Teaching at The New School

About once a year, I guest lecture a digital video class for Philip
Kain at The New School. I talk to his students about producing, giving
a run down of what it's actually like to produce vs. what you can read
in a book. In college at Boston University, no one ever taught me the
ins and outs of producing. And I find that producing is a very
nebulous skill to teach in a class room. Since so much of producing
has to do with your own style - with trial and error and with
experience, I find the best way to learn is through experience I
equate producing to the training needed to become a doctor. You can
learn everything from books; however, if you don't start working on
patients, you'll never learn the subtle nuances and you'll never
develop your instincts. Thankfully, when producing, lives don't hang
in the balance. I'm not good with that kind of pressure.

That being said, there are things to teach that universities and
colleges graze over in classes. For the most part, I find that
professors are filmmakers that haven't been producing their own movies
for years, whether they ever produced them to begin with. The
fundamentals of producing remain the same, but with any craft - things
develop and change over time. Also, I find that few universities
actually offer full classes on producing. When I was at BU, there was
directing, cinematography, editing and basic production but producing
was only discussed as a topic point in a class. I guess students are
expected to learn in the field.

When I graduated college and came to New York, I held a variety of
jobs in film production before I settled on producing. I was working
at a television company at the time, and my then boss was hesitant to
take such a big risk when working with clients. Why should he hire
someone with only "book" experience when he's reporting to a big
company like Disney or Nickelodeon. I decided, the best way for me to
learn how to produce was to produce. I teamed up with a director and
set my sights on producing a film. Treating it like my own graduate
studies course, I was determined to learn everything from how to set a
budget, create a schedule, hire a crew, manage production people, work
in post production, enter film festivals and market my film. The
skills that I learned on one short, are the skills I use every day at
On the Leesh.

These skills are the bullet points I use when teaching. Whether it's
over coffee as a consultant or in front of a class, I talk about the
practicalities of shooting in NYC, getting permits, securing
contracts, hiring crew, covering your butt and much more. I find that
teaching about producing can be overwhelming. How to do limit the
lesson down to 2 hours? Typically, students look at me stunned and
ask a few questions but I can see that most of the lesson is going
over their heads. Julie and I have tossed around the idea of teaching
a full seminar on producing, but we haven't figured out the timing yet.

I enjoy teaching, and am grateful whenever Philip gives me the
opportunity.

Great Time at the NYC Downtown Film Fest Screening!

Last night, OTL with some friends, headed to the screening of the short film, "Kung Pow Wow." The NYC Downtown Film Festival's Audience Choice screening was held at the Duo Multicultural Arts Center.

"Kung Pow Wow" was among 4 other great short films. One favorite in particular was Adam Taylor's Dracula Comedy. This short was directed by Adam Taylor and tells the classic vampire story of Vlad the Impaler. Though Taylor's take on the tale puts Vlad in the role of school janitor training the new guy. It was hilariously funny! Congrats to Adam Taylor!

We all made a night of it - check out the pics here!


Producer and co-director, "Kung Pow Wow" Alicia Arinella with NYC Firefighter, Jack Halaby.


"The Sexually" co-creator and writer, Jeff Lycett with "Kung Pow Wow" stars, Jessica Arinella and Matt Rashid


Producer, Julie Tortorici, Associate Producer, Melissa Jernigan and "Kung Pow Wow" star, Jessica Arinella laugh it up at the bar afterwards


Mark and Wayne of "I'm Sorry Melissa" join in at the screening

On the Leesh teams up with Service Directions

On the Leesh Productions spent most of the day Monday in Yonkers, NY filming some instructional videos for the company, Service Directions (SDI). They provide laundry room design and management services for buildings throughout the tri-state area. We had a chance to work with actress, Mary Micari as the host of the videos. Mary has worked with On the Leesh many times in both our films and our webseries.



We also had the opportunity to team up with Vicki and Matt Chesler of the marketing firm, Highpoint Ventures, Inc. Vicki had written the scripts and served as the director of the videos.



If you are interested in the services that SDI provides, be sure to check them out at www.servicedirections.com.

If you are interested in having On the Leesh shoot an instructional or industrial video for you, please call us at 212-724-1794. Or send us an email at info@ontheleesh.com!

Kung Pow Wow will screen at BIFF

We are thrilled to announce that Kung Pow Wow, Phil Kain's hilarious story about the dangers of delivery while dating will screen at this year's Berkshire International Film Festival!

You might remember that in BIFF's 2008 Festival, OTL, along with writer/director Jeff Lycett got to screen the short film Denim. The producers and organizers of the fest, especially Kelley and Lauren couldn't have made Jeff or I feel more welcomed and appreciated. The community really came out for the movies and we had a great time.

We're so excited that we've made it in two years in a row!

Check out BIFF at www.biffma.com

Tilzy Reviews "I'm Sorry Melissa"

Hey, check it out... Wayne Parillo, creator and writer of the webseries, "I'm Sorry Melissa" recently came upon this review...

check it here: www.tilzy.tv.

2 Holly Episodes Headed to Computer Screens Near You!

Yesterday OTL, along with Holly Malone stars: Jessica Arinella, Brian Patacca and Julie Tortorici shot 2 more episodes of our flagship webseries: The In-Betweens of Holly Malone.



Both episodes were written by Phil Kain and were directed by our own Alicia Arinella.



Be on the lookout for these two funny epi's in the next few weeks!

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Being a first time filmmaker you would think that the hardest part would be getting your bearing on how a film set works, or how the equipment should be handled, or how to deal with the talent and the producers. But no. The hardest part about being a first time filmmaker for me is the waiting…waiting to find out if your film has gotten into that one festival that you so desperately want to be a part of.

Several weeks ago we shot my first short film, “Trevor’s Big Break.” I wrote it specifically with the Dogfish Head Off-Centered Film Festival in mind. I love beer and I love Dogfish Head so why not a film about my favorite beer if they just happen to have a film festival centered around beer?

Now that the movie is all done and submitted into the festival the only thing left to do is wait. Now I know how all those Academy Award nominated people must feel!

Is there a trip to Austin in my future? We will keep you posted.

Kung Pow Wow included in NYC Downtown Short Film Festival Audience Screenings March 19-21

Great news about our itty-bitty short film, Kung Pow Wow - we've just been informed that the NYC Downtown Film Fest is including this short in their Audience Choice Screenings on March 19th-21st. Tickets sell out fast so be sure to get yours as soon as possible so you can vote for this hilarious short film, written by Phil Kain. Buy your tickets at:

www.smarttix.com

Woohoo!!

Three Episodes of In the Can are In the Can!

Last week we shot three more episodes of our web series, In the Can. This series tells the story of an inept film production company trying to make its first feature film.



The first episode is another journal entry from intern, Jonathon to George Lucas. As a result of a court order, Jonathon can no longer wear or use any of his Star Wars paraphernalia and is now forced into the world of Star Trek.



In the second episode Sally discovers that she's low on DeeDuu's diet drug, "Flintstones." With him in prison on drug violations, Sally requests a "conjugal" visit with him.



Our third episode takes place in a prison conjugal room. Sally needs to know the Flintstone's secret recipe... and she needs it to be "conjugal".

Important to know... Sally is an idiot.



Shooting went well and everyone was hilarious.



Stay tuned for the launch of these episodes. In the meantime, check out all of the In the Can episodes here:
inthecan.ontheleesh.com