N O V E M B E R   3 ,   2 0 0 5

KIA ORA, NEW ZEALAND
The New Zealand release of Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer appears to have finally happened, after a series of flips and flops. Originally I thought it was coming out last May, concurrent with the Australian release, then learned it was slated for November 17 in NZ, then found out it was today! (It still may be generally unavailable until the 17th, but I'll err on the side of danger this time.) Anyway, this is happy news as so many Kiwis worked on the film. Now hopefully their friends and families can admire their contributions. Things have otherwise been quiet on the foreign sales front, though at least I did get a fairly firm date of March 20, 2006 for the UK video release, and I'm assuming - since I got paid for it - that the Thailand video release has already happened, though it's impossible for me to track down any information about this due to language difficulties. If there's anybody reading this in Thailand who's willing to do the legwork and find my film, I'd love to hear from you.

I'd also like to take a moment to plug the DVD release of Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which happens in the US November 8 and shortly thereafter around the world. As mentioned below, I designed some of the interactive games on the second disc. They turned out great! The DVD doesn't credit those who worked on this stuff, so let me give credit where it's due, in case anybody is Googling this title or the people themselves. Whereas I, your humble servant, Mark Tapio Kines, storyboarded all the games and created the graphics for the "Search for the Golden Ticket" game, several of my friends did the rest of the work: Paul Hemstreet directed actor Deep Roy (who played the Oompa Loompas) in the Dance Machine and Inventing Machine games, Daniel DeFabio animated my graphics for Search for the Golden Ticket, and Jamal Green oversaw production of all the games. They really are cool, these games. Possibly even better than Burton's movie itself.

A U G U S T   1 9 ,   2 0 0 5

MARRIED!
Usually I don't post much personal news in this section, but a wedding is pretty significant no matter who you are, so I figured it was worth mentioning. In short, on August 3, 2005, I got married to my girlfriend Miki. It was a private ceremony on a hot air balloon in Northern California's wine country ("Hidden Valley," to be precise), just the two of us and the balloon captain, so don't feel bad if you weren't invited. Anyway, obviously that's taken up the bulk of my time during the past month or so - not just the wedding itself, but the big move-in, which has strained my muscles and often my patience since I started hauling my stuff into Miki's house in West Hollywood on July 31. (Trivia note: beleaguered actor Tom Sizemore once lived in this house, reportedly having cocaine parties with Robert Downey Jr. right in our living room. It's fun to be a part of Hollywood lore!)

Now that the dust is settling from the wedding and the move, I need to figure out what my next course of action is, film-wise. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the quarter finals of the Nicholl Fellowship Screenwriting Contest (see May 4 entry, below), so I can't count on any agents or production companies knocking on my door any time soon. Which is probably best, as it narrows my future filmmaking options, making it more likely that, despite my initial wishes, I will probably self-fund Dial 9 to Get Out if I am to shoot it in 2006. Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer made a bit more money than expected on VOD, so that helps. Also, I am hoping that some decent cash will come in from that film's foreign sales, which will further enable me to fund Dial 9. (Though I have yet to see any checks from these sales, which is troubling.) One final thing, for you Kiwis: apparently Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer is not yet released in New Zealand, despite earlier reports. I don't know when it will be released, but it should be soon. (It's the same company that released it in Australia back in May.)

J U N E   7 ,   2 0 0 5

THE NEXT STEP... WHATEVER IT IS
I'm more or less updating for the sake of updating. First, let's get the news out of the way: I have now sold Claustrophobia to the United Kingdom, Russia and Ukraine. I don't have any release dates yet - and may never know what they are for Russia or Ukraine, those mysterious countries whose citizens don't really visit this site - but I can probably bet that the film will be called Serial Slayer in Britain. I know there's a number of Brits (and Scots, and even Welshmen) who visit this site, so of course I'll keep you informed of the DVD release in your fine country. It should be sometime in 2005, but that's as far as my educated guess will take me. The Video On Demand run in the US is finished. I won't know how well it did for another couple of months, but if you saw the film on iN DEMAND (the VOD service), why don't you drop me a line? No sales to US pay cable have been made yet, but I'll let you know if and when that happens. More international sales are likely, but after this year is over, things will probably cool down. At that point, I'd better get busy with developing Dial 9 to Get Out or else I'll have nothing to add to this page!

Otherwise, I'm treading water. I've been keeping super busy lately, doing a freelance design project - some of the interactive games for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD. As I write this, in just hours Tim Burton himself will be looking at my work (alas, I won't be there to defend it), and his thumb up or down will determine how much more I have to do on this project over the summer. It's been fun work, though. So that's the update from my "non-filmmaking" career. No word yet from the Nicholl Fellowship people (see below) - that's not supposed to come for another couple of months. By that time I'll have some big personal news to share too, though it has nothing to do with my profession. (Can you guess?) As for now, I'm just getting ready to take a little trip to the East Coast with Miki. Aloha!

M A Y   4 ,   2 0 0 5

G'DAY AUSTRALIA
Claustrophobia - yes, under its new title Serial Slayer - is out on DVD today in Australia. [Note: When I originally wrote this entry, I thought the DVD was also coming out today in New Zealand, but that release date was shifted to November.] If you live Down Under and you're reading this, go out to your local video shop and ask for it! (Imagine Entertainment is the distributor.) And if you like it, tell your friends. I actually get royalties from this release, unlike the American one. So word of mouth is extra important in this case. Thanks!

High time for some updates in general. I finally tackled the polish on my Dial 9 to Get Out screenplay. I clarified a few plot points and pared the script down from 120 pages to a more digestible 108. I was inspired to get off my ass (or, rather, on it) in order to enter it into the Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting competition by its May 2 deadline. (I also entered Sharky Baby, for what it's worth.) I don't do these contests, as most are scams, but the Nicholl Fellowship - run by the Academy - is the real deal. I'll know by July if I make the quarter-finals. Right now I stand a 1 in 6000 chance of winning - slightly higher odds than I'd have if I kept my screenplays in a box. (Actually, considering that I entered two scripts in a field of about 6000, and that there's a maximum of five fellowships given out per year, I have a mere 1 in 600 chance of winning, but who's counting? And anyway, this isn't the Lottery. If the Nicholl readers think either script is amazing, or terrible, it doesn't matter whether there are sixty entrants or six million.)

Meanwhile, my foreign sales agents MonteCristo Entertainment have sold the rights to Claustrophobia to Thailand and Japan. God only knows what the film will be called in either of those countries. Now, Thailand basically buys everything put in front of them (I suspect Thai distributors pirate it off to the rest of Southeast Asia) so that's not really a big deal. We'll see about Japan, though. Coincidentally, a friend just profiled me for a Japanese teen magazine(!) so maybe I'll have some new fans over there. Oh - and MonteCristo also got an offer for UK home video, but it was too low for my tastes, so I said no. Hopefully a better offer for that territory will come in soon.

Also, Serial Slayer is still airing on iN DEMAND's Video On Demand (VOD) service in the US (and will until the end of this month) so you yankees can see the film there, if you get the service.

M A R C H   2 5 ,   2 0 0 5

ON DEMAND, iN DEMAND
Okay, so apparently today is the day that Serial Slayer starts airing on iN DEMAND's Video On Demand (VOD) service. Note that I'm referring to the film by its new title only so you don't get confused and try to seek out Claustrophobia on your TV. It's running for 60 days. If you'd like more information - and some nice quotes from critics - click here. More importantly, if any of you reading this has access to iN DEMAND's VOD service (as opposed to their pay-per-view service), please check with them to see if the film is playing - and let me know! (I don't even have cable, so I'm in the dark on this.) And perhaps most importantly, if you've seen the film and liked it, or if you just want to help out, please tell all your friends about the VOD run. Post it on your blogs! Send it out to your mailing lists! Be as shameless and I am, and I'll be forever grateful! For you see, I actually make something like 50 cents (give or take a quarter) off of each individual viewing, so a bit of word-of-mouth might make all the difference between making a few bucks and making a few thousand bucks. Remember, it's not about me getting rich. Even I've given up on that notion. But it is about me getting more money to make more movies with. Which, in the end, is about you. So spread the gospel!

M A R C H   2 ,   2 0 0 5

THE SCRIPT IS DONE!
I'm very happy to report that I finally finished the first draft of my new script Dial 9 to Get Out yesterday morning, March 1. Only two and a half months behind schedule! I can't say it wasn't for lack of trying. It was, in fact, for lack of trying. Sorry folks. I got lazy. This is mainly because, unlike the script for Claustrophobia, I don't have the slightest clue if or when I will be able to turn this into a film. So there's been no pressure, no need to set a deadline for it. But now that it's finished, I'm satisfied with it, I'm feeling groovy, and hopefully the wheels of development will soon start turning and I can get funding for it. (If your money is burning a hole in your pocket and you'd like to invest, please contact me.) In the meantime, I'll just focus on more Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer foreign sales (a couple of offers have come in, but I won't report them until they close) and eventually start working on a new, not-so-scary script. Maybe a little black comedy called Family Friend. But there's even less of a hurry on that. (A bit of trivia: Dial 9 is my eighth completed feature-length screenplay. I don't want to hear anybody complaining about how they have no time to finish their first!)

By the way, my current film will be available - yes, under the title Serial Slayer - on iN DEMAND's Video On Demand service starting March 25, 2005. I'll try to drum up a little more attention for this bit of news when the time comes. Until then, set your TiVos.

J A N U A R Y   2 5 ,   2 0 0 5

A GAGGLE OF UPDATES
It's been a busy month. First of all, Claustrophobia aka Serial Slayer is coming to a TV set near you! Yes, it's already out on DVD in the US and Canada, but for those of you too lazy to trot down to your local video store, or subscribe to Netflix, you can soon watch it on the pay-per-view service iN DEMAND starting in March. I don't have a date for it yet, but it will be on or after March 14, I believe. Also, good news for my friends Down Under! Claustrophobia will be released in Australia and New Zealand on May 4, 2005. The distributor is Imagine Entertainment (no relation to Ron Howard's production company) and yes, they are also using the new title Serial Slayer. You can't win 'em all. But still, I'm thrilled to share this news.

Speaking of foreign sales, I just signed with a new foreign sales agent: MonteCristo Entertainment. They're a young outfit based in New York, and they were recommended to me by the same person who hooked me up with Imagine, so hopes are high. I had to do some massive work getting all the stuff ready to send to them, including new poster art which is based on one of the posters I designed for the film a couple of years back.

As for the film's reception in America, well, I reneged on my pledge to avoid reading reviews. The main reason is that I got some notably good ones, particularly from this guy, who I swear is not a personal acquaintance of mine, but he's just written my all-time favorite review of my work. Also, the esteemed FANGORIA finally posted their review, which is smartly-written and very positive (especially considering that they don't give away those stars - or skulls, in this case - too freely). Read it here. There has also been, alas, a number of horror geeks who have gaily trashed this film, some literally calling it the worst thing they've ever seen. I'd be more sensitive to their harsh comments if any of these people had something useful to say, but it's just childish ranting, e.g. "The story is dumb because it happens during the day! And the girls are dumb because they don't leave the house immediately! And the killer wears a dumb outfit! And the weapon he uses is so dumb! You can buy it at Kmart!" - all of which suggests that these jokers not only missed the point of the film, they blatantly ignored it. Oh well. If nothing else, it just goes to show you how subjective movies are. How else to explain that, for The Horror Channel's web site, editor Debi Moore named Claustrophobia/Serial Slayer "The best direct-to-video film of 2004" while a sneering colleague of hers, who shall remain nameless, dubbed it the worst direct-to-video film of 2004? I guess you either get it or you don't.

Finally, some of you may wonder what is going on with Dial 9 to Get Out. Answer: I got a lot of scriptwriting done earlier this month before I became swamped with other things. I'm now at page 95. I suspect I only need to write 10-15 more pages, and it'll be done.

Copyright © Mark Tapio Kines 2008