But Instead It Just Kept On Raining

This post first appeared in my eNewsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

I hope my e-newsletter finds you all well.  It's been a long while, but that goes without saying.  I don't have anything to add to the discourse, as I don't know how to make a dumpster fire into a risen phoenix.

It seems quaint now, but when I sent my last newsletter in March, I had just canceled the first weekend of shooting for HIS WIFE MY KILLER at the last second, and I mean the last second, as I had already bought the lunch meat for the first day's sandwiches.  I thought, as it turned out correctly, that I could have gotten the first weekend of shooting in, but would have been under restrictions for the second.  And I would have been sitting here today with half a movie, which I honestly think is worse than no movie at all.

It seems a long-ass time ago, but around then my first movie, THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE, had just dropped in Walmart and Family Video and a ton of other stores nationwide, and I had been tooling around finding it places.  Back then Family Video stores seemed to be closing faster than they could stock my movie, but I talked to a lot of store managers around my neck of the woods about it, which was fun.

If you haven't seen it yet, it is still free on Amazon Prime, and also free on Tubi.

Speaking of Tubi, my second movie SCARECROW COUNTY also landed there ahead of the physical media release, so dare I say 2020 wasn't all bad, as both my movies came out this year.

Strange but true, but two movies I wrote, AMITYVILLE ISLAND and SHARK ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, also came out this year.  Both are available streaming, although only the former is free.

I wrote these in a white heat some while ago, when I actually penned three movies in six weeks, and I can't recall much about writing either one of them.  As many reviewers have already noted, they are both deliriously crazy, and I can't argue the point.

My freelance output hasn't been much during this time.  I was sent to work from home for three weeks, nine months ago, from my day job in marketing and communications for a regional college campus.  Since then we have been the main window into the campus, though press releases, social media, live Facebook and Zoom events, and more; unlike a lot of people, I have been fortunate to actually be busier during this time than if I was back at the office.

So I haven't been able to make the sourdough starter and other things cooped up people have done.  I have cartooned a little, and started building Gundam models after a friend gifted me one.  We bought a camper in case we need to stave off of the Apocalypse and have enjoyed that, including an outdoor (cold but fun) camping Thanksgiving.  My wife has been teaching from home, at a different university, and it's been nice to have lunch together every day, after working at campuses 50 miles apart for the last 15 years.

I wrote two scripts; one a science fiction adventure and one a western.  The western had started shooting under the direction of my old friend Henrique Couto, but like everyone else in our industry the production had to take a time out when they struggled with COVID restrictions (and weather).  I'm not sure about the fate of the other.  But that's the nature of the beast right now, perhaps even more so.

I haven't been able to get the machine running for myself writing-wise, and I'm not sure when it will be safe to ramp up HIS WIFE MY KILLER again.  We shall see.

It is extremely weird to write this, as when I lay it all out and read it I think I had my best year as a screenwriter and filmmaker.  And yet. 

When we talk about the first thing we will do when it's all over, if it is truly over, I always say I am going to make my (regionally) famous beef brisket for my extended family, who I have seen only in small doses in exterior settings (so much so that my two-year-old grandson calls our camper 'Nana's House').  If I could George Bailey this noise, and have all my movie stuff never exist and instead be making that beef brisket today, I would take that deal.

But as I said when I got my emergency root canal and crown a month or so ago to end 2020 in style, it's not the crown I wanted, but it's the crown I was given.

I promise I won't be too long before I write again, because I always like to share my favorite reads of the year, and I have read some good ones, including one I'm half through now. 

Until then, thank you for reading and sticking with me and I truly wish you all well in this time.

Well When This Train Ends I'll Try Again

This post first appeared in my eNewsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

It seems quaint now, but a week ago I was really debating about canceling the first weekend of shooting for my new movie HIS WIFE MY KILLER.  I was having a number of cast and crew people from Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and Dayton reaching out, including someone whose family member was currently being tested for Coronavirus at an area hospital.  I went ahead and pushed the button on canceling and felt pretty low about it.  But so much closing in rapid succession afterwards really overshadowed that, obviously.  I really thought we could get the first weekend in, but that things would change so rapidly we wouldn't be able to get in the second, and I was right.

I don't talk much about my day job in my newsletter, only my side hustle, but I work at a regional university in communications and marketing, with about five percent of my job in emergency management.  Suffice to say that changed to 95 percent emergency management overnight and I am finishing my first week of working from home for the near future and being on Zoom and Skype calls five or six hours a day.  There's a lot to talk about and think about but I don't know if I have anything to add that hasn't been said, but would just say be safe and be careful, all.

When you make a b-movie you go to war with a group of people and can really bond with them, and I have seen very little like it, except when I have been in a play, or worked in live television.  But maybe working with my day job team on this has been close, though not by choice.  I hope you can rally your own squad, personal or professional, whoever they are.

On the other side we will reschedule the shoot, and you'll be the first to know.  Best wishes you to all.

Half My Life is in Books' Written Pages

 This post first appeared in my secret eNewsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

The last time I sent a newsletter was the morning my movie THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE streeted on DVD.  I genuinely thought it would pass without notice; I felt when it hit streaming, especially Amazon Prime and a few other platforms, that was where the most interest would be.  But I was wrong.  

All day long that day, and in the days that followed, I was getting pictures and texts and DMs and emails from all over the country where people found copies of THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE in WalMart.  If I had known how much I would need to respond to that first day I would have taken the day off, as my phone literally chattered all day with hundreds of notifications and messages.  It was a very heady day in what has been a wild experience, with the movie getting a much wider release than I anticipated in streaming and physical media.

I think one thing that helped is that Henrique Couto's OUIJA ROOM streeted on the exact same day, and Henrique was offering a deal at his webstore for people who bought his movie at WalMart and took a picture with the receipt.  A lot of people picked up my movie too, and I think some that went looking for mine got his also.  His movie was shot first, features a lot of the same cast, and Henrique DPd and produced mine as well, so there was a lot of synergy in promoting these two in one swoop.

Thank you to everyone who picked one up that day and in subsequent days, whether you sent me a photo or not.  

When you have something going, everybody asks you what you have going next.  And I do have something, an exclusive for newsletter subscribers.  Starting next weekend, and throughout the month of March, we are girding up for a new thriller, HIS WIFE MY KILLER, the third film under the Midwest Film Venture banner.

This feature will once again feature my friend Henrique Couto as producer and director of photography, and will have some new faces and some familiar ones from previous films.  Here's a synopsis:

Trond is a film composer who is unlucky at love, so he tries a website featuring Eastern European women looking for marriage.  But when Oja arrives at his door, mayhem ensues.  Trond's first wife, their college-aged daughter, and his best friend all get caught up in the maelstrom.  

We are doing a little pre-shoot next Saturday, then shooting solid the next two weekends, then doing a pickup day on the last Saturday of the month.  It's going to be full blast, and you can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and if I'm not too tired Snapchat.  I'm @johnoakdalton all of those places.  

My main thing I promised myself was no more cold weather shoots, and it looks like it will be in the 50s at least part of the way, which means it looks like I will be sort of keeping my promise to myself.
 

And lastly, longtime newsletter readers know that I like to keep a "secret soundtrack" of songs that inspire me when I'm writing a movie, any one of which the rights to would cost more than the movie.

So here is the first look at the "secret soundtrack" for HIS WIFE MY KILLER to give you some ideas about what I was thinking:

Fox on the Run, The Regrettes 

Imaginary Lover, Atlanta Rhythm Section 

For the Love of Money, The O’Jays 

Where is the Love, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway 

Ain’t No Sunshine, Bill Withers 

Can’t You See, The Marshall Tucker Band 

Cinderella, Firefall 

Tuesday’s Gone, Lynyrd Skynyrd 

He Stopped Loving Her Today, George Jones 

Dream On, Postmodern Jukebox 

Keep your eyes peeled for a lot more updates this month, and thanks for following along.

Tuesday's Gone with the Wind

This post first appeared in my secret e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

Last Friday I had a chance to go to the Indiana University Cinema to hear Jim Jarmusch talk. He as an absolutely formative director from my early years of interest in cinema; STRANGER THAN PARADISE had a lot of influence on me, but MYSTERY TRAIN and NIGHT ON EARTH are two later, great movies, and I would recommend GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI as an entry point to anybody.

He said so many things that hit me right where I live:  that there are as many ways to make movies as there are movie directors, but there is only one way for a director to direct an individual actor, that a movie will tell you what it wants to be.  He talked about how you had to be interested in all different subjects to make your movies interesting.  He had a million stories about moviemaking but one of my favorite things he said was that, no matter the state of the world, his memories of the movies he's seen can't be taken away from him.  I have said forever, to make a good movie you have to come from a place of honest appreciation of movies; if you come from a place of cynicism, you'll get found out by the fans.  I got a tremendous charge from this trip.

Yesterday I was driving back from work meetings in Chicago and passed a Family Video in Frankfort, Indiana.  I thought I would stop and see if they were going to stock my movie THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE, which streets everywhere today.  It hit streaming platforms in October, but I'm old school, and was eager to see it on the shelf somewhere.

They actually had it, but had not shelved it yet, and let me take a picture without asking why, though I eventually told them, and they vowed to promote it.

It was a dizzying and humbling feeling to hold this movie for the first time, in a rural Indiana video store along Highway 28.

About 30 minutes later I passed another Family Video in Elwood, Indiana, and they had it too, and the staff there was very friendly and excited for me.

I think this is everything I hoped would happen; that the movie would appear on the shelf in small towns and all the highways and byways in America.  Because I hope somebody like me will see it, and be inspired to make their own movie.  Even if they see it and think "I can do better than that," as my wise old b-movie friend Mark Polonia says, if someone says they can do better than you, it means they can learn from you. 

And now it exists and is out loose in the world for real and for true.  If you see it anywhere, please send me a picture, or post one and tag it.

It's a long road.  I starting shooting at my own house with a group of friends and a handful of favors in March 2018.  Again, it is a humbling experience to see it exist now.  But if it wasn't feeling humble, all I have to do is remember this picture, from my first day of shooting ever as a director, wearing my sweatshirt inside out.

I have some news coming soon, and I promise my loyal e-newsletter people will get to read it first.  Until then, thanks for being there.

Another Year Over, A New One Just Begun

2019 was quite a year of ups and downs, like I am sure it was for most everyone.  I sold both my movies intro distribution after shooting one in 2018 and a second in 2019.  But I also had a couple of health scares, the first since I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in 2014 and set out to go down four pants sizes.  I had emergency gallbladder surgery and then had a chronic bladder infection I couldn't shake.  But all ends well.

I think it was the author Sherman Alexie who said if you can take the good and subtract the bad and still smile you are doing okay, and I agree with that.

My public resolutions for 2020 are to keep an eye on my health, shepherd my kids and grandkids as best I can, continue to work on my creativity, plus one or two private ones.

2009-2019 is a large chunk of real estate to get my mind around.  In 2009 I made a big mid-career change and left IT/television and went into marketing and communications at a midwestern regional college.  I have had a tremendous ride during that time with a lot of successes.

I decided to use that as an excuse to walk away from screenwriting, but it never left my mind, and a few years later was back writing a handful of movies for directors Mark Polonia and Henrique Couto.  In late 2017 I decided to make a leap and direct my first feature, which we shot in March 2018.  It is dropping next month on DVD but can currently be streamed on a number of platforms, which exceeds my expectations for a movie I shot at my house.

Both my kids got college degrees, and my wife got her MFA in creative writing and a professorship.  Both my kids got married and I have three grandkids, with promises made to each that I will try to live a while longer.

I bought what I hope is my last home, on five acres in a rural area, and built a chicken coop there, and living this way keeps me grounded, I hope.

This may have been the decade with the most changes in my adult life, but I have a feeling the next one may be even more so, both good and bad.

I wish the best for my loyal readers in 2020 and beyond.