Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The 12-year Old Foul-Mouthed Boy in All of Us


Studies have shown that a majority of American men suffer from arrested development with respect to certain elements of personality and maturity. In matters involving football, firearms, females and remote-controlled gadgets many U.S. males are essentially distinguished from twelve-year-old boys only by their proclivity to use expletives and to consume alcoholic beverages. Witness, for example, the antics of the men of Fat Monster Films who recently became enmeshed in a wager over an evening of bloodsport (bowling). Mark (the Dude) Johnson challenged Luis (SuperLuis) Sinibaldi to a match, the loser of which had to purchase an $85 RC Helicopter. Given the fact that, as a bowler Johnson is a very good golfer, SuperLuis spotted him 40 pins. The original wager was documented by our good friend Zak Forsman of SABI FILMS on his recent podcast .

Finally, Luis ponied up the cash for the spoils of the battle and Mark and Tim hit the liquor store and turned on the camera to document the maiden voyage HERE.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Monster Profile: Tim Hyten

As Fat Monster nears the end of 2008 we decided it would be a good idea to begin a series of profiles for the various members of the Monster family and crew. After a brutal beer pong competition, Mr. Tim Hyten won the honor of having the first profile done:

Tim hails from what Angelinos refer to as "the high desert" -- a.k.a. Apple Valley, California. At 25, Tim has achieved enough recognition and buzz to make many professionals' lists for young directors worth watching in the L.A. basin.



Tim was front man and guitarist for the band Something From Nothing, which toured nationally and was courted by major labels including Fat Wreck Chords, arguably the most successful indie label in the world. His experience and contacts from the music industry gave Tim a solid basis from which to begin developing music videos.

Tim recalls that the very first time he saw a DVD with a "making of" feature he became hooked on learning as much as he could about the process of making films. From that day forward Tim made most of his DVD purchases based on the content of the "extra" features and he sought as much information as he could find on the technical and artistic aspects of filmmaking.

Without funds to attend film school, Tim told anyone who would listen that he would be willing to work on any film set or music video shoot for the experience alone. Within a month, word got out about the young guy who would bust his butt on set for nothing other than a few donuts from the craft services table. Tim was literally working every day on progressively larger shoots and he soaked in information like a sponge.

It was during this period when Tim found himself working as unpaid crew on an independent film being directed by the legendary Curtis Harrington. Harrington began his career in the 40's as an author and film critic before he began directing a series of avant-garde films that gained him notice in Hollywood. He even played several cameo rolls in pictures for Orson Welles and Bill Condon. Harrington also gave Dennis Hopper his first feature role in a 1961 film called Night Tide that is now considered to be a classic.



While working on Harrington's crew, Tim became friends with the great director, who said he saw a lot of himself in the young protege. Harrington befriended Tim and agreed to act as his mentor and confidant. Harrington was particularly fascinated with the digital technology that Tim was using for his own experimental films.

Sadly, Mr. Harrington passed away in 2007 and he was never able to see Fat Monster Films come to fruition.

Tim flirted briefly with acting, but decided that his talents were better spent behind the camera. Nevertheless, he has appeared as a fireman in an episode of "24."

He also has shown remarkable skill as an editor and most recently Tim has been representing Fat Monster while editing on the Warner Bros. studio lot for a project being produced by HDFILMS. Recently Tim directed a pitch piece set in Iraq during the recent war with a cast that included Tom Sizemore, Tim Abell and Will Estes.



At this writing we are negotiating several projects that Tim will be featured as director or as lead editor.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

What Happened to October?

We try to update this blog every week but somehow almost two months have passed. Thus, we'll try to update what the Monsters have been doing and get back on track with regular posts.

FAT MONSTER spent much of October on the Warner Bros. studio lot working on a pilot for a new series that will be pitched in early 2009. The episode starred Jeffrey Combs, Steve Hytner and Brian Thompson -- all consummate actors and wonderful pros to work with. Jeffrey is well known to film buffs as Dr. Herbert West from Re-Animator and also has played some of the most popular alien characters on the modern Star Trek series beginning with Deep Space 9. Seinfeld fans will recognize Steve Hytner from his role as Kenny Bania on that series and he's got an impressive list of credits in both film and television. Brian Thompson has played marvelous thugs and villains since the first Terminator film. His 6'3" frame and distinctive look got him the role as The Night Slasher opposite Sylvester Stallone in Cobra. 


Our short film "O2" was featured at the TALLGRASS FILM FESTIVAL in Wichita, Kansas in October and writer/producer Mark Johnson gave a Q and A session at the historic Orpheum Theater to a full house. 



Shooting was completed for the final scenes of our Iraqi war film. The project is currently being pitched to several networks and producers with very good responses so far. 



We finally got to shoot the long awaited music video for the band MIGGS. The song for the video is "Perfect", which has been getting tremendous airplay nationally. The video was shot with two RED ONE cameras using anamorphic lenses. 






In addition to all of this the principals of FAT MONSTER FILMS attended the Dooley County Pig Jig in Vienna, Georgia where we were pressed into service on the Prime Time Swine championship barbecue cooking team:


Friday, September 12, 2008

New Project for Fat Monster Films

The FAT MONSTER principals met at Warner Bros. studios again this week to work out details for a new project slated for production in October. The monster crew will be working with Gary Graham (Alien Nation, Star Trek Enterprise) and Carl Weathers (Rocky, Predator) to produce the pilot for a new series. Gary wrote the episode and Carl will be directing the project. 

We also took the opportunity to screen some footage from our Iraq war film project and it received glowing responses from the execs who viewed it. Plans are in place to shoot a new intro and conclusion for the short film version of the piece. A completely separate pitch piece will be edited for the project and it will be shepherded through the Hollywood pitch pipe by Julz Chavez, who has become an essential cog in the monster wheel of late. More details to come soon!




Monday, September 1, 2008

Fat Monster Wraps Iraq War Film


On August 24th Fat Monster Films completed a two-day shoot at the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch for a series pitch project set in Iraq involving an embedded news reporter. The working title for the series is "Fogg of War" with the plot centered on a fictitious newsman named Mack Fogg, who is a former Marine veteran of the first Iraq conflict. 

The footage is currently being edited in several versions to be used for pitch purposes. The project was designed to showcase FAT MONSTER's ability to achieve extremely high production values on a limited budget. Accordingly, the script called for numerous explosions and pyrotechnical effects as well as a large contingent of Marines in full body armor. To maximize the efficiency of the shoot we used two RED ONE digital cinema cameras shooting at 4K resolution operated by co-DPs Geoff Reisner and Matt Garrett. Conditions were brutal in terms of heat and dust, but we were able to maintain very quick setups by using ice packs on the cameras and makeshift dust covers.

The shoot was co-produced with GUNMETAL GROUP, who provided a full contingent of Marines with weapons, uniforms and equipment and who were experienced with stunts. GUNMETAL's own CEO, Matt Sigloch, coordinated the fight sequences and experienced pyro technician Paul Staples headed up the practical effects. Additionally, noted stunt coordinator Bobby King choreographed a beautifully shot hand-to-hand knife fight for the piece that truly shows off his skills.

Monday, August 18, 2008

New Project Underway


FAT MONSTER FILMS is completing pre-production for an ambitious project that commences on August 23rd. We aren't at liberty to release details just yet, but we can disclose that we will be filming at the BLUE CLOUD MOVIE RANCH that recently was used for the Afghanistan scenes in the blockbuster "IRON MAN." Suffice it to say that we're going to be pushing our personal envelope for this production and we have high expectations for what shows up on the screen.

In other MONSTER news, our short film "O2" screened at the LOUISVILLE FILM FESTIVAL this month and it will be shown this fall at the DENVER STARZ festival as well as the TALLGRASS FILM FESTIVAL in Wichita. More festival dates and locations to be announced soon.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Hollywood Biz - Taking Meetings and Doing Lunch

The fans and friends of Fat Monster Films are very aware that we're still very much the "new boys on the block" who have yet to reach our first birthday (We officially opened our doors in September 2007). Therefore, a lot of what may be "business as usual" for other production companies is exciting and novel stuff for us.

This week we have been taking meetings with producers and agents and find ourselves needing to hire an entertainment lawyer. Tomorrow we're traveling to Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank to discuss a production deal that will, frankly, be a huge step for the Monster. Moreover, we are also in preliminary negotiations for the sale of our short film "O2." Needless to say, these are exciting times at the Monster shack. Hopefully, we'll have lots more to report soon.