I’m sitting with my beautiful little newborn. We’ve just finished a feeding and she’s in a blissful post-milk nap. Active-sleep cycle. She doing great. She’d lost a whole pound of her birth weight in just five days and the ped was concerned but four days later, she was back up 10 ounces so we’re in…
My Current Project
You might remember in February I mentioned that I had three projects in their third trimester? Well, one of them has been born! Meet our little girl, Olivia Grace Fritzsche. She was born at home, weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and measuring 21 inches long. She slept through the night at 1.5 months and is…
Film Friends: Amy and Bryan Storkel, and Jason Connell
My film friends, Bryan & Amy Storkel and Jason Connell have produced a film about card-counting Christians who are professional blackjack players called Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians. I’ve been following this film for a while. I’ve seen several pieces of advanced footage and have been honoured to support it’s development in several…
Film Friends: Vessie Kazachka
My friend Vessie Kazachka was Second AC on the Oscar-winning film “The Artist” and I remember her telling us while it was being shot that she thought it was a good film and that she was proud to be working on it. This was before the Weinsteins got wind of it. Vessie also worked on my short film, Sonny!…
Third Trimester!
I have three projects in their third trimester: two short films and a baby. Sonny is so close to being finished, I can almost taste it! I’ve even started thinking about what to write for my “director’s statement” and am just giddy with the thought of getting to write one! We’re still finishing the score…
Write What You Don’t Know!
They like to say, “Write what you know.” And often they mean that literally. To wit: write about the kind of life with which you’re familiar. They think that’s honest writing. I think it’s a cop-out. To be frank, the kind of life with which I’m familiar can sometimes seem rather boring. I’m a normal…
Minimalist Filmmaking: On the making of my short film, Jerry & Diane
So I just wrapped production as a writer-producer-director on another short film! It’s a 7-page comedy about a guitar lesson gone wrong, called “Jerry & Diane”. I’m really happy with the performances from my actors and excited about how it looks! We had the stupendous and fearless Chris Domig playing Jerry. And the delightful dry and quirky Margaret Rossi Copeland playing…
Building Sustainability… On Location and In Education!
When we shot “The Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams of Duncan Christopher,” we did our best to produce the film in a sustainable, green-minded way. Some of the things we attempted include: Using Bio-Diesel Reusing Clothes for Costumes Eco-friendly Flatware Shooting On-location Shooting Digitally Being Carbon Neutral Using Bio-Diesel We secured a bio-diesel donation from Tulsa…
Microsoft Digital Spots
Here is a series of digital spots for Microsoft that I First AD’d. This was day 1: the Samsung Series 9 and delightfully kind and easy-to-work-with Robert Sudduth (39s). Day 2: We shot the Sony Viao Y with the handsome and generous actor Brian Palatucci (37s). Day 3: Our computer was the HP Touchsmart 610 and…
On Being A Better First AD
Back in May, I was the First AD on a series of commercials for Microsoft – specifically, for several computers that sport the new Windows 7 operating system. We shot in a studio for four days and to be honest… It was my best experience as a First AD ever. I’m not sure what the…
