The Indie Short Film: From Trailers to Short Features with Alexander Vickers (10/21/2009)

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Have you ever wondered how those previews of upcoming movies you always have to sit through when you go out to your local theater are made, and who makes them? If you watch what are called "trailers" for movies online, then you are part of millions making them the #3 most popular type of video watched on the internet today, after news and user generated videos.

My guest, Alexander Vickers, owner and creative director of Dreamscape Studios in Los Angeles, joins me to talk about the history, production and marketing aspects of movie trailers; and the art and creation of short films, most notably in the style of the "anthology series" which he has brought back.

Alexander has launched a DVD series called “Dark Matter”, which has been called a “Twilight Zone for the 21st Century”. The series is a thought provoking and imaginative compilation of short films in the style of my favorite TV series which ran on ABC-TV during the mid 1960s called
The Outer Limits.

More about Alexander Vickers can be found online here:
Dreamscape Studios www.dreamscapestudiosla.com
Dark Matter www.darkmatterdvds.com
Get Your Film Funded course www.getyourfilmfundedseminar.com

Latest Guest: Alexander Vickers

"Taking a Stand on the Page" with writer Andrea Cagan (9/30/2009)

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We continue this week talking about writing – and just what it takes to be successful in a highly competitive market.

According to my guest, Andrea Cagan, it takes navigating an inner journey with the courage to take a stand on the page and to find the authentic voice with the one who walks the path with you.

Andrea is a highly gifted writer who has brought eight books to the best seller lists, including three New York Times #1 best sellers and one Los Angeles Times #1 best seller.

She has fashioned a remarkable career as a ghost-writer, co-writer, editor and collaborator on a variety of celebrity and civilian biographies as well as self-help and psychological books. Andrea has given a literary voice to singers Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, and Grace Slick; and luminaries such as Marianne Williamson and Prem Rawat.

More about Andrea Cagan can be found at www.andreacagan.com

Some of Andrea’s Twitter posts:

“Writing is ten percent talent and ninety percent guts. You have to trust yourself and just put it out there. Not for the faint-hearted.”

“Taking a stand in my work. Sometimes you have to do things that feel uncomfortable, but doing nothing feels worse.”

“Wrote the first sentence of a brand new book. Starting is half the battle. Have to just get the words down and suddenly, a chapter follows.”

“Finishing a book with a great diva. The end is always the hardest. How do you know when you're really done?”

Latest Interview: Andrea Cagan

"Writing in the New Transmedia Marketplace" with Michael Steven Gregory (9/23/2009)

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Returning once again to my favorite topic of discussion, writing, we discuss the art of writing in today’s expanding transmedia marketplace -- from books and magazines to movies, interactive narrative and graphic novels.

I am joined by Michael Steven Gregory, Executive Director of The Southern California Writers Conference, now in its 23rd year. Widely considered among the premier writers' conferences in the U.S., this annual event addresses the craft and business of writing professionally and has facilitated nearly $4 million in first-time author book and screen deals.

The conferences are uniquely tailored to empower the writer with the vital tools, networking and industry experience needed to sell their work.

Marrying his dual insight into publishing and film to one definitive endeavor, Gregory made the feature-length doculogue about writing titled We, The Writer, and its follow up, We, the Screenwriter, featuring conversations with more than 20 feature film and TV writers.

More about The Writer’s Conference at
http://www.writersconference.com/index2.html

More about Michael Steven Gregory at
http://www.randomcove.com
http://www.wethescreenwriter.com/

Latest Interview: The Writers Conference with Michael Steven Gregory

The History Making Media Shift of Our Times - A Talk by Clay Shirky

I have been talking about media in our times and this shift on my show for awhile, but here is a great talk that puts it all in perspective. My comments follow.



You can watch the video full screen here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

Here, Clay Shirkey discusses the transformed media landscape, and what it means to anybody who has a message they want to get out, to anywhere in the world. Media has become increasingly “social” and we’re increasingly realizing that we’re all in this together. The generation we’re now in, has the largest expressive capability in human history.

There have only been four periods in the last 500 years where media changed enough that could be considered truly revolutionary:

1. The printing press, which made mass printing possible
2. Real-time, two-way communication: first the telegraph, then the telephone
3. Recorded media, other than print: first photos, followed by recorded sound and movies
4. Radio and television

However, the media that was good at creating conversations was not good at creating groups, and the media that was good at creating social groups was not good at creating conversations…

That has all changed and those limitations no longer exist.

The Internet is the first media in history that has native support for groups and conversation at the same time.

The second major change is that as all media gets digitized, the Internet also becomes the mode of carriage for ALL other media.

The third major change is that former members of the audience can now also be producers, and not just consumers.

All that means WE ALL have a voice, and that voice can be heard by EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE.

"Expanding Your Tele-Consciousness" with "Digital Dharma" author Steven Vedro

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Is it possible to get an introduction to spiritual thinking using the Internet and the Inforsphere? Our guest, Steven Vedro's book, Digital Dharma, answers that question by analyzing our technological development as a psychospiritual process in fascinating and elegant terms. Join us for what I am certain will be a very visionary conversation.


Steven R. Vedro, MA, AEH, is a writer, lecturer, and nationally recognized telecommunications consultant who has been at the interface of new telecommunications technology and public service for the last twenty years. In the 1980’s he produced the nation's first television series on new consumer electronics for PBS, “The New Tech Times,” which aired on over 200 TV stations, developed the nation's first statewide teletext service and directed the University of Wisconsin Extension’s Telecommunications Development Lab.

More recently Vedro has advised numerous state and county government agencies, universities, and public broadcasting stations (PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) in planning and managing distance learning networks and new digital technology initiatives. His technology articles have been published in Current Newspaper of Public Telecommunications and the Continuing Education Review. Vedro’s spiritual and personal transformation work includes 30 years of meditation practice. He is a graduate of the Hoffman Process and of the Inner Focus School of Soul Directed Advanced Energy Healing and leads an energy healing practice in Madison, WI. Vedro is a declared Elder in the Mankind Project and assists at New Warrior Training Adventure weekends. He is an initiate in the Ruhaniat Sufi Order.

More about Steven and Digital Dharma can be found at: http://srvedro.com

Steven Vedro's blog site is at http://teleconsciousness.blogspot.com/

"Living Temples - Sacred Land" with director Jan Nickman and Marlowe Brown (8/12/2009)

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Two-time Emmy Award winning director Jan Nickman is one of a select few truly visionary pioneering filmmakers of the past decades. With over a dozen critically acclaimed titles to his name, including the groundbreaking computer animation films “The Mind’s Eye” (1990) and “Planetary Traveler”, along with the “Natural States” series, Nickman has carved himself a well deserved niche in movie history.

Jan Nickman’s latest experiential odyssey is ThirdPlanet Productions’ Living Temples- Sacred Land, a film which takes us on a mystical and healing journey through sacred places in the American Southwest. Here he combines his trademark breathtaking and elegant cinematography with a deeply moving original soundtrack by Grammy nominated composer David Lanz and flautist Gary Stroutsos.

Academy Award winning actor Linda Hunt lends some wonderfully poetic spoken words to the soundtrack and National Ballet of Canada’s Caroline Richardson dances an evocative piece complementing the spirit of the film beautifully.

Even the way the film was created involved an innovative back and forth process between Nickman and Lanz, adding and building the cinematic story through each others’ creative vision until the final version of the movie was achieved.

I have personally traveled extensively throughout the Southwest, and spent countless hours in many of these powerful sacred places. If one connects into the energy of Nature while there, it can almost feel as if time has stood still for centuries, and the imagination moves into the dimension of mind where one can hear the voices of The Ancestors. Native peoples have known about this for millennia. Living Temples - Sacred Land is one of the very few films able to cinematically transport us to that dimension of our deep humanity. Along with David Lanz’s marvelous music and Gary Stroutsos haunting flute, it's no wonder that many people are telling of blissful and healing experiences after viewings of the film, myself included.


The film makes we want to jump in my old Izuzu Trooper and head off for parts unknown in the desert with no plan and not knowing when I will return to modern civilization.

For those of us who have been to these majestic and glorious landscapes and for those who have always wanted to go, Living Temples is your magical on request passport to the healing and life affirming power of the natural world through the medium of movies. It is one of the finest and purest examples of true visionary entertainment I have had the pleasure to experience.


Marlowe Brown of Third Planet Productions
joined us in the interview. Read her blog on the
Third Planet site. I have become a fan!


See these websites for more about the film and its creators: www.ThirdPlanetProductions.com
www.JanNickman.com




www.DavidLanz.com







Latest Interview: Living Temples - Sacred Land

"Programming the Nation?" with producer Jeff Warrick and author Eldon Taylor (7/1/2009)

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I have had a nagging question on my mind on my mind since the events of September 2001 why more people are not speaking out about the injustices being imposed on We the American People, and after watching Jeff Warrick’s forthcoming brilliant new film, Programming the Nation, a new documentary about the media, politics and pop-culture, I have an answer. More about the film can be found at www.programmingthenation.com

You can see a movie trailer for the film here: ProgrammingtheNationTrailer

The film is a very revealing, frank, and sometimes shocking expose about how much of our culture, habits, and even what we think are our own choices has in truth, been in fact, artificially and cleverly programmed into our minds.

Eldon Taylor, author of the thought provoking book, "Mind Programming", who appears in the film, joins Jeff and I in this interview. I must say Eldon’s work provides many powerful solutions which will serve to help anyone ‘break the matrix' of the ‘subliminal seductions’ permeating society and give you the tools to create a lifestyle of greater self awareness and self realization. (And yes, that was a plug for his work.)


If this subject is upsetting to you, allow me to repeat a mind awakening question posed by Eldon Taylor, which I heard in a recent interview on my fellow producer Stephan Jacob’s “LITR” VoiceAmerica Network radio program -- “When was the last time you truly had an original thought?”






Producer-Director Jeff Warrick







More about Eldon Taylor’s work can be found from these links:

InnerTalk: When believing in yourself matters!
http://www.innertalk.com
Progressive Awareness Research, Inc.
http://www.progressiveawareness.com

Latest interview: Programming the Nation