Repost: Neophyte producer learns the film craft

In conjunction with the New Year's Day launch "Dance Step of Death" on the free video platform Viemo, I'm reposting an August 2012 piece I wrote for The Sacramento Bee reflecting on producing my first short film. Producing a film is a magical headache. I learned a great deal from doing this zombie comedy and much more since. 



Neophyte producer learns the film craft

BYLINE: Ed Fletcher; efletcher@sacbee.com

LENGTH: 693 words

The first tangible step toward my comedic short film, "Dance Step of Death," took place in February over pizza at east Sacramento's One Speed, but the idea of producing my own film was hatched a year earlier.

I'd had adolescent film stirrings, first with my dad's old 8 mm camera and later with Super 8, but I packed away those ideas in favor of more practical pursuits.

In 2011, that itch came back.

After taking a screenwriting class at Access Sacramento, I sheepishly submitted my first short script for consideration in the A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival. The festival – in which they escort selected scripts through the production process – can be a godsend for first-time producers.

In hindsight, I'm glad my short was rejected.

A year later, I was again spending Saturday mornings in the uncomfortable classroom chairs at Access Sacramento, this time enrolled in a film production class. This time, I felt was ready for Access Sacramento's A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival.

Again I was rejected by the submission jury (something about too many zombie entries).

But a funny thing happened on the way to rejection. I had already met AK Long, who enthusiastically agreed to direct the film. We'd started to craft a funding plan, and he'd started the storyboards.

So on the fateful day of rejection, we decided to press on and enter the movie elsewhere. Within a day, I had a tentative agreement with Nathan Schemel, executive director of the Sacramento Film and Music Festival, to show "Dance Step of Death" at the festival, which opens Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

The only problem: We only had 11 weeks.

Producing a film is a little like putting together a football team for one game. Thankfully, Long, a recent UC Davis graduate, brought his own connections and a team of people who were involved in his earlier projects. In the subsequent weeks, people from his network and mine joined as others dropped out.

The job of the producer is largely to rent the kitchen, buy the ingredients, then get out of the director's way until it's time to sell the soup.

In film terms, that means finding a script (easy enough – I wrote it), finding the locations, securing the talent, finding a way to pay for everything and distributing the film.

A co-worker at The Bee asked me how I found the time. I reminded him that I don't have kids. I woke up most mornings between 6 and 7 a.m. and worked for three hours or so, firing off emails and making plans. I'd meet with Long once or twice a week after work and I followed the schedule.

Producing a movie tests your networks. My network rose to the challenge. You never know what people will say "yes" to until you ask.

The process was not without stumbles, stressful evenings and the generalized anxiety that comes with having to trust that all the various team members you've assembled will perform the job they've agreed to do – for free.

Stressful, yes, but the process was magical.

It's one thing to write about three wannabe superheroes and their efforts to look into a police coverup, and quite another to see the characters take shape first in drawings, then in real costumes and finally as local actors performing the words you put to page.

Now, I'm ready for one more magical moment: seeing it on the big screen.

Trying My Hand at Stand-up Comedy

To celebrate my 40th birthday I stepped on stage to do something I’d spent hours and hours thinking about but struggled to find the confidence to do earlier: stand up comedy.

For a little under two years, I’ve been performing improv comedy with The Sacramento Comedy Spot's Wednesday night training team so one would think I would have worked out all my jitters. But as anyone in the comedy world can tell you, the disciplines are different. Improv (within a structure) you make up the entire show.

Telling people you do improv comedy is a lot like telling someone the Midwest you’re a Vegan not a Vegetarian.

People are much more familiar with and less forgiving with stand up. It’s simple you stand on stage and be funny. I’ve always thought of myself as a funny guy and been told as such. Over the years, I perfected my comedic timing for training sessions, classes, and such. I’m the king of witty quips, but could I be funny on demand?

For about as long as I’ve been doing improv I’m been eyeing the stand up guys. They’re nerds, just the same as the improv performers, but few people did both. I figured my brain was under enough stress learning one, why may its worse doing both. So between my film projects, work and other obligations I never got around to taking the Comedy spot's class on stand up, but I was tucking away bits I thought were funny.

So rather than wait my turn at open mics like all starting comics do, I invited everyone I know to come see me and a few other people perform during a comedy spot “Test Kitchen” slot.

Here is my second time on stage doing stand-up:

The improv stage is terror, magic

Ed Fletcher at Camp Winton with Ray Ray,
the Allen brothers and Eric Chew.

On Sunday, I stepped on stage for my first improv performance.

It was like standing on the edge of a cliff, not knowing whether you'd made a smart move or stepped foolishly. Making it down from the cliff successfully means seeing something you've never experienced, with the full knowledge that next time -- no matter how thrilling it may be -- it will never offer the fear and associated reward.

It was, in my opinion, an unmitigated success. Sure, our elderly hippy cast member had a brain fart or drug-induced neural dump, but we covered it like pros and made people laugh.

There was no clear path to my decision to take a long-form improv class, which concluded with the performance. In addition to playing with words more often lately, I've been trying to say 'yes' in the real world more often. (As opposed to at Burning Man where yes is always the right answer).

It began lightly with Thursday nights at the "Playground" at Blacktop Comedy in Roseville. I had never done improv before. I'd been in a couple school plays, was a rally commissioner in high school and did some class videos, but the majority of my comedic performances came at Camp Winton, where twice a week we entertained kids at our "award-winning" camp fires. It was something between sketch and improv. We set high marks for the production and we're known as one of the best in the state.

The Playground, run by the owner Paul Burke, provided a safe fun environment for people of all levels. Finding success for this short-form games, a long-form class was the next logical step. I chose the Sacramento Comedy Spot primarily because it was closer to home. I was pleased with my chose owner/teacher Brian Crall pushed and pulled us into performers.

 It's hard to put to words the pace at which the mind has to work as the session starts. You searching for a scene to snag from a monologue as the crowd laughs blissfully unaware of the terror in your head. Sticking the landing is something magical though.

Not everyone will have financial success from living their ideal life. No matter how many kids dream of being an actor, not everyone gets to get make millions in Hollywood. But that doesn't mean you can't step onto a smaller stage, produce your own show on access television or write a film short.

 As I news writer, I'm not the star and definitely not a performer. The idea is to ask the right questions, but otherwise stay out of the way of the news. I guess that is way I liked doing Edventures so much. It was a small taste of Ed the performer. I'm happy to say I'm back on stage and I don't anticipate another decade plus performance break. There are more cliffs to stand on.

Awe shucks I'm producing a movie

I must confess there is more than a little bit of "awe shucks" in my voice when I tell you that I'm producing a short film in a matter of weeks.

It's my first.

In some respects, producing "Dance Step of Death" is a major stretch. I've never worked in movies. But on the other hand, it's a role I've been unknowingly preparing myself for my entire life.

The movie "Dance Step of Death" is about three everyday white collar workers who, bored with their jobs, moonlight as the superhero team the "Adventure Patrol."  The team find their way into a fix after investigating an unexplained series of dog maulings.

Being a professional writer, it might strike you as odd when I confess I never was a creative writer as a kid. Not one poem, short-story, or play.

But that isn't to say I wasn't a creative thinker. As an adolescent, I was the game master (or story teller) when we played our (nerd alert) role-playing games i.e. Dungeon & Dragons. In high school, I pushed to do video project at every opportunity. And working at a summer camp allowed my to express my inner ham.

Having a better grasp of what I didn't want to do with my life, than what I do want to do; my college aspirations drifted from film, to television broadcasting to print journalism. I'm proud to say I've had a successful dozen year career as a print journalist at a major metropolitan newspaper. But I'm also proud to say I've go other itches to scratch.

I've been edging toward this point for a couple years now: Daring to think I might have something interesting to say or write outside of the newspaper framework. Two years, ago I took an abbreviated screen writing class at Access Sacramento. This spring, I took a class is short film production.

This summer, I produce my film.

It is humbling to have people willing to put their time and/or money into this project based on words I've put to paper. Producing is like pushing a boulder up hill in a rain storm. I'm glad others are joining in.

From what I can tell, so far, producing is about solving the fiscal, logistical and human resource problems to allow the director, actors and technical crew to make the story come alive.

Problem solving is something I've done. I find myself leaning on skills I honed as a young man first in student government in high school, later as editor of my college paper, and also through my years helping to run a Boy Scout camp.

With AK Long, a recent graduate from UC Davis, on board to produce, we've been collecting an impressive roster of crew members willing to work far harder than anyone can expect steak sandwiches.

The exercise, however, was largely theoretical until I saw the first draft of drawings of the Adventure Patrol "Righteous Hoodie," "Friar Chuck" and "Lady Lynx" costume. Oh "that's what they look like," I thought examining the artists work.

That, I expect, will be the first of many "gee wiz" moments I'll have along this magical ride. Next up casting: finding our three heroes that will turn the words on paper to three living breathing people with hopes, dreams and occasional constipation.

Please join us for the ride. Post comments on this blog. Like "Dance Step of Death" on facebook. Check out of www.indiegogo.com fundraising video, which we'll launch in a matter of days and join us for our Superheroes vs. Zombies party June 30 at Marilyn's. And above all see the movie.

Here is a look inside how sausage is made in California's Capitol. It may never be the most watched of the "Shit people say" videos, but for people who have worked in or around the capitol, many of these statements will sound familiar. I'm just happy to help out on a good way to get the Sacramento Press Club a little light-hearten exposure, while having fun with a very serious world.

Two music idiots ask: "What the hell is dubstep anyway?"

"Dubtep is robot dinosaurs fighting with lasers," random guy at Burning Man.

Music is a big part of Burning Man. For reasons unknown to me, the vast majority of the offerings are various sorts of electronica. The meager live music offerings are dwarfed by large theme camps offering dj music. It's important to note that the Burning Man organization does not bring, host or promote any of the artists. It's all done by theme camps interesting in hosting a huge free dance party in the dessert.
For the first time, I was camped with a electronic music expert who alerted us electronic idiots on when the world famous artists will be spinning the latest dubstep.

Dubstep expert

As we came to learn, dubstep is all the rage. (If you aren't already, you should be playing the clip above). Following our music expert's instructions I listened to several artists people pay good money to hear including bassnector and Opiuo. That often meant lasting until 3 a.m. But while I knew they were spinning dubstep, I didn't have the foggiest idea what defined dubstep.
As we sat in the queue to leave Black Rock City after a week of excess, (exodus the bane of Burning Man) Princess Fussy Pants asked me, "What is dubstep anyway?"
"A series of beep and twerps," I replied, to a laugh. But what is dubstep really?
Given the fact that we had hours of mind sapping traffic to clear, we decided to ask our fellow automotiveinmates. Below is a list of responses from other waiting to leave the incredibility enjoyable and exhausting festival. Some went for humor, some aficionados gave us a clear thoughtful response.

• "Dubstep is robot dinosaurs fighting with lasers." 
• "You know when your in the jacuzzi and you put your head under water by the jet? That is dubstep."
• "Pitch driven base line -- kind of a wobble. Beeps and twerps are more electro house."
• "It's all about the whoop. Baseline of whoop, more dynamic that house or techno. Wah, wah, wah, wah."
• "drug music."
• "Don't know -- I'm not a fan."
• This one super knowledgeable, not so articulate fan said it has something to do with a "double oscillating base" related to reggae and two step -- hence the name. 
• "It's doing a hit of nitrous by the speakers."
• "70 beats per minute sounds like doom ... do dat -- doom doom do dat."

If that doesn't want to make you run out to shill out $100 to see bassnector spin I don't know what will. Please share your impressions of Dubstep or call me a idiot below.