Guerilla Filmmaking, or Filmmaking Gorilla?

December '08 is looking to be a fitting epilogue to a pretty bitchin' year.

A few movies that I'm associated with in some capacity are hitting the streets. Electric Purgatory, the documentary on Black Rock that I DP'ed a few years ago is now available on Amazon.com. Pick it up, and see where all those whigger White bands that you love ganked their moves from.

While I'm on the subject, if you want to be schooled in person, you should check out the Fishbone show next week (the 8th) at the Meridian. Fishbone is the greatest live band on the planet. For real.

Anyway, as I was saying...Marcus Koch's 100 Tears hits DVD on Tuesday the 9th. You can find it at Amazon, at Best Buy, and on Netflix. Check that one out, too.

Gerald Nott's The Flesh Keeper is out now via CreateSpace, and you can visit that link to get your own copy. I was the Unit Production Manager, made a cameo as "Angry Black Bean Farmer" in the AWESOME FLASHBACK SEQUENCE (TM), and nearly had to earn the title of "Official Bull Murderer Via Shotgun". I also killed a snake or two.

Gerry/John/Clint/etc...I hope the movie has a commentary track to explain all that anecdotal yammering I just did.

Also coming out soon is The Lawless, which you can find on Amazon right here, and on Netflix over here. The Upstart connection begins with the film's lead, Denton Blane Everett, who is also one of the leads in Walking Distance. Distance's Eryn Brooke also stars in the film....Eryn was our A.D. as well as the actress portraying "Tracie" in WD...and I definitely would have had a harder time on set without her - as an A.D. she kicks major ass. And you'll notice James LaMarr is a producer on The Lawless as well. It seems like just yesterday that I met James at the Closet Space casting call....

In addition, a good deal of the behind the scenes crew on The Lawless worked for us on Walking Distance. In addition to James and Eryn, there's our amazing D.P. Philip Roy, and sound guru David Frost. I'm not sure if our Assistant Camera Zach, or 2nd A.D. Natalie worked on Lawless, but I think they may have. Director Philip Guzman also gave us some much needed assistance on the first day of WD shooting. At any rate, these guys take/took the idea of an "indie film crew" to the next level - pretty much negating the "indie" tag. They are all bad asses, and it totally shifted the whole paradigm for me. If you want to get a sense of what Walking Distance is going to look/feel like, then check out Lawless. And add more blood and melty stuff.

As for my own movie(s) - I think Closet Space just got into another festival, and I'm an hour and a half into the first pass edit of Walking Distance (which leaves half an hour or so to go). I'm very excited about how WD is shaping up so far, and once again I have to effusively thank the cast and crew that made it possible. That's definitely a big reason why 2008 ruled for me. Can't wait to get that first trailer out there. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but it's coming, man.

I'm also considering the possibility of having a birthday shindig in the Upstart Warehouse this year. My birthday (the 27th) falls on a Saturday, so I kind of feel obligated to do something besides eat a lot of broiled flesh at either the Taste of Texas or Fogo De Chao. Although I'll be doing that as well, I assure you. At any rate, I may put something relatively low-key together for that night, so consider yourselves warned. I've got the space, so why not? It might be kind of cold, but I don't think it would be too bad. Maybe we can cook up a little Acoustic Alchemy, or project a movie on one of the walls or something. I'll know for sure within the next week or so. There's some heavy stuff coming up next year on all fronts, so perhaps I should try to enjoy life a little while I still have time to breathe.