Halfway Through The 730: 2013 Year In Review

This time last year I made a blog called "The Next 730 Days". It was about how I felt the 730 days from 1/1/13 to 12/31/14 will set the tone for the rest of my life. Feel free to read the link below to read it.

http://jasonwschaver.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-next-730-daysplus-video-clip.html

Are you back?  You didn't read it, but that's okay.

So here's my 2013 year in review & an update of how the first 365 days of that 730 have been going.

MARCH 2013- My film, Wingmen Incorporated, was finished 3/1/13. It was also brought to my attention shortly after that that my former partner (Ken) had went behind my back and edited out large chunks of my commentary. This was the final straw in a long string of shady behavior by him. I decided to cut ties with him because of this.  Somewhere along the way we went from me casting him in what would later be The Truth About Average Guys to us being 50/50 partners (which was fine with me) to him thinking I worked for him (without pay). He'd deny that, but that's what it felt like towards the end. Proof of that is him editing out my commentary without my knowledge. I wasn't given the chance to approve his commentary, which I wouldn't have because he said several things in it that weren't true. Oh well, I re-did my commentary and set the record straight on the things he said.

CLICK HERE To purchase a DVD that has the new commentary on it ($6.99) shirt ($9.99) shirt and DVD $14.99)

Sure, we did some good things, but I won't miss him telling me what to put in my blog, him telling me to lie to our fans, him telling me telling me who I can and can't have on my commentary, him casting people he's sleeping with in all our films, him editing out large chunks of my commentary, him telling me that we need to raise our prices b/c the reason people aren't buying it is b/c it's too cheap and they don't respect it, him telling me a Kickstarter campaign was stupid and it won't work (not helping at all on it) then when it worked him telling me what "we" should spend "our" money on b/c I only got it b/c I was under the "Adjusted Gratuity" banner. (WTF?)   Him giving me permission to film my own sketches that I wrote myself and use the money that I raised myself. (that was 10 Minute Abs)

(And I'm not even mentioning the shadiest thing he did in 2010 while we were shooting S.O.L. that violated my trust in the first place.)

Jason/Ken 2006-2013 R.I.P. 


APRIL 2013 - My lovely girlfriend Kate moved from Chicago to Fulton. We also started co-writing a book called Why She Left which is a book of quotes that I've actually said to her. I say some pretty fucked up stuff, luckily for me she thinks most of it is pretty funny. She's actually the one that suggested we start writing them all down.

MAY 2013 - got a letter from our landlord at the time that they were selling the building. The new landlord wanted to double the rent and wouldn't allow pets.  That first month or two was very stressful for us. There was just nothing jobs-wise out here for her.

JUNE 2013 - moved into our new apartment. It's not the best place, but it the rent is very reasonable, we live in a good neighborhood.  I also bought some editing software and taught myself how to edit. After parting ways with Ken I realized I would be the only one promoting the film and if I was going to be the only one submitting the film to festivals I wanted to submit a version that I was happy with. I cut out about 5 minutes of the film. Mostly boring stuff that slowed down the pacing. Really boring stuff. Felt like it was trying to be too cute and clever, and not working at all.

JULY 2013 - Helped my lovely girlfriend Kate start her business. She's doing really well and all her clients just adore her.   Also did a Indiegogo campaign for my short film No Regrets.  Raised $2202 from 51 donors from all over the world. Wanted to shoot that in the fall but life got in the way and before we knew it it was really cold outside. So we're thinking May of next year. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

AUGUST THROUGH PRESENT - Submitted Wingmen Incorporated to nearly 50 film festivals.  Will have spent nearly $1750 when all is said and done.  We're 7 for 17 (.412%) with 34 festivals left to hear back from over the coming months (all the way up until October of 2014).  We've won 3 awards & been nominated for 5 others. We're just getting started though. I submitted to a lot of earlybird deadlines, so I'll start hearing back from lots of festivals in 2014.

NOVEMBER 2013 - won best feature at the 2013 East Lansing Film Festival.  Also, Kate and I started writing our next project, the feature comedy I Don't Recall. I came up with the idea nearly a year ago. Wrote a couple scenes back in January but then got busy with life. We started writing again back in early November and now have about 60 pages written. We're trying for 100, so we are 60% done with the first draft. It's turning out to be really good. Kate is a much better writer than I thought she was going to be. She really brings depth to our female characters. She also has no agenda. (No writing parts for whomever she's fucking or making secondary characters act a certain way so her character can be the hero. She isn't even remotely interested in acting in the film. If anything, her only agenda is writing an amazing screenplay).  This has been the most pleasant co-writing experience I've ever had and I look forward to writing many more screenplays with Kate after this.

DECEMBER 2013 - Well, it's not over yet, but so far so good. I have been battling a cold for the past couple weeks, but I seem to be on the mend.  Haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, but will start Thursday (pay day).  Mainly just looking forward to next year.

So what is in store for 2014?

1.  Finish first draft of I Don't Recall.
2. continue to submit and hear back from film festivals regarding Wingmen Incorporated
3. Send I Don't Recall to script consultant to help with final draft & submit it to contests
4. seek out investors to shoot I Don't Recall ourselves. I would like to shoot it for $50k and use some of that money to seek out name talent to play a few smaller roles (1 day shoots). 
5.  Start diet 1/1/14.  Get down to 180 by May when I shoot my short/drama No Regrets
6. Get No Regrets done and submit it to larger festivals.
7. save up my weekly incentive money (from work) to go towards I Don't Recall budget. Want to start filming in spring of 2015. 

All in all 2013 wasn't too bad. If my former partner hadn't bailed on Wingmen Incorporated (in lame ass attempt to con his way into a SAG card) more might have happened this year with it. But like I said above, I have submitted to over 50 festivals that I think will lead to bigger and better things for the film.  Since parting ways with my former partner, I feel like a huge weight as been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I finally have control over my career. No bumping heads. No agendas. No shady behavior. I am very much enjoying the writing process again. Writing with Kate has been a breath of fresh air. She's even found some great music for the film. Writing with her has been so easy. And if the writing part has been easy, I can't wait to see how much better the filming part will be!

I think for 2014, the thing I am looking forward to the most is getting I Don't Recall done, getting a team together, raising the funds, and getting it ready to shoot. I think this will be a major step above my previous work.

That's all I got for now,

Jason W. Schaver
Moped Jones Entertainment
www.mopedjones.com

Why The Flint Film Festival Blows...

Howdy All!

Long time no blog.  As you can tell by the heading I am not pleased with the Flint Film Festival. I debated long and hard about posting this, but in the end I just felt like sharing. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but I feel like if people do a bad job they need to have their feathers ruffled from time to time just to keep them hungry and honest.

And without further adieu, here's why the Flint Film Festival blows...

1. They never told us that our film, Wingmen Incorporated, got in. I found out just a couple days before the festival that we got in because on a whim I went to their website and saw we were screening on the Friday night time slot (7:30, which is a great time slot, too bad no one told us).  

On the Tuesday before the festival I emailed the director (Dave) and said "I see that we got in. I never received notification from you. I know it may be too late, but is there anything you need from me? Stills? Posters? Let me know and I'll get it to you ASAP."

So that brings us to #2...

2.  I emailed them and they ignored it. How do you ignore someone that got into the festival? I understand festivals are bombarded with emails from filmmakers that don't get in, but you have to acknowledge the filmmakers that DO GET IN!

Despite being ignored, I decided to keep my mouth shut just in case this was a mistake and I didn't want to rock the boat in case we won an award. I figured our chances were good since in every interview the festival gave they gushed about our film. It was always the first (and usually the only) feature film they talked about when doing interviews with the local newspapers and TV stations.

Here's some of the interviews...

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2013/10/flint_film_festival_to_showcas_1.html

Thomas said two films that have garnered the most phone calls, emails and Facebook messages for interested viewers are "Flint's Best Rock" and "Wingmen Incorporated."

"Wingmen Incorporated," directed by Jason Schaver, is about a jaded psychologist who forms a company to teach desperate men how to pick up women. "Flint's Best Rock," a 1988 film by Jim Baadeln, is about the history of WWCK 105 FM, "Flint's Best Rock," the top rock station in the country during the 1970s and most of the 1980s.

Here's one from the local ABC affiliate.  There is an article + a video of the local news. In the video, be sure to watch 0:58 to 1:15, which is where they show the clip of Wingmen Incorporated.

http://www.abc12.com/story/23649018/flint-film-festival-to-celebrate-10th-anniversary

There was another article, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it.

So, yeah, they talked about our film quite a bit leading up to the festival. So I figured despite them completely blowing off telling us we got in that I could easily forgive them if we won an award.

Well, we didn't win. The Rebound, a local film the festival directors did NOT talk about in any of their interviews, somehow won "Best Feature".  (go ahead and re-read the articles I posted, no mention of it anywhere)

Below is the trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS3rqOtmQbo

Now I'm not going to bash another person's film, but there was a reason why the festival used Wingmen Incorporated to lure people to the festival and not this film. So they clearly thought our film was better, yet somehow, The Rebound managed to win the award.

So that was kind of the last straw. I filed a complaint with the film festival submission website www.withoutabox.com and the festival itself and got my refund.  The festival director couldn't have been more rude or condescending.

Here's a few snipets of his emails...

"Well they (withoutabox) forwarded me your nasty letter..."

First off, it wasn't a "nasty" letter. It was a letter of complaint. I told him about how I didn't appreciate not being notified of being selected or them ignoring my initial email.  I also asked how a film that they gushed about in every interview could lose to a film that they never mentioned at all in any of their interviews and that if I knew they were just going to give awards to their friends* I wouldn't have wasted my time submitting to them in the first place and would like a refund.

*Now I'm not sure if they are actually friends, but it was a local film. I called them "friends" to get my point across to them that from an outsider's perspective this looks really really really fucking shadey.

Here's an excerpt from another email...

I personally liked your film, and it was strong as far as the competition. Our scoring as far as the placement is by scored in certain criteria, and is just by number and not emotion or whether we like it or not. I hope you understand.

That being said, I saw nothing from The Rebound trailer that made me think it was a far superior film. In fact, I'd take our film over it any day of the week. He still never answered my question how a film that he used so valiantly to promote his festival could lose to a film that he didn't feel was good enough to even mention to the press? If it was so great, why didn't he talk about it more? Or at all even?

In well over 2,000 submissions we have never been asked for a refund.

I'm not sure if I buy that. If so, how unlucky am I?  Seriously, that's like a 0.05% chance of fucking up, and they fucked up the one time I deal with them.

 I'm sorry that things worked out the way they did or the way that you perceive they did...

This pissed me off. I didn't "perceive" any of this. This is what really happened in real life. There's no lack of communication or crossed signals or not being on the same page or whatever cliché you want to use. They really didn't contact me and they really didn't respond to my initial email and they really did award a local film "Best Feature" despite the fact that they really did never talk about the film at all in their promotional interviews.

....but kicking up all of this dust isn't doing any good.

Worked out okay for me. I got my f*cking refund.  (well, most of it, my submission fee was $25 and they sent me a check for $20. So they shorted me $5, but honestly, as incompetent as this festival is I will consider that a VICTORY!)

Anyway, I hope I don't come off as too pissy. Part of these blogs are to vent and get things off your chest and this has been in my mind for the past week or so.  If you are a filmmaker I would definitely recommend skipping this festival. I have been treated better by festivals that rejected me than this one, and they loved our movie. I can't imagine how they treat people who's movies they don't like.

Jason W. Schaver