Welcome back to more inside coverage of Z--a silly, feature-length Zombie Musical coming to you from Austin, TX--and featuring the semi-mad ramblings of Writer/Director John McLean!
We’re at that somewhat amorphous stage where a lot of work’s being done on the Sisyphean task of launching an independent feature, yet it sometimes seems we don’t have a lot to show for it. The meetings and paperwork and planning and script breakdowns don’t always produce obvious results, so it often feels like we’re hitting the treadmill day after day, but without any noticeable difference in the ol’ waistline!
TRAILERS R US…
However we do have a brand-spanking new Z Trailer to show for our efforts…a parody of a series of popular sneaker ads.
I just gotta say that Advance Trailers are way, way under-utilized in the independent film world. For sure, a slick compilation of scenes from your completed feature is the Holy Grail. But, until that Magic Day arriveth, trailers can still be used for what they are--COMMERCIALS for your project. Giving others a sense of the look & feel of the picture…stimulating interest among potential Cast, Crew & Investors…driving people to your web-site…on and on.
Of course, the most palpable advantage is the opportunity to work with interested actors and crew in a “real world” environment, to discover how well you all play together, to learn who’s gonna Show Up and who ain’t.
And since I don’t believe in auditioning actors (more on this below), casting actors in trailers provides a forum for discovering their true talents and personality.
JUST Z IT!
Thus did unfold the shooting of our most recent trailer…with Hallie Martin, a long, lean red-head with aspirations to play one of the three lead female roles in Z. Day before the gig, girl was on her very deathbed with some kind of bird-flu or hanta virus or what-not, but come the Sunday of the shoot, she roused herself like a veritable Lazarus and not only showed up, but ran wind-sprints again and again and again throughout downtown Austin!
Here it is, “Just Z It!”…
Check it out, this Trailer’s also indicative of the good things that emerge when the Goddess is on your side…
At one point we’d found a decrepit building, tagged from top to bottom, near the main railroad tracks that run through our little burg. As you can see in the following pics--taken by Dan Eggleston, our digital photographer and all-around Man Friday--we were setting up a shot of Hallie running next to this building when we heard the rumbling of an approaching train.
WE HEAR THE TRAIN A-COMING…
A mad scramble to move the camera ensued. We had like 13.5 seconds to set-up the shot, so I’m jacking up the tripod and shouting for Hallie to run a bit down the tracks and get ready and the train’s barreling towards us and we realize this is a gift from Above, this shot, and we only get one chance at it, and in my hyperkinetic frenzy I’m twisting the wrong knobs on the tripod and the camera’s tilting this way and that and here comes the train right as I finally get a reasonable frame and yell for Hallie to go, go, go and so she runs like the Madwoman of Chaillot and the train barrels past, and just like that it’s all over.
We either got the shot or we didn’t.
Yup, we got the shot. Just one of those “lucky” things. But, you know, if you’re going in the Right Direction with your stuff, those lucky moments just seem to occur, right?
Best part was a few days later, when I showed the completed trailer to my kids. They were quite curious about how we got the train for the opening shot. I explained to them that a major commercial production would’ve negotiated with Amtrak and the City of Austin and who knows who all to get the train to roll by exactly when they needed it--and then back up and roll by again and again--to the tune of weeks of effort and perhaps tens of thousands of dollars in fees.
Hollywood, of course, brings the Mountain to Mohammed, whereas us Independent folks gotta be willing to stand by the railroad tracks until the Train comes along, metaphorically speaking…and sometimes the wait is less than we might’ve imagined!
Of course, what I told the kids was that it was MAGIC…and they seemed more than satisfied with that answer!
SHOWING UP!
In the end, Hallie proved to be a trooper despite her lingering sickness. I’m certain when we get to Principal Photography on Z that she’ll Show Up. Which is something you can’t learn about anyone from an audition. Any moron with a headshot can come to an audition and pretend they know what they’re doing; Elohim knows I’VE done it enough times myself and “fooled” people into casting me!
No, you gotta get to know somebody and/or work with them to know whether they can--and, more importantly, WILL--bring it!
As famous smart guy and astrophysicist Stephen Hawking likes to say puckishly from his motorized wheelchair, “The Universe tends towards entropy.” So, too, many Artists tend towards entropy, living largely in their minds and fantasizing about all the great movies they’re gonna make, brilliant novels they’ll write, paintings they’ll paint…and on and on through a catalogue of great Unmade works of art that far overshadow the combined artwork that’s actually been created since the dawn of time.
Once your Art is done, it’s out there to be judged by the world. Or, even worse, by yourself. So lots of skittish artists save themselves from that unflinching judgment by not finishing what they start.
And the less you do the work, the harder it becomes to DO the work. You just stop Showing Up. And actors--yes, indeed, actors--tend towards entropy with the best of ‘em!
PAPER BALLS REDUX
Case in point, a month or so back when I performed in the 2-person, 16mm short, PAPER BALLS, an actress came to the audition and blew everybody away. She’d just moved here from New York City, of all places in the world, because of Austin’s reputation as an independent film Mecca! She had a tremendous acting résumé and training of the very highest caliber. And she utterly charmed everybody at the audition.
But no sooner was she cast than she set about sabotaging her own success by not Showing Up. Literally.
She’d arrive an hour or more late for critical meetings. She’d miss rehearsals entirely--sometimes notifying us after we already there waiting for her, sometimes not bothering to call at all! She didn’t bother to return the increasingly urgent calls from the director until finally she had to be replaced by someone who might not have been her equal as an actor, but who had the saving grace of Showing Up.
A lot of trouble and wasted energy could’ve been saved if the PAPER BALLS Production had had the time (which, unfortunately, they didn’t) to get to know this actress before-hand.
I’m here to tell you that you learn tons more about an actor’s personality and passions and willingness by spending an hour with them over coffee--or half-an-hour on a set--than in a month’s worth of auditions and call-backs.
FIRST DATES
Here’s a little secret which is no secret at all: virtually all actors TRAIN in audition skills. They take classes and read books on auditioning and practice peaking in those moments. But it’s all a lie, Smitty, a lie!
It’s like going on a First Date. Follow me here…
On a First Date, the other person does their utmost to present themselves in the best light, to set up a little show of how interesting and compatible they are…which may or may not have any grounding in reality.
Whereas the place you wanna get--with actors, no less than in your romantic life--is to the Second Date and beyond, since that’s where people really begin to reveal what’s inside.
Take an actor outside of a performance space--and an audition room or casting office is the ULTIMATE performance space for actors, since they sometimes spend more time “performing” there than in front of any actual cameras or audiences--and they don’t really know how to act.
Which is just what you want. You don’t want actors to act, not at this stage of the game.
You want them to reveal who they are, wittingly or otherwise. You wanna discover if they’re gonna Show Up, in every way. ‘Cause to make anything of value in the film world, not only do YOU gotta keep Showing Up, day after day, but you also gotta surround yourself with other people who do the same.
BORN TO SUFFER
This is true for everyone getting involved in this picture, including the composers and the musicians who’ll be performing their music. Recently I met again with the kick-ass band, BORN TO SUFFER, to go over the songs they’ll be recording.
We gathered around my trusty PowerBook in the cool, downtown Austin café, The Hide Out--where you can alternately grab coffee, see a play or movie or attend workshop on topics such as stand-up comedy or (what else?) audition techniques!
The dudes from Born to Suffer also gave me a quick overview of how it’s gonna work when they finally get in the studio to record the music…and a ballpark figure of the cost, which immediately sent me scurrying to buy some Texas Lottery tickets to pay for it all!
C.H.U.D.
Now most of the people we’re meeting with these days are actors and crewmembers, but there’s another group of Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers whom we’ll increasingly need to deal in order to push Z over the top…the Media!
I’ve had to learn the hard way how to play with C.H.U.D. (errr, Media)! On my first feature I spent all my time and energy on the Production itself, and pretty much never courted the Media at all.
I mean, who wouldn’t prefer to focus on the Fun Stuff--writing, directing and editing--rather than merely TALKING about it to others?! But in this day and age if one of the caps you wear doesn’t say “Publicist” on it, your project isn’t likely to attract a significant audience.
Unless, of course, you get Lucky. Or have the Goddess on your side. Or both!
Apropos which, stay tuned to this column for breaking news about a Distribution Deal for THE PERFECT MAN CONTEST that’s currently in the works!
AUSTIN MOVIE SHOW
So this time around I promised to be more mindful of opportunities to publicize my picture and there’s this great local film show called THE AUSTIN MOVIE SHOW that broadcasts live every Sunday evening out of the local public access station. And Dan Eggleston—yet again…dude pops up everywhere, like Terence Hill in the classic comic Western, MY NAME IS NOBODY--engineered an appearance on this show.
The hosts, Jegar Erickson and Leila Hernandez are high-energy and wildly enthusiastic about all things related to movies. They gave me a full half-hour to show a clip from THE PERFECT MAN CONTEST and to screen the “To Z or Not to Z” Trailer (check out the “Lights! Camera! Zombies!” ARCHIVES if you missed it in the previous column!) and to chat about Z.
It was my first non-acting TV appearance…and working without a script is quite an invigorating experience. With the Austin Movie Show under my belt, now I’m pretty much ready to go straight on to Conan O’Brien and go toe-to-toe with Triumph, the Insult Dog!
HIDE & CREEP
I wanna end with some groovy news! My predecessor in penning a Behind-The-Scenes column for Movie Poop Shoot, the irrepressible Chance Shirley of Crewless, has scored a distribution deal for his wry, clever Zombie picture, HIDE & CREEP, with the distribution house Asylum!
Dudes and Dudettes, when HIDE & CREEP hits a Blockbuster or Hollywood near you this summer, Zombie Walk your ass over to get a copy--and then tell your friends to do the same!
NEXT…
We’ll have two final Trailers in hand for the next column, then it’ll be high time to wind down the extracurricular activities in favor of a last, desperate push towards the start of Principal Photography in early June!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this far…and feel free to contact me anytime with suggestions, feedback or your sister’s telephone number!
