I’m happy to share with you some photos from my these film “Coming To.” it was shot on 16mm waaaay back in the fall of 2000.

next week I’ll post the film, more photos, and talk about some of the many (many!) lessons I learned along the way.

-Luke

back in LA and hitting the ground running. lots of reading, emails, and meetings. it amazes me how much MORE social I have to be not that I’m freelance. well, I guess that isn’t really that surprising. but still, a much larger portion of each day is spent in communications that when I was a staff editor.

anyhoo, this was one of my favorite music videos of last year – Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math.” enjoy!

-Luke

sorry I’ve been a bit late with this blog…been slaving away in the Northwest on my parent’s remodeling job. it’s a great exercise in humility to work completely outside your element from time to time. and dang, manual labor is exhausting. even the easy stuff I’ve been doing.

anyhoo, I was introduced to this piece, COST OF LIVING by Film Critic Hulk in this essay about the State of Short Films. it’s a really good example of what I was writing about last week in regards to a “contained location.”

there’s pretty much just two spots in this movie – the cafeteria and the tunnels. and who knows how much “tunnel” they actually had to shoot in. for all we know that could have been one stretch that they repainted and relight to be different areas.

it reminds me of a feature that I was an assistant editor on. it was a low-budget horror film that took place entirely in an abandoned old mental asylum (naturally). of course, the extra creepy thing was that the location really WAS an old mental facility. but the point I wanted to make was that the “movie location” had multiple floors, while the actual location was single story. a lot can be accomplished with a little art direction and a line or two about “the stairs” or “level B” or something similar.

another thing I like about this film, is even though it is about a “monster outbreak” it’s really more about the two character’s friendship. we are invested in what happens to them because their relationship is interesting and compelling. the monsters really don’t matter that much…

but if I say any more, I’m going to start spoiling things. so without further ado:

-Luke

as many of you know – the last couple weeks I spent up in Mammoth Lakes, snowboarding, editing and writing. it was a really great and refreshing trip – not unlike my Sheep Ranch trip last year. the main difference here was instead of working on a house I was going snowboarding..and I actually had some real “client” work to throw into the mix. which I was very happy for, as gas to Mammoth isn’t cheap.

today I wanted to talk a little about my writing process. each time I start a new type of project it’s always a bit different – I like to keep it loose and adaptable to whatever I’m working on. in this case my eventual goal is a feature screenplay that fits with the “Luke aesthetic” and has a limited location and cast. basically, I’m trying to develop a project that will be to a feature film like CERTIFIED was to a short.

so in developing a new project, where to start? well for me, I generally like to start with the end goal in mind. believe me when I say I’ve done a lot a thinking about the sorts of films I want to make. some of it’s written down in sketch pads, some in the stickies app on my laptop (where I’m writing now actually), and some of it has never made it outside my head. as I set out to brainstorm new film ideas, I went back to these lists of inspiration.

I won’t bore you with ALL the bits and pieces I collected for this project, but I will share a few with you.

several years ago after making a list of films that I “wish I could have made” I noticed the following themes reoccured in many of them. here is that old list:

• Reality
• Identity
• Family/Love
• The Quest
• Freedom/Choice vs. Duty

taking those themes I imagined compelling limited locations where thos themes could play out. some of those were:

• an interstellar space ship
• a mining colony on astroid / planet
• a post apocalyptic bunker
• a research station in the arctic / on the polar ice
• a train
• at a sleep clinic / drug testing facility

now many of these would not be budget appropriate, so I examined the list and thought about WHAT compelled me about those locations. I got this list:

• the edge of society
• the frontier
• fights for survival
• man rising above his potential
• sacrifice for the greater good
• the distinction/blurring between realities

as you can see, it’s similar to the list that I made years ago…which I think is a good thing. it means there are issues and ideas that are stuck in my head. things that won’t go away…and I should pay attention to them because that is where my passion & inspiration will reside.

so at this point I’ve got themes and ideas that interest me, some locations I won’t be able to afford… and no stories. what next? how do I take these disparate elements and make them into a screenplay?

once of the things I’ve learned about dramatic storytelling is that it needs to contain DRAMA. specifically that there needs to be a strong “Dramatic Dilemma.” what is a dramatic dilemma? well, in the simplest terms it’s the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation that a character is placed in. the harder the decision – the more compelling the drama and the more the audience will care. as a storyteller you want to put your protagonist in the toughest possible position. force them to make HARD decisions and you’ll make interesting media. let them sail by easily and you’ll be making ENTOURAGE(1).

it’s important that there not be an obvious solution to the problem they are facing.

ex: the protagonist has to decide between staying with the love of his life, or heading out on the road to do something dangerous.

that’s a weak dilemma. why would he not stay w/ the love of his life? what compells him to go out and “do something dangerous?”

I went back to my sketch books and looked for a list of dramatic dilemmas that I’d brainstormed last year. here are some of them:

• Family vs. Duty to Nation
• True Love vs. Marriage
• The Life of an Innocent Stranger vs. The Life of a Guilty Loved One
• Freewill vs. Security
• Wealth vs. Love
• Life of a Child vs. Life of a Spouse

none of these choices should be easy. if it’s easy, it isn’t good drama! and since I’m not interested in making films without compelling and engaging drama it was important that I consider the sorts of hard choices I could force my characters to make.

I was getting close to actually start to writing…but a little more brainstorming was in order. I made lists of things in our modern society that bothered me and a list of things that excited me. this could lead into a really big topic on the importance & cultural relevance of cinema and perhaps sometime in the future I’ll come back and write on it. But for now, let’s just cut it short and simply say that I want my films, especially fantasy or sci-fi projects to address real issues and real struggles that face people and society today.

after all that pre-brainstorming I went snowboarding and for a few hours forgot about the world.

then I brewed some French press coffee, put on some good music, and let my mind wander.

I didn’t try to edit myself – I wrote down whatever ideas, scenarios, and random thoughts popped into my head. it wasn’t important that the ideas were good (although I hoped they would be). it was more important that I got the the ideas OUT there. I’ve found that often a bad first idea will inspire a good idea later, or you’ll realize what you liked about that first idea, riff off of it and come up with something actually workable.

the trick for me is to let the writing flow, get as much on ‘paper’ as possible, then when there is a LOT of it, look at it and refine, revise, and rewrite.

after multiple brainstorming sessions, revisions, and weeding I had a solid 20+ loglines/ideas for potential projects. I sent these to some of my trusted friends/advisors for feedback and worked on narrowing the list down to 10. once I was settled on that smaller number I expanded the ideas from a sentence or two into 1-page treatments.

once finished, these treatments will be submitted to my producer Kimberley. together she and I will pick the best ones and I’ll work on further expanding the ideas. if there’s one that seems to be a good fit for the sort of feature screenplay we are looking for, only then will I sit down and write it.

it might seem like a lot of work, and I guess it is, but I’ve found that they better I know what I’m trying to say, write, film, or edit – the smoother the process goes. so even if this work doesn’t yield a finished screenplay, it is still worth it because I’ve tuned and refined my ideas as a storyteller. and hey, if someone ever says that they are looking for a project that is GREMLINS meets SNAKES ON A PLANE, well now I’ve got something for them.

who knows, maybe in a month or two I’ll be back Sheep Ranch again. there’s some chainsawing that needs to be done.

—-

what about y’all? I’d love to learn about some of your creative processes!

-Luke

(1) ENTOURAGE is a show notorious for letting its characters off easy.

hope tax-day was as painless as possible for all of you. I’ve been enjoying some time as a writer/ski-bum/editor the past week. so great to get out of the city and get some time on the hill!

I’ll try and post some about the work I’ve been doing in the following weeks… until there enjoy this video.

-Luke

hope you enjoyed the first part of my interview with Chris Louie…here is the conclusion!

—[start part 2]—

LG: Going back to your personal work, do you have any other artwork or music that you turn to if you get stuck or in a rut?

CL: Definitely music inspires me the most.  I’ve been thinking about how I really want to start making music again.  I found that last year I wasn’t listening to as much new and fresh music as previously and it was one of my slowest years.  So this year I’m correcting that and am all up on the newest music.  

LG: So what’s on your playlist right now?

CL: I really got into Lykke Li, I’m a little late – but I’m super into her.  

LG: Cool, she’s great.  So, what sort of music did you make?  I didn’t know you were a musician.

CL: I just made weird electronic music with my brother.  Weird stuff.  I can send you a song and you could post it.

LG: Oh yeah, that’d be cool.

CL: Yeah, I did a whole song with my brother just laughing over the track.  

LG: Actually Dennis is a good topic for us.  You have your brother in a lot of your work and I can tell that you guys are really close.  Can you talk about your relationship and how that plays out in your art?

CL: Wow, I’ve never actually thought about that.  I’m just really close with him.  Having grown up with him and having the different perspective of having him in my life has definitely changed me.  It’s definitely shaped who I am in a way that’s unique from other people’s upbringings.  

He’s just a really magical person.  He’s got an infinite amount of love and compassion and I think that has really taught me a lot.  And seeing how he’s had such limited abilities – but that it hasn’t limited anything he’s ever done.  He does long distance running in the Special Olympics – he’s like the Energizer bunny and he’ll go for like, forever.  And he’s been working at McDonald’s for like, 12 years.  He’s on time everyday, never gets in trouble.  He’s been a huge inspiration for me.

[Chris & Dennis]

He and I have been really close in part because he kinda raised me.  My parents’ worked a lot and he raised me when I was younger – and then the roles kind of shifted at a certain point.  So we have a really close, kinda strange relationship.  I’m not really sure why I started using him, probably just by proximity at first.   

Cause when I was making music, I didn’t like my singing voice – so I just used him.  

LG:  And your sister is a musician also, right?

CL: Yeah.

LG: Have you guys collaborated on any artistic ventures?

CL: I made a song for our parents for a Christmas video.  I captured a bunch of family videos and then I cut together a montage for it.  But she was a bum.  She flaked out half way thru the process and only recorded the drums.  But I’m going to make a video for her obviously, it just hasn’t come about yet.  Not enough time.  But I already have the concept. We are going to San Francisco, so we will probably start shooting it there.  

LG: Cool, any other art projects you want to mention?

CL: Well we are doing the cardboard gun project.

LG: Uh huh, tell me a little more about that.

CL: That really funny, it’s the start of the Mojowski project.  So one day Bill had a bunch of cardboard in the studio and he just made this dumb little gun.  You know, with tape all around it and he’s going around like a little kid and he was like “I’m going to make one of these every day for a week” [both laugh] and I told him “Ok, go for it” not really paying attention, working on the computer working.  And he goes around “shooting” it and gives it to me and I start playing with it and I was like “let’s film something.”  And we ended up putting together this 70′s leisure suit detective character out of that [LG laughs] and it just slowly grew from there.

The cardboard guns got bigger, the character got bigger, and it turned into the Mojowski thing.  That was like two years ago.  And now the script is almost done and the art project has had an art show and one of the machine guns was at the MOCA in the Banksy Room.  

LG: Yeah, I saw that there.

CL: And then we did the spray cans for the show in London with Banksy.  It’s funny, it wasn’t premeditated, it all just started with this dumb little gun that Bill made.  

LG: Are those going to show anywhere else? 

CL: Ah yes, we are doing a show at Bergamot Station in September or November, that’s going to be a big one.  So we are going to be working all summer on that.  Again, balancing duties as we do it.

LG: Are you going to have new pieces besides the guns? Are you going to do any characters or is all going to “objects?”

CL: Yeah – did you go to the show?  Or wait, you were out of town?

LG: Yeah I was headed to France.

CL: That’s right, you were going to Cannes for your short film.  

LG: Yeah.

CL: We had a deer at that one.  There will be some characters, planes, it’s definitely expanding.

LG: So do you have a favorite The Real Luke episode?

CL: I like any of the videos when you go home, cause you always look so happy.  [LG laughs] It’s obvious cause you are at home.  

LG: Where can be see more of your work?

CL: At walterrobot.com or youtube.com/walterrobot 

LG: Thing else you want to add before I shut this baby down?

CL: Santorum 2012. [both laugh]

[/end interview]

well, that’s it folks. hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit about Chris. make sure to check out his website, lots more projects to watch there!

-Luke

how is everyone out there in radioland everywhere land?? I’m hanging out at a Starbucks in Woodland Hills waiting to meet with one of my favorite clients – the director of BOB THE BUILDER. I really enjoyed working on animation projects and hope to get to edit more in the future, love to add to my impressive collection of CAREBEARS, MY LITTLE PONY, ANGELINA BALLERINA, and of course everyone’s favorite contractor BOB THE BUILDER!

a couple weeks ago I had the chance to sit down and chat with my good friend and and member of the directing partnership “Walter Robot” – Chris Louie. I really like doing these interviews, not because I want to be a journalist, but more because I’m really stoked on the number of incredibly talented and interesting people that I’m lucky enough to call my friends. I want to learn more about their creative process AND share their work with y’all.

so without further ado, here’s the first part of the interview. Chris is [CL] and as usual, I’m [LG].

—[start interview]—

LG: so how do we know each other?

CL: it was right when I first started directing, and I was going on ANTVILLE and I remember that I liked a couple of Josh [Forbes'] videos and so I reached out to him.  He was super cool and really nice.  He invited me to go onto one of his sets for a Metro Station video.  it was really cool – first time I’d gone onto another director’s set.  And afterwards he said he was going to get drink with Lex Halaby and I was like “Whooooa Lex Halaby” [LG laughs] I know who that guy is! 

and then I met Rylan and we all went out for drinks and when we were there we started spitballin’ and I told Lex how I’d been wanting to do a writers’ group and he said he had been wanting to do one for a while also.  And he said that he would host it and then a couple weeks later it happened.  I think it was just you, Rylan, Lex and me that first night.

LG: Yeah, I think so.

CL: that had to be four or five years ago, cause it was right when I started directing.

LG: we should look that up and see exactly when it was.  we can put a plaque up in front of his old apartment.

CL: there was no name then, [LG laughs] it was just the “writers’ group.”

LG: So you said you were just start to direct at that time, how did you get into that?  what did you come from before directing?

CL:  I was at UCLA, not as a film major but as a sociology major but I took a bunch of classes w/ Bill [Barminski].  then after graduating I realized I wanted to start directing, so I did my own little short film.  I didn’t really submit it to any festivals or anything, it was just something I wanted to do for myself.  I knew I wanted to do something with film and was willing to be a PA or do whatever. 

I ended up reconnecting with Bill and assisted him on a music video and a short film that he was doing.  And as we were working together, we just totally hit it off and started talking about other ideas.  After another job we turned into directing partners. It all kind of happened organically.

LG: How do you guys balance a “directing partnership?” Do you have strict divisions between what you guys do or is it kind of an ebb & flow?

[Here's the very first thing Chris & Bill directed together as "Walter Robot"]

CL: Bill is an artist, so his strengths were originally rooted in his ability to draw and imagine imagery – more so than mine.  and I came from a stronger story background cause I’d been writing a lot since I was younger.  So those were our strong points, but there’s a lot of cross over.  Like with the “Mojowski” script that we are writing now, Bill is spearheading that – and doing a great job.  And I’m getting a bit more visual too.  

So that being said, there’s no hard line.  We have our strengths that we both know, but there’s always a back and forth. 

[Chris & Bill on set]

LG: You guys have a really interesting visual style that’s in much of your work.  Can you describe that and also talk about the process of bringing it to life?

CL: What makes our style consistent is that we are always the ones doing everything.  The majority of the stuff that we do is just him and I going out and shooting it – then doing all the post production on our own. So that being said, everything we do has some sort of fantastical or visual effects element to it.  We also like doing animation, and often we are blending those together. I think that comes from both our sensibilities – we really like that kind of stuff and from the fact that you get more ‘bang for your buck’ with that.

LG: Cause you can visualize worlds that don’t exist and bring them to life.

CL: Yeah, and they just look different.  They stand out from other projects that don’t include any VFX. 

LG: With the animation and the character design, is that something Bill was doing in a still format before the videos?

CL: Bill actually used to be a comic book artist.  Back in the 80′s he had a comic book and when he moved to LA he continued with visual arts.  A lot of times we develop the characters together.  We’ll start with an idea and talk about it, then he’ll draw some ideas and I’ll give him feedback and we go from there.

LG: Your work has a lot of surrealist and magical realism influences and themes throughout it.  Are there any artists or filmmakers or writers that inspire you in that direction?

CL: Definitely any fantasy stuff and movies from the 80′s and early 90′s that incorporated magical realism in a way where the film was shining a light on it, it just WAS the world.  Like the movie MR. DESTINY.  Jim Belushi is this down & out dude, and he’s always living in the past thinking “if I’d only hit that home-run in high school I would have made it to the Big Leagues.  Now I’m down & out with my wife & kids and shit job” and then Michael Caine comes out and grants him the wish.  And then back-in-time he hits the home-run and his present-day-life changes.  He’s got a mansion, plays in the big leagues, has a beautiful wife – but all he wants is to get back to “normal” life. 

Also DREAM HOUSE with Christopher Walken or DELIRIOUS with John Candy.  In DELIRIOUS, Candy was a writer for a Soap Opera and one day he falls off a horse and wakes up inside the Soap that he’s been writing.  And not only that, but he can write the world that he’s currently in.  But it’s a JOHN CANDY movie, it’s not a “Charlie Kaufman/Michele Gondry/Spike Jonez” movie it was probably directed by some Joe-Shmoe.  

So that’s the stuff that influences me.  The films that don’t draw specific intention to their fantastical elements and are just as entertaining as they artful.

LG: Ah cool.  Are you working on anything similar to that now?

CL: Yeah, we are working on something called MIXTAPE right now, it is very much that sort of style.  It’s about a 17 year old dreamer kid who draws a lot and is obsessed with the past.  He finds a box full of cassette tapes that are audio dairies and music from a high school girl from the 80′s.  And thru listening to the tapes went enter his hand drawn fantasy of what her world was like.  Those drawings transition into live action and he’s got this huge, magical vision of what her life in the 80′s was like – people flying and fireworks, very John Hughes inspired.  And then he runs away from home to find her, but she doesn’t live up to any of what he had envisioned in his head. 

LG: And this is something that you and Bill are currently writing?

CL: It’s already written, so we have it out to a few actresses.  But you know, this stuff takes forever.

LG: And this is while you guys are doing “work for hire” stuff as well?

CL: Yeah, we need to make a living.

LG: Right, so there’s that whole life/work client/personal balance. Do you schedule specific time to work on your personal projects?

CL: Whatever has the most immediate deadline takes precedent.  So right now we’re working on an animation sequence for a movie and that is the most important thing on the table right now cause they have a festival coming up. 

I mean obviously it is a balance and everyone’s approach is different.  Last year we worked a couple commercials that paid us pretty well and after that we were good to go and it was all Mojowski.  We just focused on writing that for months after that.  So if we get one or two more big commercials this year we’ll be good.  

[A bit of promotional work for Mojowski]

[end Part 1.]

Next week we’ll pick up with Part 2, learn more about MOJOWSKI and talk with Chris about his amazing brother Dennis.

-Luke

here is a little collection of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE.

enjoy=)

-Luke

in prep for a new shoot…hopefully have some goodies for you next week.

-Luke

so a couple of weeks ago I went to see the CAT CIRCUS with some friends. it was pretty much as weird and crazy as it sounds. the crowd was about 1/2 hipsters and 1/2 crazy cat ladies, and 100% cat people.

the cats did balancing acts, high jumps, rolled on balls, skateboarded, pushed strollers, and literally JUMPED THROUGH HOOPS. and there was no shortage of cat related puns and “awwwwww” inducing stories from the host.

it was quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed the antics of Hen-diana Jones – the group’s resident chicken.

the show closed with a performance by “Tuna and the Rock-cats.” this video is a pretty accurate depiction of what it was like.

learn more about the Cat Circus on their website: circuscats.com they travel all around the country – so there’s a chance you’ll get to see them soon! it’s definitely worth the price of admission.

-Luke