Chris Valenti is another friend/filmmaker of mine (also a great musician and comic) and he has some really great comedy movies online and I just wanted to turn you on to his blog.
In 2009 he vowed to do a short film each month and he succeeded and I think that by setting a goal that is both a stretch and something that he can track, he made a great choice, and he achieved his goal! YAY!
For anyone who is a fan of SNL… especially the classic Saturday Night Live shows from the 70’s and 80’s… this is a great series of videos from Funny or Die that have all the actors that ever played U.S. presidents, going back to Chevy Chase as Ford.
There is the main video, directed by Ron Howard, and then the other “outtake” videos. I especially like the “dream sequence” with Dana Carvey as Bush Sr.!
I <3 Dan Aykroyd!
Oh, and only non-SNL person they had was Jim Carrey play Reagan. (”Tag you’re it!”) HAHA!
This one is just Matt Stone and Lloyd Kaufman, taped in April 2006.
I love this one because he gets more into the business of it. Still funny, too.
“Just keep going. Forget about that. Just do something and keep doing something new…”
While Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park Studio) were shooting Team America, they were interviewed by Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Films for his (Lloyd’s) documentary/instructional film “Make Your Own Damn Movie”.
This is Part 1 in my blog article series for two reasons…
1. It was shot several years before the other videos I will be posting later this week.
2. Their attitude is pretty bleak. They were not having fun with working with marionettes and apparently they got screwed in their contract, and their probably exhausted from the shoot… so they are a bit down in these two videos.
Still, it’s good to be aware of the down side of things. If the folks at the top are being dicked over, how can you carve out the filmmaker lifestyle that you want, and still get paid the money you deserve for all the long hours and work you put in?
Not that they don’t have lots of money. But I’m thinking, “I want creative control (Trey has final cut on all movies he makes) and I want to get paid”. HOW? HOW? HOW?
If you figure it out please let me know.
(BTW, there was a first video to this series on YouTube but nothing really happens in the first one).
