#did the budget went into filming so there's no money left to properly promote this

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THIICHA ทิชา — 2024, dir. Koo Ekkasit Trakulkasemsuk

[studentsguidetofilmmaking]

My suggestion is to use the power of suggestion!

Some years ago, a friend of mine wanted to make a horror film trailer as a promotional device to secure funding for a full-length feature. He asked me if I would like to assist as cameraman and, of course, I accepted.

One of the shots he wanted involved a zombie-like creature reaching out from behind the bars of a jail cell. One night, my friend called me with instructions to meet at midnight in his company’s parking lot in Newark, N.J. My friend worked at a video production company so it made sense to convene there to pick up the lighting equipment.

Once the rest of the crew arrived, we drove to the county courthouse in Piscataway, N.J. where my friend obtained permission to film in one of the unused jail cells.

Once there, the makeup artists took up shop in a storage room and began applying a ghoulish slathering of blood and muck to the actor, taking almost three hours to complete. Meanwhile, down the hall, I lit the jail cell in a creepy, shadowy fashion and loaded the camera with Kodak color negative film stock.

It was now about 4 a.m. Not being accustomed to staying up this late, I began to feel the fatigue of sleep deprivation. At one point, I felt I could have stood in for the zombie-like creature!

Finally, after a few last-minute lighting tweaks and makeup applications, the actor walked into the cell and on cue, lunged through the bars at the camera. When the shot was “in the can,” we cleaned up and left the courthouse at approximately 5 a.m. I could think about nothing else but unplugging my alarm clock and plunging my head deep into my pillow when I got home.

In the final trailer, the shot lasted about one second.

Years later, I thought back on that exhausting evening, and I asked myself why my friend actually went to a courthouse jail cell to film that shot. One possible answer was that he was enamored with the romanticism of shooting “on location.” The other possible answer was that he didn’t understand the power of suggestion.

In my film, “Chump Change,” I needed to film in the rear office of a local bar. If I did things my friend’s way, I would have gone to a bar, asked permission to shoot in the back room and inconvenienced the owner. Instead, I chose to shoot the scene in my basement and “suggest” the rear office.

How did I do this? Simple. I went to various liquor stores in the area and retrieved empty liquor and beer boxes from the stores’ dumpsters. Then I placed a business-style metal desk in the center of my basement and positioned the boxes in the immediate background. With the only lighting coming from a spotlight above the desk, the basement walls fell into shadow. 

When the desk was adorned with a telephone and various office-related accoutrements, the effect was a convincing portrayal of a bar’s backroom office.

What my friend could have done in his film to “suggest” a jail cell was bought a few broom stick handles at a local hardware store, painted them grey and mounted them in front of a cinder block wall, leaving enough space for the actor to lunge through the “bars.”

With proper lighting and frame composition, the same effect could have been achieved without shooting in real jail cell. True, the makeup would still take the same amount of time to apply, but travel, securing filming permission and an all-night shoot would have been avoided, thus saving time, money and effort.

So, in the same way low-budget plays use props and sets to suggest where a scene is taking place, a film can do the same thing convincingly if lit and framed properly. The old adage of the “less we see, the more we see” certainly applies in this situation. Don’t feel that you have to shoot on-location to convince the viewer of your setting. My suggestion is to use the power of suggestion…it can go a long way.

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If you feel Ananath Narayan Mahadevan is currently enjoying the success of his performance in the highly acclaimed web series, Scam 1992, you’re highly mistaken. The actor, who has also been dabbling into direction since a long time, is hurt and in despair. That’s because he still hasn’t been fully paid for Aksar 2. This erotic thriller released on November 17, 2017 and starred Zareen Khan, Gautam Rode and Abhinav Shukla. Fed up with asking producer Shyam Bajaj for the balance remuneration, the veteran artist yesterday put up a Facebook post. He uploaded the poster of Aksar 2 and the caption was ‘CELEBRATING THREE YEARS....OF HUMILIATION by the producers’. Not just that, he played with the tagline of the film, ‘How often do you see the trap?’ by mentioning on the poster, ‘How often do you not get paid??’

When contacted by Bollywood Hungama, Ananath Narayan Mahadevan minced no words while narrating his ordeal. He said, “I was supposed to be paid Rs. 35 lakhs. I have been paid Rs. 20 lakhs till date. They kept promising for 3 years that they’ll pay up the balance amount. Every time I contacted Mr Shyam Bajaj, he kept saying that he’ll pay. And then he tried to avoid it. I ended up as a nervous wreck. It was very humiliating. If somebody would have told me to direct a film for free, I would have graciously done it. But they kept fooling me. They claimed that ‘let’s finish the Mauritius schedule. Otherwise the film will get stuck’ and ‘let me release the film first and then I’ll pay’. Also, the film is your baby too. You don’t want it to get affected in any way. And of course, I did trust. In fact, he didn’t even sign a contract with me. He managed to bypass all that very cleverly. Now I realize that it was all very well planned so that they don’t have to pay me my remuneration. Very sad state of affairs!”

This is not the first time that Ananath Narayan Mahadevan has worked with the Bajajs. Earlier, he had directed for them films like, Aksar (2006) and Aggar (2007). Ananth says he was paid well without delay during the making of those films which is why he didn’t imagine in his wildest dreams that they wouldn't pay him during Aksar 2. He stated, “I have worked with them earlier, with Aksar and even in Aggar. That’s the reason I trusted them. I was paid properly then and on time. So I thought they’ll not cheat me. And I had agreed to work for such a paltry sum that it’s even shameful to tell the public.” He added, “Every time, they used to give me a small amount through a cheque.”

So what does he plan to do now so that justice is served? Ananth Narayan Mahadevan says, “I have nothing to do. I approached a lawyer but he said that since I don’t have a contract, we can’t do anything about it. The lawyer went and spoke to them. They then continued with their excuses like ‘we’ll let you know, ‘we’ll talk after Diwali’, ‘we are sick’ etc. They have got a hundred excuses to give me. So finally, I decided to go public. I realized that if they humiliate me like this, I’ll humiliate them too. I know I am not going to get the money. So I’ll at least hit back and wound them before I die.”

Aksar 2 was panned badly by critics and viewers alike, unlike the first part which boasted of a great suspense, hit music and fair performances by Emraan Hashmi, Dino Morea and Udita Goswami. On this, Anant revealed, “For the producers, sex was the only important factor. If Aksar 2 did not have the sex element at all, it would have been a very slick and intelligent

thriller. But all the focus was on the wrong things. Even while making the film, I had to accept this aspect and direct. If they had released the film properly and it had become a big hit, then somewhere it would have lessened the pain. I could have consoled myself by saying, ‘chalo, koi baat nahi. The film is a hit. I’ll manage to get some mileage out of it’. But shockingly, they didn’t even distribute it properly. They ensured that the film folded up in one week. It was a totally disgusting experience”.

He continued, “Aksar 2 had a better story. It had good actors like Gautam Rode. I wonder what their intention was. They didn’t want to run the film well, they didn’t sell it to any platform. I wonder what they were upto. Is this some way of showing losses so that they can claim some money? They were upto some game which I am not able to decipher.”

When asked whether the rest of the cast and crew members have been duly paid, Ananth Narayan Mahadevan informed, “All the actors were paid. The makers had to; otherwise they won’t dub or promote the film. But the director is always left high and dry,” and then added, “Everybody has been paid except me, the DOP and the assistants.”

So has the cinematographer Maneesh Bhatt decided to take any action? Ananth said, “The DOP also tried to get his money but after a point, even he gave up. They told me and him that they’ll pay us once they start their next project. But this was not the condition that was laid before us when we started Aksar 2.”

What adds to the humiliation for Ananth Narayan Mahadevan is that he went to great lengths for the makers while directing Aksar 2. He confessed, “Aksar 2 was made below their budget. They had a budget of Rs. 4 crore but I made it at Rs. 3 crore. You have no idea how much I have gone through during this film. They even admit it that I am the only one who can make a film within a budget, within a stipulated time and ensure profit for the makers. And yet, they are playing this game. I don’t understand what's driving them to act in such a manner.”

He further said, “These Rs. 20 lakhs which I have received were given to me over a period of two years. I had asked for Rs. 50 lakhs since I have done films for Rs. 60 lakhs in the past. But they convinced me by saying, ‘Aap paintees lakh (35 lakh) mein kar do hamare liye’. They assured me that the film will be done within a period of 4 to 6 months and that I’ll be paid by then. So, I agreed. They stretched the film to 2 years. Imagine, Rs. 20 lakhs in 2 years! A per-day-artiste would have got more than what I got paid in the film!”

For Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, the non-payment of due has given him a huge blow. He stated, “The only reason I do these mainstream films so that it’ll help make the kind of films I strongly desire. There I know I won’t get money and there’s hardly any budget. Aksar 2 came at a time when I badly needed the money. Despite them knowing about my condition, they did not have the heart to pay me my rightful due.”

Making independent cinema, however, was not the only reason. Ananth faced many difficulties and even then, the producers didn’t budge. He said, “I told them to just give me Rs. 1 lakh. I needed it desperately to give it to the contractor so that my brother’s house, destroyed in the floods in Kerala, can be rebuilt. My brother was literally roofless and I was begging them to give me the money. They have put me through such mental torture! If this was America, they could have been sued for millions of dollars.”

Further explaining his condition, Ananth Narayan Mahadevan said, “My mother is ailing and is bedridden. I have to pay 2 nurses a minimum Rs. 60,000 a month. I have told the producers everything – about my mother’s condition and my brother’s condition. But these people kept fooling me. Mr Shyam Bajaj, in fact, kept visiting me at studios where I was shooting. He would

make assurances and leave. I can literally feel them laughing behind my back. I want to just ask him - why are you not paying an honest director his rightful due? The man who saved you a crore, why are you doing this to him? That’s all I need to know. I am very distressed.”

Ananth signed off by stating, “Let me see how they can reply now that I have named and shamed them in public. I feel they won’t have a reply.”

Also Read: Ananth Mahadevan’s Bittersweet nominated for the prestigious Jiseok Awards at Busan International Film Festival

December 15, 2020 at 10:53AMEXPLOSIVE: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan RIPS APART Aksar 2 producers for not paying him his fees; says "It was a totally DISGUSTING experience" https://ift.tt/3qW5rSn

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How Mario Puzo penned ‘The Godfather’ to get out of debt — and made bank

Within the late 1960s, Mario Puzo retreated to the basement nook that served as his workplace to work on a brand new e book. The broom-closet-like house beneath his Lengthy Island home had sufficient room for a desk, a typewriter and little extra. The basement additionally held a pool desk, and whereas Puzo typed away, his 5 youngsters would come down and play loud video games, forcing Puzo to admonish the brood. “He’d say, ‘Hold it down, I’m writing a best-seller,’” Puzo’s eldest baby, Tony, tells The Publish. The youngsters rolled their eyes and snickered. Their father’s declare was so laughable as a result of, at that time, Puzo was a great distance from the best-seller record. His earlier two novels had been well-reviewed however had offered about sufficient copies to fill a modest station wagon. So Puzo had determined to promote out. He put his intellectual literary aspirations apart and set out to pen an enormous, honking, industrial e book that may carry him fame and fortune. Or at the least sufficient cash to repay his mounting money owed. The outcome was “The Godfather,” printed 50 years in the past subsequent week, and a e book that, as he promised his youngsters, did certainly turn into a best-seller — and then some. The Mafia story had its roots in tough Hell’s Kitchen, the place Puzo was raised by Italian immigrants. His father labored for the railroad and deserted the household when Mario was 12. (He was later identified with a psychological sickness.) Puzo’s stern mom saved him clear of the gangs that dominated the neighborhood again then, and the younger man spent his free time studying books checked out from the general public library. As soon as only a struggling pulp author, Mario Puzo (above, in glasses) gained consolation for his household and an adapted-screenplay Oscar. Whereas a scholar at Commerce Excessive College, Puzo’s writing drew discover. He was informed by academics it was ok to be printed. As an grownup, he wrote journey tales for a pulpy males’s journal printed by the proprietor of Marvel Comics. (Stan Lee was proper down the corridor.) Puzo’s first novel, 1955’s “The Darkish Area,” earned him $3,500. His second, 1965’s “The Lucky Pilgrim,” simply $3,000. “I used to be going downhill quick,” Puzo wrote in his 1972 memoir “The Godfather Papers and Different Confessions.” Puzo more and more struggled to make ends meet. “He favored to do issues first-class regardless that we solely had fifth-class cash,” says Tony Puzo, 72, a retired editor. “He ran up rather a lot of debt.” When his editor talked about that “The Lucky Pilgrim” might need finished higher if it had extra Mafia in it, Puzo reluctantly accepted the seeds for his subsequent e book. He wrote a 10-page define for a novel in regards to the Corleone crime household, whose son Michael takes the reins after his father is murdered. However Puzo’s then-publisher handed. Finally, a good friend organized a gathering at G.P. Putnam’s Sons, the venerable New York writer behind Edgar Allan Poe, amongst others. “The editors simply sat round for an hour listening to my Mafia tales and mentioned go forward,” Puzo wrote in 1972. The writer walked away with a $5,000 advance. He didn’t really need to write the e book, nonetheless, and spent three years engaged on it. He lastly completed in July 1968, as a result of he wanted the ultimate installment of the advance to take his household to go to Europe. “He was so broke,” Carol Gino, an writer and Puzo’s longtime girlfriend, tells The Publish (Puzo’s spouse died in 1978; he adopted in 1999). “His spouse by no means knew that once they got here dwelling from Europe, they had been going to have to promote the home.” It by no means got here to that. Upon his return, Puzo had lunch on the Algonquin Lodge together with his editor, Invoice Targ, and was shocked when Targ knowledgeable him the writer had offered the paperback rights to “The Godfather” for $410,000 (almost $Three million in immediately’s {dollars}). Earlier than the e book had been launched in hardback, Fawcett had snapped up the paperback privileges, breaking the then-record by $10,000. The Godfather, 1972Courtesy Everett Assortment Puzo was in disbelief, asking Targ if this was “some type of Madison Avenue put-on.” “That sort of sale for paperback rights on the time was unheard of,” says Jim Milliot, the Publishers Weekly editorial director. Puzo was flush for the primary time in his life. “Each Italian household has a ‘chooch,’ a donkey, a household fool that everyone agrees won’t ever find a way to make any cash,” Puzo wrote in his memoir. The author now known as his household to allow them to know he was not the chooch. Puzo promptly requested the writer for a $100,000 verify, and he used the cash to repay money owed. Three months later, he known as the writer and requested for an additional $100,000. The shocked writer requested what occurred to the fortune they’d simply given him. “100 grand doesn’t final perpetually,” Puzo replied. ‘The Godfather” hardback was launched March 10, 1969, and had the nice fortune to seem at a time when American’s curiosity in organized crime was at a fever pitch. “The Mafia turned far more current in popular culture after the [1950-51] Kefauver hearings [on organized crime],” says Kenneth Davis, writer of “Two-Bit Tradition: The Paperbacking of America.” “Then there was the breakup of the [1957] Apalachin Mafia assembly in upstate New York and the publication [in 1968] of ‘The Valachi Papers’ [about Brooklyn mobster Joe Valachi]. A couple of issues all got here collectively without delay.” Opinions for the e book had been stable. Kirkus concluded it was “sure for reputation,” and The New York Occasions agreed, writing “The Godfather” was “such a compelling story” that it was headed for “the heights of best-sellerdom.” Reviewers particularly applauded the genuine job Puzo had finished of capturing the felony underworld. He did it so properly, some suspected the writer had connections. “He was a little bit offended if anybody requested him if he was half of the Mafia,” Gino says. “He labored so arduous and suffered a lot humiliation to get out of Hell’s Kitchen [and the gangs].” Regardless of the cause, “The Godfather” linked with readers like few books had. “In accordance to Fawcett’s gross sales figures, ‘The Godfather’ was the fastest-selling e book in historical past, with 5 million copies offered in 1970,” Milliot says. “By January of 1971, there have been 7 million copies in print.” It was additionally on the time the one most worthwhile e book printed by Putnam’s and, in paperback (additionally launched in 1969), by Fawcett. (A 50th-anniversary version of the masterpiece hits cabinets Tuesday.) Puzo was so used to being broke, it took him some time to adapt to his windfall. “One time, he went to the library and the e book he needed was taken out,” Tony Puzo says. “Then he remembered he had cash now and went to the bookstore and purchased a bunch of books.” One supply that surprisingly didn’t add a lot to Puzo’s coffers was the 1972 film adaptation. After Puzo had accomplished 100 pages of “The Godfather,” Paramount provided him $12,500 as an “possibility” to make the movie, with one other $50,000 if the film bought made. Puzo’s agent suggested passing on the deal, however to the author, that sort of cash appeared like “Fort Knox.” He took it. The studio set out to make a low-budget adaptation that may price about one-fifth what their different movies did. “The [option] price Paramount nothing and they needed to get a film made, however each large director turned it down,” “The Godfather” producer Al Ruddy tells The Publish. “In everybody’s thoughts, it was a pleasant gangster thriller however nothing vital.” Ruddy was employed as a result of he’d made one earlier film and it got here in below finances. He learn “The Godfather” on the aircraft to New York to meet Charles Bluhdorn, the top of Gulf and Western, proprietor of Paramount. “I used to be shocked,” Ruddy says. “The narrative was so sturdy. I mentioned, ‘It is a masterpiece.’ ” Ruddy informed Bluhdorn he’d like to make an “ice-blue terrifying film about folks you’re keen on.” Bluhdorn replied, ‘That’s good,” then left the assembly. Ruddy was ambivalent about hiring Puzo to adapt the screenplay as a result of novelists could be too treasured about their e book. The 2 met for lunch on the Waldorf-Astoria. “Mario mentioned, ‘For those who rent me, I promise you I’ll by no means have a look at this e book once more,’ ” Ruddy says. “And he threw his copy of the e book on the ground on the restaurant. I gave him the job.” Puzo flew out to LA and moved into The Beverly Hills Lodge — a luxurious that wiped out the $500 every week he was being paid in bills. On the time, although, the proposed Mafia flick angered some — particularly Italian-People who thought “The Godfather” promoted stereotypes. (Puzo, too, acquired quite a few offended letters from Italian-People.) Mafia boss Joe Colombo was particularly irked and made filming in New York Metropolis tough by strong-arming native companies and unions not to cooperate. To make peace, Ruddy invited Colombo to his workplace to learn “The Godfather” script. The mob boss confirmed up with two henchmen, and Ruddy handed him the huge, 155-page script. Colombo pulled out studying glasses and stared on the first web page for a pair minutes. Lastly, he turned to Ruddy and requested, “What does ‘fade in’ imply?” “I knew he’d by no means get to web page two,” Ruddy says. ‘By way of ‘The Godfather,’ I got here to my true present: a storyteller.’’ Colombo tossed the script apart and hurriedly made a take care of Ruddy to excise the phrase “Mafia” from the script. (There was only a single occasion.) After that, work on the movie proceeded extra easily. One Italian-American who wouldn’t be so simply placated was Frank Sinatra. Ol’ Blue Eyes’ legal professionals had demanded to see a manuscript of the novel earlier than it was printed as a result of Sinatra thought the mobbed-up crooner Johnny Fontane bore a resemblance to him. Later, when Puzo was engaged on the film script, he discovered himself at a celebration with Sinatra. The host insisted on introducing them, regardless of Puzo’s refusals. Sinatra exploded, calling Puzo a “pimp” and threatened to beat him up, in accordance to Puzo’s memoir. As the author walked away, the singer screamed, “Choke. Go forward and choke.” Even with the controversy, the movie, of course, went on to turn into among the many best made, and the script (co-written with director Francis Ford Coppola) gained Puzo an Oscar and all of the sudden turned him into an in-demand screenwriter. “After ‘The Godfather,’ my dad purchased a e book on how to write screenplays,” Tony Puzo says. “On the primary web page, it mentioned, ‘The most effective screenplay ever written was ‘The Godfather.’ After he learn that, he threw the e book away.” Tony Puzo says his dad had an “80 p.c” constructive relationship together with his most well-known e book. Mario did lament the truth that readers typically didn’t know he wrote different novels. Nonetheless, Puzo acknowledged what writing that large industrial e book had introduced him. “He mentioned as soon as, ‘I felt on the time that I had offered out, as a result of I used to be a literary man,’” Gino says. “‘However by “The Godfather,” I got here to my true present: a storyteller.’” Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/03/02/how-mario-puzo-penned-the-godfather-to-get-out-of-debt-and-made-bank/ The post How Mario Puzo penned ‘The Godfather’ to get out of debt — and made bank appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2019/03/how-mario-puzo-penned-the-godfather-to-get-out-of-debt-and-made-bank.html