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The Karma Oscars, how it's gonna work

FableForge — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:09:46 +0000

Ahoy!!

So finally I think I came up with a process to have our own awards ceremony here in Karma. Surely you've all seen by now the posts by Captain Peceno; I think its a great idea because it symbolizes the faith the community has in itself. Getting an award from any anonymous body of critics is something, but having filmmakers who know you well and know your work and know eachother.. decide amongst themselves that you are to be awarded amongst them, well, that's something else. Its a Peer Award, actually, and its great validation.

I don't think we can afford to offer any real prize, other than the symbolic pride of knowing you were chosen by your bucaneer brethren, to know you're admired, respected and appreciated.

Hence, I needed a very fair process. I discarded a single-voting poll, because I imagined everyone would earn a vote or two, and the winner would be the one with three or four votes. Not really representative of what the majority thinks. In order to have a majority or a plurality, there needed to be few nominees, but if I just decreed who the nominees are out of the blue, it would (rightly) smack of favoritism.

So here's the next best thing, we're going to do this in 4 stages over the course of a month:

Stage 1, "NOMINATION" begins right now. In Stage 1, I'm looking for people to nominate other people to receive our award, in the following categories: "Best Filmmaker", "Best Director", "Best Writer". Please comment in this post, and state the names of the persons you're nominating, and for which category. Each person can only nominate one other person per category, not including him/herself.

This way, we can't have a single person nominating 20 persons, and we can't have 20 persons all nominating themselves :) So, once again: please comment in this post, and state the names of three people you'd like to see awarded, one per category (Filmmaker, Director, Writer). You can nominate the same person for all three categories if you want, but you can't nominate yourself, cuz that would look funny :)

Stage 2, "SECOND BEST" is exactly the same as Stage 1, except with one difference: you're not allowed to vote for your nominees. You -have- to vote for someone else, hence the name "Second Best". Why? Because otherwise it would be an exact repeat of Stage 1! One half of all nominees will be eliminated at the end of this stage, according to votes.

Stage 3, "RUNNING MATES" is exactly the same as Stage 1, with one difference: you get to vote twice in each category. So, if in Stage 1 you only had one vote per category and you gave it to your nominee, and in Stage 1 you still had one vote per category and you gave it to the Second Best, in this stage you have 2 votes per category, and you can give them to whoever you want, assuming they haven't been eliminated yet. The only thing you can't do is give both votes to the same person. All nominees will be eliminated at this point, except for three in each category.

Stage 4, "CORONATION" will simply be one poll per category, each with its three finalists. Easy as pie!

Since each stage lasts a week, we should have our Best Filmmaker, Best Director and Best Writer in a month!

How does this sound? Complicated, I know. Lol. I know. I'm just trying to make something fair where the winner truly gets a significant number of votes, a plurality, or at least a majority, and therefore the award is meaningful.

I will re-post the instructions as clearly as possible at the beginning of each stage.

Alas, Stage 1 begins right now, and here are the instructions:

Powers That Be wrote:

STAGE 1: Nomination.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please post a comment below. In that comment, nominate one person for Best Filmmaker, one person for Best Director, and one person for Best Writer. You can nominate the same person for two or all three categories if you want.

P.S. Anyone has any ideas for the name of our Award? I like "Golden Pirate" but in filmmaking terms, it sounds like movie piracy, hehehe! And this award may end up in someone's resume, so it needs to be something industry-friendly. Any other ideas?

KarmaCritic Radio! Next Show, and call for ideas!

FableForge — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:19:44 +0000

First the cool news: We've got another big-deal filmmaker as a guest for Sunday, Kico Velarde:

He has an impressive bio which you can get over at kicovelarde.com, but here's an excerpt:

Quote:

Kico’s
most notable achievement involves serving as Post-Production
Supervisor, and Co-Producer on the groundbreaking feature ?lm “PVC-1”,
an 85 minute feature, ?lmed in one continuous shot. It was nominated
for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Golden Camera Award at the Director's
Fort Night and has garnered numerous international awards. In 2008,
“PVC-1” was acquired for distribution by IFC FILMS and can be seen on IFC’s Festival Direct Channel.

Very cool stuff!

----

So, let's talk about the structure of our radio show in general.

Right now, it's like a group of friends who gathers to chat about movies, and it's cool. But what do you guys think about making it a bit more structured, a bit more organized? In other words, and for example, the Punk Rock Ryan Rant would always start at the 45 minute mark, the movie review would always start at the 35 minute mark, the guest always at 10, etc.

You'd like to have firm segments, which we would count on, iron-clad? If yes, I need volunteers for them! Right now, I know I can count on the BigSugar Movie Review, and the Punk Rock Rant. I'm also fairly sure I can always babble for 5 minutes at the beginning like some sort of editorial. So, if our typical guest is 20 minutes, and the three other sections are 15, we still got 25 minutes left to fill up. Any takers, any ideas? Also, any thoughts about the order in which segments should air? I just want to mention this: the guest needs to start at least 5 to 10 minutes in, because sometimes they're late :)

Other than that I'm open to all sorts of ideas, and for one, I loved the way Dan Gadberry handled the show while I was on vacation, so I may take other vacations and leave the show to him, hehehe :)

UPDATES:

Idea 1: Brendan, how about you give us a special 5-min editorial on THE DARK KNIGHT?

Idea 2: What about that panel-round up of film news we had once? That was kinda fun. Should we institutionalize 10 minutes to that, on every single show?

Idea 3: Any experienced filmmaker out there would like a 5-min block with technical tips about cameras, audio, lighting, or anything else techie?

A Dark And Stormy Song

FableForge — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:42:01 +0000

Well, this is one of those ideas where everybody wins.

Here's the setup:

EZ has his movie done as we all know, and Rachel Lynn made a GREAT song for it. I don't say this just for saying it, the song KICKS ass. Look, before we go any further, have a little listen:

See what I mean? Good, now that you're on board, here's the deal:

A KICK-ASS music video MUST be made. It must be as good as the song itself is. In fact, if the music video is good enough, EZ has the connections (and by God, the motivation!) to try to push the song into places like VH1, MTV and the like. This would be incredibly good for everybody. EZ's movie would get a huge publicity boost, Rachel herself would get a music video (in TV, no less!) and you could put that sort of thing in your resume. Worthy careers have gotten a start with music videos, ... just off the top of my head, Tarsem Singh, Spike Jonze (who ironically, was following the steps of Spike Jones), etc. Next thing you know, another music band contacts you cuz they want your skills on their video too?

But music videos are expensive, you say? You don't have cameras you say, you don't have lighting equipment, actors, heck, Rachel Lynn wouldn't even return your phonecalls? Well dear friends, that's where we come in. EZ is prepping up the set, the lights, the cameras, the stormy and Rachel, for a shoot very soon. His goal is to obtain COOL QUALITY FOOTAGE of the muse singing the theme song for his movie. He's gonna post that footage for us to consume, edit, and process as we see fit. You don't need to buy anything, you don't need a budget! All you need is your trusty computer, some editing software and your skills and time.

Rachel herself will judge which video is the winner. And like I said, it goes from there, as its in both the best interest of a well connected filmmaker and a well connected musician, to promote the hell out of YOUR video. Not a bad deal where I'm standing. I'm gonna enter, sure as hell I am.

If I've succesfully sold my case, you're wondering what to do next: post your commitment here. It took me just one weekend to edit my Insane Clown Posse video SEDATIVES, and it's gotten about 20 thousand views in youtube since (more than any other creative work of mine, save the editorials, for comparison).

Those who post here that they're in like Flint, will receive an email from EZ via yousendit.com . That email will have links for you to download the footage he's gonna shoot of Rachel, plus the footage from the movie he's allowing for the music video. High Quality material. And, of course, you can download the song here: http://www.karmacritic.com/files/Dark.mp3 . One week after The Emails are sent, Rachel will come to Karma to see all contestants, and choose the winner, all by herself, no points, no judges, just Rachel.

The prize? Well, best case scenario, you'll get your work on some music video channel, and things go from there. Worst case scenario, it'll be on the movie's DVD, with whatever distribution deal the movie gets. Either way, its worth a weekend's worth of effort in my view. We give you the song, the footage, the distribution opportunity, all you have to do is put'em together.

Feel the love, baby!

So, who's in?

VOAT probable Game Changer: How are we doing?

FableForge — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:56:25 +0000

Hey people!

Well, the original plan was as follows (names in no particular order):

CAMP MACHETE: Dxarach and MelioraEric

HELLION: OuchMouth and Veenotph

GETTING A HEAD IN THE BUSINESS: Cpparker and VictorPeceno

RUDOLF: BrendanMorrisey and moi.

Now, you noticed I bolded some names up there, those are the people that I know are working to make the film a reality. It doesnt mean the ones not underlined arent, it just means I havent seen blog posts about it, or the like.

So we have two choices at this point:

Choice A: Do we continue with the original plan, and count on the movies not currently bolded getting made, then release the DVD with 4 pairs of shorts?

Choice B: Or, do we throw away the "variations on a theme" idea, and simply make "The KarmaCritic DVD 2008", and throw other shorts in there, maybe HOUSE OF SMOKING GUNS, UNWRITTEN LAW (I and II), LAND OF THE WITCHES, CUTTING LOOSE, CAMERA GUY, SOUVERNIR, THE CALL, etc?

Pros of choice A is well, its the plan!

Pros of choice B is that it seems more "doable", though I could be wrong.

Another major difference: if we go with choice B, we basically chuck away the contest angle and just split profits equitatively per script/short.

I dont think one option would inherently have more sales than another, its just in how we market it. (OR, if option B has a shitload of shorts, then that may be more attractive to potential customers. Maybe). It also brings new problems: how do we determine if a short is good enough to make it into the DVD?

What do you think people?

I'd like to hear from Steve and Christine, since they have put effort in doing their part, and I feel queasy throwing a game-changer at you guys, it doesnt feel fair; and yet on the other hand, it feels even more unfair to not have a DVD at all, or one that has just four shorts in it.

And I'd like to hear from OuchMouth, Brendan, Peceno, and Dxarach, because if you guys tell us we'll definitely have the original VOAT assignment from you, then we don't need a game-changer after all and we just continue with option A.

So lets chat people, our ultimate goal is to get a DVD out there and make some money :)

Tonight on KarmaCritic Radio: 25th episode celebration, come one, come all!

FableForge — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:17:23 +0000

Critters and Pirates, we have no guest for the radio show today, instead, our guest is YOU :)

Its the 25th show, so we're in a happy mood and the show will be laid back, and just shooting the breeze with the members who call. We'll talk about what we're doing, what we've learned, what we hope to do, what we've done right, what we've done wrong.. we'll see how the 60 minutes go :)

And dont forget, its the premiere of our new KarmaCritique section, with BigSugar's review of THE BLOB! :)

It'll be fun, so call in!

(347) 215-8713

7 PM Eastern!

Official Invitation for our Next KarmaCritic Contest

FableForge — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:03:30 +0000

Alright good people, here's the deal!

Our next contest begins tomorrow!

Our contest in plainspeak and quickiexplained: phase 1 is about "who can write the best script in a given genre and theme" while phase 2 is about "who can actually shoot the best film based on that winning script from phase 1". Everyone votes everywhere. At the end we put all films and scripts together (as well as behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and other extras) inside a well-made DVD, and we try to sell it. Profits will be split amongst everyone, larger shares to the winners.

Now the details:

PHASE 1

Phase 1 of the show is a writing contest. All KarmaCritters are welcome, and its free to become a KarmaCritter. You may submit as many scripts as you want, provided they meet the following criteria:

Genre must be HORROR-COMEDY (gotta be scary, gotta be funny)
Theme must be "Practice Makes Perfect".
Lenght must be 7 to 13 pages (not counting cover).
Finished script must be submitted to KC before Christmas day 2007.

Points number 1 and 2 are at my discretion, points 3 and 4 are pretty objective.

Now, the following is not mandatory, but just friendly advice: keep in mind you're writing potentially for a short film with a 250 dollar production budget cap. Let this knowledge help you drive your choices regarding setting, number of actors, FXs, etc.

The winning script is announced on Christmas day, and becomes the cornerstone of phase 2.
All 10 finalists must record 3-minute interviews (Questionarie will be provided, background is green-screen).

PHASE 2

Once again, everyone is welcome to submit an entry. The requirements:

Must be based on the script that wins phase 1.
Must be produced with no more than 250 dollars (not including film equipment; keep your receipts!)
Must be between 7 and 13 minutes long.
Finished film must be submitted to KC before March 1st 2008
Must include 7 to 13 minutes of Behind-The-Scenes footage

Once again, points 1 and 2 are subjective to my discretion (I reserve the right to request copies of your receipts if a dispute ensues), while 3, 4 and 5 are pretty objective.

The winning film is announced on March 1st!
All 10 finalists must record 3-minute interviews too (see phase 1).

NOTES ON BOTH PHASES

To submit, simply upload your PDF script as usual, but write in the description that this is an entry for the contest, I'll take care of the rest.
As with SUBLIM, as soon as an entry is submitted it becomes eligible for votes; so the early birds do have an advantage (Ex. a script submitted on the bleeding edge of the deadline on Dec 24 technically is eligible, but will it have enough time to gather votes and become a finalist?)
The finalists are the top 10 entries with the most votes AND an average score of 70 or better. Each phase has its own 10 finalists.
All finalists will be featured in the DVD and share in profits from it (more details below).
Copyright over their own work always remains the property of the contestant who submits it, but KC will have the right to compile and sell this work in a DVD, for which you'll receive a percentage of the profits. Portions of your work may also be used in promotional materials.

DISTRIBUTION AND PROFIT SHARING

We dont yet know who will replicate the DVDs and at what cost, but we know how the unitary price breaks down:
Unitary Price = Replication Cost + Distribution Cost + Profit. In other words, when we sell a DVD, first we substract what it costed to copy the DVD, then what it costed to distribute it, and the rest is our Profit. Said Profit is split as follows:
- 10% to Eric Bumpus for Production work (which includes dealing with replicator, distributor, creating DVD menus, editing, titling of interviews, subtitles, etc).
- 10% to the winner of Phase 1.
- 40% to the winner of Phase 2.
- 1% to each of the 9 non-winning finalists of Phase 1
- 3% to each of the 9 non-winning finalists of Phase 2
- 4% for publicity and promotion of future contests
Profit shares will be sent by Eric in the frequency that makes the most sense. This will be determined once replication and distribution details are known. Most likely we'll use PayPal.

TITLE AND IMAGERY

Working on both as we speak!! Go vote!

Any questions? Please ask away, lets hammer out anything that's pending with the info that is known!

Tomorrow monday.... We Begin Writing!! Remember: Horror-Comedy with the theme "Practice Makes Perfect"! Best of luck everyone! Stay tuned for a contest page SUBLIM style tomorrow!

Variations on a Theme - Lets make a DVD!

FableForge — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:43:54 +0000

Btw, the title is tentative, if you can come up with something wittier than "Variations on a Theme", please do!!

As you've surely seen by now, the weekly poll is asking us to choose a favorite genre.

The next weekly poll will ask us to choose a particular theme within the genre (or for something really fun, a theme which mixes the first and second place genre choices, for example "Horror-Comedy").

And then Phase 1 of the contest begins. Phase 1 is "lets see who can write the best short script based on the winning theme". I'd like to give no more than 2 weeks for this, but at the same time, I'd like to see at least 10 entries. Does this sound reasonable?

On Week 3 we'll vote to decide which script wins. Thus ends Phase 1, with a nice radio party, as its quickly becoming tradition :)

Phase 2 is "lets see who can make the best film based on the winning script". For this I'd like to devote a month, but at the same time, I'd like at least 10 entries. Again, does this sound like too much to ask? If you think so, please give me feedback, we can always adjust.

And this is where the "Variations on a Theme" name comes in. You see, kinda like the earliest stage of Project Greenlight, we cinephiles will be able to deconstruct and really, really analyze what makes each director unique when we see them all working from the same script. The potential for cafe discussion is nearly endless, and so are the potential games. For example, should we post all 10 films without credits and then play a game of "match the movie to the director"? Something I learned from McKee is that creativity thrives under the pressure of restrictions. Its our limitations, not the lack of them, what makes us creative, what -forces- us to find new solutions and think outside the box. Working from the same script everyone else is working... is, at least in my eyes, a -delicious- challenge, an opportunity to show why my voice is unique, what makes me different, dare I say, what makes someone stand out. Its a competition as fair as a lab experiment. Heck, if OTL had forced contestants to all work from the same script, it would have been a lot more watchable.

And then of course, we vote and choose a winner. What an honor to be crowned best among your peers in this fair-and-square experiment. If needed, we could impose maximun budget caps to have an even even-er playing field?

Now the good part: we can gather all the scripts, and all the films, add 3-minute interviews with all the writers, and all the directors, audio commentary, .. and cram it all inside a smartly designed DVD.

Now who would buy 10 versions of the same film? Filmmakers would. Students of cinema, cinephiles, people who have taken our art beyond the level of entertainment and are looking to dissect it, to find the soul of the beast and cage it, at least from an academic point of view. I can see film schools using this DVD in class. I can see pundits citing the little "lab experiment" to validate their own conclusions on this or that.

Any profits the DVD makes, would go one fourth to whoever wins Phase 1 (the winning writer), one fourth to whoever wins Phase 2 (the winning director), and the rest in equal shares to all other contestants (writers and directors).

That is the basic idea. Now, what are your thoughts? Also, can I have at least 10 writers to commit to this, and 10 directors to commit to this? I only want to start spinning our wheels and going after this full speed if we have all the people we need. Please post back and tell us if you're willing to do this, as a writer, as a director, or both.

Lets do this!! I think it'll be fun, educational, and maybe profitable!

The Onion Again: Report: Everyone In Hollywood Great Friends

FableForge — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:15:25 +0000

Sorry to anyone getting tired of Onion articles, I just cant help it. I could die laughing.. http://www.theonion.com/content/news...

----------------------------------------------------------

LOS ANGELES- A study released today by the University of California, Los Angeles is sending shockwaves through the social, behavioral, and publicity sciences, after finding that everyone in Hollywood is close personal friends with everyone else in Hollywood.
Enlarge Image hollywood

Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Denzel Washingon all gather for a game of Monopoly at Tony Hopkins' place, like they do every Sunday.

"The evidence shows that our nation's show-business capital is a town of virtually boundless goodwill and camaraderie, where the backstabbing, ego-rivalry, and grudge-holding common to the rest of society do not exist," said UCLA sociology professor Gina Carlisle, lead author of the five-year, 700-page study. "The entire region is a veritable utopia of deep, abiding interpersonal affection and mutual respect."

Additionally, the report found that 98 percent of Hollywood residents "love [their friends'] work."

The findings, published this month in the journal American Psychologist, were based on information culled from DVD commentary tracks, promotional junket footage, talk show appearances, more than 1,500 behind-the-scenes magazine profiles, and hundreds of poolside cocktail party conversations.

"I love David Caruso," said Caruso's CSI: Miami costar Khandi Alexander, one of thousands of celebrity best friends quoted in the study. "He's just a great guy-always joking around on the set, making the crew laugh, and just being an all-around wonderful person. At first I thought it would be intimidating to work with such an iconic star, but after a few days, I thought of him as a great friend."

But the intense friendships that run through the Hollywood community also extend to those beyond the red-carpet elite, the study found.

"Even persons with relatively limited connections to the Hollywood hierarchy, such as caterers and valet attendants, regularly cited such A-list celebrities as George Clooney as their 'good friends,'" said UCLA's Carlisle, who herself described Clooney as "a friend." "No one is excluded from the near-universal circle of intimacy and brotherhood that surrounds the city."

"It is a truly egoless culture," she added.

According to the study, friendships formed in Hollywood are stronger, more passionate, and more meaningful than any friendships yet measured.

"While we were making Transformers, the whole cast and crew were like family," actress Megan Fox said in an Access Hollywood episode cited by the study. "I would totally love to work with those people again if the decision is ever made to do a sequel. That's how much those friendships mean to me."

Hollywood friendships are also longer lasting, researchers found.

Producer Gil Netter, also quoted in the study, expressed these sentiments about some of his many best friends: "When we did Dude [Where's My Car?], Ashton [Kutcher], Jennifer [Garner], and Seann [William Scott] were just on the verge of exploding. Since then, they've all become much bigger stars, but to me they're still just the same great friends of mine they always were."

The study's authors say if research continues, the principles of social interaction found in Hollywood could, one day, serve as an example to the rest of humanity of how to live together in harmony and universal love.

"Bad-mouthing others' work, looking down on those who earn less money than oneself, making insulting assumptions about the amount of plastic surgery others have had-none of these things happen in Hollywood," Carlisle said. "It is a city of total and unconditional respect, both for the integrity of everyone's creative endeavors, and for everyone personally, as human beings."

Added Carlisle: "If every community could interact with the same genuine compassion and goodwill that Hollywood has somehow achieved, the world would be a much better place.

Outside Contests

FableForge — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:41:45 +0000

Here we file all of the contest that we KarmaCritters jump into as a community!

YouTube Directing Contest: Lets Do This

FableForge — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 00:52:06 +0000

Hey, who's up for this??

Take it away Jason Reitman:

If we enter this together, we'd support one another! Who's up for this? It doesnt seem -too- hard, right? I for one, will write and publish here in Karma a script that meets the three requirements... real soon-like. Anybody who wishes to shoot my script will be welcome to and it'd be an honor.

If you want -in- this thing, and can't shoot (for any reason) then like me, write a script!

If you want -in-and can shoot, then just read the scripts from the community, pick one you like and go to town baby!

I will file together all the scripts and films we make for this in a new section. Can you imagine the kind of splash we would make if we pull together for this one and place in the top 20, or jeez, if one of us wins??

Submissions end Nov 9; we got less than 20 days, but its no harder than one of those grueling 48 hour contest some of us are veterans of.. So I need to finish my script within 5 days or so, to give someone time to shoot it. For more details, see:

http://youtube.com/projectdirect

So who's in?? Post! Tell us if you're writing a script, or if you're shopping for one to shoot, and if so, by when do you need the script finished.

Lets Do This!!