Trailer Pod Boys

Finally, a podcast dedicated to “Trailer Park Boys” and the latest edition to our Podcast collection. David, Quint, and I have begun hosting a bi-weekly podcast about “Trailer Park Boys” that will feature news, reviews, profiles, and round table discussions about this iconic sitcom.

So, check out our pilot episode at the new Trailer Pod Boys Website, and stay tuned for new episodes coming soon.

And if haven’t checked them out already, take listen to our other podcasts:

The D-1-3 Show - A comedy podcast with 3 guys that talk about just about anything that slips in and out of their minds.

The Cutting Room Floor – a (nearly) weekly podcast about filmmaking and reviews of films that you’ve most likely missed in theaters.

The Spectacular Incredible “Untitled”!

Now that Perfect Ending is over (“it’s finally over”) it’s time to move on to new projects to continue to hone our skills and increase our hands on experience in the wonderful world of no-budget filmmaking.

First up is the Untitled documentary project starting a just a couple of weeks. Untitled because we keep getting good leads that related to the central theme of the original idea but don’t quite match our original intention. But, instead of passing up these great opportunities, it seems better to constantly adjust the unifying theme of the documentary rather than saying “no” to people gracious enough to let us in to there homes and share their time with us.

So, here’s a run down of the evolution so far on “Untitled”:

First working title: “In the Original Box”
Concept: A documentary about toy collectors that have meticulously kept their collections neat and tide in their original boxes. Documentary would include tour or the collection and candid interviews with the collectors and their close friends and family.

Second working title: “Don’t Call Them Toys”
Reason for the title change: We found too many good collections and willing collectors that featured toys and collectables out of their original boxes to stick with the “original box” theme.
Concept: A documentary about toy collectors, mainly Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero. Documentary would include tour or the collection and candid interviews with the collectors and their close friends and family.

Third working title: “Fanaticism”
Reason for title change: We found 2 “things”, I don’t know what you’d even call them, that aren’t toys but are a collection of sorts and would be fascinating to film.
Concept: Uh… I’ll get back to you.

Forth working title: Untitled
Reason for title change: Found even more indescribable collections/homage/I don’t know what to call them, so until I have all the interviews and tour scheduled, I’m not committing to a title.

Oddly enough during the course of these changes, the questions we’ve been tossing around to ask the collectors and the friends and family don’t need that much adjusting, they’re still applicable, at least with some minor tweaking. Good thing I haven’t actually written down any questions yet.

It’s a Wrap!

NeoZAZ wrapped up primary shooting on our latest film project, “Fan Film: The Movie” (tentative title, but that’ll probably be what it’s called). It was a marathon of Indie Guerilla film making – 23 hours over 2 and half days resulting in 5 hour and 20 minutes of great footage. All with the help of 6 friends of ours with a lot of enthusiasm, patience, and trust in that Dave and I knew what we were doing.

With everyone’s help we got everything that we wanted, and more. We even had time for a photo session to make a kick-ass poster for the project.

It was a lot of fun to film and should be just as much fun to put together.

I’d once again like to thank everyone that gave up their whole weekend – both day and night – to get this done. So thanks once again to Karen, Dave, Chris, Gregg, John and Sunday, as I might have mentioned, I truly appreciate your help on this project and can’t wait to put all the pieces together.

There’s more to say, but I unfortunately have to leave the state on business tomorrow and should probably get some sleep. Once Gregg can get me a copy of the production shots, that’ll jar some memories and stories to share.

Being Cheap has its Price

Freakin’ “timing”. Seriously. The concept of “timing” and all the negatives that have followed it through out history!

This “super secret” project for NeoZAZ may end up being a missed opportunity for a great documentary on “bad timing”. 

With out turning this post into a novelette sized entry, here’s the highlights of the bad timing involved in this project. 

1. I wanted to film this on the HV20 I knew I was going to get; I waited for a great price break on the camera. I also was waiting for repayment of some cash owed to me by a friend.  Well, the price break came, and it was time to pull the Jesse James “Pay up Sucker” routine. Well, of course, the money wasn’t paid (and still hasn’t, but that’s another story.)
2. My awesome wife suggested that I go ahead and get the camera anyway since the guy that owes me money is good for it as far as we’re concerned, he’s just in a bad way at the moment. Great…oh s@!t, that day the price on the camera went up again!
3. Now the waiting game occurs. In the meantime, I’ll perfect the script. The best way I know how to do that is to let Dave read it and give me his notes – the best stuff I’ve produced has always been a collaborative effort with Dave – this is a good idea, I’m thinking, better send him the pilot.
4. Oh, yeah. Dave’s just a tad busy moving across the country right now and oh yeah, his wife is going to be out of the US for 6 months soon after he moves. Well, I’ll still send the script, but note that I am not expect him at all to read it until he’s settled – to ask otherwise would be “rude” (to say the least).
5. Whoa! Some time has passed the camera prices are dropping, time to watch them day by day hour by hour again.
6. A couple of weeks later, one of my favorite and trusted electronic on-line shops finally match that low price I saw months ago. Time to order.
7. Order placed, now to watch the UPS tracking number day by day hour by hour.
8. Meanwhile, we intended to film the entire first episode in a state park in Clermont FL. The area was perfect, secluded, nothing anyone else would general want to see – a perfect public area with little chance of interruption.
9. One of the cast drives past that area park on the way home everyday. One evening he was driving home and calls me. His exact words “You remember that scene we were going to film in the park?” “Yeah” I answer. “Was it going to take place on a burnt out planet by chance?” Turns out, that part of the park decided to do a controlled burn in that exact area (and surround areas) of where we we’re going to film.
10. The camera arrives. Holy crap, this thing is complicated. I tell the cast and crew I need at lest a week to figure this out, so lets set the date for March 16th for the first principle filming.
11. Co-Star Taylor announces he’s buying a house. Awesome news, it’s his first house, I’m really happy for him. Ahhhhh crap, he also announced he’s moving the weekend of March 15 th and 16th . Okay, let’s move filming to March 23rd.
12. Whoops. That’s my wife’s birthday. Oh yeah, there’s that Easter thing too. No problem, let’s move it to the 23rd.
13. Damn it! I just remember, Gregg – Star of the production, will be in Rockford, IL that weekend.
14. So, let’s try the 30th. So far, that’s a good date. We’ll just wait and see. 

So, if you’ve been paying attention to the sequence of events, you’ll see that this started with me trying to save a few hundred bucks. 

Is it all worth it? It’s a few hundred bucks, hell yeah! 

I guess that was a lot of information about nothing. But then again, I think that’s generally what blogs or for. Maybe next time there will be some real production news to report, but I’m not holding my breath.