"BTTF" event reply

Just got an e-mail from Ken, the guy whose spearheading the 25th anniversary "Back to the Future" event in November. He says the following:

'Hello David, WOULD ABSOLUTELY love to work with you on this!! Please call me at your earliest convenience to discuss!'

...and he included his phone number. This of course in response to asking about including my friend John's documentary that I cut, as well as an anniversary tribute trailer I'm going to put together, into the programming. We're off!! Gonna give him a call this evening. Stay tuned!

Dumping on George again

I live for these no-holds-barred comments. More spewage about Lucas' 3D conversions of all six "Star Wars" films. I love the title of this post: "George Lucas to fuck up ‘Star Wars’ again – this time in 3D!!" LOL!!!

OMG, the album 'Confrontation' by 80's new wave band Face to Face is available on iTunes!!! And I thought I'd forever have to listen to my MP3 converted version from the original cassette tape I own!

Premiere of the "BTTF" documentary at George McFly's house

Last Saturday was the block party in Pasadena where John, the producer, director, and photographer of his documentary "Back to the Future on Bushnell Avenue" was given it's grand premiere. I'd spent the previous week cutting and polishing footage from his rough stringout of clips. As it turned out, I would be working on this right up until showtime.

The block party happens once a year on the street where Lorraine's, George's, and Biff's grandmothers house all reside from "Back to the Future" and "Back to the Future Part II". And of course the tree across from Lorraine's house which is the centerpiece of the documentary. The event was catered with Mexican food and there were a number of tables and chairs placed in the blocked off street for people to mingle, relax, and eat.

Midway through Saturday John realized that he hadn't called some of the local "BTTF" fans who were interviewed over the course of the last several months. Ultimately he was able to contact five or six people, who stopped by to watch the final cut. One of these interviewees was a guy from Monrovia named Lionel and we had some pretty good conversations about the trilogy and movies in general. I also thought about getting in touch with Stephen Clark who runs BTTF.com to put the word out to other fans in the LA area. Unfortunately the go-ahead decision came a little late on the actual day for him. He said it might be too last minute and if we'd notified him a few days before he could have blasted his site with the news. Unfortunately it seemed inappropriate to have perhaps hundreds of fans show up to what was ultimately a private neighborhood block party.

After I finished the final cut and John gave it his very happy seal of approval, we walked up the block to intro the documentary minutes later (yes, we finished THAT close to showtime) which would be projected onto a large screen erected on the front porch of the house (right by the front door) that was used as George McFly's residence. We received a hearty round of applause, plus some comments from neighbors who said that they understood now why this place touches so many people. After the eleven minute doc. ran, we were treated to a 25th anniversary screening of "Back to the Future". I have to say it was pretty wild sitting there on the lawn and watching "BTTF" in the very place where parts of the movie was shot.

As "BTTF" began to roll we were met, quite by accident, by a couple from New Zealand who were also fans. Turned out they were doing a little "BTTF" location tour of their own and just happened to walk down John's street, only to find a small fan celebration going on. They'd missed seeing John's piece, so we headed back to his house to show it to them in the basement where his edit bay was set up. Lionel joined us as well to watch once more. As mentioned previously, this is where I worked for the majority of Saturday to finish editing. We all exchanged Facebook pages with one another, then headed back up the street to watch the climactic clock tower sequence in "BTTF". What a perfect night, I thought to myself. In fact, Rebecca and I had had one of the best and most enjoyable nights in recent memory.

The very next day a light bulb went off in my head. I spoke with John about the possibility of showing his doc. on an LCD monitor right on the front porch of his house when the locations tour connected with November's 25th anniversary event rolled through. He loved the idea, so I went ahead and contacted the guy whose running that to make the proposal. Have not heard back form him yet but hopefully soon.

German "Back to the Future" fans invade Pasadena

Here's a photo of me with the two German fans we just happened to run into while I was having a meeting with John about his "Back to the Future" documentary. In back of us is Lorraine's house from the movie and off to the right (out of picture) is the tree where George peeps. Definitely a really fun day talking with fans from Europe about our mutual passion. Thanks for snapping the photo, Rebecca!

Once again, the great thing about this location is that it looks exactly the same as it does in the movie. If a few 1950's cars were parked along the street, you'd actually think you might have stepped back in time yourself.

George Lucas continues to suck

Seriously?! Lucas will begin 3D conversion of all six "Star Wars" movies and release them one a year starting in 2012. Right at the point when everyone pretty much realizes that 3D conversion flat out looks bad, the man who can't leave anything alone will spend the next 6 to 8 years giving us just that. Do we REALLY need to have "The Phantom Menace" in theaters again?! How about forking over the ORIGINAL theatrical versions of the ORIGINAL trilogy first, then you can head to Jar Jar land! Click on the image for the full hideous story.

Editor Sally Menke dies in yesterday's LA heatwave

Very sad news....Sally Menke, the editor behind every Quentin Tarantino film, died yesterday while hiking in the Hollywood Hills in 113 degree heat. She truly was one half of the high caliber style of Tarantino's projects and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to hear her speak at an Oscar event at The Egyptian earlier this year. Click on the image for more details.

Jeff Zucker is OUT!!!

Jeff Zucker's ass has officially been booted out of NBC!...although he won't be leaving until later this year. Thanks to his idiocy, Conan O'Brien got the shaft and Jay Leno became one of the most disliked men on television...not that I really cared for Leno to begin with.

Comcast COO Steve Burke will replace Zucker, and the interesting and most nonsensical aspect of the original plan for Zucker's future?: GE was about to sign him for a further three year contract with NBC. STUUU-PIIID!!!! Zucker is just such a moron!

Back to work at Happy Hour for another week, starting with changes from FOX to my spot for "Mixed Signals". 109 degrees here in Culver City today. Heading to the Arclight tonight for a 30th Anniversary screening of "Caddyshack"...."Boy, I bet you get a bowl of soup with that hat."

"Back to the Future" digital presentation screening FINALLY hitting The States!!!

YES!!!! The digital presentation of "BTTF" that was exclusively shown in the UK a couple of weeks ago is being released in the U.S.! Only four theaters in the LA area will be running the film for two nights only in October. I had hoped and prayed this would happen and now IT'S HERE!! Click on the image for more details.

"Back to the Future" documentary

Recently I'd spoken to a friend of mine I'd met through Rebecca about being interviewed for a "Back to the Future" documentary he was putting together. He told me there wouldn't be any money involved and it couldn't be officially released because of copyright issues. I of course was very excited to be a part of this, and soon after he realized that he had an editor right under his nose, me, who could also put this entire thing together.

Turns out he had an editor who was from Mexico and wasn't particularly a fan of "BTTF" doing some cutting, but ultimately that turned out to be a bad match. Now I'm on board and having a lot of fun working on something connected with my favorite movie of all time! So almost two weeks ago we visited John (the producer, director, and cameraman of the project) to discuss my involvement.

Oh and BTW, he just happens to own the house where George McFly falls out of the tree while peeping Lorraine putting on her bra and is almost hit by an oncoming car, pushed out of the way by his future son who ultimately changes history. That tree is part of his property as well an as we arrived we had a chance to take the whole area in. Not only is the house used as Lorraine's residence right across the street, but George's house is just two doors down to the right with Biff's house three doors down to the left. All of this on a quiet Pasadena street that today looks exactly like it did in the film twenty five years ago.

Heading into John's house, we were treated to the footage he'd shot right out in front of his house. He has his own edit bay in the basement surrounded by comfortable couches. As it happens many, many people from all over the world have visited that tree, making a pilgrimage to see locations used in "Back to the Future". What was crazy is that right after we watched footage of all of these fans talking about their love of the film while standing in front of that tree, we actually saw several people show up who were there with the same mission.

John, Rebecca and I had walked across the street to say hi to one of his neighbors. As we turned back to John's house, two guys got out of their car and quickly referenced their laptop, pulling out a camera. Looking up, they saw the "BTTF" shirt I was wearing and stopped in their tracks. Turned out they were from Germany and could speak english fairly well. However some of what we were saying to them was lost in translation a bit. By pure coincidence John's wife is from Germany and teaches German at the local college. John quickly went inside and when he returned with his wife saying hello in German, the two European fans lit right up.

They wanted to take a photo of me in my "BTTF" t-shirt, then proceeded to skoot right up the tree where George McFly sat in the movie. They were pretty cool, exchanging e-mail info with us to exchange photos and providing their website address, www.zidz.com. In fact, they run THE "Back to the Future" website in Germany and organized a screening of the trilogy...with actual 35mm prints!!! Great Scott!!

After hanging with them for some time we were suddenly approached by a young couple who were there for the very same reason! John explained that this was a regular happening which is why he had so many people on camera for his documentary. Over the course of the last week I've been cutting these interviews together at my place from a stringout of his selects, giving it the passionate love it deserves from my fanboy point of view. Tomorrow there's a huge block party on John's street and he wants to show this documentary on a giant blowup screen for the event. So I"ll be cramming to finish the project tonight, then heading over to John's in the morning to put the finishing touches on. There wasn't a lot of time to work on this due to my paying gig schedule, but I certainly have been putting in as much time as I can to make it as special as possible. Hoping to have some excerpts up here soon!

Cameron Crowe and Nancy Wilson split

It's very sad that Director Cameron Crowe and Heart co-front woman Nancy Wilson are divorcing, especially just one week after the ten year anniversary of "Almost Famous", their best film collaboration to date.

As I write this I'm listening to Led Zeppelin's 'Tangerine' from the "Almost Famous" soundtrack. It's one of my favorite tracks used in the movie, playing over the epilogue montage, and also seems both poignant and bittersweet at this moment.

New movie project

Chris at Happy Hour asked me yesterday how comfortable I'd be cutting a trailer for a chick flick. I immediately mentioned that I worked on the DVD for "Gossip Girl" Seasons 1 and 2 as well as other chick flick oriented projects in the past. He's mostly seen my work on action / adventure, drama, thriller, and horror trailers and broadcast spots.

I know I'll have no trouble switching gears into something very different and quite a bit softer. Hey, we're talking about the guy who loves movies like "Sixteen Candles" and "Somewhere in Time"...I think that qualifies me.

Can't talk about what this studio film is yet, but it's definitely another major release. The project may actually be starting next week and will hopefully carry me forward on the calendar.

On for next week at Happy Hour

Word just came down...I'm booked here at Happy Hour Creative through next week. Woohoo! Seemed fairly solid at this point in the week but I had not gotten the official go ahead...and now I do! Yay!

Work continues at Happy Hour

Ended up cutting three broadcast spots for "the movie to be named later" during the past week and a half. Out of the first initial series of spots cut by four editors (including myself) and sent to Twentieth Century Fox, word came back that two had gone to the top with mine being one of the favorites. Was really happy to hear that yesterday!

Started working on this a week ago Tuesday, watching the movie first then cutting spot number 1. Friday began the second finishing Monday, with Yesterday rounding out my completion of the third. Today I've switched projects and am working on a revised broadcast spot for the new FOX comedy series "Mixed Signals". That will take me into tomorrow as we wait for notes to come back on the other project.

At this point I feel pretty good that I'll be spilling over into next week. There's also been talk of work happening here in connection with the upcoming AFM so fingers crossed that I might roll over into that.

This and last week have been a lot of fun creating some really diverse and off-the-wall spots for that major motion picture. Plus, the very positive acknowledgment of my work has been really sweet icing on the cake. I am truly in my element cutting trailers.

BTTF.com is BACK!!!

After someone hacked into THE web address for everything "Back to the Future" seven months ago causing massive damage, the site is now back up and running at full steam! Plus, there's a lot more eye candy and goodies to discover. GOD BLESS IT!!!! I was SERIOUSLY THRILLED to see the date and time come up with the accompanying music when the page loaded. Like an old friend returning! WELCOME BACK!!!

New cool project at Happy Hour Creative!

Got a call from Chris at Happy Hour last Friday asking what my availability was for this week. Said he had a major motion picture project about to come in but didn't want to tell me what it was because he was afraid of jinzing it's arrival. The studio needs several trailers/broadcast spots. I'd hear from him Monday (today) to confirm that they'd either need me this afternoon or tomorrow. Word came down in the mid-afternoon that I should come in Tuesday morning to begin and will be working the rest of this week, with a good possibility of continuing into next week.

He finally told me what the movie was and asked that I keep it hush-hush, so unfortunately I can't even say that much. Be assured it's definitely big and a major release. Really excited about starting on this!

Of course with the good chance of it spilling over an additional week and Rebecca's three day birthday weekend trip to San Diego, I'm working out the details of how I can continue on the project without being here on next Monday. Chris said we may just be waiting for notes on Monday in which there would be no problem with my absentee day. This week will tell how things shake out.

Re-working a project in a new location

Last week saw me working the first three days of the week on a Summit Entertainment promotional reel at Happy Hour Creative. As always, I truly thought this could blossom into a full week and even extend into this one due to one of their staff editors being on vacation. Such was not the case as there was not enough work to warrant keeping me around.

However, I did hook up with a producer who had recently left a post house I've worked with (that will remain nameless for privacy reasons) to continue on a project I started a few months back. He gave me a call and said the client, Warner Bros., wanted to add some additional footage to a video game sizzle reel and could I help out. So while I was driving around collecting checks from Happy Hour and Secret Headquarters last Friday, I headed over to his place to pick up a drive with all the media. This would be a project I'd cut at home on my own system, uploading cuts for him to watch, give notes on and pass along to the client.

Over the course of three days earlier this week I retooled the piece to reflect the newer footage, plus added some really cool game action with a character I can't talk about but whose movie will be premiering next summer. Two cuts went out to Warners with a few minor changes. Learned on Wednesday that the spot had been approved and so today I drove back to his house to return the drive....and very happily pick up a check! Working at home and getting paid as soon as I'm done; priceless.

BTW, his company's name is Forward Never Straight Productions (FNS) and is located in Venice, CA.

In the meantime while trying to snag my next gig, I've been taking the time off to organize a number of things around my apartment and really getting some much needed progress on my 'to-do' list.

WOW!! Comic-Con 2011 4-Day w/ Preview Night memberships are now SOLD OUT!

HOLY SHIT!!! We just barely exited August and they're all GONE! I am SOOOO GLAD we got in line and bought ours on Sunday! From now on that's the first order of business when we arrive. Buy...and DONE!