if you just feel like saying hello. It'd be great to hear from you. Otherwise, I will be in town next Wednesday, November 10, and I'm free for drinks or coffee anytime. I'm more than happy to show you the movie ahead of time if you wanna check it out. And I think it'd be great to have BRUNCH the Sunday of the screening! So I'm going to be looking into that. Did I mention that we will have DVDs for you at the screening? And of course I will be able to give you whatever footage you would like in raw or finished form for your reel. Just let me know. Now that the movie's done I don't know what to do with myself.

So over the next week while we're calling production companies and agents and sending emails, keep in mind the following picture: a theatre filled with 200 or so screaming fans, a red carpet, and myself wearing a dress that is also a swan. Ok, maybe not.

But it's going to be almost that good, so bring your friends.

The Premiere

2004-11-05T14:04:00.001-08:00

Blatantly Subtle invites you to an exclusive gala premiere...
LOVE, LOST & SOLD: three shorts filmed in new york
Sunday, November 14TH, 7:30 pm
Cantor Film Center –36 East 8th Street NY,NY FREE

A Quarter-life Love
Dir. Bryan Friedman
Starring Jill Frutkin & Jace Mclean

How I Got Lost
Dir. Joe Leonard
Starring Kevin Kane & Graham Hamilton

Sell Out
Dir. Sam Mestman
Starring Peter Karinen & Kate Dulcich

Show up in jeans, a ball gown, or cabana wear. Come early for a good
seat and stay late to have drinks with us!

a blatantly subtle screening
backing up our good ideas with debt

The Cardinals Lose the Pennant

2004-10-27T23:44:00.000-07:00

It was still the best season I remember.

LA screening of "Personal Soundtrack"

2004-10-25T11:43:00.001-07:00

A short film I directed called "Personal Soundtrack" (starring Jill Frutkin) is playing tonight at the IFP event at the Temple Bar, on 1026 Wilshire Blvd at 7:30 PM. It's a free event, and I don't really know the details other than that the program is called the "Cinema Lounge," and apparently there's going to be a Q&A, which ought to be interesting... It'll be my first LA screening since moving here.

I apologize for the late notice. If you can make it I look forward to seeing you there. Otherwise, hope to catch up with you soon.

A month to go

2004-10-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

Things to do before the screening:

1. Distribute and mail postcards
2. Send out presskits
3. Make a list of production companies, agents, producers, etc.
4. Make cold calls
5. Turn 25
6. Write a program
7. finish final touches on the movies
8. Get cast and crew of movies excited
9. Write emails and opening speeches...
10. Make dvds
11. Spend an hour a day on it.

What I missed

2004-09-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

For the last two weeks I have been working on the sound design for How I Got Lost and living in New York. And there isn't any place like New York. People ask me, "oh, no shit, Los Angeles? How's the working out?" It's great, but yknow it's not New York. And they nod. They know it isn't. But I don't really think you appreciate New York living here. Or at least I stopped, in the crucial part of my imagination where I imagined New York was a romantic place.

And that's what my movie's about. The romantic part of New York. But in the movie the character Jake ends up still back in New York, having conquered something. But I'm not Jake. I'm not a sportswriter, or an actor, or an idea, the way the character of Jake is. I am just who I am.

I have been drinking a lot in New York and enjoying it with the people I love. It has been a very, very good trip.

I mentioned in my last post that I sent out a VHS of the movie to dozens of people. I received a lot of replies, and in the last three weeks I made big changes that I wouldn't have been able to make if I hadn't had at least one person call who hated it, one person who was confused, and one person who loved a few little things in it. Part of the process of every movie being finished should include and absorb the responses you get, positive and negative, to your project. That's my theory. It's funny getting feedback because you really have to consider: is this person right, or wrong? And of course, am I right or wrong? It's always a toss-up and once again you have to make these crucial decisions. I decided on a catch phrase for the movie. "It doesn't matter where you're going." This is partially because there was some feedback that the movie didn't know where it was going.

Most feedback is 100% right, but it's always from a perspective, and always pretty personal. That's how all the feedback I give is anyway.

For the last two weeks I have been pretending I live in New York still. It has been wonderful. But now tomorrow morning I have to leave and get back to work in LA. I don't mind so much. But it's hard packing up an apartment.

For the last two weeks I have been finishing my movie with Dom, one of my best friends and one of the people I value working with most. It has been great.

I will miss New York until I'm back in November.

Finishing the movie

2004-08-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

It only takes one or two bad screenings to fix a movie that you know is close. In this case my mom, Mary Bonner (an actress in the movie), Lily (my girlfriend), and Dom Bartolini (the future sound designer) all had the misfortune to see the work-in-progress. Immediately I knew there was something wrong. The moving parts were all there, but it lurched. The scenes moved and looked right to me, but there was still something unclear about it, and I could see it as my viewers watched with blank faces. It was clear there was still work to do.

So back to the drawing table. There were problems with the beginning, just getting the movie off the ground, and with the end, pulling it all to a close. I focused on the basketball scene, at fives minutes the most challenging film editing I've ever done. I spent more time on it than any of my previous movies, and quite clearly, it didn't work. It was too long, too much basketball. The two hours plus of footage with two cameras yielded choppy results, a movie in of itself. I decided to table the second half of the scene and see if I could put it back in later, as a flashback. I did the same with the other scene at the beginning of the movie, a scene in a cafe, pausing only to introduce the characters and what they faced.

No movie can be too good out in the real world when you lock yourself in a room and stare it for a long time. But you gotta do that to know your movie, to find it, I think...

I set up a camera with a shotgun microphone and forced myself to read voice-over for an afternoon. I wrote and re-wrote, I made stuff up. It is amazing what a rolling camera does for your creativity. It forces the issue. I watched the movie, I drank beer and wine, I watched it more, and drank coffee. It started to come together. I started to see it.

When you get to the point where you can add credits, it's actually pretty fun. You are there.

It feels good, like there's a weight off my back. Today I made 40 VHS copies of the cut and sent them out to friends for some final feedback. We'll go from there... Anybody up for a drink?

"Personal Soundtrack" Screening in NY and LA

2004-08-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

"Personal Soundtrack" will be screening as part of IFP/NY's Buzz Cuts program on Tuesday, September 14 at the Pioneer Movie Theatre in the East Village, and at the IFP/LA’s Cinema Lounge shorts program on Monday, October 25th at 7:30pm at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica (Wilshire & 11th St)!

Buzz Cuts (in New York) costs $5 but you get free pizza and beer if you come to the reception beforehand. Cinema Lounge (in LA) is free and open to the public, so we encourage you to spread the word to get people to check out the program. It is a fun, relaxed atmosphere that serves drinks and food and a band usually plays right after the program ends at 9pm.

IFP is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting independent filmmakers and films, and both branches seem to have their own spirit, which is why this is pretty cool. Some of their efforts include publishing Filmmaker: The Magazine of Independent Film and presenting the annual Independent Spirit Awards and Los Angeles Film Festival. With over 10,000 members, IFP is among the leading non-profit film organizations worldwide.

Press Release: "Blatantly Subtle Holds Screening, Demands Recognition"

2004-08-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Like somebody's immortal words, to an outsider, things might seem to appear "All quiet on the Northeastern front" in the world of Blatantly Subtle. But off in the distance, this reporter, at least, can hear the sound of an upcoming offensive in the world of cinema. The troops have been organized, the plans have been set into motion, and on Nov. 14th 2004, at the Cantor Film Center, Blatantly Subtle plans to unleash its own version of the D-day offensive against the American cinematic landscape (editor's note: the opinions expressed in the official Blatantly Subtle Screening Press release in no way reflect the opinions of Blatantly Subtle. Blatantly Subtle is a nonviolent organization, but thoroughly enjoys using war analogies to heighten drama and tension within paragraphs).

Blatantly Subtle plans to unleash three new short films upon the American psyche, films so incredible that they aren't films at all, but videos that look like films. "How I Got Lost", " A Love Thing", and "Sell Out" will premiere, and put the world on notice, because there is a new sheriff in town, and it's name is Blatantly Subtle. "For once, I think we'll actually have all the movies done before the screening starts, which I think is a good sign" claims BS Co-Founder Sam Mestman (and director of the movie "Sell Out"). "I'm not thrilled about having to buy an extra plane ticket for this, but I'm a team player," admits Joe Leonard (BS co-founder, director of "How I Got Lost" and the man in charge of the ever-expanding BS-LA studio, "but whatever, I'm going to make the fuckers fly out for the LA screening." Well, Joe, word around town is that it'll be worth the inconvenience, as sources have confirmed that BS plans to have at least one, and potentially several (hundred?) industry representatives, producers, and celebrities at the premiere, not to mention the fact that the future stars of the film world (the cast and crew of the new movies), will also be in attendance. "Seriously, I'm going to tell practically everyone I know about this, and I think they're planning, like, a mailing and stuff too," says actor Jace McLean, "I mean... I know, like, a LOT of people." "If they manage to pull it off, I'll be there right behind them," claims director Brian Friedman ("A Love Thing"), and spoken like the true Canadian that he is.

The reality is that BS is ready to go legit, and the snowball is now finally starting to roll down the hill. From this reporters perspective, it's about time. "Yeah.... we're awesome," Jill Frutkin, actress/co-chairman of BS casually explains, "and it's time the rest of the world realized it." Truer words have never been spoken, Jill.

How to edit

2004-08-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, it is impossible to edit for more than five or six hours a day.

You need to find a routine. For example, find one or two other things to do a day. Recently I have been going to job interviews to pass the time. I also rent three movies a week. (There is a three for the price of two deal at 20/20 video in Burbank.) I also go out of my way to make friends with people I don’t know.

In the morning, I make coffee. Sometimes I buy it, so I have somewhere to go. When I come back I check my mail. I am like a kid at camp with mail. In the late afternoon I go running. In between there are nearly five hours of productive time to be had.

If you don’t have patience you don’t have anything.

What you have to do is make friends with your movie, with the characters, the settings, the scenes. You will need these friends to finish the damn thing. If you don’t have anyone to hang out with it will be easier to make friends with your movie. If possible, move to a place where you know no one and will live alone.

You will have to confront yourself. Now. How to edit a life. First, look back. Second, remember the sensations. Finally, rewrite.

Rewriting as you edit your movie is the only way to learn something from your movie. Let your new friend, your movie, tell you where it will go. It knows best. If you trust it, maybe it will lead you somewhere.

A note of warning: you may be inclined to worry about what you originally intended. I originally intended for my life to be different from what it is. But that is no way to live. Not when you are alive each day and able to know who you are.

Rewrite rewrite rewrite. You have to own the movie of your life, if that’s the direction you are going to go.

The other trick I know is, edit the sound first. The stuff that sounds right will make anything look good. Or, to put it another way, do whatever works.

The Burbank Diet

2004-07-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Every time you see a 7-11, stop and get a slurpee. (Note: Cherry and Coke are better than any of the new colorful flavors.)

Make your own plans. Don't wait for the phone to ring, ever.

Whenever you are waiting for the phone to ring, go hit tennis balls.

Do not turn on the TV unless you are going to watch a movie. Watch movies only at night.

Write for an hour every day.

Do not check you email every 10 minutes.

Do the dishes, take out the trash, go to the grocery -- at least once a week.

Spend one morning a week faxing resumes.

Spend one afternoon a week making phone calls.

Exercise once a day.

Never leave the TV on all day.

Listen to Audiobooks like "The Art of War" -- and think of yourself as a ninja in training.

Shave every day.

Do not let yourself lie down on your bed in the middle of the day.

Understand that it is time to train like Rocky for a fight which you are destined to lose, against the Apollo Creeds of the world.

Look at yourself and your life honestly, but look forward purposefully.

Do not drink alone or drive after drinking.

Try out those Atkin's beers. Maybe they aren't horrible. Or maybe just drink less real beer.

Make new friends when you can, look around yourself when you go somewhere new, act naturally, and try not to feel awkward or shy. That is bullshit and you know it.

Organize thy life into one hour increments, into files and file folders, into piles and to do lists. And then bother to learn the systems you set up, and try to follow through.

Never flake out on someone. This is what everyone does and it is expected, so if you don't, you will be unexpected.

Write letters. Buy postcards. Make phone calls.

Sit down and write. Sit down and edit.

Drink less coffee. Drink more water.

Look at things from inside yourself, asking questions. And bother to answer them.

Where are you? What are you doing? What do you want to do? What do you want to be?

Drop modesty. Tell people why they should listen to you. (Except don't mention Arnold unless you can tell by the golf shirt, by the watch, by the haircut, that you are speaking to a Republican.)

Do not judge people. Just form strong opinions.

Do not judge your city. It is sunny here. It is a time warp, a black hole. And it is great! Do not resent the happiness people feel out here. Just because they are not in New York does not mean they are worthless human beings. They are, surprisingly, just like you.

Get a dog. Name it after something important to you. Make friends with it.

Don't be pretentious. And don't be unpretentious. Drop the idea of being cooler than you are.

Eat well. Cook.

Wash your car.

Miss your girlfriend.

Look for new things you haven't seen before. Take notes. Never decline an invitation.

Read a very big book. Tolstoy is good. Oprah's book club is reading "Anna Karenina."

Follow your sports teams.

Eat plenty of Mexican food.

Go to movies alone once in awhile.

Listen to good music. Go to shows with friends.

Never forget that you are hungry, that you are after things. This place makes you a very happy failure.

They WON!

2004-07-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

Andrew Volpe's band Ludo won the contest and will be
playing live August 2 on fuse TV, and making a $25,000
video made in NYC on August 13th! Thank you for voting!

Travels with Sam

2004-07-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Sam arrived in LA a day or two before I expected him to.

"Hey man, I'm flying into Long Beach tomorrow morning, ok?" He also flew into a different airport than I thought. But when I picked him up I was the one who was late.

Sam Mestman -- the genius behind "Golf on Film," "Project: Redlight," and now "Sell Out," -- like most geniuses, is mostly misunderstood. An extremely creative person, he often makes simple mistakes with the details. For example, two weeks ago he called me and asked me to help him with a project. Here is a re-creation of the exchange:

SAM: I'm coming out to California to do a camp video, at this place between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
JOE: When?
SAM: It's going to be on a weekend.

Sure enough, it is not actually on a weekend but right in the middle of the week. Fast forward two weeks later, picking Sam up at the airport. Having just received the details on our "camp trip" I realize that the camp is actually east of Yosemite -- equidistant but not between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Begins an epic journey into a nostalgic past of camp-going, of bullshiting and pretending to know what we're doing -- of filming ropes coarses, horses and water sports.

Sam and I each day look at each other and laugh. We have to ask: how the hell did we get here, in the Sierra National Forest? People ask us at the camp and it's literally hard not to laugh as Sam answers the inevitable question, "You flew out here from New York for this, really?"

But don't let me say the wrong thing here. Sam is a misunderstood genius, and worth understanding. He is sincere, even if he seems sarcastic. All the time he tells these camp people how he's going to make a sick montage of the watersports, and he means it, he really does. He also, for reasons unknown, decides not to mention when I pick him up at the airport that it is his birthday. When I ask him about it later he says, "I don't even think about it, honestly." Sam is a master of misdirection. He is, often, blatantly subtle.

We drive to Berkeley after completing our three days of camp at the Gold Arrow Camp (GAC). There we meet up with Gabriella, whose parents and house seem somehow lifted from a children's tale or a Roald Dahl book. Sam and I are like drunks waking up to real life. We are unhappily finding that the real world is not like camp, that we have to worry about things like how to pay rent, where to eat, and not where is the good tinder for the campfire? This trip to Gabriella's gives us a chance to hunker down and adjust. Gabriella's dog Charley (recently neutered) runs around with a collar on his head, running into furniture with stunning effect. Gabriella and her mother speak Spanish to each other, entire side-conversations. The coffee is wonderful. I can picture it sitting there.

Later that day Sam, Gabriella and I visit San Francisco. We check out City Lights, the book store the beats built, and buy a book each. We drive around, up and down hills, and Gabriella and I laugh and laugh as Sam reads in the back. "When I get started, I have to finish," Sam says as I exhort him, playing Dad, to look up from his book and out the window at the hills, the trams, the bridges, the cute hippy girls.

That night we have dinner with Lisa, a former roommate of mine. When I lived with Lisa, I had just moved to the city after graduating, going home, finding my girlfriend seeing someone else and spending one of loneliest summers ever getting up in the morning and writing. Lisa was a banker-in-training, coming home and drinking wine, not sure at all that she wanted to be in that world. Lily moved to New York that fall, and we started seeing each other. After we lived together Lisa took her bonus and ran to the West Coast, where she works for the Gap and is dating a guy from St. Louis. Strangely enough, Sam met Lisa when he crashed at my place. The first thing he said to Lisa was "I'm not Joe." They then went to breakfast, a movie, and spent the day wandering around. Sam is full of surprises.

Sam, Lisa, myself and Lisa's friend Caitlin went to Napa Valley the next day and went wine tasting and played bocce ball. The sun was bright.

On the drive back to Los Angeles, and with plenty of amazement at the events of past week, Sam said: "Well, nothing disastrous happened." I like that Sam approaches the things that happen to him like he might a script he is writing -- able to smile at not knowing what comes next.

LUDO's big break

2004-07-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Andrew Volpe and the band LUDO will be on Fuse TV tomorrow, Tuesday, July 13 , competing with two other bands to win a music video contract! The band won a contest to get to New York, where they are being flown and put up for the show. The show, called "Daily Download," airs at 6PM Eastern Time, 5PM Central Time, and 3PM Pacific Time. Fuse TV is channel 132 in New York, channel 139 in St. Louis, and channel 158 in Los Angeles.

The website for the channel -- "MTV without the crappy shows" -- is www.fuse.tv. Voting for the competition starts this Friday (7/16) and continues till next Friday! Make sure to check them out, tell your friends, and vote as much as possible starting this Friday for LUDO! For more info on the band check out their website at www.ludorock.com. This is their big break, and we can all do something to help them out.

"How I Got Lost" & where it left me

2004-07-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Burbank

2004-06-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles is like summer camp, but I am the only camper. My first night here I went to the grocery and bought some bread and I'm not kidding, Juliette Lewis let me jump in front of her in line because she had so many (strange) things in her cart: cantaloupe, Corona, brownie mix... And she said "see you round" as I left which Lily think means she was hitting on me. I think that's cool but not likely. (By the way, Lily is coming out tomorrow!) Only people in movies and me shop on a Saturday night is what I take from the experience.

Yesterday Gabriella and I went to the beach and bought flip-flops. Gabriella is visiting town. It was great-fun.

What else? Oh, my job is on hold -- they are putting together a "budget." What they don't know is, my price is going up. Because let me tell you, guys, I am in demand out here. No, that's a lie. On the other hand, this ain't a bad place to be and I'm not sweating it yet.

I am also my own counselor here at summer camp.

I have started writing and editing my movie again. I've also been getting up very early and trying to run, although I don't actually make it very far. There is a mountain I can run towards, up a hill. Like most people who are out of shape, all I can hear as I run is Eye of the Tiger. Sometimes though I hear Nightswimming and that's when I know my cellphone is
ringing.

It's weird living alone but I like my place. I have my own kitchen, my own living room and my own bathroom. I am Suzy Homemaker all of the sudden. Yesterday I bought potpourri spray.

Here is my address and the land line at my place, although the best way for you to reach me is still my cellphone. But if you see an 818 number, don't screen the call.

Joe Leonard
707 S. Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502

(818)842-5931
(646)526-8689 cell

Hope all is well and be in touch!

Adventures in LA

2004-05-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I was in LA. This is my, um, journal.

LA – day 1

It is nice weather out here, I have to admit. 80 degrees and sunny through the haze. I got a ride from the airport to the car rental place from a friendly shuttle driver, and then promptly drove my rental car out into an hour and a half of traffic to get to Jared's place in Hollywood... Jared is attending AFI.

Jared's place is nice, the room small. There is a pool but Jared doesn't know any of the other people who live there. Jared was very upset about the Nets beating the Pistons when I got there.

My first meal in LA with Jared was at a Taco stand/Car Wash. Very good burritos.

My first drink in LA was at the Dresden. You remember Marty and Elaine, the terrible lounge singers in "Swingers"? They were there.

People are friendly enough. Life here seems pleasant enough. It feels good to be here but I am willing to admit I haven't decided this is a good idea yet. Tonight I'm meeting up with some friends for drinks. We are going to a place called Cat & Fiddle. It is supposed to be like a beer garden. I have called everyone I think I know out here. We'll see what happens. Tonight I know Johnny is having a bachelor party in New York...

So far it feels lonely out here -- not enough people around, not enough people I know, too many cars and everyone in their own space. Maybe tonight will wear down that idea. We'll see.

More to come...

LA – day 2

Today I went swimming with my cellphone -- again. (I did the same thing last time I was in LA) My new phone seems to be working very well...

Today was, as promised, more promising.

Jared and I met up with Deanna and Leslie, two of our friends from our Italy trip. Leslie told me "everyone's moving out here, Joe." Deanna told me she was getting married.

Then we went to a Thai place called The Palms, where we saw an Asian Elvis impersonator, who was very good and who was not wearing a wig but really had an impressive pompodour.

Then we walked from Jared's place to a Hollywood bar, called the Beauty Bar -- that's right, it was just like the Beauty Bar in New York, except not a dive, which at least I thought was the point. Several people met us there, including Ryan Case, a girl I knew from NYU who is now in charge of Post-Production for The Simple Life 2.

It was a fun night. We went to a few different places and I woke up feeling good actually. Then we went to a strange dark place called Ye Rustic Inn for brunch and a bloody mary. Very good.

I have been out by the pool for part of today. I am about to leave Jared's to return my rental car and check into a hotel.

LA – day 4

I am sitting in a room at a hotel by the airport watching planes land. The runway is a couple of blocks away. It isn't as terrifying to watch them from this angle as it is to be inside a plane as it descends. From where I am sitting here it looks graceful.

They have these purple trees here that don't look real. No one seems to know what they are called, and they are in bloom and everywhere. They are something out of Dr. Seuss, and they line the streets. LA is on crack.

I had my big interview this morning. I was in an office with big windows, and you could see the Hollywood sign on the hill outside. I was offered a freelance project working on an old Arnold documentary. As in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kind of a Pumping Iron 2. It's a test. The owner said I couldn't be hired as a trailer editor (what I thought I might be offered) because ultimately I am interested in film production and not advertising (true). So much for that idea. It was interesting. I was initially disappointed but as the day went on it seemed more and more like good fortune, the way adversity sometimes makes you feel like a hero.

The day was beautiful. I went to AFI (the American Film Institute) and got a tour. AFI is a 2 year graduate film program, divided by discipline. For example, Jared is there in the Screenwriting program. It was a relief to hear about something that I understood -- this other job stuff I may as well put on a suit every day. The odd thing is that that is exactly how the film industry is run, by MBAs. Not a surprise, but surprising the extent to which business has co-opted every aspect of the filmmaking fantasy. But AFI was nice. To tell you the truth, the stuff they do there is exactly what Blatantly Subtle does. They make movies and learn from them.

I must admit there is a calm, numbing overtone to everything in LA... People carry a look like someone just punched their dog. Last night I went to a comedy show. The comedy club was in a strip mall, but was surprisingly good and fun. I do like being out here. And I have to admit that I cannot imagine what I will be doing in New York five years from now, and I can out here. And I feel like it's worth checking out more. This is where the money is, where the jobs are, and where the stinking filthy film industry is. And while there is no major job offer on the table, at least for the summer I have nothing to lose by being out here -- it's summer camp. That said, I won't like having to leave New York or being away from Lily or from the rest of you guys.

I have another day or so to make the decision. I miss you guys and I'll be back in town on Saturday.