1/10/04 HURRICANE & the making of "Lost in New Mexico"

The naturally talented David Paytiamo (left, who played Lonnie), filmmaker/director Jason Rosette (center, who also played FDA Agent Carl Wisconsin), and the improvisationally gifted Dale Waseta (right, who also played Uncle Waseta) from LOST IN NEW MEXICO (c) 2008

Went to the volcanoes yesterday with Marcie, who’s lived here all her life and knows all the great locations. I intend to utilize her expertise on finding the sweetest, most incredible locations known to man here in New Mexico. Well, if I can find some unique locations which haven’t been “shot out”, then I’d be satisfied.

There continues to be no real work here, or apparently, anywhere in the US. I’ll work one day next week as a mock juror for a law firm, and there have been a few entries for a movie festival I’ve been putting together, The William Bonney Picture Show.

Might take a job in Xeriscaping (a type of desert landscaping which uses little water) if I get the offer. The money’s really low but it would allow me to travel around the area and get to know some locations.

Also planning to start a video family tree operation, but hell, maybe I’ll just crank out some porn? There is a job at PussyCat Video (porn video shop on Central), might take that just to observe the structure of the porn business for a while to assist with my evaluations of the industry.

In any case, I do intend to stick to the April 1st start date for Susan Hero, no matter what, and in a way, part of me is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to start on the movie with just a shoestring and a prayer, as an experiment in faith. Ultimately, though, I do want a proper budget, mainly because I want to shoot on film, with name talent and get some real distribution.

One idea that has occurred to me is to ask the principals to stay in character the entire shoot, while I just tag along as camera man/director with occasional notes. This of course falls back on the quasi-doc concept which we’d envisioned as a possibility long ago.

In any case, the movie will get made. One position on shooting on a super low budget is that it could ruin a good property which demands higher production values, etc. But what’s the alternative? That the movie, after all this struggle and hardship and effort, does not get made?

Bullshit