Five Sisters Productions Blog Archive (January to June 2005)

Archived: Happiest Day Film Shoot, July to December 2005, 2006 Entries

June 6, 2005
entry by: Gabrielle Burton

PRESSURE... COMING DOWN ON MANNA
MGM told us that current vendor expectations are for movies to perform 90% of their sales by the 3rd week. (Fifty percent of sales are expected on the opening weekend.) Of course, this math doesn't make sense with a small indie film (particularly one with no advertising!), but, unfortunately in this age of short-term market patience, the same rule applies to films that have one copy in stock or a whole wall.., so the bottomline calculations are made based on that -- meaning that after the 3rd week, unsold/rented dvds begin to be returned if they're not selling at a high pace. Okay -- no pressure there...! So, this means we are working hard on getting the word out, so that people know the movie's out there. Tell all your friends too! July 12 is coming fast.

YOU'RE IN CLEVELAND FRIDAY (...& YOUNGSTOWN SATURDAY)
MANNA is opening in Cleveland & Youngstown, and I'm making plans to go there to meet audiences for meet-the-director Q&As -- Cleveland on Saturday and Youngstown on Sunday. Should be fun. It's neat how this little energizer bunny of movies just keeps on going and going... I had to send prints to both places this week. (I sent posters, fliers, and trailers about a month ago when they expressed interest.) I had a really nice time doing an interview with a critic from Youngstown who also writes for Cleveland. It's fulfilling when someone really "gets" the film. The critic said he's trying to get the Cleveland paper to give MANNA coverage, as it's a unique opportunity to meet a filmmaker, but they're not sure yet if they'll have space, because they are planning to write a big story about all the blockbusters coming out this summer. Irony, anyone?

THERE'LL BE FIREWORKS ... AND MANNA!
We got the final release date from MGM for MANNA FROM HEAVEN's dvd/video release -- JULY 12!!! Mark your calendars! It's been interesting to see the cover art and give our notes, but ultimately, they are calling the shots & designing it according to their marketing department, so we'll only see the real thing when it's printed. That's an interesting situation: obviously, we've worked so hard for years on this baby -- but then you just hand it over to a studio and they take it from there. The people we've been working with are great, and we're sorry that many of them are leaving with Sony's acquisition of MGM. It has been confusing at times too, because the upheaval and changes over there mean that sometimes we don't quite know who is handling what, or what's happening with the movie. Hopefully everything will work out well for the film. As the release date approaches, things are coming together! The movie was submitted to the video business trade magazines and apparently picked up by them -- it's funny how a filmmaker never sees a lot of these things!

SI-YI-YI-IGN MY CONTRACT ON LOVE (OR AT LEAST TEMPS & JUST FRIENDS)
TEMPS & JUST FRIENDS are being bought by PorchLight Entertainment for video/dvd and television release! It'll be so great to get those movies on video/dvd. TEMPS has gone in and out of television development, as it would make a great series, but hasn't gotten to the stage of being made. In the process, it changed so much from the movie, so even if the tv show goes in its current form, TEMPS would no longer be the pilot. So we're getting it out! We're now finishing up the negotiations & should be signing contracts soon!

REMEMBERING FRANK GORSHIN
There is a wonderful story in our family lore: our mother was sixteen and had just been voted Homecoming Queen. Every year in Lansing, Michigan, Oldsmobile put on a lavish Broadway type show to introduce their new model, importing first rate actors from New York who sang and danced. That year, Chita Rivera was the star, and there was a young comic who lit up the stage. After the show, all the cast went to a club where our mom's aunt worked. Like in an old Hollywood movie, our mom and the comic, the two "kids", ended up talking for hours, about their futures, their fears, their dreams.

Years later, when we were casting an old-fashioned comedy called MANNA FROM HEAVEN, our mother suggested that young comic. She told us his name was Frank Gorshin.

When Gabrielle told her husband that Frank was going to be in MANNA, he fell over with excitement. "The Riddler!" he said. "I can't believe you got The Riddler!"

Having grown up in the seventies in a household where we weren't allowed to watch tv much, we sisters hadn't ever seen Batman. We knew Frank as an actor who did impeccable impressions. In MANNA FROM HEAVEN, Frank plays the part of Ed Burns, a con artist. Frank is a clown in the european tradition, a physical comic, a precursor to Jim Carrey and others who use their bodies and stretch their faces like silly putty. We were able to draw on that for his cons, giving him the direction to "do this scene with a French accent," and he'd go to town. He had the whole crew in stitches.

Frank was also a lot of fun off-screen. He stayed in Buffalo weeks after we'd finished shooting the movie there. He loved the city, and we still hear stories about his entertaining people at restaurants. He was the man about town, and it seemed everybody got to know Frank.

Riddle me this: a surprising side to Frank was his periodic self-doubt, his searching for more in his performance, which perhaps made his acting more heartfelt and emotionally honest. The other part of the story from our mom's childhood is that Frank talked with her about his performance that night. He had been dazzling, but he kept asking her, "Was I really great?" He had been, so it wasn't hard for her to say it again and again, and when our mom talked about this with Frank years later, he laughed and said, "I haven't changed much, have I?"

He strove for more, to go further, to do better, to aim for perfection. When Maria and Gabrielle gave him the direction for the raffle and dance contest scene in the film, Frank was concerned that he'd never emceed an event and might not be convincing. The scene was shot in the historic vaudeville Shea's Theater, and the theater was filled with extras from Buffalo dressed to the nines. We knew he could do it and said just to give it a try. He said he'd do his best. His best was extraordinary. Frank was an actor who could express humor as well as empathy, thoughtfulness, inner conflict, and warmth.

It's a particular loss when a character actor dies. These people are the familiar faces who work over and over in film after film, show after show. For many, they're someone you've grown up with, someone who was part of your history and the background of your life. When they are gone, it's hard to believe.

Frank was a regular part of our real lives too. Our family talked with him as he was touring with stage shows and saw him in SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE, in which he held the stage brilliantly for ninety minutes straight. When MANNA played in Times Square, he came to the theater and did a special Q & A for the delighted audience. We'd just called Frank about working together on our next film and about putting together the bloopers for the dvd release of MANNA FROM HEAVEN in July. He was hilarious in a shot where he entered a room; after finishing his lines, he redid the entire scene in reverse movements, speaking in backwards nonsense, all the way out the door.

Frank knew he smoked too much, but he was always with a cigarette. He joked about it, and his smoky laugh was contagious. He worked hard and he lived hard. Frank Gorshin died Tuesday in Los Angeles at 72 from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia.

We never expected him to take his final stage bow so soon. It's a loss for audiences, and a loss in our hearts.

We will miss him.

DELIVER ME!
This was one of those weeks that delivery for MANNA to MGM took much of our week. Delivery involves getting to MGM all of the technical items they've requested (soundtracks in different formats, a version of the script for closed captioning and translation, video transfers of the film in different formats, etc.) as well as all the paperwork and contracts from the film's production. We had to get one department some info from the contracts (which we sent to them but are somewhere else in the company), and also discuss photos for the promotion & dvd cover design. It's all on tight deadlines, so everything else fell by the wayside. // Today, MD, Jenn, and I had a conference call with Sandeep, a programmer in the Bay area, about setting up our email system. We have so many email addresses (about 7500) that it's a bit too much to handle to emailing people updates. We also need to combine all our sisters address books and clean them up. I've noticed that, unfortunately, after a couple of years on the road with MANNA, some people's emails have changed, so we need to get that stuff cleaned up too and make sure people who want to be getting updates are included. I'm chipping away at it, but golly, it's time-consuming! I also have a box of cards and pages of emails still to enter from MANNA's tour!

ROLLIN' ROLLIN' ROLLIN' KEEP ALL WHEELS A-ROLLIN'
The days are incredibly packed. Our new system is to divide the week by days for projects in order to streamline the work -- so Monday is MANNA FROM HEAVEN, TEMPS, and JUST FRIENDS. Tuesday is THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE, more MANNA, and a documentary on which Maria is doing research. Wednesday and Thursday are prep days on the next project, part of which is script writing. Every other week, Ursula and I get notes on our script, and Maria on hers; the alternate week we spend writing three hours. We'd love more time writing, but with all the work we have, at least this keeps the scripts developing every week. Friday is for other projects (a commercial we're considering, etc.), our weekly meeting, and office work -- bills, phone messages, email, website work, etc, as well as work from the other projects that needs to get done that week. It's a great system. The tough part is that sometimes work comes up (a contract comes in, or MGM asks for something by the end of Wednesday, let's say), which means that cuts into other planned work. However, the great aspect of this new schedule is that we are keeping all the projects going at once. All businesses can find themselves in a reactive situation -- responding to emails, responding to phone calls, responding to someone's demand for such-and-such a report or budget or project design. This system allows for prioritizing, so that if something isn't really an emergency, it can wait and we know it will be handled in a few days at the most.

ME MY MO' MANNA
A really neat note on MANNA FROM HEAVEN -- a terrific guy from Pittsburgh and I talked about the dvd's coming out, and how it'd be nice if the movie had gone to more cities. We had been waiting, because there was a great opportunity to release it with a large exhibitor across the US, but then the company put the project on the back burner. We don't have the resources to keep releasing the movie as it was being released before (with advertising in papers, our doing so much grassroots work, traveling to and living in cities to promote it, etc.) Anyway, this guy said he'd be interested in helping the film get out to more cities to the extent that he can, getting it into indie theaters. If places want to invite us to speak with audiences, we'll be delighted to do so -- like we'll be doing in Chautauqua in July (July 19-21 -- mark your calendar!).

The biggest date to mark on your calendar is JULY 26 -- MANNA FROM HEAVEN's dvd/video release date with MGM! They call it the "street date" -- when the movie hits the streets.

It'd be fantastic if you would call your video and/or local retail store two weeks before and request the film, so they'll order it and carry it. The first two weeks of its release are going to be critical for its future (if movies don't rent or sell right away -- particularly indies -- they get pulled from the shelves faster than a frog eating a fly).

The cherry blossoms are in bloom, and we're enjoying the sun streaming into the office. Back to work!

HAPPIEST DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
We just got word from MGM that they have signed off on almost all of the delivery and dvd extras!!! This is quite an achievement. Yahoo, yippee. We put on a photo gallery, a directors+producers+writer commentary, a Behind-the-scenes movie, an audience Q&A with writer + director + producer, Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, subtitles, and closed captioning. (The only thing they are not going to include, because MGM dvds are not including text-heavy extras anymore, is the "About The Film" section with bios and info about the cast, its filming & release.) It was a ton of work. We had to pull it all together very quickly, and it looks great! We're excited to see the box design and menu design when MGM does it.

So, now we are able to turn some attention to HAPPIEST DAY work. We've gotten an assembly edit -- where all the scenes are roughly laid together in script order. It looks good. There's a lot to do -- both in editing (and then all the technical work), as well as paperwork and things like getting the credits list together. We're glad we'll have some more time for this now.

MILLION DOLLAR BABY, MAYBE
I was in a commercial for a Dayton jeweler and wore -- get this -- an $800,000 ring. That was something. In all, I was wearing about a million dollars of jewelry. It wasn't exactly my style, but if the jeweler had let me keep it, I wouldn't have refused. (Hey, it'd be a great start for the next film budget!) So if you live in Dayton, check it out. Apparently, the commercial's going to run day and night for months...

Along with the work on delivery which continues, my sisters and I are working on the PorchLight contracts for the dvd/video and tv releases of our films JUST FRIENDS and TEMPS, so that'll be great -- it'll be the year of the Five Sisters movies! We'll have to begin delivery work on those films once the contracts are signed. At the same time, we're working on documents for a new film project (budgets, etc.) that we will be pitching later this fall, as well as our two scripts, which are going well. Maria's script is just in the beginning stages, and it's got a great tone right out of the gate. We're all meeting next week to talk about one of the stories in my script -- we'll be breaking it down section by section, which will be a good way to dig into it.

Spring is here at last, lots to do -- and more light to do it by!

TRUCKIN' ALONG
Ursula has been overseeing the work on THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE. She's continued working on wrapping up a lot of details -- paperwork, insurance, etc. The finances have been complicated to figure out as a couple of departments weren't very organized in their records. We've also had delays due to some people's schedules, so we're thinking about reassigning some of the work, because we want to get this phase finished asap. Cynthia Damin, Zarah Morris, and Barbara Rybka are coming back on to be part of the production work, and Sara Neff should also be contributing. We've written letters of recommendation for a number of crew members for other jobs, and we're keeping in touch with the crew, which is nice.

The delivery work for MANNA FROM HEAVEN for MGM and PorchLight has been remarkably time-consuming. Ursula is spearheading all of that, and I'm grateful for that.

I am working on a behind-the-scenes video with an editor as an extra for the dvd. I also was invited to Fredonia to speak after screenings of MANNA, and Mom and Dad (writer and co-producer of the film) joined me there, which was a lot of fun.

We will begin working on delivery of TEMPS and JUST FRIENDS after we get the dvd/video/tv deal finalized with PorchLight. Meanwhile (as if this isn't enough work already), we are also working on two scripts for our next films. I am in the midst of a rewrite, and I'm very much enjoying writing this script. Right now, though, I'm hitting a little wall -- I know I need to cut a large part out, but am not sure where to begin -- so I'm looking forward to my siblings' reading this version and giving notes.

On the office side, we took a week to clean up after the shoot --- there's still tons of paper, and there's quite a bit that's piled up from our time on the road with MANNA's theatrical release.

On that note, we also get hundreds of emails a day. I heard on NPR that it is physically impossible to respond to all one's emails. This made me feel a bit better, though a bit discouraged at the same time, of course. I calculated the emails and the time it takes to reply, and I found it would be statistically impossible just to file them all into my categorized folders without taking weeks off. It would be wonderful if we sisters could have a regular staff...

MD will be setting up an emailing database. Before she can, I need to organize all of our emails into bins, then format them, and get them into shape for the program. It is rather overwhelming, but I plug away on it a little each day. It is funny to go from finance negotiations to script writing to data entry -- this is the life of an independent film producer -- the glamour and the grit!

So, work continues. I'll check in again after our company meeting in March.