Kickstarter

     So we've all heard about the fantastic Veronica Mars movie that was funded on Kickstarter.com.  It did fantastic; they single handedly funded their movie, through crowd funding.  Crowd funding has been around for a while, now, and usually is used for micro-budget independent films, independent projects, or small businesses.  Big budget movies have never tried to use crowd funding, until now.
     And now Zach Braff has used Kickstarter to try and fund his new movie, "Wish I was Here."  Within a few days Zach reached his goal of 2 Million dollars.  His campaign has now reached well over 3 million.  Braff has also gotten a studio backer to fund the rest of the budget for his film.  There's no doubt Braff will also get a wide release with a giant distributor.
     This has brought a lot of attention to Kickstarter and crowd funding.  A lot of people are complaining that celebrities like Zach Braff are diluting crowd funding, and making it harder for independent artists to fund their projects.  I think it's a great way for films to be funded, and find backers.  I even think it's a great way for studios to connect more with their audiences.  Especially if they're trying to fund a fan based film.  For example, if Michael Bay had asked fans and crowd funded the upcoming Ninja Turtles movie, the backlash and turmoil that film has faced would be much smaller.  I think crowd funding is a great way to connect to your fans, and give them a movie they want, as well as making them feel involved.

Quicksilver Problem

     So who's heard of the new X-men movie coming out?  Fox is in production right now of their new film, "X-men: Days of Future Past."  This would be a no news kind of movie, as it's just another addition to a franchise, however, something interesting has occurred in the last several days.  Fox has released that they've added a new character, and actor to the roster or their new film.  The character, "Quicksilver," has been added to the cast of characters.  Now, Quicksilver is the super fast Mutant of the X-men universe.  Fox has also announced that actor Evan Peters will be playing the character.
     This brings up an interesting problem, as Marvel Studios had written the character into their upcoming movie, "The Avengers 2."  Joss Whedon, Director of the Avengers, had stated he had perfect use for the character in the Avengers sequel.
     The problem with this is that Fox owns the movie rights to all "X-men" characters.  However, Quicksilver is still a Marvel character (as Marvel owns the X-men).  The issue, now, is who is allowed to use the character in their movie.  Fox has already begun production on their film, and Marvel is still in early Pre-production.  The obvious choice is that Fox gets to keep doing what they're doing, but now Marvel is going to have to make drastic changes to their story.  This is the first time that a character has been wanted for two separate franchises.
     This comes down to different studios having control over different entities, owned by the same company.  Fox knows they have a cash cow with the X-men films, just as Sony knows they have one with Spiderman.  Marvel has been trying to gain control of their characters back, and is slowly achieving their goal.  However, with Fox and Sony holding their characters hostage, it might be a while until Marvel owns the movie rights back to all their characters.

Will the director please stand up?

     I'm not sure if any of you have heard of this, but just recently, Natalie Portman's new movie (In which she's both acting in and producing), Jane's Got a Gun, lost it's director very suddenly.  Jane's got a gun went all through it's pre-production and started it's first day of principal photography successfully.  However, when day two came around, director Lynne Ramsay, was nowhere to be found.  No word on where she went, or why she left, just gone.   Producer, Scott Steindorff stated, "I have millions of dollars invested, we’re ready to shoot, we have a great script, crew and cast. I’m shocked and so disappointed someone would do this to 150 crew members who devoted so much time, energy, commitment and loyalty to a project, and then have the director not show up. It is insane somebody would do this to other people. I feel more for the crew and their families, but we are keeping the show going on, directors are flying in, and a replacement is imminent… My focus is on making this movie, but I will protect all my rights. This comes down to an irresponsible act by one person."

     With recent updates on the film, it looks as though director, Gavin O'Connor.  O'Connor is best known for recently directing "Warrior," starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton (who is also in Jane's Got a Gun).  O'Connor is said to be picking up where Ramsay left off, and Production was only halted a few days.  This is a great example of a studio, not only covering their asses, but covering them well.  This could have been disastrous, however, Steindorff and Portman made a fantastic decision of keeping production going and finding a suitable replacement.  I have no doubt O'Connor will do a fantastic job directing the film, and I'm curious to see why Ramsay left the film (If she ever formally states)

Respect the Material!...Respect it!!!

     Go ninja, Go ninja, Go!!!  We all remember the great tunes Vanilla Ice jammed out in the Ninja Turtles Movie from our childhood.  New Line Cinema gave us three incredible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies in the early nineties; all of which I grew up on.  I am definitely a product of the '90's cartoons and movies.  Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, X-men, etc...that was my jam.  Not only was I a fan of them growing up, but I truly grew an affinity for these characters and stories.
     You can imagine my elation when I hear that Hollywood is rebooting the old, dusty franchise with a new and badass movie.  Right? Right?  NO!!! Unfortunately, Hollywood has not been able to get these adaptations right due to a blatant lack of respect for the source material.  I understand taking artistic license on the projects, as we are all artists, trying to get our input in.  However, producers and directors today are taking way too many liberties with these stories!  They're famous for a reason!!!  Why would you change what has done so well already!?  Hollywood needs to learn how to nurture these stories into maturity, not change them completely!
     Lets look at the most recent and heinous example, (you knew I was going to get to this eventually) Michael Bay's take on the Ninja Turtles!!!  It's already been shown that Michael Bay has no respect for source material when it come to Transformers.  The movies were critical travesties, and just all around bad movies.  The Ninja Turtles have a very specific origin and history.  Michael Bay has stated that he's doing out with their story, and making his own shit up...fantastic.
     Now, this isn't a rant about how I hate Michael Bay, and he's raping my childhood, blah blah blah...No.  I seriously want to point out Hollywood's lack of respect for the source material.  As mentioned before, the original pieces are famous for a reason...audiences like what they are.  I don't understand how some filmmakers can be so arrogant to think they can improve an already great thing.  It comes down to the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  I would love to see these great stories retold with today's great technology and artistic tools...however, if the artist is the wrong choice...everything suffers from it.  A partner and I are working on a rebooted 90's show to be pitched and eventually made into a big budget movie, (I can't say which, for legal purposes, but it's going to be fantastic!) and are adamant about keeping as much as we can, the same.  The show itself is famous for a reason.  We respect the old show so much that we are simply trying to modernize it for today's audience, not tell "our version" of someone else's story.  I swear Hollywood!!! Get your head out of your ass!!!

Interview

            This is not the usual type of blog post I journal out, however, we were assigned, in my negotiations class, to interview someone in our industry about the negotiations and deals they make on a regular basis.

            I chose Dave Selle.  Mr. Selle is a freelance videographer as well as an active worker in the film industry.  I’ve known Dave for several years and have even worked on a few TLC, History Channel and Discovery Channel documentaries with him.  On beginning the interview, I started by asking him simply what kinds of deals he usually makes.  Being as he’s a videographer most of the time, the deals he makes are simple price negotiations.  Dave went on to tell me that it’s not too hard for him, as most of his customers are average folk, who have no knowledge of the industry.  He simply comes in, tells them his price, and they accept.  He did say, however, that when he is working with someone a little more seasoned, he does have to take a little more time to negotiate a working price.  He did say, “It’s not like my prices are unfair though…”

            I followed up with asking him if he’d encountered any foul play or dirty tricks.  I was intrigued to find out that the most difficult people he’s had to deal with are the larger companies.  He told me that when it’s just him and a client, the deal is simple.  However, a big company knows the game as he does; and a big company will definitely try and eat you up.  I asked how he combats that, and he simply said that he combats it by knowing everything he can about the project, the deal and the industry at the time. 

            With dealing with the larger companies, Dave mentioned that his low status as a free-lance videographer makes it harder for the larger companies to take him serious.  He relies on his outstanding work and word of mouth to boost his growing reputation. 

            

The Oscars...*sigh...*

     So, as I'm sure you all heard, the Academy Award nominees were chosen for this year's Oscars.  From what I've heard, most people are pretty upset about the choices.  I've gotta say...so am I.  It seems that more and more the Oscars are becoming "the producer's choice awards," and doing nothing but promoting the producers' newest picture.  One thing as well that's always bothered me is that the academy seems to ignore a movie if it does well financially.  It's almost like they consider blockbusters to have less credentials than that of an art house picture.
     A lot of the controversy has come from the Academy's picks for best actor/actress.  Many fans, I've heard, are very upset that Leonardo Dicaprio wasn't even nominated for his villainous role in "Django Unchained."  I saw Django, and I've got to say, Leo's performance was incredible, and nothing like he's ever done.  I fully agree that he should have at least been nominated.
     One cool heads up in the nominations was with Best Actress.  "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star Quvenzhané Wallis has become the youngest actor to be nominated for a Best Actor role in the Oscars. At 9 years old, she's already put her stamp on the film industry.
     With some cool nominations and surprise showings, the Oscars will definitely be interesting.  However, I feel there are some definite snubs.  In my opinion, over the past few years the Academy Awards has become less and less interesting.  Hopefully, they'll realize and start to pick it back up.

JJ Abrams: Humanitarian?

     So a lot of the industry people in Hollywood are known to be success hungry sharks, who are really only interested in getting ahead and staying ahead.  As this is more or less true, (it's what keeps the industry alive and evolving) it's not entirely true of everyone.  JJ Abrams, director of the 2009 Star Trek movie, has always been known as a fun-loving, kid at heart kind of director.  But who'd a thought this talented filmmaker would also have a soft spot for one of his fans.   Over the past week it had been reported, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that a man by the name of Daniel Craft, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer had made one last request before his inevitable death.  He wished that he could see the new Star Trek: Into Darkness film, by JJ Abrams, before he died.  Abrams got wind of this and found the man.  He personally showed him a finished rough cut of the film, as the man's story hit him in the heart.
     JJ Abrams and the film's producer showed up at Craft's door with a copy of the film and watched it with him.  It was reported, unfortunately, that Daniel Craft died a few weeks after his special viewing.  This is really awesome, I think.  I like seeing Hollywood personally attending to it's fans.  It is the fans that keep us in business.  It's nice to see that Mr. Craft's sickness allowed him to achieve his once last wish.  I definitely applaud Mr. Abrams, and would hope to see more charitable actions like this by many other industry people.  I would feel honored if someone's last wish was to watch a film I was working on, and I would do everything I could to make that a reality.  So again, kudos JJ Abrams...you get the "thumbs-up" seal of approval.