goin' south

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to do some shooting with Lauren Benjamin, aka The Dark Widow. She lives in Orlando and rather than fly her back up here for one more scene I've decided to go to her to shoot her final scene. This is the scene where she's in the jacuzzi watching TV when Chaz Chernobyl cuts in and announces he's escaped from prison and he's looking for revenge on his arch enemy, Thong Girl. The Dark Widow, alias, Luwanda Capris sees a prime opportunity to get back at Thong Girl for killing her man and acquire some of the power that Mr. Bigg posessed. Even though she doesn't trust Chaz, she sees this as an opportunity to double their strength and form a dubious alliance.
This is the first time we see Luwanda/Dark Widow and I want her to give off a strong sense of power and sensuality, so I have her rising up out of the hottub, naked from the back (in silhouette) and putting on a silk robe. She walks over to the intercom phone and says to her secretary, "Get me Chaz Chernobyl" as she lights a cigar and blows a puff of smoke. So all we see of her is her bare back and an extreme close-up of her mouth saying the line. Hopefully this will introduce her as being both sexy and strong.
While I'm in Florida I'll be taking a much-deserved three-day vacation. Hopefully I'll miss the hurricanes and I'll have some nice weather. When I get back I'll be jumping right into a heavy shooting schedule. I want to shoot all of the remaining scenes (about five) in September and the first two weeks of October so I can start editing and also prepare for the Nashville ComicCon on October 21st and 22nd. We'll be premiering the new 30-page comic book and showing the trailer for TG3 at the convention. We'll also have the new TG tee shirts for sale.
Thanks for checking in with me and I'll fill you in on all the stuff that happens in Florida when I get back - providing my plane doesn't go down due to SNAKES!!! Have you seen "Snakes On A Plane" yet? This movie is AWESOME. I went in not expecting too much, because of all of the hype, but I was pleasantly surprised. The snakes were really cool and scary and the story was really pretty good. However, I would discourage anyone from going to see the movie with THEIR MOTHER! My mom was here visiting and for some ungodly reason, she said she wanted to see it. Well, there's a scene where a hot naked chick gets bit on the tit (you gotta see it to believe it) and Samuel L. Jackson cusses like Mel Gibson at a Bar Mitzvah. Probably shoulda taken mom to see "Cars" or something and saved "Snakes" for another day. But seriously, you gotta see it!
Okay, well I'm off to Florida. My plane leaves at 6am so I'm gonna hit the sack here in a few minutes. Thanks for supporting The Thong and I'll talk to you again soon. Glen

New website

Okay, I'm starting to get the hang of this blogging business. It never ceases to amaze me how computer-savvy kids are today. My friend Julian, who's nineteen, is a computer genius; he edits and does graphics and knows his way around Final Cut Pro with his eyes closed. He even created his own Flash website and it's awesome. And on top of that he's a normal 19 year-old kid with a girlfriend and everything. Used to be, you had to be an anti-social geek to use a computer. Anyhow, I digress.
The new Thong Girl website is up and running at www.thonggirlfilms.com. Robin Grandin (formerly Weaver) did an excellent job making it look like a comic book website and still be full of information and resources. It will take a few weeks to get the merchandise section operational to where you can buy stuff directly, but you can see photos from the shoots and read the story of The Thong and, oh yeah, you can link to this blog....DUH! I just realized that you must already know about the website if you're reading this blog. See what I mean? I don't know crap!
Last Sunday we filmed another scene from the movie in Mayor Don Wright's office. Mayor Wright is the mayor of Gallatin and he graciously allowed us to decimate his office. Actually, we only moved a bunch of stuff around and didn't put it back in the right place, but luckily we didn't break anything. We're also going to shoot the finale scene in Gallatin Square where the Mayor (played by Rob Wilds) gives Thong Girl and BoxerBrief Boy the key to the city for saving Music City USA from the evil clutches of Chaz Chernobyl and the Dark Widow. We'll be looking for lots of extras for that scene so if you're reading this and would like to participate, shoot me an email.
Next weekend we're shooting three more scenes at my house and at the end of the month I'm going to Florida where Lauren "Dark Widow" Benjamin lives to shoot her final scene and to take a few days vacation. September will be a very busy month for filming and I hope to have all of the shooting wrapped by the end of September or the beginning of October. It's taking a lot longer to try and shoot everything than expected, mostly because of a lack of budget, As you know, I'm fronting most of the budget myself, with a little help from the Executive Producer, Will Jones. That means that we can only shoot when there is money to do so. Some of the locations require a fee, and then there are props and costumes and food... it can be very daunting. I think lack of money is probably the biggest deterrent to local filmmakers. An indie filmmaker rarely gets a backer; it's all your own money and credit cards and gracious relatives. But hopefully it all pays off in the long run.
One advantage to a movie like Thong Girl is it has the potential to generate some revenue on a smaller scale - through comic book conventions and merchandise and smaller distributors. I'm also hoping to develop action figures and video gaming at some point.
Okay, well that's enough for today. Thanks to the two people that may be reading this and I'd welcome anyone to send a comment or just a howdy to know that this is, in fact, being read by SOMEONE. Talk to you soon, Glen

My Very First Blog

Hey Everybody, This is my very first blog, so please don't be too critical. I've created this blog so I can keep everyone informed as to the progress of the making of my first feature film "Thong Girl 3: Revenge Of The Dark Widow". My friends are always asking how the filming is coming and I thought this might be a good way to communicate with everyone at the same time.
This being the first in a series of many blogs, I'll keep it short and simple; we're about two-thirds of the way through shooting what's known as "principle photography", which is just a fancy way of saying the shooting of the main scenes of the film. After the principle photography is done I'll go back and get any "pick-up" shots that I need, which is another fancy way of saying anything I missed during principle photography. Then I'll get all of my "establishing shots", which are shots of buildings and locations that I'll use to establish where the scenes are taking place. Sometimes these are a good tool and sometimes they're just plain unnecessary. This is determined during the editing process. Then I'll start my post-production, which involves editing, sound effects, dialogue replacement and the all-important musical score. Then I'll watch the film all the way through about a hundred times and go back and correct any editing mistakes I can before the big premiere.
I'd like to premiere the film in January at the Belcourt Theater. The Belcourt are the sponsors for my cable access tv show "2 Guys Who Don't Know Crap About Movies". I'm hoping they'll give me a deal on the rental of the theatre. I've been spending most of my own money to make this film and I need all the help I can get! By the way, you can see "2 Guys Who Don't Know Crap About Movies" at www.fylmz. com and click on the Entertainment page. Fylmz.com is the brainchild of local filmmaker and all-around nice guy Tony Vidmer. You can also view trailers for all the new releases and create your own "talking heads" (ala Conan O'Brien). Check it out; it's a really cool site if you're a film buff.
In the coming months I'll be telling you about some of the experiences we've had making the film and also about our trips to the upcoming comic book conventions where we'll be selling our TG comic books as well as a bunch of new TG merchandise.
That's all for now but I look forward to sharing all of our Thong Girl experiences with you and I hope this blog site will also provide an outlet for you to comment on all things Thong. Take care and see you soon, Glen