My Movie Gets the BEST REVIEWS EVER!!!

Okay, okay, this blog post has kind of a brazen title.

BUT, struggling writers and filmmakers are locked in mortal combat with movie distribution and publishing industries that have a bigger appetite for dollars than for good stories.  We need to remember that if we have something uplifting and interesting to say–the audience is indeed out there.  And it is hungry!

These are NOT reviews from sales agents (one of whom basically said my movie was derivative garbage).  These are NOT reviews from distributors (many of whom passed on my movie).  These are NOT reviews from professional critics (who were actually pretty fair and positive).

These are reviews from the most important people–audience members.  They are complete strangers from all over the world who chanced to watch my flick.  They’ve touched my heart and inspired me.

(These reviews are pulled from Amazon unless otherwise noted.)

FROM BEVERLY (via fanmail):

I will be 74 in a few days, and have loved sci-fi since I was 12, and borrowed my first Ray Bradbury paperback from some Americans who had moved to our small Jamaican town to set up a pottery. And I am still here.

Just saw Interstellar, and liked it a lot, but have just finished watching 95ers: Time Runners and it is BETTER! Warm, clever, helluva story, fine acting, smart direction, camera , sound etc- the whole clock ticks!

Congratulations. Cant wait till your new one comes out.

FROM AMAZON CUSTOMER:

One of the best science fiction I have ever seen…

FROM ROY:

Fun from the beginning. Put your seat belts on, and keep both hands inside your car at all times. This is going to be a crazy, and exciting ride. Don’t overthink it, just enjoy yourself. I will watch it again soon, I am certain.

FROM PAT:

This is a movie that makes you think….it is almost better the second time after you have unraveled the mysteries in the movie & you get to pick up on some of the missed nuances.

FROM LANCE (via fanmail):

Just finished watching Time Runners. Found it as a “midweek extra” at our local Family Video store. The theme on the box intrigued me — wow, what a fabulous movie! I liked it at so many levels.

I did something I’ve never done before: watched the whole movie a second time, listening to the directors’ commentary….

What an incredible story of perseverance (the MAKING of the movie), what a great backstory, what wonderful film-making (thanks, Tom, for keeping in all of the “extra” touches — I even liked Sally’s rewound “learn Martian first” comment being left in!!!), and it was so special you guys letting your kids “interrupt” during the commentary.

Thanks, too, for including the “thank Heaven” and “thank you, Lord” comments at the end of the commentary. May He indeed give you venues for at least a soon novelization of some of the rest of the parts of the story-arc (writing and publishing are quicker than movie-making! You totally captured my interest and imagination!

FROM geotti (via IMDB):

A must see for (scientifically inclined) fans of time-travelling movies that have a longer attention span than the average teenager and like to think.

I’d love to see both a prequel and a sequel expanding on the world the team has created…

FROM ZORAN:

…I would like to say to all sci-fi lovers who decide not to see this movie that they are missing something. Movie is captivating attention from start to the end and makes you think about it for days.

For that I give all 5 stars.

If creators of this movie read reviews here please go ahead make 2nd part I can’t wait to see it.

FROM RANDY:

I admit I needed to restart it several times to be able to get a sense of the storyline, but I don’t think that’s because the story is lacking anything.

Upon reflection, I would say there is quite a bit more thematic material to this story and more drama potential than the rest of the movies you would want to compare it to.

I like movies that give me something to think about in terms of intellectual topics, you know, cutting edge science, psychology, sociology, movie making, so I am well pleased with 95ers: And further the lead actor Alesandra Durham did a fantastic job and so I liked watching this movie very much because of her, and the storyline and special effects for the story are great.

FROM JASON:

Why do I like this movie? Simple enough question.

It was obvious a low budget film but this movie proves that the budget isn’t as important as the quality of the acting, story telling and educating that a movie does in a particular field.

It was one of those movies where the intelligence of the audience isn’t insulted with crass subject matter and cheap language. It is a smart scifi movie that even someone who isn’t “into” scifi can enjoy. I wish I had seen sooner. The true essentials of a quality movie is there. Acting, Story, Subject matter and the complicated explained with an intelligent simplicity.

FROM P. WOLF:

A better understanding of time travel is rarely found.

I’ve studied the science since my teens. This movie follows the principles over loop causality. If you want science fiction that has a founding in real science then here it is.

FROM TONY:

Even a low budget could not stop this movie from being an intricate and thought provoking ride.

FROM V (via Facebook):

Thank you. I haven’t enjoyed a movie this much in ages.

I am watching it on Easter afternoon, seems like good timing. I have a 3 day old granddaughter, new life and beginning, reconnected with old friend, gentle spring rain, fresh blooming scent of a lilac bouquet, soft breeze blowing in open windows, sound of children playing, songs of birds and your movie. Near perfect day. Thank you for the gift, please continue. You are all so talented, its is a sheer joy to have all my senses so wonderfully stimulated, but to have my imagination, intellect and intuition firing simultaneously-just amazing. You were part of an incredible day in my life today and responsible for a large portion of what made it so right.

Thank you all!

Coming full circle

Well, in timespace we don’t deal so much with “circles” per se.  We get more of these these weird shell-type constructs.  But the connection is the same.  Thanks to some big news that will hopefully come next week… I feel I can safely say that this project is reaching closure.  Years ago when I began chronicling the 95ers indie film adventures in this blog, I wrote about some of the core mysteries and struggles—and grand misconceptions—we were facing.  A reprint seems very appropriate now.  Enjoy!

(To give you a little chronological perspective… It is now 2012.  The following (except for the last line) was written in 2009.  95ers was first conceived in 1998.)

“DEATH OF AN INDIE”

When people ask me about my movie, what they usually ask is something like: “So how do you get it out there?”  Or in other words, how does a nobody get their movie in theaters or on TV or at least on DVD?  In fundraising, the most typical question seems to have been: “Do you have distribution?”  And in fact, when I first embarked on this journey, that was the biggest obstacle in my own mind—getting it seen.  Little did I know that was the least of my worries.

For most of the people I’ve met, filmmaker or no, the great and mystical gate in filmmaking where success is on one side and failure is on the other is the gate of “getting it seen.”  Also known as “distribution” or “getting picked up.”  This is the point at which a giant creative blob that seems to be only an eccentric hobby, suddenly becomes something useful and worthwhile.  It is creativity legitimized.

I was fully steeped in this fallacy.

The truth is, as any artist whose creative aspirations have been in the emergency room for most of their existential existences will tell you, the distributor’s gateway is absolutely not the plague an artist needs to worry about.  Most indie movies die horrible deaths long before the question “So how do we get it out there?” is ever seriously addressed.  In fact, I would hazard to say that a careful autopsy of 99.99% of indie ventures would reveal that distribution problems had nothing to do with their demise.  Perhaps the fear of non-distribution plays a role, but rarely non-distribution itself.

And here’s why: INDIE MOVIES HARDLY EVER GET FINISHED.

Here are some of the true terminal illnesses which plague indie movies:

1) Too many great ideas.
The filmmaker has so many great stories in his head, he or she just can’t settle on one long enough to write a script.  These movies die young.
2) The script never gets finished.
The filmmaker realizes the entire script needs to be re-written, and the task is so daunting he throws down his scalpel and leaves the patient dying on the table.
3) The money runs out.
The rich uncle’s blood type is actually not O-negative (universal), meaning he just doesn’t invest in ‘anything,’ and the filmmaker himself only gets $60 a pint when he donates.
4) “Dammit Jim, I’m a pizza delivery guy, not a physician!!!”
The filmmaker looks down at his instruments and his patient and is struck by a sudden fear—what am I doing here??  He is convinced (by himself and/or others) that his lack of training or talent will only lead the project to disaster!
5) Seeing ghosts.
Phantoms, relatives of #4, emerge all over the hospital where the filmmaker is trying to save his movie.  He thinks he’s been given some kind of second sight that allows him to see them.  But really it’s the shadow of his own fear that “opens his eyes” to the ghastly remains of all the creative projects that didn’t make it off the operating table.  Like banshees they croon their singsong tales of woe: “No money!  No time!  Your idea is lame!  Turn back now!”
6) The man behind the doctor’s mask.
The filmmaker is actually a charlatan who has no idea what he’s doing (which in and of itself is not a true reason for failure), and is too dumb or lacks the integrity to fess up.  The fair promises and blustering used to get people on board or string them along eventually reveal themselves and soon everyone is driven crazy, and eventually everyone is driven away, leaving the filmmaker to his own faulty devices and pitiful excuses.
7) The creative team dissolves.
It’s right during the catastrophic organ failure at some stage of the production process that one of the doctors on the elite team realizes he or she hemorrhaging themselves.
8 ) Will to live.
The filmmaker has called the ambulance so many times, and has been in the ICU overlooking the comatose movie venture for so long, he’s forgotten what makes the thing worth saving in the first place.  He begins to search for enough reasons and tries to find enough consolation, to pull the plug.

Indie movies don’t fail because they don’t get picked up for distribution.  For the most part, if they fail, it’s because they don’t get finished.

Thanks to everyone who helped me learn that for real.  95ers will be completely finished next week.  More news to come…

FCP X – The Beginning of the End for Apple

This is a for-nerds-only post and will be filled with technical jargon and computer history relating to post production in indie film.  I am hereby prophesying doom for Apple, thanks to its release of Final Cut Pro X…

Within hours of the release of FCP X, all of the producers where I work were ready to go Adobe, and one was even pondering a return to Avid.  My tech-prophesying mind tells me that this advent will lead Apple to its downfall.

Huh?  One little program?  One little market segment causing the downfall of today’s tech kingpin?  Yes indeed, says I.  (There’s no proof of this and nobody believes me… but LONG AGO I did actually predict things like Netflix and the iPhone itself (as a pocket-sized mobile phone, computer, and media center the entire face of which would be a touch-screen piece of glass, etc.  But never mind all that.)

The summary is this.  FCP X is a great program, but not a pro tool.  This is a major shift and is the final nail in the coffin of Apple’s old business strategy.  In the opinion of this opinion-holder, Apple is officially steering away from it’s core customers: creative professionals who have been Apple’s gold mines and ambassadors for decades, through thick and thin.  But, you say, Apple’s frolicking in greener pastures making money hand over fist selling iPhones.  Yes, but today’s customers don’t love Apple, they love what Apple gives them.  And when a better deal comes along, and it will, they will bolt.

Quick background overview…  once upon a time Apple released a piece of software called Final Cut Pro.  A video editing program that quickly evolved into a professional editing tool that sent shockwaves through the industry–shaking up Avid and Adobe, and infusing pro mojo into wedding video guys, corporate video guys, and indie filmmakers.  My indie sci-fi flick 95ers is edited on FCP.  Many TV stations, high-end production houses, and even some movie studios incorporated FCP somewhere along their post pipeline.  Why?  It was good and cheap.  Adobe’s Premiere just didn’t have that “pro” feel at the time, and Avid was ridiculously overpriced.

I still remember that fateful trip to NAB where Avid reps were pitifully trying to justify their dramatic price slashing–which made the $100K Avid at the studio I ran suddenly worth about $10K.  Avid was scrambling to hold on to market share because of the stellar adoption of Apple’s FCP.  Apple continued to add high end post tools such as Shake and Color, making its media production suite a powerful and permanent resident in most post houses.

Then came the iPod, iTunes, and finally the iPhone.  The world changed.  Apple changed.  Which was first?  Apple’s always been cooler, but now it’s bigger than even Microsoft–which ironically saved Apple by investing $150 million in it in 1997.  Today, Apple makes most of its money in the new markets it helped create.  How many of you are reading this on a tablet?  It’s no wonder that they are focusing much more on pads, apps, and clouds than they are on high-end media software.

But here is the error in their thinking and the source of my dire prediction–the source of their inevitable downfall.  They have forgotten where they came from, and who it was that ensured their survival.

Ever since the early days of QuarkXpress and the Mac-only Photoshop 1.0, one of Apple’s most vital revenue organs has been the fiercely loyal armies of graphic designers who would never dream of touching a clunky, poorly packaged “IBM compatible” computer, no matter how much faster and cheaper some nerd said it was.  The brilliantly campaigned mythology of Mac superiority grabbed many other groups, including video professionals.  So devoted were they (we) that they (we) were often willing to buy ludicrously overpriced RAM, monitors, and other hardware simply because it came from the Apple store.  I remember the jaw-dropping moment when I discovered that there are no such things as “Apple” RAM nor “Apple” superdrives nor even “Apple” hard drives.  If you don’t believe me, just open up your computer and check the labels… then compare what you paid to what the exact same thing costs at NewEgg.  (The price differences aren’t actually so epically bad now… but before people caught on, Apple was charging some eight times the going price for the same RAM.  Not just the same kind of RAM, the exact same RAM from the same manufacturer.  That’s just one example.)

But it all felt so good coming out of the box, we didn’t care.  It was blessed by that logo.  The machines worked and they made us happy and they made us money.  I’m not bashing Apple.  They are marketing geniuses, and here I sit typing this post on my Mac, which has only had one bad crash in the four years I have owned it, and on which I have created a cool TV pilot, 8 episodes of an Emmy-nominated reality show, and my movie.

What does this all have to do with Final Cut Pro X and Apple’s downfall?

Apple’s core constituents–the designers, video guys, and several other groups–were the first to buy iPods, the first to use iTunes, and probably the first to buy iPhones.  They (we) were the unwavering, zealous, word-of-mouth marketing force at the foundation of Apple’s stellar rise.  I have an iPhone (as opposed to a Droid) because I own a Mac.  I own a Mac because I wanted Final Cut Pro.  This is true for thousands of people like me.

In nutshell, Final Cut Pro X is NOT a professional tool.  The lack of OMF, EDL, and XML export are a blaring examples.  If you don’t know what that means… just read the reviews, even by Apple-friendly reviewers.  Again, it’s a great program, but it’s not for people who make TV, movies, etc.  I can’t fit in those post pipelines.  This means that me and thousands of other professionals will be finding new post production software (and hardware) very soon, even if Apple scrambles to add more pro functionality.  It’s designed for folks who want to make super cool videos and post them on YouTube.  Frankly, there are lot more of those people than there are people like me.  And Apple can make a ton more money selling the FCP X “app” for $300 to one hundred people, then they can selling the professional Final Cut Studio for $1000 to one person.  This move by Apple will cause a cascade of non-trust throughout the media universe.  The best competitors to FCP run only, or run best on PC’s.  Plug-in makers will be wary of releasing their awesome software for FCP X.  Why would anybody buy a $500 plugin for a piece of software that costs $300?  Corporations and production companies who switch to another package will definitely save their money and buy PC boxes the next time around–since they almost certainly already own the Adobe Suite and all they have to do is port over the licenses.  All the innovation in the pro video industry will be heading AWAY from Apple.

But the numbers say: who cares?  Who cares if Apple loses me as a customer?  Who cares if Apple loses a big chunk of its original core customer base?  They have zillions of new customers in fabulously lucrative markets.  But there is a big difference between these new customers and the old guard.  The original customer CARED ABOUT APPLE.  No matter how good and cheap the PC two cubicles over was, the Apple customer would buy Apple again and again.  Today’s customers don’t care about Apple, the care about the FUNCTIONALITY Apple is giving them.  Right now, Apple is giving them awesome functionality, and they will continue for some time to come.  But no matter how smart the creative and technical teams at Apple are, they cannot withstand the onslaught of Google, Motorola, Sony, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Amazon, Netflix, and so many others.

So here is the meat of the much-prefaced prediction: today’s consumer will not stick with Apple because it’s Apple.  They will go where the functionality is, and eventually Apple will be out-innovated and undercut.  And when that time comes, their core consumers–and the real foundation (up until now) of their marketing mojo–will be elsewhere.  Sure, Final Cut X only affects video guys, but it is a dramatic symbol of Apple’s direction away from professionals.  They are knocking away a pillar they have forgotten is there.

And the changes are already happening…  Lots of pros are mad they just spent a mint on the latest from Apple, and now what they purchased is basically obsolete–because a big part of the industry they work in will probably not be on the same platform for much longer.  By the end of this year, the place I work will have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Apple software and computers.  Next year, there’s a good chance that number will be plummeting to zero, with former Apple ambassadors now geeking out over Adobe Premiere Pro (which was already ahead of FCP a couple years ago), Windows 8, and our Android devices.

Apple you have given me much, and I have given you much.  My Mac Pro will find its way into the kids’ computer area and I will continue to enjoy my iPhone 3G for as long as it keeps working.  And who knows, maybe Apple has something unexpectedly cool up their sleeves, like a sleek lens mount for the iPad so the next generation of filmmakers will be shooting and editing feature movies entirely on their tablets.

Ihave a time machine… I must be right about this!  Twitter Facebook

Death of an Indie

When people ask me about my movie, what they usually ask is something like: “So how do you get it out there?”

Or in other words, how does a nobody get their movie in theaters or on Netflix or into stores?  In fundraising, the most typical question seems to have been: “Do you have distribution?”  And in fact, when I first embarked on this journey, that was the biggest obstacle in my own mind—getting it seen.  Little did I know that was the least of my worries.

For most of the people I’ve met, filmmaker or no, the great and mystical gate in filmmaking where success is on one side and failure is on the other is the gate of “getting it seen.”  Also known as “distribution” or “getting picked up.”  This is the point at which a giant creative blob that seems to be only an eccentric hobby, suddenly becomes something useful and worthwhile.  It is creativity legitimized.

I was fully steeped in this fallacy.

The truth is, as any artist whose creative aspirations have been in the emergency room for most of their existential existences will tell you, the distributor’s gateway is absolutely not the plague an artist needs to worry about.  Most indie movies die horrible deaths long before the question “So how do we get it out there?” is ever seriously addressed.  In fact, I would hazard to say that a careful autopsy of 99.99% of indie ventures would reveal that distribution problems had nothing to do with their demise.  Perhaps the fear of non-distribution plays a role, but rarely non-distribution itself.

And here’s why: Indie movies hardly ever get finished.

Here are some of the true terminal illnesses which plague indie movies:

1. Too many great ideas—the filmmaker has so many great stories in his head, he just can’t settle on one long enough to write a script.  These movies die young.
2. The script never gets finished—the filmmaker realizes the entire script needs to be re-written, and the task is so daunting she throws down her scalpel and leaves the patient dying on the table.
3. The money runs out—the rich uncle’s blood type is actually not O-negative (universal), meaning he just doesn’t invest in ‘anything,’ and the filmmaker himself only gets $60 a pint when he donates.
4. “Dammit Jim, I’m a pizza delivery guy, not a physician!!!”  The filmmaker looks down at her instruments and her patient and is struck by a sudden fear—what am I doing here??  She is convinced (by herself or others) that her lack of training or talent will only lead the project to disaster!
5. Seeing ghosts—phantoms, relatives of #4, emerge all over the hospital where the filmmaker is trying to save his movie.  He thinks he’s been given some kind of second sight that allows him to see them.  But really it’s the shadow of his own fear that “opens his eyes” to the ghastly remains of all the creative projects that didn’t make it off the operating table.  Like banshees they croon their singsong tales of woe: “No money!  No time!  Your idea is lame!  Turn back now!”
6. The man behind the doctor’s mask—the filmmaker is actually a charlatan who has no idea what he’s doing (which in and of itself is not a true reason for failure), and is too dumb or lacks the integrity to fess up.  The fair promises and blustering used to get people on board or string them along eventually reveal themselves and soon everyone is driven crazy, and eventually everyone is driven away, leaving the filmmaker to his own faulty devices and pitiful excuses.
7. The creative team dissolves—it’s right during the catastrophic organ failure at some stage of the production process that one of the doctors on the elite team realizes he or she is hemorrhaging themselves.
8. Will to live—the filmmaker has called the ambulance so many times, and has been in the ICU overlooking the comatose movie venture for so long, she’s forgotten what makes the thing worth saving in the first place.  She begins to search for enough reasons and tries to find enough consolation, to pull the plug.

Indie movies don’t fail because they don’t get picked up for distribution.  For the most part, they fail because they don’t get finished.  The making of the first movie in the 95ers universe—the movie that took me over 10 years to make—has been a series of disasters...

Click here to flash forward to the end of the story.