Instant Films marches on...

[Charles Papert]

Time flies and it's Instant Films time again!

Our eighth festival kicks off this weekend with seven new films created in 48 hours...

What makes this festival different than other ones of its type? All the participants are by invitation, so the quality of the filmmaking is high; and we don't charge them a fee. Also, the random elements (writers have to select a noun and an adjective; the directors select one of the resulting scripts at random, then draw their cast in the same way) make for a more level playing field, and no-one can possibly prepare anything in advance.

The result is an amazing screening on Sunday night of films freshly burned to tape! Not to mention a killer party afterwards, with an awards ceremony.

If you live in LA and dig DV filmmaking, come check it out! This particular show features all women writers and directors (mixed casts though). We will also be initiating the very first "Instant Documentary" focusing on the filmmakers process, which will be shot and edited by a team of cameramen and editors in the same time period, and shown at the end of the screening (yours truly will be orchestrating the documentary, and not sleeping much at all).

In the meantime, check out www.instantfilms.tv for the archives from previous events. The great news is that we will be adding Quicktime to our web site within a few weeks (currently we only offer Windows Media). As a Mac guy, I can't wait!

And finally---gotta brag about an article about us that appeared in Monday's Hollywood Reporter and was reprinted on CNN.com. TONS of exposure for us with this one.

The screening takes place at the LA Center Studios near downtown on Sunday, May 18th at 8 pm. All the details are on our website at: www.instantfilms.tv.

[Rob Lohman]

Sometimes I wonder whether you sleep at all, Charles. You seem
to be doing a lot of things! Much respect.

Nice article too. Always good to have some "exposure"

[Charles Papert]

Too many things. To the point where if my girlfriend comes in the office while I am posting here, I have to quickly click on another app...she recognizes the DVI logo and scolds me because I have 8000 other things I should be doing than messing around online!

[Rob Lohman]

I can imagine, Charles. I know the feeling (only without girlfriend
though). How did the weekend go?

[Charles Papert]

Just recovering now...!

It was a fun one. The documentary went over well, but I will be honest and say that it was not something I would want to go through again! We had seven cameras out shooting behind-the-scenes footage of the films, which meant something like 11 hours of footage to cull through and edit into a nice piece in 24 hours--not pretty math!

We had several shifts of editors, but fewer than expected so I had to cut the whole time myself (2 hrs of sleep in the middle somewhere). We finished the tape literally seconds before it was shown--popped it out of the deck and ran it into the screening.

When the films themselves go online, I'll let you guys know which are the ones to check out.

Chas

[Rob Lohman]

Hehe... sounds like "fun". I hope that making off video makes
it to the website as well. Now go get some sleep! <g>

[Clarence Walker]

Rob,

I can personally attest to the very enthusiastic response to Charles' documentary at the Instant Films Festival.

I had the oppurtunity to shoot footage of two of the film crews, and never had a more exciting experience since I began working with digital video. The cast and crew were wonderful, and seemed really excited to be a part of the documentary production.

I was very happy to see some of my personal favorite shots make the cut, although I still can't figure out how Charles did it in such a short time.

Hopefully, they will have the chance to put it on-line for all to view.

Thanks again Charles, for letting me be a part of this incredible event.

Clarence Walker

[Charles Papert]

And thank you, Clarence, for being a part of it. I'm glad you enjoyed it & your work was great.

Cheers to the DV Info Net for connecting us!

Now if we can get some of you LA-based forum readers to come check out one of these screenings, eh? Where is everyone??

[Charles Papert]

Some incredible press for us today...

This was in the print version of the Times as well as their online version. If you can deal with the annoyance of the "free" trial (read: give us your credit card, we won't charge you for 14 days, but then you have to call to cancel, blah blah blah), you can check out a pretty damn good documentary the Times made on this week's festival; they followed my group around while we made our film.

The film itself, "The Girl's Guide to Summer" is up there as well as two others from our festival last weekend, which I highly recommend. "Lazy Days" features Sam Lloyd, the lawyer from "Scrubs" who is hilarious, plus the film was made by Jenny McCarthy's husband and while she doesn't appear in it, she got "1st AD" and "craft service" credit..."Tan Lines" is very, very funny and features Dean Cameron, veteran 80's actor best known for "Summer School" and "Ski School"--if you know the guy, wait till you see what he's wearing in this film!

[Jim Giberti]

<< "Lazy Days" features Sam Lloyd, the lawyer from "Scrubs" who is hilarious, >>

Hey Charles (we seem to be talking alot lately <g>). I've never seen Scrubs, but I have to assume that Sam Lloyd is the son of my old friend Sam Lloyd, whose the brother of Christopher Lloyd of "Back to the Future", Jim Ignatowski from "Taxi" fame. Sam (Sr.?) and his wife Barbara were pretty establshed Broadway actors, who actually got Christopher started in acting. Sam looks and sounds just like him and has been in a few of my projects over the years as has been Barbara.

For quite a while, they've run a kind of legendary local summer theater called the Weston Playhouse. At one time they put on a version of Sherlock Holmes featuring all three Lloyds (Sam, Sam and Christopher). At that time Sam (Jr.?) had just got his first break playing the "nerd" on Seinfeld...remember that character form a couple of episodes?

More bi-coastal synchronicity.

[Charles Papert]

Very cool info, Jim! Thanks for posting that. Sam (Jr) is really a great talent and a super nice guy. As soon as the films from last weekend are up on our site, including that one, I'll let you guys know.

[Rob Lohman]

That's it! I'm moving to LA! <g>

[Charles Papert]

It's time once again for "Instant Films" (seems like just yesterday we did #009)!

This time it's a Halloween theme. Seven groups will rush to make scary and probably freaky short films in 48 hours. Our last Halloween show was a big hit, producing a couple of our best films (my personal favorite of the seven I've made was from that show, "Roland"). You can see some of those films, plus all of the previous festival's films as mentioned a few posts back, at our site:

www.instantfilms.tv

To our LA-based folk, you really should come and check out the screening on October 12th at the LA Center Studios. All of the information is available online, including links for ticketing. It's going to be a great night as always, it's like a cross between a film festival and a live event, what with films flying in at the last minute...!

[John Locke]

Great news, Charles! You guys planning on making a DVD anytime soon?

[Charles Papert]

Ack...the issue we have with DVD's is that most of the films need to be re-scored, plus it raises issues with SAG, etc etc...basically, if we can nail down funding it will open a lot of doors for expansion of this type. Someday soon, we hope!

Thanks John.