Stranger Than Hollywood

Kickstarter project for "Date Number One" December screenings

2009-11-08T12:04:00.001-08:00

Sujewa on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9

2009-02-09T01:28:00.001-08:00

I will be one of the guests on The Obenson Report podcast on Mon 2/9 night - show starts at 8 PM (i am on at 8:40 PM). I'll be discussing my new documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip (podcast host Tambay Obenson is featured in the doc) & D.I.Y. filmmaking/self-distribution. Tune in, check it out!

Current Blog

2009-02-05T18:13:00.001-08:00

Busy with a couple of film distribution things in Feb, will be back after that. In the meantime, I am at DIY Filmmaker Sujewa blog - mostly.

- Sujewa

Opening 9 minutes from my new documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip

2008-12-20T19:52:00.001-08:00

not the next movie

2008-04-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

looks like stranger than hollywood is not my next movie, as i expected it to be when i created this blog while still working on date number one. the next movie is about an actress. but we'll get to STH - the movie about making movies, at some point in the near future.

- sujewa

Now blogging at the new Wild Diner Films blog

2007-09-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to focus just on my own filmmaking related news (and not to bug the indieWIRE blogs page readers with constant info. about just my movies :), I started a new blog here. Future news about Stranger Than Hollywood can be found there. See ya over there sometime.

- Sujewa

6 characters, 90 minutes, no hand held camera, shooting in DC & Kensington, MD

2007-09-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

I think all I'll need to tell the Stranger Than Hollywood story is 6 characters. There might be some very minor characters in addition with a couple of lines each, and some extras with no dialogue; but, for the most part, 6 characters.

I have the locations for the film picked out; in DC and in Kensington, MD - for the main interior locations.

The hand held camera aesthetic will be largely or completely absent from this movie. I am going to go for wide shots, pans, and long takes - all from a tripod mounted camera. Also, through a combination of camera work, music, dialogue and blocking, a film noir type feel might be attempted; a well planned, crisp, no waste type thing - also poetic & energetic in a certain way. We'll have to see exactly what we end up with of course. Unlike most actual noir, this film will be in color, and on a video format (DV or HD), and a comedy-drama.

Jennifer Blakemore from Date Number One's Story 2: A Romantic Dinner For 3 (in the '06 version of DNO, in the '07 version of the movie that story is going to be Story 4) might play one of the roles in this movie; a supporting role (perhaps the role of the actress in the movie within the movie).

Also, of interest to indie film bloggers & indie filmmakers - actual issues in the indie film blogging, festival, and real indie/DIY filmmaking world, from the last couple of years, will be discussed/reflected in this movie (a lot of the stuff that I've talked about in DIY Filmmaker blog under its many names over the past couple of years). Putting that stuff in might be interesting for us a few years down the road when the very small new DV/HD & some film based real indie & self-distribution movement (that started/got attention in around year 2000 with The Debut, and continued with Robot Stories, and kept going with blogs & various films, got a large dose of attention with the recent Generation DIY festival) is either pretty much over, or in its later generations/incarnations, or just completely blown up to an unrecognizable level.

- Sujewa

Script update: main character & story line selected

2007-09-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the update here, at the Wild Diner Films blog.

- Sujewa

working on script, thinking about the tone & also the look of the movie

2007-08-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

after this month all of the filmmaking (& distribution related material making) & DVD making work, at least the original work (duplication may be necessary later; DVDs, press kits, posters, etc.) on Date Number One should be done. then full speed ahead on STH production.

right now working on the STH script, thinking about the tone of the film & the look of the film (cinematography).

this film will be a drama-comedy as opposed to a comedy-drama (yes, small difference to the ordinary audince member, but a big difference in how i write the script; the main character will be a dramatic/realistic character as opposed to a comic/surreal character such as the ninja character in story 1 of DNO). the flick will be partially inspired by events I experienced post-Wild Diner (my 1999 released film) - from going from an investor backed/16 MM/ festival play with the hope of distributor pick up type project to self-financed, digitally shot & distributed, self-distributed project w/ no festival ambitions & no distributor entanglements.

it is perhaps a story of interest to a relatively small number of people, but i think it will capture a moment in the history of indie film when the community/the industry made a switch (at a significant level, or started taking digital DIY filmmaking & distribution seriously) from how indie film has been done for over a decade to the current ways of doing things - the old way (investors/festivals/distribution companies) and the new digital way (self-financed/self-produced & distributed/all digital).

there will be comedy, there will be drama, so the pic does not end up being a how-to video :) pic will be entertaining, but it will also try to stay true to the spirit of things i experienced when switching from "the old indie way" to the "new indie way".

should be interesting, a different goal than what i had with Date Number One - which was relatively widely accessible entertainment, made w/out thinking too much about the Hollywood or the indiewood aesthetic.

be back in september with an update on STH. i hope to get the script finished in september.

- sujewa

Coming Soon

2007-07-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

But while you wait feel free to check out DIY Filmmaker Sujewa/Wild Diner Films blog or the Wild Diner Films website (which, at the moment, has info. on my '06 feature Date Number One).

This new blog will be used to document & promote my next feature; untitled as of now, to be shot this year/'07 and released next year/'08 (or as soon as we can get it done & done very well).

UPDATE 7/18/07, 4 AM: The working title of the next movie is Stranger Than Hollywood.

- Sujewa