Living-Room War

Art Machine

2010-07-16T15:31:00.011-04:00

So we're making a new feature film called Art Machine, and we just started a Kickstarter campaign for the project. If you're unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it's this cool new tool for projects to use as a means of fundraising. Basically, you set up a project, set a certain monetary goal, and then ask everyone you know to get involved. Then ONLY if you reach your goal through individuals making contributions, does the donation go through, so it's pretty low risk for funders. Take a look and if you can, support the film, that would be fantastic. Indiewire.com just covered Art Machine in a front page article and the campaign is starting to pick up steam, but we could really use all the help we can get. And if you know anyone who might be into this kind of thing, please feel free to pass it along, as well!

Here's the link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dougkarr/art-machine-a-feature-length-film

And here's a link to the Indiewire article:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2010/07/08/in_the_works_july_8

prize + non sequitur

2009-08-18T12:39:00.002-04:00

I just won the Best Director prize at the 5th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival for Ten for Grandpa and to celebrate, here's a very short video I shot in Thailand earlier this month...

Pictures & Progress

2009-07-06T11:52:00.005-04:00

Since Sundance, things have been progressing at breakneck speed.

Ten for Grandpa has gotten into 19 film festivals since January, winning a Special Jury Prize at Aspen ShortsFest. I just got back from the Los Angeles Film Festival, where the film played to very receptive audiences, and I had a ton of meetings about our latest project, my fourth feature screenplay, Dwelling. A major star recently signed on in one of the lead roles and as the executive produce the film, and we'll be beginning production next June. In the meantime, we're starting to raise the financing and package the film with other other major screen talents. So it looks like I'm finally barreling into production (at a very controlled pace) on my feature directorial debut. Better start downing the vitamins, and taking better care of myself...

As a research tool for one of the characters in Dwelling, I recently bought a medium format Yashica from the 70's and have been shooting a ton ever since. A bunch of my photos are now up at: dougkarr.com

Apart from that, we're also continuing to developing a bunch of TV series, documentary projects, and three other feature films so stay tuned...

All-Nighter

2009-03-06T06:14:00.003-05:00

It's 6am in the Lower East Side, the sun is rising over East River and I'm waiting for a render to finish. Eddie and I haven't pulled an all-nighter in a while, but when when we got approval late in the day yesterday on a spot we're directing for Nick at Nite, we knew we were in for a late one... of course a raid drive failure didn't help our cause.

Sitting circumspect as the streets just begin to bustle with traffic, it occurs to me that an awful lot has happened in just a few short years in NYC. Chop Wood Carry Water has grown from a tiny corner of a DUMBO office share into a lovely corner office overlooking much of Manhattan. And as the economy tanks, boot-strap tightening aside, we're still making movies. Having just returned from 10 crazy days in Park City, Utah where our film Ten For Grandpa played to sold out audiences at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, we're back in the swing, writing and re-writing our four feature screenplays, getting them polished up and starting to work on packaging them with cast.

I've got a few more gray hairs than when I stepped off the plane from Tokyo after many months traveling around the world and landing in NYC, but I've finally kicked my Ethiopian (Tanzanian? Indian?) stomach bug, and I'm feeling pretty excited about what the next couple of years are going to look like.

New York in June

2008-06-03T16:52:00.005-04:00

OK, so that was the longest gap in this blog's history. It's not that I haven't had anything to report, quite the opposite in fact. I've been entirely overwhelmed. We're finally making some serious headway breaking into the commercial world:

We just finished post production on a series of spots for Playtex including this one that got over a million hits so far... Nightclub... church?

A spot that we recently completed for The Lunchbox Fund stars Billy Crudup, Mario Batali and Piper Perabo...

And we're directing numerous music videos:

Our recent viral hit video for Kaki King (best score 2008, Golden Globes) had a front page premier on Youtube...

And a recent one for Rustic Overtones...

And things on the creative side are clipping along nicely. I'm 30 pages into my newest screenplay, and writing hot. Yesterday I wrote for almost eight hours and kept myself awake till 3am tweaking away on scenes in my head.

We also recently hired a new full time producer at
Chop Wood Carry Water, so our feature projects and commercial works have that much more support.

Apart from that, we're finishing up the post on our new short film Ten For Grandpa, and should have a trailer up soon. As well as developing two brand new feature screenplays and a host of other stuff that you'll be hearing about soon.

Oh and I just looked at my last post, and Anniversary present has since almost tripled its hits on Atom films, having now climbed up to 374,827 plays.

I'm gonna get back in the habit here, so check back soon...

Anniversary Present on AtomFilms.com

2007-12-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

Big News Item #2... our short film "Anniversary Present" , staring David Alpay (Ararat) and Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl) was recently acquired by a number of broadcasters as well as AtomFilms where the film has so far been viewed over 166,000 times online (as of today), garnering an 83% approval rating. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check out the film in it’s entirety:

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

My Thermonuclear Family Award

2007-11-19T14:52:00.000-05:00

OK... so I have so much news to report that I'm gonna have to split it up into a bunch of individual posts... (sorry I've been off the radar for so long, things have been crazy) first up:

I'm very pleased to announce that the screenplay I've been working on (forever) for our feature film project "My Thermonuclear Family," has just won the Grand Prize at the 2007 FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards. FilmMakers International's annual competition attracted over 1300 entries worldwide this year. The crazy prize includes a healthy (much needed) dose of cash, a trip to San Fran for Screenwriting Expo 2008, professional script coverage, the works.

But as exciting as that may seem, even more exciting is the fact that I just got my fingers printed and an official all access corrections pass in my continued attempts to research and add verisimilitude to "My Thermonuclear Family". That's right folks Doug's going to jail:

Coming right up... a series of posts covering the production of our new film "Ten For Grandpa" and other stories from the front including our recent work with Billy Crudup, Mario Batali, Piper Perabo and Allan Cumming... and much more...

Next stop... Soho

2007-08-09T15:17:00.000-04:00

Life is good. We're finally moving from the construction site that is our DUMBO office to the beautific palace of our new Soho loft space at 180 Lafayette.

"Anniversary Present" was just accepted to UK's 15th Raindance Film Festival, Canada's 27th Atlantic Film Festival and will be screening in NYC in August at The Ace Film Festival.

I'm off tomorrow on a short but (as usual) insane little romp across North America: Chicago/Toronto/Iowa/Michigan. I go from a wedding in Chicago to director of photography on a new Bravo film in Toronto, to shooting for one our new client in Des Moines and Detroit.

Gotta keep packing up the DUMBO office.

Ravioli

2007-06-28T16:54:00.000-04:00

Too much travel has caused my head to spin uncontrollably. Now I'm back and a million things are going on at once, which is compounding the issue. We're editing our new Malawi documentary, prepping a new film for Bravo! and re-writing "My Thermonuclear Family" for a certain interested party. In two weeks we move out of our DUMBO offices into a 3000 square foot ravioli factory in Soho that we're converting into production/office/retail space. There's a couple of other significant events that have recently taken place, but we haven't announced them publicly yet, so...

Here are however some things that I can (and am happy) to report:

"Lifecycles: a story of AIDS in Malawi" is now available at Amazon.com:

A Deal At Twice The Price

Our new production company website is FINALLY (almost) finished:

Chop Wood Carry Water

There are a couple of new articles that came out about us recently:

Aliant Article
The Gate

Anniversary Present will soon be screening in New York City on the opening night of:

The ACE Film Festival

And somehow in the middle of all my travels and moves, I managed to sneak off to Coney Island with my friends Edward and Marta Mckeever to catch the Mermaid Parade:

OK that seems like enough news for now. I guess I better stop procrastinating and get back to work re-writing the screenplay or editing the documentary or checking my email or something.

Mexico, Malawi, New York, Halifax, Vancouver...

2007-05-15T15:40:00.000-04:00

It feels like I'm on my round-the-world trip all over again. Just got back from two weeks working vacation in Mexico, getting a little R&R while researching and writing a new thriller screenplay, and now I'm off to Malawi, Africa on Friday.

My Chop Wood Carry Water partner Eddie Boyce and I are going to Malawi for 2 weeks with Fordham Law School's Crowley Program in International Human Rights, to follow 15 law students and faculty on a fact finding mission focusing on the Feminization of HIV/AIDS in Malawi. They hired us to tag along and make a TV half-hour documentary covering the mission that they then hope to get on PBS and an audio version on NPR.

Aside from that our projects are starting to pile up at a whirlwind pace: a huge international broadcaster is getting interested in 'Circus in a Suitcase'; the prospect of some very major strides forward are seemingly just over the horizon for 'My Thermonuclear Family'; a new New York City based television series is gaining some headway; the 6 week production of a documentary in India is on the rise; we're working away on a video project and the entire new album website for the Beastie Boys (who are releasing a new album imminently); and traveling around the US and Canada as we continue to produce industrial pieces for our corporate clients... and the list goes on.

Basically moving to New York City and partnering with Eddie and Spiros was the best professional decision I've ever made.

Gotta get back to work...

Feeling Lucky

2007-04-10T18:28:00.000-04:00

Saturday I pitched 'My Thermonuclear Family' to a film studio here in town (which I can't name at this point) and the pitch went... VERY WELL! They really liked what they heard and the head of distribution asked to read the script immediately. I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic, but really I'm ecstatic and I can barely contain my excitement. These are people who have the funds and ability to not only green-light a picture, but to distribute it theatrically both on a domestic and international level. And not only did they respond to my idea, they really liked what they heard and are enthusiastic enough to read my 122 page script.

Rejection is the name of the game, but it only takes one yes.

Big Dog Refund - Turbo Tax Rap

2007-04-02T13:55:00.000-04:00

Get that big dog refund....

Eddie, Spiros, JQ and I spent a chunk of last week putting together this viral spec spot competition entry for the 'Turbo Tax Rap' Vanilla Ice hosted YouTube contest. If you have a sec, check it out... and don't forget to vote:

Watch & Vote Here

'My Thermonuclear Family' - Fade In awards

2007-03-27T15:59:00.000-04:00

I just heard the news: 'My Thermonuclear Family' is a quarterfinalist in the Fade In Awards.
This is the best possible birthday present that the cosmos could have sent my way.

Developments, Surprises and Progress

2007-03-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

Most of the time the pace of independent filmmaking is painfully slow as one develops projects and tries to get them off the ground, sending them off into the vacuum then waiting (sometimes forever) to hear back from producers, agents, actors, readers, commissioning editors, acquisitions people, etc. You keep pushing, trying to stay motivated, using all your strength and stamina to move an elephant up a mountain, and all the time you're just waiting for something to hit so you can put it on the front burner and get to work.

Well, refreshingly, the last few weeks have been full of pleasant surprises and progress:

Anniversary Present is starting to get some traction with film festivals (more on that soon) and after months of redesign work, the DVD is finally finished. Copies are now available for purchase on our website Human Scale Productions (just click the 'buy now' button under the Anniversary Present picture). But even more exciting, is that the film now has an international distributor! (we're working on the contracts for the deal now... so more on that later too.)

And on another burner, Charles Mann who we worked with in Africa and who brought us to the Communications Program of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government to do some lectures back in 2001 has just put the finishing touches on a DVD of our hour-long documentary 'Lifecycles: a story of AIDS in Malawi' and will be distributing the film through his development education organization DevCom. The DVD will also soon be available for purchase on Amazon.

And last but definitely not least, we've been hard at work in our little DUMBO, Brooklyn creativity factory developing the website for our new company Chop Wood Carry Water, and we should be launching the site sometime in the next week... so say tuned...

Thespians in Prison

2007-01-31T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well I may not have managed to raise over a million dollars yet, but I've succeded in filling up my calendar with 'Down on a Dime' writing/directing homework. I've started a 10 week acting class at Michael Howard Studios and I've also finally secured a prison volunteering spot teaching a literacy class at Riker's Island every Friday morning. So far the acting class is excellent, and I'm really looking forward to my first experience inside a correctional facility this friday.

On top of that I'm back at work re-writing the screenplay (currently in it's 4th draft) in an effort to get it polished before pitching it around town.

War and Peace?

2007-01-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

In my newfound quest to try to understand how we arrived at this rather uncomfortable period in American history, I somehow achieved a personal milestone. I managed to sit for a dozen hours looking at still photographs. My first real glimpse into the heart of the American thirst for perpetual warfare was during my holidays in Halifax when I watched the entire eleven hour Ken Burns 'Civil War' documentary. This highly addictive episodic documentary illustrates in excruciating detail the depths of despair and destruction that our ancestors were willing to experience in the name of “freedom.”
And then this weekend, while I was visiting Washington with the truly delightful girl I'm seeing, Katie, I got to stare up into the eyes of the man behind it all, Abe Lincoln (carved out of stone in his monolithic memorial).Now before I go bashing Abe’s aims in the American Civil War, don’t get me wrong, the emancipation of slavery was as difficult a task for a leader to achieve as say an intelligent healthcare model would be for a US president governing the ‘hold your pee for a wee’ generation, and for that I have a deep found respect for old Abe. But something in the quality of the words he spoke to me (the ones inscribed on the wall that he actually spoke to the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg) reminded me that in order to preside over a Civil War where over half a million of your countrymen are killed, you have to have a certain fervor (or dare I say) military zealotism. The belief that we can better our own lot by killing others (or in the case of Abe's war, better the communal lot by killing those unwilling to hold hands in Union) just seems like a concept spawned from children who've yet to grow up. It seems like it might be time to move beyond such a simple concept of us and them.

And of course on our way back to the car I had to take a walk past the Vietnam memorial.I guess it didn't help my state of mind that when Katie and I went out to a local D.C. drinking-hole two out of the three people we met for cocktails were defense contractors, one of them a self-confessed "Soul selling bitch for Lockheed Martin".
With the flags at half mast for the recently fallen 'good guys'. And not-so-good-ol' "They misunderestimated me" GWB sitting, (likely not in that round office of his) more likely lounging with a half eaten pretzel and a Sunday football game somewhere in that mansion on Pennsylvania Ave, I guess I'm just starting to wonder if there is hope for growing up and establishing a new, less violent paradigm for the governments of our little planet.

"You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war President. No President wants to be a war President, but I am one."
—George W. Bush, Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006

Maybe China will do a better job as the dominant superpower. (Except that a whopping twenty-million folks were killed in their last Civil War… Gulp.)

'Circus in a Suitcase'

2006-12-07T15:26:00.000-05:00

Before I left for my gig in Toronto this week I decided to finish up our online pitch package for our new documentary television series 'Circus in a Suitcase.' I'm excited for our 2008 South East Asia Tour. Just have to get over the old financing hurdle and we'll be packing up the big top.

Take a look:

www.circusinasuitcase.net

In other news, I'm back in my old stomping grounds of frigid Upper Canada shooting and seeing old friends (scarf, hat, gloves and thermal underwear very much required). Back in NYC on the 14th to get cracking on our new company 'Chop Wood Carry Water Productions' that we opened with partners Edward Boyce and Spiros Antonopoulos. We've got a bunch of projects in development and I'm looking forward to the abundance of creativity that this new venture and a new year will (hopefully) inspire.

At Work in the Thought Factory

2006-11-06T18:30:00.000-05:00

So now here I am in Brooklyn having settled in (sort of) and beginning to figure out what I want to do with myself (to some extent).
It's both frightening and exciting to think what a huge city this is and how many different directions my life could take, but in the words of E.B. White "no one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." So that's just what I'm trying to do.

It's amazing how quickly one starts to hemorrhage dollars in this city. It seems like I step out the front door of my new apartment and a stream of twenties flows from my pocket in my wake. My phone bills alone are nearing $200 a month for the office and cellphone. But what I really have to do is stop thinking about that, and start hitting the pavement to get the financing for "Down on a Dime". Doing a fast-read of the script today made me feel confident that the material is close, so for my first lucky trick, I will find a producer...

Our New Home

2006-10-26T14:38:00.000-04:00

This is what life looks like just outside the door of our new office in Dumbo, Brooklyn:

New York, New York

2006-10-22T12:32:00.000-04:00

Everything seems to be happening faster and faster in the last few years. The round-the-world adventure now seems like another lifetime, as I get ready to go to New York tomorrow to open up a new production office. I'm partnering with post-production guru and friend Eddie Boyce. We're opening a music video and commercial production house in Brooklyn called 'Shoot Me Cut Me Productions.'

I've mostly been here in Halifax for the last two months writing and working on a new television series that we're developing. I just finished the 3rd draft of "Down on a Dime" and the first draft of a new screenplay set in Virginia and Thailand, so now with three feature scripts under my belt and one very ready to go to camera I'm going to make a move to The Big City to raise a decent first-feature budget.

The television show that I'm in the process of developing with the UK based troupe 'Incandescence' is called 'Circus in a Suitcase'... stay tuned for more news on that one.

Little Dougers

2006-09-09T13:06:00.000-04:00

Looking into the glass display case of my little Shanghai clay effigy one evening, I realized that Little Dougers had developed some kind of very funky black Chinese mold... and that's when it became clear that Little Dougers had to die...

Las Vegas

2006-08-08T15:33:00.000-04:00

You know you've crossed one too many time zones, consumed a few too many comped drinks, cigars, rich food, and gone without sleep, when you wake up with your head in the toilet and a fever. Either that or you're just another Vegas statistic and you can be confident that the Batchelor Party you organized for your Brother was a resounding success. Six Fellas flew to Vegas and I stepped off a 14 hour flight from Tokyo and didn't sleep for the next three days. Viva Las Vegas!
Below the Eiffel Tower, we celebrated the death of Alden's bachelorhood on the Vegas Strip. We revisited many of the far flung locals of our round the world trip, including the canals of Venice and the Pyramids of Giza. After dinner at Paris' Eiffel Tower Restaurant, we smoked "Canadian" cigars and drank Russian Brandy while the Bellagio's fountains lit up the night:
We had plenty of interesting people around to chat with.And an endless array of activities planned on our extensive three day itinerary.
We also spent some time walking around in the stifling desert heat.
But mostly we just enjoyed the sights.
After the stag festivities, when I went and met up with Sierra at a local Youth Hostel, I finally found out where the bulk of the TV show "Cops" is shot—in the seediest neighborhood in the USA: Freemont Street, Las Vegas—where we got to see how the other half live.
Amid a cloud of desert heat, evaporating alcohol, stolen hundred dollar bills, crazy Christian Evangelists, and bikini mud-wrestling, we somehow made it out of Sin City alive and are now safely on the eastern seaboard.

Turning Japanese

2006-08-02T14:36:00.000-04:00

It seems slightly counter intuitive that the last five days of a five month trip would turn out to be the best, but for some reason Tokyo was just an insanely fun place to finish off.

We toured the many neighborhoods and walked for many delightful hours through the streets:Ate some truly incredible food (Sierra, after consuming copious amounts of Sake, eats a giant snail):
Rode the subways endlessly:
Hung out with very some strange people:
Ate more incredible food:
Drank more:
And stumbled home late at night with the rest of the large population of nocturnal Japanese boozers:

China in a Nutshell

2006-07-15T23:01:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick rundown of the last two weeks in China:

First we arrived in Shanghai, where I got to sharpen up on my shooting skills in the French Quarter.

Then we went to Pudong where "Little Dougers" was born and Sierra communed with the Fishes.

Then we got on an increadibly nice "Soft Seat Sleeper" train to Beijing (they would call it First Class, but there are no Classes in Communist China.)

In Beijing, we visited the Forbidden City with our new friends Jack and Daisy.
We ate lots of crazy food.And had an all around great time.

Illegal and Unhealthy

2006-07-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

For some strange reason the Chinese government has decided to block www.livingroomwar.com/blog from each and every Chinese computer. They have not however chosen to block CNN.com and therefore I was able to find out the following:

"BEIJING, China (AP) -- China is tightening controls on blogs and search engines to block material deemed subversive or immoral, the government said Friday. The announcement comes amid a media crackdown by President Hu Jintao's government, with Web sites being shut down and journalists jailed.
"As more and more illegal and unhealthy information spreads through the blog and search engine, we will take effective measures to put the BBS, blog and search engine under control," said Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of China's Cabinet, quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency."

Illegal AND unhealthy, well that just about covers it. Hey did, I post the pictures I took of M-16s for sale on the streets of Istanbul? Have I mentioned anything about the fact that almost every country we've visited has been bombed either during our visit or soon after. (OK, yeah maybe I've said a thing or two about that... and on that tip, I heard on the BBC this morning that a Mumbai commuter train got blown up on Tuesday and 200+ people were killed. We flew out of Mumbai about a month ago).

But the thing that I find truly strange, sitting here on the top floor of a gargantuan Mall complex next to a bunch of healthy young Shanghainese sweating on treadmills after a long week of working the financial markets and shopping at Hugo Boss, is that the only frightening police activity we've seen here has been plain-clothes cops busting street merchants, and everything seems rather open (for buisness).

Shanghai

2006-07-03T02:21:00.000-04:00

You know you’re in China when your own website has been censored (so I can't see this post, but with any luck you can).

We arrived in Shanghai after an overnight trek, which included a rapid-fire 5-hour stop over in the city of Kuala Lumpur. Stepping off the impressive magnetic levitation train, which rockets passengers at over three-hundred kilometers an hour into the city, we were greeted by what I have come to think of as an international conglomeration of crooks: urban taxi drivers. After covering the metre with a cloth, the driver drove us five minutes to our hotel, and then asked for 435 Yuan ($70). After much deliberation (yelling and stamping of feet on his part, head shaking and scowling on mine), I agreed to give him 50 Yuan ($7) and he kindly threw my Shanghai guidebook out into the middle of the street as he skidded off. Suffice it to say, our first hour in China was less than promising, but since then we’ve had two delicious meals (chosen for us from unintelligible menus by our servers) and walked for hours through the frenetic streets, so we’re feeling much better.

But I’m getting ahead of myself… We spent the last two weeks in the “Land of Smiles” or “Amazing Thailand” (Pardon my Tourist Bureau indoctrination) where we lived the good life, island hopping and gorging on some of the best food on our trip to date. We were met in Bangkok by David Mcleod, our scuba diving buddy from Egypt—who in a small world irony, also turns out to be my Dad’s Boss’s brother—where we spent 5 great days laughing and trying to stay out of trouble in the crazy Thai capital.

Sierra and I then traveled on to Phuket and Krabi provinces where we island hopped and began developing a television documentary series with our new co-conspirator, Satya Lapham, artistic director and talented acrobat of the remarkable UK based Circus Company “Incandescence.” (More about the 2008 Asia tour “Circus in a Suitcase” TV Series later…)
On Reiley Beach, Satya forced me to go rock climbing which I thoroughly enjoyed, even if I couldn’t move my limbs for a couple of days afterwards.
Back in Bangkok we were met with one of my bestest childhood buddies, Katie Lo, who created a four day stop-over to hang with us on her way to a new job in Kuala Lumpur. We continued to eat our way through Thailand, and took a brief sojourn to hang out with the ladies (?) from the Asia Hotel’s Calypso Cabaret.
We rounded out Katie’s visit by going to the floating market......where we did some more eating......and learning how to wrestle crocodiles...

...where we were almost eaten.

A Couple of Beach Bums

2006-06-11T08:45:00.000-04:00

30 Days in South India

2006-06-11T06:37:00.000-04:00

India, what an incredibly amazing place. We arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) a month ago and have been having a fantastic time ever since. As I look back in our guidebook at all of the places we traveled it’s a little mind-blowing how much we fit into thirty days. This is what our route looked like:

We started out in the State of Maharashtra, the City of Mumbai. From there we traveled by train to the state of Goa where we mucked around on the beaches of Colva, Benaulim, Panjim, Anjuna, Calengute and then Bogmalo. We then took a train to Bangalore in the State of Karnataka and then the charming palace filled city of Mysore. An overnight bus from hell took us to the state of Kerela and the lovely seaside town of Fort Kochin, we then spent an incredible day and a half on a houseboat in Vikam Lake. We then flew (for $25 each) to the State of Pondicherry where we are now, in the French colonial town of Pondicherry. In two days we fly out of Chennai (Madras) to Thailand.

Many of the people we’ve met here are staying for six months or more and I can totally understand that now.

The causeway to Haji Ali's Mosque in Mumbai where professional beggars line the strip, until the sea turns the Mosque into an island at high-tide.

In Goa we spent a lovely few days in the Portugese influenced capital of Panjim, which was chockfull of churches, but we liked the hilltop Maruti Temple.

We spent many hours on romantic overnight trains where we enjoyed private berths and intense intimacy with Indian families.

We wrestled for an unassigned seat on our trip from Bangalore to Mysore and were unable to understand the resulting yelling matches.

In Mysore, we got the very distressing news that Sierra's Grandfather had passed away suddenly. We travelled to the top of a local mountain to drink a toast in his honour. On our way back down, we happened upon the beautifully garish illuminated palace.

Returning to the palace the next day, I took a ride on a rather large mammal.

A local ferry in Kerala transported us to our new home.

The highlight of our trip came late with our backwater cruise on a Kerala Houseboat. We originally planned to spend just twenty-four hourse onboard, but the local Communist Party in Kerala had a transport strike to protest high fuel prices and our taxi driver refused to pick us up because "children will throw bolts through the windscreen." Luckily for us our guide offered to keep us on for another half day where the three person crew continued to fatten us up with an endless stream of coconut-scented Kerala curries served on banana leaves.

Tompa, our guide showed us a local rope-making workshop, a lime factory and when our trip was extended, he even brought us home to meet the wife in his backwater village.

Our clothes might be disintegrating into rags, but having crossed the halfway threshold of our trip, Sierra and I are feeling like worldly sophisticates. And by that I mean... beach bums.

We Will Miss You

2006-06-04T07:19:00.000-04:00

In Loving Memory of Richard Teevan

1919 - 2006

You made up for the fact

that one of my grandfathers died before I was born.

22 Hours in Dubai

2006-05-24T12:34:00.000-04:00

A short jaunt out of the African Horn took us to the opulent desert city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The population of Dubai is made up of 20% citizens, (Bedouins who struck it incredibly rich when the oil started spilling) and 80% foreign laborers (Indians, Filipinos and Westerners who will never be granted citizenship even if they live and work in the UAE their entire lives.) Lately city planners have launched a massive PR campaign to try to put this modern Shangri-La on the map.

We arrived at the airport at 2AM with a 22 hour lay-over and we knew that we had to make the best of every waking minute. We booked a $90.00 hotel room, which was decent, but while Sierra showered and I shaved, the drain in the bathroom exploded with salty fecal water. Sierra reminded me that Bedouins have only been harnessing the power of water for personal use for a little while and not to get too bent out of shape. I calmly and politely called the front desk and told them that our bathroom was filling up with shit. They gave us a deluxe room. Now there’s something that you have to understand about Dubai, we’re talking about the most opulent places on the planet, home of the world’s only Seven Star Hotel, so our room went from a $90.00 room to maybe a $500.00 room, at no extra charge. Sweet.

After a quick snoring session, we got up and tried to walk downtown. Looking up from our perch on the side of a daunting multi-lane highway, it became obvious that Dubai is not so much a city at this point, as it is an idea. The vast majority of the city is under construction, and giant concrete skeletons fill the skyline. Making matters worse is the fact that there is no downtown, so we spent an hour baking in the desert sun before finally hailing a cab and asking to be taken to the mall. And that’s when we left the most steaming desert I’ve ever experienced (hotter than the Israeli, Egyptian and Mexican Baja deserts combined) and entered a gargantuan mall housing a 32 story, -2 degree, indoor ski hill.

After a two-week stay in amenity-starved Ethiopia, we spent many delightful hours shopping and gorging on food and sensory input including an amusement park with an indoor climbing wall.

Then we donned rented winter gear and headed to the slopes.

That evening, after wasting 15 minutes trying to crash our way into the Seven Star Burj Al Arab Hotel by pretending to have dinner reservations, we decided to continue our quest to find a place to take a walk and get an outdoor visual of Dubai, but again we failed. In a charitable effort to help our plight, a taxi driver ferried us to the smallest beach I’ve ever set foot on: a tiny patch of sand and waves, crammed in between 2 construction sights. With nowhere to walk and much foreign currency to burn, we decided to head back to the airport (which houses its own lavish mall) and go on a two-hour shopping spree.

With the hardships of Ethiopia now a distant memory, we took off for India with full bellies and a fleeting sense of overwhelming materialistic bliss.

Last Day in Ethiopia

2006-05-18T07:49:00.000-04:00

On the morning of May 12th, I awoke in my bed at the Taitu hotel in Addis Ababa to the very proximate sound of a large explosion. At the time I thought that maybe a constructions worker at the building site across the street had dropped a wheelbarrow full of bricks from a few stories up. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that a taxi driver told us that nine synchronized blasts had rocked Addis that morning and that one of them was in the Piazza neighborhood, a stone’s throw from our hotel. A little over two weeks since the Dahab Bombings, the terror had finally caught up with us on our last day in Ethiopia. “The government wants to turn our country into another Rwanda or Somalia.” Exclaimed our distraught driver, who went on to describe how the situation in Ethiopia was going from bad to worse. Over the last few moths--since the election that they lost--the local government has imprisoned any vocal members of their opposition (ie: they arrested and incarcerated the guys who the population voted in) and the army has killed dozens of protestors. The bombs 6 days ago, which killed four innocent civilians, were only the latest in a recent series.

On the plane over the United Arab Emirates that evening, Sierra says that we’re just experiencing culture shock, coming from our peaceful cocoon in Canada, but I find the proximity of murderous terror rather unnerving and painful.

Zanzibar and Ethiopia

2006-05-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

After three lovely days on the mystical island of Zanzibar, we left Tanzania and flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Africa’s central hub and one of my least favorite places in the world, the Nairobi International Airport. Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis, is quickly beginning to creep onto that list as well, but luckily we only stayed here for two nights before embarking on a swift two week journey around rural Ethiopia.

After meeting Trish & Kevin, a lovely Irish couple and later our new French friend Laurent, we traveled in a clump to the quaint town of Bahar Dar. We spent the first day cruising around Lake Tana exploring the many ancient island churches. After another day in Bahar Dar of biking around and taking it easy, we pushed off for Gondor.

Apart from some intestinal troubles… and finally some self-prescribed antibiotics, we had a grand time walking around Gondor’s “Great Enclosure” fortress from the 1600s.

After a few days of haggling with teenage-con-artists-cum-travel-agents we finally settled on an overpriced trek in the Simian Mountains… but the fog was so thick on the peaks that we could barely keep an eye on our machine-gun totting scout and guide, so we bailed out early.

From there, Sierra and I said our goodbyes to the rest of our group and headed off to our northernmost destination, the high-altitude town of Lalibela. For four eventful days, we made the rounds of the many thousand-year-old rock-hewn churches, the highlight of which was at the top of a mountain 45 kilometers out of town: A church hidden in a cave called, Yemrehanna Kristos, which housed not only two intricate buildings, but also a sprawling open mass-grave. The piles of half decaying pilgrims gave us the creeps, but combined with the altitude and my reading of the (soon to be published) manuscript of my father Andy Karr’s new book on contemplative Buddhism, it was a visceral opportunity to consider my own mortality.

Now, a few days later, we’re back in Addis Ababa. Tomorrow we travel to Dubai where we arrive in the middle of the night for about 20 hours and then on to Mumbai, India. We are thoroughly sick of Injera and Doro Wat and can't wait to reach India and chomp into a lamb Big-Mac or at least a camel burger in the Emirates.

(Next Post: Waking to the sound of explosions, as nine terrorist bombs go off in Addis Ababa. Two of them a stone's throw from our hotel...)

Thinking About my Friends in Dahab

2006-04-26T14:15:00.000-04:00

A little less than a month ago, Sierra and I were sitting in the lovely beachside restaurants of Dahab, drinking Egyptian Stella and eating kofta. Yesterday, we arrived in the Zanzibar beach town of Paje to hear a BBC News report that 23 people have been killed and 63 wounded in three separate bombs in the quaint seaside Sinai town that I have come to love. The main blast happened at “Al Capone’s” restaurant, the very first place I ate when I visited Dahab for the first time in 2005. This senseless killing seems completely crazy. The people who live and work in Dahab are some of the nicest I’ve met while traveling and far from political. The tourists there are mostly young people, traveling on the cheap. There is however a US military instillation on the edge of the desert, a stone’s throw from town, that I once walked up to with my hands raised and my US passport held high, so that the M-16 wielding Marine in the tower would recognize me as non-threatening. But, this was a senseless act of terrorism, not an act of war, and those killed were exclusively civilians, the vast majority of them Egyptians.

Since we left, two of the four cities we’ve visited have been bombed, and the influence of terror is highly visible here in Tanzania where the newly built US embassy complex is a huge walled fortress with a surrounding moat. Their fortification is clearly a reaction to the 1998 embassy bombing here in Dar es Salaam. The whole thing starts to paint a rather frightening picture of what the world is becoming. My government is in a bloody quagmire, frighteningly comparable to the beginnings of Vietnam, and the rest of the world is a mess. I guess it always has been, but is there any possibility for change? Redistribution of wealth seems like an important first step. But here in Africa, that’s plainly a fantasy. The so-called “War on Terror” is obviously having the opposite effect.

When I think of my friends in Dahab, and the pain that they’re going through, I feel sick to my stomach. These random acts of violence make no sense at all.

Mazungu

2006-04-22T07:11:00.000-04:00

Being a visible minority, like I am in Africa, is both eye opening and challenging at the same time. Unlike in Turkey and Italy where locals spoke to me in rapid foreign tongue expecting me to answer them, here there is no hiding the fact that I’m an outsider. Eric’s very sweet head of household, Christopher, won’t let Sierra and I venture downtown unescorted for fears that we’ll be mauled by “young thieves.” Two days ago he sent the gardener, Saidi, with us to the Indian shopping district. We trekked around in the sweltering heat and forced Saidi to eat Indian food with us. We saw a beached ocean liner and sitting nearby, a man with such extreme elephantitis that I had trouble making eye contact. Sometimes I forget just how privileged I am. In our lonely planet guide for our next destination, Ethiopia, there are warnings to check your mattress and the room wall for splattered blood, a sure sign that the hotel mattresses have bed-bugs. The thought frightens me, and a little voice urges me to rent a 4x4 instead of taking the bus, and spend more money to stay at fancy western style hotels.

When I tried to smile at the deformed man near the beach, my stomach churned uncomfortably. It made me remember the time when I was a 9 years old, visiting family in New York, and being overcome with sadness by streets overflowing with homeless people (before Rudy Giuliani shipped them all upstate.) I tried to put on a kind face for the badly deformed man but, it still brought into sharp focus the thin line between vacationing in the third world and taking part in what Sierra’s father calls the “pornography of poverty.”

Today I accompanied Christopher himself into town to go food shopping at the insanely busy central market. As we walked through the crowded stands, I heard sentences peppered with the word “Mazungu” (Swahili for “white man”) over and over again from many of the produce sellers and bag vendors. One insistent young fellow pushed Christopher to buy his ginger root. I could tell that something the kid had had said had offended Christopher, so I asked him to translate. The kid had rudely pressured Christopher to “buy the ginger so that you can prepare it for your white man.” Christopher admitted that my presence at his side had been steadily driving up the price of produce the entire morning. On the mini-bus home, we stopped in the pouring rain and Christopher asked the driver if he would take us a little further to a nearby taxi stand. The driver instead offered to kick out two other passengers and take Christopher and his Mazungu directly home for an additional 3 dollars. I shook my head after Christopher ran the offer past me, disquieted by the thought that this driver would happily push two of his fellow Tanzanians out into the pouring rain to get a commission from the Mazungu.

Despite these moments, I still greatly enjoyed going to market and spending time with Christopher. Traveling is one of the most inspiring and rewarding things I’ve done in my life, but sometimes it makes me pause. And sometimes it smashes me in the face.

We Got Game

2006-04-19T08:12:00.000-04:00

This morning as I lay in bed still half in a dream, I heard a BBC World broadcast about bombs going off in the suburbs of Istanbul. Two countries back, Turkey already seems like a distant memory. Last night we arrived home in Dar Es Salaam from our Safari (which in Swahili simply means “journey.”) For the last week we drove a few hundred kilometers a day, through three of the most incredible game parks on the planet. Sierra’s father generously treated us to a five star package tour, so we traveled and lodged in style while visiting the dense and tremendously varied animal populations.

After an eight hour drive North, past the impressive Mt. Kilimanjaro, our first stop was Lake Manyara where we were immediately greeted by an assembly of baboons.

Sierra later befriended a baby elephant.

Late on the first day, our friendly Masaai driver Leiza spotted a pride of lions lazing in the high branches of a tree. Their hanging perch looked rather uncomfortable, but the lions seemed restful and well-fed.

On our way to the Serengeti, as we entered the vast savannah lands we followed the wildebeest migration. Intertwining zebras, impala and wildebeests, the horizon in all directions was blacked out by four legged animals.

Reaching the Serengeti, we were taken to our tented camp where massive canvas structures made up an entire luxury complex, from hotel lobby to sprawling bedrooms. The fenceless grounds allow game to wander freely past our tent. That night I was awakened by the sound of child crying and the deep growl of a rather large feline in close proximity to our bed.

The hippos got a little excited when Sierra expressed her affection for me in the back seat of the Land Cruiser.

During the daytime, I was pounding back water to stave off dehydration, so I constantly needing to relieve myself. I could clearly imagine the headlines: “Another Stupid White Tourist Killed While Urinating” and I spent many a weary moment with an unzipped fly, scanning the bush for one of the multitude of predators potentially priming themselves to pounce.

The next morning a line of over a dozen Safari vehicles formed a traffic jam while waiting for a leopard to bring a recent kill up into a tree.

Driving South again we headed towards the Ngorogoro Crater where an overabundance of animals are virtually trapped by the steep slopes. On our way down into the crater we encountered a group of Masaai Warriors, and I purchased a dauntingly sharp spear.

In order to become initiated as a warrior, a young Masaai must first kill a lion, but when I saw the furry creatures lazing in the mud an hour later, I left my spear in the trunk.

From the comfort and security of our Land Rover we watched as a pair of pint sized jackals chased a large mixed heard of impala and zebras around the grassy landscape. Then later in the day we witnessed a hyena mother carrying her infant out of their resting hole just a few feet away from our vehicle.

It felt like a real gift to be able to see all of these incredible creatures in their natural habitat, and to catch a glimpse of what our world was like when our ancestors couldn’t quite stand up straight yet.

Dahab & Cairo to Dar Es Salaam

2006-04-09T10:36:00.000-04:00

The five lazy days we spent in Dahab were luxurious compared with the insane bustle of Cairo and Istanbul. On her refresher dive, Sierra had some pressure troubles with her ears, but I spent a good deal of my time in the Sinai submerged under the blue waters of the Red Sea. We only snorkeled over Dahab’s infamous “Blue Hole,” which claims the lives of dozens of divers a year due to nitrogen narcosis.

Dahab is a quaint desert town where you can walk from restaurant to restaurant as doormen at each eatery work up a sweat in their effort to get you to dine at their establishment. Their first question is always “where from?” to which I would usually answer Canada. Invariably they would reply “Canada Dry!” often followed by “Never Die!” and occasionally “No Woman, No Cry!” Sierra and I theorized that if restaurant hawkers spent less energy dragging one off the street and a little more on actually serving one when one had sat down, the whole dining experience in Dahab would be greatly improved.

After a nine hour bus ride through the desert and under the Suez canal, we were back in the Egyptian capital, much to our annoyance. But things improved the next morning when we ventured into “Islamic Cairo” and spent a few hours getting lost in the sprawling Arab Souque, the sensory-overloading precursor to our western mall complexes.

I briefly considered purchasing a mosque dome-topper to send to my folks, but decided against it after calculating the cost of shipping a ton of copper by DHL.

That afternoon we were delivered by taxi to the Pyramids Hotel. After a fierce hand-signal argument with our driver that culminated in the drawing of three small triangles on an envelope, we were taken to the actual Pyramids at Giza.

Apart from repeatedly having to yell “file mish-mish!” (Arabic for “that’ll happen!”) to tour guides on Camels who constantly pestered us to ride their foamy-mouthed beasts, we had a rather nice time mucking about in the afternoon sun, gazing up at the structural wonders.

We experienced twelve hours of delays on our 2 day Kenya Airways journey from Cairo through Nairobi to our new destination: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

After many uncomfortable nights at flea-bite hotels, we’re basking in the comforts of Sierra’s father Eric’s lavish African compound. Tomorrow we set off on a five day safari to Kilimanjaro and the Ngorogoro Crater.

From Cairo to Dahab

2006-04-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

Just over a year ago, my friend David and I coined the phrase "Things are Better in Dahab," after we overlanded out of an insane ten day trip in Israel to the overwhelmingly beautiful and sublimely relaxed Egyptian Sinai desert. Thirteen months later, Sierra and I left the Egyptian capital--what our dope smoking taxi driver dubbed "Crazy Cairo"--to step off an 11 hour bus ride at three in the morning in Dahab. And the (not so old) addage that things are better here is very much still true. We're looking forward to five days of sun, scuba, 4x4s in the desert and generous dollops of idyllic inertia.

We spent 3 long days in Cairo and saw both mind blowing pyramids as well as a dozen creepy mummies. We wore out our legs crawling into underground crypts while overzealous hawkers wore out our patience. Through a little half assed negotiating, we managed to hire a taxi driver by the day to ferry us between sights, but he turned out to be so crazy that we had to part ways after a couple of days. The food was so inedible that at our worst, we resorted to dinner at TGI Fridays and Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. We spent a lovely evening at a Cairo casino, sipping free drinks and even leaving with $20 of blackjack winnings. We did not ride any camels, because my crotch is still recovering from a camel assisted mountain descent last February.

The night we arrived in Egypt, we pounded the pavement for two hours at 4am looking for an available room in one of the many busy downtown hostels.

The streets in Cairo are so busy that crossing one is always a near death experience.

But darn those sand triangles were perty.

Istanbul

2006-03-20T06:23:00.000-05:00

After flying over the vast Alps on or way from Venice to Amsterdam, we finally touched down in Turkey at 1 in the morning.

Taken for a ride by an opportunistic airport taxi driver, we arrived at our smokey shit-hole of a hostel. With a fever and an impressive cough, I fell asleep on our rock hard bed, and when I woke up, my lower back had gone out. Things improved greatly from that point on. We changed lodging, spending an extra 5 Turkish Lyra ($4) to move up in the world to a lovely Pension Hotel a couple of blocks away. With our new digs as base-camp, we've spent our days walking the confusıng streets, visiting mind-blowing mosques, street bazzars, Nargila (Hooka) Joints, Sultan's Palaces, spice markets, ferries, and cinemas.
We've eaten countless kebabbs and had by far the best Donair I've ever tasted.

The Blue Mosque was a definite highlight. Not just because of the impressive architectrure, but also because I struck up a conversatıon wıth an ex-Marıne helicopter pilot turned private contractor who regailed me with stories of his new gig as an aircraft test pilot in Iraq. Workıng for a prıvate company, hıs job involved not only test flyıng helıcopters as they came ınto the war zone--before Marine pılots took them over-- but because of the growing dirth of military pilots, he now has a side contract doing med-evac runs in the rather dangerous Northern Insurgency areas. With just a short lay-over on hıs way back to the war, he had decided to drop by the mosque and take a few snapshots. I hope he's getting well paid.

After being dragged through a half dozen museams in the last few days, I can say with great certainty, that my favorite cultural artifact in Istanbul is the pleasingly grotesque hand of St John.

This morning we made our way from the European continent to Asia by crossing the Bospherous river in a fifteen minute cross-town ferry. My stomach is grumbling. I think it's time to go eat some more donair.

Lost in Venice

2006-03-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

Three flights and a water taxi found Sierra and I in Venice without our luggage. We spent the afternoon getting lost, then finally stumbled upon the hotel that we'd booked from a payphone at the airport. We settled in, while listening to an incredibly loud French woman screaming and yelling in sexual ecstasy for quite a long time. I guess the romance of Venice rubbed off on her, or at least her boyfriend did.
The little alleys and water lined streets are gorgeous. Today was Sierra's birthday, but we drank so much €1.00 cabernet last night that we didn't make it out of the house until well after three. We had a "whore's breakfast" of chocolate cake to celebrate, then gouged on olives and cheese.
It feels good to finally be off on our voyage after the insanity of moving out and getting "Anniversary Present" finished at the same time. What a mess. But now it's done and we're across the world, far from home. The first days of our long travels.

Always Start the Way You're Gonna Finish

2006-01-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

I learnt an important lesson this last couple of weeks. See, a year and a half ago, when I started work on "Anniversary Present", I decided to do something I'd never done before: a Digital Intermediate. Also known as a D.I., this process basically involves scanning the film at very high resolution, then manipulating the color space, the light ratio and the size of shots in an incredibly freeing digital environment. Once any visual effects have been added, the digital film is then lasered back out to a celluloid negative which is then matched up with an optical track created from your final sound mix, and voila you have yourself a film print that reflects your vision of what you really wanted the film to look like.

Unfortunately, before starting my work on the film's edit, I didn't ask one very important question. It goes something like this: "What frame rate should I be cutting in?" The answer? Categorically and in no case shall thee decide to edit in thirty frames a second (or actually 29.97 fps, drop frame), unless of course you'd like your picture to run 40 or so frames out of sync with your sound track.

What all this means is that I ended up spending a week re-conforming my timeline from thirty frames a second into twenty four. Now I have to get the sound re-edited to conform to the new picture, and then output the key-code numbers for every single shot in the film by hand, because I also neglected to record this information when I started editing. Which brings me to the moral of this story, brought to you by my new friend and post production supervisor Calvin Grant: "Always start the way you're gonna finish." And I might add to that: don't venture blindly into the unknown without at least asking some basic questions about how to proceed.

Out of the Living-Room and Into the Fire

2006-01-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

Leaving town is a frightening proposition. I realize that part of the reason that I've been mentally unstable lately is that I'm focusing much of my energy on the idea of getting Anniversary Present finished before I leave. But unfortunately in reality I'm mostly in a holding pattern and have been spending very little actual time on the last stages of the film's post production.

So I was very pleasantly surprised when I got to the spotting session for the sound mix and found out that my sound team had been putting in tons of effort and time to layer the film with an incredibly rich sound pallet. This is a very good sign, because I now realize that I have only six weeks before wheels up on our round-the-world trip and I still have to do the final sound mix, the Digital Intermediate (+ lab/print work), and then online my 6 minute television cut down for Bravo. In that same space of time, Sierra and I also have to go on a two week tour of Canada (Toronto - Winnipeg - Calgary - Halifax) for an elaborate corporate shoot—not to mention packing up our apartment and moving all our possessions to my folk's place in Halifax, finishing my corporate taxes for the year, online editing 2 spec commercials, and finalizing round-the-world tickets, visas, etc—so needless to say, time is getting short and the panic has fully set in.

Going Abroad

2006-01-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

As I sit with the telephone receiver to my ear, holding for the next available operator at the Canadian passport office, the whole affair is starting to feel like reality. I'm replacing my expired passport because in March, Sierra and I will embark on a 6+ month journey around the world. We're getting round-the-world tickets from Star Alliance. Not too much planning, not quite enough money, and most importantly no thirty thousand dollar camera package. Strictly an experience, inspiration and research gathering trip. All I'm bringing is a bag full of clothes, a stills camera, and a notebook. That and hopefully a passport, but I'm still 25th in line and I've been holding for an hour.

During the course of our trip, I'll be posting entertaining stories from the fringes of the world as we trek from one country to another. Our adventures will no doubt be numerous, but hopefully we’ll avoid nasty parasites, terrorism, natural disasters, getting robbed or being beheaded. So far our itinerary goes something like this:

England - Turkey - Jordan - Egypt - Tanzania - Zanzibar - Ethiopia - Namibia - Vietnam - Thailand - Japan - China - Fiji - Vancouver - New York - Chile - Buenos Aires.

Please keep in touch and stay tuned.

Anniversary Present Trailer

2005-11-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

Finally after six months of post production on our new film, I decided to hunker down and cut a trailer. As the front line of distribution, the trailer is super important these days and I'm hoping that I did it justice. If you have any thoughts or comments, please let me know...
Click Here to View the Trailer

Student Questions

2005-11-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

A film student at Niagara College writing a paper on the process of creating a successful short film asked me if I would take part in his project. Here are some of my answers to his questions:

What brought you into the film industry?

When I was 9 years old and living in Paris, France, my parents brought me to a screening of 'Lawrence of Arabia' and I realized for the first time that films were made by someone and that I could be that someone.

What positions have you filled in the film industry?

I got my first video camera at age 12, but my first experience with professional filmmaking arose at 13 when I found myself enthralled with the process of editing three-quarter inch video tape on a straight cut editor at the Center For Art Tapes in Halifax. From there, I learned how to use an AVID and spent a few years immersed in non-linear editing. At the same time, I moving from video into film. I shot my first few films on 16mm cameras that I borrowed from the Atlantic Filmmaker's Cooperative in Halifax. I quickly set my sights on directing, but I felt that the only way to become a successful director was to gain a deep understanding of the other disciplines involved with the medium of film. In that vein, I took on the roles of Grip, Electric, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, etc on many projects from the age of 17 to around the time I left for Africa to make an hour long documentary on HIV/AIDS at age 21. The only position I haven't held is that of Art Director/Production Designer, but the more that I direct my own work, the more I realize that Design and Acting make up the real meat of what's being captured with all the multitudes of equipment and crew running around the set.

What inspires or motivates you?

Research and writing are the two things that inspire me to tell stories. The more I delve into the craft of writing screenplays, the more I feel like there is room for the form to develop (although I don't feel like I'll necessarily be able to move it forward). I get inspired by thinking that people want to see things that affect them and make them think. I just completed the first draft of my second feature length screenplay and I feel like I've made some progress with my writing in the last four or five years. That helps propel me forward. As far as thematic elements or types of stories that inspire me, I seem to have a thing for people experiencing mental breaks and/or dealing with traumatic experiences, because those ideas come up in my work repeatedly. On the research side, I spent 8 months in Africa with AIDS patients, a year volunteering at a mental health center, and now I'm trying to work my way into federal prisons to hang out with inmates. I call this research, but maybe I'm secretly just trying to fulfill my theme by giving myself traumatic experiences to increase the chances of having a mental break.

What helps you bring your ideas to the screen?

Taking a long view and lying to myself. When I get a green-light on a project I typically tell myself that it's gonna be quick and easy, not take all of my energies for years at a time, and that we have enough money to make the film... But that's never true. I think that I may be an overly ambitious filmmaker, constantly trying to make films that are much more difficult and complex than the budgets that I manage to raise. So I really have to just jump off the cliff and hope that everything is gonna work out. I guess I take big, somewhat calculated risks. As far as the long view goes, I just keep telling myself that I'm moving towards the goal and that the more time and effort I put into the project, the more pleased I'll be with the final product. I've spent the last 6 months editing an 8 minute film, and when I really think about that I find it a little frightening.

What makes for a successful production to you?

If at the end of the process I have a film that I'm not embarrassed to show to audiences. I also like it when I'm still friends with the people I made the film with.

What do you feel makes a film truly successful?

If the story resonates with it’s audience, I feel like I've done my job. If a film brings about interesting discussion or pushes people’s buttons in interesting ways that makes me happy. I also thinks it's really important for a film to feel like it’s based in a tacit reality--a reality that the filmmakers invented from scratch or created by capturing the world in a certain way.

How do you describe success when speaking about yourself?

I talk about the fact that somehow I've managed to make a film a year since the age of 17 and sold every one of them to broadcast. I try to be humble and realize that whatever I've accomplished is pretty impermanent and that my films might well not be around in over a hundred years, but that if I had something to say, hopefully it got passed on.

We Gotta Get Off This Compound

2005-11-08T14:53:00.000-05:00

Four days ago Sierra and I arrived in Orlando, Florida to be one of four Camera/Sound teams for my old partner Walter's documentary on "The World Rubik's Cube Championships" to be held at Disney World's "Pop Century Resort." I knew we were in trouble when I asked the lady at the Magical bus that takes you to your hotel from the Orlando airport if our new abode was nice. "Pop's one of our Value Resorts, Hon." She winked at me, and her painted on eyebrows moved up and down like a cartoon character's. For the next four days the only words that went through my mind were "We gotta get off this compound." The food was some of the nastiest I've ever eaten (I cannot over emphasize this point). Our nine person crew was dysfunctional at best. The Cuber's were mostly autistic, or insane (with some friendly exceptions). And Disney world? Well it was Magical. I think whoever put the following postcard lines on postsecret.com got it just right: "I visited the happiest place on earth... and I cried in the bathrooms"

The Grand Finale

2005-10-27T17:27:00.000-04:00

I came to the last scene of "Ten Years In" two days ago. I suddenly decided that the script was finished. I had reached page 129 after all. I felt intense relief and the impetus to crack a bottle of champagne or do some psychedelic drugs. I had a great day with Sierra and her brother Noah and his girlfriend Lain who had just come in from Mexico. I walked around the city elated at a job well done. The next morning I realized that my last scene was not only saccharine as hell, but also brought the screenplay to a dead stop. I spent a good chunk of the day rewriting the last act. It's so easy to decide that you're done, but it's much more difficult to actually find your ending.

19,730 words

2005-10-22T23:39:00.000-04:00

With 19,730 words on the page, I'm nearing the end of my first pass of "Ten Years In." I hit page 110 today. My entire world is the Wolf family's dysfunction and a story which seems to be climbing nicely towards either their catharsis or catastrophe. There's nothing sweeter than feeling like all your efforts weren't for naught: the time you spent at the keyboard, your hopes, your fears. Hitting your head against the wall trying to find the right words to describe a facial expression, words that never come. Jumping up and down in your apartment trying to find a character's voice. Closing your eyes and walking the floor blind, from one end of your abode to the other, in an effort to clear your mind and jumpstart a scene—until you stub your toe so badly that you have to convince yourself to stop. Staring out the window for hours on end. Reading, then re-reading the same words hundreds of times. And finally, the high kicks in, and you're typing as quickly as your fingers can possibly take you through a world, that when it comes... you never want to let it go.

Today, Sierra and I spent our Saturday afternoon at the surreal—read frightening—downtown 'Dianetics Center' so I could do some research for one of my characters, nicknamed "Sarah the Scientologist." Two stress tests, a half hour talk, and a forty minute DVD presentation later, I asked Sierra if she thought I was obsessive. She told me that she was glad that I was, but that she really hoped my research wouldn't lead me to become a follower of L. Ron Hubbard. I assured that the worst thing my research for this project was likely to lead me towards was spending an awful lot of time hanging out with murderers and bank robbers in a maximum security prison. She smiled and made an expression that I can’t find the right words to describe.

The Muse, the Jinx, the Promise of Another Page

2005-10-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

Somehow over the last week and a half of writing I've managed to come out with 67 pages of screenplay. Usually I write between two to four hours a day, but this script has been waking me at 9am and not letting me go until well into the night, sometimes even early the next day. But there are three elements that I'm wrestling with on a daily basis, and quit possibly this entry is tempting the fate of all three. These are the Muse, the Jinx and the Promise of another page. So far the Muse has been very good to me and my script has been quickly taking shape in a way that I'm really pleased with. The Jinx is the fact that when you're "writing hot," all you can think about is the possibility that you're gonna lose your mojo. And the Promise of another page, is the hope that you actually have another page worth of things to say about this story. So far so good... but you never know what tomorrow's writing is going to be like.

On another front, I met a British '91 Gulf War veteran at a party last night who told me that "the solution to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is that you just have to drink enough alcohol while you're in country, that when you get home after the war, you'll be numb to your traumatic memories." He offered to read "Living-Room War" and give me some insight into how things went down in the Middle East back in 1991. I'm very pleased to have another insider's prospective.

And now back to writing "Ten Years In" (thanks so much for your input on the script's title).

Question

2005-10-11T17:43:00.000-04:00

It's rare that I get more than a couple of comments on posts even though I know that some days I get upwards of forty visitors... so for those of you who aren't commenting, here is a question (and for those of you that are... thank you very much):

I'm trying to decide between two titles for my new feature screenplay, so which do you like better and why:
"Ten Years In" or "The Human Zoo"?

Now Showing "Backwards BBQ"

2005-10-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

My editor Brad Smith and I just finished the offline of the second spec commercial we shot in August. Again this isn't the final edit, so click on the link and take a look... and don't forget to add a comment to let us know what you think:
"Backwards BBQ"
(quicktime file: 30 seconds, 1.9 megs)

Draft One, Day One

2005-10-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

I tend to stall a lot before getting down to the brass tacks of writing a script. I keep telling myself that I'm not ready. That I don't have the scenes I need yet. That the characters haven't started talking on their own. But the reality is that if you don't just sit down and start the process, none of those things will ever happen. Yesterday I finally took the initiative of printing out my 13 pages of scene ideas and notes and then cut them into little strips to assemble on the wall. I used this approach during the last draft of "Living-Room War," and it really served to decrease my floundering quotient. Where the hell am I again? What happened so far? What am I writing next?—just look at the wall.

A funny thing happened this morning when I started to lay all my scenes out on the table in an order that might make sense. I began to get really excited. Not in the usual, "I'm finally getting to this thing I've been putting off way," but with a much more intense visceral sensation. I've never had this feeling before writing the first page of the script, but I had the sensation that I already knew where I was going, knew how the film would fit together, and could clearly see my characters motivations. So tomorrow I will sit down and start writing "Ten Years In" and I'm really looking forward to spending some time hanging out in prison with my main character, Louis Wolf.

Now Showing "Vertical Integration"

2005-09-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

Last night I stayed up until three finishing the offline of our new spec commercial. This isn't the final edit, so click on the link and take a look... and don't forget to add a comment to let us know what you think:
"Vertical Integration"
(quicktime file: 33 seconds, 2 megs)

Devoloping A New Strategy

2005-09-23T16:52:00.000-04:00

Not getting development money is a funny thing. Basically a company is saying we are not going to pay you to do something that you are already doing and will most likely continue to do without getting paid. I just got turned down for twelve grand that I was planning on putting towards a couple of research trips and using to give myself a little more room to sit down and write. But financing or no financing I'm still gonna write another draft of "Living-Room War" and then another, and another until it's finally a screenplay that I feel is ready to produce. The fear of failure is incredibly high and it's easy to get bogged down and think, "well if they won't support the project financially, it must be no good." But that's just a game of hope and fear.

I made a decision before finding out the results of the grant that I would try some diversification tactics and so I'm going to spend the next couple of months writing the first draft of my second feature length screenplay, "Ten Years In". I've by no means given up on "Living-Room War," but I have lately realized that the plan to raise 2.5 to 3 million dollars in the next three years is a very tough goal, so with that in mind I've decided to make a five to seven hundred thousand dollar Super16mm feature first. I don't want to crush "Living-Room War" into a little box in order to make it for super cheap, so now I'm thinking that it will have to be my second feature. It's difficult to make decisions like this. I feel very ready to make a 90+ minute theatrical film as opposed to pouring more time and resources into more shorts and documentaries, so it's time to step things up and get one off the ground. I'm applying for another development grant next month for "Ten Years In" and I'm feeling really freed up by my new plan.

My Work Here is Done

2005-09-20T15:36:00.000-04:00

So after ten grueling days of drinking my face off and schmoozing with industry types... I've actually got a little something to show for it. So here are all 8 entries from my Dose TIFF journal. (My personal favorite is the juxtaposition of the crying Iraqi and my September 15th puff piece). Happy reading:

Dose Journal Introduction - Sept 8th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 1 - Sept 9th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 2 - Sept 12th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 3 - Sept 13th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 4 - Sept 14th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 5 - Sept 15th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 6 - Sept 16th, 2005
Dose Journal Part 7 - Sept 19th, 2005

Party Whores

2005-09-13T02:34:00.000-04:00

It's been an insane five days and I am truly beginning to feel like a party whore. I've been to between 3 and 6 parties a night, jumping in a cab to the next venue the second someone tells us there's a cooler spot across town. There are multiple events going on all at the same time and at a guess there are a dozen parties being thrown a night. Tonight I made it home by 2:30 AM and it's the first time that it's still been dark by the time I've made it home. The craziest night was last night at the "One X One" party, a high-profile benefit aimed at raising money for poverty in Africa. I met a bunch of movie stars, the fantastic (and very cool) director Cameron Crow, and got a chance to talk with Kate Hudson and give her a copy of my AIDS doc "Lifecycles: a story of AIDS in Malawi". I'm pooped. I've lost my voice. I'm only half done. But one thing is for sure, Dose Magazine isn't paying me enough for the antics I've pulled to get into some of these VIP and exclusive bashes.

Festival Blog

2005-09-10T03:17:00.000-04:00

Durring the Toronto International Film Festival you can check out my Blog for Dose Magazine at www.dose.ca/doug

CHEERS!

A Dose of Press

2005-09-07T11:19:00.000-04:00

I got a gig doing a daily filmmaker's journal for DOSE magazine during the Toronto International Film Festival. www.dose.ca. It's pretty exciting because they're a national publication (distributed in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa) and I'm gonna be doing a piece for them every day for ten days. This is the bio that's going to be part of my first entry, and it gives you an idea of the slant I'm taking with the project:

"Writer/director Doug Karr’s adventures are as diverse as his films: hanging out in war torn countries, sneaking into mental institutions, and lighting cars on fire in confined spaces. Karr’s latest project combines an ambitious love story with pyrotechnics and hot young Canadian stars and he’s crashing the Toronto Film Fest to bring his vision to moguls and movie stars alike."

Basically my job for the next ten days is to break into film festival parties and bug producers and celebrities. The last time I did that was a few months ago when I was asked by a member of Kevin Bacon's entourage to take their photograph with him. I took a shot of the group, but Bacon exclaimed, "Now take one of just me!" I snapped a quick flash in his face and then went about my own business... but a moment later I realized that if Kevin Bacon can interrupt my night, I could in all good conscience interrupt his. I stood up and approached him and politely asked if I could ask him a question. I asked if he might be interested in working on a short film with me here in Toronto, something small, minimal commitment. He thought it over for a second, then bit his lip and said, "Right now I'm a pretty booked." I'm looking forward to seeing Kevin again next week.

All Talk

2005-08-27T14:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday evening my friend (and Production Designer) Allyson and I went to a room at the Hotel Intercontinental to meet with a "Horror Film Producer". This guy has been trying to convince Allyson to work with him on a few of his "Forty-one Projects" that he has "slated to go to camera next month". A bunch of overweight men in their forties filled out the crowded discount room in the downtown five-star. Alcohol was abundant, but one of them had to go get mix when we arrived to avoid paying for the mini-fridge cokes. The "Producer" quickly showed us a model that another member of the group had made of a deformed baby monster that was to be the star of his new series, but apart from that all he offered us was talk... and talk he offered in abundance. For the next two hours we sat sipping rye and gingers while our morbidly obese host expound on his forty-one projects, his business model, his industry expertise, his diabetes, his dabbles with the priesthood, his lack of understanding of technology, the two HD camera packages he's planning to buy, his one testicle, the meaning of life, but most important of all, "his vision." He went on and on about the hundreds of thousands of dollars and in some cases millions that his shows will cost, but the only concrete money he could point to having raised was the $5,000 that his father had invested. Occasionally I got so bored that I asked him questions, such as "what are the budgets of each episode?" and "are you planning to direct all of them yourself?" But what I really should have asked is, "did you rent a hotel room during the Horror Convention to meet 16 year old horror fans in funny costumes or to pretend that you have a carreer in the film industry?"

The entire experience was maddening. Just another con man trying to make something from a whole lot of nothing, whose only real work is that of stringing along young and vulnerable film industry wannabes. And here is the thing—this is not an isolated incident. More often than not, the people I meet in the lower rungs of the film industry talk an incredibly ambitious game, but have absolutely nothing to show for it. And the most frightening part is that occasionally some yabbo actually gives them a chunk of change for them to spend on hotel rooms during Horror Conventions. And how does one sift through the mire of lies and find those who are actually on the level? Sadly, I don't have an answer to that question. Do you?

Sign of the Times

2005-08-24T11:07:00.000-04:00

In today's New York Times, Sharon Waxman's article 'Summer Fading, Hollywood Sees Fizzle' noted that "With the last of the summer blockbusters fading from the multiplex, Hollywood's box office slump has hardened into a reality that is setting the movie industry on edge. Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cell phones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: Too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough."

NO KIDDING! It is time to turn down the suck. There are filmmakers all over the world telling fantastic stories, but Hollywood has somehow cornered world entertainment and now we all have to suffer for it. It's nice to see that some LA execs are finally clueing in to this fact.

Pressure Drop

2005-08-18T13:06:00.000-04:00

"I say a pressure drop, oh pressure, Oh yeah pressure drop a drop on you. I say when it drops, oh you gonna feel it..."
- Toots And The Maytals

My editor pointed out that the lab always exaggerates the damage—and indeed comparing my fear level going into the telecine suite, verses the way I felt coming out, I might draw that same conclusion. "Intermittent blue pressure marks throughout" turned out to be a dozen blue streaks that only lasted a couple of frames, most of which will be edited out naturally as we take the footage from 20 minutes to thirty seconds. So I'm feeling a great sense of relief.After the transfer Jim Hardy at Eyes Post and I had a chance to chat about the comparative benefits of film and video and he made some very interesting points. "With a lab problem like yours, there is definitely damage to the film, but that damage is small and correctable, it's a 2 out of 10. Whereas if you'd had a faulty tape or tape dropout, a digital deck might just give you an error message and refuse to play it back completely." Basically Jim's feeling is that video is not a medium that lasts. He talked about seven year old metal tapes (such as High Definition and Digital Beta) rusting and disintegrating to pieces the second he inserted them into a deck. Film on the other hand lasts, and no matter how technology advances, we will likely always be able to access the images on a film negative and "display them on soap bubbles if that's what the newest medium is." Even if film is damaged, it tends to retain a majority of its information, and thus as an archival medium it far outstrips video. "You keep this negative in a vault and In 70 years you'll be able to retransfer this Super16 and it will be the same. Even the blue streaks will still be there."

Pressure Marks

2005-08-11T11:20:00.001-04:00

The unthinkable just happened. Over the weekend I got a crew together to shoot 2 super16mm film spec commercials "Vertical Integration" and "Backwards Barbeque" that I'd been planning for a few months. Just now I got a call from the lab telling me that there was a problem with the footage. Evidently, while the film was being processed, a wheel on the line broke and our film jumped a sprocket hole and flipped over. Now there are intermittent blue pressure marks all over the film. I have no idea how bad they are or how often they occur. I'm going to find out in the transfer in a few days, but right now I'm feeling very low. It's the first time in 7 years that I've ever had a problem shooting film and as someone who considers himself a film advocate (in this day of digital takeover) it's a shitty feeling to get a shot of the potential shortcomings of celluloid firsthand. The first thing I thought when I got the message though, was how glad I was that this had happened on a 1-day shoot as opposed to one of my bigger projects. I guess my insurance agent was right—there is an argument for paying for negative insurance after all.

More Anniversary Present Pictures

2005-07-25T16:07:00.000-04:00

Here are some new production stills that I just got back from our photographer Alex Nunez:

Gaffer Joe Pauls, myself and Liane Balaban as Sandra Dobbs.
Lara Fenton as Dianne Brown.
David Alpay as Lonnie Dobbs, playing with fire.

Critique-Must-Be-Scathing-to-Be-Good

2005-07-25T13:48:00.000-04:00

My friend and mentor Barry Boyce gave me some great insight into critique after reading my recent posts, so I thought I'd share it here:

"After reading about the notes process, I'm sorry I didn't kick your ass harder, but dude I liked it. What can I say? Also, I don't necessarily subscribe to the critique-must-be-scathing-to-be-good school. Ain't nobody who knows FOR SURE whether something is good or not artistically. It's not auto mechanics. My writing teacher taught me that the best thing you can do for someone is to be encouraging. You tell them what you think works first and then what doesn't work FOR YOU, by contrast. Then, they must find their way. That's how art works with critique. The kind of notes process where a bunch of little experts rip and tear and tweak and futz with something that is an integrated piece of work is just what [you should be] running from. As soon as you detect that somebody knows better than you what your artwork is about, that's the signal to keep your own counsel. You will never ever at any stage whatsoever receive confirmation. Thank god for that. Certainty is death."
- Barry

The Eighth Circle of Hell

2005-07-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

"Have you been to the multiplex lately? Have you even merely scanned the offerings found there? ...The movie theater has become the eighth circle of hell. Nothing more than a trough really... Sitting between the massive cupholders in the cineplex is a Clockwork-Orange-like treatment, akin to having cotton candy force fed into your frontal cortex."
- Barry Boyce, The Ottawa Citizen, 2005

Rocks Being Dropped on My Head

2005-07-20T11:42:00.000-04:00

Diamonds form in the molten rock of the Earth's mantle over millions of years, but it only took me five days to realize that the rocks being dropped on my head were precious. After compiling the overwhelming readers notes into a single document fit for consumption by the Harold Greenburg Fund Board of Directors, I began to realize that with or without a development grant, I had been given some incredibly useful insights into my script. One of my worst fears as a filmmaker is of writing a script that's formulaic. To my mind the last decade has been a progressive downward spiral for Western filmmaking and much of that can be attributed to structural conventions at the script stage. It feels like it's time for another maverick renaissance like the kind inflicted on Hollywood in the 1970s by young nonconformist filmmakers. But in order to contribute to that wave, I know that I've got to re-invent convention and find new ways of telling fresh stories. But here's the thing—a confusing plot that doesn't tie together is not the sign of an innovative writer but a lazy one. Reworking the script notes into a re-write plan gave me insight into how I might make some of these crucial changes. So now I feel like I have the tools to begin to fix Living-Room War on a structural level, hopefully without falling into formula. And that's really exiting.

Notes -AKA- You asked for it

2005-07-05T20:12:00.000-04:00

Reader's Notes are a funny thing. On the one hand it's clear that working in a vacuum is a dangerous way to write, but putting your work in someone else's hands is a frightening alternative. Upon completing the last draft I made a decision to print up twenty copies of the 120 page script and distribute them amongst my friends and colleagues, asking each reader to provide me with a set of notes. It seemed like the right move to make. At a certain point it becomes difficult to kick one's own ass—how can you make something better if all you see is the good elements. However, I had felt that after all this effort I was nearing the peak of a mountain, and now suddenly I fear that I'm only a few steps from the base-camp.

The main difficulty is who can you trust? One reader's favorite scene is another's most hated. Reader A feels like the drama is too flat, while Reader B feels it's overstated. My girlfriend Sierra tells me that "I love it," with no comments following is a bad set of notes, but at this point that's all I really want to hear. One of my associates, a fellow writer, unabashedly admitted the he dislikes the route I've taken with the script, but part of me is tempted to take that as a compliment. My mom's notes where pretty helpful, even though she found the screenplay too crude and violent (going back over the first few scenes today I suddenly felt a little embarrassed at just how rude some of my characters had acted in front of my mother). It's all just kind of overwhelming. I wish I could just process the notes quickly, not take it too personally and then climb back into my vacuum to do another re-write, but I've got a development grant due on Thursday and I need to really decipher who's on the money and who's way off base. I guess it's better to be dealing with this now, rather than at the first screening—although from experience I’d put money on the fact that I'll be receiving a little feedback at that point too.

Dog Tags

2005-06-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

While in NYC I did a research trip to the U.S.S. Intrepid and while I was there I got a set of dog tags made for the main character in the film, Owen Weir. For the next few days I wore the tags around town, and I realized that they were starting to effect me in a strange way. Wearing a hunk of metal around your neck and another one laced into your shoe to I.D. your body after parts of it have gone missing starts to seep into your dreams. It changes the way you think about your body. The nice Hispanic girl who typed Weir's name into the the metal told me that if I died in combat they'd shove the tag inside the mouth of my corpse for easy identification. Dealing in bodies and death seems a strange way to live.

"Good thing you didn’t bust my ATV, or I’d have to eat your gonads."

2005-06-18T13:28:00.000-04:00

Feeling burnt out from the "Anniversary Present," shoot, I decided to take a week off in New York City. Before leaving town I frantically mailed off a dozen scripts to readers and a couple of producers, but little did I know, my screenwriting software garbled the bottom couple of lines of about thirty of the script's pages. I sent out an email to try to give the readers the missing ends of sentences. My friend Missy pointed out that this document was actually pretty funny on it's own, so I've decided to share these randomized choice quotes with y'all:

Page 7: CAPTAIN VASQUEZ: We gotta talk.

Page 8: There’s a Huey waiting to take you to a flight due out of Riyadh at 1800.

Page 17: How can you still live in this shithole, Bruce?

Page 21: ENTIRE PLATOON:You’re right!

Page 24: Owen sits in the driveway in Darrel’s brown, busted up Ford pickup truck. He puts the key in the ignition.

Page 37: BRUCE (slurring badly); I get it.

Page 57: The Camouflaged Figure stabs at the body repeatedly with his ka-bar knife.
Owen watches.

Page 58: BRUCE (CONT’D): Good thing you didn’t bust my ATV, or I’d have to eat your gonads.

Page 66: Do you remember a patient, Darrel Weir?

Page 68: Owen sits alone eating a greasy burger watching the people across from him.

Page 72: You wouldn’t want me to drink it all at once would ya?

Page 73: BRUCE (CONT’D): We don’t know who it was yet, cause buddy was wearing a mask.

Page 76: Owen, 17, walks around the house to a blacked out window in the back yard.

Page 77: She doesn’t want her daughter to associate herself with Owen.

Page 79: Sergeant Anderson sits across from him smoking Shisha from a large Hookah.

Page 81: DARREL: You sound like you’re reading from a script.

Page 86: Owen picks up the clicker and scans the channels to a news segment showing green anti-aircraft fire lighting up the Bagdad skyline.

Page 94: BRUCE: What do you know? Mr. world traveller? Mr. Fucking hard-core?

Page 100: He presses down on the gas and gets back up to highway speed.

Page 102: DARREL: Do you really want to go back?

Page 103: OWEN: I don’t know.

Page 104: BELINDA: I told you, no Owen.

Page 108: Owen looks out at the water and the classical North American vista as he crosses the bridge.

Page 115: On the television, President George Bush is in the process of making an Oval Office address: This is a victory for all mankind, for the rule of law and for what is right.

Writing While Sleeping

2005-06-05T19:47:00.000-04:00

Last night I tossed and turned as vivid images filled my head. When I woke up I had the entire first act of my newest screenplay figured out (temp titled "White Man"). I've been mulling over how to open the film for months and haven't come up with anything which really makes the thing work.

The more I thought about it today, the more I realized that many of my favorite moments in my screenplays have occurred to me either while I'm sleeping, under the influence, completely spaced out or while daydreaming. That's not to say that I don't need to then write these inspirations down and make them work over month, and even year long periods. And I have certainly had the experience of dreaming what seemed like amazing stories, that while I'm asleep seem like the best thing since the invention of nuclear power, but when I wake up, reek of insanity or worse inanity. It just seems interesting that thinking about a thing rarely gets you where you need to go, whereas relaxing and just letting it eventually flow into you almost always brings you something interesting. I guess I should spend more time sleeping.

Burning Car Upholstery Makes a Lot More Smoke Than I Ever Would Have Imagined

2005-05-26T00:28:00.000-04:00

At 4:30AM on Monday night we lit a car on fire.

It took three months of planning, forty thousand dollars and a crew of fifty, but we pulled it off. We just completed production on Human Scale Productions Limited's newest short film extravaganza "Anniversary Present"—I got incorporated a couple of days before production because of the possibilities for pyrotechnic disaster.

Somehow 9 months ago I convinced myself that I could make a small and easy 6 minute film that would eventually come to involve a small wedding (with 50 union extras), a three day shoot (that should have been five days), a couple of locations (10), a relatively easy shoot (10,000 feet of Super 35mm film, 50 crew members, 10 vehicles including an HMI package truck, 4 producers, not enough money) and the (complete and utter) destruction of a sports car (in an underground parking lot). Having finally caught up on some sleep I realize that sometimes maybe I aim a little too high. Two people in a room shot on video, that's what I'm gonna do next, or maybe a fringe play.

For now I'm off to the telecine to see the footage for the first time with the producers and the DP. The film stars Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl) and David Alpay (Ararat) and I think it's gonna be a really fun "little" show.

"Anniversary Present" was generously financed and supported by Bravo!Fact, The NFB, Bravo, Kodak, Panavision Cameras, PS Production Services, ACTRA, The CFTPA, Notch, Cine-Byte, Flashcut Editing and Great North Artists.

Research

2005-05-11T11:19:00.000-04:00

"We live in an age of research"
- Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

In order to write about conflict I felt like I had to experience elements of it firsthand. I thought about where I could travel to—short of a war zone—and decided on the next best thing... Israel.
In February, I spent 10 days in Israel and then walked across the boarder into the Egyptian Sinai desert for another 6 days. The entire experience was very affecting—from hanging out with Israeli soldiers, finding out what their daily lives are like and the emotions that they go through and difficulties that they deal with, to visiting a US military base in Dahab, Egypt and talking to some of the US ARMY regulars there.

Renting 2x4s and driving into the desert at night was an amazing way to wrap my mind around the realities of what it must be like serving as a Recon Marine.

The middle eastern desert is incredible: amazingly quiet, vast, windy, hot as hell and full of flies. The landscapes are really diverse and the colors are mind blowing—the blues, yellows, browns, grays, and golden sand. Seeing "Lawrence of Arabia" when I was 9 years old got me into this whole mess of deciding to become a filmmaker and now I know why.

I was planning to do another trip and go and spend some time near Camp Lajune in North Carolina to interview Marines right afterwards, but when I got home, I immediately started writing the fourth draft of the script and I didn't want to pause in the middle of it. Maybe I'll do that at the end of the summer just to fill in some more details in Owen's character.

Goals & Aspirations

2005-05-09T13:09:00.000-04:00

It's going to be very interesting at the end of this process to go back and look at my original intentions for the film and see if at the end of the day, I've managed to meet them.

Here are my hopes for the film:
~ That it's shot in Super 35mm film (and taken to the print stage).
~ That we raise a budget large enough to shoot the main unit elements in North America, and the Saudi/Kuwait desert sequences in the Middle East, most likely using Egypt to sub in for Saudi Arabia.
~ That the film gets a theatrical release (5+ North American cities).
~ That the project stars 3 very talented (and Ideally well known) actors.
~ That the film is completed by the end of 2008.
~ That we come in at around 110 minutes.
~ That the story really works, but that I'm able to persevere with an unconventional narrative that doesn't get watered down.

Stranger things have happened.

And Now a Step Backwards

2005-05-06T17:08:00.000-04:00

If I was reading this blog, the first thing I'd be asking myself is "who is this joker? I just wrote a screenplay too, why would I possibly care about some guy saying that he's gonna get a feature film off the ground and write about it. Raising 2 million dollars ain't easy, cause if it was I'd have done it myself by now." So in a vague attempt to legitimize the possibility of being successful in my ambitions here is a very brief history of my career:

Since 1997 I have been creating short documentary and dramatic films. My first film LSD25 was screened at over a dozen international film festivals sold to boadcast and won a couple of awards.

Jumping ahead to 2000, my partner Sierra Bellows and I spent 9 months living in Malawi, Africa filming the hour long documentary "Lifecycles: a story of AIDS in Malawi." for the NFB, UNAIDS and the Link TV in the states.

Then in 2003, we completed our most recent film "The Straitjacket Lottery" for Bravo and CBC National. The film has screened at over 25 internatinal film festivals and won/been nominated for a half dozen awards.

So that's a glimpse into my background and hopefully these projects will help me to raise the budget for "Living-Room War"

Basement Dream

2005-05-05T17:46:00.000-04:00

In March of 2002 I was sleeping in a friend's basement in Cambridge, MA, when I awoke with the strangest sensation--my dreams were so vivid that I quickly wrote them down and I realized that I had just met a new person. That night, the 63 year old Darrel Weir was born. An aging Vietnam war correspondent, paralyzed from the waist down, with an angry chip on his shoulder. In the following years his son Owen Weir too became a part of my life. Owen, a Recon Marine dug in on the Saudi/Kuwait boarder waiting for the '91 ground war to begin slowly began to take his place as my protagonist and eventually the feature screenplay "Living-Room War" came into being.

Now, a little over three years later, I've just printed off the fourth draft of my 120 page script for the first time and I'm starting to feel ready to go out and try to raise the money to make it.