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Truly Free Film

10 More Embarrassing Brushes With Celebrities

Last week we gave you “10 Embarrassing Brushes with Celebrities” by Jack Lechner. Today, Miranda Bailey provides us with ten more of her own. It’s helpful to be reminded that even producers struggle with this.
 
by Miranda Bailey

1.) In 1996 I was invited to a party in Aspen hosted by Kevin Costner. I had lived in Aspen a year before but now I lived in Hollywood trying to make my way through the smog as an actress. When I arrived I looked around and found someone that I recognized. I went up to her and said “Hey! How are you?”- she said she was doing great. I asked her how the Howling Wolf was doing. (This was a restaurant I was a waitress at in Aspen the year before.)  She said “I don’t know what you mean.”?  So I reminded her “Didn’t we wait tables together at the Howling Wolf”? – “No”. She said. “I’m a model”…  “Oh… how’s that going”? I asked, assuming it was something like wearing a fur hat in the Aspen information guide that got handed out to tourists. “It’s going well”. She smiled politely and walked away. My friend then decked me in the chest and said “I cannot believe you just told Rachel Hunter that you thought she was a waitress at the Howling Wolf. You are such a douche”….

2.) In 1997 I acted in a play called Mainliner in a tiny dump on Fountain Ave. I became friends with the directors girlfriend Kerry. We hung out here and there, she was an LA local who knew a bunch of celebs. One night we went to Tobey Maguire’s birthday party, Leonardo DiCaprio was there and I met him briefly. They ALL knew Kerry. I was her wing woman. It was awesome. About six months later, the play was over and I wasn’t seeing Kerry much anymore. But I got invited to a premiere on the Paramount lot. There was Tobey Maguire. I went up to him and said “Hey, I’m Miranda Bailey. I’m good friends with Kerry. We met at your birthday party”.- “Kerry who?” he said…”Um, Kerry…..” but for the life of me, at that moment I couldn’t remember her last name. “Kerry….um, something like a fish for a last name”? He looked at me like I was a pathetic loser ” Yeah”, he said “You’re not that good friends with someone if you don’t know their last name”. . I guess he was right.

3.) In 1998 I was crossing Beverly Blvd. As I waited at the light. I noticed this guy. Where did I know him from? Summer Camp? “Hey, is your name David”? He looked annoyed and pushed the walk button harder as if that would make the light turn and didn’t answer me. “Did you go to Anderson Camp in Colorado?”… the light turned. He walked faster than a pregnant woman headed towards the bathroom.

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Truly Free Film

Towards A Sustainable Investor Class: Have A Good Time

If you don’t enjoy what you do you won’t stay with it.  

Freud and The Ancient Greeks all recognized that you need a balance between work, love, and play.  For a system to be sustaining, it should have an equal balance between all three. It has be something you care about, that your labor and time can improve and produce just rewards, and it has to deliver joy. Film investment can be

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Truly Free Film

Simple Fix: Celebrity Twitter Support For Indie Film

Celebrities have the most influence on Twitter.  Twitter is a great way to further word-of-mouth.  Twitter particularly is good to further engagement with something that is immediately accessible, like a television show.

It has been shown time and time again the impact a few celebrities can have when they support a film.

Many movie stars got their start in indie film.  Many movie starts did their best work in indie film.

Indie film is under threat.  It is no longer a

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Truly Free Film

10 Embarrassing Brushes With Celebrities

By Jack Lechner

1. 1985. I’m taking the bus from my job in Manhattan to my shared walkup in Hoboken. The guy who plunks down across from me is none other than John Sayles, one of my heroes on Earth. I know I should say something to him, something clever and charming – but I can’t, because I begin to shake uncontrollably at the very sight of him. I’m still shaking when he gets off the bus in Hoboken.

2. 1987. I’m on an awards jury in LA. Before the meeting starts, someone mentions seeing a crappy summer movie. “Have you ever seen SUMMER LOVERS?” I ask. “It couldn’t possibly be worse than that.” Right on cue, a man sits down to join us. It’s Randal Kleiser – the director of SUMMER LOVERS. (He’s surprisingly gracious about it.)

3. 1987. I watch a brilliant short film from Columbia University, by a young director named Nicole Holofcener.

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Truly Free Film

Towards A Sustainable Investor Class: Deliver Risk Appropriate Returns

The Film Industry has historically sought out “dumb money”, people willing to make the sucker bet.  This is akin to basing the global transportation system on fossil fuel — at a given time ,you run out the resource and have the joy of having destroyed your planet or culture in the process.  Why are we doing this? Isn’t it time this process stopped? Can we just find the photos of those responsible now, put them on the wall, and say “These people destroyed what we once loved?”

It is as if The Studios make sport of trying to make sure that the creators and their supporters don’t earn their fair share.  By now everyone knows both the tales of

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Truly Free Film

Diary of a Film Startup: Post #40: Music for Movies, Expert Tips, Part II of II

By Roger Jackson and Klaus Badelt
KinoSmall

Previously: Music for Movies, Expert Tips, Part I of II

This is Part II of Expert Tips from composer (and Kinonation co-founder) Klaus Badelt. Klaus has scored over 80 films. His work spans Hollywood blockbusters such as Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, Catwoman, Poseidon, Rescue Dawn, 16 Blocks, The Recruit, K-19. And a ton of US and European indies, including documentaries, shorts and even video games.

11. Choosing a Composer

When seeking a composer, you’re actually looking for a “filmmaker” to work on a dramatic collaboration — he just happens to be called the “composer.” The worst thing you can do is to ask for demo music for a scene of your film from 5 different composers. Why? Because creating a score is collaborative and if you ask for demos you don’t learn or experience collaboration with the composer. You’re much better off asking for score examples from their previous films. But your main objective should be to find a composer you trust and like…with whom you can talk story first, music last. A good composer must be, above all, emotionally invested in the story you’re telling.

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Truly Free Film

The San Francisco Film Community’s Continual Rise

The best things in life bring multiple rewards.  

If you can solve a problem by improving other things simultaneously, you know everyone is going to win.  Besides, we all have way too much to get done, that it only makes sense to kill two birds with one stone whenever humanly possible.  I think the San Francisco Film Society and I may have just accomplished this remarkable feat.  Let’s see