First of all I must say that the Olympics have been quite inspirational. At the same time most stunties  that only rely on their bodywork will have to up their game, since the gymnasts have again raised the bar  of what is possible on the floor. That said they have been quite a few disappointments too. One of them surely was that  there was not enough coverage of combat arts like judo and wrestling. The boxing disappointed as well with bad scoring (have not seen one body shot being scored) and most competitors running away, rather then fighting, once they were a point in front.  Boxing is already in a bad state and surely does not need that kind of screen presence. At least they decided to show some Tae Kwon Do, But then a bad loser had to decide to kick the referee in the head, and so another combat sport did not shine. Especially since the current scoring in Tae Kwon Do does not encourage high and jump kicking, which is the most entertaining part of watching a TKD fight.

I am sure that the Olympics covering TV stations will receive great accolades for some very biased sport coverage. Being a fan of archery, I must say that targets POV of an incoming arrow was amazing, but the not showing of  All Aussie combatants in their respective fights amazed me more. It send a clear message that being an Olympian in the  combat arts was not as valuable as being a swimmer or table tennis player.

Back to film making, and Breakenback Films has been involved in a few different projects over the last month again. Besides finally having our hoodies in store, GLWT has been spotted in the new Blitz and Cheers Magazine. We managed to work “Unfinished Business”, “Detour”, and couple more projects that are still in the Top Secret phase. The Kicasso credits are still up for grabs and we are finally in the stage of organizing a premiere screening. And best of all we are now also available through amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/GOOD-LUCK-WITH-THAT/dp/B001DYE8NC/

This blog has taken a while, I know!!! Life has a certain way to tell you that shit happens, and it enjoys to see how you respond!-)

My wife Louise and I have been recently thrown quite a curveball. Louise has been diagnosed a month ago with a very rare form of Lymphoma. She is currently undergoing Chemo treatment and things look very positive so far. Ironically since Louise’s and my mother have died of other forms of cancer, we and BNBK Films have been supporters of the Cancer Council (http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/) with small donations over the years. It is comforting to know that some of that money went towards the research in how to fight this rare form of lymphoma. I urge everyone to do what they can to support causes like the Cancer Council. Cancer is a silent disease and can strike anyone regardless of their medical history or lifestyle. In the coming weeks we will be organizing a fundraiser dinner combined with the Premiere of “Kicasso”. We will donate the profits to support finding cure for cancer. Make sure to check breakenback.com for updates on this event. We will make this event fun, while helping to fight the “dark side”!-)

Now on a lighter note, we are soon to release our next DVD, containing 3 Short Films produced by BNBK Films. We want to keep our fans happy, while we are gearing up for our next feature film. There are already plans of shooting a teaser for one of our upcoming features. GLWT will soon be available on amazon.com as a download, and there is more merchandise coming your way in form of hoodies.

To all you Indie filmmakers, stay strong as the times of distribution are changing! I can say first hand that we had many knock backs in trying to find the right distributor for our films. This has led us to mainly self distribute for now. That road is harder, but more rewarding that anyone could have thought. It gave us the experience and the knowledge, how to gather a great distribution network for our upcoming projects, as well how to approach the big boys. That is priceless! Financially it can be rewarding too, but that definitely takes some more time as marketing can be a bitch!-) Currently everything points that DVDs are a thing of the past, as you can buy nowadays new releases for 9.90.-!!! We have just got rid of the VHS technology, and the DVD seems to be out dated already. The new BluRay and HDD, as good as they are, will soon fall into the same category of the outdated hardware. Why? I can tell you why. Most developed countries already have the internet and the hardware to download their movies. They have more choice and the movies are much cheaper to download. Which brings us to the current incredible price of new DVDs. We Indies can not compete with the price of the DVDs, but we will have a much easier time to compete with the NET MOVIES DOWNLOAD technology and society. Marketing will remain a bitch, but we will not have as many set up or up front costs. Which means more money can go into the budget of the Indie film, rather then into the printing of the DVDs. All this will upset the DVD industry, but will go down well with the environment, as we are producing less garbage and using less resources. There is the argument of more internet usage will require more electricity, but more green energy is already coming our way. So for all you Indie filmmakers, I want to paint a picture of the things to come, the only way for the major studios to stay ahead of other film companies is to start giving their movies away for free. This will happen as a part of a marketing deal of some of the other major companies.

Here’s an example, in near future you will go to buy your new TV, car, microwave, and as a bonus you will get the new “Iron Man 2” movie. Or by buying a Golf membership card you are entitled to 10 new big budget blockbuster movies at the cinema. The price of movies will be included in the products you are buying to attract more buyers. This is designed to sell more product and keep the Indie Filmmaker at bay. Here is a hint if you want to stay ahead, start building a relation ship with one of the major companies in your area, and it does not have to be Sony or Apple!! By the time this change happens, this companies will want to stay with the times and compete with the companies ahead of them. Unable to buy into the expensive studio movies, they will look for cheaper Indie flix to offer to their customers. This advice is for free, if you promise me to support the fight against cancer!-))

As we are getting ready to go to Brisbane and promote GLWT, while feeling uplifted from some great response from our Melbourne Fans and Viewers from last weekend promotion of GLWT at the Supanova Expo, I will try and add some more of my ideas and feelings about the new breed of filmmakers.

The probably most important part of indie filmmaking is the DIY and “learning by doing process”. This really allows you to learn your craft, so you do not stuff up someone else’s project that has a lot of money riding on it, when the opportunity present itself. There would be nothing worse then getting a chance to work on a really big project, where not just money and careers of many people involved are on the line, but the feelings of millions of fans are in danger, and then because of lack of experience the filmmaker stuffs it up. The indie filmmaking helps to solve the big problem of chicken and the egg. You will not get work unless you have industry experience and credits to your name, and you will not get credits and experience unless you have work. If you feel you are in one of these positions, the only way out is indie filmmaking. And if you realize your ideas well, then you have it all, good credits experience and follow up work.

There are other benefits too, and the benefits that I am about to list are my primary reason for starting Breakenback Films. One starts to create a team with very talented people, that takes you on a journey of friendship and discovery of your and everyone else’s potential. Especially the moments when you realize what some people are capable of, or how they rise to certain occasions when needed. You feel humbled to be around people like that, and it keeps you grounded and makes your life better in a strange way.

Another benefit that I love is how surreal things get when shooting films. No drugs can give you that high. You can sit in a certain location where other wise you would never end up in your life and then someone in make up might bring you some coffee in a shooting break. Now your brain is trying to digest why are you sitting in the middle of the night between shipping containers and having a coffee with a zombie/monster/freak and a laugh. These moments make filming worth while, even though they are rare, for most of the time we suffer hardship, no crew, no resources, no money, etc… but a good film shot in the “can” and a surreal moment in midst of talented people makes it worth while.

If you feel the calling, do not look back, but become with us the new breed of filmmakers. Looking forward to meet you and work with all of you talented people out there, in the near and distant future.

Dear Blog readers if you have time you can come and introduce yourselves and join some of the discussions we had here
at the supanova.com.au Expo!
This is where GLWT will be screened next:

Melbourne, Saturday 29.03 at 6.15pm, Madman Cinema inside Expo Grounds www.supanova.com.au
and
Brisbane, Saturday 05.04 at 6.15pm, Madman Cinema inside Expo Grounds www.supanova.com.au

Today’s Blog is about the new breed of Filmmakers that is rapidly growing among us. By new breed I mean the Filmmakers that are becoming all in one or one man productions. It is common in today’s Independent and Studio Movie industry, to see that projects have been produced, directed, edited and who knows what else, by the one and the same person. There is many reasons for such selfish but sometimes necessary behavior. Probably the most common reasons are control, money, power and ego. At this point I would like to say that for an Independent or Studio Film all the reasons mentioned hit home equally.

As always lets discuss the Cash first, the Independent would assume most roles DIY, as that means less/no expense and more money to be spend in finishing the movie. The Studio prefers to pay one wage but get multiple jobs done, as that maximizes the profits even if the movie does not do well, as the movies budget is kept to minimum. All this is happening because more movies are entering the market, but less people are watching the movies, or expecting to see the movies for free. Which in the long run again will kill off most independents that are trying to bring new content to the audience, and will enable even more advertising movies to keep polluting our brainwaves with sales and marketing of products, then with entertainment.

Control is big for Indies as they want to see their creations become realized to its full extent, without being cut short or deformed by “somebody” who is only working on the project, but as soon as “somebody” gets paid they disappear until money gets waived again in their face. For majors the Control of key positions by one person with a proven track record means stability in their investment. Which makes it easier to bring more investors on board. Best example is probably Clint Eastwood.

And then there is Power, which I will not talk about here as we all know what that means in any job not just film making. But Ego is something I am probably guilty off myself!-) In my case, like many other creative people, I do not like to be pigeonholed and told what I am and what I am not, or not able to do. Being creative means being free of boundaries and being able to express oneself in any kind of creation or creative process. To be able to achieve this, one must have a healthy Ego! That will give you the confidence to do things you like and feel creating without having to limit yourself. That’s why I love working on project where people get involved in other peoples roles on the team. That type of collaboration sparks new ideas and brings new styles of storytelling and filmmaking to the foreground. For most of the time this is not possible on big budget films, as intruding someone else’s job description is considered rude. Which explains why so many big budget films are done on the same formulas.

More on the new breed of filmmaker in my next blog.

The last few weeks have been very productive. GLWT is taking of in all parts of the world. There has been plenty of interest from TV station in Australia, NY, South Africa and many others. We will be announcing the different screening dates as they come online. If you can not wait that long, help your self and buy a copy of GLWT online at www.breakenback.com.

It is great to see that Breakenback Films is steadily growing as a company and in its fan base. Our different websites are getting more and more “Friends”, and if you are not one of them yet then feel free to join us.

It has again been a few weeks since the last blog, and I must say that even that many things are happening behind the scenes, most of it is paperwork related and/or marketing. So not very interesting to read I guess, so I would like to use this space again and talk about a subject that really has annoyed me over the last few weeks.

There are actually two things, one is the question of who can call them selves an independent film?

The other, is the never ending story of “tight arse” friends, and “I so wanna see your movie, can you borrow or give me a free copy” friends?

While promoting GLWT I came across so many films that promote them selves as independents. What does that mean? Well it USED to mean films that have not been produced by a major studio and with little finance. But then with a growing film industry, many independents became just as big and rich as some of the major film studios. With so many big production houses that now were financially sound to produce blockbusters, it was time to redefine the “Independents”. So “Independents” became projects that generally had no funding, or projects funded through someone’s credit card. Basically films with no financial back up or studio behind them!

Your question now is probably: “So what??? And what are you trying to say, dude?”

Before I come to the point, I would like to use a sports analogy. There was a time were the Olympics use to put up the best amateur athletes against each other to compete. But in the modern Olympics the amateurs compete against the pros. The difference is that an amateur athlete does not have the luxury of getting up every morning going to training, eating an athletes meal, sleeping,  Getting a massage, training some more and then at the end of the day getting paid for it, while being taken care of by a staff of PAs and trainers.

The amateur athlete has to get up a lot earlier to train, so he/she is not late for work, then have cheap food, work some more, go to training again, and pray that there is enough money to pay the bills, otherwise some training time must be replaced with a second job.

Now when those two athletes get to the Olympics, guess who is going to have a better chance of wining? We all know life is not fair, but who really wants to see a race/contest/fight/competition, where from the very beginning it is clear what the outcome will be. Unless you have a bet going and you are in need of wining some money, it is really a boring affair. Not to mention that sometimes on a very rare occasion the amateurs are victorious, and that’s why they usually get a lot more praise and respect, as their accomplishment is a much bigger one. Stories like that get then turned into films.

In terms of film making that means, that a lot of studio and proper financed films call them selves independent nowadays. And so they get compared to the films that have been made with a minimal crew and no budget at all most of the time. After speaking to many of the movie audience members over the years, I realized that many viewers would comment on independents films, but rarely would know that some of the “independents” they would critique, had budgets in the millions of dollars and others had zero.

We all know they are exceptions in this world, but today I would like to speak about the majority, and the majority of financed films, will always have better cameras, lighting, sound, SFX, etc…  Even with brilliant actors and a fresh story, the quality of the picture and sound will today always be a big part of the movie experience.

So for the audience to be able to look beyond the technical specs of a movie, the word “independent” is meant to get them in a mood of disregard for sound or picture quality, and encourage the engagement in the characters and the story. I believe that we as independent film makers have the right to reserve the word “independent” for real “no/low budget” projects, and don’t have to compete against “independent but financially backed by Sony or WB” projects anymore.  

To finish off, a quick brief on the “I so wanna see your movie, can you borrow or give me a free copy” friends.

If I started now a car sale business, would you then come and ask me for a free car? “But a car is a lot more expensive” You say! I say it is the principle, since you do not go to Sony, WB, Etc. And ask them for a free DVD, and they can afford to give you one, please act like a grown up and buy a copy of GLWT. Help us grow and enable us to continue making films that so many of our fans already enjoy. If you would take your self and a friend out to the cinema in Sydney, you would spend 30- plus.

Save your self 10.- and buy a copy of GLWT. And then email me and tell me how much better you feel since you then know that you have helped spreading the word of  “Good Luck With That”

Here we go Premiere and holidays blog part two! I am sitting in the car with the laptop, and while I am writing this, I am just taking in how amazing this storm is that has just hit the coast of Australia. Since we left Brisbane, we have not seen a bit of blue sky no where, not even on the horizon.
And as we have managed to watch Will Smiths latest masterpiece yesterday “I am Legend”, a very apocalyptic thriller (loved the film, but did not like the ending, needed massive action at the end in my opinion), on this journey I keep thinking how much today’s journey resembles a very apocalyptic present. The journey from Brisbane to Sydney is a approx. 1000km drive, and we have just passed the 600km mark, but we have not had a dry patch. Not even a minute without a shower so strong, that 10sec out of the car equal swimming in a pool dressed. On the side of the round there are crashed cars and emergency vehicles, while the fire departments everywhere are attending the flooded areas. There is police every few kilometers trying to keep the traffic flowing or diverting it from the flooded areas. This is near as bad as “Katarina”, but I can only imagine how it must have been. How I wish I had written an apocalyptic script and had a camera with me now. To reproduce a situation like this for the screen would cost millions. Just imagine a world where there is no proper sunlight, as skies are darkened by the rain clouds 24/7 and the showers make it impossible for anything to grow or thrive. The sequel to “Waterworld”, …”Rainworld”….where was I, we finished our big day and we arranged the meeting for the next day to introduce our next script “Criss Cross” (also known as Project CC) to the BNBK Crew. Since most crew members where to spend there xmas with families and away from work, I thought it would give everyone enough time to read the first draft of the script. And once the meeting finished and the crew started there holidays, I went on to get touch ups done on our DVD cover and Poster for the mass print in January. And I almost made the deadline, but then we did not get the DVD Barcode in time and so the printing set up had to be postponed for after xmas. So I thought my holidays have just started early, how wrong was I, 2 days after the premiere there was some more work, precision driving on “All Saints”, and 4 days of work on the new “Gladiator” Show…but enough of that. The last 6 months I have embarked on a childhood dream/wish so to speak. Since I was probably 16 or so, I have tried numerous times to learn how to play a music instrument and how to sing. Since my ambitions in music where never as big as in films, acting and stunts, I have seen myself go through various stages of trying to learn how to play everything from drums to classic and electrical guitar, to even mouth harmonica. And if I only invested in it as much time as I did in my stunt work I would have mastered it by now. So six months ago after a Guns N Roses concert in Sydney, I got motivated again and told myself what I usually tell everyone who asks me how to achieve certain things I have achieved so far: “consistency is the key”. I got myself a Les Paul style e-guitar and a few books and started practicing a few times a week. Now six months later I have managed to write a few songs down and I came up with a couple of riffs, it’s not much, but it is a start. The reason why I am writing this is because it is important to write goals down. When I write a script, it is like writing a goal down, and so that is the first step to materialization of ones ideas! So my goal for this year is to start a small, band and record a few of our own tracks that we can hopefully use for the “Criss Cross” soundtrack. There is plenty of gifted musicians in our crew, now lets see how happy everyone is going to be with having to listen to my singing again!-) So stay tuned, as I will try and announce the band name, first song and upcoming album soon…

Lets start with a happy 2008 to everyone tuning into the blog!-)

We had a rockin’ one, as we first went for a nice dinner at the Gold Coast Hard Rock Café, followed by a rock session of a Motley Crue cover band. The band was sensational, but the best part was that the entry was free and only 50 people showed up due to rain. So we got a “private” new years concert to remember. Finally a new years that had all the right elements, lots of fun, lots of food, no aggression, and rock music!-)

Since I have been really busy with the premiere of GLWT, this was the time… to go back to the beginning where I finished the last blog.

So I was getting ready for the premiere, while Mik our chief editor was still burning the new master the morning of the premiere, small changes have really improved the final version of the film again. We are all really happy the way GLWT turned out. It is still hard to believe that everything is done now post production wise. The only things left now are printing and sales. And yes I know that is a huge task in it self, but at least we can now start freeing up our resources for our next project.The day before the Premiere I have picked up the posters and the first small run of a 100 DVDs (for sale at the Premiere), and I have also managed to meet up with Andy our MC for the big day. There is probably another 1000 things I have done in between,
but I will not bore everyone with it. So as said, while Louise and I where setting up the merchandise desk and hanging up the posters, Mik was taking care of the technicalities for the screening. Mik made sure that our sound levels were up inside the cinema for our short films and for our feature GLWT. We had then Andy (MC), Nick (Producer) and Alex (Webmaster, Stunts) arriving, and now the place was really buzzing with everyone having there hands full. And just in time as a few moments later we had the our Event Camera Crew arriving and the Photographers, as well as some of the audience decided to turn up early too.

While the cinema was filling up, some of our actors started arriving too, so we made sure that we got them to sign some of the posters and movie memorabilia giveaways. If you have missed out on the Premiere, you have also missed out on the chance of wining some of the following: 1x SCUBA dive donated by SCUBA 2000 Neutral Bay, 1x signed GLWT DVD, 1x signed GLWT Poster, 1x GLWT T-shirt, 4x signed GLWT Movie props that have been used in the film, Gift vouchers, and much more, that Andy had the hard task at the end of just giving stuff away after we have announced all the winners. I would like to thank Andy for a great job done on the day, and I would like to use this space to thank each and everyone on the Breakenback Film Crew and Supporter Crew for helping and making this event and GLWT possible. I was happy to see that the Crew finally got to see their work on the big screen, while enjoying the reaction of the crowd. So far we only had the budget to fly me over to the different premieres, so the Sydney Premiere was as well a Big Screen Premiere for the BNBK Crew.

Many Laughter’s and Applauses later GLWT finished and we managed to capture with our camera crew everyone’s excitement and astonishments. No one expected a No-Budget Feature like GLWT to turn up the heat with so much action and real stunts like GLWT while bringing a fresh new story with a twist at the end to the Big Screen. People kept coming up to me and congratulating us on the job well done, while asking me how we managed to film certain parts of the film. But the only thing I saw that day was that spark again in everyone’s eye, the spark when people see something new and not imagined possible, something that inspires them or motivates them.

That spark says more then “we like your film”, it says “show us your next film, we can not wait to see the next one”, as you can imagine neither can I, and so I am driving in the morning back to Sydney. That only if I get my car back from the mechanic, as another one of life lil dramas made us get our car fixed during our stay in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. So I will call this part one, and with some luck part two of the life after the premiere will be written tomorrow on our drive from GC to Sydney….

Two blogs in a short period of time, but it has to be as I am boarding a plane to go back home.
Two and a half months of Micronesian beauty is to much of a good thing and I can not wait to get into the grind again.
Since we have the premiere coming up on coming Sunday, the next blog will have to wait couple of weeks.
More about that in a second, but first for all the Rock n Roll fans out there go and get Sebastian Bachs new album “Angel Down”. Finally we can listen to some real f**king music again!-)

 The GLWT premiere will be sold out and I am really excited about the event. What’s even more exciting is that the DVD is going on sale online right after the event. GLWT is now really picking up momentum and we have been getting lots of great feedback. At this stage we have come up with an idea that will soon be displayed on the website. We want to create “GLWT Premiere in your town” Packages, and then post the details of all the people that are organizing GLWT premieres in their town on our website with the pics of their Premiere events.
This is the only way we can imagine that we are going to reach all our fans fast. We have not even started on this idea, but the requests have already been pouring in. Expect more GLWT Premieres in places like Pensacola-USA, Calgary-CAN, LA-USA, London-UK, Vienna-Austria, and the list goes on. If you can not wait for the details to be posted on our web, then just email us and let us know where you would like to see GLWT next. As I have finished the first draft of the script, now I will have to see what the rest of the Breakenback Crew thinks about project CC.

There is also talk of starting a new feature on the web, where we will be able to expose a lot more of our action shots for download in high quality resolution. I promise some of them will work a treat, as I have managed to get some great action shots here in Palau.
Ok, must board now, so time to go. Hope surfs up when I hit my beloved Bondi Beach in couple a days for a long awaited surf session.
And maybe Santa, can I please get a new surfboard for Xmas?-)

My work in Palau on the next Survivor series is coming to an end. Only a week to go!-)
Do not send me emails and ask me details about the show, as I can not give anything away besides that Survivor-Micronesia is going to easy surpass Survivor-China in the ratings. As S-China just knocked off all the major shows in the ratings in the best timeslot in the US, you can only imagine how good this show will be.
Last night Breakenback Films had the privilege to show the GLWT Teaser at a very special event, Big Kev’s Survivor Short Film Festival. Big Kev is one of Survivors Cameraman from day one of the show. At the very beginning of the Survivor series, he came up with the concept of having the crew shoot their short films during the time of production of each series. This is a very prestigious festival as some of the best industry camera people are mixing their talents with amateurs that are trying their hand at film making for the first time. And of course there is always big prize money to be won too!-) I am not sure if Kev will ever read our blog, but if he does I would like to thank him for opening the night with our GLWT Teaser and helping us spread the word about GLWT. Two hundred plus Survivor crew gave our teaser some of the best feedback we heard so far, confirming again that we are on the right track.Just before the first short film was shown some technical problems delayed some very anticipated viewing, and my Survivor room mate and the festival MC Andy decided to start a chant to get me out and make me sing in front of a very impatient crowd. So it was only fair enough to give something back for all the great support we have got for our film so far. At this point I must say that singing was never my forte, and I always wished that I have spend as much time with my music as I have with my training. So recently I decided to go back to the basics and started to learn some guitar, write some lyrics and work on my vocals, so we can use it for our next feature film. But even before that we discussed at Breakenback Films that we should try and produce music while producing feature films. Further I think you should know that I have never sung anything in front of a crowd larger then maybe 10 people, and for most of the time my family and friends would break out in laughter since my untrained voice can usually only produce two verses of Elvis’s “Love Me Tender” and the Austrian accent reminds everyone of Arnie singing!-)

With out further adieu, I went up on the little stage with my knees shaking and with my heart in my throat, but I can not remember the last time I was this excited. It felt like a really good car crash. “And in the words of Sebastian Bach: Woke up to the sound of pouring rain…” I gave my first ever acoustic version of Skid Rows “I remember you” and to my surprise the crowd did not start throwing the crustacean left overs from their plates. By the time the chorus came we had some 200+ crew giving me some help on the “I remember you” line that has put goose bumps all over my body. Who does not want to be a rock star with that kind of support. I know, I know, I am getting ahead of myself again, but this whole Survivor experience was summed up for me last night, as we then all started to watch the different moments in time that you tend to miss, as you are constantly focusing on your work. You realize that you are in a beautiful place and how amazing the earth can be when you take time to stop and just look around and take it all in, its incredible beauty. And after some funny shorts and mind blowing time lapse and wescam footage, I realized that there is a lot more work ahead of me again, as the premiere is now only 2 weeks away. Hopefully I see you there.