Open Source Films and Computer Side Effects Documentary Mentioned in the Los Angeles Times

photo credit: waltarrrrr

For those of you following this blog you’re aware that I’ve been speaking at Bloblive events in Los Angeles talking about open source films and networking with other entrepreneurs.

On March 31rst the LA times published an article in the small business section entitled “Entrepreneurs bounce business ideas off bar crowds“.
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My return to publishing, new site design, more filmmaking info

Ok, it’s been a long and very up and down year for me. I’ve been an entrepreneur, written multiple full length movies and have been attempting to build a movie community online, while planning to shoot my next film.

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Looking for a faster way to video blog?

One of the reasons for the waiting period between updates is the amount of time it takes to make each video blog entry.  They way I’m doing it now involves a lot of steps.

I think the green-screen background replaced with images looks better than the usual headshots from a web cam, but which is better; more video blog entries of lower production value or less with higher production value?  Because the purpose of my video blog is to share with you what I’m working on, talk about the site and the community, I tend to err on the side of the more the merrier, but I should really be asking my visitors, who are kind enough to watch my rambling tirades, what they think.

So, what do you think?

Here are the current steps involved in producing each video blog entry.

1. Stand in front of green screen turn studio lighting on;
2. Record video blog entry;
3. Download to computer via firewire;
4. Open in video editing program (adobe premiere);
5. Edit segments;
6. Remove green-screen with keying effect;
7. Place images in background;
8. Render movie in quicktime or .wmv or .mpg;
9. Upload to Veoh Pro;
10. Syndicate to Google, Youtube, and re-upload to yahoo;
11. Post blog entry with embedded video.

As you can see that’s kind of a lot of steps; enough that I usually only get around to getting all that done at most once every week, but more like once every two weeks.  By cutting out steps and lowering the production quality a bit, I could potentially get to the level of being able to video blog twice a week or more.

Anyways, that’s one of the things on my mind this weekend.  I’m at a loss for time, but want to keep the quality of this website high and continue building community here; as always, I’m open to suggestions and comments.

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Quest for a Video Blog - What would you like to see?

This website has become very popular over the last 6 months (shortly after I released Boy Who Never Slept) I get a lot of traffic and responses from my blog posts on movies and filmmaking and of course from my filmmaking endeavors which include my first movie release of BWNS.

Infact “Boy Who Never Slept” has become a keyword of sorts with lots of daily searches for it’s proper name. With the increased popularity (thank you readers) I’ve started to receive a steady stream of correspondence from filmmakers, fans, students and random surfers sending me everything from encouragement to, to story ideas, to movie clips and filmmaking advice

It’s so cool and I’m very happy that it’s generated this response. I’m going to be launching a video blog as soon as I can and I need YOUR INPUT. Read more

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Moved to Downtown LA

A ton has happened to me in the last 30 days. I joined a new company called Social Media Systems with a group of other professional search marketers and web developers. We built a new website, (which I’m currently re-redesigning). Our blog got syndicated by WebProNews (ientry publication with millions of subscribers) within two weeks!!! With all this new work, I had to take a very temporary break from screenwriting and devote a bunch of time to jump starting this new business venture, but I should have some great writing time over the holidays.
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THANKS to New Advertisers, I finally have a budget of sorts for another film

THANKS to New Advertisers, I finally have a budget (of sorts) for another film

I’d like to thank everyone who has ever purchased a text ad on this site or PPC advertising (google adwords). Recently there has been an explosion of new advertisers, enough to produce another film with somewhat of a budget (still a no budget movie, but if this level of advertising continues I’ll have enough to pay for an HD camera, sound equipment, meals for the actors, etc)
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IFC 3 part series - teens and sexuality episode will feature clips from BWNS

The movie Boy Who Never Slept will get some exposure in an upcoming documentary tentatively entitled “indie sex2″, which explores how sexuality is portrayed in independent cinema. This film will play on the IFC (Independent Film Chanel) as well as be distributed on DVD and I can’t wait to see it!
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Abuse of Backlinks Partner Program Placed Adult Links on this site

I use multiple services including a text link brokering service at backlinks.com to monetize this website. I know I could sell the links myself, but that takes a lot of time and I find it easier and faster to let a broker do this part of the work for me, while I concentrate on putting together more movies, writing in my blog, and all my web design and SEO work.

Everything was working fine, until I noticed links to adult porn sites on my homepage. Wow was I upset. I specifically unchecked the allow adult link box. I sent them an e-mail and made a telephone call. Below is our e-mail exchange including the response I received the same day. It appears there is no human check for the links, so if someone puts their adult site in a non adult category it can end up on any of the backlink partner sites. Could you imagine an adult website link on a site targeted at children? Read more

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Interviewed by Filmmaker Chris Miller from Things Going Smoothly

I was recently (November 04) interviewed by Chris an indie filmmaker currently working on a feature film bearing the same name of his blog (Things Going Smoothly).

He asked a lot of questions about the intricacies of creating Boy Who Never Slept and about what I’m working on now. You can read the entire interview here.

Concerning Chris’s film “Things Going Smoothly”

I’ll post some info in my blog about the movie when it’s released. For now, know that it’s the title of a no budget movie scheduled for shooting at the end of November about a guy trying to accelerate the oncoming apocalypse.

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BWNS Footage to be Used in Documentary on Teen Sex in the Movies

Orchard Films is looking into using Boy Who Never Slept movie footage in one of their upcoming documentaries on how teen sex is portrayed in the movies. I think this is really exciting and I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Below are some of the e-mails I’ve exchanged with Kate, the Associate producer of Orchard Films. Also if you check out their website (http://www.orachardfilms.com ) you can take a look at some of their completed films like “Beauty in a Jar” and “Chasing the Crown” .

Their work has been shown on PBS, IFC, A&E, AMC and WE: Women’s Entertainment and screened at the most prestigous film festivals in the world including Sundance, Outfest, and Full Frame. Intersting stuff, I’m happy BWNS is getting some exposure and I hope it makes a valuable addition to their documentary, which I’ll definitely be watching now.
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