Reflections from The Cutting Room Floor

PRELUDE

setting the stage

It's no secret that I'm a huge movie buff.  If you know me, this is no surprise.  If you don't know me, chances are, you're not reading this anyway, so why am I even typing this? (must remember to delete this later). 

Anyway, long story short, I've watched a lot of movies in my lifetime, and at a certain point in my life, I decided I'd make my own.  My best friend, Ryan Fleharty, and I made countless home movies with my parents' clunky RCA camera, honing our craft throughout our teens.  I remember spending hours just making nonsensical skits around the "mirror" feature on the camera, or having our minds blown when we discovered how to add titles and credits.  We even practiced the painstaking process of not only making, but re-making several short stop-motion animation movies with legos.  It was no Nightmare Before Christmas, but our heart was in it.  This is why I have nothing to say when people start talking about sports.



The first legitimate movie that I did was a full length horror-comedy called Flame Broiled. I wrote, directed, edited, and starred in this movie, and we produced it with the help of several friends during my freshman year in college. We produced it under the title: Monster Club Productions (a throwback to what Ryan and I called our club house, growing up as kids).  This was a pretty big deal for us all, because it was the first time we had a full script, tons of different locations, and a slew of different actors that we had never worked with before.  We even got to film chunks of it in a local grocery store that I worked in at the time, bringing new, more professional look to our work. I would love to re-release this on DVD (it's gotta be on its 5th or 6th year anniversary by now)

 The storyline centered around that creepy Burger King mascot from the commercials a couple years ago.  He was going around, doing the whole serial killer thing, and two investigators sought out the help of a grizzled Irish cop, just two days away from retirement. (To make the cliche even more obvious, his name was Potatoes O'Brien.)  Meanwhile, some neighborhood kids were filming a horror movie (see, I love that movie-within-a-movie thing), and they happen get catch some footage of the King on camera.  The two storylines converge at the climax, and there's plenty of humor and gore throughout. 

Looking back, I remember having a blast making it, even during some really strenuous shoots.  Each time I watch it, I'm always a little impressed too, because even though we've come a long way since then, I'm genuinely surprised how well parts of the movie work.  Directors like Tarantino will make something like Django Unchained, and then he'll say, "Okay, that was my Western, or Southern," as he'll call it."  I feel like I can look back at Flame Broiled and say, "Yep, that was my slasher flick."  And given the obvious no-budget restraints we faced, I feel like it holds up as a pretty decent movie. You know, if you squint.

After Flame Broiled (which took a full year), I wanted to do something drastically different.  Flame Broiled was originally planned to be a short, 15-minute comedy which I got carried away and turned into a hour and forty minute, semi-serious horror film.  So, next up, we decided to do a short web series that we could pretty much just come up with and shoot on the fly.  (By "we," I mean my buddy Ryan and I)  I came up with the title "An Incoherent Mess," which I've always liked and have tended to re-use off and on to this day... (Hmmm... where did I just see it again recently?).

An Incoherent Mess afforded us the opportunity to just do whatever the hell we wanted.  It centered around two dudes, Dave and Ryan, hanging out in Ryan's apartment and getting into shenanigans.  We'd have different friends drop in for guest spots (like the infamous Ryan Venhuizen, or the game-changing appearance that rocketed Troy Potter to Internet stardom.)  Overall though, it was very spur-of the moment.  I usually wrote them the night before, then we'd film it the next day, edit it that night, and have it online within an hour.  Definitely the fasted thing we've ever produced.  And the quality was actually pretty damn good.  None of that easy, first-person, shaky cam bullshit.  We filmed this like a legit TV show or something.  And every episode gave us a chance to try out something new. 

Check it out for yourself if you have some time to kill.  I'm giggling like an idiot just thinking back to some of them.  Ryan has them all up on his youtube account.  I feel bad that we never promoted these or anything, because there's some really funny stuff.  We've talked about releasing a DVD sometime, but for now, check them out here:  An Incoherent Mess

Unfortunately, all good things have to end, and after filming about 12 episodes, I moved to Dubuque.  However, this was where I met Paul Kurutsides, another like-minded soul who had a passion for film.  It took us a while to hit it off because Paul is a very quiet dude, but eventually we both realized we should be working together.  We kicked it off by filming the epic finale to the Troy Potter saga that we began in the Incoherent Mess series.  And holy shit was it ever epic.  Here's a couple hashtags for you to wet your whistle on: #troypottertimetravel #resurrectedjesus #machinegunshowdown.  Check this one out at http://vimeo.com/10197728.  But be forwarned, you should watch the stuff that came before it first.  Also, it's extremely offensive.  Didn't really realize that until I watched it with my parents. 

Helping us with this movie was quite possibly the biggest mistake Paul Kurutsides ever made, because now, Ryan and I had a third member of our team.  Someone who had all the camera equipment, the editing expertise, and for some reason, a multitude of fake guns and guard outfits.  Paul has yet to have a free moment since.

After that, we did little projects here and there... Paul had been previously working on a webseries parodying the Man Vs. Wild show on Discovery.  It was called Man Vs. Kinda' Wild, and starred Paul's friend JJ, who was like the Ryan, to my own Dave, if that makes any sense.  Paul even got us to appear in his series finale which he spent over a year producing, and has never seen the light of day. The whole gang appeared in this finale, but I don't think anyone has any idea what actually happens in it.  Paul likes to keep us in the dark.  And I'm not even sure he knows.  So, maybe that'll happen some time.  Here's the link to the series: http://www.wearepkp.com/mvkw.html

Paul and I also got together and filmed a short video called Ghost Hunter Dave, which was essentially just me doing a stupid, fake supernatural investigation in my apartment.  It became a pretty big hit (by our standards) and prompted us to sporadically film 3 more.  I'm always surprised when people say this is one of their favorite things we've done; it makes me want to say, "Really?  Have you seen Troy Potter Judgement Day? The movie we spent a year making?" Oh well, sometimes less is more.  Check them all out here on PK's site: http://www.wearepkp.com/ghd.html

After that, Paul and Ryan hooked up and created their own web series called On Patrol, which featured the misadventures of two small-town cops.  More hand-held, first person camera stuff, which isn't really my thing, but hey, I'm not the one who has to edit all these, so I can see the appeal from Paul's standpoint.  The show's funny though, and it's a good showcase of everyone's talents.  Ryan dropped in on Ghost Hunter Dave, and I drop in on this, which is always fun.  Here they are:  http://www.wearepkp.com/op.html

So, as if this wasn't enough, Paul also decided to throw together a monthly podcast to keep his loyal fans and viewers in the loop of all things PK.  We've gotten together, had some drinks, talked about geeky bullshit, and discussed future projects.  Paul also spent a summer filming a traveling documentary for the local Dubuque Fighting Colts Drum and Bugle core, and has been doing some side projects, on, well, the side.  All here: http://www.wearepkp.com/archive.html if you're so inclined. 

So, what is the point of this blog, other than an obvious advertisement for Paul Kurutsides and his production company http://www.wearepkp.com/ (that'll be $400, Paul.)...  well, I just wanted to set the stage for what I'm going to talk about next... our first, real movie.  And real, of course, is subjective.  When I made Flame Broiled, I called it my first real movie.  In a sense, it was, but looking back, it wasn't.  Just as I'm sure in a couple years when we make something better, I'll look back again and say this wasn't really a "real" movie.  But for the time being, it stands. 

What makes this a real movie?  I'll tell you.  We got together and decided we were going to create a serious full length horror film, utilizing all of our talents and resources, and we were going to make it available for distribution.  We happen to have an awesome independent cinema here in Dubuque, IA, called Mindframe Theaters.  This is the kind of local-owned theaters that can offer so much more than the traditional AMC and IMAX theaters.  Our goal was to make a movie, and then have a screening at Mindframe when it was finished.  It took a year and a half, but we did it. 

Check back this week as I recount our experience shooting The Cutting Room Floor, and everything we learned while doing it...