film festivals

Hello everyone! I have a whole boatload of news as I have been a very busy boy lately. First on the list is that I have landed a role in the upcoming horror epic titled "Blood de Madam: The Fallen Ones" in a principle role. Also starring in the film are horror greats Ari Lehman, Tiffany Shepis, Felissa Rose, Lloyd Kaufman, and Monique Dupree! As you can imagine, I'm quite stoked about it!

My short film "Scalpel" that I wrote, prouduced, and directed is currently making the festival rounds. It screened in the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase as well as KDHX's Coming UP Shorts Program and will be in Idaho Ave. Film Festival in St. Louis, MO on Sep. 13 as well. I have been sending it all over the place and hopefully will have many more fests to announce soon.

Woke up at 6am for some reason. That means the blood in the brain isn't sleeping. Started workin on the puter. emailing ideablob links and coding. Day passed. kept forgetting to eat, lost in pixel dust. Checked twitter, and saw a tweet from Mickipedia about DIY Days. I'd completely forgot! Grabbed some Ideablob flier strips, hopped on bike, and peddled to the cornfield gallery. Wandered into a large garage space full of steamy air and filmmakers dripping with ideas. This free event was put together by a bunch of really smart filmmakers who have explored the new nooks and crannies of self distribution, self- funding, and just getting things done. every story was unique, organic to their films personaliy, and their own. i missed most of the day, workin away in my cave. but really enjoyed what i saw. one of the organizers, Lance Weiller really was amazing. i had not heard of or seen his films, but his ideas (and execution of) for getting his work out there was absolutely brilliant. Head Trauma. I need to watch and explore it when i get time. Watch for video of his talk on DIY Days.

BOSTON AREA PEEPS, COME WATCH SOME COOL FLICKS WITH COOL FOLKS!

PRESS description:

7/10: "EXPERIMENTALLY ILL" : An Indie Showcase of Alternative Film (FREE) (209 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA)

A little piece of insanity comes to the historic Coolidge Corner
Theatre at 209 Harvard Street in Brookline, MA, as VH1 hopeful and
multimedia maven/spoken word artist Mike Phelan O'Toole, cable access legend and WBCN radio personality Quincy Brisco, and uber-producer and editor extraordinaire Lawrence Hollie host an eclectic, artistic,
entertaining, and flat-out hilarious filmic tapestry!

Life is all about having he best time with your friends and family.

Jet lag and having stayed up til 5 kept me asleep until 6pm! When I finally woke the day was done. I tried calling the airport to get my fancy pants, but couldn't find a person to talk to in English.

By the time craig and ja and I went into Cannes it was already late. We put in another call to The Commander, but couldn't get through. He has a 'Commander Hotline' that leaves #'s where he can be reached all around the world. We decided to try to sneak into the Hotel Magestic- perhaps the most exclusive hotel in Cannes. We pulled out all our camera equiptment, including the microphone with our #1 mic box and a camera light and we pretended to be a news crew. The security stopped us at the door and we told them we were Channel 1. They radioed it in and we thought all was lost, but a moment later they waved us in.

Back from Sundance- a very good trip all in all. We added some 160 new Producers, who together donated over $1,600... and we got some priceless footage for our behind the scenes documentary. At some point during the trip we officially passed the 1,000 Producers mark. Seems by the end of the festival, we would run into our producers everywhere we went. That is such a good feeling.

Sundance was such a bench mark trip. I realized while I was out there that it was exactly one year ago (while I was in Park City for Slamdance) that I started selling credits again for The 1 Second Film. I had finally finished 'The Three of Us' and was able to refocus on The 1 Second Film, which had been on the back burner as I finished my other projects. Now with my other projects completed, it occurred to me that I should start finishing The 1 Second Film. I was talking to the guys who made "Deer Pillow" and they gave me $2- I wrote their names on the back of our dinner receipt. I think they thought I was joking. But now, one year later, the film is being completed on 70mm and has an international cast of thousands.

Today is Tuesday.

My friend Blaine Thurier (Director of Male Fantasy and member of The New Pornographers) volunteered to help as my camera man. We panhandled for producers on the sidewalk for awhile, and at some point we saw Steve Buscemi walking down the sidewalk and caught up to him. Steve, ever so slightly amused, laughed at our pitch, but he didn't stop walking; we told him he could be a producer for $1 and said that was more than he could handle cuz he had just given his last buck to the waitress at the bar... So Blaine, in a moment of true generosity, offered to loan Mr. Buscemi a dollar. Steve accepted, referring to Blaine as his "benefactor." Taking Blaine's buck, he then gave it back to us, placing it in our money tin. He stopped just long enough to sign our signup list and get his one free business card.

The deal was done.

Days are blurred. So much has been happening every day... here are some highlights:

Last night, our Associate Producer Bob Odenkirk got us into this party. Bob has been so nice- he introduced me to several different people at the party and was actually pitching the concept better than me.

I hadn't eaten all day, so I went to the free food, which looked really good. But before I could get food, someone spotted John Leguizamo and I had to get out of the line and pitch him. John didn't think he had any money, so a woman offered to buy him a credit. But then John found $3 and ended up buying not only a credit for himself, but also a credit for the lady who was going to buy him his credit. that was pretty good karma for her.

Well, after what I thought was a surreal Day 1, which included sneaking into our Associate Producer David LaChapelle's party, we had an even more absurd Day 2. First of all, I didn't know where I was going to stay. By chance, I ended up running into my good friend Noaz Deshe from LA.

Noaz is one of our Associate Producers and was at Sundance filming a project with Bob Odenkirk; they were being put up by the Sundance Channel at a giant 3 story condo. Noaz checked with Bob, who was totally cool with letting me sleep on their couch. Then I got to show Bob The 1 Second Film and some of my animated shorts. Bob really liked the concept and came on board as an Associate Producer (with the goal of moving up later). He also interviewed us for the segment he was shooting for the Sundance Channel, so maybe we will get a little exposure.