Right, so much for frequent updates...
Wanted to let anyone actually reading this know that I have a piece in April's The Spook that I'm quite proud of. It's a parody of Entertainment Weekly's DVD Watch column. Someone please read this and tell me when you "get it". Like I said: quite proud.
Also, Dark Tales Publications just put out an anthology called THE ASYLUM VOL. 2, that contains an old story of mine, "Trapdoor". They credited my entire name for some reason, but what the hell? I'm in print again.
THE RESURRECTION GAME is currently in the hands of Elite Entertainment, or, more specifically, Synapse. They have promised to look at it within a month or so. Regardless, Amy (co-producer, co-star and celebrity) has vowed that, one way or another, it will be finished and available by October. Which makes me wonder what she knows that I don't. The official site has moved and has it's own domain: www.happycloudpictures.com but I haven't had much a chance to update it. Soon. Very soon. Promise.
HOLLYWOOD IS BURNING has moved to www.freewebz.com/hollywoodisburning and has a ton of updates. Neat! It will have it's own domain very soon as well.
The Pittsburgh Comicon this year went very well. Amy set up with Debbie Rochon and there were lines of people snatching up pictures. We hope to do just as well at Creepcon in Baltimore next month. I'm already looking forward to this one. Giles from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER will be there. (Anthony Stewart Head) I'm dying to ask him about playing Frank N. Furter in the touring show of ROCKY HORROR in the mid-90s. Forget those "Taster's Choice" Commercials!
And that's about it for right now. I'm sure that's far more than you wanted to know.
Mike
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Thursday, March 07, 2002
And the wheel continues to turn...
THE RESURRECTION GAME novelization is now available to order through Amazon.com. Which is nice. I've managed to persuade all of one Barnes and Noble brick-and-mortar store to carry the book as well. The others claim they can't get it, can't order it, we don't carry books anyway, books? What are those? Which is fine too. Incredibly Strange Video and Phantom of the Attic will both have books on hand for consignment purchase, and the Pittsburgh Comicon is coming up at the end of April, so I should be able to get a couple out there. Maybe even raise enough money so that SOMEONE will get to see the movie someday. (It's currently in the hands of Alpine Pictures who said the magic words: "If we like it, we'll pick up the costs of post-production." I asked them to say it again.)
Everyone should rush over to The Spook and check it out. It's a free monthly online magazine that has invited me to contribute to in the coming months. The magazine is very cool and I can't wait to get started. The best way I've been able to describe it is "The Horror Fan's New Yorker", but it's more than that. It's one of those publications that make you feel as if you're part of a special club by reading it. You're one of the happy few. Happy few hundred-thousand readers, but still...
I have been invited to do an interview with Neil Gaiman for the upcoming World Horror Convention 2002. The convention overseers want a piece to put in their convention program, which I'm only too thrilled to do. Neil's in hiding right now, to do some writing, but I'll get to talk to him sometime before the WHC deadline. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm counting the days, minutes and seconds until this happens. I don't often get to talk to one of my personal deities. Neil has his own Blogger at Neil Gaiman.com and everyone should go and read the wonderfulness that is Neil's work. I rather like his stuff, you see...
Chuck Jones died last week. Kevin Smith is still alive. The wheel continues to turn...
Another link for everyone - go check out Amy Lynn Best's Official Homepage. She's the co-star and co-producer of THE RESURRECTION GAME and has a really cool site. Sign her guestbook too. She'd like that.
The new Femme Fatales is on the stands. It's an all-comics/artists issue and features interviews with Joe Jusko, Julie Bell, Richard Moore, Jeff Pitarrelli, Trina Robbins and a long piece on the Women of Marvel Comics. It's gorgeous and happens to be flying off the shelves. It's in such demand that I didn't get a copy and I wrote two-thirds of the thing!
Finally, check out: DebbieRochon.com's official message board. It's the place to go if you like and want to talk about independent movies. Lots of cool people on there, not just me. Debbie herself moderates the proceedings, so how can you go wrong there?
THE RESURRECTION GAME novelization is now available to order through Amazon.com. Which is nice. I've managed to persuade all of one Barnes and Noble brick-and-mortar store to carry the book as well. The others claim they can't get it, can't order it, we don't carry books anyway, books? What are those? Which is fine too. Incredibly Strange Video and Phantom of the Attic will both have books on hand for consignment purchase, and the Pittsburgh Comicon is coming up at the end of April, so I should be able to get a couple out there. Maybe even raise enough money so that SOMEONE will get to see the movie someday. (It's currently in the hands of Alpine Pictures who said the magic words: "If we like it, we'll pick up the costs of post-production." I asked them to say it again.)
Everyone should rush over to The Spook and check it out. It's a free monthly online magazine that has invited me to contribute to in the coming months. The magazine is very cool and I can't wait to get started. The best way I've been able to describe it is "The Horror Fan's New Yorker", but it's more than that. It's one of those publications that make you feel as if you're part of a special club by reading it. You're one of the happy few. Happy few hundred-thousand readers, but still...
I have been invited to do an interview with Neil Gaiman for the upcoming World Horror Convention 2002. The convention overseers want a piece to put in their convention program, which I'm only too thrilled to do. Neil's in hiding right now, to do some writing, but I'll get to talk to him sometime before the WHC deadline. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm counting the days, minutes and seconds until this happens. I don't often get to talk to one of my personal deities. Neil has his own Blogger at Neil Gaiman.com and everyone should go and read the wonderfulness that is Neil's work. I rather like his stuff, you see...
Chuck Jones died last week. Kevin Smith is still alive. The wheel continues to turn...
Another link for everyone - go check out Amy Lynn Best's Official Homepage. She's the co-star and co-producer of THE RESURRECTION GAME and has a really cool site. Sign her guestbook too. She'd like that.
The new Femme Fatales is on the stands. It's an all-comics/artists issue and features interviews with Joe Jusko, Julie Bell, Richard Moore, Jeff Pitarrelli, Trina Robbins and a long piece on the Women of Marvel Comics. It's gorgeous and happens to be flying off the shelves. It's in such demand that I didn't get a copy and I wrote two-thirds of the thing!
Finally, check out: DebbieRochon.com's official message board. It's the place to go if you like and want to talk about independent movies. Lots of cool people on there, not just me. Debbie herself moderates the proceedings, so how can you go wrong there?
Wednesday, February 06, 2002
Arthur Dent had his Thursdays, well, I can't get the hang of Tuesdays. If "BUFFY" wasn't on Tuesdays, I swear I wouldn't bother getting out of bed.
Yesterday I got a recommendation from an L.A. writer to try out a formerly high-profile entertainment magazine. He was friends with the editor, had a great reputation. I send away - a query letter of high quality charm and ... um, quality. The return message is prompt: the magazine has changed formats. It's business related now, not entertainment related. It's been years since I worked in a movie theater. Sure, I've run projectors and sold popcorn, but mostly, I just cleaned up after people. So... no luck there.
A second rejection really burned me, though. It was for a "Movie Lovers" anthology. I hadn't realized it at the time, but it was to be a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type of book, which is fine. But the pieces I submitted were rejected for being "too intellectual". The editor asked me to "dumb it down". Now, the editor is a bright, intelligent woman, who I believe incorrectly chose the words "dumb it down". I understand what she means now and I wish the project the best of luck. But at the same time, it really irked me.
I'm working on this book for Great Britain called TWISTED REALITIES which covers a whole mass of American Indie filmmakers - Jim VanBebber, Ron Bonk, Kevin Lindenmuth - I'm doing pieces on Eric Stanze, Jon Keeyes and Debbie Rochon. This is being pitched as a serious look at contemporary filmmaking. To British intellectuals and film societies. And gore hounds, of course, but... Now, would we even ATTEMPT to pitch something like this to an American market, we'd get roundly told off about it. "No one would care!" "Your market's too small!" "Why can't you write about Angelina Jolie and that nice Kevin Smith person?"
Filmmakers are all too often "dumbing it down" for the audiences. Rebecca Romaijn-Stamos told journalists that the new version of ROLLERBALL isn't as - and this is a direct quote - "thinky" as the original. Because god forbid people sit down and actually think while watching a movie. We can't have too many "thinky" movies. Is it just hindsight or did movies in the thirties and forties have scripts as well as laughs? Didn't Shakespeare write high and low humor into his plays for both the nobles and the commoners?
"Dumb it down, Einstein, some of us just want to be entertained."
Yesterday I got a recommendation from an L.A. writer to try out a formerly high-profile entertainment magazine. He was friends with the editor, had a great reputation. I send away - a query letter of high quality charm and ... um, quality. The return message is prompt: the magazine has changed formats. It's business related now, not entertainment related. It's been years since I worked in a movie theater. Sure, I've run projectors and sold popcorn, but mostly, I just cleaned up after people. So... no luck there.
A second rejection really burned me, though. It was for a "Movie Lovers" anthology. I hadn't realized it at the time, but it was to be a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type of book, which is fine. But the pieces I submitted were rejected for being "too intellectual". The editor asked me to "dumb it down". Now, the editor is a bright, intelligent woman, who I believe incorrectly chose the words "dumb it down". I understand what she means now and I wish the project the best of luck. But at the same time, it really irked me.
I'm working on this book for Great Britain called TWISTED REALITIES which covers a whole mass of American Indie filmmakers - Jim VanBebber, Ron Bonk, Kevin Lindenmuth - I'm doing pieces on Eric Stanze, Jon Keeyes and Debbie Rochon. This is being pitched as a serious look at contemporary filmmaking. To British intellectuals and film societies. And gore hounds, of course, but... Now, would we even ATTEMPT to pitch something like this to an American market, we'd get roundly told off about it. "No one would care!" "Your market's too small!" "Why can't you write about Angelina Jolie and that nice Kevin Smith person?"
Filmmakers are all too often "dumbing it down" for the audiences. Rebecca Romaijn-Stamos told journalists that the new version of ROLLERBALL isn't as - and this is a direct quote - "thinky" as the original. Because god forbid people sit down and actually think while watching a movie. We can't have too many "thinky" movies. Is it just hindsight or did movies in the thirties and forties have scripts as well as laughs? Didn't Shakespeare write high and low humor into his plays for both the nobles and the commoners?
"Dumb it down, Einstein, some of us just want to be entertained."
Tuesday, February 05, 2002
Monday, February 04, 2002
Relatively productive weekend.
Had what might possibly be the final photoshoot for THE RESURRECTION GAME. Associate producers Charlie Fleming and Tim Gross came over to the abode, joined shortly there-after by major supporter Jim Steinhoff. Co-Producer Bill Homan got the three gentlement into zombie make-up and then other co-producer Amy Lynn Best shoved them in front of the camera, took pictures of the three dead guys hamming it up. Then I joined in. Then the three producers ourselves got in the picture with the zombies. We even added Necro-Phil into the shots. These will be the only pictures where Amy, Bill and I all appear in the same shot! Usually one of us has to shoot the picture. Even when photographer extraordinaire Theresa Glenn worked for us, we somehow managed to miss getting in together.
Afterwards, we started to brainstorm about my "video Bio" for the upcoming CARNIVAL CD-ROM coming out through Brian Hopkins' Lone Wolf Publications. LWP likes multimedia files for their fiction anthologies, wanted interactive bios, music, that sort of thing. I figured I'd get Charlie to shoot a little interview with me on Mini-DV, but when it came time to do it, I suddenly went blank. I was actually intimidated by my room of close friends. That said close-friends delight on torturing me might have had something to do with it.
I tried using the "Mike Puppet" that Bill built of me - high forehead, grey hair and big mouth. And no eyebrows. It's a terrific Muppet, but not the most flattering depiction of me ever created.
The Muppet idea went over like a lead balloon. Reminded me of an old performance when we were all doing Rocky Horror at the Hollywood Theater. One of us had the bright idea to use a manniquin as "Janet". It was really funny for two minutes. Then it just became unbearably sad.
Finally, Tim began to actually ask me questions about writing, horror movies, etc. That seemed to go quite well. Charlie and I will sit down and edit the footage sometime during the week. To hedge my bets, though, I'll probably submit a text bio and .jpg pictures to Brian Hopkins. You know, just to be sure...
Mike
Had what might possibly be the final photoshoot for THE RESURRECTION GAME. Associate producers Charlie Fleming and Tim Gross came over to the abode, joined shortly there-after by major supporter Jim Steinhoff. Co-Producer Bill Homan got the three gentlement into zombie make-up and then other co-producer Amy Lynn Best shoved them in front of the camera, took pictures of the three dead guys hamming it up. Then I joined in. Then the three producers ourselves got in the picture with the zombies. We even added Necro-Phil into the shots. These will be the only pictures where Amy, Bill and I all appear in the same shot! Usually one of us has to shoot the picture. Even when photographer extraordinaire Theresa Glenn worked for us, we somehow managed to miss getting in together.
Afterwards, we started to brainstorm about my "video Bio" for the upcoming CARNIVAL CD-ROM coming out through Brian Hopkins' Lone Wolf Publications. LWP likes multimedia files for their fiction anthologies, wanted interactive bios, music, that sort of thing. I figured I'd get Charlie to shoot a little interview with me on Mini-DV, but when it came time to do it, I suddenly went blank. I was actually intimidated by my room of close friends. That said close-friends delight on torturing me might have had something to do with it.
I tried using the "Mike Puppet" that Bill built of me - high forehead, grey hair and big mouth. And no eyebrows. It's a terrific Muppet, but not the most flattering depiction of me ever created.
The Muppet idea went over like a lead balloon. Reminded me of an old performance when we were all doing Rocky Horror at the Hollywood Theater. One of us had the bright idea to use a manniquin as "Janet". It was really funny for two minutes. Then it just became unbearably sad.
Finally, Tim began to actually ask me questions about writing, horror movies, etc. That seemed to go quite well. Charlie and I will sit down and edit the footage sometime during the week. To hedge my bets, though, I'll probably submit a text bio and .jpg pictures to Brian Hopkins. You know, just to be sure...
Mike
Friday, February 01, 2002
Welcome to Random Acts of Mike Watt.
Following in the vast English shoes of Neil Gaiman, I decided to start my own Blogger. For fun, not because I think I could possibly follow in Mr. Gaiman's footsteps.
Mostly, I want to talk about the publication of my first book: THE RESURRECTION GAME. This is a novelization, actually, based on the screenplay of the movie of the same name. I wrote the script for that, then filmed it with my partners, Amy Lynn Best and Bill Homan. They co-star in the film as well. I show up occassionally to be killed. The movie, if you're interested, can be researched at the terrifically meandering official site: www.geocities.com/happycloudprod/
The book, and I hope you're interested, can be found HERE
There are other webpages that I maintain as well: I have an official "Author's Den" at:Author's Den: Mike Watt
Hollywood is Burning is located at: http://www.geocities.com/hollywoodisburning
Amy's official site is: http://www.geocities.com/amylynnbest
I also write for Femme Fatales Magazine. They can be found here: www.femmefatales.com
Please feel free to drop in, or email me, or what have you. Particularly the "whathaveyou" part. That's always fun.
Mike
Following in the vast English shoes of Neil Gaiman, I decided to start my own Blogger. For fun, not because I think I could possibly follow in Mr. Gaiman's footsteps.
Mostly, I want to talk about the publication of my first book: THE RESURRECTION GAME. This is a novelization, actually, based on the screenplay of the movie of the same name. I wrote the script for that, then filmed it with my partners, Amy Lynn Best and Bill Homan. They co-star in the film as well. I show up occassionally to be killed. The movie, if you're interested, can be researched at the terrifically meandering official site: www.geocities.com/happycloudprod/
The book, and I hope you're interested, can be found HERE
There are other webpages that I maintain as well: I have an official "Author's Den" at:Author's Den: Mike Watt
Hollywood is Burning is located at: http://www.geocities.com/hollywoodisburning
Amy's official site is: http://www.geocities.com/amylynnbest
I also write for Femme Fatales Magazine. They can be found here: www.femmefatales.com
Please feel free to drop in, or email me, or what have you. Particularly the "whathaveyou" part. That's always fun.
Mike
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