Finding Joe

A film by Patrick Takaya Solomon

Finding Joe is an exploration of famed Mythologist Joseph Campbell’s studies and their continuing impact on our culture. Through interviews with visionaries from a variety of fields interwoven with enactments of classic tales by a sweet and motley group of kids, the film navigates the stages of what Campbell dubbed The Hero’s Journey: the challenges, the fears, the dragons, the battles, and the return home as a changed person. Rooted in deeply personal accounts and timeless stories, Finding Joe shows how Campbell’s work is relevant and essential in today’s world and how it provides a narrative for how to live a fully realized life – or as Campbell would simply state, how to “follow your bliss”.

Featuring: Deepak Chopra, Mick Fleetwood, Rashida Jones, Tony Hawk, Catherine Hardwicke, Laird Hamilton, Robert Walter, Akiva Goldsman, Sir Ken Robinson, Robin Sharma, Lynne Kaufman, Alan Cohen, Brian Johnson, Joseph Marshall III, Rebecca Armstrong, Chungliang Al Huang, David L. Miller, Gay Hendricks, David Loy and Norman Ollestad.

About the Filmmaker

Click on the Prescreen logo below to watch Finding Joe.

The 2012 Talking Pictures Festival includes a strong showing of Chicago productions along with a great number of films by women directors. According to Indiewire.com, women accounted for only 5% of Hollywood directors in 2011. Fest organizers are proud to counter these statistics and showcase a high percentage of exceptional works by women filmmakers this year.

The Talking Pictures Festival opens on International Women’s Day (March 8th) with PINK RIBBONS, INC., the latest documentary by veteran Canadian filmmaker Léa Pool.  PINK RIBBONS, INC. is a hard-hitting, yet moving exposé of cause-related marketing that asks who really benefits from Pink Ribbon campaigns – the cause or the companies?

Shira Piven, of Evanston’s renowned theatre family, employs a darkly comedic touch in her directorial feature film debut FULLY LOADED. The film follows two feisty single moms (played by Paula Killen and Lisa Orkin) as they ride through night-time L.A. The film was written and produced by former Chicagoan Paula Killen, an important presence in Chicago’s performance art scene of the 1990s.

Jasmine McGlade Chazelle’s MARIA MY LOVE centers on the relationship between a young woman played by Judy Marte (Raising Victor Vargas) and Maria, an elderly hoarder, played with great emotional resonance by Oscar-nominee Karen Black (5 Easy Pieces).

All of these films represent an impressive range of topics, genres, and styles –underlining the creative strength and vision of independent cinema.

Compelling documentaries are always a strong suit at the Talking Pictures Festival and this year’s lineup includes a record number of Chicago-produced docs including Xan Aranda’s ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR, Kelly Luchtman’s ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE, Bob Hercules’ JOFFREY: MAVERICKS OF AMERICAN DANCE, and Debra Tolchinsky’s FAST TALK.  Also screening are short fiction and documentary films by Maria Finitzo, Mitch Apley, Tom Palazzolo, Lisa Gildehaus, Mark Rogovin, Julianne Hill, and others.

True to its name, many of the screenings at the 2012 Talking Pictures Festival will be accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, guest speakers, and community groups in order to more deeply engage audiences with the films they have just seen.

Please find the full schedule of films at the bottom of this release or visit the festival website: www.talkingpicturesfestival.org.

FESTIVAL INFO
WHEN: Thursday, March 8 through Sunday, March 11, 2012
WHERE:  NEXT THEATER
Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St.
Evanston, IL 60201

MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM, McCormick Tribune Center (MTC)
Northwestern University
1870 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208

EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Community Room
1703 Orrington Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201

TICKET INFORMATION:
Opening Night ticket: $12
Single tickets: $10

Advance tickets are ONLY available online and can be purchased via the festival website: www.talkingpicturesfestival.org
All screenings at the Evanston Public Library and two programs at Medill School of Journalism are free to attend.

WHO:
The Talking Pictures Festival is a program of Percolator Films, a 501c3 non- profit film arts organization founded by independent filmmakers Ines Sommer and Kathy Berger. Percolator Films (www.percolatorfilms.org) produces and presents independent films that challenge, entertain, intrigue, engage, and inspire – in short, films that provoke thought and discussion. We do this through the annual Talking Pictures Festival, the free Reeltime film and discussion series, fiscally sponsored film projects, and other programs.

2012 TALKING PICTURES FESTIVAL – FULL SCHEDULE 

Thursday, March 8

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 7:30 PM
PINK RIBBONS, INC.

CANADA | 97 min | Director: Léa Pool

Breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless women and men walk, bike, climb and shop for the cure. But despite the millions of dollars raised each year, breast cancer rates are rising and prevention is vastly under-funded. The recent spotlight on Susan G. Komen For the Cure lends even more urgency to the question: where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Veteran documentarian Léa Pool’s hard-hitting and timely PINK RIBBONS, INC traces the evolution of the breast cancer movement from something that encouraged meaningful civic participation to something that drives people to purchase products. Who really benefits, the cause or the company?

The Talking Pictures Festival is proud to present this important film in honor of International Women’s Day.

Friday, March 9

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 6 PM

FAMBUL TOK

USA/Sierra Leone | 82 min. | Director: Sara Terry
Filmmaker

Sara Terry tells a harrowing tale about post-conflict Sierra Leone through the intimate stories of perpetrators and victims. The ancient practice of fambul tok (family talk) is revived to set in motion an unprecedented program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies. Through this process, the Sierra Leoneans build a sustainable peace at the grass-roots level and achieve success where international efforts have failed. Cooperative farms have sprung up as a result, reflecting the community’s desire to find ways to continue working together. The film challenges the neo-colonial concept that Africa needs to be “saved” by the West. Can individuals and communities in other parts of Africa and the world learn from these customs that lead to peace?

Friday, March 9

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 7 PM

2012 OSCAR SHORTS – LIVE ACTION

Time, space and love know no bounds in this program of Oscar-nominated short fiction films. In Peter McDonald’s PENTECOST (English, 11 min), sports analogies shed light on an altar boy’s dilemma concerning an important Mass in his community. In RAJU (German, 24 min), Max Zähle tells of a couple’s travels to India to adopt an orphaned boy and the recognition of their role in his sudden disappearance. Terry George’s THE SHORE (English/Gaelic, 31 min) reunites two boyhood friends from Northern Ireland and uncovers a secret 25-year-old love triangle. Andrew Bowler’s TIME FREAK (English, 11 min) depicts an obsessed inventor who creates a time machine and hopes to ‘do over’ past missteps. TUBA ATLANTIC (Norwegian, 25 min) by Hallvar Witzø stars 70-year-old Oskar, who has only six days left to live, but wants to cross the Atlantic in a giant tuba to put things right with his brother. Program length: 110 min.

Friday, March 9

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 8:15 PM

JOFFREY: MAVERICKS OF AMERICAN DANCE

USA | 82 min. | Director: Bob Hercules

Since Joffrey Ballet’s early tours in a borrowed station wagon, its co-founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet technique, merging art with social statement and setting ballets to pop and rock music scores. Directed by Evanston filmmaker Bob Hercules and executive produced by Jay Alix and Harold Ramis, JOFFREY skillfully interweaves a wealth of archival footage and photographs with interviews featuring former and current Joffrey star dancers. Showing the full history of the Company from its founding to the present, this film is an extraordinary chance for ballet fans to see rare passages from Joffrey works such as Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, and ground-breaking collaborations with choreographers Twyla Tharp (Deuce Coupe), Kurt Jooss (The Green Table) and Leonide Massine (Parade).
With filmmaker Bob Hercules in person!
Friday, March 9

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 9:15 PM

ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR

USA | 81 min. | Director: Xan Aranda

With his stirring vocals and distinctive musical sound, acclaimed singer-songwriter Andrew Bird has built an impressive international fan base. Filmed during Bird’s most rigorous year of touring, FEVER YEAR offers a look into the creative process of this remarkable contemporary musician and is the first to capture his complex multi-instrumental looping techniques. Directed by Chicago filmmaker Xan Aranda, this highly engaging concert documentary has taken the film festival circuit by storm and features live performances with collaborators Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Michael Lewis, and Annie Clark of St. Vincent.
With filmmaker Xan Aranda in person!

Saturday, March 10
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 1 PM – FREE EVENT!

CHICAGO: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL


Follow the next generation of filmmakers from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism as they navigate the gritty streets of the Second City. Capturing glimpses of the lives of everyday Chicagoans, these short films present us with stories we rarely hear. Filmmakers Yoonie Yang, Dan Tham and Ashley Gates etch an intimate portrait of a long-term AIDS survivor and activist battling against stereotypes in DIVA. SHAPE OF SPACE by Ronnie Reese, Justin Eure and Leslie Magraw is a thoughtful exploration of the proposed razing of the Bertrand Goldberg-designed Prentice Women’s Hospital. From filmmakers Chris Bentley, Kris Husted and Matt O’Connor comes ANGELA’S GARDEN, a portrait of Angela Taylor who struggles with daily hardships while trying to maintain a community garden on the West Side. Ronnie Reese’s LOVE, DAD is the story of a reformed career burglar’s attempts to reconcile with his family after 30 years in prison. Also showing: BETHANY AND BUSTER and BREAK POINT.

Followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Saturday, March 10

EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: 1:30 PM – FREE EVENT!

MY SO-CALLED ENEMY


USA | 89 min. | Director: Lisa Gossels


What happens when your enemy becomes your friend? The non-profit “Building Bridges for Peace” brought together 22 Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls to participate in a women’s leadership program.  Many had lost family and friends in a long-lasting conflict that shapes their world and touches their daily lives. My So-Called Enemy follows six of the girls over the course of seven years and records how their experience in the program has affected them. Director Lisa Gossels creates a rare kind of film proving the transformative power of knowing “the other,” finding the good in one’s enemy, and how those bonds can be tested by events beyond anyone’s control.

Saturday, March 10

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 2:30 PM


ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

USA | 65 min. |Director: Kelly Luchtman

In a time of foreclosures and mounting financial pressures, everybody is looking for innovative housing solutions. In her deft case study ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE, Chicago filmmaker Kelly Luchtman tells the story of a group of spirited Chicago artists who pool their resources and build a communal work/living space for like-minded creatives. With city approval and Mayor Daley at the ribbon cutting ceremony, the Acme Artists’ Community seemed an idealistic dream come true. But once these artists-turned-home-owners settled into their new building, the tremendous fall-out from continuous construction problems threatened the unity of the group. Will the realities of home ownership trump their dreams for an artistic community?  

Followed by a discussion with Director Kelly Luchtman, Co-Producer Thomas Gaunt and artists and developers.

Saturday, March 10

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 3:15 PM

MISS REPRESENTATION

USA | 90 min. | Director: Jennifer Siebel Newsom

What is a woman’s worth? To the media, a woman’s worth is based on her youth, beauty and sexuality, and not her capacity as a leader. Filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom exposes how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. Using compelling stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with prominent women leaders, MISS REPRESENTATION challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women. 

Co-presented with the YWCA Evanston/North Shore. A moderated discussion will follow this screening.

Saturday, March 10

EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY:  4 PM – FREE EVENT!

SHORT FILM SPOTLIGHT

Enjoy an afternoon of international shorts at the Talking Pictures Festival!  Black humor reigns in Keri Burrows’ AIR (UK), where the air on the planet all of a sudden becomes unbreathable and two unlikely heroes find each other as they struggle to survive. Kyra Buschor and Cynthia Collins’ animated ZING (Germany) shows the grim reaper in a battle of wills with a smart little girl. Stephen Sues’ animated ADAIR (USA) begins with simple car trouble in Iowa before turning into a twisted Midwestern fever dream. Terrence Heuston’s MADDOGGIN’ takes us to the harsh streets of East L.A., where Pedro and Ernesto are pressured to join the local gang. The choices the boys make over a single day will alter their lives forever. Plus additional short films.

Saturday, March 10

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 4:30PM

Encore presentation: ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR 
(see description under Fri, March 9, 9:15pm time slot)

Saturday, March 10

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 5:30 PM – FREE EVENT!

REFUGEE LIVES


In our rapidly changing world, countless refugees are displaced from their homes on a daily basis. In December 2011, students from Medill School of Journalism’s “Refugee Lives” project traveled to Jordan, a locus of Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The students came back with an impressive slate of short documentaries that strive to faithfully capture the refugee experience. Also screening are works by young Jordan-based Palestinian filmmakers documenting their own refugee stories. The plight of internally displaced Cambodians represents just one of the harrowing moments in filmmaker Tim Sorel’s THE TRAP OF SAVING CAMBODIA. The film examines the struggles of NGO workers as they try to help the poor while facing a resistant government that annually receives more than a billion dollars in foreign aid from a host of countries like the United States and China.

Followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Saturday, March 10

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 7:15 PM


FULLY LOADED

USA | 76 min. | Director: Shira Piven

Shira Piven, of Evanston’s renowned theatre family, returns to her hometown with FULLY LOADED, a wonderfully raunchy ride through night-time Los Angeles, chronicling the misadventures of two feisty single moms (former Chicagoan Paula Killen and Lisa Orkin) on a rare evening out. When a sexy hook-up with a total stranger (Dweezil Zappa) becomes a sketchy confrontation with reality, the women hit the road a little drunk, but high on love/lust and what might have been. This dark comedy allows viewers to eavesdrop on the way women really feel about men and what they talk about when no one else is around. Hurtling through the night in a mini van, Killen and Orkin deliver a sassy, edgy take on what it means to be a single woman of a certain age.
With Director Shira Piven and Producer/Actor Paula Killen in person!  
Attendees are invited to a reception hosted by the Piven Theatre Workshop after the Q&A.

Saturday, March 10

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 8 PM


THE CITY DARK


USA | 84 min. | Director: Ian Cheney

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered where all the stars have gone? This is the central premise of filmmaker Ian Cheney’s examination of light pollution in modern cities. After moving to New York City from rural Maine, Cheney became fascinated with the effect of unnatural light on our natural environment. With a subtle poetic touch, THE CITY DARK unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights — from the impact on hatching turtles along the Florida coast and injured birds on Chicago streets, increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, to a generation of kids growing up without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, philosophers, historians, and lighting designers, THE CITY DARK is an enlightening story about light pollution and the disappearing stars.

Saturday, March 10

NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 9:15 PM

THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD OF SHORTS


Join us for a trip around the world with this diverse collection of shorts! Told with deadpan Finnish humor, Henri Savolainen’s 2B (Finland) depicts an elderly couple who eavesdrop on their neighbors, while James Cunningham’s witty animated FIRST CONTACT (New Zealand) explores why there’ve been fewer alien sightings lately. Karin longs to interrupt her daily routine as a metal factory worker in Anna Linke’s beautifully observed WORKERS LEAVING THE FACTORY (Germany).  When her best friend pushes Cass to get over her ex-boyfriend, unexpected new directions open up in Becca Roth’s RAIN IN SUMMER (USA), while Rachel Mersky‘s MARTA (Czech Republic) takes us to 1980s Prague, where Marta just wants her activist dad and more cautious mom to stop quarreling. Plus great animated and fiction films from Italy, Spain, and the UK.


Sunday, March 11


NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 1:30PM

2012 OSCAR SHORTS: ANIMATION

A Talking Pictures Festival favorite: bring your family to see this year’s Oscar-nominated animated shorts! Included are:  Patrick Doyon’s SUNDAY/DIMANCHE (Canada, 10 min) examines a boring Sunday afternoon through a young boy’s eyes. In THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE (USA, 15 min), William Joyce blends animation styles and draws inspiration from hurricanes, tornadoes and books…oh my! Pixar filmmaker Enrico Casaroasa’s LA LUNA (USA, 7 min) uses a fascination with the moon for this story of a boy, who learns about his father and grandfather’s strange profession. In Grant Orchard’s A MORNING STROLL (UK, 7 min) viewers speculate who is the real city slicker when a New Yorker passes a chicken on his morning walk. A young man’s move from England to Alberta to try ranching leads to a WILD LIFE (Canada, 13 min) in this Amanda Forbis film. Program length: 80 min.

Sunday, March 11

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 2 PM

GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR


USA | 103 min. | Director: Pamela Yates


Sometimes a film makes history; it doesn’t just document it. So it is with
GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR, the astonishing new film by Pamela Yates. Part political thriller, part memoir, Yates transports us back in time to 1982 and Guatemala’s genocide against the Mayan people, a story she documented at the time with her film When the Mountains Tremble. That film turned out to be the only documentary record of the Guatemalan civil war. Fast-forward 28 years later and the earlier film becomes evidence in an international war-crimes case against the former commander of the army, while reuniting Yates with Rigoberta Menchú, now a Nobel laureate, and others who continue to contribute their granito (tiny grain of sand) in a continuing quest for the truth.

Sunday, March 11


NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 3 PM

MARIA MY LOVE
USA | 99 min. | Director: Jasmine McGlade Chazelle

Adrift after her mother’s death and resentful of her father’s past mistakes, twenty-something Ana (Judy Marte) is searching for solid ground. Inspired by her new boyfriend and in an effort to feel better by helping others, Ana decides to lend a hand to Maria, a reclusive hoarder. Played with great emotional resonance by Oscar-nominee Karen Black, Maria’s compulsive behavior has alienated her from her family and she only reluctantly lets Ana into her world. The two women become unlikely friends and confidantes, and Ana discovers their relationship to be more emotionally complex than expected, revealing more about herself than she might be ready for.

Sunday, March 11
NEXT THEATRE at NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: 5 PM

SHORTS FROM THE WINDY CITY

The arts soar in this great collection of Chicago-produced shorts: renowned documentarian Maria Finitzo directs a fictionalized account of her childhood ballet classes at Chicago’s legendary Stone Camryn School of Ballet in LIFE LESSONS; GIORGIO is Lisa Gildehaus’ humorous portrait of a showy Venetian street painter; and Mark Rogovin’s short BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT focuses on a cycle of late 1950s photographs of Black storefront churches by his father, noted photographer Milton Rogovin. Tom Palazzolo, who has been making films in Chicago since the 1960s, brings us VIVIAN MAIER PHOTOGRAPHER, a new short dedicated to the life, photography and mystery of street-photographer Vivian Maier. Also on the program are Julianne Hill’s lovely personal essay SO, MARY? and Mitch Apley’s hilarious take on magic realism and relationships in LIGHTER LIGHTNESS.

Followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Sunday, March 11


NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY/MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM – MCCORMICK TRIBUNE CENTER: 5 PM

FAST TALK

USA | 56 min. | Director: Debra Tolchinsky

Can a breathless pace, gasps for air, and unintelligible arguments win another championship for Northwestern University’s debate team? Filmmaker and Northwestern University film professor Debra Tolchinsky spent a year following the team as they nervously prepare to defend their title under the tutelage of renowned coach Scott Deatherage. Infused with touches of whimsy, FAST TALK beautifully captures the intensity, drive and absurdity of the mile-a-minute world of college debate, while reflecting on the larger issue of our own accelerated lives.

With filmmaker Debra Tolchinsky in person!

For more info, screeners, or photos, please CONTACT:
Ines Sommer, Festival Director
847.371.2804
talkingpicturesfestival@gmail.com
www.talkingpicturesfestival.org

Independent filmmakers are all too familiar with anxiety.  For most, the predominant fear lies in being unable to secure funds to produce their masterpieces.  Yet for those that are fortunate enough to have a finished product, the nightmare rests entirely in distribution. Failing to acquire it means the death of the film, which will wither on the vine before ever finding an audience. In only four short months of operation, the start-up website Prescreen has begun to neutralize these fears by providing a space for films in distribution limbo to gain exhibition and attract a fan base, with the help of real-time marketing tools. Says founder and CEO Shawn Bercuson, “Filmmakers are artists, not businessmen. We’re helping them access resources they didn’t know were available.”

Bercuson (30) knows a thing or two about nurturing a start-up from infancy to maturity, as the former Chicagoan was an executive and original employee of the internet phenomenon, Groupon. Pouring all of his efforts into his new project, Bercuson has developed Prescreen into an exciting new platform that operates as both an exhibition space for non-mainstream films and as an invaluable screening test for content owners.

Prescreen functions by highlighting and promoting carefully selected films to their subscribers via email. Of these mostly independent features, many have either failed to drum up distribution or were unsuccessful in their initial releases. The site posts a new film each day, which is active for two months before being removed, in which time users are encouraged to watch the trailer, view the movies at a cost of four to eight dollars, and then converse with other fans. This exhibition comes at no cost to the content owner, and all revenues generated are split 50/50 with Prescreen after the sixty-day run expires.

As Prescreen is still in the process of staking its claim on the distribution landscape, the money garnered from these exhibitions proves significantly less than if the film was shown in theaters. However, what separates Prescreen from alternative sites like Netflix is the bevy of tools provided to content owners for future marketing campaigns. Compiled from the profiles of users, the site offers a rare and coveted array of real-time analytics, ranging from trailer view rates to qualified demographic information about the people purchasing their works, including age, interests and location.

Prescreen Founder and CEO Shawn Bercuson

With such marketing transparency, content owners are able to specifically target the people that are most likely to respond to their films, chiefly through online advertising. These resources provide benefits over traditional Hollywood advertising methods, which Bercuson maintains are mired in antiquity.  Steadfastly resistant towards the new wave of online marketing, Hollywood continues to utilize outmoded screeners and exit polls to gauge interest from potential consumers, which, in addition to offering limited information, are wildly expensive. When promoting to a national market, these advertisers indiscriminately purchase traditional ad content without knowing what audience to cater to, instead marketing titles based on public reaction to movies with similar subject matter or actors. “Hollywood throws dollars out the window and hopes for the best.  It’s all about the past, and we’re looking at the present. We’re in golden age of technology, where getting the movie to the right people can be done if you know how.”

Though the titles in Prescreen’s current library are mostly at the end of their life-cycles, many filmmakers and distributors have begun to realize the value of the site as a low-risk, preemptive research tool for early-stage projects. Rather than bringing their films to the site as a last gasp effort to pique public interest, more are using the information gathered to devise ways of efficiently allocating their dollars into marketing and planning for the future. “We want you to start here, understand your market, and then if it makes sense to go to Amazon or iTunes, we’ll help you do it.”

Bercuson’s unique business model developed out of a fateful family vacation to Utah in January 2011. Originally in Park City for his father’s 60^th birthday celebration, the young entrepreneur visited with some friends attending the famed Sundance Film Festival. Hobnobbing with artists and producers, Shawn became instantly engaged in discussions on the rise of Video-on-Demand and the failure of the modern Hollywood distribution cycle. Perhaps most impactful to Shawn was learning about the limited opportunities independent films have to thrive. “Of the 4,000 films submitted to Sundance, 120 are accepted and exhibited.  Only 30 are able to get distribution.”  With so many quality works saturating the market, Bercuson noticed a huge opportunity to provide previously unseen, high-quality titles directly to the viewer before distributors were able to recognize their mistake.  “I noticed that the Sideways’ and Pulp Fictions’ were still getting made, but not getting distribution.  We wanted to make a stage where filmmakers could reach their audiences more efficiently and cost-effectively.”

Discovering a golden opportunity to provide a new outlet for exhibition that, by utilizing modern technologies, could change the face of film advertising, Shawn immediately assembled an All-Star team of former Chicagoans, and in short order raised one million dollars in start-up capital. Soon after, Bercuson’s crew was hard at work incorporating techniques like incentive programs utilized by successful social media sites into Prescreen in order to drum up excitement and support from users.  Equally exhausting was the process of meeting with skeptical distributors and filmmakers in order to secure trust in their site.

Despite generally positive responses, Prescreen has come under fire from both critics and users.  Chiefly under scrutiny is the site’s relatively high pricing model, which rises over time. In response to these concerns, Bercuson notes that these films are coming to the viewer prior to theatrical exhibition, and their immediacy and relevance comes at a premium. In addition, Shawn maintains that this model is consistent with the subscription fee for Netflix based on the average of two movies viewed per month among users.

Even though these concerns have been raised, Bercuson sees a stronger motivating factor for his subscribers, time. “Spending eight dollars is less important that spending two hours of your free time.” With this, then, the onus is on the Prescreen team to become a trustworthy source for quality films, as each title will hold their seal of approval.  With many people skeptical of the reverse-Darwinian glorification of rejected films, the criterion for quality remains the most important element to Prescreeen’s success. “We want people to know that if we post the film, it will be worth their eight bucks.”

Despite such criticism, though, Prescreen is quickly becoming more visible in media outlets, most notably due to their strategy of becoming the central database of trailers for every film exhibited at Sundance.   While doing so has helped raise a legitimate association to the independent awards circuits, it has also aided immensely with customer acquisition. While initially performing below expectations, Shawn and his team have made changes in response to user comments (since going live four months ago, the site has undergone four iterations), and have begun seeing rapid growth that has exceeded their hopes. Of subscribers that joined in December and January, 50% have purchased at least one film, with 13% already purchasing again, which is a staggering conversion rate.  While the level of success varies dramatically from title to title, this growth is indicative of a clear interest from consumers.

With booming exposure and a user base that has surpassed 70,000 people, Prescreen is earning buzz as a promising new player in the digital revolution of film.  The unique platform offers an exclusive home theatrical experience for consumers, and a technological smorgasbord of diagnostic materials for content owners. And despite maintaining an “agnostic” content criterion (Prescreen is open to various media formats including stand-up comedy, concerts, and studio films), Bercuson insists that they will always be driven towards the needs of the small-time filmmaking David’s in the world of Hollywood Goliaths.  Continuing to tap into the reservoir of unappreciated movies that have fallen by the wayside, Prescreen is currently moving into a new phase next month, which will provide a more social experience for discovery, a move that is intended to raise the site from startup to powerhouse.

If you would like to submit a film for consideration to Prescreen, go to Prescreen.com/submit.  There you can upload your trailer and post any accolades your film has achieved.  If interested, the Prescreen team will contact you for further details.

Funding. That’s it. That’s what I’ve narrowed down as the very real complication of being an independent filmmaker. Don’t agree? Then please tell me how you are able to hold down a job to pay your bills as well as make enough cash overflow to fund your next feature? Grants? Trust Fund? Parents? Friends? Bank loan? If you say yes to the last one, please tell me which bank is lending you any money for a film in this economy.

I’m not the only one with funding on the mind. Edward Jay Epstein the brilliant mind behind the book, Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind Movies wrote a sobering article in early 2011 titled, Why Indie Movies Are an Endangered Species. His blog post lays the groundwork for the dissolution of pre-sales funding for indie films by back-end distributors, because hold the phone, the decline of DVD sales in major retail box stores. Of course, the death of the DVD is inevitable and unstoppable, but did anyone else realize how important DVD sales were in the funding of indie films? I had no idea DVD sales played such a large role in giving cash on hand to distributors so they could help invest in future indie film productions. But forget my duh moment here, my main point is to illustrate that the traditional concepts of funding indie films are dying along with those DVD sales, and again we, indie filmmakers, are being faced with the very real complication of independent filmmaking: finding funding.

So in light of this apocalyptic, post  pre-sales funding world that we live in, what other options are there for indie filmmakers to raise money to make their films? I realize that the most obvious one is a filmmaker’s own pocket, but if your pockets are that deep, you are not reading DIY FILM CHICAGO’s online magazine.

The other options as far as I can tell right now are the following:

1) Kickstarter

2) Your family

3) Shut up and Shoot on your cell phone

4) Just record Audio

Let’s start with Kickstarter, I have to start out by saying that Kickstarter.com, based purely on their publicly available 2011 Stats is amazing. The success rate for 27,086 launched projects was 46%. That means only 11,836 of those launched projects got funded. When you break down the funding on Kickstarter by category, and look specifically at Film & Video, the stats are astounding. Over $32 million dollars were raised for Film & Video ALONE.

Granted this staggering amount of funding was spread out over 3,284 projects, but still what other major or indie film studio or production company is handing out this kind of cash?  I do believe in this power of crowdsourcing and feel at this point, that this is probably the best way to get your first indie documentary or film feature off the ground and running.

On a sidenote: You can also use Kickstarter to help fund your other film related needs like DVD reprints. HA! You say, DVDs? Yes, especially if the audience to your film is from an older generation like my first doc. Here’s my Kickstarter Campaign for reprinting another 1,000 DVDs. I was an idiot when I did this campaign though and spent way more money on reprinting the DVDs than I actually earned on Kickstarter.

But let’s say you aren’t good at social media networking and marketing your Kickstarter campaign. (You must be good at both or get help if you are not in order to significantly improve your chances of Kickstarter success. Check out a failed Kickstarter campaign I did with a past boss. We were both idiots in this case and didn’t market the campaign enough. We also asked for waaaay too much money.)

O let’s say your idea is too weird or crazy or people just don’t get it? Wim Wenders recently said that his most beloved film, Wings of Desire, never would have found funding today. If you are a Wim Wenders throwback-like filmmaker, you may have to go for funding option number two: your family.

My father and an aunt and uncle were the major loaning officers for my first documentary feature, Proceed and Be Bold! But before you say, “Hey Rich Girl, my family doesn’t have that kind of money! Screw you!” let me share with you major American indie filmmaker icon, Darren Aronofsky’s start.

According to his Wikipedia entry: “Aronofsky’s debut feature, Pi (also known as π), was shot in November 1997. The film was financed entirely from $100 donations from friends and family. In return, he promised to pay each back $150 if the film made money, and they would at least get screen credit if the film lost money. Producing the film with an initial budget of $60,000, Aronofsky premiered Pi at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where he won the Best Director award. The film itself was nominated for a special Jury Award. Artisan Entertainment bought distribution rights for $1 million. The film was released to the public later that year to critical acclaim and grossed $3,221,152.”

It is ok to ask your family for money if they have it. In the case of Chicago-based production company, Beverly Ridge Pictures several former Columbia College film students gathered together and pooled money from their families to the tune of $2 million dollars* in order to make Chicago Overcoat, a feature length dramatic action film that recently got distribution on the Showtime network.

But what if you are an indie filmmaker with broke-ass parents and your film is not a good candidate for a Kickstarter fundraising campaign? This is America! The land of opportunities! There must be a way for me to get my film made! Help me!

I hear your cry. In fact, it is the same cry I have had every day for the last two years. I may have gotten my first film funded mostly by my family (I did put a significant amount of money into the doc myself as well), but I cannot keep asking them for money especially since my father is of retirement age, and I feel like a giant jerk asking him to gamble his hard earned life’s savings. I am currently a broke ass filmmaker working freelance part-time so that I can dedicate most of my time to trying to get two more feature length documentaries off of the ground, and I currently have no fundraising ideas for either of my projects. One is about Sickle Cell Disease, a serious fatal disease that affects 80,000 Americans a year, but I will not, on principle, ask this afflicted group of people to fund this documentary, because it is for them, and I want to make it free to anyone with this disease or a family member with this disease.

Filmmaker Laura Zinger

The other project I am working on is a hybrid between documentary and narrative featuring a prominent cartoonist in Chicago. We may try the Kickstarter route to get the film off of the ground, but initially we have zero funding.

It is my current state of affairs that has led me to come up with funding option #3 and #4: Shut up and Shoot on your Cell Phone and just record audio.

Come back next week to read about these next two funding options which are sincerely and totally for the true and almighty DIY Filmmaker.

*unverified amount

Read more from Laura Zinger on her Tumblr blog.

Chicago Animator, Jim Trainor

Chicago-area independent animator, Jim Trainor, has established a name for himself as the anti-Disney.  Despite a predilection for anthropomorphic animals (Jim’s most popular quartet of shorts have been exhibited under the title The Animals and their Limitations), Jim utilizes none of the elements that were hallmarks for Disney. Rejecting the polished and flourished quality of traditional cell animation, Trainor’s shorts like the Bats and the Moschops feature the director’s trademark stripped-down style, typified by stark, choppy lines hand drawn in Sharpie marker on simple white paper, which oscillate on the screen due to the process of repeated tracing.

In terms of subject matter, Jim’s films depart drastically from Disney’s common fascination with fables and fantasies, examining instead the much grimmer and realistic habits of animals in their natural habitats, thereby placing him in a distinct artistic space between David Attenborough and Don Hertzfeldt. Nihilistic with a sardonic undercurrent, Trainor’s comedy arises in the way he imbues his animal subjects with expression in the form of a monotonous voice-over track.  Exploring their interior processes, the director delights in illustrating the divide between bestial instinct, and human emotion and logic. In Jim’s pieces, lions speak frankly and unapologetically about killing their girlfriends’ children, while bats unsentimentally describe the common deaths of siblings.

Developing out of his expansive knowledge of often arcane subjects, Trainor’s wryly-witted films have become a hit with audiences around the nation, as the director continues to find venues for exhibition. Adding to his growing success, Jim was honored with 2010’s prestigious Alpert Award, given to four deserving recipients for contributions to their respective artistic media. Using animation as his vehicle for transforming obsessions into expression, Trainor has proven to be a true local talent.

Much like his films, Jim’s animating genesis was anything but conventional. Having acquired both an interest in drawing and a morbid streak from studying books by Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, Trainor had already garnered a reputation as a gifted cartoonist by the seventh grade when a schoolmate presented him with an enticing proposal.  As a home project, Jim’s friend and his father had created a makeshift animation studio in their basement, with the goal of producing films for a purely technical challenge. With no artistic skills between them, the pair asked Trainor to conceive and draw their movies, which the boy’s parents would fund (making them Jim’s first producers). This arrangement continued until Trainor was a senior in high school, giving him a dozen films to his credit by the time he graduated.

Still from "The Bats" by Jim Trainor

With a desire to turn his hobby into a profession, Jim eschewed an interest in science and began teaching himself the intricacies of animation while studying English at Columbia University. After graduating, Trainor began living the life of a starving artist, spending the majority of the ‘80s and ‘90s working odd jobs as a bartender at night to fund his animation studio, located in his New York apartment. Despite being supported by these jobs, though, Jim always defined himself by his true passion, his animation.  “I never had too many difficulties in making films at this time because, honestly, I was going to do this anyway.  I think it would be difficult if I ever thought I could make a living off of it.”

With patience, determination and good exposure, Trainor’s films began to rise in popularity, developing a following based on his series of animal-centered shorts. Soon after the release of The Fetishist in 1997, Jim became known as a unique figure in the animation community, one with an acerbic wit and investigative eye. Squarely under his microscope were nature documentaries, which the scientifically-minded director always felt were misrepresentative. Faulting their “religiously” reassuring depictions of the cycle of life, Trainor wanted to make films that reflected the destructive force of nature, which he hoped would leave people in a proper state of “existential horror.”

Lacking the resources to make his own documentary, Jim began exposing the blunt realities of nature and culture in his animation, which the director has found to be a valuable tool for depicting disturbing and subversive subject matter.  Trainor’s medium has afforded him liberty to deal with perverse and erotic content that would be too provocative in motion. “If my films were live-action, I’d probably be jailed.”

While the shocking quality of Jim’s work dominates discussion of his artistry, a deeper look into his exhaustive creative process proves a level of care that might not be expected from his deceptively simple cartoons. Initially, Trainor conceives his topics out of his “obsessive interests.” Rather than research, Jim’s narratives evolve out of the comprehensive knowledge he acquires about specific subjects that arouse his attention. “My interests are not broad, but when I do get interested, I’m a completist.  I often feel that my subjects choose me rather than the other way around.” Consuming everything he can about topics in the realms of nature (prehistoric animals in the Moschops) and anthropology (Pre-Columbian art in The Presentation Theme), Trainor’s reverence converts to humor as he begins writing dryly whimsical poems reflecting the lives of his obsessions, which become the texts of his films.

Jim Trainor at the lightbox

Making Jim’s process all the more unique is his refusal to storyboard his projects. A staple of pre-production, storyboarding allows animators to organize their work into efficient bits. Finding this to be stifling, Trainor animates out the entirety of his script, which affords him freedom in the editing phase. In a typical film, only a quarter of the footage shot by Jim will make the final edit, an exceptionally low amount. “The problem that [most animators] have, which I’ve tried to steer away from, is they get lost in the planning stage.  They make artistic decisions too early, which makes the actual animation a tedious labor.  Although I animate relatively so much more, my process allows me to remain engaged with my material.”

This artistic process has taken Trainor a long way, as he was honored with the prestigious Alpert Award for his work in film.  Nominated anonymously by members of the creative community, Jim won for his distinctive voice and style.  Along with the prestige of being chosen, the award includes a significant cash prize to be used at the artist’s discretion, which Trainor has invested in his first full-length feature rather than in more practical needs. “My wife probably would have liked to put a down payment on a house.” With the dream of working in live-action for the first time now attainable, Jim has used the resources at his disposal as a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago to produce a “fact-based horror film,” titled the Pink Egg, which he hopes to complete later this year.

Despite being known for his whimsically morbid films about the dark deeds of humans and animals, Jim Trainor is an optimist. “My films suggest a bleaker, more troubled person than I am.  I’d like to do something nicer someday, but haven’t gotten around to it.”  For now, Jim’s non-nice movies have become the artist’s way of fulfilling both his love of the natural world and his own creative impulses, which have been rewarded with success and accolades. Despite this, though, Trainor maintains the zeal to self-expression that motivated the journey of he and countless independent animators like him. “The hardest thing for young animators is accepting the divergence in their lives. Creative fulfillment won’t pay your way, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be the top priority in your life. I would caution artists against using personal fulfillment as the only criterion; after all, we don’t make art for ourselves, but for others.”

Mike Houlihan

Mike Houlihan is a hard one to keep up with.  With a career spanning nearly four decades, he has acted, directed, produced, written and filmed.  Oh, and he’s been on the radio, too.  On December 13, DIY Film caught up with Houlihan – owner of Mike Houlihan Creative – to hear about his latest exploits (you can read the original feature here).

“I’ll be 63 years old next week, I want to put all my concentration and effort into making art,” he said.  “The politics of regular business isn’t my thing.  I don’t want to dance to another fiddler.”

This sentiment, not exactly uncommon among creatives of all stripes, had prompted him to say goodbye to some of the more lucrative work Mike Houlihan Creative has done over the years – such as advertising and public relations – to make room for more artistic endeavors, such as his radio show, film and book projects, as well as screenplays.

No sooner had he made up his mind than he got “sucked back in” – this time, to politics.  Currently representing two political candidates in Will County, he still finds ways to be creative on the job.  “What’s the biggest sport in Chicago?  Politics!  It’s exciting.  It has a beginning, a middle and an end, just like a play or a film.”

For Houlihan, art and politics are more similar than most people think.  “It’s all show business!  It’s all about the story,” he explained.  That, and “you get paid.  Upfront, too.”  Be that as it may, Houlihan still sees the political game as a means to the end of furthering more artistic projects.

For example, he had been working on a new screenplay, My Brother, the Zombie, which he completed a month or so ago.  He dreamed his brother, who died seven years ago, came back, well, as a zombie – and apparently one with a sense of humor.  “I hope to pitch it to someone…like Charlie Sheen,” he said.

Houlihan, who still pens a monthly column for the Irish American News, was also working feverishly with his radio co-host, James “Skinny” Sheahan, to resuscitate Chicago’s South Side St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which was only recently announced would return this spring.

“It was a tradition for thirty-one years,” he said, “and an annual reunion for anyone who grew up on the South Side.”

Since August, they were fighting to bring back what was shut down in a “rush to judgment,” all thanks to a couple “hooligans” who ruined it for everyone.  Houlihan, a self-proclaimed hooligan himself, is at least one of the funny – and non-destructive – ones.

Now, he spends much of his time with his documentary, Our Irish Cousins, which he is “scrambling” to finish by March for a hopeful WTTW television debut.  The film, which attempts to answer the question, “What makes us Irish?  Location or lineage?” was primarily shot on a Panasonic DVX 100, with their back-up camera a Canon Vixia HV30.

Joe Fitzgerald, Cousins’s director of photography, discussed how their low budget “use what’s available” situation worked out.  “The two cameras were a good compliment to one another because the DVX, when programmed properly, had truly beautiful color rendering, and Mike’s palmcorder had a slightly flatter image but better overall resolution.”  Fitzgerald also maximized the DVX’s twin audio inputs, using one for a Sennheiser MK2 shotgun, and another Sennheiser G2 wireless lav.

Houlihan and Fitzgerald first crossed paths while working on Tapioca, Houlihan’s indie feature film, which turned out to be one of Fitzgerald’s first jobs.  Now, with a little more experience under his belt, Fitzgerald could handle what shooting Cousins threw at him.  “The thing about documentaries is that you are always at the mercy of your environment,” he said.  “Let your constraints help shape the look and feel of the moment.  You can always drag someone over to a more quiet spot in the room to grab a sound bite.  Or, sometimes the essence of a scene can be better portrayed with our main interactions occurring in silhouette.”

“You’re shooting guerrilla-style,” Houlihan said.  “You don’t know what the lighting will be, what the sound will be, and you can’t say, ‘can you do that again?’”

Talking about the film means talking about how he came up with the title – and with Mike Houlihan, that means telling a story.  “When we were here in Chicago, shooting at all the book signings, I did one at a place called Harte’s Saloon on the South Side.  Mike Harte, who owns it, says we ought to look up his cousin [when we film in Ireland], who has a bar there called Harte’s.”

Eventually, while filming in the emerald isle, Houlihan and his team found themselves treated to lunch at the Harte’s in Galway.  “We bring greetings from your cousin Mike in Chicago!” Houlihan said by way of hello.

“I don’t have any cousins,” came the gruff reply.

To settle the matter, Houlihan decided to call the Chicago Harte, who insisted, “he is my cousin!”  Then the Irish Harte gets on the phone.  “I hear him go, ‘ARE YOU MY COUSIN?,’” laughed Houlihan.  “He came back and he’s all happy and I asked him, ‘so, are you cousins?’  He said, no!”

Yet, to a certain extent, “we’re all cousins,” he smiled.

Yesterday, I received an email from a Chicago Filmmaker asking me if I had any advice on how to go about entering their film into film festivals. Of course, my canned response was WithoutABox.com which makes entering your film into multiple festivals a snap as well as a drain on your checkbook, because festivals, of course, are money-making ventures as much as anything else.

But in all honestly, my initial inner response, was “Why?” In this day and age, with how many online distribution outlets are available to indie filmmakers, would anyone want to pay to enter their film into film festivals? Chances are you just spent a boatload of money making your film (unless you just used your iPhone 4 or 4S and recorded external audio which is my recommendation for any new and budding filmmakers out there reading this. Keep it cheap, Sister.)

Not only do film festivals cost a lot of money to just enter your film (Do you know how pissed I was when I paid over $2,000 in festival fees for my first documentary feature and only got into a few of them? I could have made a great start on another indie film with those bills!), but it takes forever to find out if you got into any of them, then you have to wait around until the festival happens, and then you also in almost every case have to pay to fly out to the festival to represent your film. You’ll have to pay for your own hotel and food as well. I even had one festival contact me recently inviting me to enter my documentary into their film festival, then was shocked when I asked them to waive the fee (which is standard etiquette as far as I know when a festival INVITES you to submit to THEIR festival), then they agreed to waive the fee asking me to pay it if my film was accepted. Lame, but fine, because indie filmmakers have been trained to believe that the film festival is the be-all-to-end-all. So I started filling out the application, and then read that if you submit your film and your film is accepted into this film festival, you have to commit to attending the film festival including paying for yourself AND another crew member’s entire travel, lodging and food fees. This festival, which was only in its third year mind you, has this as a REQUIREMENT for entering this film festival. I was horrified! Are only rich people making indie films? Am I a total oddball here in admitting that as a 32-year old filmmaker, I am completely and utterly devoid of any kind of savings account or IRA or 401K that I could possibly tap into in order to attend a film festival like this?!  I would rather spend the money on my next film.

The only film festival at this point that I think is worthwhile in terms of paying to go to is Sundance, and that is only because it’s probably one of the last few, if only, American film festivals where the films accepted into their festival have a chance at getting distribution. As a matter of fact, Sundance just announced that all films PAST and PRESENT will get online distribution by none other than Sundance itself. Read the article here.

I’m probably a terrible person to write this article, because I am a little grumpy about film festivals and honestly I have a bad attitude towards people who say oh, you HAVE to get into a film festival, or else no one will watch your film. I’m calling bullshit on that. There are all kinds of ways to get your films seen, and at this point, I have to agree with a great local indie filmmaker and friend I know, Ben Hicks, who recommends that until you build a name, you should put your films online for free.

In fact, he insists that this is the only way for an unknown indie filmmaker in today’s world to get their films out there.  But I do want to add that I think this is great advice only for strictly narrative films. People will pay to watch Indie documentaries. It’s amazing to me how much money an indie doc can make, no matter how poorly or well it is made. If you make a doc about something where very few docs about it exist, you’re golden.

But you can still part-time apply Ben’s freebie model, if you’re an indie doc maker by putting your indie doc up on SnagFilms.com for free for a limited time (i.e. one month) and then tell all of your friends and hope that word gets round. If there’s an audience for your doc, word will really get around if people can watch it for free, like it, and share it.

So, in closing, my thoughts on film festivals in 2012 is to stop thinking about them, stop worrying about them, put them out of your head, and just go and make the film that you want to. Just focus your energy on making your film and getting it done. Then if you feel the need to waste large sums of money entering your film into film festivals, instead of just putting it online and finding some kind of online distribution outlet, do it after you finish your film. That’s my plan for 2012 at any rate. Happy filmmaking, folks.

Read more from Laura Zinger on her Tumblr blog.

As co-founders of the Chicago-based Corn Bred Films, husband and wife Eric B. Anderson and Amella Dellos spin tales of mismatched lovers, ambitious politicians, serial killers, old school newspaper editors, and zombie-fighting country bumpkins. Anderson and Dellos work together, individually, and with other directors and writers on a wide-range of full-length films, shorts, corporate videos, and documentaries. Ultimately, they hope to put the Midwest on the same footing as the East and West Coasts in terms of film production.

One big step in that direction is a working arrangement to create higher budget projects with Rock On! Films, the New York company formed by director Joe Eckardt. In a recent email interview, Eric B. Anderson explained how the partnership came about.

 

“Joe Eckardt and I shared representation in the early 2000s, so that’s how we met,” Anderson said. “When Joe decided to launch Rock On! Films and needed content to produce, he reached out to me and it’s been a very rewarding partnership so far, with Rock On! co-producing five scripts with Corn Bred.”

One of those projects is You May Be Right, a comedy about a talented but unsuccessful singer named Eddie who fronts a Billy Joel cover band called Glass Houses. Considering that most of the group’s gigs are performed before sparse crowds in dive bars, Eddie’s wife Brenda seems justified in suggesting that he seriously think about a more lucrative career. Especially now that she’s pregnant. But when the actual Billy Joel crashes his car on the Long Island couple’s front lawn, Eddie decides it’s a sign that Glass Houses is destined for greatness. You May Be Right is still being developed, and so far Joel has no involvement with the film.

“Joe [Eckardt] has had conversations with him about another project, so we’re hopeful,” Anderson said. “That’s something we’re still working on, but since we’re using cover versions, we’re optimistic we’ll get it all worked out.” Most of the songs are alt-rock takes on songs Joel recorded for Glass Houses. Anderson was particularly impressed with the band Hussalonia’s interpretation of the Joel’s 1980 chart-topping album.

The idea for You May Be Right came from another writer, who had based the story on an real life Billy Joel car accident. Eckardt optioned the script with the intention of directing and producing the film, but eventually became disenchanted.

“Joe felt there was the seed of an idea in the original script (which is why he optioned it) but the execution didn’t work at all,” Anderson recalled. “So he asked me to take a crack at a page one rewrite. I took the key element, the car accident, and turned it into something very different. The script went from a sort of ‘dramedy’ to the loopy musical comedy that it is now.”

At first glance, You May Be Right seems similar to the Mark Wahlberg movie, Rock Star, in which a singer from a cover band winds up performing with the actual group. Anderson deliberately steered away from that angle, concentrating instead on Eddie and Brenda’s emotional struggle, and the question of how far one should go to follow his dream. The action is set in New York City and involves Eddie and his friend Ronnie’s comically absurd pilgrimage to the clubs Joel played in, the homes where he lived, and the places where his album covers were shot. Anderson concedes the locale is unusual for his proudly Midwest-centric company.

 

“So it’s heavily rooted in the New York area,” he said. “Now, I recognize that goes against Corn Bred Films’ core mission, but in this case, the script predates the launch of Corn Bred Films and the story necessitates that it be filmed in New York. If there’s an opportunity to film anything in Chicago, I will definitely be advocating for that.”

Anderson and Eckardt have hopes their collaboration will be widely distributed. Although You May Be Right is still in the development stage, some of the roles have already been cast. Corbin Bernsen will portray a character named Captain Jack, Jason Mewes plays Ronnie, and America Olivo will bring the combative Brenda to life.

“I’m happy with the casting thus far,” Anderson said. “And I’m looking forward to rounding out the rest of the cast.”

In the meantime, Anderson and Amella Dellos also remain fully committed to creating work that is exclusively theirs, under the Corn Bred Films banner. Dellos served as Executive Producer for the PBS special Love Under Fire: The Story of Bertha & Potter Palmer (she’s also working on a feature film titled Courting Bertha), and Anderson is particularly keen on Zompocalypso, a comedy/horror flick he’s directing about a pair of dim-witted brothers determined to ride out the effects of the Mayan-predicted 2012 apocalypse.