Starroid Raiders!!!

Here are my STARROID RAIDERS a set of Star Wars knock-offs my parents got me for Christmas from a catalog. They came packed in a small, plain cardboard box. No fancy packaging - no names, even! I loved them more than some toys perhaps because since no one I knew had them, they seemed almost made for me! I made up names for them and they had many grand adventures alongside micronauts, Hammerhead and an assortment of small rubber monsters. It wasn't until about a year ago that I did some searching online and discovered their true identities: (left to right) Wag, Tanco, Aton, Tior, Newt and Yazu.

Is the Water Warm Enough? Yes, Lisa...

Spent several hours today shooting scenes for DEADLY PREMONITIONS with Toni Draggon as Lisa, Lacey
Brassiere as Wendy and Rob Merickel again playing the masked killer in addition to doing make-up, holding the boom, helping with lights, etc. Great, great performances and everyone seemed to have a swell time.



Look at the SIZE of those things! This was my first time working with Lacey
Brassiere and she was terrific and a real trooper letting us dump a half a bottle of karo syrup blood on her copius cleavage!

Several unexpected things cropped up over the weekend, so still music and sound to work on for TAINTED BLOOD.

Time is flying...

Joe's Movie Studio

I have the next DEADLY PREMONITIONS shoot scheduled for this coming Sunday. Once again my house will stand in for another location - this time I'll be shooting in the playroom/bonus room above the garage and one of the bathrooms, all standing in as two girls' apartment.

So far, I've used the entryway, front door, hallway and living room for "Eva's house," the family room, kitchen, bedroom, exterior/driveway and 2 bathrooms for "Carrie's house," and the area by my computer for "Eric's office." This weekend will add one of the bathrooms and the playroom/bonus room as the "apartment." I plan to use my office as "Josh's office." Not much of my house left! Amazingly, I have yet to use my garage for DEADLY PREMONITIONS, which has found it's way into most of my movies. Heck I even shot UNDER my house for the UnderBug segment of DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES. Crazy!

Finished the video edit for TAINTED BLOOD last night. Runs a few seconds shy of 20 minutes. Looks cool. Now on to fixing some sound and adding sound effects & music.

Busy busy busy...

Deadly Premonitions Casting News

I have "Lacey
Brassiere" cast as Wendy:



And Toni Draggon cast as Lisa:



Now to try and get a shoot scheduled...

One Step at a Time

Spent yesterday shooting pick-ups with Amira for DEADLY PREMONTIONS. All went well and she more than qualifies as a real trooper for having to flip flop between stressed, relaxed, happy, worried and frantic since we were shooting out of sequence.

Have a deadline for TAINTED BLOOD coming up so will need to concentrate on that for a bit to get it done and out.

Meeting with a potential actress this Wendesday for a small role in DEADLY PREMONTIONS.

Finished up a DVD cover design job - need to get on a CD and mail it off.

Watched PARTS: THE CLONUS HORROR last week. Saw it originally on the CBS Late Movie and it sure was creepy. I saw PHANTASM on the CBS Late Movie, too.

More soon...

Crappy soda!

Just pulled in from Seattle after a looooong drive as we had to take a detour to get around an overturned tanker trunk on the freeway. Tired...very tired, but had to update on a couple of things from the previous post:

Peach NeHi - super-fake tasting peach, like little peach hard candies. Too fake for me.

Moxie's Original Elixer - Holy crap this was terrible!! At first when it's in your mouth it kind of tastes like root beer, but quickly becomes bitter and very medicinal. The aftertaste was 1000 times worse! I guess I should've known, since it's called 'Elixer,' but I can't believe ANYONE enjoys this stuff. Wow.

Off to bed...

Meatballs and Twikki

On vacation in Seattle. Have spent a little time watching a VHS dub of the DEADLY PREMONITIONS footage from a couple of weeks back, making a scene log and notes. Lots of great stuff.

Watched THE ALIEN FACTOR with the kids the other morning. Love that movie.

Tried the new FRAWG slurpee - mild green apple taste. Good stuff.

Went to IKEA last night and enjoyed 20 sweedish meatballs with all of the fixings plus a peach soda that was quite awesome.

Went to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame today. I could've spent hours there if not for the kids. Awesome, awesome place full of great props, models and all kinds of stuff. Including the Twikki suit from Buck Rogers!

On the way home, we stopped to get sodas for the kids. I picked up some Peach NeHi and Mixie Original Elixer, which I have yet to try. Also got some Birch Beer, which tastes kind of like those peppermint losenges that taste kind of like Pepto Bismol. A bit too medicinal for me.

More later...

Tainted Blood, etc.

Busy busy busy...

Two weekends back was my 20th high school reunion. I had reluctantly stepped in to help plan it at the last minute and by some miracle it actually came together and people seemed to have a good time. I even had a couple of people really interested in being in some of my movies as well as someone offer his house as a location. Of course, it could've been the beer talking...

Worked some more on the pool monster head for DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES.

Last weekend, I spent Friday and Saturday night at a location about an hour north shooting a vampire-themed short called TAINTED BLOOD.While the story is set against a World War III of humans vs vampires, the short, written by John Bowker, is really a character study of a husband and wife...with cool plot twists and of course a nice amount of blood and slime! Robert J. Olin delivered another intense performance as did newcomer Toni Draggon. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've ever had a more enjoyable shoot! They were so prepared, not only with lines, but body language, blocking ideas, costumes, props, etc. that frankly, I barely had to direct them at all! Looking forward to putting this one together. It will show up as part of an upcoming anthology from Falcon Video. Tentatively lining Toni up to be in some remaining DEADLY PREMONTIONS scenes.




But first, I'm off for about a week and a half for some sorely-needed vacation.

See ya in a bit...

- Joe

Deadly Premonitions Pics!

Mr. Fantastic

I wish I could post a detailed production diary complete with kick-ass photos of the incredible DEADLY PREMONITIONS shoot I had over the last jam-packed 3 days, but there is just not enough time. I'm back to work after a few days off and have projects piled up to my eyeballs, plus my 20th high school class reunion is this weekend complete with out-of-town friends flying in and our house hosting a visiting family of five. Between cleaning up the wreckage of shooting in my house and preparing for the weekend guests and visitors, I'll barely have time to breathe!

However, let me say this: Tough Tom Stedham is one fantastic guy - a terrific actor who knew his lines, took direction well, knows more movie quotes than I do, is a laugh riot, doesn't mind moving a light stand or two and takes fantastic pictures (I'll be getting a CD of the hundred or so he took during the shoot in a week or so). Note to any moviemakers out there: work with this guy.

Everyone else was just awesome! Amira not only pulled off playing everything from coy & sexy to scared out of her mind to mad as hell, but looks pretty damned good in skimpy lingerie to boot. Barb creeped the hell out of us with her disturbing portrayal of the disturbed psycho lady and might I say she puts the 'BUST' in bustier. For his portrayal of Detective Newman, Robert J. Olin came complete woith gun, holster, handcuffs, badge and even a handcuffs tie clip! And Rob Merickel gave the greatest maniac killer face I have ever seen - and I mean it.

So many stories to tell! They'll have to wait, but the good news is next time I'll post pictures.

Stay tuned...

Down to the wire

Had a last-minute change to the schedule - Tom's flight gets in about four hours later than originally planned, so the dinner/cast meet & greet is again cancelled. Also, he leaves about 4 hours earlier than originally planned on Monday so we'll have to take care of things earlier in the day, but that should work out fine.

I'm in the midst of getting last-minute items, finishing storyboards and cleaning/decorating my house to serve as the main shooting location. Feeling excited and a tad nervous.

Here we goooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Things Are Looking Up

Was in the midst of reworking the DEADLY PREMONITIONS shooting schedule due to an actor not being available Sunday when I heard from one of the actresses - she had a big commitment for most of Saturday afternoon! That's when I had scheduled most of her scenes! Not a huge deal, I just had to flip-flop the stuff without her and the stuff with her, all still on Saturday.

The better news was that it turns out the actor who can't make it Sunday has Monday off from work. So now I don't have to cram his stuff with Ton into Friday night and what's more, I can shoot a bunch of additional things on Monday with him. Cool.

Could things get any better? Yes! I had lunch at a place in town for the first time today (the place has been there for years, I just never got around to eating there) and they had a tuna melt on the menu. Still mourning over the loss of the Elmer's tuna melt (see earlier post), I decided to try it. And it was GOOD! And the potato salad was excellent as well. Worked a bit on storyboards and prop sketches and enjoyed a good meal.

Fingers crossed that good things continue...

Foamy

Monster progress for DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES:



Here is a photo I'd forgotten to post of my son wearing the pre-paint "TreeSpirit" head



Here it is after some paint, etc.



Here's my son wearing the pool monster "skull" after a few more pieces have been added, including the basis for a "fin" on top of it's head.



Here's the mulk-jug and duct tape 'skull' on top of an oscilating fan (which is built-up with a few towels and covered with trash bags), and the next two ingredients: spray foam insulation and green spray paint.



Here's a whole can of the spray foam covering the 'skull.' Next up - wait a day for it to cure and start carving away stuff that doesn't look good.



The monster and the monster-maker.



Scary!!!

Son Of A...

I had the PERFECT shooting schedule worked out for DEADLY PREMONITIONS next weekend and planned to send it out on my lunch hour today and then get a voicemail at 7:30 this morning from one of the actors - he was already unavailable for most of the shooting schedule: now he can only be there for four hours. Four hours!

CRAP.

Too many things to list that this messes up. Need to rethink it all.

Crap.

More later...

Tom is a GO!

Had a great chat on the phone last night with Tom Stedham. Tom is coming out next weekend for several days of shooting for DEADLY PREMONITIONS playing the female lead's boyfriend, Eric.


As mentioned the other day, Amira is on board for DEADLY PREMONITIONS, playing the lead role of Carrie.


Robert J. Olin is cast as Detective Newman in DEADLY PREMONITIONS


Tom Shaffer plays the role of Josh in DEADLY PREMONTIONS

I'm very close to having a shooting schedule worked out - I have scenes all grouped by location and day - now just have to work out how long each set-up & scene will take.

Made some good progress on the pool monster head for DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES last night. Took a few pictures of it on my son's head - will post soon. The cut-up-milk jugs & duct tape "skull" is almost complete. Next up: using spray foam insulation to build on top of that, then a combination of green plastic tarp material and spray paint for the skin. Oh, and translucent plastic easter eggs for eyes. Scaaaaaary!!!!!

And wouldn't you know it: as soon as I posted yesterday about a zero response rate for my little postcard mailing for TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR, I stop by the PO Box and there are three responses. While I should be putting that money directly to the VISA card to pay of the DVD-R duplication costs, I'm feeling like I need to save it for the upcoming DEADLY PREMONTIONS shoot. It will at least buy the cast a lunch and maybe a few extra sodas!

I'm trying not to think this is a bad sign or anything, but I went to Elmer's for lunch today to work on the shooting schedule for DEADLY PREMONITIONS. An odd tradition I began back on John Bowker's HOUSEBOUND that includes getting a tuna melt on sourdough. Elmer's has the best tuna melt in the universe. Well,..they HAD the best tuna melts in the universe. It's gone! Off the menu! I asked the waitress about it and she rubbed it in by saying, "We don't have any tuna in the house." Aaauugh! I'm writing a letter!

As an aside, while I was eating my chicken strips & mashed potatoes (a POOR substitute for that glorious tuna melt), a guy came up to me, held out his hand and said, "Great job, great product, and keep on doing what you're doing: we love it." It was then that I realized he'd seen the Jones Soda Co. shirt I was wearing and assumed I worked for the Seattle-based drinkmaker. While I had to admit that I didn't work for the company I informed the man I was a fan of the beverages as well. Truth be told, my wife picked up the super-cool shirt at a garage sale in Seattle!

Busy busy busy...

Deadly Premonitions Rolls On

Finally heard back from the out-of-town actor who is flying in next weekend to be a part of DEADLY PREMONITIONS. Going to spend the next several nights fine-tuning a shooting schedule, props list, etc.

That vampire-themed short, called TAINTED BLOOD, is again up in the air. The actress flaked out again and my actor is trying to line up a replacement.

A big fat zero responses to my postcard mailing, but then again, it's a different world today than it was 3 or 4 years ago when those things worked well enough to recoup my duplication costs for my flicks. You never know, though, sometimes it takes folks a while to respond to those things - I often wonder if people are waiting until the end of the month when they get a paycheck to place their order. Hmmm...

Wish I had more to report, and the week is half over!!! Oh well. More soon...

Balls in the Air

Finally got the remainder of the TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR DVD-Rs mailed out on Monday to cast who've moved away and some fellow filmmakers I trade flicks with.

I mailed out about 50 postcards last week to folks who have bought my crazy movies in the past. I was pretty stringent on sorting the list this time - there are plenty of folks who bought something several years ago but have bought nothing since. They'll remain on the list for a big newsletter mailing where I'm pimping everything I've got on the off-chance they'll see something they like (which has happened more than once), but for now I stuck with recent buyers and a few cult video shops.

Meanwhile, I still haven't heard from my out-of-town actor to confirm that he is still flying out for the DEADLY PREMONITIONS shoot. He was in the path of Hurricane Dennis, but I would hope he would've been able to contact me by now. Hmmm...

The good news is that I've cast a few great people for DEADLY PREMONITIONS: Robert J. Olin is cast as Detective Newman and Amira, who I last worked with on TRAILER PARK TRILOGY (see picture below) and MONSTER IN THE GARAGE waaaaaay back in the 90s (!), has accepted the lead role of Carrie.



I worked a tiny bit last night on the pool monster head for DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES: hope to get some more time in on that tonight.

The vampire-themed short I mentioned the other day is in limbo right now. As always happens with casting, it's feast or famine. I had lots of trouble finding a guy and a girl for it then all of a suddent I had two couples! Now one of them had flaked out, but the actor might be able to find someone else. Luckily the producer has given me more time, so stay tuned...

So many balls in the air...

TPDWTOT Party Pics!

The cast premiere party for TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR was a great success! 12 or 13 people showed up, several driving in from an hour away and a couple coming in from four hours away! Crazy! But way cool as there were more cast members there than I expected. We checked out a Star Trek fanfilm short someone had done and then watched the trailer for ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE. Holy moley people really seemed to dig it and seemed really anxious to know when it woul dbe out (the answer - I don't know, as I haven't exactly decided yet!). Every one seemed to enjoy TRAILER PARK, laughing at the right times and getting scared/grossed out at the right times. We ate, drank and were merry. Here are a few pics:



Joe, Joe and Dee mug for the camera



Barb, Dee, Joe and Natalie check out the photo album



Robert and Natalie drove over an hour to come to the party!

Finally got some postcard stamps today so I can mail out the TRAILER PARK postcards to past video buyers.

Dropped the opening and ending credits into ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE. Remembered that I need a couple of pick-up shots of a city park sign as well as a few sound effects and some music to drop in.

Waiting to hear back from a potential actor for DEADLY PREMONITIONS and realized he is right in the path of Hurricane Dennis in Alabama! If that's why he hasn't gotten back to me, I hope he's OK and he's got a pretty good reason for the delay! Over the weekend I gave DP scripts to an actor and actress I've worked with in the past. The actor is on board pending scheduling. Waiting to hear if the actress is game for the female lead.

I was asked a few weeks back by a producer in NYC if I would contribute a vampire-themed short to an upcoming anthology. I'm currently juggling all sorts of projects, so what do I say? Yes! Doh! So in short order, my buddy John Bowker pulls out an old script and whips it into shape for me and I've been trying to cast it over the last couple of weeks. The producer wants, how shall I put this, some skin in the segment (nothing x-rated, but we all know that one of the three "B's" in b-movie is "boobs"). With many of the people I've worked with in the past having moved away or decided they're not doing movies anymore, this has actually made casting rather difficult. My friend Jon has been helping out by putting me in contact with some people he knows, but so far nothing has panned out. The produccer really wants everything turned in the first week of August so if things don't come together this weekend, I will be starting to panic...

The Next Day...

Last night I cut together a quickie trailer for ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE to show at the premiere party tomorrow night and exported it to MiniDV - just goig to make a VHS dub of it to show at the party.

I also finished the opening and ending credits for ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE and exported them to miniDV.

Baby steps...

Time Is Flying...

The TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR cast & friends premiere party is this Saturday. Should be fun to see everyone, but there will be several people missing including one cast member who sadly passed away about 2 years after her scenes were shot. I'm hoping to cut together a quickie trailer for ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE to show. Will try and take a few pics at the party.

Got some postcards promoting TPDWTOT printed over the weekend and hope to get those mailed out to past video buyers by the end of the week.

Tom Shaffer came by last week to show me the rubber monster hands and they look AWESOME! He's working on finding the right cast for the TreeSpirit short for DR. PUDDING'S MONSTER FILES.

I finally worked my way through enough of a first draft of DEADLY PREMONITIONS that I could send it off to an actor who is hoping to fly out here to play a role. Waiting to get confirmation before I more forward.

Need to take care of one small tweak to the end credits and make an opening credit for ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE and it will be done, drop it all in and I think that puppy will be done. As it stands, it would likely work on a 40 minute tape if I throw a couple trailers on at the end. Would anyone besides the cast be interested in something that short? Should I combine it with something else? But what? I don't have anything "laying around" to add to it. Hmmm.....

My son and his friend came up with "a movie" for me to shoot the other night, entitled NIGHTMARE OF HORROR. It was actually a cpeery short about 2 kids who wake up hearing strange noises, then face a monster only to wake up and find it was all a nightmare. The next day, my son came up to me and said he had a title for the sequel: NIGHTMARE OF HORROR 2: THE NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE. Genius! And he's only 8!

Oh, and that "cool opportunity" that arose back in mid-May was selling a script! I had to quickly revamp an old script I'd originally written with the idea of pitching it as the next in the Witchcraft series. I had to trim down the number of characters and locations, stretch it out a tad and insert some more sexy bits. Here's hoping it gets made!

More as things happen...