The Routine _ TV & Film Essentials

Back in march I finished a 3 month online film program offered by NYU/Tisch/Yellowbrick. Its call TV and Film essentials and at the end I got a certificate which I proudly added to my ever growing video editor resume. Its a decent program but not the film school experience I was hoping for, no face time or collaboration, no school equipment to rent or feedback from teachers. Even though all those things were stripped out of this course I did find it very useful. It provided me with projects to focus on as well as a great insiders look into the current workings of the industry not to mention a pretty good look at the history of film and TV. All that neat stuff was told to me via pre-recorded interviews of various successful filmmakers and professors. It was perfect for my mostly remote work life. And it has inspired me to take an in person class at some point down the road. Anyway, My final project is a short film based on a real life paranoia my wife and I share in. One night while we were on the train headed to a poetry reading we were going through our usual check list of things we secured before leaving the house. One of us will usually be the sarcastic ass (usually me) that claims that he left the gas on, left all the windows and doors open and left the water running in the bathroom. That night neither one of us remembered if the candle we lit earlier in the day was blown out and it was finally agreed upon that I would venture home and make sure the place wasn’t in flames. As I got off the train to head back I told my wife “this would be a good idea for a short” and low and behold my final project came to life. The Routine was shot on my iPhone, because I had no crew all the sound was recorded at home, I shot way too much despite having written a script and crudely storyboarded. I think overshooting is a good thing, better to have it and not need it. On the bright side it starred my wife Lisa which I have 24/7 access and was game most of the time. And except for the subway scene in which Lisa interacts with a straphanger (played by my friend Camillo DiMaria) she was performing all by herself and pretty well I might add. Anyway, the link is below if you want to check it out.

The Routine

EXIT PLAN (Home Cooked Madness)

The idea for Exit Plan was first presented to me 6 years ago by the lead actor of the film Pete Volino.  It was a comedy skit about a fed up musician that wanted to blow himself up on stage. At first I thought it was a bit over the top and having just did a comedy skit called "OCD suicide note" that sorta fell on deaf ears I wasn't eager to re-visit the topic of suicide. Around that time I started to want to make a short film, most of my ideas were too involved to get done with my limited resources and Pete's idea started to look like a viable option. Pete, my wife and I started throwing around ideas, I started to visualize the style of the movie and the dialog, the title came to me one day at work when someone was talking about their exit plan from the firm we were both working for at the time.  The Phrase "Exit Plan" just seemed too poetic to be the sequestered to just corporate jargon. Once I had a title I was able to focus on writing the script. I wrote about 3 versions of the script and took it to Pete and his band mates and I taped them rehearsing the script a few times. It was a technique I always read about and wanted to try. I quickly realized that there was a lot more work to be done on the script. Then, life got in the way and work became too busy for me to focus on the script and other more doable projects took the reigns. Pete and I would continue to talk about revisiting the script one day, we made plans, revised those plans, and revised the revised plans and then, something clicked. I re wrote the script a few more times, using more metaphor and imagery and less exposition to try to tell this story.

At the end of the day the script went through about 13 versions and I cut about 10 versions of the film. I have to say I enjoyed the entire process of making this film and learned a ton from my many mistakes. We were a crew of two, my wife and I. Many times we were lighting, audio, camera and director. The cast was comprised of local musicians many of whom never acted in anything but yet were able to take direction and ad-lib like pros. It did help that most of the musicians played together in bands so there was a natural banter. I just needed to be smart enough to get out of my own way. Exit Plan taught me to adapt to a challenging situation, to use what you have at your disposal, to listen to and in many cases employ other people's ideas and suggestions. And, that with the right people and some hard work one could make a pretty solid piece. Now that the film is done and dusted, I am putting together a press kit and looking around at film festivals that might welcome a little home cooked madness.