posted
This "Bordertown" actually sounds interesting, to me. I used to live just steps away from the Mexican border in Brownsville, TX, and the experience affected me deeply, on many levels. I am somewhat sensitive about the beliefs and judgments that I hear from people who have never been near the border, or have not seen what occurs.
I wrote a small paper about it, once, and I've since considered writing something bigger, but I'd be far more impressed to see a real (published) writer do something.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Apr 2006
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Kristine! How nice to see SOMEBODY is keeping an eye on the boards. I don't know if you do it often, but I hope you do. I am kinda addicted to these forums, and I figured Scott's was about the least dangerous to log on to.
How's the kids?
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:I can understand why OSC might not want to work on a project about an imaginary town that doesn't even exist. What author would want to be known as someone who makes things up?
So, I assumed you were being sarcastic when I first read this, but your following posts sowed the seeds of doubt. I'm pretty sure all fiction authors have no problem being known as people who make things up. It's kinda their job.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by vonk: So, I assumed you were being sarcastic when I first read this, but your following posts sowed the seeds of doubt. I'm pretty sure all fiction authors have no problem being known as people who make things up. It's kinda their job.
Are you insinuating that Ender didn't really save us all from the Buggers? Them's fightin' words!
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
As to Bordertown - as a tv project, we ended up with nothing we could show. unfortunately, the camera crew was inexperienced enough that vast quantities of footage were made useless by poor focus. Since the idea was to show we could film in Mexico, and the film was nearly unusable, it was hard to make our point.
In addition, my script was marred by being too hasty. I didn't understand the TV format yet - i needed more dialogue, more time to develop character and scene. It moved too quickly through the sci-fi aspects of the story and didn't spend enough time on the characters and relationships. I was still learning.
And since then, the core idea has been trodden on by other people's writing. But i may still get back to it. I loved the storyline and I think it still has possibilities.
Who knows ... maybe a comic book ...
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Scott, I'll be in LA Cinco de Mayo and beyond for about 60 days. Would you like me to re-pitch? Start from scratch, use not the footage, but maybe a demo cut by our friends in Utah.
I have other pressing biz. But Bordertown is also close to my heart.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
What do you call it when the same poster posts on the same topic over and over and over? Trolling?
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
See, for my part, Robin, I'd love to hear more about Bordertown, and/or the experience you had working on it. This other approach you're taking is far less interesting to me.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I worked this guy, Rodolfo Arizpe, Coca Cola heir of Northern Mexico for about a year to make a film penned by yours trully entitled COYOTE HUNT, a simple little hack'n slash adventure about zombies, corrupt Mexican cops et all..
I became frustrated and somewhere along the line, Rodolfo 'Popo' told me he really like Scott's writing. I had never read a single thing from Scott, but he gave me Ender's Game and I thought, pretty good..
So I managed to convince the televisa partner, Ruben to help me convince popo to do a film with Scott. An airplane ticket and a good hotel later, Scott was munching cabrito with us in Saltillo. Bordertown came of those conversations. We all hit it off.. Coyote got placed on the second burner (after Bordertown) and we got to filming.
Now, this is where I get really crazy. I got everybody involved on this and they started to peg me for get this... PRODUCTION ASSISTANT.
Anyhow. I cried and cried and finally got Co-Producer (or some such ridiculous title, I forget what it was) and we got busy filming with Popo's money.
I'll tell you later about the filming experience in Saltillo with Mormons and Mexicans, but lets just say that for a porno PA turned indie wonder it almost cost me my sanity. (not like that Vampire film with Ulli Lommel that REALLY landed me in the loony bin and got me a good free doze of thorazine or somesuch).
Now, what was left was a reasonably good (for Mexican TV) half-hour pilot dealing with a brother and sister who cross a dimentional tunel to Mexico. Like Scott, there's lots of things that I love about Bordertown. Magic, mystery.. and this really nasty duende with a holding bag. Hell, there's even a Mayan Shaman lady, but ... no peyote, alas. Maybe later chapters.
Anyhow, we wrapped, Scott took the baby to Hollywood and he probably got every door shut to him from Disney to Wes Craven. Up until then, we all still believed in the project, and the few little focus problems (very few and not so terrible) due to the ancient arri camera we rented were acceptable to all.
Then, Hollywood swallowed Bordertown, like they have swallowed so many of my projects in the past, and frankly, since I felt a little left out by Scott and Popo on the decision making regarding the distribution of the film (distribution being my specialty), I didn't push.
This left me bitter, because it ment two years of labor in Saltillo and a whole lot of a friend's money thrown to waste.
Since then, I have been learning the value of detachment.
More on all this later.. it's late and I'm off to LA tomorrow.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Wow, that sounds like a really exciting, yet frustrating, experience. I would really like to hear more about what it was like to work with OSC on the day to day stuff of the project, as well as how you feel the quality of it compared to the quality of an average American show of the same style.
What your talking about is rather interesting, and what I would like to know about Bortertown. More so than how much it isn't getting produced now.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I'm in Hollywood now. Yesterday I went to my dad's office where I saw the skeletons of the numerous writers that got buried under a pile of scripts. A sad, horrifying and frustrating thing, to be a Hollywood writer.
Working with Scott: well, there is no more gentle and kind person on the face of the earth, certainly.. until something goes wrong.. Then, that Mormon Berserker comes out, and all must run and hide or face the consequeces. There is this episode I will never forget. We set up to do this scene downtown Saltillo, and it was a madhouse, mariachis, dancers, hundreds of extras, a crane... There was a little error in the communication, and I held off all the traffic, making it impossible for the stars and Scott to arrive on time at the set. A huge traffic jam paralized the entire town. When Scott and the rest of the crew finally got there, he went off on me, furious. I had never seen him so angry. His face got red as a tomato. I was afraid he was going to have a coronary. There was another time when Scott went off, had to do with the last day of shooting, and some fake fiberglass tunnels. Scott went off again because we couldn't use some of the tunnels and they had taken weeks to build. Scott has a temper to him, and you never want to see him angry. But when he is not angry, he is the sweetest, nicest guy in the planet. He was always worried of 'getting in the way' of our director Peter Johnson. But Scott is a brilliant man with some amazing instincts, and he should have gotten a co-director's credit, because his insights were invaluable.
Regarding the quality issue. I sold films to Sci-Fi Channel when I was working as a distributor of far inferior quality than Bordertown. Bordertown might not be hundred million dollar production, but there was, in my humble (but extremely valid and well informed opinion) absolutely no problems with the quality. You can take that to court! I know film, and Bordertown was filmed within the standards of Hollywood and beyond. The toughest quality standards for film and t.v. are Germany and Japan. They have certain color and sound standards that must be met. Bordertown met each and every one of them. The folks who did the post consulted with me regarding this issue. So to say the quality of Bordertown was not up to standard is basically unfair. No, I fear the real issue was story. Like Scott said, we were doing re-writes constantly, sometimes to accomodate production issues, others to accomodate story issues. Frankly, as a film distributor with over 20 years experience in the business, I can pretty much say, without fouling up the issue, that Bordertown was a sellable product and had it been properly distributed, it would have been sold. But I was taken out of the distribution equation after we shot it. And here we are now..
About the story. It's about brotherly love. The nicest theme anybody could work on. And right now, with all the real life border issues, it would be a timely project.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Actually, they joined NAFTA talks, declared themselves illegal aliens and asked Bush for amnesty.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Every time gringos need to think about the border, they run... Mexico today is spanding a fortune on Aduanas.. You gringos sent the troops.. And ALL I WANTED WAS TO MAKE A STUPID SITCOM!
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I have to admit that I find it really strange to be called a "gringo" by someone named "Robin Kaczmarczyk."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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With all this trouble with Congress trying to put Mexicans into concentration camps and sombrero burnings, I think the time for Bordertwon is right.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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You mean to tell me that such inflamatory remarks deserve no answer? Are you treating me like an ordinary troll?
Scott, help me out here.. I'm not pivy to Internet delicatessen.. or whatchamakallit. But Bordertown.. Think, man! BORDERTOWN.. The perfect project for our times!
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I've never seen an actual troll be ignored. Though if I reply to you... oh crap.
Anyway, I actually remember that Bush was pro-immigration at the time of his election, and the brother he hopes will succeed him is married to a Latina (If I may be so bold as to use that term).
So does either of you own the rights to distribute this film? Or is it a moot point?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I don't know what CMM is. Is Fresco still intact? I was just checking the movie news and the production company is now called Taleswapper.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
If they're burning sombreros, is the one I got from Epcot Center's Mexico experience going to be a collector's item?
I'm gonna be rolling in Pesos. I hope this Bordertown thing goes through, so I can spend all my Mexico cash in the giant town you'll be building. Will it have Mariachis?
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Pooka: Corporacion Multimedios - a mexican co. Fresco is basically Scott and Peter Niels, a Utah based director and longtime associate. As long as those two are alive and well, Fresco exists (Scott you can debunk me if I'm wrong).
Cow: Of course it has Mariachis! Can you think of anything Mexican without Mariachis?
I was thinking about possible plots for upcoming episodes:
1. A Rey-Brujo takes over the Mexican Government to invade the USA with Peyote Tacos.
2. Space Aliens join illegal aliens in trying to stop the US troops at the border cause because they can't get Visas to visit the USA either.
3. Aztec Mummies battle El Santos for no good reason other than to have a good wrestling match.
4. A prodigious new self-igniting bean burrito causes folks to burst into flames.
Hmmm..
Best I leave the scripting to Scott, eh? I'll settle crashing the casting sessions and wrap parties.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Actually, the original episode included an american brother and sister who find a hidden smugglers' tunnel under their new home only to find out the tunnel is also an interdimentional gateway for alternative realities and such.
Along the way, they meet an evil Duende, a Shaman-Spirit.. And of course...
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Actually, after almost 20 years of banging my head against the wall in the Studios, getting involved in South American politics seems to be my best way to get films made in Hollywood.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Why do you want them to get made in Hollywood? There are Indie revolutions every now and so often.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I wonder what is the closest together two movies with the same title have been released. I wonder if there is some kind of expiration date on movie titles.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The copyright issue would prevent two films with the same title being released simultaneously. But I am not totally hip, and I've been outta the loop for about 6 years. That might have changed.
The Laws change!
I do remember resitering titles for Ilya Salkind for a few years, and when we did that, we had a lock on the title. ie: if you restered THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, nobody could do THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, but you could do THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS. So when you registered a title, you had to register possible combinations of the title. Similiar, I guess, to web-hosting. But for feature films.
BTW. You can register THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN as a film title, and if you do not include it as a t.v. feature, anybody can ride your coattails of the film and make their snowman after your film, using your title. Very tricky.
Now, if it's a novel, like say UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, well that locks that title completely. But you can only lock it for a few years. I think it's 4.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:The copyright issue would prevent two films with the same title being released simultaneously.
No, it wouldn't. And it hasn't been that way for far more than 6 years.
There might be other things that would prevent two films with the same title being released simultaneously. But not merely copyright.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Not copyright. That's not the right term. I'm forgetting my ... terminology..
I'm thinking about title registry or somesuch, Dagonee. But you can 'block' a title so nobody else can use it. Otherwise, why would Salkind spend so much $$$ registering titles?
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Actually, the crazy idea of 'blocking' titles by spending money seems so utterly ridiculous to me. Good grief! How crazy are people in Hollywood anyhow?
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
You know? I think this is right down a Fries Film project. I think I'm gonna walk over to Butch out thar in Woodland Hills, get him the lowdown (as I always wanted) and just have you and Popo do the paperwork later on.
This is a free country after all..
I can talk about a project, eh?
BTW. Did you and Popo notice that I never had a contract on this?
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Finally read this thread. A few things: I didn't even know Robin was involved with the traffic problem. When I found out what was causing it, I got out of the car and ran to the square and talked to a policeman, NOT angrily, and asked him (in my bad Spanish) to release the traffic so the people doing the shooting could get to the plaza. I did not get angry with Robin. If my face was red, it's because it felt like 200 degrees inside the car. I was so glad to get out. (Or if you saw me right AFTER my run to the plaza, at that elevation, you can BET my face was red - but it had nothing to do with emotion, only with oxygen.)
I did allow myself to get angry once, and only once, and it was deliberate. We were on a green screen shot, and the crew was supposed to have painted an entire wall green. But it has to be the SAME green all over, and it was not finished and the parts that were done were in different shades of green, which would mean that it would be infinitely harder to do the CG stuff back in LA. The real frustration was that there were some internal politics inside the company, and it was clear that things that were delegated to one particular team simply weren't done. So I spoke, with a certain amount of drama, pointing out that the surest way to get rid of the Americans was to let the filming be finished. Then I allowed Peter to be the nice guy who calmed me down.
Robin has apparently seen different footage from what I've seen. "A few focus problems" are the surest way to prove to anyone we showed the film to that working in Mexico was not going to be productive. It looked on the screen like amateur hour. Peter (Johnson is his last name, by the say) tried to cobble something together out of the usable footage, but it was barely enough to make a coherent story.
As I said before, the core problem was mine - we shouldn't have tried to go with a half-hour script, and I should have found out how different TV scripts are from film scripts, and etc. Bad script means bad show no matter what else you do.
But there were so many other things that went wrong, from actors who were simply exhausted to lack of focus and unhelpful lighting, and all kinds of other things that combined to give it a cheap and cheesy look.
Robin apparently saw footage that we were never provided with.
Even with those problems, we tried to interest various people in Hollywood, but people who invited us in politely were quite cold by the time we left: We could see the word "idiots" coming into their mind as they watched the work we showed them.
I have not abandoned the idea of the series, but I now know far, far better how to write it; and Peter knows far, far better what to insist on in doing the filming.
As for titles - they can't be copyrighted. The only reason people try to avoid similar titles is because they don't want people to be confused. The only real issue is trademarking - I can't come out with a film entitled "Superman Meets Mickey Mouse" even if it's just a simile and neither Superman nor Mickey Mouse is depicted in the film. But that's only because of trademarked characters.
Nor can ideas be copyrighted. Only language can be copyrighted. Unless you can show an overwhelmingly close relationship between the story flow of two projects, and a direct line of connection between the creators of the second project and the script etc. of the first, you ain't gonna win in court.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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