Welcome to the World of ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM)!

I've been meaning to start working on this blog for a while, but tonight I'm going to take the plunge and really dig in.

About 5 years ago I attended the West Chester Film Festival for the first time. It was a new festival then, and I had never heard of it, until my friend, Mike White, invited me to go there with him and his girl-friend one night. The three of us went to one of the screenings at an art gallery on Gay Street. I walked into the screening room and saw maybe 30 chairs laid out in front of a large screen TV, and I sat down next to Mike. We watched about 6 short films and I fell in love with the short-film format instantly. The films I saw were well produced, and even though they were really short (under a half hour long), they were really powerful and thought provoking. My only film background up until then was as an avid viewer of Hollywood films, and Hollywood films were never under an hour long. This festival changed my perspective on what films could be, and I walked out of the art gallery with a burning desire to make a short film of my own. That desire was quickly squelched by the realization that I had no clue how to make one. I had no equipment, no script, and no resources to make a film. I had nothing. I didn't know a single actor, or film-maker to help me. A lot of time has gone by since then and now. This year it become possible for me to make a film, so that's what I'm doing now. My first "real" film, ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM) is almost finished, and I want to take some time and blog about the experiences I had (and am having) making this film. I hope to show my film in the West Chester Film Festival next year, but if that doesn't pan out, then at least I will have given it my best shot, and I'll have learned some good life-lessons along the way. I don't have any film or TV background other than having spent about 7 hours a day watching TV and movies as a youngster, but I would like to impart some of the lessons that I learned while working on ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM)to anybody interested in knowing what goes into making an independent film. I make art, because I like the process of drawing, writing, taking photos, making videos, etc..., and I'm bipolar, so it gives me something to do with my excess energy. I just want to express myself artistically and grow as a person along the way.

Before I wrote the script for ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM), I contacted Ed at Culinary Deliveries to ask him this question: "if I write a script that takes place at a pizzeria, can I film it at your shop?". I didn't want to write the ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM) script, unless I was sure that I'd have a pizzeria location to film at. I was really nervous when I called Ed, because his shop seemed like the perfect place to film the movie. Well, Ed agreed over the phone, and I told him that I'd be in touch with him once I got closer to filming the movie. So, I was all set to start writing the script.

Writing the script was a whole evolution of ideas. Originally it was going to be a webshow called The Pizza Man, which was inspired by true life stories that my friend Jay told me from his pizza delivering days. Each episode would be one pizza delivery of Jay interacting with different customers. Jay works for a large pizza corporation and delivers on the weekends, and I was hoping that he would act in the show, because he's really funny in person. That didn't work out, because of scheduling issues (he works all the freaking time... lol!). But, I did gather a lot of true life stories from real pizza delivery drivers who I found on Craig's List while I was working on the show. I'll post those real-life stories on this blog later. One of the actors in ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM), who I was new friends with at the time, suggested that I make an episode of the Pizza Man with monsters in it, like vampires, or zombies. At first I thought it was a bad idea, because I was trying to keep this a small production, and I didn't know any make-up artists who would volunteer. But, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of using zombies in the show as background creatures. And, I kept thinking to myself, "everyone loves zombies and pizza". It just seemed like a good title. One thing that I've seen mentioned in a lot of books and on the internet, is that titles are very important. They can make or break a film. The title has to be intriguing or scary or funny enough to get people to pay money to see that film, or read that book, or listen to that album. "Snakes on a Plane" had a killer title, so did "The Hunt For Red October", because they both intrigued the audience and helped make those films millions of dollars at the box office. I still think that ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM) is a good trademark/title, and hopefully the movie will be as good as the title when it's finished :)

Me and Rob Melso scripted a few episodes of the ZOMBIES AND PIZZA (TM)web-show, and we made it up to episode three, but then I got it into my head that I should write a longer piece specifically for film festivals. But I still didn't have any resources to make a "real film", so I focused my time on writing webcomics, which are much easier to produce. About 8 months passed, and I discovered a Philly website that focuses on the local film scene. It's called Film.org, and I owe them a sincere thank you letter for helping me get the word out about my film. I was overwhelmed by responses I got from two ads that I posted in the Hotline section on the site. I received e-mails from about 120 actors and crew in just 2 weeks. I spent hours replying to the e-mails, and scheduled about 30 actors for the auditions. I went from having no resources to having more resources than I knew what to do with! Film.org really was a great discovery and I'm very grateful for all their help :)

I had a rough version of the script finished before I posted my original two ads, but that version changed a lot before I filmed the movie. More about that evolution of ideas later...

Anyway, I was trying to keep this film under $200, and I didn't want to waste that money on renting a venue for the auditions, so I had to think creatively. I looked into various places to see if I could barter some product placement in the film in trade for using space for the auditions, but none of those venues panned out. That's why I did the auditions at the Anson B. Nixon Park in Kennett Square. It seemed like a good idea to do it there, because the park is free to use on a first-come first-serve basis, and there are plenty of pavilions there and plenty of space to do what I had to do. Granted, I had to rely on the weather being nice, but I made sure to give the actors heads-ups about bringing umbrellas. I really lucked out with the weather on all three days - because a huge thunderstorm blew it's way through Kennett Square and West Chester about an hour after the last audition on Thursday. The power was out everywhere, but at least none of the actors got wet... lol.

I didn't know what to expect when I went to the park on the first day. I stepped out of my car and saw the first auditioner, Rich Adams, waiting in the shade for me to arrive. He was in a hurry to be auditioned, because he had to drive all the way to Atlantic City to go to his job at the Casino, and we only had about 20 minutes to do the audition. After Rich's audition, my friend Tim Mullen arrived, and I packed some sodas and waters into a cooler that he had brought for the occasion. We walked towards the pavilions and I quickly saw that the entire park was overrun by cub-scouts. I hadn't expected anyone to even be at the park in the morning on a weekday... lol. Luckily the covered stage near the pond was free, so me and Tim set-up shop there. Actors started arriving a few minutes later, and I spent the next few hours listening to them read lines and answering questions about the film. All in all, that first day of auditions was a lot of fun, and based on my own experiences, I would definitely recommend using the Anson B. Nixon Park for auditions if money is tight. One lesson I learned, though, is that it is definitely a good idea to contact the park and find out if there are any special events going on there, so that you can schedule the auditions on "off" days.

The second day of auditions went good, but yet again, the park was over-run by cub-scouts. This time they were playing tug-of war, and playing in bubble jungle gyms, and doing other activities. Me and Tim walked over to the stage, and were setting up there, when one of the cub-masters came over to talk to us. She delivered the message that in about 15 minutes there was going to be a fire-truck parked right in front of the stage hosing down the kids. haha. All the pavilions were taken by the cub-scouts, so me and Tim moved over to the last place we could... the fishing dock by the pond. It was actually nicer over there than it had been on the stage, so it all worked out. Right on cue, about 15 minutes later, a fire truck drove past us honking it horn and about 100 cub-scouts gathered next to it to be hosed down. This was a true spectacle which I wish I had gotten on film. The firemen sprayed their hose straight up into the air, and the cub-scouts absolutely went hay-wire and stampeded around in the cascading water for about 5 or 10 minutes. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before... lol. Anyway, that happened, and the firemen packed up and drove off, then a few minutes later the first auditioner showed up. I was glad that the hoopla was over when he got there. Anyway, I had about 7 auditions that day, over the course of a few hours, then I packed up and went home. After I got home, all hell broke loose, and the biggest thunderstorm I'd seen in years passed through West Chester and knocked the power out everywhere. There were downed trees all around Chester County, and I heard that a tornado hit Chester, PA, which isn't all that far from here, actually. Thank goodness the auditions were through by the time the storm hit that day!

I was pretty drained by the time Sunday rolled around, but I went to the park and set up in a pavilion. I had my guitar and passed the time working on a new song in the shade. This third day of auditions was much more subdued than the other days, because the cub-scouts weren't there, and I had the entire pavilion to myself. The actors tickled in for a bit, then a few of them showed up coincidentally around the same time, which was nice, because they read their lines back to each other and I got to hear how my script sounded coming from real actors. I was waiting for the final auditioner to get there when I started thinking about who to cast in what parts. This was a mistake on my part, because I should have waited until the final actor auditioned before I started thinking about that.

As a producer/director, some of the key things I was looking at while casting actors were the following:

1) Can these actors fit the filming into their schedules? I was very worried about whether there would be last-minute cancellations during the filming, so I went with my gut and cast the actors who struck me as being reliable, and who had open schedules during the filming time-frame. As far as that goes, all the actors showed up on the film-dates when I needed them to, except for two actors with minor roles, so it was easy to get replacements at the last minute. So, as far as that goes, I think I chose my actors well.

2) Secondary to the scheduling, I wanted my actors to be able to remember their lines and play their roles convincingly. All of the actors I chose pulled-through on that count. Rich Russell, who I ended up casting as Nelson, knew almost the entire script word for word, which was an instant sell as far as I was concerned. I knew right away that he got the part, and I think he set a great example on the set when the movie was being filmed.

3) Thirdly, I wanted to work with actors who were easy to work with and who I got along with. All the actors I worked with were easy to get along with, and I don't think I had any drama with them that I recall. This is a good thing :)

4) Fourthly, Certain characters needed certain looks, so I was looking at at superficial things like hair, clothing, mannerisms, etc... As a director/producer, I would recommend to actors who are auditioning to spend some time before their audition and come up with a look for the character they want to be. Everything counts: rings, necklaces, shoes, shirts, pants, hair, make-up, etc... I think casting agents do notice these things when they audition you.

After the first three audition days, I did one last audition at the King Of Prussia Mall, and cast one of my leads there.

It was a real relief to have everyone cast, but I still didn't have my crew together yet. I ended up using David Kappler as the cinematographer after he called me in response to my hotline on Film.org. After that, it took me a while to finally decide on which editor to use, but I chose Bethany Depoy a few weeks ago, and she's got the footage in her hands now, so hopefully she'll work her magic on it in time for us to make the West Chester Film Festival's deadline this year.

Well, there's a lot more background that I want to tell, but I'll have to save it for the time being. I'll try to pick up the story where I left off soon :)

Thanks for reading :)