Surving the crash...

Approx 7,000 miles in 60 days, New York to Los Angeles and in between.

It was great but I have to admit that I am happy to be home. That last bit in L.A. was very tiresome. Trying to go full steam at the convention everyday proved to be a challenge after having not had a good nights sleep in a while and even losing a little sleep on a few nights. Overall it was good though. One of those things you know - if I had it to do again, I would.

The drive back was long and quick. Rushed really. I had to be back for the screening on Wednesday so I pretty much drove straight from L.A., only resting to stretch my legs and catch a short nights sleep at trusty old truck stops.

One of the only memorable things about the trip back happened at a gas station outside of El Paso. A guy kept trying to convince me to give him a ride to WHEREVER I WAS GOING. He didn't care really. I kept telling him NO and he kept asking which freeway I would take. He said he could ride with me for as long as I'd let him, then he'd get off. There was a little humor to the situation really. He was trying to be funny to break the ice. I don't do the hitch-hiker thing.

Back at home the screening went well. We didn't have a huge turnout, maybe 25 - 30 people but it was still nice. A lot of family and friends showed up to show their ongoing support and that's always appreciated. The picture looked great but to be honest, the sound was horrible. The speakers sounded as if they were blown. I had to ask them to lower the volume but it didn't help much. The speakers were terrible. One of the things I was looking forward to was having GREEN EYED MONSTER in the marquee. It was something they said they would do but they didn't end up doing. I hadn't mentioned it to anyone because I thought it would be cool for them to show up and see it - but it wasn't there. I was going to bring it up to the manager but I knew it wasn't in the contract and he was pretty much acting like a dick. He wasn't the booking manager, just the manager on duty and he didn't hide the fact that I was an annoyance. I don't care though. It was a wednesday night, they weren't exactly busy. I just left it alone since at this point I would have to have taken everyone outside and shown them the sign - the moment was lost. Ah well - next time.

Being back is a little weird. For the first time in nearly two years I have allowed myself to wind down. It's a little scary really. All I can think of is Pirandello's A DAY GOES BY. Of course I haven't actually read the story in about 4 years so I can only make comparisons from what I remember.

I do know that everything around me looks a little different. I guess it sounds like I am exaggerating here so I should point out that I am not referring to the 60 day journey, but really the long process of writing, producing, directing, editing, and promoting this movie. The monster overhead at all times, the lingering what if that is no more. What if has pretty much come and gone. Winding down has been a whirlwind, a crashing down of nervous tension - finally allowing me to relax.

It's funny but my son is much bigger and talks way more than I truthfully remember ( I refer to toddler years as dog years - they grow so fast). My wife, who was only my girlfriend when this whole process began is still supportive as ever and I appreciate it more than ever. I can see the stresses in her face as she has balanced the kids, her career, and supporting my dreams. At the screening my brother showed up and I wanted to say so much but really couldn't. There were so many people around and the time is never right. We both invested a lot in this movie, more than just money really. He has always been extremely supportive and I wonder if he truly knows how much I've tried.

It sounds funny but even the damn cat looks different - it's bigger.

There is so much more to tell - and believe me I will. I don't intend for the blogs to cease. I really didn't intend to wait a week between posts. I still have a few video logs to post so those will still be coming up - even though they are slightly dated.

But that will have to be tomorrow. Today I am off to start editing a short project for the Boys and Girls Club. It's a short gig that a friend got for me as soon as I got back - the timing is excellent because I could really use the work.

I do want to mention a few things quickly though. The $500 Video Puzzle has been great so far, nobody has solved it but tons of eyes have seen it. I backed off a little bit this past week but I am going to continue to push it out there. I still have a few plans for getting more eyes on it. HOW BOUT THAT 100,000 ROB! It actually was the first of a several videos that will come out to support the movie. The others are actually clues for the movie as well is individual contests but they are on hold temporarily. It seems we were able to get enough attention during this tour and will be signing a distribution deal soon - fingers crossed. More about that later.

Well I think a weeks long rest is plenty. I am going to be announcing my next project very soon (this month) so keep an eye out for it. I will probably mention it more on the blog than on the G.E.M. site because it's an entirely different movie, not along the same lines at all. I should be getting the Grey Sky Project site back up but it needs a little updating.

I have a much larger project aside from G.E.M and aside from the next movie I have planned, but it's way too soon for that - just thought I'd throw it out there. I guess I just want anyone reading to know that the blogs aren't going to stop, the video logs will continue - probably infrequently but what else is new.

This whole adventure is not going to stop anytime soon for one simple reason: This is my life.

The Advetures Of A Persistent And Stubborn Man

Now that Fangoria is over I can dish all the dirt!

Well not dirt really but all the stuff I went through over the weekend. It was a great weekend and I met a ton of interesting people. There were directors and producers and it was very interesting - and scary, to learn that most of them aren't much better off than I am. Sure they've made a few more movies and work with bigger budgets but they have the same worries, and none of them really know where the financing for their next film is going to come from. The Cinema Fairies just sprinkle gold dust down now and then I guess.

As I mentioned before we were all notified that electricity would cost over $100 for the event. We were also told that there were rules about how our stuff could be brought into the event. Small passenger vehicles could come up to the dock but not trucks - the monster truck was considered a truck in this case. It's a strange setup and if you're in a big truck you had to pay for teamsters to load you up in a cart and take you into the exhibitors area - $50 per cart. I really would have only had one cart but I wasn't going to do it.

So because of the truck being tall I had to park in a lot a few blocks away and carry all my stuff back by myself. I basically stuffed a big duffle bag, it had wheels so it worked out.

The thing is, I needed electricity. Luckily I had an idea and risked it. You see I have an extra battery in the back of the truck to operate the signs, along with a large Pure Sine Wave inverter to convert the power. So I loaded this stuff up into the bag and hoped for the best. This added about another 25bs to the bag. So there I was, dragging a 50lb bag, carrying posters, with an Andy Warhol screenwriters bag draped over my shoulder. It was heavy. WHO WANTS TO ARM WRESTLE NOW HUH???

From the ground level parking lots there is a flight of outdoor concrete steps you have to walk up to get to the exhibitors level. I'd estimate oh, about 50 - 60 steps. So I dragged the bag up the steps and about another block (in distance) to the entrance. Luckily since I was a vendor I could just wheel my stuff in. I don't know how they would have reacted to the whole Car Battery in a bag thing. So I set up my table and went to work underneath on my rig. The problem is I had to be careful not to cause any sparks or I would get caught. I only sparked once - sweated for an hour about it but nobody noticed.

So with a little hard work I saved myself over $150 by dragging my stuff a few blocks and rigging up the battery under my table.

All was great. For a day anyway.

I knew that battery wouldn't last all weekend even though it was just charging a laptop but I assumed it would last longer than it did. I got through the first day fine but on the second day it died out after only 2hrs. 7hrs to go and no display!

I Couldn't have that. So I went into stealth mode and stuffed the battery in a box. I asked the girl in the booth next to me to watch my stuff - she was very nice and I had been chatting with her and her husband all weekend. She sold these cool skeleton things she makes.

So I walked about 6 blocks with my battery in a box. I took another chance and just took the big battery out of the truck and walked back with it instead. It had a full charge so I hoped for the best and hoped I wouldn't be stranded later.

When I got back I was tired and dying. It was hot. I rigged it all up again and got back to work. Luckily I made it through the day, walked back with the battery, and the truck started! BUT I HAD TO PLAN FOR THE NEXT DAY. I took the small battery to Autozone and gave it a fresh charge.

The next day I went through all the motions again but this time they opened up another parking lot so I only had to walk about 4 blocks.

Before I went to the convention I stopped for a bite at Mcdonalds and the strangest thing happened. The place was packed so I had to sit at a wall booth meant for multiple people. I was eating and a guy walked up talking to himself. He placed his food down, looked at me and lifted up his shirt to reveal a huge scar. He said, "It's my birthday today - I'm 26. One year ago I was in a 27 day coma because I got in a car with a crazy lady in Manhattan. She was drunk and slammed us into a tree."

That was his introduction. No hello...how are you, just all of that info. He was from New York and had a thick accent. We talked, or really he talked and I just listened while I finished eating.

He told me about how he had left one night without telling anyone. He assumed all his friends thought he was either in jail or dead. He told me that he came to California to get out of trouble but he moved in with his cousins. TWIN BROTHERS - ONE BLOOD, ONE CRIP. How does that happen?

So he moved into a hostel to try to get his head straight. He seemed like a good guy who just wanted to better himself. I wish him luck.

Back at the convention I had a pretty slow day with sales, but I met more interesting people so it was great. I was interviewed by Bloody-Disgusting.com but I think I blew it. I was really tired and I kind of rambled. I don't think I gave them any good stuff. I also gave a copy of G.E.M. to Sean Clark, the writer/producer of The Black Waters of Echoes Pond. No expectations really. He was just really cool so I told him to check it out one night. He is working on his first big project so I doubt he will ever have the time, who knows?

I was kind of dreading quitting time because I had to stuff everything back into the duffle bag and drag it to the truck, so I just didn't think about it much.

It was slowing down and I started to consider packing up but then I had a series of interesting conversations with people that made the day better.

The first was a woman who really, really, really wanted me to make a movie about Zombies on a cruise ship. I swear it has to have been done before but she said it hadn't. She was a Zombie freak and was all over FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I haven't seen it, yet.

She talked for a while about how she wanted to be an actress but let the dream go. She actually moved to L.A. for it (never told me where from). She said she just joined the rat race and became a Horror junkie. If they do a casting call for a Zombie Cruise Ship movie I told her she should go. If not, she would regret it forever.

A guy walked up during this conversation and told me that Zombies were old news. What we really needed was a CYBORG VAMPIRE movie.

Try to kill it with a stake?

-You can't it's a cyborg!

Sunlight won't kill it - it's a cyborg!

It still drinks blood, for no other reason but that it has to or it wouldn't be a vampire.

"So who made this vampire", I asked.

WE ALL DID, he responded. There is a big machine brain that drains all of our emotions and stuffs them into an SD card style chip. The chip gets so full of emotions it turns itself into a fully functional robot?

"So how does it become a Vampire?" I asked.

WE ALL LOVE VAMPIRES SO MUCH IT JUST GETS STUCK INTO HIM, he said.

This went on for about a half hour. I tried to hard not to laugh. Not because of the idea but because of his responses. If he got backed into a wall he just said, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE EXPLAINED, IT's A CYBORG VAMPIRE!

I would dismiss the idea completely but then again with a tagline like - IT'S A MUTHAFUCKIN CYBORG VAMPIRE, it might just hit.

By the way, BLACK DEVIL DOLL got an X rating. They spun this creatively with the theme of the movie. The posters say, RATED X BY AN ALL WHITE JURY - MUTHAFUCKA!

The conversation ended with the guy telling me not to steal his idea.

Just after 6:00 another guy walked up to the table and started to talk to me. He looked a lot like Guillermo Del Toro but was a little darker. His name was Pedro Reynosa (I think - he never gave me his card).

This conversation was entirely different but still very interesting. He comes to these things to try to pitch his ideas to directors. He has a great attitude about it too. Basically he says he's been told NO, he's been told that NOBoDY WILL LISTEN AT A CONVENTION, and he's been told to COME BACK WITH AN AGENT. But he's also been told to send the script to the office.

He had been doing it for three years and he learned to stop bringing scripts. Instead he brought 10 page treatments with a 2 page Synopsis and Breakdown. He said these are the most popular because someone can pass or accept it within 5 minutes.

He offered his opinion about how to promote the movie and get distribution but he also admitted that he knew little about the subject and only wanted to write. He said that these conventions are great because Directors and Producers are accesible. They aren't superfamous and are always looking for an idea that might hit. The logic was there.

He mentioned the old saying that always rings true, "A beginning writer is like a prostitute, whoring himself out to the lowest bidder."

He never really pitched anything to me and it made perfect sense. He said there was no reason to pitch to people who are still scraping their way up as well. What good could it do. Although I don't entirely agree, in this case he was right, I can't help him.

Before I left I visited the coolest table in the world! It was the PUPPETMASTER guy. He had all the puppetmaster dolls and the 7 DVD set for sale. I grew up on those movies. It's funny because as a kid I never realized I was scraping the bottom of the cinematic barrel. I thought it was gold!

I also saw a poster for his companies next film, GINGERBREAD MAN 2: THE PASSION OF THE CRUST!

I probably won't get a chance to catch that one but the title is hilarious.

My last sale of the day was a fun one. A man walked up quickly with his daughter. They seemed like they were in a rush and he only asked a few questions about the movie. He asked me to sign it and if I would take a picture with his daughter. It probably meant more to me than it did to them because there aren't any bragging rights associated with that photo - it was a nice way to end the day for me though. I packed it all up, dragged my stuff back to the truck and said my goodbyes to Hollywood.

I had spent the last few nights camped outside the SUNSET GOWER STUDIOS. After a few nights hunting down comfortable places in Santa Monica and the edges of Beverly Hills I finally stumbled across this place. It really isn't in the greatest of neighborhoods but the parking is less restrictive, the place is bright, and it's always really busy. Each night I would find a good spot and wait for the coast to be clear and then jump into the back quickly before anyone saw me. Simply because I didn't want people to know I was in it. With it just sitting there nobody would ever guess someone was sleeping in it.

It did have it's issues though. There was a jazz club across the street and Friday and Saturday night were a little crazy. On Friday the area was packed with cars circling around and the parking lot was full of people who had just gotten into a fight. That's what a guy with a bloody shirt means right?

I was too tired to care. I have to admit that I did lose a little sleep that night because of the noise and the thoughts dancing around in my head. Saturday was a little more calm but it still got rowdy.

Why did I stay?

Simple. The place had the most amazing view of the HOLLYWOOD sign. Whether you are into mainstream or indie, the megaplex or the arthouse, it all centers around the same place, the same idea, that one big sign. If it didn't we'd all be novelists right?

Each morning I got up and took a good look at the sign and the studios. Maybe one day I'll have the resources to be able to utilize the same studios in one of my productions.

I can point to the spots I slept in and tell everyone about the experience.

One day.

Fangoria Weekend of Horrors and a whole lotta porn...

Quick Tip: TALL TRUCKS ARE HARD TO PARK.

The monster truck happens to be about 10ft high so trying to park this thing at the Los Angeles convention center was a B****. It worked out though, parking was $12 or $17 at a nearby hotel so I just drove around until I found one that allowed bigger trucks (one day it's a big truck , then small, then big again). So I lucked out and found $5 parking at a small Taco Stand/Parking Lot (just like Mcdonalds at a Chevron right - serves two purposes). So I basically had to huff it about 6 blocks but I could use the excercise. I mean just because I shower everday at 24hr fitness doesn't mean I have to actually work out there right?

Dragging all my stuff the 6 blocks was also a pain - more about that on Sunday!





It seems that Fangoria isn't the only one hosting a weekend for those with a slight cinematic obsession - it turns out this weekend is also ADULTCON at the convention center too.

Question: Why would the Adultcon vendors pass out clear bags? Seriously?

Close to closing time a few questionable looking women wandered in with clear bags, clear heels, and all of their SCHWAG showing. I mean ADULTCON merch is limited to a certain category of unmentionables - in various colors and sizes of course.

On to another subject...

I keep running in to the writer/producer of The Dark Waters Of Echoes Pond, Sean Clark. I'm sure I don't stand out in the guys memory or anything but we've met at Texas Fear Fest, briefly at Monster Mania in Jersey, and finally got to talking while in line at the City of Los Angeles to get the whole sellers permit thing situated. This is the same movie that has brought the Avellan twins (Elektra and Elise) to each of these promotions as they have lead roles in the film.

Strictly by chance the Green Eyed Monster table is directly across from the Black Waters of Echoes Pond booth - complete with stars, autograph lines, and Horror themed T-shirts.

I spent the afternoon perfecting my whole spiel again, it changes so much and still isn't perfected. Toward the end of the day (a little bit after the AdultCon girls crashed the party) I heard one of the Avellan twins call out GREEN EYED MONSTER! I would call them by their individual names but I don't know which is which. The OLSEN's got used to it - maybe these girls will too.

I had thought about dropping by to say "hi" since they were nice enough to give me that picture back in Texas but I decided against it because I would look like an idiot - or a stalker- or both. Now here I was and they were calling me. I turned and one of them shouted, "I recognize you, you look familiar."

I started to laugh and shouted back that I doubted they recognized me but that I should look a little familiar - maybe... that is if I don't blend into the thousands of other people that celebrities meet at these things. Before I got a chance to really say much of anything one of them said, "FROM YOUTUBE!" I was shocked.

Like an IDIOT my first response was, "Really, you saw me on youtube?"

They laughed and said, "YES YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT US ON YOUTUBE, WE WATCHED YOUR VIDEO."

I didn't really know what to say so I just said, "Yeah I did it on purpose just to steal a few views." But then I had to ask how they saw the video.

All of this took place in screams across the room so I finally walked over. They said that one of their friends had told them that there were "tribute videos" all over Youtube and had showed them a few of them. They admitted to being a little creeped out by it all because they said sometimes the videos are a little weird. So they found my video because someone mentioned online obsessed stalkers! Damn it!

You see I tagged my Youtube video with their names so that it would come up in searches, since I had shown their picture and met them at Texas Fear Fest it was pretty justifiable I think. But now I felt weird. They laughed when I swore to them that I wasn't an obsessed stalker or anything. They had seen my video and knew that it wasn't anything like that. I just mentioned meeting them in Texas and showed the picture. I was relieved to know that they weren't going to be calling security or putting a restraining order on me or anything.

I thought this whole thing was cool since they had actually recognized me from the internet so I took the opportunity to offer them both copies of Green Eyed Monster. They seemed genuinely excited about watching it. I also became a dork and snuck in how awesome I thought their uncle was. I don't think I told them anything new when I told them that Robert Rodriguez inspired an entire generation of filmmakers. Rebel Without A Crew should be required reading in school if you ask me.

PROJECT VIRAL HAS BEEN A SUCCESS SO FAR! I am getting tons of hits to the site, people are trying to answer it, I'm getting screening requests, and I got a few more emails from online horror sites and "INTERESTED PARTIES."

Even though I am stuck at the table and can't walk around I have still been able to meet several other filmmakers (SORRY NO FOOTAGE YET, THEY ARE PRETTY SCRICT ABOUT CAMERAS). I talked to the producer of A MEXICAN WEREWOLF IN TEXAS and found out that I actually attended a midnight screening of it in Dallas at the Inwood theater. I always thought it was called CHUPACABRA but it turned out to be the same film, we spoke for a while. I also shot the breeze with the producer of a new movie called RED VELVET. They had a booth in Texas also but this was a new guy. He was really interested in the tour that I did and mentioned wanting to do something similar.



This is the RED VELVET KILLER BUNNY GUY THING.





BLACK DEVIL DOLL strikes again! That movie is going to make a billion dollars. People love it. This time they were wheeling the actual doll from the movie around on a dolly. It was in a glass case with caution tape around it. People were crowded behind it screaming, "IT's A MUTHAFUCKIN PUPPET, DON'T MAKE IT BREAK THE GLASS!"

Damn it I could have saved thousands if I just did a rendition of a sex starved - mexican serial killer - sock puppet! Maybe next time huh?