As teased at the end of my last entry, I am blogging from another remote and exciting location: NEW YORK CITY!

"Start spreading the news..."

I always love coming here.  There’s an energy to this city that latches onto you from the get-go.  I arrived this past Saturday on a perfect sunny morning.  Admittedly, post-9/11, it’s still kind of eerie to land at LaGuardia because you coast along right next to the incomplete skyline on your way in.  But, still…the moment you see the Statue of Liberty, followed by the recognizable hub that is lower Manhattan, you know you’re witnessing something special.

I have to confess that this has been a bit of a weird visit.  Fast and fractured (and certainly not helped by the red-eye flight that kicked things off), I have found this trip a blur.  I did get to see a pretty awesome avant-garde puppet show that featured one of my dear friends, Ed, and his puppety take on Lizzie Borden.  I had no expectations going into this live performance and I was suitably impressed.  The depths of creativity that people can tap into never ceases to amaze me.

I also got to enjoy some wonderful jazz last night where Deliberate’s illustrious VP Barb, my dinner companions, and I sat mere feet away from a trio of highly entertaining musicians.  Talk about the quintessential New York experience – decadent lobster raviloli accompanied by live jazz?!?  Yeah, I could get used to this life.

A little Duke Ellington with your Pinot Grigio?

But, I have bigger issues to consider.  For tomorrow I head to Wisconsin – sight of future fundraising.  Except the fundraising events that EP Dad and I had planned have now been “postponed.”  For it seems that investing in my filmmaking adventure is not all that enticing to a certain population of investors.  And, believe me, I get it.  I’m asking a generally fiscally conservative crowd to consider a particularly high-risk investment.  While there are a few who are willing to entertain the risk (and potential rewards), there aren’t enough to warrant a full wine-and-cheese shindig.  So, EP Dad and I are scaling things down and putting more focus on the potential one-on-one meetings that we can arrange.

I’m recognizing that collecting cash for this filmmaking adventure is gonna be a marathon instead of a sprint.  But I’m not going to be deterred.  I have orthotics in my running shoes…I can go the distance.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Kev! (It’s still 10/4 on the left coast!)

NEXT UP: An update from the land of the Cheeseheads!

Hello, readers!  Tonight I am blogging from a remote location…and probably one of my guiltiest indulgences: the Admiral’s Club.  As my friends know, this is one club of which I am so grateful to be a member.  I discovered it many years ago when taking a red-eye to Palm Beach, Florida, where I was going to enjoy some fun in the sun with my family and nieces.  I had a layover in Dallas, but my flight out of Los Angeles left later than scheduled.  After a bleak, sleepless red-eye, I arrived in Big D at about seven in the morning only to find that I missed my connecting flight to Palm Beach.  I had to fight my fatigue and figure out when I could take another flight to Pam Beach.  Thank God there was one!  Except…it wasn’t leaving for another six hours.  Oof.

I'm stuck here?

As I looked around the airport, at the masses of travelers loudly milling about, I was overcome with desperation.  How was I going to curl up in one of those uncomfortable chairs by my gate and catch a much-needed snooze while passengers arrived and departed around me? (I know, I know…the cross I had to bear.)

And then I discovered THE ADMIRAL.  American Airlines has a private lounge…an exclusive club.  The Admiral’s Club.  It’s the peaceful oasis in a desert of grumpy travelers and noisy terminals.  And when it’s early in the morning and you’re operating on half-a-second of sleep, walking into this lounge is as if Keanu Reeves has just welcomed you into the penthouse suite at the Ritz-Carlton.  I had to join this club.

Relax, weary traveler.

Now lest you think I’m wandering off into another one of my silly Keanu-induced digressions, this is really my long-winded way of addressing the subject of money.  While membership at the Admiral’s Club definitely has its privileges it also comes at a price.  And I need to be scrutinizing how I’m spending what little discretionary funds I have these days.  The point is, there are some very real dollars and cents attached to launching an independent film.  And I do want this blog to provide some real-world wisdom experience.  I imagine if I were a recent NYU Film grad with a handful of talented filmmaking friends who don’t mind working for free, I could dive into this process without forming an LLC.  Or perhaps if my last name were Trump, I’d already be casting Beneath the Surface and scouting for locations.  But that’s not my situation.

The bottom line is that in planting the seeds of creativity, you need actual seed money.  So have a little socked away before you get going.  How much?  Considering the LLC set-up, the company branding costs, the attorney fees, the travel, the informational lunches, etc., I would guess I’m going to spend close to $10K in these early months.  And that’s with some very generous “friends and family” discounts, too!  Still, it’s money I’m spending that I know will be worth it in the long run.  (Right?  Right?!?)  But I may need to make some sacrifices along the way.  Can I cover up those grey hairs with Miss Clairol instead of the magical CR at SH Salon?  Does Lucy really need doggy daycare twice a week?  Should I just pull out the scissors to my Ann Taylor Loft card?  Again…I’m sure you’re amazed that I’m able to even contemplate these tough life choices.

Don't you dare take away my doggy daycare!

At least my time with the Admiral doesn’t expire until next June!

NEXT UP: DLB and VP Babs hit New York City!  Can the Big Apple survive?

One piece of advice that I received early on from producer Athena Lobit (of The Things We Carry fame) is that it’s never too early to start looking into legal when launching an independent film.  And she was right.  So, I am advising you, aspiring filmmaker, to do the same.  In the world of business plans, subscription agreements, and stock purchase agreements, you want to be working with someone who knows what they’re doing.

I think I avoided the lawyer search for a bit because I knew it could be a costly endeavor – especially in Los Angeles where attorneys are often as famous as their celebrity clients.  And while I wasn’t going to be hiring Bert Fields or Gloria Allred, I still hoped to find someone sharp, knowledgeable, and reasonably priced for an upstart production company like mine.

"I only charge a thousand dollars an hour!"

The great thing about lawyers (and, yes, there are some great things about them) is that everyone knows one.  So I once again turned to my Hollywood consortium and asked for some recommendations.  I can’t tell you how grateful (and relieved) I am to now be working with one of the attorneys suggested to me.  I’m going to play it safe and not mention my legal eagle by name because a) he may not want to be advertised on this modest ol’ bloggy of mine; and b) lawyers are, after all, litigious.  Let’s just call him Stuart, after my favorite LA LAW attorney, Stuart Markowitz, played by the adorable Michael Tucker. (Yes, I’m dating myself.  But isn’t he cute and cuddly?)

Michael Tucker with his on-and-offscreen wife (and Madison native!) Jill Eikenberry

Stuart was recommended to me by a very trusted friend and colleague.   Stuart owns his own law firm and has practiced entertainment law for many years – in fact, I’d guess he’s been in the game at least a couple of decades.  Now, I admit I get intimated when it comes to contracts, disclosure, agreements, and the like.  All that legal jargon hurts my brain.  But the wonderful thing about Stuart is that he talks to me like the rookie that I am without talking down to me.  Last week he spent about 40 minutes on the phone with me, offering suggestions and advice (and quelling the recent sympathy anxiety I’ve absorbed via my EP Dad) and we hadn’t even officially agreed to work together.   That’s a classy counselor in my book.

Nothing out of order here!

As I assemble Team Deliberate, I realize that I’m looking for long-term partners, not flighty flings.  I need to surround myself with people I can trust who will educate and advise me.  And it’s mandatory that we have some laughs along the way, too!  I think I’ve found that in Stuart.  One more item I can check off the list.

NEXT UP: Planting the seeds of seed money.

It’s been a long week.  After I finished my blog post late Tuesday night, I experienced a sudden burst of energy that kept me up way beyond the pumpkin-turning-into point.  And while I could have recovered the following evening, I had celebrating to do.  For the Nickelodeon show I currently work on will soon be appearing on televisions across the land.  Yes, the world is about to meet Dudley Puppy!

TUNE IN next Saturday, 10/2, at 11:30 a.m.!!!

On Wednesday evening our T.U.F.F. PUPPY crew and cast gathered at a cool club in Studio City to make merry over the launch of our new animated series.  We shared the event with another show premiering on the same day, Planet Sheen – a sure-to-be-hilarious spin-off of the highly popular Jimmy Neutron series.  Since Nickelodeon attracts some of the greatest human beings ever to work at an animation studio, the evening was a full-on funfest.   Deafening deejay tunes, bubbly beverages, and cartoony colleagues made the night a memorable one.

Thanks for the memories, Mark!

Needless to say, Thursday was a bit of a slog.  Today was mildly better. (Co-Party Planner Joanna and I tried to dissuade a mid-week fete for good reason!)  And now I have a big working weekend ahead of me.  With my fundraising travels on the horizon, it’s time to finalize the business plan and polish up that power point presentation.

So on that note, I am going to close the door on the week and issue a hearty:

Love to love you, baby!

Good night, all.  Happy weekending!

P.S. Mr. Coppola (my director-friend) was invited to the party, but couldn’t make it.  I hope to have an update in the near future, though.

NEXT UP: Deliberate Productions lands a Legal Eagle!

I owe it all to Rex Ryan.

Yep...this guy.

Now before my Green Bay Packer brethren think I’ve wandered off the Lambeau reservation and straight into the new-and-improved Meadowlands, that is not the case.   I will forever bleed green & gold.  However…

I’ve finally gotten back into my morning workout routine which usually involves my treadmill and a television. (Yeah, I need some sort of visual or iPoditory distraction when exercising or else I am bored to non-perspiration.)   While on my treadmill, I’m usually watching a movie or revisiting a cable TV show I love like Sex & The City or Party Down.  But these last couple of days I needed something more motivational for my current state of mind…and Carrie Bradshaw drooling over Manolo Blahniks wasn’t gonna cut it.

Sorry, SJP...I need more.

As I’ve probably expressed a thousand times already, this roller coaster of entrepreneurhood has me experiencing a bi-polar cyclone of emotions ranging from exhilaration to apprehension to sheer panic to total exhaustion about it all.  I have semi-laughingly wondered if this blog was going to end up being a detailed true Hollywood story of Deirdre’s great mental breakdown of 2011?  Yeah, one thing became clear:  I needed an attitude adjustment.  And HBO Sports helped me find it.

It's not TV. It's therapy.

As most of you probably know, there’s a reality documentary on HBO called Hard Knocks and it follows the training camp of an NFL football team.  The viewer is taken behind the scenes to grueling practices where we’re given insight into the extremely intense and competitive world of professional football.  Talk about DRAMA!  In its most recent sixth season, Hard Knocks profiled the New York Jets.  It’s pretty compelling television to watch veterans and rookies compete for the few open spots on the team roster, running drill after drill under that humid New York sun while being screamed at and sworn at by demanding coaches.

Are we having fun yet?

But what really struck me even more than the physical stamina of the players was their mental toughness.  You can see that the guys who stay focused on the ultimate goal and remain confident in their own abilities are the ones who will persevere over the long haul of training camp.  And even if they don’t make the final cut, the true survivors keep looking for the next opportunity instead of packing up that pigskin and skulking home.  Brashton Satele is one of these guys.  Alas, poor Brashton ultimately didn’t make it onto the Jets (mainly due to an injury sustained early in camp), but he remained philosophical about the experience: “Tough events don’t last, tough people do.”  Granted, he’s paraphrasing evangelical preacher Robert Schuller, but the sentiment still resonates.   And I am determined to stay tough! (At least until the next entry when I’m a blubbering mass of insecurity….)

Oh yeah, here’s one more reason why I enjoyed Hard Knocks:

Ah, Sweet Sanchez!

Now GO PACKERS!!!

It WILL be yours, Aaron Rodgers!

NEXT UP: A Mr. Coppola Update?

When I wrapped up Labor Day weekend in Wisconsin, one thing was clear: Executive Producer Dad and I were officially pulling the trigger on fundraising.  It’s probably the most daunting part of this process, but also the most necessary one.   While my VP of Marketing may not mind being paid in mojitos, I don’t know many cinematographers who will be satisfied with cocktails as the only compensation. (Although I do make a good martini – just ask my pals Kevin and Monique!)

The plan now is that I’m going back to Wisconsin in early October to co-host two fundraising events with my Executive Producer.  Invites have been printed or created online (paperlesspost.com is a great invitation website, by the way – thanks for the tip, Shannon and Amy!) and they’ll be sent out early next week.  I need to put together a power point presentation so I can expound for fifteen to twenty minutes on my vision for Deliberate Productions and for the first film from it, Beneath the Surface.  I’ll have to be ready to field questions and answer them with some coherence.  I’m feeling a little like Roy Scheider in All that Jazz…

"It's Showtime!"

Yes, the search for angel investors has begun.   But along the way, I’ve been humbled by the everyday angels who are crossing my path to help in the search.  Of course, there are the usual suspects of family and friends…and blog readers!  But another angel has emerged in the form of an old friend I reconnected with thanks to…yes…Facebook.  Uh huh, after all of my skepticism about the social networking/navel-gazing site, I’ve actually found it to be a pretty cool resource.  Some of the things Facebook has brought me include a) experiencing Comic-Con vicariously through my Nickelodeon colleagues, b) viewing pictures of my super-dynamic nieces on their fun and fish-filled summer vacation, and c) discovering a very cool musician named Clem Snide.  (Checkout his ukulele cover of Journey’s Faithfully.  Awesome!)

Take that, Steve Perry!

Here I go again with the digressing…

Anyway, a long-lost friend of mine, Melissa, contacted me on Facebook.  Melissa and I performed together in some Madison community theatre productions when we were kids.  The King and I and The Sound of Music were two of our early theatrical triumphs. We went to different schools, though, so by the time high school began we fell out of touch. (Ah, if only Facebook had been around back then.)

High-tech Communication: Eighties Style!

When I told Melissa I’d be home over Labor Day, we made plans to get together for some cocktails and catching up.  As I’ve written earlier, that weekend home was a mixed bag of emotions because I suddenly felt the reality of this project of mine…and the heavy weight of that reality.  Words were turning into action.  And my stomach was turning into knots.

So at one of my favorite wine bars in Madison, Eno Vino, Melissa and I caught up on lost time and traveled down a laughter-laden memory lane together.  I eventually told Melissa about my plans in independent film production and she couldn’t have been more excited for me.  Her unabashed enthusiasm and support was just the fuel I needed to keep moving forward on this pathway.  And, as it turns out, she may be able to introduce me to some potential angel investors, too.

So, I am going to be grateful for all of the angels that come my way on this adventure, investor and otherwise.

Thanks for the encouragement!

NEXT UP: Another movie review?  So many Blockbuster envelopes await my attention.

Being a film aficionado (i.e. nerd), I not only like watching movies, I like watching movies about making movies.  I recently revisited a really interesting film called The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing. (Thanks for loaning it to me, Myra!)  The film is a behind-the-scenes look at the editing process and the incredible influence editing has on the creation of a motion picture.  I can’t recommend it enough.

CUT!

A variety of well-respected film editors are interviewed, including Michael Kahn (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan), Sally Menke (Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction) Dylan Tichenor (There Will be Blood, Brokeback Mountain), and Thelma Schoonmaker (pretty much every Scorsese film ever made).  I think it’s Kevin Tent (the editor on Sideways and Election) who equates the director first arriving at the editing bay to a shipwreck victim being washed ashore – the editing bay is the antidote to all of the madness and mayhem that comes from being on set for months.  This isn’t to say that sifting through hours and hours AND HOURS of footage isn’t a painstaking undertaking in itself – for all seem to agree that it is during the editing process that the film actually gets made.

Almost there!

There are two interviews that really stood out to me.  One is with Anne Coates who continues to edit at the age of 85.  Some of her notable films include a little one you may have heard of called Lawrence of Arabia.  What About Bob?, In the Line of Fire, and Erin Brokovich are a few others on her extensive resume.  But in The Cutting Edge, she discusses what I think is one of the best love scenes ever crafted on film.  When Coates was 74, she edited Out of Sight for director Steven Soderbergh.  There’s a great sequence late in the film when the two leads on opposite sides of the law (George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) give in to their mutual attraction and meet up at a hotel for one sexy night.  It’s a gorgeously shot sequence, but what really works about it is the way the editing builds up the sense of anticipation we, the audience, have in watching these two beautiful people finally come together.   It’s hard to explain, so let me share via the power of You Tube.   The fancy editing starts to happen about two-and-a-half minutes in, but go ahead and savor every second of this sequence.  JLo should be forever grateful she got to be a part of this terrific film.

Out of Sight Editing!

My other favorite interview was with director extraordinaire (and father of the summer blockbuster) Steven Spielberg.  The brilliance of JAWS goes without saying, but it’s fascinating to hear him talk about the significant impact the late-great editor Verna Fields had on the film.  According to Spielberg, everyone called Fields “Mother Cutter” and she was a very earthy and nurturing person.  However, all of the disagreements that they had while editing JAWS revolved around the shark.  Spielberg was coming off of an extremely challenging shoot on a film that he thought might end his still-budding career.  After all of the trouble he and the special effects team expended to make that uncooperative mechanical shark work, he was determined to feature it as much as possible in the film.  Mother Cutter, however, argued that less is more – the shark would be more terrifying in the imagination of the audience versus them seeing it too soon.  Theses arguments between director and editor would come down to the minutiae of frames – Spielberg would beg for 38 frames of the shark while Fields insisted on 36 frames.  But, in the end, Spielberg conceded that Verna Fields was right.  As he puts it so hilariously, “…the sad fact was the shark would only look real in 36 frames, not 38 frames.  And that two frame difference was the difference between something really scary and something that looked like a great white floating turd.”

NO TURD ZONE!

All hail the editor!

NEXT UP: Let’s all be surprised! 😉

So my foray into the radio world was definitely a learning experience.  As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I appeared on the Boo & Petie, Too show this past Saturday morning.  Boo & Petie are fun and funny ladies who have been entertaining Madison with their radio program for the past 15 years.  I definitely had butterflies fluttering around my stomach going into the show, but I think/hope I was able to form a coherent sentence or two.   And the graciousness of the two co-hosts definitely made it easier.

Boo and Petie structured the segment around filmmaking in Wisconsin, so a documentary filmmaker, Bob Left, was featured on the show as well.  Bob has made a number of Wisconsin-based documentaries, and he was able to ruminate on his experiences producing movies.  When asked to offer advice to a first-time filmmaker like myself, Bob emphasized the importance of maintaining two key qualities: passion and persistence.

I don’t know if it was the reality of sitting in front of a microphone and discussing “my film,” but truth be told, the weekend in Madison was pretty stressful.  While there were great lunches (thanks Alicia & Amy!), cocktails (thanks, Melissa!), dinners (thanks, Shannon!) and dance parties (thanks CeCe & Neala!), many conversations revolved around the BIG ASK.

The BIG ASK = $$$

We all know that the benefit of being an independent filmmaker is that there is no studio to answer to when it comes to creative decisions.  No infuriating layer of middle management weighing in with “feedback” only to have their boss swoop in with totally contradictory feedback.  No, you, independent filmmaker, get the final word.  You get to call all the shots.  You get to execute your vision.  At long last (and to take the declarative clichés further), THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU!

It's Good to be King...right?

Ah, yes…THE BUCK.  The elusive buck.  Because the reality is, independent filmmaker, the buck may stop with you…but it also STARTS with you.  And often you are seeking it from family and friends…and their network of family and friends.  Which creates a lot of pressure…for everyone.

So at the end of this weekend, I found myself sort of amazed that people even embark upon, let alone accomplish, this independent filmmaking thing.  There’s so much going against you from the start.  The bleak statistics, pessimistic opinions, precarious components…is it really worth all of the stress and strained relationships?  Good God, why even bother?

But then I think of the indie filmmakers I admire who clearly stuck to it and persevered.  Aren’t we lucky that Todd Fields hung in there and made the beautiful film In the Bedroom?  And John Carney moved us with Once?  And Kelly Reichardt offered the poignant Wendy & Lucy?  I sure think so.

So I will continue to channel my passion and persistence, realizing there may be times when I have to dig deep into the reservoir for it. (And I’ll also try to diffuse any strained relationships as best I can!)

NEXT UP: The Final Cut.

Notorious DLB is…

Spent!

For this is the weekend when the reality began to sink in.

No, actually I think reality has pummeled me over.

SO. MUCH. TO DO!

NEXT UP: A more coherent weekend recap.

Dear Readers, I am trying to honor my self-imposed edict of contributing to ye old bloggy at least twice a week, but tonight’s entry is going to be a bit lackluster.  (Please accept my apologies in advance.)  Truth be told, DLB is running on fumes after a brutal red-eye flight sitting in front of a family who seemed to think 1:00–5:00 a.m. in the confines of an airplane were the prime hours to have intense discourse.  (Yeah, don’t give a second…nay…first thought to the throngs around you desperately trying to sleep…you’re using your witching hours to your family dysfunctional fullest!  Go, Crazy Family!)

Um, were you sitting in row 17 on American flight #1092 last night?

Now that I am back in beautiful, slightly rainy Cheeseland, I do have a couple of things to mention.  Despite my beleaguered & baggy-eyed state, today I had lunch with my Dad (Mr. Executive Producer) and a Knowledgeable & Hilarious Gentleman who I think will be a major help in procuring funding for Deliberate Productions.  At the very least, he has a lot of experience and success in the world of raising money and he asked all the right questions to get Ms. D focused on her fundraising game.  (And, believe me, Ms. D could use a little focus.)  After meeting with Mr. Knowledgeable & Hilarious Gentleman, I feel like the more I put “it” out there, the more of a reality “it” becomes.  Which means I have to keep moving forward!

If you build it, they will come.

To that end, I am lucky enough to have been invited to appear on a local Madison radio show this weekend.  The show is called Boo and Petie, Too and it’s co-hosted by two Madison fixtures, Boo Mortenson and Petie Rudy, on The Pulse WTDY 1670.  The general description of this audio partnership is that Boo & Petie “engage listeners with the unflappable, energetic, and feisty style of two girlfriends with grit.”  Here’s hoping I can keep up with these ladies and slide right in when talking about my current adventure!  So if you’re in Madison and in need of some ambient noise this Saturday, please tune in at 10:00 a.m.!

"Good morning, Madison!"

But first I think I need to sleep for a few hours, if that’s okay….

NEXT UP: Radio Round-Up!  And some insightful interviews!