Savage County Official Trailer from Savage County on Vimeo.

In the summer of 2009 in Memphis Tennessee with a script co-written by Dan Alvarado and a crew of talented actors and filmmakers from Los Angeles and Memphis, I directed Savage County as what was originally intended to be a fifteen-part web series that worked as either short chapters or as a feature-length “film for new media.”

Greenlit as a leap of faith on the part of my boss, David Gale, and MTV Networks and produced by BR2 in Memphis* – it was a project that was exciting initially only for its potential. When we made it, we didn’t know where it would live, or how it would work within the network’s many tendrils. With a production budget of $250,000, it was always possible that it might just be an expensive experiment in online horror.

Since completing Savage County, many groups at MTV Networks have taken another leap of faith on the project, committing to distribute and air it across platforms if we manage to do for Savage County what so many online projects have to do: prove that the audience cares.

As I write this (August 18, 2010), we’re well on our way to doing this. We’ve partnered with Eventful to create a “demand” campaign that allows audiences to take a look at a trailer (and soon, other material from the film) and let the network know if this is something they want to see. If 100,000 people opt-in to the demand, MTV2 has committed to airing the feature-length version of Savage County. In eight days, we’ve gotten over 52,000 demands.

I’m honored that so many people have taken time out of their day to check out my movie. I think it’s hard to comprehend, since the film was backed by a network, how indie the production was in its scope, and in the freedom I was given to make it. If it wasn’t for the talent of the team and their support of my vision (support that cost them sleep, comfort, and sanity in some truly awful locations), there wouldn’t be a Savage County. Like anybody who just finished his or her first movie, I’m very grateful to the team and proud of what we pulled off.

In an early blog post about Savage County, commenters went crazy over the note that Savage County was inspired by Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it’s an inspiration regardless, alongside dozens of other horror movies that used limited means to tell a story with a bigger impact than the production budget can buy. We had HVX200′s instead of CP-16′s, but I think the example of 70′s horror carried us a long way.

We’re going to be releasing a lot of cool stuff in the weeks ahead. I’ve been given freedom to create a lot of extensions to the movie that aren’t just ads, but entertaining and scary in their own right. Again, I’m working with great creators and hope that we’re going to be earning all the support we’ve gotten so far.

* Craig Brewer‘s production company, run with his producing partner, and Savage County producer Erin Hagee. I met them working on $5 Cover: Memphis.

The below is excerpted from an email I sent to some friends at an unnamed tech company, regarding my documentary This is Fi. I think this would actually work as a way to crowdsource documentary film logging and transcription – allowing people to donate labor instead of cash.

The Problem:

* We have over 100+ hours of footage (video diaries) of a man who speaks accented English.

* The first step in turning those 100+ hours into a 90-minute movie and a rich media website is transcribing and logging the footage.

* The cheapest cost I’ve found for this task is $50/hour of footage by an Indian offshoring company called REDACTED. This would mean a minimum of $5000 to get started on the movie.

* If we don’t hire it out, we’re looking at 400-600 man hours of doing the logging/transcription ourselves.

We were just granted non-profit sponsorship for our doc… Which means that my partner and I are about to go beat the bushes for $5K in donations just to transcribe the film. Ouch!

Buy what if we weren’t asking for cash? What if we could ask – even our brokest friends – for a donation of time and boredom.

Proposed Solution:

* What if we broke our hundred hours of footage into manageable sizes (15 seconds) and crowd-sourced the transcription. (Like Aaron Koblin’s work with Mechanical Turk.)

* The structure would be the video version of the recaptcha project – people’s transcription would be checked against other transcriptions… Sometimes a user would be providing a first pass, often they’d be validating.

* “Donations” of transcription would be charted against the goal (think “Kickstarter”). People would be able to see the impact they’d had on the process.

Why this matters:

* Distributed logging could be a significant cost-cutter not only for doc projects, but for corporate video/reality shows/etc. It’s a way to aggregate the time of interns/support staff/even audience members into meaningful work without wasting resources on managing volunteers.

* Metadata collected here could be an early part of the feedback loop – just by adding opinion information to the logging data… For example: what did you see? How compelling was it on a scale of 1 to 5?

* Even if not using volunteers – paying micropayments of 10 cents per 15 seconds would be a drastic reduction in cost over conventional logging. Paying by the second could bring a huge savings to production co’s IF there was some way to track the data from the original source footage, to the review area, and back.

The question:

* Is this possible?

* What are the stumbling blocks of breaking-down and reconstituting the footage and associated metadata? Can editing software talk to the net?

* Do you know of a solution that does this already? This is probably ridiculous – but could you batch-upload to YouTube and then scrape YouTube comments for logging info?

What do YOU think? None of us have money to donate to a film… What about time? A little effort? What if it was a game? Would you compete against friends? Would this be more/less boring than minesweeper/solitaire?

As always, would love to hear what you think, whoever you are.

Million Dollar Bluff - Page 1

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Million Dollar Bluff - Page 8

UPDATE: Vote for me on massify. If they back me, I will make this. Your vote = my gratitude, worth more than a lot of things these days.

UPDATE 2: So, I posted it on Massify, and the predictable happened – it got low ratings from my competitors. I gave them low ratings in turn. I contemplated creating accounts to push me into the top ten, but instead, I deleted my account. I like the idea of people coming together to make movies online, but in practice it seems like what’s rewarded is enlisting friends for a website. This is good for Massify, of course. I’m very sympathetic to the need to grow community and the ponzi-like incentives a site needs to deploy (enlist your friends to vote for you!). Could I get my script in the top-10 of the Massify contest (and reviewed by Killer Films)? Sure – all it takes is time and email accounts. Would it mean anything? Not really. So, here’s the script in its natural habitat:

I’ve gotten so many emails on my Nokia cellphone-as-documentary-platform idea that I decided to post other old ideas that I like and wish had seen the light of day.  Attached is the script to “The English Lesson” – a script I wrote with serious coaching (or guidance or something) from my friend Amie Barrodale who I went to high school with and who is a great writer who occasionally emails me with a brilliant and exciting scheme and then is off to something more brilliant and more exciting.

“The English Lesson” tells the story of a wormy, closeted momma’s boy who gets his comeuppance from a Croatian gangster and his sex-starved wife. There’s not a likable character in it and a very large part of me wishes it had been my thesis project at UCLA.

You can download the pdf here or scroll down. I promise that (I think) it’s funny. I want somebody to make this film.

 EXT. AMERICAN SUBURBS - EVENING - ESTABLISHING (PRESENT DAY)

               INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING

               A large pad of paper on an easel, inscribed in bold felt
               marker: "THE ENGLISH LESSON."  Tracking away, we see first a
               TEACHER in his forties - buttoned into a shirt and tie that
               seem borrowed from a school uniform.  Then, THE ROOM,
               expensive but tacky, stuffed with foreign bric-a-brac.  We
               land on OTAR MOSHFEGH, a 60-something Croatian gangster with
               bushy eyebrows and the wild presence of a violent alcoholic.
               The Teacher and Mr. Moshfegh look O.S. expectantly.

               ANGLE ON: INNA MOSHFEGH, Otar's wife, 30's.  Potato-shaped
               and wearing a colorful and too-revealing cocktail dress.  She
               looks back at the pad of paper, nervously mouthing the words.
               Finally, she speaks the title of the film, in a thick
               Croatian accent:

                                   INNA
                         The English Lesson.

               The men shake their heads.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         A month of lessons and we have only
                         this.  Can the woman be taught?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         It's not an easy tongue to master,
                         Mr. Mosfegh, but she's full of
                         potential.

               INT. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY - DAY

               A muscular YOUNG TONGAN stands in front of a curtain.  He
               covers one eye, making a face.  His UNCLE enters the frame.

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                             (in Tongan, no subtitles)
                         Well, read it.

                                   YOUNG TONGAN
                             (in Tongan, no subtitles)
                         It's a "Q" - how do you say it in
                         English?

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                             (in English)
                         He say "Q".

               ANGLE ON: The Teacher, barely visible behind the D.P.S.
               counter, an EYE CHART mounted on the wall behind him.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No, sir, you said "Q".  I didn't
                         understand what he said.

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                         He say "Q"!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         We don't issue licenses to
                         families, sir.  If I can't
                         understand his answers to my
                         questions, I can't expect him to
                         read traffic signs, can I?

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                         Yeah, man, you bet you can.  Ask
                         him other question.

                                   THE TEACHER
                             (reluctantly)
                         The letter after the "Q".

               The uncle starts to translate.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Shhh!  I'm asking him. (to young
                         man) WHAT'S THE LETTER AFTER "Q"?

                                   YOUNG TONGAN
                             (in Tongan, no subtitles)
                         Aw, man.  Fuck this.

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                         Give me break, buddy.  We come
                         three times so far, okay?  I don't
                         translate, man.  We not cheating!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Sir, this is not my problem.

                                   YOUNG TONGAN
                             (in Tongan, no subtitles;
                              getting angry)
                         Tell him to give me a damn license!

               The Tongans lean over the counter.  The young man is
               enormous.  He wrings his massive hands.

                                   TONGAN UNCLE
                         Look, buddy!  This bullshit!  He
                         need license!  What we supposed do?
                         We come three damn time so far!
                         What we supposed do?

               The Teacher, not intimidated, turns to the young Tongan.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I suggest that you learn English.

                                   YOUNG TONGAN
                             (in English)
                         I fuck your mother.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         See?  You're off to a brilliant
                         start.  (to line)  Next, please!

               EXT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - MIDDAY

               The Teacher posts flyers for his course by the library door.
               Inna exits the library, holding a copy of "Dirty Dancing."
               Again she's overdressed and showing too much skin.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Inna.  Hello.

                                   INNA
                             (surprised and looking for
                              the words)
                         Good -- day!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         How are you?

                                   INNA
                         I am good.

                                   THE TEACHER
                             (correcting her)
                         You are well?

               Inna twists her face and mumbles in English and Croatian.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         What is it, Inna?

                                   INNA
                         You... 

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes?

                                   INNA
                         You are...   Um.  You.  You are
                         looking lov-eh-ly today.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No, Inna.  I'm looking "handsome,"
                         because I'm a man.  You, as a
                         woman, are looking "lovely."

               Inna giggles.

                                   INNA
                         Oh!  Really!  Thank you so very
                         much.  You are so nice.  Then, you
                         are handsome.  You handsome man.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Thank you.

               Inna approaches, rolling lustfully towards him.  She's
               instantly full of confidence.

                                   INNA
                         In the class.  I like very much the
                         looking at you.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         That's nice, but a little much.  We
                         don't want to be too familiar.

                                   INNA
                         But I want to get familiar.  The
                         life is lonely and cold.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Enough.

                                   INNA
                         My husband has nothing for me in
                         his pants...   You know what it
                         means to be man.

               The Teacher retreats from Inna, terrified.

                                   INNA
                         Everything is okay?

               The Teacher looks at a BROWN BUICK idling in the parking lot.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No!  No - Inna, it's about your
                         husband.

                                   INNA
                         Forget him.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         He isn't paying me.  We've had
                         seven weeks of classes and I
                         haven't seen a penny.  I'm going to
                         have to cancel.

                                   INNA
                         No!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes.  Absolutely yes.  And now?
                         Now, with these...   advances.
                         Advances I have no idea what to do
                         with?

               Inna presses against The Teacher.

                                   INNA
                         You don't worry a second.  I tell
                         him pay you, he pay you.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes, I must be paid... 

                                   INNA
                         You don't worry about my...   What
                         you call?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Advances?

                                   INNA
                         Inna make you happy, baby!

               Inna touches The Teacher on the nose.  He scrambles from
               beneath her and runs towards the waiting Buick.

               I/E. - BUICK SKYLARK - CONTINUOUS

               The Teacher's elderly FATHER and MOTHER wait for him.  His
               father, small-eyed and mole-ish, is behind the wheel.  His
               mother, rigid and skeletal, sits in the back seat.

                                   TEACHER'S FATHER
                         Who was the young woman?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         My lunch break's almost over, take
                         me back to work.

                                   TEACHER'S FATHER
                         A friend?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Father!  I said drive the car.

               The Teacher's mother looks out the window at Inna, still
               standing in front of the library.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         Is that the Croat's wife?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I'm sorry?

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         The Croat entrepreneur, owner of
                         the video store.  Is the woman at
                         the library door his wife?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         Has the Croat paid you?  Did you
                         broach the issue with the woman?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I did.  I told her that I intend to
                         terminate the class.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         How very brave to walk away without
                         your money.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         It's not important.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         Thirty dollars twice a week for
                         seven weeks.  Four-hundred and
                         twenty dollars.  And you consider
                         it just for the Croat to withhold
                         this money from you, when it could
                         be applied towards the food that
                         you eat, or the roof over your
                         head?  She must be quite a woman.

               The Teacher looks at Inna, who waves.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Drive the car.

               INT. HOME OFFICE - AFTERNOON

               An model ship, three feet long, and perplexingly intricate
               lies in near completion on Otar's desk.  Inna sits next to
               the model, casting agitated glances at the model cars,
               planes, and boats that fill the room.  Otar enters.

                                   INNA
                         Why did you not pay him?

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         So, now you speak English?

                                   INNA
                         I never ask for nothing at all, and
                         you still don't pay him.  It makes
                         thirty dollars only and you don't
                         pay.  You act like some big shot.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Thirty dollars plus thirty dollars
                         makes thousands, woman.  I did not
                         become what I am by throwing out
                         thirty dollars to every asshole.

                                   INNA
                         I see him today.  He says he
                         doesn't come anymore.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Ha!  We find another.

                                   INNA
                         I don't want another.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Why so much love for this teacher?

                                   INNA
                         Pay him.

               Inna grabs a mast of the model ship.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Who you talk to anyway with all
                         your fancy English?

                                   INNA
                         I tell you, pay him!

               Inna snaps the mast off of the model.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (in Croatian)
                         Stop it, woman!

                                   INNA
                         Pay him!

               She snaps off another mast.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (in Croatian)
                         I won't tell you again!

                                   INNA
                         Pay him!

               Otar slaps Inna across the face.  Inna looks at him and
               knocks the model to the floor.  It breaks into pieces.

               INT. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY - AFTERNOON

               An attractive blonde YOUNG MAN steps up to The Teacher's
               counter.  Good looks don't conceal that he's mentally slow.

                                   YOUNG MAN
                         My mom told me I had to take these
                         papers here, so I could drive.

               The Teacher looks up at him, cracking a rare smile.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Well, let me take a look.

               The young man hands The Teacher some papers.  The Teacher
               rifles through the papers.  They are BLANK.

                                   THE TEACHER
                             (handing back the papers)
                         Okay, I'm going to need you to fill
                         these out.

                                   YOUNG MAN
                         Oh...  I fill them out?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Uh-huh....  I have a pen if you
                         need one.

               The Teacher hands the young man a pen.  With some effort, he
               sets to filling out his forms.  Smiling, the Teacher watches
               him write for a moment before DIALING HIS PHONE.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         Hello?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Mr. Moshfegh?

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         Who is this?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         It's the English teacher.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         Ah, yes.  Inna tells me you've
                         decided to terminate her lessons.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Terminate?  I don't think I used
                         that word.  I'm worried about the
                         bill.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         So, we're having a money problem?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         You haven't paid at all, sir.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         I am a man of many concerns.  Small
                         matters occasionally escape me.
                         Your check is in my desk.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Really?  Oh.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH (O.S.)
                         So, you come.  You take your money,
                         you leave?  You don't teach my wife
                         English?

               The Teacher looks up at the young man.  He has put on a pair
               of ugly plastic glasses that erase his good looks.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         If there isn't a problem over the
                         bill, there's no reason I can't
                         teach your wife.

               The phone clicks.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Hello?  Goodbye, Mr. Moshfegh.

               The teenager hands him the forms, incomplete and illegible.

               INT. GARAGE - NIGHT

               Three of Moshfegh's HEAVIES work with women's hair dryers,
               shrink-wrapping bootlegged DVD copies of "Dirty Dancing."
               There is a knock on the metal garage door.  The door opens,
               revealing The Teacher holding his over-sized pad of paper and
               his easel.  The three heavies stare at him, icily.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I am here to teach Mrs. Moshfegh
                         English.

               One of the heavies gestures towards the back door.

               INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER

               Inna and The Teacher sit alone in the room, opposite from
               each other, across a coffee table.  The easel is set up,
               displaying a stick figure of a man.  Beneath the drawing are
               the words: "Handsome" and "Good-looking."  Under these words,
               there is a stick figure of a woman.  Beneath this second
               drawing are the words: "Lovely," "Pretty," and "Beautiful."

               There is a stack of flashcards in front of The Teacher.

                                   INNA
                         I'm happy you come back.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Mr. Moshfegh told me he intends to
                         pay me.  I'd prefer to have the
                         check before we begin.

                                   INNA
                         He busy!  He pay you!  No problem!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No problem?

                                   INNA
                         Yeah...  Okay.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I've made flashcards of problem
                         words from last time.  Say them,
                         then use them in a sentence.

                                   INNA
                         Sure, sure.

               The Teacher holds up a card.  It reads: "Drink."

                                   INNA
                         Drink.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes.

                                   INNA
                         Otar drink a beer.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Otar drinks a beer.  I drink a
                         beer.  We drink a beer.

                                   INNA
                         Otar drinks.

               The teacher holds up the next card.  It reads: "Deep."

                                   INNA
                         Deep...   The swimming pool is
                         deep.  The ocean is deep.  Deep.

               The next card.  It reads: "This."

                                   THE TEACHER
                         This is an important word.  This
                         word on this card is important.

                                   INNA
                         This card.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I used that example.  Try another
                         with this word.

                                   INNA
                         This word is this.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No, I used that one, too.

                                   INNA
                         This table!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Now, in a sentence.

                                   INNA
                         This swimming pool is deep.

               The Teacher is flustered.  The next card reads: "Forbidden."

                                   INNA
                         Yeah, yeah.  Smoking is forbidden.
                         Cell phone is forbidden.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Cell phones are forbidden.

                                   INNA
                         Okay!

               The Teacher looks through the stack.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Oh, this one, this one you must
                         have heard on television.

               He holds up the card.  It reads: "Passion."

                                   INNA
                             (trying to sound like an
                              announcer.)
                         I have a passion for weather.  I am
                         passion about coffee.  Yes, it
                         comes from the TV.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Well, in the real world, we don't
                         use that word very often.

                                   INNA
                         Oh, no?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         That's a television word.  People
                         don't have passions for coffee or
                         weather.  It's a little too much.

                                   INNA
                         Too much.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Which is a mistake you make over
                         and over again.  You use words that
                         mean too much.  When you talk like
                         a television, Inna, you sound
                         ignorant.

               The Teacher takes the pad off of the easel.

                                   THE TEACHER (CONT'D)
                         For example, earlier today, you
                         sounded ignorant when you tried to
                         pay a simple compliment.

                                   INNA
                         Sorry.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Nothing to apologize for, we're
                         fixing it.  First of all, you said
                         I looked "lovely".  "Lovely" is a
                         word to describe a woman.  I told
                         you, to describe a man, you say
                         "handsome".

               He points to the pad.

                                   THE TEACHER (CONT'D)
                         Or even, "good-looking."  But all
                         of these words are...   Well,
                         they're too much.  People don't
                         tell people that they're "handsome"
                         - they say "You look nice."

                                   INNA
                         You look nice.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         The same is true for women.  I
                         could tell you that you look
                         "lovely" or "pretty" or "beautiful"
                         but that would be too much.  It's
                         more likely that I'd say "you look
                         nice."

                                   INNA
                         You look nice.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Because, if I called you
                         "beautiful", it would mean
                         something.  It would mean too much.

                                   INNA
                         You think so?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Yes.

                                   INNA
                         Hey.  Don't worry.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         It isn't a worry, Inna.  Or even a
                         rule.  This is how people talk.

                                   INNA
                         So, you wouldn't call me veautiful?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Beautiful.

                                   INNA
                         Yes, veautiful.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No "v".  It's a "b".  Beautiful.

                                   INNA
                         Veautiful.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Buh.  Buh.  Buh.  It's a "b".

                                   INNA
                         Veautiful.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         You're biting your lip.  Let go.
                         Pout.  Beautiful.

                                   INNA
                         Pout?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Just put your lips together, don't
                         bite them.  Like the beginning of a
                         kiss.
                             (exaggerating the gesture)
                         Buh...   Buh...   Buh... 

                                   INNA
                         Veautiful.

               The Teacher leans across the coffee table, and roughly pulls
               Inna's bottom lip out from under her teeth.

                                   INNA
                         Beautiful.

               She looks at his fingers, resting on her face, rises, and
               kisses him, vicious and slobbering.  He is petrified.

               INT. HOME OFFICE - SIMULTANEOUS

               Moshfegh is rebuilding his model ship with tweezers and
               plastic cement.  Near him, A HEAVY reads a paperback.

                                   THE TEACHER (O.S.)
                         Mrs. Moshfegh!

               The two men look up when they HEAR the shout.  The heavy
               looks at Moshfegh for an order.  Moshfegh shrugs.

               THE LIVING ROOM - THE LAST FEW MINUTES OF THE LESSON

               The Teacher is flustered, but recovering.  Inna seems at
               least momentarily tamed.  The two are conjugating.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Run.

                                   INNA
                         I run.  You run.  He...  runs.  We
                         run.  They run.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         And yesterday.

                                   INNA
                         Yesterday, I am running?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I ran.

                                   INNA
                         I ran.  You ran.  He?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Ran.

                                   INNA
                         For all.  He ran.  We ran.  They
                         ran.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I ran from trouble.  I run when
                         chased.  I am running right now.

               Inna stands.  The Teacher eyes her nervously.  She thinks for
               a moment, then she dashes towards him, straddling him in the
               chair, burying his face in her chest.  The Teacher stammers,
               but is paralyzed.  She kisses him, again and again.
               The door opens.  The heavy from Moshfegh's office enters.
               Inna stops kissing The Teacher.  The three of them eye each
               other, unsure of what to do next.

               INT. HOME OFFICE - LATER

               Moshfegh sits at his desk.  The Teacher stands near the door.
               The model boat forces The Teacher to tiptoe and contort to
               see Moshfegh.  Moshfegh repairs a tiny rope with plastic
               cement on the tip of a paperclip.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         A moment please.

               Moshfegh works on the model for a while.  The moment grows
               and grows until The Teacher is forced to speak.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         If you'd prefer, Mr. Moshfegh, I
                         could simply take my check and
                         leave you to concentrate.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         I'm sorry.

               An awkward silence.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I said, we could settle the bill,
                         and I could leave you alone.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Sorry, when you get to be my age...

                                   THE TEACHER
                         The bill.  You said you would pay
                         me.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Your check, yes.  Please, take a
                         seat, there.

               Moshfegh ceases work on the boat.  The Teacher sits.
               Moshfegh fishes in a drawer, emerging with a check.  He
               starts to hand the check to The Teacher, but stops.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         My wife.  She is very happy with
                         your lessons.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         She's a very good study.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         She is in love with you, of course.
                         It breaks my heart.  But, you love
                         my wife, she loves you.  (Switching
                         into a sing-song)  You are young,
                         you have everything... 

                                   THE TEACHER
                         You have entirely the wrong
                         impression.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         ... If only I could fly like the
                         butterfly, spoke the caterpillar... 

                                   THE TEACHER
                         No.  Mr... 

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Maybe she is too coarse for you?
                         The travel and hardship has made
                         her like animal?  Wild and ugly?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Absolutely not!

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (sing song)
                         Sweet love... 

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Mr. Moshfegh.  Your wife is one of
                         my...   My favorite pupils.  She
                         has a passion for... 

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (deadly serious)
                         Listen, English teacher.  You think
                         you can be better for her?  You
                         think you can treat her like she
                         should be treated?  You think I'm
                         sleeping giant, some fool who
                         doesn't see what happens?  You
                         think I allow some fancy young man
                         to steal off with my most precious
                         treasure now that I am old and too
                         tired to give her the things that
                         she needs?

                                   THE TEACHER
                         You couldn't be more wrong.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         These are questions.  I can't be
                         wrong while asking questions.  An
                         English teacher should know this.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Please, just give me my check.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Maybe you're right, you know?
                         (sing-song)  Who am I to stand in
                         the way of young love?  Look at you
                         - you're flying!

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I'm not interested in your wife,
                         sir.  Not one bit.  I'm happy to be
                         her teacher, but that's all there
                         is... 

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         A low woman.  You think she is low.
                         You think I am low.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         The check.  All I want is the
                         check.  I swear to God I'll never
                         come back here.

               The Teacher stands.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (sing song)
                         Easy, sweet lover, easy.  A man
                         says things about his wife, they
                         sound hard, I think.  Harder to
                         your ears than mine.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Can't you hear me?  I want the
                         check.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (sing song)
                         It is spring... 

                                   THE TEACHER
                             (shouting)
                         THE CHECK!

               Moshfegh looks up.  A heavy sticks his head into the room,
               but Moshfegh waves him away.  He leans back in his chair.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         Your check is on the desk.

               The Teacher approaches the desk, sizing up Moshfegh,
               nervously.  He snatches the check, quickly.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Thank you.

               The Teacher starts to back towards the door, edging around
               furniture, threatening to topple the miniatures that fill the
               room.  At the door, he turns his back on Moshfegh.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (shouting)
                         YOU SON OF A BITCH! DO YOU KNOW WHO
                         I AM?

               The Teacher turns, frozen in fear.  His lip trembles.
               Moshfegh rises, swiping the model ship from the desk with a
               broad gesture.  He crosses towards The Teacher.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         We find a paper at the library.  My
                         wife wants to speak English.  You
                         promise to help us.  I let you into
                         my home.  And you - you make
                         romance.  You play every one of us
                         against the other.  Week and then
                         week, you play your game.  You walk
                         through our back door, like family.
                         Do you see where you are?  Do you
                         know these men around you?  Do you
                         know the things we have done in the
                         places we came from?  And you, you
                         treat us like fools?  You fuck my
                         wife and come to me for money?

               The Teacher recoils.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                         What will you do with that check?

               The Teacher shreds the check.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         I promise, you'll never see me
                         again.  Never.

               He looks up at Moshfegh, whose violent rage slowly fades.

                                   OTAR MOSHFEGH
                             (sing song again)
                         I hope that is not true.  A lonely
                         woman needs something to look
                         forward to.  Someone to teach her.

               Moshfegh smiles, a grandfatherly smile.  The Teacher,
               bewildered and now crying, turns and exits.

               INT. GARAGE - MOMENTS LATER

               A heavy opens the garage door to let The Teacher exit.  The
               Teacher covers his face to hide his tears from the men.

               INT. HOME OFFICE - LATER

               Two heavies clean up the wreck of the model ship, salvaging
               what they can.  Moshfegh stands over them, fretting.

               INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER

               Inna sits in a chair, doing light aerobics in front of the
               television, following a show intended for geriatrics.

               INT. BEDROOM - LATER

               The teacher's mother sits in her twin bed watching the
               aerobics show we saw at the Moshfegh's.  The teacher's father
               sleeps in his own bed.  There's a SOFT KNOCK on the door.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         Come in.

               The Teacher enters.  He's a mess.

                                   THE TEACHER
                         Hello, mother.  I just wanted to
                         tell you I'm home.  I hope... I
                         hope I didn't wake you.

               Slowly, mother turns to look at son, with spite in her eyes.
               The Teacher's eyes are pleading, begging her not to ask.

                                   TEACHER'S MOTHER
                         Did you get the money?

                                                          CUT TO BLACK.

First-person documentary is a bit of an obsession of mine. I’m making a documentary on my friend, Fi, and 90% of the footage is stuff he shot. His self-filmed DV is far more interesting, raw, and compelling than our “professionally filmed” HD.

The challenge to this methodology is editorially – how do you filter hundreds of hours of video diaries? How do you sculpt a journal into a narrative?

This problem is the same problem that keeps people from cutting home movies into anything self-contained. Editorial is time-consuming, tedious and requires a custom skill set. But, what if you could take the judgments that are behind editorial decisions and automate them? What if you could use thumbs-up/thumbs-down voting and/or tagging to allow people to shape an edit? What if you used social networking behavior to allow an automated edit to know that John is more interested in footage pertaining to his friend Sam and his girlfriend Kate than he is in his acquaintance Mike?

I proposed a system of mobile devices that recognize proximity, social relationships and shoot high-quality video. Picture this: you go to a party with a bunch of friends. All of you film with your smart, high-quality cameraphones. At night, while you sleep, the phones upload footage and create an assembly based on the order in which things happened and physical proximity (i.e. the phone knows if two people were filming the same conversation, dance, striptease, etc). When you wake up in the morning, you watch a video. You click a thumbs up for shots you like, a thumbs down for shots you don’t, and you tag people you recognize. When your friend watches the video 2 hours later, the choices you made about the video have further refined the edit. He, too, makes decisions. Each re-viewing of the video produces a more finished version.

If you and your friends did this all the time, you’d end up with an on-going series about your lives – particularly the events when cameras are most present: concerts, parties, weddings, graduations, sports events, road trips, etc.

I worked with my friends Tony and Sooyoung at Favorite Medium on this deck. Nokia didn’t go for it, but I still believe in the idea. Someone should do this. If you think it’s a good idea, call me.

A PDF is here.

The Invincible Season 1 Preview iTunes Card

The opinions below are mine…

REVISED POST: Almost two years after Invincible debuted at Comicon.  This was a big project for us: a title we are passionate about (Robert Kirkman’s witty and addictive Superhero Comic “Invincible” translated by the team at Gain into new media.  The launch was covered in the New York Times, and came a little in advance of the Watchmen motion comic.  It’s an idea I think still has legs, even if it was lost in the shuffle of comicon and not part of the mass promotional push for Watchmen (which I still want to see, even though I hear it’s like 99% blue dick footage.)

We’ve got more episodes in the can – and a not-massive, but committed group of people who like Invincible as a way of reading/watching comics on their iPhone.  Is it “as good” as the comic?  Yes and no – I think the story’s as good, even if it loses the magic of taking place mainly between the panels as it would in print.  Certainly some things are lost in translation, but ultimately, it’s a tradeoff I’m willing to make – the motion graphics and sound of Invincible aren’t a replacement for the printed comic, just a way to make it portable.  I’ve made a similar trade-off with simple iPhone games that lack the visual impact of something on the XBOX or the PS3.  I’ve made the compromise with TV shows when traveling…

AN OPPOSING VIEWPOINT:

While I’m definitely an early adopter, my game and show purchases have become more of a go-to for whiling away time now that I know that it’s reached a critical mass. Playing games on the phone, watching TV on the phone… I’ve seen other people doing it. It seems more like texting than like rollerblading. Reading comics on a phone? Potentially, I think it could be “a thing”, but needs that critical mass. But you can’t get critical mass until you have a sustainable financial model. It seems very likely that some smart sponsor will come along and give Invincible a shot in the arm. As a direct sale, the phenomenon may be more long-tail. It’s a good product, but who knows?

From talking to other people who do things like we do, it feels like we’re all in a mad rush to strike gold, or oil, or diamonds. We need to find the reliable, repeatable, sustainable way to make money on the net with entertainment. As I write this (March 2009) I have the feeling that the shape of that money-making thing is emerging from the fog. While some ideas weren’t the billion-view-hits we hoped for when we made and promoted them, I wonder if we won’t be revisiting all of them when we do know what the reliable money-making thing is. I would be willing to bet there are a number of projects like “Invincible” that a sponsor could take real ownership of – presenting content with a pedigree to an audience that has never seen it before.

I hope so. I think Invincible is a great title and motion comics could be a way to expand the shrinking audience of the comics medium. While a sponsor might not share the spotlight with “motion comics” in the heyday of their 15 minutes of fame, they could take full credit for sustaining and building the foundation for comics you can read on your phone.