What is this RED TOMATOES CROSSWALK filmmaking challenge for me?
by Elena Gorsheneva
| “THE ALIENS ARE RECRUITING OVER HILL AND DALE THEY’RE LOOTIN’ FOR KINS AND COWS AND EVEN CHICKENS, TOO. THEY TOOK MY COUSIN BILLY NOW HE’S MORE THAN SILLY I WISH THEY’D TAKE MY AUNTIE MARY LOU”. |
| A fragment from Ozark Melody, Music by Frederick Reed and Jeff Buckley, Lyrics by Joe Tripician |
Everybody knows that ghosts always speak truth. Steve’s taboo for red tomatoes is based on his Grandmother’s ghost statement that they are grown by aliens on satellites. But why would aliens do that here and not, say, somewhere near Sirius? Perhaps in this remote corner of our Galaxy the space is cheaper?
Basically, this is a question for a producer.
My Producing class at DFA was taught by Joe Tripician. He is a famous multi-talented filmmaker, Emmy-award winning producer, writer, and director, with over twenty years of production experience. And last, but not least, he is also the author of The Official Alien Abductee’s Handbook.
So I took this great and very detail-oriented book as my guide to American way of life in general and economy in particular (especially useful for aliens) and studied it exceptionally thoroughly. And was greatly surprised when found some omissions there. For example, the seven main types of aliens shown in the book don’t include the producers and/or females. But we know that the simple basic truth is that aliens not only grow red tomatoes but sell them here on Earth in specialized stores: economical need rues the Universe.
We both - I and Ilya - saw one of his short movies screening at the DFA quite by chance: we’ve just finished shooting RTC and brought back the equipment at exactly the right moment. This 4-minute story about parents and their little daughter with tango music in the background is really brilliant. I was lucky to get such a teacher.
Apparently every filmmaker has to deal with enormous amounts of paperwork. Joe proved to be a great guide in this sea of paper. He told us what permissions and licenses are absolutely necessary and how we can get them (the examples he handed out filled up an extraordinary fat folder!). He explained common business plan mistakes in low budget filmmaking, right types of partnerships, group insurance, things to think about before, during and after video shoot, who is who in the crew, etc, etc… And all (!) this information proved to be really priceless and extremely useful.
I smiled when he asked only one question about Red Tomatoes Crosswalk screenplay: “How you want to show aliens on the street?” It’s easy, Mr. Tripician: in your own words, today’s aliens might be tomorrow’s noisy neighbors.