Review of film: “BE GOOD”, + PRODUCER’S PANEL on SHORT films, + Q&A with Dir TODD LOOBY, @ MIDWEST FILM FESTIVAL

2013, 02-06:

Reviews of films: “BE GOOD” & "LOLLYWOOD", + PRODUCER’S PANEL on SHORT films, + Q&A with Director TODD LOOBY, @ MIDWEST FILM FESTIVAL

“PRODUCER’S PANEL” on the subject of work done in SHORT films =

    As I mentioned previously (in a review of “LAC DE FLAMBEAU”;  available for viewing at: http://voice-of-film.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-of-film-lac-de-flambeau-at.html ), the Chicago-based MIDWEST INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL hosts a gathering on the first Tuesday of every month…

…  In that event, they show special screenings of films at the Landmark CENTURY theater (2828 N Clark Street), highlighting work done by people from and / or in the MIDWEST area of the United States (hence, the name)...

...  On February 6th, the evening started with a “PRODUCER’S PANEL” on the subject of work done in SHORT films:

…  Hosting the Panel (on the far left in the above photo) was MELISSA THORNLEY (who’s Managing Director of Beast / Company 3 / Method Studios)…

…  Sitting to her left (namely, to the RIGHT on the photo) was writer-director SCOTT SMITH, who has made more than 15 short films (which have screened at various Film Festivals) plus the documentary feature “BEING BUCKY”, and currently works as a Creative Director at the Leo Burnett agency…

…  To his left was BRETT BLAKE, the Producer of the ONION NEWS NETWORK, the video department (which recently moved to Chicago from New York) of the satirical “ONION” combine…  He’s been a freelance editor, director and producer…

…  And, (as seen in the photos below), to his left was writer – director – producer TODD LOOBY, who was there to screen two of his works for the audience later that evening…

…  After introductions were made, Melissa asked, what ATTRACTED the panelists to getting involved in making SHORT films?… 
 

…  SCOTT said, he personally liked the length of the finished product, and the limited amount of time it took to write for such a project…

…  BRETT, referring to the fact that THE ONION’S work is seen on “YOU TUBE” & the like, smilingly commented that, “Calling what we do ‘film’ would be very, very GENEROUS!...”  He likes the fact that using a short format easily allows his group to  “parrot” various DIFFERENT styles of story-telling, centered around satire…

…  TODD responded that, for him, he tends to PREFER short films to doing features, in that they allow a quicker “turn-around” time &, partly because they don’t take so long to do, they permit having “less EMOTIONAL involvement” in the project at hand--  and thus a reduced amount of potential “DISAPPOINTMENT” regarding the venture!...

…  Todd said, when you’re always concentrating on making feature films, you in certain ways are “competing against 15,000 OTHER people” with the same dream & hopes;  that’s one reason he now prefers concentrating on SHORT films as a way of expressing what he wants…

…  Melissa posed the question, how EFFECTIVE is it to use short films as a means of launching a CAREER in film-making, especially re doing FEATURE films?...

…  SCOTT spoke of how, from making his 15 or so short films, he got involved with doing the “short film CIRCUIT” of attending lots of film FESTIVALS with them--  & those festivals tended to make him very DISCOURAGED at times, with how they were run, CHOICES made of films shown there, etc…

…  TODD was especially UPSET with certain Festivals, such as ones in the Southwest, for just that reason. At times, the main thing you “get” from attending them is meeting OTHER filmmakers, who you might later decide to do COLLABORATIONS with to some degree.  In other words, “it’s more like the PEOPLE you meet” that make attendance at them worthwhile…

…  BRETT talked about he knows a number of his friends liked using short films to help HONE their CRAFT in film-making…

…  SCOTT agreed that that’s often the case, & it can help a person learn how to do DIFFERENT things in the world of making films…  As to concentrating on certain “genres”, he feels what’s IMPORTANT overall is the basic STORY-TELLING in whatever you’re doing, whether in short or feature length…

…  He said, he personally likes comedy as a means of telling a story.  But, while many people think that’s “easier” than drama, he thinks the OPPOSITE is true, that comedy is harder to do really well…  In any case, he feels 9 out of every 10 shorts are made in the form of DRAMAS…

…  Melissa posed a question about whether work in short films tends to be sort of biographical…  TODD said, he doesn’t consciously try to put a lot of that into his own films, & he especially dislikes making things telling “super-PERSONAL” elements of lives…

…  BRETT said, since he’s moved to Chicago, he’s been amazed at how “there’s so much GREAT comedy talent out here!”…  The actors & other creative people here makes him feel like he’s in “a small FAMILY” of people who “take CARE of each other more” than he was used to after New York--  the way they’re being SUPPORTIVE of each other & HELPFUL, with an unusual “camaraderie” & all…

…  TODD spoke of how he generally works in a “super LOW-BUDGET” situation re his projects, & he’s found “it’s harder to keep peoples’ ATTENTION” when you’re working on a feature film vs a short.  He personally is “impatient to PUSH” things out to the public, so he PREFERS working on shorts…

…  Melissa offered the panelists a chance to “RANT” on a subject of their choice…  TODD spoke of his short film “LOLLYWOOD”, which had just premiered at Utah’s “Slamdance” Festival (near Sundance), & which we’d be seeing tonite:

…  As shown on his web-site page ( www.obrigadoproductions.com ), back in 2010, he’d filmed a short called “CHILDREN OF HOPE:  THE STORY OF LIBERIA MISSION”...

…  Seemingly from having done that film in west Africa, he’d chanced to meet an incredible boy there named EDWIN G. KOLLIE.  Edwin --  now 15 -- was an orphan of the horrible 2003 CIVIL WAR there…

…  But, rather than “give-up” in life, Edwin made himself into an HONOR student, and decided to write, produce & direct a MOVIE script (somewhat based on an idea he’d seen in a Nigerian movie)…

…  Todd’s 2012 movie “LOLLYWOOD” tells the STORY of that “EIGWAY” script being written, & how Edwin, on his own, gathered together 30 kids to be actors, and, in 3 hours, they’d constructed an African village SET & PERFORMED the little play he’d written for videotaping as a film…

…  Todd felt it’s a wonderfully UPLIFTING story about the indomitable & hopeful spirit of some young people.  He thus was stunned & deeply disappointed when a certain Festival in the southwest REJECTED accepting the short into their Fest— while at the same time admitting certain other films that were comparatively “JUNK”!...

…  That was Todd’s “rant”, & SCOTT ECHOED his opinion about how certain “chosen” films are frequently unbelievably POORLY done, & he at times is also at a loss to understand the “THINKING” being used by certain of the fest programmers…  

…  BRETT kidded that, one of his “rants” is how the Midwest Film Fest had just placed him “between two ESTABLISHED filmmakers” in a panel!…

…  At one point, the panel discussed how some makers of short films claim they’re making it a way of hopefully helping generate MONEY to EXPAND the short film into an eventual FEATURE film on the subject, and / or to gather INTEREST in someone backing them financially to make a film on some OTHER subject…

…  When questions were opened to the audience, a Black-American lady said she was a self-taught writer & wondered how she might be able to get started in writing for FILMS…  The basic consensus of the Panel was, as Scott expressed it:  “You just have to DO it—”, & learn along the way what works & what doesn’t…

…  TODD opined that, when moving from writing plays to writing for film, you have to “consider the CAMERA” & what’s needed to detail actions of people & to look proper for the camera’s “view” of what’s going on…

…  He also urged that a writer show their dialog to some really good FRIENDS --  “people you trust” -- who’ll give you HONEST opinions on how well things are “working”… 

…  An audience member asked BRETT what the situation was regarding using both union & NON-union actors in “THE ONION’S” projects…  He responded that, while he’s been generally pleased with the work done here by both, he senses that they may well start using MORE UNION talent, in that, if actors have reached the point of being in a union, they usually have MORE they can bring “to the table” performance-wise…

…  Another question to the panel raised the idea that some directors say they’re making their SHORT in order to get “noticed”, with hopes that it’d convince someone to fund a FEATURE they could direct…

…  Todd said, he felt that anyone who got feature work that way would likely be “an EXCEPTION to the rule” of how things usually go… A director by the name of Jon Lisecki was mentioned as someone who succeeded in that, & Scott AGREED with the basic premise that it tended to be unusual…

…  The subject of the value of entering shorts in FESTIVALS was brought up again…  TODD tends to be leery of them, because he’s seen so many cases of bad PROGRAMMING done in Festivals…  SCOTT agreed in general, commenting on a frequent lack of QUALITY in entries accepted…

…  Upon hearing a comment that MOST Festivals are a WASTE of time being involved with, host Melissa quickly piped up, “Except THIS one!!”--  to which Scott promptly AGREED…

…  Festival co-founder & co-founder MIKE “MAC” McNAMARA THANKED the panel for their participation, & declared a short break in the proceedings…

...  Mac talked to BRETT BLAKE as the audience took a time out, thanking him for his participation in the panel, which Brett said he was PLEASED to be part of…

…  I then spoke to Brett a bit…  I mentioned knowing people who’d appeared as actors in some of THE ONION’s tapings here in Chicago… 

…  When I asked him about their "DR. GOOD" episodes (a satire on the “helpful DOCTOR” shows on TV), he said they were very pleased in general with what was done in them, as there’s a lot of effectively FUNNY work seen there!...

…  As to when those episodes might APPEAR (on “YOU TUBE” or the like), he said that, tho it could change depending on various things, at the moment, they're likely to be seen some time in APRIL...

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SCREENING of TODD LOOBY’S Film “LOLLYWOOD”

     After the break, “MAC” introduced Todd’s short film “LOLLYWOOD” to the appreciative audience…

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SCREENING of TODD LOOBY’S Film “BE GOOD”

…  After that, we viewed Todd’s new feature film, “BE GOOD”, starring THOMAS MADDEN (who also starred in Todd’s previous feature, 2009’s “LEFTY”— which the Chicago Tribune’s Metromix readers voted as one of the TOP films that year)…

…  Thomas plays Paul, a married man who’s trying hard to write a SCREENPLAY he could sell, as his wife Mary (AMY SEIMETZ) has to be the bread-winner by returning to office work after her MATERNITY leave…

…  Amy doesn’t want to go back to her job, far preferring to care of their newly-born baby DAUGHTER Pearl (played by Todd’s real daughter, TESSA DAY)…

…  Thomas is left to CARE for the child— which he doesn’t mind doing, outside of the fact that she keeps interrupting his screen-writing work…

…  The film very effectively tells the story of the financial & emotional DIFFICULTIES experienced by Thomas & Amy in their “obligations”, assisted by Thomas’ best friend (played by Todd himself)…. 

…  As the Midwest Fest accurately puts it, the film has “plenty of wry observational humor but a lack of sitcom clichés”, wherein “Looby perceptively explores the ironic dilemma faced by many young couples: ‘a mom feels guilty that she’s working; a dad feels guilty that he’s not’…”

…  The very end of the movie seemed a bit “undeveloped” / unresolved (almost as if to leave “room” for a possible SEQUEL)--  but the ACTING & overall STORY-TELLING were so well done, I’d rate the film at 8.00 stars out of 10…

…  A note:  The film is scheduled to be screened at the SAN FRANCISCO INDIE FEST, as follows = on Friday, Feb. 8 at The ROXIE at 7:15 pm, and at that same theater at 5:00 pm on Sat., Feb. 9;  plus, on Wed., Feb. 13 at the STATTUCK CIN at 7:00 pm…

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      Following the film, Fest director “MAC” hosted a Q&A with TODD about his films…

          …  Speaking about “BE GOOD”, Todd said, because of the small budget & limited SHOOTING time available (like 10 or so days), there was no REHEARSAL time, & the actors mainly just came into town & did their work immediately...

               …  Because the film “revolves” around the BABY, the shooting was determined by whatever “mood” Todd’s DAUGHTER was in “at the moment”--  happy, crying, playful, etc…  

                   …  At one point, Todd brought up the writer of the MUSIC score used for the “LOLLYWOOD” short, & they discussed how he’d created his music based on what the young Liberian children actors were “doing” at the time--  building their “Village” set, etc…

                  …  As usual, following the theater events, much of the audience adjourned to the nearby Avenue Tavern for a post-show RECEPTION with buffet food--  a chance to “schmooze” & NETWORK & the like…

                      …  At one point, I spoke to TODD there, commenting on how I’d quite ENJOYED his films, & how impressive a young man EDWIN COLLIE came across as in “LOLLYWOOD” (with which he heartily AGREED)…

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