State of the Cartoon Report
by Karl Cohen
SF's Mark Fiore Wins Pulitzer for Polical Animated Cartoons
Mark Fiore, a political cartoonist and animator who rises above all others on the Internet, is presently on SFGate.com, Mother Jones.com, CBSNews.com and other sites.
Equal Opportunity Insulter: Fiore reserves his most searing sarcasm for bankers, Republicans, etc. Photo: courtesy M. Fiore
His submissions for the Pulitzer included "Science-gate" (12/09/09) which lampoons skeptics of global warming, "Obama Interruptus" (12/02/09) which portrays his trying to stay focused despite the distractions of the world around him, and "Credit Card Reform" (10/28/09) which takes on the fabulous mumbo-jumbo double-talk offers of the credit card industry.
In 2000, Fiore taught himself Flash, found two customers and started churning out Flash cartoons like crazy. Then the "dream job" he had always wanted appeared: the San Jose Mercury News hired him as their political cartoonist. Being on staff was great until he discovered his editor was under tremendous pressure to keep circulation and ad revenues up.
"It was awful," Fiore says. He lasted six months due to their restrictive editorial policy. (Translation: the Merc did not allow him to kick ass and say what he wanted because of editor's fear of loosing income if he really allowed his staff to speak freely.)
Fiore has been syndicating his weekly animated cartoons online since leaving the paper in 2001, earning high praise. The Wall Street Journal calls him "The undisputed guru of the form." He has received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and other honors. Syndicated weekly to numerous Websites run by newspapers and other organizations, his work is seen regularly by millions of people.
With excellent voice work, music, and animation, Fiore's cartoons are extremely well produced. More importantly, he is free to say what he wants. He says he gets his ideas from the daily media. Whatever upsets him the most generally becomes the subject/butt of his next cartoon. Indeed, he dares to make fun of any subject that interests him.
One brilliant Fiore cartoon, "What If_" (6/25/08), suggests what might happen if a third candidate had entered the 2008 presidential race. In a faux political hit piece, Fiore has an advertisement attacking the candidate's ethics, patriotism, etc. "He has never once been seen wearing a flag pin. He has spent years studying at a religious school in the Middle East. Some call him a hero for the injuries he sustained under torture, yet he would sit down and talk with those who would harm us. His tax plan amounts to making the rich poor and poor rich - Jesus Christ, not the change we want!" See Fiore's work at http://www.markfiore.com.
Imagemovers Starts "Dark Life" for Disney
Robert Zemeckis, who was one of the "Dirty Dozen" cabal of filmmakers at USC including Walter Murch and George Lucas, is keeping his team in the game despite Imagemovers's closure by Disney last month (see CS Apr10). "Dark Life," a science fiction set in the near future, when some humans have escaped environmental disasters by living under the sea, is slated for a fall 2010 release. But it is will contain little or no performance capture work, so I suspect the actors will perform on blue or green screen sets and Imagemovers Digital will drop in computer generated backgrounds. The studio is still set to close early next year.
Oakland Museum Celebrates Pixar
To celebrate Pixar's 25 years of animating excellence in the Bay Area, the Oakland Museum of California is mounting a massive show, with over 500 works, including several not previously seen, from July 31 to January 9, 2011. The show began in 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and over the past five years it has traveled around the world.
The local exhibit will also show off the museum's new major remodeling work, which kept it closed for months. The museum updated the exhibit so it will include art from "Up," "Toy Story 3," "Wall'E" and other recent projects. Adding a sense of novelty, there will be a giant "Pixar Zoetrope" that you can enter to see the moving images, and Artscape, "an immersive, wide-screen projection of digitally processed images that gives the viewer a sensation of entering into and exploring the exquisite details of the original artwork."
The exhibit covers about 11,000 square feet of exhibit space and is adjacent to Oakland's centerpiece, Lake Merritt, a lovely place to take a walk and grab a bite at Lake Chalet.
Disney/Pixar Sign Selick Contract
Variety announced no details except that the renown animator Henry Selick will work out of Pixar (he is still commuting from Portland but plans to move back soon) and that Henry's stop-motion work could be based on either his own ideas or adaptations. They also said, "Selick hopes to benefit from the Pixar brain trust and technology, but will continue to produce 'toons using his trademark stop-motion style."
Selick directed both "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" for Disney. After "James" was completed, Disney decided to only produce computer-generated animation. However, after creating overly expensive CG products that were not super profitable, they suddenly see the wisdom of returning to less expensive, Selick-style stop-motion or to hand-drawn animation - a historically rare case of technological de-evolution.
Lucas Expert at Extending "Star Wars"
Variety has announced Lucasfilm Animation is working on a Star Wars animated comedy series. The Daily Show's Brendan Hay and Robot Chicken's Seth Green and Matthew Seinreich, will be among the writers.
Posted on May 10, 2010 - 05:15 PM
Debbie Does Production Bay Area
by Doniphan Blair
Hunh?!? is the look you'll get if you cross Ms. Brubaker in her quest to serve her productions (shown here at her West Oakland office). photo: CineSourceWhen I started covering independent feature making in the Bay Area, I heard a name couched in tones of such high regard I imagined her as a powerful Hollywood producer slumming it in the north, perhaps living in a McMansion on the Peninsula. She was such a powerhouse, it was reputed she could single-handedly make an indie feature or doc or stretch microscopic budget to majestic proportions. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Debbie Brubaker was completely down-to-earth, accessible and friendly, and she had an office right down the street from CineSource, at the Oakland Film Center in the old army base.
"Debbie - what can I say - Debbie is the queen of indie filmmaking," exclaimed Peter Bratt, the writer/director of "La Mission," when I asked him about his producer and if she could also be tough.
"You have to be tough, when you're a line producer, " Bratt said. "When she read the ['La Mission'] script, she was, like, 'I love it but you need to cut 40 pages.' I was heartbroken. Needless to say, she was right."
"She took her red marker and, lo and behold..." Bratt continued. "Actually, she was the only line producer who said we could do it in San Francisco for two million. She made it work. It comes from her long experience. She's been to Sundance with different films, half a dozen times, probably more. She knows quite a few people. She essentially crewed 'La Mission,' made the intros for the producers. She started as a line producer and worked her way to co-producer and now she is the newly appointed film commissioner!" - a fact Brubaker neglected to mention in our interview, ironically.
"She is one of the best line producers in San Francisco," says Bryan O'Connor, now of Beyond Pix, who studied with her. "She is fun and knows how to keep things light, especially in negotiations, which is the greatest thing a producer needs. She gave me my first break [as her office PA] and, at Beyond Pix [the San Francisco, production/post studio] she was one of my first calls for a few jobs. She is so much fun to work with, even through the problems - but she knows how to kick butt when needed."
Brubaker's recent producer credits include "Miss Representation" (2009), "All About Evil" ('10), and "The Butler's in Love" ('08). Done with David Arquette in 3D, "Butler" tells the story behind an evocative painting, in Bix's in North Beach, by Oakland artist Mark Stock. Then there was "Seducing Charlie Barker" ('10), "One Way to Valhalla" ('09) and "La Mission" ('09) and, going back, the "The Darwin Awards" ('06), "Dopamine" ('03), "Cherish" ('02), and "Bartleby" ('01). Heck, Brubaker even did some assistant camera on the great doc "Crumb" by local Terry Zwigoff (1994).
In addition to joining Bratt on the SF Film Commission, Brubaker is the executive vice-chair of the local Directors Guild of America, a member of the American Federation of Teachers, and a single mother of a 17-year old (Vincent) who is graduating next spring from the Bay School High School in the Presidio. They plan to trek the country together looking at colleges. Brubaker has taught production at City College for 15 years and will teach at SF State this fall.
Although we missed our first "date" due to overstretched schedules, it was "no problemo" since Brubaker's office is right down the street.
Celebrating with Another Indie Queen, Tilda Swinton, at the wrap party on 'Tecknolust,' Debbie's third with Swinton, after 'The Deep End' and 'Conceiving Ada.' photo courtesy D. BrubakerCineSource: How did you get into this business?
Debbie Brubaker: I am originally from Ohio, by way of Seattle. What got me into the business was my grandpa, who was a projectionist. I had my own 'Cinema Paradiso' in Akron.
But you ended up going to film school?
I did. I went to San Francisco State University but I made movies before I went to film school, which ruined me for film school. I already had a good idea of what I wanted to do. Some of the paces they put you through in film school are not necessary for film production. Film theory can be helpful, but the business of film is more important than semiotics and psychology.
Where did you learn the business?
Right here [in the Bay Area]. A lot was learned by rote. My first mentor was Irving Saraf, who did 'In the Shadow of the Stars,' which won an Academy Award in 1991. He helped me learn everything from soup to nuts. He is mostly a documentary filmmaker but had just finished doing production supervision for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' at the Saul Zaentz Film Center. Saraf and his wife, Allie Light, keep producing great films. Their latest is the documentary 'Empress Hotel'.
That was a loss when Saul closed.
What can you do, he probably got tired. Every film is like Sisyphus. You get to be a certain age, you get tired of pushing that rock.
You think there is anything about the Bay Area that affected that?
I don't think so. The Bay Area has always ebbed and flowed. I have worked through every recession, and this is the first one where my work has been spotty. That couples with California not having enough of an incentive program and trying to compete with states that have incredible ones. San Francisco has incentives but it still doesn't compete with Louisiana and Michigan.
How 'bout the culture of filmmaking? We have lots of filmmakers here, but some of the politically correct don't want grip trucks clogging their streets.
There is some of that - there are always a few loud voices. I think the general populous supports it. I have shot all over San Francisco and haven't had a problem. It's a matter of talking to people and paying attention to them.
Any tricks?
First of all, talk to the community associations. North Beach is different than the Mission. But at the end of the day, it's all about the same thing.
A Bear Hug from Hollywood's hairiest, as well as funniest, San Francisco's own Robin Williams. It was on the set of 'Swing,' which co-starred Jonathan Winters, whom Robin had dropped by to see. 'They did an impromptu 40-minute comedy act,' recalled Brubaker. 'Damn near had us shut down.' photo courtesy D. BrubakerWhich is?
Parking [laughs]! It is pretty much all about allowing people to park and get to their vehicles. It is all about keeping your footprint small, which you can do. I also think that when people talk about the difficulty of working in San Francisco - it is built on hills. It is easier to work in Oakland, and not because of politics.
But also the Oakland Film Commission is universally beloved, but the film commission of San Francisco can sometimes be -
Snobby? Well, none of the film commissioners are. They are not all filmmakers, which is good and bad. [With the non-filmmakers] you can share your frustrations and they become educated about filmmaking and talk to their people. I also think it is a good idea to keep politics out of it.
Some of the San Francisco Supervisors, on the other hand, are tough nuts to crack - that provincial attitude you were talking about. They don't get that filmmaking is money for The City, period. Every time a film gets made in The City, it is like a big ad for The City. I know that tourists are always wanting to see where a film was made. And without tourism, we don't have diddly-squat! When the economy goes bad, people are more choosy about where they vacation. We want them to choose San Francisco. People still want to see where 'Nash Bridges' was made [14 years after it started airing].
But is has to be a balance between the city as icon and the difficulty of shooting here, no?
That is a tight rope, but it is not the tight rope people think it is. It is more a rope bridge. I think it works rather easily, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings - who you are stepping on or not.
Your final tricks, apart from parking?
[laughs] Communication, listening to everyone's concerns and addressing them. As long as they are not crackpots, figure out how to work with them. If it is one person making noise, give them their due diligence, but if you are hearing from 10 or 15 then you have a bigger problem - or a bigger problem to solve, I should say.
Anything come to mind, how people finessed a problem in a unique way?
On 'La Mission,' Ben Bratt was amazing - but he used to lived here, so it's his home town. If people who are famous took the care he did ... He would knock on people's doors - 'Can I borrow your garden hose?' He would take the time to woo them. Another person was David Arquette. He was happy to take care of something himself, if it eased operations. People are less willing to say 'No' to someone famous. It is good for actors to come down to earth and 'take one for the show,' it lends credibility. That's what was great about Ben and David.
How 'bout low noise, low garbage, and the fact that the Bratts did a green production?
Yes, that helped. We have done green before anyone called it that. We even did it on 'Bartleby' [More on Jonathan Parker, who recently did '(Untitled)']. Valary [Bremier] used to recycle everything, and we could get a little money for it, which we channeled back into craft services - little specialty items. That was 1999. I have done it a bit on all my movies, but not like 'La Mission.' Taking the water bottles out was huge. Everyone got a [re-usable] bottle. We had refill stations and cornstarch cups. We had a green consultant, Lauren Selman. She was great!
Right now you are involved in a very alternative feature, 'Neon Sky', 'right?
It is such a unique experience to make a film on such a low budget, which is odd to say since I've always done low budget. But this is a different model for making a feature. We shot and edited, and shot and edited, over a year. It has a very doc style, although that also has to do with actor availability. It had five cinematographers. I got to direct some of it - the lion's share was by Jennifer Juelich. We've pretty much finished principal photography.
How was it with five shooters?
I didn't worry about it too much. It makes the film more interesting. Some of them looked at the previous rushes, but some didn't. We told them what we wanted. I don't want to belittle DPs, because they are important, but we had to get this done. We had to use whoever was available, and everyone was very talented.
The story takes place in a traveling carnival. Nolan Mecham plays the owner, who is on the verge of losing his carnival because he doesn't want his employees drug tested - he claims he knows who can and cannot work. His daughter wants to go to college, but she has been home schooled, as a lot of carnival people are. He doesn't want to let her go. To make things a little stickier, when she was 12, he took her on his Harley when he was drunk. They had an accident and she is permanently in a wheelchair. It is an amazing look into that carny life.
Where did you shoot the carnival scenes?
There are several travelling carnivals in the Bay that start in February and go to October. They are owned by one company, with which we have permission to shoot. We'd go by Oakland, or Pacifica, or Vallejo and talk to the manager. We made several carnivals into one. We paid them an initial fee and when the film gets sold, we owe them more, but, as far as I am concerned, it's a steal. A lot of the movie was shot in a motor home. We also shot here at the Film Center [in Oakland, where Brubaker has her office] and at Port Costa [in the Delta] - a great location. We shot in the boonies, in the woods, in a house in Concord.
Sounds like continuity might have been tough?
It wasn't so bad. Even though the carnival changed, it stayed the same. If a ride was missing you wouldn't notice. It was basically paying attention to clothing, but the actors were really good about that.
Cinema Paradiso, Ohio, is how Brubaker looks back on growing up with a projectionist grandfather. photo courtesy D. BrubakerAnd you were constantly revising your script?
Most people will tell you, when you make a feature, it isn't the one you wrote. At a test screening, we realized that the ending Jenny wrote was good for the original film but not for the film we were making. So she rewrote it, based on audience feedback. The movie dictated itself. My influence may have had something to do with it, but it happened collectively. The story came out of all of us - the sum was bigger than the parts. I am very excited about this film ['Neon Sky']. It takes me back to my roots - there is a huge creative spirit.
The film was essentially financed by donated labor?
Right. The director and her husband have put in most of the money, and I put in some, too. People are donating their labor. I never would have expected myself to be involved in something like this, making a movie just for the joy of it. I made movies for fun as a teen - then I made movies for a living - now I am doing it for fun again. It frees you, there is something very liberating about it. You are the one in charge.
Any theme from your teen films you see coming back in adulthood?
That is a really good question. Probably having really strong main characters who are not on a beaten path. ['Neon Sky'] is an exploration of that, although the original film on paper is a lot darker than what we made. Maybe that has something to do with the carnival. It is too much fun to make into a dark movie - making the carnival be someone's demise didn't work. My parents, when they heard about this movie, just laughed, because I used to go nuts for carnivals when I was kid. The same with Jennifer, her grandfather owned Playland in San Diego.
If I were to do it again, I would want to cast more people of color. We cast more like the carnies we saw when we were children. This story is about the last American tribe.
Was it cast locally?
Yes.
Many filmmakers complain they can't get good actor calls up here.
I don't agree. They're all outstanding: Nolan Mecham, D. Sputnik Juelich, Kari Wishingrad, Deborah Knox. Nolan is really good - tremendous - I don't know how he avoided going SAG [Screen Actors Guild]. I say that jokingly. Sputnik, the director's husband - he is really good, as is Kari [Wishingrad]. And the teen in the story, Gracie DéZago, is outstanding. There are also some great supporting actors. I think there is tremendous talent here. You just have to be patient and sift through it.
I recommend people work with a local casting director, and everyone we have here is good: Sarah Kliban, Nina Henninger - who I adore - Molly Craft, with the Casting Connection online [castingconnection.com], and Nancy Hayes. All four are very dedicated and very good - good eyes on all four of them.
Any other projects in the works?
A number of them, actually. I am working with a young director, Paul Oja, on a piece called 'bUs tRip,' very dark and edgy. I am writing budgets all the time - budgeting is my expertise. I have PSAs. I am going to LA for the American Cancer Association; Tom Donald is directing. It stars Lily Tomlin and Kathyrn Joosten. And I am looking for work.
How do you do that?
I plan to just tell everyone. I worked through all the last recessions, and have worked steadily for the last 20 years. I don't even know where to begin - other than to tell people I'm available.
I love doing commercials, and am pretty good at it, but the people who already do it have it sewn up. It is like there is big chain link fence around it with concertina wire on top. I just wrote a commercial for this production company out of Dubai, which wants to come here. I also have done a couple of Indian movies: 'Mistress of Spices' and 'The Other End of the Line.'
What I would like to do is write a grant for myself so I could help people get their projects off the ground. Whether it is a feature, a doc or a short, I love helping people find their way.
Is there a short list you have for the first meeting?
I tell people, 'Never start before you are ready,' and if it is not in writing, it didn't happen.
Plan everything as well as humanly possible?
Murphy's Law is no joke.
Do you recommend storyboarding?
I do, but it depends on the project. Commercials should definitely be [storyboarded] but on a feature, at least storyboard the transitions. I'm not saying you can't do without it, but it makes your life much easier when editing.
Any projects over the last years you want to give a shout out to?
I miss with working with Finn Taylor ['Cherish,' 'The Darwin Awards,'] and Mark Decena. He did 'Dopamine' and 'Unflinching Triumph,' which is the most fun I have ever had on a movie, a mocumentary about a stare down championship. We seeded the Internet, on EBay there were things to buy. By the time we made it, people were arguing that it was real. We laughed so much. Then there's 'All about Evil' with Peaches Christ. It was a gas - turned out great. Joshua Grannell - yeah, Peaches [his alter ego] - is extremely talented. He has definitely got the 'thing.'
What thing?
The eye and mind for being able to create performances and direct talent. To have the vision that really sees the movie before it is ever finished. And the ability to communicate that vision, which is the most important skill a director can have. I love producing because I love creating an environment for them to fulfill their vision.
Are there are the two types of directors: the 'hissy fit' and the prepared types, with a bank and an army?
I haven't really worked with the hissy types, except on a couple of music videos, nor the bank and army types. But they have all been eccentric. You have to have passion and vision, and have it in a way other people don't. I come down in between the two - and that is every director I have ever met.
Even some of the methodical ones have hissy fits?
Absolutely. It is not hissy fits but digging in their heels.
Do you ever get tired of take after take?
Yes, especially when I know it is never going to get in the movie. [Directors] get blinded and don't step back. The least experienced person on the set is the director. How often do they get to practice their craft, unless they are at the top of the heap, like a Clint Eastwood? They are lucky to make a film every two or three years. They aren't able to step back. Sometimes I tell them that and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I try to get them to edit at the script stage [like on 'La Mission'].
Especially on low budgets?
All of them are low. But I love the process. I am in love with the process of making movies.
It is all a great drama.
Even if I am not getting paid, I am still going to get something out of it. I love preproduction. Development is difficult. I hate the money-raising part. It is so hard - especially now. If development is successful, you get into preproduction and that is where the movie really gets made. Then you get into production, which if you have planned properly, is fun. Then you are on to post, which is satisfying, but then you hit what you probably should have been working on all along - distro.
The model has changed in the last five years. Indie distributors are no longer going to festivals and buying film the way they used to. Once upon a time, you could go to Sundance with a movie you made for a million and sell it for three. Or you could go the indie route, where you made a film for half a mill and worked deferred payment. As soon as the movie sells, everyone gets paid. That is all gone.
Now you have people making movies and trying to sell them on the Internet for $19.95, or on Amazon or VOD, where you can download them for $3.99, or get some limited theatrical release that will drive DVD sales. Or sell direct to DVD. TV is another model.
Then there is taking a film on the road. That is how 'La Mission' is doing it, and they have taken in almost a million. They did some festivals and got a theatrical release, but they are still touring it around [with] a limited amount of prints. They will do Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and move on. It seems to be working. I can see them easily making their money back.
How about television series? You wrote CineSource once complaining that one of our writers dissed 'Trauma' [the NBC show shot here].
'Trauma' was a good example of what a series could do here. They saved $200,000 per episode here because of deals they made with the unions and with the City's rebate program. Alas, it was not well written. [As per my complaint,] I just thought the film community here should not be bad-mouthing it. I am hoping NBC will be back. 'Parenthood' just shoots 'plates' [opening exteriors] in Oakland. 'Love Bites' has been picked up, but they may do only plates as well.
Dellums turned down 'Gentlemen of Leisure' [an HBO drama based on the Hughes Bros. 1999 doc 'American Pimp' ] due to fears of bad publicity -
That was horrible. None of our cities are in a position to pass judgment. Unless you are doing snuff films, I say 'Bring it on!' [Dellums] shouldn't have imposed his morality on people who need to put bread on their table.
It is bit like Italian Americans complaining about Mafia films, but Scorsese and Coppola added immense insights.
If they start scrutinizing, someone is always going to have a beef. That is a genie best kept in the bottle!
How does it feel being heavy, especially working with freaky-skinny actresses? Does it help you differentiate from them, give you some 'weight,' as it were, or is meaningless?
Never has an actress made me feel 'out of place' with my size. It's the men, not the women, who have dictated what looks are 'supposed' to be. Watch 'Miss Representation' when it comes out! Heck, [director] Jennifer Siebel Newsom is thin and beautiful, yet I never for one second felt my size made a difference in my relationship to her, professionally or as a friend. Many years ago, a male alleged-friend told me I'd never make it in this business as a fatty. He said that to truly be successful I'd have to lose a hundred pounds. Well, I guess it is all how you measure success. I'm healthy and pretty happy - except about having zero metabolism in the food capital of the world! While I'd love to lose a lot of that poundage, I feel successful. I have colleagues who love and respect me, and I have made some pretty wonderful films, with more to come. What more could a producer want?
You really believe the ability to make indie films can save filmmaking in the Bay Area?
I really do. I also believe in it as model for making bigger films. I watched them film in Paris, when I was there a couple of years ago. It is very much like San Francisco - small streets, landmarks everywhere. They put actors in tents and use smaller trucks. If you need to have a trailer, put them further away and get a couple of Priuses. You don't have to have your two-banger [large trailer] a stone's throw from the location. You can make big movies with smaller footprints.
Before you get to that, you need good writing: Everything starts with the script, right?
The script tells you everything: it tells who, what, when, where and how. It all starts - and stops - with the script. But writers can be anywhere now because of the Internet.
There used to be a literary tradition here with the Beats but that switched to music -
There still are a lot of writers here. The Squaw Valley meeting every year. There are a bunch of writers groups who help each other and act as mentors for each other.
How long have you been [at the Oakland Army Base] and how is it?
Since 2004. It has been a bit bureaucratic - which reminds me: I have to pay rent for July. I always pay early - endears you to the landlord. We have our lease through September 2011. There is talk of something new, but nobody is building. Or moving to American Steel [a massive warehouse nearby], but it is still all talk.
And sets?
You can still use Treasure Island or Alameda, but Oakland is a question mark when it comes to having a studio.
Would it be convenient to have it all here?
Yes. It is just off the bridge and right between the airports. It would be great, but now it is sort of on the back burner - actually it's been turned off. We're all just worried about keeping our heads above water. A lot of people have taken on a lot of water - I'm certainly bailing. What I have noticed about the Bay Area, is it takes longer for recovery than elsewhere. We're not the spearhead. I'm hoping I'm wrong but I think it will lag. Until that time, I will keep on plugging away at whatever comes my way and stay abreast of whatever is coming down the pike. Posted on Aug 09, 2010 - 03:45 PM
by Karl Cohen
SF's Mark Fiore Wins Pulitzer for Polical Animated Cartoons
Mark Fiore, a political cartoonist and animator who rises above all others on the Internet, is presently on SFGate.com, Mother Jones.com, CBSNews.com and other sites.
Equal Opportunity Insulter: Fiore reserves his most searing sarcasm for bankers, Republicans, etc. Photo: courtesy M. FioreHis submissions for the Pulitzer included "Science-gate" (12/09/09) which lampoons skeptics of global warming, "Obama Interruptus" (12/02/09) which portrays his trying to stay focused despite the distractions of the world around him, and "Credit Card Reform" (10/28/09) which takes on the fabulous mumbo-jumbo double-talk offers of the credit card industry.
In 2000, Fiore taught himself Flash, found two customers and started churning out Flash cartoons like crazy. Then the "dream job" he had always wanted appeared: the San Jose Mercury News hired him as their political cartoonist. Being on staff was great until he discovered his editor was under tremendous pressure to keep circulation and ad revenues up.
"It was awful," Fiore says. He lasted six months due to their restrictive editorial policy. (Translation: the Merc did not allow him to kick ass and say what he wanted because of editor's fear of loosing income if he really allowed his staff to speak freely.)
Fiore has been syndicating his weekly animated cartoons online since leaving the paper in 2001, earning high praise. The Wall Street Journal calls him "The undisputed guru of the form." He has received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and other honors. Syndicated weekly to numerous Websites run by newspapers and other organizations, his work is seen regularly by millions of people.
With excellent voice work, music, and animation, Fiore's cartoons are extremely well produced. More importantly, he is free to say what he wants. He says he gets his ideas from the daily media. Whatever upsets him the most generally becomes the subject/butt of his next cartoon. Indeed, he dares to make fun of any subject that interests him.
One brilliant Fiore cartoon, "What If_" (6/25/08), suggests what might happen if a third candidate had entered the 2008 presidential race. In a faux political hit piece, Fiore has an advertisement attacking the candidate's ethics, patriotism, etc. "He has never once been seen wearing a flag pin. He has spent years studying at a religious school in the Middle East. Some call him a hero for the injuries he sustained under torture, yet he would sit down and talk with those who would harm us. His tax plan amounts to making the rich poor and poor rich - Jesus Christ, not the change we want!" See Fiore's work at http://www.markfiore.com.
Imagemovers Starts "Dark Life" for Disney
Robert Zemeckis, who was one of the "Dirty Dozen" cabal of filmmakers at USC including Walter Murch and George Lucas, is keeping his team in the game despite Imagemovers's closure by Disney last month (see CS Apr10). "Dark Life," a science fiction set in the near future, when some humans have escaped environmental disasters by living under the sea, is slated for a fall 2010 release. But it is will contain little or no performance capture work, so I suspect the actors will perform on blue or green screen sets and Imagemovers Digital will drop in computer generated backgrounds. The studio is still set to close early next year.
Oakland Museum Celebrates Pixar
To celebrate Pixar's 25 years of animating excellence in the Bay Area, the Oakland Museum of California is mounting a massive show, with over 500 works, including several not previously seen, from July 31 to January 9, 2011. The show began in 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and over the past five years it has traveled around the world.
The local exhibit will also show off the museum's new major remodeling work, which kept it closed for months. The museum updated the exhibit so it will include art from "Up," "Toy Story 3," "Wall'E" and other recent projects. Adding a sense of novelty, there will be a giant "Pixar Zoetrope" that you can enter to see the moving images, and Artscape, "an immersive, wide-screen projection of digitally processed images that gives the viewer a sensation of entering into and exploring the exquisite details of the original artwork."
The exhibit covers about 11,000 square feet of exhibit space and is adjacent to Oakland's centerpiece, Lake Merritt, a lovely place to take a walk and grab a bite at Lake Chalet.
Disney/Pixar Sign Selick Contract
Variety announced no details except that the renown animator Henry Selick will work out of Pixar (he is still commuting from Portland but plans to move back soon) and that Henry's stop-motion work could be based on either his own ideas or adaptations. They also said, "Selick hopes to benefit from the Pixar brain trust and technology, but will continue to produce 'toons using his trademark stop-motion style."
Selick directed both "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" for Disney. After "James" was completed, Disney decided to only produce computer-generated animation. However, after creating overly expensive CG products that were not super profitable, they suddenly see the wisdom of returning to less expensive, Selick-style stop-motion or to hand-drawn animation - a historically rare case of technological de-evolution.
Lucas Expert at Extending "Star Wars"
Variety has announced Lucasfilm Animation is working on a Star Wars animated comedy series. The Daily Show's Brendan Hay and Robot Chicken's Seth Green and Matthew Seinreich, will be among the writers.
Posted on May 10, 2010 - 05:15 PM
Debbie Does Production Bay Area
by Doniphan Blair
Hunh?!? is the look you'll get if you cross Ms. Brubaker in her quest to serve her productions (shown here at her West Oakland office). photo: CineSource"Debbie - what can I say - Debbie is the queen of indie filmmaking," exclaimed Peter Bratt, the writer/director of "La Mission," when I asked him about his producer and if she could also be tough.
"You have to be tough, when you're a line producer, " Bratt said. "When she read the ['La Mission'] script, she was, like, 'I love it but you need to cut 40 pages.' I was heartbroken. Needless to say, she was right."
"She took her red marker and, lo and behold..." Bratt continued. "Actually, she was the only line producer who said we could do it in San Francisco for two million. She made it work. It comes from her long experience. She's been to Sundance with different films, half a dozen times, probably more. She knows quite a few people. She essentially crewed 'La Mission,' made the intros for the producers. She started as a line producer and worked her way to co-producer and now she is the newly appointed film commissioner!" - a fact Brubaker neglected to mention in our interview, ironically.
"She is one of the best line producers in San Francisco," says Bryan O'Connor, now of Beyond Pix, who studied with her. "She is fun and knows how to keep things light, especially in negotiations, which is the greatest thing a producer needs. She gave me my first break [as her office PA] and, at Beyond Pix [the San Francisco, production/post studio] she was one of my first calls for a few jobs. She is so much fun to work with, even through the problems - but she knows how to kick butt when needed."
Brubaker's recent producer credits include "Miss Representation" (2009), "All About Evil" ('10), and "The Butler's in Love" ('08). Done with David Arquette in 3D, "Butler" tells the story behind an evocative painting, in Bix's in North Beach, by Oakland artist Mark Stock. Then there was "Seducing Charlie Barker" ('10), "One Way to Valhalla" ('09) and "La Mission" ('09) and, going back, the "The Darwin Awards" ('06), "Dopamine" ('03), "Cherish" ('02), and "Bartleby" ('01). Heck, Brubaker even did some assistant camera on the great doc "Crumb" by local Terry Zwigoff (1994).
In addition to joining Bratt on the SF Film Commission, Brubaker is the executive vice-chair of the local Directors Guild of America, a member of the American Federation of Teachers, and a single mother of a 17-year old (Vincent) who is graduating next spring from the Bay School High School in the Presidio. They plan to trek the country together looking at colleges. Brubaker has taught production at City College for 15 years and will teach at SF State this fall.
Although we missed our first "date" due to overstretched schedules, it was "no problemo" since Brubaker's office is right down the street.
Celebrating with Another Indie Queen, Tilda Swinton, at the wrap party on 'Tecknolust,' Debbie's third with Swinton, after 'The Deep End' and 'Conceiving Ada.' photo courtesy D. BrubakerDebbie Brubaker: I am originally from Ohio, by way of Seattle. What got me into the business was my grandpa, who was a projectionist. I had my own 'Cinema Paradiso' in Akron.
But you ended up going to film school?
I did. I went to San Francisco State University but I made movies before I went to film school, which ruined me for film school. I already had a good idea of what I wanted to do. Some of the paces they put you through in film school are not necessary for film production. Film theory can be helpful, but the business of film is more important than semiotics and psychology.
Where did you learn the business?
Right here [in the Bay Area]. A lot was learned by rote. My first mentor was Irving Saraf, who did 'In the Shadow of the Stars,' which won an Academy Award in 1991. He helped me learn everything from soup to nuts. He is mostly a documentary filmmaker but had just finished doing production supervision for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' at the Saul Zaentz Film Center. Saraf and his wife, Allie Light, keep producing great films. Their latest is the documentary 'Empress Hotel'.
That was a loss when Saul closed.
What can you do, he probably got tired. Every film is like Sisyphus. You get to be a certain age, you get tired of pushing that rock.
You think there is anything about the Bay Area that affected that?
I don't think so. The Bay Area has always ebbed and flowed. I have worked through every recession, and this is the first one where my work has been spotty. That couples with California not having enough of an incentive program and trying to compete with states that have incredible ones. San Francisco has incentives but it still doesn't compete with Louisiana and Michigan.
How 'bout the culture of filmmaking? We have lots of filmmakers here, but some of the politically correct don't want grip trucks clogging their streets.
There is some of that - there are always a few loud voices. I think the general populous supports it. I have shot all over San Francisco and haven't had a problem. It's a matter of talking to people and paying attention to them.
Any tricks?
First of all, talk to the community associations. North Beach is different than the Mission. But at the end of the day, it's all about the same thing.
A Bear Hug from Hollywood's hairiest, as well as funniest, San Francisco's own Robin Williams. It was on the set of 'Swing,' which co-starred Jonathan Winters, whom Robin had dropped by to see. 'They did an impromptu 40-minute comedy act,' recalled Brubaker. 'Damn near had us shut down.' photo courtesy D. BrubakerParking [laughs]! It is pretty much all about allowing people to park and get to their vehicles. It is all about keeping your footprint small, which you can do. I also think that when people talk about the difficulty of working in San Francisco - it is built on hills. It is easier to work in Oakland, and not because of politics.
But also the Oakland Film Commission is universally beloved, but the film commission of San Francisco can sometimes be -
Snobby? Well, none of the film commissioners are. They are not all filmmakers, which is good and bad. [With the non-filmmakers] you can share your frustrations and they become educated about filmmaking and talk to their people. I also think it is a good idea to keep politics out of it.
Some of the San Francisco Supervisors, on the other hand, are tough nuts to crack - that provincial attitude you were talking about. They don't get that filmmaking is money for The City, period. Every time a film gets made in The City, it is like a big ad for The City. I know that tourists are always wanting to see where a film was made. And without tourism, we don't have diddly-squat! When the economy goes bad, people are more choosy about where they vacation. We want them to choose San Francisco. People still want to see where 'Nash Bridges' was made [14 years after it started airing].
But is has to be a balance between the city as icon and the difficulty of shooting here, no?
That is a tight rope, but it is not the tight rope people think it is. It is more a rope bridge. I think it works rather easily, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings - who you are stepping on or not.
Your final tricks, apart from parking?
[laughs] Communication, listening to everyone's concerns and addressing them. As long as they are not crackpots, figure out how to work with them. If it is one person making noise, give them their due diligence, but if you are hearing from 10 or 15 then you have a bigger problem - or a bigger problem to solve, I should say.
Anything come to mind, how people finessed a problem in a unique way?
On 'La Mission,' Ben Bratt was amazing - but he used to lived here, so it's his home town. If people who are famous took the care he did ... He would knock on people's doors - 'Can I borrow your garden hose?' He would take the time to woo them. Another person was David Arquette. He was happy to take care of something himself, if it eased operations. People are less willing to say 'No' to someone famous. It is good for actors to come down to earth and 'take one for the show,' it lends credibility. That's what was great about Ben and David.
How 'bout low noise, low garbage, and the fact that the Bratts did a green production?
Yes, that helped. We have done green before anyone called it that. We even did it on 'Bartleby' [More on Jonathan Parker, who recently did '(Untitled)']. Valary [Bremier] used to recycle everything, and we could get a little money for it, which we channeled back into craft services - little specialty items. That was 1999. I have done it a bit on all my movies, but not like 'La Mission.' Taking the water bottles out was huge. Everyone got a [re-usable] bottle. We had refill stations and cornstarch cups. We had a green consultant, Lauren Selman. She was great!
Right now you are involved in a very alternative feature, 'Neon Sky', 'right?
It is such a unique experience to make a film on such a low budget, which is odd to say since I've always done low budget. But this is a different model for making a feature. We shot and edited, and shot and edited, over a year. It has a very doc style, although that also has to do with actor availability. It had five cinematographers. I got to direct some of it - the lion's share was by Jennifer Juelich. We've pretty much finished principal photography.
How was it with five shooters?
I didn't worry about it too much. It makes the film more interesting. Some of them looked at the previous rushes, but some didn't. We told them what we wanted. I don't want to belittle DPs, because they are important, but we had to get this done. We had to use whoever was available, and everyone was very talented.
The story takes place in a traveling carnival. Nolan Mecham plays the owner, who is on the verge of losing his carnival because he doesn't want his employees drug tested - he claims he knows who can and cannot work. His daughter wants to go to college, but she has been home schooled, as a lot of carnival people are. He doesn't want to let her go. To make things a little stickier, when she was 12, he took her on his Harley when he was drunk. They had an accident and she is permanently in a wheelchair. It is an amazing look into that carny life.
Where did you shoot the carnival scenes?
There are several travelling carnivals in the Bay that start in February and go to October. They are owned by one company, with which we have permission to shoot. We'd go by Oakland, or Pacifica, or Vallejo and talk to the manager. We made several carnivals into one. We paid them an initial fee and when the film gets sold, we owe them more, but, as far as I am concerned, it's a steal. A lot of the movie was shot in a motor home. We also shot here at the Film Center [in Oakland, where Brubaker has her office] and at Port Costa [in the Delta] - a great location. We shot in the boonies, in the woods, in a house in Concord.
Sounds like continuity might have been tough?
It wasn't so bad. Even though the carnival changed, it stayed the same. If a ride was missing you wouldn't notice. It was basically paying attention to clothing, but the actors were really good about that.
Cinema Paradiso, Ohio, is how Brubaker looks back on growing up with a projectionist grandfather. photo courtesy D. BrubakerMost people will tell you, when you make a feature, it isn't the one you wrote. At a test screening, we realized that the ending Jenny wrote was good for the original film but not for the film we were making. So she rewrote it, based on audience feedback. The movie dictated itself. My influence may have had something to do with it, but it happened collectively. The story came out of all of us - the sum was bigger than the parts. I am very excited about this film ['Neon Sky']. It takes me back to my roots - there is a huge creative spirit.
The film was essentially financed by donated labor?
Right. The director and her husband have put in most of the money, and I put in some, too. People are donating their labor. I never would have expected myself to be involved in something like this, making a movie just for the joy of it. I made movies for fun as a teen - then I made movies for a living - now I am doing it for fun again. It frees you, there is something very liberating about it. You are the one in charge.
Any theme from your teen films you see coming back in adulthood?
That is a really good question. Probably having really strong main characters who are not on a beaten path. ['Neon Sky'] is an exploration of that, although the original film on paper is a lot darker than what we made. Maybe that has something to do with the carnival. It is too much fun to make into a dark movie - making the carnival be someone's demise didn't work. My parents, when they heard about this movie, just laughed, because I used to go nuts for carnivals when I was kid. The same with Jennifer, her grandfather owned Playland in San Diego.
If I were to do it again, I would want to cast more people of color. We cast more like the carnies we saw when we were children. This story is about the last American tribe.
Was it cast locally?
Yes.
Many filmmakers complain they can't get good actor calls up here.
I don't agree. They're all outstanding: Nolan Mecham, D. Sputnik Juelich, Kari Wishingrad, Deborah Knox. Nolan is really good - tremendous - I don't know how he avoided going SAG [Screen Actors Guild]. I say that jokingly. Sputnik, the director's husband - he is really good, as is Kari [Wishingrad]. And the teen in the story, Gracie DéZago, is outstanding. There are also some great supporting actors. I think there is tremendous talent here. You just have to be patient and sift through it.
I recommend people work with a local casting director, and everyone we have here is good: Sarah Kliban, Nina Henninger - who I adore - Molly Craft, with the Casting Connection online [castingconnection.com], and Nancy Hayes. All four are very dedicated and very good - good eyes on all four of them.
Any other projects in the works?
A number of them, actually. I am working with a young director, Paul Oja, on a piece called 'bUs tRip,' very dark and edgy. I am writing budgets all the time - budgeting is my expertise. I have PSAs. I am going to LA for the American Cancer Association; Tom Donald is directing. It stars Lily Tomlin and Kathyrn Joosten. And I am looking for work.
How do you do that?
I plan to just tell everyone. I worked through all the last recessions, and have worked steadily for the last 20 years. I don't even know where to begin - other than to tell people I'm available.
I love doing commercials, and am pretty good at it, but the people who already do it have it sewn up. It is like there is big chain link fence around it with concertina wire on top. I just wrote a commercial for this production company out of Dubai, which wants to come here. I also have done a couple of Indian movies: 'Mistress of Spices' and 'The Other End of the Line.'
What I would like to do is write a grant for myself so I could help people get their projects off the ground. Whether it is a feature, a doc or a short, I love helping people find their way.
Is there a short list you have for the first meeting?
I tell people, 'Never start before you are ready,' and if it is not in writing, it didn't happen.
Plan everything as well as humanly possible?
Murphy's Law is no joke.
Do you recommend storyboarding?
I do, but it depends on the project. Commercials should definitely be [storyboarded] but on a feature, at least storyboard the transitions. I'm not saying you can't do without it, but it makes your life much easier when editing.
Any projects over the last years you want to give a shout out to?
I miss with working with Finn Taylor ['Cherish,' 'The Darwin Awards,'] and Mark Decena. He did 'Dopamine' and 'Unflinching Triumph,' which is the most fun I have ever had on a movie, a mocumentary about a stare down championship. We seeded the Internet, on EBay there were things to buy. By the time we made it, people were arguing that it was real. We laughed so much. Then there's 'All about Evil' with Peaches Christ. It was a gas - turned out great. Joshua Grannell - yeah, Peaches [his alter ego] - is extremely talented. He has definitely got the 'thing.'
What thing?
The eye and mind for being able to create performances and direct talent. To have the vision that really sees the movie before it is ever finished. And the ability to communicate that vision, which is the most important skill a director can have. I love producing because I love creating an environment for them to fulfill their vision.
Are there are the two types of directors: the 'hissy fit' and the prepared types, with a bank and an army?
I haven't really worked with the hissy types, except on a couple of music videos, nor the bank and army types. But they have all been eccentric. You have to have passion and vision, and have it in a way other people don't. I come down in between the two - and that is every director I have ever met.
Even some of the methodical ones have hissy fits?
Absolutely. It is not hissy fits but digging in their heels.
Do you ever get tired of take after take?
Yes, especially when I know it is never going to get in the movie. [Directors] get blinded and don't step back. The least experienced person on the set is the director. How often do they get to practice their craft, unless they are at the top of the heap, like a Clint Eastwood? They are lucky to make a film every two or three years. They aren't able to step back. Sometimes I tell them that and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I try to get them to edit at the script stage [like on 'La Mission'].
Especially on low budgets?
All of them are low. But I love the process. I am in love with the process of making movies.
It is all a great drama.
Even if I am not getting paid, I am still going to get something out of it. I love preproduction. Development is difficult. I hate the money-raising part. It is so hard - especially now. If development is successful, you get into preproduction and that is where the movie really gets made. Then you get into production, which if you have planned properly, is fun. Then you are on to post, which is satisfying, but then you hit what you probably should have been working on all along - distro.
The model has changed in the last five years. Indie distributors are no longer going to festivals and buying film the way they used to. Once upon a time, you could go to Sundance with a movie you made for a million and sell it for three. Or you could go the indie route, where you made a film for half a mill and worked deferred payment. As soon as the movie sells, everyone gets paid. That is all gone.
Now you have people making movies and trying to sell them on the Internet for $19.95, or on Amazon or VOD, where you can download them for $3.99, or get some limited theatrical release that will drive DVD sales. Or sell direct to DVD. TV is another model.
Then there is taking a film on the road. That is how 'La Mission' is doing it, and they have taken in almost a million. They did some festivals and got a theatrical release, but they are still touring it around [with] a limited amount of prints. They will do Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and move on. It seems to be working. I can see them easily making their money back.
How about television series? You wrote CineSource once complaining that one of our writers dissed 'Trauma' [the NBC show shot here].
'Trauma' was a good example of what a series could do here. They saved $200,000 per episode here because of deals they made with the unions and with the City's rebate program. Alas, it was not well written. [As per my complaint,] I just thought the film community here should not be bad-mouthing it. I am hoping NBC will be back. 'Parenthood' just shoots 'plates' [opening exteriors] in Oakland. 'Love Bites' has been picked up, but they may do only plates as well.
Dellums turned down 'Gentlemen of Leisure' [an HBO drama based on the Hughes Bros. 1999 doc 'American Pimp' ] due to fears of bad publicity -
That was horrible. None of our cities are in a position to pass judgment. Unless you are doing snuff films, I say 'Bring it on!' [Dellums] shouldn't have imposed his morality on people who need to put bread on their table.
It is bit like Italian Americans complaining about Mafia films, but Scorsese and Coppola added immense insights.
If they start scrutinizing, someone is always going to have a beef. That is a genie best kept in the bottle!
How does it feel being heavy, especially working with freaky-skinny actresses? Does it help you differentiate from them, give you some 'weight,' as it were, or is meaningless?
Never has an actress made me feel 'out of place' with my size. It's the men, not the women, who have dictated what looks are 'supposed' to be. Watch 'Miss Representation' when it comes out! Heck, [director] Jennifer Siebel Newsom is thin and beautiful, yet I never for one second felt my size made a difference in my relationship to her, professionally or as a friend. Many years ago, a male alleged-friend told me I'd never make it in this business as a fatty. He said that to truly be successful I'd have to lose a hundred pounds. Well, I guess it is all how you measure success. I'm healthy and pretty happy - except about having zero metabolism in the food capital of the world! While I'd love to lose a lot of that poundage, I feel successful. I have colleagues who love and respect me, and I have made some pretty wonderful films, with more to come. What more could a producer want?
You really believe the ability to make indie films can save filmmaking in the Bay Area?
I really do. I also believe in it as model for making bigger films. I watched them film in Paris, when I was there a couple of years ago. It is very much like San Francisco - small streets, landmarks everywhere. They put actors in tents and use smaller trucks. If you need to have a trailer, put them further away and get a couple of Priuses. You don't have to have your two-banger [large trailer] a stone's throw from the location. You can make big movies with smaller footprints.
Before you get to that, you need good writing: Everything starts with the script, right?
The script tells you everything: it tells who, what, when, where and how. It all starts - and stops - with the script. But writers can be anywhere now because of the Internet.
There used to be a literary tradition here with the Beats but that switched to music -
There still are a lot of writers here. The Squaw Valley meeting every year. There are a bunch of writers groups who help each other and act as mentors for each other.
How long have you been [at the Oakland Army Base] and how is it?
Since 2004. It has been a bit bureaucratic - which reminds me: I have to pay rent for July. I always pay early - endears you to the landlord. We have our lease through September 2011. There is talk of something new, but nobody is building. Or moving to American Steel [a massive warehouse nearby], but it is still all talk.
And sets?
You can still use Treasure Island or Alameda, but Oakland is a question mark when it comes to having a studio.
Would it be convenient to have it all here?
Yes. It is just off the bridge and right between the airports. It would be great, but now it is sort of on the back burner - actually it's been turned off. We're all just worried about keeping our heads above water. A lot of people have taken on a lot of water - I'm certainly bailing. What I have noticed about the Bay Area, is it takes longer for recovery than elsewhere. We're not the spearhead. I'm hoping I'm wrong but I think it will lag. Until that time, I will keep on plugging away at whatever comes my way and stay abreast of whatever is coming down the pike. Posted on Aug 09, 2010 - 03:45 PM
