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One of my favorite movie stars, the great Charlton Heston has died, at 83.

His birth name was John Charles Carter, and he was from Evanston, Illinois.

I won’t dwell on his illness, other than say it’s a dirty trick when our powers are taken, and one of the quick and strong is laid low. Which happens to us all.

And I won’t discuss his politics, except to say any Hollywood movie star, of whatever political bent, who stands up for personal liberty, in this dark age, gets my vote.

I interviewed Charlton Heston for tv, at a 1997 Palm Springs Tennis Tournament. I’ve met lots of movie stars, but he was in a class by himself, perhaps the starry-est.

I learned something extremely valuable from him. I asked him some silly question, one he just didn’t want to answer, and you know what he did? He just smiled. That’s all …

Sam’s Oscar Report

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 - Hollywood

Sam Longoria has seen FEW of the Oscar-nominated pictures this year.
Sam picks the Oscar-winners from their titles, using his own rules.
Sam is happy to share with you his spectacularly un-informed opinion.

I am not in attendance at the Oscars this year. I’m not going
unless I or my work is nominated, or I am specifically invited.
I am not crashing, or finagling tickets. People write me every
year to ask, and I’m just sayin’.

Hey, it’s Hollywood, and it’s Oscar-time.
So here I am again, and it’s…

SAM’S 2008 OSCAR REPORT - PREDICTION EDITION

Hello!

Sam Longoria here, your Oscar reporter.

I want to follow my own rules for predicting the Oscars,
just as I did last year. All off the top of my head,
no other research or preparation.

Something is different, though. I literally have seen only
a few of the films. I wouldn’t have done it this way,
but it couldn’t …

Making films costs money. Get over it.

You wouldn’t think so, to read filmmakers on filmmaking
forums. They usually don’t write about raising money.

Here is what they write:

“Where can I buy the best camera?”
“What is the best camera?”
“What is a camera?”
“Which end of the camera do I look in?”

That’s about it.

There’s also a lot of scribble about how to save money, by
somehow not spending any money. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

It takes money to make money.
What does it take, to raise money?
Blank look. This is all news to them.

Here is the news today. Top stories:

Film costs money. Cameras and equipment cost money.
Hiring Actors costs money. Renting Costumes and Props
and Stage space costs money.

Scrimping is not the answer.
Raising money is the answer.

Even if your Cast and Crew work for free, your craft
service comes from Pizza Hut, and your lights come from
the Home Depot, you still need money.
If you …

Filmmaking - Scriptwriting

My thanks to Rodney of Marietta GA, who writes me this letter:

Hey Sam, :)

…Yeah, I’m pretty new and want to start actually, in the writing area first. I like to use my imagination, but still haven’t written my first screen play. The formatting gives me fear, and procrastination stalls, but my goal for the next couple of years is to move to L.A.

- Rodney

Dear Rodney,

At least you’ve identified the problem!

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”
– Edward Young (1683-1765)

No excuses. You’re smart and young, the problem is thinking you have a lot of time. The fact is, none of us knows how much time we have, only that …

Sam’s Oscar Report

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 - Hollywood
I had fully intended not to attend, watch, or even think about,
the Academy Awards tonight. I have important stuff to do, movies
I’m preparing, a major book revision I’m racing down to the end
of the finish line. That is what I’m paid for, what I should be
paying attention to.

So, no Oscars for me in 2007. I had announced as much on my
blog, but…so many people wrote from all over, and called and
emailed, saying in effect, “I always read your Oscar Report. I
expect it, I demand it. Sam you have to write one this year.”

Apparently, the Force has a strong effect on the weak-minded, or
at least somebody as weak-minded and distracted as I am today.

So here I am again, and it’s…

SAM’S 2007 OSCAR REPORT - PREDICTION EDITION

Hello!

Sam Longoria here, your Oscar reporter.

First, and foremost, I won’t be there tonight. Not in person,
not by satellite. Not …

Filmmaking - Shoot Real Film

by Sam Longoria

Peeved filmmakers ask, “How can I afford to shoot “Real Film?”

I shoot mostly 35mm four-perf, flat or scope, but I have shot VistaVision (8-perf 35mm going sideways) and 5, 8, and 15-perf 65mm. (Todd-AO, Dynavision, Imax). I have a 65mm camera I built that will pull those formats. I shoot 4×5 and 8×10 stills in negative and transparencies. So I know a little about it.

I love film, it’s the real deal, it just needs more guys on the crew to carry everything. Oh, and a truck.

I’ve shot a lot of Super 8mm and 16mm, but only for the grainy effect. I blow those up on my optical printer. I don’t shoot small-formats or video to make a movie on. My movies are 35mm, as God and Tom Edison intended, so I can show them in any theatre anywhere in the world.

Expensive? Not really, …

One of my favorite modern filmmakers, the
great Director Robert Altman has died, at 81.

Altman made mostly tv from 1951, with two features in 1957,
“The James Dean Story,” and “The Delinquents,” and in 1969
“That Cold Day In The Park,” shot in Vancouver, BC.

Although he’d directed them, and many of my favorite tv shows,
(like “Combat!,” “Route 66,” “Bonanza,” “The Roaring 20’s,”
“Surfside 6,” “Lawman,” “Maverick,” “Sugarfoot,” “U.S. Marshal,”
“The Millionaire,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “Whirlybirds,” “Peter Gunn,”
“Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and a 1977 segment of “Saturday Night
Live”), for me, his movie career begins with “M*A*S*H.”

I got caught up in “M*A*S*H” in 1970, and watched it many,
many times. Hundreds of times, actually, just to see how
deliciously seamless was this anarchic collection of war
anecdotes. In many ways, it’s still Altman’s best film.
It was his biggest box office hit.

Hollywood said “M*A*S*H” couldn’t be done.
Altman was the fifteenth Director
offered the project.

It …