Stronghold Episode 3: What Lies Over the Horizon

Back From The Lot

Drove back late last night from Burbank/Studio city and the Universal Back Lot.  It was a great weekend and a lot was gained in this trip.  Looking forward to the next meeting in Feb. Just a couple of pics uploaded to the Entity Eye Entertainment photo album.  From what I hear, Stronghold #3 will be out shortly, God I hope it comes out soon. I keep getting emails and calls and text messages etc., etc., etc., on when it will be released.  I'm still in the finishings touches of editing #4 with Suzy with #5 waiting in the green room ready for a chance to get put together.   All in all everything is good and I, we need to get back on track a bit.

My Passion aka The Passion of Nando

It has felt like an eternity since I wrote my last blog, and I am ashamed that I haven’t kept up with it as much as I’ve wanted.  In the interim, I have been busy improving my competency in Final Cut Pro, Motion, Action Essentials, and Photoshop.  Learning all of this is necessary and fun, but extremely time consuming.  As a result, I have not kept up with my writing.

I miss writing. 

Writing is my strength and my escape. I enjoy creating characters and the worlds in which they live. With writing I am immersed in the lives of my characters.  Their stories, their struggles, their triumphs – they are my stories, struggles and triumphs.

Don’t misunderstand me. I love the process of filmmaking. I enjoy directing and setting up my vision (to my budget’s best ability), but screenwriting is my strong suit.  As Suzy, my friend and business partner pointed out, I am happiest when writing.

I miss writing.

So I have reorganized and rescheduled my tasks and duties (yes, I said duties) to include more time to write.  This was not easy given the enormity of working full time, raising a family, and running a production company.  Entity Eye is still developing the Mark of Kings graphic novel, a new web series, and several short films. 

But I am determined to write more.  I offer this blog as proof.  And as incentive, as I have now publically renewed my commitment to writing.   While not wanting to publically admit I have not honored this commitment should provide motivation to write, I believe I will write simply because I miss writing.


Did I mention I miss writing? Okay, just wanted to be sure. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.


Cheers!
Fernando

STRONGHOLD Episode 2: The Reality of It All

Round #2

     It's been extremely busy.  I just got back from the screenwriting Expo in LA with Suzy and Mark.  A lot of work and a lot of learning but all around a good time.  Filming is complete for season 1 of Stronghold and now 2-5 are in post.  Hopefully with any luck we can finally get #2 out and quickly followed by #3.  Keep your fingers crossed.  We are still pushing forward on having Mark of Kings become a graphic novel and still undergoing our artist search that has that special eye for what we are looking for.

Learning the Ropes, Unofficially - Weather and Filming

One lesson I continue to learn as I teach myself directing  is that there are just some things that cannot be controlled. I’m not referring to an actor’s lack of commitment or a crewmember’s frustrated rant. What I’m talking about is the weather, at least for filming outdoors.  If Mother Natures decides not to cooperate with your filming schedule, there’s not much you can do, especially if you’re on a limited budget. In my case, on a recent shooting days the Sun was not bright enough due to clouds (and no generator to light up the scene) or it was raining. I had already pushed back filming several weeks due to the cloud cover and rain (in Arizona  of all places!).  Needless to say I was getting frustrated. I was getting to the point where I wanted to scream and throw a Christian Bale rant.  


Then I read a few interviews by some directors that I truly admire.  Their advice is that regardless of the weather, you can still film.  Don’t let the weather dictate that to you.  They went ahead and filmed. Chris Nolan says to always shoot, regardless of the weather.  The weather affected several of his projects but he went ahead and filmed without the equipment that was needed to make the weather work for them and guess what?  It worked out anyway and he received numerous compliments on how it worked for the scene.  John Favreau (nice meeting you at Comic Con by the way) had a scene to film in Iron Man.  The day of filming, a sand storm came rolling in. He filmed anyway, and it worked out great for the scene.  He even mentioned that trying to recreate it would have cost more into the production. Now he had it for free. It was a blessing. 


Don’t feel defeated if the weather is not cooperating with you.
Make it work with you, for you.  It will add an ambience to the scene.  Who wants to watch a movie where the weather is always perfect? There’s no mood, it’s not real. So from here on out – clouds and all, I’m filming. 


Thanks for reading my ramblings.


Cheers!
Fernando

Eat The Wolves

In 2005, I went to a re-release viewing of Braveheart, one of my favorite movies.  In attendance for a Q & A session was screenwriter Randall Wallace.  I had the opportunity to have a one on one with him prior to the screening.  He is a very genuine person and I greatly appreciated the advice he bestowed upon me.

One of the many things I took away from our conversation was the benefit of taking risks.  As he pointed out, I took a risk when I introduced myself to him.  I didn’t know how he was going to respond. “  His reaction could have been, “Oh great, another wannabe that plans to hand me a script.”

Regardless, I took the risk to approach him.  He took the risk of moving to LA to write screenplays, something he never studied.  If I didn’t take risks, I probably would never have gone to Fry’s Electronics and bought the cheapest (in budget) screenwriting software to begin my journey.  It was time to finally take the chance, the risk of doing something I’ve always wanted to do as a kid.

So I got home, loaded the software, and dug out my notes on a story I had written in college XX number of years ago.  I taped a sign next to my computer monitor reminding me of something Randall Wallace said, “EAT THE WOLVES” (more on that later). I read scripts, and books, and watched to writer/director commentaries on DVD’s.  I immersed myself in my forgotten passion.  I wrote and wrote and wrote.  Sometimes shorts, most of the time working on that old story of mine.  I would read parts, CRAP!  I would re-write those parts – CRAP, CRAP! I needed to take a few steps back and gather my thoughts.  I was getting upset that the story was too long and read like a cheap Penthouse forum letter  (not that I have read or written any – and not that there is anything wrong with that).

This is when I remembered what Randall had told me.  “Don’t get discouraged if your work gets rejected.  It’s all part of the process. Great works have been rejected prior.  You can’t let it get you down.  You have to think of the path you want to take.  There’s the path that goes nowhere. There’s the path where the wolves eat you. Or you can take the path where you eat the wolves.  I say eat the wolves Fernando.  You’ll never regret taking that path.”

To this day, I never have.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.