I recently had the opportunity to make a series of web videos for one of my very favorite politicians in the whole wide world, John Kefalas (Colorado House District 52 Representative). Here’s the flagship video, a five-minute conversation titled Coffee with John:

Head over to the John Kefalas YouTube channel to watch the other videos, which are shorter and organized by topic.

Since this is a blog about filmmaking, I’ll get into how these were made. But the important thing here is that John Kefalas is a remarkably dedicated, forward-thinking, effective legislator, and if you live in Fort Collins you should vote for him.

On to the nitty-gritty: Continue reading →

Less delicious, but more structurally sound than homemade apple pie.

Mundane though they may be, apple boxes are some of the most useful things on a film set. You can stand on them, see. Or you can sit on them. Or if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can put things on top of them.

In much the same way that Luke built his own lightsaber before his final battle with Darth Vader, I felt that as a film school graduate, building my own apple boxes would be a rite of passage. The only difference is I didn’t get my hand cut off and instead of trying to kill me with a plasma sword, my dad let me use his table saw.

Continue reading →

I was just looking through all my half-baked Celtx project files, feeling sorry for myself about what an awful writer I am, when I found this:

[scrippet]
INT. THE OFFICES OF J. PEANUT AND PEANUT A. PEANUT, ESQ.

The Peanuts’ secretary, MOLLY, sits at her desk, typing a memo.

J. PEANUT and PEANUT A. PEANUT, ESQ. enter. They are disheveled, and probably bleeding.

MOLLY
What happened!?

J. PEANUT
You know that old joke… the one about two peanuts walking down the street?

PEANUT A. PEANUT, ESQ.
And one was assaulted?

J. PEANUT
Well, it’s not true.

PEANUT A. PEANUT, ESQ.
We were BOTH assaulted.
[/scrippet]

…and I was much encouraged.