Distribution Diaries: Supremacy’s Director Shares the Strategy That Got Him the Deal

It's exciting to see Sacramento raised filmmaker Deon Taylor finding a way to make things happen. He talk about how he got distribution deal for his new film "Supremacy" in the blog FilmIndependent.org. Here is open:

Supremacy, the intense psychological drama directed by Deon Taylor that screened last month in the LA Muse section of the Los Angeles Film Festival, has been picked up by Well Go USA for US distribution. Shot on 16 mm, the film stars Danny Glover, and  tells the harrowing true story of a white supremacist who, right after being released from prison, kills a police officer and then takes a black family hostage. Here, Taylor shares his Festival strategy and approach to finding distribution.

Distribution Diaries: Supremacy’s Director Shares the Strategy That Got Him the Deal

The most interesting portion of this article was the tactical decision that they would only show the film to potential distributors in a theatrical screening, as opposed to sending them a DVD for them to watch on a small screen and possibly distracted. In his case it seemed like absolutely the right decision, although I suspect some companies were turned off by having to seek out a screening.

The other interesting point was the statement from the film-maker Taylor about it being important to fight to get your film in festivals. It suggest I have much to learn about the behind-the-scenes of major film festival.

Five more drafts: You must be crazy

"Five more drafts? Are you kidding me?"
That's what I'm saying in my mind as I get notes on "Pink," my first feature length screenplay.
I'm already thinking about pitching Hollywood types and he says five more drafts. An array of emotions rush through me: disregard the notes, you'll never finish, I guess I'll stay in debt a little longer.
I bite my tongue.
" 'Little Miss Sunshine' went through 99 drafts," I'm told as encouragement.
Why does everyone know that? It's meant to help writers through the slogs of rewrites, edits and updates, but to me its just depressing.
Clearly, I've never been through anything like this.
My last page 1 story for the newspaper changed little before publication.
Five more drafts, really.
Does that mean I won't be done in time for "Pitch Fest" at the Screenwriters World Conference in August?
Unless you've got a well-connected agent, doing what I'm attempting to do requires not only a great script, but the marketing moxie to get it into people's hands. There is no point in writing a killer script, if nobody is going to see it. As such, in the weeks of lag time while I've been waiting for feedback on my masterpiece version 4, I put on my producers cap and started percolating marketing ideas, talking to potential investors and putting things in motion.
The Sunday evening conversation capped what had already been a huge week for Pink.
On Monday, evening a group of 15 actors read the script aloud (a table read) to help me listen to the story to see what working and what's not.
Then on Tuesday, the CFAA advanced writers group "workshopped" the script dissecting it for character development, flow, engagement, clarity, the whole nine-yards.
Both of these processes are well worth your time, for anyone who thinks they have a completed script.
I left both of those engagements with substantial notes on areas the script could improve but also the reassurance we're on the right path.
Let me not leave the impression the CFAA notes were all roses either. They offered serious reasoned notes, but suggested there was significant work to be done.
By Thursday, I've processed those notes and had some idea of what needed to be done.
But Sunday, I was like the hiker who just realized there are a more switch backs and a stream to traverse before the mountain assent begins.
Sometimes its hard to find the traction I need. Here is the partial blog post I started Wednesday:

The road before me is enormous.
So enormous sometimes its hard to know what to do first.
Should I spend time on the script tonight? Should I have gone to The Comedy Spot to watch my old Harold improv performers? Should I get back to the marketing/business plan?
For the record, home from work, I spent an hour flipping around between EPSN, Anthony Bourdain's Part Unknown, and a brief stop to see what's on Access Sacramento before spending a good hour and half re-reading "Producer-to-Producer" by Maureen Ryan.
Now, here I am writing a blog post. 

After the phone call Sunday I was trapped in a vortex. I wanted to think about something else, but Pink, the notes and what comes next was all I could think about. I watched "Olympus Has Fallen" to cleanse my mind. Still not ready to move on I watched "Lovelace," the biopic on "Deep Throat" actress Linda Lovelace. I didn't love how they told the story but it's a powerful and enjoyable film. Like Pink, Lovelace is a sexy period piece that says a lot about repression. After looking up its box officer numbers, I added it to my list of comparable movies.
That night as I lied down for bed trying not to think about my film, the answers in forms of new scenes that play to the same theme and bring the secondary characters into tighter focus jumped into my head and started dancing.
Fuck five rewrites. I can do this in three.  

Production dream has turned me into cyberstalker

Once you start talking about producing your script: people start asking “Who do you see in it?”

It’s a logical question.

I think what they’re really asking is what do these characters look and sound like.

What I always hear though is: “Are you crazy or bat shit crazy?”

Until quite recently I didn’t have a ready response. Just a couple months ago I was still wondering whether I could finish this thing. Now I’m supposed by brash enough to suppose known Hollywood actors would want to be in my film?

Do I play is stay modest or go big and say Jennifer Lawrence?

I’ve never fixated on stars. I was always more interested in who wrote the story and how the production came together.

But now with the dream of putting my film into production, I’ve turned into a celebrity cyberstalker.
I’m making lists. And thanks to IMDBPro its easy to look up their agent.

I make lots of lists these days.

I'm now busily adding to my list of agents, producers, directors and actors who might help move my film along.

It’s already changed the way I watch movies. Suddenly actors aren’t just distant beings I never have to worry about meeting to possible creative collaborators.

Spec script no longer king in Hollywood, but not only route to success

I have to admit I have visions of sugar plumbs dancing in my head.

Here I am with a script still in the revision mode and I'm thinking about what a reasonable offer from a Hollywood studio would be. Having read (or listened to) Joe Eszterhas' book "Hollywood Animal," I figured might have a distorted view of the spec market. Esterhas went from journalist to one of the hottest writers in Hollywood mostly by selling spec scripts like Basic Instinct. He fetched $2 million for Showgirls.

This informative 2013 Vanity Fair article chronicles the ups and downs of the spec script market. A speculative script is the work of a screenwriter telling an original story not commissioned by a studio. The cold hard fact is the very few sell. According to the article, 119 were sold in 2011 followed by 96 sold in 2012.

Here is a pretty clear explanation why studios have gravitated towards tested products with built-in audiences. 

The new math isn’t complicated: pay a screenwriter $1 million for an untested, unknown idea or squeeze a movie out of an existing product with built-in branding. As a result, “developing from I.P.”—intellectual property, i.e., books, comics, video games, old movies, TV series, toys—“has become de rigueur rather than waiting for a spec to come in,” says Langley. “The focus shifted from original ideas to hedging your bets,” notes Moore. Or, as Shane Black says, “there’s only the careful choice of a product that goes through committee. It’s: how can we make movies that we absolutely know won’t lose any money?” As it happens, Black is currently directing the third installment of the billion-dollar Iron Man franchise, due for release this spring. Read the full article. 

It's the kinda thing that might drive someone towards sharp objects, but I give it no mind. The article focus on the major studios. What it doesn't address is the ability of indie producers to circumvent the studios. Developments in that realm give me the confidence my little screenplay will eventually light up movie screens even if those screens happen to fit in your pocket.

I'm going to make a film

I’m taking a break from my sink full of dirty dishes to declare that I intend on making a movie.
Readers of this blog -- all 15 of you -- should know that I’ve recently completed writing my first feature-length screenplay.
I heartily accept your congratulations on how far I’ve come -- it’s already represents my longest sustained effort in any single endeavor -- but there is a big difference between a completed screenplay and a script that’s turned into a movie.
I shall complete the latter.
It consumes me. Six thoughts out of 10 are about next steps towards making it happens. I read. I plot. I youtube knowledge. And I try attempt to resist letting it dominate every conversation with friends.
Just this week, I’ve been corralling actors for a “table read” of the script, started planning a marketing photo shoot, talked to two potential investors, and convinced the companion video game.
I’m as serious as a heart attack.
For those new to the blog, I’ll end the suspense. The title is “Pink” or maybe “Pink Pussy Kat.” (Offer your thoughts in the comment field)
Here what the back of the box reads: A free-speech-loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to convince a jury that her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy courtroom comedy based on an actual 1969 case.
I heard about the case from a newsroom old timer and dove into the newspaper clips. I’m surprised to see this there is no Wikipedia entry on this as the case or the bar. My surprise is heightened by the fact that the government’s loss is was the impetus for the revision in California law governing adult entertainment that still stands today.
There are two possible paths towards realizing this vision of getting the movie made. One is Hollywood. The other is as an Independent Film.
I will exhaust all reasonable efforts to see it made as a Hollywood film.
This is a premise that has sizzle. There is a reason it was a national story back in ‘69. Judges don’t take jury’s to strip clubs every day. As Earl Warren Jr. put it the jury would have a better look at the evidence by actually watching the dance.
This is American Hustle meets People Vs. Larry Flint meets Flashdance.
I intend on submitting it to a cross section of screenwriting competitions to help it gain visibility. I’ll cold call, stock and harass agents in an attempt to get representation. I’ll exploit personal connection to make this happen.
But knowing what little I know about Hollywood, I know that may not be enough.
That’s why I almost hope I’ll be presented with the challenge fully-realizing Perpetual F Entertainment and producing Pink as an Independent Film.
Between crowdfunding, live event fundraisers, angel investors and pre-funding distribution deals, I think it possible to finance the film at the level to warrant broad distribution.
All that to say, with the right network this is within reach.
I’ve been a newspaper man the last 14 years, but I have a track record as a doer.
Two quick stories before I go back to the dishes.
During my waning days as student body president of my high school an opportunity presented itself to open a student store. So during my spare time between school work sports, theater, and other student leadership duties I got the space allocated, got a contractor to make building modifications, and ordered product. The store still stands.
In college, as editor-in-chief we decided to pick up our newsroom and move it to New Orleans to produce three extra daily editions during my school’s big football game the Bayou Classic.
This new challenge will be the maximum test of my skills and I’m ready for it.

Film progress continues, optimistic on prospects, marketing feedback sought

Skip to the survey.

Ed Fletcher (left) takes an elevator selfie with writer/director Graham Streeter
and supporters of his 2014 psychological thriller Unpeaceable

Progress continues on Fletcher screenplay

Screenwriting takes patience. More patience than is required for most journalists. I’m now on what I’m calling version four for of my feature length screenplay "Pink." I’m humble enough to accept that major changes could lie ahead, but I’m feeling good enough about it that if George Clooney asked for a copy of it while we were in an elevator I’d hand it to him without reservations.

The screen writing panelists at the 2014 Sacramento International Film Festival
 included Lew Hunter and Richard Broadhurst. 

I’m actively looking for more feedback so if you want to read it holler. I’m not actively sending it to agents, producers or talent yet. That comes soon. I hope. I envision another month of feedback, including a table read before I begin exerting myself seeing if the script has a Hollywood ending.

That will including sending it to screenwriting contests and festivals (for a fee).

The good news though, after attending the Sacramento International Film Festival earlier this month, I’m convinced I could get the movie made locally as an indie film, should my dreams of a Hollywood paycheck not materialize.

The Sacramento International Film Festival doesn’t have the glitz, prestige, or attendance of more prominent film festivals. The upshot of that: meeting the filmmakers there to talk about their work was easy. You can just chat them up after the screening or in the bar afterwards.

True fact: Film festivals should be judged solely their after parties.  

Those bar conversations, gems learned from Q and A sessions and a better understanding of the cost of producing successful indies leads me to believe this can be done.

A little help from you, if you have two minutes. Please take a moment at help me pick a logline for my movie.

From Wikipedia: A log line or logline is a brief summary of a television program, film, or motion picture often providing both a synopsis of the program's plot, and an emotional "hook" to stimulate interest.

Update on Goldie film 

Team Golide was extremely excited about the film we put together for the Sac International's 48 hour challenge. The film received the "Audience Choice" award, but we knew we had more film than we were able to show within the 7-minute time limit. The film has been reedited and an original score is being composed.

Team Goldie at the Sacramento International Film Festival. Goldie won
 the Audience Choice award in the 48 hour film challenge.  It's currently being
reediting for broader release. 

We hope to submit it to festival in the coming months. A modern twist on a storybook classic, Goldie is a dramatic short about a girl trying find her way after making a big life change. I'm the writer and a producer on this project. 

48-hour film project comes out gold

Sacramento may not have a wealth of big budget Hollywood films being produced by it does have its share of films being produced as part of a film challenge. After several years of deciding I'm too busy and/or unskilled to contribute, I showed up at the cast and crew call for the Sacramento International Film Festival's 48-hour film challenge and offered to write something for somebody.

I hooked up with Matt Gilliam, who liked my idea of putting a modern twist on the children's classic "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." With Pam Finney's help, we began assembling our cast and crew and refining the script. Matt, Pam, Greg Marker and Gwen Conklin each made contributions to the script.

The 7-minute film is one of more than a dozen that will screen April 26 the opening night of the Sacramento International Film Festival. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Crocker Art Gallery.

Here is a look at how it came together:



And a look at a trailer:



I even wrote the lyrics for a song to accompany the movie. A buddy from high school took my words and ran with it producing this pretty cool song.

Sacramento Film Challenges

Name: 48 Hour Film Festival

Sponsor organization: Sacramento International Film Festival

Important dates: 7 p.m. today – cast and crew call at the Studio Center, 915 Fee Drive; April 4 - challenge starts; April 26 - films screened

Name: Place Called Sacramento Film Festival

Sponsor organization: Access Sacramento

Important dates: April 11 – script deadline; May 28 – cast and crew call; Oct. 5 – films screened

Name: Horror Filmmaker Challenge

Sponsor organization: Sacramento Horror Film Festival

Important date: May 3 – films due

Name: “Sac Music Seen” / 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge

Sponsor organization: Sacramento Film and Music Festival

Important dates: April 4 – music submissions due; July 20 – videos due

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/21/6255207/budding-filmmakers-use-dark-fodder.html#storylink=cpy

Account supports ruthless depiction of "Big" John Misterly

Carol Doda

As a journalist solidly into my second decade at the craft, it only made sense that I’d lean on a true story to easy my way into screenwriting.
Writing a historical fiction is like journalism, except you get to color in the details, I figured.

After taking my first weekend screenwriting class three years ago, in February (2014) completed my first feature length script. I’m a admittedly a little stir crazy as I share my baby seeking refinement.
It’s hard to tell how long the road before me is. It’s next to impossible for a Hollywood outsider to sell their script. It’s hard enough to get it read. Should I try to secure the money to produce it myself, it means many long nights juggling my play job and my newspaper job.

So it was with mixed feelings I scheduled a meeting with former Sacramento County Undersheriff Larry Stamm, someone with intimate knowledge of my subject matter and whose recollections might force a major rewrite.

“Pink,” my screenplay about the 1969 trial over all-nude dancing at the Pink Pussy Kat beer bar in Orangevale, started as a small project. My 2011 screenwriting class at Access Sacramento encouraged people to write a 10-page script for submission into it “Place Called Sacramento Film Festival.” Without a better idea, I turned to the newspaper archives about this intriguing trial. Using the newspaper stories as my guild post, I constructed a story to fill the middle, imagining the dialogue and what happened around the court dates.

I submitted the script. It was rejected.

My explanation at the time was it was too sexy for the “family friendly” contest. That may be true, but it was also true there was little character depth to the 10-minute version. Undoubtedly, that’s a tough bar for any 10-minute film. Without the constraints of a 10-minute requirement, the script  quickly  grew to 17 pages as I added by everything it was missing before.

Pink wasn’t a full-time obsession. I wrote and produced my short zombie comedy “Dance Step of Death” in 2012 and stayed busy with my other projects, including performing improv.

New project and ideas would manifest, but I kept returning to “Pink.” I interviewed two of the reporters who covered the trial and it grew to 27 pages. At 27 pages, the characters were really starting to take shape. I showed it to a few people, three of which urged me to develop it to feature length.

At feature length, it has the potential to make money. As as short, there is no even remote chance of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However, getting the movie made as a full-length movie is dramatically more complicated than my happy little short.

I pressed on.
As I went along, I found myself struggling over the facts. The trial became a national story after the judge Earl Warren Jr. ruled the jury needed to see the dance to determine whether it violated community standards and included testimony from the famous San Francisco stripper Carol Doda. Despite its notoriety at the time, very little exists about it in accessible online archives. That fact is worth noting in this age where it often seems anything worth knowing has a wikipedia entry.

I found a few newspaper clippings, one radio story, and a reference to it in Doda’s wikipedia page, but there was little else. I couldn’t find the two stars of the drama -- Susanna Haines and Sheila Brandenson. The district attorney that handled it was dead, as was the the club’s owner Leonard Glancy.

In the absence of the gritty details, as the script grew from 27 pages to its current 116 page feature length form it was clear I needed to make some choices. The way I figured it, make a compelling story even it that means condensing a timeline, inventing a backstory and making a villain.

That villain is Sheriff John Misterly.

I knew some things about Misterly. It’s well documented he set out and succeeded in running the biker groups out of the county. The phrase most often associated with Misterly was “son-of-a-bitch.” While I didn’t have the specific facts, like whether he personally threatened people, it seemed in keeping with what I did know. I typed and slept on things, then typed some more. Scene by scene things fell into place, until I was happen. I sat on it a week to make sure I didn’t wake up with a new scene that had to be inserted.
On Feb. 15 I declared my script done, minus the scores of rewrites that lay in store. I set out getting the script proofread and started polishing.

Then without warning Sacramento Historical Society Member Dave Reingold contacted me about my script. He too had an interest in this bit of history for a project he working on about the history of Burlesque. The chapter on the Pink Pussy Kat trial is a big of an addendum to his work. Among his gifts was contact information for Larry Stamm, who was a detective during the Pink Pussy Kat’ legal entanglement.
It was then with excitement and trepidation that I arranged to meet Stamm. Would new information force me into a major rewrite? This effort was already my longest sustained writing project and I’m admittedly dieing for the fame and fortune that comes with a hit movie.

I’m happy to report that John Misterly in real life is just as bullying as in my based on real events fiction.
Stamm explained that just as “Big John” ran off the biker gangs, he was dead set on getting the adult clubs out of his community as well.
Stamm said officers were under standing order to make their presence felt at the adult establishments when there wasn’t something else pressing to be done. That included asking to see their alcohol license, checking patron’s ids, checking for code violations and giving people leaving a sobriety test.

“It was a time where people who were in the money saw an opportunity to come to cowboy town Sacramento and turn it into a big city,” said Stamm, of the influence of San Francisco culture and proliferation of adult clubs in the county.
Stamm didn’t have all the answers, while he was a detective and said he’d been there 10 to 20 times, he was not on the unit tasked with shutting it and the others down. I asked whether there was any history between Big John and Leonard Glancy, the owner.

“If there was any conversation, it was Misterly telling him to get the hell out of our community,” Stamm said.

He did nice colorful details that do come with working for the man. He mentioned it practice of chewing on cigars, his driving a big black Chrysler, and his Martini lunches.
But more than the details he offered a better understanding of Big John’s motivation and drive. I went away knowing the more fine tuning of the character is in store, but thanks to Stamm Big John will be richer fuller, more contextualized villain.

When did we stop building things? Here is my Burning Man boombike.

Ed Fletcher boombike adds a car stereo and LED lights to his mountain bike

Here's a closer look at the speakers, deck and battery.

Burning man is for builders

The most many people know about Burning Man is that there’s lots of sex and drugs. While that’s true, it barely scratches the surface on what Burning Man is about.

I used an Altolids box as the control panel

One lesser known gems of Burning Man is that is a collection of doers, dreamers and problem solvers. Given the inhospitable nature of the Black Rock desert where it’s held, concurring your environment is the first obstacle. The second and just as important challenge is to do your part add something to the community artistically or recreationally.

This year, I decided that my bike needed more illumination and a sound system.

Illumination is important because there are no streetlights and hard to keep a crew of bikes together with so many blinky dots in the night.

I saw some people cruising around Sacramento with sound systems and wanted it build my own.

I’d assembled a 12-volt camp sound system before. Mainly by assembling a second-hand car stereo setup, adding extra speakers and hooking it to car battery.

This time around I started more or less from scratch and built my own speaker boxes, wired an on/off switch control panel, and put the setup together.

The pole is made from an LED strip light
wrapped around an inner core plastic pole
within an larger plastic pole. 

From doing the wiring to cutting the speaker boxes, there were many times where I wondered whether I'd bitten off more than I can chew. I took more time to home depot and my local hardware store than it should have, but I kept finding solutions and refining the project. At least once I turned to facebook to crowdsource an answer to a question that troubled me.

But I have to say it was pretty fun. When did we stop building things and just become consumers? Some where along the line someone suggested I just buy a boom box. No where is the fun in that.

I’m pretty proud of it already. On my first test ride I got my first offer to buy it. I think I’ll keep this one.    

   

Who is ready for the collapse of society?

For a brief period, peaking around Christmas, I was a full-blown "prepper." 

"Prepper" is what people preparing for a collapse civilized society following a massive natural or man-made disaster call themselves. In short, you store food, learn to protect it and learn how to get along without electricity. It was the last part that appeals to the Boy Scout in me. It's scary to think about how much we depend on societal systems, electricity, plumbing, water, WiFi, telephone.

I started by watching episode after episode of Doomsday Preppers on National Geographic Channel. That show taught me several things: everyone should have a "bugout bag," a short-notice survival bag; real preppers have enough money to buy and hide a steel "bugout shelter on their property;" wives placate their crazy husbands; and the television experts never think anyone is prepared enough.

To compliment my television tutorials I started reading Emergency by Neil Strauss. Strauss, a hot shot music writer, describes his growing concern about being ill-equip to deal with what may lay around the corner and his efforts rectify that. It's a digestible view into the preppers, survivalists and perpetual traveler movements.

My increasing awareness led my to a Army Surplus store to do a little Christmas shopping. I was also spending spare brainwaves thinking about: Where I'd go if Folsom Dam collapsed? How long would it take for the cavalry to come? Is my home in the flood area?

Katrina was a real scare for many people. Many within the movement point to it as evidence of the government's inability to tackle disasters and evidence of how quickly the looters will come for your food stockpile.

I since finished the book and eased up my on preps. Not because I'm ready, but in part because I have a little more faith in man than most of those people. Super Storm Sandy showed the depth of American's compassion and empathy. If one area of the country is threatened, there are plenty of people in a position to rush in to help... unless its a total economic collapse, then I'll meet you at Black Rock City.

  

Going back to Burning Man, unsure about pen

As spring approaches, I know at least one thing I'll be doing this summer. I'm going back to Burning Man. I'm convinced I can get it right.

I bought a ticket and the majority of the people I camped with last year are coming back, so that is all settled. The open question is whether I go as a journalist or just go as a mission in self discovery. (Truth: It's always a little of both).

Last year, I wrote a piece for The Root magazine on diversity at Burning Man. It's a fine piece and I'm happy I did it, but the technical issues that I had to be overcome to file without leaving the desert were pretty significant.

It basically took big chunks of two days to produce: one day interviewing, writing, shooting and editing pictures and one day trying to get a WiFi signal strong enough to send words and pictures out then having to go back to the WiFi to answer editing questions.

For the most part, Burning Man is a low tech environmental. They don't provide WiFi and phone signals are spotty at best. The WiFi that is there is provided by people just like me who do it to do it. Most take advantage of the lack of connectivity. It's one week where you can tell your boss that "no you won't be checking emails" while your away. It's amazing how much freer one's mind is when our real-world work lives, bills and pressures are told to take a vacation. We - myself included - make fun of people who walk around hoping to get one bar of phone signal so they can get a text message.

But the writer in me enjoyed trying to translate experiences into words. Burning Man is filled with so much going on it a writer's dream and nightmare. Part of me wants to explore other mediums. I'd love to get behind the mic at the Burning Man radio station. I started performing one-man improv shows with a megaphone and I've toyed with video.



Of my videos my 2011 is by far the most popular before the word "chick" is in the title.

If you have Burning Man stories ideas, I'd love to have them. Even better would be ideas for outlets that will pay me for those words.

Blog neglected, but progress significant

Dearest blog,

The "Adventure Patrol" brace for a fight in "Dance Step of Death."

I’m sorry I’ve left you alone for so long. I started you in good faith. I started you as a place to share my thoughts and add my tiny mark on the collective conscious as filtered by the interwebs.

But I while neglected checking in, I’ve been working hard. More than anything you urged me to follow my dreams, scratch itches and try to be the badass motherfucker that started a student store in high school and in college moved his student paper to New Orleans to produce a Bayou Classic edition.

I’m happy to report that my short zombie film “Dance Step of Death” has been submitted to five film festivals and will shortly be available on the amazon marketplace for digital download. As you know that was the first film I produced. I also wrote it, not to be vain. We missed Sundance (we didn’t submit), but by any measure we’ve created a piece of art that will live in our collective universe.

Meanwhile, I’ve made some revisions on my script for “Pink.” That’s film I’m writing -- and hopefully producing -- about the 1969 strip club trial. No I’m not working on this to get my rocks off. It’s a really interesting piece of Sacramento history. And if I need to use a little tits and ass to get people into a theater to see a story about First Amendment and Freedom of Expression, I’ll do it. Besides its a nice little story that will actually warm you heart.

Yeah well, the next step is to set up a table read. I’m on it.

I’m also happy to report something I mentioned earlier on this blog, my wine case re-gifting www.liquidgift.com site is under construction. Technically, its live on the Internet, but we’re still testing.  The idea - as you recall - is to launch a bunch of decorative wine cases out into the world, ask the recipients to show the case a good time, blog about it on our site, then pass it on to a new recipient/player.

I know, I have a long way to go, but I think its a great idea. The site looks nice so if I can find the right help, it gets a good launch and we properly harness social media, it could generate some real traffic and media attention.

Mainly I want to see what happens and launch something that will continue to evolve as it facilitates sharing and interconnectedness.

Oh and as you remember, I'll still doing improv. Yes, every Wednesday night at the Sacramento Comedy Spot. I'm getting better and, while not always technically perfect, its funny.

Now blog, my personal life is a mess, but it not that kind of blog.

Ever Forward
Ed Fletcher