Georgie goes South...by Southwest

I got a call a couple days ago from my friends over at The Daily Reel saying that they had been offered a block of time to showcase some of their favorite films at this year's South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, TX...and lil' GEORGIE'S WISH got an invitation to come along! I have to admit I'm in love with the entire TDR staff (and you too, GG). They're young, cute, smart and have EXCELLENT (or at least highly-questionable) taste, and have really helped me gain exposure for my work (just like you, GG). Thanks especially to Alex, Felicia, and Spencer for championing Red Hatchet Films' not-so-fluffy-yet-cute-in-a-dark-sense vision. You can read about TDR's SXSW Showcase here.

Principal photography on ADVENTURES WITH THE AMBERSONS, EPISODE 2 is finished. Sound mixing is happening now, and I plan to have a rough cut done by this Thursday. Stay tuned!

Y'all say hello to my new friend and collaborator, Tommy Keiser. This hot young desperado is new-ish to L.A., having moved out here last October after graduating from the University of Arts in Philly, PA. Our paths almost crossed at the H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival where his stop-mo film, COLLECTALL & HYDE was playing in the same block as DREDD MANOR and FROM BEYOND. HPLFF Founder Andrew Migliore (who picked up COLLECTALL & HYDE for distribution thru his company, Lurker Films) introduced us via email, and soon after the intrepid TK (or "Wiki-Wiki" as GG has nicknamed him) was offering his skills to be put to use on ADVENTURES WITH THE AMBERSONS. Having him around has taken an unbelievable amount of stress out of the process, both in terms of the building and animating and also just by breaking up the long, monotonous hours with human camaraderie. To see what he's all about, go check out his great webpage at www.TommyKeiser.com. You can see his films on there along with great shots of his puppets and sets. Sign his guestbook and tell 'im Mike sent ya...

My Reel

In a bid to cultivate a more professional image I finally put together a show reel of my stop-mo work from the last couple years. I was having trouble getting started when my new pal and assistant animator, Tommy Keiser (more on him later), gave me the BEST advice: "Get the music first, then everything else will fall into place." Here's the result, which I'll probably continue tweaking for awhile:


In other news, Ambersons 2 is kicking along, and will hopefully be done in a couple weeks. I want to be finished with it before GG and I take off on our long-delayed Christmas vacation up the coast.

More to come!

Today, February 13th, marks a really special day in the annals Red Hatchet Films and in my life in general. On this very day in 2005 I put the finishing touches on the soundtrack for my first stop-mo film, VALLEY OF GWOMBI. Fast forward two years and the unfortunate Gwombi clan have metamorphosed into the no-less unfortunate Amberson family, and have an actual online series. Who would have thought it possible? One person, in particular, did before anyone else: my light, my muse, my inspiration, the incomparable GARY GREEN, whom I also met two years ago on this very day. Gary was the first to say "This is going to go somewhere" (referring to the film, of course). I don't know which is the greater surprise, that the film turned into something or that Gary and I did, but I do know this: I'm one of the luckiest guys alive...

I love you, GG!

ADVENTURES WITH THE AMBERSONS, EPISODE 1

My new gig:


I have to give a special shout out to my mom, Gloria, and my dear sweet guy, Gary. These two not only made sure I didn't have to sweat the rent while I was designing, building, and animating this puppy, they rallied for me on my dark days with constant encouragement. I love you both so much!

On to Episode 2!!

FROM BEYOND goes DOWN UNDER!

I just got word that my little Lovecraft yarn, FROM BEYOND, has been selected for inclusion in A Night of Horror Short Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. This is probably more exciting to me than to anyone else, simply because I've been trying for a couple of years now to get ANY of my films seen outside of the U.S., with no luck (til now). Guess it's true what they say about Aussie hospitality. I would really love to go but unfortunately I'll be wrapped up in work during the fest.

In other news FROM BEYOND, Andrew Migliore, founder of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival is going to include the film along with DREDD MANOR, Episode 1 on his upcoming DVD anthology, Uncle Cthulhu's Re-Animations which will be released thru his company, Lurker Films. It's really an honor to have one film picked for distribution but TWO is just crazy-cool! Andrew's a really awesome guy and I truly hope to be part of the Lovecraft Festival again (sans the excruciating peritonsillar abscess I had to endure last time).

Oh, and for those of you awaiting the first episode of my new series ADVENTURES WITH THE AMBERSONS, it's been submitted to its new guardians who are no doubt slaving away to get it ready for its world debut. Thanks for your patience!