I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with Blake one-on-one a couple of years before he died. It was one of those fluke things, where his manager knew someone I knew, and set it up. I’d just finished writing and directing a web series that’d gotten some serious notice and been seen by a huge audience thanks to its distribution on a couple of high-profile mobile platforms, and of course, Blake’s book was out and he was quite the in-demand screenwriting guru.

We talked projects, and he shared a couple he was working on with me, and I with him. As far as I know, none of the projects we discussed that day ever got off the ground, but that’s OK- part of being a writer is knowing that a lot of your ideas just won’t make it past the dreaming stage.

Blake was fascinated with my web series work, and posted a blog about wanting to interview me on the air for his podcast soon. Unfortunately, that never happened- we were both busy, and he died not too long after that. But to me, like many writers, Blake will never truly die- he’s left us a fantastic set of books and a lot of solid thoughts on how to tell stories.

So, here I go again, like thousands of other writers, opening up “Save The Cat!” and reminding myself of his rules on how to create a great screenplay. Thanks, Blake!

Patrick Ortman wins Best Director @ FirstGlance Hollywood Film Festival 2013

I’m thrilled to announce that my film “Unlaced” won Best Director at the 2013 Hollywood FirstGlance Film Festival last week. It was a blast seeing our work projected at the Charlie Chaplin Theater in Hollywood, on the lot at Raleigh Studios, and it was great reconnecting with some special members of the crew, and our two awesome female leads in the movie- Ashley Bracken and Joanne Ryan. That’s Ashley, Joanne, me, and producer Kathi in the photo above.

Afterwards, FirstGlance interviewed Kathi and me about the win. I’m sure that video will pop up online at some point.

I enjoyed screening “Unlaced” at FirstGlance. They’re a class act. What’s more, this is the first festival I’ve attended where I wasn’t bored with the program. Every film that played was good, and worthy. Fantastic!

* photo copyright 2013 FirstGlance Film Festival, Hollywood

The second is a pocket Super16mm 1080p camera that records ProRes or compressed DNG (like the 4K camera). It’s TINY. It fits in the palm of your hand. And it can use the beautiful Leica and Fuji lenses we own and use on our XPro-1, with an adapter. Price? $999.

This shakes things up quite a bit in my world. Now, if Blackmagic can actually ship these things in quantity, on time… well, it’ll change things for filmmakers of all budgets.

I pre-ordered the pocket one today. Why? Because it’s priced right, and because I can use lenses I love with it, and because I can put it in a bag and use it underwater if I like. It’s just incredibly flexible. Oh, and I’d be able to shoot stuff in crowds and in plain sight without getting busted by the police. Not that I’d ever do that, of course- one must obey the laws of one’s municipality regarding shooting films.

I’ll most likely get the 4K one, too, but I want to see some footage and get some “in the field” reports of it, first.

To me, these cameras really aren’t for TV commercial production, or corporate work. They’re for indie filmmakers. They’re what the RED Scarlet should have been, which is a quality way to record images that look like film. Blackmagic is even branding these cameras as “digital film”. For most TV jobs, we’ll stick to Alexas and Canon’s C-300 or whatever the latest is (that’s another story), because those cameras are the standards and they do an excellent job. But if I were shooting another indie film like “Unlaced”, or maybe a web series, I’d seriously consider using the Blackmagic cinema cameras.

In the interests of learning something to help us win against these guys in the future, I went to their website and did some digging. Well, they do not have a 30,000 square foot studio. Nor do they have a staff of 20. Their business is two guys in a tiny office above a shop. The only thing big about them is the lies they tell people on their website and in their proposals. Oh, and their work is pretty bad: very cliche 1990s-looking.

What did I do? Did I blow the whistle on them to the client, and suggest they rethink their choice?

No. I let it be. Mainly because I feel that the client’s getting what they deserve- if it only took me 10 minutes of digging to get the truth, anyone who did any due diligence at all could get to the truth, too. And if that particular client is so scared about making a purchase decision that they base it on the line of B.S. those guys fed him, well, it means he doesn’t care about quality (or even budget), and isn’t the kind of client we’d like to have, anyway.

In the end, life’s too short. Next!

We’re pleased to announce that “Unlaced” is an official selection of the West Chester International Film Festival. More on “Unlaced“.

Here’s the promotional trailer for my film “Unlaced”. It’s about a man whose life has come undone, and it’s based on a true story. This is the theatrical trailer (so as Grandpa Simpson would say, “Turn it up! Turn it up!”), and it will play in front of movies at AMC theaters in Boston as part of the promotional campaign for the Boston International Film Festival.

More at “unlacedthemovie.com“.

We are thrilled to announce that my film “Unlaced” is an official selection of the Boston International Film Festival, this April in Boston, MA. Thank you, Boston! And congratulations to everyone in the “Unlaced” family.

A few moments later, my little hybrid SUV crawled past the true reason for our slowdown: a car and a semi truck had a run-in. The truck, of course, won.

I’m not sure how the accident happened. Probably somebody was speeding, or maybe somebody wasn’t looking where they were going. Man, the car was trashed. It was upside-down, and the roof of the car was crushed down to about 8 inches tall. I watched the firemen go at the car with the jaws of life. Crossed my fingers the occupants survived.

I like to think that everyone who passed was hoping/praying the same thing. And of course, we all probably also thought to ourselves “I bet one of them was speeding”. Or, “one of them wasn’t looking where they were going”.

I never found out if those people were OK. I didn’t see anything on the news about it, but then, in a huge metropolis like Los Angeles, it wouldn’t necessarily be reported. By the time I thought to check the usual blotter websites, it was days later. I couldn’t find anything. I choose to believe that the people in the car survived.

And I know it’s a little weird, but I had a bit of an “aha” moment, hours after witnessing this horrific and tragic event.  I began to wonder, how many of us are speeding through life, or not looking where we’re going? I mean, it’s easy to do. We’re creatures of habit, and once you’re on the hamster wheel, it seems to make sense to keep spinning in it. It feels like you’re getting places. ‘Cause you are booking it! But in the larger scheme of things, you’re not. You’re just careening through life, without any regard for who or what’s around you, or with any thought as to where you’d really like to go.