I went to Central Park last week and saw Liev Schreiber in MacBeth. Now, Shakespear snobs will insist MacBeth is a poorer work, but I disagree. Is it complicated? No. Is it over the top dramatically? Yes. Does it make much sense when you have to kill people to fulfill a profecy*? No. Do I enjoy answering my own questions? Yes.

The directory made a bold decision and actually wedged the play into World War 2. The costuming and artilary sound effects rocked the play into another demention. And it got me thinking.

The characters MacBeth and Travis are not completely different. Both men seek something that is seemingly out of grasp. Crown or badge are equal inasmuch as both men feel as if, deep down, they may not even deserve it.

Funny thing the word deserve. Who of us alive can actually say we deserve to be? What have we done to deserve experiencing life, be it wonderful or desperate?

What’s funny about Travis is this: everyday as an officer he is forced to decide who is right and who is wrong. Meanwhile there is so much turmoil inside of himself he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. By the third act, Travis has made a decision (albeit in a poor state of mind) that he does deserve to wear the Rangers’ uniform, but by this time he can no longer decipher what punishments are deserving when it comes to others.

*The thing about a profecy is that it’s supposed to come true if you kept living your life the way you are now. If you were to then change anything in your life, you would alter the future, thus possibly altering the profecy. OR the profecy is supposed to take place no matter what you do to alter the future. Either way, no witch ever said that MacBeth had to kill anyone for him to be king, so what’s with all the stab-stab?

My own personal reality series.

As I have fallen short of my intended goal to begin production in June, prospective members of cast and crew have gone off and are presently working on other projects. This was to be expected. We knew ahead of time that because of different people’s schedules we would have a small window where everyone would be available - hence the planned June start date. You see, I’d hoped that by steam rolling the project, preparing as much as possible and attaching the necessary talent and crewmembers that the budget would manage to fall into place. Why not? This method worked for me on Wesley Cash. I mean, I didn’t even have enough money to begin the second week of shooting when production on Wesley Cash began but somehow I managed to complete that film… and get it distributed. But it’s proven a bigger budget results in longer delays. It makes sense, lesson learned. Everything is still moving in the right direction, all is well, but it should be noted that a few of the cast members as well as one essential crew member have moved on to other projects. Some will be joining us when we eventually shoot, others will not. Mike Jennings, our UPM has left us for a producing job in Los Angeles and will not be returning. The three lead cast members have all moved on to other projects and will be returning. I mean come on; I wrote the movie for these guys… why the hell would we shoot without them. Mike Lutz has resumed working on Crossing Jordan (the show was on Hiatus during the summer). Chad Mathews has been working on commercials, auditioning like a mad man and recently completed work on a student film. And Matt Johnston has returned to New York for the second season of his reality TV series, It Takes a Thief. Meanwhile, I continue to prepare by storyboarding, rewriting the script, talking with potential actors, revisiting locations, and performing various administrative tasks (a.k.a. boring crap). Not sure how soon, but when we do begin production, it’ll be that much sweeter.

I neglected the production notes last week because I was busy doodling away on my storyboards. Actually, I was just being lazy. In addition to this I put together a location binder complete with pictures and scene descriptions. This will allow crew members to prepare without actually having to visit the location. I have postponed casting again (sorry) due to the fact that we are still waiting for that little important ingredient in the movie making process, something that you have to have to kick start production…. money. There is an investor who has verbally committed to our budget and we are waiting for him to write the check. This is the period that always makes my stomach turn. Waiting… Either way, I will continue to prepare and as soon as the check cashes we’ll be ready to rock!

The beginning of production has been pushed into July, not sure on an exact date but I’ll keep you posted. We are waiting on investor agreements and attorneys and all that legalese jazz. The delay has been a good thing because it has given me more time to prepare, and the more time I have to spend on preproduction the smoother things will run during production.

I am still struggling with the stick figure story boards. The problem is that I am horrible at drawing… even stick figures. But the process is fun because drawing out the scenes helps me decide on pacing and transitions within and between scenes. I have fully storyboarded only one other project – the FMC project which is a short film I wrote/directed several years ago. the FMC project was a 10 page script and it took me a week to storyboard. The script for Cowboy Smoke is a 102 pages… so you can begin to understand the uphill battle I am fighting. I just have a hard time drawing… but, argue your limitations and they’re yours, so I’ll strive on and hopefully finish one day soon.

I am working on setting a time for casting within the next couple of weeks. It looks like we will be holding casting in Victoria, TX – which is the largest town in a thirty mile radius of where we will be shooting. I have to admit, I am not fond of the casting process. If I had my way I would cast the entire film without holding a single casting session. I have already cast about half of the characters with actors I have worked with in the past. The problem with casting calls is that you don’t have enough time and there are just so many people - you are dealing with a wide range of personalities and emotionally charged actors who all want to get the part. It’s exhausting… and some times embarrassing. During a casting session for Wesley Cash an actor, who through no fault of his own, just wasn’t right for the part. I told him thank you and we’d be in touch. We’ll… he started to cry and wouldn’t leave the room. The actor asked if he could read his lines again – I said sure… By now the actor was so upset he couldn’t read his lines, he stuttered his way through his part… which only made him cry more. After a while of me attempting to explain that he wasn’t right for the part (honestly – no fault of his own, he just didn’t look right), the actor stormed for the room.

NEXT!

This character journey and transformation has been really fun. I had an opportunity to put it to the test last week during a commercial audition for a recent AFI graduate. The spec spot required a “Cowboy,” so I went into the reading as close to my character of Wes as I possible could at this time. After getting to play with the copy and work with the creative team in a relaxed setting, I walked out of Raleigh Studios convinced that if I didn’t book this gig as one of the cowboys, there’s no justice in this world. I guess my character worked because two days later I was invited to play one of the parts. We shoot this coming weekend at a ranch outside of Santa Barbara. The best part about this entire opportunity is that I’ll get to explore physical aspects of Wes that I’ll undoubtedly build from before arriving in Texas to shoot Cowboy Smoke.

Hey folks, well, I just got back from a trip to Spain, and I’m eager to get back in the swing of things. No gunslinging for the past few weeks, unfortunately, but it was a great trip.

One thing that I found interesting in my travels, is the influence of American culture on Europeans (and for that matter, the world). From bling-bling hip hop on German MTV to overdubbed American movies on Spanish TV, the our pop culture does not end at our borders. How many Yankees caps did I see in this soccer-crazed country. I just happend to find a Hallmark made-for-tv special that a friend of mine was in, overdubbed on one of the main Spanish stations. It made me think. When you’re in the entertainment business, it becomes a job like any other. You forget sometimes that what you do can be seen all over the world, and may have some influence on someone. But that’s why many of us got into this business in the first place…to affect someone, somewhere, emotionally, and yes, to entertain. I think that’s one of the great things about independent film. Being able to make the socially-conscious movies, the art movies, the character driven dramas that the studios won’t make because they’re not going to bring in $120 million on opening weekend. And yet, these are the films that can have the most impact and influence. I saw a kid in Barcelona wearing a “Vote for Pedro” shirt.

What do we want to tell the world, because believe me, they’re watching.

In studying up to play Travis, I’ve had to do some extensive research on the differences between a DPS officer and a Texas Ranger. Here are some of the more telling articles I’ve found that reflect some of the more principal duties.

Now, the above article mentions DPS by name, but refers to the blanket organization. The Rangers are actually a particular branch of DPS. They take care of the more serious investigations state-wide. Here are some recent stats.

In 2005, a total of 5,488 investigations resulted in 1,496 felony arrests, 137 misdemeanor arrests. The Texas Rangers executed 475 search warrants and secured 3,437 statements-including 563 confessions to various crimes. Rangers recovered stolen property valued at $1,832,101 and seized contraband valued at $1,518,392. There were 1,828 convictions for various crimes investigated that resulted in 23 death sentences, 52 life sentences and a total of 10,168 years in penitentiary time being assessed. Rangers served 546 subpeonas and 823 warrants. Rangers conducted 9 hypnosis sessions on criminal investigations. The Texas Rangers made 10 separate traffic referrals to appropriate authorities for dangerous drivers or driving conditions.

The Texas Ranger Division performs a diverse range of criminal investigations including:

· Murder, robbery, sexual assault, burglary, theft, and fraud;

· bank fraud;

· theft by credit card and computer generated counterfeit checks;

· misuse of criminal history information;

· misconduct and corruption of public officials;

· threats against the governor and other state and federal officials; and

· missing persons, parental abductions, questionable deaths and unidentified bodies

Mostly, Rangers are plucked from the large pool of DPS officers, but that isn’t necessarily steadfast. It says that you must have 8 years of ‘outstanding’ service with a bonafide law enforcement institution.

One thing I’ve found particularly interesting is that the Rangers now have their own forensics artist.