November 2007

Grassroots filmmakers are always looking for mainstream distribution, and short films often have a particularly tough time gaining exposure. Which is why the success of the Logo Network’s short-film programming is welcome news. Two years ago, Logo, which is basically MTV’s gay cousin, launched The Click List: The Best in Short Film, a weekly show featuring an eclectic mix of stories.

EXT. SILVERCUP STUDIOS - AFTERNOON

We pan down the sidewalk to see a bunch of PICKET SIGNS leaning up against the wall. The signs all read UNION SLOGANS signifying that they are part of the WRITER'S STRIKE.

We pan further to see people standing on line. Further still, we see them standing on line for an UPSCALE CATERING TRUCK.

RUPERT GOLD AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR WGA STRIKE
an original scene by Rufus Chaffee

FADE IN:

INTERIOR GOLD PRODUCTIONS EXECUTIVE OFFICE -- DAY

Fade in.

An actor sits at his desk, coloring in a coloring book with a Crayola. He is coloring so emphatically that he breaks his only blue crayon. The actor reaches for his intercom and presses the button.

ACTOR
Lonny, can you bring me a blue crayon? I’d like it only to be dark blue, not like a smurf blue, more like a…navy blue, but less navy more…army. But not green, blue.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in January, director David Butler and his motley film crew set up shop in a cavernous yellow brick building on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore’s Little Italy. The team, known collectively as Bargain Basement Films, started straggling in at about 7 a.m.

About this new column: Many filmmakers ponder in anguish, How do other people—celebrated people—do it? Am I taking too long to make this documentary? Does everybody spend as much money as I am spending, or am I spending too little? And when filmmakers share their lessons learned in interviews in the glossy trade magazines, their tales seem to follow the arc of otherworldy heroes rather than real documentary makers, i.e. human beings like you and me. So starting this month, the Doc Doctor decided to go out into the world (this real world) of filmmakers who are successful and find out how they made it. Each month, her "anatomy" will be a chance to learn from their hits and misses in real life examples. —Fernanda Rossi, story consultant a.k.a. the Documentary Doctor

When artist and newbie filmmaker Karen Gehres turned her camera on her friend and fellow painter Elise Hill, she thought she’d capture a few cool stories about Hill’s past as a runaway, a heroin addict, a stripper, and a prostitute—all while learning how to use her shiny new film equipment.

As a young girl, Hope Dickson Leach dreamed of becoming a painter. She attended boarding school in England from the ages of 9 to 17 and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. But after interning for the likes of Mario Kassar and Todd Solondz, she convinced Columbia University's film department to give her a chance.

Sarah Silverman is the controversial comedian du jour. Her capacity to shock today's audiences may be distinctly Silverman, yet her career stands on the shoulders of several comedic foremothers. Her routines echo the boldness of Fanny Brice, the sexuality of Sophie Tucker, and the brashness of Joan Rivers to name just a few.