Thursday, August 7, 2014

Zach Braff/ The Wake book/ Dylan McDermott



This is on my www.badcb.blogspot.ca:

Jul.18 Zach Braff: I was reading the Metro on Jul. 17, 2014 called “Braff took your money and made a movie.”  He was the star of the sitcom Scrubs and he made a movie called Wish I Was Here.”  He tried to get his movie produced, but wasn’t very successful.  He went to Kickstarter and raised the financing in under two days through crowdfunding.

Before crowdfunding:

Braff: “The only one on the table was to make it for what was essentially half of what I budgeted, make it in Vancouver from a menu of actors I didn’t feel were right and have a final cut.  I thought I’d rather not make the movie than do that.”

After crowdfunding:

Braff: “Once all that nonsense was gone and I was the CEO of this corporation making this movie, I was picking Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, I was firing all the shots.” 

Braff got a lot of criticism because he is a wealthy actor and he’s asking for money for his film:

Braff: “There’s so much misinformation about this, I had to wage so many debates and really explain film financing to Earth.  One question that does need to be debated is where this money is going to come from for personal indie projects because it’s certainly dried up.  Studios don’t make these movies; they buy them at festivals if they like them.  I think that’s the bigger question.”

Jul. 27 The Wake book: I cut out this Edmonton Journal article “Booker Prize names crowdfunded The Wake to long list” on Jul. 25, 2014.  Here’s the beginning: 

“A debut novel that was "crowdfunded" by members of the public has made it on to the long list for the Man Booker Prize.

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth is set in 1066 and written in what the author calls "shadow tongue," a mix of modern and Anglo-Saxon English.

Believing that the language would turn off mainstream publishers, Kingsnorth turned to Unbound, a relative newcomer on the literary scene. It offers authors the chance to advertise their ideas on its website and solicit money from readers, in sums from about $10 to $600.

When the required total is reached - around $28,000 in the case of The Wake - Unbound uses the money to publish, market and distribute the book. The profits are then split 50/50 with the author.”


My opinion: Interesting about crowdfunding a book.  Here’s the website:


Dylan McDermott: I cut out this Edmonton Journal article “McDermott a cool customer” on Jan. 25, 2013  He was on the TV show Hostages and he’s filming this action movie in Edmonton called Freezer.

It’s filmed “inside Film Alberta Studios on Allard Way, and relies on the great outdoors for its sub-zero temperatures on set.”

“It was the script that won over the American actor. "I just thought it was really smart. Usually when you read something you're two steps ahead of it. I was never ahead of this script. Every time I read it, I still love it."

“His role as Robert in Freezer is "a character piece for me. I get to be funny and romantic and I get to be dramatic and I get to be beaten up and cold and miserable. All those things are something that appeal to me."”


On imdb.com: “Robert is an ordinary man who is faced with extraordinary circumstances. He is locked in a meat freezer by Russian thugs who believe that he owes them 8 million dollars. Robert, who is in every frame of the film soon discovers that he is not alone in the freezer. Sam, a stranger, is also locked in with him, and it becomes a struggle to survive the cold and the forces that are against them.”- Written by K. Tobin


The Strain: I cut out this Metro article “Del Toro infects TV with The Strain” on Jul. 11, 2014.  The filmmaker Guillermo del Toro “originally pitched The Strain to Fox back in 2006, but things didn’t work out.  So he and co-writer Chuck Hogan wrote it as a trilogy of books.  While writing, they never imagined it becoming a TV show, nor a movie.”

On imdb.com: “A thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.” - Written by FX


Boyhood: I cut out this Metro article “A film a dozen years in the making” on Jul. 11, 2014. 

“Director Richard Linklater’s new film Boyhood, is a unique, 12-years-in-the-making experiment, shot in short bursts over a long span of time to follow one young man (Ellar Coltrane) as he develops.”

Linklater says he planned it that it will end when the kid goes off to college.  The dialogue wasn’t really written, but he knew the notes it was to hit.

My opinion: That’s interesting, because no other filmmaker has ever done something where they make a film here and there.  Some filmmakers do, because they have to stop production to get more money and then continue filming, and then stop to get more money.

Oscar movies: I was reading the Metro “Odd movies out rise to Oscar bait” on Feb. 26, 2014.

“The development process of any film can be lengthy and arduous, full of challenges in obtaining financing or a studio executive’s stamp of approval.”

Warner Brothers did pick up The Wolf on Wall Street and then later stopped in 2008.   It “came together, with independent film company Red Granite Pictures financing the film’s $100 million budget and Paramount Pictures distributing.” 

12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen won the Golden Globe award for Best Drama and he thanked producer Brad Pitt: “Without you, this film would have never got made.”

Supernatural: This TV show will be going into it’s 10th season.  I only saw a few episodes when it first came out.  It was good, but I didn’t connect with it.

Heroes: I read in the Metro on Jul.18, 2014 “Hit show to return as miniseries.”  It will be called Heroes: Reborn with all new characters except Noah Bennett (Jack Coleman).

I would like to watch it.  I have seen Heroes when it first came out.  It was a really good show, kind of like X-Men.

12 Monkeys: In the Metro on Jul.18, 2014, there will a new TV show based on the 1995 movie 12 Monkeys.

On Imdb.com: “Follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will eventually decimate the human race.”

It stars Aaron Stanford (Pyro from X-Men movies) and Amanda Schull.  When I first read Schull’s name, I thought it sounded really familiar.  Then I was like: “Wasn’t she the lead in the movie Center Stage?

I was right.  I remember checking her profile a few years after that movie.  She wasn’t in anything.  Now I look it up, and she started getting work again in 2007.  She has been steadily working since then.

No comments:

Post a Comment