FRAME by FRAME: December 2005

THE END IS NEAR

Wednesday, December 14, 2005 | 1 Comments

Well, it's time I opine on 2005. While everyone else will talk and rant on about the war, politics, the right vs the left, religion vs secularism, and so on. I choose to cover my favorite subject...me. Really, I just want to focus on Twenty One and many of the friends and partners we've worked with over the years.

Biggest highs this year - Finishing 12 Steps Nowhere, Star Wars: The Unknown Discovery, Star Wars: Episode III, my birthday, Bone China, and landing our first name actress in a lead role.

Let me expound. Finishing up 12 Steps has been a long time coming and probably the biggest accomplishment all year. We began filming of the movie back in 2003 and got final prints done in May of 2005. Not what we had planned but it turned out better than I had every dreamed! We had a great premiere and a great after party! Nothing quite felt as good this year as seeing that movie finally play in a theatre.

Star Wars: The Unknown Discovery was a HUGE marketing coupe for us. We went out and shot the entire thing in one day. Everyone at Twenty One, Filmburn and Dynamix and Post Time busted their collective asses to get a FULL DVD finished for the Star Wars convention in Indianapolis just weeks prior to the release of Episode III. After releasing the movie and passing out 300+ DVD's, our web traffic went from an average of 2,000 hits a month to 100,000+ hits a month and to this day still holding. In one day we jumped 30,000 hits and had to add more space and find mirror sites to help host before viewer traffic crashed the site. iFilm picked the movie up, so did ManiaTV! and Film Threat reviewed it. The fan film was and is our biggest hit to date and for me personally a dream come true to see my name as director at the end of anything Star Wars!

Star Wars: Episode III - What can I say? It was the completion of a journey I have been on since I saw the original Episode IV in 1977 at age nine!

My birthday - I can't give details, to protect the innocent. It's a story for a time drowned in several rounds of bourbon and a lack of morals and ethics. All I can say the best birthday of my life! I don't see how I can ever top it, but I can always try!

Bone China - This is THE MOVIE! I am so excited about it I can hardly contain my enthusiasm! I'll probably be listing this one on my year end for 2006 as well. But this year is when the seed was planted. It also coincides with landing our first "name" actress. I about pissed myself when Dave called and said we had a commitment. It took a while for me to even believe it. My conversation with Dave. Dave - "She said she loves it and wants to do it." RJ - "No fucking way!" Dave - "Seriously, that's what she said." RJ - "You're lying. Really?" Dave - "I'm not kidding." RJ - "Shut up. She didn't. Are you fucking with me?" Dave - I saved the voicemail, you can hear it yourself." RJ - "No way. Are you serious. Come on." And so it went for several more minutes. I finally heard the message and I still didn't believe it.

There were other really good things that happened this year, not to just me, but people I have known for some time now.

Mat Raney was brought on board, "officially," as a member of the Twenty One team. Hell, he's been hanging around since Closure back in 2000. We couldn't shake him so we hired him. Seriously, Mat is a good guy, hardworking, smart, talented and he's a great addition!

Jared Smith, my A.D. on The Midnight, and a producer/director for many other Twenty One projects, as well as his own, Good Ninja Pictures, finished film school in New York and moved out to L.A. earlier this year. Now he works for MTV doing what seems to be a little bit of everything, schoomzing with celebs, and working on his own movie projects. I envy this shit out of him, but I couldn't be happier for the guy. The man is going places and he deserves it.

Justin R. Durban, our music man. He also made the leap out to L.A. to do his thing! From the time I met Durb I knew he'd be successful in whatever he chose to do. The guy has so much fucking talent it's scary. And I envy him too. I just hope he doesn't forget who I am when he's accepting his Oscar for Best musical score!

David Cottingham. What can I say about him that I haven't said before? Without him I would never be where I am today. Any success I may achieve will only be because he's stuck by me all these years. 5 years in Feb. 06. That's a lifetime for many entertainment partnerships. But for me and Dave it still is only the beginning!

Every year on the website I do a "thank you" news section for all those who have helped us through the years. The list has gotten so long that I fear I will forget someone by trying to thank everyone individually. So, "thank you" to everyone who has helped make my year a particularly good one. Sure I had bad moments in 05, but I like to focus on the positive and there was much more of that than anything this year. We made new friends and partners, saw many long time friends move on to growing successes and achievements in their careers and within the industry. We got plenty of press and a ton of new exposure. We keep moving onward and upward and we wish continued success and good fortune to all our friends and partners in the new year!

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR A GREAT 2005!

posted by Twenty One Productions @ 3:08 PM

Sundance Hates Me!

Monday, December 12, 2005 | 0 Comments

My producer, David, reminded me that I haven't been blogging in a while. I guess I haven't had much to say. The cold weather has finally set in and the winter blues are already settling in. Mind you we don't have it bad here in the southeast but because I hate cold weather even a little is too much for me. It's times like these that I envy my friends and fellow filmmakers out in L.A. I wish I had their good weather fortune right about now.

Anyway, back to the title of this blog. Yes, Sundance hates me! I just received my second rejection letter for a movie of mine. Now let's be clear. I knew our chances of a Sundance approval was slim to none but there's always a hope. So, I'm not mad at Sundance, hell it wasn't even a shock to get the rejection letter. It's just that the festival snowball is quickly becoming an avalanche. The festival circuit so far as a whole has been unkind to us. Sundance says no, but nice work. Slamdance doesn't even let me know I haven't been accepted, I had to go to their website, look at the scheduled line-up and realize 12 STEPS was nowhere to be found. Chicago REEL shorts, said no, but likes to keep spamming me with their emails and one festival, the Show-Me digital just took our money and never even had a festival as far as I know. I contacted them, asking what's up and I get no response in return.

Now at least Sundance said no in a kind but yet bend over manner. Now the only solace I get from the Sundance thing is that I at least had a movie to submit. Most filmmakers can't get that far in their projects. I not discouraged, just disappointed. It doesn't keep us from making movies, if it did we would have stopped at CLOSURE. The next move is to keep submitting. Can't let the rejections get you down, but it is therapeutic to vent once and a while.

BONE CHINA will be different. I believe that wholeheartedly. I have to. All our movies get bigger and better and this one is far beyond anything we've tackled before. We brainstormed a couple of weeks ago on a realistic cast we want to go after and if we get a third of the people we want Sundance will be less of a obstacle next time around. It's no guarantee but the daunting task seems more manageable. Although a rejection letter might be more painful.

Other thoughts:
UK basketball, the one saving grace to an otherwise crappy collegiate sporting year and even crappier winter weather, is looking very bad. Could be a long painful season. Something we UK fans are not and never will get used to.

December, also the crap month for T.V. All my shows go into reruns, but at least now I have more time to focus on movies, and now I have nine episodes of Ghost Whisperer to catch up on.

MySpace is cool, yet if I have to continue to see wanna be 20 something male models, sans shirt, gelled up hair, with a "I am the fucking bomb, bitch" look on his face I'm going to fucking puke!

David just helped me do a Christmas video/parody for my nine to five company and what a friggin' bizarre feeling that was. We went from a crew of 10 -15 on the Star Wars parody back to just me and Dave just like it was on CLOSURE almost 5 years ago! We don't EVER want to do that again. Makes me salivate and long for for the BONE CHINA shoot!

Next time: The year in review and my end of the year awards! (I don't even know what I mean by that!)

posted by Twenty One Productions @ 9:48 AM

		FRAME by FRAME News and commentary from Russell Johnson and Twenty One Productions.
		THE END IS NEAR Wednesday, December 14, 2005 \| 1 Comments Well, it's time I opine on 2005. While everyone else will talk and rant on about the war, politics, the right vs the left, religion vs secularism, and so on. I choose to cover my favorite subject...me. Really, I just want to focus on Twenty One and many of the friends and partners we've worked with over the years. Biggest highs this year - Finishing 12 Steps Nowhere, Star Wars: The Unknown Discovery, Star Wars: Episode III, my birthday, Bone China, and landing our first name actress in a lead role. Let me expound. Finishing up 12 Steps has been a long time coming and probably the biggest accomplishment all year. We began filming of the movie back in 2003 and got final prints done in May of 2005. Not what we had planned but it turned out better than I had every dreamed! We had a great premiere and a great after party! Nothing quite felt as good this year as seeing that movie finally play in a theatre. Star Wars: The Unknown Discovery was a HUGE marketing coupe for us. We went out and shot the entire thing in one day. Everyone at Twenty One, Filmburn and Dynamix and Post Time busted their collective asses to get a FULL DVD finished for the Star Wars convention in Indianapolis just weeks prior to the release of Episode III. After releasing the movie and passing out 300+ DVD's, our web traffic went from an average of 2,000 hits a month to 100,000+ hits a month and to this day still holding. In one day we jumped 30,000 hits and had to add more space and find mirror sites to help host before viewer traffic crashed the site. iFilm picked the movie up, so did ManiaTV! and Film Threat reviewed it. The fan film was and is our biggest hit to date and for me personally a dream come true to see my name as director at the end of anything Star Wars! Star Wars: Episode III - What can I say? It was the completion of a journey I have been on since I saw the original Episode IV in 1977 at age nine! My birthday - I can't give details, to protect the innocent. It's a story for a time drowned in several rounds of bourbon and a lack of morals and ethics. All I can say the best birthday of my life! I don't see how I can ever top it, but I can always try! Bone China - This is THE MOVIE! I am so excited about it I can hardly contain my enthusiasm! I'll probably be listing this one on my year end for 2006 as well. But this year is when the seed was planted. It also coincides with landing our first "name" actress. I about pissed myself when Dave called and said we had a commitment. It took a while for me to even believe it. My conversation with Dave. Dave - "She said she loves it and wants to do it." RJ - "No fucking way!" Dave - "Seriously, that's what she said." RJ - "You're lying. Really?" Dave - "I'm not kidding." RJ - "Shut up. She didn't. Are you fucking with me?" Dave - I saved the voicemail, you can hear it yourself." RJ - "No way. Are you serious. Come on." And so it went for several more minutes. I finally heard the message and I still didn't believe it. There were other really good things that happened this year, not to just me, but people I have known for some time now. Mat Raney was brought on board, "officially," as a member of the Twenty One team. Hell, he's been hanging around since Closure back in 2000. We couldn't shake him so we hired him. Seriously, Mat is a good guy, hardworking, smart, talented and he's a great addition! Jared Smith, my A.D. on The Midnight, and a producer/director for many other Twenty One projects, as well as his own, Good Ninja Pictures, finished film school in New York and moved out to L.A. earlier this year. Now he works for MTV doing what seems to be a little bit of everything, schoomzing with celebs, and working on his own movie projects. I envy this shit out of him, but I couldn't be happier for the guy. The man is going places and he deserves it. Justin R. Durban, our music man. He also made the leap out to L.A. to do his thing! From the time I met Durb I knew he'd be successful in whatever he chose to do. The guy has so much fucking talent it's scary. And I envy him too. I just hope he doesn't forget who I am when he's accepting his Oscar for Best musical score! David Cottingham. What can I say about him that I haven't said before? Without him I would never be where I am today. Any success I may achieve will only be because he's stuck by me all these years. 5 years in Feb. 06. That's a lifetime for many entertainment partnerships. But for me and Dave it still is only the beginning! Every year on the website I do a "thank you" news section for all those who have helped us through the years. The list has gotten so long that I fear I will forget someone by trying to thank everyone individually. So, "thank you" to everyone who has helped make my year a particularly good one. Sure I had bad moments in 05, but I like to focus on the positive and there was much more of that than anything this year. We made new friends and partners, saw many long time friends move on to growing successes and achievements in their careers and within the industry. We got plenty of press and a ton of new exposure. We keep moving onward and upward and we wish continued success and good fortune to all our friends and partners in the new year! THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR A GREAT 2005! posted by Twenty One Productions @ 3:08 PM Sundance Hates Me! Monday, December 12, 2005 \| 0 Comments My producer, David, reminded me that I haven't been blogging in a while. I guess I haven't had much to say. The cold weather has finally set in and the winter blues are already settling in. Mind you we don't have it bad here in the southeast but because I hate cold weather even a little is too much for me. It's times like these that I envy my friends and fellow filmmakers out in L.A. I wish I had their good weather fortune right about now. Anyway, back to the title of this blog. Yes, Sundance hates me! I just received my second rejection letter for a movie of mine. Now let's be clear. I knew our chances of a Sundance approval was slim to none but there's always a hope. So, I'm not mad at Sundance, hell it wasn't even a shock to get the rejection letter. It's just that the festival snowball is quickly becoming an avalanche. The festival circuit so far as a whole has been unkind to us. Sundance says no, but nice work. Slamdance doesn't even let me know I haven't been accepted, I had to go to their website, look at the scheduled line-up and realize 12 STEPS was nowhere to be found. Chicago REEL shorts, said no, but likes to keep spamming me with their emails and one festival, the Show-Me digital just took our money and never even had a festival as far as I know. I contacted them, asking what's up and I get no response in return. Now at least Sundance said no in a kind but yet bend over manner. Now the only solace I get from the Sundance thing is that I at least had a movie to submit. Most filmmakers can't get that far in their projects. I not discouraged, just disappointed. It doesn't keep us from making movies, if it did we would have stopped at CLOSURE. The next move is to keep submitting. Can't let the rejections get you down, but it is therapeutic to vent once and a while. BONE CHINA will be different. I believe that wholeheartedly. I have to. All our movies get bigger and better and this one is far beyond anything we've tackled before. We brainstormed a couple of weeks ago on a realistic cast we want to go after and if we get a third of the people we want Sundance will be less of a obstacle next time around. It's no guarantee but the daunting task seems more manageable. Although a rejection letter might be more painful. Other thoughts: UK basketball, the one saving grace to an otherwise crappy collegiate sporting year and even crappier winter weather, is looking very bad. Could be a long painful season. Something we UK fans are not and never will get used to. December, also the crap month for T.V. All my shows go into reruns, but at least now I have more time to focus on movies, and now I have nine episodes of Ghost Whisperer to catch up on. MySpace is cool, yet if I have to continue to see wanna be 20 something male models, sans shirt, gelled up hair, with a "I am the fucking bomb, bitch" look on his face I'm going to fucking puke! David just helped me do a Christmas video/parody for my nine to five company and what a friggin' bizarre feeling that was. We went from a crew of 10 -15 on the Star Wars parody back to just me and Dave just like it was on CLOSURE almost 5 years ago! We don't EVER want to do that again. Makes me salivate and long for for the BONE CHINA shoot! Next time: The year in review and my end of the year awards! (I don't even know what I mean by that!) posted by Twenty One Productions @ 9:48 AM	About Me Name: Twenty One Productions Location: United States View my complete profile Links Twenty One Productions Twenty One Podcast Russell's MySpace Russell's YouTube Twenty One's MySpace Producer David Cottingham's Blog Writer/actor Mat Raney's Blog Justin R. Durban's site RSS Subscribe to Posts [Atom] Previous Posts New project in the works 1st SCENE IN THE CAN! TEST SHOOT IS LIKE RED BULL! Lucky or Just a F***ing Idiot! Losing a Loved ONE Scars & Souvenirs MOVING FORWARD HELP US WIN! VOTE FOR US! Happy Easter! Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 January 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 Current Posts © 2007 TWENTY ONE PRODUCTIONS, All Rights Reserved STAR WARS and all associated characters, logos and other elements are the property of LucasFilm Ltd. This production is a "Fan Film", and as such no profit can be made from the presentation or distribution of this film. This film is not for sale. STAR WARS is a Registered Trademark of LucasFilm Ltd.

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