I did find some of the information rather interesting, agreed with some of the comments, and whole-heartedly took issue with others. Basically, the author explains that the mumblecore "movement" is a creation of marketing, a ploy of film festival programming, an attempt to brand these films as the hot new thing so that they would do better as part of a group than they could on their own.

Well, okay. I always got the impression anyway that filmmakers branded with the label were always kind of puzzled by it, even put off by it, as well. It reminds me of another much-maligned, commercially-coined genre of which I have been an unapologetic follower: emocore music, more colloquially known as 'emo.' A label which is unwanted at best and derisive at worst, which no one can accurately define and almost no one is willing to use to define themselves. Most musicians slapped with the emo label would probably tell you that they don't know what it means either, and they they just make the music they want to make, man. Let the market, which needs everything to be easily classified and defined, make those distinctions. Such is the same with filmmakers of the mumblecore movement.

The emo genre and mumblecore have much in common. Products of both get an inordinate amount of shit for being self-indulgent works of self-absorbed people. And in some cases I'm sure that's a valid criticism. That said, I take issue with the following point of the article:

Anyway, I feel like I could tinker with this thing endlessly, and I have, but it's finally time to put this thing to bed. I've got two more rough cuts to finalize, three more to shoot, one more to write...and I can't afford the time to wallow in what-ifs and should-haves.

I might put the episode up on the site before it airs on BTV.

The idea is to get used to using whatever I have at my disposal. I feel too many good ideas go to waste because they're not put into action. And the more I depend on other people to help get things done, the more things don't get done.

So ANYONE interested in acting or being apart of a crew for a film short, make sure to be out side my door by 12 noon on any Saturday. Don't worry if you don't think you can't act, it's all part of the exercise. The first to come will be the first to be used. If you don't show up it's not a problem, it's just your loss. Apart from being a part of a fun shoot, it's an easy thing to put in your portfolio or on a resume. I'll post if there's a Saturday I won't be shooting.

ALSO, if your interested in writing a short, write it. If I like it more than mine, I'll film yours instead. But don't keep bring me the same script. If I don't film it once, then I probably won't again.

The only unfortunate part of all this is that I have to depend on Josh to post this stuff to our site. So the shorts will get posted as soon as Josh finds the time to do it. I'll post them on Youtube.com as soon as it's finished, so if you have a hankering to see the newest one on Sunday afternoon, you can go there.

Hope to see you.

On a related note, a bunch of us gathered 'round and watched Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence last night, which I had never seen the whole way through. I find if I'm in need of inspiration, taking in one of his films is a sure-fire bet to get some.

I (Josh) am still working on my serials (I can't really call them "TV shows" because, well, so far there is no actual TV-showing going on), and plan to tackle some spec scripts for the upcoming TV season. I've realized in the past few months that the thing I want to do more than anything else in the world is be a TV writer. Or, more generally, just to make a god damned TV show. I've added the blogs of several working TV writers to my daily reading and have aquired to rather large amount of "So You Want to Write TV?" books. The thing that is almost universally agreed upon is that in order to become a Writer (big 'W'), you must first become a whore (little 'w').

While that might be an overstatement, what I've learned is this: your chances of success are increased exponentially if you move to LA. You then must write what's called a spec script, or script on spec, which is an episode of a currently-running series. This is to demonstrate how well you can mimic a particular show's 'voice.' The more varied your examples are, the better. You then must call around for WGA-listed agents until you find someone to represent you and your work. They shop around your spec scripts to different shows. Sometimes, your script will get purchased outright. If this happens, you're likely to get more work. Eventually, a head writer might like you enough to give you a job on the writing staff.

Easier said than done. The process of creating an original series is even more difficult, and only former show runners or story editors really have a shot at getting to the pilot stage.

I'm coming up at a fork in the road. Do I keep doing what I'm doing until someone notices, or do I pick up and make the move to LA?

Missed it? Darn. But you're in luck: it's been recorded, captured, encoded and uploaded for your viewing pleasure! Click one of the following links to view in your browser or right click "Save As..." to save to your hard drive:

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And, in case you're wondering: yes, Bracey always looks that ridiculous.