Gregory Lamberson's Blog, page 8
June 24, 2014
Life in the Crowd Funding Lane
I just completed a crowd funding campaign for the next feature I'm directing, a comedy horror (as opposed to horror comedy) called KILLER RACK. My partners Paul McGinnis, Rod Durick and I successfully raised $7,325 to cover the start up costs of our film. And all it took was almost every waking moment of my life over a seven week period, at the expense of the other projects I'm juggling (like the ones I get paid for).
In the past, I raised $3500 on IndieGoGo to supplement investor capital for DRY BONES, immediately followed by $4300 to supplement co-production capital for THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. Both campaigns exceeded their fundraising goals, which was nice, and both films were completed in a timely manner; THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS is released on DVD today by Alternative Cinema, and DRY BONES will be released on DVD October 14th by the same company.
After doing some research, I learned there are six times as many "Backers" on Kickstarter as "Funders" on IndieGoGo. For KILLER RACK, I wanted to raise $25,000 to get through production and basic editing. The appeal to me was to own the film outright. My arrangement with investors calls for them to recoup their full investment before Net profits, if any, can be shared. Let's be honest: the appeal is to own your project with other people's money. I didn't believe I could raise 25K on IndieGoGo, but thought I might be able to raise it on Kickstarter. "No guts, no glory" has always been my philosophy in life - and I've shown plenty of guts but basked in very little glory.
Setting up our Kickstarter was ten times harder than setting up previous IndieGoGo campaigns. I had plenty of issues verifying my Amazon account and bank account, complicated by different emails, and so on. It was time consuming and frustrating, but it is a highly functional website. Kickstarter recommends campaigns run less than a month, so we went for 28 days. For the record, my project features a high concept, a brilliant screenplay by Paul McGinnis, and a talented local cast aided by genre vets Debbie Rochon, Lloyd Kaufman, Brooke Lewis, Michael Thurber and Roy Frumkes - people whose names mean something to our target audience. And I have credibility as an indie horror filmmaker that few others at my level can claim (because so many of the people who started at the same time as me moved on to real jobs, and a few actually attained real careers). I also had some nice concept art, a well written pitch, and a fairly (I think) entertaining pitch video. So I felt I had my boxes checked. I should also mention that a film with similar themes had succeeded with its $25,000 Kickstarter, so I was cautiously optimistic.
The first thing that worked against us after launching our campaign was we failed to attain "Staff Pick" status. This didn't come as a surprise to me: if you write, direct or work on horror films, you become accustomed to artistic discrimination and learn to expect it. But becoming a "staff pick" gives you a huge leg up on the competition, and every film begging for dollars is competition.
Which leads me to the second thing that worked against us: the high number of horror films being produced in WNY at the same time, with overlapping schedules, all competing for the same generosity. You hope that backers outside your milieu will find your project, and then find it appealing, but the fact is, it comes down to the people you know, and the people that know the people you know. And I know from speaking to a number of backers/funders to my campaign that they were frustrated by the number of competing projects. "If I give money to your campaign, I'll also have to give to Tom, Dick and Jerry, and if I give you more than I do them, they'll give me shit. I don't want my life to become miserable because I stepped up to the plate and helped you out." I understand and sympathize - but give me some money, god damn it!
For the record, KILLER RACK found itself competing with DICK JOHNSON AND TOMMYGUN vs. THE CANNIBAL COP from John Renna and Chris Rados; CAMP OF THE DAMNED from Ken Consentino; DWELLING from Brandyn Williams; and STORIES FROM THE CARNIVAL from Sam,Qualiana, I know all of these guys, some are friends, and some are good friends - I wish them all luck, and while I can't afford to donate even a buck to campaigns even as a show of support (I'm an author and an indie filmmaker, remember?), I did share their links on my Facebook page, and I'm doing press for CANNIBAL COP. In addition to these films, a local short called AMIGIONE from John Martin Scherer and Bobby Gott ran a campaign at the same time. We all know the same people, and in my opinion,this mass crowd funding was suicide; there is no way each film can do as well as the other. NO FUCKING WAY. And some will lose out because of poor planning in that respect, but we all have to put our own projects first, and try not to worry about the others.
When we shot DRY BONES a year ago, we had Debbie Rochon stay over and shoot some scenes for THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. I also had her record a bit for our pitch video. I told her I just wanted her to discuss Paul's script, I didn't want her to specifically ask her fans to contribute. I feel it's the filmmakers' responsibility to raise the money, not the actors'. I consider myself a more savvy promoter than most indie filmmakers, and I have a good relationship with a lot of horror websites. Over the last year, a lot of sites have stopped posting press releases from indies who are not yet funded; a couple that would have passed on KILLER RACK during its crowd funding phase made an exception either because I was involved, or because Debbie or Brooke were. And these web articles did lead to attention from a lot of other sites, including io9, which gave us a Christmas present in the headline, "Killer Rack May Be The Wrongest Horror Film in the History of Wrongness," which drew 40,000 clicks. Look for that quote in our trailer.
Getting back to my cast: Tweets, re-Tweets, posts and re-posts from Debbie, Brooke and Lloyd gave us a lot of visibility and resulted in some pledges. But my feeling is, if you're depending on your actors to raise money for you, you're going to be disappointed. They can be attached to a lot of projects at the same time, and a lot of those projects are looking for crowd funding, so why put them in a difficult position? If they help, fantastic; but don't press them for more, it isn't fair.
My partners have full time jobs, so their ability to push the campaign was limited. I have a full time job too: it's called writing. I have an entire novel to edit; another to write from scratch; another that was just released to promote; and a screenplay based on one of my books to rewrite for a Hollywood actor. I work my job time and a half, every day, seven days a week. That's why FANGORIA called me "the hardest working man in horror." And I did almost nothing on any of these projects during the last seven weeks. I had to put my job(s), and the income that goes with them, aside to focus on our campaign. I had no choice: of the three of us, I was the only one who could make that sacrifice. Business as usual in my life, no complaints.
My daily routine including Tweeting ad nauseum from two Twitter accounts; posting on three different Facebook pages, cross-posting on multiple horror pages, sending press releases, and posting daily updates on Kickstarter. And for every hour of effort, we'd see one contribution. By the halfway mark of our campaign, we had raised maybe $5,000, and I knew there was no way our campaign was going to succeed. If you don't meet your goal on Kickstarter, you don't see a dime. Experts will tell you this psychological imperative will convince backers to contribute it. Maybe they're right, or maybe they were right at one time and the model has changed because there are so many campaigns out there now. In any case, the handwriting was on the wall, so I turned to my investor base, and within one week I raised in commitments for a sizable amount of our budget. That's what real producers do. I knew we were still going to need crowd funding to supplement any investor capital actually came through, just as we did on DRY BONES and THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. By the last week of our kickstarter I prepped our IndieGoGo campaign, which took me all of ten minutes, a welcome relief after the Kickstarter nonsense. I didn't let up on promoting the Kickstarter - I don't believe in quitting, it's not in my nature, and I hoped we could get all those Kickstarter pledgers to swing over to IndieGoGo.
Around this time, another local film launched its campaign: GODZILLA HERITAGE, a "non-profit" film, which is to say a fan film. And those guys pulled in contributions fast. The film looks cool: I contacted them and congratulated them on running a great campaign, and encouraged them to submit the film to Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival whenever it's ready. But this points to another problem we encountered: on Kickstarter, it is easier to raise $25,000 - $60,000 for a fan film centered around a copyrighted character than it is for an original piece of work that can actually be released. Don't believe me? Go to Kickstarter and search for fan films based on superheroes. Your mind will be blown. I now know that I could raise $50,000 to shoot a short film based on my favorite superhero, pay myself, my cast and my crew, and have an awesome looking film I can show for free on YouTube or at some film festivals. That isn't what I want to do with my life, but don't be surprised if I give it a whirl someday. And I can't wait to see GODZILLA HERITAGE!
By the time our Kickstarter ended, we had raised $6,669 in pledges - more than I had ever raised via crowd funding before, but not even one third of our goal. Fail. Our IndieGoGo campaign launched the same day;te there's nothing like starting over from scratch after an exhausting four weeks. Now the challenge was getting Kickstarter Backers to become IndieGoGo Funders. I thought about setting our goal at $7,000, then lowered it to $5,000, then $6,000, then back to $7,000. No guts, no glory, right? Not really: IndieGoGo has a "flexible spending" campaign, meaning campaign managers keep most of their contributions even if they don't meet their goal, but IGG keeps a higher percentage. We also set the campaign period for three weeks: I could not possibly sacrifice another whole month to get start up funds. Now my daily routine consisted of the same cycle as before, with the added bonus of continued daily updates on two platforms because I wanted to cajole the Kickstarter backers to follow us. Maybe half of them did, and many of those went contributed lower amounts than they had pledged. But by the halfway mark of this campaign, we were halfway to our lowered goal. That increased pledge percentage looked pretty good.
Then I started examining funds in my Paypal account. It's great that IGG accepts Paypal since Kickstarter doesn't, but PP also deducts 9% in fees. Combine that with 9% deducted by IGG, and we were only receiving 82% of each contribution. suddenly it became more important to me that we meet our full goal, since IGG offers a 5% refund on the total received when you succeed.
We hit our next roadblock: frigging Facebook. KILLER RACK has over 1,200 people on its fan page, In the old days, you could "message all" and every "fan" would receive a message. That was great. No longer. When we started our campaign, I could only see the identities of 500 people on that page - my friends. By the time we switched to IGG, I could only see 20 or so people, most of whom I would never message for a contribution. Thank you, Facebook! The solution: post even more.
Three days away from the end of our second campaign, we had raised $4,500. Not enough. We had to make our goal. I stepped up my efforts (and stopped bathing). Our percentage increased. Two days from the end of our campaign, we had $5,500. Somehow I stepped up my efforts more. So did Rod and Paul. When I woke up the morning of our last day, I became a madman. One of our friends contributed $500, which gave us the momentum we needed. By 2:00 pm - twelve hours before the end of our campaign, we reached our goal. Now IGG would have to refund $350+ in fees.- but that still left 13% we stood to lose in fees, so we kept pushing. By the time our campaign closed, we had raised $7,325, or 105% of our goal. After the sting of our Kickstarter failure, we needed that win, or I did, anyway. And it only took seven weeks, and cost us three weeks of pre-production time. But now we can book flights and hotels, and start work on our SFX - good thing, because running this campaign has left me no time to finalize details with my investors, which is next on my list.
1
As it turns out, Kickstarter wasn't a waste of time; it resulted in a lot of visibility for the project, and some likely investors. But damn, it was a lot of work. One thing I never found time to do was visit the crowd funding forums; I don't know if that would have helped or not.
I enjoy studying the statistics provided by each platform. Our graph for Kickstarter ptledges is up and down, like a heart monitor. By contrast, contributions on IndieGoGo are displayed as a constant upward trajectory. According to the referrals breakdown, $4,484 of our $7,325 - 61% of the total - was a direct result of my posts.
Will I ever run a crowd funding campaign to fund a film again? I don't know. It seems a waste not to use everything I've learned; maybe I'll run an IndieGoGo campaign to fund myself so I can run a Kickstarter to fund a film.
Now I have to shower and pre-produce a movie.
In the past, I raised $3500 on IndieGoGo to supplement investor capital for DRY BONES, immediately followed by $4300 to supplement co-production capital for THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. Both campaigns exceeded their fundraising goals, which was nice, and both films were completed in a timely manner; THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS is released on DVD today by Alternative Cinema, and DRY BONES will be released on DVD October 14th by the same company.
After doing some research, I learned there are six times as many "Backers" on Kickstarter as "Funders" on IndieGoGo. For KILLER RACK, I wanted to raise $25,000 to get through production and basic editing. The appeal to me was to own the film outright. My arrangement with investors calls for them to recoup their full investment before Net profits, if any, can be shared. Let's be honest: the appeal is to own your project with other people's money. I didn't believe I could raise 25K on IndieGoGo, but thought I might be able to raise it on Kickstarter. "No guts, no glory" has always been my philosophy in life - and I've shown plenty of guts but basked in very little glory.
Setting up our Kickstarter was ten times harder than setting up previous IndieGoGo campaigns. I had plenty of issues verifying my Amazon account and bank account, complicated by different emails, and so on. It was time consuming and frustrating, but it is a highly functional website. Kickstarter recommends campaigns run less than a month, so we went for 28 days. For the record, my project features a high concept, a brilliant screenplay by Paul McGinnis, and a talented local cast aided by genre vets Debbie Rochon, Lloyd Kaufman, Brooke Lewis, Michael Thurber and Roy Frumkes - people whose names mean something to our target audience. And I have credibility as an indie horror filmmaker that few others at my level can claim (because so many of the people who started at the same time as me moved on to real jobs, and a few actually attained real careers). I also had some nice concept art, a well written pitch, and a fairly (I think) entertaining pitch video. So I felt I had my boxes checked. I should also mention that a film with similar themes had succeeded with its $25,000 Kickstarter, so I was cautiously optimistic.
The first thing that worked against us after launching our campaign was we failed to attain "Staff Pick" status. This didn't come as a surprise to me: if you write, direct or work on horror films, you become accustomed to artistic discrimination and learn to expect it. But becoming a "staff pick" gives you a huge leg up on the competition, and every film begging for dollars is competition.
Which leads me to the second thing that worked against us: the high number of horror films being produced in WNY at the same time, with overlapping schedules, all competing for the same generosity. You hope that backers outside your milieu will find your project, and then find it appealing, but the fact is, it comes down to the people you know, and the people that know the people you know. And I know from speaking to a number of backers/funders to my campaign that they were frustrated by the number of competing projects. "If I give money to your campaign, I'll also have to give to Tom, Dick and Jerry, and if I give you more than I do them, they'll give me shit. I don't want my life to become miserable because I stepped up to the plate and helped you out." I understand and sympathize - but give me some money, god damn it!
For the record, KILLER RACK found itself competing with DICK JOHNSON AND TOMMYGUN vs. THE CANNIBAL COP from John Renna and Chris Rados; CAMP OF THE DAMNED from Ken Consentino; DWELLING from Brandyn Williams; and STORIES FROM THE CARNIVAL from Sam,Qualiana, I know all of these guys, some are friends, and some are good friends - I wish them all luck, and while I can't afford to donate even a buck to campaigns even as a show of support (I'm an author and an indie filmmaker, remember?), I did share their links on my Facebook page, and I'm doing press for CANNIBAL COP. In addition to these films, a local short called AMIGIONE from John Martin Scherer and Bobby Gott ran a campaign at the same time. We all know the same people, and in my opinion,this mass crowd funding was suicide; there is no way each film can do as well as the other. NO FUCKING WAY. And some will lose out because of poor planning in that respect, but we all have to put our own projects first, and try not to worry about the others.
When we shot DRY BONES a year ago, we had Debbie Rochon stay over and shoot some scenes for THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. I also had her record a bit for our pitch video. I told her I just wanted her to discuss Paul's script, I didn't want her to specifically ask her fans to contribute. I feel it's the filmmakers' responsibility to raise the money, not the actors'. I consider myself a more savvy promoter than most indie filmmakers, and I have a good relationship with a lot of horror websites. Over the last year, a lot of sites have stopped posting press releases from indies who are not yet funded; a couple that would have passed on KILLER RACK during its crowd funding phase made an exception either because I was involved, or because Debbie or Brooke were. And these web articles did lead to attention from a lot of other sites, including io9, which gave us a Christmas present in the headline, "Killer Rack May Be The Wrongest Horror Film in the History of Wrongness," which drew 40,000 clicks. Look for that quote in our trailer.
Getting back to my cast: Tweets, re-Tweets, posts and re-posts from Debbie, Brooke and Lloyd gave us a lot of visibility and resulted in some pledges. But my feeling is, if you're depending on your actors to raise money for you, you're going to be disappointed. They can be attached to a lot of projects at the same time, and a lot of those projects are looking for crowd funding, so why put them in a difficult position? If they help, fantastic; but don't press them for more, it isn't fair.
My partners have full time jobs, so their ability to push the campaign was limited. I have a full time job too: it's called writing. I have an entire novel to edit; another to write from scratch; another that was just released to promote; and a screenplay based on one of my books to rewrite for a Hollywood actor. I work my job time and a half, every day, seven days a week. That's why FANGORIA called me "the hardest working man in horror." And I did almost nothing on any of these projects during the last seven weeks. I had to put my job(s), and the income that goes with them, aside to focus on our campaign. I had no choice: of the three of us, I was the only one who could make that sacrifice. Business as usual in my life, no complaints.
My daily routine including Tweeting ad nauseum from two Twitter accounts; posting on three different Facebook pages, cross-posting on multiple horror pages, sending press releases, and posting daily updates on Kickstarter. And for every hour of effort, we'd see one contribution. By the halfway mark of our campaign, we had raised maybe $5,000, and I knew there was no way our campaign was going to succeed. If you don't meet your goal on Kickstarter, you don't see a dime. Experts will tell you this psychological imperative will convince backers to contribute it. Maybe they're right, or maybe they were right at one time and the model has changed because there are so many campaigns out there now. In any case, the handwriting was on the wall, so I turned to my investor base, and within one week I raised in commitments for a sizable amount of our budget. That's what real producers do. I knew we were still going to need crowd funding to supplement any investor capital actually came through, just as we did on DRY BONES and THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS. By the last week of our kickstarter I prepped our IndieGoGo campaign, which took me all of ten minutes, a welcome relief after the Kickstarter nonsense. I didn't let up on promoting the Kickstarter - I don't believe in quitting, it's not in my nature, and I hoped we could get all those Kickstarter pledgers to swing over to IndieGoGo.
Around this time, another local film launched its campaign: GODZILLA HERITAGE, a "non-profit" film, which is to say a fan film. And those guys pulled in contributions fast. The film looks cool: I contacted them and congratulated them on running a great campaign, and encouraged them to submit the film to Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival whenever it's ready. But this points to another problem we encountered: on Kickstarter, it is easier to raise $25,000 - $60,000 for a fan film centered around a copyrighted character than it is for an original piece of work that can actually be released. Don't believe me? Go to Kickstarter and search for fan films based on superheroes. Your mind will be blown. I now know that I could raise $50,000 to shoot a short film based on my favorite superhero, pay myself, my cast and my crew, and have an awesome looking film I can show for free on YouTube or at some film festivals. That isn't what I want to do with my life, but don't be surprised if I give it a whirl someday. And I can't wait to see GODZILLA HERITAGE!
By the time our Kickstarter ended, we had raised $6,669 in pledges - more than I had ever raised via crowd funding before, but not even one third of our goal. Fail. Our IndieGoGo campaign launched the same day;te there's nothing like starting over from scratch after an exhausting four weeks. Now the challenge was getting Kickstarter Backers to become IndieGoGo Funders. I thought about setting our goal at $7,000, then lowered it to $5,000, then $6,000, then back to $7,000. No guts, no glory, right? Not really: IndieGoGo has a "flexible spending" campaign, meaning campaign managers keep most of their contributions even if they don't meet their goal, but IGG keeps a higher percentage. We also set the campaign period for three weeks: I could not possibly sacrifice another whole month to get start up funds. Now my daily routine consisted of the same cycle as before, with the added bonus of continued daily updates on two platforms because I wanted to cajole the Kickstarter backers to follow us. Maybe half of them did, and many of those went contributed lower amounts than they had pledged. But by the halfway mark of this campaign, we were halfway to our lowered goal. That increased pledge percentage looked pretty good.
Then I started examining funds in my Paypal account. It's great that IGG accepts Paypal since Kickstarter doesn't, but PP also deducts 9% in fees. Combine that with 9% deducted by IGG, and we were only receiving 82% of each contribution. suddenly it became more important to me that we meet our full goal, since IGG offers a 5% refund on the total received when you succeed.
We hit our next roadblock: frigging Facebook. KILLER RACK has over 1,200 people on its fan page, In the old days, you could "message all" and every "fan" would receive a message. That was great. No longer. When we started our campaign, I could only see the identities of 500 people on that page - my friends. By the time we switched to IGG, I could only see 20 or so people, most of whom I would never message for a contribution. Thank you, Facebook! The solution: post even more.
Three days away from the end of our second campaign, we had raised $4,500. Not enough. We had to make our goal. I stepped up my efforts (and stopped bathing). Our percentage increased. Two days from the end of our campaign, we had $5,500. Somehow I stepped up my efforts more. So did Rod and Paul. When I woke up the morning of our last day, I became a madman. One of our friends contributed $500, which gave us the momentum we needed. By 2:00 pm - twelve hours before the end of our campaign, we reached our goal. Now IGG would have to refund $350+ in fees.- but that still left 13% we stood to lose in fees, so we kept pushing. By the time our campaign closed, we had raised $7,325, or 105% of our goal. After the sting of our Kickstarter failure, we needed that win, or I did, anyway. And it only took seven weeks, and cost us three weeks of pre-production time. But now we can book flights and hotels, and start work on our SFX - good thing, because running this campaign has left me no time to finalize details with my investors, which is next on my list.
1
As it turns out, Kickstarter wasn't a waste of time; it resulted in a lot of visibility for the project, and some likely investors. But damn, it was a lot of work. One thing I never found time to do was visit the crowd funding forums; I don't know if that would have helped or not.
I enjoy studying the statistics provided by each platform. Our graph for Kickstarter ptledges is up and down, like a heart monitor. By contrast, contributions on IndieGoGo are displayed as a constant upward trajectory. According to the referrals breakdown, $4,484 of our $7,325 - 61% of the total - was a direct result of my posts.
Will I ever run a crowd funding campaign to fund a film again? I don't know. It seems a waste not to use everything I've learned; maybe I'll run an IndieGoGo campaign to fund myself so I can run a Kickstarter to fund a film.
Now I have to shower and pre-produce a movie.
June 23, 2014
KILLER RACK: The Final Coundown
Yesterday was the cast reading for KILLER RACK, the movie I plan to shoot beginning in one month; it was also the world premiere for GAVE UP THE GHOST, the short film I directed based on Jeff Strand's short story. Jeff came up for the premiere and participated in the reading. The table read was hilarious, as I knew it would be, and the premiere was a success, with a great turnout. I saw the screening version of the film (some tweaks to follow) at midnight, and knew it would play well.
Today is the final day of the IndieGoGo campaign for KILLER RACK. I will not be sorry to see it go. Between four weeks of Kickstarter, which raised $6,669 is pledges, none of which we saw because the campaign did not succeed, and three weeks of IndieGoGo, I've devoted an inordinate amount of time to raising money for this project; it has devoured my life. But this is what independent filmmakers do - whatever it takes to get our films made.
As I key this in (on my wife's crappy laptop, because my daughter, cat and a cup of water conspired to take out my laptop and succeeded), we have raised $6,020 of our $7,000 goal - 86% funded, with 81 funders and 20 hours to go. We need to raise $980 before 3;00 am EST, and then we can get on with making the movie.
Today is the final day of the IndieGoGo campaign for KILLER RACK. I will not be sorry to see it go. Between four weeks of Kickstarter, which raised $6,669 is pledges, none of which we saw because the campaign did not succeed, and three weeks of IndieGoGo, I've devoted an inordinate amount of time to raising money for this project; it has devoured my life. But this is what independent filmmakers do - whatever it takes to get our films made.
As I key this in (on my wife's crappy laptop, because my daughter, cat and a cup of water conspired to take out my laptop and succeeded), we have raised $6,020 of our $7,000 goal - 86% funded, with 81 funders and 20 hours to go. We need to raise $980 before 3;00 am EST, and then we can get on with making the movie.
June 11, 2014
Big News: The Julian Year, Killer Rack on IndieGogo, and PW Reviews The Frenzy Wolves
But first a personal update: my daughter left a cup with a little bit of water in it near my laptop, and the cat must have gotten thirsty during the night; I awoke to a non-working Toshiba resting upon a wet tabletop. I've been blowing fans on the damn thing, which has worked in the past, but so far, no go. I'm keying this in on a MAC set up in my office, which is where I wish I'd kept the laptop.
THE JULIAN YEAR
My novel The Julian Year, Medallion Press' first TREEbook, was released on Sunday, June 1st. I believe it's my best book, and it's the first of its kind, so I have high hopes for it. Readers download the Medallion Media Group app for free from iTunes, then purchase the novel through the app for $9.99, and use the app to open the book and read it. The story has several pre-determined branch points, and each reader's individual reading habits trigger the branching technology, which is seamless and organic; the whole point id for a reader to be unaware the story has changed on him until a tree graph appears at the end of the book; at that point the reader can bounce around the other branches, experiencing entirely different events and outcomes, at will. My story posits that over the course of one year, every one on earth gets possessed on his birthday; at the end of one year's time, there should be no one recognizable left...depending on which branch(es) you follow. I think it's an original concept, one that suits the possibilities offered by the technology. Because the technology is so new - developed by Medallion - the roll out will be slow. We're still waiting for reviews (it will take reviewers a while to fully explore the alternate story lines I created), but one fellow novelist did tell me he thought the novel was fantastic. You can read more about it in the "spotlight" literary section of the new issue of Rue Morgue, and you can read excerpts from the novel, and follow a link to download the MMG Sidekick, here: http://thejulianyear.com/signup
KILLER RACK
Several weeks ago, I posted a blog about the Kickstarter for my next film, KILLER RACK, a comedy about a woman who discovers her new breast implants are actually Lovecraftian monsters hell bent on taking over the world. The screenplay was written by my friend Paul McGinnis, and it may be the funniest thing I've ever read. We hoped to raise $25,000 to make the film, but only mustered $6,600 - which means we see none of it. Man, I spent a month working around the clock on that. Still, we found 101 backers, which isn't bad. Our Plan B was to launch an IndieGoGo campaign fo ronly $7,000; on IGG, people can pay by credit card or Paypal. We've raised $2,960 so far, and are 42% funded. At IGG we keep what we raise regardless of whether or not we meet our goal, but IGG takes a bigger cut if we fail. We only have 11 days left! Please consider giving the Boobs a helping hand: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/killer-rack/x/78828
THE FRENZY WOLVES
The third and final volume in my Frenzy Cycle won't be published until October, but Publishers Weekly has already given it an excellent review. I've been fortunate with PW; they've given every book of mine they've reviewed a positive review except for CARNAGE ROAD, which they awarded a mixed review. Here's the new review:
Lamberson’s third and final Frenzy Cycle installment (after The Frenzy War) is an engrossing tale that can stand on its own. NYPD captain Anthony Mace has won acclaim for prevailing against the Brotherhood of Torquemada, an organization known to the public as a terrorist group but in reality is an ancient sect dedicated to wiping out suspected witches and werewolves. In a contemporary New York secretly home to a pack of lycanthropes, Mace is tasked with tracking down the Full Moon Killer, an escaped murderer who has recently discovered his inner wolf, while the authorities try to suppress mounting evidence of the monsters. Mace thinks the lycanthropes pose no inherent threat to humans, but a war for supremacy among them may undermine their natural indifference. Mace is a sympathetic and thoroughly modern protagonist who agonizes over how to define terrorism in a complex world even as he longs for suburban surcease from his sorrows. The story unfolds smoothly, and, while some unwieldy characters never come alive, the plot is riveting. (Oct.)
Well, summer is here at last, after a typically dispiriting Buffalo winter. I'm currently editing the sixth and final book in The Jake Helman Files series, writing drafts of the CARNAGE ROAD screenplay for Craig Sheffer, prepping KILLER RACK and researching what will be my twelfth novel for Medallion, a stand alone eco horror novel. I've never been so busy in my life, and I've promised myself I'll never be this busy again - I'm 50 now, and I can't maintain this pace.
THE JULIAN YEAR
My novel The Julian Year, Medallion Press' first TREEbook, was released on Sunday, June 1st. I believe it's my best book, and it's the first of its kind, so I have high hopes for it. Readers download the Medallion Media Group app for free from iTunes, then purchase the novel through the app for $9.99, and use the app to open the book and read it. The story has several pre-determined branch points, and each reader's individual reading habits trigger the branching technology, which is seamless and organic; the whole point id for a reader to be unaware the story has changed on him until a tree graph appears at the end of the book; at that point the reader can bounce around the other branches, experiencing entirely different events and outcomes, at will. My story posits that over the course of one year, every one on earth gets possessed on his birthday; at the end of one year's time, there should be no one recognizable left...depending on which branch(es) you follow. I think it's an original concept, one that suits the possibilities offered by the technology. Because the technology is so new - developed by Medallion - the roll out will be slow. We're still waiting for reviews (it will take reviewers a while to fully explore the alternate story lines I created), but one fellow novelist did tell me he thought the novel was fantastic. You can read more about it in the "spotlight" literary section of the new issue of Rue Morgue, and you can read excerpts from the novel, and follow a link to download the MMG Sidekick, here: http://thejulianyear.com/signup
KILLER RACK
Several weeks ago, I posted a blog about the Kickstarter for my next film, KILLER RACK, a comedy about a woman who discovers her new breast implants are actually Lovecraftian monsters hell bent on taking over the world. The screenplay was written by my friend Paul McGinnis, and it may be the funniest thing I've ever read. We hoped to raise $25,000 to make the film, but only mustered $6,600 - which means we see none of it. Man, I spent a month working around the clock on that. Still, we found 101 backers, which isn't bad. Our Plan B was to launch an IndieGoGo campaign fo ronly $7,000; on IGG, people can pay by credit card or Paypal. We've raised $2,960 so far, and are 42% funded. At IGG we keep what we raise regardless of whether or not we meet our goal, but IGG takes a bigger cut if we fail. We only have 11 days left! Please consider giving the Boobs a helping hand: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/killer-rack/x/78828
THE FRENZY WOLVES
The third and final volume in my Frenzy Cycle won't be published until October, but Publishers Weekly has already given it an excellent review. I've been fortunate with PW; they've given every book of mine they've reviewed a positive review except for CARNAGE ROAD, which they awarded a mixed review. Here's the new review:
Lamberson’s third and final Frenzy Cycle installment (after The Frenzy War) is an engrossing tale that can stand on its own. NYPD captain Anthony Mace has won acclaim for prevailing against the Brotherhood of Torquemada, an organization known to the public as a terrorist group but in reality is an ancient sect dedicated to wiping out suspected witches and werewolves. In a contemporary New York secretly home to a pack of lycanthropes, Mace is tasked with tracking down the Full Moon Killer, an escaped murderer who has recently discovered his inner wolf, while the authorities try to suppress mounting evidence of the monsters. Mace thinks the lycanthropes pose no inherent threat to humans, but a war for supremacy among them may undermine their natural indifference. Mace is a sympathetic and thoroughly modern protagonist who agonizes over how to define terrorism in a complex world even as he longs for suburban surcease from his sorrows. The story unfolds smoothly, and, while some unwieldy characters never come alive, the plot is riveting. (Oct.)
Well, summer is here at last, after a typically dispiriting Buffalo winter. I'm currently editing the sixth and final book in The Jake Helman Files series, writing drafts of the CARNAGE ROAD screenplay for Craig Sheffer, prepping KILLER RACK and researching what will be my twelfth novel for Medallion, a stand alone eco horror novel. I've never been so busy in my life, and I've promised myself I'll never be this busy again - I'm 50 now, and I can't maintain this pace.
May 24, 2014
io9 Says, "Killer Rack May Be The Wrongest Horror Film In The History Of Wrongness"!
I've been flogging the KILLER RACK Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack?ref=home_location), which is a thankless, merciless, and time consuming task. As of this morning, we have 65 backers, which is great, and we've raised $4,871, which would be nicer if our goal wasn't $25,0000 (there's no way we can make this film for the same amount we made THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS (coming to DVD June 24th), and we have only 9 days left in our campaign. "But we've met a lot of great people, and we've run a clean campaign." Part of my routine in promoting any project is to send a press release to any horror website that doesn't require a web form for contact. When I sent one out with the KILLER RACK poster, a slew of sites ran it; when I sent one out that just mentioned our Kickstarter, only one picked it up, I assume because so many films seeking crowd funding never get made. They should know me better than that.
Anyway, yesterday I was Tweeting and posting the Kickstarter link for a couple of hours, and somewhere along the way it caught the attention of a writer at io9, one of the leading genre sites out there (one which I don't even send press releases to), and she wrote a terrific article sans a press release:
"Killer Rack May Be The Wrongest Horror Film In The History Of Wrongness"
That's marketing gold right there. And there's more:
"Move over
And there's more:
"Gregory Lamberson (Slime City Massacre, Dry Bones) is getting ready to direct, from a script by actor Paul McGinnis. And they've already released some really disturbing concept art, and a teaser poster. They're looking for money via Kickstarter, thus proving that crowdfunding is pure evil."
And there's more:
"Warning: disturbing concept art below. Disturbing!"
And there's more:
"Could this movie be the next Society? We really think it could."
And so far, in less than 24 hours, almost 20,000 people have clicked on the link:
http://io9.com/killer-rack-may-be-the-wrongest-horror-film-in-the-hist-1580740284/all
This is turning out to be the best PR for a low budget horror film since FANGORIA ran its classic print story on Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE.
If you check out the article, be sure to click on the "recommend" star to keep this topic "flaming hot."
And feel free to pledge to KILLER RACK, which is going to be a horror comedy cult classic.
Anyway, yesterday I was Tweeting and posting the Kickstarter link for a couple of hours, and somewhere along the way it caught the attention of a writer at io9, one of the leading genre sites out there (one which I don't even send press releases to), and she wrote a terrific article sans a press release:
"Killer Rack May Be The Wrongest Horror Film In The History Of Wrongness"
That's marketing gold right there. And there's more:
"Move over
And there's more:
"Gregory Lamberson (Slime City Massacre, Dry Bones) is getting ready to direct, from a script by actor Paul McGinnis. And they've already released some really disturbing concept art, and a teaser poster. They're looking for money via Kickstarter, thus proving that crowdfunding is pure evil."
And there's more:
"Warning: disturbing concept art below. Disturbing!"
And there's more:
"Could this movie be the next Society? We really think it could."
And so far, in less than 24 hours, almost 20,000 people have clicked on the link:
http://io9.com/killer-rack-may-be-the-wrongest-horror-film-in-the-hist-1580740284/all
This is turning out to be the best PR for a low budget horror film since FANGORIA ran its classic print story on Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE.
If you check out the article, be sure to click on the "recommend" star to keep this topic "flaming hot."
And feel free to pledge to KILLER RACK, which is going to be a horror comedy cult classic.
May 22, 2014
THE JULIAN YEAR: A TREEbook FAQ
My novel THE JULIAN YEAR, the world's first TREEbook will be published on Sunday, June 1st by Medallion Press. At least three years of development and writing went into this cutting edge project! But what the hell IS a TREEbook... and what the hell is THE JULIAN YEAR? I've created created this FAQ for the curious and frightened.
1. So...what is TREEbook?
TREEbook stands for Timed Reading Experience E-book. It's a brand new platform for e-books utilizing time triggers and branching technology. It can also be called the first e-book platform using story branching. In other words, the story changes on the reader as he reads it.
2. Oh, like a Choose Your Own Adventure, right?
Wrong! The reader doesn't choose which branch of the TREEbook he reads - the story chooses him. Characters live, die, change, take a lead role, take a supporting role, all based on the reader's individual reading habits.
3. Ah, I see... sort of like Russian Roulette.
Um, okay. That may be an apt description for THE JULIAN YEAR, which is a horror tale on an epic scale, but TREEbook can work in any genre. Mine is the first entry in the line, but by August there may be as many as three.
4. But how does a TREEbook work?
A lot of research and development went into making TREEbook, and it's ongoing. The reader will go to itunes and download the Medallion Media Group Sidekick app for his ipad. When the reader opens this app, he'll have access to the entire Medallion Press library. There may be special giveaways, too. And the reader will find THE JULIAN YEAR by Gregory Lamberson, the very first TREEbook. The reader must purchase THE JULIAN YEAR and future TREEbooks using this MMG Sidekick; they won't be available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other e-book retailers. It's all in-house. The reader will also use the app as an e-reader for the book on his ipad. The MMG Sidekick measures each reader's individual average reading pace over the course of the first few chapters of the book; every reader's habits are different, and those habits will change if a reader re-reads a TREEbook, resulting in a different reading experience. The author establishes several points in his novel where the story could branch off in a different direction; when a reader changes his reading pace, the novel will branch out at one of those pre-determined points.
5. How much does the Medallion Media Group Sidekick app cost?
It's FREE!
6. Holy cow, that's great! How much will THE JULIAN YEAR cost?
THE JULIAN YEAR can be yours for the low, low price of only $9.99!
7. Wait a minute - my friend sells his e-books for only .99! Are you sure you didn't get the decimal point wrong?
Your friend's e-book is most likely self edited and self published. THE JULIAN YEAR is professionally edited and professionally published. Your friend's novel follows one path, telling one story; if you re-read it, it will follow that same path and tell that exact same story. No matter how many times you try to make it change, it will have the same beginning, middle and ending. The TREEbook is something different: there's never been anything like it before. Its branching technology allows for multiple variations of a story, with drastic changes along the way, and different endings. Even the branches have branches! Every time a reader reads it, he will likely have a different reading experience. Or, once he's completed the novel once, he will be free to skip around the different branches at will. If two people (or three, or four) read it at the same time and compare notes each day, they're going to be baffled. There is so much content in THE JULIAN YEAR that $9.99 is a bargain.
8. Can I read THE JULIAN YEAR and future TREEbooks on my Kindle?
No! TREEbooks are designed for ipads only. They will likely be compatible with Androids down the line, and anything can happen after that, but for now think "ipad."
9. Will there be a print edition of THE JULIAN YEAR?
Again, no! The whole appeal of this cutting edge technology is that the form of its story is fluid, not locked in place. The goal was to make each branch path a satisfying, complete reading experience, and to offer multiple variations of that experience. But a reader who explores multiple branches will see the same characters shaped by radically different experiences - it's a different form of layering. To choose a single branch path would be like making Sophie's Choice.
10. You've been talking about the technology, what about the frigging book?
Thanks for asking! The technology is awesome and serves as a great hook, but the technology has to serve a good story, not the other way around. THE JULIAN YEAR is an ambitious apocalyptic tale about what may turn out to be the last year of mankind as we know it. Every day beginning January 1st, twenty million people become homicidal maniacs on their birthday. The cause appears to be demonic possession. By the end of one year's time, every person on earth should be possessed. Society takes drastic steps just to survive the year, and we follow different characters in different scenarios as they try to carry on. There's action, horror, and suspense; demonic possession has never been depicted on such a large scale. There's also a touch of philosophical drama, ala Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials or Nevil Shute's ON THE BEACH. I can't wait for reactions from readers who explore the different branches! The characters are among my favorite creations:
Julian Weizak, a frustrated journalist, is an obituary writer who sees a pattern in the sudden mayhem around the world. Because he was born December 31st, he has a full year to live and a front row seat to mankind's last gasp.
Steve Morelli is the equivalent of a beat cop, loyal to his family, neighborhood and badge. He plays by the rules, and looks for sanity within the epidemic wreaking havoc around the globe.
Rachel Konigsberg, Morellis' partner, is shaped by circumstances into an action heroine. She's the biggest bad ass I've written.
Read more about THE JULIAN YEAR at its dedicated website: http://thejulianyear.com/
May 21, 2014
Aint It Cool News Reviews DRY BONES
My new film DRY BONES, which will be released on DVD at the end of this summer, was just reviewed in the Aint It Cool Horror column. It's a thoughtful, fairly analytical review, one that I had to read a couple of times to realize was positive. It's actually the kind of review that serves a film well - critical (almost harsh in some respects), with some flattering comments about my screenplay and an explanation for why the film ultimately won the reviewer over despite some misgivings. As always, I feel bad when people who worked hard on the film are singled out negatively, but that's part of this process - we all take our lumps, and everything is subjective. You can read the entire piece here -
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67249
- but here are some excerpts:
"All of the things that bothered me about the logic of the film; mainly why this guy seems to be the mack daddy of his home town, logically plays out by the end. So much so, that I ended up liking this film quite a bit for the way it is ingeniously constructed story-wise to counter expectations and challenge preconceptions in terms of the way one would think a horror movie would and should unfold."
I never thought I'd see the day when a site as popular as Aint It Cool called one of my micro-budget movies "ingeniously constructed story-wise" and "clever and original."
Thank you, AICN, for the attention!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67249
- but here are some excerpts:
"All of the things that bothered me about the logic of the film; mainly why this guy seems to be the mack daddy of his home town, logically plays out by the end. So much so, that I ended up liking this film quite a bit for the way it is ingeniously constructed story-wise to counter expectations and challenge preconceptions in terms of the way one would think a horror movie would and should unfold."
I never thought I'd see the day when a site as popular as Aint It Cool called one of my micro-budget movies "ingeniously constructed story-wise" and "clever and original."
Thank you, AICN, for the attention!
May 7, 2014
KILLER RACK: Why Kickstarter?
The Kickstarter for Killer Rack, the next film I plan to direct, has gone live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorylamberson/killer-rack
Please check it out. My friend Paul McGinnis wrote the screenplay, and he and I are producing it with our mutual friend, Rod Durick. Killer Rack is a horror comedy about Betty, a woman who gets breast implants which turn out to be Lovecraftian monsters hell bent on taking over the world. It's the funniest thing I've ever read in my life, and if it gets made, I believe it will be a cult comedy classic - maybe even a breakthrough film. Notice I didn't say, "If I make it right..." - I know I'll make it right. But we do need money for me to do so.
So why Kickstarter?
Straight talk (as always): I proved with Dry Bones, which will be released at the end of this summer, that I can make a good horror comedy for around $15,000. But to do that, I have to beg favors left and right; a little scratch for the crew people who have to show up and work 12 hour days, and sacrifice their weekends for most of the summer, would make things a lot easier. And to qualify for the New York State Tax Incentive, which offers 40% on qualified production costs (making it possible to actually promote the film and take it to film festivals), we need to shoot for one day on a certified sound stage, and build a set with three standing walls, and obtain production insurance. And then there are the special effects: my effects guy, Arick Szyemcki, can do wonders with very little money - but he stills needs that little bit of money. Debbie Rochon is playing Dr. Thulu, the mad scientist who performs the surgery on Betty, and while Debbie always works within my budget, we still have to get her here. On a film this small, food for the cast and crew is a huge part of the budget.
But there is another reason for turning to crowd funding, and that's ownership. I own most of my films, and own a piece of those I've produced for others, but when you go to investors, you have to promise them they will recoup their full investment before any Net Profits ("if any," my contracts always specify) are distributed. Realistically, all of the money that comes in goes to the investors and I never see a dime. I love them, they're enabling me to do fulfill my dreams by allowing me to make these projects, but I have a mortgage, a daughter, credit card bills - and it's asking a lot of myself to devote six months of my life to a project and never see any fruit for my labor. I'm not looking to make a killing - I just want to know that there's a chance I'll see a few bucks if something breaks through... and I believe Killer Rack will break through.
So please check out our Kickstarter page, and view our pitch video; we're posting fresh content every day in the "Updates" section. You can donate as little as $1, or as much as $3,000, and we're offering a wide variety of cool perks. We have 26 days to reach our goal, or we don't see a dime of the pledges.
The boobs will love you!
#
Some updates on various projects:
The Julian Year TREEbook (Timed Release E-book) is on track to be released in June, and I'm excited as hell about. Check out its dedicated website, which features videos and excerpts from my novel.
http://thejulianyear.com/signup
The Legend of Six Fingers, which I produced, will be released on DVD June 24th by POP Cinema.
The short film I directed, Gave Up the Ghost, based on a short story by Jeff Strand, will have its world premiere at Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear/FanExpo Canada, at the end of August. This is part of the Creepers anthology.
https://www.facebook.com/creepersfilm
Dry Bones, which I wrote, co-directed and co-produced, will have its Canadian premiere at FOF/FanExpo, and will be released on DVD one week later. I've seen the preliminary key art, which looks fantastic, and I believe quite a few people will see it, which will be nice after the way Media Blasters botched the release of Slime City Massacre. I'm damn proud of this film.
The Frenzy Wolves, the final book in my werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle, will be published in October.
Please check it out. My friend Paul McGinnis wrote the screenplay, and he and I are producing it with our mutual friend, Rod Durick. Killer Rack is a horror comedy about Betty, a woman who gets breast implants which turn out to be Lovecraftian monsters hell bent on taking over the world. It's the funniest thing I've ever read in my life, and if it gets made, I believe it will be a cult comedy classic - maybe even a breakthrough film. Notice I didn't say, "If I make it right..." - I know I'll make it right. But we do need money for me to do so.
So why Kickstarter?
Straight talk (as always): I proved with Dry Bones, which will be released at the end of this summer, that I can make a good horror comedy for around $15,000. But to do that, I have to beg favors left and right; a little scratch for the crew people who have to show up and work 12 hour days, and sacrifice their weekends for most of the summer, would make things a lot easier. And to qualify for the New York State Tax Incentive, which offers 40% on qualified production costs (making it possible to actually promote the film and take it to film festivals), we need to shoot for one day on a certified sound stage, and build a set with three standing walls, and obtain production insurance. And then there are the special effects: my effects guy, Arick Szyemcki, can do wonders with very little money - but he stills needs that little bit of money. Debbie Rochon is playing Dr. Thulu, the mad scientist who performs the surgery on Betty, and while Debbie always works within my budget, we still have to get her here. On a film this small, food for the cast and crew is a huge part of the budget.
But there is another reason for turning to crowd funding, and that's ownership. I own most of my films, and own a piece of those I've produced for others, but when you go to investors, you have to promise them they will recoup their full investment before any Net Profits ("if any," my contracts always specify) are distributed. Realistically, all of the money that comes in goes to the investors and I never see a dime. I love them, they're enabling me to do fulfill my dreams by allowing me to make these projects, but I have a mortgage, a daughter, credit card bills - and it's asking a lot of myself to devote six months of my life to a project and never see any fruit for my labor. I'm not looking to make a killing - I just want to know that there's a chance I'll see a few bucks if something breaks through... and I believe Killer Rack will break through.
So please check out our Kickstarter page, and view our pitch video; we're posting fresh content every day in the "Updates" section. You can donate as little as $1, or as much as $3,000, and we're offering a wide variety of cool perks. We have 26 days to reach our goal, or we don't see a dime of the pledges.
The boobs will love you!
#
Some updates on various projects:
The Julian Year TREEbook (Timed Release E-book) is on track to be released in June, and I'm excited as hell about. Check out its dedicated website, which features videos and excerpts from my novel.
http://thejulianyear.com/signup
The Legend of Six Fingers, which I produced, will be released on DVD June 24th by POP Cinema.
The short film I directed, Gave Up the Ghost, based on a short story by Jeff Strand, will have its world premiere at Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear/FanExpo Canada, at the end of August. This is part of the Creepers anthology.
https://www.facebook.com/creepersfilm
Dry Bones, which I wrote, co-directed and co-produced, will have its Canadian premiere at FOF/FanExpo, and will be released on DVD one week later. I've seen the preliminary key art, which looks fantastic, and I believe quite a few people will see it, which will be nice after the way Media Blasters botched the release of Slime City Massacre. I'm damn proud of this film.
The Frenzy Wolves, the final book in my werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle, will be published in October.
April 22, 2014
Kim's Video: A Eulogy
Kim's Video in NYC is closing. I worked for the company for six months. Memories...
I often found myself working at video stores after I made movies. The cycle went like this: I'd have a great time managing movie theaters (and by great time I mean working 80 - 90 hours per week when business warranted it, usually without extra pay), and then I would quit those jobs to make movies, and then when I absolutely ran out of money, the first work I could find was usually managing a video store. That's not even an option any more!
But Kim's was one of a kind...even when there were four of them. Now there's one, and it's going out of business.
I trained at the West Side store, but wound up at the Bleecker Street store - directly beneath the location that had once been the Bleecker Street Cinemas, where SLIME CITY had its midnight run. That was great for my self esteem...not.
Mr. Kim was a Korean (I assume he still is). A tall, imposing Korean. A bootlegger once set up outside one of his stores, and became testy when Kim ordered him to move. I did not witness the violence that followed, so I must use the word "allegedly."
Mr. Kim had four children at the time: Gold Kim, Silver Kim, Platinum Kim, and Copper Kim. I always wondered if Copper suffered from self esteem issues.
The District Manager among the four stores was Mr. Cho, a former army general. I liked him. Our bathroom didn't have warm water, and we weren't allowed to run AC during the summer. A young lady who worked there passed out from the heat. Mr. Kim sent Mr. Cho to take her a sandwich at her home. That was nice.
We had a couple of Jamaican security guards at our location. I liked both of them. One of them was famous for standing outside the store, asking customers what they wanted, going inside, stealing the item, going back outside, and selling the item to the customer. Everyone knew him.
Most of the staff was stealing too. From a manager's POV, it wasn't "if" but "when," and I had to fire them by the truckload. Give a hipster college kid who pretends he hates money the key to the store room and he will rob you blind. Of course, my fellow manager was stealing too. When we had a big meeting about store theft, she loaded two shopping bags with laser discs just in case she got fired. She didn't, and she took the two bags home anyway. There was no way of stemming this corruption, which is why I finally quit.
The sweatshops conditions weren't the only thing that motivated the staff to steal. Kim's was basically a criminal operation, with four duplication machines running in the back room. We rented and sold VHS tapes that came with "Please turn disc over" messages halfway through each tape. The illicit activity began at the top and went to the bottom.
It was a great place to work, though; every one of us used our employee benefits to take home four free rentals a night, it was a great way to see films you'd never even heard about. And we were paid off the books, which is always nice when you're young. I remember when the other manager (with all the laser discs) and I had to fire someone for some reason (could it have been...stealing?). She actually said, "I have a friend who writes for the Village Voice, and if you fire me I'm going public that we all get paid off the books and don't get breaks." We relayed this to Mr. Cho, who laughed and said, "Let her." All of the people who passed through that place, got fired, and probably reported them, and nothing ever happened. There must have been payoffs galore, suggesting that the corruption didn't start at Mr. Kim's level.
Chloe Sevigny was a regular customer there. She'd rent four movies at a time, all of them starring the same actress. Marky Ramone came in a lot too; he liked the Mondo films. And Spike Lee used to buy a lot of laser discs.
What a crazy place.
I often found myself working at video stores after I made movies. The cycle went like this: I'd have a great time managing movie theaters (and by great time I mean working 80 - 90 hours per week when business warranted it, usually without extra pay), and then I would quit those jobs to make movies, and then when I absolutely ran out of money, the first work I could find was usually managing a video store. That's not even an option any more!
But Kim's was one of a kind...even when there were four of them. Now there's one, and it's going out of business.
I trained at the West Side store, but wound up at the Bleecker Street store - directly beneath the location that had once been the Bleecker Street Cinemas, where SLIME CITY had its midnight run. That was great for my self esteem...not.
Mr. Kim was a Korean (I assume he still is). A tall, imposing Korean. A bootlegger once set up outside one of his stores, and became testy when Kim ordered him to move. I did not witness the violence that followed, so I must use the word "allegedly."
Mr. Kim had four children at the time: Gold Kim, Silver Kim, Platinum Kim, and Copper Kim. I always wondered if Copper suffered from self esteem issues.
The District Manager among the four stores was Mr. Cho, a former army general. I liked him. Our bathroom didn't have warm water, and we weren't allowed to run AC during the summer. A young lady who worked there passed out from the heat. Mr. Kim sent Mr. Cho to take her a sandwich at her home. That was nice.
We had a couple of Jamaican security guards at our location. I liked both of them. One of them was famous for standing outside the store, asking customers what they wanted, going inside, stealing the item, going back outside, and selling the item to the customer. Everyone knew him.
Most of the staff was stealing too. From a manager's POV, it wasn't "if" but "when," and I had to fire them by the truckload. Give a hipster college kid who pretends he hates money the key to the store room and he will rob you blind. Of course, my fellow manager was stealing too. When we had a big meeting about store theft, she loaded two shopping bags with laser discs just in case she got fired. She didn't, and she took the two bags home anyway. There was no way of stemming this corruption, which is why I finally quit.
The sweatshops conditions weren't the only thing that motivated the staff to steal. Kim's was basically a criminal operation, with four duplication machines running in the back room. We rented and sold VHS tapes that came with "Please turn disc over" messages halfway through each tape. The illicit activity began at the top and went to the bottom.
It was a great place to work, though; every one of us used our employee benefits to take home four free rentals a night, it was a great way to see films you'd never even heard about. And we were paid off the books, which is always nice when you're young. I remember when the other manager (with all the laser discs) and I had to fire someone for some reason (could it have been...stealing?). She actually said, "I have a friend who writes for the Village Voice, and if you fire me I'm going public that we all get paid off the books and don't get breaks." We relayed this to Mr. Cho, who laughed and said, "Let her." All of the people who passed through that place, got fired, and probably reported them, and nothing ever happened. There must have been payoffs galore, suggesting that the corruption didn't start at Mr. Kim's level.
Chloe Sevigny was a regular customer there. She'd rent four movies at a time, all of them starring the same actress. Marky Ramone came in a lot too; he liked the Mondo films. And Spike Lee used to buy a lot of laser discs.
What a crazy place.
April 20, 2014
Casting MEGAN'S WAR
This summer I'm directing a comedy called KILLER RACK, written by Paul McGinnis. On Saturday, April 26th, from 1 pm - 4 pm, John Renna and Chris Rados are holding auditions for their upcoming feature at the Pierce Arrow Film Arts Center, on the second floor of 1685 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. McGinnis will be there auditioning people for KILLER RACK too. In general, I don't like holding auditions; I prefer to simply cast talented people I know to be reliable, and who take projects seriously. But I'll be at these auditions too - not for KILLER RACK, but for the film I'll be directing next summer, an action flick tentatively entitled MEGAN'S WAR. I'm not auditioning for "Megan" at these auditions, but I will be keeping an eye open for an actress who fits the bill. There is, unfortunately, no real database for actors in Buffalo, just a few different actor/extra Facebook pages. I prefer to cast a local actress for this lead, title role, which is why I'm starting this process early; if I have to bring in an out of town actress because the local casting process is too difficult, I will.
MEGAN'S WAR is an action film in the BILLY JACK / DELIVERANCE vein about four people from Buffalo who go on a weekend camping trip and find themselves hunted by extremist police and paramilitary types - there is a controversial aspect to the story. It will probably shoot over weekends next summer, but it could shoot over a straight one month period. "Megan" is the lead role, and is the one which I currently know will be a paying gig. I'm looking for a Caucasian actress, 25 - 28; attractive, physically fit, athletic and with the chops to deliver a serious dramatic performance. No frontal nudity is required; however. bareback nudity is required for a scene in which Megan purifies herself in a lake near the end of the film. I expect there to be an aggressive marketing campaign for this film, and I'm looking for someone reliable who is interested in being a partner for this project: there will likely be opportunities to attend film festivals where the film screens, and the part requires a long time commitment for publicity. There will be many other roles in this film, most of them unpaid; I have zero interest in discussing them until after I've cast this pivotal role, as I need to build the cast around the lead.
This is a seriously good role for the right person. Interested actresses can send me their head shots and resumes, either to my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/gregory.lamberson
...or to my old email account: glamberson@verizon.net
Or I'll see you at the John Renna/Chris Rados/Paul McGinnis auditions this Saturday.
At this time, I don't wish to receive inquiries about other roles or crew positions, or head shots from out of town actresses for this lead role. One step at a time.
MEGAN'S WAR is an action film in the BILLY JACK / DELIVERANCE vein about four people from Buffalo who go on a weekend camping trip and find themselves hunted by extremist police and paramilitary types - there is a controversial aspect to the story. It will probably shoot over weekends next summer, but it could shoot over a straight one month period. "Megan" is the lead role, and is the one which I currently know will be a paying gig. I'm looking for a Caucasian actress, 25 - 28; attractive, physically fit, athletic and with the chops to deliver a serious dramatic performance. No frontal nudity is required; however. bareback nudity is required for a scene in which Megan purifies herself in a lake near the end of the film. I expect there to be an aggressive marketing campaign for this film, and I'm looking for someone reliable who is interested in being a partner for this project: there will likely be opportunities to attend film festivals where the film screens, and the part requires a long time commitment for publicity. There will be many other roles in this film, most of them unpaid; I have zero interest in discussing them until after I've cast this pivotal role, as I need to build the cast around the lead.
This is a seriously good role for the right person. Interested actresses can send me their head shots and resumes, either to my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/gregory.lamberson
...or to my old email account: glamberson@verizon.net
Or I'll see you at the John Renna/Chris Rados/Paul McGinnis auditions this Saturday.
At this time, I don't wish to receive inquiries about other roles or crew positions, or head shots from out of town actresses for this lead role. One step at a time.
March 27, 2014
Measuring THE JULIAN YEAR Before It Measures You
June is the current release date for my next novel, The Julian Year, and this time it appears likely to happen as planned. For anyone new to the concept, TJY is the first TREEbook (Timed Reading Experience E-book), an innovative new e-book platform developed by Medallion Press. Readers download the Medallion Media Group Sidekick app for free from iTunes, then purchase TJY through the app, and use the app to read the book on an iPad. The app measures each reader's individual average reading pace, and when that pace changes at predetermined story points, the novel branches off in different directions. The story actually changes, placing the characters in different situations with different outcomes. Characters will live, characters will die, characters will find themselves in different dangerous situations depending on the reader's reading habits. The branching is organic and seamless, so the reader will be unaware the story has changed on him; it's a passive experience, unlike the Choose Your Own Adventure books so many people remember. When the reader has completed the novel, a graphic will appear showing which branches he followed. At that point, the reader is free to explore the other branches at will, or he can simply start over; each time, his reading habits are likely to change, and he'll get a new story experience. There's never been anything like it before, and I'm proud TJY is the first book of its kind. As you can imagine, the technology involved in making all of this feasible is complicated and sophisticated, and some bugs had to be worked out, dictating two previous release date postponements. This is a brand new product, and everything has to run smoothly. A lot of people have worked long and hard to make this launch a success.
Technology and story variations aside, TJY is an apocalyptic novel about global demonic possession. Films like The Exorcist, The Evil Dead and Demons have told stories about small groups of characters battling possession in isolated settings: a Georgetown townhouse, a cabin in the woods, and a mysterious movie theater. In my story, every person on earth becomes possessed on his birthday. Each day, twenty million people become homicidal maniacs. At the end of 365 days, everyone on earth should be possessed. The doomsday clock has been set, and is ticking furiously away. How would the governments of the world deal with such a catastrophic predicament? How would society cope? In my world, drastic steps are taken: detainment camps are created with men, women and children turning themselves in days before their birthday. As in Logan's Run, one's birthday comes to symbolize death. Many people abide by new laws, but others go underground. Every person is a "sleeper agent" for hellish forces determined to create chaos.
The main character in TJY - that is, in some branches - is Julian Weizak. Unlike my heroes Jake Helman, Tony Mace, Boone and Walker, Julian is anything but an action hero. Chubby and single, he's given up on his dreams of becoming a muckraking journalist and has settled for being an obituary writer for a daily Manhattan newspaper. When anarchy erupts at the strike of twelve on New Year's Day, Julian is the first to notice a pattern: every person who committed murder or an act of destruction was born that day. Julian's discovery positions him to realize his career ambitions, but what's the point if anyone on earth will be dead or possessed in one year's time? Because Julian was born December 31st, he has a front row seat in the theater of the apocalypse.
Rachel Konigsberg and Steve Morelli are street cops on the front line when TJY begins. Unlike Julian, Rachel evolves into the biggest bad ass I've ever written, and by the end of some branches, she could swat my aforementioned male characters away like flies. Every character in TJY suffers tremendous loss, that's the price of surviving in this terrifying world. Rachel becomes an unstoppable force who offers a shred of hope for mankind which you'll have to read to learn. Morelli is a tough cookie too, and different from some of my other action heroes: he's a blue collar guy rooted in family and friends. There's nothing he likes more than being a cop, and unlike Rachel, he follows the rules.
Each one of these characters comes with his own supporting cast and agenda. Sometimes they cross paths and become friends or lovers, sometimes they maintain adversarial positions. The branch variations allowed me to explore the characters in as much depth as I could in an entire series. The canvas became much larger than I anticipated even though the goal was always that each branch path should read like a complete novel. There's action and gore galore: I was influenced by both James Herbert and Nigel Kneale, and I can't wait to spring Armageddon on everyone.
I imagine we'll begin with a "soft launch," and the release will be in full swing by the time I appear at FanExpo Canada in August. A few months later, in October, The Frenzy Wolves, the final book in my werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle will be published.
Check out The Julian Year's dedicated website, which features preview chapters from the novel, and sign up for TREEbook updates: http://thejulianyear.com/
