Four years ago today, June 21, 2003, I was with my family in Dublin, Ireland for the opening ceremonies of the 2003 International Special Olympic World Games. My sister, Mary Beth, was competing for the United States team as a
Quid Pro Quo
My filmmaking career is heavily indebted to the deposits I have made into the favor bank and the interest those favors have accrued. It’s a pretty easy concept, you do something to help someone and they will help you in
Faster, Faster
I recently saw a demo of this Sony XD Camera. It shoots HD and 24p. It is used by a lot of documentary camera crews as well as TV news programs. The 24p really looks like film and I was
That’s a Wrap
On any shoot when “Wrap,” is called you want to finish and get out of there as soon as possible. When working on the road or on a longer project and it finally finishes, the urgency to be done is
Characters-Not so Goodfellas
Yesterday I wrote about some of our favorite good guys we have met during our travels. Today I am going to share some of our favorite not so good guys. Mr. Air Tran customer service representative. Jim and I were
Characters- Good Fellas
One of the best parts of this job is getting to travel and meet people. I have already reported about some of our encounters with celebrities, but today I want to talk about a few of our favorite regular people
Cooking with Gas
One of my all time favorite film jobs was for Weber Grills. Weber hired us to make two “how to grill” films that they included with each new charcoal and gas grill purchased. When the project was finished the footage
Atlanta is Burning
Yesterday I wrote about what it is like dealing with an out of town producer, today I am going to tell the other side of that story and what it is like to be an out of town producer coming
Film Business, Business
Earlier this week Jim took a call from a producer in California who wants to shoot here in Chicago for three days in July. He began the conversation by saying how easy the job will be and his tale grew
Grading Creativity-part 2
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a student of mine from this past spring semester. He is one of the most creative students I have ever had. He spends his free time, when he is not working on someone else’s
