Our New Web Series: FAST TRACK!

Yeah, we wanted to actually embed it in the blog today, but after six, we repeat, six failed attempts, or rather a ridiculous error message that we still don't understand, we opted to take the easy way out and just point you toward the LINK on You Tube.

Cary Tusan wrote and directed this brilliantly satisfying webisode. Erin Holt, that master of madness, the pleasing on the eyes Josh Evans, deliciously heard and barely seen Cameron Bass-Jackson and the water-chugging Jeannie Bolet all star in our series. We are grateful to have such a fine group of talent collaborating on the project.

So please click HERE or back up there (see the word link in the first paragraph) and watch webiside 1 of FAST TRACK and comment! Comment here, or there, or everywhere, just let us know what ya think!

Money Money Money

The challenge for any creative, from starving painter to frustrated screenwriter, is to make enough money to survive, preferably doing what you love. Most of us work two jobs for years - the nine-to-five bill paying job and the passion job after hours; the writing, the painting, the filmmaking. The passion job that keeps you up all night and guarantees you no sleep. So not only do we put ourselves out there to be evaluated by our nine-to-five bosses Monday through Friday, on our "time off" we're out there trying to persuade people to read us, represent us, like our projects and fund us, too.

Money, money, money. The thing is, it's always about the money. Either money to feed your belly, pay the rent, diaper the kids, stave off the bill collector, or money to attach that A-list actor to your itty-bitty project and make all your dreams come true. Money is the great provider and the great taker-away.

Money is the one wall all creatives come crashing against one time or another and it's the universal thing that can send dreamers of all shapes, colors and sizes packing up their toys and tools and going back home, giving up on their pursuits and passions forever.

So today, if you have a few pennies you can spare and you know an actor, a writer, anyone with a dream and a project that could use a little help, reach out with that change and help make that vision come true.  And let's celebrate the dreamers who don't give up, even when the only thing they have in their cupboard is salsa, chips and a couple bags of ramen noodles.

Hey and check out episode 1 of our newest and bestest web series, FAST TRACK on facebook:

Actors - The Bread and Butter of Any Film

As much as auteurs and egomaniacs like to splash their names in the center of the screen with "A Film By," so it's the first thing you see as the theater goes dark, the bread and butter of any good film is the actor. The way an actor nuances a writer's words, brings dimension to a director's vision, lights  a DP's lens, they are what makes a lively story on paper a visual piece of living and breathing magic on the screen.


Theaters and the internet are drowning in multi-media projects where more attention has been paid to the bells, whistles and color of the sky, than to the person delivering the lines and how and what they are saying. Some haughty "visionaries" clamor for the day that talent on screen are nothing more than software created characters - they wouldn't need food or bathroom breaks, just think of the savings!


Fortunately, Los Angeles is full of gifted, hardworking and generous actors that are eager and excited to work with the independent filmmakers that appreciate them for all they are.
One of those talented actors is actor, writer, comedian Philip Hersh. An east coast transplant, Hersh brings humor, professionalism, and that "T" word - talent, to every role. Phil recently joined the cast of the SPENT TV series, LLA. And on a blustery afternoon in the mid-wilshire district, Phil answered some quick questions about his acting experience.


SPENT: So many people offer aspiring actors advice - what’s the worst piece of advice or most useless piece of advice you ever got?


PHIL: I had a modeling agent tell me I should wax my body. Never have, never will. Hair is an asset.

SPENT: What are the body and mental emotions that run through you when you are on stage and hear the applause, or when you watch yourself on a screen any size and people watching with you react positively?


PHIL: I feel empowered. And goosebumps, total goosebumps!


SPENT: Do you plan to age gracefully or will botox and silicone injections be your friend after 50?

PHIL:  No "sillycone" for me. Should I go bald, I'll shave my head like Howie Mandell.
Here's Phil in a recent web commercial - he's definitely an actor that commits to a role:

Our revamped website is up this week. If you can get your fingers to do more than clean the wax out of your ears, vote for the Classic Spent program you want us to bring back!

What's A Weekend For An Indie Filmmaker?

When the clock strikes six on a Friday night, for all the office dwelling creatives in the world it's party time! A collective sigh of relief circulates through work cubbies everywhere. But for us Indie-Loos, weekends are just two more work days. It means two days packed with shooting that should really be spread out over twelve. It means another early morning and even later night of editing or writing and trying to fit in washing some dirty laundry as well.
For nine-to-five folks, Friday nights are open the beer, pop the cork, roll the joint time and for indie filmmakers, it's the same thing, only they aren't participating. They're planning the next day's shoot schedule and hoping that their beer drinking, cork popping, pot smoking cast and crew aren't getting so wasted that they'll show up late or worse, show up hungover and barf on every take.
Indie filmmakers are often too, the folks that have to work a nine-to-five gig just to live. They work forty-fity plus hours for someone else to earn enough to survive and then have to go home and work all weekend long on top of that. That translates into a 64 to 72 hour work week - no overtime pay and no real sleep.
So happy weekend to all the hard working folks who clock in and out nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday. And for all the indie-loos, good morning, make it a double shot coffee, put some extra cream cheese on that breakfast bagel you'll need it and here's hoping that lead actress of yours didn't party too hard at The Standard last night.

And if you are up for watching any of the SPENT weekend shot productions, got to our under construction website or our You Tube channel.

Lastly, R.I.P. Sidney Lumet who passed today in Manhattan. Howard Beale and his "I'm Mad as Hell" tirade have never been more relevant!

Arthur – What’s Your Thought on the Remake?

Someone at Warner Brothers thought it would be a sumptuous idea to cast Russell Brand in a remake of the Dudley Moore classic from 1981, Arthur, which opens this weekend at an overpriced theater near you.

For this four-eyed viewer seasoned enough to be familiar with the original when it was original, the 2011 Arthur remake is a disappointment, particularly because I wanted so much to like it. It glaringly lacked one thing – story. Something even an attractive man in a Batman suit couldn’t fix. The pacing and laughs were uneven, even with some crafty work by Brand and the ever-wonderful Helen Mirren. All in all if you want to see it, it’s worth a trip to the drive-in or matinee at best.

Kurt Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter may have said it best in his review of the film. “The story hasn't changed much, nor have the characters. But the comedy is now crude instead of whimsical and its characters overblown caricatures instead of screwball personalities. A movie has been reduced to a sketch. One's enjoyment of Arthur-- and its box office chances -- may depend on a new audience having little if any knowledge of the earlier work. As a Russell Brand Show, fans and followers may enjoy his extravagant mugging and nuttiness. Those with any memory of 1981's Arthur will be severely disappointed.”

What an Arthur remake does bring up for discussion again is “new and different” versus “sequel and remake.” Which is riskier?  Are moviegoers done with the same-old, same-old formulaic projects the studios are willing to produce? And where are independent films in all of this? Are they dead? Alive? Does anyone care?

So tell us what you think of Arthur (1981) and Arthur (2011). And tell us what you think of episode 1 of our series L.L.A., too!  It stars Cory Gluck, Kyle Heffner and Erin Holt, among others. You can check it out on our You Tube channel for now. It will be up on our revamped webnet next week!

We're Here!

Yeah - you guys asked for it - SPENT IS HERE!  Woot!

We'll be posting thoughts, interviews, comments, on set irritations and more! So stick, around, susbscribe and of course - watch us at www.spentv.com!