film GUERILLA AUTEUR
(from Black Book Magazine, Winter 2004)

Independent filmmaker Fritz Donnelly decided to forgo the usual channels for distributing his product From a literal box-top operation on the sidewalks of lower Manhattan, he peddles, "To the Hills," his DVD collection of 24 homemade shorts. His compilation includes some truly avant-garde material-like the short in which he videotapes a PlayStation2 game and, via goofy voice-over, morphs a cold-blooded assassin into a man who is "putting the word discipline back in interior decorating ad home-garden design."

"The opening question could be anything," says Donnelly on pitching his DVD to strangers on NYC streets-including a Miramax executive who bought five copies. "Sometimes I say, 'What do you think?' Other times it's, 'Do you like short films?' Even if people say 'no' or 'nothing,' you know they can talk, and they know you can talk, so there's no more metaphysical uncertainty. Once you both exist it's easy to buy a DVD."

--Trevor Renchis

"To the Hills" is now available at Kim's Video, and at www.tothehills.com

Cool School for Indies
HOW TO FIND AND PROMOTE YOUR GREATNESS, OR DISTRIBUTION IN THREE EASY STEPS
By Fritz Donnelly

You want more people to see your film. You think: I need a better script and more believable characters. You're wrong. Keep your shaggy script and those doggerel characters the way they are. What you need is to be a better person, a cooler person, more yourself, and more exaggerated. Once you read about this collection of degenerates, you'll see that you too can appeal to millions under the right lighting.

First, before we go on, you should decide whether you are making movies for one or all of the following reasons:

a) fame
b) to make the world a better place
c) just for fun
d) fortune

You can't make movies that make money unless you already have money, so throw out "d." Otherwise, use this article to get the most fame in the best world while having the most fun.

FRITZ To the Hills: 24 Short Independent Films (2002, DV, 100 min.) Logline: Films about dreamers, hustlers, yoga-dancers, secret agents, people like you and me. Street Peddling: Prince & Greene Streets in SoHo, Manhattan Gross to date: $12,000 (1,100 sold) Debt: $9,000 (camera, microphones, editing system, DVD replication)

I have just signed my first distribution deal, at gunpoint, and believe that it will make me the wealthiest, wisest, independent filmmaker in history. Or at least that's what I tell myself now. This was the argument that warmed me up to this pact of blood: "If you were in he manufacturing business and you built a new factory for each new style of shoe, people would think you were crazy. If you also changed the name of your brand after every production cycle, your marketing team would walk out. And yet this is how independent filmmakers operate. I'm offering you the chance to consolidate your manufacturing process, your marketing effort, and your distribution outlets without losing any creative control."

And everything Omar said is true. Rather than promote the movies, Omar told me, "We promote each other." Actually he said, "You promote me."

OMAR Desert Nomad (2004, Super 8, 16mm, 88 min.) Logline: Who needs water when you've got love? Medium: Premiere in London Fall 2004 Gross to date: $5,000 (Twenty screenings) Debt: $40,000 (insurance, movie "van")

I had been waiting for three hours on the hot Arizona pavement. At first I thought no one was picking me up because I hadn't shaved or cut my hair. Omar picked me up but because he was running out of gas, he was afraid to turn of the engine. So I jumped in the back while the automobile was still moving. I jumped with my bag inn had because I could tell that if I threw the bag in first he would speed away without me. The first instinct you have about a person is usually the right one-I wish I had sacrifice my bag so that today I might still have my soul.

I stared at the back of Omar's head, obscured mostly by the turban he wore, and listened to his girlfriend and their three children sing. Around me were shifted stacks of chairs and an enormous projector. I was only the latest addition to Omar's movie limousine.

Omar Shabat and his partner Disraeli Sadat rove the American West and Southwest in their limousine setting up chairs and projecting their movies to small audiences. They charge $3-$5 admission and sell beer at a 100 percent mark up. Usually about fifty people show and afterwards Omar and Disraeli rap. The primary influence on their filmmaking is Battle for Algiers-"stupid movie," chimes Disraeli. Their musical influence? "Double double, trouble, trouble!" (Double Trouble was a rap duo in the early eighties.)
"So where's Disraeli now?" I ask. Omar pulls a card down from the sun visor. The only evidence of their partnership is a postcard of the Hoover dam with two eyes drawn on the front. On the reverse, an inscription: "Can't stop the flood. Send my residuals. -DS."

Omar is many things--a singer, "electro-dancer," a sniper's cousin--but foremost he is a filmmaker. When I first met Omar, he showed me the gun that has become his trademark and logo for his film company. He has been shot nine times. Twice y Elyse, his current girlfriend.

"You got too many kids to be a director," Omar shouted at Elyse, a magnanimous woman and the visionary behind all his films. "I'm the director," he says. In point of fact, Elyse directed their last film; Omar and Disrraeli were co-producers. It's because of Elyse that I'm looking forward to my collaboration with them. We're producing a DVD of short "foreign-language" action film.

Omar uses a gun the way the surrealists intended. Not s a means of self-defense but as a way of throwing a crowd into a state of panic and rupturing their sense of reality. His film persona and cinematography style reflect this surrealist bent. "No bullets, only guns," he says of his films. He is perhaps more interesting than his movies, or maybe his movies are better after having met or heard about him.

At first I didn't understand why he took the driver's seat while Elyse and Disraeli, by far the more talented, lurked in the background. "He's my Queen of England," explains Elyse. "I don't want to give interviews. Omar loves to talk, and he loves to dance. He's the perfect representative for our vision," she says. "He has an answer for everything, but because of his attention span he can't ruin the suspense by telling you the whole story." Disraeli feels differently. "Omar is no good," he tells me. "He wants aggrandizement."

When Omar and Disraeli shoot a movie, each wields a camera, and both call "action" and "cut," even though the actors don't move until Elyse gives a hand signal.

For all his faults, Omar is an outstanding cinematographer-a kind of idiot savantfor whom a camera penetrates this thick crust of inanity. I saw the transformation occur on the scene of Must, Omar's unfinished remake of Finnish filmmaker S. Pael's final masterpiece. The main character in Omar's version is played by SURF, the last member of our newly formed cartel. I have never been able to reconcile SURF's deliberate, calculated acting style with the rest of his personality.

SURF All Day Full Night (2004, DV-excellent, 24 hours) Logline: Tune in at the right time for the fine, fine wine. Medium: Internet stream. Gross to date: $0 Debt: $0 ("I am nothing, I need nothing.")

"You don't need to know me. The lesser the better," says SURF, who is full of this kind of jargon, a way of talking that I originally proscribed to California.

I've just received the contract back from Omar and SURF. Though he claims to have never learned how to read, SURF has crossed out the word "net" and replaced it with "gross" in the profit sharing section. In the folder with this updated contract are the photos of our group. These are a crucial element to our coordinated branding effort.

I'm required by contract to print SURF's name in capital letters, and to choose from the following adjectives when describing images of him: "endearing," "boastful," or "toned." Believe it or not, SURF's boastful smile is his least contribution to our cartel, his business acumen is highly honed-or toned. Thanks to him we have a website: www.filmcartel.comm. SURF also uses a number of calculations to determine how to spend his time, which usually yield "sit around" or "go to the beach."

Omar, SURF, and myself have banded together to form a distribution company. Each of us has a different approach to getting our films seen. I distribute by hand and on TV; Omar believes in theatrics and the cinema; and SURF's films are free on the Internet. Rather than a company, what we have is an institutionalized argument. Our sole point of agreement is the inspiration for this article, and may be of use to you in your work: It is easier to promote one another than it is to promote our movies-none of which any of us like or have time to watch.

The key is to first think about your filmmaker persona. Some of the tips and exercises to the right will help. In the meantime, start by taking something you don't like in someone else and apply it to yourself; once you've achieved detachment you can objectively add any other traits you want. Try it for a year. Take some pictures. And when you're bored with that, shoot your movie. You're the star. Who's the star? Say "I'm the star."

- Feb. 2004 (published June 2004, The Independent Film and Video Monthly)

Fritz Donnelly is a New York based Filmmaker, currently working on a how-to action feature. His other films can be viewed at www.tothehills.com.

BUILD YOUR OWN FILMMAKER PERSONA SURF's formula to determine whether or not to make a movie: Divide the number of hours people will spend watching your movie by the number of hours you will spend making it. The result should be greater than one. For example, if only five people watch your one-hour film, that five viewing hours, so SURF would spend less than five hours making the film. His film probably wouldn't have very many cuts, no sound FX, maybe no music. Or SURF would just take someone else's movie and recut it-he's done that to my movies. Some questions to answer in the privacy of your own home: 1. Which of your eccentric behaviors is beneficial to your filmmaking? 2. What has mad you laugh hardest in recent memory? 3. What article of clothing or accessory would you feel most comfortable wearing all the time? 4. Which of these words best describes your personality (the way you interact with other people): a. Obnoxious b. Anxious c. Aloof Another way of stating this question: Are you moving a) toward the world b) toward yourself c) toward the abstract The only characters that are truly memorable are fallible ones with exaggerated features. Answer the above questions honestly. I'll do me: 1. I make strange noises and do the same inane thing over and over when I'm really tired. 2. My girlfriend said something obnoxious to me just like the obnoxious things I say to her. A couple days later she moved out. We both laughed. 3. A scarf. I wish I could say a wet suit, or even a thong, or better, earrings. 4. a. Take your eccentric behavior and combine it with your hard laugh--this is your filmmaking "style." Now pick out your definitive article of clothing-this is the basis of your "costume." The last question is left entirely up to you-only you know, in a manner of speaking if you're the singer, the sound engineer, or the bass guitar. Although SURF should have said it, I'll say it: What is nonsense now is money later. And keep an eye out for our "foreign-language" action films. We are a cartel, or a den of thieves, with nothing in common with you but our cold blood. AT RIGHT: 24 stills from each film of TO THE HILLS 1, column one going down : Boardroom, Agent Delgado, Instructor, Basketball, How Drive the Car, Singer-Songwriter, column two : Filmmaker, Criminal, Yoga-Dance, Favorite Car, Jogger, Skater-Surfer column three : Answer Machine, Astronaut's Diary, Happy Birthday, Golf, Disguise, Wigs N Hats (note the same Wigs n Hats salesman is pictured on the cover of the magazine at the beginning of the article), column four : Paper Grunts, Bass Guitar, Writer, Volotrons, Thinker, Movie Fan