Lilith.

Hot Topic: Tumblr, Yahoo and Profitability. And Stoya. (Very NSFW)

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:20:00 -0500

When I set out to make a filmmaking blog over three years ago, I had an important choice to make -...

Happy Birthday, Julia! The saying goes that a good friend is...

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:32:00 -0500

Happy Birthday, Julia!

The saying goes that a good friend is someone who knows all about you, and still likes you anyway. It’s one of those thoughts that initially brings a smile to your face and then you really understand the veracity of it. Perhaps in my espousing of my friendship with Julia Voth I’ve painted a picture that is storybook, a tale of two collaborators and friends, a beauty and a beast. It’s no stretch of the imagination of who is the beauty in this analogy.

There’s truth in all of the above, but I’ve always said this about Julia, that she’s as beautiful a person inside as she is out, a mark of her character and persona that bonds me to her as a true friend. In this past month she and my other friends have witnessed my painful unraveling, the careful wall of poise and confidence that people have known me for has all but crumbled at my feet. In such a difficult time I reached out for support, and Julia wrote me one of the most heartfelt and beautiful letters I’ve ever received, and as we did when we overcame an obstacle on set, we shared a big hug, even if it was just through words, thousands of miles apart.

That’s just Julia being Julia, as kindness comes natural to her, and it’s been amazing watching her grow as a professional and yet retain those core elements that will always make her such a great friend. Last I saw her was when we recorded our commentary tracks for Lilith last year; we recorded it at the Chateau Marmont and took a break for dinner in the gorgeous open-air atrium of the building, a place that is often a sanctuary for the well-heeled and famous. Julia and I managed to get a table without a reservation (likely the advantage of being in the company of one of the most beautiful women in the world) and we had such a memorable meal. Not so much because of the food - which was amazing and we totally wolfed it down like uncouth savages - but just more because of who we are. We were just two happy kids in a sea of adult malaise - a boy from the mountains of Colorado and a girl from the plains of Saskatchewan - and we couldn’t believe we were having dinner at the Chateau, that icon of old Hollywood, surrounded by people who were supposed to be powerful, but who for some reason all looked really unhappy and bored. But it didn’t matter - we were living a dream we’ve both had since childhood, which was to make art with amazing friends, and to make it a part of our daily lives.

After many years of back-breaking hard work, Julia’s on the precipice of reaching that rarefied next-level of her dream journey. She’s the lead in a major prime-time network show, Package Deal, airing on CityTV (that’s like CBS/ABC in Canada, for us American folk), and in June we’ll all get to see the talent, humor and beauty that I’ve had the privilege to have in my daily life for the past three years. Steve Jobs famously said that ‘most overnight successes took a long time’ and there is truth in that - Julia’s big break was years in the making, including her walking down a dank sewer in Cleveland at 3AM three years ago, with an Indian-American director who could barely see in the dark, giving her obscure directions with the mutual goal of trying to make something beautiful.

We did make something beautiful - an everlasting friendship. Happy birthday to my dear Julia, may your year and the years ahead be filled with happiness and joy. And in those moments when it may seem there can be no joy or happiness, know that we’re there for you just as you have been there for us, and together we’ll find that light again until our dying breath. Today is yours, and it shall always be.

Sorry.

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:09:00 -0500

It’s been a very rough spring. Just when I thought I was making headway with my own personal...

Music for the Weekend: Trust Your Neighbor by MRC Riddims. I...

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:47:00 -0500

Music for the Weekend: Trust Your Neighbor by MRC Riddims.

I guess I underestimated how far behind I was, apologies for not getting that business plan post up. I was severely backlogged on my inbox and wanted to take some time to respond to all of you that have asked questions. As many of you know, I tend to reply in full and try to give your questions my undivided attention. I’m pretty much caught up.

I wanted to leave you this weekend with a new jam by MRC Riddims, which is a new project from The Oktopus, one half of Lilith composers dälek. MC dälek and Oktopus are on indefinite hiatus (will the Lilith score be the final dälek composition? Will we ever again get our ears melted by dälek’s blistering wall-of-sound? You never know. One can hope.)

Right now both guys are exploring new sounds. MC dälek is exploring some new territory and knuckling up by reinventing classic hip-hop under the moniker of iconAclass (currently on tour with Sole in Europe); I listened to some of his new tracks and they’re ill as all fucking hell. Think Rakim processed through the world of Cannibal Ox, but so so SO much more street. It’s gonna be wild, can’t wait to share it.

Okto’s taken a different turn, spending time equally in Berlin and Harlem, and diving headfirst into emerging soundsystems, dub and dance music. It’s quite a departure from the classic dälek sound and then again not that much of a departure at all. There’s still that swelling, bleeding bass and grinding rhythms, but imbued with some classic Rhythm & Sound dub and Teledubgnosis textures. It’s quite a startling combination, and this track proves it.

I admire both men immensely for deciding to continue to experiment and discover new sounds. dälek will always be a pioneer in hip-hop, but to continue to innovate, sometimes you’ve got to take it all apart and start anew. That takes a lot of guts and a ton of confidence, and my brothers will do it, they’re the best in the business. I’m always excited to hear what they’ll come up with next, and I can’t wait to collaborate with them both again on my next film.

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to check out my new personal directing website, lots of cool stuff to be found!

New Personal Website!

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:49:38 -0500

So I’ve created my own personal directing website that has a ton of my filmmaking info, my...

Coming back.

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:39:00 -0500

I’ve had some time to think things through and decompress with the events in my life, and I...

For Zara and Satya. We miss you so very much.

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:59:02 -0500

For Zara and Satya. We miss you so very much.

Taking a break.

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:59:00 -0500

Dear Readers, It’s with a heavy heart that I have to put the blog on hold for some time. My...

Business Plans, Part 3: THE NUMBERS - COMPARABLES.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:38:00 -0500

If you want to catch up on previous installments, here they are: Business Plans, Part 1: THE BIG...

2013 Resolution: Movies Watched This Week (4.21.13)

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:45:00 -0500

Continuing with my resolution to watch more movies, here’s what I took in this past week: Through...

Music for the Weekend: Raging Lung by The Knife. Been a slow...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:07:57 -0500

Music for the Weekend: Raging Lung by The Knife.

Been a slow week of writing, I guess I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind to draft anything, between my escalating work schedule and oh yeah - me calling the creator of the universe a sham and flirting with agnosticism last week. Just another day in the Reddy household. Tomorrow I eat oatmeal.

I promise I’ll get back on track with the business plan entries, I know many of you have been asking about it.

In the meantime providing me some peace of mind and fueling my creative energies is the new album Shaking the Habitual by electronic pioneers The Knife. This record is turning out to be a modern masterpiece in my head, it’s forming all kinds of new imagery and designs that I’d never seen before. This track in particular is something quite special, and I keep coming back to it. I’m completely mesmerized and inspired.

Have a great weekend!

2013 Resolution: Movies Watched This Week (4.7.13-4.14.13)

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:29:00 -0500

Continuing with my resolution to watch more movies, and since I missed last week’s...

Music in Memoriam: Happy by The Wrens. I’ve been holding...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:46:00 -0500

Music in Memoriam: Happy by The Wrens.

I’ve been holding back on this for some time, trying to process it all. I’m still torn up about it, but I need to get it out.

Last week I lost - we all lost - a dear friend and champion of art in Roger Ebert. I had a history with Roger, which I wrote about before. You can read our history by clicking here.

Basically Roger was the first person in my life - beyond my family, friends and mentors - who told me to become a filmmaker. He believed in my passion for the artform, and felt I had something important to say. He is the reason why everything I’ve made so far exists, he’s the reason why I took the path I did. He showed me my path. He cared enough to give me that support. He continued to support me and my friends until his dying breath.

And now he’s gone. And while I’ve read every loving tribute to him and cherish his life, contributions and the overwhelming change he created for the artform, I’m still angry. I’m angry as fuck. Not at Roger, not at the cancer that first took his brilliant voice, then his smile, and then his life.

Truth be told, I’m angry at god. Or whatever the fuck is up there. I apologize for what I’m about to write, but it’s how I feel. How cruel is it - by what twisted, fucked-up and deranged design is it to take a man who is blessed with humility and honesty, a man who made mistakes in his life but who also took accountability, a man who loved his wife, children, and children of art equally with every cell in his being, and then give him cancer and take it all away.

There is no justice in that. I can’t find peace in this arrangement. I fucking hate god for what he’s done to my friend, my mentor, my guide. Roger always fought back from whatever shit end of the stick that was handed to him. He had his voice taken away, but came back stronger through his relentless and honest writing. He had his face taken away, but Roger refused to hide, telling us to love and accept him as he is. Roger was honest about his alcoholism and wore his sobriety with humility and thankfulness. And finally god had enough of Roger’s determination and just said “fuck it, you gotta go.”

Fuck you. Fuck you for all your tests, your plans, your litmus of faith and goodness. You took a good, humble man away from us, someone who did not deserve to suffer the way you made him suffer. Fuck you, asshole. I fucking hate you. We’re done. We’re done. WE”RE DONE.

*huff huff*

*sigh*

ah…

*sniff*

I…I know…I know this is not how Roger would want me to feel. Not about god, but about having this anger in my heart. But in this way I’m being faithful to what Roger always taught me, which was to be honest about how I feel, to never cower to the expectations of the many. Roger’s writing was imbued with unapologetic honesty. He felt what he felt, and never backed down from what he knew in his heart to be true. And he did it with imaginative wit, humor and eloquence. A guardian of the written word, a champion of expression.

I know this to be true. Everyone dies. I am going to die. I hope to join Roger someday and he’ll pat me on the back and tell me that I stayed true to myself, that I took the right path, that I made the world a more interesting place to live in. He did that, and I only desire to live in his example. I will die with that in my heart.

But to die the way Roger did, to have to go through what he had to, to have the things he needed to thrive slowly, one by one, taken away from him, I simply cannot accept that. He had Chaz by his side and he went without pain, and I at least take some solace in that. But the rest is bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit.

What the fuck. This is the worst eulogy anyone could ever deliver. I’m sorry.

No. I’m not sorry. Roger would’ve told me to fucking grow a spine and say what my heart feels. And what my heart feels is this:

I miss my friend. I feel like he was taken away from us too soon. I hate that he had to go through so much pain, simply for doing what he loved, for helping little shits like me find their way, for supporting the strength and integrity of the free voice. I know everyone has to kick the bucket at some point, but not this way, not the way he did, not at this time. It’s a fucking mistake, a clusterfuck of gigantic proportions carried out by one of the biggest frauds in existence. I am fucking shaken, not stirred. There’s some Ebertian wit for you.

I miss you, Roger. I wanted to show you my next work, and the works after that. I honored your opinion, even though sometimes it hurt. Because it always came from the right place. Because it was honest. Because you were honest, and you only wanted us to be better, to live up to the potential that you saw in us.

I’m over it now. I’m over it.

Fuck.

1942-2013

Business Plans, Part 2: READINESS.

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:20:00 -0500

It’s been awhile since my last entry so it’s worth the time to revisit my first entry on...

Brief hiatus...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:18:40 -0500

Been traveling a bunch and recently came down with a nasty bug, so I haven’t been able to...

2013 Resolution: Movies Watched This Week (3.31.13)

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 14:13:00 -0500

Continuing with my resolution to watch more movies, here’s what I took in this past week: Room 237,...

Big Announcement: The One Trick Rip-Off

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0500

For those of you who followed up on the release of my article in this month’s issue of...

Business Plans, Part 1: THE BIG IDEA.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:54:00 -0500

I’ve been requested to do some more posts on how to go about doing a business plan for film,...

2013 Resolution: Movies Watched This Week (3.24.13)

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:54:00 -0500

Continuing with my resolution to watch more movies, here’s what I took in this past...

Music for the Weekend: In and Out of Harm’s Way by The Jim...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:08:00 -0500

Music for the Weekend: In and Out of Harm’s Way by The Jim Jones Revue.

Chose this song because in a few days, the cat’s going to be let out of the bag as to my Paul Pope feature film project. Our short film that we co-directed, 7x6x2, is going to be featured in a multi-page article in the April issue of American Cinematographer magazine, which is a huge coup. AC is one of the oldest, most respected, and widely read film publications in the world. It’s been a dream milestone for me to be published in the magazine, as it’s besically been my film school since I was a kid. Looks like that dream has finally come true.

The article looks pretty badass. It goes pretty in-depth into how Paul and I made 7x6x2, and there’s even a mention of Lilith. The article also announces my next film, which is an adaptation of one of Paul’s graphic novels. This song, In and Out of Trouble by The Jim Jones Revue, will be featured prominently in the new film. It also aptly describes Paul and mine’s relationship with the film industry. We tend to be troublemakers, but in entirely good ways.

Make sure to pick up the new issue of American Cinematographer, which hits stands next week. Here’s a sneak peek of the article, which is from a pic sent to me by the amazing editors at AC Magazine.

So happy about this. As Paul would say, this is the year of Electric 13. Have a great weekend!