Off Plus Camera 2010: International Festival Of Independent Cinema.

Film festivals in Poland are great. First, you need to find the well hidden directions.


Then you need to head up the steps of a fascinating old building.


You head up a variety of staircases, feeling like you've trespassed somewhere by mistake.


And finally, at last, you see a screen and know a movie is about to commence.


This is the Off Plus Camera 2010 International Festival Of Independent Cinema, in Krakow, Poland, and it ends today.

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Ten Movie Facts About Me

Film blogger Danny King has passed the baton on to me - to tell you 'Ten Movie Facts About Me', and then I need to nominate two people to do the same. TheUmwashedMass and Mike Lippert, if you're reading, please carry this on.

I am currently in Poland, and blogging from an app on my iPhone, which explains why there are no hyperlinks, but hopefully the guy's mentioned here will post in the comments so you can find them.


So, ten movie facts about me.

1) I can't always watch movies. I can often get bored during them. There are people who can watch any movie, no matter how bad, all the way through: I am not one of them.

2) I think American screen actors are far superior to English.

3. I am always happy to watch 'You've Got Mail'

4. I find the whole Bruce Willis segment of Pulp Fiction really boring.

5. I have only recently begun sitting in the front row at the cinema, I like it.

6. I studied film for one week. I achieved two things, 1) I had to write a paper analysing a scene for metaphors and mise-en-scene and all that nonsense. I wrote sarcastically about a trivial scene from Jerry Maguire. I didn't stick around to find my grade for it. 2) I disagreed with the entire hall of people about the meaning of a silent film. It was a clip of someone walking across a road. The lecturer said it was made to represent class difference and was a metaphor for society at the time, I said it was a man crossing the street and if it was a metaphor for anything it was a metaphor for a man crossing the street and that the reason I think the director had him walking across the street was just because, at that time, at the birth of cinema, walking across a street, on screen, was very interesting.

I never saw any of these people again.

7. I rarely like French movies.

8. I often like Italian and Danish movies.

9. My directing style is not very visual. I don't like to distract from what the actors are doing.

10. I like going to see movies in other countries, in languages I don't understand. It forces me to concentrate in a different way and it's fascinating to see how different cultures respond to films.

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One Role, 700 Applicants: How Can You Stand Out And How Can I Not Shoot Myself?

Dear Julie,

My Name is Blah. I am blah. I was lucky enough to train with the Blah Blah. I was also cast in Blah and flown to Blah because they think I am a talented Blah. I won the Blah of Blah in Blah. Blah Blah Blah.

Yours Sincerely,
Blahhead.

First of all: my name is not Julie. I am male. That was your first mistake. 40% of cover letters I receive that have names on them are not names that belong to me. If you're going to address me by name, use my name. Or you can say 'Dear Sir/Madam,' but if you do - I won't carry on reading.

If you have emailed me for every role I've cast for the past seven years - try not to send me the same covering letter. The one that says "I was recently invited to visit the Hollywood elite" didn't sound real seven years ago, it still doesn't now. Vary things up a bit.

Visiting my website is helpful. Knowing the name of a film I've done is helpful. Anything that remotely shows you care is helpful. Say, for example, you wanted to write for the Kid In The Front Row blog; saying "I love Billy Wilder too, he is such an inspiration!" is going to interest me more than "Dear Sir/Madam, I have a lot of writing experience and I feel I am enthusiastic and able to bring expertise to your blog." Same goes for casting; I don't want to cast a robot, I want to cast a human being; so I give preference to those who are show signs of being one.

Tell me what you're passionate about. Tell me why you love movies. Tell me why you're interested in this movie. "I do not normally do low-budget work, but yours could be interesting" is not particularly endearing, "You are making a film about pigeons and I LOVE pigeons" is more interesting. Unless the film isn't about pigeons, in which case you'd look weird.

If you were that woman across the road looking at sunglasses, partially out of shot and partially blocked in the frame by an Asian man in the eleventh scene in the film 'Phone Booth,' don't put that on your Resume. You were an extra. A cellphone shot of you and Colin Farrell in the background isn't convincing of anything, either.

It's great that you are enthusiastic, hard-working and reliable. So is everyone. Maybe find some different words. I want to know you can do different things on set, too. So maybe instead of those things; maybe you are industrious, courageous, and spontaneous. Or maybe you are controlled, decisive, and determined. Or maybe you are excited by ideas, drawn to originality and inspired by collaboration. Whatever it is that you really are, figure it out and put it in your cover letter. But take out enthusiastic. Everyone says they are enthusiastic.

Yes- headshots do matter and often I do make judgements made solely on them. That's the way it is. You're playing a character. If I'm casting a black woman called Renee, I have little use for a white girl called Sally. That's just how it is. If I want someone pretty, and you're not, that's how it is. If I want someone ugly, and you're not, that's the way it is. It's not personal. But by all means - let me know you have different headshots and let me know you have a lot of different styles/images/etc.

If I am casting a drug dealer; don't send me a headshot of you smiling and looking like Meg Ryan in a rom-com. If I am casting a rom-com, don't send me a headshot that looks like you're investigating a murder.

Don't send me fourteen emails. Really: DO NOT DO THAT. DO NOT EMAIL EVERY DAY. DO NOT DO THAT.

However, four days after you've applied; DO write back to say how excited you were by the project and how you're still really interested. The human mind forgets, and a gentle reminder always helps. I once hired a composer for a film because he wrote me a wonderful, personal second email.

Be yourself. Write something true. Be a human.

JOEYI didn't get it?

PHOEBE
No. They said you 'Weren't believable as a human being.'
So, you can work on that.

JOEY
Okay, what else?

PHOEBE
Um, the off-Broadway play people said 'You were
pretty but dumb'.

JOEY
Oh.

PHOEBE
Oh no wait, I'm sorry, that's 'pretty dumb.'

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Sasha Grey Will Blow Your Mind, Among Other Things.

Last night, I watched 'The Girlfriend Experience,' directed by Steven Soderbergh ('Erin Brockovich', 'Traffic', 'Oceans Eleven'). The film was excellent - some beautiful cinematography, great performances and subtle directorial touches. I usually like Soderbergh's work - I always forget to name him when talking about directors - but when I remember, I check out his work and tend to enjoy it. He's known for doing 'one for them, one for me' - i.e. for every big studio picture, like 'Ocean's Twelve', he does a smaller, more personal project, like 'The Girlfriend Experience.'

Most of all though, I was blown away by Sasha Grey's performance. And I was eager to find more work by her. This is where I am incredible naive and stupid. It turns out, she has had a lot of jobs. She's worked pretty hardcore for many years. Pretty hardcore. This is where I make a complete ass of myself because it would seem I am the only person unaware of her interesting career. For example, she was won multiple awards, for example: 'Best Three Way Sex Scene' and 'Best Group Sex Scene' at the 2007 AVN Awards.

I found all this out after googling 'Sasha Grey Clips'. Let's just say, I now realize this is an incredibly popular search term and, in my naivity and innocence, I was unaware of the onslaught of material I was to be presented with.

This wonderful actress; I thought she had a lot of talent, I just didn't expect to find those types of talents. I was thinking I'd find some interesting short films, maybe a bit of TV work (which meant television, for me, but in her line of work I now realize, it means something else). How strange! I guess, on the plus side, she's up for doing things most actresses aren't, or at least, don't mention on their Resumes.

I hope she does some more, shall we say, traditional acting - although, I think there are a lot more people out there who hope that she sticks to what she's used to.

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Is The Devil Responsible For Unpaid Casting Notices?

The person casting the feature film and not paying actors is probably not actually evil. Their intention in making a movie is, in all likelihood, not to make life miserable for struggling actors. Unfortunately, some actors are a bit paranoid and convince themselves that the world is out there trying to make me do deferred payment roles which means I will never earn money ever and all directors and producers are evil.

Rich Producer.
Sure, there are people out there who can afford to pay actors, and don't. Here's what you do: don't work for them. Or do work for them; whatever, it's your choice. However, most people aren't like that. It's very rare for producers to sit around saying "oooh, I know, I'll take $50,000, you can take $40,000, we'll give the production assistants $5,000 a day and the actors will get ZERO, ever." This kind of practice is rarer than a good Ashton Kutcher performance.

The reality of it is - unless you are on a big budget, things are tight. Money is needed in other areas, before paying ANYONE. This is the shopping list, with some small notes.

A Camera: Without renting a camera and filming, it's much harder to convince distributors that the film exists, or is any good.

Costumes: Without buying/renting/making costumes, the actors are left in their underpants. Which is fine, but looks a little odd when you're making a film about the Iraq War. Although, the Avante Garde crowd may find it revolutionary.

Locations: Without securing locations, you are often left filming in the room where you keep the camera equipment. Unless you can't afford a camera because you paid the actors, in which case: there is plenty of room in the room where the camera isn't and you can use it for various set-ups.

Travel & Food: Feeding everyone on set, as well as paying for them to get there and back is of key importance - this soon adds up to the thousands on a feature. When your budget is $8,000 - most of this will go on this very thing. Of course, you could just pay the actors a small fee instead, but then you'd have to leave them in one location, the camera room room; where there is no camera, and everyone is in their underpants.

Here is the reality: People don't have any money. The films you are applying for. i.e., the level, professionally, where you struggle to get paid - is equal to the level where producers are desperately trying to put a project together with precious little money.

Again, it's very very very rare that everyone is getting paid and huddling around in little corners mocking and laughing at the actors who are the only ones not getting paid. Actors, Producers, Directors; they're all the same, they all want to get paid for their talents. The difference is that the actor shoots their part for three days, the Director is on the project for nine months. Nine months of not getting paid is, more often than not, worse than three days of not getting paid. "But it's the director's project, that's his choice," you say - yes, just like it's your choice to produce your own projects if you're not happy!

Crying Actor.
To clarify: When people can afford to pay actors, or anyone else on a set, and don't. That is bad. In this instance, how will actor's afford their new headshots? However- in the bigger scheme of things; when something is unpaid or deferred; it's usually because someone is passionate about making a film, casting you in it, and doing something special. It's rare that they're in their homes plotting to short change actors.

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