Dustie Pierce pulls light from the darkest patches of black canvas… Traditional painters start with white terrain and flood it with shades until an image is articulated. Dustie uses lighter colors to express her details so the oils can pop out and say “Hey! Pay attention, I’m talking to you.” I say this because when you look at one of Dustie’s paintings, you can’t help but pay attention. Each brush stroke adds to the design the way a line from a book would develop a narrative. Dustie has donated an original painting she created for the PHOENIX FALLING short film, her Icarus has flown from the cloth and has become quite the co-star. Below is her painting and artist statement.

“The harmony of seeing the way the Phoenix Falling crew interacts with one another is mirrored in the harmony I find in working on this project. The tale of Icarus, Louise, and my struggle as an artist to maintain a balance between the euphoria which comes with the acceptance of one’s work and the desolation that invades as one faces obstacles, frustrations, and failures coalesced in the midst of my research and preparation for painting Icarus. The moment one begins to fall is not always apparent, but with careful observation one can ascertain that something is not quite right. A sense of unease creeps in as doubt invades. Am I falling, flying, or maintaining that elusive balance between the two?” – Dustie Pierce

Original art by Dustie Pierce

More blogs featuring Phoenix Falling and Dustie Pierce:
Behind PHOENIX FALLING
1st production still – Phoenix Falling Prologue
Phoenix Falling Short Film Audition – CASTING CALL
Louise Swanson, Character Sketch, Project Phoenix

Ben and Grants TV Spot HD (VISUAL CUT) from Crooked Lake Productions on Vimeo.

Customize your car’s sound system, body, wheels, interiors, accessories, screens and much more at BEN AND GRANTS AUTO WORKS.

Customize your car’s sound system, body, wheels, interiors, accessories, screens and much more at BEN AND GRANTS AUTO WORKS.

The crew for Phoenix Falling (16mm short film) explore Dustie’s art studio. The inspirational artist and her home studio provides a plate full of “food for thought” for production designer De Ann. The behind the scenes footage was captured from the flip video ultra HD.

CREW photo with DR. GRAHAM : Scott Wilson, Lindsay Marcus, Henry Darrow McComas and Nick Marchant.

WHAT: Auditions for the hilarious narrative, YOUR CHEATING ART, an original short film being produced by students in the University of Washington Independent Filmmaking Certificate Program.

WHEN / WHERE: Auditions will take place Friday, January 22nd, 6 – 9 p.m. at TPS in Seattle. Shooting will take place February 6th at Microsoft Studios in Redmond.

NOTE: Unfortunately, this is a NO PAY production (we may be starving students, but we’re also dedicated storytellers with a great flick to shoot); however, we offer a shiny copy mastered to DVD and a digital copy for your reel, an official credit for your resume, and food the day of the shoot ’cause everybody has to eat.

SUBMIT: If interested, please email your headshot and resume to ycathemovie@gmail.com Please include a link to your reel or Web site (if available). On-camera experience and/or stage experience is encouraged but not required. State the name of the character for which you are submitting. If interested, you will be contacted with specific audition information. No phone calls or walk-ins please.

SYNOPSIS:
Everyone has a bad day at the office once in a while. But for klutzy nice-guy and erstwhile art thief, Chad, this day is quickly turning into the worst ever. First his negligence almost results in his and his partner’s capture. Then his girlfriend wants to break up because she thinks he’s being unfaithful. Can Chad avoid capture, convince his girlfriend of his undying love, and find that ever-elusive work/life balance?

CASTING BREAKDOWN:
CHAD
Male, late-20s, in decent shape, handsome despite a bad haircut. Chad has the best intentions, but is a classic screw-up. Physically awkward even though he’s somewhat athletic. Works as an art thief by night, pretends to be in construction by day. Loves Lisa.

RICKY
Male, mid-40s, thin, mustache or other distinguishing facial hair preferred. Ricky is Chad’s partner and mentor, and provides the experience and know-how for their capers. Suave, polished and good at what he does. Impatient with Chad.

LISA
Female, late-20s, pretty, attractive. Lisa works as a waitress, though her goal is to finish her art history degree and teach. She loves Chad, but thinks he might be cheating on her. Smart, sad and a little passive, but capable of great passion under the right circumstances.

LANA
Female, mid-30s, neither attractive nor unattractive. Lana has been working as a waitress too long. She’s jaded, savvy and quick to assume the worst. She divorced her husband over his infidelity and now assumes all men are cheats.

MUSEUM GUARD
Female, mid-40s, plus-size preferred. Sexual, lusty, sassy. She works as a museum guard, but she’s really not into her job. Small part with big impact.

Theatre Puget Sound

Craigslist

WHAT: Auditions for “Phoenix Falling,” an original short film being produced by students in the University of Washington Independent Filmmaking Certificate Program (Seattle campus).

WHEN / WHERE: Shooting will take place in February and/or March at Microsoft Studios in Redmond (some exteriors may be required at other locations).

NOTE: Sorry, this is NO PAY involved, however, we will provide a copy for your reel, a great credit for your resume, and food the day of the shoot.

SUBMIT: If interested, please email your headshot and resume to phoenixfallingfilm@gmail.com. If you have one, please also include a link to your reel or Web site (on-camera experience is encouraged but not required). State the name of the character for which you are submitting. If interested, we will contact you with specific audition information. No phone calls please.

CASTING BREAKDOWN:
LOUISE – late 20s, female, artist, intense, manic, emotionally detached, a thin woman who doesn’t eat for days at a time, dark features, long dark hair (brown or black) preferred but not required.

DR. GRAHAM – early to mid-30s, female, therapist at mental institution, confident, driven, ambitious, goal-oriented, ladder climber, light features, red or blonde hair preferred but not required. She is Nurse Ratched on Prozac.

DR. ISAAC – 50s – 60s, male, therapist/team leader at Phoenix Mental Hospital, tall, distinguished, cultured, well-spoken, well-groomed, salt & pepper or white hair preferred but not required.

5 Extras – 2 Medics, Jacob (Louise’s husband), and a Mother and her Baby (infant age – no toddlers). Please note that extras have no lines so only submit if you are okay with that.

Craigslist

Theatre Puget Sound

A couple months ago I drove to Portland with my girlfriend Natalie, to accept a plaque at the Hometown Video Awards. I helped my uncle edit a few of his 16mm shorts that he passed around the festival circuit, and “Hometown” was one he would be attending.

My uncle brought a star to the show when he invited his good friend William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run author) to the festival. After the ceremony we went to a café by Paul’s hotel where we talked about writing, show biz, books and other passionate subjects… Well, Bill and Paul did most of the talking and I soaked the information up like a dish sponge. Nolan spoke like he has never lost his love for writing; telling stories drives this man and he is very good at it. I think I surprised him because I had his book Logan’s Run memorized and some of his films as well.

I spent the month previous to the ceremony researching Nolan and came across his film, Burnt Offerings, on Amazon. It was a great picture! Burnt Offerings was directed by Dan Curtis, a classic director that usually did films for TV, starred Bette Davis, Karen Black, and Oliver Reed. The story was spotless. If you get the chance to watch Burnt Offerings and Trillogy of Terror, please do, they come highly recommended.

After our drinks we dropped Paul off at his motel and I drove Bill to his house in Washington. Natalie and I had a fabulous time talking with him. One of Nolan’s good friends was my favorite author Ray Bradbury? How nice it would be to become a fly on the wall during their writing sessions?

Nolan, invited us in his house, which as excited as we were, of course we obliged. His walls were filled with books, all read by or written by William F. Nolan, it was quite a monument. Numerous trophies, statuettes and figurines decorated the tops of his bookshelves. I gave Bill a copy of Emerald City, and he gave me permission to send him my scripts. I look forward to seeing him again.

Sci Fi Wire published an interesting article about the Logan’s Run Blu-Ray and the possibilities of a needed remake. I was not a fan of the Logan’s Run movie because it distorted Nolan’s original creation; a book that effects our generation today. The following is from the “Can the Logan’s Run Blu-ray explain the remake holdup?” article.

Science-fiction movies and TV shows with something to say are a dime a dozen, but ones that actually say something are infinitely rarer. The reason for this is that the ideas behind them are intriguing, but seldom are those successfully explored or executed; for every District 9, there are a dozen movies like The Box that just never manage to capture an audience’s attention, much less the essence of their core concept, in a way that resonates, much less entertains.

For my money, Logan’s Run is one of the genre’s revered “classics” that’s terminally guilty of being a great premise with some of the worst possible execution; Hollywood evidently agrees, which is why a number of filmmakers have tried in the past several years to remake or reinvent it for contemporary audiences. Now that Logan’s Run is being released on Blu-ray, we decided to revisit it to see precisely what it is that’s so potent in its mishmash of cultural commentary and futuristic fun, and consider what it is (other than obvious legal entanglements and such) that keeps a reimagining from coming to the silver screen.

The original film was adapted in 1976 by David Zelag Goodman from William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s novel of the same name, was directed by Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days) and starred Michael York and Jenny Agutter. The story takes place in the 23rd century and follows a “sandman” named Logan (York) who becomes a fugitive, just like the people he once hunted, after he is assigned to find Sanctuary, a mythical place where people over the age of 30 survive instead of subjecting themselves to “judgment,” or termination, at a ceremony called Carousel.

Tread the rest of the article please visit Sci Fi Wire’s original post. Can the Logan’s Run Blu-ray explain the remake holdup?

Seattle’s recent claim to film fame, “World’s Greatest Dad” came out on DVD and Blu-Ray today. The film was brought to Seattle by local executive producer, Jennifer Roth (The Wrestler and Black and White) and primarily shot in the Fremont, Wallingford, Ballard area.

World’s Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams and Daryl Sabara, is a dark comedy about a man who learns that the things you want most may not be the things that make you happy and that being lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone. The charmingly dry film was conducted by writer/director/comedian Bobcat Goldthwait.

I had the pleasure of enjoying this film at the Seattle International Film Festival and watching Jennifer Roth speak. Jennifer and the crew of World’s Greatest Dad represented the Seattle film community with pride and quality, they made a hilarious film that comes highly recommended.

You can get your copy of “World’s Greatest Dad” at Scarecrow Video or Amazon.

SaveTheCat.com is ending the year with a big meow! Anyone is invited to enter the Save the Cat!® Logline Contest of 2009. To enter, use the STC! rules of a well-written logline to rework the logline of a well-known movie and turn it into a Holiday classic.

For example, these are the five entries I have submitted so far:

Paranormal Holiday: After moving into a suburban home, a loving couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly jolly presence and it’s noisy reindeer. (Paranormal Activity)
Christmas Now: During an on-going winter, Captain Taylor is sent on a dangerous mission into the North Pole to retrieve a renegade soldier who has set himself up as Santa Claus among a local elf tribe. (Apocalypse Now)
SE7ENTH: Two obsessed detectives desperately hunt for a serial killer named “Donner” who justifies his crimes as clearance for the world’s ignorance of the seventh reindeer. (SE7EN)
Blank List: By accident, the 12-year-old Pierce is given a blank Christmas list from a runaway elf and when he fills it out, he is able to get what he asks for! (Blank Check)
Ornament: A struggling mall Santa, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes, Polaroids and nostalgic ornaments from the last Christmas he remembers to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife. (Memento)

It’s that simple!
“Keep your loglines short — try for no longer than two lines. The original movie must be universally recognized, and the rewritten movie must be clearly made for a Holiday release. Contestants may place multiple entries, but each entry must be separate. No grouped entries, please. Please include the title of your “remake.” You may alter the original title if you wish, as long as we can determine the original source. Deadline for the contest is December 19, 2009, Midnight PST. Winners will be announced on the Save the Cat! blog site December 21. So get your paws — and your brains — a flexin’, and post your entries in the comment section of their blog!!!”

A logline is one to three sentences that says everything about your story and can be used as a point of reference during the screenwriting process. Your logline should be able to break out every element in a successful screenplay. A good logline has a Protagonist, an antagonist and a an adjective for each of these characters. A lunatic Taxi-driver flows a little better than a brand-new one.

A great logline sparks curiosity with irony, add a twist at the end of the line, something the reader  or an audience member wouldn’t expect.  A good logline should have a great title attached to it, a sense of market and a solid concept. Who will watch this movie? Why will they watch it? And what’s it about?

For more information on prizes and rules visit the Save the Cat!® Logline Contest of 2009

Earlier today I stopped by Scarecrow Video for new DVD Tuesday, there I found that Seattle’s own Lynn Shelton has hit the DVD market with “Humpday” a bromantic comedy with a twist. Needless to say I picked it up.

“Director Lynn Shelton works in an improvisatory style, figuring out the dialogue with the actors and creating a loose, frowzy atmosphere within scenes. That sense of verisimilitude helps sell the whopper of a premise, but what’s even more impressive is Shelton’s laser-like sense of male insecurity and rivalry (also on view in her previous picture, My Effortless Brilliance).” – Amazon

You can get your copy of “Humpday” at Scarecrow Video or Amazon.