Guest: Clint Palmer and Wendy Buss

Project: “Abby Singer”

Crew Position: Producer and Actor

Website: www.abbysingermovie.com
www.abbysinger.net
www.myspace.com/abbysingermovie

Well Filmnut 121 was definitely different. We started the show with Producer Peter Basler showing us footage from his time at the L.A. Film Festival and we ended with movie quotes and trivia. Something we’ll be doing more of in the future. In between we had Clint Palmer and Wendy Buss from ‘Abby Singer’. Their movie was done without a script, without a budget and yet they managed to get amazing star cameos from the likes of Don Cheadle, Jake Gyllenhaal, Roger Ebert, Dave Attell and many more. Their persistence, never say die attitude, and guerilla tactics are why this film got done and are the kind of thing you maybe see in a movie but don’t think anyone actually does.

This is not a business for the passive. You can be who you are, treat people with respect but it rarely just comes to you. At some point you usually have to put yourself out there in an artistic capacity and marketing capacity to move your career forward and these guys seem to have done that. We go over some of what they did on the show. I didn’t get a chance to see the film yet, but I do applaud them on their effort and wish them well. Their movie was just released on dvd yesterday and is available on amazon.com.

One lessen the ‘Singer’ crew learned along the way is the importance of having releases and paperwork cleared in advance. In other words they would get people on camera and not have a signed release. Yes by all means, whether it be cast, crew, vendors, investors, ALL paperwork should be done before someone’s involvement in a project begins. If you are working with friends or family or if friends or family are investors, please have all agreements in writing. You do not want to slow your project, have to re-shoot, edit out, or lose a friend or family over misunderstandings and not having the proper paperwork. Worse yet you don’t want to get sued!

A book is not a replacement for a lawyer, but if a lawyer just isn’t possible for budgetary reasons consider the book “Contracts For The Film and Television Industry” by Mark Litwak. Litwak is a very reputable entertainment attorney who I have been fortunate enough to interview in the past.

Check it out the show if you haven’t already. It was a lot of fun talking to Clint and Wendy (see if you can guess the quotes!). www.thestream.tv/filmnut will take you directly to this episode as well as all past ‘Filmnut’ shows.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

Jeff Schubert
www.myspace.com/powerofnow