Pretty disappointing, was the screening put together in 48 hours as well? I don’t know the exact numbers but over 50 teams from New York city competed in last weekends 48 hour film competition and while I was expecting to see some good/bad films, I did not expect such a sloppy screening. Show starts almost an hour late, riddled with technical problems, audio out of sync 90% of the time, restarting films, and over all lack in preparation by the NYC 48 film organization was pretty inexcusable and not fair to all the teams who worked so hard to fill seats (10 bucks a head) last during Wednesday and Thursday screenings at the Sunshine Cinema. Is 48 hour a big profit machine?

Ranting aside, we set out to make a movie in 48 hours for a full house at the Sunshine Cinema and that we did…I believe Mr. P Sarni updated IMDB last night. Thanks to friends and family again for coming out to support. Will I do it again? Who knows…in the meantime I must keep writing.

The anticipation is starting to kill me and after waiting over a year from when I 1st dropped my deposit for the RED ONE and then endured multiple production holds and delays…the time has finally come. I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be working with the RED for the last several weeks as a REDTek and recently promoted to DP on my last gig so I am ready and more importantly I feel prepared. If you know anything about RED its expect the unexpected, RED owner Jim Jannard signature on RED’s official forum is

“Everything in life changes… including our camera specs and delivery dates…”

This is why my post titles ends with “maybe”, but I feel pretty confident since they released the image above showing camera numbers 1751-2000 being prepped for shipping. You can not argue Jim Jannard’s honesty, not to mention the man is a hype master with his recent thread titled “PREPARE”, which is a brief post on the new firmware build 16…an example of how RED can improve system specs overnight. RED is controversial for stirring up a fire in not only the RED community, but the film industry in general. As a RED technician, or what I call a REDTek… I have worked with film crews who I find very bitter over all this RED hype and I can imagine it gets out of hand but what can I say…so far RED lives up to all the hype. After the break you will find where the RED delivery schedule currently stands in case your interested…

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Returning home from a week long PBS shoot on RED to Grand Central station while hustling the precious cargo back to Brooklyn…hundreds of gigs in Digital Mags. I stuck around for the wrap party to do a little networking, met up with the lead talent, Jamie Hector, who delivered an incredible performance and as it turns out he is a neighbor so I look forward to working with this cat.

I am spent, tomorrow the RED digital mags are Offhollwood bound to Mark and Aldey for some LTO backing up…saftey 1st. I have no idea what’s on my plate for next week, but I do know that tomorrow the Gotham Guerrilla has a special date with Doctor Jones…Indiana that is.

A little update: If you have been following at all then you know that my big freelance gig for May was delayed until August (or for good?). If you learn anything from my post as a freelance filmmaker it’s this, have more then one iron in the fire, as my brother so elegantly put it. As a rule of thumb I always try and book my next gig before I finish the 1st one and if your fortunate enough and have the right connections then you might book your calendar…this is not always the case. I was so confident this May gig was golden (Direct a commercial in Costa Rica) that I literally cleared my schedule…note to self, DON’T DO THAT.

To make matters worse, I over budgeted due to recent RED ONE investments, leaving my pockets pretty empty….if you walked into my bank account you would here the echo of your foot steps. One of the main reasons you should never turn down work is cause the seeds you plant in your past gigs often times grow to lift you up in your future…this month I celebrate those seeds. Documentaries for example will often result in repeat work and last week Richard Cummings Junior called me up to DP another one of his Subway Busker Documentary shoots that he likes to refer to as his “Crack Habit”….keep at it Richard, I believe in your Project!

Then Mark from OffHollywood Studios gave me the opportunity to be a RED TECH this week for a PBS shoot so I could brush up on my RED experience before I take delivery of SPUTNIK, RED # 1781. I enjoy being a RED TECH, all those hours spent researching this new emerging technology is finally paying off. I love watching the crew be enamored by RED’s capabilities. I enjoy downloading the shots off a CF card the size of a matchbook and watching the images come down the pipeline making me feel giddy like a school boy each time, thinking…”ok, this is the future of Cinema” …F^&*@ing PHENOMENAL. I would like to get permission 1st before I post any details about this particular shoot but I will report to RedUsers that RED firmware build 15 is holding up strong, completely stable…unreal, look forward to 16…it just gets better.

So thanks John Mitchell, Jessica Lambert, Patrick Sarni, Ryan Morris, Kendall Smith, Mark Pedersson, Richard Cummings Jr, Jim Jannard and the RED team, my father Richard Haskell My mother Ann Richardson, My aunt Ann Haskell, Lainie Gratz my sister, and last but certainly not least, my wife Anabel Bouza…and everyone esle for all being little seeds that grew in the month of May. I will not give up, just keep pushing forward….more to come.

Amazing what you can do with potatoes really, I recently learned if I chop them up into little wedges, boil until soft and fry them in a pan, add some seasoning and you got home fried potatoes! I just hope my wife does not get sick of them yet cause there are only so many things I can do with a potato…good thing she is from Havana Cuba and knows how to be resourceful.

Speaking of, you really figure out what your not missing in life when you can’t afford it…like television (the home seams much more peaceful without it) paper towels (wasteful, a rag works just as well) and I am learning to take my espresso without sugar…soon there wont be espresso.

As a freelance filmmaker I always book my gigs at least one month in advance as a cushion in case I fall to hard times. Fortunately the recession does not effect this industry too hard but it really depends what part your working in, cause IMO just about all my commercial clients are extremely financially tight these days. May has arrived and my big May job which involved traveling to direct a commercial in Costa Rica for an Ad agency (whom I will not name)…was delayed until August, maybe for good? This was not the Agency’s fault, their client can’t pony up the budget either…wow, thanks Bush. Now I am left scrambling for day jobs I had originally cleared for Costa Rica.

On a good note, the wire went into RED DIGITAL CINEMA today for our new RED ONE, I have tapped every resource dry and I am officially more broke then I have ever been in my life…so cheers to RED ONE #1781 coming home, may she prosper and bring me back to the surface. This has been a humbling experience no doubt, but the truth is…being a starving artist in New York city is not glamorous or romantic as the cliche goes. I got to run, there is a boiled egg with my name on it.

Thank you Mr. Graeme. I often remind myself within this current surge of technology that is sweeping up the new world (myself included), its important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Time and time again, the same debate over “film vs digital” surfaces and while some feel they need to dictate, others offer their own two cents and many sit back and watch the show…to what extent does it really matter? Some artist use oil, others acrylic…what do you prefer? This is how I see it and there are times we choose the medium, other times the medium chooses us.

Indie filmmakers embrace the digital age mainly cause it is the one brush they can afford. I grew up watching film, learned how to cut on film and somewhere along the line the digital boom took place. Naturally I adopted it. We were were quick to jump on the train, to get our feet wet and start making movies cause we could, cause it was cheap and where you will find profit, you will eventually find Hollywood. Who cares if Steven Spielberg refuses to let go of film, its his preferred medium, to each his own. Hit the jump for a to see what Mr. Spielberg had to say.

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Back in the Hat and it never felt so good! I never thought I would be so happy to see the those little furry rats scamerping about the NYC Metro but anything is better then being lodged in the armpit of America, the dingy smoke filled lounge of The El Cortez Casino.

Home sweet home, unpacking everything and time to make sense out of all this NAB Shwag. A little iSpy anyone? Speaking of swhag, thanks Stephen Pizzo and the Element Technica for hooking me up with the fine ET grip bag and cap…shwag I will actually use.