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Matthew Toffolo's Weekly Blog - January 19th/2007
I'm pretty happy about the happenings of the last couple of days. Our first events of the year both ended up being a great success. The Reading Series on Tuesday was well attended eventhough the weather was a tad bad, and our First WILDsound Feedback Film Festival turned out to be a fantastic success. We practically had a sell out crowd and everyone seemed to really enjoy the films. And the feedback afterwards was really inspiring to all. Our Moderator David Weaver did a fantastic job of balancing the feedback with the audience of all the 11 films that were screened. It was also fun that we had 7 out of the 11 filmmakers in attendance. Ford Austin who showed his comedy The Wright Stuff came from Los Angelas and Corey Sosner who showed his Fan Film First Round came from New Jersey. Both of them brought a great energy to the crowd and really had a great time being a part of our first annual event. This is only the beginning for us. We will continue to get bigger and bigger as we take a giant slice out of this industry and give it all back in ten fold to many people. Yesterday's first festival was held on the same day as Muhammad Ali's 65th birthday. And that's fitting because living in Toronto, Canada I realize in order for us to mix things up, we need to be a little Ali like. Muhammad Ali and Matthew Toffolo Muhammad Ali was a great man. He basically put the Entertainment stamp in the sports world. Before Ali it was just a sporting event. He made it a show. He is the unofficial godfather of HipHop with his taunting verses of Rap before Rap was even Rap. He was as fearless outside of the ring as inside. And that's something that 99.9% of Filmmakers in my fair country aren't about. We seem to have forgotten that there's an audience and it seems that all these films are personal masterbations that they actually want us to watch. We need to put back the Entertainment in our Films. There hasn't been a quality English speaking Canadian film in.....well I don't remember that last English speaking Canadian film. And does any of you living in the US remember when you ever saw a Canadian film? Why it is like this? Many reasons. This industry is a powerful diesel fueled train in the midst of a long straight line of track. It's moving so fast that if you tried to stop it, it would take minutes. We've set up a system that might never change because WANKERS are in the power position. And the filmmakers who do get the funding to make films fear competition and will grasp to their line of connections for as long as they can as they continue to make bad film after bad film. The fear is so strong, you can smell it everyday on the streets of Toronto. Ali's legend is plenty. His career like most legendary figures is like a great roller coaster. People thought he was done by 1973 after he lost to Joe Frasier, but his career was only beginning. In 1974 he defeated 'he can't be beat' George Foreman in the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight in Africa by not out-punching him. No Ali knew Foreman was more gifted and a much better fighter at the time than him. He won by plain out smarting him in his famous rope-a-dope strategy. He leaned on the ropes and had Foreman punch him for 7 rounds and by the time round 8 came around, Foreman was so tired because he was punching so much, Ali seized the moment and knocked him down. Fight over. Biggest upset in sports history. Foreman was so shell shocked by the defeat (he believed there was no way anyone could defeat him!) that his own career was basically over until he made his own comeback as 'Nice Guy George who liked to also promote his Grills'. Foreman states that he needed that whipping as it changed his outlook on life. David beat Goliath and Goliath learned a giant lesson about being a bully. Weeks before the fight Ali was already in the ring. He was playing mind games with his opponent. One famous quote Ali proclaimed "I done something new for this fight. I done rassled with an alligator! I done tussled with a whale! I done handucuffed lightning throwed thunder in jail." Matthew Toffolo begins training with alligators To paraphrase Ali's poem before one of his fights and placing it into the context of my own fight with the Canadian Film Industry, here's my gameplan: I'm gonna put them flat on their backs. So that they will start getting on track Because as champs they don't do as they should As they put themselves into their own self-absorbed neighborhood Someone suggested to me that I submit to the new Steven Spielberg/Mark Burnett Reality show. I'm sure most of you have heard about this upcoming show where they pick 16 filmmakers ala the Survivor show and compete for a 1 million dollar distribution deal. Each week the filmmakers will compete and film a short film and then the audience will vote on which films they like best. Then a filmmaker will be voted off until there is 1 person left. They are asking for people to submit short films on their website as they will pick the 16 at the end of February. I don't know what to think about this. Some of me likes the idea and some of me is appalled by it. I put out a call out for people's opinions yesterday on the matter and received over 60 responses from filmmakers from eligible North America. More than 70% totally detested this kind of idea but almost half of those people are still interested in watching the show. Here's what some people said: Alexand Shaoul says "A filmmaker’s life can not be a pitch, or an advertisement. It must be developed carefully, and then presented to the powers that can choose to water the seed, hopefully with out changing the genetic strand of the plant. I have a feeling that who ever wins this absurd competition will have little creative control over their film that will end up in development at Dreamworks" "I think it will be a fun, challenging show -- and it's about time we got a "Project Runway" for filmmakers!" Cheyne, from 5' Giants Productions "It was very refreshing to see the kind of people Spielberg has attracted with this show. It has given filmmakers like myself a place to have our voice heard. I find the people at the On The Lot website that post on the message boards very passionate, inspirational and extremely supportive of each other. It's very rare not to see someone be rude, egotistical or cruel on message boards." Michael Mercy "Magicians don't tell you how they do their tricks and never will.... let's keep the magic in filmmaking and not disband the brethren." Jane Margo- IndieFocus Matthew Toffolo's opinions of 'On The Lot' Personally I say this is not for me. It seems like they are trying to do something fun and positive. And I respect both Spielberg and Burnett. Spielberg seems to take a lot of chances now with his current films, not really making popcorn flicks anymore. And I've never heard a bad thing said about him within the industry ranks from people who worked on his films. And that's a rare thing. And Mark Burnett is a guy who understands human nature really well as I read his Autobiography last year. His Eco-challenges that he created were a great test of man's inner strength and drive to push their bodies to the limit. His Survivor shows are a little soap operaish, but the original one was a great dissection of people playing mind games with each other to win a game. And isn't that what show business is all about? So if he creates a combination of both of those shows, I think he's got a success. I don't think the winning filmmaker will particularly have a long standing career, but maybe he will, who knows. But this is not for me. Matthew Toffolo Wraps Up I hope the person who wins does well for himself but I have a large feeling that I will be 100 times more successful than he is at the end of it all. Return from Matthew Toffolo's Blog to WILDsound Filmmaking Feedback Events home page
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