D E C E M B E R   2 2 ,   2 0 0 4

HUSKER DU "FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS"?
"Husker du," for those of you unfamiliar with the 80's college band or the old American board game (which spelled it "Husker Doo?"), means "do you remember" in Norwegian. And let's not forget about my first feature, Foreign Correspondents, which today hits video shelves in my father's homeland of Norway. This just goes to show you how you can never give up on a film: Although it was finished nearly six years ago, even now it will be seen for the first time by someone. And you know, recently I saw the film again, which I hadn't done in almost five years (for some reason I had always been shy about watching it in its entirety), and I found myself having grown more fond of it. It's a nicely-made, bittersweet little romantic drama with some wonderful performances - especially from the underrated Corin Nemec - and some lovely cinematography and music. If you haven't visited my ancient site for it, please do so now. You can also find the DVD on Netflix.

For the rest of you, I wish you a Merry Christmas (those of you who celebrate it) and a Happy New Year (ditto) as well. See you in 2005 with what already look to be some exciting new updates.

D E C E M B E R   1 4 ,   2 0 0 4

TODAY'S THE BIG DAY!
After over a year of waiting, I'm very happy to say that my film Claustrophobia is now available across the United States and Canada. I'm a little less happy to say that it's being called Serial Slayer, but I'm proud all the same. My editor Marc Wade got an advance copy (before I did!) and reassured me that Lions Gate did not recut the film or alter the soundtrack. Other than changing the title and creating highly misleading cover art, they've left the film alone. It may look a little too much like video for my tastes, but, well, it is video, so there you go. You can check out the Where to See It page for more info, but in short, call your local video store. If they don't have it, tell them to order it! Most places will order a DVD if they get two or more people asking for it.

As long as you don't mind asking for a film called Serial Slayer, that is. I've said it before, but my main concern is that the cheesy title and cover art will: a) keep away the people who might actually like the film, and b) attract the people who probably won't like it: hardcore horror geeks. Although there's been a handful of decent reviews in the online horror community, and one really great one, I came across my first "zero stars" rating yesterday. It was given by a total moron, but nevertheless, it was disheartening. So, on a friend's advice, from this point forward I'm not reading any more reviews, unless somebody tells me in advance that it's a glowing one. Call me sensitive. But it's hard enough just getting a film made - I don't need to know about some random idiot trashing it on his web site.

Gee, there's so much to say today! First of all, Fangoria didn't have a review of the film in this month's issue. Maybe next month (but I won't read it, ha ha). Also, my producer's reps Integration Entertainment are stepping away from the foreign sales arena, so I need to find new foreign sales reps. Any takers? And I am still slaving away on Dial 9 to Get Out. I didn't finish the first draft today, as I'd hoped, but then I always miss my self-appointed deadlines. Blame the holidays. At least I'm up to page 72.

Finally: One of the most fascinating things about running a web site is being able to see my stats, where I can find out what pages visitors look at the most, what they were searching for when they found the site (would you guess that my site's #1 search term is "angelina jolie"?), and what sites they linked from. But here's a mystery: In the past, about 20-25 people per month would view the Claustrophobia trailer. Not very many. In October, that number doubled. But in November it went crazy, with over 400 viewings! I have no clue how this came about. If you're one of those 400 people who watched the trailer last month, please contact me and let me know how you found it. Thanks.

N O V E M B E R   1 5 ,   2 0 0 4

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN
A little under two weeks ago, I returned back to L.A. after a lovely, if lonely (my girlfriend was working, so I flew solo), 7-week trip abroad. The tourist highlights were few, as I spent more time visiting people than sightseeing, but I made some new friends, ate some good food, walked around in the cold a lot, and I can report that, of the cities I saw for the first time, Prague is beautiful (if touristy), Vienna is fascinating and regal, Detroit is underrated, and St. Louis is actually rather nice. It was also fun to host my first public screenings of my films outside the U.S. Both Claustrophobia and Foreign Correspondents screened at the Werkstattkino in Munich, Germany, and though the turnout consisted of my friend Alex and whichever of her buddies she could coax into the theatre, both films got a positive response. They were really nice people, too. Aside from that, the one off-the-beaten-path gem I discovered was the bizarre Chislehurst Caves site outside of London. If you're in the area and you've seen it all, by all means head out there for a tour.

Meanwhile, I count the days towards the impending video release of Claustrophobia - er, I mean Serial Slayer. It's still set for December 14 in the US and Canada, and I've already noticed that it's up for pre-sale on a number of web sites, including Amazon. The article about the film in the latest issue of FANGORIA is also very nice. There is no review, but I'm hoping they'll publish one (hopefully a positive one) in their next issue, due December 7. As for me, it's back to writing Dial 9 to Get Out! I'm still on course to finish the first draft by December 14.

Also, I updated the About page with plenty of new photos. The next project for this site is to expand the Claustrophobia production pages with stories from the distribution front.

O C T O B E R   1 ,   2 0 0 4

CLAUSTROPHOBIA IS NOW "SERIAL SLAYER"
This is a first: I'm actually updating my site from outside California. I'm at a friend's in Detroit at the moment. (Not as bad an area as its reputation suggests, by the way.) I didn't intend to add any updates until I got back to LA in early November, but I just learned some obviously big news: Lions Gate has changed the title of my film Claustrophobia to "Serial Slayer." They've also pushed back the video release date by a week, to December 14, 2004.

For the record, I wasn't involved in this name change decision. Ditto the new artwork Lions Gate created (which you can see in all its glory on the main Claustrophobia page). As you may imagine, I'm not entirely thrilled to give up my title, and the artwork, while more appropriate for the story than filmnic's notorious eyeball-in-the-brick-wall approach, isn't exactly an accurate depiction of what happens in the film. But that's show biz for ya! Lions Gate clearly made these decisions from a marketing perspective, and they obviously know more about selling a movie than I do. Oh well. I'd be more shocked if I hadn't worked for years at Paramount, where I learned that studio marketing decisions don't always reflect the filmmakers' lofty ideals.

So here's the big question: If they can change the title of the movie, can they change the movie as well? That's the risk you take when you sell your film. It's very hard to maintain creative control when somebody's writing you a big fat check and you're still a nobody. But I don't think Lions Gate is going to mess around with this movie, because a) at 79 minutes, it's already short, so they can't cut anything; b) they have no access to the raw footage, so they can't re-edit; c) it would cost more money than it would be worth. Also, I heard via Fangoria that Lions Gate is using my director's commentary, which is a good sign that they are keeping my cut. Still, only time will tell. Anyway, I wanted to address this now instead of waiting a month, and until further notice, I'll keep calling the film Claustrophobia on this site. Since it's already out in Norway with that title, all the Norwegians, at least, will know it by its original name.

S E P T E M B E R   2 3 ,   2 0 0 4

44 PAGES AND HOLDING
I'm off for another one of my big fall trips tomorrow: over the next six weeks, I'll be in Chicago, Detroit, London, Munich, Vienna, Prague and Brno (Prague's little sister in the Czech Republic). One big note about Munich is that there will be screenings of Claustrophobia and Foreign Correspondents while I am there. I will be at both shows. Aside from that, as the subject says, I've finished 44 pages on Dial 9 to Get Out. That's great progress. It's just too bad that I got all caught up in that freelance stuff (it became very time-consuming, but it's paying for my trip!) and I couldn't write anything this week. But I'm very confident that when I get back to LA around November 4, I can pick up where I left off and then it will be full-steam ahead. Auf Wiedersehen!

S E P T E M B E R   8 ,   2 0 0 4

HELLO NORWAY, MY OLD FRIEND
It's official: As of today, Claustrophobia is now available in the kingdom of Norway, for rental on DVD. If anybody in Norway is reading this, go to your local video store now and rent it! If they don't have it, ask for it! I am very eager to know how it fares, or even if anybody can find it. It's like sending a child off to war: "Please, if you hear anything, tell my movie that I love it and that I hope it's okay." The best thing about this release is that the distribution company - an outfit called SF Norge - is actually using my original artwork for the DVD box. Yes, this is the same artwork that users of this very web site once chose in an online poll! So even if my stateside distributors don't trust a subtle, artsy approach to DVD box art, at least those classy Scandinavians do. By the way, my first film Foreign Correspondents will be released for DVD rental in Norway on December 22. The check came in for it, so it's safe to say it's going to happen.

I am also, for those of you following, now 24 pages into the Dial 9 to Get Out script. Actually, I've written 28 pages, but 4 of those pages are from a later scene that just popped into my head and I wrote it. I do this sometimes: I get a line of dialogue in my head, then in my haste to jot it down before I forget it, I wind up writing an entire scene around it. So the writing process often becomes one where I'm just filling the blank pages between already-written scenes.

My work on that Army project (scroll down to the bottom of this page for info) is long over. The whole thing turned into a mess, in my humble opinion, so I'm glad I'm no longer involved. Especially since I'm currently saddled with two web design gigs, one of which is ironically for the Hollywood studio MGM, for whom I did some of my first web design work way back in 1995. It's good to be making money, but as my friend Thomas Lakeman (who has contributed to the List of 9 a couple of times) warned, it's dangerous to have that feeling of accomplishment when it's for something you don't want to do with your life. In other words, I can't get too comfortable doing this, because I don't want people to think "Oh, that Mark, he's a web designer who makes movies as a hobby." Screw you, I'm a filmmaker!

A U G U S T   2 4 ,   2 0 0 4

THE FIRST 10 PAGES - DONE!
August has turned out to be a better month than I'd anticipated. Lately I've been feeling very productive and happy: A decent graphic design gig came from out of nowhere; I've finally finished up some long-delayed home organizing and other chores; best of all, I started work on the Dial 9 to Get Out script last Wednesday and have completed the first ten pages. Already one of the main characters has been brutally murdered, so it's off to a good start! As with Claustrophobia, the screenwriting process has been going very smoothly. Maybe thrillers are easier to write, maybe I've hit my stride, or maybe I was just smart to get the plot all worked out beforehand, but recently I've found screenwriting far less frustrating than I once did.

Meanwhile, all is well. I had my interview with Fangoria and was pleased to hear that the writer of the article, one Christine Colby, as well as the magazine's editor Michael Gingold both really liked Claustrophobia. So hopefully there will be a nice article in their print magazine around the time of the film's release. Oh, and regarding that local film festival my acquaintance jerked me around on (see below): I discovered that they're only playing two narrative features - one comedy, one drama - so I don't feel so bad at being excluded. Still, getting a form letter from some flunky was rather tacky.

A U G U S T   3 ,   2 0 0 4

DOG DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
Life as an independent filmmaker ain't all sunshine and daffodils, folks. Like many people who toil at creative labors - hell, at any labors - I have entered one of those periods where I am feeling somewhat unappreciated, thanks to a series of discouraging events. First of all, the Norwegian DVD release of Claustrophobia has been delayed by a month: Now it's scheduled to be released on September 8. No big deal, but that's just for starters. That guy in Spain who asked me - begged me half a dozen times, in fact - to send a DVD of the film to him for his horror festival (see June 10th entry) became incommunicado the moment I sent it. Señor, if you're reading this, shame on you. Either you don't have the guts to tell me you're not putting my film in your festival after all, or you're just a plain creep who wanted a free DVD and came up with this ruse in order to get it. In any event, the film won't be going to Spain next month.

The topper is this: A couple of months ago, an acquaintance of mine who never wrote me as much as hello during the last two years suddenly popped up and asked me if I could send her the film for a local festival she was running. She seemed rather desperate for material so I, in my imagined greatness, figured I was doing her and her rinky-dink festival a big favor by sending it in. Mind you, I have not submitted Claustrophobia to any festivals, primarily because I've learned that the submission process is a scam, but also because mine is a scary movie, not the sort to play in an artsy fartsy fest. I told my acquaintance this and she assured me that it wouldn't be unsuitable. So I sent her my last VHS screener and even sprung for the $10 submission fee. (I would've asked to waive it, but it was so low, I would've looked cheap.) I never heard from her, so I wrote her to ask if she'd received it. She said yes, and although she hadn't seen it yet, she could see no reason why it wouldn't play in her festival. Ten days later, I got a form letter - not even from my acquaintance but from some festival goon - telling me the film was rejected. So lame, in so many ways. I liken this entire experience to being at a party where your buddy pleads with you to dance with his ugly sister sitting alone in the corner. You reluctantly agree - then the sister turns you down. It's a blow to the ol' ego, but I suppose it was arrogant of me to assume this was a done deal.

On the bright side, my trip to Italy was wonderful, Fangoria is interviewing me shortly, and the biggest news of all is that I have started writing a new script! It's another scary movie, this one in an office building. Its tentative title is Dial 9 to Get Out (people outside the U.S. might not understand what this is referring to; hence the "tentative"). I am just about finished working out the story with pen and paper, and next comes the daunting task of writing the actual screenplay. As usual, I'll post updates on its progress as a way of keeping myself accountable, and as usual, I invite everybody to pester me to keep at it.

J U N E   1 0 ,   2 0 0 4

WRITE IT DOWN: LIONS GATE. DECEMBER 7.
I need to write "nothing's happening" updates like the one below more often. For, just days later, Claustrophobia was not only invited to a horror film festival in Estepona, Spain, but I heard from Michael Gingold, editor of Fangoria magazine. He wrote to tell me that Lions Gate Home Entertainment informed him of the film's release, and could he have a screener, and maybe they'll do an article! The following Monday, Fangoria's site posted the news, and made it official: Lions Gate will release Claustrophobia on home video in the US and Canada on December 7, 2004. Just like that, I had the answers to questions plaguing me all year. Yes, it's a little strange that I had to learn this through a press release sent to somebody else, but at least it's a sign that Lions Gate is promoting the film already, so hopefully it will get good exposure. Stranger still is the fact that the film was initially offered to both Lions Gate and Artisan, and they both turned it down. So it went to filmnic, then filmnic sold it to Artisan - now Lions Gate. In short, the two companies that said "no" to my movie have now joined forces to release it. That's show biz!

My only real complaint - besides having to wait another six months before my movie becomes available - is that Fangoria's news blurb called me "Mark Tapio Kimes" (it's Kines, folks) and now every horror-related website around the world has copied my name incorrectly. Oh well.

I'm off to Italy in less than a week. Let's hope nobody blows up any trains in Rome while I'm there.

M A Y   1 8 ,   2 0 0 4

HI, HOW ARE YOU?
It's been two months since the last update, and there's not much to report, but I thought I'd at least check in and say hello to those of you who look at this page more often than I update it. I'm still waiting to get a firm date for Claustrophobia's release on North American home video, and I still don't know whether it's going to be on Artisan or on Lions Gate or on something else. Artisan looks like a completely dead brand at this point (their web site now automatically forwards you to the Lions Gate site), so although my reps can't confirm it, I'm guessing it will be Lions Gate, which would be fine. Just keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get lost in the studio shuffle. I have also officially sent off a copy of the film to my distributor in Norway, who plans to release it on DVD there August 11. So that deal is done. Foreign Correspondents should be on DVD there this October, and its producer Julia Stemock is in the final stages of sending it off.

As for now, I'm finally finishing up this Army project (see below) and getting ready for yet another trip next month, this time to Italy, with my charming girlfriend Miki (whose List of 9 won her many fans). I'm making it a big point to start working on the new script after we return on July 1. I am feeling pretty ready to start working on it, at last. And I'll have nothing else to do by then, so no more excuses. Hopefully there will also be some concrete news on that elusive video release. Meanwhile, has anybody noticed that this is the crappiest year for movies ever? Sure, the blockbusters all suck - I could tell from miles away that Troy and Van Helsing would be stinkers, as will Garfield and The Chronicles of Riddick (an early favorite in the Worst Title of the Year sweepstakes) - but what's with the alternatives? Even the foreign films and indie features are mostly duds these days. Come on, folks, making a good movie isn't that hard. Is it?

M A R C H   1 6 ,   2 0 0 4

RELEASE IS IN SIGHT
Last week I learned from my sales reps, Integration Entertainment, that my distributors, filmnic, finally decided upon a reputable video label to release Claustrophobia through. That label is Artisan Entertainment, perhaps most famous for releasing The Blair Witch Project five years ago, and who are now owned by the respected indie distributor Lions Gate. With all these company names getting thrown around, you can see how complex film distribution is, and how many entities ultimately get involved, even in the sale of one little low-budget movie like mine. (I won't even mention all the insurers, DVD authorers, attorneys, etc.) That byzantine business structure may be why it'll be a year between the film's sale and its availability: though there is no actual date yet, the word is that it will be released in the United States and Canada this summer. Let's hope "summer" means late May and not late September. I'm very excited because Artisan is major enough to get Claustrophobia into big-name stores like Blockbuster, though only time will tell.

And before you ask, no I do not know if Artisan will keep filmnic's video artwork, if they will use my original design, or if they will come up with their own.

F E B R U A R Y   1 7 ,   2 0 0 4

IN THE ARMY NOW
What better date to begin a fresh year of updates (and a fresh page: As you can see, I have "archived" my 2003 updates below) than today, which marks five years from the date that I premiered Foreign Correspondents. As usual, the time seems to have gone by both too quickly and too slowly; my mind is filled with "Jeez, it was five whole years ago that I premiered that thing... and still it hasn't gone anywhere?" But then I think about all that has happened since February 1999, both personally and around the world, and it feels like another era altogether.

Regarding the photo and headline: Instead of writing a new script, which I still intend to do but am not ready for yet, I decided to do something a little creative that would also bring in a modest income, so I took a job with an outfit called the Institute for Creative Technologies, where I am "directing" a computer animated training simulation for... the U.S. Army. It's not as scary as it sounds. I'm working with writers and animators, none of whom are anywhere close to being military, to create story- and character-based simulations. You can read more about it here. Hopefully the stuff they're developing will one day have civilian uses as well (I'll remind you that our beloved Internet was also originally designed for the military). Best of all, it's not full-time, which means I still have plenty of free hours in the day to update this site, go to movies, B.S. with friends and mull about.

In the meantime, you may be wondering what is going on with Claustrophobia. I know I am. Still playing the waiting game, alas, until my distributors finally decide on a "street date" on which to release the DVD. I came across some information a few weeks ago where I learned that the film might have been released as early as October 7, 2003, but my distributors apparently killed a deal that would have resulted in a "regional" release on that date, presumably so they could work a better deal for one single national release, waiting a few extra months if they have to. The good news is that it will mean greater exposure for the film. The bad news is that my reps cannot sell any rights to cable or pay-per-view until this finally happens. Until then, eagle-eyed visitors to this site will notice a couple of small changes: You can no longer access directories on their own (never a big problem, but still a long time coming), and now people with certain browsers (Mozilla and Safari) can see a cute little gray Cassava "C" icon up in their domain name window. Whoopee!

Copyright © Mark Tapio Kines 2008