100 pursent

For as much squabbling as we seem to do, I think the group is closer to on the same page than you might think.

1. Derek and Ana's "Mission Statement" should probably be called an "about" page, or some such thing.
a. A page like will be good to give to people who want to know about us.
b. It will also serve an eventual purpose on the web page.

2. TW brings up a good point: What is our Mission Statement? Post what YOU want from this group ultimately and ideally. This doesn't have to include things that we might have to do to make money to support our ultimate mission.
a. As this thing gets farther along we may want to create more web sites and brand names. We have LESS, which is like Miramax, but then we have to come up with the Disney version and so on...
b. Our versions would encompass corporate work, wedding videos and PSAs etc. Of course this is all just for consideration as we create a body of work.


My Mission Statement: LESS Productions is a collaborative means to create the most compelling and unignorable Art imaginable. This means making the most outrageous of dreams possible, whether they are winning all the categories of Academy Awards or spray painting over the Mona Lisa while listening to Prince. Fuck interesting.

Missionstatement Impossible

ok, I was trying so hard to rewrite this mission statement. It occurred to me that this is a lot of what people are coming into when they try to work with what others have started.

So instead of just rewriting it in my own style, because I like what Derek and Ana have started, I just want to make some specific suggestions for what I would like to see changed on the current mission statement.

by sections:

LESS Productions: "well-rounded individuals with different backgrounds..." let's make this more specific. I started to write movie makers, Web designers, actors...etc, but then I saw similar stuff under concepts. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two sections. Let's make sure there are clear headings.
I think this one should be about our specific skills.

Concepts: this might be a good place to say why we think our skills can benefit a client. something like, "LESS wants to help you meet your needs whether you want a promotional video to help illustrate a product or idea, or if you want to combine video, text and web mediums..."

Impact: I kind of like that one. I think when we have the information we should include how our clients have been effected by our products. Something like, "...our clients have found that LESS Products have increased brand awareness, sales and interest..."

Products: I kind of like this one too. Make it grittier.


Designwise: make the fish not retarded and maybe we should find a graphic or something that matches the rest of the format better than the web address down the side in that font. I like the font that you two used, and the illustrator arrow things. If there is a way to make that style happen for the web address, that would be good.

I know everyone is busy, and this mission statement really only becomes a priority for our next potential client.

How It's Going Down

spangle trailer 1.0 down.
That's pretty cool. It helped me go to bed on an otherwise troublesome night.

The rule:
Here's the rule again, formerly, so everyone knows.
Criticism/suggestions are welcome. They make us better. But because we are dealing with an often subjective medium, if you think something is wrong but can't provide a solution or suggestion to fix it--suck it up.

That being said: ana is getting another resume together. One with a better design, with more details and less filler. She can only do this if people give her information to work with.


I don't think we should micromanage each other but we do have to give each other the help that people need. Example: I still don't have photos of everybody and I need one head-shot-type thing of everybody. It can have other people in the picture, I'll crop. So how do I get my shit done without the pictures? I think a lot of people feel like they get stuck in these kind of jams and have to put something less than LESS out when deadlines approach.

The web site needs some work. This is for a number of reasons. I propose that anyone with an idea for web design/format should submit their ideas to the group and we'll all pick the best one/incorporate the best ideas. I'm pretty sure this means that Tom White, Nick and I will all be putting something together. We just have to go with the things that work best, and I hope nobody's feelings get hurt if their ideas aren't used. And of course the rule will be in total play.

I liked the layout of Derek and ana's mission statement, but I am going to rework some of the text. If you have suggestions e-mail me.

We should not have a link to the blog on the website. When we do another creative project we'll have a blog for the "making of" or something.

I'm sure there are a bunch of points I'm missing from various conversations I had today, but the point is this

WE HAVE TO TRUST EVERYONE ELSE'S WORK, which means
WE HAVE TO BE READY FOR CRITISIM AND EDITTING IN A PHASES OF THE PROJECT, which means
WE HAVE TO STRIVE TO MAKE THIS PROCESS AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE (the rule).


I think we all have the same long-term goal: success in this business and creative independence. Let's just keep that in mind, then having more people working together will make it seem like less work instead of more.

Trailer

Alls I needs to know is who wants this trailer and what format do they want it in? Bitches.

Make LESS Reel

So I'm trying to put together a reel so that Blueprint for Change will think we're legit and give us thousands of dollars. I think the basic idea will be that there is a short flashy intro and then a cool DVD menu with choices of clips or shorts to watch that we've done. Please tell me what you want this to look like, what LESS should look like etc. Brainstorm some ideas, thanks.

other thoughts

I know this guy who's pretty much a tool out here, but he does have a dvx and i think a small jib arm thing and we could possibly rent some shit from him, but I really don't want to work with him cuz he's got frosty hair (and is like 40) and bad teeth and sleeps with 18 year olds that he compliments disgustingly in his acting classes. But it's a thought.

gET pAID

So I met with Deb Michaels of Blueprint for Change, a non-profit that looks like it's under new management and is trying to make things more sweet. So, pending them seeing a reel that doesn't make them want to pee on us and charge us for their time, they will give us somewhere in the thousands to make a video for them. This...is awesome and a completely professional contract. So we need a reel that I'm talking with Evan about, and a continuation of website reform, but most importantly a good reel. I want to be able to show them some web animation type stuff that we can do also. Tom White you should call me when you have time and we can figure out whether we should do this as a DVD or do it in Flash and what each would entail before any of us do fruitless work. Ana and I talked to several different production companies around here and they say around a grand a minute and that's not including hotel and airfare and all of that shit. So, the one thing that conecerns me is our ability to deliver on a 1000 dollar a minute price tag like some of these other companies, but I think we can come camn close and if we all agree that that's true then we can come up with a good budget and this should certainly warrent someone coming out here. It could be done with just a shipped camera but that would be very stressful on me and plus the whole point of this is to do cool stuff and go cool places so hey, here it is. I'm going to consult my aunt and uncle who do this sort of thing all the time to try and get the straight dope. But I must stress that this is serious, involving flying and hotels and all kind o shit and would be soo damned sweet ass.

vagina

hello. first and foremost, i would like to apologize if anyone feels a lack of communication coming from the hawaiian offices but the five hour time difference really puts a wrench in things at times. that said, as far as i go, call whenever...don't worry about the difference. it seems as though once you start taking it into consideration, less and less calls get made due to a concern about the timing of the call. if it's early, i'll wake up. if i don't answer, i'll call you back when i can. i've been working on putting together a collaborative resume for the LESS website. i got version 1.1 done today and sent it to Nick. Derek and i will also be putting together a small "sales package" for the interview that he has. it has mission statement type stuff as well as resume information and we even put together some version 1.1 business cards. that is all.

Check Out

6:00 PM, checking out. I'll be back up around 2 or 3 this morning, blog or email if there's something you want me to do to be ready for the morning.

Running on fumes

It's only fair that I let all of you know the precarious state my body is in right now. I've been awake for quite some time, though I can't truly complain as this is not even an honorable mention in my hall of fame. However for the past several days, the only things I've had to eat have been Soda pop and chewing tobacco. On a brighter note, I'm pretty sure I found Buddha about an hour ago, which I hope is the reasoning behind the incessant nose bleeds. My grip on reality is slipping, though this is hardly a far cry from the status quo. The hallucinations are only becoming more regular and insistent, but I feel I've overcome that adaptive hurdle and am controlling, nay harnessing, the creative intensity of those things which a closed mind may file under lunacy. I unabatedly walked the line of delusion, and have stumbled head first into the realm of genius. My stomach hurts. The good thing about dip is that, since it pains me to swallow, by spitting into a bottle I'm actually killing to burdens with one stone. My brain is trying to find the power switch to my body, and as one might expect, my body is trying to preemptively turn off the lights upstairs. It is my observation that for these last many hours, locked in battle, both sides are running at 150% for their instinct to survive. My only hope is for my brain to win so that when i do eventually shut down, I'll be granted the satisfaction of knowing it happened. Concerning the new S.T., let me discuss such things while I have the wherewithal to do so. The Newton Scene: I'm available whenever, but either there needs to be no snow or a different scene. Also, if outside does work, it needs to be on the weekend. The Muse of Fire scene: We need a venue, can we get CPT or something? T.S. Elliot: As far as I can see, this can either be outside on a weekend or inside at Sussen, which I'm sure we can do whenever. The Buk: I'll get in touch with Sloppy-Tits Whorebottom and that will probably happen any night that works for everybody. I just realized I'd been laying on the floor for a handful of minutes. I'm going to go do more trailering until people leave work and such and I talk to everyone once more before the Big Sleep. I'm in pieces, but holding strong. A thousand tenths of a percent competent.

Web Page and S.T.

Here's my analysis of the web page and what I think should be desired fixes:

About:
-We need to change a lot of things to past tense.
-We need to include our new ambitions

Theatre:
-Personally don't like the term "young people" in the first paragraph, but whatever.
-Again, tense fixes such as "Current Productions."
-If we think it'd be worthwhile, I can create trailer-esque clips from the two plays to make that page more interesting for the time being. Or I could just pick a scene or two or something. Or whatever. This isn't a priority, but I could get around to it.

Film:
-If anyone cares to be technical, I wasn't nominated for Best Short. An equally deceptive and totally honest version could be something like, "chosen for multiple film festivals including SilverDocs."
-Change BIA, add Dyonisus, maybe add a paragraph about both so it doesn't become redundant with the home page.

Get Involved:
-Auditions went well, but are in fact over.
-We should update the kind of help we're looking for.

Contact:
-Why do we have 700 emails? Even if there was enough traffic to merit all those seperate categories right now, the same people would be reading all of them. We should trim that down. Also, whatever we do decide to do with this, remind me how to access that mail.


In other news, let's talk about the damn Michael Reignier situation, we need to handle that. I think it's an obvious decision followed by a difficult one, so agree to the obvious part and let's have some recommendations for what to do.

blog it

Calls went much better than yesterday. Got a hold of everyone, except Justin. We seem to have progress with Anne Grady and spangle.

1. Derek might have a lead for work in Hawaii. How does everyone propose we handle that, or future jobs in crazy places? Derek and I discussed some things but I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say. The obstacle being, Derek doesn't have a sweet camera, mic or light set up. What you think?

2. I think this blog should be part of the web site. So far Evan is the only one that doesn't. I'm not trying to exploit our sadistic humor, bad business practices or anything but I do think the blog is cool, entertaining and for the time being showing progress. That's something I want our stalkers to know about...when we get them.

3. There are three things.

OK

Day one of this new intensity was kind of a disaster.

Few people checked in. I fell asleep after work and woke up after it would have been reasonable to call Mike or Nick...etc.

But I did take care of some of the things TW needed as per his post and conversation relating to the Anne Gradey thing. I spoke with an advertising person about helping us figure out what we could do to maximize advertisement with minimal cost. And I think my roommate will want us to do his wedding (discounted) which should be good experience.

What have I neglected?

Salamanders and Shoelaces

1. I don't have an excuse for sleeping through the phone calls today, but I do have a reason. It is shameful and no self-respecting man should admit to it, so I won't. But I did know about the calls and I won't miss them again.

2. Tom K, I would rather not have a link to the blog on the webpage. I, for one, have said degrading things towards people who I feel would be inclined to check the blog if it were that accessible. If we want people to be able to check the blog, I recommend we start a new one that is strictly business and, more importantly, strictly appropriate.

3. Tom W, I think a better way for getting in touch with everyone who has been in the movie for the releases would be for you to make the most thorough list you can, send that to all of us, and then we'll all fill in the gaps for the contact info we know. That was what I had in mind when I asked you to figger that one out.

4. Tom W and Justin, you guys pick who's going to do the Anne Grady voice over. Really doesn't matter to me.

5. Concerning all my deadlines, those who haven't heard, I'm having trouble exporting anything I make to any media. Getting that to work is my new project until future notice. Once I get a handle for that (the next hour, the next day, who knows, I'm trying) I'll schedule the Anne Grady Voice Over as well as all the deadlines.

6. Michael Reignier probably can't be in our movie now. I meant to discuss this altogether over the weekend with TK in town, but alas, we blog. He's availability is very clear cut, and he's definitely all ours from April 13th and on. April 13th. I think we need to find something else. Everyone else way in on this so I can call him.

7.That's all I can remember for now, but I'm sure there was more...

Flash Video

yo yo, it seems from my preliminary research that flash has it's own kind of video and needs to be encoded to a special kind of flash video but i'm not sure if flash itself can do that or if an encoder needs to be downloaded or what.

Oh and who should be making calls to whom, everyone to everyone?

GID

Ok, I think I talked to most everyone. Here's the thing:

1. Everyone should check-in by phone with the others once a day. TW and I discussed twice, but I think if we all also blog at the end of the day, we'll be alright with one phone call at the beginning of the day (let's say noon, relative to time zone) to everyone.

2. The web page is in version 1.1, I'm going to talk to Nick tomorrow about some other fixes. If you notice anything, e-mail me and I'll make sure he knows about it. Derek's trailer is on the page and I think it's funny, check it.
some of my ideas:
a. make sure all "Less" is changed to "LESS"
b. get a link to the blog.
c. updated goals and products
d. I'm going to work on a "spangle" poster, but that's last on my list. (TW, EV, Justin and I should probably all have input on that.)

3. We need to start setting deadlines for ourselves.

Example: TW and Ev, when can we have Anne Grady done? I spoke with both of you about this and I understand that it's going to happen, and that you're working on it. The reason I want to know is because I have Derek and Ana waiting to use that product so we can get clients for more similar work.
(as this happens we will figure out a fair pay scale).
So if we know when we can have a portfolio ready, we'll know when to start making cold calls.

4. TW please invite Ana to the blog.

5. Tina had some great ideas for LESS clients. Party venues, Hotels and real estate agents might be great sources of Anne Grady-type work. Mike Vasu and I will really work on getting clients like that in April. Derek and Ana will be working as per our deadline on #3.

6. I'm going to take a little bit more of a leadership role, especially once I quit my job in Hillsdale. I'm not trying to be a dick, but I will bust balls as need be.

7. Motivation: I'm sure we all feel like we have a lot of things to do. Often I feel like I have things to do and I don't even know what they are. We may question whether we have the experience we need to do the things we want, or the desire to continue what we've started.

It's not that I believe in this group. Sometimes I doubt it even exists. But I do know, that we are better than most people. Period. We are smarter. We listen better and we have more pertinent things to say.

With a little perstistence. And as long as we double check ourselves, there's no reason why we can't make this thing give us the rewards we deserve, whether they are creative freedom, money, or the bragging rights that people like Tom Meyrose, and Ebe Smith, indeed, are not as good as we are.

In this task, we can each hold ourselves accountable.

--we work

Progress

It's 8:00 in the GD morning. Trailer's about a minute so far. Probably end up running between 1:30-2:00.

I might be late to the office this afternoon.

Yesterday I left just now.

One More Thing

I also like Almost Fall because it tells the story of our entire production and, as our first film, it's like a little keepsake that we save for ourselves.

Don't fight the warm feeling.

It's okay.

More Ideas

But seriously...
I will from here on in be taking a different approach with my ideas so as to lean towards more concrete, story related suggestions rather than far-stretched thematic tie-ins. Just to mix it up. Before I do, here's two more:

Almost Fall
This is a more reasonable approach to the season idea, which I can't tell you how much I (and all of my film theory professors) love. Again, this one carries the dual meaning of a person falling when sticking their neck out and going for it. More straight forward. More accessible. Better.

Sun Drops
This one could use some work if there is a consensus that it's worth working on. In the meantime, the only obvious downfall is that it's pretentious as hell. Other than that, it's pretty trippy (which I like), it goes back to the weather theme we've all been considering, and it turns the film's last line of dialogue (Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain) into pure gold.

Now I'm officially changing gears for good unless some one likes one of these ideas.

ek out.

Gold

These are all winners, pick one.

-DB and his Delinquent Deviants
-The Cleveland Costume Calamity
-Ass Debutantes 6
-Funky Buddha
-Gone With the Wind
-Boner
-The Risks of Going for it Weighed Against the Comforts of Mediocrity
-The Biography of Rodney S. Humpstickle
-Drugs, Hugs and Magnum Slugs
-Cornholed

z

still having troubles with titles.

I like the Duct tape one.
Maybe something with super glue would also work. I don't know, I'm tired now.

LESS web resume

Ana is going to get the conglomorate resume together tomorrow. I've talked to TK and Evan already, but if anyone else has their own personal resume's or big things we should include that we might forget, post them or email mariana.majer@gmail.com.

I fixed up the trailer for DHM and Amira should be making up little press cd's that say LESS on them so even if there's no other trailer, the idea is that they'll go to the website and see everyhing anyway.

ek schedule

Here's the schedule of deadlines I made for myself. Feel free to comment on my prioritization or the amount of time it should take me to do things, but you'll need to have a pretty well thought out argument for me to make serious changes, I put a fair amount of thought into this:

1.19 - Reels for Bernadette and Marni
1.20 - Macbeth for Dawn
1.24 - Trailer
1.31 - Reel for Kubach

Anne Grady will be included in the list once TW and I figure out when we're going to be able to meet with Javin (hope I spelled that right).

Bernadette is high on the list because she was very polite with me, it won't take long at all, and she charmingly stated that, though she could wait a little longer, having it on the 20th would be great. My hands were tied.
Marni is with her because she calls me everyday.

Macbeth should also not take long, I just need to figure out this outputting problem. Also, I've (inadvertantly) kept Dawn waiting for a while and it'd be good to conquer this problem early for later deadlines. Also I'll probably have figured it out by the time I finish the reels.

The trailer is something I want to have done as soon as possible, I think that's the most reasonable deadline for keeping me busy and getting it done right. If there's a reason I should have it done earlier, let me know, but my understanding is we'll probably miss the Sundance deal anyway, so we should just not miss anymore.

In no rush for Kubach, just want to not have to deal with him anymore.

1.18.6.ek.1

Update:
I just finished logging ALL the footage, now I'm going to make a list of goals and deadlines to priotize Anne Grady, the trailer, reels for people who won't stop calling me, Macbeth for Dawn, etc.

Also, on my 7-10 lunch break I have a date with the ex. Here's hoping I don't shame myself this evening.

Downers

I'm not going to re-weigh in on all of this just yet, I still need to absorb some of TW's ideas, I just want to comment on the Sidewalk Litter is a downer comment so everyone else takes this into account at the same time they read the previous post. I think being a downer is a good thing. Our movie is trying to be funny yet taken seriously. I feel like the comedy definitely comes through and the drama is in a delicate balance. That's why I think a "downer" title will be helpful because that preps people to take it seriously. When funny things happen, they're going to laugh regardless. Jokes are instant, but drama needs to be built, and I think we should, if possible, use the title as a tool to help make that happen.

tittles

I'm just going to list them first, then include the optional explanations. Some of my picks were discussed heavily with TK and are included on his list, these will be omitted.

Thrift Store Masque
Sidewalk Litter
Barhoping
Dogs of Mabon

Thrift Store Masque: The same flavor of the original, none of that non-gritty aftertaste.

Sidewalk Litter: I like metaphors and I like double-entendresdsfs (I wasn't going to spell it right anyway). Litter is all about being out in the street getting kicked around. It's also a group of siblings of dogs. I also like dog tie-ins. The trailer would include (at a carefully chosen moment) a shot of Chuck and Jill playing with a dog, and the grit2k compliant name already indicates the alternate connotation. Metaphor and Double-Enta;lensdtn in your face.

Barhoping: I like making up words. Come on. That's clever.

Dogs of Mabon: Get ready, this is a real treat. I won't reiterate the "dog" portion. Something I'm very fond of that takes place in many great works of film and art is the association between the seasons of the year and the stages of life. This happens a fair amount, particularly anything worthwhile to have come out of Japan plays with this convention. Since our characters all find themselves at that point where their summer is running out AND our movie takes place at the end of summer, I wanted to incorporate this somehow into just one titular option. My first thought was with the Fall Equinox (September 22 or 23, days start getting shorter, all kinds of nifty things involving equilibrium and balance, look it up). After failing to arrive at an attractive name using this phrase, I stumbled across something down-right fascinating. Amongst wickans, as fate would have it, Mabon (pronounced May-bun) is the name for the Fall Equinox and the holiday that celebrates it. And it sounds cooler than "Fall Equinox." There's no denying this is a stretch, even I, the originator of the idea, had to look most of that shit up. Here's why I like it. Between the season thing and the lucky/accidental wicka tie-in, it is very reasonable that some people will figure this out and be impressed as hell. These people are the somewhat intellectual, film-savvy festival goers/critics (ie. our target audience). In fact, these people are (even as I'm typing this) having wet dreams for this kind of movie. I'm not saying it's my top pick, I'm just proving its legitimacy.

1.17.6.ek

Well, my first day of desk hours was a raging success.

-No phone calls. A cause for grand celebration.
-Logged a shit-ton of footage.
-Picked music for the trailer.
-Rough outlined the trailer.
-Picked some shots for the trailer.
-All this being said, still managed to spend the majority of my time thinking about titles.

titles

In no order:
Behind it All
Masque (not to be confused with Osama's latest, Mosque)
Spangle (not to be confused with Adam Sandler's latest Spanglish)
City Streets
Sunshine Kids
something with the word "map"
Duct tape and Plastic Wrap
Duct Tape, Plastic Wrap and Other Temporary Solutions.
The Duct Tape Mix Tape

...we need something.
Also I hooked Tom and Nick Vidovich up. Check Nick's stuff here.

dolla dolla bill

1. You're joking about the black shirt right? That's clearly Justin's and he doesn't read the blog.

2. Mike Vasu will be helping us sell this movie in a real way. I think I'm going to call him the producer, while TW, EK, JW and I were executive producers, something like that. More to come from him.

3. Evan is on the clock from 2-7pm and 10-2am everyday this week to get a trailer and Anne Grady done.
a. No Decemberists for trailer?
b. I will post title ideas tomorrow afternoon.

4. We should also get a list of festivals to which we intend to submit. Deadlines baby, this things going to happen.

5. Tom White who?

1.16.6.ek.2

Whose black Radiohead shirt did I just find in the "old" audio bag?

ek 1.16.6

Thoughts:
-Forgive me for forgetting the name of the person who will be helping with the web page, but if some one gives me his contact info, I'd like to share some ideas for content. I don't know who may have already done this, but if it needs to be done, I gots ideas.
-I've seen the first half of 3 Radio Plays. I apologize for only having seen half, but we had the silly idea of starting it around 2:30 AM, and I prefer the long intermission to the helplessly groggy viewing of the second half. So far, it's good. Derek, if you want me to take notes or something when I get my hands on it to finish it, I can do that. I'm not sure if you're at a point where you'd like to consider new ideas or not.
-I'm shifting gears to making a trailer of BIA first in consideration of recommendations to have something ready for a press pack/the web page. Off the top of my head, we need an F-ing title. I've had ideas with directions to take for that, but none have presented themselves in a title-appropriate manner for me yet. I'll keep thinking. Do the same. Also, if anyone has recommendations for footage to include, e-mail or post. Also, maybe even first, I'm deciding on a song. Right now I'm considering the work of Geoff Earley and Tommy Magik and the Wonderfulls (my roommate's band, he's anxious to contribute where possible, but I'll not be giving him any kind of benefit of the doubt at the cost of finding the best song).

Updates:
-Talked to Reignier today. He's in something like 14 plays right now, so he's busy. He's calling me again tomorrow with a "no bullshit" assessment/schedule of his availability. I'll be ready to do these scenes in whatever non-negotiable windows he gives me, but I'll also need help on all these dates, so be ready to bend over backward if necessary to make this happen. Worst case scenario, I'll hire a bumb to hold the boom when necessary, but I'd like an "actor" present for these critical scenes.
-I made the investment of a lifetime today in a duffle bag ($28 marked down from $45) that consolidates the equipment and also houses the entire boom rather than the 60-ish% we'd been getting. If you're not excited by this (even if you just excited for me) I hate you.
-We got the scene shot this weekend, so Dawn's stuff is all done. What remains is 6 Justin Walters scenes (1/2 days of shooting, no more than a minute and a half of combined footage), and 4 Michael Reignier scenes. I'm watching the weather on Justin's stuff, news on Reignier tomorrow.

Carry on.

1.14.06.dl.01

Oh and other things. My cohort on Dionysus Help Me is going to sundance in five days!!! This is a great opportunity! We're going to try to throw together a small press kit to hand out and we need to get the website updated so if people actually are interested they'll be able to see more and be impressed.

Also if it's possible to throw something together for LESS in general or for BIA also, we may be able to get that to Amira before she leaves but that might be too hard.

But, minimum, we need website updatage, at the very least, a clear way to contact us about the projects cuz Amira will be trying to sell Dionysus Help Me over there.

Bobby Redford give us money!

1.14.06.dl

Daaamn. The posts be ablaze now. Le sweet. I'm just going to refer to all this grant stuff since I am not in the position to be involved at all in the final filming of BIA. So, yeah, being affiliated with a non-profit. I will try to explain what information I have on this as best I can. Sorry I havn't posted in a few but I've been PA'ing on Lost for 2 days which maybe can be chalked up as "experience in the biz" but is more like trying to pay the bills. Anyway, so all these grants that we are going to be applying for only give to non-profit organizations. Another way of saying non-profit is that they have 501c3 tax exempt status with the IRS. So since we are not a non-profit organization and it's damn complicated to become one, we're just going to latch on to one like those little fish that suck along with them big ass great white sharks. So we basically approach any non-profit with this inquiry: can we be affiliated with you, or would you like to be our fiscal sponsor. This should not be a shock to these organizations because they have most likely done this many times before. In fact, that's a large function of most non-profits, since they don't make a profit, all their time is spent "fund raising" instead of selling soap or whatever. So they are familiar with the process and I believe it is standard procedure for them to actually fill out the grant themselves. If they don't have time for this, we can offer to write the grants (which is fine) and either just give our content to them or else they give us their information and we write it in. So the information we need from them as I've seen in a few of the grants is at the very least a letter confirming the organization as 501c3 tax-exempt/non-profit. Other info includes a list of the board members, possibly their budget and tax info from the previous year and things like that. Also, I've seen them ask for brochures and other stuff (I guess to show how sweet the non-profit is, how competent and how involved they are etc). So then they write the grant or are on the grant so they actually recieve the check. This also means that they are fiscally responsible, so I guess if we fuck up and are grossly negligent or something they get the whipping. On the other hand they reap all the benefits, which is what we should tell them. We are basically offering them a product or service which will benefit them and make them look better. In the case of Dobama this would be that they would be entering and becoming a player in the film world/ making it possible for the Cleveland community, that might not otherwise, be able to make films and get them seen. I would think this would be huge for Dobama. They could get their local talent on the screen as well as the stage. ("We ain't one-and-a-timing here, we mass communicatin'!") As far as them being in a different tax bracket I still have not locked down that info, but again I would think that they would already know this, and getting more money is not a problem. We are not inconveniencing any non-profit we approach. This is old hat to them, and it's only wierd to us cuz we've never done it, plus it is a symbiotic relationship. So, Holla, the more the merrier, the more money, the more non-profits, it's all good.

1.14.6

Yesterday: Called Reignier, left a message with his wife (whose final exam I slept through freshmen year); Worked on the MacBeth tape for Dawn, found I have some problems printing to DVD; prepared for today's shoot.

Today: Shooting this scene at Dylon; going to Middleburg Hts for Mit's basketball game; probably working with Tom on Anne Grady; Hopefully getting the chance to get back to my computer and solve my problem.

1.12.06

not much new. more Anne Grady. Coming home tomorrow.

1.12.6

I fixed New Orleans.

I'm not going to talk about my week in NOLA as I'm not sure everyone wants to hear about it and I'm sick of telling it. It was relatively intense, so if you have any questions, sure. But I'll not risk covering details that go unappreciated in a general overview. One thing I will say: I spent a Saturday night at Mardi Gras, and saw a number of novelty T-shirts that were plainly in bad taste. One that was just horrible read: "Katrina came to town and gave me a blowjob I'll never forget." The one that I thought was actually good read: "I survived Hurricane Katrina and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, this SUV, and this plasma screen TV." THAT, is humor.

Anyway, my recent activities have included the following:

1. Dodging Marni Task like the plague.
2. Getting things ready for the office shoot at Dylon on Saturday at 4:30. This is Dawn's last day, not Justin's. He has some "outside at the car" type stuff, and Saturday there's a high of 35 with rain and snow. I am monitoring the forecasts for the first good chance we have to get those.
3. Couldn't get in touch with that wily bastard Reignier, calling him tomorrow.

Sorry for the small amount of work accomplished since my return, it's been a pretty big adjustment for me to get back into the "real world" (for real).

011106

Pretty much did the Anne Grady voiceover work. Still need some specifics and tweekage. Waiting on final info. for nonprofit.

Called everybody. Had most everybody talk to each other. Justin's scenes done Sat.? I'll believe it when I see it.

Tk

oops

I forgot to post last night, so I'm doing it twice today. (plus since only Derek and I read this it shouldn't matter)

Derek I need a confermation e-mail / letter to give Tom White so I can be sure we are clear on how the "in association" works with the nonprofit. I think I understand it now, but I also thought I understood it before and I was wrong.

I also need help weeding through the grants that we should be applying for. Check that link that Tina found, (I'd put it here but I'm creeping around on other people's computers to make this post because my won't show blogger), there are a bunch. If there are specific ones that I should write LESS summaries for, I can do that.

In fact, this is what I'll do for the rest of the week. I'll write some new web content, a bio-type-thing for LESS and some kind of resume for presentation, approval and ready for input from all members this weekend. Hopefully we'll be able to use this stuff for all kinds of grants and etc.

insert date here

looked into the fact that ohio state is being a nonprofit organization. have no fear, getting people money should not be a problem but tax bracket issues for fiscal sponsers will be looked into in the very near future.

That's right

I'm back bitches.

It was a little scerry therr without a phone, but this is the first work-night that I'm back in action.

So this is the deal.
1. I will be out of Hillsdale at the end of March/beginning of April. And I want to be doing the production company full time at that point.

2. Because I'm not doing that yet, I really need people like Evan and Derek to give me specific tasks that I should be doing to help our various projects/us get money.
I am working on the Anne Grady stuff right now, and I can handle that and more, the problem is when I get into open-ended stuff that I can waste a day on. Like reading through scores of grants, which I am also doing.

I would much rather people sent me specific grants that they think we should apply for. I can handle that, and probably have the information too. Too open a project is still hard for me at this stage, just because I end up not doing it or my work for the paper.

DL Jan.9.05

Hey we should have a conference call of some kind. I emailed some people at OSU about getting some money. We need to discuss with TW our liason with Doboma etc. Is anyone out there? No one uses this thing. lol. Anyway, I guess there's not a real pressing reason for anyone to be posting but damn it it's at least symbolic and would make me feel less lonely.

DL jan 6.06

I think I'll try to apply to one of these

http://www.itvs.org/producers/funding.html

and TW is on getting Dobama as our fiscal sponsor which would open us up for many grants and putting more stuff on the website etc.

DL Jan.5.05

I turned in a trailer to someone at PBS, but this is no sure thing. We still should see if Doboma (sp) or some non-profit will work with us so we can get grants since most of them require non-profit status. I'm going to email a bunch of people today.

DL jan 4

I got in touch with someone at PBS Hawaii and he said I could send him a treatment which i did and I'm going to try to run over a trailer to him today.

DL Jan 3, OH SIX BITCH

Alright so I should get an email about the ohio arts council grant I applied for a while ago, but some inside information leads me to believe that this will not be good news. Amira should have mailed me some video footage that I need to finish the DVD for the professor that commissioned it so that we can move on creatively and edit the thing without worrying about covering things for the Prof and the students that were actually part of the 3 Radio Plays experience. Also, I just bought another hard drive so when I get all the stuff off my computer I'll have a total of about 600 gigs of space. This makes me think that maybe ya'll should consider taking an editing trip and when you're ready we can edit in HI! That might not make good sense, but it's a thought. I'll post a reply to what I actually did today since what I say I'll do never is accurate. But I will do something.