DETOURS Now on Amazon Prime in the US and the UK!

I'm delighted that my new feature, DETOURS, is now available exclusively on Amazon Prime in the US and the UK!

Prime members can watch for free; rental for non-members starts at $2.99.

I hope you'll check it out, and if you like it, please give it a good rating and review - for indie movies like this one, that truly is our advertising.


Click here to watch DETOURS

Photo Shoot for a New DETOURS Poster

As we prepare to launch DETOURS feature on Amazon Prime, we've realized that it's time for a great new poster, so it was a pleasure to spend this past Monday at the Brooklyn studio of photographer David Spagnolo. He did a tremendous job with our 2 stars Tara Westwood and Carlo Fiorletta. It was clear that David had not only watched DETOURS, but he had a great handle on the characters and how to show their essence in a single photo.  I'm very excited to see what he comes up with.

Be sure to check out David's work at www.davidspagnolo.com - his combination of fashion and sports photography is amazing.

More to come soon, including our release date!

DETOURS: Coming Soon to Amazon Prime!

I'm delighted to announce that DETOURS will be released soon exclusively on Amazon Prime! This means that it will be free to watch for members, and available to rent or buy for non-members. I'll post an exact date as soon as I have one.

It's great to be working once again with Distribber on this - they've been terrific with my first feature, Surviving Family, and I'm looking forward to continuing the relationship.

Here's a small taste of Detours - one of my favorite scenes featuring Carlo Fiorletta and Peter Graham, with Tara Westwood at the wheel.

Golden Door Festival Awards & Nominations

Tara Westwood - Best Actress Winner

Carlo Fiorletta - Best Actor Nominee

We had a great DETOURS screening at the Golden Door Film Festival this past weekend, which culminated in terrific recognition at the awards ceremony.

The Loews Jersey City theater is a beautiful movie palace that opened in 1929; it's only been partially restored so far but the lobby is spectacular, the screen is enormous, and the

Richard Kind - Best Supporting Actor Winner

was very good (stereo not Dolby, alas). Our road-trip comedy looked and sounded amazing. A great aspect of the location is that it's across the street from the Journal Square PATH train, which runs from Manhattan, and that's where much of our (very appreciative) audience came from.

The terrific festival wrapped up on Sunday with the awards ceremony: our wonderful star Tara Westwood won the Best Actress award; Carlo Fiorletta, who is equally good as her dad, was nominated for the Best Actor award; and the always excellent Richard Kind received the Best Supporting Actor award.

All in all, it was a very good weekend indeed.

Great DETOURS Screening at The Strand!

We had a great screening of DETOURS on September 18 at the Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ - it was a terrific return to one of the Ocean County locations where we shot back in October 2014. The team at the Strand was wonderful, both then and now, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with them again.

The crowd included a lot of our wonderful extras, and I was so glad to see that they really enjoyed the movie. It was such fun to actually HEAR when people recognized themselves on the screen.

Photos: 
Top left: Actress Celia Schaefer, director Rob McCaskill, stars/producers Tara Westwood and Carlo Fiorletta, me, and actor Craig Wollman.

Center: Stars and producers Tara Westwood and Carlo Fiorletta

Bottom: Carlo Fiorletta taking photos with our extras in the lobby of the Strand before the screening

Working With Police on Film Sets | Rolling Tape interview

I had the pleasure of being interviewed earlier this week by Forris Day Jr. for his podcast Rolling Tape. We had a terrific discussion about working with police on film sets, which I did for both of my features: Surviving Family and DETOURS. We discussed the differing experiences in Jersey City and Ocean County, NJ, shooting with a process trailer (check out some great shots of that), and the police officer who let us use his house as a location.

It was a fun interview to do, and hopefully it will take a little bit of the mystery out of something that many low-budget filmmakers find intimidating.

Interview with DETOURS Star and Producer Tara Westwood

Tara Westwood & Michele Sorvino

I recently had the pleasure of watching and listening as our terrific DETOURS star and producer Tara Westwood was interviewed by the delightful Michele Sorvino, for her show Inside Hollywood on the Hudson.

They had a wonderfully wide-ranging conversation that covered Tara's career with Ford Models her transition to acting, and the many movies and television shows that she has coming out. They also discussed the terrific Golden Door Film Festival in Jersey City, and Michele's role as Executive Director.  Check it out below.


http://livestream.com/accounts/14095587/events/4504495/videos/127474294

Interview on "Rolling Tape" Podcast

I met actor, writer and host Forris Day Jr. several years ago, when he gave my first feature, Surviving Family, a great review, and also interviewed me for "Scared Stiff Reviews."

Forris is now working with the Borgus Network on a new podcast called "Rolling Tape." I greatly enjoyed being interviewed by him recently about Women in Film, as well as both Surviving Family and my new fesature, DETOURS.

Check out the interview at the link below - the photo is of the wonderful Tara Westwood, who stars in both movies. And if you like the podcast, subscribe!

DETOURS next screening: Sat July 16 at the Long Island Int'l Film Expo

Next up for DETOURS is the Long Island International Film Expo - we're thrilled to be an official selection. The festival takes place at the Bellmore Playhouse on Long Island; Detours screens on Saturday night July 16 at 9:40 PM.

The screening will be followed by a q&a with stars Tara Westwood and Carlo Fiorletta, shown at left in a scene from the movie.

Tickets are $8 each, and can be bought on line from the link below or at the door, subject to availability.

http://longislandfilmexpo.com/event/detours/

Paul Sorvino at the DETOURS Premiere

Mara Lesemann, Tara Westwood, & Paul Sorvino

It was wonderful to have DETOURS cast member Paul Sorvino join us and a wonderful full house at the Muvico Theaters for our premiere at the Sunscreen Film Festival in Saint Petersburg, FL. Paul is best known for his work in the classic mafia film Goodfellas and we love having him play charming coffee shop owner Joe DiMaria.  Tampa Bay Times' movie critic Steve Persall moderated a terrific question and answer session after the movie.

A great crowd turned out

DETOURS Premiere at the Sunscreen Film Festival

Gary Busey & Tara Westwood

DETOURS had a wonderful premiere this past Saturday at the Sunscreen Film Festival in Saint Petersburg, Florida!  We had the pleasure of shooting the climactic scenes of the movie in the area - including on Tampa Bay - and it was great to be back.

I traveled with our wonderful star and my fellow producer Tara Westwood; we were both thrilled with how well-organized and well-attended the festival was.  It helped that we were interviewed by the lovely folks at Tampa news station Bay News 9 - quite a few people told me that they came out because they saw the interview, which you can check out here:

We had an enthusiastic and near-capacity crowd for our screening at the beautiful Muvico theater in downtown Saint Petersburg - the movie looked and sounded fantastic.

Tara was on a terrific panel on acting with Oscar-nominated actor Gary Busey, who was at the festival with his new feature Candiland. We both had the pleasure of participating in a panel on Women In Film, which was moderated by Linda J. Brown, head of the Cinematography Department at USC and director of the wonderful documentary You See Me. 

It was a great weekend, and we've got more DETOURS screening news coming soon! 

"Detours" to Premiere at Sunscreen Film Fest in Saint Petersburg, FL

DP Chris Eadicicco on Tampa Bay

I'm delighted that my new feature, Detours, will have its world premiere at the 11th annual Sunscreen Film Festival in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

The climactic final scenes of Detours were shot in and around Saint Petersburg and Tampa Bay, so it's wonderful to return there for our first ever public screening.

The Sunscreen Film Festival takes place Thursday April 28 to Sunday May 1. I'll share the screening date, time, and location as soon as they are available.

"Detours" Cast/Crew/Special Guest Screening

Above: q& with 3 producers: screenwriter Mara Lesemann (left) and stars Tara Westwood & Carlo Fiorletta

We had a great cast, crew, & special guests screening of Detours recently at Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan. It was the first time that I watched it with both a big screen & great Dolby sound together, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be.  More importantly, the audience loved it, which was wonderfully rewarding for everyone involved. We're more excited than ever to share the movie at film festivals and then with the world as a whole.

Here are a few photos by Hank Gans.

At left:  it was great to have actor & director
 Griffin Dunne join us; he's shown with Detours star and producer Tara Westwood. 

Above: Capacity crowd watches Detours

                      

           

Casting Name Actors in an Indie Movie

Richard Kind & Tara Westwood in a scene from Detours

I've been asked the same question a lot recently:  how did I get name actors in my movies? Specifically, how did I get Richard Kind and Paul Sorvino for Detours, and Vincent Pastore for Surviving Family?

In some ways, the answer is the usual one:  have a good script with roles that are attractive to actors.  But there are a couple of practical things that you can do to ease the way.
 

Tara Westwood & Paul Sorvino on set in Detours

Director Laura Thies & Vincent Pastore on the set of Surviving Family

First, hire a good casting director.  They know the actors' agents and managers, and have spent their career developing great contacts.  They also have a (very) good idea what Actor X's rate for a low budget project will be, which will tell you who is worth approaching and who isn't.  I've worked with the wonderful Caroline Sinclair on both Surviving Family and Detours - she's been casting indie movies (as well as shorts & commercials) in NYC for 25 years.  She's both very knowledgeable AND a pleasure to work with.  (My husband Carlo Fiorletta had met Caroline several years earlier and recommended her.)  There are plenty of good CD's, but I'd suggest getting recommendations from people whose opinion you value.

Second, get a good entertainment lawyer - mine is the terrific Jonathan Gray - he too has been in the business for 25 years.  He's not only knowledgeable but he also truly loves movies.

We all think of entertainment lawyers as protecting us from getting sued and/or helping us if we do.  But I learned quickly that for a producer who is just starting out in the business, they are an enormous help with negotiating deal memos (i.e., contracts) with actors.  Agents and managers are (understandably) suspicious of committing their clients to work for an unknown producer.  So even if the actor WANTS to do your movie, you've got to convince their representation as well.  The agents and managers ALL knew and respected my attorney, and having him on board facilitated the negotiations tremendously.

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that in order to hire a reputable casting director  and an entertainment lawyer you'll need to convince them that you know what you're doing.

I'll make one final point on this subject:  the absolute best way to have a star in your movie is to cast one BEFORE they become a star, so you can benefit from their success without paying a high price.  But that's damn hard to do.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid (I didn't)

Carlo Fiorletta & Tara Westwood in Detours

I learned a lot from making my first feature, Surviving Family.  I swore that I wouldn't repeat the same mistakes on my 2nd feature, Detours.  I didn't.

I love the cast of Surviving Family (you can see the full list HERE), and there's no one who I would get rid of.  But when I wrote the screenplay, I put a lot of actors into many different scenes in many different locations.  This created major logistical challenges (working with the actors' schedules, transporting them from place to place, and - not the least of the problems - blocking the scenes).  I promised myself that I wouldn't make that mistake in my next feature.  I didn't.  But I created new production challenges instead.

Detours is a road trip movie:  a newly single New Yorker (played by Tara Westwood) must re-locate to Florida for her dream job.  She travels south with her widowed dad (Carlo Fiorletta), her mom's ashes in a coffee can, and a GPS with a mind of his own (played by the delightful Craig Wollman).

On the plus side,  I DID limit how many scenes each each actor is in.  We put together a wonderful cast, including TONY award winners Michael Cerveris and Richard Kind, and iconic Italian-American actor Paul Sorvino.   Each one is only in a couple of scenes, and they truly shine in those scenes.  But it's a damn ROAD movie.  Which means you need to (a) shoot car scenes and (b) move from point to point and show it.  There is nothing - and I mean NOTHING - simple about shooting a road movie.

Is Detours good?  Absolutely - it's terrific and people will love it.  It's a fun story about a father and daughter, starting over, and falling in love.  It has great actors and wonderful music (more on that another day).  But if you'd like a look inside the challenges of shooting a road movie, here's a behind-the-scenes look: