In this episode, I interview Sag Actor Randy Davison about his time on the film set of Mank. He told me about his experience working with director David Fincher and his scenes with Gary Oldman.  Randy has also taught acting classes where he shared his acting tool he created and used with his students.  He also chatted about his time on the set of the latest Top Gun and  meeting Tom Cruise.

Randy Davison

Originally from Idaho, Randy traded potatoes for palm trees and headed to Los Angeles to hone his craft as an actor. After receiving a BA in Theatre Arts from Boise State University, he continued his studies in L.A. with The Stella Adler Theatre and The Atlantic Theatre Company. In addition to numerous commercials, voice-overs, films, and television work, he has appeared in several plays, including the world premiere of "Drop", which made its debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and co-starred with "Glee's" Jayma Mays in "The Ruling Class", with The National American Shakespeare Company at The Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Angeles.  Most recently, he was humbled to have a role in the 2021 Oscar winning film, "Mank", directed by David Fincher, as the Maître D of the legendary Hollywood Trocadero and as the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy in the Oscar nominated, "The United States vs Billie Holiday".

In this episode, we are talking about documentary filmmaking with Producer and director Windy Borman on her film Mary Janes: The Women of Weed. 

Windy Borman, MS is a multi-award-winning director and producer, as well as the founder of DVA Productions, a socially conscious production company. She is currently the Executive Producer and Director of the groundbreaking documentary, "Mary Janes: The Women of Weed".

In this episode, we explore the world of documentary filmmaking and the film A Long March. Today’s guest Tammy aka TS Botkin is a director, producer, and writer, who has co-produced award-winning documentaries like Her Turf and Mary Janes: The Women of Weed.  Her latest film A Long March is nominated for Best Feature Film Documentary and Best First Time Film Director.

A Long March - Three Filipino-American veterans trace their paths from war to erasure by the U.S. Government, marching from an obscured history to the Federal courts, right up to the steps of Congress in search of promises denied.

TS Botkin, Producer, Director, Writer

Ms. Botkin, Principal of ätɘr+flix, is a migrant from the finance industry. She has amassed an enviable list of credits including producing and directing the documentary “A Long March” (2021) and co-producing award-winning documentaries “Her Turf” (2018) and “Mary Janes: The Women of Weed” (2017). She also wrote and produced “Femto 7K” a “Best of” winner for the Denver 48 Hour Film Project 2016, which was shot in 9 locations around the world. Botkin’s first writing credit was for the short “Desolation” which garnered fiscal sponsorship by Women Make Movies and was a second-round selection at the Austin Film Festival (2016). She has since expanded the story into her first feature script, Ni Ta (2018), a quarterfinalist at Atlanta Film Festival. She is a staunch supporter of diverse voices, a founding member of Women in Film and Media Colorado, and an active member and volunteer in the film community.

Terry Ross is an award-winning film director, writer, producer, and actor on both stage and screen. She has acted, directed, produced, and taught professionally for over 30 years as well as serving as a casting director on several independent films.

Through her studio Acting Professionally,  for over 25 years she has coached 100s of San Diego actors and produced multi-media showcases for the film community.  Currently, she has a separate division of Acting Professionally - Film Acting Retreats - which combines acting and travel to gorgeous locations such as Umbria in Italy, the Loire Valley in France, and the Algarve district of Portugal.

She has received numerous Best Director awards for feature films, “Carving A Life”, and “Sweet Taste of Souls”.  She has won Best Screenwriting awards In addition to Best Director awards for the short films “The Last Resort” and “A Castle in Umbria and is the winner of the 2017 “Women in Film” Award at the San Diego Film Awards. 

In 2021, Ross created the San Diego Movie Awards, a quarterly awards festival with an annual in-person film festival currently scheduled for August 2022.  The goal of the festival is to recognize all phases of filmmaking and screenwriting in San Diego and across the globe.  

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4956882/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

www.actingprofessionally.com

https://sandiegomovieawards.com

https://marketingrealestate.lpages.co/the-art-of-acting/

https://lifeinreels.com

In this episode, our guest is the talented award-winning writer/director Jonathan Hammond who recently finished another film We All Die Alone.  We talk about the process of writing, doing 48 hr film projects, and working with a DP.

Jonathan Hammond is a director, editor and writer of a dozen films, accruing an Emmy nomination, San Diego Film Award for Best Writing and nominations for Best Director and Picture, two consecutive San Diego Film Con Challenge wins for Best Film, three San Diego 48- Hour Film Project Awards for Audience Choice, Four Points Film Challenge Award for Best Ensemble, San Diego CityBeat Weekly Best Of, three Indie Short Fest awards including Best Screenplay, a two-time KPBS Explorer recipient, WOMAS winner for Best Screenplay and is a current co-recipient for grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Justice and Peace. He is also the winner of Best Writing for 2016 San Diego International Fringe Festival. He is a teaching artist and producer with So Say We All as well as a founding member of The Whole Alpahbet- So Say We All's LGBTQ+ branch. He attended University of Illinois and NYU Tisch School of the Arts before moving to San Diego.

In this episode we explore the world of sound mixing on set. I'm excited to have a friend of mine Oscar Aramburu who is a writer, director, and sound mixer.

Carey Scott – Actor/Director

Trained under legendary master teacher Stella Adler, Carey has appeared in over 100 episodes of television and over 50 feature films as well as numerous plays in New York and Los Angeles.

Some of his co-stars include: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks,  Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Jason Segel, Amanda Seyfried, Martin Lawrence, Jennifer Aniston, Whoopi Goldberg, Madonna, Danny Trejo, Tom Sizemore, Judd Nelson, Diane Ladd, January Jones, John Savage, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher,  Andrew Dice Clay, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Dean Stanton, James Spader, Ashley Tisdale, Janine Turner, Linda Cardellini, Haley Joel Osment, Jonathan Banks, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Carroll O’Connor, Dolly Parton, Ernie Hudson, Philip Baker Hall, Denise Richards, Morgan Fairchild, Tracy Letts, Julianne Nicholson, Alan Thicke, Mary Kay Place, Cole & Dylan Sprouse, Dean Cain, Anthony Edwards.. and many others.

Carey has directed three full-length feature films. His latest, Faith of Our Fathers, was released through Samuel Goldwyn Films.

He opened the doors to his acting school, The Rehearsal Room, in 1983.

Today's episode I have work for hire screenwriter Philip Sedgwick. He shared many tips for writers on doing research for a film, working with others and how to work through writers block.

https://www.stage32.com/welcome/

Script writing software:

https://finaldraft.com/

https://www.celtx.com/pricing.html

https://www.squibler.io/

https://www.writerduet.com/

https://www.screenplay.com/products/movie-magic-screenwriter/movie-magic-screenwriter-6.html

Places to get scripts to read:

http://www.script-o-rama.com/

https://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html

https://thescriptlab.com/browse/

Philip Sedgwick wrote his first script at the prompting of a writer friend. He entered his second script, Neon Cactus, into the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, which placed as a Quarter-Finalist in the prestigious competition. Since that time, more an armada of his screenplays and films have received acclaim from film festivals, fellowships and competitions. Philip serves as a juror for the Prescott Film Festival, where he also presents screenwriting workshops. Philip wrote his first script at the prompting of a writer friend. He entered his second script, Neon Cactus, into the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, which placed as a Quarter-Finalist in the prestigious competition. Since that time, more an armada of his screenplays and films have received acclaim from film festivals, fellowships and competitions. Philip serves as a juror for the Prescott Film Festival, where he also presents screenwriting workshops.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655915/

http://www.philipcsedgwick.com

In this episode I had the absolute privilege to talk with the magnificent storyteller Benito Bautista.  He is an award winning international filmmaker. His films are shot all over the world. We talked about what you need to think about when you are shooting your film internationally and how to set up to make a good film. He shared his process of writing Boundary his first feature film shot in Manila and his more recent award-winning short narrative shot in Tokyo called The Interpreter. What an honor it has been speaking with Benito. I hope you enjoy!

Benito Bautista is an award-winning Filipino filmmaker based in San Diego, California. His films have been exhibited at festivals in Busan, Chicago, Seattle, Santa Barbara, New York, Hawaii, Goa, Guam, Laos, Manila, San Francisco, and San Diego. He is best known for his feature documentary film HARANA: the Search for the Lost Art of Serenade that won the Gawad Urian (Filipino Film Critics) award for Best Documentary and has broadcasted nationwide on PBS. BOUNDARY, Benito's first feature narrative crime thriller that was shot in Manila won the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award for Best Narrative at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and was nominated under four categories including Best Picture and Best Director at the Gawad Urian Awards. BOUNDARY and his recent award-winning short narrative shot in Tokyo, THE INTERPRETER is now distributed in multiple countries under TBA Studios and Gonella Productions and on Amazon.

Benito is currently in production of his latest feature documentary film The Road to Sydney and in development of his narrative feature to be shot in North Carolina and the Philippines. He also co-produced a feature documentary film in the Philippines entitled A IS FOR AGUSTIN by Grace Simbulan that was an Official Selection at the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy, premiered at the Marche' du Film at Festival de Cannes in 2021, and is now distributed in multiple countries.

Benito is the founder of Wanderlustproject Films and the co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization San Diego Filipino Cinema, presenter of the San Diego Filipino Film Festival.

In this episode we will be talking about actors headshots.  We have the talented Peggy McCartha who is known as LA's most industry-savvy, headshots photographer and headshot strategist.

Peggy McCartha is a wife, mother, friend, and lymphedema awareness advocate.  She has loved photography her whole life and has been a professional photographer for over 3 decades. She is known as the most industry-savvy headshot photographer in Los Angeles and is the creator of the Headshot Strategist® Program. Peggy’s thirty-three-plus years’ experience in photography combined with her knowledge of both the industry and the phycology of headshots has allowed her to help hundreds of actors get effective headshots that get them noticed. Peggy has hosted a weekly podcast/video show called "Headshots by Peggy PRESENTS" for over 6 years. The show is designed to Encourage, Inspire and Educate people in the industry.  She is also the President of On Balance Entertainment LLC, a highly diversified company offering superior services for the entertainment industry.