So many meetings! It's set up very similar to speed dating. You go into this pit, sit down to meet with your rep or exec, and do your pitch. Then you switch. Then you switch again. Our team was pretty good about doing the research before going into the meeting, past projects done by the people we have met with and what they are shopping around for. I was pretty beat after all of it. Selling sort of takes the toll out of me. So I took a long nap which Erik felt the need to record for posterity. O filmmakers! Always trying to encapsulate a moment.
Our team was invited to the premier party of the film West 32nd Street starring John Cho and Grace Park. It was a pretty fun party. Two beautiful words strung together in the English language, open and bar. Networked for a little bit and danced like crazy. Kase has some really awesome moves. Everyone team needs a guy who can "dance the night away" to quote Michael Jackson.
Featured in press!
Hey guys.. I'm at a party at the filmmakers lounge and people have been coming up to me telling me that we are featured in an article..
It's an update of what's going on at the festival... Our our Producer Kase Chong and me are quoted. What an honor..
Check it out.
CLICK HERE!CLICK HERE!CLICK HERE!This is cool!
Labels: beyond the mat, Henry k. Priest, independent film, Kase Chong, press, tribeca film festival, wrestling. film
Last night was a total blast. Never in my life did I think expect to be in a party spun by DJ Jazzy Jeff. The best part was the networking and meeting fellow filmmakers. To feel amongst your peers, and to all come together in celebration is a wonderful feeling.
As a team, I feel that we have our pitch honed pretty well. The key is to be flexible. Some execs don't want to hear everything, they just want to talk and get to know you. Everyday is a learning process. Erik and I were interviewed by Yahoo. I felt like a total dweeb talking on camera (must be because I'm used to be on the other side). Maybe I will practice with a publicist when I get back to LA, I felt unprepared for it. But that's ok. Everything gets easier with practice. GO TEAM!!!!!
hor'dourve overload and free drink frenzy
ok... we had a crazy busy day. met with a major studio. i want to tell you all about it but i'm drunk. we went to three celebrity fill receptions and one after party. all open bar with waiters in aprons carrying around trays of hors'dourves... it really is like i imagined. 4 parties and 9 drinks later, i'm in no condition to tell you about the day. plus, we have a 9:30am meeting with another major studio and a 10:00am with a major network. thank god i have my pitch down pact. ...plus i'm a nerd and i spent the night partying/dancing with the girl of my dreams. maybe the hottest actress on the best scifi show on tv!
Jazzy
ERIK MARTINEZ - SCREENWRITER
Today has been one hell of a day. My feet hurt, my body aches in some place I didn't know existed and I really couldn't be happier. I just got back from a party hosted by Apple that featured DJ Jazzy Jeff as the night's entertainment, I even got to talk up Grace Park and take a picture with her (geeking out!). Van, Kase, Teresa, Henry and I got meet and greet a slew of the other Tribeca participants including Emily Wang (Producer) and Rooth Tang (Writer/Director) of the narrative project The Vitruvian Man, both very wonderful and cordial individuals who are just in much in awe of the entire TAA experience as we are.
The day started out with a great meeting with a rep. from a major studio that was informative in many ways and brought us a wealth of affirmation for the project. To say the least, the rep. was extremely easy to talk to and offered some great input about the project.
Later, Teresa and I even gave an interview to Yahoo video news which will go live on Friday. To say that it's been a whirlwind would be an understatement for me. Words can't really express the level of enjoyment, bewilderment, excitement and the plethora of other emotions that seem to over take me, all of us at any given moment.
So far the entire process has been amazing and enlightening in ways I could never have imagined. It's only been the first official day of the program and, in all honesty, I can't wait for tomorrow.
About our project: Beyond the Mat
Penned by Chapman University graduate Erik Martinez, BEYOND THE MAT is a story of two high school wrestlers put their friendship on the line for the sport they love, setting one of them on a journey to self-discovery that brings him one step closer to manhood.
It posses the question..."What are you willing to sacrifice to win?"
The wrestling community in the US is 20 million strong but the sport of wrestling has been under represented in the media. We believe a film about the great sport is long overdue.
There is already a buzz about the project as it garnered much support from the wrestling community and is endorsed by the US Olympic Wrestling team, the National High School Coaches Association and many organizations.
BEYOND THE MAT will be directed by Van M. Pham, produced by Kase Chong, Teresa Hsu and Henry K. Priest.
Investment opportunities...
View the trailer online...
Learn more about the project...
http://www.BeyondtheMattheMovie.com
What is Tribeca All Access?
What is Tribeca All Access?For those of you guys out there who are not familiar with the Tribeca All Access
mark your calendar now and make sure you apply for this amazing program next year...
It's a very special program presented as part of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. It's the film festival in New York created by Robert DeNiro.
It is very competitive so have your ducks in a row... We are fortunate to participate this year... Our project is titled Beyond the Mat.
Here is some information...
For its fourth year, the program will showcase 32 projects by people of color. TAA matches African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander filmmakers with potential investors in a series of one-on-one meetings and other events during the annual Tribeca Film Festival.
Over 300 projects were submitted but only a few qualified to participate in the forum where high-level film industry executives meet with a diverse and exceptionally talented group of U.S.-based filmmakers. Production teams make pitch presentations in pre-scheduled meetings with over 100 industry decision-makers, including private investors, production companies, development executives, agents, and managers.
"Tribeca All Access is now a recognized incubator for U.S.-based writing and directing talent," said Tribeca's Jane Rosenthal, in a statement. "We are very proud to present this platform to celebrate a multiplicity of filmmaking voices."
More: http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org
Labels: how to, independent, indie film, investment in film, pitch, pitching, robert deniro, success, tribeca all access, tribeca film festival
Orientation
Disoriented - I have jet lag because I barely came back from Asia last week. I sort of been wandering around NYC in a haze. I love the city though and I'm excited about this whole kick-off. To be honest, I'm not familiar with TAA at all, so this indoctrination was informative as well as fun. We had our orientation breakfast at Centrico restaurant on W. Broadway, nuevo latino so early in the morning. Yeesh. My delicate stomach system cannot handle it without copious amounts of caffeine. Everyone in the program was very friendly and supportive of one another. I guess we were lucky to be thrusted into this group of filmmakers who weren't aggro competitive. This makes small talk so much easier. It's just a lot to take in, the program in conjunction to the city. Park City this is not.
Ground Zero Gyro: East Vs. West Pitch
Last night I was restless and I decided to go explore with our producer Kase... We went looking for some food. I couldn't find a taco truck. See what happens when you let a Chicano from East LA out at night... he goes looking for King Taco... but interestingly enough... we were wandering around aimlessly and happened upon Ground Zero.
It was so quit and surreal at that time of night. We bought two Gyros from a vendor who seemed to be the only guy on the streets for miles... he was right in front of Ground Zero.. It was kinda weird finding him out there. The food was good. I'm bringing this up today because two things happened today that reconnected me to the Gyros at Ground Zero.
In the morning we were headed to our orientation and we ended up at Ground Zero again. When I realized it we were in the the exact location that I have only seen in a CGI animation. Yup.. It was interesting because I have a film coming out and it's is centered around 9/11 and two soldiers. We have a ground zero scene that it completely blue screened and remade as a computer Generated graphic. Today we ended up at the exact location that we remade in the film... Once again, it was surreal.. I couldn't believe I was there... in real life.. at the exact latitude and longitude we re-created!
Once we arrived at the orientation the day went by swiftly... It was great to be in a room of so many talented filmmakers. One interesting thing happened that put things into perspective for me... I was interviewed by Univision .. I pulled in Erik, our writer and he began pitching the project to the camera. He did a great job... I was so excited because it flowed. Right in the middle of his interview I realized that he was sharing it with millions of viewers.. millions of Latino viewers.. Thats when it hit me.. We are here representing Latinos in the film community... We have the support of that community.. It's evident in the emails I have been receiving.. Thank you all for watching the broadcast and emailing.. thanks to the friends back home that sent emails in response to some of the press we have been getting.. It truly inspires me to know that we are here with a program designed to help us under-represented filmmakers get through the threshold and into success... It was great to see Edwin Pagan and Bienvenida "Beni" Matias also in the All Access program. Especially because we are all members of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). They are both very active and I hold them in high regard. Wow... today I realized that things are stirring.. and i'm in the company of some great Latino filmmakers from mi gente... We're rockin it...
We all begin our pitches tomorrow.. It was awesome getting feedback from producers as we practiced our pitches today.. The thing that kept coming up as we pitched and made our assessments is that there is a way to pitch in LA and there is a way to pitch in New York.. I didn't even know it existed.. but it does.. So here is my brief explanation for you filmmakers...
LA Pitch:
- Use a logline such as "Two high school wrestlers put their friendship on the line to win at all cost."
- Compare two films... "It's Rocky meets Vsion Quest"
- Be animated
New York Pitch:
- Just tell the story.. they want to get hooked in by the characters and their struggle. They also want to hear it in ten beats or so... like an overview.
It was interesting because all day long we had great input but we were directed to approach our pitch at different angles depending on who we were speaking to. After we walked away from our individual meetings we would say.. "That makes sense.. but the other producer said to do it the other way.." and both made sense.. We finally realized that they were both right.. depending on which coast they operate from.. It was pretty interesting and fun to explore it all. Congrats to Erik and Van for pitching, taking direction and making a touch down... tomorrow we'll make more adjustments.. Teresa, one of our producers will chime in with some supporting info.. Kase, our producer will get our beats in line...
In the end we'll score big... after we decide which coast were pitching to..
Tonight I headed out with Van to get a bite to eat... as it tuns out we found our way to ground Zero by accident... Van had never been. He was very moved by the experience as he looked at the pictures on the wall. We also saw this very old cemetery that is directly across the street from GZ. It is the oldest and scariest looking cemitary I have ever seen. It truly looked like a scene from "A nightmare before Christmas" or some other fabricated haunted graveyard.. The spooky part is that it is hundreds of years old and survived the attacks on September 11. You really need to stop and take a look at this.. it really is something.
We ended up having some pretty deep conversation about friendship, September 11, the war and life... all while we walked on the cobblestone alleyways trying to find our way back... It truly was a moment to remember... I thank Van for sharing that with me... It seemed like a movie scene...
Oh... and about the Gyros and Ground Zero... once again... we found our buddy selling Gyros.. When I approached him he remembered me.. I told him that Kase posted his picture on the World Wide Web.. that made him very happy... He smiled and gave us a free Gyro and Soda...
Labels: film, independent film, september 11, tribeca film festival, wrestling movie
It's raining!!!
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Got to meet Jane Rosenthal, the co-creator along with Robert DeNiro (Bob to his friends).
It's raining here in New York. Didn't bring an umbrella or a jacket. We ended up scrambling to a near by store to buy them.
Today was all practice. We got paired up with established producers to practice our pitch on. The gave us feed back to hone our presentation so that when we meet the industry peeps tomorrow, we're on point. We also attended a panel with some TAA alumni. They passed on some advice on how to make the best of the experience.
Other than that, we got some VIP access into the Target sponsored and designed filmmaker lounge, open only to filmmakers and press. We also get free drinks every day from 4-6pm at Wolfgang Pucks. We'll be sure to make use of that. Everything was empty though. The festival doesn't start until tomorrow and I think everybody is still arriving today. I'm sure tomorrow will be much more crowded.
No celebrity sitings yet.
Orientation Day
It's been an interesting day to say the least. It started with an All Access breakfast over at the Centrico restaurant, which has this Latin-American theme going with a bit of fusion thrown into the mix, the food was great though and we got to meet many of our fellow TAA participants. There was a great mix of people, all with wonderful stories to tell. My co-producer Henry and I even had an opportunity to do an interview with Univision, which was very cool.
The breakfast was followed by panels and practice pitch sessions over at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The pitch sessions were enlightening as we pitched to two very different individuals (both producers). One had a more "Hollywood" approach to things and another had a more "independent" mindset. The feedback was great nonetheless, but eye opening in the way it reaffirmed some thoughts about the distinctions between the two "classes" of film-making.
This was followed by a very informative Q & A with some TAA alumni. All in all a solid day of being put through the whirlwind of film festival goodness.
And the filmmaker lounge(s) were pretty kick ass, too.
Labels: Erik Martinez - Screenwriter
Can't Sleep
KASE CHONG - PRODUCER
It's 3:00am and I'm still awake. It's cause I'm still on LA time. Hollywood time. Or is it that I'm too excited. I can hear my writer snoring quitely in the background. Henry, my co-producer, and I just got back from a walk on the town. We're staying at the Exchange Hotel. It's a block away from Wall Street and the NYSE. That also means we're only a few blocks away from the WTC, ground zero.
Henry and I went down to the lobby bar at around 1 for a night cap but it was closed. We got directions to Ulysses, a nearby bar that closes at 4am, and upon arriving proceeded to have a pint each. Right out side were the cobblestoned streets of the NYSE. In the late night with no pedestrians, they looked eerily like the must have looked back in the 18th century. We downed our pints and headed out into the cold night air, imagining what the past must have been like. We were shocked back into the present by the gapping hole that still is the World Trade Center. 6 years and there's still nothing there. 6 years and the sight/site can still touch your heart.
A little bit hungry, we got Gyros (pronounced: YEARoh) from a streetside vendor named Mie (pronounced: MY). He was from egypt. Kinda surreal, an egyptian muslim selling greek food right next to the World Trade Center. What ever the case, the sandwiches were dang tasty and they supplied the fuel we need to make it back to our hotel.
Maybe it's jetlag or maybe it the excitment of being at Tribeca. I'm still not sleepy. We have a full day tomorrow which starts with our orientation breakfast at 9:00am. I promise to take better pictures tomorrow. These all came from my camera phone.
Time
ERIK MARTINEZ - SCREENWRITER
I read somewhere that all people really have together is time. Time has a way of slipping past you if you’re not careful, especially with cross country time changes. It seems relevant considering that I’m currently somewhere over Pennsylvania, in the middle of my first plane trip ever, going to the Tribeca Film Festival to pitch my team’s project, “Beyond the Mat” to a myriad of people.
I’ve been napping a good deal of the time on the flight, opening my eyes due to the occasion jolt of turbulence or people walking through the aisle. Most of the time has been spent in my thoughts, thinking of my parents, back in Bakersfield, California, proud of their youngest child. They saw me off on Sunday, along with my best friend of 16 years, Rocio – the archetypical girl next door. It was nice.
There hasn’t been much to do except listen to music and run around in my head. I’ve read over my part in our pitch a few times, Kase (our producer) stole my copy of “American Born Chinese” a graphic novel by (name), making his way to another seat to read it in between bursts of watching TV; and I haven’t spoken to Van (our director) since he was picked for the random bag check as we walked through the terminal into the plane. He’s here though a few aisles back, as is Henry, our co-producer and wrestling liaison. Our little boy’s club is missing its den mother, Teresa (our other co-producer) as she’s taking another flight to New York.
I’m anxious and a bit jittery; my body acting as it normally does in a nervous state – drowsy, calm and seemingly collected. It feels good though, like the first of many trips that are sure to follow for all of us involved. I can’t help but feel like this is really the beginning of things, for all of our careers. It’s been a long haul since Van and I started on the project, two years to the day since he called me and told me had a project he wanted me to potentially write for him. So, here we are about to touch down at J.F.K, me and my first big trip, it’s all a bit overwhelming but reassuring all the same. To say the least, we’re about to make things happen.
Tribeca's All Access Program
KASE CHONG – PRODUCER
Boarding Pass? Check.
Luggage? Check.
Opportunity of a lifetime? Double Check!
The Tribeca Film Festival starts on Wednesday and the script I’m producing “Beyond the Mat” was accepted to Tribeca’s All Access Program. I’m heading to the Los Angeles International Airport to meet with my director, writer, and two co-producers to fly New York where we will attend a series of meetings Tribeca has set up to help us get this movie made.
This blog on Indie Slate will chronicle the adventures we go through, the parties we attend, the celebrities we meet, and our current state of mind. We have specific goals for this trip and we will keep you up to date on their status. Ultimately, we would like to attach Susan Sarandon to our project, get financing for our film, attach a packaging attorney, or connect with a distributor.
We will have at least 5 entries a day from each member of the team but seeing as there are so many events planned for us, we will most likely have more. The last thing I should do is introduce myself. I’m Kase the producer. My background is in television and even though I’ve worked on shows for NBC, CBS, and ABC, you’re most likely to have seen my work on the hit show “Flavor of Love” where I was one of the producers.
Takedown Wins...
HENRY K. PRIEST , CO-PRODUCER
Takedown Wins...
Independent filmmakers have it tough... from finding that script to
seeing the project to fruition... It's a roller coaster of a ride all
the way through. Of course we believe it will get done, that's who we
are.. believers... But it's great when others see the potential in your
work. That's when you see that all your efforts are not in vein. I'm
feeling proud of my team and grateful for the community of filmmakers
willing to share in our journey. From East Los Angeles to New York...
This is awesome.
About this trip to Tribeca... It's special in many ways. Aside from all
the great things stirring, I have a special feeling about this trip.
Back in 2003 I had a film titled UnderDOG screen here... Unfortunately
at the time I didn't have the time or money to make the trek over and I
missed the opportunity to attend the screening. But it turned out great
for me anyway because a producer from Sony was at the screening. After
viewing the film she wrote my name down. Upon her return to Los Angeles
she called me in for a meeting regarding a film soon to be released
titled Mr. Woodcock starring Billy Bob Thorton and Sean Michael Scott.
That goes to show that these film festivals really do represent you to
the community of filmmakers looking for talent.... Although I missed
the screening I was still able to make a connection because of it. This
trip looks to be something that I will always remember. I'm excited
about things to come and believe that we have a strong project to
present. This time I will be present to represent myself.. and taking
every opportunity to stir things up.
A bit about me... Some people know me as Coach Priest, the go-to-guy for
projects that involve high school or college wrestling. You may have
seen some of my films such as UnderDOG, commercials for Nike, Adidas
and such... I have been the advocate to create a feature film about
this great sport. No, not the entertainment stuff with flying chairs
and costumes.. the stuff that you don't see on TV but in high school
and college gyms across the country. The wrestling community in the US
is over 20 million strong but they are under represented in the
media... It has been my goal to represent that community and do our
sport some justice by creating projects that showcase the character of
the worlds oldest sport... It's about time.
Some thanks... to my family and friends... to the National High School
Coaches Association, USA Wrestling (The US Olympic Wrestling Team) and
to the wrestling community at the edge of their seat...
So here I am with an awesome project ready to score a win with a
wrestling film. 10 seconds on the clock... Takedown wins....
A little bit hungry, we got Gyros (pronounced: YEARoh) from a streetside vendor named Mie (pronounced: MY). He was from egypt. Kinda surreal, an egyptian muslim selling greek food right next to the World Trade Center. What ever the case, the sandwiches were dang tasty and they supplied the fuel we need to make it back to our hotel.
