Category Archives: projects

August 2, 2011 · 9:17 pm

New Vids, Kickstarter, ShmimCast & Noticing a Slowdown

Hello friends, followers, lurkers and stalkers! August 2nd marks the day that I publicly state that I’m going to get back to daily posting. For what it’s worth.

This is mostly selfish. I’ve noticed that since my blogging has gotten lackadaisical I have had a significant dropoff in readers. That’s no good! I like you guys! I look forward to your comments, messages and Tweets so I clearly need to maintain my side of the deal better. I also want to let you know that not ALL my posting will be Shameless Self Promotion and Plugs. There will still be SOME, but I’ll be getting back to what this blog was developed for – writing practice.

But let’s get the plugs and stuff out of the way.

New Story Time with Ray! He’s writin’ poems!

The Kickstarter Campaign! We are making The Cheerleaders Must Die! and we need your help.

The Cheerleaders Must Die! Official Fan Page. Like it!

OK, there we go. Next up!

I have been learning, against my will, how to code websites. It’s like math class in junior high all over again. Except harder.

The coding itself isn’t too bad, it’s logical and as long as you pay attention it’s hard to make any real mistakes, but navigating the different control panels between different companies – especially those where the HELP CHAT IS NOT WORKING – is frustrating, aggravating and, especially for me, momentum killing. So far, as long as I can find the section I need to work on, I’ve been doing alright. I’ve had a great deal of help from friends Scott Sanford, computer genius, and Amy Dallen, a cy-curious genius (get it? CY-curious?! like CYBER-curious?!?! I KILL me!) without who I would be treading the computer equivalent of water. Still stuck on a couple key things – my CurtisAndersen.com email still isn’t redirecting correctly (sorry if you’ve tried to send mail there) and our main domain for TCMD! isn’t resolving – but they are getting worked on as I write this.

I should let you know that I’ve been away from this blog for a while. I’ve lost my writing momentum and this is stream of consciousnesses writing to try and get back on track. Not sure that it’s working.

Have you listened to my latest episode of The Shmimcast? It’s gotten some very positive reviews and I think it’s not too bad. totally worth a listen!

I surrender. Here’s a picture of me with a muppet:

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under cheerleaders must die, Improv Shmimprov, new media, new projects, news, rambling, Story Time with Ray, video, wiggy webs

July 27, 2011 · 10:01 pm

There’s So Much Going On!

I’ve been to ComiCon, we’ve had the Wiggy Webs shows coming out, we started a new Kickstarter campaign for The Cheerleaders Must Die!, new websites are being built, new social networking is happening and I have to repair my email address and the tracking on the WVS blog.

It’s been a busy week.

All technical things aside, even though they have taken/are taking a lot of time, the creative things and the progress on different projects are really feeling good! I’ll take you through bit by bit.

  1. ComiCon – this is my first ComiCon since 1997! At that show I got strep throat, ate Greek food for the first time, bought a Green Lantern t-shirt and power ring. It was fun, crowded and very geeky. With the exception of almost dying from the strep it was a good time. This year was all about business and supporting my buddy Zeke and the short film he did with our good friends over at The Price. Not much has changed from when I was last there, and based on what I was told this is the first year where it felt like it was about comic books again, it was still fun, crowded and very geeky – but we were also able to do some real movie business! There are pictures on my Fan Page.
  2. To get it out of the way, I screwed up the path to my @curtisandersen.com email addresses. My bad. I’m fixing it, but just in case you can also reach me at curtis@wiggyvonschtick.com. 
  3. The Cheerleaders Must Die! – This movie is getting made! Just, not yet. We have started a Kickstarter campaign to help pay for some of the materials we need to get the financing that will get this movie made! Please check it out here and even if you can’t donate we hope you’ll send it to your friends because crowd source financing works best when you have a large crowd! Also by this tim next week we’ll have some fun new official news about the movie – keep your eyes on the Wiggy website for details!
  4. WiggyWebs – To wrap us up today I want to make sure you know about this week’s Wiggy Web’s shows! New “Story Time with Ray” and “3 Minutes with Curtis & Dean!” We’ve also started pre-production on some new bits and bobs for August!

So that’s about all for updates!  See you tomorrow!

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Filed under cheerleaders must die, geek, new media, new projects, videos, Wiggy VonSchtick, wiggy webs

July 14, 2011 · 6:00 pm

I, Literally, Saw A Meat Sack… And Joss Whedon

I have been powering away at a new blog for a few weeks now.  It’s still cookin’, I’m working on my endings since then tend to peter out at the end, but it’s not done so in the mean time I thought it might be a good idea to tell you about other things.  Things like what I saw today while shooting the documentary. We can ignore the fact that I ran into Stan Lee in the parking garage (even though it was frickin’ cool!) because what I saw today was pretty gross and shouldn’t be remembered in the same brain cells.

As you probably already know we’re working on a documentary about plastic surgery and a part of that is filming surgeries. Today we got to see two of the original breast implants from 1983 removed from a woman.

1983!

Twenty-four years!

From what we were told today, and later saw, those old implants were never designed to last that long.  They were intended to be placed for ten years and then replaced – like tires.  At least that’s what we were told. The scary part is that both implants had burst.

That’s bad.

It was kinda’ ok though because her body had formed scar tissue, called encapsulation, around the implant completely containing the leaking silicone.

Except that encapsulation is bad too.

Her body has been fighting the implants and trying to heal for almost thirty years!

When the doctor removed the scar tissue it looked like really thick placenta filled with sand, crumbled egg shells and cottage cheese.  It was awful.  The implant had discolored and the silicone looked like baby poop or diarrhea.

It is relieving to know that modern implants are built to outlive the person they’re in because this was a very unfortunate sight to see.

On a happier note, new “3 Minutes with Curtis & Dean!”

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under 3 minutes with curtis and dean, documentary, new media, plastic surgery, rant, update, video, Wiggy VonSchtick, wiggy webs

June 22, 2011 · 6:15 pm

It’s Wednesday and You Know What That Means!!!!

The new “3 Minutes with Curtis & Dean” is up!

We are shooting more episodes soon and want to know what YOU want discussed!  Hit us at the Wiggy Twitter, Curtis’s Twitter, The Wiggy Webs Channel, The Facebook Fan pages for Curtis or Wiggy or right here in the comments of this blog!  We’ve already received some great ideas, but the more we have the more we can shoot.

That’s all the shameless self-promotion that we’re going to do today, but I hope you enjoy the video.  We are down to the last episode before we shoot new ones and Dean and I have some new ideas to implement that we’re pretty excited about.  New intro!  New opening and closing music!  All new, all different editing techniques that will probably be unnoticeable to the casual viewer!  Good stuff.

I recorded a new episode of The Shmimcast last weekend, I mentioned it on Twitter, and when it is released I will post a link here to it.  Also, I’m going to be playing with the look of the blog this week as we play with the new web stuff – so don’t be surprised.

There’s so much stuff I want to tell you about – but it isn’t time.  I’ll just have to wait.

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under 3 minutes with curtis and dean, Improv Shmimprov, projects, shameless self promotion, Wiggy VonSchtick, wiggy webs

April 7, 2011 · 6:00 pm

Experiments in Story Telling

There’s a lot going on in my life right now, so much that it is hard to catch my breath and see exactly what is going on.  It reminds me of a Lionel Richie interview when he talked about all the things that were going on in the 80’s.  He said he didn’t really get to enjoy what he was doing because he was always spending his time either getting to an event to perform or running from a place he just performed at.  The last six months or so have felt like that for me too, although I haven’t been singing “Dancing on the Ceiling” to crowds of tens of thousands of people.  It’s wake up, rush, probably shoot, rush, teach, rush, sit, sleep. Not the most glamorous schedule in the world.  Better than digging a ditch, but not glamorous.

Today we caught a break, though.  Our interview for the documentary went very well and ended a few minutes early and I got some bonus “sit” time.  I thought about what we’ve actually been doing and it occurred to me that, as much as I keep complaining that I’m not exercising my creativity, I’ve actually been experimenting with a few different ways of story telling and some of it might turn out pretty cool!

For the doc we’ve got three very different looks that we’re combining together:

  • An HD Cam for the glossy operating room, doctor’s office interviews.
  • A high caliber standard def cam to capture the natural look of our interview subjects.
  • A Flip HD Cam for the “P.O.V.” shots from Rene and I.

And even though it feels like this is all getting tossed together by the seat of our pants I really think this doc is coming together.

The Wiggy Webs stuff, even though it is woefully stuck in edit hell, has me really excited!  With the commentary pieces, satire and straight up schtick it’s the most exciting outlet that we haven’t taken full advantage of yet.  I’m re-affirming my efforts to get that stuff up – seeing as how I’m four months behind.  I’m ashamed of myself.

Cheerleaders Must Die! – A long time back & forth between turn around and production, but still Zeke is making great script alterations and there’s a wave of support growing under it and that’s awesome.

And, on the geek front, our D&D game is evolving for the better.  My buddy Dean was added to the group about a year ago and since then he has challenged some of my ideas about how to play.  I now feel like we are just building a fantasy story and I’m planning my participation to help contribute to that.  I don’t feel like I can explain that very well here, but the important detail is that even this game is a version of storytelling and it is getting better as I work.

They say work breeds more work and I’m noticing it even if it isn’t directly involved in the kind of work that pays me I’m still getting paid in satisfaction.

Brain is turning to toothpaste so I’ll…

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under cheerleaders must die, documentary, dungeons and dragons, making movies, Wiggy VonSchtick, wiggy webs

February 16, 2011 · 7:57 pm

It’s Only 11:19am and Already We’ve Averted Disaster

At 9:35am we lost our shooting location for today.

Zeke gave me a call, we needed a new location and everyone was working on it.

I leapt to action, had three different people working on finding new locations, had eleven different possibilities by 10:15 am and by 10:45am was told that the weather cleared enough for the shoot to happen at the original location.

It’s moments like this that give a production team a chance to shine.  We do not have an unlimited production budget or even a definite time slot, but it all came together and, if we needed it, we had several options for a new location is just over an hour.

People often ask me what the job of “producer” entails.  Usually I say that the producer builds the team that makes the movie, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty a producer is there to put out fires as they pop up on production.

This morning I was a fireman.

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under business, Enter the Wolf, making movies, projects

· 7:55 am

Good Day. Shooting Day. Creative Day.

Today was a good day.

It wasn’t particularly extraordinary, but it was a good day.  

Today was the first day of shooting for “Enter the Wolf”, the show that we sold to Syfy, and Zeke was our man on the set.  I stopped by to check in and everybody, the crew, cast – everybody – were great!  I’m very excited to see how the rest of the week goes.

I was also doing a bunch of scheduling and paperwork for the documentary today.  That’s more of an experience than something that is interesting to write about, but it did take up a good portion of my day.

The thing that made the day truly “good” though was that I felt creative today – still do actually.  I had inspiration to write and images and new ideas popped into my head and I suddenly had a need to be in a book store.  Or a cafe with coffee and cheesecake.  Or a piano lounge in New York.  Or Tokyo.  Some place with atmosphere where I could pop open my Moleskine and jot ideas or a story or build the site map for the re-design of CurtisAndersen.com (which is what I ended up doing).

I have so many ideas flowing through my head that it’s actually hard to concentrate.  I’m listening to the Creative Screenwriting podcast right now so that my brain can focus as I write this.  Still I really want to get the ideas out.

I had a new idea for a novel today.  I’m trying to decide if I want to hand write it or type it.  I should also probably try and find out when I could make the time to write it.

These bouts of inspiration usually come when a win hits, and even though the Syfy show could still implode it’s still a pretty good win!

Today’s picture is of Hollywood & Highland when I was traveling between my two destinations today.  I’m hoping to make it to set again tomorrow so that I can post some behind the scenes pics on the Wiggy Blog tomorrow.

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under business, career, Enter the Wolf, making movies, musings

January 7, 2011 · 7:00 pm

Creativity and Time

I can safely call myself a producer now. For a long time I believe I was an actor who was producing, but now my time is definitely spent more in a producer role than as an actor. There are pros and cons to this, most I don’t really want to go into right now, but the biggest change that I’ve noticed, especially the last couple days, is that I don’t have the time to solve the creative problems that have been popping up.

I guess “problems” is the wrong word, they’re more like “issues.”  Things with CMD!, the documentary, the other development projects and Wiggy Webs are really starting to push forward, but as things ramp up the time that I feel comfortable dedicating to the creative side keeps shrinking.  There’s just too much business to do.  I find myself excited when I have to go to the store because it means I don’t have to review another invoice or re-do a budget.  Don’t get me wrong, people pray for my problems but I miss the days of sitting in front of this computer and just making up stories whether good or bad.

I think that, once a few of the current projects get far enough along I’ll be able to dedicate myself to the creative more, but in the mean time I’ll be negotiating with myself about when I’m going to pull out a CMD! re-write and review a new script or two.

These are such first world problems.  I suddenly feel very guilty even writing about it.

See you tomorrow!  Warts and all!

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Filed under business, cheerleaders must die, doctor who, projects, Wiggy VonSchtick, wiggy webs

December 31, 2010 · 2:58 am

The Most Important Part of Sundance 2011 – The Sundance Beard

I’m growing a beard, but not just any beard A SUNDANCE BEARD!

Why a beard for Sundance?  It’s a bit of a story, see I grow facial hair like a sixteen year old girl.  Fer reel!  I’ve tried on a few different occasions to see what I’d look like with some kind of mustache or beard, lots of guys do, and every time it has ended in failure.  Sure the hair grows, but not in a full, lush way like on Burt Reynolds instead it looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.  My Dad has a full beard and has had one since his early twenties so I manage to trick myself into thinking that eventually I’ll be able to grow one too, but with every attempt no dice.

Then came November 2010.  I had not shaved for a week and had a bit of fuzz on my face.  As I was getting ready to shave I thought, “Sundance is coming up and my face freezes every year.  Other guys have beards, I bet that helps.”  The light bulb dinged.  I decided then that it was time to attempt to grow a Sundance beard!  I forgot to mark the day that I stopped shaving, since I stopped before I made the decision, but I’m pretty sure it’s been about five weeks.  I look like this as of today:

There’s some trimming that I should do and it could stand to grow in a bit more, but I’ve got about three more weeks before the festival and my hopes are high that I’ll have a manly beard in time for the snow.

Of course if I have an audition between now and then it has to go – but I’m pushing for a Sundance debut!

The beard might live Tweet from the festival.  No promises, but maybe.

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under general, projects, sundance '11

December 30, 2010 · 12:22 am

Blog Writing When I Should Be Searching & Star Wars

I have a headache, I’ve lost a log book and I can’t find a printout that I need to read.
Instead of doing anything about those things I’m writing a blog, not because I’m particularly inspired but because I can’t think of another place to look for these things.  We had a bit of a leak in the office and in the rush to place tarps to keep everything dry I remember seeing the log book and the print out.  I moved them to keep them safe and I forgot where I put them.  I’ve been looking most of the afternoon and I’m at a point of frustration where I’m too tired to tear the house apart and I’m hoping that they will just magically appear.

So far they haven’t.

It is possible that I threw out the print out.  I can live with that, but I want to know what happened to the log book!

Well this is a boring rant kind of a blog so here’s a link to an article about going a year without Star Wars that I think is great and important for creatives of my generation to read: A Year Without Star Wars

See you tomorrow!

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Filed under business, documentary, making movies, rant, star wars