SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

The sexily titled “Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is on the way. In the meantime you can hear some of the tracks that might have made it on to the CD. Scroll down to the right, click on a sample and turn it up!

FESTIVALS

Have we submitted to any festivals yet? Yes…and they’re all big ones. We’re very optimistic and think we have a great chance of winning all of them. It’s shocking what a bit of bribery and blackmail can still do for you in this enlightened age!

If you are a festival organizer that was a bad joke – the ones in the movie are much better. We apologize.

FAQ

Just added…The FREQUENTLY ASSED QUESTIONS section of the site. Click on the icon to your right.

THE ‘MAKING OF’

When CALLBACK is finally released on DVD we are glad to announce that, yes, there will be a “Making Of Callback” extra.

Just like the film on which it is based “The Making Of Callback” is hilariously funny, has lots of Moe Jones in it and is mostly in focus.

WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?

It’s been months and months and months since the last blog. You’re right: I didn’t write, I didn’t call. Nothing.

It’s simple. Nothing was happening and I felt ridden with guilt. It took me 12 months to do this bit, 6 months to do that bit, I was in Europe for 6 weeks…and so on. It’s been like that the whole way through Post. The moral of this tale is simple. If you pay you get it done quick. If you are asking favors you have to wait…and wait…and then wait a little bit more.

But here’s the good news. CALLBACK IS DONE! We’ve had a cast & crew screening and everything. By the way if you were cast or crew and I didn’t invite you it’s because you’ve changed your e-mail and didn’t tell me.

What next?

We’re now submitting the film to festivals and we’re full of anticipation that someone will want to give the film its big World Premiere.

We’re also looking for a distributor and buyer and we’ve got a great little film to sell that’s funny and beautifully made – sorry for the arrogance but I’m proud. If you know anyone who wants to get world -wide rights to a hot little number let us know.

I would write more but I’m still working on the film, editing the “Making Of” and putting a Soundtrack Album together.

See you at a screening soon I hope.

QUIET

When the sun set last Sunday, it is possible that we had just completed our final day of photography for a movie that has been in some kind of production for a year.

After begging a local coffee shop on hand and knee to let us use their space for 90 minutes I was refused unless I coughed up a ‘bargain-rate’ fee of $500. After 2 seconds of careful thought I borrowed some garden furniture and a table-cloth from my friendly neighbors and shot the scene in my dining room instead. Result. Dick Towers has now been used for four scenes in the movie.

We then raced off to the DNA office to borrow their space for the afternoon. Kevin better and on set? Check. Bill arriving after taking the wife out for a Mother’s Day brunch? Check. Nicole and Ava on time and ready to go? Check. Everything ready for rehearsal? Er…

…There’s a theatre under the DNA office and it seems our 4 person cast and 4 man crew were just making too much noise. Could we please walk around in socks and not talk? Hello? How can one shoot a movie like this? We sat and waited for two hours and I looked out of the window in fear and dread as the sun slipped lower in the sky. This new scene – where Moe faces off with Kremenz – is crucial and quite long. I wanted to take time to do it properly and with care. Instead I had to rush it. But that’s film-making for you. Especially one on a budget like ours. When people give you stuff for free you have to be adaptable.

Wouldn’t it be great to make a movie where you’re actually paying for locations and you could demand a few things…

SICK

When I woke on Friday morning I knew I had a busy day in front of me. With the crucial re-shoots just 24 hours ahead of me I got my act together and raced off to Birns & Sawyer in the Valley to pick up lights.

By lunch-time I’d bought myself two new C-stands and some sand bags, purchased the rubber gloves for the new chase scene, found some shades for the Woodhard double and stocked the fridge with sodas for the crew. After a quick bite I swung by DNA for the keys to our free location on Saturday and then back off to Apache in the Valley for the walkies. By late afternoon I was back home once more and pulling out all the props we’d need over the next 48 hours.

That was when Kevin rang me to tell me he was sick and couldn’t make it this weekend. As I put the phone down, somewhat stunned and speechless, the doorbell rang and there was Katie with the wardrobe for the two lady cops that I would now have to pay for and send back without them ever being used: it was 5 o’clock and all the rental houses were closing.

I’d just finished the last of the calls cancelling all the actors and most of the crew and was looking on the bright side: “I’ve got Sunday off!” I thought. At which point the e-mail clicked – there was a track from Roadrunner in New York with a desperate plea attached. They wanted a treatment for 9am Monday morning.

Holy crap. Whose toes did I step on?

JULIE

Nathan, our sound guy, sings and writes songs for a band called Julie and, according to the pix on their website, is starting to look more and more like Wes from Mad Max every day. Their album is out next week and you know what? – it rocks. Check ‘em out here. What’s this got to do with Callback? – everything & nothing of course.

In the spirit of the Callback free-trade agreement I’m hoping that Nathan is going to let me shoot some stuff for his band and in return he’s going to sing some of the tunes on our soundtrack. “How much more Dick does this movie need?” I have heard you say. Well the people have spoken – you’ll be hearing Nathan’s pipes instead of mine.

Meanwhile I was shooting a video at the week-end and in our lunch-break I got Steve Karas, the label guy, to give me five minutes of his time to pose behind a monitor and pretend he was directing the Mr.Tampon commercial. We did four good takes but I was panicking, “You should be back at work!” my guilt-complex was screaming at me and then I found the mics on the camera were turned down! Crap – where’s a decent director / producer / cameraman / sound-guy when you need one?

ZAP

Blink and a whole month goes past.

Dec (the editor) and I have both been making money since the movie ended – much as we both wanted to jump into post we had to care of some business. But I saw the first edited scene from the movie today…and it works!

Excellent. 99 scenes left to go.

WRAP

It’s all over. We did it. We stayed on schedule and inside the budget and finished 23 minutes early with some sodas and English muffins still on the craft service table. We shot 52 hours of tape and used three Band Aids and some aspirin. My Jeep has some extra dents in it and I’m still looking for the white card we lost three days in and those creamy-white apple boxes we took delivery of on day one look well used now.

If prep is phase one and shooting is phase two then phase three, the editing, starts now. I feel just like I did the night before we started shooting – terrified. There’s no-one else to blame on this one apart from ‘circumstances’ – if the movie doesn’t work it’s my fault.

The reason for making Callback was for us to try something we’d not done before – for me to make an adult comedy and produce a film; for Kevin to play a leading role; for others to get credits they’d not yet acheived. For myself certain sacrifices had to be made to get the job done. As well as directing I found myself loading the Jeep with gear three and four times a day, sorting props, searching for locations, worrying about focus-pulling and trying to figure out how to light a movie. Though I’m exhausted I’m glad I proved that we could do it but the crucial question remains – did these other tasks distract me from the reason for doing the job in the first place? Only in the next few weeks will the truth come out as we try to stick it all together. I know it will work but, if I’d spent less time worrying over the camera and focusing on the scenes and the actors, could the movie have been more inspired? I can’t help avoiding the inevitable answer “yes” but screw-it, I think we completed something special which many felt was unacheivable.

Everyone who worked on the film left with a smile and said they’d had a blast and had learnt something. I don’t believe they were lying so perhaps my wild decision back in Deecember wasn’t such a foolish leap after all. To enjoy the company of other souls as we pushed our tiny production around Hollywood was for me a great experience and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was enormously stressful for sure but which feature isn’t?

For me I have to admit control is a big part of my life. I know the reasons why I’m like this and it’s not polite or pertinent for me to discuss my psychology here. But Callback taught me many times that you have to let the universe interfere occasionally – even a lot. Numerous times I couldn’t find a location or one fell through and then, by chance or circumstance, a solution presented itself and usually for the best. I hope that I can take this lesson forward with me and I thank the crew for keeping their peace while I constantly struggled to stubbornly push a square rock into a circular hole hoping that the laws of physics would somehow re-write themselves to suit my selfish ends.

After we wrapped last night and the last crew member walked out the door I settled down to watch the first stage of the Tour and screamed with joy as Arsmtrong creamed Ullrich and shattered the competition in the first 12 miles of the race. For me I view life’s journey as a series of grand tours full of sprints, mountain stages and individual time trials with victories and defeats and magical days on alpine heights and terrible days of bad legs on chilly wet flat stages. My credo is a cycling quote that sits in front of me as I write: “Do not give up when you find that you have to suffer greatly in order to get results. Never forget the winners are the ones who suffer best…he who can suffer best has the best chance to get to the top.”

So, dear Callbackers, thank-you for all your hard work. Now onto phase three. More suffering coming up!

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