PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Midweek Morning Mixer - 8.28.13

Captain's Log.
Star date: 8.28.13

Ready to jump right in and answer some good questions but first a moment of silence because 26 year ago today in 1987, "one of the great directors of all time, John Huston, died from emphysema in Middletown, Rhode Island. Like another Hollywood titan, Alfred Hitchcock (whose last movie was called Family Plot), Huston’s final production was a harbinger of his mortality: an adaptation of James Joyce’s The Dead. The film was a nod to Huston’s Irish roots, and he very much conformed to the stereotype of a hard-living Irishman: Huston was a man’s man – the Hemingway of the cinema, if you like – a heavy drinker and shameless womanizer (he was married five times) who supposedly only took on The African Queen so he could go shoot an elephant (if White Hunter, Black Heart is to be believed, anyway). Bedridden for several years as a child, when Huston recovered his health he took on life with an insatiable hunger: he followed his father, actor Walter Huston, into the movies, first as a screenwriter and then as a director. Later in his career he became an actor who appeared in numerous supporting roles, with his chilling performance as Noah Cross in Polanski’s Chinatown being his finest onscreen achievement. Behind the camera, he was prolific and almost unparalleled in his success: he directed 47 films in 47 years, and among them numerous classics including The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, The Misfits, The Night of the Iguana, The Man Who Would Be King and Prizzi’s Honor. His children, actors Danny and Anjelica, continue the Huston movie dynasty." ~~Focus Features

And now... grab you pad and take notes as we answer the following:

• Why writing short stories and books and shooting with whatever you can is better than waiting?
• Have you checked off on your script criteria checklist today?
• Can Chill successfully turn video distribution on its head?
• How are more newspapers and newsrooms are embracing documentaries as part of their programming?
• Did you hear that Universal Pictures will be launching an "Emerging Writers Fellowship" to find new, diverse screenwriters?
• What does Margarethe von Trotta, one of the leading German filmmakers working today, have to say?
• How should you record awesome location sound?
• What lessons in lighting can you learn recreating a shot from Bladerunner?