We're hurtling towards the finish line, of course there are still a few things that need to be completed before we get there - a few shots need tweaking in the grade and we still have the sound mis to go, but the sound edit is 90% there. I've spent the last ten days looking at potential venues for the WORLD PREMIERE (woooo) and the cast and crew screening - as ever these things take forever and I'm still awaiting final confirmation - but things are looking good. Talking of looking good (what a fricken' segue - I should be on the telly, me) James and I spent yesterday looking at and making decisions on Stagg Do merchandise! You know T-shirts, mugs, keyrings and such like… I'll be putting up a store on here in the next couple of weeks and you can all start preordering your "merch" as the cool kids say. In many ways that's what this particular post is about - what sort of merchandise would you guys like to buy - if any? DVDs, CDs and T-shirts are a definite - but what else would float your boat? Fancy emailing us? Or just bunging an answer in the comments below? Also if you know anybody who might be interested in sponsoring our release or advertising with us then please send them our way. And finally if you a spare quid or two that you can sling into our Paypal account we'd be most grateful. Memes, memes, memesAnd finally - check out our meme contest - the entries are currently here and our our tumblr. Why not visit a meme generator and knock some up for us? You can submit them on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr or if social media doesn't appeal, you can email them to us. There will be EXCLUSIVE prizes and discounts for the winners, including a pair of tickets* to our WORLD PREMIERE this summer. Memes are also a great way for us to spread the word about the film and to help us bring people to the website - so feel free to share any you like along with a link, to us here, on any platform that you use. I think I'll be setting up a Pinterest and Instagram account soon - so any pointers you might have will be appreciated. And one last thing - would you be interested in signing up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and offers? *WORLD PREMIERE will be in North East England - transport not included
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Terry Tito Franco Reproduced from director James DeMarco's blog. Terry Francona will always be remembered as the most successful Red Sox manager of all time, and his recent dismissal has left me (and probably most of Red Sox Nation), feeling a bit depressed. But after the infamous September swoon, someone had to pay the price. Don’t get me wrong, “Tito’s” 8-year-tenure as Sox manager wasn’t perfect. Sometimes he backed slumping players for too long (e.g. Carl Crawford, Tim Wakefield and others). Some critics thought he should’ve called out John Lackey for staring him down during his all-too-frequent visit to the pitcher’s mound to mercifully pull Lackey from the game. The main rap on Tito was that he was too much of a ‘players’ manager, which I guess translates to - he was too soft on the players, i.e. he was a weak manager. Even if that were true, he always had his players’ backs. During his tenure, he never publicly humiliated or dressed down any member of the team, rarely giving the carnivorous Boston Media anything to exploit. He reserved his ire, concern or criticism for behind closed doors, out of the lime light, away from the sharks. I’m sure most of the players respected him for it. The reason why I bring all this up is that I can see a little of myself in Terry Francona. When it comes to filmmaking, I don’t believe in shouting at, castigating or humiliating any members of the cast and crew in public. My motto has always been to treat people the way you want to be treated. So if someone makes a mistake, and let’s face it we all do, you take them aside privately and try to resolve it without letting it interfere with the bigger picture, namely trying to make the best film possible - or as Zahra said when I first moved to the UK, “don’t take any shit and don’t give any shit.” Unfortunately, it seems as if a lot of film people view this type of management as a sign of being weak. In my admittedly limited experience on sets, I’ve found that for some strange, twisted reason, some filmmakers enjoy seeing the Director or Producer having a go at crew in public view. It’s almost as if shouting and humiliating a crew member is a way to gain credibility and respect - to show everyone who’s boss! I’m sorry, but that seems pretty fucked up to me. I don’t think it’s necessary, and, more important, I don’t think it works. Why would it? Studies have proven that this type of management is unsuccessful in child rearing, and definitely not a productive strategy in business management. In fact I would surmise that when you chastise a cast or crew member in front of his peers or colleagues, he or she is more likely to spend the rest of the shoot conjuring up ways to get back at you and/ or your production. And nobody wants that. What I find worst about the shout and humiliate style of management is that it’s often inconsistent, primarily aimed at the weakest of the crew or the newbies. Take my recent film “The Stagg Do” for example - do you really think that any member of management would have the balls to shout at Pob or Craig? I doubt it. Well, maybe Zahra, but only if they shouted at her first. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that if it is in your DNA that you must really act like a prick, then act like a prick. Scream, shout, humiliate - you have my blessing. But at least be consistent about it. Don’t just shout at the defenseless intern and turn a blind eye to other, more intimidating members of cast or crew. Because that makes you a hypocrite. Which brings me back to Terry Francona, just because a person doesn’t rant, rave or humiliate members of his cast, crew or TEAM, doesn’t mean he’s not passionate about his job or project. Nor does it mean that he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. The independent film industry seems to have this unwritten code that management must appear and behave in a certain way, which includes acting like a callous twat on set. As I’ve said many times before - this is filmmaking, we’re not saving lives. This is supposed to be fun! The film set doesn’t have to look like a war zone or Carrie’s night at the highschool prom. In retrospect, I believe that having a relaxed film set (or even relaxed baseball *team*) is nearly impossible to achieve with people screaming, berating, blaming and backstabbing their coworkers. You can always bet on certain things going wrong on a no-budget shoot: i.e. actors forgetting lines or arriving late; key crew members becoming ill or having to quit because of other paying gigs; props not working, the weather being shit (especially in the North East of England), running out of time in a location, etc. etc. etc... but whether you’re a baseball manager or a film director, what you don’t expect is your team to quit on you - that really is unforgivable. As the late great Vince Lombardi said: “Quitters never win and winners never quit.” Would I do it all again? Of course. Despite all the problems, pain and hardship we endured during our 8-day shoot, in the end we still made a feature film. That in itself is far better than not making a film. When I think back to the day in late April when Pob and I came up with the premise of “The Stagg Do”, the turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. I wrote the script in less than a month. The entire project was put together in a matter of weeks. Some amazing stuff. I’ll continue to take away the positives from the shoot, and look at the negatives as just part of the filmmaking experience. Just like Tito Francona, I will live and learn. |
AuthorWill try our best to keep this busy during the shoot and post-production. Archives
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