Sometimes, The ONLY Way To Get Something Done Is To Do It Yourself! By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Photo by Tim Lorge; Artwork artist unknown. If this is yours or you know whose it is, please contact me. Taken at Think Coffee, 248 Mercer St., NYC During The PlayGround Experiment Volume 27, June 13, 2016 When we started this journey back in June, we talked about some of the best films ever made by some of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Three weeks ago, we shifted the conversation to the film making process. I shared with you some of the... Continue reading

Let's Go on a Road Trip with Some of the Greatest Film and Comedic Actors of All Time By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Stanley Kramer is director-producer from New York who straddled the fence between both indie and studio worlds. Born in Hell’s Kitchen in 1913, he’s known for making some of the best socially conscious films of all time including “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner” and “Judgment at Nuremberg”. While these two and a number of his other films should definitely be in you viewing list, I’m in a mood to laugh. Coming in at #40 on the AFI “100... Continue reading

Like Anything, Film Making Requires Developing Your Chops By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) One of the biggest hurdles confronting most filmmakers when they start out is the equipment issue. How do I get a camera What do I do with the camera once I get it What about sound How do I edit all the footage How do I get it online This isn’t as big of an issue as you might think. Every town in the U.S. that has a cable provider (Comcast, Time Warner, RCN, etc.) has to designate channels for public, educational or governmental (PEG) use. In addition,... Continue reading

What are You Waiting for? By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Werner Herzog on the set of "Fitzcarraldo" Or should that be, for what are you waiting? Or maybe even, What? Are you waiting? Consider this your kick in the ass: It’s time for you to make your first feature length film. When I first heard this, my head nearly exploded. Why not a short? Why not a web series? Can you make money off of them? If so, how? Shorts you notoriously can’t. I know, people claim shorts are a calling card but stick with me. As for web series, with... Continue reading

This Saturday Night at 10 PM A Tribute to the Man Who Invented Multi-Hyphenates! #MultiHyphenatesUnite #ThanksPreston! By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Preston Sturges - See Photo Credit #1 below I am fascinated with the work and biographies of the writers and actors, theater and film-makers who came before us and at one time called the stages and streets of New York home. They are a reminder that “it” can happen for you, me, our friends with a lot of determination and tons of hard work. Preston Sturges was one of us, the first true multi-hyphenate and someone whose work you really... Continue reading

From the Land of Scrapple... By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) In honor of the DNC making history this week in my home city of Philadelphia, I thought I’d give you a little of the local flair. If you haven’t had enough of all the politicking, check out this list of political movies written by one of my all-time favorite journalists, radio hosts and brewer of beer, Glen Macnow and, hands down my favorite politician of all time and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. Incidentally, Glen is the co-author of two books of movie lists: The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies: Featuring... Continue reading

One Event, Four Stories - A Look at Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Image Courtesy of The Criterion Collection Rashomon: It is difficult to start a discussion about this subject because it’s both a film AND a story framework type based on the film. So where to begin? As a story framework, undoubtedly, you are familiar with a Rashomon story. It is one where there is an event and different characters tell their conflicting versions of that event. Additionally, there may or may not be a resolution to the story. If there is no resolution, that allows the... Continue reading

Have We Learned Nothing from the Death of Steve Biko or My Nephew? By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) If we were at a Peter Gabriel Concert, the end of the show would come and he’d play “Biko.” The band walks off the stage one by one and we are left moved as the final notes are held on top of the galvanic drum pattern . Many would leave perhaps being moved until the moment when some chuckle-head bumps into them while exiting. If you don’t know the song, it tells the story of the beating-death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko at... Continue reading

Next Time You have Writer's Block ... Try Sitting in a Bathtub! By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Two Time Academy Award Winner, Dalton Trumbo writing in a bathtub. Dalton Trumbo poses an interesting dilemma for me. On the one hand, his politics are polarizing yet some of his work is amazing. In the 1940’s, Trumbo was one of the top screenwriters in Hollywood, having written films such as "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," widely considered one of the best war films of the World War Two era. He was also a communist and one of the infamous “Hollywood Ten” who spent eleven... Continue reading

The creative process can sometimes seem like moving a 320-ton ship uphill. Sometimes, you actually have to do that. By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) Klaus Kinski Fitzcarraldo and Burden of Dreams There are some films in which the production itself was so unbelievable that they spawned a separate film documenting or dramatizing the process. For some films, to truly understand it, you really need to know the backstory (a.k.a. horseshit) about its production. Next up, the movie that is said to be one of the most difficult movies ever made, Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo” and Les Blank’s documentary on its making, “Burden... Continue reading

How Important is Your Art to You? By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) "The Brain" from "Pinky and the Brain", inspired by Orson Welles Citizen Kane, RKO 281 and “The Battle Over Citizen Kane” There are some films in which the production itself was so unbelievable that they spawned a separate film documenting or dramatizing the process. I’m not talking about a middling DVD extra. I’m talking an actual documentary made by someone other than the studio. For some films, to truly understand it, you really need to know the backstory (a.k.a. horseshit) about its production. There are many and we’ll cover... Continue reading

That is a Lot of Any One Thing By Tim Lorge (Playwright/Filmmaker/Photographer) I have had one thousand, eight hundred fifty-two sexual partners and they were all glorious! No, I’m kidding. How would I ever find time to drink and write? Plus, I’m a whiskey man so, there’s that. I’m talking movies!! I have a list of 1,852 (and counting) movies that you should see in your life. It’s extreme yes, however, if you are a cinefile, you have probably seen many of these. This started simply enough. In the Summer of 2014, Mandy from xoJane set all the filmmaking sites... Continue reading