A Great Blog

So - where the hell have I been?

2011-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

....and, we're back!

I haven't blogged in over a year, because I've been consumed with two things - being a new dad (fatherhood is awesome, btw) and creating our new original series, Exorcists Local 667, which will be going live very soon (5 of 6 episodes are completed, just putting the finishing touches on the last one). It's a supernatural comedy, full of monsters and special effects, and has been a very wacky, fun ride. Exorcists follows the misadventures of a Libertarian exorcist who is cursed to lead a new union of exorcists, witches and other foes of supernatural evil.

It has already been featured in a few festivals, including the ITVFest in Los Angeles and SharpCuts in Ontario, Canada! We're shopping it to a few online channels and hope to announce our launch date very soon. And we've already got season two in the works, as well as a couple more shows up our sleeves.

After all of the tributes to Steve Jobs this week, and seeing again his fantastic Stanford commencement speech from 2005, I am more determined than ever to live my life my way, which means making movies - whenever and however possible.

But I do resolve to check in more often this time. ;)

Thanks, Steve.

2011-10-06T07:48:00.001-07:00

I'm a filmmaker thanks to Steve Jobs.

I was an actor for years, but had always dreamed of making my own films. But I didn't have the money for film school, equipment rentals or even film stock.

As a young adult in early 2000, I was doing sketch comedy in NYC. We wanted to bring our show up a notch, and wished we could treat it like a live tv show, by bridging our "blackouts" with fake commercials, short films, movie parodies, et cetera. Then a friend told me about iMovie. I immediately scraped together the money for an iMac DV and an inexpensive camcorder and dove into filmmaking with a passion.

Long story short - the films in our sketch shows were a big hit, and it wasn't long before I traded up to Final Cut Pro (and a better camera). Now many years, many Macs and many movies later, I continue to follow my dreams - with the real world ability to bring my stories to life.

Thank you, Steve. You truly changed my life.

Todd Faulkner

Thoughts from an Early Adopter

2010-04-06T16:17:00.002-07:00

As you may have gathered from my last post, I picked up a new toy this weekend -a 32GB iPad (the wifi only model).

Went into the Apple Store the day it was released to demo it, mainly to see how my websites that incorporate video were working on it - once I saw that they were performing flawlessly, I decided then and there to take the plunge, since this meant the device would be PERFECT to demo my sites at client meetings (given that I'll still need a wifi network - which is not a problem if I plan ahead. And worst case, there are other ways I can preset my iPad in order to be able to give a semi demo without wifi signal...more on that later.)

Sidenote: I decided against getting the 3G version since the NYC AT&T network is already strained, and now having more and more people streaming video on multiple devices is only going to make it worse. For now, I don't see the value in adding between $300 & $400 to the purchase price (once you add in the extra hardware and the monthly fees) just so I can scream and yell at AT&T twice as often when their service is unavailable. Maybe next time.

At any rate, so far I could not be more pleased with my purchase. Typing on it takes a little getting used to, but it's totally workable, and I think I could even get some serious script work done on those train rides to and from PA (without dealing with my laptop and its limited battery life). There is a Final Draft app in the works, and a iPhone screenwriting app that is compatible with the FD format - which means that amazingly portable screenwriting is now a possibility. I might pick up a Bluetooth keyboard down the road, but for now it's a bit clumsy, but workable.

I've already figured out several other ways this device can be used to help grow my business in addition to website demos and writing...but the one I'm the most excited about is Storyboard (formerly Hitchcock). I can take quick snapshots on set (or preferably in pre pro) import them directly into the iPad and then create animated storyboards with virtually no effort. The iPhone version already runs on the iPad, but I got word from the developer that a highly improved version is quickly forthcoming for the new device. This will be invaluable in production.

And of course, in addition to being a great device to read electronic books - it's also perfect for reading screenplays, manuals and storyboards, (in PDF format) so again, with just a bit of planning, I'll have many more resources at my fingertips (and have far less to carry).

Videos look amazing (it supports 720p playback) - and the streaming Netflix video looks sensational, and is far easier to set up than the Roku and other similar devices.

All in all, a must-have for new media types...

FF

-- Post From My iPad

Location:Groovy Falcon HQ

Back to it then.

2010-04-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

Wow. Been a while since my last post (I wonder how many blog posts start like that...?). But, as I've been working two full time jobs (regular "survival" job and as a full time actor in "Yank!" Off-Broadway) I figure I can cut myself a little slack.

As for "making stuff" I've been plugging along on a couple of websites for clients and figuring out how to play video on the flash-less iPad (more on that in my next post).

Also starting to contribute creatively to "Shifter", one of the web series that Nicole and I are cooking up, as well as spending every spare moment backstage reading technical manuals on our new camera and/or production, camera/lighting technique, special effects, et cetera. So I've at least gotten a lot figured out (if not yet accomplished).

Now to start firming up shoot dates and beg, borrow and steal me some crew...

FF

-- Post From My iPad

Location:NYC

Investing in Virtual Real Estate

2009-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

I bought the domain name for S-G (the hyphen was necessary, but actually makes the title better. You'll see when I'm ready).

What I like about setting up a domain name this early in the process is that not only does it secure some virtual real estate for me, it is also a contract of sorts with myself, reminding me to keep moving forward on the series (kind of like buying a plot of land upon which to build a home). The title to the other show (SStW) is so out there, I'm not worried about anyone else snapping it up, and it's clearly not my priority at the moment anyway (though it would be wise of me to grab a web address soon).

Speaking of moving forward, Nike loved my preliminary work on S-G, and helped me to refine and start hammering out an initial arc for Season One. It's funny stuff, and leaves me lots of room for random weirdness, and interesting twisty arcs for my leads. I do think I'll be able to use a lot of my preliminary design for "The League" in this new project - which makes sense, since that unfinished show was always imagined as a sort of "prequel" to this show. Certainly a lot of the backgrounds (with a few tweaks) and my basic male/female character bodies (and since the style will be borrowing from 70's Saturday Morning animation, there should be a certain "uniformity" to my genre heroes).

I do hope my voice actors on "The League" aren't too disappointed that it will be a long time before I ever complete it (IF I ever complete it - I hope to some day, just because the voice work on it was so good - the soundtrack alone gets laughs). But since the "prequel" is ultimately unneccesary, involves IP rights I will NEVER secure, and will take a lot of work to complete, best to move forward with something I own lock, stock & barrel. And of course, I'll be using a lot of the same people in the new pilot, and will use the others when I can.

Spent a little more time watching Frisky Dingo, Sealab 2021 and Venture Bros. this weekend. Inspiring, and DAMN funny.

World-Building

2009-10-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

Not much to report today, just tons of world-building. I've been busy coming up with a roster of characters for my new take on SG - which totally makes the concept funnier. Now to narrow down the roster, finish the first draft of the script and start the design process.
I'm still not ready to give up details, but it is mainly animated, and should fit somewhere between Venture Bros., Frisky Dingo and the animated version of "The Tick".

But it's going to be slow going for a while -- back when I started tackling my imagined "prequel" to SG (abandoned for now) I was just getting the hang of ToonBoom 3, I'm diving into ToonBoom 5 (and trying to take the time to actually learn it correctly this time). I feel like I'm back in school (except this time I'm interested in the subject matter).

AFTRA non-response and Brainstorming

2009-09-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just sent an email the other day to AFTRA to inquire about their rules regarding using actors from their union in new media projects. Still haven't heard back...I guess they're not so interested in having producers sign with them for new media projects...

Ideally, I'd like the freedom to use union actors, but I have to make sure that it will remain cost effective. If it's going to cost too much per actor, than I need to either go non-union, or shape the shows so they have fewer characters. Also, it might end up being similar to a student film, where not everyone has to be a member of the union. This would be ideal. I'd hate for anyone to have to shell out $1,600 to join AFTRA in order to do my web series (especially me!). If they ever get back to me, I'll know.

I'll also be checking in with SAG (although their rules seem to be pretty loose at this point).

Working on my top three contenders. My wife and partner in crime Nicole is taking a crack at the first one, a serialized dramatic genre story, and I'm taking a crack at the other two (they've been brewing for a while). One is an out and out parody ("SStW"), the other is more of an animated cross-genre comedy ("SG"). Note: I'm intentionally avoiding being specific here, not due to paranoia, but due to the fact that the more I discuss a script, the more effort it takes to get me to write it. So more details will follow once there are more details to share. For now, I'll just say that the one Nicole is tackling would appeal more to Joss Whedon/J.J. Abrams fans, and the two I'm looking at would be right at home on Adult Swim or Comedy Central.

I've done a lot of brainstorming on both projects, and have started a first draft of SG. Also watching similar TV shows for inspiration (though what I'm doing is quite different). F.Y.I., "Frisky Dingo" is HILARIOUS.

Tonight, I'll be brainstorming on both of my projects, perhaps doing a little character design for SG, and perhaps doing a little work on the theme song for SStW. It's silly, but SStW has been percolating in my head for years now, and the theme song is what keeps me coming back to it (and gets me charged up over and over again). It will make more sense when I release more details. (And I'll try to figure out how to post the theme once it's roughed out).

Percolating

2009-09-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Letting ideas marinate in my subconscious has always been an important part of the writing process for me -- but if I'm not careful, I end up letting all of my ideas just lie there in cold storage until I've forgotten about them, or worse, I build them up in my head to a point where nothing I sketch out in a first draft will never be even close to living up to my "dream" story.

One of my goals related to these new projects is changing the way I do business as a writer - basically finding ways to still allow time for my ideas to benefit from subconscious inspiration (those wonderful "A-HA!" moments that never come when you're looking for them), while also finding ways to make this time more active.

You see, when I'm editing, I find most of my solutions by trying different things, new approaches, sometimes by changing a scene entirely. But it is almost always an active process (and rarely an idea that comes to my while I'm merely "thinking" about the edit).

Same thing with directing. Obviously, on set you have to think on your feet and work with the actors and crew in real time, but in preproduction I almost always come up with solutions by physically trying new things. I open up FrameForge on my computer (or Hitchcock on my iPhone) and dig right in -- creating virtual storyboards, and playing around with camera placement, new angles, different ways to open and close a scene, etc. But the point is that aside from any initial idea for shooting that I may pick up from reading a script, I am active at every point in the storyboarding process.

I grant you, writing is a different beast -- I think because what we are doing is essentially world building. There are literally an infinite number of possibilities, and it's easy to get hung up on "roads not taken". So the trick for me is to figure out how to prepare to blaze my own trail through an uncharted forest without wandering around forever looking at every leaf of every tree. Sketching out "a map" as opposed to "the perfect map".

I'm thinking of this new approach as allowing a script to "percolate".

When you're making coffee, percolating is an active process, with a limited time frame, leading to a very specific result. (And in my opinion, percolating is still the best way to make coffee.)

As I'm letting a story percolate, I will take notes, jot down virtual conversations between characters, watch similar programming for inspiration (and to make certain that what I'm doing is different from the rest of what's out there). I'll sketch out scenes, images, confrontations. Then take more notes, cross reference them, mix archetypes. Put together a playlist of music that reminds me of the project, then listen to it whild I'm running, and take audio notes in ReQall (iPhone app) if anything strikes me while I'm lapping the reservoir. It should all add up to a more active and multi-dimensional form of brainstorming. And the key part of this new approach is that even if I'm not ready, I still have to write. Maybe just a scene. Maybe an outline. Maybe just free form character description and history. But at the end of every day, I have to have more words on the virtual page than I did the day before.

I realize that a lot of you out there already do this, and who follow that great dictum that every single day "a writer writes". To all of you, my kudos, and my admiration. But for those of us who have a tendency to get stuck in our own heads...

...it's time to wake up and make the coffee

Just Make Stuff

2009-09-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty charged after attending "Development Day" at the 5th Annual New York Television Festival. In addition to sitting in on several great panels about developing scripted programs for both television and new media, I was also on a panel about how to make an independent pilot. (I co-produced/directed Living in Captivity, a comedy pilot that was featured in last year's festival, as well as in this year's LA festival).

Anyway, the advice from our group as well as the other panelists can be boiled down to one simple phrase "Just Make Stuff". The tools are out there, the next frontier in storytelling is far from being tamed, if you want to tell stories that have the potential to reach a wide audience, there has never been a better time.

So the goal is for me to take my own advice. No excuses. Just make a show in time for next year's festivals.

This blog will be the online diary of that effort. And while I'll be counting on it to help keep me pointed toward my target, I'll keep entries short and sweet, in order to keep my focus on filmmaking (and not blogging about filmmaking).

Now I'm off to make stuff. I hope you'll join me.