Director: GASP ___ FESTIVAL SCREENING IN L.A.

GASP 

Played at the Rita Hatworth Theater as part of the Downtown Film Festival! 

GASP, short film from Thomai Hatsios on Vimeo.

GASP -- Reviews

Thee most bad ass review of GASP just came in from Chad Clinton Freeman, "Gasp was sexy, fun and scary; sort of exploitation mixed with horror mixed with drama. "



From Cinematographer Matthew Irving:

"All I can say is: "Wow".  You are incredibly talented.  I thought the film worked on every level, and your over-arching vision was extremely clear and perfectly executed.  This should be a fantastic calling card for your directing abilities--and for everyone else involved.  The performances were nuanced and believable, the cinematography was right on target; the quirky score set the tone flawlessly.  And of course, I really dug the 70's vibe.

I'm very impressed and extremely excited for you."

More comments, reviews and answered questions:

GASP WON!!!!

We won the POTA grant for our film !!!!

Read all about it!

GASP world premiere at Athena Film Festival

The Athena Film Festival is a production of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Women and Hollywood.

I felt so blessed to be a part of it.

Score!

The film is being scored as I type! A wonderfully gifted and skilled composer by the name of Myra Moreta is in Vancouver working on it!!! Score!!!!

Follow that link and check out her amazing music. I've been listening to it over and over again...Love her music, style and her sense of humor!!!

It took a long while finding the right composer.

Several options were made available to the film. All of them were amazing and worthy; truly gifted, and skilled composers came forth. I hemmed and hawed (sp?) not feeling quite right, felt stuck...it was getting me down.

Then

Roger (indie hero) came through, once again, suggesting the perfect person for the score, as he did when he suggested Danny to play Gary . I listened to her music and just felt everything come into alignment, the way it feels when getting perfect alignment with a Yoga pose- it just feels right, you just know. I'm playing her music from the website right now as a matter of fact.

So

she has a quicktime and she is composing and I am in heaven ~woohoo!

Extreme Gratitude

"Oh Thomai, you surrounded yourself with such lovely people..."
Danny Carpenter, Sound

He was talking about how amazingly sweet, talented and skilled the cast & crew I brought together for this short film are.

Sweetness abounds.

Crew Props:

I'm so glad Tarina Reed, the DP, fought for the lenses she just had to have for this-
and that Roger Mayer, the indie film producer hero was able to finagle them at not even 1/10th their usual cost. Tarina's ability to make what we see in our minds eye happen with a camera is ridiculous. She shares her talent and skills without ego, and with the stamina of a Midwestern (Michigan) woman who started her camera career in the armed forces. I love workin' with T.

Jesse James Smith, her 1st AC, totally brought that undeniable 1st AC, Zen to the show. Clean, clear, tall glass of water, Zen. Welcome to L.A. Jesse!

Roger Mayer, Producer, has been in the indie film trenches, from festivals to production and on, for so long, he was able to pull not one, but several location options for free/favor return out of his hat. He instinctively knows what to do and when- both really big things and little things, like having the most perfect music on in the car on route to day 3's set. I'm looking forward to accessing his brains film expertise / database for post when he returns in a week and a half. Several productions have an umbilical cord connection to Roger right now; Inspire Expire is super blessed to be among them.

My L.A. niece, Asia Alexis Coleman, Co-Producer, brought Roger on board. Like Roger, Asia has the ability to charm deals out of thin air for a production. She pulls bizarre-o deals out of her hat. Things like convincing the man at the bus headquarters to let us use the bus, and a bus driver, for free, for 30 minutes.
She starts a job today that she's super excited about. I know she'll do fine.

The minute Dave Paige, 1st AD, walks onto any project -I immediately relax.
He walked in the door and I felt my shoulders drop down from my ears with a swoosh. He kept us going in his calm, cool and collected with a sweet smirky, punkity rockity, way. It's smooth Sailin' all the way with Dave. And he did it with only 1 PA / 2nd AD.

Sherry Gunderman, the Script Supervisor, has no idea what an angel she is (OK, so her halo is slightly off kilter, but that makes it more interesting). She sees EVERYthing, which is common for a scripty of course, but, she sees it from a creative artists POV, so it's not just the rote detail tracking. She offered incredible, scene saving suggestions all the way through, while also being able to express compassion for the character, to me- the writer/ director. And she's fricken funny! The effect is maintaining the feeling as well as the continuity, with joy.

Words can't express the level of gratitude I have for Eddie San Chen -period.

G&E
When Eddie says he has your back, he means it. He gave us equipment and got his team, who I love, on board. My favorites, Sonoko Shimoyama (Gaffer) and Sergio Villegas (Best Boy) worked like a well-honed machine along with Sonoko's guy, Aarin Stinde (Key Grip). They move like the wind and they did it without walkies on this one. I felt safe with those three doin' their thang with us. Words fail to describe the energetic connection I feel with them. I just adore ‘em.

Sonoko Shimoyama, Gaffer, is one of the most bad ass, kick ass women I've ever worked with on set and she is the only female gaffer I know. She knows her stuff, it shows and everyone respects that. To top it off, she's humble about it. She's an extremely rare gem and a GREAT leader.

Sergio Villegas, Best, looks like a star and he's built like a pit bull. He's an observer and a thinker- quiet action, doesn't need to show off, just has it together and does his job with man grace. He's fun to pick on when he's on set- Eddie gets him good.

Aarin Stinde, Key Grip, was new to me so I was really impressed that he stepped up to this particular, extremely low budget plate. For him, this was probably a favor to Sonoko. I so appreciated his presence and look forward to seeing him on set again.

Roger added Franco Lentini as a G&E swing. He's from NY and he's Italian, so of course we got along instantly. He's one a those strong guys everyone knows has a huge heart & you can tell he loves being in production- it must seem so easy to him after being a NY cop for 10 years.

Hanz Lefterios Dalken, Production Designer, stepped it up 100%. My apt. became Hope and Imani's apt. He painted the walls, moved the furniture, made art with the 7 year old actress, framed and placed photo's in just the right place, set dressed, re-set the set dressings over and over again, kept track of the props, and stayed calm, cool and collected throughout the whole shoot. He and Dave must be from the same smooth sailin' with an edge, planet.

When Bo Sundberg said he wasn't available to be the soundman on this one, but that he had someone who was family to replace him- he meant it. Danny Carpenter, Sound, fit in as family immediately. I knew he was awesome when he offered to carve the lamb at our pre production / Greek Easter meeting. He has a sweet grace and a twinkle in his eyes. We worked together for 3 days and I feel like I've known him for years.

Haruyo Fanta, Key Make-Up Ninja extraordinaire brought it, as always. Everyone loves Hari and after working with her on set, everyone wants to be a make-up ninja. She works at lightning speed. I met her on a job that was far beyond the usual production challenges and watched her and Misa rise above ordinary capabilities under those extreme conditions. She raises the bar.

Mika, Make-Up & Hair, started off the show, working on the day Hari wasn't available. Mika's got style. I think the time our lead actress had in the chair with her on Day 1 calmed her nerves and helped her ease into character. Mika had to get natural AA hair from big to flat & under a wig, to big again several times.

I only know one wardrobe person who really enjoys doing the job- and she is in NOLA. My L.A. sister, Belinda Ellis, stepped up to the wardrobe plate- THANK GOD! Cause I am not into shopping, ironing or even thinking about clothes. Belinda is actually a producer, line producer, and prod. acct. who can also do just about everything production related- she has almost 30 yrs in the production trenches. Tarina asked, "Where did you find Belinda? Every time she opened her mouth to make a suggestion, she had exactly the right solution for whatever problem was presenting..."
yep.
Belinda is a Topanga gem. She was also (hear) here to let me and the crew know that the asthma attacks being presented on film were spot on and exactly like the ones she witnessed me having in the pre-advair and singulair days (daze).

Ryan Ashford, our Editor & SAG actor who played Nate the neighbor, trained Nick Nikolov to be our P2 tech. I think I caught maybe 3 glimpses of Nick during production. He was literally just pluggin' away on the computer the whole time. We start the assemblage today or tomorrow.

Ellen O'Brian, P.A. / 2nd AD, is being trained by Dave to be an awesome asset to any production. I'm so glad she was here, totally ego free, to help us with all those things that fall through the cracks on productions that don't have such enthusiastic production assistance.

Cast!!:

2 of our 4 actors were Sag and 2 were first timers.

This was, Anishika Jontae, our lead actress', film/HD debut. She had to transform into a mom with severe, triad asthma for the role of EVA PIECE aka Hope. We had a small crew, un permitted locations and all those things that come with gorilla film making.  New to the medium or not, we only had a few takes to get each scene. Thankfully, Anishika's humble, rehearsed her ass off and she takes direction well. I was literally jumping for joy.
After  describing Anishika as a hybrid combo of me, my sister FOrk and our other sister Ayanna,  Fork said, "She has the makings of a super hero!"  It's true.

Danny Billet blew us all away with his charmingly creepy, bad guy interpretation of Gary.
He is a total pro, came completely prepared, asked one or two intelligent questions about which direction to go in and did a phenomenal job. Roger saw him in a play the night before I auditioned actors, playing a professor or some such- nothing like the character in this film, and a light went on in his head. I had been thinking to go in a completely different direction, but, when I witnessed what Danny was bringing to the role- I knew he was going to take that scene to a whole new level. Did I mention he's incredibly professional? We needed someone who could just come in and nail it- and he did it with an adorably, dimpled smile and easy grace. I expect to see him on screen a lot in the future and hope to work with him again.

Ife, who played Imani, Hopes daughter- acted like a seasoned pro on set. This was her acting debut and yet, no one had to explain set etiquette to her. She is a natural. She had several approaches to one of the scenes.... and had the crew in stitches a couple times with her "I'm sleepy walking", interpretive dance. All I had to tell her was that it was too big and she brought it in and we got the scene. She's usually smiling so I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get her to have a stoic expression when her character is awakened at 3:30 AM, but she did it. Her only request was that her parents not be within earshot. Bright girl.

Ryan Ashford (I'm his L.A. mom) played Nate. It was nice to get him on camera again.
He's one of those rare multi-talented people who was raised by conscious people. After Nick and I gather the assembly in Ryan's office with Ryan's equipment, Ryan will step in and edit it. Ryan has edited less interesting, less exciting stuff for me-industrial's and the like and turned straw into gold. On this job, he'll be a diamond cutter and polisher.

So, today is (equipment) returns and then onto post...

and hopefully raising some more funds.

BUDGET

Money money money-

We are making this with less funding than it took to make a seminar DVD I directed.

Professionals are donating time, energy, equip. love, GRACE
and of course it's still not quite enough.
Things we have to pay for that we don't have yet include a geni (generator)
periscope lens, and other essentials to the picture quality.

yep
low budget
micro budget

small part, big help

The actor who is playing the neighbor is SAG; he has set experience. He understands run n gun productions with micro budgets. He knows to be prepared, come in, hit it and leave. He knows to be a calm, quiet, presence, let the crew do their work, then nail his performance in one or two takes. I don't have to work with him at all- he'll show up exactly as needed.
This is the sort of actor that makes you go, "Phew".

Characters develop

Turns out I am not that different from a male screenplay writer. I write from my genders perspective. My stories are female character driven. My female characters are not the type that build their lives around men or are overly dependent on men. The male characters in all of my scripts are currently not very well developed. They are the boyfriend who she makes out with in one scene then sends off (in one of the features) the predator who lures her in and attacks (in yet another script), the supportive friend who has 2 or 3 lines, etc. They are minor players: the boyfriend, the menace. They often don't even get a name. Just like many male screenplay writers write women. I can't tell you how many scripts I've read with a character like, "buxom woman" or "Leggy Lady". Interesting, huh?

SO,
Last night the actor who is playing one of the male characters, formerly known as the Driver, came by to rehearse.We developed his character (he has a name now) and added some dialogue.

I've learned and grown from this experience and I wish the same for other screenplay writers.


NOTE to all actors and actresses- You have an opportunity to help develop your character when you are working with the director. Go for it- with respect. Your character is not the only character, maybe not the lead, so be realistic, but, go for it. The film benefits.

Fight scene

Usually a fight scene is choreographed by a stunt choreographer. There is often a stunt coordinator who acts as a director of the fight scenes when the stunt women and men are fighting. Especially when they are fighting with an actor. The fight scene in our film will not have stunt people. It wouldn't have stunt people if we had a bigger budget either, it's not that type of scene. However, if we had a bigger budget I might have had a stunt choreographer helping choreograph and give notes about shooting the scene. Lack of funding makes us all resourceful though doesn't it? The other day, one of the actors and I choreographed the scene. It was actually pretty easy. As high energy as that actor is, he focuses extremely well. What I find with people who others might call "hyper" (I see high energy) is that they can be super open and they can "hyper focus" simultaneously. The ability to hyper focus and channel are incredible gifts for an actor to have.

Did I mention how blessed this project is?

The fight scene has been choreographed by the male actor and I (I have a couple tiny bruises to prove it). The actors are being rehearsed separately. Next week the 2 actors who have a familial bond in the film will meet and bond.

It's super blessed.

She can act!!!!

Phew, my instincts were right. The actress I've just cast for the lead role can act for film! I had a friend come up from the OC to video tape her audition, mostly to see if she could be natural with a camera rolling. She can! Thank goodness!

Let the rehearsals begin!

In the making

I've received some good feedback on the script and I've made some very slight changes. Not everyone gets how the leads dis-ease works in her life or how she overcomes that and being a single mom struggling. So yes, some minor changes in the dialogue with the surrogate sister will help there.

As for people not understanding the ending - none of the mothers who've read it were confused. This is a mother who will do whatever she has to so she can continue to be there for her daughter and so her daughter will not know that they are struggling as much as they are. It's one (very challenging) day in the life of this mom and daughter. And that is as much as I can say here, without giving it all away.

I love GRIP & ELECTRIC !!!!!

My Gaffer isn't just any Gaffer. He's an awesome guy- funny, sweet and works with his team gracefully (he would laugh at that description, but, it's true). He's also a DP (Spiritual Liberation) & he's directed and produced in the past. He owns a truck and a van full of equipment. The amazing members of his team are some of my favorite crew people ever. Seriously, they made one job I worked on worth working on because they were there. I adore them all. While he wont admit it or take credit as such, he is a pro feminist gaffer! He replaces himself with the amazing female gaffer I love working with so much, often, and when they work together on a shoot, she is his Best "Boy". That is a rare and beautiful sight to behold.

It absolutely sucks that they (and so many others) are out of work right now. More and more I hear of projects being pushed and pushed into non existence. In the case of the gig they were up for in April, it turns out to be a good thing for me and my lil short film- they are all available and the equipment is too. Although, come to think of it, they would be available on the weekend for it anyway, like they were on the PSA I production managed. If they were working that big job that just got pushed, during my shoot weekend, the Best "Boy" would be the gaffer and the Best Boy Grip would be the key - or some arrangement like that. I know they would work it out for me.

I wonder how long this film industry drought (for many of us) will last? It's affecting the commercial, promo and music video end of the industry pretty hard. Those are bread and butter gigs for those of us non union crew.

I've had a few 1-4 day gigs as a 1st on a commercial here, a music video there.

I know when I apply for gigs that people who are way more experienced are also applying for the same position. I know that a lot of union folks are working under pseudonyms so they can work non union gigs, so you can imagine that the market is way over saturated for 1sts, PMs, PS, etc.

Still, there are always positives in every experience.

These times make us more resourceful. They make us get rid of what we don't need from our lives. It's times like this that many of us go for what we really want and break the habits of accepting what we sort of want and can stand cause it pays the bills. Now that those jobs aren't paying the bills so much, we may as well go for the dream.

So, completely available or not, I'm grateful for my crew and hope they also get their visions together on paper so I can produce the projects that lead them into the career positions they dream of.

I love ACTORS!!!

I'm considering 2 different actresses for the part of Hope in the short film I wrote and am directing. One of the actresses just got the script yesterday and seems to "get it". She has very little experience acting, so it's a matter of her ability to be directed and how she shows up on camera. The other is SAG, I have seen her on TV (she had one line in a show I watch), which is what inspired me to ask her to try out for the part of Hope.

I'll give the younger, less experienced actress a few days to rehearse it, then direct her through an audition. If she needs more work, a mutual friend (her godmother) is going to coach her (she is an acting coach) and we'll audition her again. She really has the look I want, she has something energetically that Hope has and she looks like she could be the young mother of the daughter I've chosen for the film.

I cast the male characters. One is pretty simple, just a few lines. The other is going to be a stretch. I saw the actor at a showcase though and just know he can do it. He doesn't realize what a great, naturally talented and skilled actor he is. Looking forward to having him become a character that is so very, very, very different than who he is.