Thoughts as the Year Wanes ...

Here in the center of Kansas with six inches of snow on the ground - and more likely on the way - California seems to be more than merely miles away. I miss everything about the west coast right now and the best thing I can think about the coming of 2008 is the flight that will bring me back to L.A.

Among the pleasures awaiting will be an evening in Malibu with the band MIGGS, which is playing the Malibu Inn on Saturday January 12th at 9 p.m. (buy tickets here: http://malibu-inn.com/) If you are in L.A. that weekend come on out and join the Fat Monster crowd as we shamelessly suck up to front man Don, who has been a good friend for years. MIGGS has just signed with a new label and will be releasing a new album this spring dubbed UNRAVELED. Rumors have it that Fat Monster is being considered to produce the video for the new single this spring. We intend to ply Don with copious amounts of liquor after the show to help make the rumors come true. If that doesn't work we'll go to plan B, which involves compromising photos and forged documents.

Although Fat Monster has only been in business since September, we've had a fabulous inaugural year. 2008 already is starting with a bang as we have an almost full schedule of business booked through the first two months. We want to thank all of our crew and friends who have made this a real e-ticket ride so far.

For my part, until I get back to sunny southern California, I'm going to try to keep warm until New Years Eve when I'm stopping in Lincoln, Nebraska before boarding a plane back home on New Years Day. I've been invited to sit in with a pretty wicked Blues/Rock party band called "The Dubious Brothers and Sister Red," which has a following in the Midwest and will be doing a big party at the Lincoln Country Club. The band's front man is the father of a film student who has crewed for Fat Monster on several projects. Being an old rocker myself, I thought my days on stage were done a couple decades ago. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to dig up my old blues harp and sit in on keys for a set or two, since the chance is not likely to come up again. It also appears that we may have nationally known trumpet player Darryl White (www.darrylwhite.com) on stage as well. I'll try to just stay out of their way -- at least until my martinis kick in.

Mark

Fat Monster to Produce Video for Vienna Teng

Rounder Records, one of the biggest independent record labels in the United States has reached agreement with Fat Monster Films to produce a music video for artist Vienna Teng. Vienna's first major national exposure was on the David Letterman show in January 2003; she has since made appearances on the CBS Saturday Early Show, National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown, and The Wayne Brady Show, and opened in concert for Joan Baez, Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne, Sarah Harmer, and Marc Cohn. Her first album, Waking Hour, peaked at #5 on the Amazon.com bestseller list; her second album, Warm Strangers, reached as high as #2. In 2006 Vienna signed with Zoë/Rounder. Vienna is currently finishing an extensive tour promoting her new album Dreaming Through The noise.

Yesterday (Saturday) Tim and I met Vienna backstage at The Independent in San Francisco where she was scheduled to perform two concerts. Vienna was extremely gracious and enthusiastic about the project and she gave us free rein of her dressing room where we liberated a couple bottles of Stella Artois while waiting for her to complete her sound check. We worked out details for the music video concept and stayed to watch most of her first set (which was incredible).

This will be Vienna's first music video and the song chosen for the project is Gravity from her first album called Waking Hour. Steven Dempsey will be Director of Photography for the shoot and we expect to complete shooting and post by spring 2008.

Good Screenwriting

One of the perks of living out here in L.A. is the availability of screenings with Q&A sessions by directors, writers and producers. Last night we attended a screening of the new Tom Hanks movie Charlie Wilson's War, the screenplay of which was written by Aaron Sorkin. Mr. Sorkin appeared afterwards and took some questions from the audience and it was really a pleasure to listen to him. Moreover, the film itself is very good and there are a few places with dialogue that just were magical.

With regard to the film itself, I'd have to say that I could have done without the Julia Roberts character, but that may be my own personal prejudice. She just seems like an object placed in the scene sort of like her "Oceans" movie appearances. But Hanks was terrific. Really terrific in a damn cool role. I loved the guy in this role. Of course, the truly best actor on the set, IMHO, was Philip Seymour Hoffman. Whoa, I want to see anything he chooses to appear in.

Getting back to Sorkin, he made a very useful comment that one of his "tricks" is to find a way to get two characters to have an argument and that often results in an easier time with generating realistic and dynamic dialogue.

Mark

Life after the Road

We try to update this blog at a minimum each week and must apologize for the hiatus. For the past couple weeks we have been involved in a couple brutal shoots (one in near freezing rainy conditions in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest and the other on the other coast in Virginia). We are pleased to report that crew and equipment returned safely and the footage looks fantastic on both counts.

Today is Sunday and we begin auditions in Hollywood for a short film project. We'll be casting at a facility called The Complex (www.complexhollywood.com) and we're scheduled for two days of auditions there. Hopefully we will be able to complete casting by next week and then move to rehearsals before the actual shooting dates in January.

We finished watching the AFC series "Film School" on DVD and laughed our collective rears off at some of the ineptitude. Rather than invite a swift reprisal of hubris, we will freely admit our own flaws and failings. However, God help all of us if we ever shoot something as messed up as "Heart of Spider"!!