Archive for December 2006

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Altered VIRTUAL DRIVE-IN screening tomorrow night, and YOU are invited!

We are excited to announce that Altered will be playing tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 19th at 8:00 PM EST in the virtual world of Second Life, and everyone is invited! Admission is free, but seating is limited so show up early. Ed Sanchez and some of the other people involved in the making of the film will be on hand to talk shop and answer questions after the screening as well. The event marks the grand opening of Flux's Drive-In on Motorati, which is sponsored by Pontiac. Read more about it, and get a special link to the location here. What is all this virtual alternate world stuff you ask? Remember 20 years ago, when everyone was predicting that people would stop going outside and live virtual lives and the world would end because of the internet? Well, that's Second Life! If you haven't checked it out yet now is a perfect time to experience what all the hoopla is about, and a great chance to hang out with friends and watch a scary movie. Download the free Second Life browser now, create an avatar, and spend a few minutes learning the ropes in Second Life, then come hang with us tomorrow night and watch Altered under the virtual stars! See ya there.

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ALTERED BTS VIDEO 11 - Executive Producer Bob Eick on the mic!

1 day left! Holy moly!

We conclude our award-winning series, ALTERED BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEOS, with the man who made it all possible, our Executive Producer Bob Eick. We met Bob as the main investor in BLAIR WITCH and he's been part of our cabal ever since.

And conclude might be too hasty a word. Let's just say that this will be it for now. There might be some more BTS stuff coming your way.

All righty, then, what can I say? Tomorrow is the big day. Our baby's first first steps into the real world. Why, it just seems like yesterday when Jamie and I were meeting at the STARBUCKS in BARNES AND NOBLE, huddled over our warm coffee cups (actually, I prefer the cold drinks), giggling to ourselves as little PROBED nursed off our creative teats. But wait, what's that smell? Oh, hell, it's always my turn when it's number two, isn't it? Go to hell, Nash. Damn, it's leaking...

Early word is good from people that have somehow gotten their hands on the film, so we're fairly optimistic about the reaction we're going to get. But in the end, it is what it is. Hope people enjoy it.

Stay tuned for more junk.

-ed

STRAIGHT-TO-DVD BLOGS

ALTERED

MYSPACE

ALIENPAYBACK

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ALTERED BTS VIDEO 10 - The Creature evolves!

4 more days until DVD release! Somebody slap me!

To end the week off right, here is another BTS video expose' of the CREATURE in ALTERED. That's actress Misty Rosas under that suit in case you're wondering.

The bloody mess that was the STRAIGHT-TO-DVD blogs is now over! Check out the painful truth below. Just have a tissue standing by. It's a real jerker. Tear-jerker, that is.

Have a great weekend!

-ed

BLAIR WITCH co-director's next film going straight-to-DVD! PART V

PART I - PART II - PART III - PART IV 2006 will go down as one of the worse years of my professional life. There isn't any aspect of my abilities that I haven't completely doubted this year. There were a lot of dark paths that I went down in 2006, a lot of sleepless nights. Personally, things couldn't have been better. My family, friends and especially my partners are responsible for me being able to get through it with only some sleeping problems and three or so tiny ulcers in my stomach. Gregg, Rob, Mike, Jamie, Bob, Jeff and Matt have been great. They know I'm disappointed but they all feel proud of the film and have shown nothing but total support for what I've been going through. One day after some meeting in New York, Gregg told me “ALTERED doesn't suck. We made a good film. And even if you think it sucks, great directors make bad films sometimes. No one is batting 1000.” I don't think the film sucks. I really don't. I LOVED this film before December of last year, before all the screenings. But the road since then has been very hard and nothing is quite as painful as people not digging my work. It's like people not loving your kids. It's hard, man, and I don't know how artists do it, to tell you the truth. It's one of these things that I've examined in myself this year wondering if my skin was tough enough to keep going through this shit with every film. The jury is still out on that one. At this point, less than a week until the release of the film, I honestly just want to be done with ALTERED. I want to move on. What reaction do I expect? Well, some people will dig it, some people will think it's all right, and some people will hate it. What else can I say? Maybe it'll do great on DVD. Maybe it'll flop. We're not angry at FOCUS or ROGUE or UNIVERSAL or anyone on that side of the equation. They've been nothing but fair and very cool to us and as great a partner as we'll ever get as a studio is concerned. After our hardships with ARTISAN after BLAIR WITCH blew up, we really appreciate the fact that they've always treated us with the utmost respect. They did what they needed to do with ALTERED and if we were in their shoes, we would've done the same thing. We really hope to make more films with them. We on the ALTERED side of things all believe in the film. Last month, we began our own little marketing campaign with UNIVERSAL'S (who is distributing the film on DVD) approval and paid for with our own money. We've all been working hard on it, we still want to get the film out there to as many people as possible, we still support the film 100%. But we're not hiding from the fact that everyone, including ourselves, expected that this film was going to go theatrical. I mean, how can you go from one of the biggest INDIE successes of all time to a straight-to-DVD release? How? Well, like this. We just did it, folks, and even though pretty much every word of these five blogs was painful to write, we're not afraid to talk about it, because in the end, it's just another movie. Don’t get me wrong, I love ALTERED. I think it’s a fine piece of work and fun as shit and I’m really proud of the work all my collaborators and I did on the film. But it’s just my next film. My next film after a tiny, 30K, shot on HI-8 feature that happened to become THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. My partners and I will make more films. We're already working on a few things for next year, including a slate of films we hope to shoot in China. Gregg will direct one. I will direct one. Bob and Matt are involved already. I'm writing my script with Jamie. Rob, Mike and Andy are ready to get involved again as soon as their time comes. We're all still together. The band hasn't broken up. ALTERED has taught me many things, but the biggest lesson I learned is that this is the group of people I want to continue to make films with. I couldn't have asked for a better filmmaking family. Talented and smart and sexy as hell, too. I ain't no SCORCESE, people, and these guys know that and still want to make films with me. That's what family is all about, isn't it? -ed ALTERED MYSPACE ALIENPAYBACK YOUTUBE

BLAIR WITCH co-director's next film going straight-to-DVD! PART V

PART I - PART II - PART III - PART IV 2006 will go down as one of the worse years of my professional life. There isn't any aspect of my abilities that I haven't completely doubted this year. There were a lot of dark paths that I went down in 2006, a lot of sleepless nights. Personally, things couldn't have been better. My family, friends and especially my partners are responsible for me being able to get through it with only some sleeping problems and three or so tiny ulcers in my stomach. Gregg, Rob, Mike, Jamie, Bob, Jeff and Matt have been great. They know I'm disappointed but they all feel proud of the film and have shown nothing but total support for what I've been going through. One day after some meeting in New York, Gregg told me “ALTERED doesn't suck. We made a good film. And even if you think it sucks, great directors make bad films sometimes. No one is batting 1000.” I don't think the film sucks. I really don't. I LOVED this film before December of last year, before all the screenings. But the road since then has been very hard and nothing is quite as painful as people not digging my work. It's like people not loving your kids. It's hard, man, and I don't know how artists do it, to tell you the truth. It's one of these things that I've examined in myself this year wondering if my skin was tough enough to keep going through this shit with every film. The jury is still out on that one. At this point, less than a week until the release of the film, I honestly just want to be done with ALTERED. I want to move on. What reaction do I expect? Well, some people will dig it, some people will think it's all right, and some people will hate it. What else can I say? Maybe it'll do great on DVD. Maybe it'll flop. We're not angry at FOCUS or ROGUE or UNIVERSAL or anyone on that side of the equation. They've been nothing but fair and very cool to us and as great a partner as we'll ever get as a studio is concerned. After our hardships with ARTISAN after BLAIR WITCH blew up, we really appreciate the fact that they've always treated us with the utmost respect. They did what they needed to do with ALTERED and if we were in their shoes, we would've done the same thing. We really hope to make more films with them. We on the ALTERED side of things all believe in the film. Last month, we began our own little marketing campaign with UNIVERSAL'S (who is distributing the film on DVD) approval and paid for with our own money. We've all been working hard on it, we still want to get the film out there to as many people as possible, we still support the film 100%. But we're not hiding from the fact that everyone, including ourselves, expected that this film was going to go theatrical. I mean, how can you go from one of the biggest INDIE successes of all time to a straight-to-DVD release? How? Well, like this. We just did it, folks, and even though pretty much every word of these five blogs was painful to write, we're not afraid to talk about it, because in the end, it's just another movie. Don’t get me wrong, I love ALTERED. I think it’s a fine piece of work and fun as shit and I’m really proud of the work all my collaborators and I did on the film. But it’s just my next film. My next film after a tiny, 30K, shot on HI-8 feature that happened to become THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. My partners and I will make more films. We're already working on a few things for next year, including a slate of films we hope to shoot in China. Gregg will direct one. I will direct one. Bob and Matt are involved already. I'm writing my script with Jamie. Rob, Mike and Andy are ready to get involved again as soon as their time comes. We're all still together. The band hasn't broken up. ALTERED has taught me many things, but the biggest lesson I learned is that this is the group of people I want to continue to make films with. I couldn't have asked for a better filmmaking family. Talented and smart and sexy as hell, too. I ain't no SCORCESE, people, and these guys know that and still want to make films with me. That's what family is all about, isn't it? -ed ALTERED MYSPACE ALIENPAYBACK YOUTUBE

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ALTERED BTS VIDEO 9 - Brad William Henke as Duke - MULLET ALERT!!!

5 more days until the DVD comes out! Somebody get a doctor! Brad William Henke killed during his audition in LA. We needed a big dude and he came in and he was a big dude and he tore the audition space up. He attacked a chair, I think, during one of the more tense set-ups. He got the part right there, though I didn't tell him until later. He was really great. And he really got into the character, stressing the need for a mullet, which he got glued to his real hair for the entire run of the show. He wore that damn mullet around Orlando as proudly as anyone has ever worn a mullet. God bless Brad William Henke. See how many times you can spot that mullet in this clip: Tomorrow ends the tragic tale known as The STRAIGHT-TO-DVD Blogs. Click below if you want to delight yourself in our pain. -ed STRAIGHT-TO-DVD BLOGS ALTERED MYSPACE ALIENPAYBACK