Gregory Lamberson's Blog, page 9

Shooting GAVE UP THE GHOST in One Weekend

Ordinarily, I devote quite a few blogs to the production of any movie I direct.  In the case of Gave Up the Ghost, I posted a few blogs during pre-production, and now production is already over: we shot the whole thing - 19 1/8 pages - in two days, so this will be my sole production blog.   When Mike T. Lyddon asked me if I wanted to direct a segment for his upcoming horror anthology film Creepers, I proposed I direct an adaptation of a Jeff Strand story and he agreed.  Jeff and I settled on his comic tale "Gave Up the Ghost," which would require only two locations, and Jeff wrote the screenplay.   He and I were slightly concerned the story wouldn't meet the minimum running time requirement (16 - 23 minutes), so he added several scenes which will probably get the biggest laughs.  Thanks to these additions, I got to direct my first zombie, cannibals, mummies, sparkling vampires and Big Feet.



"Gave Up the Ghost" is a comedy about an aspiring novelist, J.T., who loses his novel when his computer dies (I found this setup all too familiar to real life).  J.T. calls a computer repairman, Barry, to his home to try to rescue his lost file.  Barry turns out to be a repairman-medium whose solution to J.T.'s predicament is to summon the spirit of J.T.'s computer.  Ego crushing hilarity ensues (the ghost should join Buffalo Ball Busting - https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloBallBusting).



Jeff surprised me by saying he and his wife Lynne Hansen would try to attend the filming.  They live in Florida, and had just visited Buffalo in November for Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival when we screened the short He's Not looking So Great, which Lynne wrote.  Any chance to see them is a plus, so I scheduled the shoot for when they were available to travel.  Jeff's script runs 19 1/8 pages (for production purposes, screenplays are always broken down into eights), and my initial breakdown was for three days of shooting: two days at my house, and a third day for a computer repair shop and green screen effects.  I ultimately decided to try to shoot the entire thing in one weekend, which meant creating a computer repair shop in my house, but that's the magic of movie making.  At one point, the computer repair shop, green screen setup, and dining room "set" co-existed in the same room, like a miniature sound stage.  My revised schedule did not mean fewer setups.  Nine and 1/16 pages is a lot; I typically shoot six pages a day on my features (but Chris Olen Ray shoots 12 pages!).



This was my first time directing someone else's script. I decided early on to let the actors sell the story, so there are no crazy over-stylized camera shots; my job was to serve the story.   When casting a film, I like to stay in my comfort zone, working with people I know I can rely on to deliver good performances, show up when needed, and stay as long as the shoot requires with no ego trips, complaining or nonsense.  This is why I tend to write characters with actor friends in mind, and why I hate auditioning people.  I cast Paul McGinnis, the screenwriter of Killer Rack, to play the ghost and John Renna as the computer repairman.  For the lead role, I did something different: I cast a film student named Drew Bialy, whom I only knew from Facebook posts, a brief meeting, and a short film called Road Test, which I loved.   All three guys have demonstrated comic timing in the past, and I knew I made the right call with our fist reading.  Sam Qualiana did a great job as my Director of Photography on Dry Bones, but he's also an actor, and even though we've worked together on a bunch of films, I've never used him as a thespian, and wanted to do so.   I felt he looked too young for J.T. (even though he's not all that young anymore...), so I cast him and Jessica Zwolak (who appears in Dry Bones and will essay the lead in Killer Rack) as the couple who appear in the added scenes, and made him my Assistant Director.  Alexander Sloan McBryde rounded out the cast as the computer repair shop dispatcher; it's always a pleasure to have him around.  My daughter Kaelin and A.J. Petrie played kids in an exterior shot (A.J. made sure to insist he get to speak)/



I mixed things up a little with the crew.    Rod Durick has been one of my go to guys for special make-up effects, but he's decided he would rather play with cameras than latex and goo, so I made him my DP.  Nick Anderson volunteered to help Rod, and served as Assistant Camera and 2nd unit cameraman; we did have two units going at the same time a couple of times.  Arick Szymecki has usually been part of a special make-up effects team, and this was his first time handling the gags solo.  In these stills, the ghost looks somewhat like a kabuki performer; this is so that when Arick comps the green screen shots of Paul into the scenes with Drew and John, we'll get a cool effect.  I brought Chris Rados on as Lighting Director, and added Scotty Franklin to help him.  Chris Cosgrave is new to our group and fit right in: he recorded audio on set, and will be editing the film.  Jeff, Lynne and Tamar helped as production assistants, and Lynn, Arick, Tamar and Kaelin played demon hands.  Out of nowhere, Kelly Wahl offered to cater for us and did a bang up job.  I can't count the number of my films when worrying about food has distracted me from what I needed to concentrate on.



Shooting was scheduled for 7 am - 7 pm on Saturday and Sunday at my house.  We "made our day." meaning we shot what we were supposed to and didn't fall behind, on both days; we finished 15 mins late on Saturday and 28 minutes early on Sunday.  The cast and crew were all on time and were models of professionalism.  It's a great feeling when you don't have to wait on lighting, and when everyone gets along and can have fun while working hard.  Most of these folks had shot in my house before,  and we used Rod's PVC dolly for a number of shots.  For some voice overs, I enlisted Paul, Jeff, Lynne, Arick and Drew's girlfriend, Stacy Kirchmeyer.  I didn't give any of them advance warning, just called them over to the table on the spot, that's how I roll! John developed intestinal trouble late the first day which led to some delays and jokes, but we never fell behind.  Not surprisingly, the one thing that we couldn't predict - the weather - caused us to re-shoot on Sunday, when it snowed, some shots we did Saturday, when it rained.  We did one dolly shot of Drew sitting in front of my picture window, and each take ranged from no snowfall to light snowfall to no snowfall to heavy snowfall.  That's so Buffalo.



Other than John's intestines and the weather, everything went according to plan and ran like clockwork, so I don't really have any interesting stories.  A chair broke under Sam during one take.  My deaf cat ruined a couple of sound takes yowling.  Kaelin ruined a couple of sound takes moving around in her bedroom, which we had turned into Arick's make-up room.  Heavy production drama!



Everyone did a great job, we shot 19 pages in two days, and I'm confident we have a funny film on our hands.  It was great seeing everyone, especially Jeff and Lynne.  The only socializing I do tends to involve my productions or Buffalo Dreams.  We ate well, and now Chris C can get start the preliminary editing, and then Arick can start the visual effects.



The official site for Creepers is http://www.creepersfilm.com/



Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creepersfilm?ref=br_tf

Be nice to your computer, or back up your files.

The Gift of Ghost Giving

Saturday and Sunday we shoot GAVE UP THE GHOST in my house.  The last film I show was DRY BONES, also in my house.  Thus a heavy duty paint job.  My house will also serve as a computer repair shop...thus Rod Durick hooked me up with several computer carcasses and Chris Cosgrave brought some other computer equipment and shelves.  Alex McBryde will deliver his lines on one side of my dining room, surrounded by shelves and monitors - and Drew Bialy will perform his half of an on screen telephone conversation eight feet away, in the same room.  The magic of cinema.  The reason I went this route is that shooting in another location would mean either a company move, and additional day of shooting, or both.



After about two weeks of encapsulation, priming, and painting, today was an attempt to get my house in order for the shoot after tearing it apart for the painting.  Mission un-accomplished!  Nick Anderson, who will be AC/2nd camera, dropped off the PVC dolly tracks we used on DRY BONES.  Since today was the first day of spring and this is Buffalo, the wind was howling and snow fell, and the tracks blew off Nick's truck and suffered some damage.  Fortunately Rod was already coming over to mount supports on the puppet stage we're using as a computer desk, and to hang new curtains (we bought the rod eight years ago, and it's been sitting in a corner).  Chris Cosgrave  brought over some cool old computer equipment and other items and helped out.  The house is a mess, but it's a completely different  mess than it was 24 hours ago.




I bought Alex an orange polo work shirt - orange to match the jumpsuit John Renna will wear as Barry, the repairman from SCM Computer Repair.  Renna has grown a horseshoe around his dome, and has shaped his mustache in a unique way for his role, and had his optometrist father provide him with some custom glasses.



More cleaning ahead, plus photo copying contracts, purchasing food items, and doing laundry before Jeff Strand and Lynne Hansen arrive from Florida (it's snowing).

Sarah Jones and "the Jonesy"

One month ago, on February 20th, Sarah Jones, a 1st Assistant Camera person on the film Midnight Rider, a biopic of Gregg Allman, was struck and killed by a train on a bridge during filming.  You may have heard about this unnecessary tragedy, or you might have wondered what that quick banner was at the end of the "In Memoriam" segment during the Oscars.  If you're unfamiliar with the situation, or only heard about it in passing, here is The Hollywood Reporter's story on the incident:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/midnight-rider-accident-sarah-jones-death-gregg-allman-685976

Jones's death has struck a cord with filmmakers - crewmen and actors alike - because most of us have taken chances on films which seemed reasonable at the time but not so much so after the fact.  The circumstances, as described by a hairstylist whose arm was broken in the same avoidable tragedy, resonate with many of us.  We don't understand how such carelessness could occur on a film that wasn't even a guerrilla shoot, but we do understand the willingness of crew people to go above and beyond the call of duty to make a movie.  The result has been an outpouring of empathy from the film community - the real film community, not those so wrapped up in their own projects and egos that they don't pay attention to the industry they wish to belong to.  One immediate reaction has been a call for stricter safety guidelines on set; another was the campaign to have Sarah recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the telecast (their banner was half-hearted at best, but at least the petition that so many of us signed accomplished something); and "Slates for Sarah," in which AC's acknowledge Sarah on their production slates.  The "Slates for Sarah" Facebook page has almost 70,000 followers:

https://www.facebook.com/slatesforsarah

I am particularly moved by a call by Chris Blackmore, a 2nd AC, to call the first shot of each shooting day "the Jonesy."  You may or may not know that the last shot of each day is called "the Martini," and that the next to last shot of each day is called "the Abby" (after 1st AD Abby Singer, who liked to give the crew a little advance notice that they could start wrapping up).  Calling the first shot of the day "the Jonesy" sounds like a great idea to me; it isn't just a way of acknowledging Sarah Jones, but a reminder to everyone to be careful on set.  I'm directing a short this Saturday and Sunday, and we will definitely be announcing, "the Jonesy is up" each day, and on any future productions of mine.

RIP Sarah Jones.

Rehearsal for GAVE UP THE GHOST

I spent much of the last week and a half painting my downstairs living room (two rooms really, with an alcove and a weird fireplace) and stairway for GAVE UP THE GHOST, the short film based on the Jeff Strand short story, which will be one segment in the CREEPERS horror movie anthology.  One coat of primer and three coats of burgundy.  Dark burgundy.  Plus one stairway wall got four coats of lead block. This week I was also distracted by a car accident I had exiting the 290 (no one else was involved, and local actor Dale Rugg Jr., who played Roy Frumkes's bodyguard in SLIME CITY MASSACRE, did a great job stitching together my grill).  After what I consider dull prep work, it was time to get down to the nitty gritty today, our one and only rehearsal after last week's reading.



I brought in our three leads - Drew Bialy, John Renna and Paul McGinnis - and we went through Jeff's script maybe five times, working on the blocking.  Rod Durick (DP) joined us as well, so we could plan shots, and Chris Cosgrave took photos.  It was a lot of fun to see it come together.  The actors were largely on book, but the interaction was there and chemistry developing, and they experimented with a lot of bits.  For story reasons I won't go into now, the direction of the film will be fairly simple - this is a comedy, and the performances have to sell the humor.  All three guys were splendid and may get together for another rehearsal on their own before next weekend, when we shoot principal photography.



I still have touch up painting to do, and some wardrobe and prop work, and a lot of technical stuff to coordinate over the next week, but we'll be ready.  Jeff Strand and Lynne Hansen arrive Friday, and then it will be a pretty intensive weekend of principal photography.

Cast Reading for GAVE UP THE GHOST

It's hard to believe that two weeks from tonight we'll be wrapping the first day of production on GAVE UP THE GHOST, the short film adaptation of my friend Jeff Strand's short story for the horror anthology CREEPERS, executive produced by Mike T. Lyddon.  Jeff has adapted the story himself, and this will be the first film adaptation of his work, and my first time directing something written by someone else. I've been prepping by painting the downstairs of my house so it will look different than it did in DRY BONES (coming to DVD late summer/early fall).  Today was the cast reading of the script, which went swimmingly.






The three leads are Drew Bialy, John Renna and Paul McGinnis, supported by Sam Qualiana, Jessica Zwolak and Alexander McBryde.  Drew impressed me in the short film ROAD TEST, and I've worked with everyone else before.  We were joined by Rod Durick, who is serving as director of photography, and Chris Cosgrave, who is editing.  What can I say?  A funny script read by a talented cast.  It's going to be a good film - a hilarious film.  I can say that because someone else wrote the jokes and I know I cast the right people.  Okay, Tamar cast Renna, and once again he's going to prove himself a force of nature.





I still have painting to do, and wardrobe to gather, and catering arrangements to make.  I'm rehearsing the three leads next weekend, and then the weekend after that we shoot.  It's going to be a jam packed schedule, with Sam doing double duty as assistant director, Arick Szymecki doing special make-up effects, Chris Rados serving as lighting director, Scotty Franklin assisting him, and Chris Cosgrave and Paul alternating on sound.  Jeff Strand and Lynne Hansen are coming up for the shoot, and their limbs (as well as those of Tamar and Kaelin) will be pressed into service.




It's going to be fun.  I might even smile.

TV Blog: Arrogance is a Virtue

Some of my favorite TV characters were real smarty pants, and thrilled to show that quality to the whole world.  More often than not, the characters around them found them insufferable, which was what made them so entertaining and endearing.  Arrogant characters get all the best dialogue, because they're more interesting than nice guys.

My first arrogant hero on TV was Professor Charles Kingsfield, played by the great John Houseman, in CBS's version of The Paper Chase.  Houseman was nominated for an Oscar for the movie version; astonishingly, it was his first TV role.  Even though the show was aimed at families, the writers did little to soften Kingsfield, which was great, but the show only lasted one season on network TV.  Houseman reprised his role in a hilarious episode of another one season show, the sitcom The Associates, opposite Wilfred Hyde White.  Watching these two old nemeses engage in a battle of wits was hilarious.  Showtime revived the show a few years later, and it ran for three seasons.  Kingsfield's students were terrified of him, but felt the need to impress him.  Kingsfield's greatest move was to pretend he didn't remember the name of whomever he was speaking to.  In the final episode, James Hart graduated form Harvard Law School, and Kingsfield was permitted a slight smile as he handed over the "paper" of the title.



William Daniels played egomaniacal Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere, which used a similar teaching scenario to allow Craig to berate and intimidate resident doctors.  Unlike the other characters on my list, he often received comeuppance.  In later seasons he lost the use of his hands and his wife left him.  People love an underdog, even when his bark has bite.  Craig was the first in a long line of arrogant surgeons on TV -



- beginning with Mandy Patankin on Chicago Hope.  Patankin was the breakout star of the show, and pulled a David Caruso and left a few episodes into the second season, dooming the series, which struggled without him.  He returned for the last season and fired most of the regulars, which was great fun, but it was too late.



Sian Phillips as Livia, wife of Augustus Caesar, on BBC's I, Claudius, is probably my favorite TV villain.  Showtime has been talking about remaking this mini-series, and while it may be fun to see the stories told with a budget, there is no way a remake can match this perfect cast.  Mocking Claudius's stutter: "Clau-Clau-Clau..."



Ray Sharky made a comeback from heroin addiction as mobster Sonny Steelgrave in the first arc of Wiseguy. Sunny was a sympathetic mafioso for much of the show, at his most vulnerable following the murder of his brother.  The storyline depicted other mobsters moving in on his territory, and in the two-art finale - right before his downfall - he trumped them all and made himself king...and figured out his right hand man was an undercover FBI agent.  Sonny: "Bury him someplace ugly."



Ian Richardson played diabolical whip-turned-prime minister Francis Urqhart in three BBC mini-series, beginning with House of Cards.  The US version starring Kevin Spacey is fine, but the original is better, and Richardson is amazing.  Defining dialogue: "You night well think so; I couldn't possibly comment."



Bonus bastard: Paul McCrane played egomaniacal record producer Johnny Medley on Wiseguy, and an egomaniacal surgeon in the Dr. Craig mold on E.R.

Degrees of arrogant separation: John Houseman was a longtime collaborator of the brilliant actor Norman Lloyd, who played kindly Dr. Auschlander on St. Elsewhere.  James Stephens, who played law student Hart on The Paper Chase, played a younger version of Auschlander in a brilliant two-part flashback episode of  Elsewhere.  Kevin Spacey is the second best Francis Urqhart, and the second best villain on Wiseguy: he was fantastic as arms merchant Mel Profitt.

Missing arrogance: House and Sherlock would surely have made my list if I ever watched them, although I understand Sherlock has softened Holmes in its third season.

Coming Soon: Herschell Gordon Lewis and THE GRUESOME TENSOME

I've written before that I don't write short stories, but this year is turning into one of experimentation.  Nick Cato of Novello Publishers has assembled The Gruesome Tensome, an anthology of ten original stories celebrating the life and cinematic work of Herschell Gordon Lewis, aka "The Godfather of Gore."  I had Herschell and his wife Margo over for dinner with Roy Frumkes when they were all in town for a film festival; lovely people.  And I once wrote a screenplay called Untitled Slasher Film, which spoofed the world of no budget filmmaking, in which Herschell emerged as the hero (sadly, I wrote this script for hire, and it will never get made).  And Herschell gave me a blurb for Johnny Gruesome.  I have fond feelings for the man, and recall watching most of his movies at Buffalo theatre I managed when business was slow.  When Nick asked me to contribute to the anthology, I already had a story in the back of my mind.  The complete TOC is as follows:

Jeff Strand
Gregory Lamberson
Dynatox Krall
L.L. Soares
Mark McLauglin/Michael Sheehan Jr.
Adam Cesare
David Hayes
Garrett Cook
William Carl
MP Johnson

Cover by Matthew Revert

I would tell you the name of my story, but I don't remember, and I lost my draft when my hard drive died, so I'll save that for a future announcement!  In the meantime, here's the Novello website:

http://novellopublishers.blogspot.com/

The Novello Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Novello-Publishers/39375069325

And as a special treat (I come with my own supplemental material) the cover of Artvoice celebrating Herschell's visit to Buffalo:



Here's a shot of Herschell with Roy Frumkes in my dining room:



And here's a shot of the uber awesome cake we had made for them:

Giving Good Ghost

A little over a month ago, filmmaker Mike T. Lyddon asked me if I was interested in directing a short film for an upcoming anthology feature he's producing (this will not be the first project that's come to me through a Facebook connection).  Mike had already produced Horror Anthology Movie, and his new film is a follow up.  With the exception of Johnny Gruesome, which is a weird hybrid of a short and a music video, I haven't made a short film since my lone year at the School of Visual Arts, 1982 - 1983, and those were silent Super 8 movies.  What attracted me to Creepers: Horror Anthology Movie Volume Two was its theme: "the writers."  Mike realized that the stories are what matter, and had already acquired the rights to adapt Joe Lansdale's "By the Hair of the Head"; Jeremiah Kipp is adapting Edgar Allan Poe's "Berenice"; and Christian Walker is adapting Lafcadio Hearn's (aka Koizumi Yakumo) "Of a Promise Broken."  To my knowledge, none of these has been adapted before, which makes this a pretty impressive Table of Contents.

Mike said I could adapt one of my own stories, or one written by someone else.  "What?  Is he crazy?  Compete with Lansdale, Poe and Hearn?  I'll be crucified!  I'll be a laughing stock!  I need a patsy to take the fall!"  So I contacted Jeff Strand.  Actually, I've only written one short story, and it hasn't even been published yet.  I've always wanted to work with Jeff - I think I'd be the perfect person to direct a feature version of The Sinister Mr. Corpse or Dweller, but he refuses to self finance those productions and pay me to direct them.  Jeff had a story in mind, "Gave Up the Ghost," and that's the one we're doing; he's already written the screenplay, which adds numerous belly laughs to his original story.  I've never directed someone else's script before, and have always wanted to try.  Now I don't have to direct Paul McGinnis's Killer Rack.  Sorry, Paul - I'll give you a role in "Gave Up the Ghost."  This will also be the first adaptation of Jeff's work, so if he becomes a highly paid screenwriter when his novel Pressure is made, he can say I gave him his big break in movies.



Without giving too much away, Jeff's story is about a pretentious author who loses his latest novel when his computer dies.  I strongly identify with the second half of that description.  A blue collar computer repairman comes to the author's aid with a bizarre - dare I say supernatural? - plan to "resurrect" the author's files.  Hilarity and ego bruising ensue.

We'll be shooting this one in my house, as we did Dry Bones...which means a lot of scraping, painting and furniture rearranging to make it look different.  Jeff and his wife Lynne Hansen are coming up for the shoot from Florida, but they'll arrive too late to scrape or paint; we'll try to save some furniture rearranging for them.



I've assembled a team of Buffalo's deadliest mercenaries to help me make this film: Rod Durick, whose desire to create special make-up effects I broke with Dry Bones, will be my DP; Chris Rados of Western New York Grip and Electric is gaffing; Sam Qualiana of Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast and The Legend of Six Fingers fame is my AD; Arick Szymecki is handling special make-up and visual effects; and Chris Cosgrave, under a tremendous amount of pressure to live up to our high standards, is editing.  Better not fuck up, Chris.

I've cast Drew Bialy, John Renna and Paul McGinnis as the leads, and Qualiana, Jessica Zwolak and Alexander McBryde in supporting roles.  I could write all day about John's talent, but instead I'll post this short film starring and written by Drew, which John had nothing to do with:



In keeping with "the writers" theme, I count nine writers among our team, including Chris Abbey, whose first novel will be published soon, and who is creating a song for this short.  Gave Up the Ghost shoots in just over one month; it will be finished over the summer, and will screen at film festivals in the fall before being packaged with the other shorts in the anthology.

Official Site: http://www.creepersfilm.com/

Jamming with THE BATTLE ROYALE SLAM BOOK

I'm pleased to announce I have an essay in The Battle Royale Slam Book: Essays on the Cult Classic by Koushun Takami.  The book was edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington, and will be published in April.  Pre-order it now from Amazon and you'll be no April fool:

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Slam-Book-Classic/dp/1421565994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392472659&sr=1-1&keywords=battle+royale+slam+book

From the Haika Soru website:

Haikasoru is trying something new in 2014: non-fiction! Specifically, non-fiction about our fiction, with The Battle Royale Slam Book. We asked novelists, filmmakers, screenwriters, scholars, and fans from around the world to talk about the Battle Royale phenomenon—the book, the film, the manga, the controversies—and the responses were amazing. We’re very pleased to show off the table of contents, and hope you find some of your favorite writers among them:

Introduction
Blood in the Classroom, Blood on the Page: Will Battle Royale Ever Be on the Test?
Nick Mamatas

Death For Kids
John Skipp

Battle Royale: The Fight the Night Before
Masao Higashi

Happiest Days of Your Life: Battle Royale and School Fiction
Adam Roberts

Innocence Lost and Regained: Bradbury, Takami, and the Cult of the Child
Kathleen Miller

From Dangerous to Desirable: Battle Royale and the Gendering of Youth Culture
Raechel Dumas

Girl Power
Carrie Cuinn

Over the Top, Or Over the Top Rope?:
Battle Royale and Japan’s Love of Professional Wrestling
Jason S. Ridler

Battle Royale—Generational Warfare
Kostas Paradias

Killer Kids in Jeopardy: Hollywood’s Horror Taboo
Gregory Lamberson

Seeing the Sequel First: Teenage Memories of Battle Royale II
Isamu Fukui

Dead Sexy: A Defense of Sexuality in the Violently Visual Battle Royale Manga
Steven R. Stewart

The Postwar Child’s Guide to Survival
Nadia Bulkin

Children Playing With Guns
Brian Keene

List, Combination, Recursion
Toh EnJoe

Bueller, Bueller, Do You Read?
Random Notes on Battle Royale and the American Teen Film
Sam Hamm

Whatever You Encounter, Slay It At Once: Battle Royale as Zen Parable
Douglas F. Warrick

Who Writes Short-Shorts? Who Shoots Short-Shorts? Staring Age 50 in the Eye

I love wearing shorts.  I live in them all summer long.  Granted, they're Bermuda style khakis, not short-shorts, but I thought the subject line was cute.

Prior to this year, I've written novels (and one long nonfiction book), and produced/directed feature length films.  I haven't had much interest in the short form, but when opportunity knocks...



2014 will see the publication of one short story - my first! - in an anthology with a cool theme close to my heart, and the publication of a film essay in a book which also has a cool theme.  I'm also scheduled to direct a short film next month that is part of a film anthology, which is cool for a number of reasons.  This is all new to me, but I understand that when you participate in projects such as these, it's good to be surrounded by big names in the TOC, and that's the case with each one of these projects, none of which I'm allowed to be specific about at this time.  In each case, the driving force between each project invited me to participate, which is nice.  One should be available in the spring, around my 50th birthday, the date for another is TBD, and the short film will hopefully screen at some film festivals in the fall before it's packaged with three other shorts to form the anthology.

Between the short story, the essay, the short film, Killer Rack the movie, The Julian Year TREEbook, The Frenzy Wolves and Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Fim Festival, this is sure to be my busiest year in my time on this earth.  And that's not even counting the Carnage Road comic book I'm developing with Kelly Forbes, the Carnage Road film/TV series I'm developing with Craig Sheffer, or The Jake Helman Files TV show I'm pitching with David Tripet.  If I have to get a night job stocking shelves or trying to stay awake at the front desk of a hotel so I can save money for my daughter's college tuition (forget retiring), it won't be for lack of trying.

Follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gregory-Lamberson-Author-Filmmaker/232650553535136

For updates on everything Carnage Road related:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carnage-Road-by-Gregory-Lamberson/288877387824911

For updates on The Jake Helman Files:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/136320846384508/

For updates on The Julian Year TREEbook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheJulianYear

For updates on The Frenzy Wolves:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Frenzy-Wolves-by-Gregory-Lamberson/229462967080880

Check out the website for The Julian Year:
http://thejulianyear.com/

Don't forget my ultra sleek website:
http://gregorylamberson.com/