Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Paul Battista, Entertainment Attorney, is a partner of MindFusion Law where he represents low budget independent filmmakers. He earned a J.D. from Seton Hall Law School, an LL.M. from Georgetown Law Center and an M.F.A. in Film Studies from the University of Utah.

He has been a speaker at many film festivals and conferences, including Slamdance Film Festival and Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum, in addition to teaching film classes and guest lecturing at colleges in the Los Angeles area.

He also wrote, directed and produced the low budget independent feature film, Crooks, which has been released by Warner Home Video.

His book, Independent Film Producing: The Outsider’s Guide To Producing A First Low Budget Film is available at www.paulbattista.biz.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Jon Keeyes Pt 7 distributor continues to discuss the state of the industry & distribution. How does one get their feature to an audience? We will talk more on foreign & domestic release, deliverable & myths of distribution PLUS more. With six feature films, Jon Keeyes is one of the hardest working directors in the southwest. Jon made his writing/directorial debut in 2001 with “American Nightmare.” This critically-acclaimed horror film followed serial killer Jane Toppan on Halloween night as she brings to life the fears of a group of friends. “American Nightmare” was released to North America by Monarch Home Video/Ingram Entertainment. Internationally, Horizon Motion Pictures has sold “American Nightmare” to nearly all major countries around the world. Following the success of “American Nightmare,” Jon was hired by producer Michael Raso to write and direct “Suburban Nightmare.” A satire on the disintegration of marriage, “Suburban Nightmare” spends the night with The Rosenblads as their relationship crumbles around them with violent and tragic consequences. “Suburban Nightmare” was released in June of 2004 to rave reviews including numerous “top ten” lists. Jon most recently completed “Fall Down Dead” starring Dominique Swain, Udo Kier & David Carradine. A suspense thriller combining elements of “Panic Room” and “Saw,” it was released theatrically in 2008 to the international market. Along with a constant flow of feature film work, Jon was an Academy Award finalist with his short film “Angela’s Body,” has directed episodes of the Danica McKellar show “Inspector Mom” for The Lifetime Channel, produced the web series “Exposed” for Warner Bros. and McG’s company Wonderland, sold his screenplay “The Assassination Game” to Bigfoot Entertainment and is currently producing the indie feature, “Spilt Milk.” Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast & crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Arye Gross actor PT 2 His Films include Grey Gardens for HBO Films, Harvest (Ibid Films), Minority Report, Big Eden, Gone in 60 Seconds, A Midnight Clear, Mother Night, The Opposite Sex, For the Boys, Coupe De Ville, Tequila Sunrise, The Couch Trip, The Experts, and Soul Man. Notable TV Guest appearances include reappearing on "Castle". He has appeared on "Dollhouse", “Law & Order” (SVU & C.I.) “Friends,” “ER,” “The West Wing,” “CSI” (Vegas & NY), “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The X Files,” among others. Arye appeared as a series regular (Adam) on the ABC sitcom “Ellen” and CBS’s “Citizen Baines,” Mr. Gross has had recurring roles on “The Riches”, “Judging Amy,” “The Practice” and “Six Feet Under”.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

David Spies & Phil Seneker are working together to produce a short film “A Musing”. They are using Kickstarter to fund their project. We explore how that is going, & what they have learned.

David Spies has completed several screenplays that are each quite different in genre. He wrote the first draft of “A Musing” recently & registered with the WGA nine days later. David felt he had a screenplay definitely worthy of being produced so began to seek out a cinematographer to partner with.

After a local search for cinematographers in the Seattle area, David connected with Phil Seneker & from that day on there was no turning back. This will be David's first professional short film production as a writer & director.

Phil Seneker is a filmmaker, producer, screenwriter & director of photography.  Phil began his career in the film & video industry after studying acting. Phil started his production company in 1993 to create videos for corporate clients

Phil spent most of the ‘90’s & ‘00’s creating corporate videos, building his company, working on features, shorts, commercials & starting a family. 

He shot his first short film in 1998 entitled RATS! which went on to screen at 7 festivals around the world & won 3 awards including Best Dark Comedy. 

In 2003, Phil was accepted to the UCLA Online Professional Screenwriting Program & he completed two feature length screenplays while attending. His recent short screenplay was selected as a finalist in the Seattle Film School's Great American Short Screenplay Competition.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Rick Overton PT 2 has been doing standup comedy since before there were lockable steering columns on cars. Seriously. Rick believes that Comedy shares it's roots with Country Western and The Blues because they're all just complaining to a rhythm. Rick can currently be seen in the comedy film DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS with Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, recently in Stephen Soderberg's THE INFORMANT starring Matt Damon. He's also Pam's Dad on THE OFFICE in the Wedding Episodes. Yay for On Demand! Someone got something right somewhere. And he recurs on TNT's LEVERAGE as an FBI agent, along with Gerry Downey. He’s been a creative consultant on a sci fi series in 1999 called The Secret Adventures Of Jules Verne, designing all the steam punk technology for the series. Rick had the honor of sharing a couch with Jonathan Winters and Robert Klein on Showtime's THE GREEN ROOM WITH PAUL PROVENZA! When not doing standup comedy, Rick can be seen on local dog park paths getting to visit all the dogs he wants without having to actually own or pay for any of them. Win-win. Rick loves to improvise! He’s been a guest player with a lot of established improv troupes down through the years, Second City, Groundlings, Off The Wall, Bucket O' Snakes, The Transformers etc. He’s been doing two man improv blowout shows with Robin Williams for 30 some odd years. And some odd years they were! But fun! He's also got an Emmy for his writing on HBO's DENNIS MILLER LIVE from the 1996 season. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Joe Wilson PT 3 is an award-winning filmmaker & comedy screenwriter, stand up comedian & private investigator. Wilson's short film "The Swear Police" won best shortie-short at the 2009 LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival, which can be seen at http://www.SwearPolice.com. "Vampire Mob" is a new web series created, written, directed, produced & edited by Wilson, starring John Colella ("Swear Police'), Reamy Hall (Criminal Minds), Marcia Wallace ("The Simpsons"), Chris Mulkey (Twin Peaks, Boardwalk Empire), Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), Jim Roof ("Swear Police"), Andrea Cansler (Groundlings Sunday Company), Cris D’Annunzio ("Digging Up Dad") and Elizabeth Beckwith ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). The series will premiere early this summer and a trailer is available at http://www.VampireMob.com. Wilson has worked on web series through three net booms, including writing for Mondo Media's "Like, News," created by Don Asmussen, directing the web series, "Lake Charles Lake," created & written by Martha Kelly & Tom Sharpe for SuperDeluxe.com (Turner Entertainment) and he was a producer and half the crew on episodes of "Powerloafing," created by Emmy-award winning writer, Mike Upchurch, including "Dept. of Doom," guest starring Neil Patrick Harris - http://vimeo.com/5817119. One of Wilson's feature screenplay comedies, "Let's Mow," won first place in the Hollywood Film Festival's screenplay competition & also won the Producer's Outreach Program run by the Scriptwriter's Network, as well as being a finalist in Scriptapalooza. Once a month, Wilson participates as a writer in "LA Cafe Plays" at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, where five writers are handed two headshots and a theme, and in four hours, write a short play, which is performed twice that evening - 10 hours from creation to opening night.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Jon Keeyes Pt 6 distributor continues to discuss the state of the industry & distribution. How does one get their feature to an audience? We will talk more on foreign & domestic release, deliverable & myths of distribution PLUS more. With six feature films, Jon Keeyes is one of the hardest working directors in the southwest. Jon made his writing/directorial debut in 2001 with “American Nightmare.” This critically-acclaimed horror film followed serial killer Jane Toppan on Halloween night as she brings to life the fears of a group of friends. “American Nightmare” was released to North America by Monarch Home Video/Ingram Entertainment. Internationally, Horizon Motion Pictures has sold “American Nightmare” to nearly all major countries around the world. Following the success of “American Nightmare,” Jon was hired by producer Michael Raso to write and direct “Suburban Nightmare.” A satire on the disintegration of marriage, “Suburban Nightmare” spends the night with The Rosenblads as their relationship crumbles around them with violent and tragic consequences. “Suburban Nightmare” was released in June of 2004 to rave reviews including numerous “top ten” lists. Jon most recently completed “Fall Down Dead” starring Dominique Swain, Udo Kier & David Carradine. A suspense thriller combining elements of “Panic Room” and “Saw,” it was released theatrically in 2008 to the international market. Along with a constant flow of feature film work, Jon was an Academy Award finalist with his short film “Angela’s Body,” has directed episodes of the Danica McKellar show “Inspector Mom” for The Lifetime Channel, produced the web series “Exposed” for Warner Bros. and McG’s company Wonderland, sold his screenplay “The Assassination Game” to Bigfoot Entertainment and is currently producing the indie feature, “Spilt Milk.” Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast & crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Dan Cohen’s directorial debut is Diamond Men .  The script evolved from his family’s three generations in the diamond business and an intimate knowledge of small town Pennsylvania. 

Dan previously wrote, produced and played a lead role in The Whole Truth.  Janet Maslin, writing in the New York Times called the shoestring indie effort “a hardworking comedy with a homemade flavor” and likened it to the early work of Woody Allen and Albert Brooks.  The NY Post called it “funny and truthful,” and awarded it three (out of four) stars.  A festival favorite, it was awarded prizes in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

Mr. Cohen recently directed Bruce Smirnoff’s one man show, “Other Than My Health, I Have Nothing!” -- an LA Weekly “pick of the week” that ran for over a year and a half and took the Valley Theater Award for Mr. Smirnoff’s performance. 

Mr. Cohen divides his time between Los Angeles and Lancaster Pennsylvania, where he has worked as a journalist and television reporter.

Before coming to film, Dan worked part time in the family business while at the same time pursuing his interests in journalism and film.  After his father died in the mid-eighties, he ran the family business for a while.  But the call of writing and directing eventually led to the creation of The Whole Truth, and Diamond Men.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

John Gaspard has directed and/or produced six low-budget features, including the digital feature, Grown Men, which premiered at the Ashland International Film Festival and won the “Best of Fest/Best Screenplay” award at the Black Point Film Festival. He directed and co-wrote the award-winning feature film, Beyond Bob, and directed the science-fiction comedy feature film, Resident Alien. He has directed features on 16mm, digital video, analog video, and produced and directed the first feature film in Super 8mm single-system sound.His blog, “Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts,” (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/) has been named "One of the 50 Best Blogs for Moviemakers" by Moviemaker Magazine and "One of The 100 Best Blogs For Film and Theater Students" by BestUniversity.com.

John's books include Fast, Cheap and Under Control: Lessons Learned from the Greatest Low-Budget Movies of All Time, and Fast, Cheap and Written That Way: Top Screenwriters on Writing For Low-Budget Movies.

He also co-authored, with Dale Newton, the books Digital Filmmaking 101: An Essential Guide to Producing Low-Budget Movies (first and second editions) and Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing A Feature Film For Under $30,000. He was also a writer and story editor for the international television comedy/western series, Lucky Luke, starring Terence Hill.

"We never put out an actual textbook for the Corman School of Filmmaking, but if we did, it would be Fast, Cheap, and Under Control." Roger Corman

"An entertaining and very informative read. It's just the ticket for beginning filmmakers, demonstrating how cleverness can count more than money in filmmaking." John Badham (Director, Saturday Night Fever, Wargames,)

"I wish I'd read this book before I made Re-Animator."

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Rick Overton has been doing standup comedy since before there were lockable steering columns on cars. Seriously. Rick believes that Comedy shares it's roots with Country Western and The Blues because they're all just complaining to a rhythm.

Rick can currently be seen in the comedy film DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS with Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, recently in Stephen Soderberg's THE INFORMANT starring Matt Damon. He's also Pam's Dad on THE OFFICE in the Wedding Episodes. Yay for On Demand! Someone got something right somewhere. And he recurs on TNT's LEVERAGE as an FBI agent, along with Gerry Downey.

He’s been a creative consultant on a sci fi series in 1999 called The Secret Adventures Of Jules Verne, designing all the steam punk technology for the series.

Rick had the honor of sharing a couch with Jonathan Winters and Robert Klein on Showtime's THE GREEN ROOM WITH PAUL PROVENZA! When not doing standup comedy, Rick can be seen on local dog park paths getting to visit all the dogs he wants without having to actually own or pay for any of them. Win-win.

Rick loves to improvise! He’s been a guest player with a lot of established improv troupes down through the years, Second City, Groundlings, Off The Wall, Bucket O' Snakes, The Transformers etc. He’s been doing two man improv blowout shows with Robin Williams for 30 some odd years. And some odd years they were! But fun!

He's also got an Emmy for his writing on HBO's DENNIS MILLER LIVE from the 1996 season.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com