25 Flips Flops & Failures

Image: iStockphoto.com

FLIPS: projects not completed


“10,000 Years of Finnish History” was one of our few flips. We thought, it was  a catchy title and that we could tell a compelling story. A hip, hot (and photogenic) history professor came on board. We made a plan, wrote a synopsis but somehow the project never caught fire and we dropped it. Then at a wrap party we came up with an alternate one minute version based on the country´s high alcohol use: a man (dressed in appropriate costume) with a bottle of Finlandia vodka goes from the present day back 10.000 years. The next day when we sobered up, we decided to shelve it. At least for awhile.


FLOPS: projects completed but not a complete success


“Back in the USA” was the first of what we call our homemades – projects I shoot and Eki edits (and straightens out my shots). Before I left Finland he taught me how to use the audio equipment. It was heavy as hell and I had to cart it all over the place. But when it came time to do the interviews I was spooked by all the little lights and buttons. “Back in the US” turned out to be a very well-done home movie. You can bet that when I came back to Helsinki I listened and learned.


FAILURES: projects completed that fizzle


Little Margie productions has been lucky, most of our projects have been commissioned, have got support funding from various foundations and have been well received.  “marihuanaland” was an exeption – it was financed by us and has still not been placed. But it was something Eki and I believed in. And even if it sat on the shelf forever we would always think it was a big success.


Lesson 29: sail right through flips, flops & failures - they´re part of the game


Next week: 26 TechTalk (Eki´s new blog)

24 Out to Lunch

Photo by Eki Halkka

In Colorado, checking out a couple of new projects for development. Staying on the Western slope of the Rocky mountains in the high desert. Surrounded by gorgeous John Ford scenery (he made movies on location two hours South of here in Moab, Utah), with fabulous sunny weather and miles and miles of unspoiled empty space, the area still manages to be a mecca for fastfood. Since we´re on the road a lot, we´ve eaten in almost every FF joint. The following is a rundown of a few.


McDonalds: after eating McDo´s cheeseburgers in Finland and in France, sad to report that the American version (at least in this part of Colorado) doesn´t compare. The bun is like a sweet sponge – it squashes down to a flat pancake before you´ve finished. And the filling tastes generic – in other words tasteless. Since the initial disappointment have given it a pass.

Denny's: a chain, but newly opened in this area. Serves food 24 hours a day, everyday (except for major holidays). At the beginning there were long waits - the out-to-lunch crowd pouncing on a new choice. Dennys has a huge breakfast menu (with senior portions). And healthy bland choices like grilled chicken salad with apple and cranberry. But a couple of times we fell for the traditional turkey dinner (served during the holiday season). The first time we ordered it, it looked like the photo in the menu. But the second time it looked like an accident - with glue-like gravy covering the body. After a few more visits the bland food began to taste like a school canteen.

Wendy's: poor Wendy´s – it´s right next store to the new and popular Dennys. The day we were there it was empty, although their parking lot was full with the overflow from their busy neighbor. The staff and manager were trying to put on a brave front, but no people means no business. Happy to report that they make good chili.

TacoBell: we´re hooked. And almost always order the same thing: two crispy tacos with extra salsa. It´s cheap, cheap - two can eat for about 7 dollars.  And it´s clean. It´s fast. The food is simple, satisfying and tastes good.

Chipotle: according to an article in the Wall Street Journal weekend magazine this chain is the Rolls Royce of fastfood. Everything is organically grown and locally sourced (whenever possible). It´s Tex-Mex at its best. You pick and choose from a variety of options. And the stuff doesn´t stand around for hours getting stale – they make small batches several times during the day. More than twice as expensive as TacoBell, the restaurants are designed to look like the Wild West meets Scandinavia.

Palisade Wine Country Inn: we needed a break from FF and decided to treat ourselves. PWCI is a proper restaurant – small, cozy and inviting. And it´s only a couple of minutes by car from my sister´s vineyard. We ordered the dish of the day – salmon with a caper butter sauce. Jesse Wilson, the young chef served us himself. It was delicious. We asked him where he learned to cook. He said his dad taught him. We thought: what a good thing to pass down to your kid.

Lesson 28: when you´re on the road take some fruit

Next week: 25 Flips, Flops & Failures

23 StarStruck

Frank & Alvar (2005)

My big weakness is celebrities. I want to film them because they´re famous for a reason. The star-chetect Frank Gehry and I had a history together (although Frank didn´t have a clue). Before I moved to Finland I lived in Venice Beach right down the boardwalk from his Life Guard Station house. It was such a witty take on a mundane everyday object that I fell in love. When we built a house on an island near Helsinki, I called it Frank Gehry Far North.

So when I heard he was coming to Helsinki I thought we just have to get him on film. After multiple phone calls to his PR person in LA the answer was a big NO.  Frank did not want to be interviewed. But one day I was talking to Juhani Pallasmaa, a Finnish architect. He said he was having lunch with Frank at Alvar Aalto´s house. I said, “That has to be filmed.” I used Juhani´s name (with his permission) and the deal was made. I´ve told this story before, but it´s worth repeating:  when I ran into tell the team that we were going to get to film him they both said, “Who the f*** is Frank Gehry:”

Esa-Pekka Salonen was my next target. At the time he was conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. When we interviewed him for “Frank & Alvar” I pounced.  I told him that we wanted to concentrate on his work as a composer. He vaguely accepted. Then the hard work began. Countless phone calls and emails trying to arrange meetings for shoots and interviews. A whole list of demands from his people followed. At one point I was ready to give the development financing back to the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). Our commissioning editor wanted to know why we had got involved in the project in the first place. I said, because I was hopelessly star struck but that this doc had cured me.

That was until we got to Oakland, California to shoot “marihuanaland”. There I chased down everybody who had anything to do with the cannabis business. Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University said, emphatically, that he did not want to be interviewed. I told him we didn´t want him to talk about the school, but about what the school had done for Oakland. We got him. Steve DeAngelo was another tough nut to crack, but we got him too. His PR person made the appointment and added that we had better bone up because Steve didn´t appreciate stupid questions. He turned out to be very nice and gave a good interview. The Discovery Channel found him too. They´re currently running a reality series filmed at Harborside Medical Dispensary: Weed Wars. Check it out.

Lesson 27: To get an interview know your subject and find a fresh perspective.

Next week: 23 Out to Lunch

22 The Subject is 90%

image by porah / sxc.hu

Even when we´re in development, or in production on a doc project, we´re on the alert for the next big idea. That means talking to people.  Checking film festival programs. Reading a lot of publications. Watching what´s on the tube. Finally, and most important, what catches the team´s attention. 

little margie productions has for the most part concentrated on Finnish culture: architecture, music and design. The projects sort of fell into our lap. “marihuanaland” was a big switch. We liked the change of direction and are on the look-out for what´s next. The following are some categories that we and any film team should consider.

1. Human Rights: a big audience and grant application pleaser (the George Soros Foundation). “Pink Saris” is a good example: the story of a young Indian girl who is married off against her will.  She escapes from her cruel in-laws and becomes a champion for beleaguered women in the same boat.
2. Kids (especially if they are poor).  Kids can be a nightmare for a director. It´s better to frame the story around an adult who can take direction and help to get them to do what you want.
3. Love & Sex: one doc filmmaker did a series in which she traveled around and told different people about her dysfunctional love life. And they told her their stories. It was a big hit.
4. Food: from distant lands, esoteric menus and restaurants (El Bulli), home-grown, regional, ethnic, absolutely anything, including some stuff that would make most people throw up if the actually had to eat it.
5. Music: all categories, (except conductors, composers and classical - they can be a hard-sell). It helps if the subject is famous (and died young). But there are often horrendous copyright fees to contend with. 

It was Ansel Adams who said that the subject was 90%. That might apply to documentaries too. I´m not certain. But at least it´s a starting point.

Lesson 26 Choose a subject that excites the team but stay objective

Next week: 23 StarStruck 

21 Film Festival Folderol

“marihuanaland” is in the can.  To get some international exposure , Eki and I chose five film festivals we thought might be good for this kind of a doc. The first thing we did was fill out an application on withoutabox. Every independent filmmaker should be au courant with this site.  You fill out one application and then are good to go to almost any festival. But it´s not easy. They want a lot of information, clips, etc. It took us the better part of an afternoon to complete. They have a useful feature where you can match up your project with the right festivals. You also receive, on a daily basis, info on FF. It seems almost every city, however small, has one.

Image by kinsum / sxc.hu

Little Margie production docs have been in a couple of FF. And I have to say it was kind of a high. First to get accepted and then to win. We won “Best Architectural” film and “Best photography” at the Milano Doc Film Festival for “Frank & Alvar” (about architects Frank Gehry and Alvar Aalto). I went with our story editor to Milan. It was great to see it on the big screen and in the catalogue. And from there it traveled to a lot of places, including India.  But we didn´t get any distribution agreements or sales out of it.

“10 Finnish Architects” was in an International Art & film festival in Montreal. I went to that too. The big hall was packed and the docs were well received, but again, no new revenue. “Posh Poor & Middleclass BRITS” was shown at OXDOX in Oxford, England in the city´s oldest cinema. That was fun. The audience asked cheeky questions and thought it was nervy for an American to take on the class system in Britain, even if it was in a minscule “fly-on-the-wall” kind of way.

“Sundance”, the holy-grail for independent filmmakers, gets thousands of applications and most of them are rejected. But I read about one doc filmmaker who had entered 400 FF and was turned down. On a lark he applied to Sundance and was accepted.  He was gobsmacked and didn´t believe it. He thought someone was playing a joke on him. But it turned out to be true and he got a lot of publicity. Whether it morphed into cash in the coffers is another story.

Lesson 25: Unless you have big bucks to spend stick to 5 FF.

Next week: 22 The subject is 90%

20 Let´s Eat!

Ask producers what they think is the most important part of a film project and they might say, “Financing.”  But ask crew members the same question and he/she will shout out loud, “The catering!”  I don´t know what it is about a film set or being on location but you´re hungry all the time.

Maggy's army marches on it's stomach - image by leonardobc/sxc.hu

Some companies have unlimited budgets and the catering is five star, first class.  I was invited to watch an Anne Bancroft shoot on location on the outskirts of Mexico City.  All the food was brought in refrigerated trailers from Los Angeles. They circled the set like covered wagons waiting for an Indian attack. The cooks prepared a hot meal (steak, baked potatoes, vegetables) for at least a hundred people.  In between there were snacks and desserts. Coffee, tea and soft drinks were on tap all the time. But to watch poor Mexican peasants waiting on the outside of the circle for leftover scraps made you loose your appetite.

Our crew usually eats on the run wherever when we´re shooting.  But we make up for it at night. We never stint and always (unless we´re dead beat) have a good time. Once we did an informal survey. Eki and Antti loved the breakfasts at the Double Tree hotel in Santa Monica. A chef was on-hand to cook eggs anyway you wanted. And there was an abundance of anything else you might want to start the day. The guys loaded up so if we had to skip lunch they were fortified.

We all liked Milan for the great food and service. About 6 o´clock, after a hard day we´d go to an outdoor restaurant and have aperitivos. They always served bunches of delicious salty snacks so that you would drink more prosecco. We happily fell right into the trap.

One time in Los Angeles when we were filming at the Walt Disney concert hall, the union guy who was our guide, took us to a barbecue joint that only a native would know about. They cooked the spareribs outside that were authentic and delicious. But I think our all-time favorite place to eat is the TrashCan café hidden away behind a non-descript building near SpaceWhale, Eki´s studio (we´ve written about it before). Anne-Marie is there everyday cooking fabulous food.  I always love it when we work on Friday. It´s meatball & mash potatoes with lingonberry sauce day.

Lesson 24 Great catering makes for a happy hard-working crew

Mext week: 20 Film Festival Folderol

18 What´s It Called?

Eki always laughs at me, but whenever we start a new project I have to name it. Sometimes we change the title. For example: “Chasing Esa-Pekka” started out being called “Wing on Wing” (one of composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen´s compositions). But the project was so long in the making and he was so hard to pin down that I was literally (by phone and email) chasing him from Los Angeles to London to Helsinki. When I complained to Eki he said that´s what we should call it. And suddenly the whole project came alive.  

Image by jaylopez / sxc.hu, modified by Eki Halkka

Sometimes the titles have visual meaning as well. We were developing  LUCIA: patron saint of light.  Celebrated on the 14^th of December, in addition to the modern day story, which Eki found a bit boring and banal, we wanted to convey the bloodiness of the 3^rd century virgin Christian martyr who died for her beliefs. With red nail polish I dribbled out the name “Lucia.”  on an off-white card.  In the doc I open a book to tell the story. The title page looks like it was written in her blood. We wanted to convey the dark, pagan, violent side to this yearly celebration that usually features a bevy of young, pretty blond girls. 

Naming a project also helps us to organize the story. “El Gaucho de Högsåra” was a natural. Here was a young Argentinian guy with long dark curly hair living on a (mostly) Swedish speaking island in the Finnish archipelago. It was like he rode in on a horse and brought all his cheerful high-octane Latin energy to the island. He made even the most taciturn old-timers laugh. And somehow you know it won´t last and he´ll ride out again. 

“marihuanaland” just happened.  We tried a bunch of titles but nothing stuck. Then we decided to show how the cannabis business had helped to accelerate Oakland California´s revival. And we made the city part of the story. Someone suggested that we call it “Tokeland.”  But I´m happy we stuck to our guns. Now we´re looking into new projects. We´ll know it´s right when we name it. 

Lesson 23: Name it and the project will have a life of its own. 

Next week: 19 Let´s Eat!