This is Part 1 of a series and it is going to be longer than I had intended. You’ve been warned. I get asked about The Spider Babies every day and I get tired of hearing myself tell the story. Now, I’ll be able to just forward a link.

Michael Lange and me on the Lonely Road. Eric G. looks on. Photo by Taylor Rea.

A little bit of back story…

First Spider Babies sketch - Notebook 2005

Spider Baby (1968) Dir. Jack Hill

The concept was simple. It fit securely into the genre of “educated northerners get stuck in the redneck south and shit goes crazy.” Growing up, I was obsessed with this genre and I would use it to classify some of my favorite horror films like The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 2,000 Maniacs… the list goes on.

The Spider Babies was an homage to all that stuff. But with hot rocker girls who were smart, crazy and could kick-ass when backed into a corner. The structure was simple and classic. They get introduced. They break down. They get attacked. They take revenge. The script evolved through many revisions thanks to the help of my co-writer Craig Matthew Staggs. But the intitial structure stayed in place. It’s lean, bloody and funny. But most importantly, it was make-able on a low-budget… and it was marketable.

2008 – Year of the Gypsy

It had been awhile since Sex Machine and even though I had worked on a lot of short films and edited even more projects, I hadn’t spent any time putting together financing or an infrastructure for a new feature. I still wanted to do something low-budget, but on a bigger scale than Sex Machine. I decided to go for broke and do whatever it was going to take to get a new movie made.

I quit my day job, sold everything I didn’t absolutely need and decided to live like a gypsy until I got a movie made. In hindsight, this was really, really dumb because I had a pretty great job with insurance, a good investment plan and everything else. But, I was obsessed and there was nothing more important to me. The lease to my apartment was up and I moved into a room at Sexy Picnic Artists Studios (this will be important later).

Sexy Picnic Artists Studios

For some time, I had been working on a business plan for a small company that would produce small, efficient films that were all targeted towards a similar niche audience. Sex Machine hadn’t set any world records, but it had won a few awards and it really got out there on DVD. I still get daily e-mails from people who have watched the movie and liked it enough to write. My business concept was to take that small audience and build on it incrementally with each film.

Putting the pieces together

First sketch/draft of the business and marketing plan.

To make matters even sweeter, Oklahoma had recently been aggressively improving it’s tax incentives for filmmakers. The Oklahoma Film Commission has been working on this for years and I know it’s been a tough and incremental battle. They’ve managed to finally get the incentives to the point where a movie with a $50,000 budget now qualifies. This is pretty amazing for independent filmmakers.

Even though my heart is definitely in Austin, Oklahoma City can be a great place to shoot. While making Sex Machine, I was able to run around all over downtown with a camera, a gun, a suitcase full of fake money and pills and an actor with his head wrapped in bandages. Nobody stopped us or gave us any trouble. It was like a movie-making playground.

But I’ve always had a problem casting projects there. Fortunately, over the past few years I have been lucky enough to tap into an incredible talent pool in Austin who I’ve worked with on a lot of short projects. It seemed like it would be a complementary merging of the two worlds. OKC had the machinery, but Austin had the fuel.

The idea was to find the “middle-of-nowhere” locations in Oklahoma and bring in the Austin cast for 18 days of shooting. Then we would travel as a company to Austin to shoot the opening sequence which features a rock show, etc. There would be 21 days of shooting when everything was wrapped up. This was based on shooting 5 pages a day, which is the speed I aim for when shooting a low-budget feature.

I fleshed out the business plan and put together a draft for an investment prospectus using MoviePlan software. Things were rolling. An attorney checked out the paperwork, Kenny got to work hitting up investors and I headed back to Austin to work on the script, cast the lead roles and work a few odd jobs to keep the lights on.

To Be Continued In: Broken hearts and Broken Legs

1. I knew we would probably end up changing the title of the film, but legal minds assured me that it was okay to use the reference as the name of the band.

During the year I spent on The Spider Babies, one thing was very clear. Everything about making movies is changing. Fast. From technology to financing to marketing strategies, the film industry is in an incredible state of flux. It might seem scary at first but it’s actually pretty exciting.

I’ve put together this list of what I consider essential resource sites for independent filmmakers. They focus on things ranging from new camera technology to crowdsourcing. If you want to get an idea of where things are going, this is a good starting point.

1. Truly Free Film

Created by Ted Hope (producer of American Splendor, Adventureland and others) launched this blog to give film-festival advice. It has quickly expanded to cover all kinds of topics that are vital to an independent filmmaker. Some of the posts are about theory, but it offers a lot of nuts-and-bolts tools such as a list of websites that review undistributed films.

2. Workbook Project

The Workbook Project is the brainchild of director Lance Weiler and it features what is truly the bleeding edge of promotional techniques for indie moviemakers. I wish this site was easier to navigate, because there is so much great information here but it’s difficult to find. If you spend some time, you will definitely be rewarded. I suggest you start with the New Breed and explore from there.

3. CinemaTech

As the title implies, Cinema Tech focuses on the way technology is changing the way films are made, distributed, marketed and shown. It’s written by Scott Kirsner who is also the author of the excellent book Fans, Friends and Followers.

4. Philip Bloom

After making a huge internet name for himself with his early test shoots of the Sony EX1 and Letus adapters, Philip Bloom has become the source for information about new cameras. He seems to always be the first person with access to the new technology and he wastes no time in getting beautiful test footage on-line. Following his site on a regular basis gives you a real idea of how quickly the camera landscape is changing.

5. Pulp 2.0

This is the web home of the Mad Pulp Bastard himself – Bill Cunningham. Even if you’re not interested in pulp or genre filmmaking, his site is a must read. On a daily basis, Bill delves into the business and marketing of film and new media. You should also sign up for his e-mail newsletter where he goes even deeper into these subjects and gives out PDFs of information you won’t find anywhere else.

6. ProLost

The blog of Stu Maschwitz, creator of Magic Bullet and author of the DV Rebel Guide. This blog is a nice complement to the excellent Rebel’s Guide and almost serves as a living on-going continuation of that book. Also of note is the Rebel Café Forum.

7. DVXuser

Can’t afford film school? Check out DVXuser. This sprawling web community started out as a site for users of the then just-released Panasonic DVX100 – the first MiniDV camera to shoot with 24p. It’s evolved into what is probably the largest filmmaking forum on the web. They also host the very popular DVXFEST.

Extra Credit: Pleasure for the Empire

Pleasure for the Empire is more of a personal blog than the others listed here. Andrew Bellware’s site is a scrapbook/journal that documents his filmmaking process. He’s in the middle of making 5 science fiction movies in 2 years. In addition to behind the scenes production information, the blog gives some interesting details on distribution, film markets and foreign sales. It’s also a great place to find information on all kinds of camera and post-production gear (along with photos of kittens and naked girls).

I know I’ve left out some great sites. Use the comments to let me know what I’m missing out on.

I had a chance to check out Nollywood Babylon recently at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Nollywood Babylon is a feature-length documentary that explores the burgeioning Nigerian film industry and focuses specifically on director Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen as he makes a new film. Lancelot is an interesting and charismatic character who has already directed over 150 movies. In the clip above you can see him praying over the camera before production begins.

It seems like there is suddenly a lot of buzz in independent film circles about the Nigerian film industry. It’s huge and quickly growing. The movies are very low-budget and made quickly. It’s also a VERY profitable industry.

The production style of a Nollywood movie definitely has a lot in common with a micro-budget indie from North America. It’s definitely run-and-gun with a tiny mostly-untrained cast and crew. The camera of choice at the time of shooting seems to be the Sony Z1U. There are comparisons to be made to the “mumblecore” movement, but I can guarantee you that NOBODY in a Nollywood movie mumbles.

With movies being cranked out in such quantity, I really expected the movies themselves to me more varied and interesting. But it seems like the Nollywood filmmakers have stumbled onto formulas of their own. They know their audience wants to see fairly simple morality tales about poor people getting rich or finding God. ¹

To audiences accustomed to the big-budget slickness of Hollywood movies, the Nollywood flicks barely look like movies at all. The production values are far below even U.S. television standards. But I’m not sure it really matters. These filmmakers have created a whole industry based on making movies that people want to see. And the filmmakers are reaping the financial rewards.

If you’re interested in filmmaking, Nollywood Babylon is definitely worth checking out. My favorite part of the movie is Lancelot’s camera-man. Instead of yelling “speeding” when the camera is rolling, he yells out some variation of “My tape is flying like a bullet.” It perfectly captures the energy and speed of the Nigerian film industry and the Nollywood filmmaking process.

1. The market for Christian films is apparently huge and some of the Nigerian mega-churches have their own in-house production companies.

I am working on a much longer post about THE SPIDER BABIES for later this week, but here is a quick update. Principal photography is wrapped. We managed to get about 80% of the script in the can. We are now in the process of cutting together what we shot, assembling a trailer and figuring out the logistics and finances of getting the rest of the movie shot.

It’s definitely disappointing to make it through such a challenging shoot and end up with only part of a movie in the can. The good news is that the footage and performances are spectacular. I am so proud of what we pulled off and it continues to astound me that we were able to put together such an amazing team for this project.

I will go into lots more detail later this week. Meanwhile enjoy these screen shots of The Spider Babies getting ready for their rock show.

We just wrapped up shooting for several days at a beautiful ranch in hill country. Here are a few photos. Girls in bikinis and an attacking demon. Pictured in these photos are Adriene Mishler, Sarah Rodgers, Joel Moody and that is the amazing Kelli Bland rocking the demonic contact lenses. Kelli scared the hell out of everybody.

We’ve been working so hard that the days are blurring together, but here are some more screen shots.

Here are a few screen grabs from Day one of shooting on THE SPIDER BABIES. These haven’t been color corrected or anything yet, just compressed for web. Most of the shooting this week consists of interior scenes set in the R.V. It’s an incredibly tight space and it’s almost impossible to actually get what is storyboarded, but we are improvising and it’s coming together pretty well. The camera crew is amazing. Here are some screen shots of Adriene Mishler, Sarah Rodgers and Jesse Ferraro from Day 1. More to come.

Production of THE SPIDER BABIES is now in full-swing. We’ve shot for two days and the whole team is starting to get in sync and pick up speed. The first day was pretty rough. After losing our warehouse last week, we had to completely regroup. We ended up reworking the schedule and starting out with a few days of R.V. interiors. The R.V. ended up in the backyard of Sexy Picnic surrounded by lights and shiny boards. The camera crew and cast crammed into the tiny space and started to roll. Given all the problems of last week, we are making pretty good progress, but we need to go faster… always faster…

My favorite thing about making movies is the collaborative nature of filmmaking. After finally getting all of the cast and crew in one place, my stress level has decreased dramatically. We have put together an amazing cast and crew for this project. I’m particularly excited about the design of the world. From the characters to the costumes to the production design, there is great stuff to look at everywhere in the movie and all the elements add up to create a really interesting world.

In a few hours we start the first of several days of overnight shoots. I am mentally preparing myself for the upcoming nocturnal lifestyle.