Running America: 20, Social Network: 6

Last night at Solon Cinemas, Running America attendance beat out Social Network's by 20 to 6. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the film! We'll go back again tonight, the final night for the week-long run, and I hope to see even more people there. In case you missed it, DVDs are on sale now at Amazon and at www.nehst.com.

Premiere Prep

We're getting ready for the Cleveland premiere of Running America. Check out the trailer here and join us on Thursday, 10/28 at 7pm at Tower City Cinemas. And then, beginning on 10/29, the film will have a week-long run at Solon Cinemas. So, if you can't make it downtown, check it out in Solon. See you there!

Protect Your Brand: Lowe's

Ouch.

Laughter is the Best Medicine.

This was a hilarious shoot. We got a lot of great reactions from the fart machine, but the whoopie cushion was the big hit, especially when the kids tricked sound recordist Steve Guercio into sitting on it again and again and again.

The OTHER Authentic Films

This is not the first time this has happened. In August of 2009, sports reporters and football fans in Alabama were calling us to get more information about Authentic Films' new documentary project on the Auburn University football team. The school had just announced the plans to shoot a Hard Knocks/HBO-style series following the team.

I had to tell them all that they're looking for a different Authentic Films. A few of them wanted to buy the DVDs, a few of them wanted to be in it, and a few even wanted to hire us. I did some research at that time about the partners of this project and couldn't find them online. And calls to Auburn's sports staff were not returned. The reporters who called me didn't find anything, either. So, I gave up - I don't have a lot of time to work on their behalf... this is an unfortunate confusion for the two men who were actually behind the Auburn project - they might have enjoyed those phone calls. One sports reporter wrote a story about this mix-up, since he didn't have any info from the real guys.

The irony is that we do have a sports documentary under our belts: Running America (on sale now at Amazon and at www.nehst.com and in select theaters). Can you imagine the confused caller:

caller: hi, is this Authentic Films?

me: yes, hi, how can i help you?

caller: you make those sports movies, right?

me: yes, that's right, what can i do for you?

and that's how it begins...

And now we're at it again! They have a new project for Marquette University basketball, assumedly with the same approach. And the calls and emails have started again. Can you believe that these guys have absolutely NO online presence, even after producing a TV series for a regional cable channel? Apparently, one of them is a former marketing exec for Under Armour, hence a tidy sponsorship arrangement. He should know better.

So, in hopes that they might have a Google alert in place for their own names:

I beg you, Bill Kraus and Jess Atkinson of that other Authentic Films, please, post a web site, blog, phone book listing, linkedin profile, or even a facebook page, so that we can find you and forward all of your messages. Please email me through our Authentic Films website and I'll trade you a DVD of Running America for a copy of your football and basketball docs.

Abandoned - A Fly By Tour

I recently had the occasion to need and use the Abandoned application from The Form Group. This is a very cool app for filmmakers, photographers and location scouts - check it out.

Your GPS device locates you and alerts you to the abandoned properties near you, plus a few photos and a bit of information on what it used to be, who owned it, why it fell into abandonment, etc. I definitely have a few locations to add to the list...

Hero Tomorrow and self-distribution

Ted Sikora, director/co-writer of independent film Hero Tomorrow and new comic book Apama, was kind enough to sit down with us today and discuss the details of his self-distribution experience. Hero Tomorrow premiered at Comic Con International 2009 in San Diego, enjoyed a healthy film festival run, and is now available on DVD at Amazon.com, iTunes, and Filmbaby. We're ready to start planning a self-distribution strategy for Filmic Achievement and we're watching guys like Ted closely. Thanks, Ted, for all the advice.

He's brilliantly engaged the world of his characters and story with his new comic book, and is actively using social media to enhance the audience experience. If you are a fan of an independent film, I don't know many filmmakers who will give you as much content on a DVD (four hours of extras, behind-the-scenes, etc!) or as much of a continued life as HT and Apama. It's definitely something to check out.

Is She In or Out?

She's IN! Cleveland's Valerie Mayen will be one of the contestants on this season's Project Runway. Yes, the same Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake Shop who made me that beautiful dress for Cannes. I couldn't be happier for her and her business - I know that she'll represent our hometown well in those creative challenges, and I love that she doesn't play basketball! We'll have months of great exposure for her creativity and hopefully for all of Cleveland's artists through what will surely be a refreshed awareness of the areas creative forces. Just take a look at Danielle DeBoe's Made In The 216 event to get a sampling of the region's wares.

Keep an eye out on Val's facebook page for fun weekly watch parties at locations all over town; she'll be there to answer questions and tell you all about the production.

Intervention for Punchy

We're shooting television spots and a video for the Akron Canton Airport. And we are having a blast. Fake braces, punch dummies, and an intervention. With some of our favorite actors and crew. Plus, we're introducing my nephew, Max, to his first production. How could this not be fun?

Another Perfect Day?

Could it be possible to have yet another fabulous day in Cannes? We've visited beautiful cities and countries before, but adding a world premiere film screening to each day on this trip has made this like no other.

We saw Boxing Gym, directed by Frederick Wiseman, now 80 years old, here to premiere his 38th film - can you imagine? If you have one minute and 30 seconds, watch this clip to see how much the audience here respects, admires and applauds him through the credits, then as house lights come on, revealing a standing ovation (that is, when they like the film. I have heard that audiences at Cannes are also known to boo a film if they don't like it, but this was a great film, and a great director, so...)

Applause for Frederick Wiseman from KON on Vimeo.

I was a bit restless for the beginning of the film, waiting for a traditional plotline to develop, or a stronger character development to form. After surrendering to the images and slowly getting to know the characters that frequent this Austin, Texas boxing gym and how they all want to improve themselves, I feel like I know every detail of this place and its people. I know what it smells like in there, and I can still hear the rhythmic back-and-forth of the punching bags and gloves. It was hypnotic. I highly recommend looking for this film when it's released.

Like every day, I'm inspired here, but this film really gives me a kick in the pants to get moving on a few ideas that we've been tossing around for a while. Thank you, Fred Wiseman.

My New Dress...

Tonight I wore my new dress, designed and made for me by Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake in Cleveland. While the entire evening was like a fairy tale, wearing this dress also makes it look like one.

We had reservations at Gaston et Gastounette, known for presentations of the freshest seafood. When we arrived, we were led to one of the best tables at the front of the house, looking out onto the historic port of the city. Our food was fabulous, and yes, the seafood proved to be as delicious as reviews had promised. I had the "grilled seafood platter," a sampling of all the freshest catches. Mmmmm....

Our nearby neighbor was dining alone and after chatting with him about the festival, films, etc.,he revealed that he had produced classic films such as Rocky Horror Picture Show, Monty Python's Holy Grail, as well as the first stage productions of Annie, among other massive successes. His everything-ographies are super long lists. What a charming, fascinating gentleman he was. He joined us for champagne after dinner at the Carlton Hotel and told us stories of his productions and the lessons he learned. I wish we had a microphone and camera with us...

Meanwhile, the paparazzi are everywhere, taking pictures of everyone who is dressed in evening wear, just in case you are someone famous. And they are hoping to sell their photos, whether you are famous or not, so when they snapped us outside of one of the hotels, we were able to purchase this photo from their nearby offices. This is the dress, and this was just one of our nights in Cannes that I'll always remember:

Premiere Screening at Cannes

Premieres are always exciting, but to see Cleveland vs. Wall Street premiere in the Director's Fortnight at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival is almost too much for me to handle. I'm thrilled for director Jean-Stéphane Bron, for SAGA Production company, and all participants, and hope that this premiere translates to a wide audience for the film.

I'm a bit jet-lagged here, having arrived just yesterday, but the adrenaline from walking into this theater has me wide awake! Here I am in my seat, wearing my accreditation, holding my tickets to this screening and the party afterwards. This is a late afternoon screening that calls for casual attire, so I'm wearing my circle skirt from Pinky's Daily Planner, one of my favorite Cleveland independent designers, and a white shirt.

Barbara Anderson, one of Cleveland's neighborhood activists featured in the film, is here in her signature lipstick red dress and heels. Notice the film's logo includes an image of her, arms folded, in her red suit.

Premiere of Cleveland vs. Wall Street

This is so exciting: the SAGA production has been renamed Cleveland vs. Wall Street and will premiere in the Directors' Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival! Because of this prestigious premiere, the foreclosure crisis in Cleveland will now have an international audience. The film is about the attorneys for the City of Cleveland who sued the 21 banks that they deem responsible for the real estate foreclosures that have devastated the city. But the Wall Street banks that they attack opposed going to trial by every means possible. So, the filmmakers staged a mock trial and asked a jury to decide where blame was to be found.

Congratulations to the Swiss and French team who worked to tell this important story for years and who became my friends during their time in Cleveland: Director Jean-Stephane Bron, Assistant Director Isabelle Zampiero, Director of Production Adrian Blaser. And their crew, who were delightful visitors as well: Julien Hirsh, Jean-Paul Mugel, and Yves Coméliau. Hey, guys, I'm practicing my Francais and "je voudrais allez a la plage!" now has even more meaning.

Cngratulations to the many Clevelanders who are featured in the film, most noteably Barbara Anderson, Josh Cohen, Tom Pokorny, Robert Kole, and Tony Brancatelli.

The American crew who participated in the project were also a big part of this film: AC Kiely Cronin, Steadicam Adam White, Boom Lenny Suwalski and Kevin Hines, PA and Script Kara Martinelli, coordinator Laura Paglin, equipment by Hob Zabarsky and John Turk, and locations manager William Garvey.

I'm so looking forward to seeing the film in Cannes. We are making arrangements now for accreditation, flights, hotels (I understand it's nearly impossible to get a place close to the festival and cabs are just as impossible to rely on...) and I look forward to the entire Cannes experience - a quick look at the list of films screening with the Directors' Fortnight program and I'm dizzy just thinking about all the great world premieres to see and how much we can learn from each one. Plus, there is the enormous film market happening at the same time and I'm really interested to see what that's like. It will be fascinating, I'm sure. More to come!...

$2 Rare Book Store

His name is Chris. When we walked into his bookstore, he smiled huge and asked "did you call?" when we answered "yes," he nodded, "ok, good, I'm usually here afternoons, not before 11, come on in, I've got..." and he began to give us a tour of what was apparently his personal book collection that has become his book store. I had the impression that he has read every book on the shelves. He has his own system: books are organized by author, by subject, or other criteria. Some of the shelves have books stacked 2- and 3-deep.

And it's all kinds of stuff, not the traditional stuff you'll find at bookstores, but the random items, like a 1960s black and white series from Time Life about Photography - the entire series. And he's asking $2 each! We left with our arms full, and sneezing. There's a lot of dust in there too.

If you've been wondering about that hand-painted "$2 Rare Book Store" sign you pass on Euclid near E68, you need to make a point to stop in. Discovering both the place and the man are experiences that make me say, "only in Cleveland."

Premiere of Running America

It's finally here: the premiere of Running America. We are thrilled to go to Pittsburgh, Kevin's hometown, and see it on the big screen with an audience of more than 10-12 focus group members. Charlie Engle will host a Q&A, and Mike O'Brien, editor, will be there too. We will likely attend another screening or two...stay tuned to www.nehst.com for screening dates, ticket sales, and DVD sales.

34th CIFF Promotional Trailers

Cleveland film lovers were the stars of the film festival promotional trailers this year. We asked people to complete the sentence: "...because of the Cleveland International Film Festival" and about 350 people sent in their thoughts. We invited about 100 people to the 2-day shoot, and the results are funny, clever, thoughtful, emotional, and more. SHOOT magazine honored the :30 spots in their Best Work You May Never See column in their publication. The best news? This was a record-breaking festival in almost every way: attendance was 71,554 over the 10-day event.

Thanks to everyone who helped make it all a huge success, and a special thanks to the film crew who donated time, equipment and resources to produce the promo trailers, seven versions in all:

Directed by Kevin Kerwin

Editor Jon LaGuardia

Co-Director of Photography John Turk

Co-Director of Photography Jon LaGuardia

Producer Grace Nowak

Associate Producer Bob Stefanov

Assistant Director Matthew T.

2nd A.D. Robert Ruggeri

Location Manager William Garvey

Gaffer Donnie Schneider

Key Grip Keith Nickoson

Grip and Projectionist Rick Stern

Sound Recordist Kip Gynn

Makeup Artist Kylee Nicole Cook

Makeup Artist Danielle Muad'Dib

Translators: Shizuka Ochiai, Walter Centuori, Helen W. France

Original music written and performed by Michael Seifert and Dave Padrutt recorded and mixed at Ante Up Audio (Cleveland, Ohio)

Studio courtesy of Center for Creative Arts, Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus, special thanks to Inda Blatch-Geib

Equipment provided by Phantom Power Grip and Electric, Colortone Staging and Rentals, Fusion Filmworks, Authentic Films, and Dodd Camera

Film transfer by Technicolor, special thanks to Rick Hannigan

Duplication by Videodub International, special thanks to Fadi Kdayssi

Production note: these were shot with the new Canon ID Mark IV and blown up to 35mm film, as well as output to HD files. We were thrilled with the final product and Colortone did a great job projecting them. While the Canon HDSLRs are not the answer for every challenge, they are a tremendous benefit to a project like this one, and the film print was gorgeous. Thanks to Rick Hannigan at Technicolor Toronto for attention to detail with the film.

Interns - fresh or stale?

We just said goodbye to Cody as he returned to school after his college break internship. And we are about to welcome Molly tomorrow as she starts her internship. I realized that I'm about to repeat myself with instructions: this is where we keep...this is how we...don't forget to...make sure you...and this falls under that confidentiality agreement!

So, Molly will start her internship by keeping notes, and those notes will form our first Authentic Internship Handbook. Hopefully this will prevent me from having to go through all of these instructions again with each intern. We'll publish sections as we write them, and hope that these can serve as guidelines for you and your interns. I also hope that it can help make an internship fresh and interesting for them, and less a series of lists and reminders that can feel so stale.

I wonder if we'll want to continue the blog that we started with Cody - we'll have to see if her appetite is as entertaining.

Found 'em!

For months, I've been looking for a great winter boot that I can wear when we work outside - when I'm on my feet all day, there is likely snow on the ground, and I NEED to stay warm. Thank you, Zappos, for letting me order and return so many pair of boots. I also hit a few stores, but Zappos was the winner for ease of website usage, fast delivery - sometimes they arrived the next day! - and price and selection. Plus, the return policy couldn't be better.

I chose the Columbia Bugapowder. It's an apres-ski style low boot, a fun color, and it looks great with jeans. As we finished packing the car for a shoot tomorrow, I thought, these boots came just in time. It's snowing at this very minute. There is no doubt that we'll be unloading in several inches of snow, I'll be in and out all day, and I'll be so happy to have warm, dry feet.

Intern Food

We have been so impressed with what our intern can put away that we started a new blog, entitled What Our Intern Ate. Take a look. We think it's hilarious.

Ride at Spin

Russell Lee had a wonderful show presented at Spin in Lakewood last night. Not only was it a great show of his photography, but it was also a great party and a huge crowd. What a great place for people who love bikes to get together, drink some good beer, look at bikes and pictures of bikes, and talk about bikes all night. Congrats, Russ, on a super successful show!

Friends and Family

It's hard to take a photo of a 91-year-old woman. In my grandmother's case, she's reticent in front of a camera, she's self-conscious, and she's likely to turn away from me. She also may have forgotten to put makeup on the other eyebrow or even to put in her teeth. However, this Thanksgiving, she warmed up to the digital camera as she sat next to me and we took pictures of everyone else. She loved to see the image right away, as it was somehow disarming and inviting. Together we took pictures of the kids playing cards, my father telling a story, my sisters sitting together and holding their heads in their hands the same way, and then she just laughed and smiled when I turned towards her. I'm thrilled to have captured so many beautiful photos of family and friends this holiday, and especially of Gram.

Production Insurance

Recently I've received a lot of questions about production insurance from independent filmmakers. And there's really a simple answer: you need it. For all kinds of productions, you need it.

Even if you are making an independent horror film with your friends, don't think that you are exempt from any liability. If someone gets hurt, you could be held responsible. If equipment is damaged, you are responsible. Ask yourself: are you ready to replace the expensive equipment that you are borrowing or renting? Are you willing to put all that you own at risk for this project? And if you have a project with investors or for a client, you need to protect their liability too.

Most of us will recognize the importance of having insurance, however, the type and amount of insurance is usually everyone's next question. Do your research and call a few agents to get quotes. Ask about:

Short Term Production Insurance: you can insure a project individually and have coverage for liability, equipment, locations, film processing, etc. Get a few quotes and weigh the differences between short term and an annual policy, as the short term policies can me more expensive.

General Production Insurance: like any business, you need to be covered for worker's compensation, general liability and risks to your specific function - for filmmakers, that can mean weather delays, equipment problems or location problems. Auto coverage can also be a part of general production insurance. Any insurance agent can direct you to the minimum coverages you need and specific considerations you may have for a specific project. This is usually an annual policy.

Errors and Omissions Insurance: to protect you against lawsuits from someone who may see your work and consider their personal rights violated (if your documentary presents them unflatteringly and they regret their participation), you will want to consider Errors and Omissions insurance. This will probably require consultation with attorneys to determine what content may be sensitive. This is why you should be careful with logos, brand names, and personalities. Always get permissions and get them in writing.

Again, do your research and call insurance companies and agents. They do this kind of stuff for a living and they know what they are doing.

Relearning Lessons

How many times to I have to regret not backing up information frequently? It's been three weeks, maybe four, since I synched my iphone and it was stolen yesterday. Long story...anyway, I've lost three weeks of photos, phone numbers, downloads, etc. that I hadn't backed up yet. It could be worse, I know, but even losing a few numbers is a hassle.

My only consolation is knowing that it was password-protected and the data was erased on the tenth attempt to access it.

Backup, backup, backup! Another reminder...

Dude Flips Out In Coffee Shop - Watch more Funny Videos

RA Anniversary

It's hard to believe that at this time last year, we were about to begin the cross-country journey that set records in the running world and produced a record of the weeks leading up to the most interesting presidential race in the US. Watching the footage is both wonderful and difficult. It's a beautiful landscape and we have a great story, but I also see the pain in the runners on those first days and they are very palpable scenes. I also see the problems we were having with crew, equipment, vehicles, and logistics and that stuff never seemed to end. Sometimes I feel the exhaustion again when I watch. It's a strange sensation, but again, it's all very palpable for me.

Brian Weinberg, a crew member for the runners on the RA project, just sent me a message from the steps of City Hall in San Francisco - he's there almost a year to the day of the start of RA. He posted a link to his video reflecting on the trip, and here is the link.

Defend Cleveland

I bought these t-shirts from Room Service for my friends living in Brooklyn. They are Ohio-grown but they are denying their roots when they slam Cleveland. I've had enough of it. And you can't deny that these shirts are really cute, and they are super-soft, too. Nisha and Jenny, you will surrender, I'm sure.