95 Theses

So I just heard great news...we now have the greenlight on the Martin Luther "95 Theses" project. Very, very exciting!

The first thing I did was call Kate and Ashley, producers, to let them know to expect meetings in the coming days. We have to finish submitting our funding applications, and it's time to start seeking a crew.

Ideally, we crew this entirely with students. I like the idea of using this as a way to get students (especially newcomers) involved in a high-quality but low-stress project. If any students would like to work on this, send me an email: alexander.dominitz@yale.edu

Next step...find a DP

Bulldog Productions' 48 Hour Film Challenge

Come join us.

Winding down

Hey guys,
So I've got another week working in LA before I start the cross-country trek back to Charlottesville, VA. Tomorrow is a big day, I traded days at Sidney Kimmel and I'll be covering for an executive assistant who is spending the day house hunting. It's a little nerve wracking because I have to be the personal assistant to two executives (answering phones, rolling calls, running their schedules, managing their phone sheet) and I have to receive script submissions. I will also take part in the Weekend Read meeting. The creative department brings scripts home for the weekend and then discuss them in a round-table format on Monday. I have to present a script called GOD ONLY KNOWS. It's a fun little romantic comedy in which a young filmmaker who has given up on Hollywood and moved back to Boston falls for a beautiful Jewish girl and pretends he is Jewish so he can get to know her. It's well written and the characters are definitely appealing. There are some big laughs and all-in-all I liked it. Now, is the conflict involving enough? I'm not sure. We'll see how it goes, wish me luck!


Other quality films I've watched this summer:

Godfather II
Margaret Cho: I'm the One the I Want
Extras: Season 1
The Hours
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Jesus Camp
Satanas (Amazing Columbian film that's looking for North American distribution. It's a film that one should definitely see without reading a plot summary.)



-Joe

Happy 4th! (5th...whatever)

Well I've been in LA for just over a month and I'm having a blast.

I really lucked out with my internship at Sidney Kimmel: the office is relaxed yet professional and I'm learning a ton. The employees are mostly young, smart and ambitious. The cherry on top is that they are making SPECTACULAR films.

Upcoming SKE films include:

Talk to Me
Charlie Bartlett (I got to watch this a couple of weeks ago. Think Ferris Bueller's Day Off meets Igby Goes Down but with a more appealing protagonist.)
Death at a Funeral

And in the near future:

The Kite Runner
Marriage
Synendoche, New York

SKE is really hitting the big time right now and I feel really lucky to be reading some great script submissions. Who knows, maybe some of them will end up on screen!

Quality films I've watched so far this summer:

Shortbus (!!!)
Magnolia
Breach
Dancer in the Dark
Stranger than Fiction
Nacho Libre
Sicko
Knocked Up
Night Watch

An American Yalie in LA

Hey guys,
I thought this blog might be a good venue to record my experience interning in the film industry in LA this summer. In fact, my first day of work is today and I need to be at work in an hour. I'll let you know how it goes!

-Joe

Bulldog Productions Short Film Festival

My List of Shame

Yes, it's true. I spent my precious hours of winter break watching 27 or so movies (I think I've forgotten a couple). Basically, my brother and I were sick for the first week so we just spent every waking hour on the couch, sipping tea and watching movies. Two or three a day. Then what began as a casual incident developed into a pattern. I thought I might as well record the movies for posterity. Here they are, judge me accordingly. I feel strangely vulnerable, because I'm not just saying "These were the best." It's one thing to show good taste by saying what you like, it's another to demonstrate your inherent predispositions by choosing movies to view.

In alphabetical order:

La Cage Aux Folles, After the Thin Man, Akeelah and the Bee, Apocalypse Now, Apocalypto, Cape of Good Hope, Children of Men, The Dancer Upstairs, Eddie Izzard: Circle, The Emperor's New Groove, Fearless, How to Eat Fried Worms, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Illusionist, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, Monsoon Wedding, Monster's Inc., My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Pink Panther (2006), Pulp Fiction, The Three Burials of Melquiades Astrada, Shrek 2, Sin City, Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were Rabbit

PS: Ice Age II was way better than the first. Talk about an existential crisis.