December 2011
2 posts
“Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll...”
– Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (1962)
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
6 posts
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WatchJon Stewart’s first show after the events of September 11th, 2001. Beautiful and touching.
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“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or...”
– George Lucas - March 3rd, 1988 Source: The Greatest Speech Against the Special Edition was from George Lucas, SavingStarWars.com
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“When you first get to Hollywood, everyone around you is trying to tell you the...”
– Leigh Whannell breaks down the experience of writing DEAD SILENCE (via movieclub)
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you...”
– Mark Twain (via creatie)
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August 2011
4 posts
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July 2011
2 posts
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What can I say? I'm cheap.
My flight to and from Los Angeles for August, which I am taking to attend Judith Weston’s Acting For Directors Workshop (side note: been wanting to do this for a long long time, so excited to finally be going!), just went down $6, so I rebooked it. For the second time; the first time I rebooked it I saved $10. All told, I’ve booked this flight 3 times now, and have saved a grand...
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May 2011
3 posts
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Writing
Sometimes writing reminds me a lot of going to the gym: I’m way too busy to do it as much as I’d like, but when I force myself to set aside at least an hour for it every day it gets just a little bit easier, and I get just a little bit better.
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April 2011
1 post
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In Defense of the Low-Budget Filmmaker
I read something on Facebook today that has me rather upset. It’s a subject that has affected me from the start of my filmmaking career, and while it’s less of an issue now, 10 years after I began this crazy adventure, it still bothers me when I hear this sentiment expressed (which is fairly frequently). I would love to hear feedback from fellow filmmakers, actors, actresses -...
March 2011
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2010 Los Angeles Screenwriter's Summit: An...
This past December I had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles to attend the Screenwriter’s Summit, a two day seminar featuring 4 hour classes by Syd Field, John Truby, Christopher Vogler and Michael Hauge. The Screenwriter’s Summit happens every few months at various locations all over the world - there’s one coming up in April in Toronto - and while the speaker and course...
February 2010
1 post
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2010 Festivus Film Festival Wrap Up... and Why You...
I didn’t know what to expect as I was walking into Filmmaker Bowling, and I was terrified. Okay. “Terrified” may be a bit of an overstatement. But for someone like me, who is “shy around strangers” if I’m being nice, and “socially awkward” if I’m being honest, walking into Elitch Lanes for the Festivus Filmmaker Bowling & Informative,...
September 2009
2 posts
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CRFF 09 Wrap Up!
TMDFilms attended the Castle Rock Film Festival this past weekend for the festival premieres of two of our short films - the suspense/horror Alone and drama The Burden. A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support us!
For those of you who missed it, the 2009 Castle Rock Film Festival was a fantastic weekend full of great films and great people! It kicked off Friday night with an evening...
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CRFF Kick Off!
Just got back from the Meet & Greet party for the Castle Rock Film Festival! They accepted two of our films - Alone and The Burden - both of which will be playing in the 10am block tomorrow morning. This will be the first screenings for these two films, and I’m so wound up with nerves and excitement I’m pretty sure I won’t be sleeping much tonight (and I really need to,...
August 2009
4 posts
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Time
I think one of the hardest things about this kind of independent film production is the issue of time - and how little there is of it. Today is the last day of a lovely nine-day “stay-cation” from my (paying) job. I’ve used the majority of my time off to get a lot of work done for my (non-paying) job - I’ve written quite a bit, got some work done on Catacomb, updated the...
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Vote for Chris on HellbentForHollywood.com!
Please go vote for Different Kinds star and TMDFilms friend Chris Borden (#440) at www.hellbentforhollywood.com. Hellbent For Hollywood is a new reality television show that is described as a cross between Survivor and American Idol, with contestants vying for a chance to launch their acting career. I had the pleasure of working with Chris over the summer of 2006 when we shot Different Kinds,...
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Antsy
I’ve been having a lot of trouble concentrating lately. I imagine a lot of it has to do with plain ol’ exhaustion; it’s been a tiring year so far, in a lot of respects. But more than that, these days I feel like there are just too many thoughts to fit inside my poor, tired head.
I’m antsy. Monkey Tales is finally beginning to wind down. We’ve reached the point...
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WatchWe have a new trailer online for our short film The 8th Inning. Check it out!
June 2009
1 post
WatchGot this forwarded to me… it’s absolutely fantastic. And so true! “If you’re sitting in an edit suite, you are in post. You can no longer say “we’ll fix it in post.” Either we fix it now, or you’re fucked.”
May 2009
2 posts
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Watch the trailer for "The Burden"!
Here’s the trailer to my new short film, The Burden, a drama starring Gina Di Tullio & Ashley Henkle and featuring Kasha Fauscett & Bethany Schatz. Hope you like it… let me know what you think! :) http://www.tmdfilms.com/theburden/media/trailer.html
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"Schism" On IMDb!
Got another of the Monkey Tales listed on IMDb… sweet! :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1428062/
March 2009
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Meeting Damon... and a Different Kind of Approach
I met Damon Martens on my very first night in the NOC. Damon was the senior operator on the graveyard shift and would be in charge of the majority of my training. I instantly liked Damon; he comes off as quiet and reserved, but when you get to know him he’s incredibly intelligent, creative, and an all around nice guy. I would also come to find out we had a lot in common. When you work...
Things Fall Apart... literally and figuratively
The Great American Novel left me drained and exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Post-production had taken over a year, and the final product had left a lot to be desired. The realization of how much I had left to learn, how much work was ahead of me, was staggering. For the first time since changing my major my sophomore year I really began to focus primarily on my studies. ...
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WatchJust gonna cut into the introductory posts real quick to share that we just got a new trailer up on our website for our short horror film Schism. The wonderful Jackie Billotte stars, along with Dawn Bower, Marty Wilhelm, and Kitai.
So... who are you again? And why should I care?
Well… maybe you shouldn’t care. I’m not gonna lie: I have absolutely no idea if this blog will interest anyone, even those who know me. This may be Fail in the making.
But it seems that if I’m going to start a blog about my self-described adventures in self-funded, independent filmmaking, I should probably explain who I am, what I do, and how I got here. Here’s...
Hey, how ya doing...
Umm… hello there. Welcome to my blog. (Great start, right? I’m starting a blog and yet I’ve been sitting here, unable to figure out how to open the first entry? Oui.) Well, first things first: Hi, my name is Eileen, and I’m a self-funded filmmaker.
Starting this blog is something I’ve wrestled with for a couple of years now. In fact, these first posts have been...