June's been a wild ride, and it's only half over.
Me and my SMART HOUSE producer Henrique Couto went to Chicago to screen the movie for the first time, in director Joe Swanberg's secret VHS store/screening venue.Strange but true! Swanberg (HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS, DRINKING BUDDIES, DIGGING FOR FIRE) opened a video store in Chicago, made up of his own VHS collection, and firmly and defiantly lodged in 1998. So no social media, no email, no cell phones allowed. As well as being able to rent VHS tapes two at a time, every month Joe snail mails a flier to card-carrying members (their photos taken with what looks like an old license branch camera) with everything going on there.
Henrique and I were directed to a pizza place down the street from the venue, where we were met by our Chicago film programming friend Jason. After a good Chicago cracker crust pie he escorted us to the location, which really is a blank door in the side of an unassuming building.
The front room is pretty small, with a lot of VHS categorized on shelves, then you enter a larger room with even more tapes and areas for old magazines and current zines, old books on a table and vintage clothes on a rack, all for sale.
The back room is larger yet and the only nod to the modern world, with a nice projector and sound system, but the decor is somewhere between speakeasy and all the basements I hung out in in middle school. Joe spins records and audience members BYOB until the movie starts.
We had about 25 people there, a receptive crowd, and I was extremely flattered when Joe asked me up to do a Q&A afterwards. Unlike what you'd imagine Hollywood people to be, he was extremely gracious and generous with his time and attention. I think more people wanted to hear Joe Swanberg ask questions than wanted to hear my answers, but it was an attentive group and then after Joe said people could hang out for a while.
Which probably half the people did, until about one in the morning, and I found out it was pretty much a gaggle of film students, other filmmakers, and film-adjacent people, a good group to listen to records with and talk about movies to.
A memorable night indeed, and left with an offer to come back for something else one day, a good reason to keep making movies.
Just a few weeks before Chicago, I got a surprise email from the people who have been getting a ton of buzz for WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY, a horror movie made when this sharp-eyed British production company saw Pooh falling into the public domain. Like all overnight sensations in the movie biz, they've been grinding for a number of years with all kinds of other franchises to see what sticks, like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Medusa, Humpty Dumpty, and one called simply THE BAD NUN.
Now the bell tolls on BAD NUN 3, and they asked if I could write a script for them quickly--really, really quickly, faster than I ever have written, but of course I said yes because suddenly these folks are on a rocket, and it never hurts to be standing around when one takes off.
Friday was the first day of shooting, and it's been crazy watching it unfold five hours in the future in England, just a few weeks from my keyboard. Eager to see what happens with that.
On Wednesday Henrique Couto and I are heading back to another fantastic film venue, this time Film Scene in Iowa City. This is a really, really nice theater with very articulate film fans, and it's a cool town to boot.
Can't wait to fill you in on this, and the set of BAD NUN 3, very soon.
The front room is pretty small, with a lot of VHS categorized on shelves, then you enter a larger room with even more tapes and areas for old magazines and current zines, old books on a table and vintage clothes on a rack, all for sale.
The back room is larger yet and the only nod to the modern world, with a nice projector and sound system, but the decor is somewhere between speakeasy and all the basements I hung out in in middle school. Joe spins records and audience members BYOB until the movie starts.
We had about 25 people there, a receptive crowd, and I was extremely flattered when Joe asked me up to do a Q&A afterwards. Unlike what you'd imagine Hollywood people to be, he was extremely gracious and generous with his time and attention. I think more people wanted to hear Joe Swanberg ask questions than wanted to hear my answers, but it was an attentive group and then after Joe said people could hang out for a while.
Which probably half the people did, until about one in the morning, and I found out it was pretty much a gaggle of film students, other filmmakers, and film-adjacent people, a good group to listen to records with and talk about movies to.
A memorable night indeed, and left with an offer to come back for something else one day, a good reason to keep making movies.
Just a few weeks before Chicago, I got a surprise email from the people who have been getting a ton of buzz for WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY, a horror movie made when this sharp-eyed British production company saw Pooh falling into the public domain. Like all overnight sensations in the movie biz, they've been grinding for a number of years with all kinds of other franchises to see what sticks, like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Medusa, Humpty Dumpty, and one called simply THE BAD NUN.
Now the bell tolls on BAD NUN 3, and they asked if I could write a script for them quickly--really, really quickly, faster than I ever have written, but of course I said yes because suddenly these folks are on a rocket, and it never hurts to be standing around when one takes off.
Friday was the first day of shooting, and it's been crazy watching it unfold five hours in the future in England, just a few weeks from my keyboard. Eager to see what happens with that.
On Wednesday Henrique Couto and I are heading back to another fantastic film venue, this time Film Scene in Iowa City. This is a really, really nice theater with very articulate film fans, and it's a cool town to boot.
Can't wait to fill you in on this, and the set of BAD NUN 3, very soon.
