"Corrado" - A production blog

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Davidreimers, et al:

I've actually left the conversations as verbatim as I remember them. I haven't even embellished them. I figure this is a public place, and anyone can see them. I don't want to be in a deposition on day lying about anything.

Every single line I've written came out of that persons mouth more or less how I wrote it. They've got no defense if they wind up calling me on it.
 
Dude seriously, write a book about all of this. This seriously is really on par with "Rebel without a cause" or even better! You could really help shape the indie scene if you publish something like this into the mainstream market.

Do it and I'll gladly buy it, even some for my friends/family
 
Either a book or a film about this. It's honestly like "Entourage" but geared toward director/producers instead of actors.... and less sex.... I think. :)
 
taormina said:
Well I figured right after we are done shooting I could put it up on my site in .pdf form so anyone could download it. I really only want to make it available to DVXusers so maybe I'll put a special link up there or something.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome! :thumbsup:

And I agree with Charlie... a book is in order! (hell, just take all of your posts updates and paste them in a book! Instant best seller for any aspiring filmmaker!)
 
Adam, I also would be really interested in reading the script once you feel it is the right time. And definitely collect all your production notes and put them together, they are almost too valuable to neglect.
 
mentatduke,

that is exactly what i was thinking. this is like entourage but behind the camera.

i think i would be even more impressed with adam if in the end, on page 172 of this thread, he says he fabricated the thing. stephen glass style.

this is entirely too informative to be real.

keep it up and thanks again adam.
 
Haha. That would be a great meta-gag. But alas, he posted a pic of him and Sizemore. Nobody's that good at photoshop. Nobody.
 
For the record.... I am now reading this thread to my wife! (just getting her primed for this business and pumped for a move out to the left coast!)

Looking forward to tomorrows entries, Adam!

-Ted
 
Had a great meeting today with my prospective lead actor.

I won't mention his name until we are signed, but like I said before, he's a great choice. He's very handsome, looks like a lead, has been in several of big movies (not as leads), is with a great agency, and has an IMDb starmeter of below 2500.

I haven't mentioned this much, but I kind of think IMDb star meters are important when casting.

Here's my theory:

With a star meter of 5000-10,000
  • You may know the actor's name
  • you have probably seen a movie the actor has been in
  • you will recognize his face
With a star meter of 1000-4999
  • You will most likely know the person's name
  • If you don't know the name, you will immediately recall the character
  • You will certainly have heard of the shows / movies the actor has been in
With a star meter of below 1000
  • You'll know the actor for sure, maybe even a household name
  • the movies he will have appeared in are blockbusters.
I've been finding my guys in the upper two categories. It's informal, unscientific, but just my theory. Get the best you can afford.

How about over 10,000? I have a couple people there namely because they are good actors and what I wanted. But try and avoid that. Over 10,000 is generally defined by the cruel word nobody.

So I met with this actor up at his manager's office.

Man, did we hit it off. He loved the story, it was way below what he normally works for, but he said he would do it. Plus, he has a ton of very good ideas to make the movie better. He can do his own fight scenes, respects the budget and won't be a diva (his words), or demand "onset accommodations" (read:trailer) which everyone has written into their contracts nowadays.

We sat there talking and goofing off for two hours about movies, taekwondo (he is also a black belt) and invariably the conversation turned to my hero Ridley Scott (he was in a Ridley Scott movie once).

It was all just as I suspected. 100 pages of paper got me in the door again. It was sooooooooo not the money.
 
kudos

kudos

mentatDUKE said:
Either a book or a film about this. It's honestly like "Entourage" but geared toward director/producers instead of actors.... and less sex.... I think. :)
Click to expand...

It's funny how Ive been reading this thread enthusiastically and this does kinda beat the wait for entourage season 5 as Adam already is living season 5. Like everyone else here I definitely will love to see/hear more as everything progresses.

Peace:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)


PS. I am not sure if you mentioned anything yet or if I'm jumping the gun on it, but what kind of direction are you going for with the soundtrack?
 
Can you give us any info on how you're getting the crew together? How did you find your DP, etc.

best thread ever.
 
hey man, awesome blog. Read it all, but was a bit confused about your lead role. I mean I checked out IMDB 3 days ago and already know whats the lead actor.. am I missing something?
 
The Mac - my crew is comprised of three or four guys that I've used on my last 2 shoots. My DP is David Fox, whom I also used for my last two shoots and is a good friend of mine. I've entrusted the rest of the crew hires to him, since he is a pro and works magic below the line. I sleep well at night knowing he has my crew sorted out.

Prettycool - The lead role of Corrado is not cast yet and definitely not on imdb. The roles we have cast to this point are on there, but not Corrado's role. Yes, there is actually someone called Corrado.
 
Ok I see that I missed that. Well at least all I can say that actor for Salvatore's role is actually pretty impressive to me
 
Hey Ted, I miss you too, man.

The stuff there is to report now is mundane, boring, and very dull. Most people don't really consider the business of film making when they try and do what I am doing.

Frankly, in some regards, I've bitten off more than I can chew. It's not that I am incapable of certain things....it's that there are too many of these little things to keep track of.

I make lists now. Lists that grow. Lists that I check items off that invariably spawn new items.

Here is wisdom: Use a UPM, grasshopper.

I couldn't afford one for this movie. A good UPM would have been doing the "non-film making" stuff that has occupied my last week:

Insurance. My insurance agent is a pin head and I don't care who knows it! Our conversations are pretty circular:

Me: Man, that quote is higher than the last one!!! What gives?

Insurance man: Yeah. I could only bind through travellers. They're the only people that do guns.

Me: So I'm the only movie in Hollywood that uses guns....have you been to a movie lately?

Insurance man: Yeah well if you take out the guns we can but your rate in half and go with a number of people.

Me: Sure. They could all hold hands and sing Kumbaya instead of shooting each other. We aren't losing the guns, John.

Next conversation....

Me: That's outrageous! I have to buy a year?

Insurance man: It's the guns man, if you could...

Me: If you say I have to get rid of the guns once more I'm going to hang up this phone!


Miscellanea:

I'm occupied dealing with overpriced craft service people. All movies are the same to them. Producers are all rich fat cats who have the money to pay for everything.

I'm signing deal memos left and right on the smaller cast members (no, not little people!) that we're casting. I'm waiting for deal memos back from people I already have deals with.

The latest tactic I've seen pulled is the over agressive agent re-negotiation maneuver.

And it's a doozy. It works like this. I make a deal with the actor directly, in this case Vinnie Pastore. Now Vinnie is a man of his word, a true paesano, capisci? He isn't backing down from the deal we made at all. But to close things up, I have to talk to his agent. It's just the way it is.

So I call him. Now bear in mind, he wanted the same deal as Joe Gannascoli got. Fair is fair. So they got the exact same deal. A flat fee, plus airfare, plus hotel. A good deal for both of us.

So I phone his agent to confirm all this a couple days later, after he and Vinnie have spoken.

We get the pleasantries out and move on.

Agent: So I just want to know what you discussed.

Me: The deal is he gets paid X per day plus air plus hotel.

Agent: Will you provide a rental car?

Me: Well, I suppose....

Agent: How about points? Can he have points?

Me: No, no one is getting points on this movie.

Agent: I see. So, is anyone making more than Vinnie?

Me: Of course! What does that have to do with anything!

Agent: I just wanted to know...

Me: We have a deal, man! I spoke to him and we're all good - trust me.

Agent: I know, I wast just checking.

Checking to see what you could get away with, I was thinking. Freaking amazing, agents are. Freaking amazing.
 
Man, I could NEVER be an agent. I just don't have that side in me.

And what is up with your insurance agent? That is crazy! The ONLY carrier available because of guns!? In a film!? In Hollywood??? Come on!

Appreciate you taking the time to enter this "mundane" info. It is ALL GOOD. And all great info to hear.

If I ever get to your level in making a film, I am going to be pulling out my Corrado thread and refresh myself with all of the ammo, I mean info!

Thanks Adam!

-Ted
 
man those agents are something. and then that insurance guy. this just underlines my perception of these folks...

but again, great info here. this is somewhat priceless to know. even though I am not doing corrado, I feel like as if I am going through those experiences and can learn from it.

Keep it coming, Adam!
 
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