Hollywood Deep

So if you watched On The Lot, last Monday night, you saw that Shira-Lee Shalit, was voted off, for horror week. I worked on her film, “Open House”. Although I thought we did a good job, I wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the voting. First of all Shira-Lee was one woman director against 5 male directors for horror week. Woman directors have not done well on this show, and it looks like it will continue that way. The real fact is, however, Shira-Lee’s film wasn’t as good as the rest last week. I thought Mateen Kemet, might have had a chance to get voted off, based on the fact that his film really wasn’t a horror movie. The message of his short was that racism in society is a universal horror. Not horror in the traditional sense, so there is a good argument that Mateen should have gone home. Even with that, his movie was well done and pretty good. The basis of Shira-Lee’s problem was with her story. From the moment I read it, I told her there was no conflict. It was a horror movie without conflict, maybe a little creepy, but not horrifying. I even suggested that she add some cool visual effects to it, maybe making the ghost character transparent, or having the couple have to pass through her to get out of the house. Something, it needed something, and I wasn’t the only one to tell her that, in plenty of time to fix it. She decided to keep it simple, and to rely on her ability to direct the actors, and thought the performances would set it apart. The acting was good, but ultimately could not make up for lack of story. So Shira- Lee went home. Two woman contestants are left, Hilary Graham and Shalini Kantayya, and two contestants will get voted off tomorrow night.
I worked on Hilary’s short film, “The Legend of Donkey Tail Willie”. I went into it a little skeptical. Hilary had become known as one of the better writers of the group, but I wasn’t sure about her film making ability, and had heard that she might not take to suggestions very well. What I found was that Hilary was an absolute pleasure to work with. Along with her creative writing, she understands the film making process, and was very collaborative with myself and DP Christian Seabolt. The sign of a good director is knowing when to listen to us, and knowing when to follow your gut, Hilary did that well. Hilary also is a good person and someone I really felt like I wanted to help, and was eager to work with. I think the film we made was very good, and I hope after all this is over some day I can work with Hilary in the professional world. No matter what happens tomorrow night, Hilary Graham can direct, and she should continue to pursue it, win or lose in this contest. I wish her all the best… Good Luck, Hilary!
This week is Action Week, and my team worked on Sam Friedlander’s movie, “Key Witness”. A funny thing about Sam is that we are from the same hometown back East, Mount Vernon New York. A small town in between the Bronx and Yonkers. Although a small town many artists come from there, including actor Denzel Washington. So I’m pulling for my home town boy this week.
“Key Witness”, is a story of a bounty hunter, and is filled with all kinds of stunts and action elements. It was real hard work to pull it all off within the production rules of the game. We got all the shots that Sam wanted and even a few more. I think he’s going to have a great action movie. Check out “Key Witness”, Tuesday night 8PM on FOX.
…Totally Inside DEEP!

“The Legend of Donkey Tail Willie” CLICK HERE

Technorati Tags: On The Lot, Shira-Lee Shalit, Mateen Kemet, Hilary Graham, Shalini Kantayya, “The Legend of Donkey Tail Willie”, DP Christian Seabolt, Sam Friedlander, “Key Witness”, Mount Vernon New York, Bronx, Yonkers, FOX