As a filmmaker or writer it is important to make good work, but it is equally, if not more important, to get that work read or seen. If nobody reads or sees your work then the quality will go unnoticed and your skills will pass without recognition. No - I’m not saying prepare your Academy Award speech or get ready to collect a trophy at Sundance - I’m just saying do the diligence to get your work seen or read.
There are many ways to send out work or get it seen. Obviously for completed works there are the obvious festival routes and screenplay contests. However, there are also more offbeat ways to get your work noticed. Perhaps you have friends in the business or other filmmakers that you kick-around-with… Well, there is never any harm in getting them to read your script or you can perhaps even organize an impromptu screening for other filmmakers in your home or at a small local venue. The key is to generate interest and put your work out in the world. Building a website with your trailer and clips or posting on YouTube is another way to generate interest and have people looking at your stuff.
When it all comes down to it, perhaps you just have to start sending out emails to engage with people. You can send pitch letters or introductions or even the tried and trusted screenwriter query letter. The unfortunate fact is, your success will be more about your level of diligence than your level of skill. Remember - the indie film business is built on hard work and tenacity. Now repeat after me - I WILL GET MY WORK SEEN - I WILL GET MY SCREENPLAY READ! Say it 100 times. Say it until you believe it and then start sending out those emails!
Below is the trailer for 30 DAYS OF NIGHT… Not sure if it’s a Halloween winner or Halloween whiner…
One of the hardest parts of being an independent filmmaker or writer is keeping body and soul together while you do it. What I mean by this is simple stuff, like writing or shooting and paying the rent at the same time. Oftentimes it will be tough - almost impossible. You have worked hard, but are seeing limited cash returns on what you have made or written. This is nature of doing things creative. If you prefer the regular paycheck - then go work in a bank. Still, life isn’t always about money - sometimes it’s just about making work that you believe in. If you can somehow just keep-on keeping on, then I promise that you will ultimately get the recognition and pay-off that you seek. Meanwhile, try to find ways to use your skills to make ancillary cash. There is often unusual paid work out there for filmmakers and writers if you just do the diligence and seek it out.
Aside from cash money, I really enjoyed the trailer for BE KIND, REWIND - the latest from kooky frenchman, Michel Gondry…
I’m not sure if technically LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is an indie movie. Sure, it stars top notch indie thespian Ryan Gosling. Still, with a veteran commercials director like Craig Gillespie at the helm and a script from a SIX FEET UNDER series writer, you might imagine that any indie allusions end there. However, the reason that I have singled out Lars and The Real Girl is because of its independent spirit and more importantly the fact that if somebody WILL bankroll this kind of project then there is hope for all of us.
L-A-T-R-G concerns a lonely man, who for reasons of mental dysfunction, buys something that approximates a Real Doll off the internet and parades it around town to friends and relatives as his girlfriend. Yes! This film is about a man who buys a live size sex-doll (for what of a better word) and treats it as a real person. It looks funny from the trailer - however, this is still a movie whose central prop is a live size sex doll. It’s not something off HBO late night, but a real movie schedule to be in theaters at the weekend. It’s being released by MGM no less.
While Wes Anderson is quirky (yes quirky - don’t you hate that word?) and held-up by many as the doyen of indie cross-over. I say that this movie about a Real Doll is much more independent and subversive. I think it shows us that we can be different and contemporary and at the same time deal with more marginal issues or cultural artifacts. I found L-A-T-R-G to be quite an inspiration in some respects. It actually made me more confident in sending out the latest draft of my script.
Today’s exercise is simple. Find yourself a movie (about to be released) that inspires you - a movie that gives you a sense of possibility and makes your own project seem plausible. Savor the sense that you can and will be inspired to succeed.
Meanwhile here’s the L-A-T-R-G trailer for your edification…
Recently I flipped on the TV and came across a fantastic ’80s New Wave documentary entitled MADE IN SHEFFIELD. As the title suggests this 52 minute retrospective dealt with the rise of early electronica in Sheffield, England in the late 1970s and charted the rise of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, HEAVEN 17, CABARET VOLTAIRE, ABC and the lesser known but equally interesting ARTERY. This was the pop music of my youth - stylishly re-presented through a series of candid interviews by director Eve Wood. Despite catching the odd typo in some of the captions - there was something very honest and touching about this film. Apart from Phil Oakey, Martin Ware and a more current Jarvis Cocker, most of the interviewees never quite retained any great fame or mass appeal after their bubble burst. I think a great many of them are back in Sheffield. Still, the music lives on. Some of it as the greatest British pop albums of the 80s. Who can forget “Penthouse and Pavement” from Heaven 17, or The Human League’s “Dare,” or ABC’s “The Lexicon of Love.”
After remembering my youth so fondly, imagine my surprise when later (on USA Network) I heard “Don’t You Want baby..?” used as the jingle for the current CHIPS AHOY commercial. Like I said - the music lives on - unfortunately inscrupulous Ad Execs have turned the Human League into four animated cookies driving a funny car. Ah, well… At least that means a few well deserved sheckels for Phil Oakey and co.
To give you an idea of the look and flava, here is the MADE IN SHEFFIELD trailer…
I also couldn’t resist posting the DON’T YOU WANT ME BABY video clip…
Writing a script or casting or getting your picture off the ground is hard. It will take time and dedication. It is a process. For every overnight success story you might read about people writing a movie in a weekend, or shooting it in twelve days, or getting finance in an afternoon - there are thousands of others who spend months and years and decades doing THIS to finally get that break or their moment in the spotlight. The latter are the unsung ranks of filmmakers, writers and actors who toil in anonymity - dotting the ‘i’s’ and crossing the ‘t’s’ and hoping that this will ALL work out for them in the end.
You and I are those people - the unsung ranks. And on some days, like today, you will wonder what the point is… Well, never fear, because hope is at hand. Much the same as any relationship, the relationship that you have with your work needs to be cultivated. It is part of your life. A BIG part, YES. But nevertheless it is only part. So for your relationship with your work to make sense, you need to balance it out with other activities. Commitment to THE BIG PICTURE called life is key…
Imagine the dating metaphor for a minute… Remember that girl (or boy) that you really liked and you started dating? It was great, first off, wasn’t it? You were excited by those dinners and going to a movie on friday night. But imagine if you did that date every night and it was the same date. After a while you might even find yourself ignoring family and friends and sunshine and rain just to do that friday-night-date 24-7. Yes - I know it’s addictive. Still, the outcome would be obvious - wouldn’t it? Family and friends would stop talking to you and get angry. You’d lose any connection you had with the real world. And as for the date… it would be boring and awful and meaningless - then only a matter of time before you and your dating partner were through… Well - the date is your work and career - and this is what happens to people when they focus too much on their work or putting their movie together. It has happened to me and it can happen to you. Still, as long as you recognize it, YOU CAN and YOU WILL fix it. Remember - you are a human being first and a director or writer or actor - second. To be successful creatively you must be a successful human being first…
I’m not a huge fan of self-help theories - but I think it is sometimes important to listen to advice, especially when it’s good advice. Indirectly, Margie gave me this advice and I’m passing it on to you, in the form of an easy to understand self-help exercise…
Yes - it’s an exercise - but actually quite simple. Focus on your life today - not your work. Take an hour or two off and spend it with somebody important to you. Discuss other things apart from your script or your movie. Take a walk. Go to a museum or park or skating rink. Reconnect with yourself and the world. Do it now - today - before it’s too late. I promise it will improve your quality of life and in turn improve whatever you are working on. You need to regain your energy and enthusiasm. You need to de-focus on what your working towards in order for it to become clear again…
Now go out and do it. Yes - right now - this minute, or you might end up like Jeff Garlin in I WANT SOMEONE TO EAT CHEESE WITH… I like Sarah Silverman - but I’m not even sure if this is funny… As for the pic of Milla Jovovitch up top - well she is number ONE at the box office…
The collaborative nature of filmmaking, especially indie filmmaking, means that networking is an important task and skill. Over the years , if not already, you will have met a great many friends and colleagues in and around the business. These folks might not be huge players, but as a group they quite possibly can take you where you need to go. Remember - this is largely a people business and as the saying goes: ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’
Try to attend industry functions and festivals, if and when you can. Give out cards. Talk to people. You don’t have to SELL anybody - just make them aware of what you’re doing. Their skills and connections might come in handy further down the line. And don’t forget - it’s a two way street - you might be able to help them as much as they can help you.
The same kind of networking can obviously be done on the likes of Myspace and Facebook. I have found Facebook to be very popular with my contemporaries, spanning London, New York and Los Angeles.
I’m not saying you need to go out and ‘hustle’ people in either the real or virtual world. What I am saying is, be genuine and you might well meet or find people who can and will help you.
Despite being rudimentary, to say the least - I thought this social networking video was quite interesting…
I am on another deadline this week, so today’s post has to be extremely brief. Above is Alicia Silverstone posing nude for a Peta ad, which quite caught my eye. Although it has nothing to do with John August’s directorial debut The Nines - I did find this fantastic clip (below) of Ryan Reynolds discussing his belly button from the movie… It is a terrific exercise in strange paranoia… And yes, you can just about see Alicia’s belly button in her Peta clip - which displays under Ryan…
We WILL get back to the filmmaking process tomorrow, when hopefully my other job is done…
So you have finished another draft of your screenplay and you have received notes from your collaborators. This is where the real work begins. This is what separates the real writers from the rank amateurs. The re-writing process is grueling. It will takes weeks and sometimes months. You will change one scene which means you will have to change five others. You will agonize over one piece of dialogue, but realize that it doesn’t work because of the proceeding story ‘beat’ not because of the line itself.
In the following few days, I am going to try a new system myself. I am still in the process of formulating it - but sufficed to say this ’system’ is basically a series of key refinements that you might try deploying in 72 hours.
The ‘Second Chance System’ as I’m calling it, is a way to give a flawed script a second chance and hopefully take it from ‘zero to hero’ over a weekend. Simply put - if you start on Friday, by Monday afternoon you will have a new working draft.
The S-C-S is a three step process. You should stick to it closely and the more brutal you are on your text - the better it should work. I say SHOULD - because, as I described earlier, this system is still in its’ beta-test phase. If it works out well, I’m sure that I’ll be basing an entire book on it. Yeah - right. Only joking. Anyway, on to the system itself.
STEP ONE - MAKE SURE THE STRUCTURE IS SOUND
Do your opening scene and end of act turning points work? By this I mean, do your opening scenes set the tone and texture of the movie? Do they make sense? Do they fit? Do we know what kind of movie this is. Sounds silly, I know - but if this is a comedy - make sure that the opening is funny. If it’s a thriller - have us be thrilled as we read. Have us hanging on the edge of our seats.
To fix the opening scenes(if they’re not working) I suggest that you simplify. Take the beat, the style, the flavor and CUT IT DOWN. You probably have a great, smart ‘bit of business’ in there and the way to fix or find it is to REMOVE all extraneous stuff. Don’t have cluttered prose. Have simplicity. Have white space.
The same is true for your end of act turning points and your ride to the climax. Think of these beats on an emotional level. Do they make people feel? That’s the question to ask. Are we feeling the difficulty that the characters are in? Are we rooting for them? Do these beats have any emotional resonance? Again to find that resonance WE MUST SIMPLIFY. What is an image or a ‘bit of business’ that will end the act most powerfully and have us desperate to find out what happens next. Well, you probably have it. It’s probably there - just obscured by too much dialogue or description. Find the power of those turning points and present them as simply and viscerally as you can. Be genuine and honest - and at that point when you connect with the text emotionally - it’s fixed. It’s working. So, move onto step two…
STEP TWO - LOSE BEATS THAT DON’T WORK (AND COMBINE OTHERS THAT ARE TOO LONG)…
When you have spent a day on fixing your structure you are ready to spend a day on the beats of your story. This part is where you have to be perhaps most brutal. In your script, there will be fun beats that don’t quite work. Usually these beats don’t work because they’re meandering or not making the story progress. Don’t try to fix these extraneous beats - simply remove them. Yes. Hit delete. Make them go away. The same is true of beats that take three scenes. Can you combine these three scenes to communicate one beat - Yes! Of course you can. So put the three scenes into one scene in the most economic way you can. As you begin to remove beats and streamline others - something miraculous will happen. The story will take on underlying resonance that you didn’t see before. The cluttered scenes now fly by. It reads much faster. Much punchier. When you have removed ALL extraneous beats that slow the flow (or make it harder to read) - move onto step three… You’ll know this point. It’ll be late at night on day two. You’ll scroll through a much shorter, tighter script and you’ll start see where dialogue cues don’t work.
STEP THREE - MAKE YOUR DIALOGUE SPARKLE…
All well written scripts look rather similar. There are short descriptive passages that separate fast, percussive dialogue. There’s lots of white space, so your eye is drawn to the middle of the page and the dialogue. This is what you want to do on day three. It has two purposes. The first is fairly obvious and it’s in the title of this step. ‘Make your dialogue sparkle.’ How do we do that? We refine and we simplify - yes - but we work it like it’s Jazz. What I mean by this, is we make the dialogue a riff on the action and the beats. The dialogue is your off-beat. It’s purposes is to inform the action - NOT TO DESCRIBE IT. To fix dialogue in a scene, I suggest that you remove the first two lines and the last two lines. What does that mean? Well, you start after the characters have entered the room and you finish before they leave. It makes a dialogue scene seem more immediate and in some cases more jarring. That’s jarring in a good way. By removing openings and endings you shorten scenes, make them play faster AND GET TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER. In the end, dialogue is all about heart and emotion. It can be as simple as the phrase: ‘Oh my God’ when a character sees something marvelous or something horrific. It can be as complex as Hamlet’s soliloquy. But regardless of which - NEVER use THREE lines when ONE will do. Brevity and economy should be your watchwords here. Now polish that dialogue. Make it crisp. Make it shine. And make it look clean.
Yes - looking clean is the last part of the S-C-S. How the script looks is almost as important as how it reads. Go for white space where-ever you can. Remove all the ‘continueds’ and ‘cut tos’ unless they are absolutely necessary. Now proof read and spell check. And in 72 hours - you should have a new workable draft. Work fast. Respond emotionally. And if you get stuck, just make a note and come back to that sticking point when you have reached the end of that particular pass. In this process momentum and honesty is everything.
I’m short on links today, but the Great World Of Sound trailer is certainly worth checking out.
However, the hottest ticket at the festival seems to be Heavy Metal in Baghdad - an indie documentary about Baghdad’s first and only answer to Metallica (as pictured above).
If you happen to be in Toronto here is a list of screening times for H-M-I-B.
Also, here is a tribute to ACRASSICAUDA (the band from the doc) that I discovered on Youtube…
Another short post because of Labor day. Fourteen years ago to the day, more or less, I was staying at The Paramount Hotel in New York with John Rutter. It’s a long and involved story, hence the picture of Cameron Dioaz, above. Anyway, onto the subject has crowded my inbox for the last few days. MUMBLECORE!
For those of you unfamiliar with what the genre is all about, check out the trailer of Joe Swanberg’s HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS…
Regular posts should resume tomorrow. Hope you had a good holiday weekend.
Today’s post is very short as I am on a deadline for a rewrite and trying to get it done by the end of the week. But fear not - today’s post is a mighty-mini epic. I have often heard myself say to friends that low-budget action pics never quite work. The action always looks weak. There’s never enough production value. But after glancing through Stu Maschwitz’s DV Rebel’s Guide I have decided to re-asses my position. What Stu does is detail a great many insider tip and tricks that explain how to shoot very plausible big-budget action on the cheap. There is also an accompanying DVD that comes with the book - but you will need Adobe After Effects to explore that fully.
Stu comes from a Studio level FX background. However - he shows how to shoot miniatures and all sorts of SFX that you might imagine were out of reach. Well, with this book they’re not.
As an Indie Filmmaker, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the competition. And these days trends are as prevalent in the Indie world, as in mainstream Hollywood movies. Still, for every LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE that crosses over, there will be dozens more off-beat gems that won’t quite make that kind of splash. Searching them out on-line is great - but discovering them in a festival setting is even better. You might even meet the filmmakers behind these rough diamonds, maybe even hopefully swap some ideas on means, methods and technology.
Here are some festivals that might be worth a look in the coming weeks…
FILMINUTE 2007
On-line - September 5-9
I’m not usually a fan of one minute film festivals - especially the on-line variety. But this is just too good to miss and features the likes of Kevin Roberts and author Michael Ondaatje.
ROME INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Rome, Georgia - September 6-9
The ’south’ is rarely known for its film festivals, but Rome 2007 has an interesting mandate - opening its doors to ‘working filmmakers’ from around the globe. This event is also tied-in with The First Annual
Southeastern Film Industry Expo (think: an Independent Feature Market [IFM] for the South).
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Toronto, Canada - September 6-15
All the big players from the industry hit Toronto. Expect, celebrities, big premieres and a host of unique movies. If you can afford the ticket - certainly worth dropping in.
SOUTH DAKOTA FILM FESTIVAL
Aberdeen, South Dakota - September 21-23
The South Dakota Film Festival’s emphasis is on films made by filmmakers from the Great Plains region (SD, MN, ND, IA, WY, and NE) or films shot in the Great Plains region. Undoubtedly you will find some unique voices if you visit Aberdeen for this one.
GREAT LAKES INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Erie, Pennsylvania - September 26 thru October 12
Notable, in some respects, because Guns N’ Roses’ super star Dizzy Reed will not only be attending the 2007 Great Lakes Independent Film Festival, but will also be performing on Saturday September 29, 2007. All joking aside, though - there is a lot of interesting international fare being screened at The GLIFF, this year. FYI - last year, one of the special guests was JESSE JANE- pictured above.
If any of the actors that you cast in your production have worked in bona-fide movies or TV shows, chances are that they will be in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). So, to have them in your movie you must give them an employment contract that conforms to the SAG guidelines. If you do not, it is likely that you will run into legal difficulties further down the line, especially if your film gets any kind of distribution. (Talking of legal difficulties - I just had to post the gratuitous picture of PARIS HILTON - above. I believe that she IS in SAG.)
Ten years ago, the Screen Actors Guild was not completely in-tune with the methods and the madness of what we now know as ‘independent film.’ SAG was only really geared-up to deal with big companies with big money and contracts that (in some cases) impuned the indie producer. However ALL of that changed with the advent of SAGIndie.
From the SAGIndie website:
“Since its formation in 1997, SAGIndie has been traveling to film festivals, trade shows and conventions spreading the word: Just because your film isn’t produced by a studio doesn’t mean you can’t use professional talent. In fact, input from indie producers continues to help SAG revise and improve its five low-budget agreements to make it even easier for filmmakers to use SAG actors, regardless of their budget. If you’re going to compete with the big boys you need all the help you can get. So go on, and take advantage of SAG’s vast pool of well-trained talent for your next project. They can always find their mark, pick up cues and in the end save you time and money.”
For the filmmaker or Indie-Producer SAGIndie contracts are invaluable, and SAGIndie runs monthly workshops in New York and Los Angeles to help you better understand and deploy these contracts. The workshops are completely FREE and actually much more informative than you might imagine - you even get free SAGIndie pens, folders and booklets.
On to the contracts and why you might need them… In short, these documents will help you to seem professional and avoid any needless negotiation on your part. In one respect, they work the same as any union employment agreement. In another, they are actually tailored to the needs of the Indie Filmmaker.
The contract basics…
SHORT FILM AGREEMENT:
Total budget of less than $50,000
35 minutes or less
Salaries are deferred
No consecutive employment (except on overnight location)
No premiums
Allows the use of both professional and non-professional performers
Background performers not covered
ULTRA-LOW BUDGET AGREEMENT:
Total budget of less than $200,000
Day rate of $100
No step-up fees
No consecutive employment (except on overnight location)
No premiums
Allows the use of both professional and non-professional performers
Background performers not covered
MODIFIED LOW BUDGET AGREEMENT:
Total budget of less than $625,000
Day rate of $268
Weekly rate of $933
No consecutive employment (except on overnight location)
Six day work week with no premium
Reduced overtime rate
LOW BUDGET AGREEMENT:
Total budget of less than $2,500,000
Day rate of $504
Weekly rate of $1752
No consecutive employment (except on overnight location)
Six day work week with no premium
Reduced overtime rate
Reduced number of Background Performers covered
As you can see, it is actually much LESS expensive to hire a SAG actor than you imagined and with the help of SAGIndie you can give this actor a bona-fide union contract - even on your no budget short film.
Directing, writing, producing or editing an Indie Film can be a very lonely job, and there will be a time when you feel lost, perhaps even short on inspiration. Let’s face it, you’re probably not making any money - the cash you raised is running out and everybody keeps asking; ‘why is this taking so long?’ Well - fear not - there is hope at hand and as the saying goes, sometimes ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved.’ I got into a similar discussion last night with a producer friend. He described how his immediate circle of friends and colleagues were sick of hearing about his movie and his post-production problems. However - he had found solace in a local filmmakers group that he had discovered on a thing called meetup.com. Yes - you may have heard of it. Their logo mimics the familiar red and white sticker that says ‘Hello my name is…’ As it turned out, my pal Dave had been a regular at the meet-up New York filmmakers group and only had good things to say about it…
After checking-out the meet-up site I found that there were several movie-centric groups in the Los Angeles area - including production groups and writers groups. I was still on the fence about it, though. Truth is I didn’t feel totally secure in meeting ’strangers’ to discuss the inner workings of my new projects. Still - the thought of community and some kind of support system remained appealing to me. Months earlier, I had discussed joining a local Final-Cut-Pro group with my director friend, Bernard. The LA FCP User Group seemed unique in the sense that its focus was technical and its mandate was to spread knowledge. So that’s what I did this morning - I sent an email to join the LAFCPUG… They meet once a month with guest speakers - and as luck would have it, this month’s meeting is tomorrow night in Barnsdall Art Park. Almost walking distance for me. I’m hoping to find a sense of community and some new people to talk with. Maybe it’ll just take my mind off the problems with my current project. Maybe that’s more than enough. I will report back…
FYI - Cold Mountain - pictured above was the first studio feature to be edited on Final Cut Pro.
I spent this weekend on research, looking into advice on how to best make ‘offers’ to actors. What that really means is how to attach an actor to your project by making them a financial offer in writing. It’s one of those classic Catch-22 situations. Nobody will finance your project without actors attached and you catch attach actors without making offers - which takes money. It’s a hard lesson to learn and a tough thing to get around. If you happen to know Tom Cruise and you can get him to read your script - then you’re in great shape - but for the rest of us, it means using our personal connections to deal with the talent directly. Simply put, the best way around all this, is to work with actors you know personally. Okay, so they might not be the most famous people in the world - but if they know you, they might read your script. Getting your material read is key to putting a project together and attaching actors.
Talking of reading, my research took me to a number of books that were helpful. In reverse order you might want to find copies of…
“From Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film” by Dov S-S Simens.
This is basically Dov Simens ‘three-day film school’ as a book. It takes you through everything from putting a script together to finding finance, your director and actually shooting. It is a good book, but doesn’t totally take into acount the politics of indie film or the Agents/Managers you will probably have to interact with.
“Independent Feature Film Production : A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution” by Gregory Goodell.
A more sophisticated take on production than the Simens book. The sections on finance and distribution are extremely smart and direct you around various hidden pitfalls. Numerous industry professionals have told me that this book was invaluable to them.
Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player’ by Robert Rodriguez.
From screenwriter/director Robert Rodriguez this volume is both entertaining and literally crammed full of insider secrets. You will find strategies and methods that are intelligent and in some cases marvellously devious. Regardless of whether you will deploy what Rodriguez suggests - certainly a great book and worth a look.
For the record, I got the books in my local library, but you can buy them on amazon.
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Directing, writing, producing or editing an Indie Film can be a very lonely job, and there will be a time when you feel lost, perhaps even short on inspiration. Let’s face it, you’re probably not making any money - the cash you raised is running out and everybody keeps asking; ‘why is this taking so long?’ Well - fear not - there is hope at hand and as the saying goes, sometimes ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved.’ I got into a similar discussion last night with a producer friend. He described how his immediate circle of friends and colleagues were sick of hearing about his movie and his post-production problems. However - he had found solace in a local filmmakers group that he had discovered on a thing called meetup.com. Yes - you may have heard of it. Their logo mimics the familiar red and white sticker that says ‘Hello my name is…’ As it turned out, my pal Dave had been a regular at the meet-up New York filmmakers group and only had good things to say about it…
