More details on launch dates very soon. In the meantime; we’ve just uploaded the final version of the trailer.
This will be the trailer that will be promoting the movie along with the other 2011 lineup of Venevision International movies.

Capitulo Unus has screened at HBO’s New York Latino International Latino Film Festival, at the Vistas Film Festival and at Una Noche de Gloria in San Antonio, TX.

Posters for the film are being sold in the black market here, here and here.

Capitulo Unus is expected to be found on pay-per-view (Comcast, Dish, DirecTV), at major retailers on DVD and online via Netflix or Jaman.

More to come soon!

Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus Trailer

I have been making a ton of very cool videos, experimenting with a new camera, the new avid, brushing up on my after effect skills, AND making money.

Unfortunately, I have good and bad news.
The good, is that I now have money to support myself for a good while.
The bad, is that I am still not satisfied with the script. This means that the completion date is being moved (again).

But like all good stories, herein lies a silver lining: We are shooting for excellence and excellence takes time.

The overall outline is complete and I am building upon this.

Not much from the old script will make it to the new one, and many pivotal scenes and characters are being improved. The new outline is more straightforward, simpler and awesome.

It sucks that it is taking more time than originally intended, but that’s the difference between making movies and making great movies.

Life is too fucking short to be making bad movies.
More to come.

PS: I’ll be posting our new videos this week.

We all gamble one way or the other.
I live in the only place in Texas where there’s a casino, and I know many avid gamblers including my beautiful wife.
Today she opened the doors to her new business.
It’s a learning center. A place where kids can learn and have fun. A place where adults can learn either English or Spanish. Teenagers can improve their algebra or reading.

This business had been in her head for many years, but she never had the money for it. Or maybe she had the money and the thought of investing gambling on a new business seemed too scary, too damn risky.

When she finally took the step to quit her job (as a college professor), to take care of our son (full time), she suddenly got her last check ($10,000) and after months of talking about a business, she finally took the plunge and rented a place, invested gambled thousands of dollars and created a place exactly how she envisioned a learning place should be.

Was she successful? YES.

On the first day she opened her website (the place was still in the works), she had filled a whole summer camp session (without any advertising).

The lesson: We all have to gamble; and if we gamble smart, on actual human ability, on passion, on great ideas… Well, you really can’t go wrong with gambling like that. It’s something that will pay off, in some way or another.

On the movie front, our goal is to create the best movies in the world, and we’re gambling with our time. And since time equals money, we have a very valuable asset.

I’ve been hacking at this script for quite a while now, and I am at the final stretch. However, this is a very important piece of the filmmaking process and we cannot afford this to be mediocre or lame. If we are going to put a great amount of money, human effort, belief, passion and a shitload of hard work, then this script has to be fucking great.

If all else fails. We can always go back to initech.

PS: Congratulations Gaby.
PSS: Grisi, thanks for your talent and dedication.
PSSS: Thanks to everyone (on standby), who will help to make the Heart of Treviño possible.

For more info on Gaby’s new biz, head on to: www.thecenterofintelligence.com

In the book Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters, the author Michael Tierno states that all (great) movies have a simple question that needs to be answered by the end of the movie, and that this question should be planted by the beginning of the film.

I agree 100%.

I used to use the “sling-shot” method (wish I could remember who coined the phrase): What happens in the first part of your story is what is going to drive the rest of the movie. The whole weight of the first act has to thrust forward the rest of the movie.

Except that it didn’t work for the biopic I am writing.

I found that this “Question/Answer” method would work much, much better than what I had.

I have no conclusion for this post, but I do have several examples from this “Question/Answer” method:

Rocky: Will Rocky succeed in “going the distance” with the champion (against incredible odds). Answer: Yes

The Shawshank Redemption: Will Andy Dufresne escape from Shawshank? Answer: Yes.

Scent of a Woman: Will Lt. Col. Frank Slade succeed in killing himself (after a great trip in New York). Answer: No (and that’s ok). It’s OK because the question gets answered. They closed the loop, and we got a great movie.

PS: It also the job of a great filmmaker, to not only answer the question, but offer so much more.

From the Quick Dirty Trick Blog:

http://quickdirtytricks.blogspot.com

Official signing ceremony

This week I finally signed the distribution deal for our second feature film Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus!
It’s been a long and winding road and I’m glad that that part of our lives has finally come to a close.

Of course we’re thrilled that it is going to be distributed, however the distribution chase has been exhausting (to say the least).

We made Capitulo Unus with the intention of making a mark and making things happen for our careers. It was risky, it was bloody but it was the movie we really wanted to make. A meaningful action movie with a strong statement.

When we finished it in 2007, we had high hopes.
We were sure we were going to take everyones breath away. Which we did. Just not the way we intended to (HAHA).

I submitted to distributors and got several positive responses.
One from our old current distributor Venevision International and the other from Laguna productions.
Laguna offered us $13,000 and a piece of the gross revenues (too good to be true, to tell you the truth, but we went for it). Venevision had offered us a little more upfront but nothing on gross points.
We went with Laguna, I signed and sent the contract.
More than six months passed and I never received a contract back. The deal was signed on our side, but not on theirs.
The deal was still on (I guess), I got anxious and canceled the whole deal.
Their excuse was the usual, “…in this economy”. Lost cause.

Our friend Hector had gotten another offer from a new distributor.
Their upfront offer was okay, but they wanted to keep the rights for 21 years!
We finally told them what we wanted and that’s where communication broke down.

We were back to square one.

We finally went back to Venevision International.
We were not exactly received with arms wide open, but we were received nonetheless.
Thankfully, an offer was made and accepted.

Conclusion

In any artistic profession it is very challenging to get your work published.
To have your work published is to have your work validated. It means that your work is worth watching and worth paying for.

I am very grateful to all the incredible people that helped make Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus.
Even though we didn’t reach the outcome that I expected… Well to be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I am not disappointed. I am thrilled to have worked with such incredibly talented and interesting people, the good times were great and the bad times were very awful (jajaja incredible stories to tell).

We met some really cool people and it took us to some really cool places, frankly I couldn’t ask for anything better.

If this movie would have been a giant success from the get-go, we would have never had met the incredible Jesse Treviño.

So there you have it. The written and recorded (brief) version of how we distributed Capitulo Unus.
Capitulo Duos in the making? Maybe. But first we got two movies to knock out first.

In the meantime we are in the pre-production stages on THE HEART OF TREVIÑO.
We are hoping for more great times and awful times alike.

Satisfied!

There’s a new blog in town, but don’t panic!

It’s very narrow and geared toward filmmakers and it is called QUICK DIRTY TRICKS.

Add it to your RSS feeds, bookmark it or add it to your twitter.

Just like the name implies, it is a minimalist blog with quick tricks any filmmaker can use in making a movie, be it in editing, directing, writing or simply for quick inspiration.

Here’s the last post I wrote about one of my favorite words: Inspiration.

Inspiration: Everywhere

The real trick to writing is not how well you write, but what you write about.

Just like anything else, the more passion and fire a work of art has, the more powerful it is.

If you feel, you have what it takes to write, but don’t really know what to write about. Then disconnect your computer, and get out there and have an adventure OR find someone that has had an adventure. Even if you don’t end up writing that person’s particular experience, it will burn a fire in your heart and inspire you to write something powerful.

Today, I went to the Witte museum in San Antonio; to my surprise there was an incredible exhibit called: Stories of hunger and resilience.

Each picture had headphones on the bottom with each persons story about hunger, home, love and about life. Each was different; some were scary, some were sad, some had happy endings, but they were all beautiful and very inspiring.

My point is: inspiration is everywhere, sometimes we just got to stop and listen to the world.

This blog will continue to focus on the films we make and the people who make them!

Happy reading!

Source: http://quickdirtytricks.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/quickdirtytrix

Projects: Ash Wednesday- Capitulo Unus, The Heart of Treviño

Call it chance, destiny, luck or whatever you may call it, that’s exactly how we met Rolando (or Rol, to his friends).

It was September, 2006 and we were in Monterrey, MX doing the soundtrack to Ash Wednesday with our friends and great artists Waris Rodriguez and Giuliano Innocenzi.

A week before we arrived for the soundtrack, Giulias & Waris went to a school reunion in their hometown Sabinas, Coahuila, where they saw their old school chum Rolando. They chatted for a while back and forth about everything that they had done with their lives and were excited that they all had chosen a path that involved music.

Giulias and Waris told Rol about the movie soundtrack and Rol was intrigued, and to our luck he was also going to be in Monterrey that same week.

Sure enough, a week later we met Rol at the studios and I was very excited to work with Rol, because he had been built up as a piano prodigy.

To my surprise, he not only is an accomplished pianist but also an accomplished opera coach AND a really nice, down-to-earth kind of guy. Very rare to have that combination in any human.

The funny thing is, that was the only night we’ve only been with Rol for two nights in person. Thanks to the internet we’ve become friends and have recently collaborated for THE HEART OF TREVIÑO.

This guy really pours his soul into every piece.

For THE HEART OF TREVIÑO, he composed an incredible piece that will grab your soul, break it to pieces and then put it back together, it’s that powerful.

The piece is entitled: “Pintando las calles…” and is inspired by Jesse Treviño himself.

I cannot wait to see how we can take “Pintando las calles…” further… An orchestration is in our to-do list for the soundtrack, but I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what the future holds for all of us!

Here’s “Pintando las calles…” live:

Waris, Me, Rol and Paco

Me & Paco getting things done (Hardcore!). (Outside Jesse's House of Art)

Even as far as cliche’s go, today was a very f***ing beautiful day.

And actually, these whole past two weeks have been nothing but amazing, but enough of the generalities and let’s get down to the meat of it all:

• Sunny skies, not warm, not cold. Perfect weather all-day-long.
• We finished our shoot with Jody (Parks and Rec, San Antonio), which was cool (we got to earn our cash).
• Then we went to the Barnes and Noble and stumbled upon a really cool f***ing book called “Film Club”
• Next we visited our good friend Jesse Treviño, to clarify some stuff for the script AND to get another dose of f***ing enthusiasm.
• Next we visited with our good friend Robert G. Rdz, to clarify some financial questions we had for the movie.
• Next we visited with Office of Cultural Affairs (with our dear friends Lindsey & Sebastian!)
• NEXT we went to the hospital. My new nephew Santi Harbison Mendoza (picture below) was born today. Which was THE f***ing highlight of the day. My dear sister Luana was in labor for quite some time until she finally made it through. We were all worried sick, until the news came of the delivery. It’s quite a rush and a quite a heavy feeling of love for a new human being that will take this earth and bend it to its knees. FTW.
• NEXT, Paco and myself were homesick and we hit the road back home. Frank Turner, Basi and propagandhi provided the entertainment for the ride home.
• NEXT, here I am, writing this post. A new uncle. A new perspective. Happy.

On Jesse Treviño: I am happy to report that he looks great and I just admire his f***ing enthusiasm (There’s no other way to put it, there’s “enthusiasm”, and then there’s “f***ing enthusiasm”). Even though his health is not at 100%; his persistence is very overwhelming. Even if I wasn’t making a film about Jesse, I feel very privileged to be in his presence. I don’t think I have ever met a person like him in my life and I am very glad that this movie will let audiences around the world to finally know Jesse.

Me, Jesse & Paco after probing Jesse for some cold hard facts. Picture taken by our good friend Gabe Velasquez.

Also, I am trying my best to write the best f***ing script anyone has seen. I am glad to report that after many, many, many, many rewrites, I have finally grasped the whole concept of the movie. I have been wrestling with the script for almost a year and I am (finally) very happy with what I have right now.

It is filled with surprises and hits all the right notes, but there is still much left to do. And in keeping with my writing spirit I will be in hiding from the world for at least two more months until I finish this damn thing.

Thanks for all your well wishes and support for THE HEART OF TREVIÑO. I can’t wait to finish the script.

Until next time,
Your friend, Ricardo (f***ing) Mendoza.

PS: Thanks again to Jesse Treviño for formalizing our relationship and setting it in stone last week. A handshake can only go so far, but a signature is a commitment. Thanks for trusting us. You will NOT be disappointed.

My sister Luana with my new nephew. aaawwwwwwww.

Basi, Me, Paco & Roger. Happy with contract in hand. Taken Feb 8, day after Frank Turner gig.

This is one of my favorite Treviño paintings. Tribute to John Lennon. Imagine.

There’s many ways to skin a cat, if you were so inclined to, and if you’re in a country where that’s legal, like La Pryor (just kidding).

The way I like to write a screenplay is to first jot down all of the important pieces you’ll need for the script, like grabbing the necessary ingredients before making a meal. This time around I am jotting down not only ideas but shots I have planned, cool quotes, background information and an extended outline. All this is put into my trusty moleskine notebook.

This screenplay is a little special because I’m dealing with true life events and there’s hundreds of pages of research, hours of recordings (both audio and video), and hundreds of pictures to go through.

Once I have a strong feeling for structure in my notes I would type it all up, (I’m not here yet, but I’m close). I would read it, edit, cut, add and do it all over again, until it is completed.

When completed, (and this is the fun part!) I get a stopwatch, turn it on and start  visualizing the movie while reading the script. The movie unfolds as if I were watching it, I feel like a kid playing with a cardboard box. After this I would tweak, add, edit, cut, delete, paste until my heart’s happy and singing zip-i-dee-doo-dah out of its valves.

I hope to have a first draft really soon.

Also, please spread the word, rate and comment our promo on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SSvqVlXxKw

Stephen King’s book On Writing is very recommended and some screenwriting blogs (google them) are also quite helpful!

Our new promotional teaser for our upcoming new film!

The film’s website is also open for business at: theheartoftrevino.com

We’ve been working on this project since mid-2008; thanks to all our friends who have helped us make this promotional teaser, thanks to you we are one step closer for this film to be in theaters worldwide.

Jesse Treviño has been an inspiration to all of us and we are humbled and excited that he has put his life’s story in our hands, and naturally we won’t disappoint.

In no particular order we’d like to thank the following folks whom have helped us along the way in this project, and will continue to support us:

• Jesse Treviño (of course)
• Jesse’s family
• Felix Padron- Office of Cultural Affairs
• George Cortez and the Cortez family
• Bert Cecconi
• Gabriel Q. Velasquez
• Robert Price & Luisa Wheeler
• Robert G. Rodriguez
• Frank J. Garza
• Rosemary Kowalski
• Juan & Terry Vasquez
• Ricardo Romo
• Arturo Almeida
• Lionel Sosa
• Frank Herrera
• Elizabeth Rodriguez
• Alicia Treviño
• Alex & Jesse Villarreal

I also want to appreciate the following, on the making of this promo:

• Paco Flores
• Roger De Los Santos
• Hector Hernandez
• Rolando Garza (Piano on “Pintando las calles…”)
• Oscar Ortiz LBASi (Score for The Heart of Treviño promo teaser)
• Alexander Probst (Logo design)
• Gaby, Rickito Mendoza and Marcus Moncada
• And me, for my hard work (ha-ha)

There’s also many artists working behind the scenes that we’d also like to thank: Patricia Vonne, Lorenzo “Chacho” Saldaña, Alonzo Avila, Jacqueline Martinez, Alfredo “Huesos” and many others that have pledged their support!

This film is under development!
We will be posting news and updates right here on this blog, but you may also want to add us on twitter: www.twitter.com/heartoftrevino

Thanks to the hundreds of people that have helped us out along the way in making this a reality, all the artists around the world! Thank you! (We’ll put a listing of credits soon)

We still have a ways to go. We are in full pre-production mode and we don’t expect to be in production anytime soon…

HOWEVER, We are very, very, very excited to be working on this project. We have been at it since May of 2008 and we are very humbled to have been selected to make this happen.

I expect the website to our film to be live on Thurday Oct 22nd, along with the teaser…

Thanks again to everyone that has pitched in!

We love you

More to come…

Don’t take your pajamas and ditch the sleeping pills. At 11:59pm, October 10 (Saturday) Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus will finally screen in San Antonio!

Capitulo Unus will be the closing event for Una Noche De La Gloria organized by our friend Gabriel Quintero Velasquez.

The screening will be in the Westside of San Antonio at the Guadalupe Theater at 11:59pm

This glorious cool event is an art festival featuring more than 300 artists, including the illustrious Jesse Treviño, LBASi, Chista, and many, many others…

It’ll be a fun event; get more info here:
http://myspace.com/lagloriaarts

The intense moments of Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus are to be displayed in all its big-screen glory on September 19, 2009 at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas, Tx.

The 10th annual Vistas Film Festival has selected Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus to be part of its lineup.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Digital Work Studios-produced music short Missing Women from (singer/songwriter/co-director) Patricia Vonne was also selected to screen at the festival.

This is a great accomplishment for the film, we shot it in 2006 and finished post-production in 2007, earning two screenings at the New York International Film Festival that same year.

In 2008 we did some editing improvements to the film and now this finalized version is earning more screenings than before.

In addition to the Vistas Film Festival, in October 10, 2009 the movie will have a special midnight screening at the much-talked-about UNA NOCHE DE LA GLORIA in San Antonio, Texas.

And in October 21, 2009, Digital Work Studios will release a teaser for our much anticipated new film that is currently in pre-produciton. The teaser will screen at a certain surprise event in San Antonio, Tx and online at www.digitalworkstudios.com

We appreciate all the love and support and we hope to see you at all of our events!

Ricardo Mendoza

Related Links:
Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus (Trailer)
Vistas Film Festival (Lineup)
Una Noche De La Gloria Events (full listing)

At this moment we are currently tucked away from civilization like little chemists, and we are concocting some mixtures that will give pleasures to your heart and soul…

On October 21st we plan to finally expose the website, the teaser and some other surprises for our next film!

This will kick off a long and winding journey into the pre-production of our new flick…
As of now, the script is being written and pre-production should commence once the script has been set in stone.

We have been at it for more than a year on this project and we expect to go for at least 2 more… :-O

All I can say is that it has truly been a life changing experience, and I am very, very excited and grateful for the mountain of work that still needs to be done…

Paco and myself saw a great friend this morning.
This particular friend is one of the greatest motivations behind our new film… The conversation and the will to support was electric….

Plus, we met with 3 more friends and one of them, his name is George and he is the newest addition to our ever-growing team of filmmakers that will make this new film a reality.

Welcome to the team George!

This morning reinforced the idea that there is no way, absolutely no way that a project of any magnitude cannot be done without pure and simple help.

Help from genuine people, that have a genuine interest in a common goal…

And that is why through this humble blog we want to encourage you to support independent filmmaking!

SUPPORT

So, if you’re in the Los Angeles Area, let’s rally behind and support the intense drama Night Before the Wedding from our friend David Branin…

Good luck with the film Dave and hope to see it soon in Texas!

Here is a link to various screenshots of the film
http://www.nightbeforethewedding.com/gallery.php

AND, here’s a link to the Trailer (NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QeQRo5yDZE

Here’s the info:

NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING TO BE

1ST FULL-LENGTH FEATURE PREMIERED AT HOLLYSHORTS

“The truth is that, ultra-indie or not, Branin’s Night Before the Wedding is a complex and deep work that easily transcends any initial impressions its subject matter might give.”
J.C. Macek III, World’s Greatest Critic

“David’s ability to direct a group in a totally real and naturalist way was daunting.

It reminded me a great deal of Robert Altman.”
Jamin Winans - Director, INK, 11:59, Spin

Hollywood, CA (July 8th, 2009)— After many months of great anticipation, the racy and funny film NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING will finally make its world premiere. The setting in which it is doing so has many talking, as NBTW becomes the first full-length feature to ever premiere at the prestigious HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF), a festival that, as its name suggests, is traditionally where the biggest short films in the world premiere.

“Hollyshorts has chosen to screen Branin’s gem of an independent film as a way to begin the process of showcasing our alumni growth, as Branin is a past Hollyshorts award winner, along with showcasing our growth as a festival to look out for” stated Theo Dumont, co-founder of HSFF. NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING will screen on August 11 at Laemmle Sunset 5 as part of the week-long events of the festival “I have long believed that NBTW would play best in front of a ‘live’ audience. Now that idea will be put to the test. I am so honored and humbled to be presented with this opportunity by HollyShorts, Theo Dumont, and Daniel Sol. Tuesday August 11th is going to be a night that I am going to cherish.” says David Branin, the film’s director.

The buzz around the film revolves around the topic of the film itself.  NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING portrays a realistic look into what occurs at a bachelor party and how the celebration of a man’s “last night of freedom” can ultimately become the demise of his beginning.   Film reviews have commented how this film has been able to set aside the “indie” judgment and make its way to the viewer’s eyes as a movie of great thought, superb plotline and strong realism. It is with that realism in mind that Branin decided to cast La’rin Lane, a real life porn star, as herself.  The cast also includes John Keating, Gregor Collins, Christopher Guckenberger, Mopreme Shakur, Sarah Ronaghi, Kevin Deen, Chad Davis, Johnny Giordani and Kristen Sullivan.

For more information on the film please visit www.nightbeforethewedding.com

The 5th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival will be held Aug 6-13 in Hollywood, CA.  For detailed schedule of events, tickets, location, or more information, please visit www.hollyshorts.com

Press Contact:

22 Entertainment

Isandra Gonzalez

isandra@22entertainment.net

818.668.4718

###

7676 Hollywood Blvd - SuIte 8 - Los Angeles, ca 90046

(818) 668-4718 - (818) 351-8133 – Fax

It’s been more than 5 years (2004) since we started filming our first movie EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS, AND 3 years since its release (2006)…

It’s been 3 years (2006) since filming ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS and it is still unreleased…

It has also been more than a year (April 2008) since the idea for our third film was conceived…

That being said, since April 2008 we’ve been slowly climbing this steep mountain.

We have achieved so many “mini” goals, and I have been privately updating this journal (without publishing)… which I hate because there’s so much material that could be so useful and entertaining (especially with the characters we’ve been meeting with)…

We have fought so damn hard for this new movie… just to get the permissions has been a challenge, to get the support, the writing has been very challenging, the research has been extensive and intensive, every single wall that has gotten in our way we have destroyed it with our bare hands…

we are bloody and we are hungry…

It has been quite a journey and the coolest (or saddest) fact is that we are in the very early stages of pre-production… So there’s still A LOT more that needs to be done…

What’s also cool (at least in my little world) is that we are building all this from the ground up.

We have learned from our mistakes and this time around we are energizing and building an infrastructure way, WAY before we start shooting… It is imperative and of the utmost importance that we attain the support of as much people as we can.

If you are a fan of San Antonio, we need you… If you are a fan of Eagle Pass, we need you! If you’re a fan of Monterrey or Piedras Negras, we need you!

If you are a fan of Art, Love and Life, we need you!

If you want to be inspired by this incredible true story, we need you!

In October (2009) we will be releasing a teaser and a full fledged website that will announce to the world our very precious and ambitious project…

Lots of stuff is happening and for now please help us by subscribing to our blog or to our twitter thing-a-majig…

twitter.com/dworkstudios

ALSO, special thanks to everyone that has lent a helping hand to some humble independent filmmakers (us).

Thank you for helping us make our past two films [sad isn’t it? two films since 2004! Ha!] and we hope you can join us into the dark and treacherous path of our next motion picture.

This week we will head on to even more encounters (or meetings, as the upper class call them) with a bunch of individuals that are crucial for the continuation of our illustrious path.

Before I go, I’ll leave with one of those “inspirational” quotes from a guy that looked like the penguin in Batman:

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”-Sir Winston Churchill

PS: if you are one of the privileged few that have a netflix account, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top, take 5 minutes of your time and post a review of EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS… thanks!

Like the obedient pack of sheep that we are and to jump on the opportunities that these new communication methods have to offer we will now have a dedicated Digital Work Studios twitter feed at:

twitter.com/dworkstudios

My personal account is still open, along with many other crazy characters from our family, here’s a partial list:

@chavirovilla
@pacoft
@bighect
@lbasi

Obviously the DWS feed will be more dedicated to the film aspect of what we do, our projects, and other DWS related stuff…

Thanks for following and see you on the twitter…

PS: A facebook page is on the way, along with the new film’s website which will be fully operational in October…

I could not focus myself, I couldn’t get into it. I felt distracted from the real world. My multiple paying gigs (I have 2 TV shows to edit, 1 writing gig, commercials for the TV station and my own show), my outings with my friends, my family time, my writing time.
I have to juggle all this and somehow make it work.

Yesterday I decided that somethings have to sacrificed so I could have more time for the movie.
I decided to not go out anymore.

And today I decided I wouldn’t drink anymore, and not because I’ve been drinking heavily, but because its a distraction.

But back to the script. I have been drawing and writing down notes and memory maps that will help me sort the story.

I want characters, I want a clear narrative, I really want need to have both.

I felt stuck last week. My wife said it was writers block, but I don’t think so.
A block is when you can’t go forward, something, or nothing rather is in the way and you’re unable to write.

I don’t feel that way. I feel like I have too much to write. There’s so much information.

My approach to this, is to treat it like a puzzle. I am on a search for the perfect way of assembling it. The right way.
Something from the heart.

You can’t just put down anecdotes and place them in a sequence. That would be too easy.

I am working on a story, a journey. An adventure of the human spirit, that will make you get out of your seat and do something…

I can’t wait to see this movie…

I finally came around and updated our website to prepare ourselves for our next movie.

This new website represents more clearly what we do and what we are all about!
It also goes hand in hand with our blog, and soon we will be updating our myspace, youtube, and other social sites which we use to broadcast our trailers and other clips…

We are excited to the extreme, we can’t believe that this new project has gotten a life of its own, and is rolling along very smoothly…

As of now we are researching and have begun an outline of what is to be a first draft of the script.

Thanks to everyone who has been helping and still are helping us along the way.

Give our new website a try, it still is missing some minor stuff, but I’m still working here!
www.digitalworkstudios.com

First we saw the Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus poster for sale without our permission, and now it’s the Escape De Los Santos poster up for sale on eBay in 2 sizes!

Here’s the latest search from eBay.

I believe that it’s kind of cool that people think they can make money off of our posters, being that we are a humble independent movie company in Texas… brings a tear to my eye ;-D

Oh, and on Ash Wednesday the search is on (again!) for a distributor… surprisingly we’ve got two companies now interested and it looks like pretty  soon there might be three companies…

There’s nothing even close to a bidding war, but it’s nice to have options.

Hopefully Ash will be released sometime this year.

We’ll see…

Wow, the more and more I get deeper into the story of (omitted),
the more and more I get excited!!!

I can’t believe how parallel, this is to my own life, of course, the struggles, the barriers and situations are much less “severe”…

I guess the wavelength, the mental attitude is what’s parallel…
Amazing stuff…

Officially, I began research last week, but I’ve been at it in full steam throughout this week…

The writing process has begun… As of now I am logging an overview of what the movie will be…

I have a bunch of old VHS tapes that are really cool, stuff from the early 80’s and 90’s. I am also doing a bunch of reading on old articles.

We need to get going with interviewing people for more research.

Very fun stuff!

However minutes before writing this I had, what wiser men would call an epiphany.
A deeper understanding.
And it has everything to do, that today is my Son’s 11th birthday and that yesterday was my wife’s birthday.
I write this with tears in my eyes, of joy, that I finally figured it out.

While I was sleeping I awoke with my Son and my wife at my side and I thought of everything all at once. My family, my surviving Grandma Lupita, my Sisters, my Mom… my future job directing…
And suddenly, it came to me. The “meaning” I was looking for. It had suddenly found me.

Love.

I kinda understand now that life is not without meaning, but we are the ones responsible to “put” meaning into life. And to me, that meaning is love.

As cliched as that might sound, but it’s true for me.

The love for my family, my friends, my work, they are all very, very important to me and I am happy for that.

It’s not like a have a new direction in life, because I was already doing what I felt in my heart was right. I am with the people I love, I even work with people that I love. I just had a more in-depth understanding of what the meaning of my life is.

You get busy living, or you get busy dying. Has new meaning today and dammit I can now finally live with a more peaceful mind.

Maybe that John Lennon was right. All we need is love.

New day: Our new movie has so much significance and “meaning” and I cannot believe I will start research as soon as Monday.

I hope that I can finally divulge what we are brewing very soon.

Have a great day

Due to contract negotiations, we won’t be able to spill the beans on what this THIRD Digital Work Studios movie is to be about, but what I can say is that yesterday Tuesday November 18, 2008 an important group of human beings (including ourselves, obviously) got together, and these human beings committed to move forward with our next project that has been brewing in our minds for quite some time now.

Thanks to everyone that has helped us along the way.

We are all super-duper excited, and we honestly cannot wait to see this film…
We are very humbled to have been chosen to make this… and I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.

Once everything is in place, negotiations are final, and in order I will be more detailed, but in the meantime I am going to savor this moment.

Also we don’t expect to start filming anytime soon, we hope to begin filming somewhere around Fall 2009.

Hopefully we will have a very active blog starting in January, or hopefully sooner…

On Tuesday, September 16 my grandpa Juan Manuel Wheeler passed away.
He was bigger than life in many ways, and he lived life to the fullest AND had a huge impact in all of our lives.
He was a poor kid from Mexico who became a giant in his field and in the region of Coahuila and Texas, he started as a radio personality and later he created a TV station on which he was the owner and the main anchor for the news.
This was the most trusted man, way before the internet, and when TV ruled the world.
He was my hero.
He cursed worse than a sailor, and his daily mission was to make everyone around him laugh.
He wore very cleancut suits with a crazy tie and had a huge mustache. His pride was his voice and his voice was his life.
His voice was very commanding and deep, and when broadcasting he sounded like a Mexican version of Walter Cronkite.
Naturally, he had a way with words.
As a kid he never finished elementary school, he had to work to support his Mom and the rest of the family.
He taught me many lessons that I will never forget. He was always there for me and he inadvertently did things that changed my life forever.
He was a great mentor and a great friend.

You were a fighter, and even though it hurts losing you, I still laugh at all the insane things that you did every day.

That’s all I could write.

I Love you.

Oh and Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus? Release date?
Well our soon to be ex-distributor, or our never-was distributor postponed the signing and obviously the release date, so we are back at square one on the distribution side…

I know. It is as bad as it sounds. jajajaja

However, as usual, one door closes and many open… we are already in talks with various distributors that are interested. So I’ll make sure and post something as soon as it happens…

And also, on our third film… we are in the midst of something really cool, exciting and very inspirational… so stay tuned.
After everything gets into place we should have a very active blog even before pre-production starts… yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh

However our next project is going to need a lot of attention and that’s why we’ve been patient. We’ve been training. And when the time comes, we’ll be prepared.

Our next project is about someone who inspired Paco and myself a lot. This particular person showed us that you can do anything NO MATTER WHAT.

That is where our focus will be.
To be continued…

PS: One of my greatest inspirations, George Carlin, died this week… This man meant a lot to me, and he too showed me that anything is possible, that your path is malleable, and how you can bend it anyway you want… He was a rebel and one of the best entertainers with lots of substance… I will miss him very much…

FYI: Goerge Carlin was more successful in his “golden” years than he ever was in his youth…
To make a long story short, he, at one time owed the IRS thousands of $$$$… He had 2 choices. Work hard and straighten up or go to jail. Fortunately for us… he worked hard, and gave us some incredible performances… I saw him once in Las Vegas (where he sat there reading and testing his routines), and once in San Antonio…

In the meantime:

Yesterday I FINALLY signed the contract that will put Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus in front of consumers worldwide…

After several YEARS (since 2006, OUCH! jajajajaj)…
…seems like yesterday, several of us quit our jobs, we worked hard and had tons of fun making ASH, and finally the final step of getting this film seen has finally arrived…

As soon as we’re given a release date, you’ll be the first to know (blog readers …

So NOW WHAT??!??

jajajajaj well that is by far the most frequently asked question and the answer is… as far as our next project, expect something much better than Capitulo Unus. Even though we are extremely proud of the film, one learns through experience… and so our natural evolution will lead us to something really cool.

I have begun to write and there’s a lot of things going on, but it looks like it would be something a little different than ASH (for now)…

OK, also I must add that ASH and EL ESCAPE both have myspace pages!

ASH myspace

EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS myspace

Thanks for all your support, we hope you rent or buy ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS!

Salud.

This is yet another non-requested opinion, and this time I am going to rant about the independent film movement…

The Oscars gave an interesting insight and while the media keeps pounding on how boring it was because nobody has even seen the films that were up for awards.

The only film that made more than 100 million

dollars was the indie hit JUNO. Juno also won Best Picture at the independent spirit awards (where Chris Eska’s August Evening won the John Cassavetes Award. Much congrats to his team!)

The others made less than $65 million (in theatres).

What’s interesting is that these meaningful movies that are quite unique and thought-provoking get shunned by the public but shine at all the award shows.

The truly sad part is that the big studios are making these movies only as side projects, and when they make them, they make them with a very modest budget compared to the big blockbusters.

I guess that’s the independent filmmakers job. Our job is to illuminate the world to our truly unique vision and perspective.

Our passion for telling a story is almost tangible. We don’t see it as a job, we see it as our duty.

I truly salute everyone that is pushing the limits…

As we set to the task of delving into our next not-yet-named-feature, we are all incredibly excited about the whole independent movement.

Some movies are fun, but there are others that are unforgettable…

As I’m sure you must have not heard by now… The HD war is over, and the winner is Blu-Ray!

Hmmm the bad thing is nobody cared…

And that got me thinking into the future for distribution, obviously being an independent filmmaker I’m affected by this.

Well let’s quickly talk about the past and the present state of distributing feature films.

Ever since its introduction the feature film has been enjoyed the most at a movie theatre. It is easy to get sucked into a great story told by a huge screen and loud speakers…

A movie could last months or even years in theatres… No one could take the movies home, so it was natural that movies would last for months in theatres…

Later on with the advent of Home Video (VHS) Hollywood became very nervous of this newfound technology. They thought people would never go to the movies again.

Video rental stores devoured the film business, but later found out people still went to see the latest movies… And that was only because for a movie to come out on VHS, you would have to wait more than 8 months to even a year until it came out for rental (and forget about buying a film, since it would cost 80 to 100 dollars to purchase a VHS copy!)

DVD came along and shook the film business again, only this time it was for the better, economically at least.

Almost 80% of Hollywood’s profits are from DVD’s today. For a big budget movie that is only going to stay at the local theatre for two months (at the most) it will barely break even… After the 2 months they would release the film on DVD and really rake in the profits.

You see DVD’s are cheap to produce and now people could buy their favorite film on high quality AND receive bonus features for a super low bargain prices (there are DVD’s at the dollar store!!!).

So everyone wins…

So along comes Blu-Ray HD, and is promising to replace the DVD… Don’t get me wrong, the quality is jawdropping, but I am not paying 30-40 bucks for quality…

I honestly think that Blu-Ray is not competing against HD-DVD, it’s real competitor will be online download video rentals and purchase sites… (iTunes, Jaman, are great examples)

With the advent of high-quality screens on phones such as the iPhone, the new nokia phones, and other smartphones this will also be an important factor in the consumption of media…

These next 2 years will be very interesting to see where everything is going…

Staying Independent

It is very exciting to see this as an independent filmmaker because of the wealth of opportunities this creates.

I can’t wait for the revolution…

_____________________________________

References:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/16/toshiba-pulling-the-plug-on-hd-dvd-already/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/15/wal-mart-to-officially-discontinue-hd-dvd-sales-by-june/

But please let’s show Hector, Jaqueline and his family know that they are not alone, in this difficult time.

You can post your support here in the comments, or you can send him a personal note at this email hh @ digitalworkstudios dot com.

Update:

Well today is Ash Wednesday. jajajaja

I guess today would be a great day to let everyone know the details about the distribution of Capitulo Unus and of our future.

Well, Ash will be distributed by Laguna Productions and they will be our main distributors in the United States and would be our intermediary for the rest of the world… We are working on distributing to the rest of the galaxy, but it doesn’t seem this is going to happen anytime soon…

Until then, the plan would include distributing the film, starting with the U.S. on pay-per-view/video on demand, etc… And later on to follow with a full release to DVD and would be available to retailers everywhere.

We had several options in distributing Capitulo Unus, and Laguna, apart from giving us a great deal, we liked the way they work the DVD market.

They focus primarily on the Hispanic market, but are really strong and cemented in the retailers that matter (including WalMart, Best buy, Blockbuster, among others)

As of now we don’t have a release date, but of course we will post it here first! ALSO, thanks to everyone for the amazing amount of support.

ALSO, on the "future project", let’s just say that it is in the works. jajajaja

What I CAN say is that we have to grow out of our comfort zone. We have done the best we could with very, very… very limited resources.

Now it’s time for the next step.

This is from the MovieMaker winter 2007 edition. The mag is still out there in bookstores (I guess until the new spring edition comes out !?!) It is circulated worldwide.

It’s been a while, we’ve been quite busy, on some uninteresting projects (that’s code for “not-movie-related”) jajaja
I was featured in MovieMaker magazine, last year, but I didn’t get a chance to pick it up, until this weekend…
So here it is…
You can download the article as a PDF here.
It’s an article about how cool San Antonio is, and how it shines in our movies…
We filmed several scenes for Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus, but the one that stands out is a scene we shot in Di Galvan’s house, where she lies dead on the floor, it’s a 3-4 second flashback scene, but the surroundings are really cool, very representative of San Antonio…
Her house was even shown on HGTV as part of a national TV show highlighting homes in South Texas…

So finally, when can everyone get a copy of Ash? When will it be released, etc.???
All I can say is soon. Very, very soon!

We’ll post all of the details as soon as everything is finalized and ready to go…

I dug myself (personally) into a huge hole.
We finished Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus in late January of 2007, and from there on, I have spent a lot of my personal earnings on that film that took close to a year to make.
In 2007, we spent it trying to find Ash Wednesday a distributor, and get our career going with part 2 of Ash…
Well, we went to live in L.A. and then we went to the film festival in NY, and while I was focusing all of our efforts, there was no income being generated… Not that I was blinded by the movie, but I knew that the opportunities that were coming, I HAD TO TAKE THEM…

So it was a risk. A risk that at the end doesn’t even look right.
It’s blurry.
Why? Was Ash Wednesday, the launching pad, that we would expect it would be?
Well, YES and NO.
Ash was not accepted into the major festivals and it didn’t get the huge distribution deal that we expected, HOWEVER it earned us something more important than that.
First and foremost, we think we offer quality, and nothing else… and that many people respect what we make, and that we are honest and very hard-working.
Thanks to Ash, we have many new friends in all fields… that dig what we do, and are ready to help us, as well as we are there for them.

So what happened to Ash Wednesday and the aftermath?
Well I cannot get into much detail, but we are REALLY excited that in early 2008, Ash will be distributed nationwide in the United States. (more soon on that)
Also, another important question is:
What happened? Why was Ash not the big success we expected?
Well, that’s not a very fair question right?
simply because you can’t judge its’ success or failure if it has not come out yet, right?
So I guess we would be ready to answer that in a couple of years…
In the meantime, we’re just happy that we’re not entirely broke and that this year has been a great year full of great memories, and I expect even more fun stuff in 2008.

Oh and on the big economic hole I dug myself into… jajajaja… I started, or I guess I have continued to do my local TV show in Eagle Pass, TX.
What? a TV show? jajajaja Back in 1998, I was young, newly married and jobless, my uncle let me do a TV show and all I needed to do was come up with advertisers, so we made a TV show.
That experience taught me how to shoot and edit, and how to communicate.
The show lasted until 2003 and NOW I am resuming the show… it’s called EL ANTI-SHOW, and it’s a really goofy program full of nothing but really nutty stuff…
I am now slowly crawling out of my financial abyss, and it permits me to stay creative, so it’s all good…. jajajaja

However, movie-wise, I am in writing mode, and I have some really cool treatments… some are goofy and some are crime-related, but whatever we do next, it is going to be really cool… so stay tuned, we’re still working hard!

Happy holidays to you all.
Thank you for keeping up to date with us, and let’s make 2008 even better!
Let’s kick some ass! jajajajajaja

Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Out of order, I show you out of order. You don’t know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I’d show you, but I’m too old, I’m too tired, I’m too fuckin’ blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I’d take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you’re talkin’ to? I’ve been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn’t nothin’ like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you’re merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are… executin’ his soul! And why? Because he’s not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you’re gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya.
-Scent of a woman (1992)

It’s been a while… jajajajaja
Happy Holidays from all of us…
While we are working hard we are a bit quiet, we’re brewing ideas and other great stuff, so expect a lot of info in the upcoming months…
ANYWAYS, straight to the point of the title…
Our friend Patricia Vonne is up for the Viewer’s choice BEST AUSTIN VIDEO AWARD from the 2007 ME-TV Viewer’s choice awards!
The video was of course produced by us (DIGITAL WORK STUDIOS) HINT HINT!
So go now to this website and CAST YOUR VOTE!

Patricia, is also going to be in San Antonio LIVE with Del Castillo on December 29th at Sam’s Burger Joint! So buy her new record, cast your vote and watch her perform live!
Best of luck to Patricia!

Oh, and when you vote, you’ll be registered to win a huge flat screen TV, so if you win it, please invite us for a screening of ASH WEDNESDAY… jajajajaja

Cool!

When & Where to Watch:

San Antonio WOAI/ NBC 4 Saturday @ 12 Noon

New York WWOR/ My 9 Sundays @ 4:00 PM

Los Angeles KABC/ ABC 7 Late Night Saturdays @ 1 AM and Sundays @ 4 PM (please check local listings as well)

We are currently seeking distribution options for ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS AND we are writing the script to our next project which will be something that will be risky but very challenging.
Stay tuned.

Now, that we are on the verge of selling the rights to Ash to a distributor and throughout these past months of peddling Ash to anyone who would listen… Some people say, “move on… get on to the next project… don’t get stuck… bla bla bla…” Well my response is, I would love to but I honestly didn’t feel like making another movie… or just making a movie, for the sake of making a movie…

I have 3-4 treatments (future scripts) that I’ve been working on over these past 3 months (one is a comedy, the other a very personal drama, Capitulo Duos and one other nameless genre) and I have to say that none of these ideas really ignited my fire… I don’t think it’s because they are uninspired but because, I don’t think they’re challenging. I think I can do them pretty well, and to me that would be very boring to do…

HOWEVER, yesterday I had a flash of lightning inspiration… the kind of creativity that is sudden, the kind that you have to drop everything and write down…

Well, I wrote it down, and I am very excited about this… I can’t give any details until I flesh it all out, but finally I’ve found what I’ve been looking for…. I doubt that I could do it, and that’s whats’ exciting about it…

Paul Haggis (director of Crash) said in an interview: “Only if I’m sure I’m going to fail at this, I’m gonna try it…” I agree very much… I honestly didn’t think that Ash was going to turn out the way it did, but we did it, we pushed ourselves, and we were pleasantly surprised with the results… It was a scary script to make, but somehow we found a way… It wasn’t easy, but it was very challenging…

If it were easy, everyone would be doing this… right?

NOW, this future script, sounds scary and very tough to make, but now we have more friends that can help us out, so who knows “what” or “where” we’ll be in 2008, but it sure sounds like an adventure!

Anyone up for it?

PS: I’ve changed the look of the blog to make way for new projects…!

First of all, there is no ONE way of writing a script, so that being said, I have discovered (over the years) my own way of writing.

I find it very difficult to write a script without support materials, I cannot just “write” from page one and go from there… instead… what I do, is gather a sh**tload of support material.

Support Material
This is the basis of my scripts, and that is what I am finishing up right now…
Of course that my strongest support material is my own experiences, and that is why it is so hard to write when you’re inexperienced. Not young, just inexperienced. That’s why you see a young and successful eminem hit the charts because he has a lot of “experience” in life and channels it through music, so really what counts here are your experiences in life that count.

Also, whenever I talk to people, or read the news, or whatever I’m always on the lookout on something that makes me “feel” something… for example, if someone tells me an incredible funny anecdote or joke, I will jot it down and put it in my notes, or if I see a very interesting newspiece that can be part of the script I jot it down and put it in my notes…

In my notes I gather a bunch of stuff, and somewhere in the process I define my characters in the script, and from there I blend my notes with my characters and try to come up with something incredibly interesting.

I have been doing this since writing Ash and Escape, and it has worked out really good… I think that our stories rely heavily on the plot twists and surprises, because that’s what I like about my favorite movies…

Check out if this method of screenwriting works for you… but if you come up with something different just let me know in the comments…

Oh and before I leave on my binge-indulging weekend I leave you with a plethora of quotes that for some reason I liked a LOT!

El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A *plethora*.
Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

jajajajaj here’s the quotes:
“Dont try to be original, just try to be good” -Paul Rand

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” -Confucius

“A product is perfected, NOT when you can add anything else to it, but when you can no longer take anything away.” - Yvon Chouinard

Also to the people who have worked endlessly and unselfishly, to the producers and associate producers of ASH, the ones who make it happen… in no specific order: Paco, Chicken, Roger, Hector and Alonso… Because of these people, I don’t even know if I make a film because I want to be with these guys or because of filmmaking itself… my family is also a huge contributor to all of our projects, so a HUGE thanks as well…

And to all the people who have helped us along the way (musicians, car dealers, restraunts, bars, temp crew, etc….)… again there’s tooooooooooo many to mention but trust me, the list is on the credits of ASH and EL ESCAPE…

Thanks again to everyone!

PS: There are several scripts being written right now, so we hopefully plan to start shooting a new film in spring 2008 (?) … Nothing is set in stone, but we are anxious to film.

Well, I wasn’t going to post this scene because of its controversial nature, but it’s OUR movie!!
AND it is my favorite scene of all, and not because of the violence, but because, there’s alot of things going on in the scene that aren’t obvious unless you’ve seen the movie…

Delso , the rogue DEA agent finally gets revenge upon the killer of his partner (whom was tortured and murdered by the killer)… so his vengeance is merciless, HOWEVER he does it to get closer to the source of the evil crime gang, Ash Wednesday.

The music is incredible and the photography is cool too ;-D

A familiar EL ESCAPE face pops up here, and it is none other than Lic. Rolando Tamayo making a short but memorable cameo in Ash… But we are glad to report that he will be involved more in our next film which will hopefully begin shooting next year.

Tamayo (who plays Delso’s ex-partner Nestor Pragas) was shot in the last days of winter in early 2007!!! It was frickin’ cold and he was wearing nothing but his undies… but he withstood the climate and gave us a chilling scene… yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

The music was made by piano-extraodinairre Rolando Garza Rodriguez… beautiful music!!!

We were interviewed in December 2006, and the producers decided to sit on the report until any developments occurred with Ash… Sooooooo… the show will air across the US on the weekend of October 6 & 7…

I have no idea HOW they are going to present the story, but given our past experience, they did a hell of a job with an EL ESCAPE segment they did for their sister show LatinNation…

To view the TV listings go here:
http://aimtvgroup.com/altv/wheretowatch/

Here’s a few cities and schedule:

San Antonio

WOAI

NBC

4

SAT 11:30 AM

New York

WWOR

MNT

9

SUN 4:00 PM

Las Vegas

KVCW

CW

33

SUN 1:00 PM

Austin

KEYE

CBS

42

SAT/1:00 AM

Houston

KTXH

MNT

20

SUN 10:30 AM

Here’s the segment from EL ESCAPE:

On another note, Amazon has started a mp3 music store (legal of course) and it looks very cool and convenient (and cheap)…

Our friends Patricia Vonne and Chicote have their albums there and they are a bargain… of course, there’s nothing better than to get your CD at the concert along with a T-shirt, but hey, I like to buy my mp3’s because I don’t have to ripe em’ and the quality is top notch…
Here’s the links:
13 songs of pure Chicote for 7 bucks! not bad at all!!!
Chicote album Historias del Rancho
AND
Patricia Vonne’s last album guitars and castanets for 7 bucks too, hell take both of them!!!

Both albums are really cool, Patricia’s song Soledad was included in the soundtrack for El Escape De Los Santos which you could also purchase on Amazon…

Releasing yet ANOTHER scene from ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS,
this scene reveals a glimpse of how the myth of Ash Wednesday (played by the illustrious Ramiro Briones) begins.
It is essentially a flashback. The person telling the story is rogue DEA agent Delso Carrete.
Again, these scenes are not for the faint of heart, it contains graphic violence, so be warned!

ALSO, Happy Birthday to my lil’ sister Diana Mendoza!
yay!

No matter what your side is on politics, govenr’ Bush is still the president, and it’s still kind of cool to see people you know (sort of) take a picture with him…

I mean there’s people dying just to talk to him…

Fred’s daughter even made it on CNN!

What is cool and kind of surprising is when I talk with soldiers, I think of them of having a lot opinions about everything that’s going on, but surprisingly, their beliefs are upheld in a more intimate perspective… What’s cool, is that to them, they are doing a job, and that job is not one which many would take… ( I know I sure wouldn’t) and they put their politics aside and accomplish the job.

To me that’s remarkable, and is seen as brave.
The friends that I have in Iraq are passionate about what they do and to know that we have people that are willing to die for what they believe in, is very commendable and also very remarkable.

Now if you want to know my own personal feelings on Iraq, the govenur’ (I mean the president), politics, etc… that’s going to cost you several beers… JA!

Here’s a picture of Fred with the govenur’ of DWS… jajajaja
yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Click To Play

This is our second music video that we’ve done, and of course, we are huge fans of Patricia since she graced EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS with her cool song “Soledad”…

Patricia Vonne is an Austin singer/songwriter whom actually descends from San Antonio.
She has been quite succesful here in the US, but her biggest fan base lies in Europe, where she tours very frequently…

Her new CD FIREBIRD will be out Sept. 25 in the US and in the UK…
It will be available on iTunes as well…

We produced the video for her first single Missing Women, which you can hear at the Amnesty USA website.
It speaks about the tragic “feminicide” going on in Ciudad Juarez, MX… The official numbers from the “government” (I emphasize the quotation marks), are 400 +/- murdered, dismembered women… approx. 100 are still missing… the unofficial numbers vary from source to source and go as high as 600+ women killed.

Visit her website at:
http://www.patriciavonne.com/
or her myspace:
www.myspace.com/patriciavonne

Both of the videos we’ve done are very documentary style, and accomplish their messages well.

This particular video was filmed in HD 720p and on miniDV.
Patricia was filmed in Piedras Negras and she also took a trip into Juarez herself to shoot some stuff as well… She also met with some of the mothers of the women, and she came back with some incredible experiences… hats off…

Also please support www.mujeresdejuarez.org

We are very proud and we feel very accomplished in having participated in this video, we find ourselves extremely fortunate to make videos for artists that we admire and listen to…

I edited and directed.
Paco Flores produced and even had some camera work in there.
Patricia and Robert LaRoche also lent a hand in producing the video.
Camera: Me, Paco and Patricia herself…

Even though Rolando is an angry drunk and unable to control his sexual prowess (jajajajaja), we still respect and admire his work as a pianist and as an opera coach AND of course for his work on the score of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS.

He was one of the musicians that carried the bloody crime drama into its glory. His musical notes on the piano gave the movie a major uplifting, that no one else could…

Congrats again!
yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhh…

Enjoy and thanks to everyone for your support!
AND don’t forget to rate the video!
rm

After the festival screenings our main goal is to secure distribution for the film.
That goal is getting closer and closer to reality each day. Up to know more than half a dozen distributors have contacted us requesting a screener. AND, we still have the film submitted to other festivals as well, so hopefully we will have more exciting announcements very soon.

We are very excited on releasing these clips!!!!!
The trailer only touches on some of the coolest scenes, but because the trailer is made to be shown on TV and other places where children might be present, we kept it really light.
We figured that the scenes to be posted will be for more mature audiences, and people who have a keen interest in seeing Ash Wednesday, and not just the casual viewer, who might watch the trailer only…

We are seriously pondering which scenes to put, but trust that they will be really cool…!
The clips will be uploaded here on the blog and on our youtube page and our myspace page on the dates listed above!

The austere nature of this video was made as the ultimate Anti-video or goes against the stereotypical video… jajajaja
Aren’t you tired of seeing half-naked women and shaking it for some mediocre performer singing about smoking crack and pimping ho’s????
well, I’m not tired of that… jajajaja I don’t even watch it…
Mostly because it reminds me that these half-assed “performers” permeate our society with catchy mediocre tunes that don’t offer anything intelligent or clever…
I welcome mediocrity with open arms… It makes all of the talented clever artists look good!

Have you ever wondered why the most prolific artists with long-lasting careers are actually still around????

It’s because they actually have something to say. Some are pissed, some are happy, some are depressed (the best!!), jajajaja
For example, the Beatles, eminem, bad religion, billy joel, nirvana, the doors…

Nirvana? their lyrics don’t even make sense? They struck a chord with their generation because they were pissed and they did their own thing… They didn’t follow the norm and people respected that. They could’ve cared less if they were a hit or not, they had a lot of passion, not ambition.

Also, weren’t you tired of buying a CD that only had 1-2 good songs… I hate that… a real artist would dedicate themselves to the entire album and not just create 2 cool songs for the radio and the rest for filler… Bands like Metallica and Queen thrived on having great solid albums, not singles.

Well, let’s segue back to Chicote…
Basi (who writes, sings and composes all of the music) is a friend of mine who has been having quite a chunk of success in his musical venture.
He’s well known in Mexico, but especially in Monterrey where he lived for quite some time.
His first CD, Historias del Rancho (which includes Echenme A Los Perros, was distributed in Mexico as an EP by EMI Music in late 2006.
The second CD is still in production but will be released maybe by early next year.
Historias del Rancho is also available on the iTunes store in its original full-length album form.

It’s been a while and we’ve been incredibly busy… Hence the no new postings on the blog…

We just finished our first music video (tear drop… ) and we will be posting it really soon…
In the meantime, I’ve posted some pics…

Chicote is a really cool band from Piedras Negras, Coah. (that’s one of my hometowns…) and they are on the verge to becoming huge, huge stars…
Their songs not only stick like glue and catchy but have fun, clever and intelligent lyrics to go with everything…
This video for ECHENME A LOS PERROS was made as the antithesis of the stereotypical music video…
We filmed in Piedras Negras on several sites (the market, some deserted terrain, la bodega bar, salsalita’s bar, and more)…
The shoot was fun and was shot approx. 3 months ago…
Since a lot of things have been going here at DWS, we finally got around to finish CHICOTE’s video and we are very proud for it to be our first…
Thanks to everyone who helped make this video possible.
Paco and I produced the video, and was shot with 2 cameras documentary style.
For more info on chicote, here’s the links:
www.chicote.com.mx
www.myspace.com/chicote2005

ALSO, we have just completed a video for the City of San Antonio’s Public Works Dept. in association with APWA (I don’t know what that means, but it’s like the national conference for public works depts….)…
The video is a demonstration on how the city recycled old pavement to make a new street…
It is a new technology that will hopefully help the environment, and save time and $$ nationwide, so we were very proud to be a part that…

This is the cover of Patricia’s new CD out September 25th.

AND last but not least we are in production of our second music video, and this time it is for another of our favorite artists PATRICIA VONNE.
Her new song MISSING WOMEN which will be included in her new CD Firebird, and can be heard at the Amnesty USA website, talks about the sad issue that has been foreshadowing Ciudad Juarez for over a decade, and that is the kidnapping and slaughtering of woman.

Her new CD and video will be released in the US and in the UK, and apparently she has been having a lot of success across Europe, where she constantly tours…
Her stuff is on her website:
www.patriciavonne.com
Expect her video anytime really soon…!!!

(1) Beatiful view of Manhattan (2) End of Fest After Party (3) Me and Vic at Peter Dillon’s

(1) Another cool pic of NY, (2) Vic, Alonso and me at the NY Public Library, (3) Producer Roger D.L.S. with… Roger? jajajajaja

(1) Roger, Vic, Alonso & Paco, (2) Roger, Me, Alonso and Paco (Both pics are from the HBO building at a cool reception after a screening of a documentary called “Recycled Life”.

(1) Pax & Pax, (2) No iPod, No Problem! Barco putting on the tunes at Peter Dillon’s, (3) Dama and Alonso Wheeler in NYC.

We are back from the BIG APPLE…
Man was that a trip!
We stayed from July 25 until the 30th, and it was a hell of a lot of fun…
Digital Work Studios was in full force and we did our share at seeing films at the New York International Latino Film Festival, as well as visiting the landmarks and the bars around Manhattan…
Our first screening (July 26 at 10:30pm) was not what we expected, as the attendance was low… HOWEVER, some industry people showed up, and liked the movie… so we’ll see what happens with that…
Our 2nd screening (July 28 at 6:15pm) went a LOT better, people were gasping and yelling obscenities at the screen rooting for our heroes and bashing our villans… People who attended told us that you could feel the tension while watching the movie…
I witnessed a lady walk out, and she told the people at front and I quote: “If you want to watch a movie about drugs, rape and torture, go and see Ash Wednesday… It was too much for me…”
What a quote! jajajajaj Although not a positive reaction, but a reaction nonetheless… we already know that this film is not for everyone… you will either LIKE IT (a lot) or HATE IT!… there’s no middle ground here… jajajajajajajaja

More industry folks attended the 2nd screening, and liked the film… some audience members even recognized Gregorio Cazares, and snapped up a picture with him…
Dama (who also attended the event) told me that someone told her that they thought that Dama was a real person, and wouldn’t think it was an actress… JAJAJAJAJA… she got a kick out of that… she also explained her character to some audience members…

Above everything else the organizers of this festival clearly love movies, and is rooting for the independent, while still getting top-notch sponsors to help us indies find an audience for our movies… We all had a BLAST and I really would like to attend next year’s fest, even if we don’t have a film in the fest…

Calixto, the festival’s founder and leader told me that they LOVED Ash Wednesday, and was really proud to have it at his festival…

There are a sh**load of more pictures that everyone else took, so more pics will be posted soon!

Special thanks to the festival, its organizers, members and volunteers and to the NY people that attended the screening, BUT special, special thanks to our friends who made the pilgrimage to New York in support of ASH:
(in no particular order)
-Chicken Rodriguez, Megan
-Gaby and Ricky M.
-Barbara Del Rio (Dama)
-Susana and Juanita Hernandez
-Adrian, Roger, Paco
-Victor Wheeler
-My Mom and my sistas’ Luana and Diana
-Fred Cisneros (Gregorio Cazares)
-Hector Hernandez
-Sonia De Los Santos
-Julio Valdes

I love NY!
Here’s a PARTIAL list of my favorite NY movies:

• Scent of a woman
• Ghostbusters
• Devil’s advocate
• Unbreakable
• Night at the museum
• Die hard with a vengeance
• Hudson Hawk
• World trade center
• Sidewalks of New York
• Taxi Driver
• The Godfather I and II
• BIG
• Saturday Night Fever
• The Professional
• and much, much, more… Post a comment with your faves!

Click To Play

OK here’s the TV special we made for the local media in Eagle Pass Texas…
The show is in Español… It aired on TVAW channel 20 from July 16 - 27 at 4:30pm.

The show’s main goal is to portray the behind the camera’s process of the making and distribution of our two films EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS and ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS…

Special Thanks to our sponsors:

• Fort Duncan Home Health & Hospice Care
• IBC Bank
• ANCIRA Ford
• Rodee’s Fried Chicken
• Foster & Associates
• Booty’s Bar & Grill

Here’s the direct link to the show:
http://dws.blip.tv/file/311431/

Thanks and enjoy!
rm

210sa is a new crazy news magazine that the San Antonio Express-News is putting out, and it just has been out for some months now, and it is a really interesting read, BUT this weeks’ is especially exquisite and a joy to read because it talks about US!
jajajajajaja
How self-indulgent… jejejeje
Here’s an excerpt:

Ricardo Mendoza drained his retirement account, worked side jobs and sold some of his belongings on eBay.

All in the name of independent filmmaking.

And now, Mendoza has been rewarded for his efforts, as his film, “Ash Wednesday: Capítulo Unus,” will make its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival on Thursday, July 26. Mendoza, who was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and spent part of his childhood in San Antonio, shot the film in Eagle Pass from July 2006 to January 2007 on a budget of about $19,000.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.210sa.com/content/view/2488/

Conexion (which is ALSO a publication of the Express-News) also printed a cool article about ASH… I’ll try to scan it and post it on our site…
AND Conexion is printing again (Check out July 25’s Conexion), but this time it is more like a Q & A with myself…
Thanks to Melissa Renteria (Conexion) and Clint Hale (210sa) for supporting us and the film…!

Talking about media, TVAW (the local Eagle Pass TV station channel 20) is airing a special called INSIDE Digital Work Studios… it is really cool and it is in Español…. it airs at 4:30pm weekdays from today until July 27…

AND other updates have been printed on the Eagle Pass News Guide…

AND we are hoping to have something really cool show up on WOAI (in S.A.)… but we’re still working on stuff so more to come really soon…

Here’s the invitations ready to be sent…
They will only be sent out to industry executives… sorry
so don’t feel excluded… you can see the invitation in it’s full digital glory at digitalworkstudios.com/premiere
But I can give you an invitation if you see me… jajajajaja

You must be thinking: The film is done, what is there to do?
AJAAHH! That’s where you separate a mediocre artist from a red hot warrior…
We need to go in there and fight for our place…
We will be competing with about 80 films and we need the right people sitting at our screening.
We need distributors, agents, producers etc. to sit there and experience ASH WEDNESDAY with a shocked audience, so they can hear the gasps and the emotion…

I have been frequently asked for some strange reason, if I am nervous???
ummmm no… I don’t believe any of us are nervous… The film is done, we had a whole year to make it, and correct it until we were satisfied, and we were.
And now, our mission is to get the right people at the screenings.

I have been swamped with stuff to do, that I barely have time to clean and bathe my puppies…
I made a Parks and Rec show for the City of San Antonio, designed and sent the invitations to print, so now I have to send them out… We also produced a 1 hour TV show (in español) for the local media that include clips from both our movies and other funny anecdotes… I am trying to figure out a way to post it online (because it’s ONE hour!), so expect it really soon…

In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.
For some, shyness might be their El Guapo.
For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo.
For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us.
But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be “the actual” El Guapo!
Three Amigos (1986)

From L to R: Paco, Alonso, Lic. Rolando Tamayo, Hector Hernandez and Fred Cisneros… this was shot in the freezing cold (Jan. 2007), thanks to Bass Auto Parts for the location…

We are working arduously to prepare evrything, and there is a million things to do…
aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
jajajajajjaa

Now I have come to the cross-roads in my life - and I knew, without exception, I knew - which path was the right one - but I never took it.
And do you know why? Because It was too damned hard.
Now here’s Charlie, he’s come to the cross-roads, and he has chosen a path. It’s the right path. A path that is made of principle, which leads to character. Now that’s the stuff leaders should be made of.
-Scent of a woman (1992)

Well now let’s focus on the future…
We are making a special show for the local TV station about both our films and about us in general, it is going to be in Spanish and it will include clips from both films and their trailers along with a never before aired ESCAPE BLOOPERS… The show looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun…
If you live in the Eagle Pass area, check it out!
The show will premiere July 16 at 4:30pm (before the local news)…
We’ll also post it on our website shortly after…

ALSO, I am going back to L.A., hopefully I’ll come back with a lot more better news than last time…

Canta, Mariachi, canta!!
-El Mariachi

So, I’m sitting there. And in walks the biggest Mexican I have ever seen. Big as shit. Just walks right in like he owns the place. And nobody knew quite what to make of him… or quite what to think.
-Pistolero

The screenings will take place at the following:

World Premiere Screening:
Thursday July 26
10:30pm at The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street (Between 3rd & 2nd Avenues)
BUY TICKETS HERE

AND
Saturday July 28
6:15pm at Tinker Auditorium
55 E. 59th St. (Between Park & Madison Avenues)
BUY TICKETS HERE

Check out the festival’s myspace here:
www.myspace.com/NYILFF

Here’s the TV spot for the festival
___________________________________
Tickets for the festival were supposed to be sold yesterday, but apparently the bad weather is not only hitting Texas, but NYC as well, as they are having power outages… so I will keep everyone posted on this, so you can get your tickets early…
Tickets: www.nylatinofilm.com

The roller coaster is still going, but it seems like it’s going faster and scarier… but just like a roller coaster it’s always a fun ride…
Yesterday, we got a “not interested” phone call from a shocked and appalled producer in Beverly Hills… He was very polite, but he seemed disturbed by what he experienced, he said, it didn’t go with the “philosophy” of the company, but the doors remained open in case I wanted to submit anything else…
TWO positive things stood out:

1. The film’s goal is to incite a reaction (which it did). A mediocre film will cause indifference. And that is worse reaction.
2. I was asked about a specific scene, that was so shocking I had to return the call to tell him that what he saw wasn’t real, and it was all movie magic, fake, make-believe… This point attests that our film is so realistically and well produced that even a hollywood producer had no doubt that what he saw was real… I thought this was hilarious…

I also received several crucial emails for the continuation of DWS…

T : What are we then?
N : …Consumers?…
T: Right. We are consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty. These things don’t concern me. What concerns me, are celebrity magazines. Television with 500 channels. Some guy’s name on my underwear. Rogain. Viagra. Olestra.
N: Martha Stewart.
T: F*ck Martha Stewart. Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic. It’s all goin’ down, man. So F*ck off with your sofa units and string green stripe patterns. I say, never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let the…let’s evolve. Chips fall where they may. But that’s just me, I could be wrong, maybe it’s a terrible tragedy.
N: No…it’s just…just stuff.
T: Well you did lose a lot of versatile solutions to modern living.
N: F*ck you’re right. … My insurance is probably gonna cover it.
pause
What?
T: The things you own, end up owning you.

FIGHT CLUB (1999)

HOWEVER everything can change with ONE phone call… and it did.
We were set to returning to our beloved homeland yesterday (Saturday) I’d already missed my 10th year anniversary (Gaby I love you), the spurs championship (YAY!!!) and father’s day…
On friday I got someone at a high level production company returned my phone call, and was interested in seeing the movie… we dropped it off excitedly, and this individual seemed enthused to view it…

Apart from that we had even more luck… We were about to be reffered by one of the best film directors in the world to one of the best agents in the world…
I honestly do not know what is going to happen from now on… but if even if nothing comes of this, we are at least in the game, and people know that we exist… I am just incredibly ready and prepared for anything… we’ll see…
to be continued…

Happy belated Birthdays to:
Luana (my sis) June 4 (one of the saddest days of my life… jajajaja just kidding sis’ love you…)
Chicken- June 11… he was living the real hollywood life, driniking with the spurs 36mafia and eva mendez… yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh….

“You get busy living or you get busy dying”
-Red

World Premiere Screening:
Thursday July 26
10:30pm at The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street (Between 3rd & 2nd Avenues)

AND
Saturday July 28
6:15pm at Tinker Auditorium
55 E. 59th St. (Between Park & Madison Avenues)

The festival itself will present some very interesting films with George Lopez, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Kline, among others…

Check out the festivals myspace here:
www.myspace.com/NYILFF

Of course the producers and myself will be attending both screenings and we hope to see everyone there supporting our film…

We are still in Los Angeles making some very great progress planting the seeds everywhere…
more details to come…

We’ll be posting a whole bunch of stuff on our journey…
take care!
rik

I remember watching Minority report, blade runner, and all these futuristic movies, and thinking how cool it was, to see all those blinking lights and other weird stuff…
When I saw this new microsoft product, I couldn’t believe my eyes… it’s gotta be the coolest product to come out since the toaster…

Microsoft’s plans to market this to the business world: hotels, banks, and it looks like city governments can use this as well…

It doesn’t look useful in movies, but it would look cool as a prop…

• Star wars theme
• Cancion del Mariachi played by Antonio Banderas in Desperado
• Damn it feels good to be a gangster (Office Space)
• Shipping up to Boston (The Departed)
• Vienna (Billy Joel) 13 going on 30
• Girl you’ll be a woman soon (Pulp Fiction)
• Tango from Scent of a Woman
• Theme from “Love Actually”
• Lucha de Gigantes (amores perros)
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Wayne’s World)
• Goofy Goober (Spongebob movie) jajajajajajaja
  

Post your favorite songs from movies as a comment for all to see…
I’ll be updating the list…
Cool beans…

Our plan is not to have our arms crossed and wait for some miracle to com from the 4th dimension…
So instead of being useless and flacid, we plan to take Ash Wednesday to Los Angeles and establish ourselves in the heart of the film industry.

Paco, Roger and myself would venture into the concrete jungle of California for the month of June, come back in July and prepare for the festival in NYC.

But before we go unto our little adventure we are making 2 music videos…
One for CHICOTE, for the song HECHENME A LOS PERROS, (which is almost finished)
AND the other for Patricia Vonne.

Both videos will be shot in Piedras Negras and will be finished just before the door slams our ass as we get out of here…

The thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.
—Don’t… don’t care?
It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime; so where’s the motivation? And here’s something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
—I beg your pardon?
Eight bosses.
—Eight?
Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
Office Space (1991)

The gala itself was a success, and the videos were an integral part in that success.

We saw first-hand, the struggles and the determination of the many organizations, but most importantly of the people who have been the at the forefront of making San Antonio the great city that is today.

The videos are online at http://dws.blip.tv, and are strictly for demonstration purposes only.

On Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus: the movie is slowly crawling around.
We will soon be featured on American Latino TV, which airs nationwide.
The segment on the show will focus on the new movie (Ash Wednesday) and will hopefully be very, very cool. (more on that soon)
We were interviewed in December 2006 by Renzo and Wilton.
AND, more exciting news is on the horizon, apparently there is a lot of excitement about the movie, but there has been no concrete commitments, but hopefully very soon someone will fall. snf

Photos: This is the school in Eagle Pass, and it was damaged severely.
In Piedras Negras, the church is gone! We shot a sequence of images (for EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS) in the park directly in front of this church but it is all gone now…

ON THE OTHER SIDE of the river in Eagle Pass, the only officials I saw, were cleaning up the school (which was heavily damaged), and directing traffic, HOWEVER in the residential area, where homes where also heavily hit, and trailer homes destroyed, I saw only volunteers and just plain civilians helping out and cleaning the area. Even though there were many people helping in the cleaning of Rosita Valley, it seemed dwarfed, next to the clean-up team in Piedras Negras.

Both places looked like some post-apocalyptic futuristic movie… it was quite sad to see all this.
On the optimistic side, many people are helping out, and hopefully their lives will be restored as soon as possible.

No movie news to report at this time

Good times: Nestor Pragas (Rolando Tamayo), ME, and Gregorio Cazares (Fred Cisneros), we were shooting a flashback scene and it was f***in’ freezinggggg…. BUT can it get any better than this? hanging with the coolest and baddest people on the planet! On screen and OFF!! jajajaja NOTE: Tamayo’s blood and bruises are the product of Paco’s makeup…

IN GOOD NEWS, we are designing a poster with graphic designer magnifico Alex Probst… and it is looking incredible… more to come later…

IN more festival news, we have submitted to many other important festivals around the world, so hopefully one festival, will actually “get” the film…

IN NON-Movie news, we are doing a lot of work in the private sector, we are doing the videos for the 2007 Mexican-American Unity Council Gala (check out last years videos here), AND we are doing a very important project for the City of San Antonio’s Public Works Dept and the Asphalt Institute that will be presented at the national public works conference in September… so we are quite busy…

IN MORE NON-Movie BAD NEWS:
Our beloved pet /Co-Editor Doggy Mendoza has gone missing since April 4.
She has been with us for 4 years and has kept us happy ever since… You know, when you get home and you feel like SHIT, she was the one that would brighten up your day, because she was so incredibly glad to see you…
She disappeared Wednesday in the afternoon. My guess is that she left to hide when she heard thunder, and then it started raining. We also suspect that she is in the care of someone, because no one in the neighborhood knows anything…
We have put up signs around the neighborhood, announcements on the radio and TV, AND a huge ad in the newspaper…
So hopefully she’ll turn up…

(No shade) Too much to sacrifice, (No light) it’s hard to recongnize
(Just black) traps to compromise (And white) obscuring deadly alabies
(My plans) It’s combinational, (designs) the pressure’s so intense
So I’ll construct this sound defense
(No Way) Nothing’s plainer than the madness in the world today
(No sign) I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
(No grace) I seek initiative in matters that are black and white
(No sense) So I’ll construct this sound defense
BAD RELIGION- THE DEFENSE

As a first, EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS will be the first non-studio film to be playing on the first flight of Virgin America Airways…

This is a really exciting time for us…

Check out what Virgin America has to offer on the link below:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/10/
mega-hands-on-virgin-americas-airbus-a320-with-red-in-flight-e/

As of now, EL ESCAPE is available at retailers nationwide AND in hotels through Video On Demand AND starting in April it will be flying all over the world.

Now that is one hell of a start for our first film.
I cannot wait what the fate of ASH WEDNESDAY will be.

Here’s a list of the new stuff that’s been happening on the site:

• Updated trailer! Trailer has been color corrected to match the movie plus, the sound has been enhanced…
• Listen to the soundtrack online! Complete original score is now on the site.
• Film stills gallery. It’s a really cool gallery of frames grabbed directly from the movie.

We are preparing 2 mega-events, along with a whole bunch of other surprises that are taking longer than we had expected… However, I believe that it will be worth the wait…
Stay tuned and thanx for all of your support!

You look around what do you see?
I’ll tell you what I see is a world belonging to me
Take time to find what you may dream
It’s all right there within your grasp
Just beyond what you can see

Your life goes by
Before you know
You gotta take time to slow down
Better take time to veer off the road
Enjoy the sights
While you are here
There’s nothing to fear but fear itself
Who knows when the end is near
—Living for today (Pennywise)

Speaking of music, don’t forget to check out the soundtrack to CAPITULO UNUS at www.someonewillfall.com

Many gifted musicians lent their talents to the soundtrack including famed Pianist and opera coach Rolando Garza Rodriguez, Guitar master Fernando “Dude” Ibarra, Engineering and ripping the guitar: Waris Rodriguez, Giuliano Innocenzi on drums and myself, I did drums and some really weird reverbs and reversed sounds (in the movie I am credited as Chaviro Villa …

The score was captured in one week and some songs were assembled in that same week we spent in Monterrey, however, while I was editing the movie I mixed some raw tracks (i.e. drums, cymbals, guitars, voices, etc) into the film editor itself, and adjusting the raw sounds to make some really interesting music that would greatly enhance each scene.

Not one song was created for a specific scene, we gave the musicians themes (like sorrow, tragedy, suspense, etc.) and in editing I put songs as the scenes needed them… A very organic and creative experience…

We are cooking LOTS of stuff in the slow cooker… We’ll have a bunch of exciting news really soon… stay tuned…

We thought the day would never come…
Sadly, Digital Work Studios’ producers Roger and Alonso have moved to Laredo.
Unfortunately we couldn’t completely get rid of them… DAMN! jajajajajajaj
They will still be an integral part of our team and they’ll more than likely be visiting every weekend…
But who knows! They’ll probably be back sooner than I can say blueberry pie… “blueberry pie”…
“-well, probably not that fast, but pretty damn quick!”

Tonight I saw the OSCARS, which is the highest recognition given only to THE GREATEST films of the year.
AND man what a year of incredibly great and memorable films… my faves:
Babel, departed, children of men, blood diamond, last king of scotland, borat, el escape de los santos (jaja), to name a few…
These were all great films that inspired me in so many ways… they made me laugh, they made me cry, and alomost made me vomit (borat)… It was a great year for me as a movie-goer…

I was glad for Scrosese and for the guy who made the music for BABEL, it was incredibly good…

I hope Delso gets his OSCAR one day, and if not, I know an Oscar in Mexico that can show him a lot of love and passion… jajajajajjaa

On ASH, TWO Mega events are in the works, so stay tuned!

Today is ASH WEDNESDAY… I mean for real…
It is a day observed by Western Christians, and it marks the first day of lent.
In mass a priest puts a cross on your forehead of ash, and it is to remind us that “Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.” meaning “Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

HECTOR MATA, our Ash Wednesday puts a cross of blood (on their foreheads, if it is still attached to the face) on everyone he kills… I guess his message is “chingatus madreis” meaning “I am putting a cross of blood on your forehead, because the movie will look much cooler, and I want to be different than all of the other crime bosses in other films…” or something like that…

SO, how the hell did we come up ASH WEDNESDAY (the character)?
Well, as we were beginning to write (very early on), I had an acquaintance that happened to have a birthmark on his forehead and I swear he looked as if he had gone to church on ash wednesday, BUT EVERYDAY!!!
I always thought to myself, that the only day he must feel normal was today, on ash wednesday.

SO, I had an idea to make a hitman character called ASH, because he had a birthmark on his forehead…
ANYWAY, as everything started evolving, I decided to have the crime boss as ASH… HOWEVER, later on, we changed his birthmark into a scar. With a scar we could now add a really healthy backstory, of HOW he actually got the scar and so on… and ended up being one of the coolest scenes in the movie…
Our only dilemma was to actually make the scar look real, but after multiple tests we got it right and we moved on…

“Listen Dama, if I find out that you had something to do with this, I am going to rip your heart out and feed it to your kids…”
-Ash Wednesday, scene 48

We are now in production of a very cool documentary about all the stuff that happened behind the camera of CAPITULO UNUS…

I don’t think it will be long, I will try and keep the most interesting facts to keep it incredibly informative as well as entertaining…

This would be for the DVD, but I will put a cool piece up on our website…

We are also planning a “Behind the Score” segment as well… with all of the important musicians including Waris Rodriguez, Dude Ibarra, Lando Rolando Garza, Chaviro Villa and Giuliano Innocenzi…

Some very cool stuff planned… stay tuned…

However, there is a new online service called JAMAN in which you can rent and buy cool movies from your PC (or Mac) and EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is waiting for you to view…
If you have not seen our first feature film go to www.jaman.com subscribe and rent it today…

Jaman is a film community for movie lovers, think youtube/napster/myspace rolled into one…
The movies are of VERY good quality and they have free short films to view… I highly recommend it…

So go and view ESCAPE and leave us your comment… If you want to get the regular version with all the special features (on DVD) go to AMAZON.com and order today…

More to come…

Best things come for those who wait… snffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

A horse is like a man…
If a horse is… good… is like a man is good…
If a horse is, you know, angry… is like a man is angry…
If a horse is… tall… is like a man is tall…
If a horse is… hungry… is like a man is hungry…
If a horse is… strong… is like a man is strong…
-Borat (21st century philosopher)

Ever get that feeling you can't go onJust remember whose side it is that you're onYou've got friends with you till the endIf you're ever in a tough situation we'll be there with no hesitationBrotherhood's our rule we cannot bendBro Hymn (Pennywise)

The question is CAN the movie make it? is it possible?
Well, first of all I think that it is a great movie that definitely deserves the respect of ANY film festival in the world.
I know that EVERY indie filmmaker thinks that their film is the greatest thing ever, HOWEVER, I knew deep down EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS (which was our first movie) did NOT have what it takes to be worthy of an important festival. Let’s just say that we learned from our mistakes, and NOW Ash Wednesday is everything we could wish for in a movie…

ALSO, we didn’t rush to make ANY festival deadlines or distributors date or anything, we worked on our movie until it was ready…

The film will eventually find an audience, but to how wide the audience depends on the decisions we make from now until May… So we’ll be thinking as big as possible.

The premieres are cooking and some extra surprises that we have up our sleeves to make the best of the whole thing…. stay tuned….

On finishing a final cut version, I was fixing EVERY single error in the subtitles, nothing too alarming, just simple apostrophes and stuff… ALSO I was updating the credits, to make them look really cool and interesting…

Most of the time when one submits to a film festival, one depends on luck, more than anything else, because we [filmmakers] tend to rapidly submit a rough cut in order to make the deadline…
HOWEVER, I am happy that we took our time, and that I KNOW, that we did EVERYTHING we could to let the movie succeed. We have NO REGRETS on how this movie was submitted.

I don’t know where this movie is headed but I can’t wait for the trip.
Climb on or get the hell out of our way…

Last week I had sent a screener DVD to movie critic and film professor Bob Polunsky to get his comments and any helpful input.
In a private letter from Mr. Polunsky to myself he says and I quote:
“Thank you for sending me a copy of “Ash Wednesday”. I admire your workmanship and the statement the film makes. It’s a shocker more than a thriller because it has more punch and moral value than most crime movies, and I appreciate the fact that you show characters on the side of law and order doing their jobs with pride and a good conscience… The movie ranks alongside such Hollywood films as “The Departed” in as much as its “thriller”and “shocker” values develop together.”

I was very pleased to hear his comments because it has been a LOT of hard work and effort by all of us who have been in production throughout the last 5 months…

Now the movie is just about finished but this is just half the battle.
Now it is time to focus on getting this movie distributed so the whole world can experience the film.

You can see Bob Polunsky’s movie reviews on WOAI-TV (San Antonio) and in Primetime Newspapers (in San Antonio as well).
Thanks again to Mr. Polunsky for his help.

Photo: Me, ricky Jr, marcus, roger and paco… It took us almost 3 hours to build this thing… We found it a lot easier to make a movie…

TODAY I also got some great news from our ESCAPE distributor Venevision International…
El Escape De Los Santos starting on February will be available in 800,000 hotel rooms in the US.
The service is called “On Command”, and it is like video-on-demand but in a hotel room…
Hotels include Hyatt Int., Hilton, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Ramada, Sheraton and many more prestigious hotels across the nation….

EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is out now on DVD available anywhere that DVD’s are sold and rented.

Photo: My cool girlfriend Gaby Mendoza
______________________
Today is my wife/girlfriend’s birthday… she is, ummmmm, very very young…
ANYWAY, at the time when we did not have ANY money, and we needed $ for important stuff, she was one of the very few people who believed in me, in what I could succeed, in my hopes and my dreams… and maybe the sheer fact that someone else believes that you can be someone special is enough to make you confident to do a lot of cool stuff… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Gaby has been with me throughout the past 9 years, and we have been through A LOT… and that is probably an understatement… I’m just very glad that we have more time to enjoy life and each other…

The procedure was painful since an induction injection had to be used, but she did have them naturally, under the vet’s supervision.

The babies are mexican citizens, since they were born in Piedras Negras, Coah. MX, HOWEVER her mother is a US citizen, so I gues they have the benefit of enjoying dual citizenships…

They were born in Clinipet under the supervision of MVZ Gabriel Rivas. Thanks to all his staff.

Tomorrow we shoot a VERY cool flashback scene… stay tuned…

After the countless rejections from our last film, I have developed a thick skin, so I am not really anxious to hear back from ANY particular film festival.

In the coming weeks we will be submitting to many other important film festivals, however we will still be sending ASH directly to distributors and the like…

We are still tweaking the movie and enhancing it, as a matter of fact we have 2 shoots this weekend… not of much importance, but shoots nonetheless… one of the shoots will be of utter importance in Capitulo Duos (Chapter Two)… stay tuned and wish us luck!

As of now, there is ONLY one DVD of the film in existence in the whole universe.
Sadly, it will be destroyed after we watch it for errors.
Tonight I’ll fix any errors or enhance stuff, and I’ll make a final DVD to send to the festival.

By then the festival will be the only one who will have a DVD copy of ASH Wednesday.
In the coming months I plan to submit to more festivals and be sending screeners to distributors, and I will be in production of the behind the scenes stuff, as well as to create a press kit for ASH.
AND we will still be enhancing the movie itself, by retooling some small audio stuff and adding extra footage that will make the movie even better…

Wicked….

A very busy week awaits us as we submit to film festivals, and actually produce the DVD for Capitulo Unus…

Gotta go back to work!

We all had this incredible experience with EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS, we shot the film in 2004, finished in 2005, we went to hollywood to represent our film in a film festival, we sold it and we were all very proud that not only we finished a film, but we finished a film that was at least worthy of a national audience, and is now being seen across the country…

Then we all kind of separated, until we got together again in early 2006… We all decided to go back to Eagle Pass, not only for a while, but to actually live here, just to make our next movie…

In mid 2006, we were all here in Eagle Pass, regrouped, and determined… Once the script was finalized for ASH WEDNESDAY, we all kind of stepped back and said: HOLY SHIT.

We all knew it was too much work, and it seemed impossible to do by such a small group of filmmakers. This new movie involved makeup, blood, guns, dramatic dialogue, and just a LOT of props, like cars, buildings and an incredible amount of actors (who needed to volunteer for the project)….

Once the camera started rolling in July we were unstoppable.
We were a lot more focused, Roger, Paco and Alonso were on top of everything… We were like a well oiled movie making machine… With every shoot we felt more and more confident, and by the time August came around, and we had shot like 70% of the film, we knew we had something special.

We had a film that was not only enjoyable and fun to watch, but we were going to have a film that will be incredibly relevant and significant…

By the time November and now December, and all of our hard work of the past 5 months is now edited and assembled into an INCREDIBLE one hour and forty minutes of pure adrenalin, it is very rewarding to see that our work will pay off very well…

We have a healthy amount of confidence, that could easily be mistaken for arrogance, but those who have feasted their eyes and enjoyed ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, know that this will be a movie that 10-20 years from now, people will still talk about it…

I am very thankful for the people who have supported us, especially our families and all of our friends.
Those are the people who don’t ask for anything in return, and are there in your darkest moments… These are people who care.

2007 will be a hell of year filled with even more drastic changes.
The groundwork has been laid. I cannot wait until ASH WEDNESDAY explodes…
People will love it and people will hate it… no “in-betweens”…

Thanks again to everyone riding on this movie, we all hope for the best, but we all know that this, is just the beginning…

PS: Happy Birthday to the coolest Mother-in-law Lupe Torres (AKA Barbara Del Rio and ALSO known as “Dama”)

—…But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

—The only kind of repect that matters is self-respect
Rocky.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

In other news, the band NEXO (from Monterrey, N.L.) has a myspace page and it has 4 BRAND NEW SONGS!
including “I saw the shine”…
here’s the link: www.myspace.com/sujetonexo
NEXO (formerly known as Pennylane, then Santelmo) is also known for making the music for the soundtracks to both EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS and ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS…
The best of luck to Giuliano and Waris!

That’s why you hire me…
because I make them suffer!
-Gregorio Cazares (Ash W.: Capitulo Unus)

Wii Wish you a Merry Xmas!

We will be submitting to a film festival, hopefully sometime next week… So we are getting ready all of the necessary materials, poster, paperwork, DVD screener, stills, etc…

The rough cut has changed dramatically over the past weeks… it is getting really close to a final cut for all to enjoy…

Happy holidays from DWS!

TODAY, we plan to reshoot some of Delso’s stuff, so it’ll be a good day…

ALSO, respek goes out to Brittani Harmeyer, today is her 18th B-day, for her B-day she got accepted to NYU film school… wicked!

As the circle of life keeps on rolling, 2 great achievements occurred this weekend…
Gricelda Torres (my sister in-law and actress in ASH WED.) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, HUGE congrats!
ALSO, Brittani Harmeyer (Boom operator) got her acceptance letter from NYU film school, in (obviously) New York City.
It is one of the coolest schools for filmmaking, where (believe it or not) they actually teach you, how to make a film… Congrats Brittani, we wish you the best…

We are preparing a version that can be “submittable” to a very prestigious festival, so hopefully I’ll be posting some good news very soon…

Special thanks goes to Hector Hernandez for setting up everything and making sure everything ran smoothly…

After our interview we saw Apolcalypto, and it was very cool… Roger was even drooling throughout the whole film… jajajajajajja

On Saturday we re-shot some stuff with main actress Eva Akashi.
This time it was incredibly cold, so it was not easy to shoot summer scenes in the cold… but we did get some VERY incredible footage, that enhances the film on so many levels.
Everything went smoothly and now the rough cut looks so much better…
ALSO we voiced a lot of stuff including some ADR, and other narrations…

That same night Gabino Portes came in from San Antonio as well, and viewed the rough cut, and was impressed by the message and the look of the film…
He understood completely the concept, little details embedded in the film,
PLUS he understood the characters and their motive for their actions…
THAT was very important for us, and very rewarding to hear someone say that the movie has a lot of significance and meaning… very cool…

The only part subtitled is the parts in Spanish (which accounts for 60% of the film)…
We started Monday at 8 AM.
Subtitling crew was:
-Royer De Los Santos
-Paco Flores
-Alonso Wheeler (Delso Carrete himself)
-Ricky Mendoza

The crew came in Monday and Tuesday from 8am until 5pm…
and after everything was typed in, I went in to the AVID, and inserted every subtitle (approx. 500)…
It took me Wednesday and Thursday (between Tetris breaks and playing the Wii, and the usual bathroom stuff…

Now it’s time to get ready for a looooooooong working weekend giving interviews on TV and some VERY important reshoots…

BRING IT ON!

Special thanx to our dedicated producers Alonso, Paco and Roger for spending all day subtitling the film, apart from from actually producing and making the film day in and day out for the past 5 months! CRAP! We’re almost there…

And also, special thanx, to the HH agency working behind the scenes and making sure we have a succesful campaign pitching it to distributors and the public alike.

On Friday we’ll be interviewed by our friends at Maximas productions for the nationally syndicated TV shows American Latino TV and Latination, we’ll keep you posted…

Meanwhile, here’s the part when we were featured on Latination, this part March for promoting El Escape De Los Santos.
DWS on Latination

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This morning, after waking at 6am and dashing towards my local WalMart in search for a nintendo wii, I was denied, after 9 people were already in line (and only 9 were available).
I quickly directed my truck towards the next closest Walmart in Carrizo Springs (35 miles from Eagle Pass), and I was #8 (out of 9 wii’s)…
Now it’s time to list it on eBay… jajajajaja Nah, this one is for my son and me (or mii).

It’s funny how life turns out to be…
This is the story of a sound effect.
It was 8 pm tonight, I was making myself a turkey sandwich, while pondering and thinking HOW THE HELL was I going to capture the sound of a dog dying without actually harming a dog.
This had been bothering me this whole week, UNTIL:
While making my sandwich I took out the turkey out of the fridge and my co-editor chihuahua Doggy Mendoza comes to me excitedly crying really loud for a piece of sliced turkey. AND IT HIT ME.
I quickly went to my editing room, got out my handy, dandy recording device and hit the record button while my dog begged and cried for a piece of turkey. ALAS, I got some great sound effects which I am going to insert as soon as this blog post hits the web….

Sometimes strokes of genius comes at the stupidest moments, it’s up to us to recognize an opportunity and convert a banal moment into something useful and creative.
Oh, and by the way, my turkey sandwich tasted twice as good, and my dog got to eat 2 slices.
jajajajajajjaja

OK, a quick recap of what’s been going here at Digital Work Studios (which is actually a room next to my bedroom =-D…
On Saturday night newlyweds Omar and Susana, Gibran and Lopez came to watch a rough of Capitulo Unus, and were blown away by the story… HOWEVER, I still do not feel confident to show the movie, because it is lacking some key elements that we will be reshooting this whole week…

Thankfully ALL of the reshoots have been incredibly successful, the acting and the changes in the story take the movie to a different level everytime…
ALSO, today Paco, Roger, Adrian and myself woke up at 8 in the friggin morning, to begin the daunting task of subtitling the film from Spanish to English…
We finished translating everything, but it still needs to be inserted in the movie itself.
Tomorrow we”l start on that, and we’ll probably be shooting some stuff as well…

Here’s a quick tip on audio; this is from the “Escape” website:
http://www.digitalworkstudios.com/audio.htm

For now, I am adding sound effects to different scenes that need it. In the “business”, the adding of sound effects is called FOLEY.
When you don’t have clean dialogue, actors have to come in and “voice-over” the parts that are not clean. That process is called ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement).

I am adding cell phone ringers, car noises, footsteps, and all sorts of fun stuff…
I have a special digital audio recorder (model Zoom H4 by Samson), that records professional quality audio and records on an SD chip, so I can just pop it into my PC and edit away…

_____________
On Ash news the picture above shows the remnants of our fake blood… We finished 3 little bottles and this 32oz. bottle of fake blood throughout production of Ash Wednesday which started July 1, 2006…

When we ran out of professional fake blood, on our last shoot, we used a mixture of syrup, red food coloring, cofee and flour to make a blood-like substance… YUMMMMMMM

It seems we have been reshooting a lot, but trust me, the main beneficiary will be the audience enjoying the film.
We are so close to wrapping up I can even smell the blood clot… snifffffffffff….
jajajajajjaa
Today is Sunday, which is a working day… type, click, cut, snip and roll…

Photo: This was THE first scene we shot of Capitulo Unus. My cousin David Cervantes from Monterrey, MX. Unfortunately, this part of the scene did not make it into the film…
But we’ll pay it’s respek, here at the blog… buyakasha…

It still needs a lot of work, like inserting ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement), inserting some re-shot stuff, some animations, smoothing audio, sound effects, and a lot more stuff…
It looks very good for a 2nd draft. By the time we’re at the 15th draft it’ll look extremely well…

Just to put everything into perspective, our last movie (El Escape De Los Santos), went through over more than 30 drafts!

Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus Rough Cut #2 clocks in at 1 hour and 37 min.
I shaved 3 minutes since the last cut.
I think the final cut will be 1hr and 45 min. (with credits)

tell me what do you need to make you happy? indeed, is it out of your reach?
beware of number ones, see all the damage it has done, there are so few of them
you won’t find too many in the land of competition
southern california doesn’t breed them
if you just want the best turn to yourself for the rest
and forget about the ones who have it all…
-BR- Land of competition

Photo: Filo flashback with the one and only Gaby Mendoza
___________________
ALSO, as if that wasn’t enough (snf)… Pepe Anda (FILO) came over to do HIS final shoot. It involved a flashback of him hitting his wife, while his daughter was watching…
MY wife Gaby (who plays Filo’s wife) was in the scene, along with Justice Martinez who played very realistically, Filo’s little girl…

We had good day of shooooooooooting, and now everything is set to make a rough cut of the film.
We still have VERY minor stuff to shoot, but ALL of the scenes are shot!
COOOL!

We are SO CLOSE, SO CLOSE….

When all soldiers lay there weapons down Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves Its easy to imagine There will be sorrow… no more.
-Bad Religion- Sorrow

Shit. We have 1 hour and 35 min edited… I am missing 2 scenes which have not been shot (but will be shot this week), it feels that we are SO close, yet so far away…

We are also at a stage where we are viewing scenes, and if they are not good enough, we are reshooting… We won’t be one of those independent filmmakers that say, we wrote this in a week, shot it in 2 weeks, and finished the film after a month or two… it’s been 5 months since production began… and we are still shooting and reshooting… but I don’t care…
We will be very proud, that we’ll have a cool quality film at the end, and that all of our hard work will show up on screen… and that my friends, is worth waiting for…

Yesterday, we shot a quick flashback scene, with our producer Roberto Rodriguez, my cousin Victor Wheeler, and his friends at Paco’s garage/basement…
Thanks to everyone for their patience….

Will you guide me now, for I cant see
A reason for the suffering and this long misery
What if every living soul could be upright and strong
Well, then I do imagine…
there will be sorrow
-Bad Religion- Sorrow

Oh and on Escape De Los Santos News… I bought El Escape today at the WalMart at Eagle Pass!
Many friends have been getting El Escape in WalMarts around the nation, so go buy it and support your cool independents!
Respek!

-My parents say that Mexico is a really dangerous place…
-Yes, it is… it’s full of Mexicans….
One of my favorite lines off of the new movie Babel

Rolando Garza will be best known throughout the universe as the pianist for the soundtrack of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, where he graciously recorded for us this past September (2006).

EXCLUSIVE: Download the audio for scene #69 where Delso Carrete tortures the fiercest assasin in Mexico, Gregorio Cazares. (mp3 format, 1.7 MBs)

The best of luck to Rola and all his endeavors!
Rock on!

Photos: Kristy Gomez in a flashback scene & Gerry Mendez (as Gibran), henchman of Ash Wednesday.
______________
While editing we have found some problems with some scenes, and if left alone, it won’t affect the story, but it will affect the overall quality of ASH WEDNESDAY…
And we think that quality, even though a little more effort has to be taken, it is VERY well worth it…
We still have stuff to shoot and reshoot some more…
The edited scenes are looking incredible!

Bottom picture: while shooting scenes, Barco and Leo encountered a dead cat… we paid its respek, but we’re glad it died happy… Hours later the cat had its revenge by losing Barco’s glasses. Barco ultimately found his glasses next to the cat, they were chipped at one end. After that Barco buried it in his backyard…

Photos: Top, Hector Muñoz Mijares as the mysterious caller. Bottom pic, Jesus ‘Flaco’ Flores calling the shots… snf
____________________
There’s so much stuff to post…
we have been shooting a bunch of stuff that is missing, or that we forgot to shoot, or simply needed to reshoot to improve some scenes…
I have edited close to 95% of the whole film, and cannot wait to finish shooting this whole week to finally finish a rough cut…

Thanks to everyone that has been VERY patient with us… like Kristy Gomez (who plays Jessica), Tati Melo, Jesus “Flaco” Flores and others…

The scenes were shooting look great, so hopefully we’ll keep it flowing…

A’right respek, and keep it real…
I hope you all go see and like my movie-film… I like you, do you like-e me? snffffffffff

I’ve been making adjustments to music, perfecting scenes and editing minor scenes like this AFI shootout pictured here.

Photo: Xavier Lopez (right) and Omar Zuñiga (left) got married yesterday. (we’ll miss you… jajajajajaja NTC)
_______________
ALSO, a HUGE congratulations and felicidades… goes to OMAR (who plays a hitman in the movie).
OMAR Zuñiga got hanged, I mean, married yesterday.
Omar and his wife Susana are in Puerto Vallarta enjoying the beach… (yeah right!)…
Have fun and wish you the best!

I have edited ONE hour and THIRTY min. of the movie!
And there is still stuff that needs to be edited, by that, I think our final cut will be 1 hour and 50 min, maybe 2 hours with credits, so we’ll see…

We’re all excited to get back into production. Can’t wait…

OH, and thanks to everyone who has been buying and renting EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS!
We’ve gotten a lot of good comments from all around… Thanks again!

Afterwards we showed scenes 8-11 of Capitulo Unus along with the trailer…
The reaction was exceptional (as expected of course Hopefully it’ll be complete by mid-November and test it for audiences… CANNOT WAIT….

Production is aout to be restarted to shoot the absolute last scenes and some quick pickup scenes, HOWEVER Post-production will take a slight pause in order to produce a corporate video for a client.

Alonso Wheeler, wrote 2 drafts, and I wrote the 3rd draft.
After assembling everything from our script, Alonso and I finally settled on it, and in 2004 we were finally ready.

In March 2004, we started shooting, and finished until February 2005.
We were very ill prepared, but we finally got everything shot.
I edited sporadically in 2005 due to the fact that I had a real job, BUT I finally finished a FINAL draft in June 2005.

We submitted to ALL of the remaining important film festivals, and we got rejected by ALL of them.
Luckily, I had submitted my film to a distributor called Venevision International, they called me very interested in the movie, and offered me a deal on the spot.

Later on we finally got accepted to the Hollywood DV Festival…

In April, ESCAPE was released on Pay-per-view all over the US, on dish network, direcTV, Time Warner, etc…

AND FINALLY TODAY, the movie is released on DVD across retailers everywhere.

But what does this really mean to us?
Simply put, this means that there’s an audience for our movies, and we now know, we can make a career out of making movies.

Special thanks to everyone who believes in us, and especially those who have helped us along the way.

AND here’s another special treat!
This is the Behind the Effects section of El Escape, which is also included on the DVD. Enjoy!

If you can’t find the DVD at your local store, try Amazon.com or any other reputable online retailer, there are many who carry it.
To buy from Amazon click here.

Many people are asking what is included on the DVD, well here’s the rundown:
-The movie has been changed to a widescreen format
-It will include 3 Behind the scenes featurettes
-Behind the Escape
-Behind the Effects
-Behind the Score
-Theatrical Trailer
-Subtitles in English

If you’re having a tough time finding it, just order online at Amazon:
Order Escape at Amazon

ASH WEDNESDAY:
I was finishing up the visual FX of Delso dumping Cazares in Mexico… looks clean and neat…
ALSO, I was tightening the scene where Matias gets kidnapped… It is now more intense and much better looking. The audio sounds a lot better too…
ALSO, I have been touching up a lot of scenes here and there, just sculpting and perfecting them.
In the coming weeks I am to delve in to to the audio, with sound effects, ADR and more music, so it should be fun…

On October 20th there will be a special screening of El Escape in San Antonio at:
7 p.m.
Radius
106 Auditorium Circle (right across from the Municipal Auditorium)
San Antonio Texas , 78205

This screening will be a perfect time to celebrate the release of the film on DVD, which comes out that same week! perfect timing!

The screening will be a part of the Adelante Film Forum which is:
”This intensive, three-day conference will bring media industry experts and scholars to the local film community to share secrets and to strategize about the future of independent media. Through workshops and panels, filmmakers will learn how to meet the challenges of the exploding diversity of new markets and genres.”
More info and calendar of events here:
http://www.nalip.org/texas/sananto/TheAdelanteFilmForum.html

I will be present to say a few words, to introduce a “behind the effects” segment AND to present the trailer for ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, among other surprises…

Apparently, this is a free event open to the public, but more info will be posted here in the coming days…

On ASH WEDNESDAY, I’ve been editing ALL DAY LONG… my eyes hurt… but I have my phone service restored… FINALLY!

I now have a favorite scene that I just cannot help but watch over and over and over…
It involves Delso Carrete torturing the most feared assasin in Mexico, but the beauty of the scene is not what’s happening on screen, but what’s happening inside his head.

While all this goes on you are viewing this horrible torture scene, yet a mixture of a melancholic piano, a reversed piano, a haunting humming sound mixed with some screams, give you a sense that there’s more to it than making justice.
The piano itself is absolutely haunting. Thanks to Lando-Rolando Garza for this great melody…

Delso is finally getting revenge for his friend and partner Nestor Pragas (R.I.P. snf), whom he lost in the Tijuana drug wars of 98’. A contract was out for his head after Ash Wednesday finds out that he is an undercover DEA officer. Nestor was tortured for 7 days and was dumped on a well trafficked boulevard.
Delso is extremely pissed, and sets his sights on getting revenge to whomever did this to his partner. Delso goes AWOL on the DEA and is determined to get vengeance.
This is NOT in the movie, so it is not spoiling anything, yet it does play an important part.
It’s good knowledge to have before you see Capitulo Unus next year.

In ESCAPE news, we have a GREAT event planned for October 20th, but more details shall be disseminated as soon as I get confirmation… it’ll be posted here ASAP.
30 second commercials in Univision can be seen NATIONWIDE promoting the DVD that will come out Oct. 17.
MTV.com, VH1.com, target.com, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, Univision.com and many others are accepting pre-orders…
Thanks to everyone that embraces EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS.
A lot of heart was poured into that movie…

Crazy weekend with some well-deserved cerveza involved… Hector Hernandez, from the well respected HH Agency in San Antonio, came down and previewed what we have edited so far…
He claims “…it makes Running Scared look like Kill Bill“…

Some other folks have previewed the scenes, and it’s fun watching the expressions on some peoples faces… very fun indeed… Can’t wait till’ the movie is finished…

HOLY CRAP! I am up to ONE hour and TWENTY minutes of edited footage!
And there’s a LOT more scenes left to edit… I expect the final cut will be at around TWO hours (excluding credits), so we’ll see how that turns out… YIKES!

You get busy living… or you get busy dying…
-Andy Dufrense

Another scene I’ve been working on is on Ash as young man… the catalystic piece that starts it all (not in the movie, but in the story…), like I said, this has been a piece I’ve been working on since 2 weeks ago, and I still cannot finish… but it is looking VERY good…
There’s a lot of special effects here, like this tricky color correction of making everything black-and-white except the color red… final product is going to look great…

I think I’m done for the day… beers? anyone?

PS: I learned today that “ALL that glitters, is NOT gold…” From the new episode of spongebob
ta-ta for now…

Here’s a quick note on color correcting:
As I am editing I adjust the colors to my liking, to get a more edgier feel, and the color itself, marks the movie with it’s own style of visualization…
If we were working with actual film, we would have to send it to the lab, to make these adjustments [of color], thank God for digital!

ALSO, congrats to Patricia Vonne…
she was featured in the Austin Woman Magazine:
www.austinwomanmagazine.com
Her 3rd studio album is in the making, and she is constantly on tour, AND she’ll be in Austin at Jovita’s… October 7th.
more info here: www.patriciavonne.com
Her song Soledad, was featured in the incredible, amazing and astounding indie hit El Escape De Los Santos.

Who’s motorcyclye is this?
It’s not a motorcycle babe, it’s a chopper…
Who’s chopper is this?
It’s Zed’s…
Who’s Zed?
Zed’s dead, baby, Zed’s dead…
-Pulp Fiction

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I am still editing feircely… My phone is cut off, so I can’t really call anyone to shoot this weekend…
s**t.
However there is a LOT of editing to do.. so I’ll just continue on…
I have edited more than an 70 minutes of pure cinematic pleasure…
There is a lot of visual effects to do after the rough cut is done… a lot of green screen, and bullet muzzle shots, sound effects, and other effects. So I’ll just keep chopping…
I wish I could tell you where this still frame (from the movie) goes in the film, but it will spoil a lot of things, but in time, it will all make sense…

For now it is available for pre-order on Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, CircuitCity.com, Barnes and Nobles, and many others…

To pre-order at Amazon click here!

On its release on October 17, it will be available to purchase at Wal-Mart’s and other retailers, and to rent at Blockbuster, hollywood video, etc…

So go out and enjoy El Escape! Feedback is always welcome…

On Ash Wednesday, I am editing without mercy or remorse… I am chopping like a mad-man in order to have a rough cut as soon as possible…

The scenes are looking incredible, I really cannot wait to see Ash Wednesday, it is going to be a hell of a trip…

Photos: Screen shots of the film… I’m not saying where they go, or what they do… just enjoy the images…

Kick ass scene…

I’ve been editing, the ASH flashback scenes, with lots of greenscreen work and effects… Also I’ve started on the Reporter pieces where it involves some greenscreen work as well… lots o’ work still ahead…

We reshot scene #33 yesterday, with a better perspective and understanding of what Ash Wednesday is all about…
My friends Gibran, Omar and Xavier came over from Piedras Negras and just kicked ass…
Fede and Kristi Gomez (who plays Jessica) is in the same scene and kicked butt as well…
After that, we drank beer in the rain…

This scene was reshot because we were a mess that day… my shots sucked, and we clearly felt very insecure, and un-focused… HOWEVER, we are thankful that we got to redo everything and make it a memorable scene…

Thanks to everyone else who helped make this happen:
Ricardin Gonzalez for the very cool location, Fede for his cool Mercedes and Paco (Leo) for his Suburban…

I don´t know why I go to extremesToo high or too low there ain´t no in-betweensAnd if I stand or I fallIt´s all or nothing at allDarling, I don´t know why I go to extremes-Billy Joel

Photo: Xavier, Delso, Omar, Fede, Barco, Kristi, Matias (Ricardin), Teto, Gibran and Ricky

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In the editing room, a dark and muggy place where all of the characters of Ash Wednesday are taking life, it has been extremely rewarding to see and enjoy scenes that we really did not believe would work… That goes to tell you how organized we are (and lucky)…
Well actually, to give some insight, we shoot what’s on the script, as we see it at that particular moment. We don’t have our shots planned, but it opens a door to allow creativity, not only from us the filmmakers, but from the actors as well…
In that sense, everyone is putting their own mark on Capitulo Unus.

Today we plan to shoot the scene where we see Jessica for the first time. This is one of the few reshoots planned for this weekend.

I have edited around 40 minutes in total, so it is coming to life very rapidly…

Saludos a Xavier, Gibran y Omar!

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Chalk full of Birthdays this September!
but there’s none more of importance than me Mom’s!
The famous Luana Wheeler, photographer, painter, artist, etc…
Love you Mom!
You’re the best! Have fun in San Francisco…
-Rik

Photo: This is one of her masterpieces. This one is called: Raining in the forest

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Could you believe it! I’m Thirty. Who Cares!

So what to do today… well hopefully just being with people I like is e-nough for me…
Have a few beers, a few laughs, what else could you ask for…

My continuous rant on age:
if you’re 40, 50, 60 or even 20 and you say to yourself I’ve always wanted to be a chef, a filmmaker, a fireman, whatever, and haven’t done it….
What are you waiting for?
Drop everything and just do it…
“It’s hard, I can’t, my kids, my money, my bla, bla bla…”
F*** that. It ain’t easy to do what you want.
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, but that’s why it’s so f***ing rewarding.
So get out there, build your own train, ride it, invite everyone and tell them to get on or get the f*** out of your way…
AND this f****ng conludes my 2 part rant on age. back to editing…

See that lil’ lady? Respect. Respect for one’s elders gives character.
I have character.
Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.
-Mr. Wolf

Today is my last day to be in my twenties… and what am I going to do today, on this “seemingly” important day???

I will do nothing. nothing. JAJAJAJAJAJ (evil laugh)

Age is in your mind.
F*** AGE. If you start celebrating something so inane, as the loss of your twenties, well you’ll be pretty much f’d and be depressed for the rest of your life, saying “I wish I’d done this or done that”, F*** that.

I’m happy to say that I have done a lot of things that I’d always wanted to do, and I know, a lot of my friends and family have done so, as well…

So, now what?

I’m editing Ash Wednesday, and I am on an incredible train called Digital Work Studios.
For those who are on, enjoy the ride!
For those who are not on, either hop in or get the hell out of our way!

There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret.
Not because I’m in here, or because you think I should.
I look back on the way I was then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime.
I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t.
That kid’s long gone and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.
Rehabilitated? It’s just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t give a shit.
-Red (The Shawshank Redemption)

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Happy Birthday to my sister Diana!
She is celebrating her 19th year on planet earth! WOW!
Congrats, we miss you and hope you have a hell of a day!
I’ll see you soon!

Photo: Hector, QT and me-self.
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AND Happy Belated Birthday to our Agent and friend Hector Hernandez…
I really need to compile a birthday list! I am the worst when it comes to Birthdays!!!
F***!
ANYWAYS… HAPPY B-B-day! his birthday WAS on the 15th…

AND, just to let our friends know, (so they won’t feel like idiots later on… MY Bday is on the 21st…

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My eyes hurt… |-)
I’ve been at my PC since 8am… editing scenes with Gregorio Cazares and Delso Carrete…
I also made some cool action theme songs to go with these scenes, and that was the time-consuming part…
at 6:30pm we were invited on my aunt Raquel’s TV show at the local Eagle Pass station… Me and Ramiro Briones (Ash Wednesday) were interviewed. We showed the trailer for both Ash and Escape, and phone calls poured in about the flicks…
Too bad I could not reveal many questions asked… but in time, everyone will be pleasantly surprised…
We plan to begin our slew of interviews as soon as we finish the film, hopefully by the end of October…. we’ll see… BTW, my eyes hurt…
Saludos a Barco

you want to play blind man?
go walk with the shephard, but me, my eyes are wide f’n open…
-Jules

Out of the 365 days in the year, today is one of those 5 days that it actually rains in Eagle Pass… We are planning our last shoots for this week, so hopefully we can be finished completely with production…

Pics coming soon….

Overall, the edited scenes are exceeding our expectations… however it looks like a hell of a sound job after this… there are so many gunshots, grunts, glass breaking, etc. that we have to put in… in time…

As a side note, Roger is selling his complete Zelda Collection along with his Zelda Gamecube…
”Buy it now”, and get it autographed by his dog Zelda

don't be a henchman!stand on your laurelsdo what no one else doespraise the good of other men for good man's sakeand when everyone else in the world follows your lead(although a cold day in hell it will surely be)that's when the entire world shall live in harmony-Greg Graffin

We have to do the music really soon in Monterrey….

The ASH WEDNESDAY train is at full steam and I am spent…. I’m living without living, and dying without dying…. jajajajaja….
Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh….
F*** that, when I die I’ll have plenty of rest….
In the meantime… let’s get back to work….
no more whining…

I almost forgot… I posted this morning the theatrical trailer for ASH WEDNESDAY backwards! You read right. BACKWARDS!… No, we wasn’t… eeegggghhh… drunk… (vomit)…
NO, nothin’ like that… we just thought it was fun to see it backwards… THE REASON? I have NO idea…!!!

If you don’t have fun in this life, then why live?
How can hell be any worse, if life alone is such a curse? -BR

I called J’s, I called the cool dudes at the LFD warehouse and we went 12 miles out of Eagle Pass and had one of the bloodiest f******* shootouts… Sometimes it sucks, because you have to self-motivated to do all this stuff… but shit. IF IT WERE EASY. EVERYONE WOULD BE DOING IT.

We shot without Ash, but we’ll shoot that tommorow…
Jorge Diaz and other guys from the LFD furniture warehouse helped us out in being Mexican Federales of the AFI agency.
ALSO, special thanks AGAIN to Javier Hernandez from J’s Auto Sale’s in Eagle Pass…
The shoot included MANY extras for Federal Agents as well as ASH’s criminal crew…
Suffice to say that many get killed in a really cool way…
After the shoot, we went back to see dailies and Barco, chato and me were all ‘mouthing’ with the scenes… sniff.
I cannot wait to see the movie….
ALSO, if you want to see a REALLY cool movie today, rent Running Scared with Paul Walker… It is nothing but COOL non-stop action with a meaningful story.

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Photo: Dr. Lalo Chapa and Zelda

The next scene involved a very intricate planning procuedure on our part. We have been talking about this scene since Roger first talked to me about it almost a year ago…
It turned out easier than expected, but very stressful nonetheless…
The scene involved ASH Wednesday (Ramiro Briones), a ruthless Warden (played by Raul De La Cruz) and a hungry but unlucky dog (played brilliantly by Zelda, Royer’s Dog)… The scene will definetely be one of the most disturbing….
VERY special thanks to Javier Hernandez and his family for their really cool house.
special thanks to Raul De La Cruz and Ash…
SUPER DUPER SPECIAL THANKS to Dr. Lalo Chapa for being onhand and looking out for Zelda.
ALSO thanks to Barco…

ALSO thanks to Grisi Torres for the bottle of Bailey’s and the beer for the crew…
bottles to the ground….

Here’s Zelda and Link… as you can see Zelda is alive and well.
She barked that she wished to do more movies… I’m glad. sniff.

go to: www.someonewillfall.com

Everything is falling into place.

We will have a BUSY shooting schedule this weekend, but hopefully these will be THE last scenes to shoot. YAAAAAAAAYYY. sniffffffff.

everyone is looking for somethingand they assume somebody else knows what it isno one can live with the decisions of their own it seemsso they look to someone elseto tell 'em what to betell 'em what to weartell 'em what to saytell 'em how to act and think and compel others compulsivelyuntil the world is all like them-Bad Religion (No Direction)

And this is the official artwork for the DVD cover, so look for it in stores (Wal-Mart, Bestbuy, Blockbuster) or pre-order online at Amazon

ALSO, Today, like awaiting for a bastard child to come back…
I awaited anxiously day and night… and finally…
Yesterday at midnight Mana (one of the coolest rock bands in the world) released their new album…
and it will be looping continously for about 3 months….
This at least pumps up the crew to create a better Ash Wednesday….
turn it up!

Thanks to everyone who has seen the trailer, your support and emails have been very helpful…
keep spreading the word!